Hunter's Mark: The Dream Walker

Chapter Thirteen

Adalyn

When I woke up, I swung my hand over to Rainn's side. He was not there, and the bed was only slightly warm. I figured he was downstairs making breakfast for us, so I headed into the bathroom, did my business and got dressed for the day. I headed for the stairs when I heard a female's laugh echo through the downstairs, and I froze. I snuck down the stairs and rounded the corner, staying out of sight and hoping that Liam had brought someone over. Once I got closer and started hearing the conversation, my heart squeezed painfully.

"Why won't you let me go upstairs, Rainn?", the woman said teasingly. He smirked and looked down at the woman, "I didn't say you couldn't go upstairs, I said that you needed to get away from my wing." I stood there dumbfounded and almost in tears that he was allowing this woman to get this close to him. She laughed and put her hand on his shoulder, and at that moment, I lost all control. My body was glowing purple and Rainn's eyes lit up when he finally realized I was there. "Get away from my mate", I said, as I flung a stream of fire past her head. I snapped my head towards him as he started inching in my direction.

"My love, it's not what it looks like, let me explain." "It had better be a very good explanation", I said. My flames licked up my body ready at any minute to defend me. He tried to reach out to me, but the flames roared harder, and he stepped back. "I'm waiting." The woman stepped forward with her hands raised to let me know she wasn't a threat and pulled down the top corner of her shirt, revealing her orange bond mark. "My name is Ophelia and I work with Rainn. We have a crew of hunters that collaborate. My mate is here as well. We just got back from the beach. I had to get into the ocean for a while. Curse of being a water creature."

"That still doesn't explain why you had your hands on my mate." "Sorry, I'm a Siren and sometimes my nature takes over. It's a character flaw I'm working on. I would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. I’m so sorry." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You're a Siren?" "Yes, so sometimes without meaning to, I get overly flirty. It's helped to be bonded." I looked at Rainn, “And what’s your excuse?” “My love, I know Ophelia doesn’t mean anything by it. I would never do anything to hurt you. I just didn’t want her to go wandering and wake you up.”

I looked back at Ophelia, "If you don't mind me asking, who is your mate?" She giggled, "It would be way funnier to show you." She opened the kitchen window, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and started singing. It was beautiful, the notes she was hitting seemed impossible. I could understand now all the stories about Sirens and how they lead sailors to their deaths. Hearing something so beautiful would make me want to investigate it. It didn't seem to have an affect on Rainn or me. Just then, we heard a crashing sound through the back of the house, and she smiled and stopped. “He has arrived”, she giggled.

A half-crazed man barreled into the kitchen and came to a halt whipping his head around until his golden eyes landed on Ophelia. She was standing there giggling and his eyes switched to brown. I couldn't believe what I saw. I tried to figure out why his eyes would change colors. Rainn read my mind, "My love, you remember Jamison, don't you?" I nodded my head, still staring at him. "Why did his eyes change from gold to brown?" Rainn laughed a little, "Well I wanted to explain everything to you before everyone came back but Liam and I are the only hunters in the group that were human before our transition. Jamison over there is a bear shifter and, like Ophelia explained, she's a siren."

"You mean he can turn into an actual bear." Jamison let out a deep laugh, "Yep, I'm a big old grizzly. I’ll have to show you sometime." Ophelia was jumping up and down, “We could do it now. The pool in the back is big enough for me.” "After everyone gets here and gets settled, I will make sure everyone shows you their other form so that you don't get spooked by them", Rainn assured me. “I want to see now and Ophelia is willing.” Jamison rolled his eyes and Rainn just laughed. “Let’s GOOOO”, Ophelia yelled with excitement. We went out back and Ophelia headed for the pool. “Ok, you ready?” I looked back at her with a smile, “Whenever you are.”

