The Hunter's Alpha

13 Leave

Devon

"So, how's it going with the mate?" Oliver asked in the most obtrusive way possible, straight into my mind to make it impossible to ignore him.

"Did you really just call me away from her just to ask that?"

I glowered at him, only half seriously, but he just raised an eyebrow and smiled as if he couldn't see my expression. Shameless younger brothers.

"Do I look like I have a death wish, Devon? No, patrols reported hunter activity on the northern border."

I narrowed my eyes, furious that the hunters dared skulk around my territory. Were they here looking for my mate? Unlikely, if she was as unimportant as she thought. Additionally, if they believed that we had stolen one of their people, they would begin with the channels laid out in the accords rather than sneaking around the edge of the border. If there was had any evidence that I had done something wrong, they would try to prosecute me through the official procedures, so this was likely some other trouble they were causing.

Likely, they were investigating the death of that piece of shit who had been hurting her. "Have they breached the border?"

"No, not yet. They appear to be intentionally staying outside of it."

I looked across the sea of my people enjoying their leisure time together. "Send out the standby team to reinforce, but try not to cause a panic. This isn't the first time they've been sniffing around, and it's unlikely they'll act. If they make contact, I'll head out there and deal with them. No need to cause more difficulty with the hunters until we have undeniable proof."

"Sounds good, Alpha." He spun around and left. I watched him go and headed back to Amber, only to discover she had disappeared from where I left her.

Had I really believed that she would stay put and wait for me? Just because we were talking now didn't mean that I was making any real headway with her, but her absence still stung. It seemed would take any excuse to stay away from me.

It took me a couple of minutes to locate her amidst the obscuring scents of my pack. She had found a new vantage point that nearly hid her while she watched the pups again, this time as they played some beanbag game one of the teachers had set up. Ignoring my wolf, I decided not to disturb her again, instead I walked the opposite direction, thinking about how much I wanted to kill the hunters who had forced her to adapt her behaviour this way. I almost wished the ones sneaking around the edge of my territory would come inside, so that I would have an excuse to deal with them.

But for the sake of my pack, I would not rush headlong into a new war, no matter how tempting. Tensions with the hunters had already been heightened even before I had found Amber. The disappearance of my sister and her mate had been the final straw that broke the tentative peace of my time as the leader of my pack. Of course, the hunters had outright denied having anything to do with Silvia's disappearance, but my scouts had found evidence at the point the clear trail of their scent disappeared, a button that matched those on the standard hunter uniform. Frustratingly, that still had not been enough to convince a majority at the alpha assembly to stand with Marrowcliff and take action.

With no recourse and few allies, it had taken us more than a year to find a lead on where the hunters might be holding them, and then I had sabotaged the mission by rescuing my mate instead of heading further in to find our missing people. I would do it all over again if I had to, but I wasn't just going to forget that the hunters had my sister somewhere out there.

I left my mate alone until the main evening feast. She looked tense when I sat beside her, but she did not protest. It was impossible to tell if she was pleased to have me there, or if she was stoically enduring the torture of my proximity. The food was served buffet style, so we went up together to fill our plates. Sarah led us as she chattered on and on to Amber about anything and everything. I was more fixated on the fact my mate took very little, as I eyed her small form. She was beautiful, but she had nothing to spare, as if she had been getting by on the bare minimum for far too long. Because I didn't think she would welcome my concern, I resisted the urge to encourage her to eat more, even though my wolf nagged me to take care of her.