Chapter Seventy-One (Part One)

Levi's POV

At last. After coming up with a plan, only to show up to a mess of hunters running around. Thankfully Bailey came with us and lent up her power of invisibility. She shielded us from being seen by the hunters.

Had it not been for my mark on Cassie's neck we might not have figured out she wasn't here. As we were looking around for her, Evan overheard someone say that she escaped out of a window after throwing a brick at some woman? I don't have all the details and I pray for them that she's not got one hair messed up on her beautiful head.

Jordan and I moved out to the woods and we couldn't locate her scent at all. I wondered if she'd gotten too far away for me to scent her. But as mentioned before, she's got my mark, I can sense her close by. I just cannot smell he. And that worried me.

"Rest brother. Well find her. You all just need to sleep. Sleep knowing she's in these woods too and that she will be back in the packhouse before tomorrow night." Bailey assured us there as we all stared at the fire.

I rested back against a tree and sighed. The raging heat I felt all this time she was gone was now dissipating, meaning her heat is coming to an end. Two weeks is normally the timeline for a she-wolf's heat to last if it's not eased off by a chosen male or mate. Truly I'm hurt I could help my mate during this beautiful time for a mated pair. Hell even Zachary would've gotten his opportunity to reforge their bond if she was at home with us.

But alas she wasn't. And we have no clue how she has been treated or if she was touched by another male. I mean I would've known, but our bond was weakened by the wolf name she has been given. Thankfully it wasn't silver. Mom says that crap hurts like hell when given in liquid form. 

As I was about to fall asleep, I jolted awake with a sharp pain in my arm. I hissed and my brothers, sister and brother-in-law all jolted up. I removed my jacket and then my shirt only to find no wound on my arm.

"I felt like I'd been shot!" I stated.

"Perhaps it was Cass who was shot and you simply just felt what she felt?" Evan offered.

"But we didn't hear a gun go off. I think all of us would've heard it.." Jordan added.

I shook my head. "Not if they had a silencer on it." I looked up at them. "At least we know she's still alive." It was a horrible thing to say. The knowledge of knowing that my mate was hurt and that it gave me hope of seeing her again felt wrong in my heart, but it also felt right to know she was hurt and that I would be able to comfort her when she's finally found. That made my wolf, Lux, purr in anger and lust for our mate.

**********

A few hours later.

After taking a short nap, the five of us set off again on the trail left behind by our mate and the man who accompanied her.

Thanks to Evan, the best tracker we have. He located where Cassandra and this male were at. Turns out they were only a few miles ahead of us, but what Evan found was there were others following them.

So after we were all awake and had eaten, we set out before the sun rose in the sky. It didn't take us long to find their path, and the second I caught a whiff of my mate's scent. A scent so intoxicating that it forced me to halt in my stride, it was so strong that it made my mouth water. Even my brother-in-law came to a stop and took a deep breath of it. 

Normally I'd be possessive over someone breathing in her heated scent, but I knew better. Her heat made her smell easier for Evan to track her down. So I swallowed my urge to let Lux eat him alive and allowed him to do what he came to do.

"They're not far, a few hundred yards at most." Evan linked.

"Have we found out who her traveling companion is?" Scott linked, he wasn't with us, but he was near. He knew if the hunters saw him they'd know we were here. Zachary and Scott's faces are more recognizable to Katie's family and hunter friends. If it wasn't for them taking Brooklyn, Silas, Zach and Cassandra then Jordan and myself could have snuck into their warehouse without setting off alarm bells. But not after we ambushed their camp.

Vernon made sure to send us little love letters telling us how every hunter in this lifetime knew who we were and what we all looked like. Even down to Rosalie. That little angel is now on their list of who to look out for. She's six-years-old and already has a target on her head. That's another reason why it's taken us this long to get here.

After Silas, Tyler and Rosa all gave us the area to look for Cassie, we had Brooke and my niece go back to France. And since Bailey and Evan came with us to get Cassandra Tyler and Silas went with her. Along with Mom and our father Wyatt. My other father Noah stayed home to watch over our pack with our Beta and new Beta Female, Brad and Becky.

Mary's oldest daughter found out she was Brad's mate on her eighteenth birthday last week. We all knew she was crushing on him and Zach for a while now, but ever since her birthday rolled around she's all but forgotten about Zachary. He teases her from time-to-time about it, Becky being the sweetheart that she is, she blushes and hides behind her mate if he's near.

"Not sure, he's about Noah's age though." Evans voice brought me back to the topic we were focusing on.

"Stop," Bailey hissed. "Look, hunters are just over there." He nodded her head in the direction she saw them. I looked in that direction, my growl was low. Vernon was amongst them.

The five of us all hid, Zachary was beside me as he stared at them. I watched a man approach the small group of hunters gathered around a large tree. He said something to the group before leaving them once more. He looked oddly familiar but I couldn't place him. But as I followed him as he walked away from the group of people I couldn't help but notice a woman with black hair move from around the tree he walked up to.

My heart damn-near stopped in my chest when I saw who that head of dark hair belonged to. Zach saw her too and gripped my arm as I went to stand. "Look." he pointed.

I looked back at where Vernon was standing and growled. The man Cassie was walking with was leading her into a trap. "We need to get to her before he reaches them." Zach said, noticing the same trap I saw our mate being led into.

"We will use our magic starting with Bailey's. She can cloak us with her invisibility power and then we teleport over and take him by surprise." Bailey nodded her head while still keeping her eyes on the enemy.

"And them?" Jordan asked me pointing at Vernon.

I smirked. "I'm sure our King would love to talk to him."

After coming up with a solid plan, me and my brothers decided to use our own invisibility power instead of letting Bailey drain more of her energy. Where me and my brothers can become invisible at any given moment, Bailey can cover our scents and heartbeats from being heard if other wolves are around. And since these are just humans we don't need to hide that.

"Let's go get our girl!" Jordan growled. I agreed and used my power to hide myself from being seen, Jordan and Zachary following.

We three discreetly moved closer. Seeing Cassie and that male stop I did as well.

"What is it now?" the male asked, his tone a little more gruff than I liked as he spoke to my mate.

"I'll tip his throat out!" Lux growled as he paced around in my head. He was itching for blood.

"I thought I heard something." Cassandra mumbled.

The male acted as if he was annoyed by my mates comment. What she didn't know was the noise she heard was my two brothers. They were closer to her than I was. "You haven't eaten or drank much, it's probably nothing." He pulled out a bottle of water. "Take a drink of this." Cassie nodded and took the bottle from his hands. "Let me look around for a minute, you stay here." he spoke and walked off from her before she could speak.

I slowly let that breath out as I felt the brief warmth of sunlight. Morning making it feel less chilly, even though the sun wasn't fully exposed yet.

The man walked back towards Cassie after a minute or so. "I didn't see a trace of anyone following us." He told her, but I knew he was lying. There were hunters just a few hundred feet away from them. "But I can guarantee that will change the longer we sit here."

They began their walk once more and I quietly followed, slowly getting closer to them.

My heart nearly stopped when I felt how disoriented Cassie was. She hit a tree and I saw her male companion become angry. He granted and went to turn to her with his fists balled up. I made the quick choice to us my teleportation ability and and made my way to them quicker than one could blink. When I appeared us made myself visible and tackled the man to the ground. I punched him in the face before I made my way to Cassie. Jordan came up after me and grabbed the guy while Zachary, Evan and Bailey took in the others.

Cassandra whimpered as I reached out and caressed her face. My breathing hitched when those fabulous sparks flowed through my hand from her face. It made Lux purr in delight as we stared at our mate after so long without her.