I was right in front of the doors when they crashed open. Both Hunter and I stopped where we were, we turned toward the doorway.
I almost didn’t recognize them at first. He had light brown hair, a new addition since last saw him, and a new shallow beard. I knew those playful, tawny eyes anywhere. I let a small smile spread across my lips.
“Lettie!”
Teddy ran to me after dropping his bag.
He swung me around and I laughed clinging to him.
Growing up he had always made me smile. Not that he was around as much as I would have liked.
Teddy was one of the pack’s enforcers. We only had a few. I knew some packs had up to six or seven, but our pack only had three. Teddy was one of them. Enforcers kept the law. They would punish those wolves who had done wrong. The ones that were too far gone for their Alpha to reach. They handle rouges, or if necessary, take care of them. They were the police and warriors of the pack in one. They were highly respected among their pack mates, but highly feared by others.
Hunter’s growling didn’t even register until Teddy stopped laughing set me down behind him. His muscles tensed, ready to spring forward and attack, if necessary, right in front of me, and snarled in a warning.
Shit.
I thought for sure that hell would break loose since Teddy and had taken a defensive stance in front of me. But instead he became silent and took on a less aggressive pose. I was left dumbfounded. Teddy’s back muscles rolled as he shook out their tension.
“Hunter Felan.”
I stared at Teddy’s back, my eyes wide with shock my mouth hanging open.
“You know him?” I asked. My voice seemed quiet behind the rushing in my ears. There were limited reasons Teddy would know Hunter.
“You know him?” Teddy asked turning to me. He moved to touch my shoulder.
In an instant, Hunter’s blurred shape seemed to jump the distance between us instead of crossing it. He moved between Teddy and me. I took a step back so my nose didn’t brush against his shoulder blades even though my wolf desperately wanted to get closer to get more of his intoxicating scent.
“Of course she does,” Hunter said.
“Down boy. Do you feel any other emotion than jealously? Teddy is like an uncle. He was just trying to make sure I was okay. How do you know him?” I questioned Hunter, my stomach still falling. Would he confirm my suspicions?
“What, do you think I’m a rogue?”
Rogues were shifters who lost their human minds to their wolves. They didn’t act with human compassion, but rather all the instincts and violence of a wolf and human combined. What they saw as right was usually cruel and without consideration for anyone else. Hunter’s yellow eyes dared me to defy him. Dared me to call him a traitor to our kind.
“Don’t joke about that with her, Hunter. She’s the one I was telling you about,” Teddy whispered his voice dipping lower. Hunter’s smug smile was gone in a second flat.
“You were one of the kids that was taken by hunters?”
I didn’t look at Hunter. I kicked into the ground. I preferred to push those thoughts away when they came up.
“I don’t think this is the best time to be discussing this,” I said. I tried to move past both boys. I was hurt that Teddy had told Hunter about me in the first place. I didn’t know Hunter.
“Colette.”
It caught me off guard, how Hunter said my name like a secret. He held onto my arm. I didn’t look at him but I took a deep breath. I hoped that it would steady my voice and give the courage to speak.
“Look, it’s not something I like to talk about. Why do you think Griff and I even have a pack-bond?”
I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to remove his hand. I didn’t want to admit it, but I liked his hand there. I liked the sensations it brought, and the heat that emanated from his palm.
“I’m sorry,” Hunter said and I pulled away.
“You didn’t know. We don’t know each other yet, Hunter. We might be fated to be together, but we don’t know each other,” I said unwavering. He didn’t blink, but I could see his anger. His shoulders lifted, his breathing deepened a little. I watched as his nostrils flared.
“Why are you treating this so causally?” His voice was gruff but the lines around his mouth deepened. I narrowed my eyes at him and turned so I was facing him completely once more. I could see his wolf pushing forward, ruling his thoughts. The wolf was basic, it knew what it wanted, and it recognized me for its mate. That primitive mind couldn’t understand why I might fight against it. I stood my ground.
“I am not treating this causally.”
I struggled to find the right words to tell him. How could I possibly tell him that I was scared he would kill me simply for who I was? His pack killed witches, they hunted them actively. I was scared of the unknown. I had similar uncertainty in my life before the Lupen pack took me in. I needed something solid to hold onto.
“I just don’t know you, Hunter.”
I waited a few more seconds for him to respond. He wouldn’t let me win this. I knew it in my bones.
“You’re mine. I will protect you,” with that he puffed his chest out.
I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes. I turned on my heel and left the room.
I wasn’t watching where I was going and ran into a very solid chest. I looked up and up until I was face to face with the older wolf who Hunter had come with.
“Hello,” Jude said simply
I just stared at him. I felt bad that I was so resistant to him.
“Hi, again. I don’t think I formally introduced myself, I’m Colette.”
“I know your name, but that is about it. Would you mind showing me around?” I was rendered speechless. I think I stood with my mouth slightly agape.
“Sssure?”
