Hunter

Chapter Twenty Two

Titus

Monday

Looking through my rear view mirror I watched Xerxes watch my car drive off. He was going to follow me. Maybe not just him. I had to figure a way to get them off my tail. One thing I knew for sure was I couldn't lead him to Mel. 

Okay, if this guy wasn't stupid he'd follow me by scent. Meaning he wouldn't be right behind me. That meant I had an allowance. How long that allowance was I'd have to figure out later. I had eight hours to get to Chicago. Meaning I had eight hours to figure out how I was going to do this. 

I stopped at a motel right outside the city limits after a little over eight tiresome hours of driving. Devil's Nook - which I thought was an odd name for a motel- was a reasonably clean roadside motel.  I would know considering I spent a large amount of the past year and a half in a bunch of roadside motels. 

I got the second room from the stairs upstairs facing the parking lot. The elevation gave me a wider vantage point and I wasn't in a corner and was close enough to the stairs in case I needed a quick escape. 

Ten minutes after I had arrived, and five after I had settled into my room, I heard the rumble of an engine. My lights were off so when I peaked out the window I wasn't worried about being seen. Three cars were parked outside. Mine and the two I had found. 

I knew he was here. And he was probably hiding in the shadows across the street. The car I had heard hadn't driven past the motel. So it was here. He was here. And it seemed e gave me a ten minute head start. That meant he was tracking me by sent. 

I got onto the bed and calmed my breathing and heart rate. Trying to tap into the link I had with Kenji. 

'Titus? I've been trying to get a hold of you all day.' 

'I know I blocked you out'

'And turned off your phone. Mel is pissed by the way. She doesn't like the idea of you being on your own.'

'Well it's a good thing I am. Just as I had guessed I'm being followed.' 

'Do you have an idea of who?'

'Yeah. Most likely Ximena's brother, the alpha. He's the one who was in a hurry to get to the dinner after a phone call. He seemed jumpy. Like he was on the verge of losing control.'

'Did you get his name?'

'Ximena kept calling him Alphalfa but I figured it was a nickname because Elijah called him Xerxes'

For a long time no response came from Kenji and I thought I had lost him. Until he spoke again.

'And you're sure he was an alpha?'

'He was more than that. But alpha's the only logical word for it. Do you know him?' 

'I have a theory. When you get here and recall what happened don't mention his name or his scar...'

'I never told you about the scar.'

'I know. Right now focus on losing him. He can't get to Mel. Not yet. Not until I examine him first.' 

'How? He's tracking me by scent.' 

'He's tracking the scent the bracelet is emitting. You'll have to snap the bracelet or replace it. It'll have to be at a time when not all his focus is on you so he doesn't notice the scent change.'

'I'll lose the mind link.'

'You won't. I'll explain everything when you get here.'