My Hunted Mate novel Chapter 36

Corinna

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

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

" I.. I don't know. " I mumble. " I can't shift, why can't I shift? This has never 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, felt unimaginable grief and this has never happened to me. "

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

" Hey.. It's alright, we'll figure this out. What can I do? " He questions.

" I.. " I pause for a moment, letting out a sigh. " I don't know, but I think I'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 park nearby. " I inform him, taking the clothes from his hands to cover my body.

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

" I can go alone. " I tell him.

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

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

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

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

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

When I look back up at him his shock is replaced with amusement and his 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 correct statement nonetheless. When I don't answer he nods slowly. " So are you 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 four people to join us on our trip and pack your bag. " He tells me, when I shoot him a glare he adds. " Please. " with a soft smile.

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

Kai follows closely behind me. " Good choice. Now, what's the name of the 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 hold of 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 an abomination. " I try to lace my tone with humour, but instead it comes out bitter.

Kai's jaw noticeably flexes, but instead of replying to me, he leads me down the hall to the last door on this floor, a door I've never been through. 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 cherry wood desk with a black office chair is placed in front of a ceiling to floor window, two black chairs sit on the other side of the desk, to the left tall cherry wood cabinets stand with multiple drawers, a large bookcase lines the right wall of the office, beside that a black two seater 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 typical office phone that is placed on the desk closer to him. He lifts the phone to his ear, motioning me to come to him as he dials a number into the phone, glancing at the open file as he does.

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