Wolf's Huntress

Chapter Thirteen

Ruth's POV:

I couldn't help but chuckle as Alpha Preston spoke. “Understand my feelings? You don't know shit.” Tinkerbell reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. When I looked at her, she motioned for me to take deep breaths. I did that a few times before nodding my head.

“I apologize. I didn't mean to offend you in any way.” My response was to shrug my shoulders at him. Honestly, I didn't care if he apologized or didn't even mean it. We were enemies, and the thing to do was collect information about your enemies. “Seeing as we agreed to work together, I thought you wanted to set some ground rules.”

“Correct, anything to protect my people and those we protect from others. The first rule is that anything about our operation is off-limits. No questions about what we do, how we do it, or where we are located. The second rule is zero interaction with those we rescued. They've been through enough as it is. Any further involvement with a supernatural being could be more damaging.”

Preston nodded his head in agreement. “I would like to place a few of my own rules. No unwarranted hostility towards any in my pack. You can't expose our location or what you know about our operations.”

“Hate to break it to you, but your location is already known to the hunter faction. Though they might not be aware that your pack has moved in.” The Alpha looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about before shaking his head.

“Anyway, I believe that's all I have to add. What about you two?” He looked towards Gregory and Alastair, who shook their heads, which surprised me. I expected Alastair to demand that I go on dates with him or something along those lines.

“I would like to train with your fighters here if that is alright,” asked Gregory.

“Why do you need to train with my people?”

“If we are going to get into a fight, we'll need to know how to work together,” he retorted. “Do you seriously expect us to work together flawlessly with zero time together?”

A tired sigh passed my lips as I leaned back into the chair. Honestly, what was I expecting? Of course, he was right. Someone could hurt the wrong person or, worse, in a heated battle. But the person who make that call wasn't with me.

“I'm not the one you need to talk to about that.”

Alastair's POV:

Ruth looked concerned, and the three of us were confused by her response. Wasn't she the captain of the hunter faction? So it was her call to make. Wasn't it? Before I could ask, Gregory spoke up.

“Do you know Stephon Silver?”

“Yeah, he is one of mine. And the man you need to talk to about training,” Ruth answered.

Gregory's eyes glazed over as he talked to the border guards. Sometime later, an older male with grey hair walked into the office and went straight to Ruth. His scent was familiar; he was the one who had led Becky away from the vampire earlier.

“Hey, teach. Just in time.”

“Everything okay in here,” he asked with a voice full of concern.

“I haven't burned the place down yet if that's what you mean.” Stephon sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You know what I mean.” Ruth waved him off before gesturing towards Gregory.

“They want to train with our people before we have to fight.”

“A reasonable request, yet I feel like you haven't agreed to it.” I was starting to get jealous of this man who seemed to know my mate so well. Ruth was so closed off to me but seemed so open with this man and the witch Clover.

“Of course I haven't. It isn't my family’s legacy but yours that they'll end up learning. I don't have the right to agree to such things as I please.”

It was my turn to say something. “Wait, what do you mean by his family's legacy? Aren't you the bloodborne hunter and him the outsider? Shouldn't it be your fighting techniques?”

Ruth looked at me, confused. “What are you going on about? Stephon is a bloodborne hunter as well.” That shook all three of us.

“Not to sound rude,” Preston started, “but you are a bit old to be a hunter. I mean, all the hunters older than Ruth are dead.”

“Oh, you mean the curse,” Stephon inquired. “That only affected those that had supernatural blood on their hands. I've never killed a supernatural being in my life.”

My jaw dropped. A hunter that had never hunted before? That was unheard of. I wanted to ask him more questions, but Ruth raised her hand to stop me.

“Third rule, no asking Stephon about his past and why he is still alive.”

“Okay, that I can handle,” I said, still terribly confused. “You are the captain of the hunter faction. You can easily order him to give up his legacy.”

Ruth then guffawed so hard that tears formed in her eyes as she held onto her sides. “That's what you guys think? That I'm the captain,” she inquired between wheezes.

“Yes, I think it's safe to say that the whole supernatural community believes that,” answered Preston. Ruth made a raspberry sound before laughing again. After a moment or two, she finally calmed down enough to speak normally.

“Guys, I'm the furthest thing from being captain of the hunter faction. These guys only call me that because I couldn't get Clover to stop with her joke.”

“If you aren't the captain, then what are you?” I was curious about her answer then. She led a group of people to fight supernatural beings. What else could she be other than a hunter captain?

“I'm a runaway Mud Born, the lowest of the low.”

Gregory, Preston, and I all looked at each other with utter confusion. We thought there were only three tiers to the faction. The highest was the Royal Blood, then the True Blade, and finally, the lowest was the Loyalist.

“What is a Mud Born,” asked Preston.

“The Mud Born is the smallest group that the captain and the Royal Bloods highly control,” Ruth started. “Generations ago, the captain went against the faction code. His brother brought the faction together to bring down the captain. So, usually, traitors are hanged for their crimes. However, because he was a Royal Blood, he was removed from his post and then demoted to a new tier called the Mud Born.”

“So that means,” I started before Ruth finished my sentence.

“I'm the descendant of a traitor. Hurray,” she cheered sarcastically. “Life in the faction wasn't great for my parents and me. Even though I was trained with the other kids, my future was to be that of cannon fodder.”

I couldn't hold back the growl that ripped through my throat. Was the hunter faction truly so heartless? “Who would use a person, much less a child, in such a manner?”

“Oh, I wasn’t expected to see action until I was a teenager like everyone else. So, for every mission, my parents were sent out to the front line. All but one that was.” Her face turned sad and grim. Seeing Ruth look that way broke my heart, so I tried to move to hug her. Her cold glare sadly stopped me. “I'm not a pathetic child, so don't even think about it.”

“I wasn't thinking that, Ruth.” Stephon placed a hand on Ruth's shoulder to calm her down, and I wished it was me instead.

“Ruth, if you'll trust me to speak with them, I can set up a training schedule.”

Ruth looked up at Stephon with concern in her eyes. “Are you sure you can do this? You are busy enough as it is giving council to the women we just rescued.”

“I'm sure, now you and Tinkerbell need to go home. You need your rest.” Ruth agreed before getting up to leave. I moved to escort her out, but the old man stopped me by putting his arm out.