hi.

Watch the Hunter x Pepper vid I made to the side!! If for some reason it's not letting you watch the vid on mobile click the EXTERNAL LINK option on the right bar of this chapter and I have a link to a page where you can watch it!

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                    I was in the middle of a steamy dream involving Liam Hemsworth and chocolate chip cookie dough, when a sharp, unbearable jolt of electricity woke me up.

                  The first thing I noticed was an electric pair of violent, cold blue eyes glaring at me from across the room.

                  The second thing I noticed that I was still in Hunter's bedroom.

                   The third thing I noticed was that my hands were chained above my head and my toes were barely touching the ground. Unfortunately, this was an all too familiar experience because I had been hung similarly in my own backyard shed.

                  The fourth....I had a muzzle on. I immediately went crazy, trying to break free from the chains with every ounce of strength in my body. I must have looked like a real boob, bringing my legs up to my chest, swinging wildly side to side, trying to kick at my chained hands with my feet and hanging upside down like a monkey.

                  Finally, I settled on getting back to my normal position. Hanging hopelessly in front of a clearly pissed off and highly unpredictable Alpha-male. Relaxing, I acknowledged Hunter's physique as any female would, skimming my eyes over his Armani black button down, medium wash blue jeans, and work boots. I hadn't ever really seen him in such an expensive looking shirt. I pinned him as more of a t-shirt kind of guy.

                  Then again, I also pinned him as not a serial killer at one point...

                  As time went on and Hunter stared unfazed at me,  I started to read his body.

                  Posture. Rigid.

                  Eyes. Glaring.

                  Head. Tilted downwards.

                  Eyes. Still...glaring.

                  Jaw. Clamped shut.

                  Stance. Ready to pounce.       

                  Eyes.... Still glaring, yet beautiful.

                  Hands. Behind his back. Considering he was a serial killer, that definitely was not a good sign. There could have easily been a chainsaw back there...or maybe a grenade.

                  As if hearing my thoughts -- maybe he did, Hunter moved his hands to his front, revealing the sleek black taser that had awaken me up from my Hemsworth dream.

                   "Evening," I said casually, popping my lips after, and pretending to admire the room around me. The muzzle provided me room to speak, but not enough to rip Stevie Wonder's heart out of his body and shred it into a million little pieces for chaining me up. "Or maybe it's morning. Could be night time? One can't really tell when one's been the captive of a psycho for who knows how long, you know? The muzzle is nice, by the way. But is it real leather or pleather? Because it's starting to itch."

                  Never blinked. Never moved. Never acknowledged my words.

                  He just continued to glare.

                  I didn't understand why he was so upset or why I was chained to the ceiling, for the matter. Never in my life had I seen someone look so angry.... Then it hit me all at once. I had bit him, then was impossibly sucked into his memories, witnessing him senselessly murder the janitors outside of Mortimer High School.

                  "You can't blame me for defending myself, Hunter."

                  What I wanted to add was, In my opinion -- and don't take my word on this because believe me, I'm far from a professional, you're a sociopathic maniac with a hidden agenda and extreme daddy issues. I'm of course talking 'daddy-always-thought-brother-Sin-was-better-at-everything-and-secretly-wanted-me-dead-my-whole-childhood' issues...

                  Yep. I had said it all out loud.

                  Hunter came at me so fast I thought he would slam into me. I hadn't realized I shut my eyes. When I opened them, Hunter's icy blue glare was right in front of me, ferocious and wild, tearing into my soul. He was losing control, fighting the urge to rip my head off, and I unfortunately had the urge to pee. That blank facade over his face was disintegrating, and his nostrils flared. An inhuman, monstrous growl bubbled up in his chest until it grew into a full on snarl, ricocheting off the walls, shaking me to the bone.

                  "PMS?" I asked.

