My Hunted Mate
Chapter Thirty Six

Corinna

Panic floods me as I try to shift again, my bones begin to break andreshape momentarily before snapping back into place, I let out awhimper of pain, followed by a growl of frustration.

Kai's eyes are filled with worry as he watches me trying to shift for thesixth time, but again I'm unable to. " Cori? What's going on? " he asks,his brows furrowed.

"1.1 don't know. " I mumble. " I can't shift, why can't I shift? This hasnever happened before. "

" Maybe it's the grief? " He suggests.

I shake my head. " No, it.. It couldn't be, I've lost a lot of people, feltunimaginable grief and this has never happened to me. "

The frustration getting to me, I rake my fingers through my hair, givingit a tug. Kai moves toward me, taking a gentle hold of my wrist to pullmy hand away from my head. He then cups my cheeks, my eyes snap tohis.

" Hey.. It's alright, we'll figure this out. What can I do? " He questions."1." I pause for a moment, letting out a sigh. " I don't know, but I thinkI'm going to have to visit a friend. "

"Who? " He starts to gather the clothing I'd tossed to the ground.

" Her name is Gia, she's human but mated to an alpha from a parknearby. " I inform him, taking the clothes from his hands to cover mybody.

When I am dressed, we start making our way back to the house hand inhand. Eventually Kai speaks again. " If you have to visit a pack, I'll makethe arrangements. I have agreements with any neighbouring packs,covens and clans to keep the peace, but I can't enter their lands unlessthey give permission. *

"1 can go alone. " I tell him.

" No. I'm not letting you go when you can't turn into a wolf to protectyourself. " He argues.

Stopping in my track, I remove my hand from his waving it towards oneof the many trees surrounding us. The tree's bark begins to crack untilit breaks in half, leaving the tree to collapse to the forest floor, shakingthe earth around us as it does.

"I'm far from defenceless Kai. " I raise an eyebrow at him, biting downon my lip to stop from laughing at his shocked expression.

He sighs. " Okay, you can protect yourself. Can you drive? "

"1- No." I stare down at the ground beneath my bare feet.

When I look back up at him his shock is replaced with amusement andhis head is tilted slightly to the right. " How long is this journey? "

" It took me three days.. " I mumble.

"I'm guessing it took you three days when you were running, as a wolf?" His words sound more of a statement than a question, but a correctstatement nonetheless. When I don't answer he nods slowly. " So areyou going to walk, or will you let me drive you? "

I sigh, turning to continue walking to the house. " Fine, you can come. "I grumble out as I push the black gate to the garden grounds open.

"I'll make the calls, in the mean time I want you to grab at least fourpeople to join us on our trip and pack your bag. " He tells me, when Ishoot him a glare he adds. " Please. " with a soft smile.

Storming through the porch doors, I see a couple of people sittingaround in the living room. " Phoenix, Mateo, Sabine and Olive, packyour bags were taking a trip to a nearby pack. " I call out, my irritationcausing me to sound quite rude, but I don't look back as I continue towander out of the room and up the stair case.

Kai follows closely behind me. " Good choice. Now, what's the name ofthe Alpha who's pack we'll be visiting? *

" Alpha Jack Rivera. " I answer as we approach our floor.

" Rivera? " He huffs out in distaste.

Raising an eyebrow, I turn to look back at him. * Not a fan? *

His sucks his lower lip into his mouth. " You could say that. *

"I'm not either, considering he was planning to hand me over to Cain. "I grumble.

His eyes narrow. " He was going to have you killed? *

" Pretty much, Gia is the only reason I'm here right now. " I sigh.

" Then why the hell are we going to his pack? " Kai hisses, taking holdof my hand.

" Because he's my only option, wolves aren't exactly a huge fan of me,Actually they're usually the most likely to try to kill me for being anabomination. " I try to lace my tone with humour, but instead it comesout bitter.

Kai's jaw noticeably flexes, but instead of replying to me, he leads medown the hall to the last door on this floor, a door I've never beenthrough. When he opens it, he pulls me inside a home office.

The floor beneath us is covered in black carpet, to the left a large cherrywood desk with a black office chair is placed in front of a ceiling tofloor window, two black chairs sit on the other side of the desk, to theleft tall cherry wood cabinets stand with multiple drawers, a largebookcase lines the right wall of the office, beside that a black twoseater sofa sits.

Kai wanders over to the cabinets, pulling open a draw to retrieve a file.He then takes a seat in the chair behind the desk, he pulls the typicaloffice phone that is placed on the desk closer to him. He lifts the phoneto his ear, motioning me to come to him as he dials a number into thephone, glancing at the open file as he does.

When I walk over to sit in one of the two chairs across from him, hechuckles and shakes his head, leaning the phone between his ear andshoulder so he can hold his arms out to me. I move around the deskinto his open arms, he drags me down until I'm perched on his lap, oneof his hands takes the phone again while the other takes a hold of myinner thigh, squeezing it.

