DPOV

"You are mine."

I pulled back in shame but tried not to let it show on my face. By the confused look on Rose's face, I hadn't succeeded.

I doubt she would understand. I knew she loved me, and she didn't take offense to those words, but the fact I had used and more importantly meant them with all my heart was frightening me. Not that I didn't want her to be mine. I wanted us to be together for as long as the universe allowed. But in my mind, she was already mine. It didn't matter I hadn't actually placed the mark on her yet or not. I had claimed her in my head, and she had had no say in it.

I was no better than my father.

I moved out of the water trying to get back to the camp as quick as possible.

I heard Rose yelling from behind me. I turned around and saw a gentle, loving smile, mixed with some more mischief that seemed to be laced in almost all of her facial expressions.

"You might want to put on some clothes. I know Dragons don't take offense to nudity as much as humans, but I don't want everyone else seeing the goods that belong to me."

She walked over to me and softly stroked my chest and abs.

"This is all mine, just as I am yours, and I won't have others ogling it without my permission."

She kissed me on the cheek and then put on her clothes. I smiled. She had known why I pulled away and she had found the perfect response to make me feel at ease again. Rose had given me permission to call her mine. And if we made it out alive, I would make it official. I would claim her, so the whole world could see we belonged together. So the whole world could see how much I loved her.

Most of the Dragons were still sleeping as we came back. Some were just waking up with heavy groans. I decided to start breakfast. Nothing woke Dragons up faster than the smell of food, you know, other than a cold bucket of water. I had cooked a lot of meat last night, and we would be bringing most of it with us. We wouldn't be able to start any fires anymore so cold meat would have to do. And cooked meat lasted longer than raw meat. Although with these sub-zero temperatures, I don't think we'd have to worry about the meat going bad.

I saw everyone was taking their time with breakfast as to avoid the long walk today. I had planned the longest walk for today. So I knew if we could all make it through this day, we would be alright.

"Pack it up, we are moving out in ten."

They knew better than to argue with me, but I did see a lot of disappointed faces.

As I had predicted, the day had been brutal. But to my pleasant surprise, Rose had made it through relatively unscathed. Yes, she was exhausted, and she looked a little frazzled, but she certainly wasn't the worst one.

"Set up camp for the night, but we are too close for any fires."

They all nodded.

I had set up my maps and things on a rock and was pinpointing exactly where we were and how far we traveled today. It would be another day or so before we reached the start of the forest. We wouldn't really know where to go from there. The forest was huge, and there were hardly any structures so, we would have to send out several scouts to be able to get any information.

"Mapping out the base camp?"

Stan was standing beside me watching the map and watching our surroundings. We would have to figure out a base camp to send our scouts out from. We didn't know how long we would be there, but we had to have one place where all the scouts knew to return to.

I nodded at Stan's question.

"It will take another few days to get to the center of the forest. From there we can send out scouts."

We both looked at the map but all there was on the map was trees. We had no idea how accurate this map was. There weren't a lot of people living here, and the ones that did didn't make maps.

I folded up the maps again and declared them useless.

"We won't know what we are dealing with once we get there."

"So we just keep moving?"

"We just keep moving."

And that is what we did. Another three days and a lot of tired Dragons later, we were finally in the center of the forest. Or what by my rough calculation should be the center of the forest.

The spot we made base camp wasn't exactly bad. There was a clearing in the forest, surrounded by trees. The trees looked different from what we were used to. Our trees were green and lush, these almost looked ominous with thin dark green leaves. They were covered in snow, as was everything else. And the spaces between the trees meant it didn't really feel like a forest but more a piece of land with some trees scattered around. But the trees went on for miles and miles, and it was the only open place in the vicinity, the only thing breaking up the line of trees and the vast tundra surrounding it was the large snowy mountains in the back. They seemed pretty close, but I knew that those mountains were at least a week's flight from here. I couldn't even imagine walking that distance as a human.

