Chapter 2 - Hunter #2
Cole is still grinning afterward. “You attract attention now more than ever. You shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I attracted attention before.”
“Yeah,” he says dryly, “but now you’re in charge. That’s a whole other matter.”
“It sounds exhausting.”
“It will be.”
The two of us nurse our desserts and drinks in relative silence as the storm passes, the mist gradually clearing and drifting through the trees below the hill, while moonlight cuts across the wet forest.
My wolf stirs restlessly the longer I sit around, even if I should be winding down by now. The urge to patrol comes suddenly, but I don’t fight it.
Cole notices me straighten immediately, and his brows lift. “Heading out?”
“I’m checking the perimeter.”
“At midnight?”
I shrug, setting my dishes aside. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway. Might as well.”
His knowing look says he sees straight through that excuse, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he only nods once, well aware he doesn’t have the same pull over me like he once did.
“Take Kieran or Garrett with you.”
“I’ll survive alone for an hour.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
I snort quietly and head for the door before he can elaborate, and before he can try talking more sense into me.
The night air is a bit colder now that the rain is gone, but it’s refreshing enough to clear my head again.
Pine Ridge is quiet after midnight, though lights still glow in some windows across the pack grounds, and others from my pack laugh somewhere near the bonfire pit farther down the hill. Some are already out patrolling deeper in the woods.
It’s all familiar, and even if my life has changed significantly in the time I’ve been gone, being here again fills me with a newfound nostalgia.
My boots crunch over damp gravel as I move toward the northern perimeter, taking in the usual scents.
The forest swallows sound quickly once I leave the main grounds behind, and the trees tower overhead while fog coils low across the ground.
My wolf sharpens beneath my skin the deeper I go, and I don’t know what it is, but I’m restless and agitated.
I frown to myself as the feeling intensifies another mile out.
Unable to place it, I know something is wrong, but not having an answer for it only irritates me further.
When I reach a dense patch of spruce trees, I stop, and then I hear it.
It’s muffled at first, but I catch what sounds like movement, then some kind of struggle. A male wolf scent hits me first, and without warning, it registers.
Hayes.
Recognition flares inside me, since I’ve run into him enough times to know his signature by now.
Just as I’m about to let it guide me closer, I pick up on another. This one’s female, and it’s familiar enough to feel more like it’s being pulled from somewhere deep in my memory.
Going rigid, I almost don’t believe it.
Tessa.
Confusion hits me next, since I haven’t even seen her since I got back.
What the hell is she doing out here?
Stepping through the trees, I see Hayes dragging her by the arm while she tries to dig her heels into the ground, but it isn’t enough to slow him down.
Everything inside me cracks at once, and rage hits so violently it almost makes me stagger.
Hayes has one hand fisted in her coat while Tessa stumbles against his grip, mud streaked across her jeans. Her coat hood has fallen back, exposing her long brown hair as it moves around her face.
Fear wraps around her scent so intensely that it sends another bolt of anger through me, and it’s all because of him.
My wolf rises to the surface instantly, gnawing at the edges of my restraint.
Kill him.
The thought isn’t rational. Instead, it’s pure animal fury coursing through my bloodstream hard enough to provoke my shift, but I keep it down just long enough for him to see me directly.
Hayes notices me first, and his eyes widen slightly.
I hit him before he even opens his mouth, cracking my fist against his jaw. The impact sends him flying sideways into a tree hard enough to crack the bark, and he hits the ground with a groan.
Tessa gasps sharply behind me as I put myself between them, but I don’t look at her yet.
Hayes snarls when he regains his bearings and lunges up immediately, alpha blood surging aggressively through his scent.
Normally, I’d calculate and assess to control the fight as well as I can, but that isn’t an option tonight. Even if I should be restrained, I want blood.
Hayes barely manages to block my first punch before the second caves into his ribs with enough force to stagger him backward. He shifts partially, claws slicing toward my throat, but I catch his wrist and slam him into the ground.
Hayes twists instinctively, managing to throw me off long enough to get back to his feet. Blood drips from his mouth while hatred burns in his eyes, but his lips curl into an amused grin as he laughs breathlessly.
“So aggressive over this one, huh?” He taunts, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “She’s nobody.”
Something savage tears loose inside me, and it doesn’t make much sense to me.
I haven’t thought about Tessa in years. At least, I forced myself to keep her out of my mind, which she made easy enough most days.
She kept to herself after her parents’ disgrace, the pack mostly avoided her, and I left for the military not long after.
But now, all I can think about is the urge to maul Hayes for even looking in her direction.
I slam into him again with enough force to drive him through a fallen log, and as expected, he snarls before initiating his shift.
My wolf responds in kind, allowing my body to change just like it’s been begging to.
Kill him, kill him, kill him—
I barely feel Hayes’s claws rake across my shoulder as we trade blows while those same words repeat in my mind again and again. The pain disappears beneath adrenaline instantly, and I focus on the instincts driving me forward.
Even if Tessa isn’t supposed to mean anything to me.