Hunter's Secret

Hunter’s POV

I spent the next two weeks on very limited physical activity, and I think Cameron checked on me more times in those two weeks than my parents did my entire growing up. He was like a very worried mama hen and honestly, I appreciated the concern. I still don’t know exactly why my body reacted the way it did, but I guess I will just need to be hypervigilant about taking care of myself. I never want to go through that again and I certainly don’t want to put the people I love through that again either.

Cameron passed the Alpha duties back to me as soon as I was feeling up to it and he was visibly relieved to not have that pressure on his shoulders anymore. Today is my first day “allowed” to walk around without Cameron-shaped chaperone so I decided to go to talk to Titus.

I knock on the door and Titus answers, and is surprised to see me but quickly invites me in.

“Alpha Hunter, you look like you are feeling much better, but I am surprised to see you out and about. How are you doing?”

“Thank you, Mr. Black. I am feeling much better, and I needed a break from Cameron’s well-intentioned hovering.”

He smiles, “You can just call me Titus. No need for formalities. So, what brings you by today, Alpha?”

“Well, Titus, I wanted to come check on you and your ribs. I apologize on Cameron’s behalf. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Alpha, it is really okay. He already apologized several times to me, and to Ash, and to my daughter. I am healing just fine. Almost completely back to normal now.”

“Speaking of your daughter, would you be willing to send a thank you on my behalf? I am deeply grateful for her willingness to leave her responsibilities to come all the way here to help me. She did not have to do that.”

“That is just the kind of person she is. And yes, I will certainly pass along your gratitude. But I am assuming that is not the only reason you came to see me today?”

I smile, “You would be assuming correctly. I wanted to also talk to you about your pack.”

“Well, it is technically *your* pack now but sure, what do you want to talk about?”

“I was working on creating files for all the members of your pack before I had to take a break from consciousness, and I realized that the information you gave me was incomplete. I was just wondering if you could help me to fill in the missing blanks about the members of your pack. Like their families, history, etc.?”

“Alpha, respectfully, the information I gave you is all the information that I have. Most of my pack members were accepted into the pack under less than favorable circumstances. So, I unfortunately do not have their background.”

I nodded my head in understanding and encouraged him to tell me about how his members came to be members. It saddened me to hear that so many people had been through so much before coming to be a part of Red Rock. The more I learn about Titus, the more he impresses me. He was forced into a role he was not prepared for and has suffered so many losses but is fiercely dedicated to the safety of his people. He has maintained a feeling of community and belonging in people who didn’t have that opportunity elsewhere. He raised his daughter as primarily a single father. It is no wonder that his eyes look weary. He has had to fight for everything that he has.

“Titus, thank you for trusting me to take care of you and your people. I promise that I will defend and continue to build upon what you have spent so many years creating. You are still more than welcome to remain as the unofficial Alpha of your people, but it is also okay if you want to hand that responsibility over to me. You deserve to have someone to take care of you too. You deserve to have time to just enjoy living.”

He is taken aback by my words, and I can tell I impacted him because his eyes get misty.

“Titus, I would like you to become my mentor. I think I could learn a lot from you. You have been dealt an impossible hand, but you never let that stop you from turning it into something beautiful that has benefited countless others.”

“Alpha….I am not sure what to say. I think you are very kind, but I don’t think I could really teach you anything. I don’t have any formal training or anything like that,” he softly states.

“That is the reason I want to learn from you. You are a good man, Titus Black. And please just call me Hunter.”

“I don’t know I believe that about myself, but you are a wise young man so if you want me to teach you what I know, I will. Thank you, Hunter,” he says, with tears in his eyes.

I reach my hand out to shake his and he readily reciprocates. I dropped my hand and Ash suddenly appears. She looked between us and narrowed her eyes at me before moving over to Titus and placed her hands on his shoulders. He reached up and placed a hand over hers, and gently patted it. Almost like he was saying that everything was okay. She softened her eyes and gave me a smile which I returned.

She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and walked down the hallway. Their relationship is confusing and fascinating all at the same time. She is a witch, and he is a wolf-less werewolf but the love between them is blaringly obvious. I am glad that they can just be together now.

“Titus? Do you mind if I go ask Ash a question about River?”

“Go right ahead. I will make us some dinner. You have been here for quite some time now. You are probably hungry. Plus, I think Cameron might actually kill me this time if I don’t feed you while you are here,” he says, offering me a smile.

I roll my eyes at Cameron’s continued overprotectiveness, but I secretly love it. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have him in my life. I smile to myself and walk down the hallway, finding Ash in the bedroom across the hallway from the bathroom. I push open the door and I am hit with the most amazing smell of peaches and cinnamon.

‘Mate! Mate! Mate!’ River howls in my head, running in circles.

‘Are you sure? I have known Ash for a long time, and I am pretty confident she is not my mate.’

‘Not her, idiot!’

‘I don’t understand, River.’

‘Our mate was here. She was in this room. She was here. We found her!’

“Hunter?”

“Hunter?”

“Hunter!” Ash raises her voice and I blink and look at her.

“Hunter, are you okay? You are looking a little pale,” she says, cautiously.

