Mating Games: The Huntress

Episode 15

NYX POV

“What’s going on?” I ask as Zeke and I slip through a pair of large wooden double doors and onto a stone balcony overlooking the cliffs at the edge of the Dark Tider’s territory.

“My dad and I are leaving, Finn is gonna stay behind as regency for our Pack. And he’ll watch over my sister.”

“Why, what’s going on?”

“Our Pack was attacked by Rogues tonight.”

“f**k, what do you need me to do?”

“Nothing, just have Finn’s back and help him watch over my sister and the other pack members that are staying behind.”

“Of course.” I say immediately.

“Thanks, and I also wanted to ask..” he paused and pulled out his phone “.. have you seen anything like this?”

He shows me a picture of a really young girl, her face almost hollowed out like she’d been starved to death. And there’s red tear tracks running down her pale grayish cheeks, as if she’d been crying blood as she died.

“What the f**k, what am I supposed to be looking at here, Zeke?”

“The rogues that my pack members were able to kill, when they transformed back into their human selves this is what they looked like. And a lot of them were young like this one.”

“What? No, I’ve seen what a dead rogue looks like, that ain’t it. That’s something else, and not to mention she’s young. Too f*****g young, no more than twelve or thirteen. There aren’t many rogues that age that are feral enough to go on a killing spree. Let alone to be organized enough to be attacking Pack lands.”

“That’s what my dad said too, have you heard anything about rogue attacks on any other Packs? I wanna reach out and see if anyone else has seen this.. Whatever this is.”

“Maybe..” I don’t feel comfortable giving up any Info on Axel’s Pack and their recent attacks, not until I get a chance to speak to him directly about it “.. when are you leaving?”

“Now.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow morning after I make some inquiries. Let me know when you make it back home and if you need anything else.” I add quickly.

“I appreciate that..” he pushed his hand forward, we shook hands as we pulled each other in for a quick bro hug. We pulled apart and he continued “.. also, we’re not saying anything to any of the other Alpha’s here. I hope it goes without saying that what happened on our Pack lands stays between us. At least for now.”

“Understood.” I gave a stiff nod, because it makes sense to keep it quiet. Some Alpha’s here would see it as an opportunity to attack, especially since large scale rogue attacks usually indicate a lack of proper protection or resources within the pack. But I know that’s not the case with The Hallow Ridge Pack, they’re one of the strongest packs around. Which makes this breach with the rogues all the more strange.

Zeke left and my phone vibrated in my pocket, I opened up the message he sent and studied the picture of the young girl again. I’ve never seen anything like this, and the consecutive attacks on two strong packs is unusual.. which makes of this more worrisome.

“There you are.” A familiar, and frankly grating, voice interrupts my thoughts.. Celia.

“Here I am, now go away.” I say, not even bothering to look up at her.

“Oh, Nyx..” She coos seductively at me, and it isn’t even close to working. Mostly she’s just irritating the f**k out of me “.. don’t be like that. It would seem my mate isn’t here this year, and it looks like you didn’t find yours either.. otherwise she’d be here, and she’d probably have her hands all over you. I know I would if I were her.”

She tries to move in closer and reaches out her hand like she’s gonna touch me.. f**k that! I quickly step back and pocket my phone. Resting my hands in my pockets and hoping desperately that the daggers I’m glaring at her will tell her to f**k off!

The last thing I need is to start some f*****g beef with the Blood Moon pack because this spoil alpha b***h can’t take a hint.

“Come on, Nyx.. it would be so good, there’s nothing quite like f*****g another Alpha.” She says as she bites her bottom lip and trails her finger down her sternum, through the deep v-cut in her red dress.

And I am so not into this, not even a little bit. My c**k is as limp as a noodle.

“I’ll take your word for it, but you won’t be doing anything with this Alpha.” I sneer back at her, and when I try to walk past her she backs up and blocks the door with her body. I have to grind my back teeth and clench my fists to keep my wolf at bay.

