Mated

Twenty

The sound of murmurs drifted in the wind snapping my eyes open. My ears perked up, twitching beneath my hair. It wasn't coming from the tent in front of me. Yet it wasn't far. It was in another language, making it impossible for me to decipher the words. My shoulder still throbbed from where I had been shot. I rolled my shoulder back and winced when it quivered and fell. It was healing now; the bullet that was once there had been removed. A fresh bandage tugged on the skin there.

There wasn't any use pulling at the chains wrapped around me, tying me to the tree at my back–they were laced in wolfsbane, burning my skin on contact. Smoke rose at my palms as my skin hissed from its chemical, and I dropped them.

"Hey!" I yelled into the air, looking around. "Hello?" The murmuring continued but no one was within view. A raindrop hit me at the crown of my head and another fell on my cheek. Then they came down at once until it was drizzling for the second time that morning.

"It's raining!" I tried.

The voice finally stopped and footsteps approached. The Hunter came into view, expertly stepping over fallen branches in long strides. I noticed his gun hoisted to his back. I haven't seen him without it since being in his captivity. He came close then disappeared inside the tent. The fabric fell over the opening behind him, blocking my view. Leaving me to rely on my ears to make out what he was doing inside.

"It's cold and it's wet! It's been two days!" I tried again but he only stopped shuffling. I sighed, leaning against the tree bark. A few minutes passed and it grew silent with just the sound of the rain hitting the ground around me, rolling over the tent, dropping on my skin.

I had no idea where I was but I knew he'd taken me far from home. When he'd captured me, he'd taken me through the woods and to the river where a boat waited. He sailed us out of Stratton, following a direction I was unfamiliar with.

When the pack realizes I'm missing, they'll be slowed down once they hit the river where my scent ended. I hoped that despite not having yet sealed the bond with James, our bond was strong enough for him to track me.

Had James heard my screams? I wondered how long it would be before he'd realize I had been kidnapped. And by a Jilo, werewolf Hunter, our fated enemy.

Is our bond even strong enough for him to find me? We didn't break. The Hunter kept us moving, pulling me along deeper and deeper into the plains until I felt farther away from James as our bond weakened with the space between us.

When the river bank narrowed, he'd pulled the boat out of the water, tucking it behind trees and out of sight. We hiked for hours through the rain that finally came, staying close to the river but still hidden, only stopping for food which consisted of the fish he caught and hawthorn berries which he had seeded and mashed. To my surprise he fed me. Not trusting to loosen my chains, he'd fed me himself after securing me to whatever tree.

He never spoke. Only ignored my web of questions while we hiked during the day and stopped for him to set up the tent at night. He cleaned my wound through a small hole he'd cut in the back of my shirt, gagging me to keep me quiet while he removed the bullet from deep inside my skin. I caught a glimpse of it from the corner of my eye before he tossed it in the grass. I threw up at the sight of the bullet.

Shuffling started up again behind the tent's walls again. I straightened when he stepped out, carrying a curved silver knife. He walked toward me in careful strides and I pressed my back up against the tree, eyeing the knife as he drew closer. When he was close enough, he reached down and pulled the chains from the tree. He pulled me forward by my chains and I stumbled after him into the tent.

Inside, he sealed the opening flap shut. A lone candle was the only light illuminating the small space, revealing a simple sheet of fabric on the ground and his backpack lay on one end. Weapons of all shapes and sizes poured out of the unzipped pockets. Dropping the chains, he stabbed his knife into one of its loops, staking it to the ground. I eyed it wearily and found a corner to sit down in. I looked at the lines the wolfsbane made on my hands then began wringing out the bottom of my soaked shirt.

He sat with his legs crossed in front of him and his hands resting on his knees with the palms facing up, murmuring inaudibly behind his mask with his eyes closed as if praying. I tried to listen but I couldn't understand. After a few minutes of watching him like this, I spoke.

"Who are you? Why did you take me?" He ignored it and went on praying. "Why did you come after me?" When he didn't respond still, I pushed. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Stop talking." His sharp tone could give Ryder a run for his money. It was the first time he'd given me any response. I was hesitant before I spoke up again.

"You said 'it's true' when you saw me, like you recognized me. You think I'm Diana," I said. He began another prayer under his breath but after a moment, opened his eyes. They landed on me from across the tent. I shrunk. I knew he was human, but he terrified me.

"I know you're not Diana," He snapped. Despite the relief I felt that he was speaking, his response left me uneasy.

"Then what did you mean?" He reached in his pack and rummaged inside until he produced a folded up paper with dark lines running across its surface. He unfolded it, smoothing it on the ground in front of him and then released his gun from its hoist on his back. I watched him as he emptied the barrel, inspected it, and then reloaded it with more bullets. I stared at it in horror. My shoulder tensed with the memory of the bullet that was once there.

"You're not going to hurt me." I finally said, my voice shaking with uncertainty. In the blink of an eye, he snapped the barrel of the gun shut, raised it, supporting it with both arms, and pointed it at me.

"What makes you so sure?" His eyes narrowed. His temper as cold as steel. Colder still. He was more predator than I felt.

"I'm a werewolf. You're a Hunter. You should've killed me by now." His stare didn't falter. "You took a silver bullet out of me and patched up my shoulder." He lowered the barrel and blew out the candle.