The Hunting Game: A Fantasy Romance Novel

by Leila Vy

  “Did he reject you?” I asked.

  She looked at me confused again before she spoke, “Yes.”

  There must be a reason why. There had to be. No wolf would ever reject their true mate if they were sane in their head, but my head flitted back to Kyle. He was sane, but he still rejected me. He wanted someone else. He wanted Kailyn.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “He says I am not fit to be a luna. I told him I would try my hardest to be the best mate he could have. He said I was flawed and ugly. I can’t stand next to him.” She sobbed harder. My heart went out to her, but at the same time, there was a gut feeling inside of me that told me to not go hopping around pointing fingers yet.

  “Patience,” a hard voice from behind me spoke. I whipped around to see Noor looking at us. His eyes glanced behind me to look at Amelia, and I had never seen such cold eyes from him before. It was scary.

  “Noor, what is it?” I asked.

  “Alpha sent me to come get you. You were gone too long,” he said.

  I glanced back at Amelia who looked at me pleadingly. I turned back to Noor who was waiting patiently, and the way his hand tightened into a fist, I was sure he wasn’t going to leave here without me. I sighed and turned back to Amelia.

  “I am sorry. Let me think this through,” I whispered gently and then turned to walk back to Noor. When I was at his side, he waited until I walked forward before following me. I did not miss the glare he sent Amelia.

  “Why are you looking at her like that?” I asked him.

  “It is not my place to tell you, Patience,” he spoke angrily. “But I would tell you this: stay away from her.”

  This irked me even more. Why was there so much mystery? It felt like I was walking through a dense fog and would never find my way out. Did what Amelia say have any truth? Was Titus a bad mate? I had so many questions.

  “It’s okay if you can’t tell me, Noor. I will talk to Alpha,” I said. He swiftly nodded.

  “I suggest speaking with him sooner than later.” He urged, and when we emerged in the dining room again, Titus was standing around talking to people. Dinner was over.

  He stood out above everybody in this room. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the bond we shared, but I could pick him out in a room with a hundred people. He was just tall and big. His aura radiated his power. He turned to look at me when he felt my eyes on him, and my heart picked up speed. Staring into his eyes, I moved to stand next to him.

  He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “You were gone for a very long time. I was afraid you were at war with the toilet.”

  “No,” I simply said. My mind was still swirling with Amelia’s words as I glanced around the room. My eyes landed on her again. She was staring at us. I broke my eyes away from her and glanced back at Titus. He was looking at me oddly.

  There was no denying I wanted and needed Titus. My wolf couldn’t face losing this bond. I don’t know why, but it felt like it would hurt more if I let him go. As if he noticed the misery I felt, he turned to cup my cheek as he looked into my eyes.

  “What is wrong?” he asked, his voice filled with concern.

  “Nothing,” I said quietly, and he shook his head as his hand dropped from my cheek to grab my wrist. He pulled me away from everyone as we walked back up the stairs.

  When we reached our floor, we went inside our bedroom. Titus looked at me.

  “I can feel something is wrong,” he said as he approached me and cupped both of my cheeks. “Tell me.”

  “Is Amelia your true mate?” I asked, and he stiffened. His gaze hardened, and he let out a growl. He was about to turn away from me when I grabbed his elbow. “Tell me, Titus.”

  “I told you to leave it, and I would tell you tonight,” he growled angrily.

  “It is night, and news flash, I have waited long enough! It is time you tell me, Titus. Tell me now.” I ordered angrily. His eyes flared up in defiance, and his alpha power radiated in a tremendous wave at me. If it were anyone else, they would run the other way the minute the wave hit them, but it was me. I met his eyes head on.

  “Do not order me around, Patience. Keep in mind who is the alpha here.” He gritted out, and I ran my tongue over my teeth angrily. The urge to bite was overwhelming. He was pissing me off.

  “I understand you are the alpha, but who am I to you?” I asked.

  “You are my luna and my mate,” he growled viciously, and his eyes turned black.

