Chapter 4.

Malakar's POV.

"Where the hell is she?" I demand from Talon as he tries to hold me down.

"Who are you talking about, Alpha? And where exactly are you trying to go?" He has a serious look on his face.

Not only is Talon my Beta, but we've been friends for as long as we've been alive. He's like a brother to me. I trust him with my life.

I stop struggling so that he'll let go of me. "I'm talking about the girl. My mate. Where is she?"

Talon raises his eyebrows at me. "So that really happened, huh?"

I frown at him. "What are you talking about? Of course it happened."

I knew it the second I saw her. Mating to a human is rare, extremely rare actually, but not impossible. And there is no way I can deny the fact that it happend to me. I could feel the unmistakable pull between our souls. I felt the shift in my existence. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the only thing that mattered to me from that moment on, the only thing that meant anything to me, was her. 

My soul purpose in life is loving her, being with her, protecting her. Now I long for her. I need to see her. I need to be close to her.

"I'm waiting Talon. Where is my mate?"

He looks nervous and uncomfortable. He rubs the back of his neck. "Well, you see the thing is, Alpha, and you're not going to like this, but she's gone."

Blind rage rises up inside me. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. My wolf stirs restlessly. He wants to be with his mate. He doesn't want to hear that she's gone.

"What the hell do you mean she's gone? Gone where?" I growl at Talon, who takes a cautious step back.

"We took her back to the hospital where we found her, Alpha. What the hell were we supposed to do? Keep her here until you finally woke up?"

"YES!" I jump off of the stretcher and storm at Talon. I am so angry that I can barely see in front of me. They just let my mate go. What were they thinking?

Talon throws his hands up in defence. "You need to calm down, Malakar. You're not thinking straight."

Hearing my name calms me down somewhat. Talon only calls me by my name when he needs to get through to me and not my wolf. I tell my wolf to calm down as well. He is reluctant. His primal instinct is telling him to go after her. To drag her back if need be. Finally he settles.

"Why did you take her back?"

"Because she's a human, obviously. We only took her because we all thought that you were going to die. We had no other choice."

I sigh heavily and run my hands through my hair. The longing I feel for my mate is like a dull void in the center of my soul.

"None of us expected her to be your mate. I thought it would be easy. Bring her here, get her to take the bullet out. Get her out of here again. Wham-bang thank you ma'am."

"Why did you choose her, Talon?"

"I didn't. She was the first person we saw leaving the hospital. She was wearing scrubs so I just assumed that she was either a doctor or a nurse. Either one would have gotten the job done.

'So it was fate. She was meant to come here all along. We were supposed to meet."

Talon regards me with wary eyes. "Yea, I guess so. But I had to get her out of here. She's way too perseptive. She saw too much. I could see the wheels spinning. I knew that she had a lot of questions that I wasn't willing to answer."

I couldn't help but smile. Of course my mate is smart. A wave of pride washes over me.

"I need to go to her. I need to see her." I turn to leave the tent, but Talon steps in front of me and blocks my path. I frown at him.

"You need to be careful, Malakar. We have a much bigger problem on our hands."

"What are you talking about?"

Talon walks away and returns a second later, handing me a silver bullet. I turn it over in my hand to inspect it. An ice-cold shudder runs down my spine. "Where did you get this?"

"She took it out of you." Talon has a deep frown between his brows. "What I don't get is where they got it from. The Doomhowlers."

"This didn't come from them, Talon."

The Doomhowlers are a neighbouring pack. We used to live in peace alongside each other, but then their Alpha died and his son, Lucian, took over command of the pack. They've been attacking us ever since. I still have no idea why. My only guess is that Lucian is vying for control of the entire territory.

"Then where did it come from? Who else would know to use silver bullets?" Talon sounds worried. We keep the existence of our kind well hidden from the humans. As far as they're concerned, werewolves are only fictional characters in movies or in books. It's better for our safety and theirs.

I carefully examine the bullet once more. 

"A Hunter would know."

A strange shadow crosses Talon's face. He swallows hard. "A Hunter. I thought they were extinct?"

"Clearly, they're not. See these markings on the bullet." I hold the bullet out to Talon. He takes it from me and turns it over in his own hand. "They were edged by hand. They're ancient Hunter markings. They make the silver more potent, and cast a manner of protection over the Hunter who made them."

"What does this mean, Alpha?" Talon looks at me with great concern in his eyes.

"It means that we're all in great danger. It means that she's in danger and she doesn't even know it."