Leaning down to kiss her, his lips brushed across Katie’s soft warm lips, and he felt a tingle from the closeness of their tender sensitive skin. His manhood became enlarged and she felt it too, but then she pulled away from his arms.
“I thought you wanted me,” he said breathless.
“I do. But not like this.”
“Is it because of Devin? I can understand. He’s sick and we can wait until he’s better to tell him that we want to be together.”
“It’s not that.” She glanced at Hunter shaking her head, but she didn’t say a word. There wasn’t but one word to say.
“What is it? You said that I didn’t understand before. Make me understand,” Hunter said his voice demanding. Katie fiddle with her fingers. Her face guarded as if she held a secret. She turned away from Hunter, and looked up as if avoiding the subject that she brought up.
Finally she decided to tell Hunter. He deserved to know.
“I’m pregnant, Hunter. I’m pregnant. I found out the day you walked into the house. I didn’t say anything to Robert or your mother and father.” Hunter looked impassive at Katie and stumbled away from her. There was no emotion. There were no words that could express the pain Hunter felt.
Chapter 11
Hunter woke in a room he didn’t recognize with a blanket over him and the brick fireplace roaring. He sat up quickly. At first he thought he was in Alaska with the sound of wood crackling in a fire. But quickly he realized that that nightmare was over. When Katie broke the news about her pregnancy, he walked out of the room, and sat looking out at the night. He couldn’t talk and he didn’t want to talk.
When he felt tired he closed his eyes and fell asleep in what his mother called a den, which overlooked a golf course.
Katie wandered slowly into the room. Touching lightly with her fingertips, the back of the leather sofa, Hunter had slept on, he quickly opened his eyes. “How long have I been here?” He wiped his eyes. Katie looked especially appealing in her blue robe.
“You’ve been sleeping twelve hours.” Hunter pushed the cover from him and stood up. “I have to get to the hospital. Wilder...”
“He called to tell me that Devin was okay for now. I said that you had stayed over to make sure I wasn’t alone. I said you had fallen asleep on the sofa.”
“How did he take that?”
“Not good. He doesn’t like me, does he?” Hunter didn’t answer. He tried to pretend that he didn’t hear her. But she knew and he knew that he could hear a bird flick his wings a mile away.
“He gives me the impression that it’s not a great idea that you and I are together under one roof.”
“Did he say that?”
“No. But I can tell by the way he talked to me.”
“If my father thought that way, he would say it. He doesn’t hold his words back with anyone. He doesn’t have to.” Katie glanced at Hunter. His unruly hair making him look exceedingly sexy. She wanted to run into his arms, but she wouldn’t allow herself, and after last night, she was sure he would reject her.
Hunter had already said that he wouldn’t share his mate with his brother.
“Your father wants to see you. Wilder said to meet him at the ranch. Don’t tell your mother and father that I’m pregnant, and especially not Robert. I want to tell them in my own time.” Hunter furrowed his brow and raised an eyebrow.
“I wouldn’t do that anyway.” He scanned the room. “Where can I clean up?” He said.
“You can take a shower in the bedroom to the right. It has everything in there for a shave and a change of clothes.”
“I don’t wear my brother’s clothes. Just like I don’t...” And he stopped when he glanced at Katie’s eyes. “Not because we’re not the same size because we are, I just don’t wear his clothes.”
It wasn’t the clothes he was rejecting it was deeper than that, and Katie knew it.
“If it makes you feel better, he has never worn them. I bought them for him and he looked at them and put them aside. He doesn’t wear jeans and flannel shirts anymore. He likes wearing suits. He seems to think he’s a business man. He says he has plans for this town to grow. He’s planning on building this town into a center for elite shifters and humans. He had something to do with making the hospital in town a state of the art research center, so Robert can do his research. He hired the smartest and youngest doctors he could find. He has big plans for this town.”
When Katie talked of Devin’s plans, her face changed. It was warm and happy and her eyes brightened and she smiled.
“Unfortunately I see that. I have plans too.” Hunter turned and walked in the direction of the bedroom, which was in the wing next to the master bedroom.
When he returned after a shower and shave, he surprised Katie eating in the kitchen. She glanced up. He was indeed handsome and matured looking. His face showed power and strength. His skin stretching firm over his elegant cheekbones. His classical handsome features made noticeable by his deep blue eyes.
That youthful look had all but disappeared from his face and taking its place was a glow of savage inner fire. His eyes compelling glowing at her like summer lightning. If she had to do it over again, what would she do? She knew the answer, and he knew it too when he gazed into her confused wanting green eyes.
“I have to go.” He stared at her wanting her to tell him not to go. Wanting her to say we can spend the day together, but it was just a dream, and he had woke to face reality.
A reality without her.
“One piece of advice,” Hunter said. Katie looked attentively expecting to hear something that will make her world turn, “Eat some meat. Those pups you’re carrying are meat eaters. Think Tyrannosaurus Rex.” In a flash he disappeared.
Hunter took a short cut through the woods. He had to get his mind together. It was only when he was running through the wild of forests that he could feel like himself. That part of him who is a hunter, a wild animal that lets nothing distract him, especially not the desire of sex unless he’s into the mating season.