  My eyes softened, and sadness drowned my body as I looked up at him. “That is the thing, Titus. I am not your mate.”

  He growled again, and I saw a flash of his canines. He was getting angrier, and his wolf was not happy with my statement. He wanted to make his presence known. He was becoming hostile. He moved to grip my arms tightly in his as he pulled me up close to him. My lips were inches away from him.

  “You are mine!” he growled out ferociously. “You will be no one else’s but mine. Do you understand?”

  I looked up into his eyes that were dark as the night. I wanted to tell him yes, but there was Amelia. She stood in the back of my mind. I shook my head.

  He snapped his jaw, and I saw his body tremble. “Patience.”

  “Why did you do it?” I asked. “Why did you reject her?”

  “How did you know?” he asked, looking angrier. “Who told you?”

  “Tell me. You haven’t answered my question,” I retorted. He answered my question with one of his own. That wasn’t going to pass by me easily. I wanted an answer.

  “I don’t want to talk about her right now.” He snapped as his black eyes stared down at me. His grip on my arms was hurting me now. “You’re mine, Patience.”

  “I’m not yours,” I said quietly, and he growled loudly. It was the loudest I have heard him. I think the whole house heard him. He yanked me into his arms as he wrapped his thick muscular arms around me. His nose trailed down to my pulse. I remained rigid and still in his arms as soon as I felt the familiar heated sparks go through me. I could see the way his jaw ticked, and the way he was growling told me his wolf was on the surface. He snapped his jaw close to my pulse, and then suddenly, he let me go. I turned to see his canine elongated.

  “Stop…” I whispered softly. “Please, all I want is to understand.”

  He covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself from biting me. He growled and walked out of the bedroom quickly. I looked at him until he disappeared. I inhaled sharply. I don’t know why I was feeling this way when I was with him. Why was I feeling such a strong bond with him? How could this even be possible when I already had a mate?

  Exhausted from all the emotions in me, I walked to the balcony of his bedroom and sat on the floor as I watched the moon shine down on me. Silently, I begged for some kind of answer since I wasn’t getting any here. I hoped that Moon Goddess herself could tell me what was going on with Titus and me, as well as Amelia. Hopefully, Moon Goddess would take pity and answer my silent prayer.

  I leaned my head back and looked at the moon. Slowly, my eyes began fluttering, and it didn’t take long before sleep took over.

  ***

  I appeared in a room with a beautiful young woman dressed in a red, deep v-neck gown. Her hair was black as the night trailing down her back as she was concentrating hard and murmuring under her breath as she looked out her window at the moon.

  “Hello?” I said as I approached her. She didn’t look up at me. She continued murmuring, and when I got closer, I heard what she said.

  “One truer than their hearts, one where resistance will be futile, one that is stronger and will not depart. Together, they will become the ultimate mates, bonded by fate for eternity. A bond stronger than all, a bond that has always been tied as one.”

  I frowned as I moved to stand in front of her. “Hello?”

  She was truly beautiful. Her delicate pale skin and heart-shaped face made her look very young, but her golden wolf eyes told me she was wiser than s
he looked. She turned to me and spoke again.

  “One truer than their hearts, one where resistance will be futile, one that is stronger and will not depart. Together, they will become the ultimate mates, bonded by fate for eternity. A bond stronger than all, a bond that has always been tied as one.”

  “I don’t understand,” I whispered.

  “You need to allow your mind to see it, Patience. See what I have given you,” she whispered, and it was then I knew who she was.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I felt something flutter across my face. I pouted and swatted away the offending object that was tickling me. When it was gone, I snuggled closer to what seemed like a pillow. But how did I end up with a pillow under me when I was outside on the balcony? I shot up immediately, and my forehead hit Titus’s chin. I let out a yelp as I held my forehead and glared at him. He was holding his chin when he looked at me.

  “What did you do that for?” he asked as he frowned.

  “Why did you wake me up?” I retorted.

