As the celebration continued, without Alexander and Stella, who had excused themselves, Luna Alina made it clear that she had no intention of letting the fleeing wolves get too far ahead of her team.
"Find them and find them tonight. Also, find out how they got out of the borders. Alexander seems to think that Titan has taken the girl home. He may have. She is a prize catch. He's a smart wolf. That would be a treasure to trap and take home to his mother, so I wouldn't put it past him."
Orion was back at that time to be with his mother for the planning session after showing his brother and Stella to their rooms.
He wasn't so sure his newly found brother could be trusted just yet.
"What about the information Alexander gave about him being with Ayla himself. Does that change anything? What if he is just trying to protect her?"
The Luna thought about it for a second.
"She is a beautiful wolf. If Titan has fallen for her, as your brother wants us to think, Titan will follow her lead. We have to be smart about it, though. Two teams then."
She turned to the head guard.
"Take whomever you need. Keep it as quiet and as small as possible. I don't need a war with Crescent Moon over this if you know what I mean, and I don't want anything out about her. Make sure that everyone one on the team is up to speed with the plan."
Orion went to head out with the team, but his mother stopped him.
"Not you, son. If you leave with them, everyone will know something is going on, especially your brother. If you are right, and he is still helping her, and I don't want them tipped off. I'm not sure how he would, but you need to stay so he isn't aware of what we are doing. I would hate for them to get any warnings."
With a plan in motion, the guards disappeared.
Down in the dungeon, the special team was then deciding who would go where and setting out on their mission.
Once everything was planned out, they were off, leaving through a special entrance very few knew about at the back of the mountain pack house.
Only Luna Alina, Future Alpha Orion, and the special team members knew of it.
That's how secret it was.
It lay, just like the back of the mountain itself, on the border of the boundary and made it easy to come and go without being noticed if need be.
For times like these, it was just right.
What they weren't planning on was Alexander watching out of the large moon glass in the room his brother had put him in when they slipped through.
He sat, watching the moon beams shine it's light through the trees, wishing he could just shift into his wolf form and run through the trees and be with his friends.
It wasn't that he was regretting his decision to stay, he was just wishing that he could check on his friends.
If only to make sure they were okay.
They were heavy on his mind when he noticed movement along the uneven edges of the mountain surface, and then ten wolves started running through the trees.
Even though he hadn't been told anything, he knew exactly what was happening and who they were.
'Oh, Julius, Phoenix, Raphael, Ayla, anyone. I don't know where you are, how far you got, or where you're going, but they are coming. I have no idea what their plan is. I wish you could hear me. Oh, I wish you could hear me to know that ten guards just snuck out of the pack after you guys.'
If the Goddess could work miracles, this was one time he was praying to her that she would do it for him.
He didn't care who heard his thoughts as long as someone did.
They were out there, running in the woods, and he couldn't even warn them that the hunt was on.
It wasn't like they were just casually coming after them either; they were running with a mission.
Alexander watched with intent as the ten wolves split into two groups: one of six and then one of four.
That confused him.
Four of them seemed to go toward the other mountain packs, and he thought about it.
Did they not believe his cover story, or were they trying to catch him in a lie?
Suddenly, Alexander was beginning to worry about his safety.
Would they hurt their own family member?
His mother had only sent four of her team toward Titan's pack to find the group, which meant she didn't think they went that way, not really.
The other six had turned and followed each other in a direction that was toward nowhere, really, just trees and more trees until it met the ocean.
Could that be where they had actually gone?
Alexander hadn't watched them when they left, so he didn't know their plan or where they fled.
Had they figured out where they really went?
If they knew where the group went, all of the wolves would have gone together in the same direction, right?
Alexander had no clue where his friends were, and they all felt it was safer that way originally, but now he was second-guessing that decision.
With the group being sitting ducks lying around resting in the woods, they needed to get moving.
