Hunter's Secret

Raine’s POV

I watch River fly over me and tackle several wolves to the ground. They all look like that brown wolf, mangy and skinny. Cameron’s wolf and Amira join in, but more wolves keep running out of the woods. Cameron and Emma are fighting five between the two of them. And River is also fighting five. I can’t help. I can only watch in horror as River is knocked down by another wolf who jumps on his back.

Hunter shifts back for some reason and the rest of the wolves shift back too. They grab him and hold him in the air by his neck. He is desperately trying to claw at the hand wrapped around his neck. Two wolves grab his hands while one slashes his stomach. Blood pours out of the wound, instantly staining his clothes with crimson. He locks eyes with me and mouths the words, ‘I’m sorry’ before the one holding him snaps his neck and he falls crumpled to the ground.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I scream, as burning hot tears fall down my face. I desperately tried to get my legs to take me to him, but they wouldn’t move. A high-pitched whistle sounds out and all the rogues turn and run back into the woods. Cameron and Emma are also heavily bleeding. I finally got my legs to work, and I reached Hunter and pulled his head into my lap. His eyes are rolled back in his head and blood is still flowing out of his stomach. I know I am hyperventilating, and tears are clouding my vision. He is dead. My Hunter is dead.

“Hunter!”

“No! No! Come back! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” I sob as I cradle his head. Cameron reaches me and puts his hand on my shoulder. I shrug him off, but he grabs my arm this time and pulls me to my feet. He puts both hands on my shoulders and shakes me, telling him to come with him. I don’t want to leave Hunter.

“Raine!”

“Raine!”

“Raine!”

I open my eyes to see very distressed emerald eyes looking back at me. I blink a few times and I am still hyperventilating but I realize I am in bed, and it is still dark. Forgetting about my arm, I launch myself into Hunter and cling to him, tears still streaming down my face.

He holds me as I sob into his shoulder. He gently rubs my back and shushes me. He repositions himself so he can sit back on the bed instead of just the edge and I curl into him.

“Don’t leave me,” I whimper.

“I am right here, Raine. You are safe. Match your breathing to mine,” he tells me, his chest vibrating with his voice. I do my best to follow his directions and try to match my breathing to his. Eventually I calmed down some, but I don’t want to get out of his arms.

“Raine?” He softly gets my attention.

I raise my head some and look at him, his eyes are filled with concern. Tears spring to my eyes again. My legs are going numb from being curled up, so I unfold them and turn so I am straddling him. I lay my head back down on his chest and he gently places his arms back around me. This position is putting so much pressure on my arm, but I just want to be close to him. I sit that way until I can’t stand the pain in my arm anymore and I lean back. He quickly bends his legs up so I can lean my back against them.

He looks at me with concern again but doesn’t say anything. His eyes search my face for some indication of how I am feeling, and I can’t help the tears that just seem to keep falling. He moves one of hands to my face and gently wipes away my tears. He is so sweet. I can’t lose him. Before I really process what I am doing, I lean forward and using my one good hand for balance, I press my lips against his. He tenses but then kisses me back. His stubble tickles my face as his lips move with mine. He pulls back and I desperately want him to kiss me again.

“Raine? What is going on?”

“I watched you die, Hunter,” I say as I lean forward again, trying to kiss him but he turns his face.

“Raine, you can’t do that. Especially not while you are sitting like this,” he mutters, trying to keep his voice steady.

I finally realized how physically close we are, and I hurriedly got off his lap. I can’t believe I kissed him. And he kissed me back. He sits up and faces away from me. He takes a deep breath before standing up and walking out of the room. I messed everything up. He hates me now. My arm is killing me, so I grab a pill from the bottle and swallow it with some water. It doesn’t take long for medicated sleep to overtake me.

When I wake up the next time, Hunter is back in the room and is watching me from the couch. I avoid his eyes and look down at the blankets, feeling my face heat up with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, Hunter,” I apologize, still not looking at him.

“Me too,” he agrees, and it feels like a knife was plunged into my heart, “I shouldn’t have kissed you back. You were vulnerable and I took advantage of that. That wasn’t fair and I shouldn’t have done it.”

