Her Alpha Mate 17

Zack didn't slow his pace once, even after carrying Freya for three hours. She wasn't sure if she should say anything or not, so she decided to wait for a bathroom break, which was definitely coming soon, judging by Chance's expression.

As if reading her thoughts, Chance looked to Zack and shook his head, "I need to take a quick break."

Zack sighed and called loudly for a break. Chance and a few of the warriors walked further into the forest to relieve themselves in peace. She took the opportunity to move closer to Zack's ear, "You can put me down now. You've been carrying me for three hours, I'm sure your back hurts."

"You're just slowing us down. Besides, you're not even heavy," he muttered.

"I'm not?" she asked incredulously.

As if to prove it, he let go of her legs and tugged on her right arm, making her lean to the side. He grasped her waist and adjusted his arms so that he was suddenly carrying her like a bride.

How the hell did he do that, she thought.

She stared at his face in disbelief as he nonchalantly raised an eyebrow.

"You just - how did you - what?"

He began to move her up and down as if she were some kind of weight, pursing his lips thoughtfully, "I guess you weigh about 130 pounds? Give or take a few."

Her mouth stayed open, which made him grin a little. "How did you guess that?"

"I lift 130 on an extremely lazy day."

She swallowed and looked away for a moment. If 130 stood for an extremely lazy day, as he put it, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what he did on a normal day.

"Well, I still want to walk. My feet are almost asleep," she murmured, trying to loosen his grip on her body. He sighed and set her down gently, making sure she was stable before letting go, "Are you sure you can keep up? I'm not going to slow our pace just for you."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, Zack."

"Okay, but if you ask me to carry you again later, I won't."

"Excuse me? I didn't ask anyone to carry me. You even asked me to get on your back."

"That was because Chance offered to carry you."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "So?"

He gave her a look like she was stupid and walked away to talk to the other pack warriors. A few seconds later, Reece came out of the forest carrying a compass.

"How far have we come?" she asked, bending down to retrieve her water bottle from her backpack.

He glanced at her and turned back to the compass, "Far enough. I think if we keep going at the same pace for another hour, we should reach the twenty-five mile mark. Do you think you can do that?"

"I'm sure I can do it," she said firmly, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

She'd have to practically run alongside the group to keep up with the speed of the werewolves, but she didn't feel like being carried for another hour. She was sure her feet would turn purple if she didn't make sure the blood flowed in them.

"All right! We're leaving!" shouted Zack and began to walk deeper into the forest. Reece, Chance, and Freya fell in line behind him, and Reece began discussing where they could stop for the night.

"We can stop at this creek. It's near the edge of the forest and the border of the Night Walker Pack," Reece said, pointing to the blue line on his map.

Zack took the map from his hand and nodded in agreement, "Good. We'll stop there and hunt. If I remember correctly, there were a lot of elk and deer in that valley."

"Are we hunting for dinner?" she asked, slightly concerned. She'd no intention of eating raw meat in her human form.

"Obviously," Zack said in a "duh" tone.

She suppressed a sigh and began to pray that one of the warriors had a lighter or a matchbox so she could cook the meat she could catch in human form.



***



"We can stop here. I can hear the creek nearby," Zack said, dropping his bag on the grass.

The warriors immediately dropped their things and began to undress to change into their wolves. She averted her eyes and rummaged in her backpack for the thin blanket she'd packed. Hopefully it wouldn't get too cold and this blanket would suffice.

The soft patter of footsteps could be heard as everyone turned into their wolves and hurried into the valley, where there was apparently a herd of deer and a few rabbits. Sighing, she plopped down on the ground and stared up at the evening sky.

Freya didn't quite know what to feel. Zack had carried her for three hours without her asking for it, which meant he cared about her to some degree. And if she was completely honest with herself, she hoped that this trip would bring them closer. If not, she wasn't quite sure how she was going to get through this mate-ship at all.

A soft rustling behind her made her freeze. She turned her head and let her eyes wander over the row of trees, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Quietly, she reached forward, clutching her baseball bat tightly.

Suddenly a gray wolf came into view, bearing a piece of blood flesh. A sigh of relief escaped her as she recognized Hunter's wolf. He stopped in front of her and placed what she thought was a rabbit's foot at her feet.

Though she was a bit surprised by his behavior, she gave him a friendly smile, "Uh, thanks for the... Rabbit's Paw."

He gave her a wolfish grin and tilted his head, making her giggle. She leaned over and gently scratched him behind the ears as he seemed to almost sigh in contentment.

A loud growl broke the silence, and Hunter immediately straightened up and pricked up his ears. She turned in time to see a large brown wolf growling with a large chunk of meat between its teeth.

Hunter backed away cautiously, and Zack approached her cautiously. Zack dropped the deer meat at her feet and barked.

"Oh...wow," she said, staring at the bloody meat, "Thanks Zack."

