Chapter 16: Hunter

“We should not be having this fight.”

I’m trying to keep my voice steady for Talon’s sake, but Axel is being difficult, even more difficult than usual, and I might just scream.

“Exactly, Hunt. We should not be fighting about a human girl. You let her stay the night. You broke the rule.” He huffs, crossing his tattooed biceps.

“Maybe she wouldn’t have had to stay the night if you hadn’t strangled her and opened up the party to bully her!”

“She was perfectly fine if she had time to fuck you.”

How many times do I have to explain this to him? “We didn’t sleep together.”

Ryker strolls in. “You didn't? So I can still win?”

His hopeful voice is muffled by his helmet. He crosses over to Talon and falls into the chair beside him.

I groan, face-palming myself. I forgot entirely about our stupid deal. But bet or not, I’m just glad Ryker took it upon himself to get Olivia back to campus.

He pulls off his helmet, shakes his blonde hair, then faces Talon. “You okay?”

Our fourth member looks up from his cup, eyes blank. He swirls the now lukewarm tea I made him and mumbles one word.

“No.”

We give him our attention.

i feel a flutter of hope. “No” means he may be open to telling us what the hell happened to him 3 years ago that fucked him up this badly. One day he was the perfect Darlington heir: ruthless, smart, sharper than a knife, then overnight, he broke.

But Talon turns away, dashing my hopes.

“You can all stop staring at me now,” he mutters.

“If you don't want to be stared at, then you don't do crazy shit like sneaking out and drinking half a bar’s whiskey.” Axel’s silver eyes light with even more anger.

I cringe at his words. They're necessary, but what's the point of kicking our pack brother lower when he’s already down?

Talon sighs again. He slowly ties his silver hair in a bun like he always does when he’s trying to put himself back together, and we hold our breaths, waiting for his next words.

“I apologize for frightening all of you.” He straightens, trying to be a prim Darlington again. ”It was not my intention.”

I soften. What else am I supposed to do? He tries to make himself appear as strong as the rest of us, but Talon’s skin is taut over his bones.

I sit in front of him and push the mug back his way. “Wanna talk about it?”

He breathes harshly. “Fuck no.”

I expected that. What I don't expect is for him to meet my eyes and say, “But I want to talk about her.”

I feel a rush of ecstasy.

Olivia.

Axel throws his hands in the air. “Great, so everyone wants to talk about the girl.”

“Hell yeah, I want to talk about Olivia.” Ryker perks up. “I mean, I knew she was hot, but no one told me she’d be funny.”

“Plus, she saved me,” Talon adds quietly. A flash of life briefly returns to his eyes. “I’ve never seen her before. Does she go to Lycroft?”

“She’s… new.”

“And, if you were listening to a single thing Hunter and I said, she’s Alpha Rick’s famous pet, the human,” Axel glowers.

“A fucking sexy human,” Ryker adds.

“Human?” Talon’s mouth falls open slightly. “But that’s not possible. She… I felt…”

I lean closer. Felt what? Could it be the same spark I felt when I kissed her last night? I thought I'd imagined it.

But Talon shakes his head, his bun bobbing, before he downs more lukewarm tea and grimaces. “This tastes like shit.”

“Tasted good when I brewed it 30 minutes ago,” I mutter, but secretly I’m glad he’s talking and drinking something that isn’t alcohol.

Just doing anything other than being lost in his toxic thoughts.

I turn to Ryker to ask him if Olivia got to her dorm okay, and only then do I notice the angry, red outline on his face. “What the hell happened to you?”

The sick fucker smiles. “She slapped me.”

My jaw nearly falls off my face from how quickly it drops.

“And before you go apeshit, Axel, I deserved it,” Ryker says proudly to the three of us, who stare at him with shell-shocked expressions. “I’m telling you, Olivia’s really something.”

“Something you should stay far away from,” Axel grunts when he gets his voice back. “Hunter’s closeness I understand: I respect Alpha Dillon’s wishes. But no one is forcing you close to her, so stay away.”

I swallow my anger. Another fight will give me a headache I’m not ready to process.

Besides, when Ryker flops back in his seat and gives our Alpha a shadowed grin, something tells me he has no intention of staying away from her. It’s like that slap seared her into his obsessive, freaky mind.

I get it; I feel like if she slapped me, I would thank her.

“What the fuck?” I mutter at myself, stealing Talon’s tea and chugging it to clear my nasty thoughts.

As if the goddess knows I need a distraction, my phone pings.

I gratefully pick it up, but my stomach plummets the moment I see the message.

ALPHA RICKLAN glares on the screen, notifying me he sent a video and a text.

My finger shakes as I hit play. A recording of Olivia plays back for me. She’s crouched in that damn corner I found her yesterday, half-unconscious as wolves laugh and howl around her.

It stops just before I swooped in to save her, but it’s still damning.

The message Ricklan sent under it is simple and bone-chilling at the same time:

“So this is how you take care of Olivia?”