Page 50 of Tangled Fates

I swallowed hard. “Just regaining my strength. I’ll be fine. But now that we know where Brody is, we have to go after him. We have to get him before someone else I love is killed.”

Levi heaved a heavy sigh. “Then, that’s what we’ll do. Now that we know we’re familiar with the area, we can come up with a plan of attack.”

“We can’t just leave the pack unattended, though,” I said as I voice regained strength. “They’ll be vulnerable if we all leave.”

The smile in Dean’s voice was prevalent. “Spoken like a true Alpha.”

“Good on you, Raven,” Levi said.

It was Hudson that placed his lips against the shell of my ear, though. “You’re doing great. Just keep doing exactly this.”

His words brought me comfort. “Are there protocols in place or something for this kind of thing?”

“Actually, there is,” Dean said as he sat up. “We’ll get them started while you and Levi come up with a plan of attack. Hudson?”

He pushed himself up from the floor. “I’m coming. You need help getting up, Raven?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. I need to take a few more breaths, anyway.”

“I’ll help her up when the time comes. You guys go activate those protocols. We’ll have a plan in place by the time you guys get back,” Levi said.

And as we all went our separate ways with our orders in hand, a shred of hope crept its way into my chest.

I couldn’t do anything about my mother and father.

But I sure as hell could show those bullshit bears that they weren’t taking any more of my family for their own nefarious purposes.

Even if it got me killed in the process.

17

LEVI

I charged up to Raven’s left in wolf form. Be on high alert. We’ve officially entered bear territory.

Hudson brought up the rear behind her. Got my eyes peeled.

Dean peered over at Raven from her right side. If you see something, remember those one-word commands. We move where you need us.

I skidded to a halt. Stop!

All of us dug our paws into the wet dirt, stopping ourselves as quickly as possible. We hunched down, keeping our noses to the ground and our eyes leveled in front of us as I swept the perimeter. Every single hair on my body was bristled. I sniffed the ground before sniffing trees. And the air. And rocks that protruded from the hellish world beneath our feet.

There’s a bear nearby, I said as he turned to face everyone else. Silence everything. Now.

I altered my breathing pattern to slow inhalations through my nose. I watched as Raven dipped down, sinking her belly to the floor, causing her whiskey-colored coat to blend in with the dead leaves and twigs that surrounded her. Hudson escaped into the darkness, with nothing but his beady eyes poking out and shimmering as the sun began to set behind us. And as Dean stayed on Raven’s right, moving where she moved, I kept my nose trained on that scent. That putrid, dead fish sort of smell.

Before I heard those lumbering footsteps.

Levi, hide. Now. I can hear them, Raven said quickly.

I scurried up into a tree to keep an eagle eye on us as shrubs rustled around. The heavy footfalls were accompanied by an absolutely disgusting smell that wrinkled my nose and made me want to slaughter the entire crowd coming for us. But I forced myself to hold my position. I watched as three bears walked right beneath the tree I had charged up, and I held my breath, hoping and praying they’d pass us by.

Don’t hold your breath, Hudson said as his voice emerged from the silence, it’ll race your heart and give off a scent they can track. You know better than that.

I resumed my quiet after the not-so-kind reminder that even the most seasoned shifter could fuck everything up with bullshit human survival tactics. I breathed in and out slowly while I counted down the seconds, Raven doing the same.

I heard her counting down the seconds they were out and about around us while I perched in the treetops, watching those dumbass bears lumber around like fucking boulders rolling down the mountainside.

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