The Hunter's Pack

The Mate

"Are you trying to act dumb or what? I know you feet the bond too, mate." Alpha Porter all but sneered at me, and I gave him a dangerous look in response. "Not only did the Moon Goddess give me a murderer as a mate, but apparently she wants to act hard-to-get."  His voice was quiet but menacing, and I carefully took my knife out from behind my belt. 

"Ah, I did not realize we were mates. Sorry, but I am not looking for a partner, now or ever. And I'm sure that, as you truthfully pointed out, you don't want a "murderer" as a mate, correct?" My voice was cold. I still did not forgive him for the disrespectful tone he used. An unreadable expression crossed his features before he slowly nodded once. 

I continued. "Well then, I am happy we have come to an understanding." I put my knife back behind my belt; there was no longer any danger of him attacking me. "Alpha Porter, please go and quickly find your bones, and then get out of my territory. And if you use such a disrespectful tone again, you may find yourself...mysteriously injured."

I walked passed him and back to the clearing in front of the pack house, giving a nod to Annie and Elliot who were still standing in the same place. This time, Jane, Ben, and Everett stood with them, all giving me small respectful bows in return. 

I paused before the door, pondering a thought for a moment before calling Elliot towards me. Alpha Porter had already joined the rest of the group and they were heading towards the looming, dark forest in front of the pack house. 

"Are you alright, Alex?" Only concern and worry shone in his eyes, with a tinge of anger directed at the blonde man. 

"I'm perfectly fine. I just wanted to ask you to follow Alpha Porter to his pack lands after the group finds the bones. He said he was our neighbor, correct? I think it's time to understand who lives nearby."

He nodded and turned around, heading after the werewolves that just entered the woods. I opened the door and made my way back to the office. However, sitting in the black leather chair, I couldn't seem to focus on the papers in front of me. A mate. The whole concept seemed distant from me; I had never even considered a mate. I thought about this issue for a minute more before deciding that even if I did want a mate, it would be too dangerous without first determining if Andrei was alive or dead. 

My thought process was interrupted by barks and growls in the distance. I quickly shot up, running down the stairs and out of the pack house. My pistols were already loaded and ready to use as I sprinted into the deep green forest. A whisper of worry started to spread in my mind, but I quickly pushed it back. Right now was not the time; becoming too emotional would be a disadvantage in this case. 

By the time I reached my pack members, the fighting had stopped. A dead rogue lay on the ground, blood pooling around his head. Annie was watching Alpha Porter, an annoyed look on her face, while Elliot seemed to be arguing with him. 

"Look, you have to get treated. To put it into terms that you may perhaps understand - it wouldn't be good for us if you died on our land under such suspicious conditions."

"I'm perfectly fine! I can walk. We have to find those bones and then I'll go back on my land and get treated. No problem." The stubborn alpha grimaced a bit, his hand quickly flying up over to his opposite arm. 

"If I'm seeing this correctly, you were shot by a silver bullet." Alpha Porter jumped a bit before whirling around to face me, mild relief flooding his eyes once he saw that I wasn't another rogue. "You see, a silver bullet is basically just a bullet that works on werewolves. That's fine if it doesn't hit anywhere major. But bullets kill, and if hit in a critical point, even the most powerful werewolf shall die." I approached him and carefully examined his arm, ignoring his obviously awkward demeanor. It's nice that he wore a T-shit; his injury was clearly visible. Dark red blood was steadily dribbling down his arm, coming from an almost circular wound. The skin was torn in parts, but the minute details were too hard to discern through the steady flow of blood. However, a bright glint could barely be visible at the bottom of the bullet wound. 

"It looks like the bullet is lodged in your brachialis. Meaning, we take it out quickly and you'll be perfectly fine. Tweezers?" I held my hand out in Elliot's direction, and a cold metal touched my palm mere seconds later. 

"Wait, wait; you're doing this now?!" Alpha Porter jerked back from me as the tweezers approached his wound, but I quickly grabbed his shoulder, keeping him in place. Everett and Annie went behind him, making sure he wouldn't be able to escape. 

"Stop being a baby. Are you not an alpha?" 

Before he could reply to my jab, I plunged the tweezers into his injury, quickly yanking the bullet out. Everyone ignored his groans of pain as I addressed Jane. 

"Please give me your cardigan." She handed me the bright blue article of clothing and I murmured an apology before ripping off the sleeve. I tightly wrapped it around the alpha's upper arm, making sure it would effectively contain the bleeding. 

"Anyways, you should be fine now. It should heal perfectly in around two days, considering you are an alpha. Just don't use your left hand very often." I jerked my head at the dead rogue on the floor. "Was he the one who shot Alpha Porter?" 

Everett spoke up: "Yes. We heard running in the woods, but could not smell anything. Then this man showed up in front of us with a gun and aimed it at the alpha. Anastasia attacked him right before he shot, which is probably why he missed his mark." 

I nodded. An alpha could have many enemies, so it wasn't too surprising that somebody wanted to kill Alpha Porter. However, where was the gun? I looked around the body, but there was no flash of anything metallic. I voiced this question aloud. 

"The gun...evaporated. We're pretty sure it was enchanted to disappear after one shot." Elliot replied, a scowl on his face. 

I opened up my palm, inspecting the bloody silver bullet in my gloved hand. There was a small inscription on it's bottom, but I could not read it properly.