She jumped into the pool and I got closer to look. She pushed herself up out of the water and I gasped. She was beautiful, her scales shined in the sunlight in hues of blue and purple. Her green eyes and red hair contrasted with her scales. She was adorned with gold jewelry. Her figure was curvy and supple. I looked into the water and could see her tail fanned out, slowly moving back n forth to keep her up. She shifted back and climbed out of the pool. “Wow Ophelia, you’re beautiful.” “Thank you. My voice is more powerful when I’m in that form. Now I think you should meet my pooh bear.” Jamison rolled his eyes, “Love of my life, how many times have I asked you not to call me pooh bear?” She laughed, “Probably a million, but I just can’t help myself.”

He went behind a tree and in a few seconds, I could hear bones cracking. When he stepped out of the trees, my mouth hung open. A huge honey-colored brown bear with golden eyes started walking toward us. Every instinct in my body told me to run. “I know what you’re thinking and I wouldn’t do that. He’s a total predator in this form”, Ophelia said. “Wow”, I said as I started walking to meet him. I put my hand on his side. He was almost taller than me and he was on all fours. “This is so cool.” I could feel his muscles twitch under his fur. Jamison huffed at me and walked back into the trees. He came back fully dressed. “Oh, Ophelia, I wanted to ask you, why didn't your song affect Rainn and me?"

"Well, when I transitioned one of the perks was, I could target someone specifically as long as they were in ear shot and I had met them before." I giggled, "Oh so that's why you opened the window." Jamison glared at her, "So you did that on purpose?" "Adalyn asked about me being a siren so I showed her." Jamison stalked over to his mate and threw her over his shoulder. "Let me know when everyone else gets here, this little siren needs to be taught a lesson." Jamison smacked her on her butt and headed back toward the house, with Ophelia giggling the whole way.

"I think Ophelia and I are going to be great friends", and I meant it. Rainn laughed, "We are all in trouble then. The rest of the crew won't be here until after nightfall, so we have all day to hang out. We went back and forth about what we wanted to do, but ultimately, we needed to go shopping for the house and then Rainn said we'd go to one of his favorite restaurants. Shopping was exhausting and women kept staring at Rainn, which was really getting on my nerves, although he seemed tense as well, looking at men that would pass by.

We pulled up in front of a little diner outside of town. "Liam and I come here all the time. The food is pretty amazing." We walked in and the smell hit my nose first and it smelled amazing. My mouth started to water. We sat down and the waitress came over fixing her shirt, so her chest perked up. "Hey Rainn, long time no see." Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard and I saw Rainn cringe. "What can I get for you tonight?" She completely ignored that I even existed, and I was starting to get angry.

Rainn looked her in the eyes and said, "I think I'll let my wife order first." He inclined his head towards me, and her eyes followed. I got a big smile on my face, "I don't know, sweetheart, you come here more than I do. What do you think I would like?" He got the game, "Well, considering your tastes, I think you would love the special tonight." I looked over at her and her jaw was on the floor. "That sounds great. I'll have the special." She took down both orders and scurried away from the table.

"Are you going to get hit on by random women everywhere we go", I laughed at him. "I can't help that I'm irresistibly sexy." "How about when we get home, I show you just how irresistible you are." His eyes got darker and filled with lust. "Don't tease me my love or we will leave this diner right now and I will be teaching you a lesson." "Hmmm, the same lesson that Ophelia learned?" I took my foot and moved it up his leg until it was in his lap.

Our food was brought out a few minutes later and taking the first bite of shepherd’s pie, I almost moaned. It was almost the best thing that I have ever tasted. Rainn quirked his eyebrow at me but didn't say anything. We had just finished eating and were headed to the car when his phone started ringing. He let it ring and we got into the car, but it immediately started ringing again and he pulled it out and answered it.

"I swear to god if this is not a life-or-death emergency, WAIT WHAT", he screamed into the phone. I jumped at the abruptness of it. "We'll be right there, get him into the basement NOW and get the doc on the way." "Rainn what’s happening?" He looked at me with horror in his eyes, "It's my fault, I sent him." "Rainn look at me, what's your fault?" "When the other four got to the house they found a body lying in front of the gate." I gasped, “Who is it?" "It's bad, it's Malik."