Hell Hound

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight.

When Kiara woke up, she was alone. It wasn’t even five AM. Panic shot through her. Had Nick realised he’d slept with Silver’s niece? Her uncle had a reputation of being incredibly protective. And occasionally violent. Then there was the whole issue with her parents. Her father had killed several members of the Scarlett River pack the day he and her mother had run away together. Kiara’s body was aching in all sorts of strange spots. She played back the previous night in her head. Her wolf had gone crazy over Nick, fighting him for dominance, and she had even bitten him! Kiara had never been that rough with her human partners, never. She had enjoyed it. In fact, she had enjoyed s*x with Nick so much, Kiara didn’t know how she was going to go back to human men. Groaning with frustration, she rolled out of bed and headed for the shower.

Nick threw another punch at the bag hanging from the ceiling. He had woken up in the early hours of that morning still curled up with Kiara. She had looked so incredibly sexy with her dark inky hair spilled out on the white pillowcase. He had wanted to wake her up for another round, but he had forced himself to leave her room instead. His wolf wasn’t happy. He wanted to go back up to her room and mark her like she had marked him. The bite was already fading. With any luck, no one would notice it. His wolf hated that idea. But instead of giving in and hunting the poor girl down, Nick was taking out his frustrations in the gym. He cursed out loud. He should have never touched her.

Kiara found herself in the hotel lobby before breakfast. She hadn’t been able to relax since she woke up and was thinking about hitting the hotel pool when a warning shiver ran down her back. Kiara turned to see a very dangerous shifter entering through the front doors. Marcus Hunter. The Scarlett River alpha’s eyes found her, pinning her with his sharp gaze. Kiara was like a deer in the headlights as Marcus changed direction and headed straight for her. She threw her gaze down to his feet, not wanting to accidentally look him in the eye. But if he moved to attack her, she would still see it coming. “You are Ellaine’s daughter, aren’t you?” He asked. His voice radiated power. There was no doubt that this man was the territory’s alpha. Kiara nodded weakly. Marcus’s hand was suddenly on her chin. She hadn’t even seen him move. He tilted her head back so that he could see her face clearly. Kiara’s body was frozen. Her wolf pushing itself down, trying to hide from his penetrating gaze. “Pity. You’re nothing like your mother.” She felt as if she’d been slapped. He dropped her chin just as suddenly as he had grabbed it and walked away, completely dismissing her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nick making his way towards her. Feeling utterly humiliated, Kiara turned and ran out of lobby.

Nick had frozen in the gym doorway. His father had Kiara by the chin and tears were swimming in her eyes. For a brief second, he thought his father must have smelled him on her. She wouldn’t have been the first woman to be insulted after spending the night with him. Marcus dropped her chin and left her shaking. Nick had to make sure she was alright. But the second Kiara caught sight of him, she turned and ran. Nick thought about chasing her but didn’t want to make it worse. Instead, he grabbed the concierges’ arm. “What was all that about?” he demanded. The man had been close enough to hear, but he shrugged.

“Something about her mother, I think.” Her mother? Nick thought Kiara might have had one human parent. Was it her mother then? Nick just hoped she was okay.

Kiara’s heart just wasn’t in it that day. She ran laps with the others but didn’t pull ahead. She barely noticed what muscles she was stretching. And when it came time for tug-of-war, she slipped in the mud. Covering her entire back in brown yuck. “Pathetic.” She heard someone mumble.

“Are you okay?” Lilly asked, helping her up out of the mud. It had started to seep into uncomfortable places.

“I’m fine.” She lied. Lilly eyed her with a look that said she wasn’t buying it. “I didn’t sleep well. That’s all.”

“Well, no wonder. You totally snuck out last night, didn’t you?” Busted.

“Won’t happen again.” She told her maternal friend. Lilly was still suspicious, but let it go.

“You.” Their trainer for that day pointed at Kiara. “You’re done for the day. Go wash that s**t off.” It was right after lunch. They were only with her for another hour anyway before heading to woods for capture the flag. Normally, Kiara would have been excited to show off her speed, but that day, she just wasn’t feeling up to it. She nodded to the trainer and started walking back to the gym to shower.

Nick was in the gym taking another sparing lesson when he saw a mud covered Kiara enter through the back door. She was headed for the showers. “I’ll be back.” He told Spencer, another member of his pack who was helping him with the class. Nick followed after Kiara, trying not to look like a creepy stalker. He caught up to her in the changeroom. Not even caring that it was the female’s. “Kiara.” He put one big hand on her shoulder, startling her. She hadn’t even heard him follow her in. She sighed, exhausted.

“What?” She asked looking up at him with watery eyes. She was trying not to cry. Without hesitation, Nick pulled her to his chest and tucked her head under his chin.

