The Silent Princess

by T. A. Grey

  Here he was wearing his leathers, his heavy-rubber boots scraping the rough asphalt, and she made him feel like a schoolboy being scolded by his teacher.

  “I wanted to make sure you made it safe. You have this habit of drinking and driving.”

  One hand cocked on her hip as her stance turned aggressive. That was the only way to describe it. “And how many beers did you have tonight, Alex?” she retorted sharply.

  A muscle in his cheek twitched. “Two.” Plus that final shot of whiskey. That part he kept to himself.

  Her eyes lit up, practically sparkling. “Well I only had two as well. I am not drunk. So there! Now goodnight!”

  He revved his engine out of anger. It was a vapid, inane thing to do but he hadn’t been able to help it.

  Her jaw dropped. “Did you just rev your engine at me?”

  He had. Not that he meant to. It was as if the muscles in his hand had flexed at her attitude.

  Damn it, now he looked as though he cared.

  But instead he said, “No.” His eye twitched. And he was certain a migraine was growing in his right temple, throbbing incessantly.

  “Get inside the house. I wanna see you safely inside before I go.”

  Her keys jingled as she paced around, both hands on her hips. Those saucy hips...with the sway from her tall heels, he felt warm sensations tighten in his belly.

  “So you were watching me tonight, were you? How else could you have known I only had two glasses of wine,” she said, her words strung together like a song. She was joyful tonight and free. Something he’d never seen her be while mated to Tom. Now that she’d truly cut him free, she was like a different person. No, not different. But the good parts of her that he’d always seen were now amplified ten-fold.

  Someone needed to rein her in because she was dangerous like this.

  “I was not watching you,” he lied. “How did you know I drank two beers?”

  A slender, rounded eyebrow rose delicately. Like a young queen about to make a vow before court. She even stood straighter, her chin raising and poising just so. Again, his cheek convulsed.

  “I might have happened to glance your way. I waved at Gavin and Alicia earlier. So what if I saw anything?”

  “So what indeed.”

  “You are such a sour-sport. You’re ruining my happy buzz. Leave, will you!” she made a shooing motion as if trying to rid herself of a pesky fly.

  “Whatever happened to Mercedes-boy?”

  Sharp as lasers, her gaze slammed into him. Twenty-odd feet apart and the tension between them was like channeled electricity, zapping and crackling between them.

  “You mean Remi?”

  He almost rolled his eyes at the name. Remi. So fuckin’ stupid.

  He gritted the words. “Yeah, Remi.”

  She smiled coyly. “He is staying at a nice hotel in the city. I’ll be seeing him again next weekend while he’s in town on business for the Gerioux pack. We’ve gone a few dates. He’s very fun.”

  He’s very fun.

  For some reason, her description filled Alex with an emotion akin to disgust. Right, that’s because it was disgust, moron.

  “You don’t have to look so pale. Are you going to vomit?” Her voice was soft and painfully sweet, like sugarcoated sugar. “You’re not...jealous. Are you, Alex?”

  Alex roared his engine with the flick of his wrist. Another involuntary spasm.

  “Oooh!” she cooed, pretending to be awed over his bike. “Very impressive.” She spoke slowly like a parent congratulating their child’s incomprehensible artwork.

  God, she could make him feel so small. A part of him wanted to toss his head back and laugh, but he couldn’t manage it. He also couldn’t quit thinking about Mr. Suit and the way he smiled at Hanna with that lusty look in his eyes. Fuck. This was no good. No good at all.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not jealous, sweetheart. Good to know you care though.”

  The light dimmed from her gaze. Good, she needed to be taken down a peg or two. Alex walked his bike forward a few steps as the engine idled.

  He actually managed to flash her a grin. “Just making sure you got home safe. Now that that’s done.” With the roar of his engine, Alex sped off down the street without a single goodbye.

  It was only in his side view mirror, as he looked back at her, that he caught a glimpse of her raised middle finger aimed at him, waving through the air flipping him off.

  Finally, he let the laughter come.

