Chapter Six
Hayden raced mindlessly down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, he almost collided with Ace, his Beta. He tried to run past him, but Ace was as strong as he was, so he grabbed his arm and forced it backwards, “Where are you off to in a rush? The other clans are mobilizing their warriors, but the werewolves are still very unorganised. You need to come and give orders as the host Alpha,” he said firmly.
“My dad will do that, and you will assist him. However, there is something I need to do right now, so Let. Me. Go!” he growled.
“Hey, I was hearing something earlier about you having a second mate, is that true?” Ace asked again, still holding Hayden’s arm.
“I said. Let. Me. Go!” he thundered, using his Alpha voice.
Ace quickly released his arm and bowed his head, “My apologies, Alpha.”
Hayden resumed his mad dash, sniffing the air and following Alexia’s scent. Her scent trailed out of the house through the backdoor, then it suddenly stopped.
“No, no, no, no, NO!” he roared. He fisted his hands in his hair as he tugged, pacing.
“Where is the nearest hill? Where, where, where?” he mumbled. The answer came to him in a flash, “Juniper Hill!”
He started running in the direction of Juniper Hill.
Alexia was extremely distressed. When she stormed out of Hayden’s office and out of the packhouse, she started walking in any direction her legs took her. However, walking did not seem to help her state of mind.
How could she be mated to a werewolf, she thought. That was preposterous. And that prophecy—something like that could not be faked.
The slight pull she felt in her chest when she and Hayden made eye contact, and the shivers that rushed down her spine when he held her hands, cannot be faked either.
Or could it be an attraction? she asked herself.
No, it wasn’t, a tiny voice whispered in her mind.
No matter how hot Hayden was with his tousled brown hair, intense blue eyes, strong jaw, arched eyebrows, pretty pink lips, and sexy tattoos—he was still a werewolf, and a werewolf is a monster.
For goodness’ sakes she was a huntress. She hunted and killed monsters like him.
What kind of cruel joke was this?
Finally, Alexia got tired and paused to take a breath. When she surveyed her surroundings, she saw that she was in the shallow part of the forest. The sky had gotten darker, and the moon was starting to appear. She looked into the distance and saw the outline of a hill. She smiled to herself, and started walking towards it. Something was nagging in the back of her mind, but she ignored it.
After walking for a while, she reached the foot of the hill. It was covered in little green buds. She caressed it with her hand, and some of the buds popped open. They were juniper flowers. Alexia walked up the hill, and when she got to the top, she sat down and pulled her knees up to her chin, lost in thought.
Back at the packhouse, everyone was filled with worry and trepidation at the thought of the impending attacks. Ace and Henry had mobilized the werewolf warriors to the furthest part of the territory. The vampire warriors were camouflaged in the trees, forming a second layer of defense.
The last layer of defence were the best warlocks of the wizard clans. Armed with their wands and war potions, they stood in a circle around the packhouse. Ace and Henry stood at the front and main entrance of the house, while the back entrance of the house was covered by Malfoy and Thaddius.
Suddenly, one of the werewolves on the perimeter fell down, dead. Blood spurted from his neck where a silver bullet penetrated his neck. The attacks had begun. Everyone sprung into action. The attackers charged forward, shifting into wolves. The warriors started shooting, pumping silver bullets into the rapidly approaching wolves. Some fell down dead, and shifted back into human form, naked.
When the warriors exhausted their bullets, they fell back, luring their attackers in. The vampires jumped in and started biting and fighting. The werewolf warriors shifted and started fighting in their wolf forms.
Suddenly, two of their attackers slipped past their line of defense and headed towards the packhouse. One of the wolf warriors mind linked Henry, “Two of them are headed towards the house. They found a weak link in our defense.”
Henry quickly passed on the information to Thaddis who nodded gravely, “My warlocks are ready,” he said.
“Where the hell is Hayden?” Ace asked Henry.
“He has to go and attend to something. Don’t worry about him,” Henry reassured him.
