The Huntress and her Alpha

Chapter Fourteen

Jack walked me back into the pack house and we found Lip pacing in front of the staircase. He stopped, his nose flaring as he sensed me. When he turned towards us his face relaxed, he physically relaxed when his eyes moved from Jack and then fell on me.

“Max.” He let out a slow breath and walked to me, his hands framing my face as his brown eyes held mine. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.”

I nodded. “It’s okay. You aren’t responsible for your aunt and uncle.” I reached up and touched his wrist. “I just needed some air. Their words and glares were too much and the walls were moving in. I had to get out before I said something I’d regret.”

He nodded. “I had Jack find you because I let them know that their behavior won’t be tolerated. You are my guest, my mate. Which means they respect you or they have to leave. I won’t let anyone speak to you that way.”

I winced. “No. Lip I won’t be the reason you and your only family are fighting. Please, just let them warm up to the idea of us. After all, maybe they won’t have to. Maybe this won’t work and you’ll find yourself rejecting me.”

“Never.” He whispered easing the pain in my chest as he stepped forward and kissed me softly. I smiled against his lips, feeling safe and secure.

Feeling like the last hour hadn’t happened at all.

“I see alpha’s finally grown a pair and made a move.” Jack smiled at us. A real smile, one that wasn’t laced with judgment or directed only towards his mate.

Lip laughed, leaning his forehead against mine. “Thank you for bringing her back to me.”

He puffed out a laugh. “Yeah well. I’ve been on the receiving end of your aunt and uncles stares. I didn’t envy Max. Plus we might have had a moment of… bonding out there.”

I glanced at Lip’s beta and smiled even more. “I’ll wear you down, Jack. Just you wait.”

“Sure little Hunter. Well if you don’t need anything else alpha I have a very impatient mate waiting for me upstairs.”

Lip waved his hand. “Yes, yes. Go to your mate.”

Jack all but ran off as Lip pulled me into his chest. “I take it you didn’t get to eat since you spent so long waiting for me and then everything else that happened afterwards.”

I shook my head. “No.” My stomach grumbled, making us both laugh. “I’m starving.”

Lip kissed me again. “Well then, I have the perfect place for our second date. Let’s go.”

He laced his fingers through mine and walked us back outside. I had dressed rather nicely, in an outfit that felt nothing like me, to meet his family. I had on light blue skinny jeans and a sheer gray top tucked in at the waist. I didn’t get a chance to ask Lip to stop and let me change. He led me towards his car and then opened the door for me.

I shivered as he got into the driver’s side. “Here.” He pulled off his green hoodie that fit him perfectly and handed it over to me. I smiled gratefully, tugging the sleeves on as he started to drive.

My eyes went wide when we pulled into the parking lot of the bar where we had first met. “Lip.”

He laughed. “Listen. They’ve got amazing food, I’m sure you haven’t been here this early.”

I blushed. “You’re calling me out on my single party girl days.”

He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Only because it makes you blush. Which is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay my big corny alpha. Let’s go I’m hungry.”

Lip groaned. “I really love it when you call me that.”

“Corny alpha?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

“No. Your alpha.”

I smiled and leaned over the counsel towards him. When we were so close our lips were almost touching, i brushed my nose against his.

“My alpha.” I whispered softly, my heart skipping a beat as he let out a soft growl.

I pulled away and pushed open my door. Lip regained his senses, falling out of his own side before coming around to grab my hand, leading us into the quiet bar. There were families seated around, some people sitting at the bar. But it wasn’t as lively as it usually was whenever we ventured into town. Instead it was serene and actually had a really nice homelike atmosphere.

“Lip!” The bartender, a tall blonde with dark red lipstick, called out his name like they were old friends.

“Cora! Nice to see you’re back on our side of the ocean again.” He nodded at her and her face lit up from the attention.

She one hundred percent had a crush on him. She was trying to ignore me, her eyes were only for Lip, who seemed oblivious to the fact that she was undressing him with her stare.

I held his hand tighter as jealousy ripped through my chest. Lip laughed as he pulled me towards a table. I pulled myself up into the booth, my mouth still turned down in a scowl. I kept staring at the girl, her eyes moving between us like she was trying to figure out who I was to him.

Like she was thinking she actually had a chance with my mate.

“Hey.” Lip still held my hand from across the table. “She’s just a friend.”

