Chapter 20 - Hunter
The rain hits sideways and harder than I anticipated.
It runs down the windows in sheets by mid-afternoon, and the wind howls loudly while it catches the storm shutters.
Every conceivable necessity has been checked and prepared, leaving us with only one option: to let it pass. It’s easy enough, even if the room feels a bit awkward now that we have to occupy ourselves for the time being.
After a quick call with Mom to make sure she has what she needs, followed by a check-in with Cole to let me know that everyone around him has hunkered down too, most of my concern settles.
Still, I’m vaguely on alert, as the alpha in me won’t let me relax completely while such a big weather formation is passing through.
Dominic made himself at home on the couch not long after we returned, completely at ease while he now thumbs through a book he probably couldn’t care less about. He watches the rain through the window and makes the occasional comment about it before checking his phone again.
Tessa sits in a chair near the fireplace with her laptop as she works, and she seems to be trying especially hard not to look in my direction.
This time, it feels more like she’s resisting the urge rather than harboring any anger towards me.
Still, I know she’s aware of me, as the bond keeps confirming that fact without being asked, feeding me the warm frequency of her attention even when her eyes are on the screen.
Checking the fire, I add another log to it before I glance in her direction.
“You want tea?”
“I have some,” she says without looking up.
“It’s been sitting there for an hour.”
She pauses. “I’m aware of that.”
“So that’s a no.”
“That’s a yes, but I didn’t want to admit the first one was cold,” she says with a sigh as if losing an internal argument with herself. She glances at the mug next to her, then over to me. “Please.”
Hearing that little word from her, and feeling the concession in it, I fight to keep my expression mostly neutral despite how my lips pull subtly.
With a nod, I grab the mug and take it to the kitchen.
“Riveting courtship,” Dominic mumbles when I pass him, playing it off despite his shit-eating grin.
“Dom.”
He chuckles and flips another page. “I’m just saying, you really have a way with words.”
“And I can also have a way with kicking you out into the storm.”
“You know you’d miss me.”
Tessa lets out a quiet laugh from her spot, but she doesn’t fully acknowledge it or even look in my direction.
Still, I catch it and file it away.
Before long, I bring her the new tea, and she takes it, looking at me properly now. The brief contact of her fingers against mine when she grabs the mug makes the bond sound like it’s at full volume.
She thanks me, I nod, and I pretend this quiet acceptance from her isn’t making me spiral like a teenager. But it is, and I didn’t prepare myself for it.
After the fact, I go back to the kitchen and pretend to find something to do there.
***
The storm doesn’t change much by the evening, as the wind is just as strong, and the rain doesn’t show any signs of letting up.
Dominic cycles through the couch, the kitchen, and the porch for less than a minute at a time before the wind drives him back in, and each time it happens, he complains all over again. He isn’t one for sitting still, and being stuck in the house for most of the day is obviously wearing him down.
Tessa works, or pretends to, given how the quality of her typing changes depending on whether she’s actually writing or just keeping her hands busy.
I do what the house needs and keep the fire going, all while fighting the constant urge to check in with Tessa. More so, I have to actively stop myself from prodding at this less resistant part of her, since it’s making me more curious than ever.
While not completely open with me, she isn’t being as cold as before, and it’s beginning to feel more like an open window than a locked door.
“You eating?” I ask at around five.
“Eventually,” she says.
“I’m making food now.”
She looks up. “Then I’ll eat now.”
The small exchange seems suddenly very agreeable of her, and it piques my interest more than it should
This is the version of Tessa that seems much more relaxed, and it’s intriguing in its own way.
It comes out in glimpses, quick and unguarded, and then she notices she’s done it, and she shuts herself in again.
But the glimpses are more frequent than they were a week ago, and I notice each one without fail.
I’m too attuned to her not to notice, and each time I do, it feels like the very thing between us we’ve been avoiding is finally starting to change into something more productive.
“You know, some steak would really hit the spot,” Dominic says with an exaggerated exhale as he joins me in the kitchen. “Since you’re wining and dining us both.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes at that, gathering ingredients from the fridge. “Don’t push it. You’re lucky I’m feeding you at all.”
“And here I thought finding your mate would soften you up a bit,” he chides, taking up one of the stools to watch rather than help. He glances in Tessa’s direction. “I don’t know how you put up with him.”
