New Beginnings

Chapter 29

Isabelle's P.O.V.

“Wakey wakey people, it’s time to move” I shift position on the forest floor and wait for my eyes to adjust to the light of the morning, we may have been doing this for a while now but I have still yet to get used to the early starts. It has been two weeks since Dylan marked me and we have still yet to find any trace of Elle. Grim looks are taking residence on faces where there used to be hope and the morale that we had at the beginning seems to have been left at a previous camp, no one however has uttered the words of giving up, we have precisely twelve days left before the transfer is made on the twenty-fourth of January and we will not return home before then. We have covered a lot of ground, and I mean a lot, and to come across nothing is odd to say the least. But as Eric keeps repeating, this is the Dark Wolf and he won’t make it easy to find him.

According to signs we have passed along the way we are currently travelling through Snowdonia national park and the smell of the salty air suggests that we aren’t far from the coast, the fact that it is winter really works to our advantage as there is a lack of hikers, climbers, cyclists and all those outdoorsy types of people that I have never understood.

I roll over to see Dylan’s furry back and I watch him push up onto all fours and yawn baring his terrifying but immaculately sparkling teeth. He looks down at me and nudges me with his nose.

“Are you staring at me again?” He says through our own private mind link.

“No.” I growl. “What do you mean again?”

“Don’t pretend that you don’t.” He teases.

“Whatever. You can barely take your eyes of me boy.” I roll onto my stomach and jump to my feet stretching my limbs and shaking the dirt out of my fur as Dylan’s laughter fills my head and makes the butterflies in my stomach go crazy, I thought once claimed this would stop… I was wrong.

After being claimed Drake stated that I didn’t need my tent anymore so we left it in the camping spot and I have been on the floor like the rest of them ever since and we each take turns in carrying the rucksack, I do miss that tent. We have been pretty much in wolf form for the past two weeks, in fact I don’t think I can remember what I even look like as a human. The night I was ‘marked’ or ‘claimed’ was the start of the changes in the groups dynamic. Dylan and I have gotten closer and Eric has distanced himself. He has been avoiding me as much as possible since that night.

When I entered the camp as a wolf for the fist time and the guys found out that is was me they were shocked. But when I looked into Eric’s eyes there was something more, anger. I don’t know why he was angry but there was no mistaking that he was.

The twins still keep to themselves and most of the time they are talking in a mind link between themselves only chipping in if it is about directions or camping locations, that said though they have been a lot more civil towards me, now that I can change I am not holding them up and I am finally a worthy member of the group.

“What’s the plan Drake?” Dom sleepily grumbles. He is always onto the next stage, continuously planning and thinking strategy.

“We are effectively at the top of the national park and there is a village just up ahead, I figure we make a stop, get some decent food, stretch our human legs and consult the map.”

“Really Drake?” The excitement causing me to jump in the air with a happy bark.

“Only if we leave, like now.”

Conway is the name of the village we have stumbled across, it’s is on the sea and has a small harbour that can be seen from the sea front and a larger marina down the road. It’s a very pretty place with cobbles, traditional ice cream shops and fish and chips and even boasts the smallest house in Great Britain. The best thing though is the castle and the walls that surround it which, when all this is over and we have Elle back, I am going to come back and walk. There is a small hotel in the middle of the shopping street and we go in for breakfast, the staff look apprehensive to serve us at first, and who can blame them with the way we look, seven guys one girl and not a hairbrush in sight let alone a washing machine, but we flash a credit card and from then on they couldn’t be more helpful or polite. Eight full English breakfasts, four servings of toast and countless cups of coffee later we leave and I beg Drake for a quick look around.