  He broke into a grin. “You were sleeping outside in the balcony. I can’t have my mate sleeping out there. I carried you inside. You were murmuring in your sleep. Did you have a bad dream? I crawled into the bed with you, and as if you knew it was me, you snuggled into my body.”

  “I did not,” I mumbled, feeling heat crawling up my cheeks.

  “Oh yes, you did. You snuggled so close to my body I didn’t even get to leave. So, I held you all night.” He teased, and I groaned as I flipped over away from him to hide my embarrassment in a pillow.

  I heard him chuckling as he leaned over, his warm body pressed to my back and hovered over me. His lips moved to the back of my neck, and I could feel his warm breath tickling me.

  “What did you dream about?” he asked.

  I turned slightly to look at him, and memories of what I dreamt about flashed through my mind. The Moon Goddess and her riddle were prominent in my mind. I turned completely onto my back and chewed my bottom lip as I tried to remember her riddle.

  Titus propped himself on one elbow as he laid down on one side. His muscles were flexed as he did that action. Momentarily distracted, I looked at his body, and my tongue darted out to lick my dried lips. His messy bed hair look was absolutely sinful. It should be banned and considered illegal. No sexy messy bed hair for hot alphas. I’m going to put in that proposition. He cleared his throat, and my eyes flickered back up to his eyes, which were clearly amused as he saw where exactly I was looking at. I pursed my lips in annoyance.

  “Go away,” I muttered and flipped back to my side. His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me back into his chest as he nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck.

  “You are a difficult female, Patience,” he murmured softly as his lips found my skin.

  “I thought you were mad at me and intent on hiding things from me,” I mumbled, finding it harder to be mad at him when he was nuzzling me like that.

  He sighed and leaned back a little. “C’mere.”

  He lifted me like a feather onto his lap. I turned to look at him, and all I could think about was how beautiful he looked up close. I wanted to pounce him and eat him up alive. Kidding! He did look delicious though. My eyes dropped to his lips before flitting back up to his icy blue eyes.

  “Yes?” I asked.

  He chuckled, and I guess he was in a better mood today than yesterday. “Amelia is my true mate. I found out when she shifted. We were together for a year. She said that she wanted to wait before we did the mating ceremony. So I waited, but she was lying. She was debating if she wanted her chosen or she wanted me as her mate.”

  He adjusted our position so that he was leaning back against the headboard of the bed with me between his legs, his arms wrapped around me protectively.

  “I woke up one night in pain. I felt like someone was carving into my skin and slowly taking out my organs without any anesthesia. The next day, I approached her, and she smelt like another male and his arousal. I knew what she did,” he said, and I knew what he meant. I felt the same thing every single night when Kyle was with my sister. “You know what she said?”

  “What?” I asked quietly as I felt sorrow for him. Nobody deserves to go through that.

  “She said she loves me, but before she was going to spend the rest of her life with me, she wanted to be able to experience what she could her chosen,” he said as if something bitter was in his mouth.

  I turned around to look at him. He smiled at me, and I felt my heart beat rapidly. He seemed to have that influence on me. His hand came out and touched my cheek. I closed my eyes, savoring in the heated tingles he gave me.

  “Do you feel that?” he asked, and my eyes opened to look at him. When I nodded, he spoke again, “I knew you were mine the minute I smelt you on that field. Your scent was so strong. My wolf was howling inside of me, demanding to search for the female who had awakened him. When I saw you in that line with that blindfold, I knew it was you. Imagine my delight when I touched you, and I felt this—”

  His hand moved down to my neck where the heated tingles danced and spread like wildfire.

  “I knew you were the one. I knew you were mine and only mine. My wolf wouldn’t have it any other way. He has already chosen you as I did too,” he whispered lowly. “Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point. (The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.)”

  “Tell me what that means,” I asked, and when he said it in English, it made me think about what the Moon Goddess had said to me in my dream.

  “So, I have gathered that Amelia has spoken to you,” he said as his hand dropped from my neck onto his side.

  “She—” I began but was interrupted with a knock on the door. I turned slightly to look at the door. Titus got up from the bed and walked over, half-dressed, to open the door.

