The Bite (Book 1)

Original Edition - Chapter 31: The Valley

I smiled inwardly. It was a small victory for today, but still, it helped to alleviate the pain in my heart. "Me too."

I slept well that night, very well. It almost disturbed me. Considering the day I had, I expected to be restless, but it was like my mind was at peace.

That was clearly not the case. My heart still ached for my family, a dull ache that constantly reminded me that I had left them. That and I kept hearing this hum, this whisper all night. It grew louder as morning came; it wasn't that loud, like a person talking to you, more like the sound of a light wind.

It whispered and whispered and whispered until I swore I could have heard my name, 'Charlotte,' amongst the whispers.

But the whispers died and my sleep was violently disturbed. I flickered my eyes open and met Andrea's storming blue eyes at the sound of a bloodcurdling cry from a child.

The scent hit us.

Rogues.

It stunk like the morning breath of death, almost causing me to almost gag. Andrea and I sat up as the smell thickened and looked around.

A child was being dragged into the woods by a large man and it's mother was chasing after it; but she was not fast enough, the child was getting further and further away from her fingertips.

A snarl erupted from Andrea's lips a growl vibrated off my chest. I looked in her eyes and in that moment, we both agreed on what we knew our wolves were calling us to do.

We ran.

Derek and Evan yelled after us, but we cared not. My wolf was howling in my mind for me to chase after the pup, as was Andrea's. We could feel the urgency, the maternal instinct, driving us forward. We shifted and tore after the rogue, running fearlessly together past its mother to retrieve it.

I found a link, golden and strong as hell in buzzing in my mind for me to take. "Andrea?"

"Yes?"

"Plan?" It probably would be a good idea to have one.

"Kill the rogue, save the kid. Simple."

I laughed in the back of my mind. It was far from simple, and we both knew it. However, her confidence gave me confidence. Her wolf was strong, a strong ass female that could put many strong men ass first on the ground. She rivaled mine and together, we created a formidable team.

The stench increased. I snarled as it thickened, there were more. My wolf wanted to rip every one of their damn throats out and roll in the blood.

We jumped up on a ledge and crawled on our bellies towards the edge, towards where the scent was originating from. Evan and Derek were yelling into my mind, but Andrea and I ignored them. Our wolves were in control now, and there was no stopping the two females from their mission.

Rogues, six of them, were waiting with the boy below us. Why did they want the pup? He wasn't from a high ranked family, his blood didn't smell that strong. So why him?

"They're sick, all of them. The two by the boy are the strongest ones, we need to make sure they don't run away with him again."

"What do we do?"

"I'll come at them from here and you come from behind. If we catch them off guard, we should be able to do this quickly."

"Alright, good luck."

"It's those rogues who are going to wish they had luck on their side," she said a little wickedly.

I smiled inwardly and let my wolf stalk silently back into the brush. It was almost impossible to keep her from attacking them. She wanted nothing more than to rip every one of their hearts out, but we had to wait. We had to be strategic, use our brains.