The Huntress and her Alpha

Chapter Nine

stood in the warm shower for longer than I needed to crying the rest of the tears I didn’t know I had stored up inside me out. It felt nice to cry, to let go and mourn the life I didn’t think I wanted. To mourn this new reality in which I was stuck between wanting to be with someone and wanting to honor my family’s name.

Once I got out of the shower I pulled on a new pair of leggings and a sweater. It was chilly in this pack house, because wolves ran warmer than humans. I ran my fingers through my wet hair as a knock sounded on my door.

It had to be Lip. No one else would come see me, not after that display of entertainment that occurred at training.

I sighed pulled the door open. “What do you want now —“ I stopped when my eyes landed on the person standing in the doorway.

It wasn’t Lip, but instead a girl who had very similar features. She was taller than me, those hazel eyes swirling with gold were bigger as she smiled.

“I’m sure my brother has been annoying you all day so that’s justified.” She looked passed me into my room. “Oh points for big bro he did good with this decorating. Sorry,” she looked back at me, “I’m Sarah, Lip’s younger sister. He said you might need… a friend and well I’ve been dying to meet you but he’s been hell bent on keeping you away from us.”

“Why?” I asked looking at her confused. Shouldn’t he want me to meet his family?

Sarah seemed nice. If his entire family was nice and the former leaders of this pack, shouldn’t I be introduced?

“Because our aunt and uncle are a little… old school? He’s worried how they’ll handle you being human and a Hunter and he doesn’t want to scare you more than you already are. But he made me promise to be on my best behavior so here I am.”

I stepped to the side of the door. “Well Sarah why don’t you come in. I was just drying my hair from my extra long shower.”

“You’re as cute as he said you were.” She laughed watching me walk barefoot back to the couch that sat off to the side of the room. “Sorry he’s done nothing but talk about you since you got here. He’s obsessed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. My brother is twenty four, past the age we wolves usually find our mates. I think he was about to give up and then you came to the bar. He wanted to follow you out, but I told him not to.”

I bit my bottom lip and looked at Sarah. She was beautiful and everything that I imagined a girl who deserved to be mates with Lip would look like. Tall, blonde, big bright eyes. She just screamed elegance while I was… the opposite.

“So what do you think?” I asked as she sat down on the other chair that faced mine. “About me being human?”

“I saw you tell my brother to buzz off earlier today at training. Human or not I’ve never seen anyone stand up to him that way, which is exactly what he needs. I think you’re perfect for him.”

I laughed. “Right. I’m sure he’ll disagree about that.”

“No he told me he enjoyed being put in his place by you, even if it was in front of the pack. The only thing that calmed his excitement,” she emphasized the word, “was watching you and Aimee get each other bloody.”

I felt my cheeks burn. I looked at my hands and then changed the subject. “So how old are you? Have you found your mate yet?”

She shook her head. “I just turned twenty two months ago. Haven’t found him yet, but I’m holding onto hope. After all Lip found you.”

I forced a small smile and felt a pang of homesickness wash over me. I missed Luca and Travis. I missed the laughter that had filled my house when they came over. I missed the familiarity of knowing where I belonged there. I missed being comfortable.

Sarah made me envious of how comfortable she was sitting here talking to me.

“Can I ask how you’re doing? Like really how you’re adjusting to all of this? I know it’s hard for she wolfs to move with their mate to a whole new pack, but you’re human. Even if you know about supernaturals as a Hunter this is an even bigger adjustment for you.”

Tears filled my eyes as I brought mine back up to hers. She might be only twenty but she sounded so much older than her age. She looked at me like I imagined a mother would.

No one, not even Lip had asked me how I was adjusting. They all asked me how I was, how it felt to be mated to an Alpha. But not what I felt, if I wanted to talk to someone.

“I’m… okay.” I finished sighed. “It’s easier when Lip is with me because I feel secure with him. Like he anchors me to wherever we are and home isn’t a place to me anymore but instead it’s him. But when I’m away from him I feel nervous and anxious. I feel like this is all a mistake and I don’t belong here.” I took in a slow breath feeling the tears refill my eyes.

I thought I had cried them all out in the shower. “You’re the first person to actually ask me if I’m okay. And that means a lot to me Sarah. More than you’ll ever know.”

Sarah stood up and walked to the couch. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me from the side. “You’re my brother’s mate, which means you’re my sister now. I’ve always wanted a sister.”

She smiled as she let me go. “And I will listen no matter what. If you’re having a bad day and the wolves are getting on your nervous or you just need to complain, I will listen no judgment, no reasoning. I want to be friends with you, Max.”

I wiped away a tear. “Thanks.”

“It’ll always be easier when Lip is around because he was made for you. He calms your body and soul and mind when you’re together, which hides the anxiety you’re probably already feeling. I’ll help you adjust, so that my brother isn’t the only thing that feels secure. This is your home now too.”

“Even if I was a Hunter who tracked your kind?” I asked softly, nudging her shoulder with mine.

“We all have our faults.” She laughed as she leaned back against the couch. “So first order of business as my new sister. Let’s put on a rom com and discuss just how giddy my brother makes you.”

I smiled, handing her the remote while I went to make some popcorn. I ran to the bathroom and found some face masks I had thrown in my bag yesterday when I was rapidly packing up my life. Sarah pulled out some nail polish and we started to have a full on slumber party in the middle of the day.

It was nice to find a friend. Someone to pull me off the ledge of fear and self doubt. Someone who wasn’t Lip, but was also there to protect me.

Someone who wanted to know me and not just because I was the daughter of the lead Hunter or the mate to the Alpha. She wanted to be my friend. After my mom died I lost my childhood and I forgot what that was like, making a new friend.

I found it easy to talk to Sarah and I knew no matter what she wasn’t just here because Lip sent her. She had come because Lip asked her to, but she had stayed because she cared.