by Amanda Carol
Okay, moment gone. I narrow my eyes at him.
“It’s not bad, babe, but it could use a little work.”
I flush at his word choice.
“I…uh, sorry. It slipped out.” He runs his hand through his hair and looks down at his feet.
“It’s okay, Hunter,” I whisper.
I suddenly get the feeling that this might be a bad idea. I’m attracted to him, no doubt. Especially since he’s wearing black gym shorts and a white tank top, his tanned skin making the white stand out. Pair that with his messy black hair, striking blues, and those dimples? Well, a girl, meaning me, could definitely have trouble focusing. I suck in my bottom lip and push my feelings aside.
“You’re right. My blocking could use a little work. It’s the one thing that I always seem to struggle with because I’m always trying to play offense,” I say, regaining my focus.
Hunter nods, pulling out his phone, and hooking it up to speakers I didn’t see him carry out here. He pushes play and “Believer” by Imagine Dragons starts to play loudly.
Right, it’s time to get to work.
About thirty minutes pass and I’m already sweating in places that I wasn’t even aware existed. He has us doing push-ups, jumping jacks, burpees, and mountain climbers. My muscles are screaming at me, but it’s a good burn. I’m really glad running has helped me stay in shape, otherwise I’m not sure I would survive his warm-up session.
Hunter takes off his shirt before he reaches inside his backpack, pulling out two water bottles and towels. If I wasn’t already so freaking hot, I would admire the view. I thank him breathlessly as he hands me a water bottle and a towel. I down half the bottle and wipe the sweat from my face. I drop the towel on the ground and finish the water.
“Okay, are we finished warming up now?” I ask him, stretching out my tired muscles.
He chuckles before chugging the rest of his water. He tosses his empty water bottle on the ground next to mine and walks over to stand directly in front of me. He’s close, and his proximity is doing all sorts of lovely things to my body...again. See? This is a very bad idea. I inhale sharply and look up at him.
“Okay, first rule about blocking is—”
Before he finishes his sentence, he takes a step back, throwing a punch right at my face. He never makes contact and I don’t realize I have my eyes closed until I slowly open them to see his fist less than an inch from my nose.
“Never underestimate your opponent, Aria.”
My name sounds great coming from his lips, but those are fighting words. My brain clicks off as I grab his fist and twist it behind his back. He grunts at the sudden movement. Holy crap. With the amulet off, I’m even faster than before.
“What was that?” I whisper in his ear, taunting him.
I feel his whole body tense. Then he spins around, kicking my feet out from under me. I land on my back and Hunter is now on top of me, our bodies flush together. He’s got both my hands pinned above my head. His face is so close that I feel his breath on my cheek. His eyes flash a bright blue as he leans down toward my ear, lips grazing my jaw. My breath hitches, and I lay perfectly still.
“I said, never underestimate your opponent,” he whispers.
His lips gently brush the skin of my neck, and I shiver despite the blistering heat.
Then he pushes himself off me.
I take a second to get my breathing under control and sit up. He’s standing there holding his hand out for me. I grab his hand and he pulls me to my feet. I take a few steps back, putting distance between us.
“You need to watch your opponent and focus on their movements. They usually give away their next move.” He walks over to me, closing the distance I had just put between us. “I’m going to throw a punch. Watch my movements and block it.”
I do what he says and watch him. He takes a step forward with his left foot and I know he’s going to punch with his right hand.
I’m right.
His right hand comes at me to my left. I throw my left hand up, but I’m too late. His fist slips through my hands and he grazes my cheek. It stings a bit, but it doesn’t hurt.
Hunter curses and reaches forward, grabbing my chin. “Shit! I’m so sorry, Aria. Did I hurt you?” His face is full of worry as he tilts my head to the side.
“No, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt. I promise.” I reach up and grab onto his wrist, but I don’t push him away. His thumb caresses my bottom lip as his eyes lock on to mine, flashing brighter yet again.
“Let’s go again,” I murmur.
He inhales sharply and nods, taking a step back. Then he comes at me again. I’m prepared this time and block his punch. I grin and we continue. He throws punches and I block. I have to tell him to stop holding back a few times, and eventually we fall into an easy rhythm. We work on this for another hour before we stop. He hands me another bottle of water, which I gratefully accept.
“We can work on blocking kicks tomorrow,” Hunter says before he guzzles down his water.
“Sounds good,” I say then take a few sips of water.
I watch him as he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a rolled-up poster-looking thing. He grabs a box, which I’m assuming is full of nails, because he also pulls out a hammer and walks over to a tree.
He unravels the poster, and I see that it’s of a bullseye. He starts to nail it up and I can’t help but stare at his back. Sweat is glistening off his muscles and they’re flexing as he hammers the nails into the tree. I never thought sweat could be sexy…until now.
When he’s finished, he turns and walks back to me. He puts the hammer and box of nails back into his bag and picks up the bow and one arrow. He sets the arrow, and I watch as his arm muscles flex as he pulls the arrow back, taking aim and then, after a beat, lets the arrow fly. It lands dead center in the bullseye.
He spins around, grinning at me, and I’m just sitting here gaping at him.