  Chapter THREE

  Brisk knocking awoke Hanna MacKellen from her alcohol-induced sleep. Peeling her eyes open felt like little shards of sand were scraping the inside of her eyeballs.

  Rubbing her eyes, she staggered into the bedroom wall as she careened out of bed in haste, tripped over her scattered high heels from last night, and stumbled down the staircase to meet the incessant pounding at her front door. Whoever was on the other side of the door was going to die. That simple. She was about to become a murderer.

  It was far too early and she did not wake up from a hangover on a Sunday before noon, thank you very much.

  She threw the door open, surprised to reveal Hart, another older brother. Hart worked part-time as detective for humans and for the pack. He was an all-around quiet guy who preferred to keep to himself. More watchful than anything, though he had been known to thrown an occasional punch when needed. Yet Hanna, like the rest of the family, knew Hart had his own secrets. And he kept them closer to him than his own gun.

  “Get dressed,” he said. “We’re running training today.”

  Her jaw dropped at the news and she couldn’t keep the whine out of her voice. “But...now?”

  “Yes, now.”

  That was it. No explanation. Nothing.

  Hanna slammed the door shut and stomped back upstairs. Not even a second later, Hart threw the door open. “You got five minutes to get ready or I’m leaving without you!”

  Darn him. He knew how much she liked training. It had completely changed her these past few weeks. The intense, hardcore exercising, the running through the forest, learning various weapons and techniques. She’d gotten to train with the pack soldiers and never had she felt more alive. Plus, her stomach began to look toned.

  Her—toned! She could hardly believe it.

  Glaring, scowling and cursing her brother to Hades, Hanna’s eyes glazed over and she caught a whiff of undesirable odor wafting from beneath her arms. Yikes, she really needed a shower. After her little nighttime rendezvous with Alex yesterday, she’d marched upstairs and gone straight to sleep. Though, more like she’d gone to bed only to toss and turn thinking about Alex and feeling frustrated for no certain reason.

  At least she could put on some deodorant to cover up the damage, she figured.

  “I don’t feel like training!” Hanna shouted downstairs to her brother. But that was a lie. She did want to train, but not with a hangover like this. No fair.

  “Too bad,” came his muttered response.

  Hanna scoffed. She muttered to herself as she dressed, pulling her crispy, hair-sprayed locks into a tight bun. Training this early in the morning?

  See, Hanna had taken to changing her life since she ditched her loser mate. Her heart wasn’t fixed; it felt fragile like a piece of porcelain that had to be glued back together again too many times. One good flick would shatter it all. And how could you ever rebuild it again? It couldn’t be done.

  Speaking of, how early was it? She checked the alarm clock and her eyes flared before she was shouting downstairs.

  “It’s only seven in the morning, Hart!”

  “I know,” he shouted back up to her, not caring in the least.

  She’d only gone to bed at 3:45 in the morning. No problem, none at all. He just expected her to do an impromptu training session on a hangover with little sleep. Her teeth clenched and snapped in anger, her temper could not be contained. Fine. No big deal. She could do it. She was the new Hanna MacKellen. Empowered and changed, blah, blah, blah.
>
  “On a Sunday?!” she roared.

  She dressed in her exercise clothes, just grabbing anything she could find, uncaring of mismatched colors. Athletic gear was something she’d never owned before. Compression clothes, athletic bras, hooded sweatshirts. Now, for the past few weeks she’s changed her whole life around. No longer was she quiet and timid, the docile wife to Tom Bower. Now she was Hanna MacKellen again. Free spirit and true woman. Whatever that meant.

  She’d decided to take life by the balls and run with it. No more cheating husbands. No more lies. No more boring, drab, colorless living. She’d been changing her life around, one day at a time since she signed her name on those divorce papers.

  This new Hanna MacKellen was not “just an accountant” anymore. Nope. In deciding to change her life, she’d gone to her eldest brother Gavin, alpha of the pack. Right away, he wanted to help and boy did he have suggestions. Who knew he would be so responsive to helping her. Gavin’s new profession that he suggested for her: a soldier.

