Hunter's Secret

Hunter’s POV

As soon as I get the words out, she pulls her hand out from under mine.

“What was that?” she asks, holding her hand.

“What was what?”

“The little shocks? It made my hand all tingly.”

“You can feel them too!?!” I excitedly ask.

“Wait. You felt them?”

“Of course, I feel them. That is what happens when someone finally touches their mate’s skin. I didn’t know that you would be able to feel them too. This is so exciting!” I blurted out, unable to keep the smile off of my face. I look at her and she is still holding her hand, “Did they hurt you?”

“No…no. I have just never felt anything like that before, so it surprised me, but it felt good.”

“It felt very good for me too,” I wink, and she rolls her eyes, but a smile is tugging at her lips. Her very kissable lips. Very very kissable lips. A quick knock at the door interrupts me and I jump up too hard and land on my still painful ankle. I wince in pain, but I still move to answer the door. I can smell Mason on the other side, so I open it.

“Everything okay, Alpha?” Mason questions, taking a quick look around her apartment.

“Yes. Please come in,” I invite him in, and he obeys shutting the door behind him.

“Raine, this is Mason, my bodyguard. Mason, this is Raine, my mate.”

He bows deeply and greets her as Luna, and she is taken aback by his greeting.

“Mason, give me five minutes to talk to Raine and then I will come meet you at the car.”

He gives a curt nod and heads back outside and I move back over to sit next to her again. River is prancing, not pacing, in my head, and it is amazing to me how much her presence has calmed him down.

“So, is he a werewolf too?” Raine asks me.

“Yes.”

“Are all werewolves just extremely tall and gorgeous?”

“I guess?” I answer, choosing to ignore the fact that she just called Mason gorgeous.

“Hmph. Not fair. So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“So, what do you want to do? You can make whatever choice you want to. I am not going to force you to do anything,” I tell her, giving her my full attention.

“I want to finish my residency. I am twenty-seven. I have already been working on my education for nine years and I only have two left now. I want to finish what I started. I am not a quitter. And then I don’t mind coming back home. Can you wait two years?”

“I would wait a thousand years for you, Raine. I have already waited for twenty-one, what is two more?” I smile.

“This is not real life. You can’t possibly be real,” she dramatically says while flipping the back of her hand to her forehead and falling back into the couch.

I can’t help but laugh at her, “And why do you say that?”

“A hot guy shows up at my apartment and confesses his feelings for me, lets me make my own decisions, and is contented to wait for me? This is too cheesy to be real life,” she giggles.

“A hot guy, huh?” I smile and she throws a pillow at me, “I promise I am completely real. And I meant what I said. I would wait as long as you asked me to. And you will always be able to make your own decisions.”

“Thank you, Alpha Hunter.”

“Please don’t call me that. You are my equal. I am not above you.”

“Well, thank you, Hunter. But see? You are just too perfect. What are you hiding?” she said as she playfully narrowed her eyes at me.

“I am by no means perfect. I have plenty of flaws and issues,”

“Yeah right. Like what?”

I meet her eyes and allow myself to be seriously honest, “I am terrified of not being good enough. I make mistakes and lose my temper. I fight with my own brain and lose. I am scared I am going to mess everything up all the time.”

She grabs my hand and interlocks her fingers with mine, “My dad once told me that being scared of not being good enough just means you care enough to try your best. Everyone makes mistakes, Hunter. Your mistakes don’t define you; it is what you do about those mistakes that defines you instead.”

“Your dad seems like a pretty wise guy.”

“He is. He is honestly the best dad I could have ever asked for. I would not be where I am now if it wasn’t for him.”

“He loves you a lot. You know that right?”

“I do. He always acts like a tough guy, but he is really a sweetheart. I am really glad he gave you my address,” she smiles.

“Me too. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure…” she hesitantly responds.

“Can I sleep here tonight? I will sleep on the couch. I just want to be near you. But I will leave if that would make you uncomfortable.”

She smiles, “You can stay. But you should probably go let your bodyguard know.”

“You are right. I need to grab my bag out of the car too. Will you be okay for a few minutes?”

“Of course. I have lived by myself for five years now. Go get your stuff. And tell Mason thank you.”

I headed out of her apartment feeling happier and more content than I have in a very long time. I make my way down the stairs and out to the parking lot. I get to the car and see Mason and the one he introduced to me as Tyler, laying back in their seats. I guess they were tired. I open the door and the unmistakable smell of blood hits my nose. I look at Mason who is staring straight ahead. His brown eyes are lifeless and empty. My eyes dart between the three men; all of them have perfectly round bullet holes in their heads. I start desperately searching for any signs of life but I can’t find any of their pulses. They are all dead.

But there are no bullet holes in the car which means they were shot from inside the car. How did three extremely strong men get so overwhelmed so quickly that they didn’t even have time to defend themselves before they died? I see a piece of paper sitting on top of my bag. With shaking hands, I reach out and pick it up.

You have something that belongs to me, Hunter. I will get it back. This is your only warning.

This was because of me? What did I do? What do I have that someone would want? Power? Money? Land? My phone rings and shakes me from thoughts. There is no caller ID. I hung up on whoever it was, and a text message came in.

‘They didn’t have to die but you gave me no choice.’

I panic and crush my phone under my heel. Raine! I have to get back to Raine. I don’t think I have ever run as fast as I did when I ran back to her apartment. I bang on the door and pray that she opens it. She does and she immediately sees the panic on my face. I push her back into her apartment and slam the door closed behind us, locking it.

I picked her up and ran to the bathroom. I set her down in the tub.

“Don’t move,” I demanded.

She ignores me and climbs out of the tub, “What is going on?”

“I said don’t move! Just listen to me. Get back in the tub and lay down. Now!” I growl, letting my aura out which I know scares her, but I need her to stay. She starts crying but listens and lays down.

