Alpha's Hunt

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Michael howled at the same moment the old shifter’s head thunked down, lifeless against the soil. Had the boy felt his father’s passing?

No. When Luke and Ruth exchanged glances, the latter nodded. “I’ll slow them down. Get rid of the woelfin.”

“Honor,” Luke interjected. “Her name is Honor.”

But he didn’t argue with the “getting rid of” part. Instead, he shimmered down to four legs, his voice echoing inside my head as I used my pelt to follow suit.

“I’m sorry. I wish we’d met a year ago. Or a year later. But I have to do this. My family needs me.”

The cascade of images that followed were like scenes from a movie condensed to the point where the montage of actions made little sense. I caught the emotion beneath it, however. Luke was terrified of bringing a woelfin into a world where strangling wounded fathers was the wheelhouse of the good guys. He was walking into a hornet’s nest and couldn’t handle the notion I might get stung.

Thankfully, Luke knew a shortcut that returned us to Wolf Camp—Luke’s seasonal gathering place for confused skinless, currently nonoperational—in minutes rather than hours. Because I didn’t trust this new telepathy between us enough to use it for a difficult conversation. Instead, I shifted as soon as we reached a roofed picnic area. Here, no one but Luke could see the pelt curl away from my shoulders as I donned my human skin.

“You don’t need to protect me.” Without waiting for Luke’s reaction, I strode n***d across the courtyard, heading into the closest cabin to gather up weaponry. Adrenaline exploded through me more powerfully than ten shots of espresso. I was ready to do battle as Luke’s partner. I was ready....

Luke’s hands on my shoulders stopped me in my tracks before I could push back outside. “I won’t ask you to be my sword maiden,” he told me silently, tapping his ear in warning that skinless could hear conversations from quite a distance away. “It’s too dangerous. The pack won’t react the way I did to your pelt.”

“I’m willing to take that chance.” I countered.

“I’m not. You can’t be here when they come.”

A tectonic rift opened in my stomach. That was the only explanation I could give for why I suddenly found it hard to keep my body erect. Three words were all I could manage. “I get it.”

And I did get it. After all, Luke and I had been acquainted for just over a week. He was skinless; I was woelfin. The only physical intimacy we’d shared was a theatrical, fake kiss.

Of course his family would call and he’d leave me to rejoin them. What had I expected? A vow of his undying love?

Luke growled rather than answering. He yanked me in closer, fingers biting into my biceps. Even with human nostrils, I could smell his barely restrained rage.

Then, he spat out his own three words. “No. You don’t.” Added on four more: “You don’t get it.”

His lips pressed hard and sweet against mine, forcing me to admit that he might just be right.

***

THE KISS—OUR SECOND, the only one shared without the intention of convincing an audience—would have been earth-shattering all on its lonesome. But the images that flowed into my mind along with the physical sensation weakened my knees.

Scenes from our shared past, but filtered through Luke’s memories. Our first meeting, when I literally fell from the sky...and for one split second he rethought his disbelief in angels. The instant bond that drew him to me, the sure knowledge that I was his pack.

“I’m yours.” His lips didn’t have to leave mine to make the claim. Still, he pulled back so he could see me, his breath feathering finger soft across my skin.

I wanted to draw him back in and kiss him forever. To suck up Luke’s sweet cinnamon and wrap my arms so tight he couldn’t get away.

But we were interrupted by a long, hard series of knocks. “Are you in there?” Ruth demanded.

Luke’s eyes closed, his lips curling into a reluctant smile. “Patience has never been your strong suit, Ruth.”

“I’ll be patient,” she countered, “when I’m dead.”

While they bantered, I forced myself to twist out of Luke’s grasp and clothe myself. Whether I stayed or went, I needed to maintain the illusion that I was one of the skinless. So I wrapped my pelt around my waist before pulling a shirt over my head. Tucking the shirt into jeans, I turned to face Luke once more.

“Does this outfit make me look fat?”

His eyes squinted into a sunset half-circle for one split second. He understood what I was asking and was amused by my wording. Then he reassured me with a single shake of his head.

There, that felt normal. So normal, in fact, that I opened my mouth to reopen the debate he’d staved off with his stealth kiss attack.

Luke was way ahead of me. “This will get much worse before it gets better. If you....” His words broke apart as a howl outside reminded us we were far from alone. I caught only bits and pieces of the rest of his explanation. Something about “choice” and “scars” and “more death.”

I wanted to pin him down and demand a real explanation. Or even to get the explanation he was trying to hurry through, unaware that the link between us was broken.

But the howls outside were growing louder. So I only asked: “You have to deal with this? For the sake of your family?”

Luke nodded.

“And would my presence here make things worse?”

Another, even more reluctant, nod.

I inhaled once, closed my eyes and wished the world was different. Then I exhaled and let dissatisfaction disperse along with the outflow of carbon dioxide.

“Okay, then.” I started packing. Not that I had much here in the first place. Some clothes, my sword, my cousin’s letter. Electronic odds and ends.

And, apparently, a set of keys. Or so I discovered when Luke’s scent enveloped me a second time.

“Take my car. Go as far away as you can. I’ll call you when it’s safe. It might be...a long while.”

A long while like days? Weeks? Decades?

Luke didn’t need those questions however. As I squelched them, a pang ran through me. Starting at the bite in my neck and slithering lower. It felt both right and severely wrong at the exact same time.

Outside, a wolf yipped. Something told me this was neither Ruth nor Michael.

There was no time left for explanations and promises. No time for anything except reaching up and pulling Luke’s chin down until I could reach him.

Then I gifted him with a farewell kiss.