Hunter's Secret

Hunter’s POV

Raine is looking at me with an emotion that I can’t quite place. She is quiet. I don’t say anything either and focus on keeping my breathing steady. The tension in the air is thick and suffocating.

“Let me see River,” her voice commands with confidence.

“No,” I flatly respond.

“I wasn’t really asking, Hunter. Let me see him. I need to talk to him directly,” she states again.

“I can’t do that right now. He is upset.”

‘I can make you or you can let me out willingly,’ River growls at me.

I sigh, run my hands through my hair and allow River to shift. He slowly walks over to Raine and sits down by her feet.

“River, you need to stop fighting,” Raine says firmly.

River narrows his eyes and lowly growls but quickly stops when Raine boops his nose just like she did mine.

‘Did she just boop me?’

I smile at River’s disbelief, ‘Yes she did.’

He cuts my connection to him and focuses on Raine.

“No growling either,” she demands.

I feel River’s annoyance and he slightly lifts his head and pulls his lips up, showing off his teeth. Raine ignores him and reaches out her hand, ruffling the fur on his head. She then drags a finger down between his eyes and over his nose before gently pushing his nose toward the floor, so his eyes are level with hers.

“I am not going anywhere, River. Will you please just let Hunter enjoy spending time with me? It makes me sad when he has to run away because of you. Do you want me to be sad?”

He drops his head, looking down at the floor and huffs. I am amazed that she is this calm and that he is actually responding to her. She gently lifts his head back up and she is smiling.

“Can I spend some time with you before you let Hunter come back?”

He nudges her hand with his head, and she smiles again. She pats the bed and River easily jumps up and lays down on his side. She scoots over and lays her head on his ribcage. She bends one of his front legs and brings it to her lap, running her fingers through his fur. Even though River has shut me out, I am not scared he will hurt her. The sparks coming from her skin calm him too.

He sighs with content as she traces the outline of his paw with her fingers, and he slightly twitches as if he is ticklish. Moving his leg back to his other, she lazily strokes his fur, and I can feel how happy he is. He is never this relaxed, not even for me. And she is relaxed too, her heart softly beating in rhythm with mine. River actually starts to close his eyes, completely submitting to her touch, and before I know it, we are all fast asleep.

When I wake up, we are in the same position except this time, her head is on my chest and not River’s. She is sleeping peacefully with a slight smile on her face. River is quiet in my head, and I am so thankful for a break from his constant pacing and arguing. I don’t want to wake her, so I just let myself rest. I desperately need it too.

‘H? Titus is here. He says he needs to talk to you,’ Cameron’s mind-link wakes me.

‘Not right now. Let me sleep,’ I groan.

‘It is about the rogue.’

‘Okay. I will be down in 5.’

I do my best to wiggle out from under Raine without waking her up, but I am unsuccessful. She sits up and rubs her face with her good hand.

“Where are you going?” she groggily asks.

“Your dad is here. He needs to talk to me. I am sorry for waking you up.”

“Mmm, it’s okay. That was a really nice nap. Thank you for letting me see River again. Can I come with you?”

“Sure. Do you need help walking?”

She shakes her head no before taking a deep breath and stretching. She motions for me to go ahead and go downstairs so I do. I reach the bottom of the stairs to see a disheveled Titus sitting on the couch talking to Cameron.

When Titus sees me, he jumps to his feet and pushes a letter into my hand, sighing and running a hand through his hair. I slowly unfolded the letter and read it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are coming. Watch your backs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“When did you get this Titus?” I forcefully ask.

“This morning. It was tucked into my doorframe by my front door. I couldn’t pick up any smells, not that it’s surprising but Ash couldn’t sense anything either. They were at my house, Hunter!”

“I know. I know. I’m sorry. I will increase security. I am assigning two warriors to you and Ash. I can see your frown but please just let me do this for you.”

“Okay. I will. I know Ash can probably protect herself better than I can, but it will make it feel better to know she is more protected.”

“Titus, this is as much for your protection as it is for hers.”

He nods, holding his hands up in agreement. I sense Raine come down the stairs and I turn around to face her, and she smiles at me. She walks over to Titus and gives him a hug. He kisses her on the top of her head and asks her how she is feeling.

‘H, relax your face man. Titus is her dad.’

I glance over at Cameron, and he takes his fingers and points to his smile. I didn’t even realize I was scowling. Cameron winks at me before disappearing back into his room to check on Emma.

I send out a mind-link to my top five warriors and they all quickly respond.