Take a f*****g hint already!

My wolf especially isn’t into this. He wants one woman and on woman only, and he’s about ready to rip out of my skin in order to get to her. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t already, I can feel him pacing angrily, impatiently. Plus he’s practically snarling at Celia, not that I blame him.

“You seem so tense..” she coos and goes so far as to fondle her breasts in front of me “.. I bet I could make you feel good, baby.”

“Listen..” I start to say, but I don’t get a chance to finish because the most intoxicating smell hits me and almost knocks me backwards. My nostrils flare and my heart starts to race, I can feel my wolf coming out and showing himself, I have no doubt you can see him shining in my eyes.

Goddess, that smell. It’s a mixture sweet honeysuckle and winter, I swear I can even taste the fresh snow on the tip of my tongue. A rumble starts in my chest, she’s close, my mate is near.

Unfortunately, Celia takes in my reaction as some kind of invitation. Or attraction to her.. but it isn’t.

This is all for her.. my mate.

Andressa .

Suddenly, just as Celia starts to prowl toward me, one of the double doors behind her opens up forcefully. It shoves forward so fast and with so much force that Celia trips over herself and flies face first to the ground beside me.

I guess I could’ve caught her, but I didn’t really feel like it.

And there in the doorway is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. Her brown skin is almost luminescent, her beautiful blue eyes are shining with her wolf and her hair is glowing against the moonlight. She almost looks otherworldly; my mouth dries and I swear I forgot how to breathe for a moment.

She’s got her arms at her sides with her claws out, and she’s glaring up at me like she wants to rip my heart out.

That definitely shouldn’t turn me on, right?

“What the f**k?!” Celia screams as she shakily gets to her feet. Pinching her nose together in both hands as it gushes blood. Her eyes latch onto Andressa and she growls at her. Then she snaps her nose back into place, wipes the blood away with the back of her hand, and drops her arms to her sides. Then her own claws extend, trying to join the party.

“You got a f*****g death wish, half-breed?!” Celia snarls out.

“Not as much as you have a habit of smashing your face into things. Or does that only happen when I’m around?” Andressa bites back and I can’t even hide the slow smirk that crawls up my face.

And yeah, no more limp noodle for me. I’m easily becoming as hard as f*****g granite. Dammit.. she’s so f*****g perfect.

“I’m gonna rip your fucking..” Celia starts to threaten, but unfortunately, my wolf and I didn’t much care for where she was heading with that threat.

She doesn’t get a chance to finish because in an instant I’ve got my hand wrapped around her throat. Squeezing and choking, making it pretty difficult for her to be able breathe, let alone speak another word.

A growl rips from my chest and Celia’s eyes widen when she sees my fangs descend. And I swear I’m a second away from snapping her neck, until someone stops me.

“Stop!” Andressa shouts, and there’s a wave of true authority in the command, it crashes over me like a warm wind. It was an Alpha command, my little mate has alpha blood in her, good to know. Though it doesn’t work on other Alpha’s it is a good that she has that in her arsenal.

I turn to look back at Andressa and I don’t move to let go of Celia’s neck, though I do loosen my grip. A little.

“I don’t need you fighting my battles for me! Let. Her. Go..” my little mate commands again as she takes a few steps forward “.. if the b***h wants a fight, I’ll give her one.”

At this point I must’ve allowed too much oxygen into Celia’s brain, because as soon as Andressa says those words Celia snarls and digs her claws so far into my arm that she slices all the way to the bone. Which wasn’t very nice, but it didn’t make me loosen my grip, if anything it just pissed me off more and I tightened my hold back up as I lifted her up off the ground in a show of force.

Only she seemed to be ready for that, because as soon as I did that she brought the sharp edge of her heel down with enough force to stab it into my thigh. And when my hold loosened she got enough reach to use her claws to stab me in my side. She stabbed me so deep I could feel her fingertips inside me, soaking with my blood, and then she twisted. I roared out in pain, because yeah, that one was a b***h.

