My Hunted Mate
Chapter Ten

Corinna

I didn't have any time whatsoever to respond to my mate before hehad picked me up into his arms bridal style and took off running in ablur through the orchard and out the other side where a huge lakestood, I wrapped my arms tightly around Malakai's neck when heshowed no signs of slowing down.

My eyes screwed shut tightly when he pushed off the ground, leapingthrough the air and across the lake, only opening when I felt the impactof his feet hitting the ground. We passed through some huge trees,completely surrounded by shrubs and bushes with berries and flowersuntil we reach a large black metal fence, through the gaps in the fence Icould see a beautiful stone mansion

The mansion seemed to be on a different level to the garden beyondthe fence, it had a stone porch that had an arch over each set of pillarsand on the stories above there were balconies that matched it withglass railings. Huge rocks were completely surrounding the perimeter,some of which had a gap in them making little waterfalls, that flowedinto a stream that seemed to wrap all the way around the house or atleast the back of the house.

So busy taking in the beauty of the home ahead of me, I didn't evennotice that Malakai had opened a two door gate and was walking medown a stone path surrounded by flowers, we eventually reached thestream that had small flat stones that rose just above the water so hecould get across easily to the stone steps which led onto the porch.Malakai opened the glass patio doors, that were accompanied by floorto ground windows on either side so you could see right into the livingroom, where multiple people were sitting on a cream n shaped sofa,that was bigger than any sofa I'd seen in my life.

In front of the sofa there was a modern white coffee table, on top of acream rug that sat on the tan hardwood floors, the modern item lookedslightly out of place when you compared it with stone wall the sofafaced that had a fireplace with a fire that was burning bright.

There was a huge TV bolted above it, on either side of the fireplacethere was white shelves slotted into the stone which held anuncountable number of books, the whole scheme of the room seemedto be white, cream and beige

The only thing that didn't follow the colour scheme was the pool tablebehind the sofa, there was one small step you had to take before youwere standing in the extension where it stood, surrounded by moreshelves where more books sat, along with CDs, DVDs and a soundsystem.

Malakai gently placed me back down, earning the attention of everyonein the room the second my feet hit the floor. A huge built guy withdyed blue hair wandered over to us, his light blue eyes take a momentto scan me before they land on Malakai.

"Who's this Mal? " He questions, his voice not as deep as I expected itto be.

" This is my beloved, Corinna. " Malakai introduces. " Cori, this is myolder brother Phoenix.

As I shake Phoenix's hand, I can't help but smile at the nickname givento me by Malakai. A couple more of Malakai's clan come to meet me,others seemed far less excited about my presence, The raven haired girlwho's name I learned was Josie - short for Josephine, was definitely inthat group.

Before anyone else could come say hello, Malakai led me out of theroom and up four flights of spiral stairs until we reached a long hallwaywith only four sets of doors, we walk to the end of the hall, where wecome to a set of white double doors on the right side there was anidentical set of doors on the left. We walk through the ones on the rightthat held a huge bedroom with grey carpet, a four poster King bed withblack sheets to match the curtains on either side of the floor to ceilingwindow that had black frames and a patio door that led onto a balcony,there was a black floor to ceiling bookshelf lining one of the walls andthere was not one space missing a book, the other walls were paintedsilver.

" This is my room. " Malakai mumbles.

I wander over to his bed, running my fingers over his soft sheets. * May17" 1 ask him, gesturing to the bed, he doesn't respond, only nodsmaking me take a seat with my legs crossed.

Now is when I remember I'm only in his white shirt, covered in dirt anddried in blood. I can't believe I met people in this state. I begin to pickat my dirt covered finger nails as I ask what's been on my mind fromthe moment we left the orchard; " Not that I'm not happy you broughtme here with you, but... Why did you bring me here with you? Whowere you running from? *

Malakai frowns slightly, he walks in the direction of two white doorsthat were next to the balcony door and disappears into one for amoment, then returns putting on a black dress shirt, when the buttonsare done up he sits on his bed beside me.

" My clan, the vampires downstairs.. Lately they have been gettingattacked when they go out to feed. Some of them made it back andsome of them were killed off. * He tells me.

" By who? " I frown.

" Hunters, it seems. Josie's sister went missing last night, that's whymyself, Dahlia and Josie were out there tonight. To try replace her, I wasexpecting to replace a body, that's what happened with the others, only wedidn't replace her. We found a couple hunters instead, we killed him butone got away. Josie wanted to go after him to replace the rest, I decided itwasn't a good idea, hunters usually use herbs so we can't feed on themwithout their blood tasting like battery acid, something was off. And wedon't know how many there are. " I nod at his explanation.

" Sounds like they may have been trying to lure you guys. Do you thinkthey took Josie's sister? " I ask.

Malakai nods. " I think it's likely. "

We sit in silence for a few moments, then he stands up holding hishand out to me to take. " Come on, let's get you clean. "

I blush, slightly embarrassed now that he's pointed out my roughappearance. He leads me into the door next to the one where he gothis shirt earlier and it turns out to be a bathroom that seems to bemade completely out of black marble with silver switches, faucets andhandles.

Malakai wanders over to the huge bath that looks like a hot tub ratherthan a bath, puts the silver stopper in and starts running the water. Iturn my back to him to unbutton his shirt and then drop it to the floor,my hair covers my chest so I place my hands over my lower half thenturn to face him.

His eyes watch me carefully as he moves toward me, he gently pulls myhands away from my body and then brushes my waist length hair overmy shoulders. " You don't ever have to hide from me. * he whispers.

His gaze starts to trail down my body, he frowns for a moment as hereaches out to lightly touch a scar from a stab wound on my rightshoulder, then his fingers move to brush over the scars left on my chestfrom where my uncle's claws had punctured me when he got close toripping my heart out once, he then moves to the claw marks thatstretch from my rib cage down to my hip and around to my lower back,then to the very recently bite mark on my other hip, and then to theother two bite marks on my upper left leg.

Gently he turns me so my back is facing him, he carefully takes hold ofmy hair moving it up so he can see the small blade marks, bigger clawmarks that litter my back. By the time he finishes tears are rushingdown my face and I'm struggling to hold back my cries. Will he bedisgusted by me now?

" Who did this to you? " He seethes.

Facing him, I take in the rage that is clear in his eyes. " I... * I trail off notknowing what to tell him.

Other than that time with my mother, I never usually flat out tell anyoneabout myself. People usually figure out I'm * the hybrid ' because Iusually use both my wolf and my gifts to defend myself, but it's notvery often I've admitted it to people. In the past, when I have admittedit and someone wanted to help me, it usually blew up in my face... Andtheirs.

" Corinna, who did this to you? " Malakai demanded