CHAPTER 18
Hunter
“HEY, SUNSHINE,” I CALLED while walking in through the front door. “Guess what?”
“You’re tracking mud all over the floor again?” Mrs. Jones answered for Kia, who was already sitting at the table eating dinner after a long day of work.
The woman didn’t even look up from what she was doing and didn’t see the face I made at her or that I wiped my shoes on the mat a second time before crossing the space between the front door and the dining room.
“No, actually,” I said slowly, pulling out a chair and seating myself, “I was going to tell Kia that I have a surprise for her. But if she’s not interested . . .” I trailed off, reaching for the pork roast on the table.
“A surprise?” Kia’s face lit up, and she dropped her fork, her food forgotten.
Her face was freshly scrubbed, and for a moment, I was entranced by the healthy glow emanating from her skin. Her spirits had come way up since the first night we’d made love in the stall, which was nearly a week ago. She’d thrown herself back into the ranch work wholeheartedly and came to sleep with me every night, which delighted me. A part of me knew I should make her sleep in the house—where it was warmer, more comfortable, and in case of a wolf attack, much safer—but I couldn’t bring myself to send her away. Plus, I enjoyed her company and our nightly candid chats in the barn, where we shared our most intimate sexual fantasies and created a menu of the type of erotic activities we wanted to try.
“Well, that is what I said.” I served myself a scoop of mixed vegetables. “But I can see you’re hungry, so maybe we’ll just wait.”
There was silence for all of thirty seconds before Kia blurted out, “What kind of surprise is it?”
“That would be telling,” I said, waggling my eyebrows, a habit I knew pushed Kia’s buttons.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Kia huffed, tossing down her napkin and standing up. “Let’s go see what it is, then. This’d better not be some kind of prank.”
I grinned and hurried after her so I could open the front door for her. “This way,” I said. Taking her by the hand, I started leading her to the stables.
“What? Have you finally decided to install a bed or something?” Kia teased.
Then she fell silent as I led her to Twilight’s stall. Inside was a beautiful chestnut quarter horse with large, dark eyes and a splash of white on its nose.
“Say hello to her,” I prompted. “She’s our newest cutting horse trainee.”
“She’s beautiful.” Kia gently stroked the horse’s muzzle, and the animal closed its eyes, seeming to enjoy the attention. “What’s her name?”
“I thought maybe you’d like to decide.”
Kia pursed her lips, studying the horse in the lantern light I held aloft, and then said, “I think Sunset. Her coat is a nice deep color, and sunset comes before twilight.” She smiled, but it quickly disappeared as she turned to me with a frown. “How much—”
I placed a finger to her mouth to silence her. “This isn’t charity, Kia,” I said, knowing what she was thinking before she even said a word about it. “I’m an investor, remember? And in order to make sure this business is profitable by the end of the month, I decided it would be in the best interest of the ranch if I replaced Twilight.”
The left corner of Kia’s mouth curled up. “Are you done lecturing me yet?”
I dropped my finger from her mouth, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry. I just didn’t want you to bite my head off.”
Kia lifted my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “I’d never bite your head off,” she said seriously. “Now, other parts, however . . .”
She waggled her eyebrows in a perfect imitation of me, and I laughed.
“All right, you little vixen,” I said, taking her by the hand and leading her back to the house, “let’s go finish dinner before Mrs. Jones comes out here and finds us in some kind of compromising position.”
My cell rang, so I quickly pulled it out of my pocket, giving it a glance. It was Matt returning my call.
I kissed her on the nose. “Go on in, darling. I have to take this call.”
She slapped me on the ass. “Don’t take too long, cowboy,” she replied before striding away, leaving me gawking at the sexy jiggle of her ass.
“Damn, woman!” I yelled out to her. “Have I told you that you have an amazing ass?”
She laughed huskily. “Yep. Every time I’m riding you. Hashtag, tap it,” she responded loudly before disappearing into the house.
“What the fuck, Matt?” I hissed into my cell while walking far enough away from the house so that my conversation couldn’t be overheard. “I left you a voice message hours ago. Thank God I wasn’t fucking dying.”
“I’m at a poker tournament,” he growled. “What’s up?”
“Something strange happened to me during sex.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake! You called me to brag about your latest kinky conquest? I don’t have time for this shit, Hunter. I have to get back to the tournament.”
“Matt, will you shut the hell up and just listen? It’s not about sex. It’s about a hallucination that I had during it. Well, it’s that . . . and the incessant ranting of my inner wolf about her being our true mate.” I launched into telling him about the light show I had experienced while making love to Kia. I detailed the strange vision of the swirling kaleidoscopes that formed two separate figures before merging into one, drawing all the colors into a big sphere that eventually burst into shimmering light. “So, am I going batshit crazy? And what the fuck is a true mate?”
“Well, first, you are batshit crazy. I’ve been telling you that shit for years.”
“Fuck off,” I grumbled.
“Look,” Matt started, “on a more serious note, your wolf might be right about her being your true mate. Because that little light show that you saw? Well, Gunner told me he experienced the same shit with Celine, but he didn’t understand what it was. So, he called Eli.”
“And?” I prodded impatiently.
“Eli told Gunner that every pure-blooded shifter has a true mate—the one person who completes them. You know, equivalent to that sappy soul-mate shit. But—”
I cut him off. “That makes no sense. Why would I have a vision like that if I’m not a pureblood?”
“Are you going to let me finish or not?” Matt barked.
“Go ahead,” I growled.
“As I was about to say, Eli got his info wrong. Celine had to set him and Gunner straight. She told them that all shifters, regardless of whether they are purebloods or hybrids, have a true mate. The problem is that not very many ever find theirs.”
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed.
This news wasn’t good on many levels. But most importantly because Kia had been terrified and traumatized by what she called a monster. I knew there was no way in hell she would accept the fact that I was a hybrid wolf-shifter, much less want to still be with me.
“Yep, holy shit.” Matt started laughing. “Damn! I can’t wait to tell the rest of the guys that you found your mate and that you’re officially off the fuck-everything-that-moves team. So, is she a hybrid?”
“No. She’s human,” I muttered.
“Wait . . . what?”
“You heard me,” I replied, “and the most fucked-up part is that, when she was young, a shifter killed her mother.”
“Damn, bro!” Matt exclaimed. “So, when are you going to tell her you’re a hybrid shifter?”
Never.
Damn . . . my life is so fucked right now.