That season had passed. The only time he had to worry about was when the moon was full, and his desires for a woman was at its height. He knew that his father and uncles had managed that time when the moon would dictate their desires and arousal, and he too would learn to control that part of him as well.
It appeared that Devin hadn’t uncovered that part of himself where he could be devoted to one female.
Walking into the ranch house he was met with strange looks from the staff who were new and hadn’t gotten used to him. They knew Devin and for some reason they could tell the difference in the two. Maybe it was because Devin was more personable than Hunter. Maybe it was because Devin was more trusting of people, and he didn’t see them the way Hunter saw them.
It was Hunter’s experiences in Alaska that fashioned his personality and made him a lone wolf like his father. He learned that you couldn’t trust. Even if he wanted to, he decided that he couldn’t trust anyone with the exception of his family. They were family, and they were bound to each other. If they didn’t have each other, how could they exist when there were so few werewolf packs left in the world?
Hunter walked out of the kitchen to meet his father and uncles. Lycell and Drayton were standing in the foyer below the stairs. “We have an emergency, Hunter. I was wondering when you would get home,” Drayton said to him. Drayton was a werewolf of few words and lately he had been occupied with his one pup.
Hunter turned and followed the three into the library. It appeared all matters of importance were discussed in the library. He looked around and remembered the last time he was there alone. It was a comforting smell being near the old books he once discarded and rejected.
In the library, Lycell and Drayton sat on a large sofa across from Wilder. “Sit, Hunter.” Wilder said looking up at Hunter. “Next to me,” Wilder said. It wasn’t an invitation, it was a command. Out of respect for his father and uncles he walked and sat near his father.
Their faces wo
re the same expressions. Their brows furrowed. They looked the same, handsome and youthful with their svelte bodies. Although they were identical triplets, the last meeting with Bane and his band of wolves, had taken a toll on all of them. Some seen and some unseen. The handsome faces of all except Wilder was marred with the scars levied by Bane and his wolves, and a bear’s paws.
“You don’t know about this, Hunter, but since this town has grown, we can’t keep up with all the humans and shifter population coming in. I spoke with your father about this and he said that he had given Devin permission to encourage the growth of this town,” Lycell said looking with a raised eyebrow at Wilder.
“That was because you and Drayton were unable to vote. I had a right to assume that role as Alpha. You two were in no condition to do anything,” Wilder argued.
“You had no right to give Devin free reign concerning financial matters over this town. That was not yours to give to your spoiled pup of a son,” Lycell said. His voice showing displeasure.
Wilder stirred in his leather wingback chair watching at Hunter, then Lycell and then Drayton. “You were not in your right mind when you heard that Hunter was dead. You should have known better than to listen to Bain. We forgive you for that. I probably would have done the same considering I have six sons whom I love dearly, but Devin wasn’t the right one to give that power to. Look at him and the damage he has done to us,” Lycell said meeting Wilder’s gaze as one alpha to another.
“He’s just like you,” Wilder said opposing Lycell. “Should father have made us share equally in all matters? but he did. Your sons were too young. They’re not yearlings yet. What would you have me do?”
“If he’s like me, than that’s why I know he shouldn’t have been put in charge of Samsaville. He made himself the mayor, and pushed through all kinds of schemes to make money so he can go out and waste our money. He drinks too much, and he’s fucking every female shifter and human female in this town, and who knows where. He thinks with his cock,” Lycell said.
“Like you used to do, Lycell,” Drayton said sitting back and crossing his arms.
“That’s why I know what he’s doing,” Lycell said eyeing Drayton. “Here he has that beautiful girl of Hunter’s and instead of him being with her making pups, he’s out fucking every shifter bitch around. You can’t trust the shifter cats. He fucks them too.”
Drayton shook his head at Lycell. “You certainly have a way with words. I see you haven’t changed,” Drayton said nudging Lycell on the shoulder.
“What? What about what I said isn’t the truth?”
Everyone became quiet. Wilder placed one hand to his face and the other hand passed up and down rubbing his injured knee. He closed his eyes for a second listening to Lycell tell him what he knew to be true about his son Devin.
“I have all of you in here and you too Hunter because we have been confronted with another problem. We solved the problem of our pack. We have an abundance of pups but they are still too young.”
“Don’t blame that on me,” Lycell said. Drayton eyes shot to Lycell.
Wilder smiled thinking about Adrienne when he first propose the idea of sleeping with his brothers to increase their pack. She thought he had lost his mind and she thought that he didn’t love her. When she realized how much all the Samsas loved and cared for her, she was won over by their affection. It took more time with Lycell, but she soon warmed up to him.
Wilder’s face took on an unhappy expression. His mouth closed into a hard line. He took a hard breath.
“We have received information from the Nevada state troopers that there is a serial killer in our midst and one maybe in Samsaville.” He paused and said, “Someone gave Devin’s name as a person of interest. However, another werefemale was killed last night, and as we all know, he was in the hospital and sedated.” The room became quiet then the sound of despair. Heavy breathing. Sounds of groans circulated throughout the room.