My eyes narrowed unintentionally. I didn’t trust people and I felt awkward that asked me to show him around since he had been here for already a couple days. I was sure he knew his way around. Any smart wolf in another pack’s territory would know his surroundings.
We turned and started to head outside. I didn’t say anything for a while, I wasn’t sure what to say. I took him through the back entrance that I had been through only a couple of days before for my birthday. The lights that had decorated the back were long gone, and regular patio furniture replaced the long tables.
The backyard opened up to the forest. Only a couple hundred feet of grass separated us from it.
“I know this must be overwhelming for you. I remember when I first found my mate, she wasn’t from my pack either. All I could think was, she is mine. The wolf becomes more dominant during those first few months of meeting their mate. There are ways around it; of course I don’t think you would be interested in those ways.”
Jude was soft spoken unlike most wolf males that I knew. I appreciated that he was trying to make his words light. I knew that wolves became more dominant in the first few months of meeting their mate. I was even feeling the effects of it.
“You aren’t full wolf are you?”
His question caught me off guard. I stopped walking.
“Excuse me?”
Blood drained from my face. My mouth went dry as my thoughts turned to escape yet again. My mind raced with fear. How did he know? No one outside of my immediate family knew about my new secret.
“The smell is faint, but your blood isn’t fully wolf. You’re a half breed. Which, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Only he didn’t know the half of it. He didn’t know of the other half. Of course I wasn’t even sure I understood the complete weight of it. My heart sunk deep.
“Does he know?” I asked with my head down.
“I think he is a little too consumed by the fact he has finally found his mate.”
I was silent as we continued to walk. I thought about that. My own fears and hesitations had me completely forgetting that he was affected by this as much as I was. I bit my lip as I thought about Hunter. How little I
tried with him since he arrived.
“How old is he?” I asked, almost terrified of the answer. Wolves are long lived. Age differences were expected. Some wolves had to wait for so long for their mates that a madness would set in. It was one of the reason rogues existed. Though those specific types of rogues were more uncommon.
“Twenty-six. He has waited for you for five years,” Jude paused for a moment. “He will insist you come home with us. Your pack can’t hold you here.”
My head snapped towards him.
“Excuse me?”
My stomach, feeling like a bucket of eels, almost relieved itself of lunch. My mind was empty. I couldn’t think of any argument. It was a law among wolves for the betterment and safety. The mate-bond had priority. Wolves could became violent and unpredictable without it. Most werewolves had enough control over their basic wolf needs, but there were those who didn’t.
All I could think of was Keith’s story. He didn’t force her back, no wolf would, would they? I didn’t know how Griffin would react if they tried to take me back with them without my consent.
“I don’t think this is the best time to discuss this,” Jude said moving a little too close into my space. I backed away.
“Well it really is, cause why else would you bring it up?” I asked, frustrated. He threw a curve ball at me only to try and change the subject now?
“You are the half-breed child that Keith found, are you not?”
I didn’t say anything. My jaw tightened with my rising irritation. He obviously knew what he was doing. He was trying to catch me off guard. That wasn’t common knowledge. It wasn’t common knowledge for a reason.
“How do you know that?”
My blood ignited in my veins. I took in a breath. The control I had been unconsciously exerting was shaken. I didn’t recognize the foreign sizzle under my skin.
“Sometimes enforcers tell each other things. Teddy isn’t the most tight-lipped wolf out there.”
I was going to kill Teddy.
“That doesn’t matter – I am still part of this pack,” I answered.
“Not by blood, not by mate. You don’t technically belong to this pack.”
Jude’s soft appearance started to disintegrate before my eyes. His words and actions morphed him. Suddenly the wisdom I thought I saw turned to deceit and danger. His soft spoken tone was no longer calming but something to be feared. He had control, excellent control, that was obvious. He never once had to raise his voice in order to send me stumbling.
I was deadly silent.
I wouldn’t be forced out of here. It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to. Bade had when I was first found, but I had the pack-bond to protect me that time. But Griffin and I could survive without each other now. Back then our souls were still healing. It wasn’t as if separating us would make one of us sick. When we touched, it was like our souls reached out for each other, instinctively. Griffin had left for two weeks for a hunting trip with Teddy once, and that was almost five years ago. So it was possible for us to be separated now. Because pack-bonds like Griffin and mine were so rare we didn’t completely understand it all. The only theory we could come up with was when we were younger we relied heavily on the bond to heal us, me physically, but both of us mentally.
“Maybe you’re right,” I whispered.
I shied away from his touch and headed back to the house with my hair blocking his view of my face. I wanted him to believe his words affected me in a different way. Inside I almost ran into Hunter. I looked up in time to avoid crashing into him. He stood stationary in front of me. I didn’t dare look at him. For the second time today, I was too distracted to notice him coming.
“You are really good at that.”
I tried to make my voice sound unaffected by the raging emotions tormenting me inside.
“And what would that be?” Hunter asked. His lips were a thin line, accenting his prominent bottom lip. His nostrils were flared. I could see a muscle move along his jaw.
