Lycan Prince Hunter
I was riding shotgun in Zach’s truck, following Kailen in her SUV. She wasn’t happy that I insisted on coming with her and that I was bringing warriors as well. We had two warriors driving in front of Kailen’s SUV and two driving behind us.
She wanted to drive alone, so here I was riding with Zach and Greyson. She was feeling guilty about almost marking me, but I wish she had. That had to be the best orgasm I’ve ever had, but she felt so guilty about it. It hurt to know that she didn’t intend to bite me, that it just happened. Or maybe it was Aurora.
“So are you going to tell us why you’re not driving with Kailen?” Greyson asked me from the back. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Before we left, Kailen almost marked me.” I told them.
“What?!” they both yelled out.
“Seriously?” Zach asked. And I moved my collar over to show them the bite mark. It was deep, red, and angry and would take at least a day to heal.
“Dude, that was fucken close.” Greyson exclaimed while looking closer at the mark.
“So, what did she say?” Zach asked. And I sighed.
“She feels guilty, even though I told her I wanted her to mark me. She even started crying, which fucken hurt.” I told them.
“Hunter, I don’t think her guilt has anything to do with her not wanting to mark you. We all read her file after she came to live with us. She trusts you more than anyone, and I think that scares her.” Greyson explained.
“She was being raped and tortured for almost six months and her own boyfriend didn’t even care. He just moved on like she was nothing to him. And then you come along and we all see it. You guys might think you’re being sneaky and that nobody knows, but we all know,” Zach said.
“You two are the only ones that know about Kailen and me.” I told them and they both shook their heads.
“Everyone knows, Hunter. Why do you think all the guys stay clear of Kailen?” Greyson told me, and it did make sense.
When she first arrived, she received a lot of attention from the unmated males and that slowly changed when she and I started our relationship. I still catch them staring at her, but they don’t flirt and always address her as Gamma Steele or Miss Steele.
“Okay, then what do the two of you see? Your friends with both of us.” I asked them.
“Don’t tell Kailen I told you this, but she told me that she doesn’t feel worthy of you. Because if she was, she would be your fated mate.” Zach told me, and I was shocked. How the hell could she ever think that?
She’s the one that I’m not worthy of. She went through all the Gamma training, classes and military training to get to where she is today. And our military training is extremely difficult, but she worked her ass off to pass everything at the top of her class. Someone handed me everything that she had to work her ass off for.
She didn’t have any family or friends when she came to Ivory Moon and she suffered from extreme PTSD from being kidnapped. But she conquered it all. She still has some episodes of PTSD, like nightmares, but it’s getting better. And I find when I sleep beside her, she rarely has them.
“I’m not sure how she can even think that? You both know her. Clearly, I’m the unworthy one.” I told them.
“It may also have to do with her rejecting her Alpha mate. He didn’t feel like she was good enough to be his Luna and now she doesn’t feel worthy of being your Queen.” Zach pointed out, and I sighed.
“Is it terrible that Rex just wants to mark Aurora?” I asked them.
“Dude, Kailen would fucken kill you but it would solve the problem.” Zach laughed.
“But he’d be dead,” Greyson chimed in.
“Ugh, then what should I do?” I asked them.
“Wait?” Zach shrugged, and I groaned.
“Or you could do something special?” Greyson chimed in.
“Like?” I motioned for him to continue.
“You could take her somewhere nice and propose like humans do.” He said, and I turned in my seat to look back at him.
“That’s not as serious as a mark,” I told him.
“I know that, but it’s a step in the right direction. She would have a ring on her finger and your relationship would be made public. And if she was that close to marking you without a ring on her finger, it wouldn’t take her long to actually mark you.” Greyson clarified. And Zach agreed.
“And I’m sure your father has a ring that was your mother’s. I think that would speak volumes to her,” Zach told me. And I sighed.
“Why does this have to be so complicated?” I asked them.
“Dude, we are both single. You’re asking the wrong people.” Zach laughed. All three of us haven’t found our fated mates yet, and I never want to find mine.
They taught us our whole lives that the mate bond was the most important and most beautiful thing a wolf could ever experience. But here I am, trying to convince the love of my love that I don’t care about fated mates and that I love her regardless of the mate bond.
