Chapter 3 - Tessa
I can’t stop staring at the blood on Hunter’s hands while he stands in front of me.
It drips slowly from his knuckles onto the wet forest floor while Hayes struggles to breathe several feet away, and the scent of violence saturates the air so thickly it sticks to the back of my throat.
Everything happened too fast.
One second, Hayes had me pinned, and the next, Hunter exploded out of the trees like something completely feral.
I’ve seen wolves fight before, whether due to pack disputes, training matches, or challenges for dominance. But this is different.
He fought Hayes like he wanted to destroy him, and that realization sends a chill through me.
Hayes coughs harshly from where he’s half-crumpled against a shattered log, beaten down from the impact of their fight. Blood streaks down his chin while one eye begins to swell. Even now, with Hunter towering over him and radiating pure alpha dominance, resentment still burns in his expression.
“You’re making a mistake,” Hayes growls.
Hunter looks terrifying. Genuinely, bone-chillingly terrifying as he stares down at him. “You made the mistake the moment you crossed into my territory.”
His black shirt is wet from the mist as it clings to broad shoulders and hard muscle. Blood is smeared across his jaw from a split lip, though he seems completely oblivious to it. His chest rises heavily with each breath while fury rolls off him in suffocating waves.
I forgot how big he is. Or maybe he got bigger while he was gone.
Years away in military combat apparently turned him into something even more intimidating and scarily controlled around the edges.
And right now, of all times, my mind decides to catalog every difference in him… while he’s one heartbeat away from ripping someone apart. Yet, he doesn’t.
There’s mud on his boots, blood on his hands, and his dark hair hangs damp across his forehead while his blue eyes look unnaturally bright in the darkness.
Beautiful, even.
The thought horrifies me instantly.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Hayes spits blood onto the ground and slowly pushes himself upright before glaring between us. “This isn’t over.”
Hunter takes one step forward, and the movement alone sends enough dominance crashing through the forest that even my wolf flinches. In a way, it forces a hint of pride through me, even if that’s the last thing I feel right now.
“You crossed my border, and you attacked one of my wolves,” Hunter says coldly, eyes burning with everything he just barely keeps beneath the surface. “If you touch one of mine again, you won’t get the chance to walk away.”
Mine.
My stomach twists strangely, not used to anyone, including me, least of all him.
Hayes apparently notices too, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he forces a mocking grin onto his face, and that single look puts me on edge.
Hunter’s expression darkens further, but he takes a subtle step back. “Go home, Hayes.”
For a second, I honestly think Hayes might be stupid enough to challenge him again, but his survival instinct finally wins out, and he steadies himself on his feet.
“You’ll regret this, and you’ll regret underestimating me,” he snarls before shifting partially and disappearing into the trees.
The woods fall incredibly still, and I’m suddenly alone with Hunter Reed.
My worst bully growing up… and the boy who knew exactly how to make me feel unwanted without ever lifting a hand against me.
Only now he’s not a boy anymore. He’s an alpha, and he’s staring at me like he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
I instinctively take a step backward, searching for as much space as I can find out of habit.
Hunter’s eyes immediately track the movement, and something in his face shifts. Instead of softening or making himself more approachable, he only looks more irritated.
“Don’t.”
My brows pinch together instantly. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t walk away from me right now.”
Anger cuts through whatever remained of my fear fast enough to surprise even me. “I wasn’t aware I needed permission.”
Hunter exhales roughly through his nose like he’s barely holding onto his temper, and after what I just witnessed, I know it’s getting more precarious. “You’re coming with me.”
Every muscle in my body locks, and I silently question if I heard him right.
“What?”
“To my house.”
“No,” I say instantly, backing away more. “Absolutely not.”
His jaw tightens visibly. “Tessa—”
“No.” I shake my head harder, and panic crawls beneath my skin. Being closer to the pack grounds is the last place I want to be. “I’m not going there.”
“You’re not staying alone after this.”
“I’ve been alone for years. This is no different.”
The words come out sharper than I intend, but I don’t take them back.
Hunter goes still, and something unreadable flickers across his face before disappearing beneath irritation again. “That ends tonight.”
My chest tightens, and everything in me is screaming for the isolation that has become all too familiar. Distance means facing fewer opportunities to get hurt.
He doesn’t get to decide things for me now just because he stepped in and decided to actually acknowledge me.
I know exactly what it means to be in his house. Pack eyes will be everywhere; there will be whispers, judgment, and opinions I’m not interested in hearing.
I’d rather walk back into the woods with Hayes than willingly place myself in the center of pack attention again.
“I’m fine,” I say tightly, but I already know it isn’t enough.
Hunter looks down at the bruise already forming on my wrist where Hayes was pulling on me, and his expression turns instantly murderous again.
“I can see that,” he utters, not at all swayed. “You could’ve been killed.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Because I got here before that could happen.”
The sharpness in his voice makes me recoil slightly before I can stop myself, and regret flashes across his face so quickly I almost miss it. Then those untouchable walls of his go back up again, pretending like he didn’t notice.
“You’re staying at my place until we know Hayes won’t come back.”
I stare at him incredulously. “You can’t just force me to stay there.”
“I absolutely can.”
Rage sparks hot through my chest. “So what, I’m just supposed to fall into line because you want to make a point to anyone who might oppose you?”
His eyes narrow. “You think this is posturing?”
“What else would it be?” I ask with a scoff. “You’re the new alpha, and Hayes crossed into your territory. Of course you had to make an example out of him.”
