“Hunter. Jake.” The name rolls so easily of my tongue. “Please. I want to understand.”
“Honest. There’s no true concept of time here. It’s an illusion. Not many of us chance travelin’ the portals but some come and go, and I’ve heard it passes strangely. One day here can be two days there. Or two years. Maybe even two minutes. Those of us who stayed behind notice that fashions change. Attitudes change. Females are more forward. Time passes. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve come. It seems an eternity compared to the few short days we’ve already shared.”
I think of the clothes he folded with such care. Sure, they were old-fashioned, but they weren’t really old. But how about all the times when I made a comment and he looked at me like he didn’t have a clue what I was saying? The Southern accent is one thing. Missing out on who-knows-how long of pop culture and the way language changes?
He didn’t know how to respond to whatever.
Uneasy suspicion makes me hesitate before I ask, “What year was it when you left home?”
His expression is unreadable. “1933.”
I can’t help it. Recoiling as if I've been slapped, I blurt out the year. I cover my mouth with both hands. Doesn’t matter. I’m too late.
Hunter’s eyes grow sad. “And now you know why I can’t go. The years’ll catch up to me and… yeah. I can’t leave here, so that’s why I gotta beg you to accept you are Artemis and stay with me.”
“And live her life. Right?”
He doesn’t answer me.
“I… I can’t do that. It’s her life, not mine.” Frustrated, I fling my arm out. “I’m Noelle St. James back there. I have a job, a condo, a cat. It wasn’t the greatest life, but it was mine. And you’re asking me to give that all up?”
For what? A fling?
One glance at the way he sets his jaw and I know the answer. Holy shit. He… he meant it.
Hunter wants forever.
“I have to. Just because time didn’t pass on this side of the mirror doesn’t mean it didn’t back home. I’d be well over a hundred years old if I went back. I was born in 1904, darlin’. I’d wither and die within minutes of crossin’ over.”
The reality of what he’s saying hits like a hammer to the skull. Suddenly, being this close is too, too much. I crawl away from and scramble to my feet. The intensity of his gaze as he watches my retreat makes me feel more vulnerable than when I was running around in my nightgown.
I tug my cloak closed and then pull a Hunter, hiding away beneath the oversized hood.
I don’t feel any better.
Climbing to his knees, Hunter reaches for me and I flinch.
A strange look flashes across his features before he gets it under control. Still, there’s something in his eyes I haven’t seen before. It looks like defeat mixed with desperation.
He keeps his voice soft. Soothing. Cajoling.
“I’m not askin’ you to make any choices today. We’ll start lookin’ for another portal in the morning. Just… think on it, okay?”
Think on it. Yeah. That… I could do that.
Maybe.
32
Hunter
Noelle snores.
And not soft, ladylike snuffles, either. She goes all in. Mouth open, nose snorting, a godawful racket coming from such a tiny thing, you’d hardly believe it.
It’s just so… darling.
And the look on her face if I ever dared tell her—and the denial that would be sure to follow—even moreso.
It’s a struggle to climb out of the nest of soiled furs we’re bedding in. I don’t worry about waking her, because Noelle sleeps like she’s from the Underworld. I’ve discovered that once she’s out, she’s out. Nothing’s waking my girl before she’s ready.
That gives me time. Because, as much as I’d rather laze about in the furs with the sweet scent of Noelle surrounding me, her body heat warming my heart, I know I have to get up.
Dang it.
I don’t waste time on building a fire. Once she’s moving about, Noelle will want to resume her search for a portal. I tuck down the despair that rises up in me at the thought of her leaving. If I don’t figure out how to make her want to stay, the possibility of her abandoning me is a real one.
I set my jaw and, swinging my cloak over my shoulders, I tell myself that the solution is simple. I gotta convince her that I’m worth staying in the Other.
A quick flip and I don my hood. Stepping out of the cave, I see it’s still dark. The sun will be rising soon, though, and the lure of Apollo’s song will wake her like it has every morning since she’s arrived. I have to hurry.
