Hunter's Secret
Chapter 20 - Finally

Titus’ POV

It has been a few months since the incident with the Alpha and Beta from Blue Flame. My leg has healed but I have two nice scars on my calf now. Ryker has not resurfaced. I miss him but he lost his mate too, so I understand how he feels.

“Daddy?” Raine whispers and I snap my eyes open.

“Why are you awake? It is too early to get up, Rainey.”

“I can’t sleep,” she whispers back, “Can I sleep in your bed again?”

I nod my head and she climbs up. She pushes back the covers and gets comfortable. It doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep, and she rolls over and snuggles up next to me, using my arm as a pillow. I love her so much. I drifted back to sleep, slightly moving my arm to keep my hand from going numb as she lays on me.

I slowly wake up to the sunshine coming through the curtains. I roll over and Raine is gone. I am immediately awake now. I also smell something burning on the stove. I run out to the kitchen to replace Ash attempting to make scrambled eggs while Raine sits on the counter eating shredded cheese out of the bag. I breathed out a sigh of relief, knowing that Raine wasn’t using the stove.

“Good morning, sweetie,” I smile at Raine and bend down to kiss her head and she puts some cheese in my mouth too, “Good morning, Ash.”

“Why is it so hard to make eggs? You are a much better cook then me,” she complains, turning to me. Her whole face goes red, and she mumbles something about me not wearing a shirt again.

Ignoring her complaints, “It isn’t hard to make eggs. You just had the heat too high. I will make some now that I am up.”

I whip up some eggs and bring them, and the cheese, and Raine over to the table. The three of us sat down to eat, Raine sneaking some eggs off my plate before digging into her own. We finish breakfast and Ash takes care of the dishes this time. I send Raine to go get ready for the day and I get up to make a pot of coffee.

“I think you spend more time here than at your own house, Ash.”

“Well, my house is lonely. I like spending time with you and Raine. Plus, I wanted to come help while your leg was healing. How is it feeling by the way?”

“You did a good job stitching me up. Thank you.”

She surprises me by crouching down to look at my leg. Her hand gently touches my skin as she examines her handiwork and all kinds of thoughts that I shouldn’t be thinking flood my brain.

“I did do a good job. I am glad to see you….” She pauses, “…healing. Your eyes are black, Titus. Did I hurt you when I looked at your leg?”

I forced a cough, shoving those thoughts down, and blinked a few times.

“No,” my voice coming out more strained than I intended, “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I am just tired and need some coffee.”

She seems to accept my answer and I take a deep breath; this is not good. I can’t be thinking about her like that, she is not my mate.

***One Year Later***

I have tried to avoid Ash, but she keeps showing up in my house. Raine adores her and she needs a positive female role model in her life so I let her come around. Ash is either oblivious or doing things on purpose, but she is making it very hard to not like her. I am starting to think she is doing it on purpose just to rile me up.

“Good night, Rainey. I love you. Sweet dreams,” I whisper as I tuck Raine into bed. She tells me goodnight back and I smile as I close her door, still leaving it cracked a little, so it isn’t too dark. I walk back out to the living area and see Ash rooting through the cabinets.

“We are out of your cereal,” I say before sitting down on the couch.

“I wasn’t looking for cereal.”

“Yes, you were. You have a bowl every time you come over here. I will get some when I go to the store tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Titus,” she says, coming to sit on the opposite side of the couch. We settled into comfortable silence. She watches outside the window as I work on making my grocery list.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Her question breaks the silence and I debate about how to answer.

“I haven’t been avoiding you.”

“Yes, you have. Why?”

“It’s complicated.”

“So, uncomplicate it.”

“You’re pushy, do you know that?” I ask her and she just smiles in response.

“So again, why have you been avoiding me?”

I sigh and set down my list, “Because you confuse me.”

“Confuse you? What are you talking about?”

“You know I don’t blame you for what happened, right?”

She nods and I continue, “You have been there for me through the worst parts of my entire life. You brought Raine to me. You helped me move the whole pack. You organized everything when I was unable to.”

“Okay...but I don’t understand how that is confusing.”

“My heart and my body are wanting different things, Ash.”

“I am still not following, what are you talking about?”

