Chapter 5 Hunter and Tara

A Lead and a Plea

Hunter pov

Four months. One hundred and twenty-three days of endless searching, dead-end leads, and the constant ache where my severed mate bond should have been. I stood in my father's office, staring down at the single piece of paper that might finally give me what I had been desperately seeking—a trace of Tara McKenzie.

The private investigator's report was brief but promising. A gas station security camera in Nevada had captured a glimpse of a young woman who matched Tara's description, though the image quality was too poor for definitive identification. More importantly, the timestamp showed she'd been there just two weeks ago.

"Nevada," I murmured, running my finger along the highlighted route on the map spread across my father's desk. "That's over a thousand miles from here."

"It's a lead," Alpha Marcus said from behind his desk, though his tone carried a note of caution. "But it's not confirmation. Could be anyone, son."

My jaw tightened. Over the past four months, I had chased shadows across three states. A waitress in Colorado who had dark hair and green eyes. A college student in Wyoming whose laugh sounded familiar to a gas station attendant. A hiker in Utah who'd been traveling with an older man who could have been James McKenzie. All dead ends. All false hopes that had left me more frustrated and desperate than before.

But this felt different. This felt real.

"I'm going," I announced, straightening up and beginning to fold the map. "I'll take two trackers and—"

"Hunter, stop."

The voice came from the doorway, soft and melodious with just a hint of an accent that spoke of Southern breeding and expensive education. I turned to see Lydia Crescent, daughter of the Crescent Moon Pack's Alpha, standing in the entrance to my father's office. She wore a flowing blue dress that perfectly complemented her platinum blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, every inch the perfect picture of werewolf aristocracy.

She'd been at Silverstone for two months now, ostensibly visiting to strengthen inter-pack relations. In reality, everyone knew she was there as a potential mate for me—the political alliance my father had once hinted at, now being pushed more aggressively by both Alpha families.

"Lydia," I said carefully, noting the way my father's expression tightened with barely concealed frustration. "I didn't realize you were here."

"I came to find you." She stepped into the office uninvited, her movements graceful and calculated. "We need to talk."

Alpha Marcus cleared his throat. "Perhaps I should give you two some privacy—"

"No," I said quickly, then softened his tone. "Whatever Lydia has to say, she can say it in front of you, Father."

Lydia's perfect features arranged themselves into an expression of hurt confusion. "Hunter, surely we can speak privately? About our future?"

"We don't have a future." The words came out harsher than I had intended, but I was tired of dancing around the subject. "I've made that clear multiple times over the past two months."

"Because you're still chasing after some girl who ran away rather than fight for you?" Lydia's composure cracked slightly, revealing the steel beneath her Southern belle facade. "Really, Hunter, how long are you going to let this obsession consume you?"

"She's not 'some girl.' She was my mate."

"*Was* being the operative word. You rejected her. The bond is broken. She's nothing to you now."

My hands clenched into fists at my sides, my wolf rising dangerously close to the surface. "Watch your tone when you speak about her."

"Or what?" Lydia stepped closer, her blue eyes flashing with anger and something that might have been desperation. "You'll defend the honor of a girl who abandoned you? Who chose to run rather than stay and work through your problems together?"

"She didn't abandon me," I snarled. "I destroyed her. I humiliated her in front of the entire pack and then acted surprised when she decided she couldn't live with the daily reminder of that shame."

"And whose fault is that?" Lydia shot back. "You made a choice, Hunter. A smart choice, even if the execution was a bit dramatic. You chose duty over sentiment, responsibility over selfish desire. That's what good leaders do."

"I chose wrong."

The admission hung in the air like a confession, raw and painful. I had said the words to myself countless times over the past four months, but speaking them aloud made them somehow more real, more final.

Lydia's expression softened, and she reached out to touch my arm. "No, you didn't. You chose what was best for your pack. And now you have a chance to make an even better choice—a chance to form an alliance that will make Silverstone the strongest pack in the region."

"An alliance built on a loveless marriage," I said, stepping away from her touch.

"Love is a luxury that Alphas can't always afford. But respect, partnership, shared goals—those are the foundations of lasting unions." Lydia moved to the window, gazing out at the pack grounds where wolves were going about their daily routines. "I could be a good Luna, Hunter. I was raised for this role. I understand pack politics, inter-territorial negotiations, resource management. I could help you lead Silverstone to greatness."

