threat. So I grabbed Glen’s wrist to hold him back and merely muttered “Once a stalker, always a stalker” under my breath.
My words eased the tension around me as my pack mates came to the same realization I’d achieved seconds earlier—that Hunter was the one hovering outside our den’s walls. Not that the uber-alpha should be easily dismissed, but at least he wasn’t actively working against us.
Or so I thought. Ginger apparently disagreed.
“You seem to know an awful lot about this serial killer,” she said grimly, raising her voice to make sure the words carried beyond the tent walls. “Care to elaborate?”
“To tell you about Daisy Rambler, eighteen-year-old half-blood who was so badly terrorized by her pack that she built a little hut half a mile away in the woods?” Hunter’s voice was cold now and I pulled the sleeping bag up to my shoulders in hopes the fabric would warm my soul. “To tell you that her family didn’t even realize she’d gone missing until she’d been absent for an entire week, that even then they thought she’d run away and hesitated to contact the Tribunal. That I found her by following the scent of carrion through the forest. And when I returned the rotting corpse to her clan’s loving arms her alpha didn’t even bother to build the girl a funeral bonfire. Is that what you want to know?”
The uber-alpha seemed personally affronted by the halfie’s mistreatment both before and after death and I had a hard time accepting Ginger’s insinuation that he might have somehow been involved in Daisy’s dismemberment. Still, it was hard to forget that Hunter had seemed equally caring and interested at our initial meeting and yet he’d still forced me out of my clan and into outpack territory the very next day. As an enforcer whose authority was backed up by our regional governing body, Hunter’s word was law both inside and outside of our pack, and he could have easily let us wiggle out from under the requisite punishment for our law-breaking three weeks earlier. So I had to admit I didn’t really understand his motivations at all. Maybe Ginger was right and our tagalong companion actually was conning our entire pack.
The inhabitants of the tent fell silent for a moment as we took in the uber-alpha’s words. Then, at last, Hunter spoke again. “Someone is killing halfies to steal their power, and you’re the strongest halfie around. Now can you see why I want you to go west, not east?” He paused as if trying to decide how to turn a command into a question, finally settling on: “Will you, Fen?”
My name on his lips did the job my sleeping bag hadn’t, providing the strength to straighten my spine and remember that I had a pack to protect. For a moment, warmth seeped through uncovered limbs as if the uber-alpha’s eyes were roaming across my body...which was a ludicrous fancy since Hunter was outside the tent and the early morning light was so dim he probably couldn’t tell which shape was me in the first place. Still, the uncomfortable feeling put a bite into my words as I got down to the business I’d already been planning to deal with as soon as my friends awoke.
“That’s none of your affair since you’re not a member of this pack,” I countered more harshly than I’d originally meant to. “At least not yet,” I added, mitigating my tone slightly. “Maybe you could give us some space so we can decide whether we want you following us around?”
Hunter huffed out a snort that said as clearly as words: And how would you stop me going wherever I want to go? But I heard no other sounds pushing into our temporary domicile. No receding footsteps. No slam of the car door as he crawled back into his own bed.
“Hunter?” I asked after a moment’s pause.
“I’ll wait,” he rumbled. And this time Glen wasn’t the only one to growl. Ginger had her hand on the zipper of the tent and looked intent upon heading out naked to whoop the uber-alpha’s ass, in
My words eased the tension around me as my pack mates came to the same realization I’d achieved seconds earlier—that Hunter was the one hovering outside our den’s walls. Not that the uber-alpha should be easily dismissed, but at least he wasn’t actively working against us.
Or so I thought. Ginger apparently disagreed.
“You seem to know an awful lot about this serial killer,” she said grimly, raising her voice to make sure the words carried beyond the tent walls. “Care to elaborate?”
“To tell you about Daisy Rambler, eighteen-year-old half-blood who was so badly terrorized by her pack that she built a little hut half a mile away in the woods?” Hunter’s voice was cold now and I pulled the sleeping bag up to my shoulders in hopes the fabric would warm my soul. “To tell you that her family didn’t even realize she’d gone missing until she’d been absent for an entire week, that even then they thought she’d run away and hesitated to contact the Tribunal. That I found her by following the scent of carrion through the forest. And when I returned the rotting corpse to her clan’s loving arms her alpha didn’t even bother to build the girl a funeral bonfire. Is that what you want to know?”
The uber-alpha seemed personally affronted by the halfie’s mistreatment both before and after death and I had a hard time accepting Ginger’s insinuation that he might have somehow been involved in Daisy’s dismemberment. Still, it was hard to forget that Hunter had seemed equally caring and interested at our initial meeting and yet he’d still forced me out of my clan and into outpack territory the very next day. As an enforcer whose authority was backed up by our regional governing body, Hunter’s word was law both inside and outside of our pack, and he could have easily let us wiggle out from under the requisite punishment for our law-breaking three weeks earlier. So I had to admit I didn’t really understand his motivations at all. Maybe Ginger was right and our tagalong companion actually was conning our entire pack.
The inhabitants of the tent fell silent for a moment as we took in the uber-alpha’s words. Then, at last, Hunter spoke again. “Someone is killing halfies to steal their power, and you’re the strongest halfie around. Now can you see why I want you to go west, not east?” He paused as if trying to decide how to turn a command into a question, finally settling on: “Will you, Fen?”
My name on his lips did the job my sleeping bag hadn’t, providing the strength to straighten my spine and remember that I had a pack to protect. For a moment, warmth seeped through uncovered limbs as if the uber-alpha’s eyes were roaming across my body...which was a ludicrous fancy since Hunter was outside the tent and the early morning light was so dim he probably couldn’t tell which shape was me in the first place. Still, the uncomfortable feeling put a bite into my words as I got down to the business I’d already been planning to deal with as soon as my friends awoke.
“That’s none of your affair since you’re not a member of this pack,” I countered more harshly than I’d originally meant to. “At least not yet,” I added, mitigating my tone slightly. “Maybe you could give us some space so we can decide whether we want you following us around?”
Hunter huffed out a snort that said as clearly as words: And how would you stop me going wherever I want to go? But I heard no other sounds pushing into our temporary domicile. No receding footsteps. No slam of the car door as he crawled back into his own bed.
“Hunter?” I asked after a moment’s pause.
“I’ll wait,” he rumbled. And this time Glen wasn’t the only one to growl. Ginger had her hand on the zipper of the tent and looked intent upon heading out naked to whoop the uber-alpha’s ass, in
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