“I’m not worried about him, I’m angry that he’s not here. He should be with us, helping us fight these assholes,” Ace muttered.
“I said, he had to attend to an important situation. He doesn’t need to be here, we’re doing fine on our own.”
Ace sighed, “If you say so.”
Hayden finally made it to Juniper Hill. When he got to the top, he found Alexia lying down face up, looking relaxed. He heaved a huge sigh of relief, before bending down to sit with his legs crossed.
The temperature around her changed, Alexia realized. There was a very warm body beside her. Her eyes snapped open and she whipped her head around to face the offending culprit.
When she saw it was Hayden, her heart skipped a beat.
“What the hell are you doing here, Hayden? I ran away from the packhouse to be far from you, and then you hunted me down? I thought I was the huntress,” she growled.
“Oh. Good. You finally noticed I’m here,” Hayden said sarcastically.
His brusque tone grated on Alexia’s nerves and she gritted her teeth.
“How did you find me? I used masking spray”, she asked.
Hayden smiled cheekily, “It’s the mate bond, my dear Alex.”
“Alexia”, she corrected snappily, “And don’t give me that crap about the mate bond. I have not accepted you as my mate, so there’s no mate bond anywhere. How did you find me?”.
Hayden sighed dramatically, “Fine, Alexia, it was your father who told me where you would be. He said you liked to storm off to hills or streams whenever you were mad.”
“Dad!” she grunted underneath her breath.
Hayden stood up and dusted his trousers, “Let’s get going. We’re safer at the packhouse until this night is over.”
“I am not going anywhere with you, monster!”, she snarled.
Anger rose in Hayden’s chest at being called a monster, but he swallowed it and tried again.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Alex, it’s the half moon night. The supernaturals are getting attacked tonight. The packhouse is probably under attack as we speak, and they need me, so let us get going,” he explained.
Damn! That was what she was forgetting.
“I said don’t call me Alex”, she snapped, rising to her feet too. She was scared of the way her heart did a little jump any time he called her by that pet name. no one ever called her Alex. It was either Alexia, or Lexi.
“And if they need you, then you should get going. I’m probably safer here. Leave me alone.”
Without warning, Hayden grabbed both her hands and pulled her flush against his body. He almost moaned at how good the contact felt, and unconsciously started brushing his thumb over her knuckles.
Alexia felt like she could melt. Her proximity with Hayden was making her feel lightheaded. The way he brushed his thumb over her fingers made every nerve in her body sing, as the sparks traveled like lightning down her spine.
“Would you listen to me now, you feisty little cat?” he whispered huskily in her ear.
She shivered. “Release…me…Hayden,” she said weakly. She put up very little resistance when he pulled her closer and placed her head under his chin, right on his chest. He interlocked their fingers on one hand and trapped her second arm by holding it against her body while he held her waist.
“This feels right, doesn’t it, Alex”, he said softly, “Now that you’re docile, listen to me. We are not safe out here. We need to get back to the packhouse as soon as possible because you are safer there. Your parents are worried, you little minx—”
Hayden suddenly stiffened, and he held Alexia tighter. His hearing picked up footsteps around them down the hill. He turned his mate like they were dancing, so he could survey the other side. His battle instincts were on. They were surrounded by hostiles.
Alexia sensed the sudden change in his stance. She tried to pull back, but he held on tighter.
“What’s going on?” she asked, mumbling into his chest.
“We’re surrounded by hostiles. Don’t panic. And don’t move,” he murmured into her ear.
“You don’t need to protect me. I can protect myself,” she muttered fiercely into his chest, already alerting herself. Her hunter instincts kicked in.
“I know that. For heaven’s sake I saw how you took down Clara. I know you can handle yourself. But if we make any sudden moves, we won’t be able to anticipate their mode of attack, so just follow my lead, okay?” Hayden pleaded.
“Fine!” she bit out.
Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past, grazing Hayden’s ear. Four people showed up on top of the hill, armed with daggers. They stared menacingly at Hayden and Alexia.