It’s a f*****g cheap shot, but a well placed one. I drop my hold on her completely and step back a little unsteadily, seeing as how I have a f*****g high heel jammed into my leg and all. I rip it out and place pressure on the wound at my side. It won’t kill me but it will weaken me until it heals.

The next thing I know a flash of blue moves between us, and damn she’s fast. Andressa slams her body into Celia’s so had that Celia flies back and lands against the thick stone railing.

Celia snaps forward and her eyes are ablaze as she smirks over at Andressa.

“Well, well..” Celia taunts, but her voice is layered and menacing, her wolf is present and speaking through her “.. it would seem Nyx has found his mate after all. Such a shame..” Celia pouts as she looks at my blood on her fingers and then she starts to lick it off, moaning as she does so “.. because he tastes.. so.. damn.. good.”

Andressa doesn’t seem to react to the taunt, which impresses me. Though I can see her body shaking with pure rage, and it’s all directed completely at Celia.

“I doubt he’ll bond with you, you know.. his daddy wouldn’t like it. It would taint the bloodline..” she keeps taunting as she kicks off her other shoe and walks along the balcony’s railing. I notice that Andressa easily, and without taking her eyes off of Celia, slips out of her heels too.

“.. mixing with a f*****g half-breed. I don’t think so. You are beautiful though..” Celia sighs out as she slowly looks Andressa up and down “.. hell, I’m even a little curious how you taste. And I’m sure he’ll keep you around.. you know..” she shrugs and relaxes against the balcony with her hands spread to her sides as she leans against the smooth stone, as if their two gal pal’s having a friendly chat instead of wanting to rip each other’s throats out “.. to f**k you from time to time.”

And still Andressa isn’t responding, it’s as if Celia’s words don’t effect her at all, or as if she isn’t surprised by them. And if that’s the case I can’t say I blame her, not with how half-bloods have been treated.. and are still being treated.

Celia seems irritated that Andressa isn’t getting angry or responding, and I want to say something to refute the s**t spewing from her mouth, but I also don’t want to distract Andressa. Or worse, have my words soften her up. She needs to be as alert and as pissed off as she is right now.

But how do I just stand by and basically let Celia tell my mate that she won’t be anything but my w***e?!

Easy.. I don’t let her!

“The only whore.. out on this balcony..” I grunt as it gets a little harder to breathe, seeing as how I have a f*****g whole in my side just under my ribs.

“.. is you. She’ll be my Queen, and you..” I cough up a little blood and spit it out before I continue “.. you’re not even worth having around to scrub our floors.” I taunt back.

My words do the trick at pissing off Celia, forcing her to drop that cool façade. And luckily, or maybe unluckily for me, my words don’t seem to soften Andressa up in the slightest.

Suddenly Celia screams some kind of war cry as she lunges and swipes her claws at Andressa. I instinctively react and try to move closer to protect her, I swear it’s like a reflex. But I manage to stop myself in time, cause something tells me to heed my mates earlier command and let her handle this. Otherwise I’ll be next.

But I swear, if I see even a drop of blood spill from her beautiful body it’s f*****g over, I’ll literally see red.. and Celia will be dead.

Andressa dodges the first shot effortlessly, and she easily maneuvers against or around the next few that Celia try at. My little mate is playing defensively by letting her opponent tire herself out. Smart and beautiful, I’m a lucky bastard.

Then Celia over extends her upper body after trying to swipe her claws across Andressa’s face, and my little mate bent back so fast and so far it almost looked like that move from the matrix.

Celia tried to use the force of her body to backhand Andressa as she turned. But Andressa was ready for it, and then my little mate finally shifted into attack mode.

She had half of Celia’s body turned away from her and a decent hold on her arm, she was gripping Celia’s arm with both her hands. Then she twisted in opposing directions and a sickening snap echoed through the air, it had Celia screaming out in pain, my guess is Andressa dislocated and twisted Celia’s elbow out of place.

