The Guardian Wolf And Her Alpha Mate
The Guardian Wolf and her Alpha Mate Chapter 55

Nova POV:

It's late by the time we have spoken to Axel and gotten some food and I'm exhausted. "We still have to go to Caroline" Kia sighs to me. Internally swearing as I realise it's not going to be an early night I decide I need a coffee and excuse myself from the office. "Anyone else fancy a drink?" I ask before I close the door. "Whiskey" Jax grunts his brows furrowed in concentration as he stares at his computer.

"Lots of it" Luca mutters from the sofa in the corner.

Chuckling at them I head downstairs enjoying the few minutes of quiet I have. As I methodically make the coffee and gather the whiskey for the men I let out a deep sigh as I struggle to switch my mind off. After pouring my coffee I turn to get some milk and freeze as I sense a presence behind me. Taking a deep breath i catch no scent causing me to frown momentarily, realising I can't do much if I don't look I turn slowly as my eyes search the dark corners of the kitchen. "Maybe next time you'll turn the light on" Kia says snarkily to me.

"We can see perfectly fine what's the point" I snap back before a figure steps out from the pantry doors shadow.

"Sophie?" I gasp in shock. Taking in her saddened features and her eyes with dark circles underneath I feel my heart clench in sympathy.

"You know?" She whispers.

"Know what?" I ask slowly unsure of her reason for reappearing.

"That Hannah is a hunter" she says in a monotone voice.

"Yes" I murmur quietly. "Luca and I, we saw the photo of you both together last time you saw her and we saw her tattoo."

She lets out a humourless laugh, "that fucking tattoo" she snarls surprising me with the venom she has in her voice.

"Sophie I don't understand" I say quietly, "how long have you know?"

Looking at the clock by the window she shrugs, "about 10 hours now."

"She's not lying" Kia says confirming what I already know, her heart rate is steady and she is looking at me clearly as she speaks with no signs of nerves.

"Do you want to sit down?" I ask gently, "why don't we have a chat?"

"Thank you" she whispers as her bottom lip trembles. As she sits down I get her a glass of water and some snacks which I put in front of her before sitting on the other side of the breakfast bar. As she reaches for her water I take in her appearance properly and can't stop the gasp from escaping me. Dried blood is covering her bare arms and there are droplets sprayed across the front of her dark top.

"Are you hurt?" I worry.

"It's not mine" she replies darkly. "It's Hannah's."

"The hunter?" I check.

"The one and only" she winces at the mention of her.

"Why can't we scent you? Or the blood?" Kia suddenly links her.

Looking surprised she looks at me with wide eyes, "Kia" I explain chuckling.

"Oh..um, I used a scent mask spray, a strong one it seems to hide everything. I took it from Hannah's belongings" she admits.

"Why?" I ask.

"I thought it would be safer travelling back here, make me more invisible incase they found Hannah quickly and wanted to follow me" she says. "She's dead." "You killed her?" I check.

With a solid nod of her head she shrugs, "that bitch deserved it."

"You need to explain Sophie, I just want to understand" I say gently reaching a hand out to clasp her own shaking one.

"I persuaded dad to let me go and study business at a human college, I wanted to experience a bit of normality and maybe replace somewhere I felt like I belonged. Growing up we were constantly moving and it was tough, I thought college would help me, the socially anxious teenager, gain some confidence and replace my meaning in life a bit more. I met Hannah there, she was a girl in a dorm down the hall from me. We clicked right away and had lot of similar interests, over the course of 3 years I spent a lot of time with her and when life at home became a bit much when I returned she was who I turned to." She explains before taking a sip of her water.

"I had no idea she was a hunter" she says with a pained expression. "Honestly I never saw that tattoo until today, she would have long tops on and she had a brace on her wrist sometimes, she told me she had a weak wrist but now I think it was to cover the H." "So what made you realise?" I ask quietly.

With a sad expression she looks at me, "Luca told me about your parents and what exactly happened. When he told me the date I automatically thought of Hannah and how I hadn't seen her for a while. I got my phone out when Luca had a shower and was looking through pictures of us from our trip and I saw the tattoo she'd tried to cover. I knew then that she had been lying to me the entire time, I just knew she was involved. She was acting shifty at the time but she said it was family drama, and she disappeared most days" she cries softly. "So what did you do?" I probe.

"I text her, off of a phone she gave me. She always got on at me that I didn't have an up to date phone so she gave me one last time as a "gift" from her" she scoffs, "I never used it. I don't think I even mentioned it to dad as it stayed turned off in a box as I had no use for it. I'm not a materialistic person at all, it's just not me after the lifestyle I grew up with." "Did you text her here, at the pack?" I ask sharply.

"No" she says shaking her head, "I didn't have it here so I had to go and collect it, as soon as I had the suspicions of her I figured that she didn't give me the phone to be nice, it most likely has a tracker on it. I knew I had to confront her and asap, so i spent some time with Luca and when he went to training I left."

"We had the same suspicions but thought it might be on your phone, I mean the one you use" I say.

"Yes well, I checked and turns out only father has a tracker on that one" she chuckles. "That's why I left it, I didn't want anyone else to risk being hurt and i knew it was something I needed to do."

"Is that why you didn't let Luca mark you?" I ask her softly to which she nods sadly.

"I didn't mean to upset him, but I didn't want him to risk himself either. I can't bear the thought of him being hurt Nova, he means so much to me and it's only been a short amount of time" she admits.

I smile at her words, "he will be relieved to hear that, he was doubting himself. How did you manage to leave the pack?"

With a grimace she looks up before answering, "I um, I "borrowed" a car. It was one of the warriors that I heard tell his friend he was staying with him for a few days as his parents had visitors so he parked it at the packhouse garage for a few days. I left it in the local town incase you caught on and couldn't track me. I've brought it back and it's not damaged, I even put more fuel in it."

With a soft laugh I look away as shame washes through me, "what's wrong?" She asks noticing my expression.

"I should never have doubted you" I say simply.