14 Dylan

"Who's there?" a commanding voice asked.

"Alina Moore, from Bloodlust. Just passing through."

"You're trespassing."

She raised her eyebrows and looked down at him from her perch skeptically. "I know for a fact that the piece of land in front of you, where I am, between Night Stalker and Hunter's Dusk is considered neutral."

There was a pause before the warrior's cheeks were tinted red. "My bad." He said awkwardly, "Sorry. I'm from a visiting pack."

Alina looked at him curiously. "Really? What pack, may I know?"

"We're from Earth, so you probably haven't heard of-"

"Jasper! Where are you?" A loud voice sounded from the direction the warrior appeared from.

"My god! Cayne, mindlinks exist for a reason."

Alina watched as a familiar face emerged from the trees.

Cayne saw her and stopped short, staring at her. "Why are you here? You and your friends haven't been coming to school, have you?"

Alina laughed, "Cole, wasn't it?"

"...No."

"Cerys?"

"What the hell?"

"Asshole?"

He just glared at her.

"Oh, I got it this time. Cayne Dylan of the Moonlight pack? Who the hell names their pack Moonlight? And I thought Bloodlust was sissy."

Cayne's expression shifted some more and he walked away with a huff. Alina could feel the frustration wafting from his being.

"Um, that was interesting... " Jasper Something said.

"Agreed. That's some very constructive feedback you have there."

One of the cats hissed at Jasper, while the other stared at it looking mildly worried for its sanity.

"Aww, you don't like him?" Alina asked. "Oh well. Me neither. Let's go. We have some traitors to kill."

"Mrrow," it meowed, then abruptly sat down to groom its back.

"Lina?" A third person came from the same direction as Cayne and Jasper. Alina's eyes widened.

"Jen?"

Both cats blinked at the newcomer at the same time. Jen and Alina rushed forward and engulfed her long lost friend in a hug. "Goddess, it's been so long!"

"I came here because I bumped into Cayne, randomly muttering shit under his breath, and I caught your name. Of course, I knew that there were probably ten thousand million Alinas out there, but I wanted to check, just in case-" Alina reached up to flick her forehead, effectively stopping her ramble.

"Ouch… what did I expect… Anyway, how are you? How's Delphine? How's Max? How's school?"

Alina shook her head. Jen hadn't changed much. "I'm fine. My parents are fine. School is cool, especially with douchebags like Cayne to annoy."

"Where have you been this whole time?"

"Nothing much, just try to recover from losing my brother."

The only sound that could be heard then was that of Jasper shifting awkwardly.

And the first cat, still hissing at Jasper.

Alina walked over to the cat and picked her up. "You know, I still haven't given you a name yet, but you probably already have one, considering you smell like Hikari and Korū." she murmured, breaking the awkward halt in conversation.

"Jen, I have stuff I need to do, so I can't stay.'

Jen looked at her suspiciously. "I know. You're always doing one thing or another. "

Alina chewed her lip. "Oops."

"We could help, you know?"

"Um, did you just include me?" Jen elbowed Jasper, who still didn't look entirely comfortable with the conversation.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I did. Just come to the pack for a while, I'm sure they'll welcome you."

Alina pondered for a while, before nodding, and following Jen and Jasper as they led her into NIght Stalker territory, the cats following extremely reluctantly.

The blue-eyed cat was continuously hissing at just about every Moonlight pack member she saw and smelled.

***

"Alina's not back yet?" Hikari asked worriedly. Kaguya pranced around her feet.

"No. It's been, what, five days." Linda said, rubbing her forehead tiredly. The pack was slowly returning back to normal, and Linda had many duties as a Gamma on top of worrying for her friend. "Are we going to start searching for her? If she doesn't return within a month without a valid reason, she will officially become a rogue."

Korū picked up the cat. "Maybe she has a valid reason."

"Yeah? Then why would she want to run off without even asking for permission from Alpha Harry or telling anybody?" Linda said.

"Mrow." Kaguya leaped out of Korū's arms, tugged at his jeans, and bounded away.

Linda sighed. "If I had to take a guess as to why she left, I would guess that it's to hunt down the griffins and dragon that attacked your mother and your uncles." Linda suggested, frowning.

"Can't be just that," he said. "She couldn't possibly go and try to take down a fricking dragon and a bunch of griffins for people she's only met like once."

"Well…" Linda paused. "I think she might have anything against griffins…? She never told anyone the details, but I was under the impression that her brother was killed by one." she finished quietly.

"There's her reason. Why else would she run off?"

"Then why didn't she ask us or someone else for help?"

"Because that's what reckless idiots do, and I know that because I am a reckless idiot."

"She's reckless but you're both not idiots." She sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm not making sense. I'm just really worried. For her, for you, your sister, and the pack."

"Heh." Korū smirked, though it held none of his usual energy. "We don't need your worry. We're fine."

"He'll move on," Hikari added. "We all will, someday."

Linda sighed again, shaking her head. "I feel like a mom. So are we going to look for her?"

"Duh."

"Mrow," Kaguya yowled, appearing in front of them again.

"The three of us?"

"Meow."

"I'll talk to John and Alpha Harry."

"Meow."

"Catch you guys later. See if you need to pack anything. I'll most likely be able to get permission to leave."

"MEOW."

Linda meowed back as she hurried away, getting weird looks from her pack members, wondering if she was okay up there, or that the stress was getting to her.

"Mrr…"

Korū picked up Kaguya, earning him another purr.