"But you don't love me."

She turned back to me, her smile sharp and knowing. "Love can grow. And in the meantime, we'd have mutual respect and shared ambition. That's more than most mated pairs start with."

"It's not enough."

"Because you're comparing it to some fantasy bond with a girl who was completely wrong for you?" Lydia's patience was clearly wearing thin. "Hunter, be practical. Even if you found her, even if you somehow convinced her to come back, what then? She'd still be the same girl from the same weak bloodline. She'd still be unsuitable to be your Luna."

"She was my mate," I repeated, my voice low and dangerous. "The Moon Goddess herself chose her for me. Are you suggesting the divine plan was wrong?"

"I'm suggesting that sometimes the Moon Goddess gives us challenges to overcome, not gifts to accept blindly." Lydia moved closer again, her voice taking on a persuasive tone. "Maybe your true test was rejecting the easy path and choosing the one that required sacrifice for the greater good."

Alpha Marcus, who had been silent throughout the exchange, finally spoke up. "Lydia, I think you should return to your rooms. Hunter and I have pack business to discuss."

"This *is* pack business," she insisted. "Our fathers have been negotiating the terms of our union for weeks. The formal announcement is supposed to happen next month."

"What?" I spun to face my father, my eyes blazing with betrayal. "What announcement?"

Marcus had the grace to look uncomfortable. "The Crescent Moon Pack has made a very generous offer. A formal alliance, shared territory rights, combined military strength—"

"In exchange for me marrying her."

"In exchange for you securing Silverstone's future," Marcus corrected. "Hunter, you've been searching for four months. You've found nothing concrete, and meanwhile, other packs are starting to question our stability. They see an unmated heir chasing after a girl who doesn't want to be found, and they wonder if we're strong enough to maintain our territory."

"So you decided to sell me off like a prize bull?"

"I decided to ensure this pack's survival," Marcus replied firmly. "Which is what an Alpha does. What you'll have to do when you take my place."

I looked between my father and Lydia, seeing the trap they'd constructed around me while I had been consumed with finding Tara. The political pressure, the questions about pack stability, the convenient timing of Lydia's extended visit—it had all been orchestrated to back him into a corner.

"I won't do it," I said quietly.

"Hunter, please," Lydia's voice took on a pleading tone. "Don't throw away everything you've worked for, everything your family has built, for a girl who clearly doesn't want you. I'm here, I'm willing, and I can give you everything you need to be a successful Alpha."

"Everything except what I actually want."

"And what is that? What could she possibly give you that I can't?"

I was quiet for a long moment, my gaze distant as I considered the question. When I finally spoke, my voice was soft but certain.

"She made me want to be better than I am. Not for duty, not for politics, not for the good of the pack—but because she deserved better. When I looked at her, I saw the man I could be if I was brave enough to choose love over fear."

"And look where that got you," Lydia said coldly. "Alone, desperate, and chasing ghosts across the country."

"Maybe. But at least I'm not settling for a life without meaning just because it's easier."

I walked to my father's desk and picked up the investigator's report, folding it carefully and slipping it into my jacket pocket.

"I'm leaving for Nevada tonight," I announced. "And if you announce my engagement to Lydia while I'm gone, I'll renounce my claim to the Alpha position and leave Silverstone permanently."

The threat hung in the air like a challenge. Lydia gasped, her hand flying to her throat in shock, while Alpha Marcus leaned back in his chair with a calculating expression.

"You'd abandon your pack? Your birthright? All for a girl who ran away from you?"

"I'd abandon a pack that tried to force me into a loveless marriage for political gain," I corrected. "But I'd never abandon the people I'm meant to protect. I'll find another way to secure Silverstone's future—one that doesn't require me to sacrifice my soul."

I headed for the door, then paused and looked back at Lydia. Her perfect composure had cracked, revealing something raw and desperate beneath the polished surface.

"I'm sorry," I said genuinely. "You deserve someone who can love you the way you deserve to be loved. But that person isn't me."

As I walked out of the office, leaving behind the life others had planned for me, I felt something I hadn't experienced in four months—hope. The lead might be nothing, just another dead end in an endless search. But it was my choice to follow it, my decision to keep fighting for what I had lost.

And that felt like the first step toward becoming the man Tara had made me want to be.