3. Hunter
Hunter
“We need to find that facility,” Chase says as he paces the room, his hands on his hips as his gaze bounces between the ground in front of him and the sleeping wolf in my lap.
“Even if she knew where it was, it’s probably already gone,” Gage says as he fills five glasses with whiskey and passes them out. I take mine, grateful for the bite of hard liquor as I swallow down half the glass in several large gulps.
It takes a lot of alcohol to make shifters drunk, but if a glass helps to take off the edge, I’m willing to try. Hearing about what happened to her is worse than I had imagined. I can’t even begin to understand what she’s been through.
“All the ones I’ve found online that shifters escaped from were long gone by the time anyone got back there. And Cherry’s been gone for at least a month. We don’t even know how long she was running for.” He nods his head before pulling out his phone and adding, “I’m adding that to the list.”
“What list?” Maddox asks.
“I’ve started a list of questions for her. Some of them can be yes or no, so she doesn’t need to shift to answer.”
I stroke her side, wondering why she fell asleep. “Do you think shifting tires her out?” I ask.
He pauses, lowering his phone as he looks at her.
“I’m not sure. It could be a lot of things contributing to her fatigue.
She could still be recovering from regenerating, plus her body having to acknowledge five new mate bonds all at once, then to sit here close to us while revealing her worst secrets… I’m sure that wasn’t easy.”
“I’m going to find the people who did that to her and rip them to shreds,” Bain seethes from my side as he stares at Cherry, his jaw grinding back and forth.
“When are we leaving?” I ask Maddox. It’s been days since Kane was killed, and I’m dying to get out of this place.
“Tomorrow,” he says, as he glances at each of us. “Though part of me hates the idea of uprooting her when she’s finally starting to shift.”
“Maybe the change in environment will be conducive to her shifting,” Gage suggests.
“Or we could be putting her in more danger,” Maddox says with a frown. “Starfall Haven is for supernaturals, not just wolf shifters. We don’t know that just because it’s inaccessible to humans doesn’t mean the people who live there aren’t dangerous.”
“What’s the alternative? Stay here?” Chase asks, glancing between them.
“We could just find somewhere secluded to live until Cherry is more stable,” I suggest.
“But Starfall Haven is the only place we have hope of finding answers,” Gage explains.
“You’re right,” Maddox agrees with a nod. “The plan stays the same. We head to South Carolina and assess as we go. If it feels unsafe, we leave. Simple as that.”
Everyone nods in agreement, and the room goes silent as we sip our whiskey, each lost in our own thoughts. Mine stray to what she told us of her past. Her entire family was slaughtered in front of her. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. If I ever lost Chase, it would wreck me.
But part of her story starts to nag at the back of my mind, and it takes me a minute to figure out why.
“Hey, guys?” I ask, looking around to make sure I have their attention. “Why do you think they killed her family and not her?”
I see them all frown in thought, and Chase is the first one to answer. “Maybe they only needed one wolf to experiment on?”
“Wouldn’t they want as many as possible, though?” I ask.
“Maybe they didn’t have enough manpower to capture all five of them and take them back to the facility,” Maddox suggests.
“Maybe…” Gage says, looking deep in thought.
“You have a theory?” I ask.
“I’m not sure,” he says as he stares down at her in my lap. “But I do suspect there was a reason she was chosen over her family.”
“Maybe her red fur?” I ask as I run my fingers through it. “Maybe that was unique to her family, and it stood out to them.”
“Maybe she was weaker than her family and easier to capture.”
Bain growls at Chase’s suggestion. “My mate is not weak.”
“Dude!” Chase says with a chuckle, throwing his hands up in surrender. “If she was the youngest, and only fourteen, it makes sense. Of course, I’m not saying she’s weak now. She’s the strongest wolf I know, going through what she did.”
That calms Bain enough to stop his growling.
“Has everyone finished packing?” Maddox asks, changing the subject.
“Everything except what I need to get ready in the morning,” Chase answers.
“Same,” I add.
“I’ll go finish now,” Bain says, pushing to his feet.
“Me too,” Gage says with a sigh as he follows him up the stairs.
