Hunter's Secret

Titus' POV

I grab the dagger I keep hidden in the top shelf by the door. “Raine! Sarah!” I yell as I race to them. Sarah pushes Raine behind her and takes a fighting stance. I jump in front of them and growl out a warning to the two wolves, “I don’t know who you think you are, but you need to leave, now!”

The larger of the two wolves is gray and it looks back at the smaller tan wolf before continuing to stalk toward me. I know I have absolutely no shot of beating two wolves, by myself without Ryker, but I will die trying if that is what it takes to keep Raine safe. The gray one pauses and turns to look back at the tan wolf again. I see this as my only opportunity to strike so I ready the dagger and leap forward right as the gray wolf turns back around. It bares its teeth at me and despite all my common sense, I run. It takes the wolf about two seconds to realize what I am doing and chases me. It goes to jump on me, and I close my eyes, waiting to feel its teeth.

But I never do. I open my eyes again to see the gray wolf slumped against a tree. I look down and realize that my hands are now paws. Ryker came back. I relax just a little bit, knowing that I may have a chance now. Ryker takes one more look back at the gray wolf and it is still down, so he turns his attention to the tan one who is stalking Raine and Sarah. Ryker growls and charges the tan one and just as we are about to reach it, I feel the teeth sink into our back leg. The gray one pulls us back, ripping open the skin, and throws us on the ground. Ryker tries to snap at the gray wolf but the growl that comes from its throat tells me that this wolf is an Alpha. Without my title, Ryker is no longer an Alpha either so he forced to submit. He lays down with his neck exposed. As we lay on the ground with the gray wolf standing over us, I can only watch in horror as the tan wolf gets closer and closer to Raine.

Ryker struggles again, torn between his nature to submit and my desire to keep Raine safe. The gray wolf just snaps at Ryker, and he stops trying to get up. Sarah readies herself. She was a warrior before she came to us, but she is also only a human. She won’t win. The tan wolf bares its teeth and Sarah stupidly takes that as a challenge. She rushes toward the tan wolf and to my surprise, the tan wolf just trips her instead of attacking her. Sarah falls to the ground, and I see her head hit a rock. She doesn’t get back up. The tan wolf now focuses all its attention on Raine who is shaking and crying with fear. The gray wolf growls again but this time at the tan wolf who leaves Raine and comes trotting over to me instead.

Raine is going to watch me die. I can’t let her see this. Raine is sobbing and crying out for me to come save her. But I can’t because Ryker is pinned to the ground. Her cries are breaking my heart. Ryker whines too. The tan wolf reaches me and shifts back to his human form. The gray one also shifts back. Why did they not attack me? Not wanting to risk it, Ryker jumps up and runs over to Raine. She has never seen me in my wolf form before, so it just scares her more. I shifted back and swiftly picked her up.

“Shh. It’s okay baby. I am here now. You are safe. Take a deep breath. You are okay. I have you,” I tell her, rubbing her back as she wraps her arms around my neck, holding on for dear life. I turn my attention back to the two strangers who are watching me. They don’t do anything but just stand there. I realize Sarah is still on the ground, so I walk over to her, my eyes not leaving the strangers. I glance down and see that she is still breathing and there is only a little blood coming from her head. I have no way to call for someone because Ryker has shut himself away from me again.

Swearing under my breath, I move Raine, so she sits on my shoulders and pick Sarah up, careful not to hurt her more than she already is. I have to do something; she can’t just stay here so I slowly move back to my house. I glare at the strangers, and they are still just standing there. As much as I do not trust them, I also have two people I am carrying, and I need to take care of them before I deal with the strangers. I went into the house and shut and locked the door behind me. I gently lay Sarah down on the couch and get some gauze for her head. I try to set Raine down, but she is still so scared, so I move her down off my shoulders and hold her in my arms. I hear a knock and peek out to see the two strangers at my door.

I need to find out who they are and why they are here, so I open the door just enough to talk to them but certainly do not invite them in.

