Savage Hunt

Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty Four: Hunted by the pack

“Yours?” Travis growled, pressing forward so that he leaned over me. “Yours, Matilda. We are yours. That random wolf isn’t yours just because he tells you he is. Go in the house with the others while I go hunt him down, now.”

“No.” i glared up at Travis, pulling my hand away from his but I didn’t back down. “No, he’s mine. You and Ryan didn’t give me a choice of if I wanted to be claimed or not. You just did it. This is different. He’s mine.”

“Baby-” Ryan started to say, trying to come closer to us but I shook my head.

“No, you guys claimed me without asking if I wanted it. I got to make the choice with Jason and I’m going to choose with Gideon and you will let me. I’m not asking you. I’m telling you, all of you.” I said, looking between the three of them.

Ryan looked like I had slapped him and I felt guilty for what I had said, but it was the truth. He and Travis hadn’t asked if they could claim me. They hadn’t explained anything to me before they had made me theirs.

Jason’s face was an unreadable mask, but that calmness scared me. I could feel my bond with him close off like he was shielding me from what he was feeling and I hated it. I didn’t want to hurt any of them and I didn’t regret what had happened between the four of us. This was something I was going to do whether they liked it or not.

“Matilda.” Travis growled with pure anger pouring from him, adding fuel to the fire of what I was feeling even as I tried to stomp it down.

I wasn’t as angry at them as I should be. And I knew my words hurt, but I had to make them see. They knew that an unmated wolf would turn feral. Gideon had been willing to turn feral if it was what I had wanted. Yet, I knew deep down that I didn’t want that for him. That I was willing to fight my mates to keep him from getting to that point.

“You regret it?* Travis asked and I looked up into his dark eyes. “You regret mating with Ryan and me?”

“No, no. I don’t regret it.” I said, shaking my head. “I just wished that I had known what you were doing when I told you that I was yours. That I was Ryan’s. I didn’t know that you guys were going to claim me or that you guys were shifters. That you guys were going to keep me.”

“You are mine.” Travis growled and I nodded.

“I didn’t say that I wasn’t. I’m just saying that Gideon’s mine.” I moved my hands to his waist, trying to find the calm space inside of me in the hopes that it would bring him down from his anger.

“Matilda, you don’t know what that means.” Travis pulled away from me.

“Yes, I do. The three of you are mine too but I know that it means that I’m yours and I could never regret that.” I looked up into Travis eyes, trying to make him understand. “I feel the same connection to him that I felt for you guys.

“The same?” Ryan asked and I nodded, looking away from Travis and over to him.

“It’s the same overwhelming feeling. The need to go with you guys that night it was all I could think about. I knew from the moment that I saw him that he was mine, that fate or your goddess or whatever else is out there put us in each other’s paths because we are all supposed to be together.” I said, the words spilling from me in a rush but I had to make them understand.

“Tillie, you don’t understand. His pack, they are not like ours.” Jason said, moving closer to me. He rested a hand on Travis’ shoulder and I felt something calm move over me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking back towards the forest.

“Their hunt. It’s not like how we claimed you. It’s more… primal. You will be hunted by the pack for him to claim”

“I don’t get it. Gideon said something about it, but it didn’t make sense.” I said, lifting my hand up to tuck my hair behind my ear.

“They mate in front of the pack to make sure that everyone knows who you belong to.” Jason’s eyes flashed and the muscle in his jaw twitched.

“No one will see you like that.” Travis snarled,

“We agree about that then.” I said, “But I’m serious about what I said. Gideon is mine and I want him to claim me.”

“But you don’t know him.” Ryan’s voice was soft and I turned to him. It was like everything that was being said had broken something inside of him and I regretted hurting him this way. I never wanted to hurt him.

“I didn’t know you guys either.”

“Are you doing this because you’re pissed at me and Ryan?” Travis asked, letting out a loud sigh. “Is that why you want to let that random wolf claim you? So you can be even with us?”

“What? N, no.” I stuttered, feeling that familiar rush of anger rise to the surface. “How could you say that? I wouldn’t.”

“Travis, that’s enough,” Jason said, his voice was so calm. How could he be this calm right now? “Tillie’s made up her mind.”

“For fuck’s sake, Jason. You can’t be thinking about what she’s saying.” Travis pulled away from his alpha, glaring over at him before looking at me,

“Sweets, you can’t be thinking about joining a mating hunt and letting someone mate with you like that.”