Throbbing

Throbbing
Cadeon 
"We did the right thing," Draven assures me as we walk side by side. "Lilieth would've only gotten herself hurt. You did the right thing by coming to me for this. I don't believe it would've been easier for you to deal with that on your own."
I mutter an agreement, but I don't say much. The truth is that I'm crushed by this whole situation—I really didn't want things to get to this point. But Lili is so damn stubborn and she refuses to listen. 
What was I supposed to do? Let her be killed?
"She's a handful," he comments. "It almost makes me not envy you."
"She'll be furious," I state. 
"That she will, but I think the joy of our victory will make this go away. I think that deep down, she's only afraid of not being able to help the people she loves when they need it most. Waiting for good news from a distance is unnerving."
"I guess so."
I have to focus on the fight ahead of us because it won't be easy—we might joke that this will be the end and that we'll win, but nobody has that certainty. It's still a fight, a war, and people lose their lives. 
Draven starts to say, "I don't think that—"
But he cuts himself off abruptly, and when I glance at him, I see that he's watching the woods. I can't see his face, but he's gone still and worry travels down my spine. 
"Is everything alright?"
Draven looks back at me. His brows are furrowed and his face is transformed. "I think I might've seen something. Lead the pack for me, will you? I'll see what it is and come back as quickly as possible."
Before I even nod, he's racing toward the woods. I continue marching, alone this time, and I can't help but wonder what it was that he saw that made him abandon such an important post and leave it to me. 
I guess I'll find out soon enough. 
Minutes later, I'm joined by Golen and Magda. He asks me, "Has she been taken away?"
I nod. 
Her mother exhales in relief. "Thank the goddess for that."
"Don't feel bad about it," Golen says to me. "You did what's right. You're taking care of your family—there's nothing dishonorable about that. She's angry now, but she'll understand it later."
"I fear I'm the one to blame for this," Magda mentions. "I'm like this during every pregnancy. I don't know why—something takes over me, and it feels like I'm going crazy."
"I can attest to that," Golen says before putting an arm around her. "It took a lot of patience. But trust me, Lilieth has her heart in the right place."
We continue marching, and by the time I remember that Draven left, it's been an hour. I mention this to Golen, and he immediately looks concerned. "What do you mean, he's gone? He left an hour ago? You didn't mention it."
"I forgot, I guess. He went to investigate a noise and didn't return."
I can tell by the look on his face that this is bad. Suddenly, it hits me that we could be marching right into an ambush, and it was a mistake to think that my father would keep his word. 
He's never done it before. Not ever. 
"We have to change our strategy," Golen claims. "It's highly likely that they're watching us now. Stay here with Magda—I'll make sure the rest of the group knows what's happening."
"What are you going to do?" Magda asks. 
"We've got to surprise them," Golen states. "Our attack needs to be unpredictable. If not, we're going to lose this war."
Golen disappears and I start to look around. My nervousness is swelling inside of me. I can hardly breathe. I see phantom faces everywhere I look. We've truly been naive—we don't even have a backup plan in case things go wrong. 
"Don't be nervous," Magda says to me. "Everything happens in accordance with the will of the goddess. You have to believe that or you lose your mind with the endless possibilities."
"It's hard to think of her at a time like this."
"Yes," she agrees, "but we must."
We keep going. I'm not sure what's taking Golen so long, but he is. I hear a faint sound to my left that makes me stagger to a stop. As a result, everyone behind me stops, too. 
They're here, and they're watching us. 
"What?" Magda asks. "What did you see?"
"There's someone there," I say, gesturing to a particular bush. Just then, thunder booms, and I feel small droplets of rainwater land on my skin. I reach for my blade, and a peace leaves Magda's lips. I look over my shoulder at the rest of them. The ones standing directly behind me nod, and I realize then that they're aware that we'll be ambushed—Golen must've made that clear. 
They get in position, and a breath later, I lunge at the bushes. 
I bring my blade down on the Gamma in wolf form, and the rest of the wolves who were with him try to run, but they're caught. Just then, more wolves come at us from the other side, and the attack begins. 
We were ready, though, and that makes a world of difference. 
I fight as many wolves as I can, all while keeping an eye on Magda. She's a good fighter, too, and she mostly goes for the fighters in wolf form. For a moment, it becomes hard to focus on everyone else—I just take care of the wolves right in front of me, and I notice that they're trying to attack me more than other people. 
They must know who I am. That's the feeling I have. 
I'm fighting well, cutting down every wolf who dares to cross my path, but something happens, something that's virtually inexplicable. I feel this intense throb in my shoulder, and it's strong enough to make me sink to my knees. I growl as waves of pain crash into me, one after the other. 
The bond. 
Lili. 
She's all I can think of, and I have the certainty that something terrible is happening to her. I don't know why I have this certainty because it's never happened to me before, but my thought process shifts, and I don't care about fighting these fuckers anymore. 
No, right now, my main priority is to find Lili and help her—the cabin. I have to go there and figure out what's wrong with her. This throbbing can't be a coincidence. Dammit, maybe I should've left her right here with us. 
I shouldn't have sent her away. 
I get up and blindly start to make my way through the crowd to get to her, but someone hits me hard on the back of the head, and my vision goes black just before I crash onto the ground.
It returns moments later, and someone's turning me onto my back. My hand reaches out and I grab the Gamma by the neck. I squeeze as hard as I can, fighting for my life, but again, a blow lands on the back of my head, and this time, when I go under, it's for good.