The Forbidden Trilogy

by Kimberly Kinrade

  But Hunter didn't do any of that. He just kept pulling his punches.

  Uh-oh. Lucy figured out Hunter's tactic. Luke was getting too comfortable, too complacent. When he leaned in for another punch, Hunter countered by blocking and then landed a hard punch on Luke's ribs.

  Luke stumbled back, and braced himself against a rock to keep from falling.

  Mr. K didn't miss the chance to taunt Luke. "Ooh, the tree thinks that hurt. Maybe I'll draw a picture of the big bruise you'll get on your face."

  Luke laughed it off, then focused and charged Hunter.

  He tackled him, and they tumbled to the ground. Luke put Hunter in an arm lock, but Hunter gave Luke one good kick in the ribs, and knocked him off.

  They both scrambled to their feet. Luke charged again, but Hunter countered and scored a hit on the chest.

  Luke retaliated with a pair of vicious kicks.

  Hunter dodged one, but the second swept his leg and planted him face-first in the dirt. He spat and wiped his mouth. "Is this what you eat, Mr. K? I feel sorry for you." Hunter hopped back onto his feet, again adapting a purely defensive posture.

  Lucy felt the fatigue radiating from both of them. This had gone on too long; they needed to end it.

  Something about Hunter's stance shifted, and a new heat came from him. He closed his eyes as if meditating.

  Luke attacked with the last bit of speed he possessed.

  Hunter dodged to the side and opened his eyes. He'd clearly seen Luke's bad leg, and could have easily tripped him up and won, but he didn't. He just stood there.

  Luke, oblivious to the subtle exchange, twisted and landed a hard punch on Hunter's jaw.

  Hunter fell to the ground and stayed down.

  Mr. K counted, "One, two, three, four...." all the way to ten. Hunter pushed himself up, but stumbled back to the ground. "Knockout!" Mr. K shouted, then added, "Rats. I rooted for the wrong guy."

  Luke's face split into a huge grin, full of cocky arrogance, and he raised his fist in the air like Rocky.

  Lucy clapped and whistled. "And the winner is... Luke Rivera." Hey, it's a win-win. My brother or my boyfriend. Well, wait, not boyfriend per se... ah crap.

  Hunter stood—without any trouble at all, Lucy noticed—and shook hands with Luke. "Good fight, bro."

  Luke grasped his hand. "Same here, man. You sure know how to move. I needed that. Thanks."

  Neither was too worse for the wear, though both had their fair share of bruises. A dark purple circle had already formed on Hunter's jaw, and, as Lucy suspected, this only added to his hotness. She shook her head. What is wrong with me? And speaking of, what's the deal with Hunter? He didn't have to take that abuse. He could have won. So why'd he let Luke kick his butt?

  Lucy stood and walked over to the guys. "I want in."

  "What?" Luke frowned. "You serious?"

  "Yeah, I need the exercise." She stretched and flexed to prove her point.

  "You're still healing, though."

  "So are you. I'll be okay."

  Luke cocked his head, then shrugged. "I suppose we could." He lifted his fists.

  Lucy laughed and held up her hands in mock surrender. "No. There's no way I'm facing the champion. I'm not that okay."

  "Whatever you say, Sis." He moved aside and bowed dramatically to Hunter. "She's all yours. Don't bruise her, or I'll whoop your ass again."

  Hunter shook his head. "My father taught me never to hit a lady."

  Lucy stuck her tongue out and danced around him, throwing mock punches. "Come on. Or did your father also teach you to be a spineless wimp?"

  Luke laughed. "Don't worry, man. She's vicious. I wouldn't blame you for not fighting her."

  Perfect! Her brother gave Hunter just the push he needed to fight—though it was never really a question. He wanted this as much as she did. His body relaxed as he considered his options, and Lucy couldn't help but taunt him just a bit more. "Besides, I don't fight like a lady, so don't worry about hurting me. And ignore my overprotective brother. I'm not a banana. I don't bruise as easily as some."

  His eyes turned into slits, and Lucy knew she had him. "You asked for it," he said in a low voice, and then sprang at her.