“Ash, who’s room is this?” I breathlessly ask, as my heart beats faster.

“This is Raine’s room. I was just remaking her bed from when she was here. Why?” she questions.

“Oh my…I…can’t…I…she…oh…” I stutter, feeling completely overwhelmed by this information. I stumble out of the doorway and back straight up into the wall, and everything goes black.

Adjusting my eyes to the light, I blink a few times and Cameron’s very worried face comes into focus.

“Hunter! What happened!?! Are you okay!?!” he practically shouts at me.

I groan a bit as I sit up. My head is pounding, I must have hit it when I passed out. I realize that I am still in Titus’ house and both he and Ash are also looking at me, worriedly.

“Hunter! Can you talk to me!?! Are you hurt!?!”

“Stop yelling, my head hurts,” I say as I close my eyes again.

‘Sorry, H. You passed out again. What happened?’ Cameron asks me over mind-link, lowering his voice.

All of the thoughts come flooding back to me, ‘My mate, Locks. I found her,’ I tell him, still trying to wrap my head around the situation.

‘You did!?! What? How? It is just us four here. Who is it?’

I look at him, ‘It’s his daughter. I smelled her when I went to find Ash. Ash was in her room.’

His eyes go wide, ‘That doesn’t make sense. You touched her. You were in the same room as her. Why did you not know then?’

‘I didn’t have River then, remember? But, yes, I am sure. River told me it is her.’

“Alpha, what is going on? Are you okay?” Titus asks me.

“Yes, I am okay. I guess I just pushed myself too hard today. I should probably be getting back home now. Thank you, and thank you Ash, for your hospitality today.”

I can tell he doesn’t fully believe me, but I can’t tell him right now. I need to figure this out for myself first. Cameron helps me to my feet, and we make our way back to the pack house.

“So……” Cameron says, as he walks beside me.

“Yeah…” I respond, still trying to process. I met my mate. She cared for me. She held my hand. I found her and I didn’t even know. And now, she is gone. I should have looked at her more. I should have known.

“H, stop overthinking. This is good news. You found your mate!” Cameron says, trying to cheer me up.

“I found her, but she is gone now. I can’t just go find her and confess my undying love for a stranger who clearly doesn’t like me. She would have known that I was her mate even though I didn’t. Her wolf would have told her. She would have felt sparks when she held my hand. Why didn’t she just reject me then?”

“Hunter, she is a human. She wouldn’t know. But you are also wrong, she feels something when she looks at you.”

“She is a human? And what do you mean she feels something?” I suspiciously question him.

“Yes, she is a human. But every time she looked at you, her heart would speed up. She totally checked you out. Several times,” he tells me with a smile.

“She did?”

“Uh yeah. But she also knows surprisingly little about werewolves considering she was raised by one. But from what I gathered; Titus lost his wolf when he was stripped of his title, so I guess she was just never exposed to that stuff.”

“What I am going to do, Cameron? She is trying to become a doctor. I don’t want to uproot her life. She deserves to do what makes her happy. What if she doesn’t want to be with me? What if she never comes back? What if I never see her again?”

“Hunter, calm down. We will figure it out.”

“Okay. You’re right. This is fine,” I say, trying to convince myself more than him.

I spent the next few days in agony. River was driving me crazy with his demands and I felt like I was losing my sanity. I know I was snippy, but I couldn’t help it. I mind-linked Cameron and told him I was going on a run. He ignored my request for him to stay home and went for a run with me.

We both shifted and let our wolves take control. River was in dire need of blowing off some steam. He howled and then raced off for the borders. He was angry that I was feeling conflicted about Raine. He doesn’t understand why I can’t just force her to come back and be with me. With us.

Xavier is having a hard time keeping up with River, but I don’t really care about that right now. River needs to run off some of his anger before he makes me do something I will regret later.

‘H, I am heading back to the house. Xavier can’t keep up with River today. I guess we need to train some more,’ Cameron tells me over mind-link.

‘Okay,’ is all I respond with. There are so many emotions running through my head right now. River runs for a long time but eventually we return back to the pack house.

I am still feeling overwhelmed by very conflicting emotions. I open the door with more force than I intended, and I interrupt Cameron’s make out session with Emma. The sight just angers River more and a low growl escapes my chest.

“I am going to go shower,” I say curtly before running up the stairs. I reach my room and slam the door, causing a painting to almost come off the wall. River is fighting for control again and it feels like there is fire running through my veins right now. My chest is heaving with every breath and I am desperately trying to get River to settle down. He has cut our connection though so I can’t actually talk to him right now.

I hear Cameron run up the stairs and I lock my door. I need to be alone.

“Hunter, unlock this door right now or I will kick it down, and you know I will,” he demands, and I begrudgingly unlock it before sitting down on the floor, leaning my back against the edge of my bed.

He walks in and I can hear the concern in his voice, “Whoa, H. What happened?”

“That’s Alpha to you!” I unintentionally growl and I can feel River clawing for control again. When my eyes meet Cameron’s, he looks visibly scared.

“Hey, get yourself together man! Don’t be ridiculous!” Cameron defensively yelled. That was too much for River, and before I could even react, I slammed Cameron against the wall.