The Huntress and her Alpha

Chapter Four

Jack rolled his neck, his body visibly vibrating with energy as he got ready to shift. He pulled his shirt up and I watched. Wolves were generally good looking, sharp features and defined bodies because they worked out just as hard if not harder than we did.

His shoulders were broad and he was a lot taller than me. But he also held more muscle which meant more weight. Which meant I was faster on my feet, so I wanted to keep him in human form.

“Seriously we don’t want to fight. I just want to talk to you.”

He growled. “Moments ago you said I had two options. Scared to fight a beta little girl?”

I rolled my eyes. “Please a beta is just second best to the alpha. I’m not scared of you, even if you were human. But there’s no reason to fight. The human went to wait for you, clearly she isn’t in any danger.”

“No. She held the gun at me. But I’m sure you wouldn’t even think to defend a wolf, now would you?”

“My father wouldn’t. But seeing as he’s stepping down soon and I will replace him, maybe our rules need to change. Maybe we don’t just need to fight wolves but instead fight with them.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Spoken like a naive little girl. I know what you’re doing. You don’t want me to shift.”

I smiled sweetly, watching more wolves join him as my fellow warriors joined me. Then all at once Jack shifted into his large brown wolf and growled at our defense. We were still on our side, his paw was straddling the line.

So much for keeping him human.

“Max?” Travis whispered my name, waiting for orders.

“Don’t fight to kill. Just defend yourself. We aren’t here to s*******r, just to talk and they don’t seem to agree with that tactic.”

He nodded and then the tension broke as the first wolf jumped over imaginary boundary and went for one of the warriors at the end of line. I heard a scream and teeth clashed with bones and the fighting began.

A large silver wolf came towards the front where Jack was holding the line. I slide my dagger down my sleeve, curling my fingers around the hilt. I took in a deep breath, wondering what exactly I was doing here. This wasn’t our fight and yet… it felt like it was.

Travis yelled something to Luca who spun around and kicked a wolf in the shoulder as it went for her. I heard more voice as all hell broke loose.

“Seriously. A conversation would’ve been so much easier.” I looked at Jack the wolf and glared. “I should’ve asked to see your f*****g alpha. Your baby mama drama has nothing to do with us.”

He snarled and snapped his teeth, clearly he understood me.

Clearly he didn’t want his alpha notified.

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way.” I muttered as the wolf lunged and I stepped to the side. I swiped my dagger out towards his shoulder, but he was fast and twisted out of the way.

Luca was holding her own against a black wolf now, Travis was fighting with a white one. I looked around, realizing we let the girl leave. She listened to Jack and went back to his apartment. We were fighting for no reason and yet…. They were defending themselves.

Sometimes I was a little too much like my father. In this moment I knew I should’ve pushed harder to have Jack just talk to me. We didn’t need to be fighting, we could’ve spoken like adults and avoided all this.

There was blood falling from Luca’s nose as the silver wolf swiped at my face. Everything was happening too fast. I couldn’t get my baring, I couldn’t figure out exactly what to do to stop everyone from getting hurt.

“Max.” My father’s voice sounded in the distance and I thought I was hallucinating.

Then I saw him. He was fighting off a tan wolf with one hand, as if they were nothing more than an annoying nat buzzing around them.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I took in a mouthful of air as I spun around towards him.

“I figured you’d need my help. What in the hell happened here?”

“You got your wish for a fight.” I answered as more wolves started arriving. “It looks like we didn’t come prepared either.”

I still couldn’t believe my father and Greg had followed us, but there they were, suddenly there fighting at the front. Travis looked just as panicked as I did, mostly because he wasn’t sure if this had been some sort of test and we had just failed.

“Travis! Your left!” I yelled as I flipped my dagger in my hand, shoving the knife into the white wolf’s shoulder.

Wolves were attacking, bodies were falling and struggling. Everyone was occupied. I took a step back, away from the big brown wolf Jack, who focused on me as he stalked out of the trees.

He snarled loudly, my heart pounding in my ears. I took in a deep breath, sandalwood and rain filled my nose. I froze. My body stopped listening to me as the wolf kept advancing towards me. His black eyes were big, his teeth on full display as he growled.

“Max!” My father yelled my name loudly. But he sounded a million miles away. All I could hear, all I could see in that moment was this brown wolf.

Right as the wolf lunged at me with his nails extended, a door was thrown open and disrupted whatever spell I was under. If only for a spilt second. A familiar deep voice echoed across the trees towards our fight.

“Stop! Stop fighting!”

But not one wolf stopped and neither did my warriors. The wolf kept barreling towards me and I was still frozen where I stood as my eyes landed on the face that voice belonged to. He stood a good distance away, but I could hear the desperation in his assertive tone.

He was wearing a button up shirt that looked like it had been hastily pulled on. The top buttons were open, it hung crooked where he had quickly secured some of the bottoms ones in the wrong holes. He must have just shifted. My eyes went wide, my mouth suddenly dry. My fingers clenched at my side, all thoughts of defending myself were gone.

A buzzing sound vibrated through my head. Like something was trying to come through, something was trying to force me to understand what exactly was happening.

“Don’t you touch my mate!”

He screamed the words, he sounded like he was in agony, as his wolf finally reached me. I didn’t have time to react. The brown wolf was all ready prepared to defend himself.

Pain shot through my side as the wolf made contact with me. My skin ripped open, his nails were drenched in something that was hot. Something that jolted down into my blood, it bubbled out of my veins onto my now ripped shirt. I gasped, feeling light headed before taking a single step towards the one who called me his mate.

My father stopped, swinging around to look at me and then at the male who stood there staring at me. We were caught in a standstill, eyes locked and emotions on high.

I felt it. The connection, the overwhelming sense of need as I looked at him. I felt him, like I had known him my whole life. Like my heart had been waiting for this moment to finally start beating inside my chest.

It scared the hell out of me. The emotions that suddenly flooded my body. The need I suddenly felt for this stranger.

Then all at once the world seemed to fade away. I wasn’t sure if it was his loud voice booming through the woods towards me or the fact that my side was now on fire from the nails that had ripped my skin open. Either way my legs gave out and the darkness swallowed me before I had a chance to process anything that had just happened.