Something dangerous yet annoyingly calm settles into Hunter’s features. “You think I fought him for appearances?”
“I think you fought him because that’s your job, and you have something to prove.”
Everything around us goes incredibly still, leaving me to question his next move.
Hunter stares at me for several long seconds, then he steps toward me, placing that dominant focus on me now.
Instinct immediately sends me backward again, but with a tree behind me this time, my spine hits bark before I can correct myself.
Hunter cages me there without touching me, one arm braced against the tree beside my head, while his scent hits me so hard, he might as well have hit me with his fist.
He’s way too close now, and I have nowhere left to run.
“You have no idea,” he says quietly, “how close he came to dying tonight.”
My pulse stutters, and without question, I believe him.
I saw the unmistakable rage in his eyes, and even now, every inch of Hunter still feels unhinged. Violence is barely leashed beneath his skin right now, and even if he’s being careful not to touch me, all of that focus is locked onto me anyway.
It should terrify me, and while it does to some extent, confusion is twisting beneath the fear now, too.
None of this makes sense.
Hunter spent years treating me like I wasn’t worth acknowledging, and now he’s acting like he wants to chain me to his side.
“You hated me,” I say before I can stop myself, well aware of the heavy accusation that claim carries. It likely isn’t the place or time for this, but I can’t go anywhere with him.
Hunter freezes, and for the first time since arriving, something in his expression genuinely cracks. The anger subsides long enough to reveal his own confusion.
“I never hated you.”
The bitter part of me wants to laugh, but I keep it in as well as I can. The disbelief must show on my face because frustration flashes across his.
“You were horrible to me,” I mutter, gesturing vaguely because I don’t know what else to do with my hands right now. “And you made everyone else worse.”
His jaw flexes, and after a beat, he mumbles, “I know.”
He doesn’t deny it, and he doesn’t even bother to come up with an excuse either. Somehow, that irritates me more.
When he doesn’t back off, more frustration curls inside me, and I shove hard against his chest. He doesn’t move even a fraction of an inch.
“I don’t care if you’re the alpha now. You don’t get to decide what happens to me.”
Hunter catches both my wrists instantly, without any effort, and the movement sends another spike of panic through me.
I yank hard against his hold, but his grip doesn’t loosen.
“Let go of me.”
“Tessa—”
“Let go!”
Instead of releasing me, he physically lifts me off the ground, and in one decisive movement, I’m draped over his shoulder like it’s nothing.
I make a sound somewhere between outrage and panic at the sudden change, struggling now to regain my bearings.
“Hunter!” I snap, feeling a rush as I’m forced to look down at his heels. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Taking you somewhere safe, whether you like it or not.”
“I am not a sack of potatoes, you psychopath,” I growl out, focusing on being as annoying as possible in his hold now.
Hunter only slings me higher against his shoulder like my added weight barely registers for him.
The humiliation is immediate and absolute, causing my inner wolf to lose her mind, but even as I pound against his back furiously, he starts walking through the forest completely unfazed.
“Put me down!”
“No.”
“You can’t abduct people because you’re alpha!”
“Watch me,” he utters, so unruffled by all of this that it only adds more fuel to the fire.
I genuinely consider biting him, but Hunter’s hand clamps harder against the back of my thigh before I can attempt it. That contact alone sends a traitorous shiver through me, even if it shouldn’t.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“I wouldn’t have to if you’d just put me down,” I return, finding it impossible to make the flush leave my cheeks.
A low sound, almost like a laugh, rumbles in his chest, and that sets me off.
“You arrogant asshole.”
“You’ll survive.”
“I don’t care!”
“That,” he says with a touch of lingering irritation, “is becoming very obvious.”
I freeze briefly at the tone, but Hunter just keeps walking through the dark woods without slowing once.
Rain drips steadily from the trees overhead while his body radiates heat against mine, and the scent of blood and pine wraps suffocatingly around me, all tied together with the unmistakable scent of him.
I hate how aware I am of him right now. He feels infuriatingly strong and steady, like he could carry the world on his back and he’d never break.
“Put me down,” I say again, breathless this time.
“No.”
“I can manage myself.”
Hunter actually stops walking long enough to glance at me, and I already know he doesn’t believe me.
“You’re fighting me harder than you fought Hayes.”
That catches me off guard. “What?”
Hunter’s voice roughens slightly, almost like he’s trying to make sense of it. “He dragged you through the woods, and you barely resisted. But the second I touched you, you started clawing like an animal. Maybe you should’ve used that fight before.”
Shame burns hot through my chest, and I grit my teeth. Once again, it feels like an indirect way of calling me weak.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“But it does. You should’ve protected yourself.”
“It’s not like I could’ve beaten him anyway,” I utter, embarrassed for being called out. I bristle and try to keep as much of my pride intact as I can despite the circumstances. “Besides, you’re enjoying how you got to show off.”
“What I’m enjoying is the fact that you’re alive.”
The rawness in his voice steals my next response entirely, and I can’t bring myself to think of anything worth saying anyway.
Hunter looks furious, and not just in a performative alpha way. Instead, it feels oddly deeper and frighteningly genuine.
His gaze drags across my face like he’s checking for injuries all over again, forcing another wave of confused fluster through me. Then, he keeps moving, leaving me to try and grapple with the fact that my worst tormentor is hauling me back to his place like reclaimed property.
I don’t know how the hell I got here, or what I’m supposed to do now. But either way, Hunter isn’t letting go.