Looking down at Cherry, I pluck at Maddox’s shirt. “I should take this shirt off her.”
“It might make her more likely to shift if she’s wearing it,” Maddox suggests, and Chase and I both laugh. “What?” he asks as he frowns at us.
“You just want her covered in your scent,” Chase laughs, shaking his head.
A smirk pulls at Maddox’s lip, and he shrugs. “Can you blame me?”
“She’ll trip over it in her wolf form,” I tell him.
He frowns, then nods. “You’re right. We’ll just make sure to keep shirts close by in case she shifts.”
“And next time, let’s put one on her before we all touch her.” Chase glances at me as he asks, “Did you get a good look at her? Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond happy it was my lap she was in when she shifted, but I couldn’t really see her body.”
“Her hair was covering most of her. It’s really long,” I tell him as I remember the way it flowed past her waist.
“I doubt she’s had a haircut in the past ten years,” Maddox says before shaking his head. “I need to make sure Trevor has everything he needs. Starting tomorrow, he won’t have me to lean on anymore.”
“Hey, did you ever figure out how Kane got all those rogues working together? Did his men reveal anything?” I ask. It’s been bothering me ever since the attack.
He nods, once. “A little. They think he had outside help. They said whatever Kane used to control the rogues involved some sort of magic, but they weren’t sure what. He apparently didn’t let them in on any of the details.”
“Magic?” Chase asks as he flops down beside me, his hand instantly finding Cherry’s side.
“Yeah, possibly a witch. There isn’t really any other explanation for it. But I don’t think any of his men knew what was really happening. The two of them that were involved only mentioned help from outside the pack but said Kane never told them who or what.”
“Where are those two now?” I ask.
Maddox looks at me, his eyes filled with vengeance. “They had less than desirable thoughts about our little mate here. They won’t be a problem anymore.”
I nod, pleased he took care of it.
He pulls his phone out to call Trevor as he moves down to the office.
“While everyone else is busy, I say we take a little nap with sleeping beauty here,” Chase says as he starts to pull the shirt off her.
“Her warm, sleepy body is a little contagious,” I admit. “I could totally go for a nap right now.”
“Let’s take her upstairs, then we can lay her between us,” Chase suggests.
And so we do just that. I take her to my bedroom and lay her sleeping wolf form in the middle of the bed as Chase spoons her back, in his human form, and I lie in front of her.
I don’t think I’ve slept with her like this yet.
I’m normally in my wolf form, but in the rare chance she shifts, I want to be ready for her.
“Hunter?”
“Chase?” I reply.
He lifts his head so I can see him, and a smile starts to spread across his face. “We have a mate.”
I grin, my eyes turning to Cherry. “We do.”
“And I think she likes us.”
I chuckle, remembering her reaction to all of us. “I can’t believe she tried to bite Maddox.”
“I think her wolf is much closer to the surface than we thought,” Chase says as he rests his head back down and strokes her side.
“Yeah, even some of the things she said seemed more… instinctual.”
He’s silent for a minute before he speaks. “I’m really glad I get to share my mate with you.”
I smile as I reach up and stroke her face.
“Me too.” I’ve never admitted it to him, but I’d always feared we wouldn’t share a fated mate.
And as blessed as I would feel to have a mate of my own, I love my brother and wouldn’t want to be separated from him.
“I dared to dream it was possible,” I admit out loud.
“Just think, once we’ve figured out her shifting thing, we’ll get to share her. In bed.”
I laugh as I ask, “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”
“What I had in mind would be very different,” he chuckles back. “She wouldn’t be in her wolf form, and none of us would be wearing any clothes.” I let my mind wander as I start to imagine the fun we could have with her. The pleasure we could bring her.
“Fuck, now I’m hard,” Chase curses, and I start laughing.
“You started it.”
“I know, I know. But now that I've seen her, it’s hard not to. Even if I didn’t get a good look at her yet.”
“It’s almost worse now, knowing she’s ours but being unable to hold her human body whenever we get the craving,” I tell him.
“I can settle for this version for now. As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters,” he says, and I close my eyes and let out a sigh.
“Safe and ours.”
“Our mate.”