I stowed the boar carcass in a cavern about fifteen feet above us, close enough that I wouldn’t have to leave her alone long to move it, but with a good deal of space separating us so I didn’t have to worry about other predators coming after her kill.
Just like Artemis is the moon, Orion is the stars. I belong to the night. I can see as easily as if it’s daytime, and my speed has me closing the gap between my cave and the one I borrowed. A hunter is always prepared, so I draw a blade from my belt and slip quietly inside.
Nothing has disturbed the boar. I chose a cavern that was deeper than most and the chill kept the carcass from starting to turn. It would be easy work to dress the kill and butcher the meat—except I can’t bring myself to do it.
The sadness and disgust that came off of Noelle at the end of the hunt tore at me. She tried to hide it. I could still tell. She killed the boar because she felt she had to, not for the thrill of the hunt. She even refused the spoils I offered her. If it affected her so much, I won’t go back to our cave with any reminder that might send her further from my arms.
Noelle has the soul of a huntress, but the heart of a healer. And I love that about her.
I also can’t waste the meat. Both parts of me hate the idea. So, with a grunt and a heave, I settle the stiff carcass over my shoulders.
I know exactly what to do with this.
With his hair yanked back and his hammer in his hand, I find Hephaestus up and awake, already hard at work.
Of course, he is. I’ve never once not found him at his forge, no matter what time of day or night I go to see him.
I stop a few feet inside the mouth of his cave. My hands jerk and the boar starts to slip down my back. I recover in time to keep from pulling my shoulders out of their socket, shifting the weight until I can swing it over my head and throw it down at my feet.
It’s not that it’s too heavy; I have the strength to carry it back to my cabin if I needed to. The jolts of pure envy and rage that hit me like a punch to the gut? I lost my focus when I laid eyes on Hephaestus and nearly dropped the boar without meaning to.
The thud as the carcass hits the ground draws his attention over to me. His eyes narrow, a soft chuckle escaping him, trying my nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
My instinct is to go over there and swing. Tightening up, locking my knees, and gritting my teeth, I fight to keep the distance between us.
I’ve known him too long, and owe him so much, but it’s not easy to ignore my raging jealousy. Noelle called him pretty. She said he was good looking. He treated her like an old friend minutes after causing an earthquake that nearly pitched us off the mountain.
And I want to bloody him up for all of it.
His eyes lock on the fists I didn’t even realize I had made. “Don’t even try it, boyo.” It’s a cheerful warning.
That makes it worse.
My breath is shaky and rough. “I’m controllin’ it, Hephaestus. As best as I can.”
“I hope so.” He shakes his head, then bends low to get a closer look at the red-hot steel in front of him. He straightens, swings his hammer, and strikes the metal with a clang. “Be a shame if I had to toss you off me mountain ‘cause you let a wee goddess go to your head.”
In the decades I’ve known him, he’s probably threatened to throw me off the mountain a hundred times. Considering what happened to him in
his first life, I get why it’s his favorite threat. He’s never followed through with it. As quick to temper as he is, I’ve never known him to hold a grudge.
I don’t, either. At least, I never have before. But I’ve also never fallen into the magic so fast and wanted to change the story so bad before. It’s something about Noelle.
She makes me crazy. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I take a deep breath, then another. Slowly, my hands relax, my fingers uncurling. I hang my arms down at my side, careful not to reach under my cloak for a blade. Noelle’s leprechaun comment already made him testy. I don’t want to push it in case he turns on her again.
When I can look at him and not want to challenge him, I exhale. “I’m doin’ all right.”
“Aye. Reign it in. We both know it won’t win you any favors from Artemis.” He puts extra muscle into his next swing. The ring of the metal has my ears humming. “Goddesses, love ‘em or no, they can be mighty fickle.”
“I hope to be standin’ here one day to watch you change your tune. When you meet her—”
“Her father willing, I won’t.”