  Yeah, right. Hanna had laughed, after she realized he wasn’t joking.

  No, really, her a soldier? She was an accountant! She’d gone to college and got her Master’s Degree in Accounting, she was a certified public accountant, licensed and all. But, now, Hanna couldn’t believe what she’d done. What she’d been capable of. Training, exercising, and learning about things she’d never contemplated before. Such as targeting where all the entrances and exits were in any building she entered.

  She’d taken to Gavin for help with her new life, and she’d easily found herself training next to the other soldiers. One day, if she’s good enough she might even be able to pass the Training Exam to become a real lieutenant for the pack. Even contemplating the idea sent waves of head-shaking disbelief down her spine.

  If anyone had ever, ever pointed a finger at her and said she’d be fit and strong, a solider-in-training one day--she would have laughed and laughed. She would have argued. Never! she would have said.

  She could never do those things. That’s not the kind of person she was.

  Or so she thought.

  Because she did do them. Oh, boy, did she. Sometimes with flying colors. There had been a lot of stumbles on the way, a lot of pain and work, but she hadn’t given up. A bit of a MacKellen determination in there guiding her, she was certain. And along the way, her own personal progress had been exponential. Awesome in ways she struggled to describe.

  Dressed in a mismatched workout uniform, Hanna headed downstairs, resigned to her morning fate. “So, what are we doing today?”

  Six days a week she trained, not always with Hart or family but with any of the well-trained experts in the pack and they had many. Experts in hunting, tracking, explosives, guns, rifles, close combat. Hanna had shaken her head in wonder at it all. She had no idea the soldiers protecting the pack trained to such a degree. She watched them though, saw the grit and sweat they put into it. All to keep them safe. And now, she was in training as a solider; they didn’t know what career she might take up. So far, she’d shown quite the affinity for the decathlon.

  “Today we’re running a race.”

  Once upon a time, the thought of running any real distance would have terrified her. She knew she’d be last in place in any race, if she “ran” it at all. But now, she’d watch her clothes sizes get smaller and tighter. She’s watched her butt form into something that even she liked! She was growing to love her new body more and more every day. Whereas once she might have cowered in fear at the thought of running. Instead, she lifted her chin at the challenge.

  Hart drove her to the practice grounds. A group of pack members, all soldiers with various jobs in the pack, were already gathered, warming up and shooting the shit.

  “Alex will be there too.”

  Hanna finished studying the group to look up at her brother, dejected. “Please tell me you mean Alex Colleggi.” Colleggi was a patrol guard with a love for long-distance running.

  Hart cracked something as near to a smile as he got. “You wish. Thompson,” was all he said, walking away.

  Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the telltale roar of pipes to blast her fragile-morning eardrums. Glaring, Hanna watched Alex park his bike and saunter over. God she loathed this man. Like a splinter in your finger or a hair in your eye. She wanted to get rid of him...only she couldn’t. Hanna bit her lip, thoughts fairway, drifting back to that one surprising kiss.

  Oh well. It wouldn’t do to fret about him. Hanna focused instead on the race today. Hart sounded kind of loose with the details and being as this training session “was a surprise” and all, Hanna waited on the sidelines patiently.

  Soon though, a presence was at her side. She didn’t look up even though Alex’s tall height literally blocked the early morning sun from her eyes. Her eyeballs enjoyed the brief relief the shade brought her, even if it was from him.

  A minute of silence passed.

  Then another.

  Hanna’s jaw crunched with the sound of bones popping as she grounded it around, circling and sliding her jaw. She stared straight ahead, watching the group get ready to start the training session.

  Still he said nothing. Just stood there like a mannequin.

  “Why are you here?” she finally gritted.

  She stunk. It was early, far too early for this. And he was here. Of course he would be. Alex was a thorn in her side, nearly literally at this point with how closely he stood to her.

  “You were squinting. Thought I’d do you a favor. Guess I’ll just join the rest of the boys in kicking your ass instead.” He shrugged, still gazing out at the troops ahead, before heading after them leaving her to stew in silence. And squinting into the beaming sunlight.

