Chapter Thirty-Nine

Claire

What a nightmare.

Claire drove Axel's vehicle toward the pack house, her grip tight on the steering wheel, as Axel sat in the middle of her and Delia.

He was afraid to let her sit next to Claire in case she tried to run them off the road. At this point, Claire welcomed it.

After she chased Delia to the dark room, everything went to hell. Delia moved quickly, surprising Claire, and cornered Kerry in the blink of an eye. Where she'd learned to move like that, Claire didn't want to know. But Claire did know one thing, Delia knew all about lycans and werewolves because she hunted them.

Claire had no idea that was even a thing. Hunting supernatural beings? Who knew?

She'd pulled the crossbow out of nowhere and handled it like a pro. It'd scared the pee out of her.

When they pulled into the pack house, Alpha Davers and a few other wolves made their way out to the truck. Two of them ushered a silent Delia toward the cellar, while Alpha Davers took Tibbs to the house.

When Claire shut the car door, Grace barreled down the steps toward her. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

Axel tossed his hands up. "Wow, Mom, you literally ran right past me to Claire. Am I not important anymore?"

"You'll heal. She won't," she said, lifting a daring brow at him. She glanced back at Claire and stopped cold, her gaze traveled down to Claire's neck. Embarrassment swarmed her, and she felt heat crawl up her neck to her cheeks. "You're marked?" she asked softly, running her fingertips against it. "Oh my… I—you've been marked."

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and Claire realized quickly it was the same reaction as a child getting married. This was a huge thing to them—two people becoming one. A union. Claire was officially—and irrevocably—bound to Axel Davers." I'm so excited for you both," she said, cupping Claire's cheeks. "You're going to become a great Luna."

"Thank you," Claire said, wishing she'd stop the commotion.

"Mom," Axel said. "You're embarrassing her."

"I'm sorry," she said, stepping back. "I'm just excited. Let's get you both inside. Axel, your dad wants you to meet him in the conference room. They are going to question the Tibbs boy. And Claire, because you know Delia, they want us to go to the holding cell. Kerry is waiting on us."

Claire didn't really know Delia, but she figured she'd talk to her before she would anyone else since she had a hatred for the wolves apparently.

Axel gave her a lingering glance over his shoulder, his dark eyes intent on her for several moments before he disappeared into the house.

Claire followed Grace toward the infirmary where they held the prisoners below. They walked through the nurses' station, down a staircase, and into the dungeon.

The lights were bright and florescent and opened up into two large cells, one that held a sleeping Cash, and the other that held a pissed off Delia.

Kerry sat on a bench in the corner, while he stared at someone on the opposite side of the room. Aunt D leaned against the wall, picking at her fingernail buds, ignoring Kerry.

"Aunt D?" Claire asked. She glanced up, and stalked over, pulling Claire into a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

She pulled back and examined Claire, making sure she was in one piece. "Kerry called. He wants to see if I can cast a protection spell over the pack house and make sure anyone looking for these two do not get in."

"Can you?" Claire asked.

Aunt D gave her a small smile and winked. "Of course, I can."

Kerry jumped up and walked toward Claire. "Are we ready to start this?" he asked. Claire didn't miss how he looked over Aunt D and the tension that floated in the air between them.

"Are we?" Claire asked Grace.

She gestured toward the cell where Delia sat staring daggers at them both. Claire walked over toward the bars and wrapped her fingers around them. "Delia," she said softly. "Do you want to tell me what's going on? Why you know about werewolves, and why did you aim a crossbow at Kerry's head?"

Delia sat on a small bench, her legs tucked, and her knees right below her chin. "It's obvious, isn't it? Your friend already said it. I'm a hunter."

Claire pursed her lips. "You were raised to be a hunter?"

Delia stared.

Claire sighed. "It's not like I can go tell people. No one would believe me. The entire campus thinks it's some kind of wild animal killing the students, and we both know I'm not at liberty to say anything about Axel or the pack. What would it hurt to tell me?"

She glanced over at Cash asleep in his cell. "I grew up a hunter. My family are hunters."

At least they were getting somewhere. "Why?" Claire asked. "I know I'm new to all of this, but why would you want to kill them?"

Delia rolled her eyes dramatically and quickly stood up, walking slowly toward Claire. "You really should have looked into some history books before you let one bite you, Claire. I thought you were smarter than that. At first, I didn't even think you knew Axel was a werewolf. Then I saw him save you that night after your shift, and I knew why he saved you—because you're mated, or so he says."

Kerry snorted and mumbled something behind Claire, but she ignored it. "So you don't believe in mates?"

"No, it's all a big joke to breed with you."

"What would they get out of that?" I asked. "Why would they want to breed with a human?"

Delia tilted her head slightly, examining her as if she thought Claire was lying. "You're not only human, Claire. I know you know. The lycan wouldn't want you so badly if you were." She glanced at Aunt D. "Look at your aunt over there. A witch. You have supernatural in your blood, and with Axel mating with you, you'll produce some crazy mixed breed so they can overtake my kind."

"Goodness gracious," Grace said from behind Claire. "That's insane. Is that what your parents taught you? We have other human mates in our pack. I'm truly sorry you think this way."

"They want to take over, Claire. You have to believe me."

She didn't. She didn't believe it for a minute. If they wanted to take over, they would have already done it. "They tried," Delia said. "Once before. Years back, hundreds of years, when they didn't try to keep themselves secret. They banded together and tried to take over humankind. They lost and went into hiding to save themselves."

Claire glanced back at Kerry. "We had a great war, like she said, but it wasn't to take over. It was to defend ourselves. When the humans found out about us, they were scared, and it started a war. Everything else is crap."

Delia gripped her hands over Claire's quickly and gave her a pleading look. "My family is going to come and find me. They'll fight the wolves. They'll fight the lycan, and they won't hesitate to kill you, too, because of that mark, Claire. Why did you do that to yourself?"

Claire pulled her grip from Delia's. "Because I love Axel," she admitted aloud for the first time. "I think we're done here."

She turned to leave when Delia shouted, "I think we can help each other," she said. "We've found where he keeps the kids he turns. We sniffed him out a couple of years ago, and he's been waiting to attack."

"Waiting on what?" Kerry asked.

Delia glanced at Claire. "On Claire."

Claire's body erupted in shivers.

"We aren't fast enough to catch him. If you let me call my family, we could work together to stop him."

"And then you turn on us? On me?" Claire asked. "And hurt all of the pack members?"

Delia stepped back from the bars. "I could talk to my dad. If you let me go, he may look the other way."

Claire didn't know if she could believe her or not. "Who is your dad?"

"Mark Tilley."

"Sydney's boyfriend from the coffee shop?" Claire asked.

Delia shrugged. "Who do you think helped me get the job? I'm not exactly … friendly."