“Okay, your turn.” Hunter holds the bow out to me.
“And top that?” I reply sarcastically, standing up and taking the bow from him.
He walks over and grabs another arrow.
“Okay, this is your bow string,” he explains, showing me the long piece of string that’s connected on either end of the bow. “And this…” He points to one end of the arrow. “…is called the nock. You place the nock in between the bowstring, like this.”
He steps up behind me, so our bodies are flush together again, and circles his arms around me. I inhale sharply, catching his scent of cedarwood and ocean.
How does he expect me to focus with him standing this close? He places his left hand on top of my left hand on the front of the bow, before placing the arrow in my right hand. Then he guides my hand to the bowstring and shows me how to properly place the arrow. Once the bowstring is placed in the nock of the arrow, he lifts our arms up, pulling the arrow back. He takes his left index finger and nudges mine out and rests the arrow head slightly above it so it barely touches my finger.
“This is your sightline. You have to pull the arrow back and make sure everything is lined up straight and steady. Like this,” he whispers.
My body tenses as I feel his breath on my ear.
“Relax, Aria,” he breathes.
I close my eyes and take a deep, steadying breath.
“When you’re ready, take aim and let go.” He lets go.
I open my eyes back up and focus on the target in front of me. Then, I let the arrow go and watch as it lands in the tree, above the target. I sigh in defeat.
“That was great, Aria!” Hunter says enthusiastically.
I glare at him.
“What?”
“I didn’t hit the target.” I frown and look at my arrow again.
Just pitiful.
“No, but it was your first time shooting off an arrow. I didn’t even hit the tree when I first shot one off,” he says.
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
“No, I’m not. It took weeks
for me to be able to hit the target, and even longer to hit a bullseye consistently. Just try again,” he reassures me as he grabs another arrow and hands it to me. “Try it on your own this time.”
I look up at him and I can’t say no to his puppy dog eyes. I sigh and take the arrow from him. I place the nock on the bowstring like he showed me and pull the arrow back, lining up the arrowhead with my index finger. Then I let it go and it lands just before the tree. I let out a low growl, then go to grab another arrow and try again.
“Maybe we should call it a day and come back to it tomorrow?” Hunter suggests after I shoot and hit the tree above the target.
Again.
I have been at this for a while, but I’m not hitting the bullseye consistently.
“No. Let’s try a few more times first and then call it day,” I say, walking forward to gather some arrows.
“Hey, lovebirds. How’s it going out here?” Bennett yells as he enters the clearing with my brother.
“It’s not,” I reply, bending over and picking up the last arrow and walking back over to where the case of arrows is sitting.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing fine.” Hunter places the arrows he had grabbed back in the case.
“Shouldn’t we have known by now if this was my special power? I mean, clearly it’s not,” I huff, handing him all the arrows that I had picked up.
“Not necessarily, sis,” Declan speaks up. “I think the only reason why it worked for me was because I didn’t want to see Ciera hurt or in pain. I had a strong urge to make it all better. Then I felt this power run through me, and instinct just kicked in.”
“Easy for you to say, Declan. Everything has always come naturally for you,” I groan out.
Declan rolls his eyes and approaches me.
“Aria, you’re overthinking it. Just relax. You can do this.” Declan places a firm hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, Ciera was his motivator. We just have to find yours,” Bennett says, and places his hand on his chin. Then he snaps his fingers. “Wait right here. I’ll be back.” He shifts into his wolf, running off.
I look up at Hunter with wide eyes.
“We’re faster in our wolf form.” He shrugs.
A few minutes later, Bennett’s red wolf saunters forward and drops an apple at my feet. He shifts back into a human, picking up the apple.
I raise my brows at him. Okay? Not sure why he brought me an apple. Does he think I need a snack?
“This is your motivation.” He hands the apple to Hunter, who takes it from him.
Then Hunter walks over to stand in front of the target, placing the apple on his head.
Oh, hell no. They seriously want me to play William Tell with Hunter? When I can’t even consistently hit the paper?
“No. No way. I’m not ready.” I shake my head and turn to Bennett, who is smirking.
“You are. Do it,” Bennett urges.
“No,” I reply sternly.
“Do it or I’ll tell Knox to do his worst to Declan in training. There’s a reason why his nickname is Daredevil,” Bennett threatens.
“You won’t.” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Oh, but, Blondie, I will. Now do it.” He narrows his amber eyes at me in return. “Shoot the apple. But try not to kill Hunter. There’s not much than can kill us, but an arrow to the head would probably do the trick.”
I huff, turning to the target where Hunter is standing. Bennett picks up an arrow, handing it to me. I take it without even looking at him. My eyes lock onto Hunter’s. He doesn’t look worried or scared that I might miss.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, clearing my mind. I open my eyes slowly and zero in on the apple. I place the nock in the bowstring without even looking and pull it back, lining up my sight. My blood starts humming with excitement. Everything around me goes still and all I hear is my own breathing.
A sense of calm flows through me as I let the arrow go. I watch as it hits the center of the apple, splitting it into two. I slowly lower the bow and shift my gaze to Hunter’s. His eyes widen, and a smile crosses his lips as he starts walking back toward us.
