The Rogue and His Hunter Mate

Chapter 1- Living Alone

Jake POV

I began living alone as soon as I left and was made a rogue. I have stayed that way for a few years, traveling from town to town, trying to find a pack to belong to again. But news quickly spread of the alleged crimes I had been accused of, and my madness. This led to many issues with finding a safe place to live, often resulting in being chased off lands or away from homes I had made for myself, without my side even being listened to.

Even the wolves and packs who wanted to help me were prevented from doing so by the Werewolf Council, who had branded me as a dangerous rogue that should be captured on sight and handed over to them. I quickly became an extremely good escape artist.

For the first two years of being alone, I could not transform, and I lost contact with my wolf after I had transformed back into my human side. I thought that it was an aftereffect of being in my wolf form for so long, and that because my wolf and I had undergone so much torture and persecution from our own pack, my wolf had lost all hope in living.

After two years, though, he came back. But in those two years, I was classed as human and was treated as such, which sort of helped me to hide myself as my scent changed. However, it didn’t stop the abuse or hunting once I was discovered. When my wolf returned and he saw in my memories the abuse and hunting that had been done to me, his heart filled with hatred once again, and it took everything within me not to let it corrupt me.

I tried to fight against the hatred, but every time I did, my wolf would fill my mind with memories of my mate. Each time it broke me more and more to remember until it got to the point where I just stopped fighting my wolf. Instead, I let numbness consume me, so I could no longer feel my wolf’s hatred, but neither could I feel happiness. And it has served me well.

I finally found somewhere to live: a lovely little cave in the woods which had once been inhabited by another shapeshifter, judging from the scent that lingered. The cave gave me solitude and security, as it was far from the local town—only a 45-minute sprint in wolf form. It got lonely, but I was able to live comfortably, and that is the main thing.

I am currently walking back from the town. I am walking in human form, so the journey will take me over two hours to get home. I am currently carrying groceries that I picked up from the local food bank. The downside to being penniless is that I cannot afford anything for myself.

But this town has food banks and places where you can go and get free clothes that others have donated. It is not the best, but I am grateful for the help I get offered.

I am about halfway home when I hear voices coming from deeper in the forest. I decide to keep going on my path home, hoping that I will not come across them. But luck is not on my side.

A few minutes later, I come across a group of hunters in the forest. It looks like they are practicing being in our realm, as some look a bit queasy from the travelling. Plus, they have the scent of humans and the human world, not our realm.

I put my shopping down and quickly shift into my wolf. He is more aggressive than me, so I always fight in wolf form. Plus, I can be more stealthy, and if they see a wolf then they are less likely to be suspicious than if they saw a man in the middle of the woods for no real reason.

I slowly and quietly make my way around them, wanting to get past them before they notice me, the bag of groceries hanging from my mouth. I may be a fast runner and can outrun humans, but I cannot outrun their weapons.

I hear what appears to be the leader explaining about a new piece of equipment that they have recently acquired, but I am not really listening as I am trying to make no sound at all.

All of a sudden, a twig snaps under my paw. I stop and hold my breath, hoping that they didn’t hear it. In that moment, my wolf pushes forward and takes control.

But luck is not on my side. They did hear, and they have taken up a defensive stance. My wolf stays still, but I am thinking that if I don’t move, they will get me. I am screaming at my wolf to move, but he refuses, thinking he can outwit them.

“Over there, boss.”

“Watch this!” The boss shouts and fires something in my direction.

I feel something sticky hit my fur, but as I am running, I don’t even think about looking back. My wolf tries to knock it off while he is running by rubbing closely to trees and branches, but whatever it is will not come off. Instead, the bag holding the food is ripped and goes everywhere. I don’t have time to stop and pick it up; instead, my wolf keeps running, wanting more distance between the hunters and us.

Finally, I see my cave up ahead. My wolf keeps running, knowing that once we make it there, we are safe. He looks around, and we see that the hunters have not followed us.

My wolf gives me pack control as I trot into the cave and turn back into my human form once I am inside. Once I have fully transformed, I hear a clanging sound, as if something has fallen onto the ground. I look around and find a small disc about the size of a five pence coin laying on the floor next to my foot.

I pick it up and examine it. It is light grey with one side sticky, and nothing else. Just looks like a lump of plastic. I have no idea what it is, so I simply throw it into the bin before I head over to the rug I have and sit down to read a book by candlelight.

Suddenly, I hear rustling near the entrance to my cave. I quickly stop what I am doing and stay still, hoping that it was just my imagination.

“Hey boss, are you sure it’s here?” I hear a man whisper. Thank the Goddess for werewolf hearing.

“Definitely. I placed a tracker on its fur.” came the response.

I then look over to the bin where I had thrown away the round thing. So that’s what it was!

No one knows about this cave; for three years I have remained here undisturbed. This means that the only thing that could have found me is hunters. I know that they use this forest for practice and hunting, as I have come across them in small groups previously.

I quickly exit my cave, not wanting them to find out that I am living here. I leave in my human form so as to confuse them into thinking that I was a human.

I am stopped by a burly man who appears out of nowhere and grabs my arm. I try to shrug him off, but he throws me forward to two other men who turn me around to face the man before each grabbing an arm to stop me from running.

“Hello, rogue.” The human says to me, smirking.

I eye him suspiciously. How does he know?

The man smirks at me. “I have a proposition for you.”