                  He didn't find that funny. "I'm having very gruesome thoughts right now," Hunter hissed, massive fangs overpowering his mouth. It was a miracle he could talk without a lisp. His voice rose with every word until he was practically barking in my face. "So I'd shut your snarky little slut mouth, kitten, before I take action on those thoughts, and paint on these walls with your blood!"

                  "That was really hashtag, deep."

                  "Take this seriously. The amount of times I tear into your body with my claws depends on it."

                  "Wow. That definitely gave me a nice visual as well." I made a popping noise with my lips again. Hunter's glare dropped to my lips. He definitely wasn't liking that noise at all. "I can see now that you take great pride in your...hobby," I continued, "but it's just that so far, you've been all talk and no game. All you've really notably done to me is tie me down a bunch of times and put me in a cage. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you like me, honey."

                  "Honey?" A pause. Hunter gripped me by the throat with one giant paw hand,  immediately cutting off my air. "Honey. I'll give you honey."

                  "Do I look like Winnie the Pooh?"

                  He squeezed. "I grow tired of your attempts to humor me, Paprika. It's time to do business. Strictly business." After refusing to let me breath a little longer, the beast walked around me and left me gasping for air. "Tell me what happened when you bit my neck."

                  "I don't know what you're talking about."

                  "Don't lie to me!" Hunter bared his fangs in a snarl. "You went beyond feeding. You went inside my mind. I see it in your eyes, you know that I'm right. It's the only logical explanation for what happened. You fed too much from me. I had to feed four times more than my usual to regain my strength, and even now I feel weak and still hungry. What the hell did you see, Pepper?"

                  "Can I phone a friend?"

                  "Of course you can," Hunter said brightly.

                  "Really?"

                  "No!" he barked out. "The only call you're going to make is calling out my name when I dig my claws into your spine!"

                  I winced. "Vivid."

                  He shoved at my chains, making me spin a little from the ceiling."Don't screw with me! I swear to god, the only thing restraining me from ripping your head off is what's inside your veins, and I'm starting to consider that ripping your head off would have much more worth than that!"

                  "Alright, alright, alright!" I clamped my mouth shut. He was enraged, but it was clear that I had influence over him. I now knew that he wanted unattainable information from me, and I could be more difficult than he could ever possible imagine. It was going to take a lot to crack Pepper Ballard. When I had least expected it, Hunter tasered me right in the middle of my back. My entire body became rigid and I arched forward, unable to move or scream for at least a minute. When the pulsation of the taser subsided, my muscles still vibrated and I twitched all over. It was the most uncomfortable and hopeless moment of my life. Period.

                  Hunter cupped my hip, bringing my chained body closer to his front. I threw up an imaginary wall between us, thickening it with bricks until he couldn't get to me mentally or emotionally. I couldn't let this monster in. That was exactly what Hunter wanted. Entrance.

                  "Being tasered is invasive, isn't it?" Hunter whispered, lips a breath away. "Hmm, invasive. Reminds me of something... Oh, maybe it reminds me of  how you invaded me when you chewed out my neck like a toy a few hours ago?"

                  "If only I had killed you."

                  "You had your chance, baby." Hunter lunged towards me, snapping his fangs at me centimeters from my face. "There's other ways to penetrate that wall you have up between us without a blade, and make you talk."

                  "What wall?" I asked innocently. Damnit, he knew about the wall!

                  PENETRATION! Concience echoed. PRAISE THE LORD, JESUS CHRIST. THAT SHOCK AT FIRST WAS REALLY UNNERVING, BELIEVE ME. CONCIENCE NO LIKE THE SHOCK. BUT NOW CONCIENCE IS FEELING ALL WARM AND TINGLY INSIDE--

                  "Heed my warning, I can be a lot more invasive than this." His voice got lower and huskier as his mouth got closer. "I can strip you and turn up the heat in this room until you sweat buckets, start rubbing those long legs together. Or better yet..." He smiled widely, eyes brightening. "I could bring a woman in here. Or maybe three. Four?" Now those electric blue eyes were sparkling. "What fun that would be, don't you think? Do things to them right in front of you that you wish I would do to you. Oh baby, I'm getting so many ideas now. You're a newborn. Your hormones are going to be off the charts until the second full moon after your change, when a newborn can finally shift into a wolf. This could be fun. This could be very, very fun for me. All you have to do is tell me what you saw in my head, and these fun ideas of mine can all be prevented... This can all be prevented, Paprika. I'll let you go if you tell me what. You. Saw."

