In Between Seasons

Chapter 24

"Do me a favor?" I asked, shutting the door to Hunter's apartment behind me.

"Yeah?" Hunter replied as he sat on the bed and took his boots off.

"Never call me darling again?"

He looked up with a smirk. "Didn't enjoy his company?"

"How did you come out of that?"

"Good question." He ran his hands through his faux hawk. "You grow up with something you can't stand, and you learn how to not be like it. It seems to me you mastered that talent, too."

"Thank God," I muttered as I flopped onto the loveseat in front of the bed and crossed my feet under me.

"You got pretty feisty with him for a second, though," Hunter commented as he stood and came to the front of me. "I quite enjoyed that."

"I couldn't tell from the massive amount of tension oozing off of you. I thought you might explode at any point during dinner," I replied as he sat down next to me and placed his hand on my knee.

"There was one point where I almost did."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a drawer handle. "Cracked this thing right off by accident."

"I bet I know what comment did that one in."

"The one that made sauce spontaneously jump and burn you?"

"Are you sure you haven't killed me yet because you want to seduce me?" I teased with a playful smirk, my stomach fluttering as I waited for his reply. I had to admit with each moment I spent with him my physical attraction to him was being outweighed by the emotional one. It was making it hard to not be impossibly happy at our impossibly slim odds of ever being together.

"If I wanted to seduce you by now I already would've, don't you think?" he replied, winking at me as he reached around me and grabbed the remote. The heat of his body washed over mine, and I knew from the evil gleam in his eyes as my body gave a shiver that he did it on purpose.

"Maybe I'm not that easily seduced?" I shot back.

"I guess I'll just have to try harder!" Hunter replied, but his tone didn't match his playful words.

He stood again and began pacing the room with his hands raking through his hair. His jaw clenched, accentuating his strong chin as he shook his head.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Hunter stopped and looked at the ceiling before answering, "A lot of things."

"What did he tell you?"

"He thinks your father is planning something big and seeing I failed to find out what the secret weapon is, he had a few words for me." His eyes fell to me, racing over my body as he continued, "Are you not telling me about the secret weapon because you're afraid I'll use it against you? Because I swear to you I won't...I just want to protect the both of us. As far as my father's concerned, he can rot in the Hell he's created."

His green eyes locked on me now, and I felt my head was swimming as I tried to think of something—anything that would help us. I had nothing.

"I really have no clue, Hunter. You know I'd tell you. I've been betrayed by everyone I trusted. It wouldn't matter to me if I told you."

He sat on the bed with his head in his hands before looking up at me. "You think I'm going to betray you, too?"

"That's not what I said."

His gazed remained locked on mine as his lips dipped into an upset frown. I shook my head, and he looked away. I stood and walked over to him, placing my hands on his shoulders.

"That's not what I said," I repeated.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and put his head on my stomach as he took a deep breath. I ran my hands through his hair, but he still didn't relax.

"What else is bugging you?" I asked.

"I don't know how this is going to end, but I don't feel as though it's going to end well," Hunter replied, and his breath came out in an agitated sigh.

I knew I should feel the nauseating fear in my stomach, but with him so close to me I couldn't give in to it. I couldn't let my feelings mix with his and make him more desperate.

He needed me to be strong.

"Your father really despises mine, huh?"

"Don't fool yourself; the feeling is mutual," he replied as I pulled away from him and flopped back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

"So what does this mean for you?" I asked.

"I have to promote some of the Trackers to Hunters and send them out on missions to your home," he replied, turning and leaning on his arm so the muscles bulged with the flawless lines that formed veins against his soft skin.

I shook my head. "It's not my home anymore."

"Then where's your home?" Hunter asked.

"Where's yours?"

He stared at me for a long moment before leaning back to stare at the ceiling too. "They're going to hate me even more once I promote them."

"I thought it didn't it bug you if they hated you?"

"It doesn't—what bugs me is the fact when I do I'm committing to leading them right into their deaths."

"What if you don't promote them?" I suggested, looking at him from the corner of my eye.

"Then I'll be heading back there," he said.

"So you have no choice."

"Pretty much, my father gave me my orders. Now I have to carry them out."

He hadn't carried out the original orders his father had given him, and I still wanted to know why. In that moment the wanting overruled the fear associated with the question.

"Can I ask you something?" I took a deep breath as he nodded his head before continuing, "Why didn't you kill me?"

Hunter ran his teeth over his lips, and his nostrils flared as he exhaled through them. Finally, he answered, "You weren't afraid."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I turned to face him.

"It was like you expected me to steal you away. You weren't afraid, and you didn't look at me like I was a monster...for a moment I felt like I wasn't."

"You aren't a monster," I replied, leaning forward and placing my chin on his shoulder.

Our faces were breathes apart.

"You make me feel like I'm not."

"You never were."