I start to let go. In the far distance, as if sensing what’s about to happen, Hunter goes still.
Stubborn panic bubbles up inside of me. No!
If Artemis has enough control to adjust my shots and consistently make sure they’re perfect, then I sure as hell can stop this.
It’s not a lot. The tiniest jerk of my hands before the arrow flies, but it’s enough. I squint, my heart in my throat. The whistle of the arrow is deafening as it screams through the air.
Alex leans forward in anticipation.
The arrow slices past Hunter, hitting a random tree with enough power that the branches shake and a torrent of frightened birds lift into the sky, squawking loudly.
A heartbeat later, he drops. The white blotch in the distance goes down. Gripping my bow tight, I’m about to run to him when the shock, the utter disbelief in Alex’s voice stops me in my tracks.
“You missed.”
The price of the power I used slams into me like a freight train. Before I can even look over at Alex, I’m doubled over, panting, hands on my knees. It’s like I’ve run a mile at super speed, I’m suddenly that drained. Deep inside me, I can sense Artemis howling in outrage. She was supposed to hit the target.
But I didn’t want to. I couldn’t.
Not him.
No.
What the hell is wrong with me? I’m woozy and weak and one of those killer headaches is starting up in the back of my skull. I’m frantic to get rid of it.
I shake it off. The pain and the certainty that I just tried to take out Hunter. There’s no way that white speck was him. I don’t care what my confused brain was telling me. I got like three hours of sleep last night and all of those myths are running through my head.
“Something wasn’t right,” I say slowly. “I could have hit it. I chose not to.”
“But you can’t!”
Even though I feel like I’m about to collapse, I spare a glance up at Alex. There’s a wild look in his silvery eyes. Holy shit. He’s totally spooked, like I’ve taken the core of his cockiness and given it a rattle. I’m shocked at the intensity of his reaction. It was a silly bet—why does it matter so much to him?
“I guess I can. So what? Pick out another target. Gimme a minute and I’ll hit that one for you.”
“That’s not how it works! There are rules here. Laws. You don’t get to choose!”
Sure I do. I just did, didn’t I? Once I’ve gotten my breath back, I slowly straighten. Alex is still staring at me like I’ve grown a second head.
I’m immediately on the defensive. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You were supposed to take that shot. Make that shot. It’s the way the story was always supposed to end.” With a jerky motion, he gestures at something behind me. “You’ve changed it.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but he won’t look away from whatever is going on behind my back. As hesitant as I am to let him out of my line of vision, I chance a peek over my shoulder.
And then I do a double-take.
There’s a portal right there. Just poof and it’s appeared.
I can go back. That’s what he’s going on and on about. I didn’t need Cassandra and her hokey magic and dire warnings this time. Like they told me, when my part in this is over, my portal appears. Alex wasn’t kidding.
It’s right there.
It’s over. But… but how?
A sick sensation takes root in the pit of my stomach. All those myths, those stories, the endless websites that all said the same thing. It’s what I was so desperate to avoid. The tale of Artemis and Orion only ever ended one way.
Alex’s challenge. The urge to show him up, to prove I could hit any target—
Any target.
The certainty that I shot at Hunter, the way he dropped, and how quickly I made myself forget about it.
It… it was real.
“Wait—what shot?” I demand, whirling to face him. “What was I supposed to hit?”
“Orion.” With a tug of the front strands, Alex messes up his hair until its standing up straight. He looks friggin’ crazy. “No matter what, Orion is slated to die. This time, it was supposed to be by your hand. There are rules. I didn’t want the huntsman to have to die, but Apollo does and I couldn’t fight it. You’re not supposed to be able to fight it. But the story is over and Orion lives.”
He’s beginning to scare me. Where’s the self-assured, smirking jerk who I’ve come to know and grown to tolerate? What’s going on? I mean, I know I did something that made the magic in this wacko place give me a free ride back. But what the hell was it? And why is he spazzing?
But wait—
Orion lives?
So that means Hunter lives? Right?
“Alex.” I keep my voice soft. Gentle. This dude is seconds away from losing it. “What’s wrong?”
“What did you do? How did you change the story?” He reaches out and grabs my arm. “How did you take control?”
The truth of the matter slams into me, the impact causing me to stumble back as if I’m the one who was hit.
Oh my god. Oh my god—
I shot at a target all right. I shot at Hunter! And if it wasn’t for that last adjustment, the stubborn streak I’ll never give up, I would have, too.
I think about how Artemis was the one stringing the bow, nocking the arrow, sighting down the line. She was the one who found the target, positioned my arms, and drew back on the bowstring. She took up Apollo’s challenge and aimed for the speck, knowing deep in her soul that the arrow would find its home in her beloved companion.
Again.
And again.
Orion has always been fated to die. By Artemis. By Apollo. By one of those friggin’ scorpions.
But not by me. Because, if I shot Orion, I killed Jake.
“I couldn’t shoot him,” I admit, “because I love him.”
The words surprise me almost as much as they do Alex.
He recovers first. “You love him.” His words sound hollow. Empty.
