Arctic Hunter

by Kaylin Peyerk

  The room is empty when I get there a few minutes early, so I explore a bit. There are several racks lining the walls filled with spears, knives, and various swords. Others are full of jumpsuits made of slick rubbery material that feels cool to the touch. Not that wolves need any of these things. Our bodies are our weapons and we need nothing else. The door banged open causing me to whip around and gape at the largest and most formidable looking red wolf shifter I’ve ever seen.

  He‘s taller than me, an overbearing six foot seven, and is corded with muscle. His hair tickles his neck but isn’t long enough to throw into a ponytail. It’s a midnight black so deep it resembles a raven's wing. And when he looks up from his schoolbag, his eyes take me by surprise. They’re a bright aqua blue like mine, but they’re rimmed in the crimson coloring distinct to a red shifter. His family must have arctic in their bloodline. He sets his things down before striding over to me.

  “I’ve been assigned as your tutor, and I’ve been told that you’re untrained even though you’re twenty-two. Is this true? If so, we have a lot of catching up to do.”

  His accusing tone makes me straighten to my full height, “I have not received formal training, but I know enough from my parents and my training. I have read all the school textbooks and additional higher-level texts that I bet not even you have read.” We stand nose to nose, glaring at each other. Any initial attraction I had for him flies out the window.

  “You’re very pretentious for a gray wolf, and tall. Are you sure you’re a gray wolf?”

  “Who the hell asks someone that? Of course, I’m a gray shifter. I could say something about how tall you are and your blue eyes, but I won’t!”

  A growl comes from deep within his throat. “You’ve got some nerve talking to a royal like this.”

  My blood runs cold. “A royal?”

  He steps back, collecting himself, “Yes. I’ll give you a onetime pass since you’re a wild wood living hoodlum,” He pauses, almost waiting to see my reaction, “But know that I am the son of king Malzahar, Varus Malzahar, and I’m the heir to the throne.”

  He watches me as if I’m supposed to bow and fawn over him. Well, if he thinks so he has another thing coming. It’s me that’s the rightful heir to the throne, being a woman or not doesn’t change that. At least not to me or my family. If anyone here is pretentious, it’s him for expecting anyone to bow to the heir of a stolen throne. It doesn’t matter to me how regal and handsome he looks. A kin killer won’t sway me.

  I gesture to him. “All right good to know. Can we start now?”

  He scowls, “Fine. We will start by sparring in our human forms and won’t work our way up to wolf form until much later. It’s instinct in wolf form that you have to learn now before you shift and fight, otherwise you’ll end up killing someone.”

   I don’t argue with him even though I’ve fought animals larger than me in the Great Woods plenty of times in my wolf form. It’s better that I don’t shift in front of him because while I can dye my hair in my human form, it doesn’t transfer when I shift. So, he’d see my full white coat and know immediately who I really am. Which is unacceptable, obviously, as he’s the prince of the new royal family. The ones wearing cloaks made from my family’s blood and skin. Lovely.

   He steps back and crouches into a ready position. I do the same and we begin by circling each other slowly. He lashes out at my left side and I sidestep his attack easily. Varus dances back again, smirking at me. That look makes a low growl crawl up my throat. His eyes widen in surprise at the sound and then delight when I lunge toward him. We trade blows, blocking and dodging around each other. He gets one good punch into my jaw, knocking my head to the side.

   Before he can celebrate, I landed an uppercut so forceful that his head snaps back. We dance back from one another again and Varus rolls his shoulders, grinning ferally with blood staining his teeth. The red rimming his eyes began to glow with the power belonging to red shifters alone; berserker like strength during battle. He must believe that I’m out of my element now, and I desperately want to prove him wrong. My pride begs me to show him that my strength matches his own, but logic tells me it’s not worth the risk.

