Hunting and Gathering

"Did... we do something wrong?" Veltar asked in confusion as he looked around the many pairs of eyes on him and Jess.

"No, it's on me. I'm trying to make things better with Myranda, but I keep just upsetting her more," Joss admitted in defeat.

"What did you do? I've never seen her so cold to you before. What did you say?" Jyriah asked with exasperation.

"I uhm....I may have forced her very, very disrespectfully to take me to my sister..." Joss mumbled a little and move his head away from as many eyes as he could.

As if they practiced it, they then turned their gaze to Metas to gauge his reaction.

"What? You look at me like I did not know already..." he said with one raised eyebrow as he looked amongst his company.

"You're not mad?" Joss asked apprehensively.

"No. I am disappointed, but I'm not mad. We're all upset and at some point, boils over," the alpha replied with ease and shrugged. He truly was not bothered, and he was happy to let them know it.

"Don't do it again, though" he followed up with a clear warning ringing in his words and tone.

"I promise I won't. I feel terrible," Joss answered and sighed.

"Don't worry about it, babe. She'll come around and understand you meant well. If anyone else here had done it other than you, we'd have a problem, so let's count this as a win. The right guy upset my sister - anyone else would be on the ground right now," Jyriah answered with a cheeky grin and rubbed his hand up and down his mate's back in comfort.

"I think we can all understand both of your reactions, Joss. Just give her some time to come around," Lara added with warmth as she leaned onto Ajax's shoulder in fatigue and closeness.

"Thanks, guys...I hope you're all right. She's pretty upset," the male twin lamented, but let his words peter out as he leaned into Jyriah for comfort.

Veltar and Jess were honestly just happy to have the spotlight off of them.

"If we're going to start bringing survivors here, we need to consider how to shelter them as well. If we can get a few more strong wolves, we can start a burrow near here and keep it hidden. I don't have any light crystals that would work, but most of us should be able to see fine in the dark," Ajax said to change the subject. The tension in the air had made him far too anxious, and this was the only way he knew how to get out of it.

"Good idea. I mean we'll have more mouths to feed - but we'll also have more hunters," Lara added in support.

"What about kids?" Jyriah asked, knowing it was the question no one else wanted to ask.

"....That's...not something I wanted to think about..." Metas confessed and sighed before he continued, "...but you are right. We have to consider that as grim as it is. Silas has practically lost his mind. I can see him using the pups of others to to get his way, hell - he'd kill a child to make a point if he felt he needed to. If you haven't noticed by now, he has no problem throwing people away to get what he wants."

Everyone just merely nodded in agreement at his words, and fell into an uncomfortable silence that lingered around as the unpleasant idea filled their heads.

******

Myranda grunted to herself as she tromped through the woods on all four of her sore paw pads. It was better than being on her two feet, though - her body was heavier, and the pain wasn't distributed as evenly as it was when she was in her bestial form.

"...talk to me about Syrana...you don't know anything about her...trying to look good...rasmfrasm...rrrff..."

As she plodded along, she scanned the ground for any glint of silver traps that she had run into before. Myranda was truly scarred by that experience, and wanted nothing to do with reliving it. For now, she just didn't want to have to be near Joss - or anyone, really. Even Metas.

Sometimes, you just want to be alone.

The grieving sister sniffled as she allowed her eyes to release heavy, large tears that soaked into her coat. If only Syrana were here now. If only she had gotten to live the life she deserved. It all seemed so unfair, being that the only reason any of this was even possible was because her older sister pushed her to giving the prince his dues.

She would be eternally grateful to Syrana for that, and she'd make sure everyone else knew to be to when this was over. She would never ever let her memory die, and if she could manage it, she'd even get a holiday named after her. In fact, Myranda would make it a fancy dance party - Syrana loved those the most. She loved any party where there was dancing, really. The fancier, the better.

Myranda smiled a little at the thought of her sister's selflessness and generosity. It would be a classic Syrana move to gift a mate-less female the mate she had left alone. The fact that Jess was Joss' twin only furthered her belief that Syrana would want to reward the woman who protected Syri with all of her might - as well as to comfort the mate who had longed for nothing but the touch of his other half, and was sorely denied.

It's why she wasn't mad Veltar or Jess; It's why she was so mad at Joss.

Syrana's gift was more than selfless, it was beautiful - and for anyone to ruin that made her furious. In fact, it was so foul she swore she was inhaling a stinky scent just from the thought of it.

...but then it grew heavier and hotter, and she stopped dead in her tracks as her perked ears lifted up to listen to the budding night around her.

It was silent.

No bugs. No animals. Not even wind.

Deathly, and utterly silent.

Instead of being blinded by sight, she closed her eyes and focused on gripping onto anything to give her an idea of what was around her. Myranda wasn't good at much - but her ears were strong and heightened above all of her other senses.

If she could keep calm, she could pick out the source of silence. Whatever it was, it was either big, or it was fast - and it was more than likely one of those vampires.

"Is this all Silas sent us?" she could hear their near-breathless whispers easily. There were three of them - two males and a female.

"Did you ask for a moving meal?"

"No, but I want it. If we can make her run fast, it will heat up her blood more - and then taste better. Let me hunt her, please please please."

"He's right, you know. That one isn't big enough for the three of us, though. This must be a joke - or we're early."

"If it's not the latter of your choices, then we'll have to pay him a visit."

Now Myranda had two choices - stay and fight, or try to run as fast as she could back to her mate, brother, and friends. There would be no way three of these chumps could take on the entire group, hopefully. If not, then what?

She at least decided one thing - she'd stay as long as she could to gather as much information from them as possible before she took off. There was no way she'd stand a chance against three fully-trained, adult vampires.