Chapter 18: Hunter

For the next few days, I keep my distance from Lottie. After that kiss and touching so much of her skin, I don't think I can control myself around her. I have to wait until I can speak with Fynn, which needs to happen immediately because the throbbing in my balls is only growing with every passing hour I don't go to Lottie.

My affection for her has escalated far faster than I expected. Not just from the possible mate pull and physical attraction but for her sassy humor and open friendliness. For the way she infuses so much emotion into her singing and her brazen courage befriending what she believes to be a wild wolf.

Discovering her hidden identity should put me off Lottie completely. Celebrity and fame are the opposite of the type of life I have or want, as a non-human and by personal preference. It seems so tiring and stressful to be a celebrity. The whole adoring fans and constant cameras on you bristles my fur.

As the alpha, I hold a position of leadership and command, sometimes adoration, but not celebrity. I still have my personal space and privacy. No one is trying to snap photos of me cleaning my truck from a hundred yards away with a telescopic lens—at least, I don't think they are.

It's easy for me to understand her desire to escape all that. And part of me wants to ensure she has it. Has everything that she desires, both emotionally and physically.

My inner beast is becoming restless, and I don't blame him. Luckily, Fynn texted me last night to inform me he has some information on the whole human/non-human possible mate situation. I made plans to meet him for lunch at Dottie's today but first I have my weekly meeting with Ryder.

My brother seems particularly moody today. His frown more severe than normal. Instead of sitting motionless and calm across my desk from me, he's fidgeting, something he never does. Tapping his heel on the floor, making his knee bounce in quiet agitation, he rolls his shoulder, and winces when he rotates it too far.

"Everything okay, Ryder?" I ask tentatively. He's not likely to give an answer, but I try anyway.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" With that snippy, sharp tone in his voice, I don't think he's anywhere near fine.

"You seem on edge more than usual. Something wrong with your shoulder?"

He wrinkles his nose and frowns, shifting his shoulder again, trying to compensate for his perceived weakness.

"Hurt it on a run over the weekend. It's nothing. Already healing. Don't worry about it."

"Seems like more than that is bothering you. Anything I should know about? Maybe that girl you mentioned before? The one snooping about."

On our way to Blue Moon , Ryder mentioned another new girl in town. This one is sneaky and snooping around like she's looking for something or someone. He assured me she wouldn't be an issue, but I'm not sure about that.

Ryder growls in irritation, his fists tightening on the chair's armrest. I haven't seen this much emotion from Ryder in a long time. Whoever this girl is, she is rubbing Ryder in all the wrong ways. Could be good for him.

"I'm handling her. She's more of a nuisance than I thought she would be, but nothing I can't manage."

"Who is she anyway? Why is she here? No one else seems to be talking about her, which is concerning with how gossip works in this town."

Normally, when there's a newcomer in town, someone says something, but this woman has been particularly low-key and keeping to the shadows. Either that or Lottie is redirecting everyone's interest since she's been around me and my family so much.

"She's an online blogger." He hesitates, visibly battling with himself over how much to divulge. "A conspiracy theorist of sorts. The kind that believes in the paranormal and alien."

I bristle, my spine going rigid. Those are a lot of words I don't like hearing in one sentence.

"And she's here because?" I prompt.

"Heard rumors and theories about the eclipse. Nothing concrete. I think Ginger's taken down her site a time or two."

He's trying to play it off as insignificant, but it isn't. Nothing is too small or unimportant to give our full attention to when it comes to the safety of the town and our people. Our pack.

"Well, fairy dust her and get her out of town. We don't need a nosy human with theories about the paranormal snooping around right now. With the eclipse and the elves, we have more than enough to deal with."

For the first time since I became alpha my brother doesn't immediately agree to my orders. He hesitates, clearing his throat and averting his eyes.

I squint at him, trying to read the unfamiliar expression on his face. He wants to fulfill my order but also . . . doesn't.