I'm about to open my mouth to speak when I hear the line stop ringingand a voice on the other end. Alpha Jack.So let me get this straight. "Olive's voice echoes through Kai's car from the back seat, where she sitswith Mateo. " You've decided that we're all going to visit this AlphaJack's pack, even though he could possibly just make a call your uncleand let him know where you are? "

"Yes. " I answer with a shrug of my shoulder.

" And we're relying on his human beloved to keep him from makingsaid call? " Olive continues, now leaning through the gap between mineand Kai's seats.

"Yes. " I reply again, smiling as Kai takes his hand off the wheel tointertwine his fingers with mine on my lap.

" And you're walking into all of this with the word of this alpha, whichcould mean nothing and only five of us to help protect you? " Shepresses.

" Yes. Olive, I'm fully aware of the risk. " I sigh.

" Then why the hell are we doing this?! * She cries out, throwing herselfback into her seat with a loud huff.

" We're doing this because we need to make sure that nothing is wrongwith her wolf Olive, now please, shut up and let the brave girl be. *Mateo groans out, obviously sick of Olive's dramatic teenage ways afterbeing stuck in the car with her for ten hours straight.

"1 just don't get why we've to go to this pack for the answer to that. *She grumbles, crossing her arms.

" The only person who can give me that answer, is a pack healer, that'swhy. " 1 tell her, for the third time since the beginning of this journey."I'm starting to think maybe we should have out Olive in Phoenix's car.* Kai mumbles.

" Hey! " Olive cries.

" I've been thinking that since we pulled out of the grounds of thehouse. " Mateo announces.

" Okay well I'm going to need to pull over soon, I'm starving and I needto pee, so you guys can argue about travelling arrangements while I'mdoing that. " I lean over to turn on the radio before they can start tobicker.

Within ten minutes Kai has pulled over to a gas station so I can use therestroom, Phoenix's truck, that had been following behind us, pulls innext to us. " What food do you want? " Kai asks me as we climb out ofthe car.

" Uh, a sandwich is good. Oh maybe some snacks too? " I answer,sending him a smile as 1 look for a sign for the bathroom.

"I'll grab some more water too, we're almost out. * He informs me,giving me a swift kiss on the lips before wandering off.

After I use the bathroom, I wander back to the car where Phoenix andMateo seem to be bickering back and forth about who is driving withwho. " How about all of you ride together and Kai and I will ride alone?"I suggest.

" That sounds like a good idea to me. " Kai says as he climbs back intohis car.

Not giving anyone time to argue, I slide into the passenger seat and wecontinue our journey. As the hours pass, my eyes begin to feel heavyand eventually I fall into a deep sleep, waking up to Kai brushing thehair out of my face and saying something to me.

"What? " I groan out through my sleepily state.

" We're here my darling, well just outside the territory. The alpha, betaand a couple of warriors will be coming to meet us and bring us to theirpack house. " Kai informs me.

Awkwardly, I stretch out in the small space of the car before unbucklingmy seat belt and climbing out into familiar surroundings, feeling a stabat my heart when I remember this was one of the last places I seen mymother alive.

A hand on my lower back snaps me back to reality. " Hey, are you okay?" Kai questions, moving his hand beneath my shirt to rub my skinsoothingly.

" Yeah. " I mumble, my voice breaking.

He doesn't have time to say anything else due to the group of peoplewho have now joined us, I instantly recognise Alpha Jack and hisGamma, behind them are two men and a woman, all are dressed inblack army pants, combat boots and tank tops, looking like soldiers.Alpha Jack's face remains emotionless as his teal eyes stare me and Kaidown, he takes a quick glance toward the rest our group before movingtoward us. He holds out his hand to Kai.

" Master Malakai, pleased to meet you again. " Jack grits out, it's nothard to tell that he's not at all pleased by our presence.

" Alpha Jack. " Kai nods, taking his hand and giving it a stern shake.

" You remember my Gamma Garrett? " Jack says, nodding toward thefamiliar blonde, who can't seem to remove his glaring eyes from me.

" Yes, and it seems he remembers my beloved. He would do well to puthis personal feelings aside, because right now he seems to have zeroprofessionalism. " Kai sends a sarcastic smile toward Garrett.

Alpha Jack clenches his fists but ignores the remark. " Let's get you allsettled into the guest wing of the pack house, my Luna is lookingforward to meet you. My warriors will take your cars back, we will run. *" Actually. " I interject. " We can take our own cars.

Jack's jaw flexes but he nods regardless, Gia obviously warned him tobe on his best behaviour. " Very well, we will lead the way. "

He and his people shift into their wolves, not waiting for us as they takeoff sprinting through the woods. With a deep sigh, I turn to climb backinto the car, unable to stop myself from snorting loudly when I hearOlive giggling loudly while she jumps into the passenger seat ofPhoenix's truck.

" Garrett the Gamma, you've got to be kidding me. That's pure gold. "

I send Kai an amused look.

" At least she kept it to herself until they left. " He shrugs. * See?Professionalism. "