Behind Enemy Lines | 2

Chapter Nine

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for my lack of updates recently. I've just been caught up with what's happening in my life right now; I just started college and I was literally thrown assignments! Thank you for bearing with me, I hope you like this chapter! If you need to re-read the last chapter to get a grip on stuff, like refamiliarise yourself with the story the go ahead, just a lot of discussion in this chapter but yeah :)

I hope you like it! Let me know what you think, please comment! You don't have to vote if you don't want to :)

Libby xx

It was pure bewilderment that was written on Raven’s face. Her senses enveloped her as they entered the new territory of those who rescued her. Walking past several more trees, Raven saw with blazing grey eyes a hut built around the trunks. It was just one room; the outside looked like an abandoned shack. Elijah walked past Raven, kneeling beside a random tree. He drew his butterfly knife and scratched an unknown pattern next to the bark; leaving some sort of brand. Raven frowned at the marks, but Elijah and Thalia paid no heed to the other marks around the trunk; all of similar designs but never the same. The picture of some snowflakes whispered in her mind but Raven only scowled. Thalia paused, noticing her face, before deciding to explain the designs.
“Hunters have this code; Elijah won’t even tell me how to read it.” The Princess spoke, her previous anger drained. “Different symbols mean different things; but I know that these mean the presence of another hunter. Each symbol represents a hunter in their own way… It seems almost everyone has returned.”
Raven was still frowning slightly as Thalia guided her into the murky house. The door creaked as the two she-wolves walked to enter the hut. Panic enveloped Raven’s body as she picked up the smell of iron and blood; but also of silver. Her body froze half way up the stairs, eyes wide, staring at what seemed to be the door to hell. The Princess paused as she felt Raven stop behind her, and she turned to look at the terrified little girl.
“Raven?” She asked, facing her, but with a delicate hand resting on the hut door. The red-head chilled as she smelled what was behind that door; the instruments of her ‘torture’. Something crawled along Raven’s arms, throbbing at her scars and joints. Carefully pushing her fear from her voice, the scared youth explained herself to her Princess.
“I-I can’t go in there.” Raven whispered, moving her gaze to Princess Thalia. A frown was on the Royal’s face; Raven knew she couldn’t understand. No one would understand what she’d been through. While Thalia and her Hunter believed that Queen Seraphina could relate to her, Raven doubted so.
Who could understand? Queen Seraphina may have been through something similar to her but if Raven met anyone with even the same trait of what she went through, she wanted nothing to do with them. She didn’t want anyone to relate to with her experience. She just wanted to forget, to go back to the way it was before; Raven knew it was better than what she went though. The frail teenager may not remember what was prior to the torture in her life but she felt it in her heavy heart that it was filled with love and joy. Unlike now. Raven’s life now was filled with fear and darkness and she didn’t know what would come of her after time flies. It’s that fear of unknown which Raven believed would be answered if she met someone of similar experience. Because they’d be either broken, or a monster.

Raven didn’t know which one she was yet and she feared the answer.

