The Hunt

Chapter 13

"Our relationship isn't exactly envy-worthy, and my pack members are starting to notice and ask questions," Cole spoke, watching me intently, my breath frozen in my lungs, refusing to move a muscle as he spoke.

"And why does that bother you?" I questioned after releasing the carbon dioxide I was holding inside my chest, my eyebrows arched as I questioned my mate.

"People will begin to ask you for answers as to why we don't get along as mates should, and I don't trust you not to blab about everything that has happened."

His words stung, and I found myself slightly offended, feeling angry at his depleting faith in me to live within his pack minding my own business. Not all humans were pests.

"Why not just announce to everyone that I'll be leaving in six months? Better yet, just let me go now," I said, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them, feeling regretful, worried that Cole would agree and let me go.

Although I would be leaving eventually, the prospect of never seeing my mate again burned my insides and caused a wave of nausea to come over me. It was something I wanted to have to face and deal with later on.

"We made our deal," spoke Cole, his face grim. "If you still want to leave in six months time, then you can once we've weakened again, but until then, you're stuck here. Like I said, my wolves won't be very happy knowing that my mate was a participant in The Hunt, especially since you almost succeeded with killing Saskia. They would feel unsafe having you here."

The Hunt wasn't just something our colony did, it was spoken about amongst all the surrounding human groups, and I assumed that even colonies across the country participated too, as long as they had a leader who could sense when the wolves began to weaken. Some colonies weren't so lucky.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

Cole sighed, shaking his head. "I need you to pretend."

I widened my eyes, then glaring at Cole, his beautiful stormy eyes distracting me momentarily before I averted my gaze, staring down at the wooden floor.

"Come to dinner with me," he demanded, and I snapped my eyes to his, wanting to decline, but his persuasive gaze didn't allow me to. I wanted my time here to be quick and easy, and if following Cole around for a bit meant that it would be, then so be it.

"The pack need to see us spending time together," Cole spoke, making his way to the office door and pulling it open, ushering for me to exit. "I'm not asking you to ride on my back and hop into bed with me behind closed doors, because frankly I don't want that either, but the pack need to see some sort of relationship between us."

The thought of being in bed with Cole caused my stomach to knot together all of a sudden as I followed him along the dirt path leading to the dining hall, my mouth becoming dry as I imagined our bodies being in such close proximity.

However, I grimaced at myself, shaking the images away and focusing on the icy path, attempting not to trip.

Cole eventually slowed down as other wolves came into view, and he began to walk beside me, causing me to roll my eyes.

It was all for show.

"Good evening," a cheerful older woman spoke, her young children waving at both Cole and I as we passed them.

I watched to see how Cole plastered a grin upon his face, smiling at the youngest little boy, the child squealing and running to hide behind his mother's legs in shyness.

Once we reached the doors to the dining hall, Cole pushed them open, revealing a bunch of empty tables, Cassia seeming to be right about how the hall was expected to be pretty empty tonight.