  “What is it?” he asked. I heard some muffled voices on the other end, and then they spoke in French back and forth. Whatever it was, they didn’t want me to know.

  I got up and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, but that familiar burning sensation ran through my body again. I clutched at my heart, and my body leaned against the counter to help me. A soft whimper escaped my lips, and I began seeing white as the world began spinning around me. I closed my eyes tightly to try to blink away the blurriness in my vision. Sharp stabbing pain in my guts began, and it felt like needles pricking me all over the places.

  I dropped to the ground and curled up into a fetal position as I let the painful tears fall. I hadn’t fully rejected Kyle yet, and the bond with him was still there even though it might not be as strong anymore. I closed my eyes and willed myself to go to a happy place in my mind, as it had helped me in the past, but I knew what was coming and this was just only the beginning. A few moments later, I felt the needles on my skin dig deeper and my gut twisting harder. I let out a cry and used my fist to muffle it, as I did not want Titus to see. However, he heard it.

  Within a second, he was by my side. He examined my body before he knew what was going on. He scooped me up into his chest and carried me over to the bed where he sat down with me in his lap. He began murmuring soothing words as his hand caressed me all over my body.

  “You will be fine,” he whispered and kissed my forehead. “You haven’t spoken the words to him, have you?”

  “No,” I said through clenched teeth. “Someone was in a hurry.”

  He chuckled and hugged me closer. “You have to say it. It will help ease the pain.”

  “I know. I didn’t in the past because—” I paused for a moment because I knew why “—I still had hope.”

  Titus did not look angry. Instead, as I looked into his eyes, all I could see was him understanding what I was saying.

  “I know it is bad of me. He is my sister’s mate now, but I thought…I know I am foolish,” I said quietly. The nearness of Titus helped eased the pain amazingly. I could only feel tingles of it now.

  “You are not foolish. Mates are what we need to su
rvive as werewolves. You were just giving him a chance he didn’t deserve. That does not make you foolish,” he whispered quietly and hugged me tighter.

  “C-can I call my family?” I asked him. He gave me a soft smile before nodding.

  “Get dressed, and when you are feeling better, meet me in my office,” he said.

  The pain had eased completely. I could feel that my wolf and I were a little weak from it, but we should still be fine. Our first time feeling it, we were in bed for days. It did weaken us so badly. I really thought I was going to die.

  Titus set me down on the bed gently, planting a kiss on my forehead that sent little shivers through my body, and then sniffing me lightly before pulling back and heading to the door. I watched him leave me before I got up and got dressed.

  I pulled on one of his t-shirts and slipped on one of his athlete shorts that were too big. I pulled on the strings to tighten it up. I really needed clothes soon. We left so quickly, I didn’t get to pack. I put my hair up into a ponytail and headed to his office. I had no clue where it was, so I wandered around until I bumped into Noor.

  “Where are you going, Patience?” he asked.

  I awkwardly laughed as I scratched my head. “I am trying to find your alpha’s office.”

  He chuckled and waved his hand for me to go over to him. “Let me do the honors of taking you. You are on the wrong side of the house. His office is actually really close to your bedroom.”

  We made our way up a few flights of stairs back to our floor and then led me to the end of the hallway where another door was. He knocked on the door before opening it. Titus was on the phone speaking in French, and when he saw us, his eyes moved from Noor to me.

  “Thank you,” I said as I turned to Noor. “You have been very helpful.”

  “Anytime, Patience,” he replied and then turned slightly. “I better get going. If I am late for training, the alpha will eat me for dinner.”

  I laughed softly at him as he shot Titus a look before smiling and walking out the door. I turned to Titus, and he waved me over. I walked over to his side, and he immediately pulled me onto his lap. His nose was buried in my neck as he spoke French every now and then to answer the person on the other line. I waited patiently for him to finish, and when the call took longer, I began touching the stuff on his table. Leaning forward a little, I played with his Post-it Notes as I scribbled random things on it.