  “Dammit,” she muttered.

  Hanna joined them as Hart approach the group to get things started.

  “You’re all here this morning---”

  “Yeah, too fuckin’ early!” shouted someone in the crowd garnering laughter from the others.

  Hart ignored him. “You’re here for a special session. We will be running a training simulation.” Hanna’s ears perked up as she listened intently. “From this yellow marker in the ground here to the next waypoint is five miles. You will run it as fast as you can. At the next waypoint, you will find a rifle. You will choose your weapon carefully, then shoot the designated targets. Don’t worry you’ll see what I’m talking about when you get to it. Whoever hits the target accurately does a good job. Get it? All right then. After your rounds are fully discharged, you will loop back around and run the five miles and return here to the starting position. That’s it.”

  “That’s it?” Hanna asked aloud, disbelief on her face. It was too early in the morning for this level of work.

  “What does the winner get from all this?” someone asked.

  “You’ll see,” Hart said. “We begin in one minute. Get to the starting line.”

  People hurried to the line, Hanna too. Her blood pumped with a surge of adrenaline. A race!

  She forgot in that moment all about smelling awful, looking like crap, and all the other worries she’d had. She put them away, locked them up and focused. She stared into the forest before her, brain already preparing a mental path that she’d run, shoot, then run back. Easy enough. But, then again, she preferred to have direct competition. Peering over her shoulder, Hanna found Alex not far behind her. He looked over at her and she quickly looked away.

  Him. She’d use Alex as her competition. She must beat him or else she’ll lose.

  Hart pulled out a pistol. He counted down from three slowly, then. “Pow!” A loud gunshot blast rang through the forest, echoing like a cannon’s boom.

  Hanna shot off like a light!

  The first off the line, she beat her feet into the ground and tore off like a mouse being chased. That’s what she felt like, as one of the only females in the group. Pressure to perform, to be great thrived inside her pushing her faster, stronger. It took no time at all for some of the soldiers t
o pass her. She gritted her teeth and continued to push.

  Suddenly, someone bumped her from behind. Hanna lost her balance, went curtailing hard to the left as she lost her footing. She slammed into a tree completely halting her progress. Breathing hard, she caught her breath, tried to see who’d hit her but lots of bodies were running by, like a crazy mob in the forest. Then, up ahead, a dark head of shaggy, I-don’t-brush-my-hair glanced back at her and smiled. It was him! Alex had pushed her!

  If he thought he’d win by cheating, then he knew little of Hanna MacKellen. Fierce warrior woman.

  Hanna doubled her speed and took off again. This time it was her passing people by. She was like a beam, attracted to the magnetic pull at the end of the race. The terrain was difficult. All trees and muddy earth her feet sunk into. Her legs burnt from the effort to push through, leaping over fallen branches and skidding down a rocky incline.

  It grew quiet the deeper she went into the forest. Only the sounds of her harsh breathing and the racing steps of others nearby. The rest of the forest had stopped to watch the games.

  She broke into a valley and immediately spotted the yellow marker stuck into the ground. Nearby were about 20 rifles on a table. Targets had been set up across the valley. Hanna ran to the guns, grabbed one, and then dropped to her belly right beside her competition. Alex Thompson.

  His gun blasted as she lay quickly on her belly, pulling the rifle up to her eye as she’d been trained. This was actually the good part. She might not be able to run as quickly as these men did, but she sure could shoot.

  Ker-pow! Her gun blasted. Again and again. She discharged bullets. The scope lined up with the little red circle at the center of the target some hundred yards away. Six bullets were in the chamber and she tore through that little red dot like it was right in front of her, the size of a paper plate.

  Six rounds. Perfect shooting.

  Alex took off ahead of her. But she wasn’t far behind. Gritting her teeth, Hanna deposited the gun back on the table as she spotted Alex flying back through the forest. Another five miles to go. Narrowing her eyes, she took off. She was going to win. She could feel it like living blood pulsing through her veins. Yes, victory was hers!