The Hunter's Alpha

6 Subservient

Devon

I walked to the room where Amber was confined and knocked on the door before cracking it open. She was sitting on the windowsill looking out again like a caged animal who longed for freedom, and I wanted to throw open the door and let her loose.

But that was impossible, because she was a hunter as much as I was a wolf, two sides diametrically opposed to each other.

As the alpha of my pack, I could release her with a few words, but my people would not be pleased. We had lost more than one precious member over the years to those violent dictators and there was ample resentment to go around. They wanted me to attempt a prisoner swap to get my sister and her mate back, but it was hardly so simple.

"Come with me," I ordered her.

She did as I said without complaint and it frustrated me. She was so wan and lifeless, simply going along with whatever she was told to do. Where was her spirit?

It was bad enough that my mate was a huntress of all things, but did she have to be the most passive huntress I had ever encountered? How could she ever stand beside me when all she did was flinch and flee? I could not imagine how she was in any way equal to the challenges before her.

The only sign that she had any strength at all was the way she had tried to blind her assailant with dirt. Fear shot through me at the memory. If I had been any later, he probably would have killed her.

It had been laughably easy to take him out. I would have liked to play with that blinded hunter who dared lay his hands on my mate, but my instinctive rage had me go for his throat. I could not quite hold in the deep growl that rumbled out of me at the memory. My wolf was constantly pushing at the surface, ever since I first caught my mate's scent.

While I had found her, the mission to rescue the prisoners had otherwise failed, and the female who I had claimed I brought back for questioning knew absolutely nothing of value. Our cover had been blown, and we were no closer to saving our family than we had been before.

I hadn't yet told my pack who she was, not only because of the destabilizing news of a huntress as future luna, but also because I was not entirely satisfied with this female fate had gifted me. She seemed completely unequipped to lead beside me, meek, weak, and apparently terrified of everything.

In spite of her alarming lack of assertiveness, the wolf inside me howled for her, and I had no intention of letting her go. I might have hoped for a more fitting mate, but only a fool questioned the bond. I would never reject her, but I half expected she might flee in terror upon finding out her destiny. I had no idea how to tell her. It was probably best to wait a while until she became accustomed to me and the pack before breaking the news.

She walked before me, and I could not help but let my eyes wander over my tiny female, from the top of her light brown hair to her small waste and shapely legs. Even the sight of her made me want to announce my possession, mark her, and take her at once, but she wouldn't respond well to such abrupt action. She was not a fellow wolf who had spent her life with the expectation of finding her other half, but instead a human huntress with no expectations of finding a mate.

So I bided my time.

—————

I took her to the kitchen where a meal had already been prepared and set out. I had already sent everyone away from the area so that I'd have time alone with her. "I'm going to allow you free rein of the pack house from now on."

She glanced at me with uncertainty.

"The house is well guarded. You won't be able to escape."

She kept her gaze down on her food. "So, are you keeping me here?" she asked.