“Who are you to show up here and attack me and my pack?” I growl.

The taller of the two stretches out his hand for a handshake. I do not return the gesture, “Hi, my name is Jackson Levitt. I am the Alpha of the Blue Flame pack. This is my Beta, Ryan Pierce. I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot,” he smiles, trying to not be intimidating.

“You think!?! You show up here, traumatize my daughter, injure her teacher, and you have the audacity to say we ‘got off on the wrong foot!’ No! You need to leave.”

“Why haven’t you healed yet?” Alpha Jackson asks, pointing to my leg. I look down and see blood still dripping out of the wounds on my calf.

“That is none of your business. Leave,” I demand.

“Why didn’t you call for backup if you thought we were here to hurt you and your pack?”

“Again, that is none of your business. You need to leave, now,” as I move to shut the door. Alpha Jackson sticks his foot out to keep the door from closing and opens it again.

“Yeah, no can do. We need to talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t care what you want to do. In case you haven’t noticed, my daughter is still crying in my arms, and you are only scaring her more. Do you enjoy terrorizing children? Leave. I will not ask again,” I say, narrowing my eyes at them.

“Or what? You clearly need help running your pack and we can offer that to you. We are not the only pack who has heard about your…..situation. You will need protection.”

“Actually, we were perfectly fine until you came along. I don’t need or want your help. I appreciate the offer but seeing as you are terrible people who thinking scaring children and their families is so much fun, I will have to pass,” I sarcastically explain, “Goodbye. And I don’t want to see you here again. We clear?”

They both roll their eyes and walk off. What in the actual heck was that? I watch them disappear into the trees and when they don’t reappear for several minutes, I finally go back inside.

Jackson’s POV

“Well, he is such a ray of sunshine. I am glad he turned us down. He is insufferable,” I remark to Ryan.

“Maybe, but we also didn’t exactly introduce ourselves in the best manner. You bit him, Jack.”

“Felix bit him. I just allowed it to happen,” I correct. Ryan rolls his eyes at me and then suddenly stops. He raises his nose and sniffs the air. I smell it too. He moves himself in front of me and I move him to my side instead. He glares at me but gives up. We get to a little clearing in the middle of the woods and see a modest house sitting there. We also see someone picking up sticks and placing them in a pile. Except, the person is sitting on the porch and the sticks seem to be moving themselves.

“This must be it; the evil witch of Red Rock!” Ryan whispers into my ear. His whisper catches its attention, and it stands up, balls its hands into fists and sends a flying purple haze that hits Ryan directly in the chest. He crashes to the ground, unmoving.

I step out from behind the tree, and it readies another fiery purple haze. I hold my hands up in surrender, “Hey! Stop! I am sorry! We didn’t mean to scare you!”

The purple haze vaporizes and disappears, drifting up to the sky. “Apology accepted. Nice to officially meet you Alpha Jackson. My name is Ash.”

I step closer and see that it is actually a she, and not much older than myself. Her statement and her purple eyes catch me off guard. They are so bright they almost seem to glow in the dimly lit forest.

“How did you know my name?” I cautiously asked her.

“I have skills. And by the way, I am not an evil witch.”

I sheepishly chuckle, “Sorry about that. My Beta doesn’t always think before he speaks. Will he…?”

She interrupts me, “He will be fine. He probably has some bruised ribs, but he will be fine once he sleeps off the magic for a while.”

“Your “Alpha” is quite the character. He practically threw us off the land and told us to never come back.”

“His name is Titus and if he threw you off, he probably had good reason to. Don’t be offensive next time.”

I stiffen at her blatant disrespect, “Do you talk to everyone that way?”

“Only the ones who annoy me. You wolves are so sensitive sometimes. What do you want anyway?”

I frown at her words, “We were just heading back home when we stumbled into you. How long will he be out?”

“For a few more minutes, why?”

“I know you are a witch. So, can I ask a favor? Do you have anything that helps with fertility?”