   We trade blows for a while longer and I focus on blocking his vicious attacks as he pushes me back toward the wall on the opposite side of the gym. I miss a block on purpose and am punished with a hard punch to my right eye. Searing pain washes through me as I staggered backward, slamming into the cool brick. He stops in front of me, both of us breathing heavily. The burning crimson glow fades from his eyes as he steps closer. Our heaving chests are almost touching now and a different feeling washes over me. His features become more attractive, and I watch closely as he licks his lips.

  I know how this works. As arctic shifters are the smallest lineage, the wolf within us urges us to mate with an eligible arctic male. This is done to keep the arctic shifter line alive and well, and since Varus appears to be at least part arctic shifter, my instincts are driving me toward him. As the heir of a royal line my wolf’s primal need to produce heirs of my own will be even more demanding. I can feel it now, growling at me to lean forward, to let my lips rest against his.

  Varus sways forward and leans his forearms against the wall on either side of my head. His eyes are such an intense crystal blue that it takes my breath away. Is that how my eyes look to males? His focus hasn’t shifted from my face since we’ve stopped fighting. The intense stillness of his body reminds me of a predator gathering strength before lunging at their target. He leans towards me slowly until his mouth is so close to my ear that I can feel him breathing. The sensation almost makes my knees go weak. I’ve felt nothing like this before. I’ve never been around males. He presses his body lightly into mine, and I practically melt into him.

  He drawls, “Why did you let me hit you, Ashe?”

  His tone sends a shiver down my spine, and I respond breathlessly, “I don’t know what you mean.”

  I can practically feel his smirk against my neck. “I think you do. You’re an exceptionally powerful female, my inner wolf wouldn’t be attracted to anything less.”

  My hips try to move on their own accord, almost attempting to grind against him. Mortified, I force myself to stop and look into his eyes. They’re full of loaded questions that I know I won’t be able to answer, and a desire so strong that it feels like a blow. At that moment I knew that I can’t be around him. He may be my tutor, which I can’t change, but outside of this room? Nope. No way. It makes me ashamed to admit that I’m not sure I’m strong enough to resist him.

  “I’m just a gray shifter, nothing exceptional to see here.”

  He chuckles, and the vibration seeps into my chest, “You have secrets that are too big to hide, and I’ll find them out,” He pauses to lick up the column of my throat, making my eyes roll back in my head, “Even if I have to coax it out of you.”

  With those final words he pushes himself off the wall and steps away from me. I grip the concrete behind me in an attempt not to slide down to the floor. He’s smirking knowingly, and I scowl at him, knowing full well that he’s done this to other girls. He’s a good-looking male, there’s no doubt about that, so there must be lines of women waiting for a chance to have their throat licked like that. I make a show of wiping my neck off on my sleeve before rudely gesturing in his direction.

  He tips his head back, laughing, as he turns to walk back toward his bag. As his hips turn, I spot his full erection, and I’m glad his back is turned as my face flushes. My mind is thinking about doing things with him I’ve never even imagined before. This must be my wolf talking, right? Even if it’s not, that’s what I tell myself.

  “Are we done here?”

  He glances back. “Yeah, I’ll see you later?”

  We stare at each other for a long moment as if he’s waiting for me to confirm his words. I have to force reasons into my head why I cannot see him later. It’s the only way that I can justify it to myself as this crazy desire rages through me.


  He suspects you.

  He’s probably a man whore.

  He’s too hot to be a nice guy.

   After that inner monologue I push off of the wall and grab my bag, slinging it over one shoulder. He watches me closely as I deliberately saunter closer to him in what I hope is a sexy manner. It seems to work when his eyes darken and flash with a ring of fire. My inner woman practically purrs at his response, and I’m slightly scared of the fire I’m playing with at this moment. As I pass him, I run my fingers across his bicep. A low growl comes from deep within him, making me answer with one of my own despite not wanting to.

   “No, you won’t. See you tomorrow for our next session.”

   I leave with my head held high, knowing that he’s watching my every move as I go.

  ***

  My sisters meet me at the dinner hall after our last class as we discussed earlier. They’re standing in line with Matt, and I roll my eyes as I make my way over to them. That guy doesn’t know how to take a hint. During lunch I didn’t speak to him at all, in fact, I didn’t speak to anyone. But he happily chatted away with my sisters and they are more than grateful to have the attention of a male. Janna spots me first and smiles, waving me over.

