Valerie’s POV
As we prepared for the mission, checking weapons and so on, the tension among the warriors didn’t ease.
In fact, the whispers increased after Mike gave the responsibility to lead the team.
I knew he was trying to embarrass for overstepping. Or maybe, it has sothing to do with rejecting his advances and saying I don’t care about him.
I can’t believe he could be so petty.
"She’s going?"
"Is she even capable?"
"She used to clean floors..."
"Now she’s leading missions?"
I ignored the whispers. Pretending I couldn’t hear them.
It wasn’t the first ti people were gossiping about anyway.
I had heard worse than what they were saying now.
Lived through worse, and endured even worse.
"Ready?" Andrew’s voice brought back from my thoughts.
"Yes." I said as I strapped the two daggers I had chosen to my thighs.
"Don’t let what they say get to you." I was surprised that he would comfort .
"I won’t."
Even though I didn’t care much about what people in the Night claw pack thought about .
It still bothered that they never seed to see any good in .
As we began moving toward the forest, I felt the weight of my position as Luna truly fall on my shoulders.
The forest felt wrong.
That was the first thing I noticed the mont we crossed the boundary line.
It wasn’t just quiet. A little too quiet.
There was no sound of rustling leaves. No small animals calling from the distance, and no movent could be detected.
It was like stepping into a place that had been abandoned by life itself.
I slowed my steps slightly, my senses sharpening as I scanned the surroundings.
Behind , the warriors shifted uneasily.
Even they could feel it.
"Stay alert," Andrew said calmly, his voice carrying authority without force. "We will move as one unit. Be careful not to be separated"
I glanced at him briefly.
Andrew was Mike’s friend in a way, but he never participated in those cruel gas that involved torturing when I was a pack slave.
Apart from making wash his clothes filled with grease, he never mistreated .
It felt strange calling him that instead of "Beta," but he had insisted on it the mont we left the pack.
"Out here," he had said, "titles don’t matter as much as trust."
I wasn’t sure if the others agreed.
So of them still looked at like I didn’t belong here.
Like I was an outsider playing dress-up.
A slave pretending to be Luna.
I ignored them.
Because I had sothing to prove.
Not to them.
To myself.
"We should split into two groups," one of the warriors suddenly suggested. "We’ll cover more ground that way."
I stopped walking.
"No."
They were already starting to make trouble.
The group fell silent.
The warrior who spoke frowned slightly.
"Why not?"
"Because this silence isn’t natural," I replied. "Splitting up would make us easier targets."
A few people exchanged glances.
I could see the doubt in their eyes. However, I didn’t care. They had to follow orders from out here.
Andrew stepped forward.
"She’s right," he said firmly. "We stay together."
That ended it.
Even though they stopped insisting on splitting up, I could still feel their resistance.
They weren’t satisfied with my arrangents.
Their lack of faith in pressed against like a weight I couldn’t shake off, and I had to force myself to focus.
"Show where the last tracks were found," I said.
A younger warrior nodded and led a few steps ahead.
"They were here," he said, pointing to the ground.
Mike had sent out so scouts and wolves skilled in tracking to find the tracks of those missing people.
Now, it ca in handy.
The tracks were faint, but they were there.
Five wolves moving together.
Then, my eyes narrowed as I spotted sothing else.
"These aren’t just footprints left by our people alone. There are others as well."
"What?" Gasps ca from the people behind .
"What did you find?" Andrew crouched down next to and asked curiously.
I traced the ground lightly with my fingers.
"There are others in different sizes, heavier than those of our people and deeper as well."
"Rogues?" soone asked.
"Maybe. I am not sure. We will need more clues to determine who they were." I answered after taking a deep breath.
"How many do you think showed up?" Andrew asked beside .
"At least three... maybe four."
A murmur spread through the group.
"Then they’re already dead," one warrior muttered.
My head snapped up.
"Don’t speak such inauspicious words. Until we see their remains, we will assu they are alive."
He frowned. "If rogues got to them...."
"That doesn’t an they’re dead," I cut in.
We couldn’t lose morale at the starting line.
This was my first mission outside of the pack and I wasn’t about to screw it up.
Andrew studied the tracks again.
"They were dragged," he said.
"Yes," I agreed. "But not far. See this?" I pointed to a broken branch nearby. "Struggle happened here."
"That ans they were taken deeper into the forest on purpose." he finished.
I stood up.
"Which ans they’re still valuable to whoever took them."
"Or food," another warrior muttered.
I turned to him sharply.
"If they wanted food, they would have killed them here."
How could there be such stupid wolves? Couldn’t they think straight or were they just out to oppose ?
"Move," Andrew ordered. "We will follow the trail and see where it takes us."
The deeper we went, the heavier the air beca.
I could feel it clinging to my skin like a solid object.
The tracks beca clearer as we moved forward and a few drops of blood appeared spotting so dead leaves on the ground.
At first it was only a few drops of blood, but as we moved deeper, more of it appeared.
"They were injured." One of the warriors states the obvious but I didn’t pay them any attention.
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