All Chapters of My Mate Become My Hunter : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Cassian POV “All right,” I tell Paul, finishing my third drink.I’ve been at the bar for hours, working on the fix for the barstool Paul was worried about, nursing my last two drinks, but now I don’t have any way to justify staying here any longer. I’m out of drinks, and Paul doesn’t need any more work done.It’s enough to convince me of the fact that I need to take matters into my own hands. If there’s a line of liquor credit to be had, I need to get my hands on it.And maybe it’s a little easier to make this decision because I’m already pretty drunk. I can’t deny that that might be a factor here.Paul, who has been wiping down the bar, looks up at me.“All right what?” he asks.“All right, I’m going to collect the bounty,” I tell him.He rolls his eyes.“You have to bring in the girl first. You can’t just say you’re going to collect.”“I know that,” I tell him indignantly, but I can hear my own words slurring—do I know that? I’m not really sure what I know at the moment. “I’ll go a

Lyra POV “You can take her blindfold off now, Sam,” Bruce says. “She’s contained. It doesn’t matter what she sees.”So Sam is the other man here. I know him, of course. I know everyone in the pack. He’s a couple of years older than I am, and he’s always been the kind of guy to run around acting as if he’s superior to everyone around him. In a fair fight, I honestly would like my chances against him. He’s so cocky that he’s never learned technique, never learned to be aware of his surroundings at all times the way I have.Which is a pretty ironic thing to think, considering that I’m only in this situation because these two got the drop on me.I shouldn’t have slept out in the open. That was stupid.“Are you sure we should take it off her?” Sam asks. “She kicked me.” He sounds surly, almost pouty.Even though things are dire, even though I know it’s nuts to joke at a time like this, I laugh.“Are you scared of me, Sam?”“No one’s scared of you,” Bruce says sharply. I feel a hand at the

Lyra POV I shift to run because there’s no sense in staying human now. Because the only thing that’s going to save us is speed. That, and the fact that we have a head start.Cassian’s actually running faster than me this time. He hasn’t done that in the past, and I don’t know how I feel about it. I push myself, trying to keep up, but I can’t. Was he always capable of outpacing me like this? Was he just holding himself back, letting me believe I was able to keep up with him? Or is something compelling him to move more quickly now than I’ve seen him move before?It doesn’t make sense for him to run ahead because I’m the one Bruce and the others are going to be tracking. If anything, we should be using his scent to disguise mine. That’s the smarter strategy here.But maybe he’s not as smart about tactics as I am.Or maybe it is because he’s clearly prepped for this. He took off his pants and knotted the legs around his waist before we started running—they’re flapping like a flag as he s

Lyra POV It’s pitch dark down here. I can’t see anything.So I’m not expecting it when I feel Cassian’s hands on me.On my shoulders first, pulling close so that my head is resting against his chest. He rubs his hand soothingly over my back.“What are you doing?” I ask. I don’t mean to sound as breathless as I do.I can’t tell if I’m aroused or frightened. Is he going to kill me?Why did I tell him the truth? Why did I think it was okay to let him know that I was a Moon Caster? Of course he would be just like my old packmates.Shifters kill Moon Casters. That’s the way it works.I try to squirm away from his touch, but he holds me so tightly that I can’t break free.“Stop,” he says, his voice low and rough. “Just stop. Okay? I’m not going to hurt you.”And maybe I’m crazy—I’m obviously crazy—but I believe him.He holds me, and I feel the rise and fall of his chest, slow and even. His hands move over my bare skin.My body starts to respond.It’s not a wild frenzy, like what I felt whe

Lyra POV The adrenaline is coursing through my body too quickly to allow for coherent thought.The only thing I can think about is what will happen when the Ravagers catch me, which feels both impossible and inevitable right now. Can I really be about to die?I’ll feel the first set of teeth tear into me. I know this with such certainty that it’s almost as if I can feel them already, severing my Achilles tendon, sending searing pain up my leg.I’ll turn and kill the one who bites me first, of course. That one won’t have a chance. But I’ll be hobbled.It’ll be the second one, or the third, that kills me.And as I’m dying, I’ll hear the sound of Cassian fighting for his own life beside me.Cassian’s like me. He won’t go down easily. He’ll fight until he can’t fight anymore. We’ll both fight until our bodies are overrun by Ravagers.By morning, there will be nothing left of us but bones.I wish the wolves had killed me. Even throwing my body into the lake would be less horrifying than w