It wasn't the time to be gathering strength, not so close to the Moonlight Shifters borders anyway.
They had stayed in one place for too long at that point.
Back at the campsite, they had made the choice not to do anything to draw attention to themselves.
That meant no fires or anything of that nature, and keeping noises to a minimum.
Ayla fighting a bear didn't help with that, but her ego got the best of her.
The smell of the blood all around the area was a large target too, for a lot of things that scoured the woods, not just the special team that was now in the forest with them.
Luckily, Ayla and Titan would be making their way back to the others soon, and they would be able to start making their way toward a new destination again.
It was then that an overwhelming sense of danger captivated the others, forcing them to flee, and they had no choice.
They had to hide, and fast.
Not long after, Titan and Ayla made their way toward the others to rest for a few minutes before they would essentially go for a pack run again.
That was when they noticed that everyone was missing.
What was also missing was any sign of an enemy or danger.
The feeling of danger still lingered, and had never been more present, so something or someone was clearly present, but who or what?
Now that the two were in stealth mode, skirting the campsite trying to find their friends, it was clear that something had happened, but they weren't sure what yet.
Ayla went to separate from Titan to look for the others, but he wasn't having it.
Then she remembered what he had said when he found her earlier.
This was not the time for her to go off on her solo missions, bite or no bite.
Especially not with danger lurking so close.
Titan had strong instincts to protect her.
All Ayla wanted to do was find her friends and make sure they were okay.
She didn't honestly care what happened to her, just as long as they were not harmed or captured.
That was what worried Titan the most.
As they looked around the place the others had just been, confusion set in.
There were no signs of them or any other wolves or creatures present.
"Where is everyone?" She thought and wished for Titan to hear her.
"No clue, Ayla, no clue. We will find them, though," he thought back to her and grabbed her shoulder.
Concerned, she looked back to Titan for a hint of what to do.
That's when she saw it, something moved in the distance.
Not sure what caught her attention, she motioned to Titan with a nod.
Knowing there was something in the distance, they made their way around, as quietly as possible, to see just what was creeping around their campsite.
The last thing they wanted to do was get caught with the others missing.
Slowly, they made it around the outskirts of the area, and when they came to where she had seen movement, there wasn't anything there.
Ayla and Titan looked at each other, puzzled.
Nothing was making any sense.
The group was gone.
They could sense something was wrong around them, dangerous, and nothing seemed right.
Ayla remembered having a similar feeling once before, but that was on the first day of the mission.
When the witches were toying with them.
She shook her head and put the idea out of her mind because they were in the midst of pack territories then.
Witches wouldn't dare enter the lands there.
The two of them needed to figure out what to do, quickly.
Titan noticed something moving in the distance that time.
It was just a little further into the forest that time, headed toward his pack.
He couldn't tell just yet what or who it was, but there was a feeling of familiarity to it that he recognized.
Not sure why, he nodded to Ayla to follow him.
As he nodded to her, she did just that and followed him and his instincts toward whatever it was that he saw.
Titan and Ayla were now headed toward a denser portion of the forest.
The forbidden portion that Titan had pointed out when they first arrived to rest.
One that was most of the time avoided when wolves, witches, and other creatures traveled.
It was feared by most, and yet something was pulling them to it for some unknown reason.
Ayla worried, deep in her gut, that it was a trap.
For so many years now, everything had been a trap, so it stood to reason that there was a strong possibility that this was too.
Yet, they kept getting glimpses of what appeared to be someone who was headed straight for the forbidden portion of the forest.
Drawing them to it.
That part would be too dense to track or trail anyone properly, so even if they were following someone, how long would they be able to do so?
Why the forbidden thicket?
The two of them followed the mysterious person as closely as they could until they seemed utterly lost.
When they rounded corner after corner of bush and brush, they came to a stop.
There, standing before them, was a cloaked figure, just slightly taller than Ayla.
Titan spoke as if he were talking to an old friend.