“Why? You can’t ‘get it up’ for her?” she teased.

Narrowing my eyes, “For your information, I am not the problem. My mate has been told she only has a handful of eggs, and they aren’t all viable.”

“I will only help you because of your mate. I don’t like you, but your mate must be amazing to put up with you all the time.”

I roll my eyes at her. She throws a bottle of liquid to me and instructs me, “You need to put this in her drinks for a few weeks. It won’t work if she doesn’t know about it though so you will have to tell her if you want to successfully use it.”

“She has always dreamed of being a mother so for her sake, thank you.”

She just dismisses me with her hand, and I am baffled at her lack of respect. I am an Alpha! I go to say something else, but I hear Ryan stir so I quickly tuck the bottle into my jacket pocket and help him up. Shooting one last look at Ash, who does not even acknowledge my glare, I help Ryan to his feet, and we start heading home.

Titus’ POV

I closed the door and gently set Raine down. I crouch down to her level and try to soothe her, “You are okay, Rainey. Daddy will not let anything happen to you. You are safe now.”

I wipe the tears from her face and give her another hug before turning to check back on Sarah. She is sitting up now.

“Are you okay? Raine is safe. I got you both in time,” I explain.

She nods her head with thankfulness on her face. I hear another knock at the door. Raine scampers over to me and hides behind me. I open the door, annoyed, “Leave! I told you to go away,” and am met with a very amused Ash.

“Nice to see you too, Titus. I met your “issues” today and don’t worry, they are back home now. Is Raine okay?”

“Sorry. Yes, she is fine. A little shaken up but she is fine.”

She glances down at Raine who is peeking out from behind me and when her eyes see my leg, her eyes widen, “Oh my gosh! You are bleeding Titus! What happened!?!”

“It’s fine,” I flatly respond.

“It is *clearly* not fine! You have blood all the way down your entire leg! Doesn’t that hurt?” she exclaims.

“Of course it hurts. In fact, it is painful to walk but Raine needed me. My top priority is her. I can’t just think of myself anymore, she is my daughter, and my needs come after hers.”

“You are a good father, Titus,” Ash responded, her features softening, “Can I at least help your leg?”

I let her come in and Raine gave her a hug. I tell Raine to go watch TV with Sarah while I get myself cleaned up. She obliges and goes to sit with Sarah. I started to go get the first aid kit, but Ash pushed me into a chair and told me to stay. I am not going to argue with her, my leg is really starting to hurt now that the adrenaline is wearing off. She comes back with an armful of supplies and sits down on the floor.

Gently, she starts to wipe the blood off, and I wince in pain.

“Sorry. I unfortunately do not have the power of healing so I can’t just fix this for you. I am going to stitch you up and then you will have to heal on your own. I can give you something to help the pain though.”

“Please do.”

She moves her hands around in a circle and a gentle warm light appears in her hands. She guides it over to my leg and I can instantly feel that it is working. The pain is still there but it is much more bearable now. She again starts to wipe the blood off and when she can finally see the actual wound, she tries to reassure me, “It is not all the way down to the fatty tissue so it should heal with stitches and rest. Don’t wolves have like super healing abilities?”

“We do. But they have to have a wolf who doesn’t shut himself off from the world for that to work.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. I will try to be as fast as I can.”

I feel her try her best to not hurt me but getting stitches is not exactly a pleasurable experience. I am trying not to jerk my leg back. I hiss out in pain, and she just keeps going. Her hands are soft and she is being so gentle. I glance down at her, and she has her nose scrunched up as she concentrates on sewing me up. She looks adorable. That thought catches me off guard and I start internally panicking. This feels wrong. This feels too…intimate.

She notices that my breathing is quickening and looks up at me, concern swirling in her beautiful purple eyes. I just did it again. I called her beautiful in my head. I can’t do that.

“Titus? I am all done now. Are you okay?”

I just nod my head and mumble out a thank you. She looks at me suspiciously but doesn’t push the subject anymore. I have to get myself together.