“T-The…” Raven blurted out, escaping her thoughts. “The smell... Thalia, I can’t…” Her grey eyes started to melt as the poor girl tried to express what she was feeling. “It still hurts…”
Thalia seemed to understand because Raven saw the brown eyes of the Royal shattered. She opened her mouth to speak, no doubt another fact about the Werewolf Hierarchy or how much the world has changed. Maybe the Princess will say a motivational speech this time to lure her into the Hunter’s Den. Agitation rose in her stomach, her skin crawling with a different sensation. She felt her wolf rise slightly, nostrils flaring. She wasn’t going in that lair; not again. Raven wasn’t going anywhere. Her wolf bared her lips towards the Royal and Raven’s head started to pound in a darker sense.
“I’m not going in there.” Raven snarled, interrupting the Princess before she spoke. Thalia froze at the tone. She watched warily before shutting her mouth.
“I’m not going to force you to.” Princess Thalia assured, matching her tone with a message in her words. But I will when I need you in here, I won’t hesitate. “Wait here for a minute, I’ll ask one of the wolves to escort you to a bare room to sleep. Not in the cabin.”
Raven let out a breath she was holding, her nose flaring as the agitation was released from her body. A grateful smile came across her face as she hugged herself in comfort. The victim found a sense of peace that she wouldn’t be going anywhere near those instruments of death. It was okay when it was just Elijah; he only carried a few knifes. But what was in there… No.
Thalia’s resting hand opened the door and she walked into the silver jail. The brunette walked through the corridor of silver chains and iron machetes. Spikes pointed towards her as she rounded the corner to an open room. While the lone corridor was decorated with silver and deadly equipment which could fall at any minute for intruders, the open room was free from any weapons besides what they carried. Thalia’s dark eyes swept over the lone table in the room littered with familiar papers. Small candles lit the room with an eerie but calm glow as she raised her eyes to the Hunters and Wolves around her.
“Where’s everyone else?” She asked, noticing a severe lack in their team. Where there were once thirty of their team, there were now only four couples standing in the room. All eight of them were covered head to toe in dirt and reeked of the forest but they seemed unhurt. Elijah’s cut on his arm was clean and healing, but no other injuries were bestowed onto the others. She recognised Dave and his mate, as well as the white wolf who choked up the keys, Nel and her mate. The other pair sat idly on the chairs around the mahogany table, watching their Princess with a familiar sadness. Elijah looked up from the table of papers in pity, a strong hand leaning against the table as he held his green look of gore.
Thalia picked up on the message; they didn’t make it. “Any bodies?”
“Sucked dry.” Elijah immediately replied, knowing that Thalia would only persist unless he wasn’t blunt. “They were caught on the first night; we were lucky.”
“You were attacked as well?” The woman of the seated couple spoke, her eyes filled with anger but her voice was calm. Her dark brown eyes were lighter than the Royal’s, but her dazzling golden hair stood them apart.
“As well?” Thalia repeated to the blonde, their dark orbs clashing. “What happened to you?”
“Two vampires came at Greg and I while we were resting at our first campsite. I took them down, nothing I’m not used to; they seemed more like trackers than killers. We moved immediately after that.” She said, bowing her head briefly as she spoke. Lara was one of the best wolf fighters the world had; she was originally assigned to Jackson O’Hara, the head Spy of the King and Thalia’s cousin, but when she found Greg she was transferred under Thalia’s command. Lara Knight was one of the spies who rescued Queen Seraphina; a hero.
“Only two?” Elijah butt in, eyeing the blonde with curious emeralds. “We had six Vampires attack Thalia, Elijah and Red.”
“Six?!” Nel blurted out from against the wall, Lara’s eyes widening in shock. Nel’s eyes flashing with uncontrolled anger but her Hunter Quentin rested a hand on her arm out of comfort.
“Elijah, her name isn’t Red, it’s Raven.” Thalia glared at her mate, but turned to the rest of them. “Yes, we were attacked by six, but they weren’t sent to just kill us. They wanted Raven too.”
The eight mercenaries pondered in their thoughts for a moment until the Princess interrupted them once again. “Dave, can you escort Raven to a spare bed outside? She won’t enter the cabin, she’s waiting outside.” She ordered to the Hunter. He looked at Elijah for confirmation and when he received a nod from his leader he left to see to Raven. Elijah raised an eyebrow at his tempered mate, noting her death defying glare, but drew everyone’s attention to the papers on the table.
“Why did you send Dave, Princess, and not me?” Dave’s mate, Kelly, asked before they started. “Wouldn’t she trust one of her kind?”
Thalia released a sigh, her mind straining. “Raven’s met Dave; he carried her out of that kill box, I thought she might want a familiar face.”
Kelly creased her blonde brows but nodded at the order. “He didn’t tell me that…” She whispered in confusion to which Thalia gently smiled.
“Hunters tend not to open up about their missions; give him time, Dave will explain himself.” The brunette beauty smiled and Kelly nodded in acceptance. Kelly was the shyest wolf she knew; her short blonde curls and big blue eyes gave a slight innocence about her but she had such sensitive senses that she could hear a fly land on a tree. Thalia’s team of wolves were the best; but now it was just the four girls; Lara the fighter, Kelly the tracker, Nel the runner and Thalia the leader. The wolves can still fight; they’ll be fine.
Silence enveloped the cabin before they all looked to Elijah. The Leader of the Hunters was raising an eyebrow at his mate in agitation.
“Can I talk now or are we going to start braiding each other’s hair?” He snapped at Thalia, no doubt pissed at her ‘hunters don’t open up because they’re brick walls’ comment. The Princess snarled at his tone, but Elijah just glowered back at her.
