Queen of Death
Chapter 2

Hunter

I wish I could have been the one to make everything better. I used to be. Despite things improving between Solana and me it wasn’t enough for her to let me in for this.

Tate was the one who found her yesterday, curled up in a ball on the shower floor. He managed to get her out of the shower and into bed but she didn’t want to talk to any of us after.

She shut us out. She shut me out.

I wasn’t there when she lost our first pup, a fact that has haunted me for four years. After her heat I was excited to start a new life with her...to make new life with her. And now that seems intangible, too.

The night was silent here, silent and tense. All of us kind of just holding our breath waiting for Ace and Sol to come back. At first I thought it was all just me that was anxious about what will happen from here, but it was all four of us. Whether they admit it out loud or not I sense that each of the guys has become invested in Sol.

Since she’s been living with us life has been unpredictable, frustrating, and at times infuriating — but there’s adventure in unpredictability and passion in frustration. Life isn’t as bright without her in it and I think the others are realizing that and fearing that it could all be gone before we really had a chance to begin.

“You really think he’d make her leave?” Eli asks from across the living room where we’ve all been sitting since the sun rose, eager for their return.

“You really think he’d make her stay?” Tate flips Eli’s question on him. “The only way this doesn’t blow up in our faces is if it’s her choice.”

“And if she chooses to leave?” My words are barely a breath but I know everyone heard me.

“There’s no sense in stressing over shit we can’t control,” Dean states bluntly.

All of our heads snap to the ceiling when we hear footsteps coming from the master bedroom upstairs. At first it’s just one set that I can hear moving toward the hallway, but then I hear another walking around the room away from the first set.

We all watch as Ace comes jogging down the stairs, recently showered and looking fresh as a daisy.

“Don’t look so happy to see me,” he jokes, easily reading the room.

“How is she?”

“Did she take off?”

“Did you let her go?”

“Is she still at the cabana?”

“Is she coming back?”

The guys bombard him with questions before he makes it all the way down the stairs. A smile ghosts on his face like this is amusing to him.

I can’t take it anymore, I know she’s upstairs and he’s gaining some sick satisfaction from withholding answers and trailing us along.

I breeze past him and run up the stairs into the master bedroom. To my relief Solana is there, slipping a shirt over her head, her body riddled with scratches and bruises.

“Sol?”

She turns to face me, her sheepish smile painting a delicate blush across her cheeks. Her neck and jaw are covered in more bruises and teeth marks. It looks as if she was mauled by his wolf.

Closing the distance between us in a few easy strides, I pull her into my arms desperate to touch her and feel connected to her again.

“He did this to you?” I seethe, running my fingertips over the purple-black marks littering her jaw.

Her skin flushes scarlet all the way down to her chest. “He didn’t hurt me, Hunter. I’m okay.”

“I’ve been so worried about you,” I admit against her lips.

“I’m sorry I pushed you away. It was just... a lot, you know? It was a reminder of the past... it was the loss of possibility... I didn’t expect it to hit me the way it did and I didn’t handle it well and for that I am sorry.”

“And now?” My hope is laced with desperation.

She shrugs a shoulder and nuzzles into my chest, inhaling deeply like she’s missed me. “Nothing about our lives is simple, I don’t know what complications or feelings tomorrow will bring so I’m taking things day by day.”

“Does that mean that you’re staying?”

She nods, her lips brushing against mine as she does. “I told Ace I want to stay, if you all will have me. I also —”

My lips silence her, our tongues immediately join together. “I’ve always wanted you, Sol. I will always want you.”

I trail kisses down her jaw and neck, following the path of the bruises and bites marking over each one with my tongue. “I’ve never stopped loving you.”

Solana goes rigid in my arms and her head drops, tucking her chin to her chest. “I love you, too,” she breathes.

My hands frame her face, gently tipping her head up so I can look her in the eye. “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ at the end of that?”

“I’ve never stopped loving you either. I was furious with you, and the world, because no matter how betrayed I felt I was still in love with you. But...Ace is my mate. And if I stay,” she drops her gaze but I hold her face in my hands steady. “What if I can’t choose between you and Ace? What if I don’t want to?”

I let out a long sigh. Her question is fair and it’s something I’ve been thinking about since her heat. Would there be room in her heart to still love me now that she’s found her mate? I guess I’m lucky in a way that her mate isn’t some random guy across the country. It’s Ace. My Alpha, my brother.

It’s only been four years but it’s felt like I’ve known him for a lifetime. “I love you, Solana. All of you. So don’t choose, have us both. We could both Mark you, claim you, mate you.”

“Fuck,” she mewls, going limp in my arms. “Is that even possible?” She moans as I nip at her marking spot.

“It works for your parents, why not us?”

“Ew, please I don’t need that image in my brain.” She pretends to gag, then she smiles up at me and kisses me again.

“We’ll figure it out. Like you said, we can take things day by day.”

“I’d like that.” She admits quietly and it’s like I’ve been bled of all my anxieties and left with Sunshine in its place.

We spend a few minutes like that, locked together from lips to hips, having finally admitted our truths before we break apart and walk hand in hand to join the others.