The Bite (Book 1)

Original Edition - Chapter 26: Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animals!

Life was a barrel of anything but fun for the next two weeks. Levi had the place on lockdown after the attack, which meant that I was on 'super lockdown.' Derek and Elliot tried to help. We have many movie marathons in Derek's room, and when Derek was feeling better, we had many baking lessons that I was tragic at.

Remi and David would come by to visit me. I found myself growing more and more fond of Remi, he was a good wolf. Liam didn't come around. According to Remi, it was on Lander's orders, his father didn't trust him not to do something stupid around me.

The pack searched and searched and searched for traces of the rogues. It was a full-out witch-hunt.

But they found nothing.

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Nothing.

Bowie was furious. He and Remi spend six days out scouting rather than three because the first time around the perimeter they found nothing and Bowie didn't believe it–so they did it again. However, Bowie and Remi found nothing, not even a footprint. There were not even traces of magic lingering in the air, which according to the 'old bats' that Lander spoke to, would be there if they had used magic to hide their scent.

It was a terrifying enigma and it drove Levi insane.

He called many of our pack-neighbors and asked them for help and intel. Only two other packs had instances of something like our attack, but in their case, it was only a sighting not an attack, and by the time patrols got there the rogues were gone along with their scents.

There was nothing we could do.

Levi did have more cameras installed all over the border and tightened up security, but it wasn't enough for him. I could see it in his eyes when he drank his coffee in the morning, the thought that rogues could harm his loved ones only drove his wolf crazy man with bloodlust.

The only good thing that came from it was that Levi slowly started taking back his title from Lander. Little by little he would take responsibilities off Lander's shoulders, which allowed Lander to function as his wolf was supposed to, as Levi's first beta. It was a relief to his wolf, you could see it visibly on him; the stress and toll that created early wrinkles on his face were no longer there, he looked more youthful, healthier.

The same applied to Levi. Lander told me that Levi's wolf would not be able to stay away from his pack for long, it was his calling, his duty. It was what his wolf was meant to do, what every fiber of his being longed to do, and it was evident in his eyes.

The more he took from Lander, the more it seemed like someone breathed energy back into Levi's soul. He looked healthier as well, more content with himself. It was like it started to slowly de-age him, even his hair started to fade from gray back to a white blonde similar to Lander's. Levi was the biggest wolf I had ever seen, and for his age, he was in insanely good shape; but as he slowly started to take his title back, it was like his wolf grew too. He was formidable. The power hidden in his veins started to slowly bring him back to life and turn him back into the alpha male that he was.

I would have to be more careful around his ice cream now.

The search died down after a month when the snow finally got to be too thick to be running around in. It was cold out. Damn cold.

The wind was bitter and harsh, it spared no mercy for the land as it swept through. It also snowed. It snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed until I was pretty sure that I would never see the sun again, only the white from a snowstorm.

Levi hated the snow. He was constantly having me shovel it off the porch, the front steps, a little bit of our lawn, and where we kept the firewood stacked. It was a losing battle. I would shovel and shovel and shovel only to wake up the next day to a brand new blanket over the previous days work.