21. Hunter
TWENTY-ONE
HUNTER
This is so wrong .
That was Flint’s voice in my head. Even though my big brother knew nothing of what was happening. You’re being irresponsible putting your mate in danger .
I rubbed my brow, wanting to mute the imaginary tirade.
You know I don’t agree with your decision either , my wolf echoed my brother’s imaginary voice.
I was squatting in bushes that surrounded Stefan’s house, and my wolf was itching to take his fur and confront him. No human would withstand a ferocious wolf ready to attack.
But his prime motivation and mine was to protect our mate.
How had I been foolish enough to let Odell convince me his madcap scheme was better than my wolf almost taking Stefan’s head off? Maybe the constant desire to prove myself had put my mate in danger. Shit.
But I had to get a better view of the windows so I could catch a glimpse of my mate. I studied my wedding ring and pressed my thumb on it as if I could somehow transmit strength to Odell.
When his lips were on mine and my cock stirred, he was Dellie. Odell was the guy who hated me, didn’t know about shifters, had never successfully driven a getaway car and never held a gun.
Dellie was different. He’d always been there, under the surface, but he had an inner strength that outmatched my own. My wolf grumbled, thinking I was referring to him.
But Dellie was for intimate moments, not life-and-death situations and not when around anyone else, including family. Just us.
We’d agreed on fifteen minutes and ear-pulling or not, I’d get in Stefan’s face. My stealthy steps as I got closer to the window would never have been picked up by either my mate or Stefan. As I snuck over the grass, I moved closer to the window, and Odell came into view holding a mug and wearing a big puffy coat that hid his gun. Stefan was cursing out Draven.
What? He was Draven’s uncle and so he was technically part of the Silverbacks. One of his parents had to have been a shifter, though his scent didn’t tell me that. But there was no time to puzzle this out.
The hostility in Stefan’s voice chilled my blood. I had to get in there because a man who harbored hatred for his family would care not a jot for my mate.
He spat out that he’d be head of the Silverbacks as I pulled the gun out and crashed through the front door, still in human form but with my wolf’s claws extended and fur rippling over my arms.
“You are a fool, Hunter Durand. But just the shifter I wanted to see.”
His gun was aimed at my mate while mine was pointed at him.
Odell’s expression gave little away, while if I saw myself in the mirror, I’d be ravaged with guilt, haggard and gray, and fear reflected in my eyes.
“But you played your part, meeting and mating this human. And now it’s my turn to do what fate has been steering me toward my entire life.”
His words made no sense. How did he think he had the upper hand when my shifter reflexes would have a bullet in his brains before he’d pulled his trigger?
“It’s over, Stefan.” I wasn’t certain of the complexity of it, but if he was connected to the Silverbacks, it was revenge, as I suspected, though Draven had to be the driving force.
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re relying on your shifter traits to kill me, but I have those same abilities.”
“You’re a wolf!” Odell spoke for the first time since I’d entered the room.
Stefan snarled, not an animal growl, but one similar to how my mate sounded when he was angry.
“I am a shifter.”
Oh gods, I’d made a huge mistake. He must have had a human parent because he scented human. But he wasn’t. That couldn’t be, but as I searched through the tangled ends and beginnings of possibilities, I pulled myself away from the labyrinth and concentrated on getting my mate out of danger.
Odell had to create a diversion. Stefan would shoot first and ask questions later if I did anything that hinted at me trying to overpower him. I’d underestimated him and I’d walked into a trap, not only of Stefan’s making but my own. I’d been so certain that Draven was the instigator, I’d overlooked that weird interaction between the pair at the courthouse.
A flicker of movement to my right told me Odell was up to something, but if I picked it up, so did Stefan. His gaze was directly on my mate.
“I’m not falling for it.” Stefan sneered at Odell.
“I’m cold.” He wrapped his arms around his huge jacket, and he reminded me of a cartoon character. “You pair don’t feel the cold, but thanks to Hunter knocking down the damned door, it’s freezing in here.”
One second. Stefan’s concentration was diverted for maybe less than that. Not enough time for a human to overpower a man with shifter abilities. But my mate fumbled in his pocket, his hands shaking, and dear gods, the gun fired, leaving a ragged hole in his jacket.
I was distracted but my trigger finger was not, and I shot at the same time. My mate’s bullet hit Stefan in the knee, mine in the shoulder.