  She says, “Ugh, what happened to your eye? I can literally see it turning black and blue.”

  Liss chuckles until her twin elbows her in the ribs. “It’s just from tutoring. They’ve paired me with this guy named Varus who’s a real asshat.”

  Matt raises an eyebrow. “You’re paired with Varus? That’s weird.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, for one, he hasn’t tutored anyone before. And then there’s the fact that he’s the prince. His parents are the ones from this morning, wearing the arctic shifter skins.”

  From behind him, my sisters' faces lose their color and they look positively horrified. However, they say nothing and I’m grateful for that. We move forward in line silently for a few minutes as my sisters collect themselves and I try to come up with something to say. I’m not the most personable shifter around, and I hate small talk. Plus, I really don’t want to talk about that horrible picture. Even the memory of it sends my stomach turning.

  As I pile food onto my plate, Liss asks, “Well, despite the black eye, how was your first day?”

  “Uh, it was okay. The teachers discussed nothing that I didn’t already know. You guys know I’m well read.”

  Janna laughs. “Ain’t that the truth.” She leans toward Matt conspiratorially. “She always had her nose in a book. We’d try to get her to come into town with us, but she always refused.”

  I roll my eyes as we sit down, “Stop making me sound like a loner, and sue me for wanting to be educated despite my isolated upbringing!”

  Matt looks between us, “What’s the deal with that, anyway? It looked like the weaver’s cottage out there.”

  My sisters exchanged a look before turning to me. We all stare at one another for a moment too long for it to be normal. Before Matt can question it, Varus plops down next to him at the table which is directly across from me. The surprise on Matt’s face is almost comical and I cover my mouth with one hand. Varus grins in my direction, which sends butterflies through my stomach.

  Until he speaks, “Gods, that’s a lot of food. Are you eating for two or something?”

  My anger spikes and I stab my fork into my chicken, looking down at my plate as if it’s very interesting. I don’t answer him, and it makes the atmosphere at the table turn sour. When I glance up again he’s staring at me, still grinning. My sisters are staring at him, almost open-mouthed, and it makes me cringe. They’re acting like he’s a gift from God. He’s not that hot. At least that’s what I tell myself when he winks at me before digging into his own plate. Which, if I might add, is much fuller than mine.

  Liss puts on her dazzling smile. “You must be Varus. Ashe told us that you’re her tutor. That’s so kind of you.”

  He looks up at her. “Yeah, I volunteered to train her after all of those rumors went around.”

  “What rumors?” I snap.

  Matt looks at me sharply as if I shouldn’t be talking to Varus that way. Well, screw him! Everything this guy says makes my blood boil. And it makes me even angrier that every time I look at him all I can think about is the feeling of his tongue on my throat.

  “The moment Jace met you he felt your overwhelming power, and because the guy can’t keep his mouth shut he told everyone. I wanted to see for myself, princess,” he winks, “And you didn’t disappoint.”

  He has no idea how right that nickname is, and it makes me smirk, “Well, you haven’t seen the half of it.”

  He quips back, “I thought you’re an average gray shifter with nothing to see?”

  We stare at each other for a minute, me glaring, him grinning lopsidedly. That look makes a small part of me smile, but I don’t dare let it show on my face. Meanwhile, the table had filled up with other wolf shifters, probably coming to kiss up to Varus. And my sisters are looking at me with raised eyebrows. They’ve never seen me this worked up before, and if they had, it wouldn’t be over something as meaningless as a male.

  An attractive female red wolf looks at me snidely, “You must be the new mutt that Varus is training. What’s your name again?”

  My eyes narrow, “Ashe, and who the hell are you?”

  She scoffs, “Gods, you act like you’re a royal. But I’m Viviane.” She pauses and places her manicured hand on Varus’s arm, “Varus’s girlfriend.”