We were still on a strict no fire order, and I knew many Dragons were starting to get irritated. During the day they had the sun to keep them company, but now that the sun had set, and we only had a sliver of light from the moon to help us see, it was starting to become difficult for them, certainly the youngsters.

"At first light, I will send out four scouts, in all four directions. We need to get the lay of the land and see where possible hiding places are."

We were now sitting around in a circle. Normally a blazing fire would be in the middle, but tonight it was a pile of snow. Conversation was almost non-existent. I knew they all craved a little action, but they seemed to realize that most of this mission was to gather information and stalk our prey rather than to actually engage. These were soldiers; they didn't do well sitting still. But we needed to be smart and not rash if we were going to make it out alive.

It was another cold night. Even with Rose pressed firmly against me and my internal flame, I could feel the cold starting to seep into my bones. Maybe it wasn't just the cold; it was the fact this place seemed to be devoid of life. It told me two things. One, animals were smart, living in this kind of environment was harsh, and only the most adapted will survive here. But this place didn't have any animals, no birds flying over, no snow foxes scurrying to their holes. And it wasn't because no animal could live here, it was because they recognized that something else lived here, something you stay far away from. The only comfort I took from that was that we seemed to be getting closer.

In the morning I sent four volunteers out. They were very eager, because at least they could do something, whereas the rest of us just had to wait.

It was a long wait. I had told them to be back before the moon was at its highest point. Three of the four had made it back in time, but the fourth had arrived only at the new dawn. But where the other three had come back with very little useful information, except some general area observations which would help me improve our map, the fourth had a look on his face which led me to believe he had some information of value.

He, me and Stan walked off to the side and started to discuss what he had seen. It wasn't much, just a hunch and we would have to investigate further to be sure, but it was a lead and a direction to look for.

"I will have the scouts concentrate on this area tomorrow, but still only recognizance. We need to know how many of them are there and if the leaders are present. When we strike, we need to take them all out, no exceptions. Otherwise, word will spread, and we will become the prey, not the predator."

The scout agreed to keep the information to himself and to take a few others tomorrow to show them what he had seen.

We came back to the fireless circle. I sat down next to Rose and pulled her close.

"Everything okay?"

Her sweet and concerned voice immediately pulled me from the General mode, and I could relax a little.

"Everything is fine. One of the scouts has seen something West of here. There will be a larger party scouting it out tomorrow."

She nodded as she snuggled deeper into me, trying to find warmth anywhere she could. I didn't think it could hurt to tell Rose that information. It would be common knowledge in the morning anyway; there would be several scouts going in the same direction, but any details I would have to keep to myself. The last thing we needed was one of the younger Dragons running off and taking matters into their own hands.

Another day went by, and I noticed Mason, in particular, getting worked up. How did I approach this? I needed him to calm down and stay focused. But every time I tried to talk to him, I tended to scold him or be rude to him.

I sat down next to him. I had started to woodwork a little to pass the time. I took a thick branch and started to carve away. I didn't know from the start what I would make, and in the dim moonlight or during the day when the sun was hidden behind clouds, making it eerily dark, it was hard to see sometimes, but they always amounted to something. We had enough knives around for him to blunt one on a piece of wood.

I extended a knife and piece of wood to him. He took it but didn't take any action to use it.

"Sitting still is always the hardest. Simply waiting for the action to start, not being able to relax because you have to be vigilant, but also not being able to do much. I always hate this."

He nodded.

"Half the day I imagined a Snow Dragon attacking our spot just so we would have something to do."

My face turned into a scowl, and I saw his face fall again. Damn I didn't mean to do that, but I wouldn't want to encounter a Snow Dragon just to get rid of boredom. I would rather be bored my entire life. We had to fight Snow Dragons to keep others safe. I had expected that, and I made damn sure that when they do get here, I am ready, but wishing them to come, speaks of his naivety. Because no matter how prepared you are, fighting Snow Dragons is never easy and each fight could always be your last.

"Maybe we can organize a training session. Sitting still isn't my strong suit either."

