Chapter 22 - Hunter
I'm just as shocked as everyone else in the Shadow Fang Pack hall, and nothing could have prepared me for that kind of outburst from Delilah.
I felt the jealousy pulsing through her when she grabbed my shoulder and snapped at me, but it's so unlike her to become jealous, especially when I was simply being friendly to one of her pack members.
She knows that's just who I am.
Shaking my head and snapping out of my stunned daze, I spring into action, not wanting her reputation to be destroyed.
She is going to be this pack's Luna, and I can't let her mood swings affect her good standing in the pack.
While everyone is frozen, staring at the door Delilah just fled from, I head to the stage and grab the mic.
“Shadow Fang members, please, continue with the feast…” I gesture to the tables set up in the back.
“Delilah has just been under immense pressure these past few weeks, and I can assure you, she's fine.
I'd like to thank Alpha Gabriel and Luna Layla for throwing this party,” I nod at her parents at the bottom, looking as stunned as everyone else.
“Unfortunately, I think Delilah has been so stressed, and the party somehow added to it, but she'll be fine. She just needs to rest.”
I return the mic to the stand, and Alpha Gabriel nods at me curtly before I climb down the stage. To my relief, the music starts filtering through the speakers again, and the pack members return to the party once I've reassured them that the alpha's daughter will be fine after getting some rest.
I'm hardly certain of it myself, since I've never seen Delilah acting out like this, and I bolt for the door to find her.
Following her scent lingering in the air like breadcrumbs, I round the corner of the hall, only to find her leaning against the wall in an unlit alley, her hands covering her face.
“Delilah…” I call out cautiously, prompting her to part her fingers and warily peek out through one eye.
“What are you doing here?” she groans.
I step forward and try reaching out toward her again, noting the way she flinches as if my touch is unwelcome. Sighing, I retract my hand.
“I don't know what just happened in there, but I could have sworn you were jealous that I was speaking to another woman.”
Delilah straightens up and scoffs. “Jealous?! I could never be jealous!” She turns and gives her back to me, crossing her arms.
“You flew into a jealous rage just now, D, and I don't know what's going on.
But you need to know that I would never do that to you.
I'm yours. Only yours. I don't even see other women the way I see you,” I admit with a sigh.
“And I can see that something is going on with you.
I don't understand it, and I don't think you do, either.”
There's a moment of tense silence that stretches until Delilah finally takes a deep breath and raises her head toward the sky.
“I-I honestly don't know what any of that was…” she stammers as if there's a sob lodged in her throat. “I—that wasn't m-me.”
“I know,” I whisper, stepping closer and placing a hand on her shoulder.
This time, she doesn't pull away, allowing me to gently turn her to face me.
When she refuses to meet my eyes, I hook a finger underneath her chin with gentle coercion, finding sadness and confusion in the soft hues of hazel, and my heart hurts for whatever she's going through.
Nothing in the book described this kind of switch, and I'm not sure what's going on with Delilah, but I'll be damned if I don't put her worries to rest.
“You have to know that you're the only woman for me, Delilah,” I reassured her sincerely. “You'll never have to worry about anyone coming between us. I am yours.”
The way Delilah bats her eyelids at me tugs at my heartstrings, and I'm compelled to kiss her to show her that I mean everything I just said.
Our lips meet hesitantly at first, but I feel her melting into me, accepting the reassurance as I wrap my arms around her.
The kiss becomes more passionate as she's pressed between the wall and my body, and arousal ignites the second my tongue enters her mouth, and I taste the sweetness of her essence.
She breaks the kiss only to stare at me for a brief second, her eyes glossed over with heady desire that speaks to my soul.
The next kiss is fervent, hot, and feverish when she hooks a leg around my waist, allowing me to sink between her thighs.
My rigid erection nestles perfectly against her clothed core, and I deepen the kiss, my heart pounding with the thrill of having her out here, right behind the gathering that was meant to celebrate our marriage.
Delilah's fingers slide through my hair, and she tugs at my roots, the sensation bordering on pleasure and pain but adding to the thrill. Her kisses are hot, desperate, and I only break the kiss to give us a moment to catch our breath.