Everyone in the Other longs for the day they find their match. Their soulmate. Most of the stories end in tragedy—I know that only too well—but it’s the chance of a new life that keeps us going. A portal back mirrorside for those who can still leave, or a happy ending when you’ve found that one person who completes you.
It might’ve taken countless cycles and thousands of years, but I’ve found mine and not even Zeus himself can separate us. Only Noelle can—
I push that thought away. Hephaestus. This is about my old friend.
“You don’t mean it,” I tell him.
Clang. “Aye.”
“But—”
“Let it go, Orion. You didn’t leave your lass and come back here ‘cause you want to jaw at me. What were you hauling about and tossing at me floor?”
I nudge my boot against the backside of the boar. He’ll learn one day. I only hope I’m still alive to tell him I told you so. “Found a squatter in my cave.”
Hephaestus puts down his hammer. “Is that a—”
“Calydonian boar? Yup. Noelle’s kill, too,” I tell him. The pride in my voice is obvious. “One clean shot and it went down.”
“Impressive, but why have you lugged it here?”
“She did what she had to, but the hunt bothered her. I want nothing to remind her that the Other is different from mirrorside.”
“In case she wants to take the portal back?”
I nod.
Using a giant pair of tongs, Hephaestus grabs his beaten steel and thrusts it into a pail next to his table. A screeching hiss fills the air, followed by blooms of smoke.
He tosses his tongs on his work table before heading toward me and the boar.
“You said she was bothered by her kill? I’m sure it was an honest hunt. Don’t sound like the Artemis I remember.”
I know exactly what he’s getting at. “It upset Noelle. I won’t have nothin’ upsettin’ her.”
“I see.” Swooping down, Hephaestus grabs the boar by his front hooves. “I know it’s no offering, not from you, so I wager you’re after a trade. Stay put. Let me get some things together and then you can go.” As he starts to carry the carcass away, I hear him mutter, “I can tell you’re already itching to be back with the lass.”
After dashing about his cave, throwing things into a bag, Hephaestus returns a few minutes later with a heavy satchel in his hands. I take it with a nod of thanks and then turn, because he’s right. I’m desperate to get back to Noelle’s side. I’ve been gone too long already.
His thick brogue calls after me.
“You sure you know what you’re doing, Orion?”
There’s only one thing I know for sure.
Glancing over my shoulder at him, I tell him honestly, “I’ll die before I let that woman go.”
Hephaestus’s eyes are sad. “Ach, lad. You might not have the choice.”
Because I am going to die. And we all know it.
Except for Noelle.
33
Noelle
Traveling down the mountain is a hell of a lot easier than going up. Especially when you don’t piss off a touchy god and cause volcanic eruptions. Who’d have thought?
Hunter is missing when I wake up, nestled snuggly in the furs. He must’ve tucked me in because I’m so cozy and secure that I never even realized he slipped out of the cave.
I wait a few minutes to see if he’s coming right back. When he doesn’t, I realize just how bad I have to pee. Figuring it couldn’t make the smell in the dank cave any worse, I find a dark corner and quickly do my business. I’m wiping my hands on one of the cleaner furs when his silhouette appears in the mouth of the cave.
He holds up a satchel twice as large as the one he brought with him. “I went and traded your kill to Hephaestus for some more supplies. Figured you wouldn’t want to hike back down with the carcass.”
He figures right. I’ve been hoping he forgot about the dead boar. I should’ve known better. A good hunter never disrespects a kill.
One of the best, a tiny voice whispers. But not as good as me.
I shake my head. “We leaving?”
“Whenever you’re ready, darlin’.”
I expect him to keep his distance and am prepared for it. To my surprise, Hunter is as attentive as ever, always there to help me with a particularly rough patch or for me to lean on him when the rocky ledge narrowed. He’s back to finding reasons to touch me and I let him.
