SWNOVELS Chapter 286
Chapter 286
AXEL
The girl in front of me is so stunningly beautiful, it makes my chest ache.
Hair, dark as night, tumbles over her shoulders in untamable waves, all the way to her hips.
Her green eyes glow with the vibrancy of a forest in spring, and her skin is a symphony of flawless beauty.
There’s something almost otherworldly about her, and it stirs my Hunter instincts, but I ruthlessly push them down.
Montana is crawling with vampires, and most of the time, the lingering presence of them-even from a distance-is abrasive to my
heightened senses. Like nails on a chalkboard.
It’s probably deceiving me into seeing suspicious things where there’s only shadows and tricks of the light.
I remind myself I’m not on a vampire hunt right now, I’m simply helping Aaron track down his wayward sister.
Aaron had told the search party that his sister had dark hair
and green eyes.
He never said anything about her being absolutely stunning.
And I know part of me thinking this is absolute bias.
Because I recognized her for who she is as soon as I caught her scent about a mile back.
My mate.
The one thing that I believed impossible for me, because of the cursed circumstances of my birth.
Because I’ve lived impossible centuries of life, and in all that time, I never once came across another single wolf who would be
my mate.
Because of who I am... what I am.
A truth I’m hiding from Aaron, even though he’s been nothing but good to me, and doesn’t deserve the way I’m lying to him.
Part of it is self-preservation, but part of it is adherence to my own personal vendetta mission.
The one that brought me all the way from Texas to Montana in the first place.
I’ve long grown accustomed to the idea I would never have a mate, that I’d always be alone.
How could the Moon Goddess be so cruel as to tie any
woman’s fate to my own?
But here I stand, looking at-sensing-the proof that the Moon. Goddess is in fact a cruel bit h.
This innocent, trembling, girl standing in front of me.
Clearly broken by a decade of captivity.
I would destroy her.
There’s no doubt in my mind.
Which is why this can never be.
“My name is Axel,” I finally respond to her question in a cold voice.
I stride forward, and she flinches back from me. That single motion makes my heart clench.
Before she can flee, however, I catch hold of her arm.
“Your brother sent me to fetch you back to the house,” I continue, watching as she clearly debates whether to try.
fighting me to flee.
But my words make her pause in confusion.
“My brother?” she says, staring up at me with wide green eyes.
“Aaron, he’s alive,” I tell her, belatedly remembering that she probably still thinks he’s dead like the rest of the pack, killed by
being forced to break his mating bond with Leah.
“He- He is?” she whispers, clearly not sure if she should believe me.
“Yeah, he is, sweetheart. So let’s get you back to the house.”
Her eyes widen a little-probably at the endearment that’d slipped out-not that I mean anything by it. I have a habit of calling any
woman who comes across my path sweetheart, it’s just one of those sayings I picked up along the line.
“You-You’re-” I can see her mind working around the same thing I’m feeling, and I can’t help but growl.
“Don’t even think about saying it.”
Her expression crumples, and she shrinks beneath my harsh.
gaze.
But then she seems to find some backbone, and glares up at me, even though there are tears forming in her eyes.
Then she opens her mouth and says the one thing I don’t want to acknowledge.
“You’re my mate.”