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Chapter 9

Noah

Icame to buck-naked on all fours just beyond the edge of the forest. I rolled my neck loosening the muscles. A sweet after-shift burn spread through my limbs, made worse by how far my wolf had run. But I couldn’t rest. I needed to get to Mia and make sure she was safe.

I stood, grabbed the pile of clothes I left by a tree and shoved on my jeans and shoes. Racing out of the forest, I pulled a shirt over my head and ran straight up the front steps and into the Cole house.

After my call earlier in the day, Liam closed the bar and bunkered down with Ivy inside the house. To a hunter, an ordinary human family lived on the farm.

Large packs worked together to take down hunters. We were a tiny pack of four with only three shifters. This hunter wouldn’t stop until he discovered our location and got what he came for—blood.

The second I returned from Mia’s, Ash shifted with me and joined the hunt. We became the hunters instead of the hunted. But we’d lost the hunter’s trail to the far west of the forest near the main road leading to Timber Falls. That asshole had been at Mia’s place, I smelled his retched scent all over the lawn but thank fuck he didn’t stick around.

The hunter had clearly picked up a few tricks since our last encounter.

By the hall table, I paused and inhaled a deep breath filled with Mia’s jasmine scent. It coated my body like an extra skin. Even though I’d shifted with a single intention to remain in the forest, my damn wolf didn’t listen and stepped onto the lawn.

I envied it. To have a connection with her without secrets or expectations or having to deal with all the shit that came with being in human form.

Enough was enough. She clearly didn’t know about this world. She needed to realize the dangers and that no matter which path she chose, I’d protect her. I’d sat on the sidelines for fifteen fucking years. I wouldn’t do it any longer, especially while Mia remained in that house unaware.

The hunter might not attack her place right away, but it wouldn’t be long until that psycho figured out she was a Whitcome descendant. Then he’d know her link with me. I wouldn’t sit on my ass while the hunter planned his next move. Been there, done that. And Joan died because of my negligence.

I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

I snatched my cell and keys from the side table. Four missed calls from Mia. I didn’t need to listen to the messages to know they were about my wolf and what just happened in her backyard. I retained that memory after I shifted back.

Now she needed to know her wolf and I were one and the same.

Liam walked around the corner into the hall. “Kill that sonofabitch yet?”

“Working on it.” Fury clenched my jaw. “Ash and I lost the scent.”

The front door slammed opened, and Ash strode in, shirt hanging from his hands. “I doubled back in case we missed something. We didn’t.”

“I lost the trail near the Henderson property. He might be heading to Timber Falls.”

Liam pulled out his cell, thumbing the screen. “I’ll let Baker know, so he can be on alert if the hunter shows up there.”

“Good idea.” Ash slipped on his shirt. “We’ll get him, Noah.”

I wasn’t so sure. Once maybe, but that psycho had terrorized us for long enough. This needed to end before someone else died.

“I’m going to Mia.” A whole lot of silence from Ash and Liam. “I can’t keep tiptoeing around this. She’s safer knowing. And if I go to her, I can be on the front foot if she already knows.”

Ash nodded. “I agree.”

Wait. “You do?”

“This hunter isn’t going to stop. Leaving her unprotected at that house isn’t wise. Especially after…”

Joan.

I’d never admit it aloud, but Ash’s support meant more to me than he realized. With less than two years between us, I still looked up to him. Even more after Dad passed.

He gripped my shoulder giving it a firm squeeze. “Let me know how it goes. I’ll text you once we hear from Baker.”

“Will do.”