Titus, Raine, and I engage in casual conversation until a knock on the door interrupts us. Titus stands up and moves in front of Raine while I walk to the door. My warriors all walk into the house, and I do the introductions.

“Titus, this is Elle and her mate Chris. They will be your protection. I am highly confident in their abilities. Please ask Ash to stay with you at your house for the time being,” I gently but firmly command and Titus nods in agreement.

“Elle, Chris, this is Titus Black. He is my mentor and the father of my mate. Please protect him,” I say, and they warmly greet him. Elle gives me a sideways glance, but I shake my head at her.

Now that Titus has moved some, I reach my hand out for Raine, and she allows me to pull her to my side.

“Rebecca, Keegan, this is my mate, Raine. Rebecca, you are to stay with her whenever she cannot be with me. Keegan, you are to join Rebecca and Raine whenever they leave the pack house.”

They bow to Raine and greet her as ‘Luna.’ She looks uncomfortable with their gesture, but it is important that she is shown the respect she deserves.

And finally, I turn to Ryan and extend my hand out which he readily shakes, “And Ryan, you are with me and/or Cameron if either one of us need to leave the pack house.”

“Of course, Alpha. Nice to meet you, Luna,” Ryan says, bowing as well.

All of my warriors and Titus leave the house, leaving just Raine and I in the room. I look down at her and she sweetly smiles up at me, reaching for my hand which I offer to her. She pulls me over to the couch and sits down. I sit down next to her, and she snuggles into my side. I am a little surprised by her contact not that I dislike it but because she seems upset.

“What are you thinking, lovey?” I ask, the nickname just slipping out.

She looks up at me with a half-smile, “Lovey?”

“Sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

“Mmm it’s okay. I like it.”

I smile and ask again, “So, what are you thinking?”

“I was just thinking about how much I still don’t know about you.”

“Well, ask away!”

She giggles at my enthusiasm, and I wish I could just listen to that sound forever. She is just so perfect.

“Okay, what is your favorite color?”

“Green.”

“Mine is green too,” she replies, “What is your favorite snack?”

“Jerky.”

“Jerky is so gross!”

“No, it isn’t! Especially my dad’s homemade jerky. You should try it sometime. It is seriously the best,” I argue, and she laughs at me again.

“Okay fine, I will try it sometime. What is your favorite childhood memory?”

“Hmm. That’s a hard one. Probably any of the times I was training with Cameron. He is definitely my favorite person on this entire planet. After you of course,” I wink, and she giggles again.

“Love you too man!” Cameron calls out from his room and that sends both of us into laughter.

“Wait so he can hear our whole conversation?” she asks and Cameron answers with a resounding yes.

She stands up and grabs my hand, leading me up the stairs. We reach my bedroom, and she sits down on the bed.

“There. Can he hear us now?”

“Only if he really tries,” I respond, sitting next to her.

“Hmph. Good enough then. Okay, ready for the next question?” She smiles and I nod my head.

“What was your first kiss like?”

“Is that the real reason you wanted to ask me questions, Raine?”

She looks away embarrassed but nods her head.

“You could have just started there if you wanted to know. I told you I am an open book,” I responded, and she looked back at me, and I closed my eyes, trying to remember every single detail of that kiss.

“So, to answer your question; it was late one night, and I was hugging her while we sat on my bed. She suddenly decided to kiss me. I was surprised at first but that quickly changed to…other feelings. I kissed her back and her lips were so soft and welcoming. Kissing her was like my own personal drug. I don’t think I have ever felt so alive. Just thinking about it makes my heart race…” I open my eyes and she is staring at me with a mix of jealousy and sadness.

“Oh…” she says softly, “She sounds like someone you loved.”

“No. She is someone I still love right now,” I say looking directly at her.

“Oh…” she says again, looking almost heartbroken. She still doesn’t understand that I am talking about her so I just blurt it out.

“Raine you are her. You are the one I love right now.”

“Wait. I was your first kiss? That was only like two days ago.”

“Yeah, I know,” I respond, not entirely sure how she is feeling.

“You are twenty-one and have never kissed anyone before I kissed you?” she says, in disbelief.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. I am just surprised that’s all.”

“Why are you surprised?” I inquire.

“For one, you are too handsome to have never had a girlfriend before and two, you are a very good kisser.”

Her words make me blush and I don’t quite know how to respond so I just say the first thing that comes to my mind, “I just wanted everything to be the first time with my mate.”

“You are too cute,” she says, moving herself onto my lap, “Now, kiss me again.”