Then she kicked one of her legs out from under her and brought Celia to her knees. And with lightening speed she slid her grip down to Celia’s wrist and snapped that next.

Celia’s screams were definitely not landing on deaf ears and I heard people running in our direction. In the next second Andressa dropped Celia’s hand, stepped on it to keep her twisted and in place, and then threw three consecutive left hooks. Until Celia was out cold.

Andressa took some deep cleansing breathes as she stepped back, still glaring down at Celia.

And I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was stare awestruck at her. I kept running through what I wanted to say and all of it was so outrageous.

Hi, my names Nyx, and I think I’m already in love with you!

It could be the hole in my side, but I feel like I could fall at your feet and worship you!

You’re the mostly beautiful woman I have ever seen as I wish we’d met with less blood involved.

Yeah, none of that feels right. Even if it is all true.

“Andressa..”. I start to say and when her eyes snap to mine she takes another step back, and then looks at the door like she’s ready to bolt. The thought of her running away from me panics me and forces a sharp anxious intake of breathe, which in turn causes a slicing pain to pull at my side.

I wince and try to slow my breathing back down. But it doesn’t go unnoticed and when she looks at my side her eyes soften.

“Are you alright?” She asks softly, but she doesn’t move to step towards me.

“I’m good, nothing that can’t be patched up. Though I am a little embarrassed, she skewered my ass and you took her down like she was a boneless rag doll.” I joke and a small smirk starts to pull at her lips, but she tampers it down instantly.

“This isn’t how I imagined it..”. I finally say when the silence lasts too long, and I wince again when I hear those footsteps closing in on us.

“Imagined what?” She asks.

I take a small step towards her and thankfully she doesn’t step back.

“Being near you and talking to you for the first time. This was a lot more violent then I would’ve wished for.”

“Perhaps it would have been less violent if you hadn’t run away from me back there. What was this out here? Did you come out here to see her? It sounded like you were trying to brush her off, but she seemed to have different ideas. Are you..” her eyes shift to Celia’s in disgust, before her gaze shifts back to me “.. are you sleeping with her?”

My eyes widen at her assumption and my stomach literally churns, of course that’s what it would look like.

“I have never touched her, and I will never touch her..” I say evenly as I hold her gaze, and after a moment to that sink in I continue “.. my friend Zeke pulled me out here to tell me something important. He didn’t have much time and he had to speak to me before he left.”

“Left? So he’s conveniently gone now.. what was so important? I’ve heard on and on how Mates can’t resist the pull when they find one another, and yet you walked away so easily without even speaking to me first.” She accuses as she crosses her arms over her chest, yet another way to construct a barrier between us. Not good.

“It wasn’t easy..” I can hear people about to barge out here and it f*****g pisses me off, because I can’t explain everything with other people around “.. If I had gotten any closer to you I wouldn’t have been able to hear him out. I wouldn’t have been able to acknowledge or process anything else around me, and from the look that was on his face I knew it was important. I promise I’ll explain more, but..”

I don’t get a chance to finish as the doors bust open and Anika rushes in with some of her Dark Tider guards.

She takes in the scene for a moment before she speaks.

“Looks like a lot of rules were broken, what happened?” She demanded as she too crossed her arms over her chest. f**k, looks like I’m pissing all the women off tonight.

“It’s a long story, Ani..” I look back at Andressa to see her watching me closely “.. you still got cameras out here?” I ask Anika.

“Yup. Just video, no sound.” She says and I nod in understanding, good. Video is all I need.

“Get this psycho..” I point to Celia’s unconscious body without even looking at her “.. some medical attention and take Andressa and I to your surveillance room. I’ll explain everything.”

“Alright, but you look like you need some medical attention too, brother.”

“I’m fine.” I growl out as I start to walk, or rather limp, towards the doors.

Fuck the pain. I’m clearing this s**t up right now!