Greg cleared his throat from beside Lara and raised his hand to the tense leaders. “Thalia does have a point…”
“Shut up Greg.” Elijah snapped, earning the scary sight of Lara’s canines. He rolled his eyes, about to make a comment before the silent couple against the wall finally spoke.
“Elijah, get your head out of your ass and tell us about these freaking papers before I crush them with your face!” Quentin snapped from the back, matching his Leader’s stance. While Elijah stood quite tall at over six foot, Tin towered over him. He was the charger; pure brunt force and muscle, filling doorways and crushing trunks with a mere kick. Quentin, while he had a heart of gold, had the temper of dynamite with a short fuse. The hunk of muscle wasn’t to be trifled with; and always put his Leader in line when Elijah’s even fierier temper got a hold of him.
Elijah made the wise choice to back down, Tin’s crystal sharp blue eyes warning him of his temper. Nel returned the favour and laid a hand on chest to calm her own mountain of a man, a gentle smile towards Thalia out of pity. While Nel had to deal with a physical mountain of rocks, Thalia had to deal with an emotional wall of rocks; carved and built around Elijah’s heart to stop anyone getting in.
“One day Tin, I’m going to kick your ass.” Elijah said as he spread out the papers on the table, showing them to those in the room. Tin chuckled, his chest rumbling at the petty threat. Dave walked back through the silver corridor into the candle-lit hall in arrival of Tin’s laughter, smiling as he made his way to Kelly. She returned his smile with her own dimpled one, but it was a lot stiffer than before.
Putting aside the ignorance from his mate, Dave turned to everyone. “Raven’s in Hut 5.” He informed Thalia, and turned to Tin with a frown. The Hulk Hunter merely smiled at Elijah with his crooked teeth.
“I’d like to see you try!” Tin chuckled while wrapping what seemed to be his arm but could have been mistaken as the leg of a horse, around Nel’s dark shoulders. The cocoa-skinned wolf beamed against her mate, her going around his waist… trying to at least; she couldn’t reach past his spine.
Elijah shared Tin’s smile before becoming the Leader he was notorious for being. His eyes shielded over in an emotionless façade and the jade green scanned the documents.
“Nel, thank you for retrieving the papers, and Kelly for the laptop; Greg you can get on that.” Elijah commanded; glaring at all the numbers and scribbles on the wrinkled paper. Thalia raised a dark brow at his stern thanks to her wolves, staring him down as he continued with his words. “Thanks to Lara and Tin for killing most of those blood suckers, to Dave for helping get Re-Raven out of there.” He corrected, before picking up one of the pieces of paper. “What is all of this?”
Nel stepped forward, noting the disappointed look on her Princess’s face. Lara and Kelly all sympathised with the beautiful beast, but Thalia merely kept looking forward. Her dark eyes also had a façade which hid her inner turmoil but she gave her attention to the flimsy pieces of vital information in front of her.
“When Tin and I were jumping from checkpoint to checkpoint, I looked at the papers.” Nel admitted, pursing her lips briefly before continuing. “There’s not much on their actual plan, nor Raven, but there is on this…”
Reaching over the table, she grabbed a piece of paper, stained with blood. Shaking some dried flakes off, Nel cleared her throat.
“Humans – Involve? Trick? Rebekah Hunt = Human liaison to wolves. Buchannan plan trick of wolves; human involvement rumour spread to packs.” Nel read out, decoding the small font. Elijah frowned briefly but Thalia pieced it together before he did.
“It was fake.” She stated, glaring at the paper in Nel’s grasp. Reaching her hand out, Nel gave her the bloody scribbles to read over herself. “The rumour of unleashing our werewolf secret is fake… A ‘trick’…”
Greg twitched in the corner, his fingers tapping his knee repetitively. “Who’s Rebekah Hunt? And Buchannan?”
“Rebekah Hunt is a detective in New York; human.” Thalia answered, knowing the sensitive subject of mating between humans, being that they’re around three couples of this situation now. “She used to be a wolf, but after the birth of her daughter with her human mate Peter, she gave her wolf to her daughter so she could live.”
“Her brother’s the Silver Pack’s Beta, isn’t he?” Elijah added, looking at Thalia, who met him with a dead brown look.
“Yes, Beta Logan Hunt.” Thalia clarified. “He’s under Alpha Bella’s reign now.”
Elijah raised an eyebrow at the female’s title, but another look came over his face which was almost as quick as it left. Don’t think about it, it’s in the past…
“You know her, don’t you?” Thalia caught his expression, narrowing her eyes at him. Her knuckles were white as she clutched the piece of paper. Oh shit. He thought, leaning back from the table briefly.
The leader shrugged his large muscles, looking down as he scratched the back of his head. “Back when Alpha James Silver was running the Silver Pack, we were going to use Rebekah as leverage to lure out the Alpha, to which the Lord of the Wolves; Lord Alastair of the Moon.” Elijah admitted.
“WHAT.” All the wolves in the room snarled, Thalia’s hair lightening an alarming shade of majestic gold. Her mate shook his brown curls, waving his hands. The mated hunters pressed themselves close to their mates in assurance, but Thalia was fuming.
“We didn’t go through with it, obviously, relax!” Elijah assured, a smile on his face at Thalia’s rage. “Even if we had, we wouldn’t have gotten to Lord Alastair; Alpha James would have done another stupid thing and screwed himself over.”
It wasn’t silence that comforted the cabin then; it was confusion and anger. A tense fog coated the cabin. While the Princess of the Wolves was furious with the joke, the other wolves tumbled in emotions, it was then that Greg burst out in laughter. He wiped his eyes behind his glasses, a wheeze coming from his stretched lungs. Tin and Dave let out a chuckle, but the wolves remained silent. Elijah smiled at the Hunter, whose skill was in technology. Greg was still cackling to himself when a smiling Lara elbowed his side.