That's when I notice how dark Delilah's eyes have turned, and her nostrils flare as if she's angry.
“Why'd you stop?” she practically growls at me, glaring with menacing ferocity.
I read her expression as her rabid desire, drawing her in for another frantic kiss that has me finding her core in a heartbeat, discovering how drenched she is between her thighs.
Hungry as ever for her, I devour her mouth through hot kisses, her hands in my hair tugging fistfuls so strongly that it feels as if she'll pull my hair from my roots.
What's gotten into her?
I can't deny how much her desperation turns me on, but I pull my hand out from between her thighs as she moans in protest and grab her wrists to pin her arms over her head.
Grinding my hips into her, she moans with pleasure as the friction works her clothed womanhood, heat rising between her thighs as she stains the front of my pants with her slick through her panties.
With both her wrists secured in one hand, I grab her panties and rip the flimsy fabric, tearing it off her in one swift motion that has her breaking the kiss and gasping for air.
Just as I'm about to plunge a finger through her depths and reclaim her lips, I notice how much darker her eyes have become, like raven-black pits that seize me and hold me still.
Where I'm clutching her wrists, a pulse of energy shoots through my fingertips, but it's unlike the energy of the mate bond I've felt countless times before.
Frowning, I step back, and Delilah glares at me with rage on her face, her eyes wildly sinister.
“What are you doing?!” she roars, her voice sounding different, darker and menacing, the tone pulsing deeper and higher as if it's not her own. “Why did you stop?!”
“Delilah, calm down,” I try appealing to her, but when she takes a step into the light, I notice a bolt of black coursing through the vein in her neck.
“Don't tell me what to do!” she bellows, her eyes appearing like dark, hellish pits, as if the black vein is running behind her optic nerves and turning her irises black.
“Delilah, something is wrong. Please, you have to—”
A treacherous snarl rips through Delilah's throat just as she leaps forward and attacks me, her wolf claws distending from her fingers as she knocks me onto the ground and crashes into me. She's crouching over me, raising her hands with her claws out, swiping and slashing at me.
Intercepting every incoming lash, I dodge her claws, my head snapping from side to side.
“Delilah! Stop!” I try pleading, but to no avail when she responds with a merciless growl, her arms flailing as she tries to strike me.
My natural defenses kick in, and my wolf claws protrude from my fingers when my inner wolf senses the danger.
I try hanging on to the fact that this woman who's attacking me is my mate, my wife, but she doesn't seem to care.
Wild and rabid, she's slicing through the air, saliva flying out from the corners of her mouth like an untamed animal.
“Delilah! Stop!” I muster up my courage with caution as I fight back, grabbing one wrist to stop her. Just as I manage to get upright, her free hand comes flying in from the left. I raise my hand to stop her, but she grazes her arm on my sharp claws and whimpers.
Her tension subsides, and her body turns limp as she's about to fall back. I catch her in my arms just before she hits the ground, her right arm hanging out to the side as she bleeds from where my claws tore her flesh.
My eyes widen with horror when I notice her blood isn't red as it should be, but as black and gruesome as the vein in her neck had been.
That vein clears now, her eyes returning to their usual warm glow of hazel as she bleeds out the dark energy that consumed her.
She takes a deep breath as if she'd just come back from the dead, meeting my eyes with tears filling hers.
“Hunter…?” she murmurs fearfully, grabbing my collar with desperation. “What—what happened?”
She turns her face to the side and notices the pool of black, grimy mass she'd bled out, and gasps.
Pulling her securely into my arms, I breathe a sigh of relief as I hold her close, tightly, just grateful that she’s herself again.
“It's fine,” I reassure her, planting a long kiss at the top of her head. “All that matters is that I got you back to me,” I say with utter relief as I lift the arm that had been cut, my heart aching from hurting her.
I lift her arm and press a kiss to the gash, brows furrowing as I stare at her face that has now turned soft again.
“I'm sorry that I did this,” I apologize, and Delilah bursts into a soft, heart-wrenching sob.
“I-I remember what happened…” she whimpers. “I'm sorry for attacking you.”
“It's not your fault,” I assure her as I pull her closer and press a kiss to her forehead. “It's not your fault.”