                  My hands crumbled together in fists. I tore at the chains in my hands and let out a silent roar. The current increased, my eyes bugged out in pure torture, body trembling and twitching with vibrations. It was unbearable. I couldn't take much more the taser, but I would never show it.

                  I hoped, with every fiber of my being, that some hero would burst into the room and kick Hunter's ass for me. But that wouldn't happen. Hero's didn't exist in my world. I thought I had been a hero at one point, but then I was kidnapped, caged by a villain that I quite possibly never stood a chance against.

                  I slowly exhaled, leveling my gaze and voice until I showed little to no emotion. "You really are insane if you truly think I give a shit about your sex life," I got out hoarsely. My eyes tearing slightly from the vibrations the taser still left within my body. It took me a moment to think of something snarky, especially because Hunter had started dragging back of the taser against my inner thigh. "You know, just because you're hot doesn't mean you can get everything you want."

                  "But you can get what you want. You can be freed from me. I don't want anything to do with your family. I need your blood, maybe not just a sample. I could need more for the drugs. I need you. I'll let you go, just tell me what you saw when you accessed my memories. It's important, Pepper!"

                  Let you go.

                  He was lying.

                    Hunter was playing with me just like he was playing with Sin -- who was god knew where, and most likely still didn't know what his brother was. A serial killer.

                  My only leverage, the only chance I had to survive this mess, was to keep what I knew about Hunter's plan to myself and lie. Once he sampled my blood to make a counter drug to VOID, I was garbage to him. There were no other reasons why I would still be left alive.

                  "Why don't you just threaten to kill everyone I love? Why be so specific, and sexual?"

                  Hunter grinned. "I like to be thoughtful when it comes to you."

                  The scary part was that I couldn't tell that time if he was being sarcastic.

                   "That just seems like the most logical thing to do instead of trying to make me jealous. Game of the heart, is it? Trying to hurt me emotionally? What's wrong, Pup? Still heartbroken over the denial of becoming my mate?"

                  His jaw tightened. Now I was winning his game again.

                  "Surely I'm not the first girl who refused to mate with your furry ass?"

                  Instead of saying something snarky back, Hunter turned sharply away from me, putting his face in his hands, shoulders trembling with ragged breaths.

                  My smirk melted slowly away from me.

                  Was he...crying?

                  "Hunter, I didn't know you were going to--" I started sympathetically.

                  With a monstrous roar, Hunter crumpled to the ground, rolling over onto his back and digging his palms into his eyes. Claws dug into the ground.

                  "Help!" I rattled my chains, shouting at the top of my lungs. "Someone call Life Support! And...maybe get me a glass of water?! I'm really thirsty, and this man is crying hysterically! Hello?! Puppies?! God?! Anyone?! Isn't there a pack in here or something, this service is terrible! You are so not getting a tip from me!"

                  "PEPPER!" Hunter clutched his head, veins popping in his forehead."PEPPER, YOU'RE MAKING IT WORSE! I'M NOT CRYING--!"

                  "I have that feeling in my mouth where it feels like I'm swallowing sandpaper! Is that normal?!"

                  Hunter's growls and moans overpowered my voice, rolling off of the wall that stirred something wild inside of me.

                  "I didn't know you were this sensitive, Hunter. I'm sorry if I hurt you..."

                  Hunter was clearly in pain, no longer moving. Then he started to tremble, his shoulders quaking forward in what I suspected were sobs. I instinctively tugging hard on my chains. "Hunter? Hunter, don't cry!"

