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Chapter 15: Comfort
Hunter
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When my mate rejected me, I instinctively clutched at my heart, expecting the horrific pain of rejection. My heart felt the sting of her words, but not the debilitating pain of her rejection. And then I’d realized something very important – she hadn’t given her name in the rejection which just confirmed to me that her name isn’t Josephine. Every wolf, especially an Alpha wolf, knows how to properly reject their mate. Not that it matters much in these times, but it matters to me.
I made my way out of the hidden space and was debating on whether or not I should chase after her when I heard the howl of the hunt go up. There was no way that I was going to risk my mate getting caught and claimed by anyone else.
Shaw pulled the shift and began racing in the direction the howls had come from. When we hear the yipping excitement of the pack closing in, Shaw snarls and pushes harder.
I hear her vicious snarl and as terrified as I am for her, I smile internally at her willingness to fight. I know they’ll have her surrounded, but she’s refusing to go down without a fight. That gives me enough time to get to her.
When I finally lay eyes on her though, fear unlike anything I’ve
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ever felt before runs icy in my veins and I see red. I knew from his scent that it was Alpha Owen, and he has my mate pinned to the ground in wolf form trying to force his mark on her so he can force her shift.
Shaw swipes at his Gamma before leaping and grabbing Hegir by the back of his neck and ripping him off of my mate. Shaw doesn’t take the time needed to snap his neck, but his bite is deep and I feel his teeth touch bone.
We place ourselves between our mate and Owen’s pack members. His Beta immediately runs to help him while his Gamma is still trying to stand with the gaping wounds I left running down his side. The fourth wolf, however, looks like he‘ s going to leap at me. He obviously doesn’t know who I am.
Before he can make his move, I pull the shift, staying in my crouch and turn to my mate, telling her to run. Just as the wolf leaps at me, Shaw pulls the shift back into our wolf form.
ps up and our jaws sink into the wolf’s soft, fleshy
When I don’t hear my mate’s retreating paws, I turn and see her gaping at the scene in front of her. Shaw barks sharply, getting her attention and she turns and runs as Alpha Owen regains his feet.
Since neither his Beta or Gamma look ready to attack me, I shift as well, standing to face him.
“Alpha Hunter, I should have fucking known. What the fuck are you doing? I’m within my rights to claim that she–wolf,” he
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says, rubbing the wounds on the back of his neck.
“She’s my mate. I will kill you, all of you, before I’ll allow you to touch her,” I snarl, Shaw’s voice overlaying with mine.
Alpha Owen stops, looking at me. “You just want her because she’s an Alpha.”
“I want her because she’s mine.”
“Then you’d better claim her fast, because if I come across her trail again, she’s mine.”
“Touch her and you die,” I snarl again.
He looks at the fourth man, lying dead on the ground and realizes my threat isn’t idle. I didn’t rip his throat out completely, but there’s a gaping hole in between his throat
spine.
Alpha Owen looks around. “I don’t see any of your pack members. Did want us to follow you, so we can watch you claim your mate?” he asks, licking his lips lasciviously. He’s a disgusting man and I would never let him see my mate in any form of undress. I don’t care that she’s a werewolf.
“No. I’m good.”
“Suit yourself, but in my experience…” he begins.
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“The experience that you don’t have because you haven’t been able to run down your mate yet? Even when she’s outnumbered four to one?” I growl at him. “Remind me, how long have you been trying to capture your mate?”
His lip curls with his anger at me. “I look forward to the day when I can knock you off that pedestal that you’ve placed yourself on. And don’t worry, Hunter, that day will come.”
“I doubt it, Owen. You aren’t smart enough to knock anyone off of anything,” I retort. “Now, are you going to turn around and run off in the direction you came from, or am I taking out one of your ranked members?” I ask him, staring down his
Gamma and Beta.
“We’re leaving,” he says, nodding at the two. His Gamma is still bleeding heavily from the gashes I gave him, but he turns. and takes off running. His Beta shifts and follows closely
behind him.
Alpha Owen gives me one final glare before leaping, shifting, and following his pack members. I guess the dead guy doesn’t matter, since they left him.
Once I know that they’re gone, I turn, leaping and letting Shaw pull the shift. He immediately catches our mate’s scent and begins hunting for her. We follow her erratic trail, turning at strange points, shifting left then doubling back right before leaping over a fallen tree and running full out. I can’t tell if she‘ s trying to throw a hunter off her scent or if she’s struggling with almost getting caught.
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When we finally come up to a river, Shaw slows down. Before I see her, I can hear her teeth chattering, and I can smell the salt of tears. Shaw is slow to step out of the woods and I see her in the water, scrubbing her body that is already bright red as she sobs.