I rolled my eyes. “Does she know that? Because she’s over there eye f*****g you while she cleans that glass.”

Lip’s cheeks were pink as he laughed again. But he didn’t turn to look, he kept his body facing me. “I only have eyes for you, Max.”

I sighed, pushing my fingers through my hair. “Is this how you feel whenever someone looks at me?”

“Oh no it’s ten times worse for me.” He scratched his chin. “Because my wolf instincts kick in. I go from being on alert for danger to you, to feeling jealous and the need to claim you as mine in the time it takes to assess what the guy wants from you. I try to hide it, but sometimes it’s hard.”

“And you growl.”

“It’s the one thing I can’t control when I’m jealous or feeling out of control when something is threatening you. Or as you so politely said ‘eye f*****g’ you.”

I let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I feel crazy. I’m so unsure about myself, about you, about us. I’m not used to someone wanting me, only me. I mean, I feel this bond. But whenever someone else comes into the picture it’s like I forget and I’m sure you’re going to pick the taller prettier girl who clearly belongs beside you.”

“Max.” Lip squeezed my fingers as the waitress brought over menus and waters for us both. Then when she walked away he continued. “I know it’s going to take me time to gain your trust and for you to fully understand the bond. But when a wolf finds their mate, it’s for life. Trust me. I don’t see anyone prettier or better for me than you.”

“Wow so you agree. I’m short.” I joked, looking at him with big eyes.

“I mean. You aren’t the tallest person I’ve ever met.” He winced like the was afraid I was going to become insecure again.

I wasn’t used to feeling this way. I was proud to be a warrior, a Hunter. I knew where I belonged and that I could take care of myself. Letting someone else in, letting Lip take care of me, it was scary. Because no matter what he said, for me a voice in the back of my head told me he could decide to leave at anytime.

“I know. I got blessed with my mother’s height, which is none. I’m kidding.” I took a drink of water. “I would also like you to know I’m never usually this insecure. You just… make me nervous.”

His eyes flashed, going from hazel to dark brown and back again as he smiled. “Good nervous?”

“Sadly yes. That and I just feel so much. I like you, but then I also like getting to know you. I don’t like other girls looking at you, but I’m also afraid of what that means for me. I mean I keep thinking the more you learn about me the faster you’ll decide I’m not worth it. Will I ever feel less? Will this intensity settle?”

Lip winced. “I think for you it will. Once we’re mated and I mark you. Then you’ll feel me and my emotions and you’ll know that you don’t have to worry.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing I was nowhere near being ready for that. Not when everything felt so unsettled and we were still strangers. Not when his family had basically said I wasn’t good enough to be in their pack or with their nephew.

I pulled my hand back and decided to change the subject. I took in a deep breath through my nose and opened the menu. No more depressing conversation tonight. Lip had declared this our second date, so we were done talking about all this serious stuff for now.

“So tell me what’s good. Because soon I’m going to start eating the napkins, I’m so hungry. I was nervous all day for that stupid dinner so I couldn’t eat.”

Lip kept watching me, I could feel his eyes, as I read through a few choices. Not for the first time I wished I could read his mind to understand what he felt, what he was thinking when it came to me. Did he really believe we could work? Did he really truly want me to be his Luna?

Or was the mate bond blinding him to the obvious truth; we were too different to every truly find happiness together.

The waitress came over and Lip ordered first. He had given me a few choices that were safe, normal bar food that he said was good. I listened to him order a bacon cheeseburger with fries. The waitress batted her eyelashes at him when he asked for a beer.

I sighed, my fingers curling into a fist when she finally looked at me for my order. I tried to keep my voice civil as i ordered a small plain cheeseburger with curly fries. Then I closed the menu and looked at the bar.

“And I’ll take a Jack and cherry coke.”

She nodded, her hand brushing over Lip’s shoulder as she directed her smile towards him. “I’ll put that right in.”

“Do you always get this much attention?” I asked playing with the straw paper that I had thrown down on the table.

Lip shook his head. “Here? Sometimes. Usually when it’s full of drunk girls not ready to go home yet. The staff has never been this forward before.”

“So you’ve never taken any of them home? I mean, you told me on our first date you slept with girls from here. None of these girls were them?”

He shook his head. “I never wanted to complicate coming here. This is human territory but it’s also neutral ground with hunters. I didn’t want to mess that up by leading a girl on and then seeing her here every night.”