                  "The full moon," he rasped out, panting. "I'm losing... my vision again. I'm not...crying. But I'm too...angry...to control...this.This doesn't feel right. I can't control it. I'm going to shift. Fuck..."

                  "Please don't do that! Not when I'm chained up like a big doggie treat!"

                  "I can't...stop." He rolled over onto all fours and let out a howl. Black hair began to spurt out of the pores of his skin, thick white fangs engulfed his mouth. "This has never happened before. I'm not in--" His neck cracked to the side, and he growled loudly. "Fuck! And I'm hungry. This is not good. I can't... not... be in control."

                  "Yes you can, damnit!" I frantically tried to get out of my chains, bringing my legs up to my chest and then back down, yanking at the bolt in the ceiling. To my disbelief, the damn thing seemed to be getting lose. "Haven't you ever read Thomas the Choo Choo Train?" I continued.

                  "That 'I think I can' shit?" Hunter bit out, halfway between a laugh and wolfish whine.  

                  "Yeah, that one! Just think you can, Hunter! Just think you can!"

                  Right as the bolt fell out of the ceiling and I dropped to the floor, Hunter's eyes, which were glowing, began to cloud over until they were a dull greyish-blue. He fell back onto the floor, panting, still appearing to be in a half-transformation between man and wolf.

                  I ripped the muzzle off of my face, eyes set on my prey.

                  This was my chance.

                  Hunter slowly started to catch his breath.

                  Falling into a summersault and a back flip, I traveled to Hunter, smashing my foot into his face. The momentum of my foot colliding with his skull  sent him a good ten feet away from me onto his stomach.  He let out a monstrous hiss and started to rise to his feet, when I sprinted towards him, and at full momentum, sucker punched him right in the face four times.

                  I held him by the collar of his shirt and he gripped me by the wrists with hands that had massive claws. Easily, he could have snapped my arms in half with the strength that I felt in his grip, but instead, he let me head butt his skull so hard that I heard a crack. But before my final blow to his face, I shouted, "You've just Peppered, amig--!"

                  I let go of Hunter's collar, letting his heavy body thump to the floor.

                   I had glanced momentarily up from my enemy, and caught a glimpse of a stranger in the reflection of a mirror hanging on the wall. I froze. Her eyes lit alive with golden flames. She was feral and untamable, with wild brown curls and flushed skin, lips that peeled back from her lips in a small snarl, and talons that protruded from her finger tips.

                  I brought my hand to my cheek, and in the mirror, the stranger did the same.

                  "Pretty, isn't she?"

                  I looked down in horror at Hunter, who still lay in the same position I had left him, grinning wickedly up at me. His words somehow struck home, hitting a nerve. I wanted to wipe that smirk right off of his face. So I did, by smacking him right on the face.

                  "The next time I see you, I'll have a stake in my hand," I told him.

                  I crossed the room in a frenzy, blood pounding in my ears.

                  I wouldn't have it any other way.

                  I looked back at him from the archway of his bedroom door. I had heard it alright. His voice in my head. Hunter still lay in that same position, but his head was turned towards me, clouded eyes unblinking, fangs poking out from between his lips. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he had been turned on by me slapping him.

                  I stepped out of the room into the hallway, still watching him.

                  He was letting me leave. The bastard hadn't even gotten what he wanted from me, and he was letting me leave? Or maybe he already knew that I knew his entire plan. Maybe he knew all along, and chaining me up had been for another reason.

                  Clearly, his game was not over. He had been one step ahead this entire time, now I realized. Maybe this was what he wanted more than everything. For me to feel so...cold-blooded. I hadn't seen my reflection since I had transitioned, and I didn't like at all what I had become...

                  Hunter and I had something powerful in common now. It was a connection deeper than anything one could possibly imagine, more prevailing than the bond of two opposite ends of a magnet ramming into each other.

                  We were both monsters.

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