Shaw whines and I’m ready to pull the shift, but he stops me.
‘She’s in her human form. If you shift, she might run. She’s in shock. She’s shaking. Let me see if she’ll let me close to her. I can’t mark her in her human form,‘ he says as her head whips around.
“Stay away from me!” she screams, and I can see that Shaw is right. My mate is in shock. Shaw lays down, watching her and she resumes the scrubbing of her body that is becoming so rough that I can smell a faint scent of blood.
He whines again and begins to belly crawl toward her. She lifts her nose in the air, continuing to scrub her body.
‘Let me shift. I need to talk to her,‘ I tell Shaw.
‘You’ll scare her off,‘ he growls.
‘She’s going to hurt herself. I need to talk to her, then you can shift back.‘
He reluctantly agrees, and I shift. As expected, she turns,
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“Wait! I’m going to shift back, but I wanted to speak to you quickly. You’re in shock. You’re rubbing your skin off of your body. I’m going to shift back into Shaw. Let him lay with you, let him warm you. Your teeth are chattering. I don’t have any clothes, or I’d offer them to you. Please. I know you’re afraid. I promise, my word as an Alpha, this isn’t a trick to try and mark you. You’re my mate. I don’t like seeing you like this. Please, let me help you,” I say as gently as I can.
I’ve never begged for anything in my life. I’ve never had to. I’m an Alpha. I get what I want, what I ask for, or what I demand. But this is different. She is different. I want her to trust me, even if it is because she’s desperate to get warm.
“Sh–sh–shift back,” she says, her teeth chattering, her arms wrapped tightly around her body. She’s still in the water. I have no idea if it’s cold, but I know she is. I can see her lips turning blue from here.
ulls the shift and immediately lays down on his belly again, whining at her. We watch as her eyes flash darker and I know she’s talking to her wolf. When she’s done, she looks at Shaw, taking a step in our direction.
“Okay, Sh–Sh–Shaw. My w–w–wolf, Hedda, says w–w–we can trust you. She d–d–doesn’t feel any ill intent fr–fr–from you. Don’t p–p–prove her wrong,” she says, her teeth chattering as she walks out of the water. I feel a tightness I didn’t know I was carrying in my chest ease as she makes her way toward
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Shaw slowly stands and carefully takes a step toward her. She looks around. “Maybe we can find a place that isn’t so sandy and rocky and is hidden, in case other Alphas catch my scent?”
Shaw growls at that, making her lips twitch. She turns, heading back to the wooded area of the forest. “I need to th- th–thank you for coming to my rescue. Alpha Owen is d–d- disgusting. I can’t image being b–b–bound to him for the rest of my life. I’m beginning to understand why some sh–sh–she- wolves prefer to take their lives instead of living with the Alphas who claim them.”
Shaw begins to whine at her statement. She turns and looks at him, sitting down and huddling into a ball. He approaches her slowly, carefully wrapping himself around her.
then leans into his body, making him purr as he himself and presses his body closer to hers. “Oh, you f- eel so warm.”
She presses herself closer to his body, grabbing hold of his fur and sliding her ice–cold feet against his body. We jerk at the feel of her cold body, but don’t pull away.
“S–s–sorry, I know I’m c–c–cold.”
Shaw nuzzles her face, sniffing her, and beginning to lick the
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shallow wounds she caused herself by scrubbing so hard,
She chuckles, “You’re very sweet”
I’m guessing that came more from her wolf than from her, l wish I knew her name. All I know is that she’s an Alpha female, not named Josephine.
“I’m surprised you followed me, after I rejected you,” she says, her voice muffled by Shaw’s fur
He rumbles at her, not quite a growl, not quite a whimper.
“I’m really glad you did,” she says, as her body begins to warm and the tremors from before begin to ebb,
She snuggles closer to Shaw. Whether it’s her or her wolf, I’m not sure and I don’t care. All I know is that she’s seeking comfort from us,
‘From me, you mean, Shaw says smugly as he begins purring at our mate, calming her even more,
‘Shut it, douche bag. She wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t told her that we wanted to help her.‘
While she begins to fall asleep, Hook her over
Her hair isn’t red, Shaw,‘ I say, seeing the chocolate brown
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‘I realized that when we saw her wolf earlier. She’s not a red wolf, she’s a brown wolf,‘ he says. I had been so angry at Owen trying to claim what was mine and getting her away from him, that I hadn’t paid attention.
‘That’s why you need me,‘ Shaw says, arrogantly.
I just shake my head at him. I wait until my mate’s body has warmed and she’s sound asleep before I shift, pulling her into my arms and holding her close. We both need some sleep.
‘I’ll keep watch, you sleep,‘ Shaw says in my mind.
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