Page 15 of Wolf Hunter

So I address my people. “Release them,” I say, which wins me questionable looks all around. “If the witches are smart, they’ve learned their lesson tonight.”

The second the panicked women are let go, they rush back through the trees, disappearing from sight.

Julius walks over to me. “Reid…” There’s a warning in his tone, but I don’t want to hear it right now.

“We’re going home,” I reply firmly. “Now.”

His head dips to acknowledge Pink Hair in my arms. “And this one?”

As I gaze down at Pink Hair’s beautifully tragic face, seeming peacefully asleep from the poison in my lupine bite, a strange possessiveness overwhelms me again. Not just from my wolf, but from the man in me too.

“She’s mine now.”

ChapterFive

Reid

“Well, that was eventful,” Bullet, my second, says as we stalk back to the mountain where we’ve built our home. “A little blood, a little bite, and a lot of screaming. Definitely was one of the most exciting ceremonies I’ve ever been to.”

Pink Hair shifts in my arms but remains unconscious.

“We’ll talk about it later,” I grumble.

Of course Bullet keeps up. Being my closest friend since childhood, he knows when to push my buttons. And it’s something he loves to do often. “I liked it,” he says with a wolfish grin. “I vote we do this every year.”

I wince when I breathe in and sharp pain lashes across my face. I’m lucky the witch didn’t break my nose, but my ability to heal faster sometimes hurts just as much as the hit.

As we continue to trudge through the woods, I think back to my standoff with Pink Hair and the fierce hatred in her eyes—hatred I can’t understand. I can smell the magic on her—I tasted it in her blood when I bit her—so she could want revenge purely because of our treaty. But our deadly dance felt like more. Her animosity was raw, personal. A long time in the making.

She cursed me, stabbed me, and even tried to shoot my head off. Keeping her alive may end up being the dumbest thing I’ve ever done and biting me in the ass, but I’ll handle that if it comes to it.

“Julius is pissed off,” Bullet says, glancing over his shoulder at my brother, who’s toward the back of our group. “He keeps glaring at you.”

“I don’t give a shit about him right now,” I growl between clenched teeth. “He needs to stop questioning everything I do.”

“He’s your older brother,” he chides. “That kind of comes with the territory.”

My annoyance bristles. I halt suddenly, drawing him to a quick stop beside me. “And I’m his alpha,” I snap. “It’s about time he accepts that.”

Bullet holds up his hands in surrender. “Hey now. You don’t need to tell me that.”

When Father died, most of the pack assumed Julius would take the position of alpha. Hell, I did too. He’s always been more like our father than either me or our youngest brother, Liam. He can be callous like him, harsh and self-centered. But his savage ways are linked to his wolf, and he loses himself to the animal too much to lead. That was Bullet’s explanation of it, anyway.

Still, I was shocked as shit when my name got called as the pack’s pick for alpha alongside Julius’s, and while there would normally be a fight to the death for the claim, Julius lamented and forfeited the title to me.

To this day, I wonder why he did it. Maybe he didn’t want any blood spilled between us, or maybe he felt embarrassed over me being called forth at all. I’ll never know. But one thing’s for damn sure, there’s some leftover resentment there.

He also likes to let me know when he thinks I’m fucking up. Which, apparently, is every damn day. I’m sure I’ll be hearing about tonight for the rest of my fucking life.

As we pass the territory boundary, the tension in my muscles eases. There’s just something about the Redcliff Mountains that sings to my soul and calms my inner beast. Magic caresses my skin, making a shiver race down my spine like it always does whenever we cross the magical barrier on our land. It’s one of the many things we’ve done with the coven’s magic over the years. A protective wall that alerts me, as alpha, if anyone is to cross through uninvited. It also acts as a natural deterrent by pushing any wanderers in the opposite direction. Both are handy when we have so many enemies.

Once we’re on our land, Bullet presses closer to my side again and drops his voice low. “What are we going to do about the coven? Better yet, what are you going to do with this witch?” He reaches to touch her, but I jerk her away. A growl vibrates in my chest, my wolf not liking the idea of her being looked at by another male.

He flinches away and bows his head as a show of submission. “Sorry, I know everyone else is asking these questions among themselves. They’re going to want to know what your plans with the girl are, so I need to know what you want me to tell them.”

Right. My pack is going to want answers for my rash decision in keeping her around, especially after she tried to stab me—multipletimes.

“Tell them… I will be questioning her the moment she wakes up,” I settle with. It is the truth, after all. “Then, depending on what I find out, that will determine what happens next—if I allow her to keep breathing or harness her magic.”

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