The Hunter's Bargain

2.

❝What’s your name?❞

-HER-

Silence followed after his words.

The Arch hunter. 

I had heard a good deal about him although I had never seen him. As far as I was aware, all the business in the town was conducted under his supervision. He was the most powerful man in this town and all the neighboring towns combined and he certainly was dangerous. 

Of all the things, meeting the Arch hunter was the last thing I had imagined. I had come unarmed and I knew that it wouldn’t be very safe to go alone to that man but again, I didn’t really have any other option. All I could offer was money and it was my only hope. It wasn’t much but I was going to do my best to sway him. 

“So, what do you say?” Asked one of the men after noticing my hesitancy. 

“Err… where could I find the Arch hunter?” I asked nonetheless. The man smirked at me before he took a step closer to me and spoke, “If you really want to meet the Arch hunter then I can take you to him,” 

“Alright,” I breathed before the other man stepped behind me and in the next moment, I was being led away from the crowded market and deeper into the town residency. I was alert all the time and did my best to memorize the roads in the dark. 

We soon reached a house which was located at a hill and away from other houses. It was bigger and looked different than other houses- something that an Arch hunter and the most powerful man in the town would own.

One of the men went inside the house while I waited outside the house with the other man. After a few moments, the man came back outside and told me, “The Arch hunter is not interested in trading the pup anymore,” 

His words instantly made me panic a bit but I remained calm on the surface and told him, “Tell him that I want to meet him and talk about the wolf pup,” 

At this, that man shook his head and told me instead, “The Arch hunter is a man of his words.” The man stated grimly. For some reason, this made me more curious to find out more about the Arch hunter. I had heard a good lot about him and his atrocities against my kind but I had never seen him before- which was a good thing in itself. 

“Just tell him that a traveler from the next town wants to meet him,” I told the man but he shook his head at me and told me again, “Woman, there is no-“ 

Before he could finish speaking, a bald and buff man stepped out of the house and called the man I was talking to.

The man gave me a lingering look before he stepped away to tall to the bald man. They talked among themselves before the bald man told me, “You can meet the Arch hunter,” 

This brought me relief and made me anxious at the same time but I nodded and decided to follow the bald man inside the house.

The inside of the house was decorated with body parts of all kinds of animals and the more I stayed there the sicker it made me feel. I just wanted to get out from there as soon as possible but I didn’t know that I was in for a surprise from fate.

“This way,” The bald man led me through a deserted corridor at whose end only a single door stood. I knew that behind it was the Arch hunter. Thinking about the Arch hunter made my wolf stop for some reason, bewildering me. 

I noticed that it was I who was anxious but she was experiencing an entirely different sets of emotions. She seemed more excited as she paced inside me the closer we got to the door. I was finding it hard to understand the reason behind the way she was acting. 

Maybe, she was uncomfortable being in that house as well? Although this reason didn’t really fit her actions. I stopped thinking about her for once and focused on the door instead. 

My heart sped up as we reached closer to that door. My wolf was very active by now. 

The bald man opened the door for me. I gulped, took a deep breath before I stepped inside. The door was instantly being shut behind me with a heavy thud, spiking my heartbeats even more. 

For a moment, it gave me a mini heart attack but I continued to maintain my calm and faced the situation in front of me. 

As soon as I turned towards the room, I was looking into a pair of very intense brown eyes that were zeroed on me. 

I instantly froze in my place as I stared back into the most intense pair of eyes I had ever seen in my life. My stomach churned slightly as the primal side of my stirred awake with the hint of desire and lust bubbling in my chest. 

Meanwhile, my wolf was howling inside me with joy for finally being able to find our mate… OUR MATE! 

The Arch hunter of Halsar was my mate!

At that moment, I couldn’t decide how to react to that. I somehow managed to tear my eyes off him and drink in the rest of his appearance. He was tall and very strongly built. It could already imagine him in the woods, chasing a wild animal to its death. 

His very short kept hair framed a chiseled rectangular face that featured very masculine wide jaws and a set of very kissable lips. 

His nose was slightly crooked and his brow bone was prominent, making his eyes look more intense and making his face seem more pensive overall. 

Meanwhile, his eyes traveled all over my body, stopping at my bosom for a couple of seconds and darkening there for a while before he looked me back in my eyes. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, approaching me. He was sitting behind the huge table before. This room seemed to be his office. When I entered his office, he was in the middle of lighting a cigar for himself but now as he approached me, his cigar remained forgotten on the table while its scent accompanied him as he walked towards me.  

He stopped right in front of me. Standing so close to me that I was able to sniff and taste the smell of cigar with that of his musky scent. Our toes were brushing and as the intensity of his eyes further increased, I breathed my name to him. 

“Jane,”