“I don’t know either,” she says dryly, but the subtle twitch of her lips betrays her.
That gesture, paired with her light teasing, feels like a more significant step forward than it should, but I soak it in while I can.
At this rate, even the smallest and faintest pleasant moments between us are more like milestones. It gives me hope at least.
“I’m letting that slide, but not for your sake,” I murmur to Dominic as I point at him.
He chuckles, taking immense pride in being a leech for the time being.
We eventually eat in relative quiet as the storm seems to swell once it gets even darker.
By seven, the wind is working hard against the house, and the lights have flickered twice but have held on both times. With the constant movement outside, it makes the territory harder to read than usual, but it’s still ingrained in me anyway, like I’m tied to the very land I’m meant to protect.
Once the kitchen is clean, I stand by the window above the sink and watch as the tree branches sway with every hard gust.
I can’t catch any sounds or external stimuli that would tell me what I need to know, but something inside me seems to be cataloging everything in the background anyway. Then it hits me.
Something is wrong, even if I can’t see or hear it.
I go still at once to try and feel it out.
Dominic looks over from the couch, and the moment he sees my face, he’s up without a word. That easy posture is gone as he slips into the other version of himself I’ve worked with for some time now. I trust it completely when things stop being comfortable.
“What is it?”
“There’s movement coming from the northern border. Maybe even the eastern pass between Delmont and us.”
He stands not far from me, focused on what that could mean. “Hayes?”
“I’m assuming.”
“How many?”
“I can’t be sure from here.” I’m already moving to the back room as I grab my jacket. “More than one.”
For as subdued as Hayes has been ever since our fight, he’s never slick enough to keep his movements hidden.
Part of me wonders if he wants me to know that he’s here, just for the sake of it.
If I’ve learned anything from his actions in the last year or so, it’s that he cares more about how his actions look, rather than what they earn him.
He may be strong and have an alpha title, but against the rest of us, he can’t win. That’s exactly why he doesn’t fully commit to anything. Not when absolute loss would tarnish his reputation in Wraith Peak.
If he half-commits, he half-loses, and he can continue to the next attempt.
But he can try all he wants. I’m watching.
Before we can leave, Tessa is up and giving me that look she gets when she wants more details and won’t take no for an answer. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a disturbance in our territory,” I say, because I don’t lie to her anymore, and I’m not going to start now. “Hayes has been testing our borders, and it’s likely him out there.”
“Then I’ll come with you.”
I look at her, and she looks back with a slightly raised chin, which means she’s already anticipated the argument and has chosen her position on it. “I’m not useless. I know the territory, especially the northern border.”
Something in me shifts at the idea of her thinking I’d assume that of her, but I force myself to focus. “I know you’re not useless.”
“Then why can’t I help?”
“Because Hayes went after you once already,” I tell her, keeping my voice level and even despite wanting to treat this with more sensitivity.
“If his pride is still wounded from before, then he could be using this as his chance to get back at me. I’m not stopping you because I don’t believe you’re capable…
I’m just not underestimating how he might try to use you. ”
I catch as her expression changes subtly, like the argument she was building has encountered a reason she can’t dismiss as easily as she’d like. She knows I’m right, and I can see her trying to find a way around it.
“The house is the safest position, and you’re close enough to the rest of the pack if anything goes wrong,” I explain, hoping it’s enough. “I would keep Dom here, but I need him.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I know.” I hold her gaze for a moment longer, and in that time, the bond pokes and prods at me, reminding me to keep her safe. To do everything in my power to make sure she’s out of harm’s way. “Stay inside.”
Tessa looks at me for a moment with all the complicated things she’s feeling and thinking right now, but she finally sits down.
It’s not an explicit agreement, but she isn’t fighting me either.
Dominic is already at the door, maintaining that quiet readiness like he’s sliding back into his element, reminiscent of our time away.
I take one more look at Tessa in the firelight, hoping she can at least feel how seriously I take her safety beneath everything else.
If it weren’t for her or the pack, I wouldn’t be going out in this storm. But because of the risks I would surely face if I didn’t, I remind myself of what’s on the line.
“Lock the door behind us.”
Even if the invisible thread between us wants me to stay, I head out in search of the man who has been nothing but problems since the moment we returned to the island.