"There are circumstances that may prevent the use of fairy dust in this situation." Is all he says.

"Are you going to elaborate?"

"Not yet."

I frown in confusion at my beta. I'm not sure what the hell is going on with him lately. He was on edge at Blue Moon on Saturday night, and now he's acting cagey, not wanting to disclose pertinent information regarding a possible threat to our secrecy.

I let out an exasperated sigh. I really don't have time for this. He needs to get his shit together and handle it.

"Can I trust that you'll handle this?"

Ryder's posture goes taught, and his eyes flash to mine, determination sharpening them to an acute focus.

"Yes, of course you can. You focus on the elves and Lottie. I'll deal with Tess."

"Tess?"

"The woman, that's her name. Though I prefer to think of her as the pain in my ass."

My laugh almost slips past my lips; I don't think I've heard Ryder make a joke.

"Well, just make sure this pain in the ass remains yours and not mine."

"Understood."

If Ryder says he can handle this, then I'm going to let him; I already have enough on my plate as it is.

"Just keep me updated. And if you need Ginger's assistance with any online removals, just let her know."

Ryder jerks his head in a quick nod, agreeing. Now that that is settled, I can focus my attention on Fynn and this whole mate bond with a human thing. I haven't told Ryder about it yet, but I probably should.

"I'm meeting with Fynn for lunch," I begin. "He has some information he looked into regarding a possible mate bond."

Ryder doesn't speak, but his brow furrows ever so slightly in curiosity. Clearing my throat, I press on, knowing what I say next could possibly change many things for us. Personally and as a race.

"I may or may not be feeling the mate pull towards Lottie. I've never heard of such a thing occurring with a human, so I asked Fynn to look into it. He said he found something, so hopefully, by lunch, I'll know for sure if it's possible."

Ryder looks shocked and more than a little intrigued. He's leaning forward, his hands gripping the armrests.

"I didn't know that was possible," he says more to himself than me.

"Neither did I. Which is why I enlisted Fynn's help. I'll let you know what he says. If it's possible to have a mate bond with a human, we need to know and need to let everyone else know."

Nodding in agreement, Ryder silently leans back into his chair, the tensing of his muscles slackening as he eases back.

We are far less interested in anything else happening in town for the rest of our meeting. Nothing is as important as my possible mate bond with Lottie and a snooping blogger in town. Oh yeah, and Vincent and his goons can't forget them. Not that he'd let me.

Fucking hell, I need to figure out how to get him to leave and stop trying to buy my land. I could try fairy dust, but it's more of an immediate fix for memories that were just formed, usually within the past hours or days, sometimes weeks. It's been known to work on a few memories as far back as months. But beyond that, the memories are too difficult to alter; they blend and weave with other memories, events, and people, making it too hard to completely remove a specific detail.

Perhaps I can create a new memory of him accepting my refusal and agreeing to never attempt it again. Or I could just kill him, that would make me and my inner beast feel better, but it'll just piss off his entire organization and bring more trouble to my doorstep. No, convincing him to leave and never return would be best. I just don't know how I'm going to accomplish that yet.

I finish my meeting with Ryder, who stomps out, a man on a mission to deal with this Tess woman, while I fill my time until lunch finally rolls around.

The bell chimes happily overhead as I enter Dottie's. Becca greets me with a wave and smile, gesturing me in when I tell her who I'm here to meet. She rolls out the door on her skates, food-filled tray in hand, heading towards a parked car.

When I walk up, Fynn is already sitting in a booth waiting for me. Fynn is a tall but lean man, his hair kept long and straight, similar to his true mere form, but a more natural light brown hue instead of the silvery gray.

As usual, he has his nose in a book, completely unaware that I've arrived until I sit down across from him, and the movement draws his attention.

"Hello, Hunter."

"Fynn."

"Would you like to order some food? I thought I would wait until your arrival just in case you were hungry."

"Yeah. Sounds great."