His words shocked me, and I glanced up. The intensity of his eyes makes my heart start racing, “You aren’t mad at me?”

“Why would you think I was mad?”

“Because you left. I kissed you and then you left.”

“I only left because if I allowed myself to stay, I was going to do something that would hurt you. River was fighting me for control. I promise I am not mad at you. Do you want to talk about what made you so upset?”

“It seemed so real. I felt like I was there. River was fighting too many wolves and they forced you to shift back. They grabbed you and…and…cut you. I watched blood fall out of you. And then the one holding you, he…” I choke back another sob and Hunter moves to sit by me and places my hand in his.

“And then he broke your neck. I heard your bones break. I saw you fall to the ground. I watched you die. It was so real. I thought I lost you, Hunter.”

He squeezed my hand, “Hey, I am right here. I am okay. It was just a nightmare. I know it was scary and it felt real, but it wasn’t real. I am okay. You are okay. Look at me.”

I glance at him, and he gently grabs the side of my face, “I am going to say it again. I am okay. You are okay. I am sorry you thought I was mad at you. I promise I am not mad. Do you want to go get some breakfast?”

I slowly nod my head and he quickly picks me up and carries me down the stairs. He makes me some food and sits and eats with me. He gives me my medicine and I take that too. I stand up when he takes the plates back to the sink and slowly hobble my way to the bathroom. I start to feel a little dizzy and lose my balance. But he catches me before I hit the ground.

“Raine? What do you need? I can help you. You twisted your ankle pretty badly.”

I sigh, “I need to go to the bathroom. Can you just carry me there? I will be fine once I get there but I just need help actually getting there.”

He smiles and gently lifts me up and carries me to the bathroom and sets me down, telling me he will be right outside the door if I need him. As much as I really don’t want him to listen to me go to the bathroom, I also know that he is not going to walk away. I relieve myself and use my good hand to balance enough to get over to the sink. I wash my hands and tell Hunter that I am done.

He comes back in and picks me back up and brings me out to the couch.

“I feel so gross. I really need a shower,” I sigh.

“Okay, do you want me to call Ash?”

“I just really want to wash my hair. I bought clothes yesterday, but I dropped all the bags during the chaos.”

“I know. I went out and got them this morning. They are in my room,” Hunter smiles.

“Oh, well then that will work. I bought new underwear so I can just put on those ones, and you can help me shower and then I will put on dry ones after the shower.”

“You want me to help you shower?” He quietly asks, his voice shaking a little with uncertainty.

“Yes. I only buy full-coverage stuff anyway so it is not like anything will be visible.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. But if you aren’t comfortable doing it, we can call Ash.”

“I can do it, but I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable. I will head upstairs and start the bath. If you are in the tub, I can move around more easily.”

“Okay.”

He goes upstairs and I hear the water start. After a few minutes, he comes back down and carefully picks me up, carrying me to his room. I go over to the bags and pull out two sets of underwear and some clothes for later. He carries everything to the bathroom and then comes and gets me.

“So, how do you want to do this?” he asks, looking a little uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Hunter.”

“I do want to help you. I am just a little nervous that I will make you feel awkward.”

“You don’t make me feel awkward. I can take off my pants and switch my underwear by myself. But I am going to need help taking my shirt off because I don’t think I can get it off without moving my hurt arm. And I can take my bra off if you undo the clasps. I will switch it and then you can clasp the new one. So, turn around and I will switch my underwear first.”

He obediently turns around and I watch him the whole time, making sure he doesn’t try to peek. Which he doesn’t. I am pretty sure he is the most respectful man on the whole planet. I wiggle out of my pants and underwear and get the new ones on. I tell him to turn around and he does, his eyes not leaving my face. He moves over to me and helps me take off the sling and undo the clips of the splint. Then he helps me take off my shirt, being extra careful to not touch my bad arm. I bring my bad arm toward my chest and the slight movement hurts.