Thalia’s anger was still as dark as her eyes; her hair glistening gold.

Greg coughed out the remainder of his lungs, adjusting his glasses before clearing his throat. When he was mentally capable of speaking, he looked up to his leader.
“So, uh, who is Buchannan?” Greg spoke, smiling at the joke Elijah had told. The green-eyed Hunter smiled at the techy but the frown quickly replaced it. He looked towards Thalia, stilling at the still reminiscing anger. The Princess pushed her anger to the side with an idea as to Buchannan.
“Could…could he be the Vampire behind this?” Kelly whispered, breaking the silence carefully. Dave placed a hand around her small waist as Thalia’s jaw clenched at the possibility. He did this to Raven… Planning these attacks… If Buchannan is behind this, he’d going to die by my hand.
“We don’t know that.” Nel added, spreading her hands in defence; Thalia only realised then that she was growling out loud. “He might…”
“Buchannan plan trick of wolves.” Thalia quoted quietly. “He may not be at the head but he’s a leader of something. He’s a part of it.”
Lara frowned at the words, the paper still in Thalia’s hands. “If the Vampires aren’t planning on wiping out wolves with humanity knowing of our existence, then how are they planning on killing us?”
Dave clenched his jaw, along with many of the others in the room. A few snarls echoed in the cabin, adding to the slight eerie feel of the candle lit room. “Is there any more information on these freaking scraps?”
“Hey, I got what I could before we had to leave!” Nel snapped, Tin easily holding back his ferocious mate from launching into her wolf and clawing at his friend.
“We might have had a bit more time if you didn’t eat the bloody keys!” Dave retorted, ready to fight the white wolf. Kelly trembled beside him at his anger; he immediately flipped the switch and backed off from the possible fight.
“Sorry Kelly, I let my anger get the better of me.” He whispered into the blonde curls, placing a gentle kiss on Kelly’s worried mind. Quentin’s heart melted at the sweet interaction, but he caught his Leader’s eye. While three of the couples were standing next to each other, Thalia and Elijah were standing on opposite sides of the table. Elijah stood between Kelly and Dave, and Lara and Greg but Thalia stood at the entrance to the room; like an assassin in the shadows.        The Leaders’ of this team didn’t act like mates; they acted like acquaintances. Tin stared at his Hunter Leader.
“Elijah?” Tin confronted, his piercing eyes not letting his Leader wiggle his way out of this. “What are you thinking?”
His green eyes dropped the façade, unveiling curiosity and knowledge. The Leader of the Hunters, the merciless renowned killer, he looked to his mate then. Their dark and green eyes clashed like the earth they belonged on. While Thalia was still furious for the joke of former Alpha James, Elijah was not angry in the least. He was thinking of one thing at that moment, the possible answer to Lara’s all important question. Thalia frowned at her mate, his beautiful green eyes glistening with one thing she knew.
“Don’t say it Elijah…” She whispered, anger snarling its way in her tone, but her eyes faded to pleading at him. Elijah’s dark lashes fluttered at the emotion in his Princess’s eyes but he had his Hunters and her Wolves to answer to. They needed to know what he thought.

“What about Raven?”