Enemies

Chapter eight - Alyss

*Gwynn! Gwynn!* I tried, but I couldn't reach her anymore.

"She's gone" I said to Desmond and Star who were waiting for me to finish talking to Gwynn.

"Was it really...?" Star started, but she didn't finish, as I already nodded.

"It was Gwynn. The hunters didn't kill her, they imprisoned her." I recounted.

"Where?" Desmond asked.

"I don't know. She didn't say. Our mindlink was weird, like something was blocking it. And then it just... was gone."

"Maybe she's on drugs." Desmond suggested. "I've read about it."

"What did she say?" Star asked. "Maybe we'll be able to figure something out."

I remembered for a while.

"She said the hunters have her. And that there are other shapeshifters with her. Nothing about the place where she's kept."

Star and Desmond were looking at me patiently. I knew they didn't ask about it, because they didn't want to push me. But I still needed to tell them.

"Rod..." I started, but suddenly I felt I was about to cry. I blinked my tears back and gulped. "He's not there. He's dead."

As I said it out loud, I felt the weight of these words. Half a year ago I lost him for the first time and now, just as I was getting used to living without him, for a second I hoped I could get him back. But I had to acknowledge I was never going to get him back. It was like losing him again.

Star hugged me and started to pet my head, but I felt the coming haze, so I unfettered gently from her arms.

"I need a moment." I whispered and wiped the tears off my face. I took my dress off and handed it to Star, then I shifted into a jaguar and set off into the forest, leaving my worried friends behind me.

---

For an hour I was just running around the borders of our territory, trying to get all of my emotions out through the speed and exhaustion. I knew the patrollers saw me and they must have noticed something is wrong, but I didn't care. I would tell them later.

At some point I arrived at the graveyard. I approached the Gwynn and Rod's stele. For a second I thought we would have to get rid of Gwynn's name from there somehow. But first we had to save her.

My haze was already over. I turned to go back to Star and Desmond and I saw a coyote staring at me. It was Leigh, Ruth's twin sister. She was on patrol today and she must have come to check on me. I looked around to find whoever was her partner today. I saw a hawk circling above me. Kay. Ey was one of Gwynn's closest friends.

*Come with me. We have to talk* I mindlinked them both.

Then I mindlinked Desmond to ask where he and Star were and I trotted towards them, still in front of my tent.

---

When we arrived, there was a huge group of people waiting for us. Aside for Star and Desmond, there were Susanne with her parents, Neil, Jude and Star's family.

"We already told them." Star said.

*Fine* I mindlinked her. *Give me a second.*

I entered my tent, shifted and got dressed. I picked up two robes for Kay and Leigh. I took a few deep breaths before I left the tent to face everyone again.

"We have to gather everyone. I want to talk to everyone at once." I said.

"Wait, we have to be careful." Neil cut across me. "Lillie can't find out about it."

"About what?" Kay asked. Ey still didn't know what was going on. I turned to em.

"Gwynn is alive." I replied.

Kay’s face showed a range of emotions, starting with surprise, elation, disbelief, relief, doubt, eventually settling on careful hope.

“How do you know?” ey asked.

“She mindlinked me.”

“Where is she? What did she say?”

“Not much. But let’s gather everyone first. I'm sure everyone has similar questions."

I knew Kay loved Gwynn a lot and ey wanted to know everything as soon as possible, but I was still very confused and already tired, so I tried to cool em out. I didn't want to face everyone sequentially, I preferred to be done with it at a clip.

But Neil interfered again.

"You can't tell Lillie. We have to protect her."

"What do you mean we can't tell her? They're friends, she would love to know." Kay looked at Neil with reproval.

"But she's pregnant. What if she goes into a haze?" Neil pleaded.

"She's going to be pregnant for two-three months more. Are you going to keep it from her all this time? And when Gwynn's back, are you going to hide her from Lillie, too?" Kay folded eir arms, looking challengingly at Neil.

"I agree with Kay." I weighed in. "Lillie is going to notice that we're hiding something and it is going to upset her more than worrying about Gwynn."

Neil hesitated for a while before finally nodding.

"Fine. But I am going to tell her myself."

"I'm going with you." Kay said. "I don't trust you on that."

Neil rolled his eyes. "I'm the father of her child."

"And I'm her sibling. I'm going with you."

And they left. I sighed. On days like this being the Alpha was exceptionally draining. I wanted to just go to bed, cuddle with Star and try to mindlink Gwynn over and over again until I succeeded. I had tried to do that every couple of minutes, but I still couldn't reach her.

*Dinner's ready.* I heard Tinna say through mindlink. Desmond came up to me.

"We can talk to everyone at dinner." He suggested. I nodded and turned to the people waiting for me.

"Let's go to the dining area. We will talk there."