“That makes sense.”

It felt like there were a million eyes on us. I felt like everyone could see we didn’t belong together. The walls were closing in. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”

I stood up and left before he could react. I pushed open the wooden door, letting it slam shut behind me. I bolted the door and leaned against in, taking in deep breaths as I counted to twenty in my head. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on something that anchored me, that made me feel safe.

To my surprise Lip’s hazel eyes filled my vision.

Once the panic started to subside I looked into the mirror. I splashed some cold water on my face and shook my head.

“Get your s**t together, Max Calloway. You are not this girl. You are not someone who lets her entire identity revolve around a guy. Wolf or not, he does not make or break you! Come on, we’ve always been stronger than this.”

I rolled my shoulders and felt better after pulling myself together. Maybe it was Max’s aunt and uncle who made me question my worth. Maybe spending time away from Aimee and Sarah and Lip had caused me to doubt the security they offered me.

I walked back to the table feeling a little better. Lip smiled as I sat down, our drinks had arrived. I took three very large gulps of my alcohol before I looked at him.

The door to the bar opened and Lip looked at his watch. “Right on time.”

I looked at him confused, but then I heard my best friends voice. “Max Calloway!”

I jumped up and all but ran to hug her. “Luca! Travis.” I hugged him too. “What are you doing here?”

“Your big softy of an alpha texted me saying you were upset and he was going to bring you here. He thought maybe you’d wanna see us.”

My heart skipped a beat as Lip sat there watching us. He really did care about me. He had asked two hunters, who were supposed to be his enemy, to come and make his mate feel better. Tears filled my eyes as I grabbed Luca’s hand and hugged her again.

“I know he’s a wolf Max, but he’s one of the good ones.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to see that too.” I pulled back and then motioned towards our table. “Come sit with us. You guys will like Lip, I know it.”

Luca sat next to me, leaving Lip’s side empty for Travis. I couldn’t help but smile slightly at the scowl he gave us, having to sit next to the wolf. Not just any wolf, but an alpha.

“You know your head is worth like, so much in our society.” Travis said sitting down at the waitress brought over menus for them.

“Travis.” I scolded him. “This is neutral territory.”

Lip shook his head. “It’s okay, Max. I know it is. Why do you think we follow all the stupid rules whenever we scent hunters? Trust me, I don’t want to be your enemy. And you don’t want to be mine.”

“Okay boys.” Luca was smiling at them. “Let’s play nicely. I haven’t seen my best friend in weeks. Let us have tonight.”

Lip nodded. “I’m good. What do you say?” He held his hand out to Travis. “Truce.”

Luca was glaring at Travis until he finally shook Lip’s hand. “Only for our girls.”

They ordered food when ours arrived. We started to eat slowly, Luca asking me anything and everything about living among a pack of wolves. I tried to keep it nice, mostly because I didn’t want Lip to think I hated living with him. I didn’t, I liked being so close to him. I liked that he was right next door to me and if I wanted to I could go to him whenever I wanted.

But then I started to tell her about the she wolves who stared at Lip during training or other times when I was around. I told her about Lip’s aunt and uncle and what led us to the date here at the bar. That’s when my frustration about our living situation turned from nice to annoyed.

Everyone at the table could tell.

“Well. You can’t blame his family, Max. After all your dad literally kicked you out when you brought Lip to your house. So you can’t be upset that they said those things. Your dad said far worse when Lip wouldn’t hand you over after Jack attacked you.”

I shrugged. “Yeah I guess you’re right. I just figured they were the wolves I needed to impress the most.”

Lip coughed. “Max the only wolf you need to impress is my sister. Even then if she had an issue with you it wouldn’t change how I feel. But she adores you and I’m so happy you two get along.”

I smiled. “I do love Sarah. And Aimee.”

Luca pouted. “You made new friends?”

“I needed some support Luca. Aimee is Jack’s mate and she trains with me. She actually yelled at Jack when she found out what happened to me. Sarah is Lip’s little sister and she reminds me of you. Don’t worry,” I hit her shoulder with mine, “you’re still my best friend.”

“I better be.”

Travis started to fill me in on what my fathers been doing. Apparently that involves gathering alliances with other hunters who specialized in other supernaturals. Travis wasn’t sure why he was trying to get them on his side, but he knew it had to do with me. He said ever since I chose to move to the pack lands my father had lost his mind.

