Page 61 of His to Hunt

For now, I’ll just rest. If he thinks giving the book away is the best move, I’ll trust him. He’s done more for me than anyone else ever has.

If this life includes everything but the book, I’m okay with that, as long as I have him.

CHAPTER 17

Victor

Leaving Taryn again so soon makes my chest tight.

But this is necessary in order to protect her. I have to give the book to the fucking Witch Hunters so they’ll leave Covington. Then this should all be over. I can spend the rest of my life with my mate, wherever we decide to build it.

I won’t be returning to Silver Pack. They will always be the family I chose, but I’ve found my mate now. It’s time to forget about traffickers and criminals and all the things single wolves amuse themselves with. In the name of the greater good, I need to focus on Taryn.

I’ll have a family soon. My own family.

My knot is already trying to form. The instinct to breed is simmering beneath the surface. It’ll be boiling by the time the frenzy hits. I’ll knot Taryn until I’m absolutely certain I’ve put a baby in her belly. The first pup of my new pack. I’d even bet money he’ll be an Alpha, like I’ll become when I form my own pack after the frenzy.

Maybe we’ll pick up some stray wolves along the way as our pack grows. Wolves that want a quieter life. Maybe Saul will even join us, if he ever retires.

There will be time for that. Time to plan. Time to watch our family grow. First, I have to get rid of this fucking book.

I take the Land Rover back to the warehouse and park outside. The book is in my backpack. I should probably have Saul here, just to be safe, but I think the mating bond has me itching for a fight, especially as violence is the more permanent solution to a threat to my mate.

I step out of the SUV, but as I do, everything around me freezes. Even the birds go silent. I look around in confusion. Then a seam appears near the front of the warehouse. It’s like the frozen image of time is opened, and behind it is nothing. What the fuck?

A man steps through, wearing jeans and a plain black shirt, similar to what I’m wearing. His hair is blond and his beard is thicker than mine. As soon as I catch his scent, I tense up. He’s not a man at all.

“You’re a wolf,” I exclaim, testing whether I can move before walking closer.

“A little more than a wolf,” he responds flatly. “I’m one of Mother Fate’s emissaries. The highest honor a wolf can achieve. My name is Finn.”

“You stopped time?” I ask, still looking around in amazement.

“Yes, so we can have a conversation. One you’re not going to like,” he warns. “You can’t give that book to the Witch Hunters. You need to return it to your mate.”

I growl under my breath. “My mate cast one spell and now we’ve got five Witch Hunters in Covington. She’s not going to actually use the book to cast spells, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“It’s not a book of spells,” he clarifies. “It’s a book of rituals. Seven of them. She did one… poorly… and it rattled her fate-block enough for Mother Fate to sense her. Once her druid sight improves, she will need to do all of them, in order.”

“Why?” I grind out, already calculating my attack. I really don’t like fighting wolves, and I like killing them less, but I will if I have to.

“I can’t hold this time-lock long enough to explain it,” he hurries to explain himself. “You’re splitting it into too many potential timelines with your thoughts, and since you keep doing it, I’ll tell you that none of them end with you winning the fight. I can see your moves coming before you think them. You’ll never see mine until they hit you.”

I listen to him, still considering my options. If he can manipulate time, he may be right. But my wolf won’t let me believe him until I actually see it. One spell has caused enough trouble. I have no interest in putting Taryn in that kind of danger. Mother Fate may have brought us together, but she also left Taryn in that moldy basement. If she wanted to find her, she could have. Besides, we don’t answer to her. Or her messenger.

I toss my backpack to the ground, leap at him, and shift. He stands exactly where he is, and right before I clamp down on his throat, he’s gone. I hit the ground and spin just in time to get punched in the throat so hard it sends all seven hundred pounds of me flying into the air. I thud against the ground, gasping for my next breath, my windpipe as close to fractured as it’s ever gotten.

“Can we stop now?” he asks. “You can keep missing and I can keep hitting you, but we’re just wasting time.”

I’ve never met anything I can’t kill before. I’m a little rattled, but I can admit when I’m outmatched. And smart enough that I don’t need it punched into my head more than once. I won’t be any use to my mate if I let this fucking emissary beat me unconscious.

“You can waste time while it’s frozen?” I grunt, chagrined as I shift back into my human form. I’m glad I brought a change of clothes as I dig into my backpack. “If you can’t tell me about the rituals, tell me what we’re going to do about the Witch Hunters. They want this book. Today.”

“We can kill them together or I can take care of it myself,” he answers succinctly, like he’s discussing the weather.

Okay then. Maybe I’m going to like this guy more than I thought.

Time unfreezes around us and it’s kind of startling how every sound and scent comes rushing back instantaneously. Finn is still standing in front of me, so I straighten up and pay attention.