The Huntress Becomes the Wolf (Complete)

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

~Darcy’s POV~

For just finding out that everything you knew about yourself was a lie, I’d say that Winnie was doing quite well for herself. I hadn’t talked to her once since we had started the trek back to base camp, preferring instead to observe her carefully. It had taken Mani about three minutes of quietness before she had started to bombard Winnie about her new name change… I had to admit that I hadn’t even fully come to grips with it. Nakota… I saw the aspects of the name that fit with her… but then I saw the parts of it that she had yet to grow into. Winnie was a baby name in comparison to her new name of choice. I watched Nakota’s resolve quickly dissipate as she tried to restrain herself from engaging Mani. But in less than a minute what little resolve she had regarding Mani’s prying was gone. It was almost comical to watch as she exploded at Mani… I could safely say that she Mani was thoroughly surprised at Nakota’s outburst.

“Hurry up slow pokes! At this rate, we won’t be back at base camp until dark!” I couldn’t help my eyes from rolling at Mani’s remark. She had cut off Nakota, leaving her to stare at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. Before I could stop myself, a chuckle escaped my lips. The sound caused everyone in the vicinity to turn in my direction with a stunned expression that mirrored closely to one of shock.

“Alright, we got heartless bastard number two to start to laugh, it’s definitely past his bedtime, let’s wrap this up people! Chop chop!” It took a long time for most of the eyes to leave me and some of them keep watching me until we got to the base camp. Sadly, even then all they did was become slightly cleverer in digression of which they watched me.

The camp consisted of many tents with Tiki lamps at regular intervals, casting an almost scenic feel to the land around us. The largest tent was situated in front of a massive bonfire that countless people surrounding it. From my days as a Hunter the gathering of this many people was only about one thing. The spread of information. Some of my bleaker moments in my past were spent at a makeshift camp much like this one, though extremely less advanced. We hadn’t wasted the time or resources with the amount of comforts that Dion had for his people. For some reason the fact that Dion was gracing his people with such luxuries didn’t set well with me, at least in regards to my own past. I tried shrugging off the memories of my past, trying not to let myself get distracted from the people around me. The werewolves around me. All most everyone had their eyes trained on me leaving me to believe that the campfire gathering was about me. I could feel the pressure in the air drop around me as everyone around me except Nakota and Mani kneeled around me.

“Is there a problem, Darcy?” Dion’s voice was cold as his eyes. He held himself tall, making me feel shorter despite the fact that we both stood at six feet tall. After a couple of seconds I began to realize that he was challenging me, testing my resolve and subornation to him. Almost as soon as I realized it a rumbling set off in my chest causing a murmur to spread around the crowd. I spread my feet shoulder length apart and squared my shoulders as I tried to regain control over myself.

“Is there a problem Darcy?” Dion asked again, this time shifting into the same stance as I.  Yes, there is a problem. Oh great, I’m losing my mind again. Oh wait, I wasn’t losing my mind, that witch messed with me before I was born. How could I forget?

“At ease, men. Seems like our little helper is having some problems under the hood,” Several men around me stepped back, giving a slight bow of recognition to Dion. Once again, I had been too caught up in my thoughts to pick up on a threat. My shoulders tensed as it finally dawned on me how many times this had happened to me today. I didn’t have control over myself. I felt sick to my stomach. I turned away, trying to calm myself. I had never felt this way as a Hunter. Everything was absolute. There was no gray area. Now I was in a sea of gray trying to grasp on to any shred of normalcy I could. I started to walk away, letting my thoughts carry me.