River shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about her anxieties with Hunter.
When they reached the Crescent Moon pack, River was astonished to see that many of the pack members were waiting for her return. As anxiety surged in her, she asked Lena as to what was going on. Lena shrugged as she came in all protective mode. The gamma warriors too came in the same mode. A growl left Hunter as he grabbed her hand and pushed her behind him.
However, they were all astonished when all the pack members sank on their knees and tilted their throat in submission. River looked at Hunter and Lena as she slowly stepped forward. “What is going on?” she asked while Hunter continued to strongly grasp her hand, still wary of the situation.
Fred, who was in charge of the financial department of her council, rose to his feet and said, “Our debts have been paid, Alpha River. All five billion!”
“What?” River barked. “How?” She was stunned. “Who helped us?”
There was a stunned silence as the pack members looked at her, surprise evident on their faces.
Now River was so clueless that she looked too adorable. Suddenly, Hunter chortled and other pack members giggled.
“What is going on?” River asked, clearly peeved at it. “Can someone fill me up?” She opened her mind link with the pack members and said sternly, ‘What is it that I am missing?”
The pack members immediately stopped giggling and everyone once again lowered their heads in pure submission. They could feel her strength through the bond and it was so impressive. Much more than that of Alpha Maxim’s.
“Can I speak, Alpha River?” Fred said.
“Yes?”
“It was Alpha Hunter who paid our debts,” he informed her.
River whipped her head in his direction with eyes wide like that of a saucer. “Hunter?” she rasped.
Hunter grasped both her hands and said, “This was the least I could do for my breeder.”
River’s eyes became moist, not because he had helped, but because he called her his breeder. And he did that because she didn’t want him to reveal that they were mates. He was keeping his part of the deal so well and even helped her pay all of her debts. But how did he know that her pack was under a mountain of debts? It was a sum that would have taken years and years to pay back. Just how rich was he?
“Thank you,” she said in a hoarse voice as her throat choked with emotions. She didn’t have enough words to thank him and so her tears rolled out. “Why are you doing so much for me?” she said, choking on a sob. Why was he so good and why was it that she felt like she was using him? “How did you come to know about the debt?”
When Hunter had come on Saturday to meet her, she was reading the documents concerning the debts of the pack. She had slept over them. Hunter sympathized with her situation and couldn’t help falling in love with her all over again. He picked her up and made her lie down on the bed while he studied all the documents. It was then that he discovered the debt. And it was then that he decided to pay it all. When he could help the demons build an entire city, couldn’t he do just this much for his mate?
With an affectionate look at her, he said, “On Saturday when I saw you sleeping over the documents.”
She blushed as a giggle escaped her. She was so careless. She swatted his chest lightly and then hugged him tightly. “Thank you. Thank you!
“You are most welcome, breeder!” he laughed.
“We also heard what Alpha Hunter did for the demons,” said Fred, breaking their reverie. “He is our hero and we want to show our grátitude to him.”
“Yes,” Geoffrey interjected. “Both of you together have been able to amend the dark laws between the Lycans and the werewolves and that was the biggest change. We are all looking towards a bright future!”
The pack members got up and they clapped for both River and Hunter. River couldn’t help feeling proud of standing next to Hunter. She remembered her meeting with the Moon Goddess. In her mind she
thanked her for showing her the right way River realized that this was the right time to reveal to her pack members the truth.
Once the clapping died down, River said aloud, “Now that we are about to enter a different time altogether, I wanted to share something very important.” She studied the expressions of her pack members and knew that they were all waiting for her important announcement with a bated breath.
“River, are you sure?” Hunter asked her as he searched her face.
“I have never been so sure in my life…”
He let out a ragged breath as if readying himself. He opened his mind link with his warriors just to stay alert in case the werewolves were angered.
River clasped his hand tightly and ***in a sharp breath as she looked at her pack members. Then she said it. “Alpha Hunter is my mate.”
There was an audible gasp amongst the pack members as a murmur of shock and surprise broke amongst them. “After Hector rejected me, I was sent to the Dark Moon pack amongst the Lycans. My wolf, Layla, had gone off to sleep because she couldn’t take the rejection. However, when Hector accepted my rejection, she came back and we both realized that Alpha Hunter was my mate. The Moon Goddess gave me a second chance at life.” She turned her face to Hunter who watched her intensely with a possessiveness in his demeanor. She gave him a smile and returned to the pack members. “I know that it is shock for all of you, but-” she lowered her collar and showed them her mark, the one given by Hunter. “I bear my mate’s mark proudly. If you think that I have betrayed you, then I am ready to go back with Hunter… forever.”
Once again silence hung in the air. River pursed her lips. She knew that she wouldn’t be accepted by the werewolves now. It wasn’t easy for them to break the age-old traditions and enmities so easily. “Let’s go.” she muttered and tugged Hunter away.
“Stop!” One of the Elders of the pack came forward. “No one is going anywhere,” growled.
“Yes, you will not go anywhere,” Geoffrey said. “We will not allow our Alpha to leave us. And we will definitely not allow our Alpha’s mate to leave us! You both have done so much for us and for all the werewolves so much. Do you think we are so selfish that we won’t accept you two?”
River’s ***fell to the floor. But the next moment she was swarmed by the pack members.
“We need a party!”
“What about the wedding?”
“What about pups?”
“You have to live here!”
“We won’t let Hunter go!”
The Elders and the male werewolves gathered around Hunter and the women River.
“You two will get married according to the Crescent Moon pack’s tradition tomorrow morning!”
Both River and Hunter were just too surprised. They had thought that their relationship would be taken badly, but the pack members cherished it. And they were demanding a marriage.
As River was led away from there, she ***Hunter, “I love you!”
Hunter said loudly, “River, I love you!”
And the pack members burst out laughing.