“I guess I do. We’re… god, this sounds so cheesy… but we’re soulmates. Maybe, this time, we finally get the chance to prove it.”
“You’re my sister.”
“Artemis is Apollo’s twin, Alex.”
He jerks his chin out, stubbornness written in every line of his handsome face. “And? So? Noelle is mine.”
You know what? I’ll take it. I’ve always been an only child. Alex wants to be my brother? That could be cool.
On one condition, though.
“You’re my brother. Fine. But do me a favor? Just don’t try to kill my boyfriend, okay? Not again.”
“Boyfriend?”
I can’t help myself. “Is lover better?”
Alex wrinkles his nose. “Let’s stick with boyfriend.”
I know the label sounds silly and juvenile. Hunter is way more than that to me. But it’s too easy to tease my brother and, well, he totally deserves it.
I poke him in the chest. “And no killing him. Promise?”
As if he had never let his vulnerable side peek through, cocky Alex is back in an instant. One corner of his mouth quirks upwards, a perfect smirk. “That role was never mine this time. It was all you. And you might not have taken him out, but I think you might’ve knocked him on his ass.”
Holy shit. How could I have forgotten?
The white speck fell the instant my arrow sped right past. All of my senses tell me that the point of the arrow found its home in the thick trunk of an oak tree. I didn’t hit him.
So why did he fall?
I start to run, taking only enough time to call one very important instruction out to Alex.
“Watch my cat!”
And then I’m gone.
40
I’m barely breathing, and not only because I’m booking it through the woods. Thanks to my crazy good eyesight, I can see details forming way before I’m close enough to do anything about it. And what I see makes me fe
el like someone’s got a stranglehold on my lungs.
He’s still down, crumpled on the ground as I race toward him. Holy shit. What did I do? Did I hit him? I hadn’t thought so. Is he all right?
God, let him be all right.
When there’s still about twenty feet separating us, I see him move. My heart skips a beat. I hope I didn’t imagine it. His shoulder dips and he starts to rise.
I almost collapse from relief. Instead, tapping into the last bit of energy I have, I pour on the speed. I’m anxious to get to his side.
“Hunter!”
His head jerks up, pale eyes bright and alert as he looks over his shoulder to watch me run at him. A smile splits his face, so big that I almost don’t see the dimples dent his cheeks.
Dimples. He’s glad to see me.
And I’m so fucking glad to see he’s alive.
I pull up short, running my eyes all over him. I don’t see an arrow sticking out of him anywhere. Except for a thin, red line that slices across his right cheek, he seems unharmed. By why did he fall? Is he hurt? Why is he still sprawled out in the dirt, his hands folded into fists as if he’s in agony?
He’s not wearing his cloak. If I did hit him, he doesn’t even have the added layer of protection from the thick leather.
“Turn around,” I order. “Let me see your back.”
Hunter doesn’t move fast enough for me. While he pulls himself up to his knees, I dash around him. His white linen shirt is completely spotless. No holes. No blood. No arrow.
“What’s the matter, darlin’? I’m fine. There’s nothin’ wrong with me.”
Now that I can see that for myself, I slap him in his upper arm. “You almost weren’t! I could’ve killed you!”
“But you didn’t.”
He looks way too happy that he was almost a pincushion. I slap him again. “Be serious. You must have felt something. Why else did you fall?”
I get a better look at him because there’s no way I believe he dropped for no reason. That’s when I see it.
There’s that line of red again, a fine line, like a piece of scarlet thread that stretches across the height of his cheek. Another two inches, it might’ve sliced his eye.
“Holy shit.” The words are a strangled whisper. “I… I did hit you.”
My heart is still thumping against my ribs. When he lifts his right hand—his left is still curled tightly at his side—and runs his fingers across the line in his cheek, I know what left that mark. I didn’t hit Hunter, but the arrow came within a hair of striking him. It might’ve been the point or the fletch, I don’t know. I sliced him, though.
Me.
I bat his hand away from his face, replacing it with two of my fingers. The blood has already dried, the slice is so razor-thin. That doesn’t make me feel any better.
He leans into my touch.
“Darlin’—”
That he isn’t pissed at me makes me mad. Because no one ever said I was rational. “Don’t darling me!”
Hunter has the nerve to stifle his laugh. “Noelle, sweetheart, I’m okay. I only fell because the sting surprised me. I wasn’t expectin’ the arrow to whiz past and I dropped in case it was your brother takin’ a shot at me.”
“So you didn’t know it was me?”
“If I’d ‘a known it was you, I’d expect to go down all right. I just wouldn’t be gettin’ back up again.”
Because Artemis was supposed to kill him.
My stomach flip flops. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Quick as a flash, he grabs both my hands in one of his. “I know that. And you didn’t, I swear. No matter how this story is gonna end, I know you’ll never try to hurt me. Don’t worry, darlin’. We’ll figure it out together. That’s all the counts, is that we do this together.”
It hits me that Hunter might not know that the story’s over.