Flagging down Becca on her way back to the kitchen, we place our orders, knowing the menu backward and forward. Fynn takes his time situating his tea, and I can't take his slow pace any longer.

"Well? What did you find out?" I ask impatiently, my inner beast ready to claw his way out of my chest if I don't find out soon.

Fynn takes a sip of his tea and positions it to the side, pulling out his leather-bound notebook filled with curling script and bits of paper tapped to its pages. Opening the notebook, he finds the right page and begins.

"According to my research, a human and a non-human can have the mate bond if there is non-human blood in the human's near to immediate ancestry."

My heart flips in my chest, my pulse beating out a staccato rhythm a marching band could keep beat to. Lottie can be my mate; it isn't impossible. I'm momentarily rendered speechless but quickly find my voice. I need to know more—everything.

"What exactly does that mean, non-human blood in her ancestry ?"

"It means that somewhere in her family tree, a few generations before her was a non-human who procreated with a human. Resulting in a half-breed who then most likely went on to marry and procreate with a human. Lottie may not have any characteristics or magic associated with her ancestors because of all the human blood diluting it, but it's still there, however minutely."

My mind is reeling as I try to absorb and process all the information Fynn is so casually revealing. Lottie has non-human ancestors, and because of that, she has just enough non-human blood in her heritage to allow for a mate bond to appear.

"But how? Why? I thought mate bonds could only appear with full-blooded non-humans?"

Fynn nods calmly, stirring his tea as if we're discussing the weather and not a complete shift in the future of our race.

"That used to be the case, but apparently, over the last couple of decades, cases such as you and Lottie have been popping up across the globe. I think it's part of our evolution. Our numbers have been dwindling with so many humans filling up the world and the non-humans forced to hide from them. Our species at the beginning of its extinction.

"I believe this change has occurred to help us produce the next generations. To ensure the continuation of our kind. If we're able to bond with humans and not just create half-breeds through copulation, we may be able to restrengthen our people."

What he's saying doesn't make sense to me, especially since non-humans have been "copulating" with humans for centuries. We've always mixed with them, and there have always been half-breed children as a result. Where do you think people with webbed toes came from? Mere's mixing with humans. But I don't interrupt. I listen intently, just as Fynn expects, and he continues.

"Every time a non-human has crossed with a human, the resulting offspring are half-breeds, a weakened version of the full-blooded non-human. However, if a mate bond is formed between a non-human and a human descendant of a non-human, I believe the resulting child will not be a half-breed or weakened by the human blood. Something to do with the mixing of essence, soul, and blood."

"Wait," I interrupt, knowing he hates it when people interrupt his speeches, but I need clarification. "So, you're saying if Lottie and I were to complete a mate bond, our children would be full-blooded shifters? Not a half-human half-shifter like before?"

Fynn looks at me like I'm a complete moron because he just explained it, but I need it spelled out in layman's terms.

"Yes. That's what I just said." A small frown creases his brow as he looks at me.

Fynn is one of the smartest meres I know, but sometimes he's too smart for his own good. Missing obvious social cues and forgetting not everyone's brain thinks like his.

"Now, I can't confirm this hypothesis without testing if, of course, but from the accounts I've managed to find, that seems to be the result."

The thought is shocking. Once, we lived out in the open among the humans, and our numbers were great, our kind just as prominent. Now, we're a fraction of a percentage of what we used to be. To be able to replenish our race would be astronomical. So much so that it could mean that, at some point in the future, we could live out in the open once more. Maybe not in my lifetime, but perhaps in my children's, considering how long we live. We're patient and don't mind playing the long game.

Before I can ask another question, the bell over the door jingles, and out of habit, I look up to see who entered. First is the woman I can't get off my mind, who pulls me to her and smells like desire incarnate, igniting my blood with fiery lust. The one and only Lottie. The second is the male I wish to never see again who douses my internal fire with icy hatred. Vincent.