Chapter 5 - Hector

Point Pleasant wasn't going to see much of us with Faye tied up in the backseat like a prize pig. Anyone peeking into the windows would see a woman getting kidnapped—which wasn't exactly the case.

Well, she was getting kidnapped. But I had my reasons, damn good ones, which I knew my pack would personally understand. Adrian encouraged me to get a mate at any cost, and tying Faye up for a handful of hours was the cost of ensuring her survival in our pack—and in the world at large. It wouldn't wound her for life or anything. I hoped.

"Demons are after you, huh?" she asked.

Despite the danger we had encountered, I had to adjust my pants when I looked in the rearview mirror, noticing how the steam from the rain had dusted her gorgeous breasts and made them shimmer whenever we passed a streetlamp. "Actually, they're after you."

She hiccupped. "Why?"

"You're the hybrid here."

"I can't even do much. I just make it rain sometimes."

I raised my right brow. "Now we both know that's a bold lie to make after that display back there."

She went quiet. Either she felt defeated or plain speechless.

But not for long. "I don't know what you mean."

"I don't either. You want to enlighten me?"

"I don't know, Hector. I'm serious."

I shrugged. "Fine. Live ignorant."

"You know what?"

"What?"

She took a loud breath in and forcibly exhaled. "I don't owe you an explanation."

Ahead of us, the road narrowed. I flipped on my blinker even though there was no one behind us—demons or humans.

As I turned right, a sigh came from the backseat. "I see you still have that gaudy sign."

The headlights of my car illuminated what she saw, a pale teal wooden sign like those that were posted on the side of the highway, except this one was hand-painted and updated with the population number every year or so.

Silverfang Creek Land

Population: 151

Beyond that was where the dirt turned to tar and led through a set of thick pillars carved with our Goddesses, the lunar moon cycle, and the Silverfang symbol, which consisted of a circle with two dots in the middle and a triangle underneath the circle. Claw marks of each member, including our youngest who were able to shift, marked the bottom of the pillars. It was a show of our strength in numbers.

After the pillars was a watch house on the left with a guard on duty who tipped his hat at me. I nodded back.

"Nothing like dragging home a prized pig for everyone to see," Faye piped up. "Does he even care that I'm tied up back here?"

"He doesn't question his alpha."

She snorted. "You guys were always so backward. Women's rights never reached your gates, did it?"

"That's going to change under my rule."

I happened to look in the rearview mirror and caught her surprised expression. Within seconds, she scrubbed the look from her face in favor of a sour demeanor that made me chuckle. Seeing me laugh made her expression harden. I shook my head while trying to figure out the best way to do this.

It wasn't like I kidnapped my mate every day.

Another sigh sounded off behind me, this one sounding nostalgic. "I see nothing has really changed around here."

"What are you talking about? We just updated the community building over there—" I pointed to the right. "And we installed a pool behind it."

She sniffed. "A pool? Wow, what an update."

"It's not like we're close to the beach or anything. We needed a water spot to commune."

"What about a river?"

I grimaced. "Eh, fish fuck in it."

She laughed. It was such a full-bodied sound that it felt unmatched by the tension that had been with us since she awakened. I smiled. I let it imbue me with hope for the moment—a great and desperate hope that she would warm up to her new position. It wasn't every day an alpha chose a woman like her to be their mate. She was lucky.

I drummed the wheel of the car as I drove carefully down the two-lane road past the general goods store and the school that both sat on the left. I nodded toward the park on the right. "We installed tennis courts, too."

"Oh, how fancy," she cooed from the back, and then resumed her snorting laugh that meant she was highly entertained.

I squinted at her reflection in the rearview mirror. "What? You don't think that's progressive?"

"For a pack that allows his alpha to kidnap an alleged mate? Hell no ."

"We have bigger storage now. Individual storage lockers and stuff. Hiking trails. A giant perimeter fence."

The laughing died. Faye coughed a couple of times and took a huge breath, then plopped her forehead against the window just as we were passing the trail signs that sat at the edge of the woods on the left. We were following a winding curve through a thicket of trees until we got to the core of the community—our central housing.

All around us were various family structures, mostly cabins, but some of them were two-story colonial homes that were recently renovated. Part of Adrian's passing of the torch involved him making various improvements. One of those, I noted, happened to be Faye's parents' house. But I wouldn't point that out to her, not when she was still sour.

In fact, I crouched toward the wheel as we cruised through the winding neighborhood, doing my best to ignore the sharp inhale from the back.

"I see everything got rebuilt," she whispered, "after that tornado…"

I eyed the rearview mirror. "You remember that?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"Yeah, that was freaky. Came out of nowhere."

She inhaled sharply again, falling quiet. That was fine with me. This wasn't about making friendly talk. This was about doing the right thing. This was about respect. If Faye felt intimidated about her parents being nearby, especially when they were an integral part of the community as pack organizers, then I wouldn't hesitate to give them a different job. Out with the old and in with the new.

I bristled with guilt as we approached the open fields and farming section that rose on either side as we exited the neighborhood. Being old wasn't the problem. It was just the old ideas. I couldn't help thinking it as I saw my previous alpha's home come into view. Adrian's condo sat on the left with its modern, sleek white and pale phthalo yellow shutters. His Buick sat in the driveway, a modest car that probably needed an oil change again. He was always forgetting that kind of thing when he was alpha.

