My Hunted Mate

Corinna

Panic floods me as I try to shift again, my bones begin to break and reshape momentarily before snapping back into place, I let out a whimper of pain, followed by a growl of frustration.

Kai's eyes are filled with worry as he watches me trying to shift for the sixth time, but again I'm unable to. " Cori? What's going on? " he asks, his brows furrowed.

"1.1 don't know. " I mumble. " I can't shift, why can't I shift? This has never happened before. "

" Maybe it's the grief? " He suggests.

I shake my head. " No, it.. It couldn't be, I've lost a lot of people, felt unimaginable grief and this has never happened to me. "

The frustration getting to me, I rake my fingers through my hair, giving it a tug. Kai moves toward me, taking a gentle hold of my wrist to pull my hand away from my head. He then cups my cheeks, my eyes snap to his.

" Hey.. It's alright, we'll figure this out. What can I do? " He questions. "1." I pause for a moment, letting out a sigh. " I don't know, but I think I'm going to have to visit a friend. "

"Who? " He starts to gather the clothing I'd tossed to the ground.

" Her name is Gia, she's human but mated to an alpha from a park nearby. " I inform him, taking the clothes from his hands to cover my body.

When I am dressed, we start making our way back to the house hand in hand. Eventually Kai speaks again. " If you have to visit a pack, I'll make the arrangements. I have agreements with any neighbouring packs, covens and clans to keep the peace, but I can't enter their lands unless they give permission. *

"1 can go alone. " I tell him.

" No. I'm not letting you go when you can't turn into a wolf to protect yourself. " He argues.

Stopping in my track, I remove my hand from his waving it towards one of the many trees surrounding us. The tree's bark begins to crack until it breaks in half, leaving the tree to collapse to the forest floor, shaking the earth around us as it does.

"I'm far from defenceless Kai. " I raise an eyebrow at him, biting down on my lip to stop from laughing at his shocked expression.

He sighs. " Okay, you can protect yourself. Can you drive? "

"1- No." I stare down at the ground beneath my bare feet.

When I look back up at him his shock is replaced with amusement and his head is tilted slightly to the right. " How long is this journey? "

" It took me three days.. " I mumble.

"I'm guessing it took you three days when you were running, as a wolf? " His words sound more of a statement than a question, but a correct statement nonetheless. When I don't answer he nods slowly. " So are you going to walk, or will you let me drive you? "

I sigh, turning to continue walking to the house. " Fine, you can come. " I grumble out as I push the black gate to the garden grounds open.

"I'll make the calls, in the mean time I want you to grab at least four people to join us on our trip and pack your bag. " He tells me, when I shoot him a glare he adds. " Please. " with a soft smile.

Storming through the porch doors, I see a couple of people sitting around in the living room. " Phoenix, Mateo, Sabine and Olive, pack your bags were taking a trip to a nearby pack. " I call out, my irritation causing me to sound quite rude, but I don't look back as I continue to wander out of the room and up the stair case.

Kai follows closely behind me. " Good choice. Now, what's the name of the Alpha who's pack we'll be visiting? *

" Alpha Jack Rivera. " I answer as we approach our floor.

" Rivera? " He huffs out in distaste.

Raising an eyebrow, I turn to look back at him. * Not a fan? *

His sucks his lower lip into his mouth. " You could say that. *

"I'm not either, considering he was planning to hand me over to Cain. " I grumble.

His eyes narrow. " He was going to have you killed? *

" Pretty much, Gia is the only reason I'm here right now. " I sigh.

" Then why the hell are we going to his pack? " Kai hisses, taking hold of my hand.

" Because he's my only option, wolves aren't exactly a huge fan of me, Actually they're usually the most likely to try to kill me for being an abomination. " I try to lace my tone with humour, but instead it comes out bitter.

Kai's jaw noticeably flexes, but instead of replying to me, he leads me down the hall to the last door on this floor, a door I've never been through. When he opens it, he pulls me inside a home office.

The floor beneath us is covered in black carpet, to the left a large cherry wood desk with a black office chair is placed in front of a ceiling to floor window, two black chairs sit on the other side of the desk, to the left tall cherry wood cabinets stand with multiple drawers, a large bookcase lines the right wall of the office, beside that a black two seater sofa sits.

Kai wanders over to the cabinets, pulling open a draw to retrieve a file. He then takes a seat in the chair behind the desk, he pulls the typical office phone that is placed on the desk closer to him. He lifts the phone to his ear, motioning me to come to him as he dials a number into the phone, glancing at the open file as he does.

When I walk over to sit in one of the two chairs across from him, he chuckles and shakes his head, leaning the phone between his ear and shoulder so he can hold his arms out to me. I move around the desk into his open arms, he drags me down until I'm perched on his lap, one of his hands takes the phone again while the other takes a hold of my inner thigh, squeezing it.

