Chapter 220

220 Chapter Two Hundred Twenty

Jackeline ran through the woods until she was tired of running, her thoughts wouldn’t let her rest. She couldn’t find it in her to accept the fate they’d only spelled out for her moments ago. ‘How could they all just sit there and accept the orders they were being given? Sera literally just told them they were going to walk into the biggest army of rogues they’d ever seen and they barely put up any resistance...’

Fishing an arrow out of her quiver, the woman began to dig into the bark of a large tree that stood somewhat secluded from the others. She had run about the area and found nothing to be lurking about. She needed to clear her mind somehow. If it hadn’t been for the bright moon that night, she wouldn’t have been able to make sense of her surroundings as accurately as she did now.

Once she was happy with the digging she was doing, having created five depressions into the bark of the tree, she gave herself a large distance from the tree, climbing up into a tree and making the target almost impossible to see. From her position, she nocked an arrow, her thoughts rushing out along with the one activity that allowed her to think.

She let the arrow fly, along with everything that contributed to the tangled mess in her mind. Memories of the one hunter that had been by her side for the longest time her mind allowed her to remember, Frost...

This was the first assignment she’d received in a while that prohibited her from going with him. It was important and requested by one of the highest-ranking hunters in the world. None of the women that had been summoned for the task were in the position to refuse it and no other was in a position to oppose this decision either. They had then tracked the rogues and come up with a conclusion on where they were headed.

“You will be just fine, Jackeline,” Frost had told her the evening before she left.

“No, Frost, you know I won’t. You, of all people, were there when I lost my nerve. You know what Prometheus uses to determine who becomes a hunter. Hunters don’t lose control of their emotions,” she said to the man.

“No, that’s not true. Prometheus grants hunters their gifts based on the work they put into protecting humans from werewolves. That’s all there is to it. Once a hunter proves they can control their emotions, they are considered worthy of attaining the gifts, but it has never meant the others that desire the safety of all humans are less worthy of his gifts,” he replied, pulling her into a hug, stopping her pacing tendency.

Jackeline remained quiet within his embrace, her eyes landing on the reminder of her defective nature. She ran her fingers along with the bandages that bound the cuts along his arms, “The irony of your words is painful, Frost. Not when I see you covered in bandages because of me. Maybe I am what they call me... A defective hunter, after all...”

.....

The man sighed heavily, “Do you really think hunters should be able to suppress every single emotion?”

Something about the way he’d asked the question then had made her look away from his bandages and seek his eyes. They held tears of sadness, but never let go of them, “We are good at suppressing them. All in the name of thinking rationally. However, when do we reach our limits? Aren’t we allowed to find a way to relieve ourselves of those emotions when they become too much for us to carry? After all, at the end of it all, we are humans, just like everyone else. Humans, hunters, and werewolves... we are all the same inside,” the man said to her.

Jackeline was speechless while he spoke to her. His face caused her even more confusion... Frost had never shed a tear since she had come to know him. He was the strongest man she knew, both physically and emotionally... and yet, at that moment, he’d allowed her to see a weak side of him. “You’re not weak for letting your emotions get the better of you. It only proves that you’re human. We might be better at controlling our emotions than the average human, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have them. Otherwise, the Man god wouldn’t give us these gifts. He only grants them to humans... which is what we are.”

Another arrow sang through the air, striking the target once again... ‘We are all human, huh... Then why are they giving their lives for a mission that they all know they won’t be able to succeed in?’

Her fifth arrow sang through the air and struck right into the bark of the tree, at the centre of the fifth hole that the woman had curved out. With this arrow, the chaos in her mind died down... She’d made up her mind on what she was going to do.

Dropping from the tree she’d been hanging on, she walked up to her target tree and found the arrows had gone far too deep for her to pull out. Sighing, she left them there and tucked her bow away, heading for the camp. She found Brenda and rose to finish up preparing supper, “You’re right on time, Jackeline. Careful, one might think you smelt the meat from miles away,” Elena joked.

“Well, I did know how long it would take them to make it, so that’s also reason to suspect me to be a wolf. It smells good, Rose,” she replied.

“Aww, don’t I get a compliment? I cooked mine as well, you know,” Brenda whined.

