Hunter's Mate

Chapter Five

Artemisia ran through the forest, clutching her stomach and holding the gun in her other hand. She felt like falling, but if she does fall, it will be her end.

"Find that woman!" she heard the vampire yell in the distance. Out of breath and her wound burning with pain, Artemisia kept running, desperate to escape before they caught her.

Artemisia sat on the large oak tree, steadying her breathing. She looked at her wound and grimaced at the sight of blood. With a curse, Artemisia took off the maid's clothes and tucked them into her wound. Only her inner fitted sleeveless tank top and compression shorts remain. She also discarded her empty holster and checked the remaining weapons she had.

"A gun with four bullets and three knives, that's great," she said, shaking her head. Artemisia looked at the sky and heaved a sigh.

"So much for my first gold mission," she said and stood up. Once she finished creating a diversion, Artemisia ran towards the left.

About an hour later, Artemisia could feel her feet about to give up.

"I finally caught up to you." Artemisia looked at the tree and saw Morris, one of Dean's bodyguards. "You may have fooled my companions, but not me," he said and jumped down, his red eyes glaring.

"F*ck you," Artemisia hissed.

"Hunter, you are going to die tonight," Morris said, but Artemisia pulled the trigger and purposely missed her mark, which surprised Morris.

"The next bullet will go straight to your f*cking brain," Artemisia said, taunting the vampire. Morris didn't like what Artemisia did and rushed towards her. Artemisia fired again, completely emptying the magazine, but Morris dodged every bullet. Artemisia held her knife and swung it towards his face, which grazed his cheek. She took a step backwards and cursed as her back struck the tree.

"You're dead meat," Morris said and lunged at her. Artemisia used all of her strength to kick Morris and throw the blade, hitting him in the chest, but it was shallow. Morris shrieked; the silver dipped with holy water did damage to him, and Artemisia grabbed the chance to jump at him, pushing the knife deeper. The vampire yelled in pain as his body caught fire. Artemisia rolled away, breathing heavily.

"F*cking vampires," Artemisia said. She could feel her consciousness drifting apart, but she forced herself to crawl. Artemisia doesn't know how many minutes she crawled until she's finally on the road.

"H-Help," she whispered as she fell unconscious.

A car passed by five minutes later and saw Artemisia lying on the side of the road. A man immediately went out and rushed towards her, checking her pulse.

"Dalton! Come quick! F*ck!" Ryker cursed as he lifted Artemisia's unconscious body. Dalton exited the driver's seat and assisted his Alpha.

"Sh*t, who's this?" Dalton spoke and opened the door for Ryker.

"It's my mate, Dalton. It's my f*cking mate!" Ryker hysterically said. Dalton froze on his spot.

"What?!" Dalton said.

"F*ck, get in and drive! We have to bring her back to the River's Pack," Ryker said. Dalton nodded his head and immediately went back to the driver's seat and started the car when he saw Ryker fully seated on the backseat. Dalton sped up, and twenty minutes later, they arrived in the River's Pack. Dalton stopped in front of the Alpha's packhouse.

"Daniel! Where's your pack doctor?!" Ryker asked when he went out of the car. "I need one, please. It's urgent!" he added. Daniel rushed towards him, noticing the bloodied woman lying on the backseat of his car.

"Carry him inside, Ryker; I will call for Ben," Daniel said. Ryker nodded his head and carefully got his mate out of the car and ran inside the house.

"Here, Ryker!" Daniel's wife, Susan said. Ryker followed her inside the room and slowly put his mate down.

"Who is this woman?" Susan asked and began removing the bloodied clothes of Artemisia. Ryker growled; his beast wasn't liking what Susan was doing, but Susan slapped him across the face.

"Snap out of it, Ryker! I'm the one helping your mate right now. Calm your beast!" she said. Ryker felt the stinging pain on his cheek and apologized to Susan.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Ryker has been waiting for his mate since he became an adult, and now that he found her, he was filled with delight, but seeing her bloodied devastated him. Ryker didn't expect that they would meet like this.

"Who hurt her this bad?" Susan asked while wiping the blood off of Artemisia's body.

"I don't know, and I wanted to know because I will kill those motherf*ckers who did it to her," Ryker angrily said, his eyes glowing.

Ben, the River's Pack doctor, arrived and immediately examined Artemisia, but Ryker's glare scared him.

"Get out," Susan said. "You're scaring our doctor who's treating your mate. Get out! I will stay here and look after her. Go and talk to Daniel," she added. Though it pained Ryker inside, he left the room so the doctor could treat his mate. He walked in the living room and saw Dalton, his beta, talking to Daniel.

"Ryker," Daniel said, acknowledging his presence. "I have dispatched my men to the location where you found your mate, using the information your beta provided. I'll let you know if they caught something," he added.

"Thank you, Daniel. It means a lot," Ryker said.

"No problem, Ryker. You're an ally of us," Daniel said. "I'll leave you two for a moment. I'll go check my warriors," he added and tapped Ryker's shoulder before leaving the house. Ryker sat on the couch, and Dalton handed him a clean shirt.

"Change into this, Alpha," he said. Ryker took the shirt and thanked him. He removed his shirt and wore the clean one.

"F*ck, Dal. My heart stopped when I saw her earlier," Ryker confessed. He was just being a good Samaritan, helping the woman, and he didn't know which turned out to be his fated mate. "How could someone hurt her? What did she do?" he whispered.

"I can't forgive them, Dal. I will find them, and I will make them suffer," he said. Dalton agreed to his Alpha. The attackers better pray because Moon Rider's Alpha was not to be messed with.