The Scarlet Hunter

Chapter 29-1

"Did I miss something? I thought we were going home." Isla looked out the front window trying to figure out what was happening.

Alec reached out his hand, and she put hers in it. It wasn't lost on him that she referred to the packhouse as her home. "You've been stuck on the territory for so long now, and I didn't want your next trip off the grounds to be without me, darting to the next territory as fast as you can. I drove you home after your last real experience off-territory, and I wanted to take you for a drive."

Alec took a deep breath. "It doesn't do any good to train with Keith. He won't be a patrol lead. Sure, I'd prefer you smelling like your brother than an unmated unrelated male, but training with Keith doesn't protect you or the pack." They were on Clandestine Road, heading towards the border. Alec's eyes zoned out for a couple seconds as he accessed the mindlink and then returned to focus and chuckled. He looked over at Isla, "They just announced that Red Alpha was leaving the territory." Isla's laughter bubbled up as well.

"To be perfectly clear, I hate everything about you working with unmated males," Alec's grip tightened on the steering wheel with the one hand he had on it. "I appreciate that you shower in a different room and take extra steps to ensure that you don't bring his smell into our room. It's not fair, and I know it."

After picking up a milkshake and a couple meals from a drive-thru, Alec took them to a scenic overlook that very few other vehicles could make it to. The dirt road that brought them there was muddy and unmaintained, and one of the spots was steep. But the view from the top with the afternoon sun was stunning. Isla could look out over the various tree-covered ridges and deep into the valley below them.

Although she couldn't see it through the haze, she knew the vast Pacific Ocean was beyond the last ridge. Starting here, enveloping Hawaii, and ending in Asia and Australia.

She felt the urge that pulled her to return to the forest she was raised in satiated at last. She could never feel like this in the dry woods of Red Moon.

"Tell me what you like about rock climbing," Alec asked her.

"I love looking at what seems to be a sheer rock face, noticing the details, hand grips, ledges, features that I could cramp on. Then I put together a plan and ask myself, 'Can this be done?' and 'Can I do it?' Then attempting, sometimes successfully, most of the time not. I re-group or try harder, or get someone else's help. Eventually, I get it, and I'm standing on top of a rock. Something that when I first saw it looked impenetrable. I took something impossible and made it possible."

"What do you need a partner for then?"

"If I had a partner, I would be able to top rope or climb higher because when I fall, I would be secured with a rope to my partner. Without one, I use a crash pad, and when I fall, I land on that. That's called bouldering. Truth is, bouldering is a fantastic challenge, and I enjoy it more in a lot of ways. There's less equipment on my body."

"What if I were your partner?"

"For climbing? You would have to make the time for it, and it's not pack-centric. Plus, most wolves don't like climbing. In fact, I don't know a single other one that does." She looked up at him, "I would rather do other things with you."

"Like what?"

Isla looked outside and thought about it, "Honestly, I don't know yet. But bouldering isn't it unless you are genuinely interested." She rolled the idea around in her head. There were thousands of little things and a few life-changing things, but nothing for this conversation. "You make a great sparring partner," she laughed. "What about you? Are you looking for a partner for anything?"

"You've already been doing it. I realized that you've been my partner with everything I've wanted, but I haven't reciprocated. You are allowed to have things that you like too."

Isla nodded, "This summer has been rough. I haven't had any control over what I do. I understand why, but it's hard. I honestly don't know how long I can do this without getting bitter. I know you mean well but I don't get "to have things that I like," not the way I've been living since coming back. That's not your fault, and I know it. But I can be frustrated and sad and have it not be the fault of the person asking me to act responsibly."

"If we do become mates, and you are Luna to Dark Moon, this will be closer to your reality than your life at college. We would have to find a way for you to have things that you love to do and be responsible with your safety." His hand was holding hers and rubbing his thumb across the back of it. "Wolves don't live how you were living. It's not something a pack can support."

"I did what I had to do to survive and be happy. I didn't have a pack that cared about me, and so I found my fun and excitement in doing other things," Isla shared. "I surrounded myself with humans, and I can pass easily as one of them since my wolf is not loud. But I still choose Dark Moon over my quasi exile."

"So, does this mean that you aren't planning on going back to college this fall?" Alec said with a little too much hope.

"No." Isla left no room to misunderstand her tone. "I have every intention of finishing school." She didn't try to justify it or make excuses. She would not yield on this decision. It was in his power to cancel the arrangement that allowed her to stay near Red Moon's territory and go to college, but she would never choose to not go.

He's already taken so much away from her. Could he really take this away as well? She wasn't being stubborn about wanting to leave. There was no other way for her to earn her chosen degree. She was being stubborn about her accomplishment. She wouldn't be half the warrior she is if she wasn't adamant about success, and neither would he, for that matter. Maybe he didn't agree with the degree or her plan, but she had worked hard for this. He knew he would never do anything to prevent her and that his only hope of getting her to stay was to convince her to decide to stay.

"Once the mate bond hits you, though, you won't be able to stay away," Alec said nonchalantly.

"I'll be gone before my birthday, so it will be fine until I come back. I won't come home for the holidays."

Alec's anger was evident in his tone, "You expect me to know my mate is out there and not go to her?"

"The mate bond wouldn't have snapped into place for us. You won't know that I'm your mate," Isla reasoned. "You'll be able to resist if you wanted to. It's an eight-month delay to a lifetime together. Is that really so difficult?"

He sighed and threw his head back against the headrest, "What about being my chosen mate?"

She stared at him, startled.

"In case we aren't fated mates, why not be my chosen mate? We can still have pups, and if you're going to be my chosen mate anyway, why not just become my mate now, on the new moon?" Alec knew this didn't make any sense, but he was desperate.

"If we go through the ceremony before I'm of age, we lose the chance to be fated mates. I want to be with my fated mate," Isla pleaded, "And why destroy that? To start a lifetime together eight months sooner?"

"Eight months seems trivial, but I've been waiting for years for you." Isla flashed back to her conversation with her brother at the taqueria when she first arrived and how desperate he was to meet his mate. Although he's about the same age as Alec, but has three less years of waiting because Alec has been waiting since he was eighteen.

"Do you want more than what we have? I could not be more attracted to someone than I am to you. I could not love someone as much as I love you. I cannot imagine what more I would want from a mate than what you already give me." His tone was honest as he flowed from anger to desperation, "I don't think my heart can take any more than what we have."