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Vincent laughs, and it pisses me the fuck off. I get closer, bringing my face within inches of his, making sure he hears every syllable.

“I don’t care if she’s a human and not technically part of my pack. If I see you or one of your men anywhere near her again, I will kill you despite the rules and laws. I will take pleasure in breaking every one of your bones and gnawing on them until they’re blunt nubs.Am Iunderstood?”

His dull gray face is starting to turn purple from the pressure on his neck, but his expression of arrogance and gleefulexpectation doesn’t waver. He also doesn’t answer, and I don’t release him until I feel Ryder’s familiar hand on my shoulder.

Vincent slides down the wall, his knees buckling as he lands unsteadily on his feet. He rubs at his neck and glares at me with the wrath of an avenging god. He can go ahead and try me. I would revel in the opportunity to see which of us would come out victorious in a one-on-one.

No more words are spoken as Vincent and his lackeys leave my office. Making Donna practically clutch her invisible pearls at her chest as they sneer and mumble rude slurs under their breath. Levi uses his desk as a shield until they’re gone.

“Good riddance,” Donna mutters when they’re gone.

“Everything okay, Boss?” Levi asks nervously.

“Yeah. Everything will be.”

Chapter 32 – Lottie

When Hunter returned from town, he looked pissed beyond belief. Strung tight as a bow. Coming to me the moment he returned, he pulled me close and held me tight. It seemed to ease him. Wrapping me in his arms and breathing in my scent. His deep inhales buried in my hair until they finally subsided into normal shallow breaths.

He told me about Vincent having the photos, that none were posted online, and that all the paparazzi were gone. Or so he believes. Just to be safe, we moved most of my stuff from the cabin to Hunter’s place. I’ll be staying here for the time being.

His house isn’t as minimalistic as the cabin but it’s still cozy. There’s a large fireplace in the living room that he keeps lit. He puts my things in his bedroom, and I don’t complain. His bed is large, and I look forward to cozying up under the covers with him.

We don’t plan on leaving his house for a few days. Just in case there are other paparazzi in town who don’t work for Vincent waiting to take my picture. Our picture. If it were just me on my own in a town filled with nobodies I didn’t care about, it wouldn’t matter. I would just get in my car and leave. But I do care. I care about them more than I probably should after so short a time. The pull growing stronger between me and Hunter,and I don’t hate it. I like it. It makes my insides all warm and tingly. Feels like home when I’m with him.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur, and the night is filled with bare skin, hot kisses, and talented tongues. Hunter shatters my mind, body, and soul into a million tiny shards over and over, distracting me so thoroughly from the paparazzi that I fall into a peaceful, deep sleep.

Today, we spend most of the time talking. I make us breakfast with my newly acquired cooking skills. Hunter shows me his workshop and wood carvings in progress. He’s making a new pillar support for a broken one on his porch. I try to convince him to go for a run with me, and he almost gives in, but his paranoia and protectiveness win out, and we only take a leisurely stroll around the clearing behind his house.

Ryder decided to give us our space and went to stay at the cabin. Guess he doesn’t like listening to his brother make me scream or the rhythmic knocking of the bed frame against the wall. We don’t see him much, but Hunter did invite Ginger over for dinner.

Sitting out on the back porch after dinner around the fire pit is nice. We talk about simple things, like how we need to convince Dottie to add sushi to her menu and how cute Ginger was as a pup. We also talk about how she always forgot to remove her clothes before shifting as a kid and would run around in wolf form wearing pink princess underwear with her tail sticking out a rip in the back.

They tell me about the upcoming lunar eclipse which will be a blood moon. How many shifters come to run in the forest on their land. Many of them locals, some visitors that they’ve befriended. In just three days, these woods will be teaming with shifters in their true forms running, hunting, and apparently fucking. I guess the moon does have an effect on them, even though they aren’t actual werewolves. It doesn’t control thembut sparks a need and desire. I get a knowing gaze from Ginger after that revelation.

After Ginger leaves, Hunter wastes no time getting me naked and moaning beneath him. Tangled in his bed sheets and digging my fingers into the meaty muscle of his ass and through the soft strands of his short hair.

We lay in his bed, still naked, slightly sweaty, and blissfully sated. At least I know I am, my body soft and pliant draped over Hunter’s strong but peaceful one. His hand mindlessly stroking through my hair down my back anywhere he can reach. Unable to stop touching me even though we were just touching quite a bit.

With every passing caress, I feel the touch deeper than skin only. I feel it steadily stoking the ember in my chest that feels more and more like love. A heated coal thar will turn into a raging inferno that once ignited will never deplete.

“There’s something I’ve been thinking about that I wanted to ask you,” Hunter begins, breaking the sex-induced silence we’ve been lying in.

Tilting my head, I look up to him but don’t rise. I’m far too comfortable where I am, and Hunter’s hand stops roaming and settles on my waist, holding tight. So, I take that as he doesn’t want me to move either.

“What’s that?” I ask, interested to know what’s rolling around in his head that he wants to ask me.

“There are these rules that all non-humans abide by. Most are about keeping our kind secret, protecting our anonymity, and staying out of the news. But a few have to do with dealing with other non-humans. How we treat each other and interact with other packs and groups.

“There’s one that states if one or more non-humans were to make threats or attack any member of a pack, the alpha of thatpack has the right to respond. To protect their pack by whatever means they see fit.”

My brow pulls down in confusion. This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with me? I don’t interrupt and let Hunter continue, far too intrigued to see where this is going.

“As such I cannot act against Vincent for his actions against you since you aren’t officially part of my pack.”

I cock my head as best I can while still laying on Hunter’s shoulder. An action I can’t control with my inability to understand what he’s trying to say.

“What do you mean? You are doing something to protect me,” I argue.