“Hells yeah!” Bennett shouts slapping me on the back. “You did it!”
I turn to him. “Thank you.”
He ruffles my ponytail and I swat him off.
“Don’t sweat it.” He laughs and goes back over to my brother, who looks relieved that I managed to do it.
Declan gives me a nod, his move for ’nice job,’ and they both walk off.
“That was great, Aria! How did that feel?” Hunter asks, flashing me his dimples again.
“Different. I felt excited at first, then a sense of calm washed over me. Like, I knew exactly what I was doing.”
He hands me another arrow. “That’s probably the power. You just need to relax and trust your instincts.”
I nod.
I also didn’t want to kill him, but I decide to keep that to myself.
“You ready to try it a few more times?”
“Yes. But only a few more, I have to get ready for my lesson with Grace this evening.” I smile up at him.
“Okay, sounds good. Now, this time, since you’ve felt the power, you should be able to tap into it, right? Just focus on how you felt before.”
I do as he says, and I begin to hit perfect bullseye every single time. On the last one, I manage to split one arrow in two.
“Holy shit! That was awesome!” I shout, doing a small victory dance.
Hunter laughs as he starts packing up the empty water bottles. He unplugs his phone from the speaker and puts that in his bag too. Then he stands and grabs the bow from me but leaves the arrows here. I give him a questioning look.
“The arrows will be fine here over night. The bow is mine, so I’m not leaving that out,” Hunter explains as we walk back up the pathway.
We make our way back to Luna’s cabin. We end up in a deep discussion about who the best superhero is. He says Captain America, but clearly Iron Man is superior. He has all the cool gadgets and a kick-ass armored suit.
“Have a good lesson with Grace tonight,” Hunter says as we reach the front of Luna’s cabin.
“I’ll try, thanks.” Before I can stop myself, I blurt out, “If you want to stop by and, I don’t know, watch or something, you can. I mean, if you don’t think Grace will mind.”
Geez, ramble much? I grimace, praying that the ground opens up and swallows me whole.
He smirks at me, and one dimple appears on his cheek. Damn him and his dimples.
“No, Grace won’t mind.” Then his face falls. “But I don’t think I can. My father put Bennett and I back on patrols. I’m supposed to be covering a shift. Kai said he was going to be late and he didn’t know when he would be able to make it. Plus, I owe him one. But, if he gets back in time before your lesson is over I will drop by.”
I nod and start up the steps. I mean, duh. What was I thinking? He has work to do.
“Aria.” Hunter’s husky voice stops me in my tracks, and I turn around slowly.
My eyes lock onto his, and I swear they’re glowing again.
“I’ll see you later.” He flashes me those dimples again before turning around and walking away.
I grin, turning to reach for the door handle but it opens before I can wrap my fingers around it. I flinch. Abby is standing in the doorway with one hand on her hip and her eyebrows are raised.
Oh, crap.
“We need to talk,” she says, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the cabin. She slams the door behind her and crosses her arms over her chest. “Spill.”
I tell Abby everything from meeting Hunter for the first time and the moments leading up to today. Abby listens and hangs onto every word I say. She lets me go on and on about everything, but she doesn’t pressure me to talk about anything that I don’t want to, especially that night. She knows I’ll tell her when I'm ready. So, I give her the low-down on the situation with Hunter instead and I can tell she’s listening in
tently. When I finally finish, she is smiling at me.
“Wow.” She exhales. “I can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I’ve known Hunter since we were kids and I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
I quirk a brow, curious.
She shrugs. “It’s different.”
I never really questioned the way he looked at me until now.
Before I can ask her about it, we hear a loud thud coming from right outside the cabin. Abby and I both jump up and sprint toward the door. We’re standing on the porch looking around, but we don’t see anything until a gurgling sound comes from the bottom of the steps. I glance down at the noise and I’m stunned to see Sloane lying there, bleeding.
Badly.
“Oh, my God!” I shout, rushing forward with Abby right behind me.
Sloane’s neck has a good chunk missing. Like someone took a bite out of her. My eyes widen at the sudden realization. I strip off my tank top, putting it on her neck and applying pressure. She tries to talk but blood gurgles out of her mouth.
“Aria! We need to get her to Kora! She’s dying!” Abby yells as tears fall down her cheeks.
I try to apply more pressure to Sloane’s neck, but it doesn’t do any good.
“Somebody! Help!” she yells even louder.
I press down even harder on Sloane’s neck to try and stop the bleeding, but the wound is too deep. Abby is right. We need to get her to Kora so she can…wait! I look up at my panicking best friend.
“Abby,” I say calmly, but she seems to be going into shock.
“ABBY!” I snap my fingers in front of her face and her eyes flick to mine. “Where’s Declan?”
Her bottom lip quivers as her gaze focuses on my face. “Wh-what?”
“Where’s my brother, Abby?” I ask, more forcefully than I intend to.
“H-He’s inside. He went to t-take a s-shower,” she stutters, inhaling a shaky breath.
“Go get him. Now!” When she doesn’t move, I reach up and nudge her shoulder. “Abby! Go get Declan!”
