Hunted

Chapter 33: First Fight

Looking through Rykan's pack stuff, I was finally feeling more confident in my role. I understood a lot more than I did before and I hoped that knowledge would come with relief that making a place here wouldn't be so hard, except that relief was short-lived when I looked through some of the laws Rykan had.

Some of the stuff I found, I wasn't entirely happy with it. He had some concerning things about rogues, wolves that had no packs. I asked Xavier about it and he was more hesitant than usual to give information but that wasn't all it was. When I brought up rogues, Xavier got so uncomfortable he wouldn't even look me in the eye. That was very concerning. I would have to talk to Rykan about it but the whole thing was so heavy I needed something lighter so I moved to my room.

The witch books Catelyn brought over were really interesting but not interesting enough to distract me from the fact Xavier had hardly left my side since I had the weird migraine. I peeked over my book and saw him sitting at my desk, reading through a book he got off my shelf.

"Can you be real with me?" I sighed, lowering the book.

"Of course," he said, looking up from his book and frowning.

"Are you here because you're that worried or are you here because Rykan told you to not leave me alone?"

He sighed and closed the book, shrugging. "Both."

"You guys are ridiculous," I said, rolling my eyes.

"We're just worried about you," he defended.

"Do you even like reading?" I asked, noticing he'd barely made any progress.

He shrugged and gave me a sheepish smile. I rolled my eyes and sat up, closing my book.

"You don't have to stop, Luna," he said, frowning.

"I know but I think Rykan and I need to discuss you not having to follow me around all the time," I sighed.

"I truly don't mind, Luna," Xavier said. "I... I would want to even if he didn't order it."

I frowned and watched him closely. Our connection and the fact he was the one I spent the most time with besides Rykan told me there was something bothering him that he wasn't telling me. He wasn't that talkative but this was different. There was something on his mind that was right on the edge of his awareness like he wanted to bring it up, but he wasn't.

"What's wrong? I can tell something's wrong, you know," I pointed out.

"I'm just... Concerned," he said, his brows furrowing. "About the interest Blood Stone Pack has taken in you. Concerned about how sick you were the other day."

Right. Blood Stone was the Pack Jeremy and Phillip were from. I'd found out their Alpha was Damon, the same person Tess referred to as a douchebag so apparently we weren't the only ones that didn't care for him. I tried to ask Rykan what his problem with Xander was but he wasn't very forthcoming with information.

"I feel totally fine," I assured. "And it's probably just because I'm human, right? Clearly that doesn't always settle well."

"I don't know that's all it is," Xavier mumbled, darting his eyes away.

"What else could it be?" I shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted. "How goes the witch reading?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. He wasn't even trying to be subtle, changing the subject. "It's going good. It's really interesting."

"Why is it you're reading so much about witches?" He asked. "And fae? I mean, what's making you drawn to it?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I guess because I always was fascinated with that kind of thing as a kid. The witch stuff. And I always loved nature so...." I trailed off. "I don't know. It's just interesting. Why?"