Chapter 15: His Home

-Rogan-

She was slow and clearly in a lot of pain, but I knew if I tried offering her any painkillers she would refuse. She wasn’t going to accept anything from me. She had barely accepted the clothes, but I couldn’t let her walk around almost naked among my pack. I didn’t like to think any other male might get even a glimpse of her beautiful skin. It was just for me … fuck, I was already getting so attached. I had no idea the bond would work so fast, but I should have realized.

I remembered seeing my parents so damn in love, and my mother loved telling us about what the bond felt like because she couldn’t wait for us to grow up and experience it. You couldn’t find your mate before you turned eighteen, but it often happened rather quickly after you reached that age. I was the one who had been waiting a lot longer than most. I was at the beginning of my thirties and only now had I been blessed with one. All though, blessed was probably stretching it. More like cursed with one.

“So, are we walking to where you will bury my body?” she asked, as we walked through the hospital.

“Actually, we burn our dead,” I said.

“Well, I am not really part of *your* people,” she pointed out.

“No, but we still offer others an honorable death when we can,” I told her, just as we walked outside.

The sun was just coming up and shining down on us. The air felt so damn fresh in the morning, it was unbelievable, and I took in a deep breath, my wolf feeling so pleased scenting the fresh air. It always made us both feel stronger.

“So, what is going on?” Serena asked.

I didn’t answer her, but walked over to my car, holding the door open to the passenger’s seat.

“Oh no!” she said and backed away.

“It’s in the car with me or in the room. You decide,” I told her.

Serena looked behind her as if she was really considering going back there, but eventually, she took a deep breath, and found her courage, before she walked over to me and got inside the car.

“Good girl,” I said before I closed the door.

I walked over to the driver’s seat and got inside.

“Don’t ever call me that again,” she said.

I turned my head and smiled, as I saw her sit there with her arms crossed and glaring at me.

“Sure, little hunter,” I said.

“And don’t call me that either!”

I just chuckled before I turned on the car and drove out of there. Serena was tense, as we drove towards the pack house. We could have walked, but it would just take a long time and Serena was too tired for that. I didn’t want to completely drain her of all her energy. She had been through enough, and I really hoped she wouldn’t give me a reason to put her through more. Why did she have to be a hunter? She couldn’t at least just have been a normal human? A civilian. But nope, she had to be my enemy. My own mate was my enemy and people expected me to treat her exactly as such.

*She will learn and the others will come around.*

I just didn’t believe that. I understood why my wolf had faith. He had to, considering our sanity kind of depended on Serena changing, but I just didn’t dare hope. It was too hard to believe that the little hunter could actually change.

“So, where are you taking me?” she asked.

“Home.”

“Home?” she asked and turned to look at me.

I glanced at her and nodded.

“My home.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I need to show you something.”

“A sharp knife? The barrel of a gun? Rope hanging from a ceiling?” she asked.

I smiled a little, not able to help myself. It seemed like my mate had a bad sense of humor, and still, I couldn’t stop being affected by her.

“Just my home,” I said.

“And handcuffs,” she sighed and leaned her head against the window.

She might have suggested handcuffs as something bad to be used against her to keep her in place, so I could hurt her, but that was not the image that appeared in my head. No, not when we were now driving back to my house, I didn’t think handcuffs would be used for anything bad. I would love nothing more than to tie her to my bed and have my way with her, but that could only happen if I knew she changed.

“Don’t be afraid,” I told her, surprising myself.

“You don’t scare me,” she said.

I just shook my head and sighed. Of course, she had to say that, but anyone would be scared in her situation. It was stupid to even lie about it. She had been trained to not show any fear though, so I was not going to argue with her. Instead, I parked the car in silence in front of the house, before turning to her. She looked at the house almost shocked and then turned to me.

“You live here?” she asked.

“What? You thought we lived in caves?”

She looked almost a little guilty, and I realized that was exactly what she thought.

“You actually believe that?!” I said.

She just shrugged.

“You are animals.”

“We got a hospital,” I said.

She shrugged again.

“Maybe a necessary thing in order to take care of your wounds,” she said.

“We heal fast. Very fast,” I said.

“Then why do you have it?” she asked.

“Some don’t heal fast enough, especially not if you get shot more than once in the heart, but what I am trying to say is if we were just animals why would we even need a hospital? We wouldn’t even have the knowledge on how to run it,” I pointed out.

She didn’t seem overly convinced by what I was saying.

“So, you don’t live like animals. Don’t mean you don’t got the instincts of one,” she said.

“We all do. Even you humans,” I said and got out of the car.

She did too, and she looked at me from the other side of the car.

“We can control ourselves!” she said.

I just sighed and closed the car door, walking towards the front doors. Serena followed me, just as I expected. It was not like she could run away. She had no idea where she was. So, she ended up walking beside me, but just as I was about to open the door Rhys appeared, opening it from the inside and then freezing, as he stood there watching us, wearing only a pair of training shorts and running shoes. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised we had run into anyone.

Maybe because it was so early in the morning, I had hoped we could easily sneak inside, but if I needed to convince her that we were different, then she needed to see my world and be a part of it. It was clear though I hadn’t really thought this through. Rhys often ran in the early morning. He usually did it with a few others, but sometimes he liked to go running himself.

“Alpha?”

Rhys’s eyes went to the little hunter beside me, and I wanted to explain but I had lost my voice. I had not been at all prepared for what it was going to feel like being seen with Serena at my side. She didn’t cower though and just had her arms crossed while she looked my beta in the eyes so easily.

“I’m getting the others,” Rhys said.

“No! Wait!”

He was about to walk inside again when I finally found my voice.

“You can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked and glanced at Serena.

I turned to the little hunter too, who just looked up at me confused.

“It isn’t so simple,” I said.

“She is out! She isn’t threatening you?”

“Threatening him?” Serena asked, and I knew what Rhys was thinking.

He probably thought she was somehow keeping me hostage or blackmailing me, but the truth was much, much worse than that.

“No,” I said. “I … brought her here.”

“What?!”

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