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Page 41 of A Twist of Luck (Shifter City Fated Mates #2)

CHAPTER 41

HUNTER

H er wolf was vibrating, fighting harder than I’d felt in a while. My beast howled back, ready to claim its mate. I might have accepted Kellan being the first to bond due to sheer necessity—saving my brother’s life trumped everything else. But the fact that I still hadn’t claimed my mate was a restless energy inside me. An energy that grew worse every day.

We were on the way home, but there was no fucking way I’d rest tonight without a run. My wolf was determined to tear the compound to pieces, so I directed Marco, our driver, toward the forest. “I need to run,” I told him, my beast heavy in those words.

Emme’s head shot up from where she’d been resting against Kellan’s shoulder, almost asleep.

“On your own?” she asked, concern lacing her sweet tone.

I’d never had anyone other than my brothers give a shit about me before, but Emme had stormed into our lives, sassed the hell out of us, and then started caring. Seeing us with her ethereal blue eyes. It messed with my control, and tonight I was too on edge to risk returning to the pack house.

“Yeah, my beast is restless. I need to free him before he makes a mess that I’m forced to clean up.”

As entitled alpha, I’d learned control and how to harness my power but this was an exceptional circumstance. An exceptionally adorable, freckled, frustratingly sexy circumstance.

“I’ll come with you,” she declared suddenly, any fatigue she’d shown vanishing as she sat straighter.

My beast howled, and it was all satisfaction unfurling through my chest. “You want to run with me?”

She nodded, a determined glint in her eyes. “Yes, I’ve always loved a night run, but it’s never been safe enough.”

At this stage, it was an early morning run, but we’d have darkness for a few more hours.

“I would love to—” Kellan piped up, but when my gaze slammed into him, hard and unyielding, he cleared his throat. “ Never mind. ”

The deep menacing sound that had filled the car faded as I calmed. Our annoying pup had figured out that this was my time with Emme. Running with our omega would be my only way to find peace.

“Okay, little omega,” I said, my chest heating as I drawled her nickname. Emme’s lips parted and her heartrate picked up, which was a usual occurrence when I called her little omega . “We will run together. You and me.”

Forever, baby girl.

“I’ll send the squads around the perimeter,” Slade said as he turned in the passenger seat. “No one will enter the forest while you let your beasts free.”

I’d tear anyone apart who even glanced in her direction, but I couldn’t be too confident after those fuckers stole her out from under Slade. They’d clearly studied our pack and knew who they were up against. For that sole reason alone, I’d allow the extra patrols and males in the vicinity of my mate.

When Emmeline Anders had first appeared in Golden Claw, my focus was on bringing her into the pack and securing our quintet. I wanted to control her, claim her, provide for her… because she was pack.

I was a fucking idiot.

Knowing her now, having her in our lives, I couldn’t remember how we’d existed without her for all these years. Emme brought warmth, light, and a sense of home to my world.

My parents were the worst of our kind, and living under their command was the darkest of my days. Slade kept me from spiraling at first. Then I found my pack and threw myself into that responsibility. Still, the darkness of my youth remained.

Until Emme. My perfect mate.

A mate as essential to my existence as food, water, air, and sunlight.

I would never let her go now. Never .

She’d have been more hesitant to run alone with me if she knew the lengths I’d go to keep her with me forever—the ferality of my thoughts when I considered a life without her.

The restless demons would only ever be sated by one shifter now. Poor Emme.

When we reached the forest, Kellan planted a long kiss on her lips, leaving her dazed as she stumbled from the car. “Have fun, kids,” he called after us with a smirk. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Emme turned her wide, gorgeous eyes on me as she stared like I was her fucking god. The satisfaction and awe I felt at being able to claim and be claimed by this stunning female was overwhelming.

“I can’t tell if you’re going to run or let me devour you,” I murmured, and when her lips parted, breaths harshly grating from her mouth, my cock jerked in my pants as the predator inside rose for the hunt.

Oh, little omega. You will beg me, and then I’m going to claim every inch of you.

My wolf howled, sending my chest rumbling, and when I held my hand out for her, she didn’t hesitate to take it. Her instinctive response to this pack had changed dramatically from the first time we met, when she’d been standoffish and skittish. Tonight, there was trust in her gaze as her wolf and emotions opened to our pack.

Very soon, she’d wear all our bites. Even Finley’s. The bear shifter spent more time than he’d ever admit watching the omega, analyzing her every action. She upset the status quo for him, disturbed his hard-fought peace. He’d fucked up more than once in the early stages of their relationship, and while it would take him time to earn her forgiveness, I had no doubt it would happen eventually. I didn’t fail at anything in life, and securing our quintet wouldn’t be the place I started.

Emme shivered as flurries of sleety snow fell onto her bare arms. “Give us your phones and gear,” Kellan said, leaning through the door. “We’ll be back at dawn to pick you up.”

I handed him my phone, and Emme held out her little bag. Kellan shot her a warm smile and wink as he took them, and then he closed the door.

