Hunter's Secret

Titus’ POV

I was sitting enjoying my coffee when a very angry Cameron quite literally broke down my door. Before I even had time to react, he slammed me into the wall, my head breaking one of the picture frames behind me. I may be over twenty years older than him but the aura that is spilling out of him right now is enough to make me feel very, very afraid.

I avert my eyes and turn my head, baring my neck to him, trying to appear less of a threat. I don’t know what is going on, but I know that he will not hesitate to kill me right now if I do something stupid. I can feel a small trickle of blood run down the back of my neck. I am not a weak man, but the strength he is using right now to hold me against the wall is not something I could fight, even if I wanted to.

“What did you give him?” he growls out, tightening his already tight grip on my shoulders. I don’t know what he is talking about, and I am terrified of giving a wrong answer, so I just turn my head even more and close my eyes.

“WHAT! DID! YOU! GIVE! HIM!?!” he roars, sending a quick and very hard punch directly to my side. I groan in pain, and he releases me from the wall. I slid down, trying to catch my breath, he definitely broke a few of my ribs. A cool hand gently touches my face and I look up to see Ash.

She is gently holding my face with one hand and with the other, she has completely suspended Cameron in the air, ignoring his thrashing and threats.

“Titus, are you okay? What happened?”

I am still trying to catch my breath and it hurts to breathe but I manage to get out, “I’m fine. He is not.”

She removes her hand from my face and focuses all her attention on Cameron. She slowly lowers him to the ground and as soon as his feet hit the floor, he is rushing at me again. She just lifts him back up and glares at him. He thankfully takes the hint and calms down some. I can tell he is fighting back his wolf, and I am very glad Ash is unaffected by his aura because it is terrifying.

“Are you done?” Ash asks him, annoyed.

He nods his head yes and takes a few deep breaths. She lowers him back down and steps in front of me, shielding me from his view.

“What are you doing here, Cameron? Why are you not with Hunter?”

“I needed to know what *he* gave him when Hunter was here the day before last.”

Ash looks back at me and I glance at Cameron, which was a big mistake. He growls and takes a step toward me, but Ash just simply turns her hands up, magic dancing on her palms. He takes a step backward and she lowers her hands. Without looking away from Cameron, she offers me a hand and I take it, pulling myself to my feet.

I still don’t look at Cameron, but I do answer him this time, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Hunter and I only had lunch together. I didn’t give him anything else.”

“What did you put in his food?”

“Nothing! I ate the same thing he did. What is going on?”

“Hunter is dying in the hospital right now and no one knows why,” he angrily states.

“And you think I had something to do with that?”

“Didn’t you?”

“No!” I exclaim, “Of course not!”

I am still not meeting his eyes, but I can feel his stare on me.

“Cameron, I was here the whole time. Titus did not put anything into Hunter’s food or drink, and he certainly is not the reason Hunter is unconscious right now,” Ash says, trying to deescalate his anger.

He swears under his breath, “I forgot Hunter told me you were here too.”

He pauses for a few seconds, “Titus. Look at me.”

I hesitantly meet his eyes and they are back to their normal blue. I exhale in relief.

“Titus, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have come in here and accused you like that. I guess I just thought you wanted to take Hunter’s position for yourself.”

“I unde…” I try to say but Ash cuts me off.

“And?” she asks expectantly, glaring at Cameron.

“And I am sorry for breaking your ribs. And your coffee cup. And your picture frame,” he says, looking slightly guilty.

“Alpha Cameron, I accept your apology. I probably would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes.”

“You don’t have to call me that. I don’t deserve this position. Hunter does a much better job,” he says, his voice cracking.

“I don’t blame you for feeling angry. My ribs will heal. It is fine. I know you love Hunter fiercely. I could tell just from our short meeting together a few weeks ago. I would be angry too if my best friend was sick and no one knew why.”

“Still. I shouldn’t have hurt you. I have never been that angry before and I have never felt that much power ever.”

“I noticed,” I say, offering a smile which he returns with an apologetic one.

“That is probably because your wolf knows you are in charge right now, so you temporarily have the power of an Alpha,” Ash interjects.

“How does Hunter deal with this? How is he not flying off the handle every five seconds?”

“Because he is a good person so by extension, he is a good Alpha. He has had a lot more practice than you have, Cameron. He knows how to deal with his emotions. You are going to need to make yourself a little calmer. Hunter will be okay and will take back his position soon,” Ash tells him.

“You don’t know that though!” Cameron exclaims.

“You are right. I don’t. But I am choosing to believe that he will be okay. He has good doctors.”

“Doctors! That was the other thing. Titus, your daughter is a doctor, right?”

“Yes, she is. She is working with one of the top neurologists in the country now,” I say with pride.

“Neurologist?”

“Yeah, brain doctor. She graduated top of her class and completed her medical residency last year. She is now working on completing her neurology residency and should finish in the next two years, and then take her certification exam, which will then make her a licensed neurologist.”