I close the bathroom door, locking it from the inside. I quickly searched her entire apartment and closed all the curtains and triple checked that I locked the front door. I moved the entry table in front of the door. I grabbed Raine’s phone off the table and quickly called my father. He answers on the second ring.

“Dad. It’s me. Do not ask questions right now. Just listen and write everything down. Mason is dead. So are Jerry and Tyler. They are all dead. Someone shot them in their car while I was inside with Raine. The shooter left me a note saying that I had something that belonged to them and that they would get it back. They knew my phone number. I smashed my phone. This is Raine’s phone. I am not hurt and Raine is safe, but I don’t know what is happening. We are in serious danger. I need help.”

“Okay, take a deep breath. I will call Ash and she will come to you. She can get there way faster than anyone else can. Don’t leave the apartment. I will make some phone calls and get back to you. Please stay safe, son. I love you.”

“I love you too. I have to go now. Bye.”

I hang up and gently knock on the bathroom door, “Raine? It is just me. Can you get up and unlock the door?”

I hear the click of the lock and I swing the door open. Fearful tears are all over her face. She scrambles backward from me, and I deeply sigh. I know I scared her.

“Raine. I promised that I would never hurt you and I meant that. I am sorry for scaring you. I just didn’t have time to answer questions.”

A text comes in from dad telling me that Ash will be there in an hour.

“What is going on, Hunter?”

“Mason is dead. Someone killed him as well as the other two men with him. The killer directly threatened me too with a note and a text message. I am sorry for scaring you.”

More tears spring to her eyes and I can feel the fear coming off of her but despite her fear, she comes over to me and hugs me. I immediately hugged her back and I could feel her shaking. I gently pick her up and adjust her so we can sit on the floor. I quickly reach up and close the bathroom door again, locking it.

“Shh. You are okay. I am here. I won’t let anything happen to you. Ash is on her way too,” I try to comfort her. Her breathing eventually returns to normal, and she stops crying.

“How did you do that?” she asks me, still not moving out of my arms.

“Do what?”

“Make me listen to you. You are really scary when you are like that.”

“I know I am. It is called an Alpha aura; it is something I can control most of the time. It makes other people feel threatened by me, so they are more willing to listen. I am so sorry for scaring you.”

“Don’t do that again,” she sniffs.

“I can’t promise that. But I will try. I just needed to protect you. I am sorry.”

“How can you protect me when someone just killed three men in the parking lot?”

“I will do my best. Do you trust me?”

“For some reason, I do.”

“Then do you have a pair of gloves?”

“Gloves? Why?” she moves out of my arms and looks at me.

“I need to be able to shift if necessary. I can’t do that if I am wearing silver. And I need gloves to take it off, so I don’t burn my fingers.”

“Doesn’t silver like really hurt you? Can’t it kill you? Why are you wearing it?”

“It does hurt. Too much can kill us. I am wearing it because it prevents me from shifting and I didn’t want River to mark you against your will. He has been extremely angry at me for not forcing you to come with me. I wanted to protect you from him.”

“So, why would you take it off now?”

“Because our desire to protect you is thousands of times stronger than our desire to make you ours. He will not hurt you. I will not hurt you. I just don’t want to burn my fingers taking it off.”

“Would silver hurt me?”

“It shouldn’t.”

“Then can I just take it off for you?”

“I guess but please don’t be upset when you see the burns. It looks worse than it is.”

She nods her head slowly and I take off my shoe and sock and gently roll up the leg of my pants. There are blisters on my ankle and the redness has spread to the top of my foot and up my leg some. She gasps when she sees it.

“Oh, Hunter…”

She gently grabs the clasp of the chain and I wince a bit as she moves it to get a better grip. But the sparks from her fingers help numb the pain. She removes the chain and goes to remove her hands.

“Please leave your hands there. It makes it feel so much better,” I tell her, closing my eyes as I wait for her hands.

She hesitates but then gently places her hands back on my ankle. The initial contact is painful but that quickly disappears. Within a few minutes the redness starts to go away, and the blisters start to heal. She watches in amazement as I heal directly under her hands. Soon there is only a small burn left.

Now that the chain is off, I can feel River more clearly now. I know there is still silver in my body but most of it has worn off. It was only meant to be temporary anyway.

“Raine? You asked earlier if you could see my wolf. Do you still want to meet him?”

She slowly nods her head and I stand up and unlock the bathroom door. Her bathroom is way too small for River. I offer her my hand and she accepts it so I help pull her to her feet. I peer around the corner, and I don’t sense anyone else here, so I lead her out of the bathroom.

“Raine, just remember that he is me. He won’t hurt you. He looks scary but we won’t hurt you. I am only asking to shift so I can sense things better. I can protect you better if I can have access to him.”

“O..okay. I am ready.”

I back up from her and allow River to take control. Her eyes widen in shock as she comes face to face with River. He is a few inches taller than she is.

‘Don’t scare her, River.’

‘She isn’t scared. She is in awe. I won’t hurt her.’

I look through River’s eyes and see her standing there with wonder on her face. She slowly reaches out her hand and River gently moves his head under her hand. I can feel the sparks dance across our skin when she strokes River’s fur. He nuzzles her shoulder, and she kisses his snout.

“Wow. I really think this is not real life now,” she breathlessly states.

River lays down and she sits down, leaning against him. I don’t think River has ever been this gentle with anyone. Ever.

‘She is our mate. I have to protect her.’

‘You are a good wolf, River.’

A quiet knock at the door scares both of us and River lets out a low growl. Raine jumps to her feet and scrambles toward the bathroom. River growls again and the knocking stops. A few seconds later, Ash appears in the room, and I sigh in relief. It was just her. We are okay. For now.