Now that he wasn't, I wondered what he would do with his time after the next week or so passed. Would he travel? Take up being a consultant for the pack? Become a therapist to the pack youth? There were so many things he could choose from—including doing nothing. That was the reward for so many years of service to the Silverfang Creek.

"Is that where he lives now?"

I shrugged back into an upright position and nodded. "Yep. That's where Adrian lives."

"I wish I could flick him off."

I shook my head. "It's not like he can see you."

"I don't care. He let me get hurt. Everyone just let me get hurt."

"I'm never letting that happen again. Do you understand?"

Our eyes met in the rearview mirror. Those hazel-brown eyes shimmered with angry tears that hadn't yet fallen. I quickly returned my gaze to the road, hurt by seeing her hurt and not truly understanding why. More trees sprouted up around us, breaking only to reveal the storage building on the right before plunging us back into crowded darkness from the thick forest growing around us. Another mile deposited us into a lonely cul-de-sac where I had chosen to reside for many years now.

The surrounding woods had been converted into my personal running territory, now considered private alpha land. Adrian could have lived back here, but he preferred to be close to his people, right next to the neighborhood he had once ruled. I enjoyed my space, so I took it freely, and no one complained about that.

Except for my aunt.

As soon as I parked, the floodlight above the garage door blazed over the hood of the car. My eyes immediately flew to the camera painted to blend in with the eggshell white color of the FROG. There wasn't much indication of my security system aside from the floodlight.

As soon as the engine was off, I heard the way Faye's breath hitched, how the leather of the seat holding her up wheezed slightly, and felt her breath near my neck. "Wow."

"It's not much to look at."

"Did you build this back here?"

I half-shrugged. "Kinda, sorta."

"Kinda, sorta?"

I popped open the door. "Come on, Cherry Pie. We have a ritual to plan."

"You really think I'm going to do a walk of shame with my hands tied behind my back?"

"I can just carry you instead."

Her heart pounded thunderously as she protested. Even when I shut the driver's side door, I could still hear the way her blood raced through her veins. I sensed her intensity over the offer, and it felt stronger as I yanked open the rear door and unbuckled her seat belt.

"Don't you—" She lodged her elbow into my solar plexus, knocking the wind out of me temporarily. " Hector —"

I sighed with irritation as I hoisted her out by her hips, minding her head by placing my hand on the back of her neck and cradling her like a child to my chest. With my left arm holding up her legs and my right hand pressing her face to my shoulder, I turned around and kicked the door shut with my foot.

As her warm breath tickled my throat in panicked waves, I listened to her heart, to the surprising sound of that muscle slowing down, leveling out, beating to a healthier rhythm. Her muscles relaxed and she went slack, exhaustion taking hold. She tried to say something and ended up mumbling under her breath. I couldn't understand the syllables. It was probably sleepy nonsense.

Getting her inside was easier than I anticipated. I walked up the porch, tapped my code into the door—6-7-1-9—and hurried inside so I could get Faye on the couch. Yet when I wandered directly into the living room from the front door, I couldn't put her down. Her curves fit perfectly against me. Her head was tilted back, revealing a patch of delicious throat exposed for the taking. Her lower lip twitched slightly as she took a slumbering breath and sighed contentedly.

Bite her .

I frowned while crossing the large living room to set her on the couch against the opposite wall. Behind that was the kitchen, to the right of that was the dining room, and if I turned now, I could see the wall for the laundry area separated by a wooden partition. On the other side was the door for the garage and then the staircase leading to the second floor, where my bedroom was located past an elegant landing.

This place was my dream home. And it seemed dreamier now, with Faye snoozing on the couch. She needed rest, and her arms were probably uncomfortable, so I tugged out my utility knife from my boot and cut the ropes. I rolled her to her side and then draped a blanket over her, something soft with my scent all over it.

I stared at her supple flesh, the soft curve of her throat inviting me to inspect the dips and peaks that created her delicate neck. She sighed sweetly, eyelids fluttering as she stretched her arms above her head and rolled over. Her pert bottom stuck out of the blanket, rounded by her spandex shorts and igniting a fire inside me.

Bite her .

The urge was too overwhelming. I knew I couldn't resist her for much longer. I had to walk away before I ruined the sanctity of our ritual. Traditions weren't exactly my thing, but I wanted to honor the sacred rites of our union. That much required my respect, especially as her leader, her alpha . I had to be that example for the rest of my pack.

Once I walked into the kitchen, the feeling was diluted by being in another room. What came with that relief was more confusion than I bargained for. Just walking a few feet away had made my heart ache. I couldn't stand approaching the counter without her in the same space as me—with her pressed into my side like wild wolves did while playing or traveling.

I tried to shove my hands into the sink to wash them. I tried not to think about how she was sleeping alone on my couch with my scent all over her and not me all over her instead. Without hesitation, I darted back into the living room to discover her walking on her toes toward the door. I stood in the doorway for a second with my razor-sharp vision stuck on her.

Can you feel me standing here?

She spun around as though she heard my thought, reaching for her throat as if it were at risk of being bitten. "You can't stop me."

"No, I can't."

She gaped at me briefly, snapped her mouth shut, and then nodded. "I'm leaving now."

"Good ploy. The sleeping mumbling was a nice touch. But you can't run far."

"Try me."

I snickered. "I can do this all night, girl." I held up both hands to show her my palms. "Why don't you try me ?"