#7 The Twins of Satin Moon

Hunter

The weeks went on and Maizey and I created a perfect little routine. I picked her up every morning and took her to work. We went to lunch together and then dinner after work. I took her home late and stayed outside her room all night long. Sometimes I snuck into her bedroom through the window just to watch her sleep. I knew that she knew I was there, but she pretended to ignore me. Every weekend I took her to a new place in the pack to explore. She wasn’t ready to meet my parents yet, to my mother’s dismay, but she was blending in well with the pack members and she loved being around Melody.

But, her favorite place by far was the waterfall. We had gone there four times in the last three weeks. This last time she even wanted to hike it. Watcher complained loudly, but she wanted to enjoy the hike on her own. She promised to let Watcher carry her back down. He was as unable as I was to deny her.

“Can I talk to Watcher?” Maizey asked as she laid on my chest. We were resting on the shore of the watering hole.

“You can, if you want.” I replied, propping myself up on my elbow. She rolled around to face me, resting her arms on my chest and her chin on her arms. She blinked at me curiously.

“I do.” She said.

“Okay, just know that he’s more of an animal then I am and I’m not responsible for whatever he says.” I laughed and Maizey smiled, but worry flashed in her hazel eyes.

“Behave.” I said to Watcher just before giving up control.

“Hello, mate!” Watcher nipped at Maizey’s neck, already going off the rails.

“Hi, Watcher.” She giggled, wiggling away from him.

“I love mate’s laugh.” Watcher kissed her neck, enticing more giggles from her.

“I remember. Hunter told me the first night I found out about you.” She smiled, sitting up. She was now sitting criss cross in front of us, our knees touching.

“Mate was an idiot for hurting you. I said we could face Archer.” Watcher growled.

“He was just trying to protect me. It’s okay.” Maizey replied sweetly. I swooned at her adorable voice. It sounded different from inside my own mind. This must be how Watcher hears her all the time.

“I love you and I will protect my mate.” Watcher said, possessively wrapping his arm around her waist and plopping her down onto our lap.

“I know you do. I trust you and Hunter both to keep me safe.” She shifted on our lap so she was facing us, her arms wrapped around our neck, “Can we just lay together for a little while?” She asked gently. Watcher grinned,

“Come here.” His voice was rough, coming out as a command, instead of a loving suggestion. I rolled my eyes at him and his Alpha instincts.

Maizey didn’t seem bothered by it. She just relaxed and allowed him to pull them both down onto the blacket. Watcher laid on his back and Maizey sprawled out on his chest.

The sound of howling cut into our snuggling. Watcher gave me back control quickly so I could handle the situation. I immediately stiffened just as Miles mindlinked me.

“Rogues are on the borders, Alpha. They’re coming your way.”

“We’re on our way, too, Alpha. We’re hot on their tails.” Toby added.

I jumped up and pulled Maizey off the ground. She studied my face and recognized that my eyes had returned to green. She knew I was back in control.

“What’s going on?” Maizey sounded afraid.

“There are rogue werewolves heading this way.” I said, my eyes scanning the woods.

“Like the wolves who attacked my brother?” She said, her voice trembling. I nodded, keeping one arm securely around her waist.

“Miles and Toby, and a bunch of my warriors are trailing them but they’re heading this way. I need to hide you. Come on.” I said, tugging her towards the base of the waterfall on the other side of the lake.

“Hide me? Where?” She was shaking like a leaf in my arms. I pushed a bush out of the way and pulled her inside a small, dark cave that went underneath the falls.

“You’ll be safe here. The bush will mask your scent and the sound of the waterfall will cover up your breathing. Just don’t come out okay? Not until I come and get you.” I held her face in my hands and forced her to look into my eyes.

“I’m scared, Hunter.” She whimpered and I pulled her against me roughly.

“There’s nothing to be scared of, baby, I’ll always protect you.” I ran my hand through her hair before pulling away and giving her a quick, but passionate kiss.

“Don’t come out no matter what you hear. Promise me?” I said, pausing at the mouth of the cave. She nodded, her face white with fear.

“I promise.” She agreed before I ran off.

I hated leaving my mate standing there, but I needed to leave her to protect her. I ran towards the sound of approaching wolves and shifted into Watcher. My wolf was furious at these rogues for endangering his mate. He was ready for a fight.

There couldn’t have been more than twenty rogue wolves followed by about a dozen of my men, plus Miles and Toby. I ordered Toby to go stand guard near the cave while the rest of us took care of the rogues. We made quick work of them, killing every last rogue. I had just shifted back into my human form when Toby came sprinting out from the trees.

“She’s not in the cave!” His words sent panic and fear through my chest.

