His to Claim (Published)

Hide & Hunt

Christa and I were walking the grounds when I spotted Jane booking it out of the forest and across the lawn like the devil was chasing her. My eyebrows furrow and I feel my body grow alert to my surroundings looking towards the woods expecting some army to come charging out of it. When I don't see anything I call out to her, "Jane!" I cup my hands to my mouth to make it louder. Her head snaps in my direction and I see the look of panic on her face. She turns her direction and runs towards me and I note that she is pretty quick, "Scarlett you have to help me!" She yells as she reaches me looking back over her shoulder to see if whoever or whatever she was running from is there. 

I try not to laugh but I have a habit of laughing at inappropriate times, "Jane what's wrong?" Christa is sizing up Jane as if assessing her as a potential threat and I give her a look and shake my head as if to say 'She's cool'. 

"He caught my scent when I was on a run—I thought it would be fine. He wasn't supposed to be on this side of the territory..." She says a little breathless but I know immediately who she is talking about. I look to the trees now knowing there is a wolf seeking his mate headed straight for us. "You have to help me—I'm not ready..." She wrings her hands clearly distressed. I want to tell her to suck it up and that she has nothing to worry about because Dane will love her. Instead I heave a sigh of frustration, "Okay—"  

I look to Christa, "Take Jane somewhere and hide her..." I look to Jane, "We're going to talk about this later." I give her a pointed look. I was going to get to the bottom of this fear she had about meeting her mate. I mean sure I hadn't wanted to meet mine but for entirely different reasons. 

"What about you?" Christa asks looking clearly torn between doing what I told her to do and doing her job as Noah dictated. I give her a bored expression, "I think I'll be okay by myself for ten minutes. Now go." I wave them off. Christa gives me one last look before she bends over, "I apologize now but this will be faster..." She says as she grabs Jane by the back of her legs. She throws her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and takes off running. I watch the scene with surprise for a moment. I guess I picked the right person to be my protector.

I hear the sound of heavy foot falls and I spin back around to see Dane break through the tree line. He is looking around like a crazed person before his eyes drift over in my direction. I try to remain as relaxed as possible as he makes his way toward me with steady but quick steps, "Where is she?" He practically growls at me. 

My wolf isn't happy about his tone of voice but I push her feelings away because I had been expecting that. I let my eyebrows furrow, "Where is who? Christa? Oh she had to use the bathroom. I told her I'd be fine for a moment by myself. Don't tell Noah. He'd totally throw a fit over it and I really don't want to deal with that..." I say with a bit of a smile. He growls at me, "I know she was here Scarlett—It was the same scent from your room." His eyes are almost pitch black, "You know who she is..." 

"Dane you need to calm down—" I say smoothly 

"NO!" He growls at me his body shaking a little. I take a step back from him realizing that he is dangerously close to shifting, "Stop lying to me—you're hiding her. You're keeping me from her." He accuses or rather his wolf does. I feel a pang of guilt rush to my heart as I look at him, "Dane listen..." I reach out towards him and he lets out a low warning growl which halts my movement.