The Bite (Book 1)

Original Edition - Chapter 67: The Bite

Andrea smiled at me as the keys landed at my feet. I felt my heart burst with a fountain of relief. Evan nodded to Jake who started to chase after me because once those keys hit the ground, they were in my hands that were pumping hard as I ran to Ethan.

My beast howled out for him and I wasn't going to keep her away from him much longer. I lunged and let my shift come; paws hitting the dirt with the keys in my mouth. I ran hard towards him; I didn't give a shit about who saw, I was innocent. It was made public, and I was getting him out of there come hell or high-water.

I tore through the bushes towards the familiar scent that made my heart leap. It sang to me as I neared it; as I neared him. However, once I broke through the bushes and landed on the dirt, all I saw was dried blood and an empty collar.

I barked out angrily as my heart stilled in my chest. My beast panicked, as did I. I looked around in a circle before looking back to the empty collar.

"Ethan?!"

I jumped into the bushes again and smelled around furiously for him. He wasn't there. He wasn't there, but his scent and blood were. I felt my heart twist some more. He had just been there, the scent was fresh, but he wasn't there.

"Ethan?!"

"Evan! Evan he's not here."

"WHAT?!" Evan roared across our link.

I circled around again as panic started to invade my brain. "He was just here but now he's not."

I took a deep breath and tried to smell him out, feel him, find him. I caught a trail in the breeze; it smelled like him and the energy that was constantly rolling off of him now. My beast growled and took off towards it, passing a confused Jake along the way.

We ran hard. The trail wound us between trees and led us further than we thought it would. His scent grew stronger, but he also smelled of blood and small traces of silver. I growled some more. My beast was ready to protect her mate, to find him.

We pushed some more and got to a creek where we could smell that he had been. We furrowed our brows. Where the hell was he?!

"Alright, calm down Char Ryder, Jake, and I are out now. We'll find him, little sister."

I knew Evan's words were meant to be comforting but they did nothing for me. "Ethan where are you?!"

I sniffed the air and caught the scent again. I wondered if he could even link, if his mind was still too weak from all the silver. I groaned. I groaned as I saw little droplets of blood that littered the trail, a familiar trail–Billy's trail.

My beast snapped her teeth in the air. So help us if someone was hurting him; there would be a trail of bodies in our wake if that ended up being the case.

I ran hard up the challenging trail. His scent got stronger which made me run harder. My beast slipped a few times and stumbled as her frantic feet sloppily ran; we were too consumed with a mix of fear and panic to pay attention to our feet. Fear that was making every horrible thing run through my mind.

I quickly turned a corner down a familiar tree-lined path. The trees were swaying in the night wind that was sweet and carried his scent to my nose; he smelled so good, so much like a damn alpha male. It made me shiver. I rumbled and pushed forwards until I broke through the tree line to my favorite creek.

A creek that he was in.

I let out a sigh out relief when I saw him. My heart seemed to slow down and take a breather while my anxiety dissipated.

"Evan go home I found him."

"Just don't do it in our damn house, I really want to sleep in my bed tonight."