Savage Hunt

Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six: A round of two before the hunt?

“You’re planning to run with her?” Ryan asked and a breeze blew through the trees, making the water’s surface ripple. I couldn’t seem to look away from the water or the tree on the other side of the lake. It was the same tree that I had seen in the picture.

The one that was marked up by a bear. I could smell the scent of him all over the land and I knew that he had been here recently. I wondered if Tillie knew who the bear was and if she was aware of what he was. Given that she hadn’t known about her best friend being a shifter, I very much doubted it.

“I’m going to run with her.”

“Are you leaving the pack to do that, alpha?” Travis asked, almost snarling out the word alpha as if it painted him to do so.

I looked away from the water. “No, I’m not talking about running away with our mate. I’m talking about the mating hunt. I wouldn’t leave my pack, but I can’t, I won’t let her do this alone. I’ll run with her and keep her safe.”

“Will Branson let you do that? I mean, it is a mating hunt for his pack. He might not let you join.” Ryan asked, pulling my attention over to him. His skin had smoothed back to normal and he no longer watched me with eyes that were far too dark to be human.

“He sort of invited me earlier. At the time I turned him down, but Tillie seems set on doing this and I won’t let her be hunted alone like that. Like you guys said, it’s our job to keep her safe.” I looked at both of them, my lips curving into a half smile. “Besides, I think she would be pissed if | tied her up and kept her from joining the hunt. Did you see the way her eyes flashed?”

“It was fucking hot. I wanted to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder and remind her who she belongs to.” Travis dragged his fingers through his hair, separating the neat strands and making them fall

over his forehead. He leaned back on his heels, looking over towards the house. “It’s our job to keep her safe, but she keeps making it harder than it needs to be. I don’t get it.”

“She’s human. I know Ryan reminded me earlier but I think it’s something we all forget at times.” I answered, shrugging my shoulders. That was the only thing that I could think of and it wasn’t just Ryan and Travis who kept forgetting it. I kept having to remind myself that she was human and that all of this was new to her.

“Will Branson let the three of us join his hunt?” Ryan asked, looking out over the water. “I trust you to keep her safe, but I know I would feel better if we were all out there keeping her safe.”

“If he doesn’t, then I guess we will be joining them anyways.” I said, pulling my hands out of my pockets and cracking my knuckles. “She’s our mate.”

Travis nodded, turning away from Ryan and I. His stride was long as he stalked over towards the SUV.

“Where are you going?” I called out, watching him open the door to my car. He leaned inside, pressing a button before standing tall and looking over at us.

“I’m going inside to grovel at my mate. Hopefully, we can go around or two before the hunt starts and I’ll smell enough like her to throw off any others who think they can take what’s mine.” Travis growled as he stomped around to the back of the SUV. Pulling the door open, he grabbed his bag before heading over to the lake house.

“Brat,” Ryan said, shaking his head before he looked over at me. His teeth sank into his lower lip as he tried to hold back a smile. “It’s not a bad idea.”

“He’s got a point. I think she might set him on fire first, though.” I smirked before moving over to my car and collecting my bag. Ryan did the same and together we made our way up the porch steps to the quaint-looking lake house.

It was bigger than I thought it would be from the few pictures that I had seen online that Tillie had posted. This was the kind of house where you raised a family. There was plenty of land around us for shifting and running free, I’m sure whoever it was that Tillie knew that owned this house knew that

I needed to talk to Branson and made sure that he was okay with us joining the hunt. If he wasn’t, I was about to break treaties and alliances that we shared but it had to be done. Tillie was ours.

There was no way that I could let Tillie join in a hunt without us there to protect her. I didn’t like the idea of her letting another wolf claim her, but if she felt so strongly about it, then I knew that I would have to accept it or risk losing her.

That wasn’t something that I was willing to do. I may not want to share her with anyone else, but losing my mate wasn’t an option either. At least, if we joined the hunt, the three of us could make sure that things would play out in favor of our mate. We could protect her from any others who might think to take what is ours.

Thad to admit that the smell that had clung to her skin and her sweater after we had reached her didn’t bother me. In fact, if anything, it intrigued me. It was a warm, sweet vanilla and something else. Something tempting that lingered on the back of my tongue, not as much as Tillie’s scent, but it wasn’t bad, to say the least.