Wolf's Huntress

Chapter Eleven

Alastair's POV:

Hearing Ruth say that she would prefer to hook up with some rando on Tinder than try to give me a chance hurt. It hurt worse than when she rejected me the night we first met. Rue was not impressed and kept demanding that I hunt our mate down so that we would show her that we were superior to any male she might find on that hook-up app. I ignored his growls before trudging back to the pack lands. After crossing the border, I received a mindlink from Preston.

“Alastair, get back to the pack house as soon as possible.”

“I’m on my way already, alpha. Is there something wrong?”

“Yeah, I just got a call from my brother. We are to expect a vampire to head our way tonight.” A vampire was all the way out here? What the hell did they want?

I made it to the pack house and Preston’s office, where Gregory was also waiting for me. My alpha instructed me to sit, so I took the empty chair before his desk. “What’s going on, Preston?”

“Oswald called me earlier to inform me about our vampire visitor. Dracula apparently reached out to our king to inform them that a number of their mates were taken the other day. Dracula is having some of his men search the surrounding areas to see where they might have been taken. One of those men will be coming here to check the town, and we are to help.”

“I know our connection with the other supernatural creatures has improved since the Hunter War, but are we really going to help out a bloodsucker?” Vampires generally creeped me out. The only thing I liked about them was that they couldn't enter your home without permission.

“Yes, we are going to help him. I was sent an email with the women’s descriptions. You are to gather a group of warriors to help search the town before our guest arrives tonight.” I reluctantly agreed, knowing Ruth would stay in the nightclub all night. And with her “no supernaturals” policy, not even Fang Boy could get inside. So I went to round up the best trackers from our warriors, and we went into town.

Just after nightfall, I met Preston in the woods by the park to greet our guest and give my report. A man with horribly pale skin stepped out of the shadows. His eyes were blood red, and his hair was a light brown. It was brushed back and had so much grease to hold every strand of hair in place it looked gross. He looked like an extra from that old movie “Grease” with his tight blue jean pants, black shirt, and black leather jacket.

“Greetings, Leo. I hope your trip here was pleasant,” said Preston, extending a hand to the vampire.

“There is nothing pleasant about me being here tonight, alpha. My mate was among the ones taken that day. I would like to get her back as soon as possible.” Leo ignored my alpha’s hand, so Preston clenched it into a fist before lowering his arm.

“I can understand how you feel. I put Gamma Alastair to the task of searching with some of our best warriors since we got word about what happened.”

That creepy vampire looked me in the eyes, and I just wanted to punch him. “What have you found so far?”

“Nothing to report yet, but we’ve barely covered half the town now.”

“Where haven’t you checked yet,” he asked with a tone I didn’t like. It sent unpleasant chills throughout my body.

“The downtown area, the Eastern side, and,” that was when I cut myself off. No way was I going to tell him about Ruth nightclub. I wanted to keep him far away from her.

“And where else, Gamma Alastair?”

“Sorry, nowhere, really. I was about to list off a section we just finished checking.” His look told me he didn’t believe me, but hopefully, Preston got the hint. Just as Leo was about to open his mouth to say something else, we all got a whiff of a human heading in our direction at a high rate of speed. The scent was new to me, so it was either a townsfolk I hadn’t run into yet, a traveler, or one of the missing women.

A woman broke through the tree line and froze as soon as she saw us. Or, at the very least, I saw Leo. Leo smirked as soon as they locked eyes, and the woman turned pale. “Hello, Becky.” The woman then let out a scream that made us all wince. “Happy to see you too, mate.” Leo took a few slow steps toward the woman he called Becky, and she walked backward. It didn’t take a genius to see that the woman was scared out of her mind seeing the vampire before her. Before Preston or I could stop Leo, Ruth appeared suddenly and put herself between the vampire and the woman. In her right hand, she raised a pistol to point at Leo.

“Take one more step, pale face, and I’ll put a bullet in you.” The vampire sneered as his nails grew longer, and he bared his fangs.

“Silver bullets won’t kill me, hunter.”

“No, they won’t, but it will hurt like a b***h after I pull the trigger.”

“You don’t have the guts,” he threatened. Ruth’s face hardened just before she pulled back the hammer with her thumb.

“Try me,” she replied.

Leo’s face changed from a devilish smirk to dangerously unamused within seconds of Ruth c*****g her pistol. “You’re her, aren’t you? The one that has been stealing the humans from supernaturals.” Wait, Ruth has been doing what now?

I looked at my mate, and she pulled Becky further behind her body to block us from getting to her. “Maybe I am, and maybe I’m not. But if I were, I’m only rescuing those your kind has been torturing for your amusement.” Leo moved to attack Ruth, but I quickly moved between them, growling at the vampire. Ruth scoffed at my actions. “I knew you were working for them, mongrel!”

“Hey, everyone, calm down now. Let’s be civil about this,” Preston spoke calmly, hoping to defuse the situation.

“She is keeping my mate from me, and your gamma is in my way! What is there to be civil about?”

Ruth chuckled behind me before speaking again. “Mate, what mate? Your mate isn’t here.”

“Yes, she is! You are,” Leo then started to sniff the air. Once he finished, his eyes began to glow red. “What did you do,” he roared.

“I was never one for parlor tricks, but real magic? That s**t is amazing, isn’t it? You can break the mate bond between two souls even if one is marked. Like I said, she is no longer your mate, and you won’t be torturing her anymore.”

Another human came running up from behind me. However, my focus was on Leo. “Captain, you okay?” It was a male voice, and he sounded older.

“Hey, teach. Get Becky out of here while I deal with these three.”

“Ruth,” he tried to speak to her with authority but was quickly cut off as he should have been because if he was calling her captain, she was the hunter-faction's leader. Meaning she outranked him no matter what his position was.

“I said take her out of here, teach!” I heard movement behind me, and Leo made a move to get to them, but I moved just as fast to block his path.

“You damn wolf. Are you really going to stop me from getting my mate?”

“If what she said is true, that woman is no longer your mate, so you no longer have a claim. And by the sounds of it, you were less than loving to your mate.”

“That’s none of your concern, dog! Now get out of my way!”