He screamed, his gun firing into the wall beside Odell, and he collapsed. Blood gushed from both wounds as my mate flung himself into my arms, tears flooding my shirt. I whispered how brave he was, how he’d saved my life and that the danger, all of it, was over.
That was a white lie or a big fat fib, because how did Draven fit into this and were those Stefan’s men in the alley? There were so many questions and few answers.
I couldn’t take a chance that Stefan’s shifter healing abilities—assuming he had any—extended to severe injuries.
Stefan was writhing on the floor, and I kicked his weapon out of his reach. After sitting Odell down, I yanked a curtain off the rail and tied Stefan to a chair. I added an electric cable and wrapped it around him. That would do until I found rope, maybe in the basement, but he was doubled up in agony, and I doubted he’d have the strength to break free.
My mate clamped his hands over his ears and asked if we could give Stefan something for the pain. But unless the guy had a pharmacy in his bathroom, there was nothing I could do.
I could put him out of his pain permanently, but I needed answers. The family, the pack, the shifter council, we needed the story so we could weed out anyone who had betrayed us and our community. My wolf was peeved he didn’t get to rip Stefan to shreds, but the family and the pack’s needs to know came before the ultimate punishment.
I staunched the blood from Stefan’s wounds and bandaged them which was more than he deserved.
Now that we’d captured him, I called Flint, and in a few sentences brought him up to speed. He and Ranger and some of our men were already in the cars before I finished talking.
Both my wolf and I were filled with gratitude for what Odell had done, and I wanted to get him out of this house and back to my place or anywhere he wanted to go. The other side of the world if that was what he requested.
Ranger arrived with Flint and three of our men. Uncle Arnie also accompanied them. He was such a dear and perhaps him being here was more for my mate. He’d been the one to bridge the shifter and human world with both my brothers-in-law.
“You thought he was human but had been around shifters,” my uncle mused. “None of us recognized him as a latent shifter. Maybe we need to go to college and take Shifter Traits 101.”
That’s not a thing, I explained to my beast before he could butt in and ask me.
“He fooled all of us.”
“Can someone explain what’s going on?” Odell wanted to be filled in, and we shifters were talking in code.
“Stefan was born into a wolf shifter family, but he is latent. He doesn’t have a beast inside him, or if he does, they can’t communicate or shift,” Ranger explained. “But he has some shifter abilities.”
“But where’s Draven? This isn’t over until we find him.“ He said we, not you.
“From what we’d always understood, Draven’s omega dad left after the Silverbacks were quashed and took his son with him. How he and his uncle came up with this scenario is still a mystery,” Ranger explained.
“This was revenge that had been festering inside Stefan forever,” Flint said over his shoulder as he went into the other room.
“But how did none of you know Stefan before?” Odell asked.
Hunter shrugged. “His omega father was the Alpha’s first mate, and because of his latency, he didn’t live with the pack.”
There was a huge unanswered question that couldn’t be avoided. “The seer. Who is the seer?” I wanted to meet the person who’d sussed out that Odell was my fated mate. He’d worked for Stefan. I refused to believe it was Draven.
“We’ll get it out of Stefan,” Ranger assured me.
Flint said he’d wake every member of the shifter council up and give them an abbreviated version of what had happened so they’d reverse the banishment. “The details can come later.”
Odell swayed, and I caught him before he fell. “Time for us to go.”
My mate leaned into me, not pulling away. “But what will happen to him?”
“Take Stefan to a safe house, we’ll question him,” Ranger told our men.
“Agreed.” Flint nodded. “We have to know if this is the end or just the beginning. He needs to be interrogated, and he’s in too much pain.”
“I’m taking Odell home.”
“Home? To Aunt Louisa?”
“To my place for the night.” Stefan hadn’t acted alone. Once any remnants of his gang were rounded up, my mate could resume his former life.
Odell didn’t protest.
“Please tell me it wasn’t you who burped and bucked down the road outside the club when you left?” Ranger smirked.
“You can’t talk, bro. Matt showed us photo evidence of your parallel parking.”
Flint sniggered, and Ranger snarled. The rest of us laughed.
My big brother threw me keys. “Take mine, but if you ding it, I’ll never forgive you.” He wagged his finger at me. “I’m assigning you additional bodyguards.”
Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’d set off to prove to my brothers I could look after myself when it was actually a team effort, me and my mate. Maybe more Odell than me.
“Can I speak to Aunt Louisa?” My mate sagged against me, and I scooped him up.
“Sure, in the car.”
He rested his head on my shoulder. “As long as it’s not a stick shift.”