The Hunter Becomes The Hunted - Chapter 175

I woke up still wrapped in Kyle’s arms and feeling safe and secure. If I closed my eyes again, I could pretend that we were still home and that nothing had happened. But I knew that wasn’t true.

For one thing, the place looked and smelled different. This was not my house, this was not my room, nothing about this place felt familiar to me. And the second thing, the main reason why this couldn’t be home, Maya wasn’t here.

I missed my baby. I hadn’t been away from her for all that long, but I missed her so much I felt like I was going to die. And there was nothing that I wanted more than to hold her in my arms again. I needed her comforting weight, her familiar scent, and sweet and soft little cries and sounds that she gave me when looking me in the eyes. I needed it all like I needed air to breathe.

Since there was no way for me to go back to sleep after thinking all of that, I decided to stretch and get out of the bed.. My movements, of course, alerted Kyle to the fact that I was awake. I was certain he could tell that I was going to get up and he wanted to keep me close to him. He pulled me a little closer, a little tighter against his chest.

“Don’t leave me just yet.” His voice was groggy and filled with sleep. “I don’t want you to leave my side.”

“I just need to use the bathroom, Kyle. I’m not leaving you.” I wanted to laugh at him, but I couldn’t. I knew that he had been through a lot too. The emotional toll that it had to have taken on him when I was taken, I knew that he was still hurting from that.

“Please.” He seemed to be begging me. Kyle was always more vulnerable when he was sleeping or on the verge of sleep.

“OK, I can hold off for a few more minutes.”

“Thank you.” The felt him press his cheek against my hair and breath in so deep it was like he wanted to have nothing be me filling his lungs. “Goddess, I love you so much, Jacy. I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“I love you too.” I snuggled into him, giving him a little more affection than I usually did. I would say that he had earned it and deserved to be treated with extra special care right now.

“I was so worried about you. While you were gone, I felt lost and empty.” His words caused me to shed a tear or two because I knew what he had been feeling. I had missed him, longed for him, and needed him while I was gone as well. The problem was that I had been dealing with so much that I hadn’t paid as much attention to that.

Did that make me a horrible mate? I didn’t know, but I knew that I never wanted to experience something like that ever again.

When we did finally get up, I wanted to eat breakfast more than anything else. I hadn’t had dinner the night before and it was almost nine in the morning by the time that I woke up today, so it had been a long time since I had had any food.

The rumbling from my stomach alerted Kyle to the dire need for me to eat something. So, with a laugh in his voice, he ordered food to be delivered to the room as soon as possible. Thank the Goddess they worked expediently.

Later, after my belly had been filled and the beast within satisfied (and I don’t mean my wolf), it was time for us to talk. Bastian and Laremy were the first to come to our room, Lucian was next, followed by Deek, Winston, Baxter, and all the others that came with Kyle. Honestly, knowing that so many people had come for me, so many people who didn’t even know me, made me feel pretty damn good. I had a good group of people behind me and that was an amazing feeling.

“Good morning to you, Jacy.” The vampire, Salazar, cooed at me when he came into the room. I had been told about him, but never met him before. Given that he was a vampire and here with a female Alpha vampire (I could tell just by looking at her) it wasn’t hard for me to figure out who he was.

There was also an Alpha wolf I didn’t know, so I guessed that he was Justin, leader of the local pack in Boston. I knew of him, but I had been living my life as a ‘rogue’ so I hadn’t joined his pack.

“It’s nice to meet the famous Jacy. Kyle has told us many wonderful things about you.”

“I have heard good things about you as well, it is a pleasure to meet you, to meet all of you.” I nodded at the people that I didn’t know as they sat down.

“I am just glad that you’re OK.” Lucian hugged me tightly and didn’t let me go until Kyle growled at him.

“You know I have a mate too, right?” Lucian laughed at Kyle when he let me go.

“Yes, but a hug does not need to last that long unless it is from me.” Kyle pulled me to sit on his lap while both Lucian and I rolled our eyes.

“Try telling EZ that.” Lucian laughed as he took his seat. “I do not think that you will be able to pull him off of her so easily.”

“Err.. W..w..well EZ is different. He’s gay.”

“Oooh, does that mean that I can sit Jacy on my lap and hug her during the meeting?” Laremy joked, reaching toward me with mirth in his eyes.