“I can’t talk about this anymore. I am going to bed. Lock the door when you leave, please. Goodnight, Ash.”

I can feel her eyes on me as I walk back to my room. I know she has questions and I probably hurt her feelings tonight, but I can’t let myself get any closer to her than I already am. I heard her leave and I lay in bed, staring at my ceiling. I don’t know what I am going to do.

***One Year Later***

“Happy Birthday, Raine. You ready for a movie?” I question. Today is her eighth birthday and I can’t imagine my life without her in it. She is growing up so fast and I just want her to stay little forever.

“Yes! Is Ash going to come too?”

“She should be here soon.”

Right on cue, Ash walks in holding a gift and a balloon.

“Happy Birthday, Raine! This is for you,” Ash says as she hands the gift to Raine. Raine thanks her and she opens it to replace a stuffed animal. A little gray wolf. Raine jumps up and gives her a big hug before taking the wolf back to her room to introduce it to her other stuffed animals, of course. Ash places a soft hand on my shoulder, and I swear I will stop breathing.

“And this is for you, Titus. Happy 24th” she says as she hands me the balloon over the back of the couch. I look up at her and give her a smile.

She removes her hand from my shoulder and comes to sit down on the couch, next to where Raine will be sitting. I take a deep breath and try to center myself. I hate that she does this to me. Raine comes bounding back and takes her seat next to me. We start the movie and Raine still falls asleep halfway through most of the movies we watch. I look over at Ash who just gives me a smile. I slowly stood up and took Raine back to her room and got her settled in for the night. I come back to the couch and go back to my seat.

“Can we talk?” she asks me.

“Not tonight. I am really tired. Come back tomorrow when Raine is at school.”

She agrees and as soon as Miss Sarah walks away with Raine in the morning, Ash shows up.

“Can we talk now?” she asks, sitting down on the couch again.

I take a deep breath and take my seat on the opposite side, “Yeah. What’s going on?”

“I think I should leave here.”

“What? Why?” I asked, completely shocked.

“I think I have overstayed my welcome,” she responds, “I just wanted to let you know that I will be leaving in a few weeks.”

“Where is this coming from? Why are you leaving?”

“I make you uncomfortable. You tense up every single time I walk into the room. You have been avoiding me and as much as I love Raine, I can’t keep making you stressed. I appreciate everything you have done for me, but I am going to go onto the next thing now,” she states, her voice flat as she stands up to leave.

“You can’t leave!” I exclaim.

“I am though,” she says and turns to walk out of the house.

I don’t know what came over me, but I ran over and grabbed her shoulders, pinning her against the wall. She stares at me in shock. I didn’t realize how much taller I am than her until now. I don’t think I have ever been this physically close to her before and I never noticed how good she smelled. She is looking up at me and her shock is quickly replaced with frustration.

“Let go of me, Titus. You are hurting me.”

I immediately dropped my hands and apologized.

“You can’t keep me here, Titus.”

“Well, you can’t leave!”

“Why not?” she glares, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Don’t glare at me! You are the one who is leaving!” I half-yell.

“You are the one who doesn’t want me here anymore! You have made that very clear!” she half-yells back.

“Don’t want you here? Why would you think that?” I demand, hurt evident in my voice.

“Because you have been acting weird for over a year now. Can you explain that to me?”

“Yeah, I can actually!” I yell.

“So why then?”

Dropping my voice to barely a whisper, “Because I want you.”

“What?”

“Because I want you, Ash,” I tell her, louder this time. She just stands there and blinks in surprise. This is why I didn’t want to tell her. It would make everything complicated and messy. I close my eyes as I take a deep breath. The next second, I felt her lips on mine. It takes another second for it to register but as soon as it does, I kiss her back. I pull her closer with one hand, deepening the kiss and I think my heart is going to explode with how hard it is beating right now. It has been five years since I have kissed anyone, and it just feels so right to be kissing her right now. She breaks the kiss and looks into my eyes.

“Your eyes are black again, Titus. Black doesn’t mean you are tired, does it?” she hesitantly asks. I shake my head back and forth slowly, my eyes never leaving hers. She smirks and says something like ‘I thought so.’ She grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me in for another kiss but right as our lips are about to meet, she turns her head and whispers into my ear, “Good. I want you, too.”