  Lucy swayed side-to-side, dodging the blows with minimal effort. "You're not even trying. This is sad."

  Hunter moved fast but without the same passion that he had with Luke—or maybe with a different kind of passion. He swung at her again, an open-palmed smack that struck only air.

  "They say the turtle wins the race, but you haven't even made it to the event yet."

  Hunter harrumphed and muttered something about stubborn women, then finally whipped a series of blows at her in quick succession.

  His torso gave away each move, and her muscles responded reflexively, blocking easily as he attacked. A trickle of sweat ran down Hunter's chest, and Lucy couldn't keep her eyes off of it.

  "You're pretty good," he said with a mischievous grin.

  "Thanks."

  "I wonder what else those hands are good for?"

  Just what she'd been thinking about his hands. She blushed, then scowled at herself for being so silly.

  Before she could retort, her brother butted in. "Watch it. Or it'll be my hands you'll be worried about."

  Oh, Luke, stay out of this. I can take care of myself. "My hands are skilled at many things. Not the least of which is putting cocky boys in their place."

  Another jab. "That may be, but I'm no boy. Perhaps you need to be reminded of that." He kicked, and she dodged, but not fast enough. His foot grazed her shoulder.

  Crap. Damn him for getting me all flustered. Focus, Luce. She just had to concentrate and be patient. Hmm... that's a thought.

  She relaxed, and breathed in to steady herself, just as she did while meditating. Only this time, instead of focusing inward, she focused on Hunter.

  Her energy connected to his, and she felt his every movement, every breath, every flex of muscle.

  His right hand flicked back—his giveaway. No one else would have noticed it, but she had caught it while he fought Luke.

  She moved a fraction of a second before he punched, sliding past his hand. She used his momentum against him, wrapping her leg around his and tripping him, and used her arm as leverage to throw him to the ground. Lucy dropped onto him and pinned his chest with her knees close to his throat.

  Her ponytail fell against his cheek as she leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I could have crushed your windpipe."

  She felt his heat against her body, his heart beating so close to hers, the mint on this breath that he must have chewed that morning. They both breathed hard, exhausted and exhilarated at the same time.

  Hunter's green eyes were wide, taking in everything. "Yeah, I think we have a technical knockout here. Luke, your sister pretended to kill me."

  "Good," said Luke as he munched on berries. "I hope she uses her imagination more often."

  Hunter grabbed Lucy's hips and flipped her over, immobilizing her beneath his long, hard body. He leaned and mimicked her own whisper. "Always take the kill shot when you get the chance, otherwise you could end up on the bottom."

  Before she could say something stupid, like the bottom didn't seem that bad either, he rolled off and helped her into a sitting position. Their hips and shoulders pressed together, and neither moved away.

  He nudged her. "That was a good move."

  "Watch your right hand. You pull it back right before you punch."

  "Thanks."

  "It's a small tell, but it's still there." She added in a whisper, "Kind of like my brother's leg."

  "Really?" Hunter kept his face void of expression. "I didn't notice."

  "You let him win," Lucy insisted. "Thank you. I haven't seen him that happy in a while."

  Hunter brushed a stray hair from her face. "He'll be back to normal soon. You just have to be patient, no matter how badly you want to kick his ass."

  She nodded and stifled a sigh of regret when he pulled his hand
away from her face. "I know. I need to be more patient in everything, it appears. I just miss my old brother and want him back. But today really helped with that. Speaking of being patient, when are you going to tell me the truth?"

  "Depends on what I'm telling you."

  "How you jumped, when the lizard attacked me."

  He smiled. "Ah, that. It's not really hard actually. You just bend your legs, flex, and push up."

  She punched him in the shoulder. "You know what I mean."

  An ocean breeze brushed against them, and Hunter looked out to the horizon with faraway eyes. "You two are not the first paranormals IPI's worked with. There's not many of us, though. As I said, I advanced through the ranks due to my natural talents, which I wish were more helpful right now. We need to find a way out of here." He stood up and held his hand out to Lucy.

  She gripped it but didn't move to stand yet. "What's your para-power?"