“Try it and die.” Kyle scooted our chair back and the whole room laughed.

“Clearly, EZ is an exception because he is EZ. And I do believe that Kyle is rightfully afraid of him.”

“That damn chihuahua would gnaw my ankles off, dammit. I am not going to cross him at all.” More laughter, more time that was helping me to feel like there hadn’t been anything bad that had happened at all. This was a completely normal conversation for us. As odd as it seemed.

“This is fun, I like this. Thea, we need to spend more time around these people.” Salazar grinned as he wrapped his arm around his mate.

“Agreed.” She smiled back.

“That’s nice, I look forward to it. However, I think that there is more that we need to discuss.”

“You’re right.” Deek was the first one to jump onto the serious topics with me. “We need to figure out what you’re going to do now, since you’re the new Alpha.”

“I never agreed to be the Alpha.” I looked at him with anger beginning to boil in me.

“I don’t think you have a choice, unless you pick someone else. You were the Alpha when your father died and they recognized that, even though you left. And now, you killed the man that was the acting Alpha, even if he was the true leader at the time that role passed down to you when you killed him. Whether you like it or not, Jacy, you’re the current Alpha.”

He was right. I had known he was right, but that didn’t mean that I had to just accept it. I wanted to at least think about denying it.

“But I-.”

“Of course she is the Alpha. She was meant to be the Alpha all along. The only thing that we need to worry about now is how we’re going to make this work.” Kyle interrupted me before I could object at all.

“Kyle?” I looked at him with confusion and shock. “What the hell are you saying?”

“What’s so wrong? You had to know that when Victor died you would be taking over?”

“But I have my work back in Boston. I have Maya and friends and family.” I was pleading with him.

“And we can split our time so that you can still see your friends and family, and of course Maya would be coming with us to stay here. We wouldn’t leave her.”

“And your work?” I raised my eyebrows at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

“That’s easy. I have been working from home most of the time and I can fly back whenever I need to. Seeing how convenient it is to have a private plane, I might just buy one. That would let me fly out whenever I need to.”

“You’ve seriously been planning this?” I still felt like I was in shock at his words. Was the world falling away from me? Was I floating into outer space because I wasn’t tethered to anything anymore?

“Yes, I have. It’s what’s to be expected. I want us to have the life that we were both meant to have. You’re safe and free to run your pack now.”

I didn’t know whether to smack him for trying to control things or kiss him for being so thoughtful. Maybe both.

“Oww, what was that-?” I did just what I was thinking, I smacked him on the arm for his controlling behavior and kissed him on the lips when he complained about it.

“Figure it out, you tomcat.” I grinned at him.

“I love you too.” He grinned at me and we got back to the discussion.

In the end, it was decided that Kyle and I would split our time between here and Boston, just like he had said. We wouldn’t be moving here until our new house was built, because I would be damned if I was going to live in a house that Victor lived in. Nope, that place needed to be torn down and rebuilt. I was even thinking about calling in an exorcist to purify the ground before we rebuilt the house.

After we were living here it would just be smooth sailing, or according to Kyle, it would be. We would have our two packs that would be working together to be prosperous. If Kyle ever needed help, then he could call on my wolves, and the same went with me and my pack.

Deek was officially named as my Beta, and we would tell the pack later when we went to see them. He would be taking care of things while I was away and whenever we visited Boston for Kyle’s work or to see my family.

There was one last thing I had to ask Kyle though, and I waited until everyone left to get ready for the pack meeting to mention it.

“Hey, I have something that’s been bothering me.”

“What’s that, sweetheart?” He grinned and held my waist against him.

“If I am the Alpha, does that make you my Luna?” I grinned and could barely contain the laughter.

“Well, technically it does, but we can make it more masculine if Luna doesn’t suit your tastes.”

“Really? And what would that be?” I was laughing, full on laughing now.

“Just add an R, I can be your Lunar. But I am fine with being your Luna if that is what you prefer.”

This man, he was too much sometimes. And then he went and kissed me gently to melt my heart. The stupid adorable panther. How was I supposed to fight against that? When he was acting all sweet, adorable and loving like this. It was too perfect for me sometimes. It just made me feel like I couldn’t hold a candle to how awesome he was. How did I get so lucky to have a man like him?

I don’t know what I did to have fate look upon me with such fortune, but I knew that I was the luckiest woman in the world. There was no doubt about that.