Chp 4: The little bird prey

Jett POV

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I did not want to reach for it, but it got the girl's attention, making her twist her neck to look back for the first time since we left the club.

Then she turned the street corner and entered an avenue with no streetlights. I followed behind her like a dog being dragged along with a leash round its neck.

I brought out my phone to see who was interrupting my night. The name on the screen made me curse,

Shît!

I'd completely forgotten what I ought to be doing right now. It was hours past 8 PM. I began to wonder what excuse I could give.

My eyes kept moving between the phone screen and the little raven racing away in front of me.

I slid the answer button to take my phone call.

"Hey, Sabrina."

"Hey, Alpha Jett. I didn't hear from you, so I got a little worried."

"I'm sorry. Something came up. I'm dealing with it. I'll call you once I'm done."

I hung up.

Nothing wrong with chasing a female along a dark street while another one waited for you all night.

I shook that thought aside and decided that this chase was more fun than sitting somewhere, sipping vodka and chatting about meaningless stuff.

I was Alpha Jett of the Night Storm. It was my responsibility to rebuild the pack. Make it the dominant force in all of Louisiana as it should be. So much was expected of me.

Which was why I needed to take care of this situation in front of me ASAP, then return home. Or back to the club.

The girl, my newly-found fated mate, raced yards ahead of me. She didn't shift and enter the woods to try to escape. Smart. Because that would be too easy for me.

As I jogged behind her, I found myself thinking that this was how people's life took interesting turns. One minute, you're in your grand office signing business deals. The next, you're chasing a random little bird all over the streets of Old Jefferson.

I still could not believe what just happened in the club. Or the fact that I was blowing off my meeting with Alpha Merritt to play hunt with this lone she-wolf exotic dancer.

Apart from the bond, I had another reasonable excuse. She might be a spy!

Raven. That was her name. How fitting. She ran so fast that she might as well be flying. Yet she couldn't outrun me. I had one huge thing in my favor. The mate bond.

I didn't even have to exert myself like she was doing right now. Because of that, she was out of sight often. But I always tracked her easily with my instincts. Admittedly, it gave me a rush to catch up with her everytime.

"Fly away, little bird," I sang under my breath. "You can't fly far, you know. I'll find you."

She could hear me despite the distance and the fact that my voice was a whisper.

As she entered another scanty street, it occurred to me that she was actually trying to get away. Which proved that my suspicion was correct.

Why else would she be running if she was no spy?

Yesterday was the first time I spotted her in my woods. She'd been peering at the pack's borders then. I would find out what or who she was looking for soon.

I'd put up my mental shield and watched her quietly.

She didn't stick around for long, but her interest had been evident. The Night Storm was the reason she entered the woods both yesterday and today.

Earlier, I'd watched her shift, then get dressed and ran out of the forest. A human male and his werewolf friend had been stalking her yesterday when she left my forest.

The latter quietly vanished soon after he noticed me. The human guy was brave enough to stick around. So I had Clove escort him to my house like an hour ago. I would soon learn what they wanted from the little raven soon, too.

So much to learn!

She stopped running, but was walking fast now. Every now and then, she would look back at me. She nearly tripped once but steadied herself. Then before I knew it, she slipped into an unfinished building and was out of sight again.

"Raven, is it?" I murmured into the night. "Wrong name. We should call you little mouse."

I considered mindlinking her. She would hear me just like she heard my whispering. It felt like our hearts were beating in unison. Together. This was the bond, huh? The feeling was... fascinating.

Interesting.

I knew a few people who had suffered from this mate bond illness. My brother and Jake Carlisle were the first to come to mind. I was not suffering right now. I wasn't chasing her because of a fated bond. Nope.

I was going after an alleged criminal. I needed to find out things. Plus she was such an interesting chic!

As if she heard this last thought, she came out of her hiding place and gave me a single look, then resumed walking.

Her strides grew casual. Like she no longer cared if I caught her.

"Tired of playing hide and seek already?"

As I spoke, I looked up and decided that many hours had passed indeed. It was the middle of the night.

"Aww, I get it. Dancing naked in front of all those men must've wear you out."

That got her attention. She looked back. I lifted my hand and said,

"Hi,"

No response. Rude!

She began heading towards the highway. I didn't yet know what to do about us, so I followed her with both hands in my pocket now.

As she wasn't running, it was an opportunity to take a proper look at her backside for the ten millionth time.

She was quite attractive. Whether clothed, naked or half-naked.

It occured to me that I had seen her in all three states, and we'd barely said one word to each other. No, that was wrong. She had barely said one word to me.

We walked for a while with her occasionally looking back. It felt like she needed to be sure I was still there. I expected her to take off as soon as we reached the highway. But she truly was fed up with running. Perhaps she had seen what a waste of energy that was.

Then we came near a shabby little motel. Only then did she begin to jog. I wondered if she was worried that it might vanish if we didn't hurry up.

"Stopping for a nap, are we?" I called aloud.

She didn't even acknowledge the words by turning around.

It didn't take long for her to get a room facing the road. I waited, watching as she went inside. Then I went around to get a good look at the building. She could escape through the windows. As she began to move about inside the room, it became clear that she had no plans to do that.

Clove arrived soon with a gamma wolf from my new pack.

"Her man is a bounty hunter," he said.

When he looked at my face, he blinked fast and quickly rephrased,

"I mean... the human. The one following her about. He's a bounty hunter."