Chapter 4

DELLA

Anger travelled through my veins as I walked through the woods and headed back to the cabin.

I paced from one side of the room to the other. I might have been a late bloomer, but that didn't stop my anger from flaring up like a changed Shifter.

Hunt felt the attraction. He had the gall the kiss me and then he rejected me. With werewolves, we had a ticking time bomb in our systems and if you didn't have a mate after your first change, you'd likely be left alone for the rest of your life. My countdown was running out fast and until today, I never felt like I had a chance with anyone. Until Hunt kissed me.

I touched my lips and could still smell his wild, woodsy scent. Fuck him.

Pulling my sweater over my head and u buttoning my jeans before removing them, I climbed into bed and rested my head back against the soft pillow.

Sleep pulled at my eyelids and soon I was in the dark, desolate dreamscape. It was cold and I was running through the woods naked. I heard the cruel cackling. Something was chasing after me and as I continued down a foreign path, the fit trees scraped my skin and my feet were getting cut underneath from jagged rocks.

"Cursed," a voice whispered in the darkness as the wind wailed like a banshee on the loose.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed, but the cackling continued.

Gasping for air, I jerked upright in my bed and not in the woods. It took me a few seconds to calm down and realise that I was safe in the cabin and that no one could hurt me.

"Bad dream?" a voice asked from across the room.

A gasp left my lips as I looked up and saw Hunt sitting on an armchair across from me. His glowing green eyes fixed on me.

I gathered the white sheets around my naked breasts and sat upright. "Why are you here in my cabin?" I asked.

His black hair was rumpled as if he'd just woken up from sleep even though he was still fully dressed in his black t-shirt and jeans. I momentarily wondered what he looked like without his t-shirt.

Moonlight filtered in through the window and I saw his face properly for the first time since meeting him. He had a chiselled face with mountainous cheekbones. There was something strikingly handsome about his face and dangerous too. Along his left eyebrow, there was a ragged scar. To get that kind of scar, he must have been in a really bad fight.

"I still don't trust you," he whispered. "That and I had a dream about you running through woods."

"Was I running from something?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

Hunt ran a hand through his head and nodded. "It was like you were scared."

I stopped breathing for a second. "We had the same dream. How is that possible?"

"I don't know." He stood up and looked around my room. "It's 5 a.m. so I'm heading out into town. Do you want to come with me? I figured you need some clothes."

"Sure," I said before he opened the door and left without another word.

I moved my leftover the edge of the bed. Even though I'd had that weird nightmare, my body felt more relaxed than it had in over a year. Sleeping on cave floors had taken a toll on me especially in these last few months as winter approached. And winter in the wild was no joke, especially for a werewolf that hasn't yet shifted.

I'd tried for two years to try and reach deep down and connect with my wolf. There was nothing.

Getting out of bed, I go over to the sink near the tub and wash my face, before changing into the green sweater and jeans from last night.

I decided to leave my hair open today, allowing the dark red tendrils to fan out around my shoulders.

Hunt was waiting outside when I left the cabin.

"Did you sleep well, besides the nightmare?" he asked as we walked down a path together and I could see several of the other shifters outside, a few of the young girls were hanging up sheets on a makeshift line. A few watched on as Hunt and I passed them.

"I did," I said as we jog down the path. "Thank you for giving me a place to stay."

When we reach the bottom of the path, a dirt road came into view with a black Jeep Wrangler hidden by the foliage.

There were long scrapes along the sides of the Jeep, damaging the paintwork.

"You're welcome." Hunt glanced at me before he pulled the top down on the Jeep. "My mother was a rogue before my father took her into our pack."

"How did he find her?" I asked as we got into the car.

Hunt adjusted the review mirror and then reached into the back of the Jeep to retrieve a dark grey t-shirt. "I suppose it's a bit like our situation. He found her stealing things from one of the cabins."

Our eyes met and for a fraction of a second Hunt actually smiled. "I was not stealing," I muttered.

"If that's what you say." He took off the black t-shirt he was wearing and I held my breath as my gaze whispered across his taut abdomen and the red scars that marred his beautiful body.

I watched as his muscles shifted each time he moved his arm and the delicious curves of his back or the way his dark hair curled at the base of his neck. Hunt had beautiful tanned skin, probably from spending time in the sun. And then he brought a black and white tweed overcoat from the back and also pulled it on.

"Do you go into town often?" I asked as he started the Jeep and pulled out onto the dirt road that winded down mountains.

Devil Peak mountain range hugged the side of the Windy highway, its jagged black peaks ominously shadowing the town below.

"Only for necessities," Hunt said. "And if it's not me then it's usually someone else from the pack. I let everyone go into town."

I settled back into the cool leather seats as Hunt turned the heater on full. "I can't imagine being that free. I mean when I was in my pack, my dad would never let anyone out of the pack. We weren't allowed to go into town."

"It's not my decision as to who leaves and who stays. I just protect because I am the Alpha. You either follow my rules or get out. And everyone has their right to freedom." He presses on the gas as heavy, grey clouds above us, converged.

"Except for when it comes to me right?" I dared to look at him, but he just stared straight ahead.

"That's different." His voice was low. "What happened to your pack?"

"My parents were murdered," I said and Hunt looked at me, probably not expecting me to have said it so bluntly. "My pack abandoned me because they couldn't see me as their Luna. I've been on my own ever since."

"How long ago was this?"

"A year ago." A blurry image of my parent's bodies flashed through my mind. A shiver travelled through my down my back.

"That's about the same time the attacks started getting worse," he told me. "Why do you think you're a rogue? Do you even know what they are?"

I felt the tears burn the back of my eyes as I knotted my fingers together in my lap. "My old pack told me that the only title I'd ever be worthy of is a rogue."

"You're nothing like the rogue werewolves." Hunt sounded so reassuring and when I looked at him, his eyes were warm and kind.

Smiling, I turned to look out of my window. I watched as the trees swayed below and Hunt and I stayed silent for the rest of the drive until we reached town.