Unmarked Mates

Chapter 15: An ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.

The swamp near Mae's bar

Terry POV

I lie on the roof of the bar looking at the stars. Doggy is lying curled next to me with Pearl in her wolf form snuggled in him. Quite funny I think as I gently pet her head, she is in deep sleep. It's calm, it's so calm lately that it amazes me.

Since I had a talk with Danny three weeks have passed and during this time there was no rogue passing this city, I presume because of patrols from Howl Pack. Since Danny knows about girls it is easier to get the scent suppressants. It turned out that Aunty Mae got them from Alyssa, the pack doctor, and now, thanks to Danny, we have a safe carrier of the medicine.

Thanks to that I can take girls on trips more often and all three of us enjoy it very much. Especially that I do with them things I'd never had on occasion to do before. Picnics, water parks, cinema, bowling, and many more activities I never had a chance of doing being busy with hunting and killing.

Ivory is making progress with her combat skills and... speaking of the devil Ivory enters the roof and sits next to me. She has this serious face, the one I already know well enough to be sure this will be some serious talking.

"Can you be honest with me?" she says and I sit to look her straight in the eyes, I'm sure I know what she wants to talk about.

"Were you a hunter? Is it why you know how to fight werewolves?"

I take a big breath, I've known this moment must come sooner or later.

"I was, my clan was destroyed years ago that's why I live here now," I say as she nods.

"Did you kill many werewolves?"

"Yes, many. Not only rogues, my clan was also involved in attacking packs" I say, I look at her and yet I feel shame. I can't change the past no matter what, but the shame I feel right now is there, ready to choke me.

She shifts a little uncomfortably and gulps and yet doesn't avert her eyes.

"Why did you do it?"

"I was born in the hunter clan, since I was a baby everybody was saying that werewolves are cruel monsters. My father's family was slaughtered by werewolves, my parents were slaughtered by werewolves when I was around your age. That made me hate werewolves, made me believe that I have the right to kill because none of them deserved to live anyway."

"Why don't you kill anymore?" she asks, she is nervous I see it.

"My sister got pregnant with a werewolf and my grandfather and uncle decided that she was guilty of treason and ordered her lynching. And I obeyed them, I let my clan members hurt her. She survived because she is strong, but that was when I started to doubt my clan's beliefs. So 10 years later when werewolves wiped out all hunter clans in this state I made sure that those who survived can start over not as hunters anymore and I came here. I was tired of killing."

She bites her lips and has to gather herself to ask another question:

"Did you.. did you... do you think you are a bad person because of what you did?"

Tough question, she got me with it.

"Yes, because of what I did I am a bad person Ivory. But I was never proud of what I did, I never liked it and I will never do it again no matter what. But I have lots of blood on my hands, both from people who were guilty of bad things and those who were innocent. Ivory, what do you want from me? Why suddenly all these questions?"

"We had a deal for 3 months and it's already 2 months passed so... I don't want to live in a pack but... but I... Pearl and I have nowhere to go. Do you think you can allow us to stay with you a little longer?"