We moved together towards the ticket booth. The guy inside looked positively bored out of his mind. Hunter paid and we walked in.
There were performers juggling as they wandered through the park, but I think a majority of them were near the front, to awe and amaze the newcomers.
Hunter dragged his hand across my shoulder blades and down my arm where he captured my hand in his. Some of the performers were dressed in multi-colored outfits, their faces painted, some of the male jugglers were shirtless. Hunter noticed my eyes take them in. They were glorious. Hunter growled quietly, but what did he expect? I was a woman, after all. I elbowed him lightly in the ribs to make him stop. I looked away from the male jugglers and we headed deeper into the park.
Hunter seemed as eager as I was to try everything. We headed to the right and started to work our way through the park. We visited the first tent, which had even more performers in it. They ranged from acrobats to clowns to small animal trainers! When the dogs in the performance caught scent of Hunter and I, we headed out knowing it was best we leave.
Dogs didn’t hate our kind or anything, but they became defensive if they could sense but not see our wolves. But at this point our synchronized stomachs grumbled together. I bent my head down and suppressed a giggle.
“I think it’s time to find food.”
We headed to a food stand. Hunter got pretty much one of everything, meal-wise, and I got myself a slice of pizza. We headed to some nearby picnic tables.
“Have you ever been to the carnival before?”
I watched him cautiously sniff at his Coney dog.
“No, I haven’t. After my father lost my mother, we didn’t leave the woods much. I spent more time in my other form than I did in this one. Then with Damien, he was training me from the moment I moved in. He was trying to help me control my wolf after the witch cursed me…”
I reached over and held his hand in mine.
“You never told me…”
“It’s not a memory I’ve shared with anyone.”
He paused. I could see emotion flicker across his face. That surprised me. He normally kept close reign over his emotions.
“It was right after the attack on my mother. I went after them. I wasn’t very old. I was stupid, and I wanted revenge. The witch who attacked laughed at my attempts. She toyed with me before cursing me to be more wolf than man. Not half and half, like the others, but more one and less of the other.”
His voice grew quiet.
“The pain was unbelievable. The spell itself felt like it was ripping my insides apart.”
His voice was now gritty with emotion. I couldn’t hear anything else. Only his words and my own heart breaking.
“I was taken to the hunters, and I remembered one of them. He was a real nasty fuck, who enjoyed watching us being tortured, even more when he got to do it. He broke my arm.”
Hunter and I stared at each other for a while. We had shared painful memories that had solely belonged to us before. I felt the tears building in my eyes. I felt my stomach hollow out. I finally understood. Hunter wasn’t the way he was because of being raised by a rouge, but because he had been magically abused. He had been cursed by of my kind. Or half-kind.
“Have you ever tried cotton candy?” I asked honestly curious, and trying to get my mind of those thoughts. The way he spoke about his childhood, he had always been training. He never told stories about leaving the compound and going to a human carnival.
We were supposed to forget our problems for the day. I didn’t want to lose this day with him. If he ever found out, I knew he would hate me. I wasn’t sure how I expected him to look at me the same if he knew about my other half. Even Keith and Griffin were apprehensive when they found out. I couldn’t take any risks. But it wasn’t only about his never wanting to be Alpha. If he took me as his mate completely, we would be mated forever, and how could I do that to him when I wasn’t sure he’d be able to tolerate that part of me. I wouldn’t only be Colette, I would be half monstrosity. Half of what he hated. There was only one