Freya wasn't quite sure if he was okay with her petting him or not, so she took his furry head in her hands and gave him a gentle kiss on the side of his muzzle, which thankfully wasn't bloody. His wolf seemed startled by the kiss and looked curiously into her eyes, tilting his head.

Freya's eyes widened as she realized that even though his wolf was out, Zack was still in control.

And she'd just kissed him.

Zack slowly backed away and changed back into his human form. Her cheeks flushed as he continued to stare at her in surprise and with another feeling she couldn't place. He noticed her rosy cheeks and gave her a small smile before turning to put on his clothes.

It was a good thing her wolf was busy recovering, or he'd've had her jumping on him on the spot. His muscles tensed as he pulled his shirt over his head, and she couldn't look away. The way his muscles moved was simply breathtaking.

She was never one to pay attention to other men when they were walking around naked, but with Zack it was something else entirely.

"You need to stop staring." said Zack roughly, running his fingers through his hair. His gaze immediately changed direction and landed on the deer and rabbit meat. "Why did Hunter bring you that rabbit's foot? Did you ask him for it?"

Freya's gaze shifted back to Zack, who'd turned and was leaning against the tree.

"No, he just brought it to me. I didn't ask why."

Zack muttered something under his breath and stared at the rabbit's foot as if it was about to attack him.

"Don't fall for his tricks. He likes to flirt with anything that doesn't have balls," Zack snarled, glaring at Hunter, who was trying to camouflage himself in the group of warriors.

"So he flirts with you?"

The words left her mouth before she could even stop them.

Behind her, someone choked on their laughter, and she turned her head to see Reece and Chance watching her with amusement.

"I'll make sure you swallow those words soon."

Her heart nearly skipped a beat at Zack's suggestion.

She stiffened as his lips touched her ear and his nose tickled her hair. Goosebumps formed on her arms as she tried to ignore the tingling that erupted wherever her skin made contact. She suddenly felt very hot as his body heat radiated through his shirt, practically burning her skin.

But before she knew it, he was gone and she suddenly felt very cold. Chance whistled softly, "That was something. He looked like he wanted to eat you alive."

Chance's words gave her pause. 'Was that what his expression was saying? It didn't really look like that, though. He just looked irritated.'

"Come on, you can fantasize about Zack later. We're cooking the meat now."

She sighed and carefully picked up the pieces of meat.

She was probably worrying too much. Zack wasn't going to change anytime soon.

The next hour and a half flew by. Everyone cut, cooked, and ate at the same time so they could go to bed early. Zack had said they'd start at three in the morning so they could make up for lost time. When it was completely dark and the stars were no longer visible, the pack warriors on duty circled the small camp and everyone else either spread out their blankets to sleep or were already asleep.

Freya lay down on her blanket and covered herself with a small blanket she'd brought with her. Unfortunately, it was much colder than she'd expected. She was literally shivering under the thin blanket that didn't protect her from the bitter cold.

She lifted her head to see how the others were doing. They all looked very comfortable with their thick, furry blankets. She turned her head to the right and saw Zack sleeping peacefully under his bearskin blanket, which looked very comfortable.

Half of her told her to just slip under the covers with Zack, and the other half told her to steal the covers from him. Finally, she decided that it was better to slip under the covers and hope he wouldn't notice her than to steal them and face his wrath the next morning.

She slid closer to him and slipped her foot under the blanket, looking up into his face a few times to make sure he wasn't moving in his sleep. When her body was halfway under the covers, she turned onto her side so as not to take up so much space. However, as she turned over, an arm wrapped around her waist, causing her to let out a squeak.

She was so fucked.

The arm tugged her closer, and she finally mustered the courage to roll over to her other side and face him. He raised an eyebrow as if to ask her what she was doing.

"Hi," Freya whispered, giving him a particularly sweet smile and praying he wouldn't kick her out. It was so warm down here.

"Hi," Zack said slowly, as if he were talking to a child, "What're you doing under my covers? In my space?"

"I was cold," she grumbled, mentally cursing herself for not bringing an extra blanket. He rolled his eyes and gently pushed her back. She sighed and rolled out of the wonderfully warm blanket. It was good while it lasted.

Just as she was about to sit up and crawl back to her abandoned blanket, Zack grabbed her hand and yanked her back down.

"What the...?" he interrupted, silencing her loudly. She frowned and whispered softly, "What, I'm leaving."

She couldn't see his face, but the next thing she knew, she was back under the warm blanket, her back against his chest, her body close to his.

"You're so stupid sometimes. I tried to turn you over," Zack murmured, his breath tickling her neck. She was silent as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Zack spooned her.

They cuddled.

Sort of.

"Go to sleep, Freya. You worry too much," he grumbled, putting his arm around her waist. She closed her eyes with a small smile on her face as she snuggled against him.

Maybe they were making some progress.