  Varus looks annoyed by her proclamation, like he wasn’t going to mention it. It makes me want to tell his bitchy girlfriend that he licked my throat not too long ago. It would be both satisfying and hilarious to see her get angry. Yet, I promised myself I wouldn’t draw too much attention at this school, and even though I’m failing so far, I won’t fuel the fire either.

  I smile sweetly. “Oh good, enjoy that.”

  Then I get up and leave my uneaten food behind as I make my way out of the dining hall.

  ***

   The next morning, I wake up already in a bad mood. As a result, I get ready and leave without my sisters. Instead of going to class early, I take a walk through the Great Woods. My anxiety fades as soon as I step under the dense canopy. The familiar scent of pine and damp grass fills my lungs as I take a deep breath. Despite only being away for one day, I have to admit that I truly miss the feeling of these woods. Running through them at full speed, hunting, and even sitting in a mossy clearing. I especially miss my wolf form as I don’t dare shift on the campus grounds.

  I’m leaning against a massive pine tree with my eyes closed when a rustling sound comes from nearby. I don’t open my eyes as I had smelled him from miles away. Only I had hoped he’d just run past instead of stopping.

  “What do you want?”

  I open my eyes and struggle not to gasp. Standing before me is a beautiful, full white, wolf. Varus turns his head to the side, studying me. The scent and his eyes are familiar, but I can’t picture him having so much arctic shifter blood that he’d have the telltale white coat I do. Abruptly he shifts and ends up standing in front of me naked. I avert my eyes as an embarrassed flush climbs up my throat. I’ve never seen a male naked before and I refuse to let this situation be the first time.

  He huffs out, “What are you doing out here alone? The Great Woods are dangerous, you know.”

  “I know exactly how dangerous the Great Woods are, thank you. I lived in them for my entire life.” I chance a quick glance at him to see him bending down toward a bush. “And I can take care of myself.”

  My eyes don’t leave his muscled back as he pulls on a pair of pants. I can’t help the primal response to his hormones, can I? The thought gives me a free pass for staring creepily at this guy, so I’m guessing the answer is no. My face turns an even darker shade of crimson when he turns to find me staring at him.

  He smiles, spreading his arms wide. “Like what you see, princess?”

  I scowl, �
��Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

  He laughs at that, making his abdominal muscles flex with tension. I’m both glad and mortified that he still hasn’t put on his shirt because I feel my body responding to it. Ugh, I can’t catch a break with this guy. If I’m not careful, he might be my undoing at this stupid school. It once again makes me wish that I had convinced my sisters to stay in the safety of our woodland home.

  “She’s not really my girlfriend, but she likes to think she is. I have no claim on her.”

  No claim on her? The phrase makes me like him even less. To me, women aren’t meant to be claimed, and my mother instilled that belief in me. I remember what she always told me while tapping my nose, a male may try to court you, or claim you, but it is your decision. They might not want to admit it, but we have all the power. And then she’d look at my father and laugh prettily. It’s always been a memory that I cherish.

  “Ah, I see. So, you’re the man whore I thought you were.”

  His face turns an adorable shade of pink as his expression goes from playful to horrified. He grabs his tee shirt off the ground and scrambles to put it on as I walk away. I smile in satisfaction for successfully knocking him off his high horse. His quick footsteps follow me, and he catches up before grabbing my arm. Varus spins me toward him and looks into my eyes with a seriousness I didn’t think he could muster.

  “I’m not a man whore, Ashe. I want you to know that. As your tutor, we have to form a sense of trust between us. I’m sorry for giving you the wrong impression. Can we start over?”

  My head swims with indecision. Is it okay to forgive him? To start over and potentially get sucked into the vortex, that is this hot shifter, male? I know that if I get close to him something bad will happen—like catching feelings—as my sisters say. But another part of me desperately wants to connect with him even if we’re just friends. He’s irritating, yes, but he’s also witty and seems to have an interesting background that I want to hear more about.

  My mouth moves before I can decide, “Ask me again later.”