My Hunted Mate novel Chapter 3

Corinna

As I strolled away from the now dead vampire, my eyes searched the area for the woman who had been attacked. I found her behind a tree with her knees pulled to her chest and her face buried into her legs as she cried.

As I slowly approach her, I clear my throat softly to make my presence known. Her head snaps up, her hazel eyes wide with fear. I hold my hands up as I take another step towards her, but that makes her cry harder.

" Please.. Please don't hurt me. " She sobs.

Instead of continuing toward her, I pause a few feet away from her, lowering myself to the ground. " I'm not going to hurt you. " I promise her, keeping my voice soft as I speak.

" My name is Corinna. "

The woman's sobs calm slightly. " How do I know you won't hurt me? You killed him . " she cries pointing in the direction of the vampire's corpse.

" I wanted to protect you, that's why I did what I did. " I reply.

My words seem to slowly register in her mind, when they do she calms down a little more. " He murdered my friends... " she whispers.

A frown forms on my lips. " I'm sorry for your loss. If you don't mind me asking... Why were you and your friends so far out in the woods? "

" It... It's my 18th birthday tomorrow and I wanted to go camping and... " She begins to cry again. " My friends didn't really want to come, but they knew how much I wanted to go and... It's all my fault. "

Carefully I move closer to her, when I'm close enough I lean over and touch her hand gently. " It's not your fault, you couldn't have known. " I mumble.

She flinches slightly at my touch but doesn't move away like I expect her to. " What's your name? " I question.

" Giovanna, Just call me Gia, it's easier. " She gives me a half smile.

" okay.. I can heal this. It'll take a couple days without herbs but I can fix this. " I tell her, ripping a part of her leggings off then tying it around her thigh above the wound tightly. " do you think you could manage to hold onto me if I shift? "

Gia looks up at me confused. " what do you mean? "

" If I turn into a wolf, would you be able to get onto my back and hold onto me while I run? " I clarify for her.

" I can try. " she nods.

Pulling my dress over my head, I shove it into my bag which I then place onto Gia's back. I shift into my wolf, then lay down in the dirt on the forest floor with my paws under my head, looking at Gia. She slowly crawls toward me and gets onto my back, not without struggle though.

When she is settled onto my back with a good grip on me, I take off in a sprint on all fours, leaping over fallen trees and zig-zagging between trees. It's not long before we reach the river bank I had started the night off at, Gia rolled off of my back and I immediately shift back to tend to her.

Rolling her onto her back directly beside the stream, I then kneel beside her, by now the cloth she had been trying to keep pressed to her leg was long gone from our journey, I don't bother to remove the piece of her legging that was probably the only thing slowing the blood flow. I use the stream to wash her wound as much possible, then move my hands to hover over her with my palms facing her leg, I close my eye, humming softly before I begin to chant.