“Wow. That is impressive. Do you think she would be able to help Hunter?”

“It is impressive. And I don’t know. She isn’t technically allowed to practice on patients by herself yet.”

“We don’t have any neurologists around here though. I think that may be what Hunter needs.”

“She has only learned human medicine though,” I say, cautiously.

“Why? She didn’t want to be a pack doctor?”

“Not exactly. She is a human and wanted to be around other humans.”

“I thought she was your daughter?”

“She is in every way that matters but not biologically. I adopted her when she was three.”

“So, she knows werewolves exist?”

“Yes. I am her dad after all.”

“Can you ask her to come then? I don’t know what else to do. I know she probably won’t be able to help but could you just ask her to come look at him?”

“I can ask.”

Cameron’s entire face lights up and he steps a little closer to me, reaching out his hand. I shake it and pull him in for a hug.

“Hunter will be okay. You should probably get back to him now. I will call my daughter,” I whisper into his ear, and he hugs me back.

“Thank you. I am sorry about your ribs again,” he apologizes, pulling back from me.

I smile at him, and he waves goodbye to both Ash and me. As soon as he walked out of the house, Ash started immediately lifting my shirt to look at my ribs. She hesitantly touches my side and I try to not wince in pain. She gently pulls my shirt over my head, and I look down, seeing a nasty bruise crawling its way up my side. I look at her next and her face is full of concern.

“Titus…”

“It’s okay. I will heal. That boy can pack a punch though.”

“I didn’t think he would come here. I am sorry for not getting here faster.”

“Baby, it is okay. And how did you know he was here anyway?”

“I have skills,” she smirks, and I roll my eyes at her.

“I am glad you do. Could you do something for this pain though?”

She nods and gently places her hands on my side, a warm light comes from her hands, and it is so much easier to breathe now. She goes to remove her hands, but I move my hand on top of hers.

“The coolness feels good. Keep your hands there.”

She leaves one hand and the other she moves behind my head and pulls me down for a kiss. She pauses and moves her hand from behind my head, her face once again filling with concern, and immediately pulls me over to a chair, telling me to sit down.

She moves my hair around, and I can tell she is looking for the cuts from the frame. I know they aren’t too bad because I honestly forgot about them. I let her clean the blood out of my hair and revel in the feeling of her gentle touch. I love her so much.

She finishes cleaning my hair and comes around the chair and sits on my lap, facing me and leans in for a kiss, not pausing this time.

“I love you,” she whispers, smiling against my lips.

“I love you too. As much as I want to continue this, my ribs are hurting, and I need to call Raine.”

“I know you do. I need to get back to Hunter too so I can make sure River doesn’t wake up and end up hurting him or someone else.”

She climbs off my lap, gives me another quick kiss and disappears. I make my way over to my phone and dial Raine’s number. She picks up on the third ring.

“Dad? Is everything okay? Are you okay? It is like 5 in the morning.”

“Right. Time difference. Sorry. Yes, I am fine. But everything else is not fine here.”

It has been a while since I have talked to her recently, so I fill her in on the agreement I made with Hunter, the general updates about the pack, and then as much as I know about the situation with Hunter now.

“So, you want me to come home to look at this Hunter person even though I am completely unqualified to treat patients?”

“You aren’t unqualified, just not technically licensed yet.”

“Dad. I can’t just leave my residency to fly home. I have responsibilities here.”

“I know you do but I wouldn’t ask you to come home if I didn’t believe it was necessary. Can’t you just ask for a few days off from your director? Just tell him your dad had a medical emergency.”

“I can’t lie to him! And you are not the one having a medical emergency,” she scolds me.

“Would it help convince you to come home if I told you I have at least three or four broken ribs?”

“What? Why do you have broken ribs?”

“Let’s just say that Hunter’s best friend may or may not have been convinced that I tried to poison Hunter.”

“So, he broke your ribs?”

“Yep.”

“With his fist?”

“Yep.”

“How many times did he hit you?”

“Once.”

“Damn. Remind me to not piss him off,” she says, a bit of shock in her voice.

“I will if you say you will come home.”

“Deal. I could use a break anyway. I am tired. I will catch the next flight out and I will tell the director I had to rush home to take care of my frail father who had a horrible fall and lives all by himself, so he needs someone to help him.”

“I am not by myself! And I am not frail!” I exclaim.

“Yeah, I know that. Do you want me to come home or not?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then I will say what I want to convince him to give me at least three days to come home. He was raised by a single dad too so he will buy that reason. He is never going to meet you anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Fine. Do what you have to do. Let me know what time your flight will be here, and I will be at the airport to pick you up.”

“I will let you know. I love you, dad.”

“Love you too, Rainey. Travel safe. Call me when you have details.”

“Will do. I am going to call the director now. Bye!”

She hangs up and I can’t help but smile. It has been almost a whole year since I have seen her last and even though she is not coming home under the best of circumstances, I am still very excited to see her again.