137. Cade
Cade
We walked up to the little barn. Did I have the location right? As we walked up, the barn door opened to reveal a hanger with a small plane inside. I noticed there had been a small strip of trees cleared and a little runway. When the man saw Kaya, he stopped altogether and stared at her. I was immediately on edge. We came closer, and the man continued to stare at Kaya. "You're one of them, aren't you?" "One of what?" I asked the man. "You can turn into wolves?"
"How do you know that?" He looked at Kaya. "She has a tattoo on her face. We hear stuff that the women north of here with tattoos on their faces are shapeshifters. We hear them sometimes howling, and some of the residents have even seen some of them shift." I nodded. I didn't know if this was okay. We tried to keep what we were from humans as we never wanted to be hunted. But here, the man seemed thrilled that Kaya could turn into a wolf. Did he just think the women were the only ones that shifted, or did he know that men like Robert and I could also change into wolves? "You are still going to take us?" "I am, and don't worry about paying; it would be my honor." It felt weird the way the man stared at us.
I nodded, and we loaded up in the small plane. It was really tight inside.
We flew for a while. Much longer than I thought we would fly. When we landed, the pilot directed us where to go. He had dropped us off at a small airport, and after telling him we would need to continue to fly to get where we going, he directed us to a much larger airport. We had to walk across the town to the airport without a car seat for Sol.
We had so many strange looks. Kaya had Sol on the baby board. I had a bag full of stuff, as did Robert. We looked like homeless people. But we had been through so much recently. I was happy Kaya just wanted to fly home. It would be much faster than driving. By the time we got there, I was beyond ready to be home. I got tickets at the airport. We would have two stops before we got home. But it still would be much better than if we had gone by car.
We spent a total of 14 hours with stops at the airport. Kaya looked so exhausted by the time we landed. We all were. When we got out of the airport, the heat was excellent. We were in the south now. Well, at least more southern than the Arctic. Like Robert, Sol, and I, Kaya had to remove layers. Sol had been stripped down to just a short-sleeved onesie. We picked it up at the store in the small town closest to Crescent Moon Pack.
All of us were beyond happy when Mark pulled up. He looked stressed and had black circles under his eyes. I was sure it was because Helen was unreachable. He missed his mate. I had an idea of how he felt. When I felt Kaya die, my heart felt like it was shredding. Physically, my body hurt. It felt like my very soul was ripped in two. But, with Mark, I knew it was a little different. He did not know what had happened to her. He knew she was alive but had no idea what state she was in or if she was okay.
Kaya undid Sol, and we strapped her into her car seat. Kaya and Robert are sitting in the back seat with her. Mark and I were upfront. "How is the pack doing?" I asked him. "Honestly, not too good. We have no idea where everyone is. Everyone is so worried. We don't know what to do or if we should return to the North and look for them. Some people think that Howi took them." "Howi couldn't have taken them. He was searching for Crescent Moon Pack."
"He only located the pack shortly after we arrived. Like I told you, we were able to get away not without difficulty, but we made it." "Yeah, well, we should have some wolves return to their pack lands. Maybe we missed something when we were there." "Mark, you know there was no one there." "Maybe people were there, and they had just been hidden." "Mark, how would they be hidden? We would have smelled them." "Maybe they were using silver something to hide."
"I don't think so." "Still, Cade, I think we should send some of us to check it out again." I knew where he was coming from. I knew most of the pack had to feel the same way as Mark. They all wanted answers. I did too, but for them, it was their families that were missing. I needed to find the rest of Shadow Pack. We needed to have everyone together. I would start at Howi Pack lands. They had to have left something. Something we could use against them.
What would I do if we found anyone, though? It would most likely be women and children, and I did not want to harm them. Something about imprisoning children also did not sit right with me. I was not prepared to find anything. But I guess that could be figured out if we saw anyone. I just didn't know what to do.
I sat there in the car, watching the trees as we drove. I was so excited to be home and have Kaya and Sol with me. I had so much to worry about. I worried Howi would come back and come after us. He obviously would not find anyone while he was in the North. If we could not find them and Kaya had no idea where they had gone, then Howi would have no idea where to find them. I knew for a fact he didn't have them; otherwise, he would not have been in the North still when we had returned to Crescent Moon Pack.
But, with him not finding them, what did it mean for the remainder of our pack. Would he come after us? I wonder if he knew Kaya and Robert had somehow lived through what he had tried to do. I assumed he had to know. Kaya was sure he would follow us when we fled. But, I was curious if he would follow because he thought we were some of the northerns running or if he knew it was Kaya. If he was smart, he would have remembered her scent. If he had, he would know she was alive, and he would know where she went.
That scared me, thinking that he would come after us. He would crush us at his full strength, and we needed a plan fast if that was the case. But Kaya had said that planning had failed us and we should just wing it. Maybe she was right. But I didn't like to leave that to chance. I just wish I knew what to expect and what to do about everything. I looked back to the backseat and saw Kaya staring down at Sol in the middle of the seat. She was smiling at our daughter, and even though everything was up in the air, I couldn't help but smile.
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