“He couldn’t do such a thing. He doesn’t have it in him, does he father?” Hunter eyes begged for an answer and no one would reply.
The break of silence came from Wilder, “There have been talk that it’s you who are killing all those women and dumping them into the woods.”
“You must be kidding?” Hunter said.
“The killings started when you left and is still going on. There is a detective who will be here shortly. She is a special friend of the governor. She will be investigating the case. I want you to know that she’s a werefemale shifter.” A knock came to the door.
“Mr. Samsa, you have a visitor.”
“Show her in.”
The door to the library was left open and in walked a young woman in her early twenties. The Samsa men stood, not because she was a woman, and not because they were gentlemen, but because she had an unusual beauty. Her hair dark and long, but she had it up in a ponytail. Her eyes black as if she could see into your soul. She wore dark clothes. A pair of black slacks and shirt and a black leather jacket. She wore no makeup only red lipstick over full lips.
Lycell stirred uneasy. Females had that effect on him. He couldn’t stay still around a beautiful woman and he had never seen a beautiful shifter like her. Not in all his womanizing days. But now he had given that up for Adrienne, but he was still a werewolf at heart.
“Claire these are my brothers Lycell and Drayton and my son, Hunter,” Wilder said. “Now if you will put your tongues back in your mouths we can begin... Please sit, Claire.”
“I didn’t expect to meet with your pack. I thought it would be just between us.”
“We are family. There are no secrets in this house.”
“Then I’ll sit.”
“I asked the governor to send me his best human or shifter in matters like this. You look very young, have you had experience with this kind of thing before.”
“Do not be deceived by the way I look. Your son has the look of a spoiled pampered rich shifter, but I sense that he has experiences that some of you don’t have,” she said glancing around the room with her dark probing eyes.
“No doubt you have had some of the same experiences. You have the look of a seductress, but you are crafty and hard to deal with. You can recognize desperation on another’s face,” Hunter said throwing one of his few smiles. “Especially those who have had to fight to survive and are as cunning and desperate as you,” Hunter said watching at her dark onyx eyes change colors. “You’re not a werewolf, I sense you’re a werepanther.”
“My father was a panther shifter and my mother I don’t exactly know. Well done, Mr. Samsa.”
“Call me Hunter.” He tilted his head to the side and gave Claire a wicked smile with a raised lip to the right. Wilder, Lycell, and Drayton noticed the smoothness with which Hunter handled the shifter.
“Hunter, you’re going to accompany Claire when she interrogates and gathers evidence for our police department. They can’t go into some of the shifter dens where you and Claire can go.”
“I thought you wanted me for council business not this?” Hunter says looking to Wilder.
“That will have to wait. This is more important. We have to find out if shifters or humans are doing the killings,” Wilder said. “Once you question the persons of interest and whatever evidence you gather, turn them over to our police department. I don’t want you getting more involved than you have to,” Wilder said to Hunter and Claire.
“I understand the girls that have been killed are all humans,” Lycell said looking Claire up and down. “Don’t killers kill their own kind?”
“Not all the time. Since there have been such a mixing and dating of shifters and humans in your town, everyone is under suspicion.” Claire glances in Hunter’s direction. Drayton stands up.
“It’s nice meeting you, but I have chores around here.” Drayton nervously extends his hand and she shook it. He straightened his collar and cleared his throat. “My wife is expecting me to help her with the baby.” Claire gave him a closed smile. And Drayton disappeared into
the foyer.
“Lycell and I have things to take care of, Claire. Whatever I can do to help I will. For now, my son will be happy to accommodate you, and show you around our small town.” They all stood and Hunter and Claire watched as Lycell and Wilder walked out.
“So, Claire, I see that we’re alone.” Hunter tucked his hands into his pants pocket. He watched at her as she stood awkward, shifting her body and clutching her hands, trying not to reveal her nervousness and her attraction to him, but she was unsuccessful.
Hunter appeared to attract females of all kind—shifters and humans. Females young and old who came into contact with him found him sexually interesting.
He wasn’t fully aware of his charm, but he was learning that he had an effect on females. It would have been an advantage to him, but only Katie made his temperature rise so he didn’t pay attention to anyone but her.
“Your father left me alone with you for a reason. I said that you were a suspect, and I needed to talk to you alone. He was just accommodating my wishes. Do you mind?”
“Of course I fucking mind. I have to work with you, and you think I kill women.”
“It’s not me. I know you didn’t, but I have to prove that someone else did, otherwise you are the logical suspect, or your brother. But I hear he was in the hospital when the latest murder occurred. Then I discovered he was beaten to a pulp at a local motel. When I interviewed a few shifters who were at the motel that night, they seem to think you might have something to do with it. You had a disagreement with Eric who is a werewolf shifter.”
“I hope the same individuals who gave you that piece of information got interrogated and put on your list. They’re most likely his friends and more likely to have committed the murders.”
“They are persons of interest just like you.” Hunter scowled at Claire.
Insatiable: Moon Tide Book 6 Page 7