“I was just checking on you.” He rubbed her back. “After my father cornered you this morning.” Kiara shoved away from him.

“Father? Marcus Hunter is your father?”

“Um yeah.” He had thought it was common knowledge. “Isn’t that why he was taking to you this morning?” It dawned on her that Nick didn’t know who she was.

“No.” She told him. “And you need to leave. This is the girl’s room and I need to wash all this mud off.” It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to help her, but her expression stopped him. Nick decided to let her be. But just before he walked out the door, he looked back at her. Kiara’s arms were wrapped around her chest. The physical ache to hold her, surprising him.

“I’m not my father, Kiara.” He told her before leaving her.

He could have sworn he heard her whisper; “I'm mine .”

Kiara felt a little better after a hot shower. She was still spinning from finding out that the guy she had had mind blowing s*x with was Marcus Hunter’s son. Typical. Her one objective while attending the camp had been to keep a low profile. And now she had attracted the attention of one of the people who should definitely not know what she was. Kiara couldn’t change that. But she could go capture a flag. She gathered at the edge of the field with the others. Her group was paired with a new group of dominants. Kiara was looking forward to surprising them. In the group was a girl much younger than the other juveniles. She had to only be around thirteen years old. It was odd, but Kiara just figured she was older than she looked, or simply more mature. She was small and thin. A brightly coloured ribbon in her shoulder length brown curls. The patch on her shirt marked her as a member of the Scarlett River wolf pack. Because that afternoon’s trainer didn’t believe in fairness, he pitted the dominant group against the non-dominant. Kiara was faster, but she couldn’t best the stronger and far more organised dominants. They may have had a chance if Terra was allowed to participate. But the game was human form only and she refused to shift her bottom half. It also meant that they didn’t have the advantage of her webs. Every time Kiara slipped past someone on the opposing team, two more would close in on her from either side. No matter how many times she came at them, Kiara wasn’t able to get their red flag before they got their blue one. Kiara spotted the guy running trough the trees with the blue flag tucked into his belt. She stopped trying to get through the dominants’ defences and stared chasing down the boy with the flag. She bolted towards him at full speed. He was fast. Really fast. She caught hints of a deer scent as she chased him. Kiara was keeping pace, but she wasn’t gaining ground. She pushed herself, until a stitch started to form in her right side. The cramp slowed her down. She wasn’t going to catch him. Suddenly, Kiara was hit from the side. A tank of a woman tackled her, taking her down to the forest floor. They heard cheering. The dominant team had won. Kiara was laying on the forest floor trying to catch her breath. A smile spread across her face.

“Why are you smiling?” The tiger who tackled her asked in a thick accent Kiara couldn’t place.

“That was fun.” She couldn’t help it. Her wolf was both joyful at running and frustrated that they couldn’t catch the deer. She was a real handful.

Malachi met Kiara at the edge of the field after the game of capture the flag. He was both surprised and pleased to see the cub smiling. Mal had heard about her run-in with Marcus Hunter and wanted to know if she was alright. She spotted him immediately and made her way over. “Malachi.” She greeted him. “What’s up?”

“I heard the local alpha paid you a visit this morning.” Her smile faded.

“Not really.” She said. “I just bumped into him is all.” He raised one silvery eyebrow at her.

“That’s not what I heard. Marcus was here looking for you. If he hadn’t found you in the lobby, he would have cornered you in your room.” Her face paled. The thought of being alone with the Scarlett River alpha scared her. At least there had been witnesses in the hotel lobby.

“Oh.” It was the only thing Kiara could think to say.

“What did he say to you?” Mal sounded a lot like an overprotective uncle. Kiara would know.

“He said that I don’t look anything like my mother.” Mal scoffed.

“He means you’re not blond. If Marcus Hunter ever paid any attention to your mother’s human appearance, I’d be surprised. All he was ever interested in was her pretty, white wolf.” His voice dripped with venom. Kiara had never heard Mal talk so much.

“Mum’s wolf was white?” She asked. Kiara had never asked about what her mother’s wolf form had looked like. Mal nodded.

“Like fresh snow.”

“My wolf definitely isn’t white.” She murmured. Mal had never seen her animal form, but he had an inclination of what it was.

“I suppose not. But Kiara.” They stopped walking and she looked up at him. His voice was stern. “As far as Marcus Hunter and the rest of those Scarlett River wolves are concerned, you don’t have a wolf.” Silver had told her the same thing. “Keep that part of yourself hidden here. Do you understand?” She nodded. It was too late as far as Nick Hunter was concerned, but Kiara saw no reason to worry Mal. She planned on keeping her distance from the sexy wolf. They continued walking. Neither Silver nor Malachi had ever mentioned that he knew Kiara was a hell hound, but somehow, she knew that he did.