Hunter's Secret
Chapter 42 - Photos

Raine’s POV

I wake up again and reach my hand, feeling for Hunter but the other side of the bed is cold.

“He had to leave to go take care of a few things, darling,” a soft and warm voice says to me.

I slowly push myself into a sitting position and look over to the couch. A beautiful woman is sitting elegantly on the couch, a warm smile on her face. She has medium length wavy brown hair and kind brown eyes. This must be Hunter’s mother and she confirms my suspicions with her next words.

“My name is Alice. My son has become quite enamored with you, dear,” she smiles.

“I hope that is meant as a good thing,” I respond, looking away.

“It certainly is. He has been looking for you for years. I don’t think I have ever seen him as happy as he is right now. He asked me to come be with you while he took care of Cameron and Emma. He didn’t want to wake up alone.”

I smile at her words, “Well, thank you. He is very sweet. You raised him well.”

“He has always been that way. When he loves someone, he loves them with everything he has. Please don’t break his heart,” she gently warns.

“I won’t,” I promised, and she smiles.

“He is quite worried about you and your arm. How are you feeling this afternoon?”

“Better. Although I am a bit hungry, can you help me downstairs?”

“Of course, dear. Do you need to go to the bathroom first?”

I nod my head yes and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I gently place my feet on the floor and when I look at my ankle, the bruise is almost completely gone. I stand up and there is almost no pain. She waits for me to go to the bathroom and then helps me down the stairs. She fixes me some food and our conversation naturally drifts to Hunter.

She leaves for just a few minutes and returns with some photo albums. She tells me about his childhood and how much he enjoyed training hours. Hearing about how his friendship developed with Cameron makes me really happy. I have seen them interact and I even I can tell how much they care about each other and the love they have for each other is obvious in the photos that she shows me too.

She continues flipping through the albums and one picture catches my eye. Hunter is smiling while a little boy sits on his shoulders. The boy is laughing, and his little hands are sitting in Hunter’s. He is probably eighteen or so in this picture, but he looks so much younger. He looks carefree and happy. And the little boy is obviously happy too. Hunter will be a good dad to our kids.

That thought catches me way off guard. We haven’t even had a real date yet and I am fantasizing about our future kids. What is wrong with me? I don’t even know if I want kids. My rampaging thoughts are interrupted by Hunter walking into the house. He is talking to Cameron over his shoulder and Cameron is helping Emma into the house. She still looks pale and like she is in pain and Cameron looks completely exhausted. Hunter smiles at me and finishes his conversation with Cameron. Cameron takes Emma to his room and softly closes his door behind him.

Hunter comes over and when he sees the photo albums, his face turns bright red.

“Really, mom? I leave you alone for a few hours and you pull out the photos!?!”

“What? You were a cute kid,” she says innocently.

“It’s very true. You were cute. What happened?” I tease and he sticks his tongue out at me. His mom laughs and gives me a gentle hug before collecting the books and saying her goodbyes. Their eyes gray over and his face gets even redder. She winks and leaves the house.

He sits down next to me and I scoot over so our bodies are touching. I just want to be near him. He moves his arm over the back of the couch before gently resting his fingers on my shoulder.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. My ankle is almost back to normal now. I have never healed from a twisted ankle so quickly.”

“The mate bond is powerful, Raine.”

“Wait. So, you are saying that you helped me heal? How?”

“You kissed me. That is what happens.”

“Wow. There is still so much I do not know. Also, do you have a phone? I need to call Kai.”

“I stopped and got us both one when I went to go be with Cameron,” he smiles and grabs it off the table, handing it to me.

I unlock it and everyone’s number is already programmed into it. I added Kai’s number and called him.

“Hello?” he answers.

“Hi, Kai,” I pause and sniff dramatically.

“Sweets? Are you okay?”

“No,” I say, making my voice emotional. Hunter looks at me with concern and I just smile at him. He looks confused but doesn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong? Is your dad okay?”

I slowly inhale and exhale, “He passed away last night,” Hunter widens his eyes at me. Lying about someone dying is a serious thing that I do not take lightly but I needed Kai to be able to give me space and this was the only way I could think to achieve that.

“Oh, sweets. I am so sorry to hear that. How are you holding up?”

“I am trying. My stepmom is taking it really hard though. I don’t think I am going to be able to come back anytime soon. I already sent in my program resignation. I might try again next year but I just can’t leave right now. The director said he would recommend me again if I ever wanted to come back.”

“I am so sorry. Mia and I are here for you if you need anything. Don’t hesitate to call anytime. We will keep you and your family in our thoughts and prayers. We love you, sweets.”

“I love you both too. Thank you for everything, Kai.”

“Anytime. Thank you for letting me know. Go be with your family. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“I will. Talk soon.”

“Talk soon.”

I hung up the phone and Hunter was staring at me.

“You were scarily believable. Why did you do that?” he asks.

“I needed him to be able to give me space without asking questions. I don’t like lying but you started this when you came to my apartment and told me that my dad was sick. I decided that I can’t leave right now. I already am an M.D. I was just completing another residency so I could specialize in something else.” Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“You didn’t have to do that. I don’t want you to choose me over your career,” Hunter said solemnly.

“Stop. I wanted to do this. The thought of leaving you made my heart hurt. I can still have a career here. I am a doctor. My first residency was in emergency medicine, and I rotated between most of the departments during those four years. I can help people here.”

“Raine…”

“You can’t change my mind, Hunter. You are stuck with me now,” I say as I tap his nose with my finger.

“Did you just boop my nose?”

“Yep,” I smile.

“You can’t do that. It’s disrespectful you know?” Hunter teases.