“What?” I yelled, racing towards the cave. I had to see for myself. Sure enough, it was empty. Her smell was strong, though, so she hadn’t gone far.

“Fan out. Find here!” I hollered in my Alpha voice, shaking the entire forest.

The wolves took off in all directions while I followed her scent along with Toby and Miles. Miles was still his wolf, Domino, and was using his strong tracking skills to help. He latched onto an unfamiliar wolf scent along with my mates’. Now I was really on edge.

Finally, I heard her voice. She was pleading with someone to let her go. I ran faster and broke through the trees with Miles and Toby hot on my heels. I heard them mindlink the others to meet us. We were in a clearing right on the edge of a cliff. Maizey was kneeling on the ground, right next to the edge, with a man standing above her and a wolf snarling behind her.

“This must be Alpha Hunter.” The man sneered, grabbing a fist full of Maizey’s hair. She cried out in pain and I lunged towards them.

“Now, now,” The man tsked, pushing Maizey closer to the edge, “We mustn’t do anything we’ll regret.” I froze as I saw how close my mate was to the cliff.

“Who are you?” I snarled.

“My name isn’t important. What is important is who sent me.” The man was playing games with me.

“Who sent you?” I snarled again.

“Who else other than the girl’s father, Paul.” The man’s smile was sickening and his eyes were pitched back. My stomach dropped to the floor at the mention of Maizey’s abusive parent.

I glanced down at Maizey quickly to see that there was more than terror in her eyes. She was traumatized. I looked at the wolf behind her who was drooling and foaming at the mouth as he snarled at my mate. He was definitely a rogue.

“You sent the rogues?” I could smell wolf and human on him, so I wasn’t sure which he was.

“Not quite. I led the rogues, but Paul sent them. We are his rogues.” The man said. I wanted him away from my precious mate but I also wanted the whole story.

“His rogues?”

I knew that some strange stuff had been happening since the Council was dissolved. Most of the rogues just kept to themselves or formed their own packs. It was a bit of an oxymoron, rogues forming a pack, but they weren’t known for being very logical. I also heard about rogues being hired as mercenaries by every species, werewolves, vampires, witches, fae, dwarves, even humans.

“Before this bitch was born,” He raised his hand like he was going to backhand Maizey. She flinched and I growled dangerously. The rogue leader laughed and dropped his hand,

“Paul and I owned an elite supernatural club together. He had intended to give that club over to his sons when they came of age. Then, she was born and ruined the whole plan for Paul. What were we going to do with a pathetic little human girl who was as useless as her human mother? At the same time, the Council fell and the rogues became available. We decided to get into the mercenary business.” The man shrugged casually.

“You’re a rogue.” I said and the man shrugged again.

“Paul and I both are.” The man snapped, sounding defensive.

“My father is not a werewolf!” Maizey spoke for the first time, fighting against the man’s grip.

“Don’t speak, mutt!” The man yanked harder on her hair and I saw fresh tears fall from her eyes. I growled again, unable to stop myself.

“Leave her alone!” I yelled.

“I could care less about this mutt, but Paul wants to finish what he started. He mated with that pathetic human as a teenager and didn’t have the balls to reject her. Instead, he marked and mated her, and just hoped that his kids would come out half wolf. Each and every one of them reeked of human when they were born, not a drop of wolf in them.” The man sounded annoyed.

“So, he sent you and his attack dogs to do his dirty work?” I was hoping I could rowl the man up and get him to make a mistake. He didn’t take the bait.

“No, he prefers to deal with her himself. He has so much fun planned for you.” He looked down and spoke to Maizey. She spit in his face and I grinned at her courage, until the man slapped her across the face.

“Don’t touch her!” I growled using my Alpha voice, shaking the ground under our feet.

“I had no idea she was mated to a werewolf, an Alpha! Such a waste for you, Alpha Hunter, to be mated to such a pathetic little human.” The man picked Maizey up by her hair and dangled her over the cliff’s edge. She was kicking her feet, fighting against the grip, and screaming.

“I will kill you!” Watcher snarled, he was howling and pawing in my head, but I knew shifting wouldn’t help us right now.

“I’m doing you a favor.” The man shrugged, “Paul will probably kill me for this, but I can’t help myself.” He sneered just before he released his grip.

“No!” I screamed, lunging forward, but someone beat me to it.

A furious howl ripped through the forest and a white wolf lunged through the air, grabbing Maizey by her shirt and diving back towards the ground. The wolf twisted so that Maizey landed on top of him, safe and sound. Knowing Maizey was safe with him, I shifted into Watcher and pounced on Paul’s partner. I drug him across the ground, not wanting Maizey to see this, and ripped his body to shreds.