Rejected, Abused, I Fall for the Forbidden Alpha (by Riley Scott) novel Chapter 166

Chapter 166

Third Person POV

Marissa didn’t let up until they had reached safety, slowing and then lying down to let the hunter off. He climbed off confidently, and then she shifted to human form, the man, “Darius,” wrapping a cloak around her as she shivered from the cold.

She didn’t know him too well, but something about him made her skin crawl. That and her wolf was acting strangely towards him, which further made Marissa feel disquieted.

“Thanks,” she said, sounding wretched.

She’d left her mother behind to die. Ran away like a coward and allowed this hunter to help her escape, even though it went against everything she believed in. It was unnatural for a hunter to ally itself with a shifter. He and her mother, though, had some form of relationship and tonight, it had come in handy. He didn’t even bother to ask about MaryAnne, though, perhaps already aware she had to be dead.

They walked to the main road where a car was waiting. She climbed in as Darius got in the driver’s seat.

“Where to now?” she whispered.

He smirked. “Back to camp, princess. Your mother made me a deal, and I intend for you to keep it.”

“A deal?” she said slowly.

Her stomach churned. What kind of deal would a shifter make with a hunter? It wouldn’t be anything good.

“I’ve been on her payroll this entire time,” he said darkly, beginning to drive as Marissa’s head whirled, “paid for just this eventuality and to keep the hunters from swarming her pack. But she’s dead now, which means your existence relies entirely on me.”

He sounded smug, enjoying how vulnerable Marissa was, and she swallowed hard, every instinct inside of her screaming that this was wrong, some sort of setup.

“I know that,” Marissa licked her dry, chapped lips, “but won’t the other hunters resent me?”

“Sure did,” Darius answered, “not that she needed to. I already knew, what with being her confidant and her employee, so to speak, but it gave good reason for you to live and live in the hunter’s camp without suspicion. I guess she cared about you,” he said casually.

Cared about her? Marissa almost laughed. IF her mother had cared she would have ensured Marissa could safely go back home, not make plans to annihilate the one place that Marissa had grown up in.

“Oh god,” Marissa whispered between trembling lips.

“Don’t fret. It’s not like they mattered anyway. All that matters is your own survival, and you best remember that,” he advised sharply, “no time for tears or regret, princess. Not if you want to get your revenge and survive. You need to worry about yourself, no one else.”

It was a warning. She could hear it in his voice. She shivered, her body trembling in the car.

“What do I have to do?” Marissa asked, her voice rising slightly as she studied the man driving in front of her, unable to hold back her curiosity.

He was a few years older than her, with heavily muscled arms and legs. Tribal tattoos covered his left arm and he had dark hair and dark eyes, lending him an aura of intimidation. He was handsome, surprisingly so, for a hunter. She leaned back against the chair, relaxing slightly, even as he glanced in the rearview mirror.