Chapter 5 - Hunter

Hunter already expected that his “wedding night" would be full of work and worry, but not like this. Instead of being busy solving the problems his temporary wife had created or trying to keep her under control, he was alone in his room, hunched over his desk as he read and reread all the reports on Corinne Valiant that he had ordered for the few wolves who lived near the tiger territory.

And once again, every word seemed to be describing a completely different woman than the one he had met that day.

Everyone knew about the story of Alpha Eli Valiant first marriage, even those who had no interest in it, like Hunter. He didn't know all the details, but he remembered, even though he was just a boy at the time, the scandal when all the territories discovered that Eli's wife was a witch, which in itself would have been frowned upon by many. When his late grandfather was still alive, Hunter had heard some stories about how, centuries ago, the clan of sorcerers, endowed with powers made in the image and likeness of the Gods, went into a meltdown of madness and ego, believing they were a superior race than everyone else and declaring war on all types of shapeshifters, from the most ferocious to the most harmless. That conflict had lasted decades and caused even the most deadly enemies, such as wolves and tigers, to join hands and fight side by side, until all the sorcerer leaders were dead and the few that remained were forced into hiding around the world, now turned into the prey.

If only Seraphina Valiant had been the kind of sorcerer who just wanted peace and a family, then perhaps things might have turned out differently in the tiger territory... But, apparently, she had come from a family that still firmly believed that sorcerers were superior and should reign alone, with all other races as they servants.

For a second, his mind was lost imagining the kind of emotional shock the children Seraphina already had at that time must have felt... Even if in different proportions, Hunter thought he knew what the feeling was...

Hell, what did it matter? Learning about her mother's past was just more proof to Hunter that Corinne had a lot of bad influences growing up. Apparently, Seraphina's death happened when she and her older brother were both under 10 years old, but that hadn't been enough to prevent her from growing up to be like her mother. All those reports told of grotesque rumors dating back to various periods in her life. She was such an insufferable and troubled child that, shortly after his first wife was disowned, Eli had sent his daughter to a house in the farthest part of his territory, where he would no longer have to see her face. Then there were reports about her trying to push her stepmother, Eli’s real mate, out when she found out she was pregnant. And so, the stories continued. Whether it was torturing employees who displeased her, treating her younger siblings poorly, or even torturing defenseless animals for fun, Corinne spent a lot of time out of the public eye, but her terrible reputation was always in their mouths.

With his jaw tense, Hunter searched for the latest of all reports telling a rumor that had spread throughout Valiant territory: that Eli and his mate had suggested marrying Corinne to him to get her out of the pack, out of fear of that she could be plotting to kill Declan, Eli's third child and the current heir to his title of Alpha.

“She is the daughter of a sorceress, so it wouldn't be surprising that she was planning to kill her two brothers, so she could get them out of the way and be chosen as the only possibility to become Alpha.” the wolf who had written that letter to him had highlighted it, and even though it was just a sheet of paper, Hunter could swear he could hear the tone of gossip in his words “That way, she could rise as leader of one of the most powerful territories between us and resurrect Seraphina's sadistic plan to enslave us all.”

And now, she was pretending to be harmless to get her claws into another territory that would allow her to do that, Hunter concluded. This explained why she looked so different from what the reports said. Of course she would avoid raising his suspicions. It was much easier to try to gain his trust and lower his guard, especially after they discovered they were fated mates, and then kill him at the right moment and take the position of Alpha of the pack, as his wife.

Damn tigress.

Annoyed, he stood up abruptly enough to tip his chair back and walked over to the small liquor cabinet there, taking a swig of the strongest brandy he could find, even though alcohol always seemed almost nothing compared to a shifter's metabolism. Hell, Hunter just wanted to take his tension out on something, after realizing that, much worse than having a spoiled, obtuse girl as his wife, who would always be rude to everyone and act like a foolish teenager… He would have something much worse to deal with: a manipulative woman who knew how to mask her true intentions, to get where she wanted...

And she had a body that, until that moment, was living inside his memories, tempting him.