Chapter 2 - Hunter

The tradition of wolf marriage dictated that a husband should not leave his wife's side for even a moment during their wedding night, but Hunter couldn't care less what norms he was breaking at that moment, as he walked alone to his office, being followed by the only people he would take advice in a situacion like that.

“Well, the ceremony went smoothly, and even now that Corinne Valiant has gone to her room, there's no indication that she's going to cause any trouble.” Belle was the first to comment, when the four were all in the room “I think that's a good sign, don't you?”

“We should be careful anyway.” Hunter's uncle, Felix, shook his head, with the same dissatisfied look that had taken over his face since Hunter had announced his intention to marry the Valiant daughter to seal the peace agreement between wolves and tigers "The Valiants may need support against these damned invaders as much as we do, but we still don't know if their daughter isn't acting like this as part of a plan to dominate our territory or something. If she's so calm like that, contrary to all the rumors about her, then it's probably because she wanted something in return and got it.”

“Well, I inspected the car that brought you here and didn’t find anything wrong or suspicious.” Aiden Verwood, Hunter’s best warrior, commented, clearly surprised by his own findings “Just as Hunter had demanded of the Valiant, she only brought a single escort with her. The old woman appears to have a perpetual grimace on her face and seemed ready to kill any wolf that came near her lady, but there was no attempt to harm one of our wolves. Anyway, I followed your orders and assigned her a room in the same hallway as my best soldiers. If she tries to do anything, then it certainly won’t go unnoticed.”

“And, if she tries, we will be ready to handle it in a way that will teach her and her lady not to try to threaten any of the wolves in this pack again.” Hunter assured, harshly “Follow our plans and maintain tight security around the city and especially around the tigress. Don't let her go anywhere without telling me first. And keep her away from all the places she could cause trouble. You never know what kind of thing she will try to do to express her dissatisfaction with being forced to marry me.”

“You know we won’t be able to just keep her locked in her room for as long as she stays married to you, right?” Belle snorted “Especially when she starts acting like everyone says she did in her homeland.”

“And what do you suggest? We gonna simply do her bidding?” Felix grunted.

“I'm just saying that, if she's willing to make peace with us, we should try to make peace with her too. It's the best for the whole pack. We don’t need to make this any harder than it already is for all of us, especially Hunter.”

“Her facade of calm did not convince me.” Hunter told his cousin “I still think this is just part of a bigger plan she's trying to put together. Her reputation follows her for a reason, certainly. Therefore, while she is in my territory, we must all keep our guards up, especially you guys. Once she realizes that you are the most influential wolves on my council and I care about most, she will probably try to do something to you to get to me. So stay safe and put one or two more warriors to take care of protecting…”

“Hunter!” as if she had sensed that he was about to talk about her, Jennifer entered the office, pushing the door violently, with her young face covered in tears “How could you do that?! I told you to give up on this marriage! How can you bring that terrible woman into our pack?”

“We’ve already talked about this Jennifer.” he sighed, as gently as he could, despite the stress of that day “It is necessary, if we want to have allies, to find out who those strange wolves are that continue to attack our borders and, most importantly, to get rid of them. Soon, this will all be over and that tigress never will be considered a Calibur again. The truth is, right now, she is not one of us. And she never will be.” Hunter assured, not just for his advisors, but for himself, though the image of those blue-green jewel-like  eyes was still haunting his thoughts.

“I didn't want you to have to go through this…” Jennifer continued crying and, as she always did when she was very upset, she threw herself into his arms, holding onto him as if Hunter were her teddy bear “You deserve so much more than the daughter of an evil witch! You should have made someone much better our pack’s Luna…”

“Try to calm down, Jennifer…” he asked, pulling her away a little just so he could stroke her head, just as he had done since the first day he welcomed her into his house “I’ve already made it very clear to the entire pack that this it won't be forever. I know very well that a Luna's duty, as an Alpha's partner, is to help him take care of the pack and protect everyone... Something that Corinne Valiant will certainly never be able to do, even if she wanted to.” Hunter grunted, “So just be patient and be careful of your surroundings while this woman is here, okay? You never know what she might try to do…”

“Because she’ll soon find out that I’m important to you, right?” Jennifer smiled excitedly, proud to be able to say that, without a doubt.

“Of course. You are the youngest in this house. It's my job to protect you…” Hunter hesitated, but, knowing that she would probably never guess what those words meant, he added “I never lied when I went to your house, after your mother died, and brought you here. You’re like the little sister I never had.” he assured, causing the expression on Jennifer's face to quickly turn into an irritated pout “Now, please follow Aiden or Felix to guide you to your room. I have one last thing to take care of tonight.”

“You… You’re not thinking about consummating your wedding night with that woman are you?!” Jennifer gasped, horrified “You can’t! You are a wolf! You have to save yourself for your fated mate! And I know you’re closer to finding her than you think…!”

“You have no idea…” he muttered under his breath, still unable to believe that the tigress he had learned to despise without even knowing was also the female the Moon God had destined for him.

He would probably be condemned as a heretic if anyone could hear his thoughts at that moment, but… If he had known that the God was such a sadistic bastard, perhaps Hunter would have preferred to continue his life without the Moon's blessing.

“You can't do that, you hear me?! It cannot happen!" she whimpered, angrily, and before Hunter could stop her, she tried to wrap her arms around him again “You're going to bitterly regret ever touching that woman, do you hear me? Your mate will never forgive you…”

“Stop making a fuss, girl.” Felix grunted, moving closer to pull her off of Hunter, knowing he wouldn't be able to be rude to Jennifer “We’ve had enough of the woman waiting for Hunter in the room, who will probably cause a fight at any moment if he’s late for his duty.”

“Stop teasing the poor girl, Felix.” Aiden advised, as those words only made Jennifer fuss even more “She's already under enough pressure…”

“You know that's the worst mistake you could make besides getting married today, right, Hunter? That evil woman doesn't deserve you! Even her parents know this, that's why they had to take advantage of you to marry off their daughter and make her someone else's problem. But, you can still go back… I mean…” she sniffed, before opening a shaky smile, her dark blue eyes full of tears “Look at me, okay? Just… Look at me…” she begged, leaving him more confused than ever “You… Don’t you feel anything?” Jennifer’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration “Take a good look at me! I'm wearing one of the dresses you gave me for my eighteenth birthday! This… This one with these beautiful ruffles on the collar, see?” She leaned on his shoulders and suddenly levered herself upwards, pressing Hunter's face against her neck with more force than he imagined she had and bathing him in her scent that was so intense it was almost sour.

“Uh… Jennifer…” he exchanged a look with Isabelle, unsure of how to broach that subject again “You… Don’t you think you should…”

“What’s with your habit of not taking a shower, Jennifer?” Belle asked, with a tired sigh. “Anyone can smell you from miles away and, believe me, it's not pleasant. So leave Hunter alone and get straight to the bathroom, now. It’s not like a tigress, no matter how troublesome she is, is capable of killing one of the most powerful Alphas in the region in just one night.”

“I… I don’t stink! You are lying!" Jennifer blushed from head to toe and Hunter took advantage of that moment to pull her off of him, pinning her where Felix could place his hand on her shoulder and stop her from running away again.

“Follow Belle’s advice, Jennifer.” Hunter asked, wanting to be understanding of the fact that her young age also came with little maturity, but feeling too tired even for that “Everyone here just wants to see you well. And, if your concern is for my safety, then you have even less reason to be upset.” he assured, walking to the office door and opening it before anyone else tried to stop him from going to his new wife “Tonight, I will make sure that woman knows what the consequences will be, if she proves to be a threat to anyone in my pack.”