Page 9 of The Fated Hunter Wolf
Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she nodded slowly. “Fine,” she said, standing up. “I’ll stay here for now, even if Iknow something has to change, and soon. Listen, if you’re going to keep fighting for the rest of the Crux, then you better make sure you don’t get yourself killed. I’ll be really pissed if you do.”
I smiled, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “I’m not going anywhere, kid.”
5
RHYS
“Damn Heraclids,” I muttered, shoving my way through the crowd that had gathered near the hospital. “Can’t go one week without turning a disagreement into a bloodbath.”
The Old Town’s cobbled streets were slick with last night’s rain, the damp air filled with the tension left over from the fight, and it made my wolf restless. People parted as I stormed through. The gashes Sable left on me a week ago weren’t bleeding anymore—small victories—but the damn things still pulsed with every heartbeat.
“Beta,” Alden called as I passed, his voice hesitant, like he couldn’t decide if he was asking a question or apologizing in advance. “I’m going to see Blair, too.”
I ignored him, but heard him fall into step behind me.
Blair was in the hospital because his oversized ego decided to settle pack politics with a Heraclid using his fists instead of words. From what I’d heard, it started over something stupid—Heraclid traditions versus Orion protocols, as if that mattered when we were trying to build something new.
Now, I had to be the one to explain to Logan why half the pack was ready to rip the other half’s throats out.
The hospital door slammed against the wall as I shoved it open, the sound echoing in the small, makeshift space. Elder Raina was waiting just inside, her arms crossed and her expression surprised when she saw me.
“Rhys,” she started, her voice calm, measured. “Your cheeks are flushed. Take a breath before you go in there.”
“I don’t need to take a breath,” I snapped as I paced toward Blair’s room. “I need to figure out why we’re still letting these Heraclid idiots run loose when all they do is?—”
Rhys.
Elder Raina’s voice cut through the bond, and I froze mid-stride, my wolf bristling but obeying at the weight of her authority.
“Settle yourself,” she said aloud, her tone softening. “Blair’s condition is improving. Seeing you storm in like a feral wolf isn’t going to help him, or anyone else.”
I clenched my fists, breathing hard as I forced the fire in my chest to simmer down. Raina studied me with that maddeningly perceptive look she always had.
“Something’s really come over you,” she said. “You’re not yourself. Are the wounds still bothering you?”
There are no secrets within the inner circle of Orion, but sometimes I really wished I could just keep this to myself. Not being able to heal after a week made me feel like a pup and not the tough beta Logan needed me to be. While the wounds weren’t bleeding anymore, the edges were raw, the skin tight and uncomfortable. “It keeps me up,” I muttered, avoiding her eyes.
Raina hummed, but didn’t press me.
The truth was, the wounddidkeep me up at night. But not because of the pain.
I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing Sable. The way her silvery eyes had burned into mine, daring me to cross the line between control and madness. I told myself I couldn’t stand her, that she was a threat I had to neutralize, but my wolf didn’t buy it. Every time I thought of her, the fire in my chest burned hotter.
She infuriated me. Her audacity, her powerover me. Even as I replayed every moment of our encounter in my mind, my anger would twist, morphing into something darker.
I want her.
The thought hit me like a punch in the face every time, leaving me thrashing in bed. I hated her for making me feel this way—like I wasn’t in control of myself. Like I wasn’t the one calling the shots.
And yet, every single time, I’d find my cock hard and throbbing, and a hunger would take me over. I’d stroke it as I imagined her biting my neck, her tongue running down my chest as she kissed the edges of the wound she had carved into me, descending until those plump lips circled around my length. I wanted the wet smoothness of her mouth around me. I pumped harder at the thought. Cold nights were nothing. I was on fire with her in my blood, and even though I came long and hard, it was never enough.
Sable was under my skin. She was in my head, in my blood. I was losing my grip, andI hated it.
I told myself I’d find a way to deal with her, but the truth gnawed at me.
I didn’t just hate her. I also needed her.
And I didn’t know what the fuck to do with that.