“Silently appearing,” I answered. My lips twitched upwards. I moved to get around him knowing that the turmoil I was feeling would start surfacing soon. They could take me away, they – he had the right to. I couldn’t quite get the thought out of my head.
“Hilarious.”
His voice was flat and his face returned to neutral.
“Well it’s what I’m known for,” I said as I tried again to slip by him, but he moved with me.
“You’re upset. What’s wrong?”
His forehead crinkled, the almost permanent scowl on his face loosened.
“Um, no. Thanks, but no.”
I didn’t think he had anything to do with Jude’s threats outside, but I couldn’t rule out the possibility. I still didn’t know Hunter. At the moment I didn’t want to try. How could I when I was scared of what would happen.
“Surprising,” he said. Again his voice was flat this time, though he made it sound like a fact.
“I try to be spontaneous.”
I moved, again trying to get out his way. This time I faked right and went left. He was still waiting for me, a regular wall of muscle. I looked up at him. Staring at his pecks was getting distracting. Regardless of my other feelings, I was a woman and I could appreciate the human form and all its glory.
And he had some glory.
His shirt strained tight against muscle. I closed my eyes.
Man I was screwed. Either way I found my courage and faced him once more. I straightened my spine.
“Now my spontaneous self needs to go be spontaneous elsewhere.”
I tried to move around him again, only this time he let me pass. Before I got away, he grabbed my upper arm. I didn’t look at him, but I felt him get closer. His warmth seeped into me, it felt nice, it felt…right. My breath caught in my throat.
“We need to talk. I am not going anywhere.”
My eyes darted over to him.
“Is that a threat?”
Hunter sized me up, his eyes lingering on certain parts of my body. For a moment my body burned to keep his attention. Heavy breath accentuated my breasts.
Hunter’s eyes met mine, and his tongue wet his lips. My own eyes – traitors that they are – followed the movement desirously. When my eyes met his again, they had darkened to a more golden yellow, sure sign of his wolf.
Shit.
“That,” he moved closer. Our bodies were barely touching. Barely touching, but touching nonetheless. “Is a promise,” he whispered.
My ear blossomed at his warm words. He took the opportunity to move his nose to the column of my neck. I felt it brush there, and I held my body completely still. A delightful shiver worked its way through my system.
I started to walk away the moment he released his hold on my arm and moved away from my neck. My heart was racing and threatening to gallop out of my chest. At the bottom of the stairs Hunter called out to me.
“I mean it Colette. We need to talk, soon.”
A spike a fear went through my system that had me taking the stairs two at a time. I needed to find Griffin.
Chapter 8 — Stupid Plans
“That is a horrible plan,” Griffin griped again. I reminded myself that he didn’t fully understand the blunt warning Hunter had given. On top of that, Jude couldn’t have been clearer. Even if Hunter was his pack’s enforcer, he would have to return home sooner or later. They were out here for a reason.
And maybe that was the solution. Wide eyed I turned to face Griffin.
“I have a new plan!”
“Yeah, let’s hear it. The last one was a winner, let’s see how this one is.”
I smacked him with my hand. We were lying on my bed, as we had since we were kids. Keith had fixed my door the day before while I was out and about. It felt different now. The giddiness of our earlier touches was absent. Now it only felt like I was pressing skin against my best friend. My brother.
No butterflies flocked to my stomach. No tingles to run through my charged skin.
“You think that tasering them all and running away to Canada would save you from your mate? You are so very mistaken. You aren’t even my mate and I wouldn’t let a little tasering keep me from you.”
While his tone was light and playful, I knew the weight behind them. The weight of his words had my shoulders sagging, and my gaze dropped. My lips twitched downwards for a moment while I composed myself. The truth was that I had been preparing to lose him to someone else my entire life. I knew his mate would come along one day and sweep him away with her own scent, and hopefully wonderful personality. I had never in a million years dreamt that it would go the other way and that I’d meet my mate first.
“Shut up, this plan is much better.”
I twisted to Griffin who turned his head at the same time.
“So what is your new plan genius?”
“They are enforcers right? They’re here for a reason,” I paused waiting for him to catch on.
“They’re looking for someone,”
“Exactly!”
“So?” Griffin asked genuinely confused.
“So he wouldn’t want to take his weak, halfling mate into danger, now would he?”
“Are you suggesting we run away together?” Griffin asked with a devious smile. It broke my heart because I think a small part of him wasn’t joking. I bit my lip and looked away from him.
“No, but it will give me time to figure out more about my other half,” I said.
It felt wrong saying it out loud. Which was a stupid thought in general, because it was real. I wouldn’t cease being half witch by not talking about it. I needed to get Keith’s advice, and see if I could find a witch that would bind my powers.
“Everything will be okay.”
He grabbed my hand and held on tight.
“How about Canada as plan B?”
He laughed but didn’t respond. I now needed to figure out how to get Hunter to leave with his posse to finish their mission. I just hoped they haven’t finished it yet.
Hexed Hearts Page 8