We finally pulled up to the hotel that we would be staying at for the next few nights. This was a human town, so no one would know who we really were. We parked beside Kailen and the warriors parked on either side of us.
Kailen
I decided to drive alone since I needed some time to think about what happened with Hunter. And then I also had to worry about the case I was on and heading back to my old pack. I was feeling overwhelmed, and I just needed some time to myself.
“Aurora, why would you do that?” I asked my wolf.
“I love him and he loves us. Why can’t you just accept him?”
“Aurora, you know why he isn’t our fated mate.”
“I don’t care. I want Rex and he wants me. And I know you want Hunter just as badly as he wants you. Why are you so scared to let him in?”
“You know why!”
“Then why haven’t you left him yet? If you can’t give me Rex, then why do you keep him around? This isn’t just your life, Kailen. He’s been with us for almost four years and he has never left us. He has always done what you’ve asked of him.”
Tears started to form, and the guilt was churning my stomach. Hunter has always been there for me, always. But bearing his mark would mean that I would have to give up my position as gamma. A position I worked my ass off to achieve. But if he found his fated mate, not only would I lose him, I would have to leave Ivory Moon.
But before I could ever ask him to mark me, I would have to tell him the whole truth of what I went through. And I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to tell him that story.
“Just tell him the truth, Kailen. He loves you. He wouldn’t be in a 4-year secret relationship with you if he didn’t want to be with you.”
“And what if he leaves?”
“He could leave now, he could leave tomorrow. I know you think you’re broken and that you don’t deserve his love, but you do. And the sooner you realize that, the happier all of us will be.” She huffed and retreated to the back of my mind.
The devil and angel on my shoulders weren’t helping me make a decision. I was feeling overwhelmed by having to see my ex-mate and then I had my case to worry about. I promised myself that I would try to tell Hunter the whole story when we got home. And hopefully, he’ll still love me after he learns the truth.
We pulled up to the hotel, and I parked my SUV beside one of the warrior SUVs. Zach pulled his truck up beside mine. I leaned over to get my purse and Hunter opened my door.
“Feel better?” He asked me.
“I’m okay, Hunter. I just needed to clear my head.” I told him, hopping out. He closed the door behind me while I walked to the boot to retrieve my suitcase. I opened the back and Hunter grabbed my suitcase before I could. I pushed my lips in a line. He always had to carry my stuff for me, even though I’m perfectly capable.
“Did the drive help?” He asked, while closing the boot.
“I’m not sure yet.” I shrugged. He wrapped his arm around my waist while we walked into the hotel.
“Hunter?” I asked him.
“Kailen?” He dragged out.
“What are you doing?” I asked him while we were waiting at the front desk.
“No one knows us here, Kailen.” He pointed out. I looked around, and I didn’t see anyone else except for the person at the front desk was helping.
“Okay, Hunter,” I sighed, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaned my head against his chest. He squeezed me tight and kissed my forehead.
We checked in and got all the room keys while the others were getting us dinner. I decided to share a room with Hunter. I don’t think we’ve spent a night away from each other in over a year now. He was pretty much living in my flat.
We sat down in the breakfast area while we waited for the guys and warriors to return. I still snuggled into Hunter. We never get a chance to do this openly and I guess that’s my fault.
“Hunter?” I stuttered.
“What’s wrong, Beautiful?” He asked me, concerned. But I didn’t get a chance to ask him since the others returned. I moved away from Hunter and sat up straight. Zach and Greyson knew, but the warriors didn’t. Well, I didn’t think they did. It’s hard to know.
While we all ate, my mind drifted to why I was actually here. Why would a body turn up at my old pack, of all places? And why now? This all didn’t make any sense.
Marcus doesn’t make mistakes. If this was him, this was carefully planned. But why now and why here? What the hell did he know that we didn’t?
Hunter, nudging me, pulled me from my thoughts. I turned my head to look at him.
“You okay?” He asked, concerned.
“Yeah, just thinking about the case.” I told him.
“Let’s head to bed. We have an early morning.” Greyson said, and Hunter passed out the keycards to the others.
“Ready?” He asked me and I nodded, standing up from my seat.
I started to walk towards the elevator, but Hunter wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me back into his chest. He leaned down to whisper beside my ear.
“Don’t worry, Beautiful. I got you.”