“You have a lot of rules. Next you are going to tell me that I can’t do this…” I say as I swing my legs over his and straddle his waist, facing him. He sucks in his breath, and I smirk.

“And then you are going to tell me that I can’t do this…” I move my good hand behind his head, snaking my fingers into his hair. His breathing quickens and he closes his eyes, leaning back into my hand.

I twirl his hair around my fingers, and he shifts underneath me. I whisper, “And I bet you are going to tell me that I can’t do this either…”

I lean my face toward his and right as our lips are about to meet, Cameron’s door swings open and he walks out. Hunter’s eyes snap open and I can see swirls of black dancing in the green. Cameron unsuccessfully hides his smile and Hunter glares at him while I scramble off of his lap. I waste no time heading upstairs, I do not want to talk about what just happened. I am not normally so forward. Sure, I am confident but not like this. Just being near Hunter messes up my brain and it makes me really happy that I affect him the same way he affects me.

None of my previous partners ever responded to me this way and honestly, I am glad. It makes it that much more special with Hunter. I also am not someone who sleeps with someone on the first date and we haven’t even had a date yet so I hope he asks me out again soon.

Hunter soon comes up the stairs and into the bedroom.

“We need to talk,” he demands, and I flinch at the harshness in his tone.

“O..okay.”

“You can’t do that, Raine. As much I thoroughly enjoy it, you can’t do that to me.”

“And why not?” I argue.

“Because I don’t want to do anything that you are not ready for.”

“I obviously want to kiss you, Hunter. How am I not ready for that? And based on how you just responded, you wanted me to kiss you too.”

“I did. I mean, I do. I do want you to kiss me. But I am not talking about kissing, Raine,” he sighs as he runs a frustrated hand through his hair.

“If you want me to kiss you and I want to kiss you, why do you get upset when I try?” I ask, matching his frustration.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he sighs again and looks away from me.

“Then explain it! Help me understand!” I raise my voice.

“Every time you touch me, I have to fight River for control. Being close to you is torturous.”

“Geez. Wow that makes me feel so much better,” I sarcastically respond.

“Don’t be like that. This is hard for me.”

“This is hard for you!?! I won’t do this hot and cold thing again. Either you want to be with me, or you don’t. I will not allow my heart to be played with. You need to decide right now,” I demand, and he squeezes his eyes shut. When they open again, they are completely yellow.

He staggers back into the wall and a few seconds later, Cameron bursts into the room. He stands in between us, shielding me from Hunter’s view.

“You need to leave. Now, H,” Cameron firmly states.

Hunter lowly growls in response and Cameron responds with a growl of his own.

“Go. Now,” Cameron commands and I slightly peek around Cameron, to see Hunter’s eyes flickering between green and yellow. Cameron moves over, blocking my view and growls again as I watch his fingers extend into claws. Hunter staggers to the side and I see his eyes turn green long enough for him to run out of the room. Cameron swiftly locks the door and turns to face me.

“You can’t do that to him, Raine,” he warns.

“What did I do?” I softly ask, trying my best to slow my heart back down.

“You don’t understand how much he is fighting with himself right now.”

“No, I don’t! He won’t explain it to me! No one will explain anything to me! I don’t know what is happening!” I shouted.

“You are right. No one is explaining it to you because we were hoping Hunter would be able to. Apparently, he is fighting with River more than he told me,” Cameron says, sitting down on the bed next to me.

“Why is he fighting River?”

“Because River wants to mark you,” he admits.

“Mark me?”

He points to a spot on his neck which I now notice is the same as the one Emma has on her neck.

“This is a mark. Mates mark each other to claim each other. It also lets everyone else know that they belong to someone else. Marks connect mates on a deeper level, allowing them to feel each other’s emotions.”

“So, why is that a bad thing?”

“It isn’t. But Hunter doesn’t want to let River do that because he is worried that it will hurt you. He is an Alpha which means the power that would surge through your body after he marks you may be too much for you because you are human.”

“Too much?”

“It could kill you, Raine. We really don’t know. Wolves don’t have human mates very often.”

“Oh. So, that is why he doesn’t want me to kiss him?” I question.

“It is not that he doesn’t want to kiss you, Raine. It’s that he can’t, without battling River for control.”

“But River was so gentle when I met him in my apartment. Why is he fighting Hunter so much?”

“Can I say this bluntly?” he asks, and I nod my head, shooting him a confused look and he continues, “Because now that you have spent a few days together, you can turn him on by just looking at him. He has to push River down so he can focus on you and not on what his horny wolf is telling him to do.”

I can’t help the blush that spreads across my face and Cameron continues, “He has extremely good self-control, but it is agonizing for him to not mark you and being physically close to you only makes that harder.”

“I didn’t know it was like that for him. He is so sweet and caring. I just thought he didn’t want me.”

“Raine, look at me.”

I allow myself to meet Cameron’s eyes and his face gets serious, “Raine, he has been waiting his whole life for you. He absolutely wants you. If this tells you anything, you are the first girl he has ever let sleep in his bed.”

“Really?” I can’t keep the shock out of my voice.

“Yes, really. He is just trying to make sure you are comfortable. I know wolves move a little faster than humans do, and he never wants you to feel pressured into doing something before you want to. He cares about you so much, Raine.”

A small knock on the door causes Cameron to jump to his feet, and he places himself in front of me.

“It is Hunter. He is asking if he can come in. Do you feel safe?” he asks, looking back at me and I nod my head. He unlocks the door and, narrowing his eyes at Hunter in a silent threat, leaves. When Hunter’s eyes find mine, I can see the emotions swirling in them, but his face remains stoic.

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