5

Marcus walked deeper into the woods and came to a stop when he was sure no one else was looking before stripping off his clothes and had them stuffed inside his backpack. The air was cold and blowing bitterly against his naked flesh as he stood butt naked with his head tipped back slightly and listening to the voice of nature around him.

He took a deep calming breath and allowed the burst of cold wind circled around him for another second more before getting in touch with his wolf. Within a couple of second, sound of bones cracking began to fill the atmosphere with furs spouting from under his tan skin in a matter of another nanoseconds before he finally shifted into a huge brown wolf and stood on all four.

He gave a low growl and shook his fur slightly like a wet puppy before proceeding to pick up his backpack within his huge canine.

If he wanted to cover the area faster and sniff her out, he needed to do it  in his wolf form and not as a human.

Marcus hope to God not to run into anyone as it would really be a odd sight of a wolf seen with backpack running around in the middle of the woods.

Having a wolf with a  bag pack might be an odd sight to anyone out there and might decide to take a few picture for the Gram but around here with supernatural creatures crawling back to town is a fucking big deal.

In recent times, wolves has been reported to be seen around town by the locals too many times to him and his brothers. Even though he hates to admit it, Marcus was certain, not only the vampires were returning. His kinds were returning as well but their reason for doing so is what he is yet to find out.

A supernatural war could be brewing right under their noses and they still won’t have an idea about it. 

First thing first, he needed to save the woman he is certain was his mate and after that, he would have to figure out what exactly is bringing those other wolves to Town.

Marcus and his brothers have lived in that town for over ten years now, since they lost their parent and they were finally living a calm, and peaceful life, raising horses and cattle to earn enough to pay the bills and avoid the public eye.

Marcus was the Alpha and the most level headed among the three, yet none of the three had a lot of interest in mating and raising families of their own all these years.

They'd seen first hand the destruction people could unleash on shape shifters and decided to avoid the same history from repeating itself by sticking together as a three-man pack. 

That very decision has worked just fine until this morning when Edwin Roland came with the news of a missing person only to have Marcus realizing she could be his mate the moment he inhaled her sweet scent. 

Damn. 

His brothers are not going to believe him.  Heck, even Laura is likely not to believe him if he told her about the mate bond and stuff. That's, if he was even lucky enough to find her alive before that fucking vampire sink his blood sucking fangs into her. 

His stomach churn uncomfortably at the thought of Lin actually doing something bad to Laura as he began to race further into the woods, his nose picking up her scent across the trail scattered around and following the one where it's most intense.

Without stopping to catch his breath even for a second, Marcus continued to race along, jumping between trees and fallen logs on the ground until he arrived at a path were her scent was the highest.

She was definitely close by. He could sense it from her scent as he came to a stop and continued to sniff the area more before following up the one he was beyond certain that will lead him to her without a doubt.

Anyone will certainly run away from him if he was to go to them in his wolf form and even worst carrying his bag pack between his canine. It was a horrid sight he was aware of.

Aside from that fact, Marcus was picking up movement a couple of distance from their location and from their conversation, he could tell they were the men Edwin told him about and not less than twelve of them and mostly headed his brothers direction.

Fuck

A cold chill went down his spine as he thought about his brothers running into those humans unknowingly and getting hit with bullets. Even though Edwin was with the group, he still wouldn’t want his brothers to be in harm ways for any reason in the world.

He decided to warn them just as quickly as he quickly mind linked them and it turns out they were planning to warn him as they had noticed them too and stayed out of their tracks already.

One of the thing Marcus loved about his brothers, they were not just family. They were team mates and always have each other backs even if they are not together. Since their parent passed, it has always been like that.

With his nose still sniffing her scent, he continued following her. Mostly up the way her trail ended , from all indication. This was the place where she'd wandered into an unknown area. 

But Why? From what Edwin had said, she couldn’t have entered the woods just like that then why the hell did she wander off this far without a second thought unless she was running away from snakes to bears or fucking vampires. 

Fucking Hell, Vampires.

Her smell was mostly blended in with trees and shrubs surrounding him which could also mean, she might have lost track of her path looking for something or maybe someone or whatever the case might have been that led her away and further into the unknown.

A few miles ahead, Marcus came to an abrupt halt when he sniffed a strange smell in the air.

Damnit.

It was exactly as he had feared.

Lin MacArthur has also been hot on her trail as well. He wondered if that jerk has had his way with her already and he was already too late.

Marcus was really going out of his mind at this point just thinking the very worst of the situation.

Without wasting another second, he continued to race along  with adrenaline rushing through every fiber of him. He rather think her to still be alive than dead but then again if she was to be truly alive then he ought to find out why Lin had spared her and exactly what he could be up to.

Lin MacArthur is not known to spare anyone especially if she was all alone in the middle of the woods. That’s the kind of vulnerability he mostly pried on.

But then again, if the moon goddess has destined them to be mate then he can only hope for things to be in his favor not his.

What gave him more hope was in the fact that, there was no sign of blood or struggle anywhere further leading him to believe that Laura was still alive. All he needed was to get to her soon enough.

Her scent was scattered all over the place as he got closer but she was nowhere in sight still. 

Where could she be.

Another thought crossed his mind and he came to an abrupt stop.

Maybe Lin was using her as bait and playing a sick game with him all along knowing that he'd come for her as soon as he realizes her to be his mate.

Fuck.