Thomas’s lips pressed into a thin line. Then, without another word, he turned and left the room.
As the meeting ended, the pack members dispersed, their voices a low hum of conversation. I turned to leave, eager to retreat to the solitude of my office, but a hand on my arm stopped me.
I turned to find Maya, her eyebrows pinched so close together they nearly touched. “Marcus,” she began, her voice low, “I hope you know what you’re doing. If this hunter betrays us…”
I placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently, but was too exhausted to make a sound.
Maya nodded, though the worry never left her eyes.
As I retreated, unease settled in the pit of my stomach. The weight of the pack’s expectations—their fears, their doubts—pressed down on me like a boulder. And at the center of it all was Joanna.
It was because of her that my best friend was dead. He murdered innocents in my territory to lure her out of hiding. It was her fault that my pack was without a Beta. She used him, even placed a spell on him to protect herself. And when she tossed him aside, that spell was the reason I was too late to save him.
No… That wasn’t right, was it?
I’m the one who executed Ethan. I’m the one who pulled my best friend’s heart from his chest. I’m the one who… instead of properly grieving my loss, couldn’t stop thinking about the hunter and the desire to fuck Ethan’s memory right out of her mind.
I tried to stay away.
She left the compound, and I ignored her text messages for days, much like I was doing now. But she was going to get herself killed at Club Luna.
Then I saw her in that dress… and she was nearly the death of me.
I was a horrible friend. A horrible brother.
I made my way to my office. The silence of the main building was a beautiful disparity to the tension in the meeting hall. I pulled my phone from where I’d buried it in the main drawer of my desk and tapped it against my forehead.
The alpha who can’t bring himself to look at a fucking phone.
Ridiculous.
I held the phone in front of my face and looked at the screen. Five missed calls from “The Hunter” and twice as many texts from her.
My thumb hovered over the messages app. But before I could click on it, a knock sounded at my door.
I caught my gamma’s scent before I called out to her. “I want to be alone, Maya.”
The door swung open. “I’m afraid that’s impossible, Alpha… Your hunter’s outside.”
I stood abruptly, the chair crashing into the wall behind me as I charged toward the door. Maya stepped aside, her eyes flickering with concern as I rushed past her.
My heart slammed against my ribcage as I burst through the main doors of the compound. My eyes darted around the clearing until they landed on her. She stood tall, her dark braids cascading down her back. In blue jeans and a t-shirt, she wasn’t dressed in her usual hunting attire, except for the gun in its holster.
“What the hell are you doing here, Joanna?” I growled, stalking toward her. My voice carried through the clearing, the authority in it causing several pack members to pause and watch the scene unfold.
She raised an eyebrow, her voice cool and collected as she held her head high. “You wouldn’t answer my calls.”
I stopped a few feet from her, and my hands clenched into fists at my sides. “You can’t just waltz into my territory without my protection. It’s not safe.”
She scoffed, her lips curling into a smirk. “Last I checked, being the Alpha’s… associate came with its perks. Or did you forget that your scent would be all over me when you snuck out this morning?”
I flinched at her words, the memory of our night together flooding my mind. I hadn’t expected her to bring it up so casually, so publicly.
Two of my pack members, Brian and Leo, approached, their eyes narrowing at the sight of Joanna.
“Who’s this, Alpha?” Brian asked, his voice laced with suspicion. “Why is a hunter strolling into our compound without a damn care in the world?”
Leo snarled. “It’s her, isn’t it? What’s she doing here?”