I slowly turn around and I feel his hands fiddle with the clasp of my bra. His fingers brush over my spine and my heart speeds up. I know he can hear it because he sucks in his own breath and slowly exhales. He finally gets the clasp undone and I tell him to turn around again. He does and I easily slip off my bra. I put the new one on, holding it to my chest. I turned around and told him he could face me again. He helps tighten the new straps, so it fits better and connects the clasps. He is being so gentle that it makes me smile. I turned back around to face him, and his eyes still remain on my face. He has extremely good self-control.

He looks away for just a second to dip his hand into the bath water to make sure it isn’t too hot. Satisfied with the temperature, he wipes his hand on his shirt and asks me if I am ready. I nod my head and he carefully picks me up and sets me in the tub, not caring that his shirt gets wet too. I let my body sink into the perfectly warm water and my muscles immediately start relaxing. He grabs a cup off the sink counter, fills it with the water and asks me if he can start washing my hair. I nod and he slowly pours it over my head, making sure that my hair is completely wet before he puts the shampoo in. I don’t have any of my own shampoo yet, so he took Emma’s from downstairs.

He massages the shampoo into my hair, focusing on my roots before working it down through my hair. He lifts my hair out of the water so he can make sure to get the shampoo all the way down the ends before rinsing it out. He checks in with me to make sure that I am still okay, and I smile and nod my head again. He picks the cup up again and using one hand to block the water from running into my face, he slowly rinses out my hair. I can feel how focused he is, and it warms my heart.

There is no possible way that he hasn’t done this for someone else before. That thought bothers me and a twinge of jealousy settles in my heart. I shouldn’t be feeling this way. Of course, he has been with other girls. I mean, I have been with other guys. I shouldn’t be jealous. He isn’t mine. I just met him like four days ago. I still don’t know much about him, and I still can’t help the frown that forms on my face. If he notices, he chooses not to say anything and just continues washing my hair.

He grabs the conditioner next and avoiding my roots, works it through down to the ends. He moves around to the other side of the tub and reaching into the water, pulls the plug and turns on the water again. He smiles at me and squeezes a small amount of face wash onto my hand which I rub on my face while he rinses out my hair with the clean water. He helps me wash my face off and then gently helps me to my feet, keeping one hand firmly on my side to help me balance.

The sparks that shoot out from his hand, help me to feel relaxed and any notion of awkwardness have completely vanished. He rubs some body wash onto a washcloth and hands it to me, I wash everything I can reach with my hand and then hand it back to him.

He washes my shoulders and back as well as my good arm. He checks in with me again and I confirm that I am still okay. He grabs the cup and gently pours it over my head, letting the water wash out any remaining suds out of my hair. The tub is almost empty now. He fills the cup again and pours it over my shoulders and arms, making sure there is no soap left on me. He smiles again and turns off the water. He grabs a big fluffy towel and wraps me in it before lifting me out of the tub and placing me on the bathmat. I can feel how much he cares about me, and I have never felt more loved than I do right now.

He helps me dry off and then we repeat the process from earlier so I can get dressed. As much as I appreciate the pain medicine taking away my pain, it also makes me really sleepy. He notices and picks me up again, carrying me to the bed.

“Do you want me to brush your hair?”

“Yes please. And if you could braid it that would be great. Then it won’t be in my face.”

“I don’t know how to braid. Sorry, I will learn though. I can brush it and pull it back into a loose ponytail, so it is out of the way,” he softly says.

I nod my head and he grabs the brush and gently works out the tangles before pulling it back into a ponytail. He helps me lay down comfortably.

He turns to leave but I stop him, “Can you stay?”

I can tell he is debating by the way the muscles in his shoulders tense.

“Please?”

I know I have convinced him because he turns back around and smiles. He goes to his closet and grabs a shirt and a pair of shorts to change into since his clothes got wet from the bath. He slips into the bathroom and comes back out a few seconds later. He goes to sit on the couch, but I pat the bed. His eyes widen in surprise, but I smile and nod my head. He walks around to the other side, and I feel the bed sink under his weight a little before he lays down next to me. I reach my left hand out and he takes it, bringing it to his lips for a quick kiss. I sigh with a small smile and scoot over just enough that I can lean my head against his shoulder. Sleep quickly consumes me and this time it is peaceful.