Hunting Midnight

Chapter Eleven: Rule Of The Wolf

Ten minutes later, Ruhn parks by the lake. We both get out of the truck and walk down to the shore. Coming to a stop at the edge of the water, Ruhn points across the lake. "Directly across from us is the wolf hunters' land."
"What are you doing for security?" I ask.
"I've had pack members out here each day patrolling the area since this is where we've had the most activity," Ruhn answers. "But we haven't caught anyone here in a month which tells me that they've found another entry point."
I step closer to the water to see if there are any other areas that look easy for the hunters to access.
"Do you know why there's bad blood between us and the humans?" I ask, looking back up at him. "Chief Gavriel once told me that wolves and humans lived in peace for many generations."
Ruhn nods, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's true, but about one-hundred years ago, there was a group of humans who became worried about our strength. They attacked the Chief Alpha at the time and had him decapitated in the center of their town. In turn, a pack of wolves slaughtered the entire town, killing over two-hundred people."
"Us wolves do like our revenge," I sigh.
"So do humans," Ruhn agrees. "They've been trying to wipe us out ever since."
I look across the lake, contemplating a solution to the war. "I wonder if now that all that time has gone by, we should try to make a peace deal?"
Ruhn nods, although it seems half-felt. "I think the Chief has tried many times, but the wolf hunters moving locations tells me that they aren't looking for peace. The tension between us has been mounting for years." Ruhn sighs and runs a frustrated hand behind his neck. "The most advantageous thing about having a border location is seeing our enemy coming. If we don't find out how they're getting onto our land, they could attack us by surprise which wouldn't leave us enough time to gather the other packs to fight."
"Do you know what the spies are looking for?" I ask.
"The ones we've caught all say they're instructed to memorize the lay of our land," Ruhn answers with an annoyed shake of his head. "The few wolves we've sent over their land never came back." Ruhn's eyes turn hard, and his fists arms flex with tension.
I reach over and take his hand in support, tightly lacing my fingers with his. "I'm sorry. That must have been hard for your pack."
"It was awful," Ruhn nods, his gaze trained on the other side of the lake. "I can't let another wolf die on my watch, which is why I brought you here. I want to hear any ideas you have that will stop them from sneaking onto our land."
Ruhn then looks down and studies my face. While it's clear he wants my opinion, I can't help but feel like he's also testing me.
"Now that our packs are merging, we should be able to have more wolves on patrol," I say after a moment of thought. "They can take shifts, or go in teams of two."
Ruhn nods, thinking it over, and then turns, leading me back to the truck, his hand still firmly clasped around mine. "We should get back to the cabin. I left Manteo in charge, but who knows how the pack is getting along without us to mediate."
"Speaking of Manteo being in charge," I say as I get into the truck and slide into the passenger's seat, "is there any way you would consider Caleb being your Beta?"
Ruhn looks over at me from the driver's seat and tightens his hold on my hand, turning me to face him. "Not right now. With the war looming, I need a Beta I trust, and Caleb and I aren't there yet."
I nod, for once agreeing with his words. "I'll let Caleb know you're at least thinking about it. That should make him happy– and Moranna."
"No," Ruhn says, shaking his head. "I'd prefer to talk to him myself. I'm his Alpha now, so he should hear it from me."

The drive back to the pack house is quiet, but peaceful, Ruhn's hand staying firmly clasped around mine, one hand on the wheel. When we pull back into the pack house, Ruhn turns off the truck and we step out, immediately seeing three teenage wolves practicing throwing knives at a bullseye against a nearby tree in the training area.
"You have teenagers who live in the pack house?" I ask, my eyes widening in surprise.
Most pack houses have only full-grown wolves living there, with the exception of the children of the Alpha and Luna.
"The tall one in the middle is Marta," Ruhn says, pointing to a tall girl with shiny black hair in leather gear. "Her parents were killed by wolf hunters last spring; she just turned seventeen. Since she doesn't have guardians, she lives in the pack house."
"It's hard to lose your parents so young," I say with a nod, watching Marta's every move. I watch as she takes aim and throws a knife, hitting the light blue ring a few inches from the center of the bullseye. Then she turns around and sees me with Ruhn. Her face brightens and she runs over with her friends trailing along. They completely ignore Ruhn who offers them a wave, and instead, stop right in front of me, giving me bright smiles.
"Hi!" Marta says, extending a hand. "I'm Marta. We're so happy you're going to marry Ruhn and become our new Luna."
Marta's the first wolf from Ruhn's pack who hasn't looked like they want to kill me on sight, and my mouth opens in surprise. "Hi Marta, I'm Kenna. You look pretty skilled with a knife."
Marta's face beams, but she shakes her head. "Thanks, but I'm not nearly as skilled as you are. Your performance in the Battle of the Packs was incredible! We were rooting for Ruhn, but we were so impressed that you beat him and took first place."
I look up at Ruhn, whose jaw clenches with annoyance at the mention of his loss.
"Thank you, Marta," I say with a laugh. "I've been practicing for many years now."
"How many?" Marta asks abruptly. "I mean– how old are you?"
"Twenty-five," I reply.
Marta looks back at her friends, then leans forward and lowers her voice. "I know the others aren't happy with the merge, but we think it's a great idea. The feud between our packs is so old nobody even remembers why we were fighting in the first place."
I look up at Ruhn, whose face beams with pride. "That's very wise Marta. We agree that it's time to put the past behind us."
"It's true," I say, looking between Marta and her two friends. "I look forward to getting to know you better and hear more of your thoughts."
Marta's eyes light up with excitement and she turns to her friends. They nod to her, urging her on. "Well... we were wondering if you'd show us your knife-throwing technique." Marta hands me a set of knives and leads me over toward the target.
I'm pleasantly surprised by her request, and look back at Ruhn.
"What," Ruhn says, looking between the three teenagers with a frown. "You don't want to learn my knife-throwing techniques?"
"Oh please," Marta scoffs, rolling her eyes. "You've already taught us. It will only make us better if we learn from Kenna as well."
Ruhn sighs in annoyance, but moves back, giving us space.
"Here," I say, taking one knife and demonstrating the correct way to twist your wrist so the knife sinks into the bullseye, then hand Marta one to try on her own.
She copies my stance, knees slightly bent and the knife held between her thumb and index finger, wrist twisting sharply as she releases the knife, sinking in into the bullseye.
Marta's eyes widen as she looks between me and the target, full of surprise and excitement.
As she turns to her friends to teach them the trick, I turn back to Ruhn and take his hand. Together, we leave the giddy teenagers to practice and head into the pack house.