The vehicle pulled away, leaving me alone with my mate, the dimly lit forest our backdrop. “I’m surprised you wanted to run with me,” I said, unbuttoning my shirt. “Out here, all alone, with no one to hear you scream.”

Teasing her was my new favorite hobby, and I wondered how she’d take that statement. The screams I spoke of had nothing to do with pain, and I was sure she understood my meaning.

She stepped toward me, her socked feet already wet, and I was hit with the urge to get her into her wolf form before she got any colder. “Maybe I don’t want them to hear me scream,” she murmured, pressing her tiny hand against my bare chest. A spark of energy and warmth passed between us and my cock kicked even harder .

“Maybe,” she continued, leaning down to press her lips to the very spot her hand had just warmed. “I’m curious to see what big bad Hunter Reeves does when he has me all to himself.”

Oh, she had no idea the inferno she’d just ignited. My poor, precious little omega.

Leaning down, I cupped her face with my right hand, scraping over her soft cheeks until I collared her throat. The tattoo sent a shot of satisfaction through me and my beast. Mine . “I’m going to give you a five-minute head start, baby,” I murmured, tasting her sweet lips, barely stopping myself from tearing her dress off her luscious curves.

“Head start for what?” she replied breathlessly, pupils dilated.

My wolf pushed at me leaving my words rougher. “To escape me. I’m going to chase with the intent to claim you, Emmeline Anders. I’m going to hunt you through this forest.” Her breath caught as she licked her lips and watched me like I was the only thing she could see. Fucking intoxicating . “If I catch you before the sun shows up, then you will beg for my claim, and I will take you in the forest against the most ancient tree in the area. One of the western redcedars that were here long before Golden Claw, where the blood of our ancestors run.”

Her pupils blew out as she panted. “And… if you don’t catch me?”

There wasn’t a chance in hell that would happen, but letting her think she had a real shot only added to the thrill. “If you manage to hide from me, without leaving this forest, I will give you whatever you want. With no limitations.”

“What if I still want to escape?” she whispered, and for the first time I was sure she didn’t mean it.

“Sorry, little omega. That’s non-negotiable, and will never happen. You can’t leave Kellan, even if you wanted to. Which I know you don’t.”

She didn’t try to lie or argue that truth. “Okay, Hurricane Hunter. You have a deal. You give me a head start, and if I stay out of your grasp, you’ll owe me a huge favor. Without limitations, except for not leaving permanently.”

It wouldn’t matter. She’d barely last the five minutes head start, so I could agree to anything. “It’s a deal.”

Emme looked pleased with herself as she jumped away, as if she was going to undress herself. Oh no, sweetheart. Not a chance.

When I stalked toward her, she backed away until her ass hit the railing that separated the parking lot from the forest. Her expression remained calm and open as I reached for her, and there was no rejection in her gaze. With slow, deliberate movements, I pulled the ties on her shoulders and loosened each strap. She turned without prompting, presenting the laces that secured the back of her dress.

Slowly, taking my time, I unraveled and loosened the bodice until the entire top fell from her body. Emme made no move to catch it, comfortable enough to bare her breasts to me and the icy darkness. I’d devoured her body enough times now to know perfection didn’t remotely come close to describing Emmeline.

I reached out to cup her full, heavy breasts, pink nipples puckered in the cold and under my gliding touch. It was the same pink as her pretty pussy, and fuck, this omega was just pretty all over.

Through sheer force of will I released her and finished the process of stripping her dress away.

When she was naked, the long lengths of her limbs gleaming in the low light, she shifted into her white wolf. Her beast quickly shook off the change, and I noted how well she blended into the wintery forest.

There’d been no white wolves where I grew up. No omegas in our area, no matter how hard my father searched for them. He’d been obsessed with omegas and dragons, and I still had no fucking clue why. Why did he care more about two outliers of the shifter world when he had sons and a daughter who needed him? When I’d first changed our name and moved to Golden Claw, I’d expected him to fight. Not just to keep me but also Slade, his greatest discovery.

But he never did.

Keeping Emme away was a new priority for more reason than one, and if I had to kill that old bastard to ensure he never touched my omega, then I’d do so without regret.

“Run, Emme,” I ordered as she pranced on the snow. “Your five minutes start now.”

With a yip and then a quick howl, she took off into the forest, and I lurched forward, instinct guiding me to follow. With squads patrolling the forest perimeter, we were as safe as we’d ever be. Still, it was a risk to have her on her own. Already, I’d stripped off the last of my clothes, prepared to bolt as soon as the five minutes were up.

After I placed our items into one of the wooden boxes set here for personal items, my beast rose to the surface. We shifted fast, a base, animalistic nature to our thoughts.

I threw my head back and howled long and loud into the night as a warning to anyone out there who might be hovering in the darkness, debating if they should touch what was mine.

Touch her and die was my new motto.

The howl was also a tiny warning to my omega. The predator inside me was about to hunt her, and then she would be claimed.