I'm about to open my mouth to speak when I hear the line stop ringing and a voice on the other end. Alpha Jack.So let me get this straight. " Olive's voice echoes through Kai's car from the back seat, where she sits with Mateo. " You've decided that we're all going to visit this Alpha Jack's pack, even though he could possibly just make a call your uncle and let him know where you are? "

"Yes. " I answer with a shrug of my shoulder.

" And we're relying on his human beloved to keep him from making said call? " Olive continues, now leaning through the gap between mine and Kai's seats.

"Yes. " I reply again, smiling as Kai takes his hand off the wheel to intertwine his fingers with mine on my lap.

" And you're walking into all of this with the word of this alpha, which could mean nothing and only five of us to help protect you? " She presses.

" Yes. Olive, I'm fully aware of the risk. " I sigh.

" Then why the hell are we doing this?! * She cries out, throwing herself back into her seat with a loud huff.

" We're doing this because we need to make sure that nothing is wrong with her wolf Olive, now please, shut up and let the brave girl be. * Mateo groans out, obviously sick of Olive's dramatic teenage ways after being stuck in the car with her for ten hours straight.

"1 just don't get why we've to go to this pack for the answer to that. * She grumbles, crossing her arms.

" The only person who can give me that answer, is a pack healer, that's why. " 1 tell her, for the third time since the beginning of this journey. "I'm starting to think maybe we should have out Olive in Phoenix's car. * Kai mumbles.

" Hey! " Olive cries.

" I've been thinking that since we pulled out of the grounds of the house. " Mateo announces.

" Okay well I'm going to need to pull over soon, I'm starving and I need to pee, so you guys can argue about travelling arrangements while I'm doing that. " I lean over to turn on the radio before they can start to bicker.

Within ten minutes Kai has pulled over to a gas station so I can use the restroom, Phoenix's truck, that had been following behind us, pulls in next to us. " What food do you want? " Kai asks me as we climb out of the car.

" Uh, a sandwich is good. Oh maybe some snacks too? " I answer, sending him a smile as 1 look for a sign for the bathroom.

"I'll grab some more water too, we're almost out. * He informs me, giving me a swift kiss on the lips before wandering off.

After I use the bathroom, I wander back to the car where Phoenix and Mateo seem to be bickering back and forth about who is driving with who. " How about all of you ride together and Kai and I will ride alone? "I suggest.

" That sounds like a good idea to me. " Kai says as he climbs back into his car.

Not giving anyone time to argue, I slide into the passenger seat and we continue our journey. As the hours pass, my eyes begin to feel heavy and eventually I fall into a deep sleep, waking up to Kai brushing the hair out of my face and saying something to me.

"What? " I groan out through my sleepily state.

" We're here my darling, well just outside the territory. The alpha, beta and a couple of warriors will be coming to meet us and bring us to their pack house. " Kai informs me.

Awkwardly, I stretch out in the small space of the car before unbuckling my seat belt and climbing out into familiar surroundings, feeling a stab at my heart when I remember this was one of the last places I seen my mother alive.

A hand on my lower back snaps me back to reality. " Hey, are you okay? " Kai questions, moving his hand beneath my shirt to rub my skin soothingly.

" Yeah. " I mumble, my voice breaking.

He doesn't have time to say anything else due to the group of people who have now joined us, I instantly recognise Alpha Jack and his Gamma, behind them are two men and a woman, all are dressed in black army pants, combat boots and tank tops, looking like soldiers. Alpha Jack's face remains emotionless as his teal eyes stare me and Kai down, he takes a quick glance toward the rest our group before moving toward us. He holds out his hand to Kai.

" Master Malakai, pleased to meet you again. " Jack grits out, it's not hard to tell that he's not at all pleased by our presence.

" Alpha Jack. " Kai nods, taking his hand and giving it a stern shake.

" You remember my Gamma Garrett? " Jack says, nodding toward the familiar blonde, who can't seem to remove his glaring eyes from me.

" Yes, and it seems he remembers my beloved. He would do well to put his personal feelings aside, because right now he seems to have zero professionalism. " Kai sends a sarcastic smile toward Garrett.

Alpha Jack clenches his fists but ignores the remark. " Let's get you all settled into the guest wing of the pack house, my Luna is looking forward to meet you. My warriors will take your cars back, we will run. * " Actually. " I interject. " We can take our own cars.

Jack's jaw flexes but he nods regardless, Gia obviously warned him to be on his best behaviour. " Very well, we will lead the way. "

He and his people shift into their wolves, not waiting for us as they take off sprinting through the woods. With a deep sigh, I turn to climb back into the car, unable to stop myself from snorting loudly when I hear Olive giggling loudly while she jumps into the passenger seat of Phoenix's truck.

" Garrett the Gamma, you've got to be kidding me. That's pure gold. "

I send Kai an amused look.

" At least she kept it to herself until they left. " He shrugs. * See? Professionalism. "