“Um, that’s all right. I think I might’ve already managed to do it on my own. Sorry. I couldn’t help it—on the plus side, though, no one died.” I shake my hands like I’ve got invisible pom poms. “Yay.”
He’s stunned. “What?”
I… I guess he didn’t know. Maybe the portal didn’t pop up for him because there’s no way he can cross back over and survive. For better or worse, his fate is in the Other. Mine, too. And I’m okay with that.
“The story’s over. Portal popped up and everything.”
Hunter’s jaw goes slack. “But—but how?”
How do I explain this? He’s big on honesty now. I go with the truth. “Artemis shot at you, but I missed. That’s all it took.”
“That’s all?” he echoes, amazed.
Well, no. But I’m thinking now might not be the best time to tell him the rest of it.
And then he sighs. A small frown tugs at his lips. “Oh, darlin’. Your portal.”
I know. I know. If I didn’t already suspect that I’m in love with him, that would’ve clinched it. My portal appeared and I never even gave it a second look.
We can talk about what happened with Alex later. Somehow I’ve gotten used to the idea of having a brother and I’m afraid that Hunter will go for Alex when he realizes what happened.
As for my portal, it’s obvious that I gave it up for him. And if it isn’t? Hunter will figure it all out when neither of us goes anywhere and he’s stuck with me and my cat. Until then, I have a more pressing concern.
“My turn for a question. Why did you leave the cabin? I came back and you were gone.”
That distracts him from anything else he was going to say. His bronze cheeks turn pink. With a shrug, he lifts up his left hand. His fingers are still curled tightly in a fist.
I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. “Hunter? Alex said you had to run off and take care of something important. What was it?”
If he’s surprised that I already had a run-in with Alex, he doesn’t show it. He clears his throat and, embarrassed, turns away.
I grab his chin and force him to meet my gaze.
He swallows. “I went back to the mountain. I had another talk with Hephaestus.”
“Hephaestus?” I repeat. That’s the absolute last thing I expect from him. “Why?”
“I had a favor to ask of him.” Then, as if it physically pains him, Hunter loosens his fist. One finger, then the next until his hand is open. There, nestled in the center of his palm, is a plain silver-colored band. “I had him make this. For you, darlin’. Because I love you.”
Before he could say anything else, I take the ring from him and slip it on my finger. He didn’t have to say another word. He went all the way back up the mountain, swallowed his pride, and asked Hephaestus for a favor. Hunter’s a proud friggin’ man. No matter what his intentions, no matter why he’s giving me this ring, I’d love it forever because he did that for me.
I grab his face between my hands and, leaning over him, I kiss him with all the emotion in me. I might not be as good with the words as he is, but I won’t ever let him wonder if I don’t feel the same for him. When I finally pull away, breaking the kiss so that we can both get some air, I rub my thumb against the slice on his cheek again.
“Thanks, Jake.”
He beams.
“I love it.”
I love you.
Before I can react, he reaches out and snags me around my waist. He lifts me like I’m a doll, pulling me into his chest and nuzzling me in his lap. I get the feeling that I’ve been snared in a trap and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve been thinkin’ a lot while you’ve been gone. All this time, I let myself be Orion because I thought that that’s what I had to do in this place. You made me realize that I can be both. Orion and Jake Hunter, we’re both the same. Right?”
“I’m still Noelle,” I tell him. And I mean it. If I gave in to Artemis, he’d be a dead man and I’d be a basketcase. I like it much better this way.
“Exactly. That ring… I don’t want to push you or anythin’, not for somethin’ you can’t give me
yet. But back home, when a fella like me was serious about a girl, you said it with a ring. And we… we are serious, yeah?”
I guess I have to spell it out for him.
“You try to leave me, I’ve got an arrow with your name on it, pal. You’re not getting away that easily.”
Hunter’s husky chuckle blows warm air against the tip of my ear. I snuggle closer to him, happy and content and hoping that Alex is long gone by the time I drag Hunter back to the cabin.
A thought pops into my head. I speak it out loud before I realize I’m going to.
“We’re lucky.”
“I’m the lucky one,” he murmurs into my hair.
I’m not going to argue with him about that. I’m friggin’ awesome. But it’s not what I meant. “I get what you guys all knew that I didn’t. If we let things play out like they were supposed to, it would’ve ended in a tragedy. They never had a chance. Stupid fate. We were set up to fail from the moment I got here. If I didn’t jerk the arrow, we wouldn’t be here like this. Together.”
“About that—”
“Later, Hunter.” I don’t want to ruin this moment. “I’ll explain what happened later.”
He chuckles again. “As ya like.”
“But I mean it. Orion and Artemis, they never had a happy ending, did they?”
“No, darlin’.”
I turn my head and press a gentle kiss against his chest. I can feel the racing thud of his heart against my lips. I love how I affect him. In the last couple of days, Hunter’s slowly become an open book just for me. I can finally read him and I adore what’s written there almost as much as I adore this man.
I smile. “Then I guess it’s a good thing that we’re going to make one of our own.”
Epilogue
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Stalk the Moon Page 35