"I'm surprised to see you here..."
A voice that Ayla had heard before came from under the cloak.
One that she couldn't quite place.
"Not now. I do not want anyone to know I came, or that I helped. The ones you are traveling with are just ahead. You have a pack of wolves not far behind you at this point. Stay in the Burgundy thickets. I will keep the witches busy. Hurry. Don't go to either of your homes, either of them, Titan. They are looking for her and the rest of you at both. I have to go."
Ayla couldn't help herself, "I know you don't, I."
"No. You don't. Safe travels. You never saw me."
Ayla squinted her eyes, wishing she could see through the cloak, or place the voice, even pick up some kind of scent off of the woman who appeared to be helping them.
Somehow, she managed to completely mask all of it from her.
She was a witch, that much she knew.
Just as quickly as she had appeared before them, the mysterious figure was gone.
Shimmering away through the thicket.
"Who was she, Titan? Why is she helping us?"
"She is an old friend. I've known her my whole life. That one has made it a point to stay close to us, and that is all I can tell you right now. If we want to continue to have her help, that is all you want to know."
Ayla didn't like being left in the dark.
In the past, that is how she ended up in trouble.
"I know you don't like secrets. This has nothing to do with you, I promise. Not really. It's her story to tell when the time is right. Her story affects a lot of people. It doesn't affect you, though. Not really."
"You keep saying not really. That means it does have a little to do with me. We are talking when we get out of these woods. I won't fight it now. When we are free from all this, you and I are sitting down."
Titan knew she wasn't going to let it go.
"Fine, we will talk when we get through all of this. Now, let's get to the others, because I'm sure they are worried about you."
Ayla agreed, and they headed off in the direction that Titans' witch guide led them.
It didn't take them too much longer to arrive where she had hidden Raphael, Rhae, Phoenix, and Julius.
A look of relief was evident on all of their faces when the pair made their appearance.
"Finally!" Phoenix said as he nearly choked her when he ran over to hug Ayla's neck and squeeze the life out of her.
"I thought you had been taken, again. You do have a tendency to run off, and you have been kidnapped before. I'm putting a microchip in you. Swear it."
Phoenix was never one to filter his thoughts, and it was clear in that moment.
Ayla was just happy that she had people who genuinely seemed to care about her.
Having a family was growing on her.
The others just gave her a nod, a smirk, and a small giggle after Phoenix's welcome back.
Raphael had a question, though: "So, did anyone happen to catch who brought us here or why?"
Titan and Ayla looked at each other, and she used her hands to gesture for him to take over.
"Well, she is kind of the guardian of the forest, so to speak. A friend in a way. She sensed Orion's team getting close and wanted to help me, or us, out."
Phoenix and Rhae had the same reaction, but Rhae spoke, "So a witch helped wolves? That doesn't happen. Why would she do that?"
Titan lowered his head before replying, "She has her reasons. Just know that his team is close. We were also told not to go to my pack or Scarlet Crest, and to stick to the Burgundy thickets for a while. They won't expect us to go through here, and they will have a hard time finding us if they try to follow the trail anyway. It's a good plan, actually."
Raphael was suspicious, "Why would we listen to anything a witch has to say. Especially after our trip to the Moonlight Shifters. Plus, if we do what you suggest, it will add time to our trip back."
Titan shook his head.
"You're worried about travel time when we don't have a destination set?"
Phoenix looked at Raphael.
Phoenix knew they needed a plan then.
"What do you propose then?"
"You can do what you want. I don't feel like dealing with Orion's men. At the same time, I want to keep Ayla safe. That woman has never steered me in the wrong direction. You can follow me or take your chances. Up to you, but I am headed down the thicket for now. We can decide as we go. Staying still isn't an option, though."
After he spoke, he started walking down the trail and shifted as it thinned.
Ayla didn't know what to do, but the bond was pulling her to follow him began to disappear through the narrow paths of the thickets.