Queen Of The Night ×Wyatt Lykensen×

•One Step Closer To War•

🏹Alec🏹

I stand outside wearing a leather jacket, hoodie, jeans, and boots. I pull another arrow from my quiver and notch it. I pull back and aim at the target in front of me. I take deep breaths before holding it then releasing. But yet again the arrow doesn't hit where I want it too.

I groan in frustration and hang my head. "Having performance issues? So unlike you, big brother." I look toward the porch and see Ally with a steaming mug in her hands. I take a deep breath to calm my frustrations and the smell of coffee fills my nose.

I ignore the fact that I could actually smell it and walk over to her, ignoring the biting cold slicing through my jacket and freezing my face. "That for me?"

"Figured you could use it after being out here since the crack of dawn." I nod and accept the mug from her, bringing it to my lips. "Careful, it's hot." I shake my head and drink the scalding liquid, ignoring the painful heat, and swallow. "You worried about him?"

I glance up into her brown eyes and nod slightly. It's been a few days since my talk with Caleb in the Forbidden Forest. And as much as I hate to admit it I've been noticing some changes in my abilities. My eyes seem to be getting sharper and allowing me to see clearer in dim light.

My nose is picking up on scents that it shouldn't. And sometimes my hearing will pick up on things that should be impossible for me to hear. I haven't told anyone what is happening to me, not even Lukas, and I know I should, but I'm so afraid.

I probably shouldn't be, but I just want my friends to focus on rescuing the werecats. We need to get them free before the Reapers decide to destroy them. We're so close to being ready and their minds need to stay on task. "I've never seen you this distracted before. So, Alec, is there something you need to tell me?"

I blink and focus back on her face. She's got her hand on her hip and is giving me a pointed look. "No, I'm just… nervous about the upcoming mission. That's all. I'm sure I'll be back to normal in no time."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Ally. Go back to flirting with Cade," I tease, trying to change the subject. I know I succeed when her cheeks turn pink and I don't think it's from the cold. "You mean planning on rescuing an entire camp of werecats?"

"Yeah, flirting," I say and she leans down, smacking me on my upper arm. "Jerk!" I give her a smile and she returns it. "Whatever. I'm sure, Caleb will be back in no time. Once he remembers he's still got family left. And I don't just mean his brother."

"Kinda hard to miss your point, sis."

"Good. Now, take a break from your terrible target practice and come inside. Before you catch frostbite."

"Yes, ma'am." She rolls her eyes and I step onto the porch, following her inside. I close the door behind us and set my mug down so I can set my gear down. I also shuck off my leather jacket and hang it up. I look to my right and see Wyatt, Crystal, Willa, Wynter, Cade gathered around a map spread across the dinning room table.

"Still scheming?" They look up at my voice and nod in greeting. "Yeah, come on." I walk up with Ally, taking another drink from my mug. I look down and see where Ally had circled the Reapers hide out in red marker. "So this is where they were torturing Caleb. In this old run down building. It looked as if it had been abandoned for years," Cade says pointing to a spot on the map.

"And this is where they set up tents for the other hunters," Ally says pointing to a spot a little ways away from the building. "Yeah, and then they kept the other werecats in the building's basement."

"Wait. Ally you said that Henley made the other werecats believe that Caleb was in one of their other facilities so how come they didn't hear Henley torturing Caleb?" I ask with a furrowed brow as Cade explains that these events happened in the same building.