I tried to smile at him, but it didn't seem to come across. So I simply started to woodwork next to him. Eddie came and joined us and took a piece of wood. He seemed to understand the benefit of waiting more than Mason did.

After a while of Eddie and me shaving away at our wood, Mason got up a little frustrated.

"I am just going to get some fresh water from the stream. I think we are running low."

I looked over to the reservoir and saw it was more than half full, but if he needed a walk, he should go. I saw Eddie looking at me in alarm and making an excuse to go with him. I sighed. Was I really that scary? Or was Eddie more concerned about Mason?

The four scouts came back, and we conversed about what they saw, which wasn't much.

"We see some activity here and here,"said one while pointing at the map.

"But we can't determine how many Snow Dragons might be there and if one or more of the leaders are present. I think the activity is too low for it to be any Snow Dragons of significance. If they were the ones behind the organization of this, I would expect them to get more information from the front and therefore more comings and goings."

I nodded. This was probably a midway station. That didn't mean it was useless. We would have to move out and interrogate them. But we had to be smart about it. We couldn't let any of them escape. If word got out we were here, our entire mission was for nothing.

"Watch them for the next couple of days, if there is still no increase in activity, we move and take them."

The four of them nodded, and we moved back to basecamp, unaware of the young recruit who had listened in on everything.

It would mean another two or three days of doing nothing. Although I didn't mind the wait per say. I didn't like being inactive. Maybe I could organize some running or something to keep our bodies busy.

But for now, I was grateful it was time to sleep. At least it meant a few hours of being occupied.

I woke up earlier then I was used to. The nights were long here, and usually we were woken up by the first light, but the moon was still high in the sky, and there was no sign of the sun. I looked down to find Rose gone. That was what woke me up, the lack of her warm body pressed against me.

At first, I simply thought she had gone to relieve herself. She might be half Dragon, but she certainly had inherited a human-sized bladder.

But after ten minutes she still wasn't back yet.

I started to look around and counted the sleeping Dragons. I was four short. Rose was gone as were Eddie and Mason. Now my first thought was that they were planning a prank, but I noticed Rose had taken her blade. Although not a bad idea in these woods even if she had gone to pee or to prank, somehow I knew she had taken it because she moved further away from us and expected danger. And to my horror, I didn't see Christian anywhere either. Although young and eager, Christian had been in enough battles to know when to sit still.

I would have expected Mason to maybe try something. I would have thought Eddie to be a better judge of the situation, but the fact Rose and Christian were also gone alarmed me. Rose had a bit of a rash streak but she wasn't stupid and Christian would have stopped the whole lot from going.

So what made him go with them? What made Rose go with them?

The thoughts were enough to be alarmed, and I woke up the others, hoping one of them had heard something or knew where they were. But none of them had a satisfying answer, and I felt the dread spread across me as I knew this didn't bode well.

"All their stuff is gone."

I looked over to where the other Dragon was pointing. The dent in the snow told us it used to be occupied with something. But indeed, Eddie and Mason's stuff was gone. To my relief, Rose's and Christian's stuff was mostly still there, aside from their weapons.

It seemed Mason and Eddie had a different plan for what they wanted to achieve than Rose and Christian.

"Spread out, find their tracks and let's hope we find them before they do something stupid."

I should be mad at Rose and Christian for simply leaving without informing me, but I had to reluctantly agree that at least if Rose and Christian were with the boys, their chances of survival went up.

I strapped on my own weapon and moved along with the other's to trace their tracks. But the wind and fresh snow had a way of covering their tracks. We could make out some footprints at the beginning even in the middle of the night, but we lost them quick enough. We had to wait for first light to be able to effectively track them. But the hope of dawn was quickly squashed as it revealed an almost pristine pack of snow, with no interruptions anywhere.

We would have to be smart. Where could they have gone? As I looked to the West, I knew. They had figured out where the others had observed activity and they decided to take matters into their own hands.

They were morons.