The Hunt is On

Wait...What?

The next morning greeted us with warm sun and chirping birds, thankfully the storm a few days ago hadn't returned.
Val actually woke first, shaking Titan awake, who woke me up. I smiled up at him and he gladly returned it. There was something about his smile that was contagious. I'd never seen someone smile like that over another person.
"Alright lovebirds, help me catch breakfast." Val grumbled at us from his spot by the river, clearly not a morning person.
Titan and I helped him hunt down rabbits for breakfast, he caught three, I only caught one. I was very proud of myself though, I did it all by myself. Val made the fire and he had it ready when Titan and I came back.
He grinned at us, holding our catches.

"I was starting to think the two of you were just making out somewhere. But apparently not." He motioned to the four rabbits we tossed to him, ignoring the bloom of red spreading over my checks. Titan just grinned back at him and shoved his shoulder on his way by.
It took a while for us to finish our breakfast, cooking four rabbits wasn't ideal for speed. But we had nothing to worry about so we took our time, laughing and talking our way through the morning. Titan and I were both aware that we had limited time together before we had to separate for another twenty four hours, so we spent the majority of our time very close to each other.

I sat next to him as we ate, casually throwing my right leg over his left. He smiled and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me onto his lap. Val just smiled at the ground, not saying anything.
"How do you think you know when you guys are supposed to separate?" Val asked us. Titan made a face, he obviously didn't want to be reminded. But I had a good guess.
"It's probably the devices they put in our arms before we came in here." I said. "They told us when the males entered on our first day. They sort of buzzed and flashed red."
I passed the rest of my rabbit to Titan who gladly took it. Val shrugged from across the fire.
"We didn't get those."
I turned away from my mate and frowned at him.
"You didn't?"
"No, I mean, we watched the females get them, but we never did."
"Yeah, no. I don't know why, but only the females got them." Titan told me. I could feel his chest move through my back when he spoke and it was comforting.
I hummed thoughtfully.
"That's weird. Alexander never said anything about why not?"
Both the guys shook their head.
"He didn't say anything?"
Again, a head shake.
I frowned.
"Why would he only have the females get devices installed temporarily in their wrists? That makes no sense."
I muttered half to myself, trying to think of a reason why.
Val shrugged and laughed, shoving more rabbit into his mouth.
"I'm just glad I didn't have to get a shot."

Titan threw a pebble at him.
"Wuss."

~~~<<<~~~>>>~~~<<<~~~>>>~~~

The rest of the morning was spent that way, having wonderful conversations with Titan and Val. Some were serious, others were hysterical. Such as the ones they told me about what they did in their spare time.
I learned that Titan liked to see how fast he can drive his dirt bike and still be able to jump off without breaking any bones.
His record is 64 miles per hour.
They told me about the beach that the pack house was next to. There was a dock there that every once in a while them and a few others would go swim at. Val told me about the friends he hung out with when Titan was busy-as he was about 50% of the time.
Their names were Rosalin, Christian, and of course Caia and Aileen. Titan knew them too, just not as well.

But our conversation abruptly ended when a spot on my wrist buzzed. I looked down and saw the small circle that was my device blinking red. Apparently I was right about these things.
"Titan." I said. But he was already aware. He swore under his breath and stood up, pulling me with him.
"Val stay here, okay?" His Beta nodded, giving me a wave.
The two of us shifted into our wolves and jogged into the woods again, side by side. We got to a clearing that was about twelve feet wide and shifted back. Titan immediately took me in his arms, leaning his head down to rest in the crook of my neck.
"Titan, it's only twenty four hours." I whispered.
"A lot can happen in that time." He replied. I realized he was worried about me. He was probably thinking about Jago and what I had told him about his behavior.
I pulled away from Titan's embrace to talk, but he held my arms closer to him, making sure I didn't leave yet.