“You don’t think he’ll try to start something do you?” I asked quietly, a fry halfway to my mouth. I let it fall back into my plate, my appetite was now gone.

“Honestly? I think he wants a reason to start a fight. I think he’s hoping to somehow draw a wolf from Lip’s pack out and agitate until they attack, then he can say they started the battle, not him.”

Lip’s foot touched mine under the table. “I’ll keep that in mind and let my patrols know not to engage with any of the hunters who may come from your border. I won’t be the one to start the fight, but i will end it if I have to.”

He ran his foot along my ankle, my mind focused on the sparks that hit me as he moved slowly up and down. I knew he could sense my anxiety, he was trying to keep the panic away.

“I’ll keep you updated, Max. I don’t want a fight either. Not when he still hasn’t decided who will take over for him, since you’re no longer there.”

My eyes went wide. “He won’t give it to you?”

Travis scrunched up his nose. “He thinks I’m too close to the situation, since Luca is my girlfriend and your best friend. He says I won’t be unbiased when deciding how to defend against the Black Forest pack. Not that there’s anything we need to defend, because they’re literally not threatening us. But I think he’s doing this to stay in control long enough to cause a war.”

I coughed, reaching for my alcohol and downing the rest of it. I looked at Luca. “I can’t fight you guys.” Then I looked at Lip. “The idea of fighting Lip and his wolves gives me chest pain. I can’t be caught in the middle. I can’t be forced to choose.”

Luca grabbed my hand before Lip could. Her touch didn’t calm me down, but it was reassuring to hold her hand. “You won’t have to choose Max. You’ll choose yourself, which means you’ll choose Lip. You deserve him, you deserve happiness. He is your mate, how many nights did we spend dreaming up our soul mate when we were little? We were convinced we’d have one within the society. Now you have a gorgeous alpha.” Luca smiled as I blushed. “Travis and I are doing what we can with the warriors who trust us.”

I nodded, then she let go of my hand. Lip picked it back up, the sparks shooting through my arm and slowing my racing heart down.

“You don’t have to fight on our side either, Max. I care about you, but I’d never make you choose your family or me. Not after you chose to give us a chance.”

I smiled at him. “I know.”

Luca clapped her hands after we sat there for a moment in silence. Lip’s hazel eyes held mine, we were having some sort of silent conversation. If only i I could hear what was going on inside his head. I pulled my eyes away first.

Luca smiled. “No more depressing talk about hunters and wolves. This is your date night that Lip so generously let us crash. So we’re going to have fun!”

She jumped out of the booth and went to the jukebox. The waitress came over with another Jack and cherry coke for me and another beer for Lip. Travis ordered one for himself and Luca as she settled on a song.

The familiar melody of that song from the last night we had gone out played. One of my favorite songs. Lip’s eyes flashed darker, a small smile formed as Luca grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the middle of the dance floor.

“She played the fiddle in an Irish band!” She sang and I couldn’t stop myself from joining her as the alcohol warmed my blood and the freeing feeling of dancing took away the pain of our previous conversation.

Maybe there were a lot of things we had to figure out. There were a lot of feelings I had to sort through. But for one night I let go of all of that and lived like a twenty one year old girl again. Lip joined us on the dance floor when the song changed, his arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled me in.

“I really like seeing you smile.” He kissed my neck before spinning me around in his arms and holding me close. We swayed to the music, Travis and Luca caught up in their own little moment.

I touched Lip’s chin, running my fingers over his lips. “Thank you. For just… being you. Being so sweet.”

He nipped at my fingers, before leaning in and kissing me. “We are still young, Max. We still get to be selfish sometimes. Tonight is about you and me, not pack business, not Hunter drama.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Well then, my alpha. You should probably kiss me.”

He didn’t hesitate. Lip leaned in, pressing his lips to mine and silencing every fear that had been tormenting me tonight. He held me close, he held me tightly. He made sure everyone, including the girls at the bar, knew he was mine.

I felt a smidge of satisfaction from his display of affection. As we danced together, Lip pulled back slightly, both of us breathing heavily. He leaned his forehead against mine. I could feel Cora and our waitress glaring at me.

It didn’t matter, I leaned into Lip and kissed him again. Nothing was going to ruin this moment. So I let myself forget everything else and just enjoy the time we had left in our little date bubble.