'

“Well, you can share it with Elena. I call dibs on Rose’s cooking. It’s divine...” Jackeline replied, getting comfortable beside Elena, “I’ll take the first watch. Just rest when you feel like it.”

“Oh, how did you know we had voted you to take first watch?” Elena asked, humbly receiving her share from Brenda, “You know Brenda, I think your cooking is fantastic. You don’t have to listen to that mean...”

“Rose, where is my share of the meal?” Sera spoke up getting out of her tent to have supper with the rest of them.

“Why won’t you...”

“Her cooking is better. We all know that. No offense, Brendah...” Jackeline was laughing to herself as she watched the whole scene unfold. ‘Sera’s brutal...’ “Come to my tent, Jackeline. I need to talk to you.” The laughter was gone in an instant as though she’d just been called to the principal’s office.

Jackeline got up and followed the woman to her tent, taking her food with her. Looking about, she realized just how much of their luggage they would have to abandon if they were going to get close to the rogues. Running with it would be impossible for all of them. Within the tent, a lantern lay beside a sleeping bag, along with a couple of notebooks and a satellite phone for communication. “What is it you wanted to talk about?” Jackeline asked, getting nervous.

“Have you made up your mind on whether you will be joining us?” Sera asked her, her voice serious... as it usually was. Her silence spoke more than she hoped it would, “I guess that settles it then...”

“Settles what?” Jackeline questioned, her voice raising up a few octaves.

“You won’t be joining us for this mission. I will be sending you back home,” Sera responded.

“Huh, and the rest of you?” she asked her.

“The rest of us will be continuing with the plan. Sending someone for a tough mission that they haven’t agreed upon is just the same as sending them to their deaths. We’ll manage with just the four of us, is that understood?” Sera spoke up.

Jackeline’s eyes wouldn’t leave the ground. Everything the woman had just said was meant to be good news to her ears, however, the thought of leaving them to such a suicide mission was even more cowardly of her, “Can I ask you a question?”

“What would that be, Jackeline?”

“If the information you seek was somehow found out before you went for this mission of yours, would you keep it up?” Jackeline asked.

“That is highly unlikely, so I won’t think of it,” the woman replied.

Jackeline stood for a bit before turning around to exit the room. ‘This changes nothing,’ she thought to herself as she left the tent. “Hey, Jackeline, get this. Brenda’s food is much better than Rose’s. You just have to try it...”

“I won’t be falling for that,” Jackeline replied, walking right past them.

“Aren’t you going to finish up your food?” Rose’s kind voice rang out.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” Jackeline replied, leaping up a tree and making her way to the high branches in the shortest time possible.

..............

It was well into the night when Jackeline came down from her perch in the tree. The fire had gone out and resigned to a light red glow. The others lay sound asleep in their tents. Just when the girl thought she would enjoy the silent cover of night, Elena’s growl reached her ears... ‘Honestly, Elena doesn’t act the least bit like a woman,’ Jackeline thought to herself, frustration itching at her to find a way to shut the hunter up lest she awoke the entire forest.

Jackeline picked up a few extra arrows from her backpack and replaced the ones she’d lost to a tree earlier before setting out to fulfill her mission. The one plan she’d hoped to achieve before any of these loyal hunters would surrender their lives. Dashing forward, she let her thoughts come and go as they could. She stuck downwind and kept her steps as quiet as she could making her way to the front of the rogues in the largest beeline she could estimate.

‘If everything goes according to plan, I should be able to find all the answers without having any trouble... Of course, when does any plan ever go according to plan?’ she chuckled to herself before finally seeing the first sign of a werewolf. There were some that were awake, just as she thought they would be... Taking to treetops gave her the cover the wanted... After getting well within the group of wolves at the front, she retrieved a pair of binoculars from her pocket and began to search through the crowd. At the very front of the pack of wolves was a colossal wolf she could only confirm was a beta alpha... ‘If only I was powerful enough to subdue one of those... This would be much easier. The woman continued to look through and found that some were in their human forms watching and guarding. ‘Sleeping in wolf form definitely allows them to keep their senses sharp, however, I get the feeling this is normal for them. Their senses must have dulled already after getting used to ignoring some sounds during sleep as wolves. Taking the time to think through her plan and keeping her heartbeat steady, she spotted her target, basing her criteria on choosing him solely on the fact that he looked easy to subdue.