  He lifted her, then wagged his finger. "Keeping secrets." And with that totally unhelpful answer, he walked away.

  Frustration burned in her, tempered only by the knowledge that she had her own secrets—like the sphere. Really, they hadn't even known each other that long. Maybe she was blowing their whole relationship out of proportion.

  Luke sat under a tree and scowled at her. "If you can't share it with the whole class, you shouldn't be sharing at all."

  Lucy rolled her eyes. "Grow up, Luke."

  She walked back to their camp, sore from the sparring, but in a good way, and irritated at Hunter and herself. She stopped short when Hunter packed up his backpack and headed toward the forest.

  "I'm going to go look for a way out. You two still need to rest. I'll be back late."

  He was gone before Lucy could protest. Talk about mood swings!

  She shot Luke a questioning glance, and he shrugged. "No idea. Maybe he just needed some alone time. But hey, at least that gives us a chance to hang."

  And another mood swing. Luke looked entirely too happy to have Hunter gone.

  ***

  Hanging involved all sorts of fun. They ate berries and found giant spongy mushrooms that made great trampolines. They laughed and talked about nothing important, and Lucy tried not to think about Mr. K or how she'd betrayed his trust by using her powers on him. Using Luke as a distraction helped.

  As the sun set, they lay side-by-side on a mushroom and watched the sky turn dark.

  Silence settled gently between them, but broke apart like ice when Luke sighed. "Hunter told me about the lizard, which I assume was giant from the claw marks on your back. He said he killed it. How?"

  They'd avoided talking about Hunter all day. Lucy didn't want to reveal anything about his powers, but the number of secrets she had kept from her twin weighed on her. "With his sword. It's high-tech."

  Luke pursed his lips. "Yeah, that's not normal. He's definitely not telling us something, Luce. I don't trust him."

  This was exactly why she didn't want to talk about Hunter. Luke couldn't see straight when it came to him. She'd hoped the sparring match would have helped them bond. Guess not. "What is there to tell?"

  Luke shrugged. "Who made that sword? Why does he have it? Why'd he get so tired after he brought you back?"

  Lucy felt bad about that. Hunter's exhaustion was her fault, but she couldn't admit it to Luke. More secrets. More lies. "You'd be tired too if you fought that lizard. And the sword is probably some high-ranking IPI tech. Maybe he's like James Bond and has his own Q."

  "Maybe. But he doesn't strike me as the James Bond type. And besides, we're on their top-priority mission right now, and I didn't get a fancy sword."

  "Maybe they ran out." She didn't keep the bite from her response.

  "Maybe they're hiding things from us, Luce."

  "Or maybe, since we're not actually agents, they don't tell us everything. Why would they?"

  He continued talking as though she hadn't spoken. "Think about it. IPI. International Paranormal Investigations. What paranormals? Us? If they've known about us for a while, why didn't they do anything?"

  "Maybe they couldn't. Most of the kids at Rent-A-Kid would have died to defend it a year ago—you among them."

  "Or maybe IPI isn't so different from Rent-A-Kid."

  "What?"

  He sounded like Beleth with talk of experiments and hidden agendas. She wondered if she should tell Luke more about that night.

  No, not now. He's already too agitated. "They haven't done anything to make me doubt them. And Hunter's done nothing but help us."

  "Oh, well, I know you like him."

  "No... well, yeah, maybe, but it's not just that. He saved me, Luke. If it wasn't for Hunter, I'd be dead."

  Luke swallowed and nodded, clearly thinking about life without Lucy.

  A shrub rustled and.... Speak of the devil. Lucy's heart did a little dance as Hunter emerged from the forest, and she slid off the mushroom, trying to look less excited than she felt.

  Hunter didn't notice her, though. He walked straight toward Mr. K.

  She caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "Did you find a way out?"

  Hunter shrugged her off, the heat of his anger practically burning a hole in her hand. "There is no way out. Cliffs surround this entire goddamned area!" He plodded into the enclave to yell at Mr. K. "Liar! You didn't want to tell us the way out, because there is none."

