Chapter 39
Hailey
Things were beginning to get a little hazy and it was growing increasingly harder to move my feet as all of the blood in my body drained towards my head. My usually perfect vision was blurred as I looked around the woods in anticipation.
I wish they would just show up already.
Wiggling around a little bit, I ended up swinging in a circle, dizzying me further. Maybe that wasn't my brightest idea, but I was desperate to get some circulation in my feet.
My mind wandered aimlessly as I waited the hunters' arrival, straying the paths of what is deemed normal.
Most people don't worry about the double cross they're about to pull, or whether their werewolf boyfriend and his family and pack will make it out of this alive. No, most people on a Friday night are out with friends or on a date or even staying in and getting some relaxation time. But instead, I'm here, dangling upside down from a tree and thinking about the impending doom that was about to be unleashed.
It's up to me now, to secure whose doomsday it will be, and I am prepared-- at least I think I am.
My mind seemed to keep tugging at the familiar path that is Chase. His sandy, curly, messy hair and his blue eyes that seem to carry more weight than the oceans when he looks at me. He's mesmerizing, and I feel myself sinking deeper and deeper into a pit with him. Maybe it's this mate bond that all werewolves obsess over, or perhaps it's just me and my mundane but extraordinary feelings for him.
Either way, I am certain that I am completely and inexplicably in love with that boy. And he has no idea of the effect he has on me.
Finally I heard it, the soft pitter-patter of hunters' feet through the woods, stepping softly on leaves and avoiding twigs and anything that could crack beneath their shoes.
It was hard to make out faces at first, but I could tell there were only three of them-- all men, as expected.
Joel's face was the first I could distinguish as he stood in the middle of the three of them, looking at me with a smirk on his face, "Oh, Hailey, what have you done this time?"
I glared at him, "Just get me the fuck out of this."
He sighed before nodding his head to the guy on his left, who cut the rope, dropping me to the forest floor with a thump.
"I appreciate the gentleness," I bit sarcastically and the man smiled cheekily.
Joel ignored my remark, "Well, Hails, you gonna tell me what happened or do I have to guess?"
"He was waiting in my room when I got back to the house," I stated, the well-rehearsed lies flowing easily through my lips. "Hit me in the eye and knocked me out."
"Who is 'he'?" The third guy asked, interrupting my story.
"The Alpha, dumbass," I spat. "As I was saying, he knocked me out and dragged me here with a couple other wolves. They were animals, nearly killed me with their filthy paws around my throat. Then they just let go and tied me up, and that son of a bitch looked me straight in the eye and said he knows there's more of us, that you'd find me, and that I have a message to deliver."
"What's the message?" Joel questioned apprehensively. I could tell he wasn't quite looking forward to my answer.
"He said I am the only warning you'll get. He said to get off his land, or he'll rip all of our throats out with his bare hands. He said that if we don't leave, after today there will be no more hunters left in existence," I spoke, although they didn't know that it was really me delivering my own threat, and not just Chase's.
The two other men looked furious, as if they wanted to tear off my head along with all of the werewolves in this pack-- my pack.
Joel nodded stiffly, "We need to get back. Tell the Chief."
The Chief.
Intrigue sparked as we walked back to the yellow house Joel strangely sticking close to me as the other two walked behind us. There was an undeniable tension between them and I couldn't help but wonder what it was all about. Did they have a problem with each other, a disagreement about what was going on here? Or, are their overinflated egos just getting in the other's way?
As we strolled up to the back of the house, I really took in how many hunters had shown up. There had to be nearly 200 and I knew that meant Chase's odds of survival had just decreased. But I couldn't think about that right now. Right now I need to convince everyone of my story, and that I am on their side.
Curtis, the first hunter that had shown up, glared at me as I walked through the makeshift campsite, with his men behind him mimicking the same expression.
I have a lot of convincing to do.
Joel sat me down at what I presumed to be his sleeping bag and handed me a wet rag, which I used to wipe of the sweat and dirt from my face, wincing as I hit the tender area around my left eye.
Lily hit so hard, I was genuinely scared to ever piss her off.
"So how's the Chief?" I asked lowly, in a whisper as Joel dug through a small box. "Is he everything everyone has ever imagined?"
He looked up at me with a strange look in his eye, like he wanted to tell me something but something was stopping him, "He's good. Almost a father-like figure to a lot of guys here, actually."
"Do you know who he is?" I continued to push.
"Kinda," he said with a shrug, "David knew him though, gave him a big ass hug when he stepped off his fancy little helicopter."
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. David stepped up in front of us, looking pissed off, "What the fuck happened, Hailey?"
Everyone around quieted down, standing as they stared. I rose to my feet, staring challengingly at David, "Well, you see, I was abducted by their fucking Alpha, beaten and then threatened to deliver a message all the while being hung from a tree by my feet! So sorry if I forgot to send you a quick text to let you know what was going on."
"What's the message?" He ground out, trying to stay strong and uphold his power in front of this crowd, but I could see him crumbling from the inside.
"Their Alpha said we have the rest of the night to leave, or else he'll kill of us," I answered, putting extra emphasis on the word "alpha" as I tried to make my distaste clear.
Murmuring began to grow around the crowd and I called out to silence them, stepping in front of David, "My fellow hunters, hear me! We have an opportunity here to take down what I have come to learn to be the strongest pack in the continental US. If we do this, not only will we make this a better place for future generations, but we will become legends! I am prepared to cut off as many heads as necessary and now I ask you all; who's with me?!"
The men cheered, raising their fists in defiance and I smirked smugly, not at their bloodlust, but at their willingness to believe me and their idiocy as they were about to walk into their own deaths.
My job was complete.
Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd as a path cleared and I turned to Joel, confused. He mouthed the answer to me in a single syllable, "Chief".
Turning, I stared at the man with three claw marks across the side of his face as he marched towards me, many men behind him.
My voice cracked as I spoke, "Dad?"
~
A/N: BUM BUM BUUUMMMM. The Chief is Hailey's dad?! But wait, isn't he dead??? 🤔
QOTC: what did you think of this little twist/reveal?
AOTC: it was one of the first ideas I had when I started this book :')