The inside of the pack house is spacious, with tall ceilings, large glass windows, and a spacious area for seating as well as a large kitchen tucked away in the right. A dining table is in the center of the massive first floor, and a large wooden staircase behind one of the couches leads up to the second floor where I can see down a large hallway where there are multiple closed doors.
"We should have our security meeting before dinner," Manteo says, coming over to us with a grin. "Since you may be... busy after."
"Sure," Ruhn replies with a nod, unaffected by Manteo's hintful comment. "I'll meet you in the library."
"Shouldn't I be included, too?" I ask, looking between the two men.
"That's not necessary," Ruhn says with a shake of his head. "I'll update you later. I'd prefer to take this meeting with Manteo alone."
"Manteo," I say with a sigh, "do you mind leaving Ruhn and I alone for a minute?"
Manteo nods knowingly and walks away. Immediately, Ruhn looks down at me, giving me an incredulous look. "Did you just dismiss my Beta?"
"Well, you said you didn't want me to contradict you in front of others," I reply with a shrug. "Now that we're alone, I can tell you that I disagree with your decision to leave me out of the meeting."
"I want to tell Manteo that I'm keeping him on as my Beta," Ruhn says lowly. "And that would be better done one-on-one."
"It seems like you're shutting me out," I say pointedly. "You could let me in the meeting and I could just leave early so you can talk to Manteo."
"You've only been here one day," Ruhn says with a sigh. "You need to give us all time to adjust."
I scoff and cross my arms, staring up at him with narrowed eyes. "So you trust me enough to sleep in your bed, but not enough to let me into the meeting?"
Ruhn lets out a frustrated sigh, running a hand down his face. "It's not that I don't trust you–"
Just then, Anna walks into the room, interrupting our argument.
"We'll talk about this later," Ruhn mutters, clearly irritated as he turns and walks away.
As Anna nears, she gives me a soft smile and puts an arm around my shoulder. "Trouble in paradise already?"
"I want Ruhn to include me in the security meeting, but he refused," I say with a frustrated huff.
"Sounds like he's still weary of you," Anna says.
"Living with him is going to be harder than I thought." I say, and then head up the stairs, finding Ruhn's room at the very end of the hallway.
The room is large, and yet cozy, with a large bed covered in furs. A large window looks out over the rest of the Vargr pack's territory, and a brick fireplace burns from the right corner A small dresser takes the place of a bedside table, and yet a small closet door is open on the right revealing a cleared out closet, which I can only assume is for me. Annoyed, I grab my bags from Ruhn's room and move them into the guest room beside it.
I'm not sleeping next to him when he doesn't even trust me enough to listen to the security update.

Thirty minutes later, I'm just finishing hanging up a few clothes in the closet when Ruhn bursts into the guest room. "What the hell are you doing?" He steps into the room and slams the door shut, his heated glance making me turn around, looking for another door to walk out of.
"There's only one door," Ruhn says as if reading my thoughts. "And it's behind me."
"I'm not sharing a room with you," I say firmly, cursing him internally.
"But we've already agreed that we were going to share a bedroom," Ruhn says, his voice laced with confusion.
"I saw the closet," I say with a scoff. "But we'll talk about it later when we also discuss you leaving me out of the security meeting."
I start to walk past him when his arms snake out and wrap around my waist. My stomach drops as I reach for the doorknob, my fingertips just grazing the cold-brass handle, when Ruhn lifts me up over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" I shriek, grabbing onto his shoulders for support.
Ruhn ignores me and opens the door, walking to the next room and tossing me down onto his bed. Before I can even move, he's on top of me, and I gasp in excitement when I feel his hardness press against me. Then he pins my arms over my head and smirks down at me. "Do I need to teach you a lesson on how to listen to your Alpha?"
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