Once we make it down to the foot of the mountain, Hunter offers to carry me again. His disappointment is unmistakable when I tell him no. He doesn’t know I snuck a tiny snip from the nectar canteen before we left and I’m bursting with energy. I certainly don’t tell him.
I’m ready to tackle another day in the Other.
Sure, it was hard to climb all the way up the mountain only to discover that there wasn’t a portal waiting for me. Nothing I can do about that. Hunter promised me he’d find me a portal and I believe him. Until then, I still have a very important—totally attainable—goal.
I want another friggin’ bath. I hoped we would leave the cave stink behind us when we left. Nope. Every time the breeze blows past us, I get a whiff. I prod Hunter to go faster because getting clean again is all the motivation I need.
We take a different path back. On the way to Hunter’s cabin, he shows me the stream he uses for cleaning up, drinking, and hauling back to fill his tub. After he assures me that this one is mermaid-free, I drink until my thirst is gone. Hunter refills his canteen for later and then earns an incredible amount of brownie points for promising to fill the tub with heated water once we get settled back in at the cabin.
I don’t even care anymore. Let the whole Other see me naked. There’s no way I can spend another minute knowing that I stink like pig pee.
“I love you.”
I choke on my deer jerky.
I’m sitting at the wooden table in Hunter’s yard. We’ve already finished a hearty vegetable stew but I was still hungry so, while he busied himself with heating the water for my bath, I was snacking on some more of the smoked deer meat. I already washed my hands and splashed my face but my hair is holding onto the stink. That’s next.
And then his words drift across the night’s sky and I gasp so suddenly that I’m choking on my last bite of jerky.
He’s behind me in a heartbeat, wrapping his arms around my cloak, and hauling me out of my chair and to my feet. A couple of quick, firm pats against my back—my knees nearly buckle from the force—and the jerky goes down, leaving my throat achy and my pulse pounding.
Hunter has me tucked under his arm. I push him away from me and, after a small hesitation, he lets go.
With a small, amused grin, he reaches down for his belt and removes the canteen hanging there. He nods at it. “Take a drink, darlin’. You’ll be fine.”
I’m so rattled, I don
’t even check to see if this is the dented canteen or not. I just tear off the cap and drink. If it’s nectar, I’m going to be in trouble. Thankfully, the cool, clear water we collected at the stream fills my mouth and eases down my throat.
When I can breathe again, I hand Hunter his canteen back and goggle up at him. “What did you say to me?”
“Said I love you. Didn’t think it would almost kill you, though.”
I blink, my mouth hanging open. Yup. That’s what I thought. And he’s not wrong because, well, a sudden unexpected confession like that almost did kill me.
Hunter watches me expectantly, like he’s waiting for some kind of answer.
Holy shit. What does he want me to say?
I was with my college boyfriend for two years before he finally dragged the words out of me. Even then, I wasn’t sure I meant them, and it turned out I didn’t. When I caught him in bed with my roommate, I was way more pissed than hurt.
In my head, I replace Trevor’s smarmy face with Hunter’s gorgeous one. I ask myself what I would do if I found him on top of Bianca and discover that my fingers are already itching to yank them apart. I’d kill him, then her, too, for good measure. If that’s not love, then I don’t know what is.
Holy shit.
Am I in love with him?
I can only imagine my expression. I’ve got to have the whole ‘deer in headlights’ thing going on.
The only way I can think to handle this is to pretend that he’s joking. Because I know Hunter by now. The big guy is not joking.
“Be serious. You don’t love me.” He can’t.
“Pretty sure I do.” He shrugs, the worn leather of his cloak rising and falling with the motion. “I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout it the whole time we were headed down. Might not have found a portal yesterday, but what about today? Tomorrow? You can leave me at any time. I want to put it out there. I want you to know the truth ‘bout how I feel. I’d kick myself forever if you left and you didn’t know. So, yeah, darlin’. I love you.”
He… he sounds like he really means it. I’m beginning to panic a little more.
Stalk the Moon Page 28