  The bark of the tree peeled open to reveal Mr. K's eyes. "I didn't want to tell you the way out because you wouldn't be able to manage it, boy. I felt you kill that lizard, felt the earth shudder as a life slipped away. You had no consideration, no prayer for the creature before you. You were just a machine doing its work, a switch going off, an instinct taking over—your instinct to kill."

  Hunter's muscles tensed and his face turned to stone. Lucy stepped forward, prepared to calm him if he snapped, but he relaxed his shoulder, turned away and nodded to Lucy. "If I'm a killer, then why's she alive?"

  He turned and stormed off.

  Mr. K's bark face could register little emotion, but it did look angry in that moment, and his branches jerked and slapped around like live wires. "Stupid boy!" He locked eyes with Lucy. "Be careful around him. I've felt his rage. He burns it like fuel."

  Hunter? Really? She'd never seen him angry before. Sure, he made an art of deflecting, but that didn't translate to rage. Lucy left the enclave, and found Hunter on the shore staring at the moon.

  She rested a hand on his arm. "You want to talk?"

  "You have anything new to tell me?"

  "Well, no." She dropped her hand and stepped away from him.

  "You know a way out?"

  "No. I just want to talk. You don't have to be so angry."

  His body shuddered, but he didn't turn to look at her. "No? Then what am I supposed to be? Happy? Happy that for every day I spend in this valley, hundreds of children suffer out there? Happy that I get to spend all of my time with you, talking to you, falling in—" He paused. "I am happy here. I don't want to leave, but there are people out there who need me. All I can think of is spending another minute with you. Why can't I think about anything else?" His face fell in sorrow and confusion, and he shook his head as if clearing his mind.

  She pulled him around to face her. "I understand. I feel this pull to stay as well. I don't know whether it's... this," she waved her arm between them, "or something in this valley." On impulse, and because she needed to, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

  He stiffened, then relaxed into her and rested his chin on her head. "We've spent nine days in this valley."

  Nine already? Lucy had lost track of time during her recovery. Beleth had said the kids only had a month to live. One month, and we're stuck in a valley with no exit. What can I do? This is just too much. All of it. She tightened her arms around Hunter, comforted by his strength and nearness.

  His hands ran up her back, careful to avoid her injuries, and his lips moved against her forehead as he spoke. "And each day, I've thought of kissi
ng you."

  Her breath caught in her throat. He'd spoken her own thoughts. She leaned back to look him in the eyes. With all the horrible events that had taken place, all the bad that had happened, Hunter had been the only good.

  More than good. "Then what are you waiting for?"

  She wanted to protest the departing warmth as his hands moved off her back. But then he cupped her face and leaned in. The mint of his breath mixed with hers, and all else fell away as their lips touched.

  Chapter 94 – Lucy

  Hunter's kiss made every other kiss she'd experienced the equivalent of being slobbered on by a dog. His soft but firm lips, his body pressed against hers, his scent and taste, the way his fingers wove into her hair when he deepened the kiss—all of it sent Lucy's senses spiraling.

  With a sigh he pulled away and stroked her face. "You're so beautiful, you know that? Not just on the outside, but inside too. I've met a lot of women in my life, but none that compare to you."

  Lucy didn't like thinking about Hunter with "a lot of women," but nothing could shake her from her happy high. She shivered in the night air, and he wrapped his arms more tightly around her while she rested her head on his chest. Night had fallen, but she didn't want to leave his arms. She wanted to be closer, to explore these new feelings, but....

  "It's late. We should get some sleep."

  He released her slowly and stepped back. "We should. You're right."

  Neither moved or broke eye contact.

  "Goodnight." Lucy's throat didn't want to form the words.

  "Goodnight."

  She pulled herself from his gaze by force of will, and left him to stare at the moon while she went back to camp.

  Luke waited for her, a dramatic frown on his face. He spoke in their secret language, as if the trees would betray their secrets. Well, maybe one might, but she doubted it. "Lucy, are you sure about this?"

  Great. Just what I wanted to talk about after the most perfect kiss ever. "Sure about what?" She wasn't about to make it easy on him.