Three words. That’s it. No begging. No pleading. No infamous you up text begging to see me. Just I miss you.
I contemplated answering him back. What did I say? I miss you, too? I wish things were different? All things that he knew, and me texting them wouldn’t make them any better.
Tate hadn’t done anything wrong. He hadn’t rejected me once he knew who I was. He’d shown me multiple times that he still wanted to be with me. It was unfair to put him in the middle of my and Kyren’s issues.
Except there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
He was with Kyren. Kyren hated me and clearly didn’t want to be with me anymore. Which hurt more than I wanted to think about. I’d cried about it for hours after he left, disappearing into his shadows without a word, and there’d been nothing since then.
I couldn’t think about it. About him. It was too hard. We’d only been together for a short time and yet I felt a crushing despair whenever I thought about him.
Sniffing, I swiped my fingers under my eyes, brushing away the tears that escaped. I had a mission to complete. I couldn’t get distracted by my love life. I was a hunter. The mission came first.
Putting my phone down, I drained the tub and dried off. Grabbing my gun and phone, I moved back into the bedroom and walked over to my bed. I slid the gun beneath my pillowand paused, withdrawing the shirt I’d forgotten I’d hidden there when Xinyi came to my room.
Kyren’s shirt.
Lifting it to my nose, I inhaled deeply. The smokey clove scent filled my senses, and a feeling of ease came over me. Without thinking, I pulled it over my head and curled up on the bed, my phone in my hand.
I stared at the message Tate sent for a long moment before my fingers moved. I typed out a message telling Tate to leave me alone, then deleted it. My fingers hovered over my keyboard, uncertainty of what to say stopping me. Eventually, I put my phone down without having said anything.
Sometimes silence was the best answer. In this case, I wasn’t so sure it was true.
Chapter 5
Julian
The scent of sweat and leather filled the air. Dozens of hunters paired off with each other in the large training room, a dark blue cushioned mat spread out across the floor.
Two teens faced off in front of me. The boy had the obvious advantage with his size and muscle strength, but he was slow and clumsy on his feet. His opponent, a wisp of a girl, had been dancing circles around him for the last twenty minutes.
“No, keep your elbows in.” I clapped my hands and shook my head. “You’re giving her an opening. Don’t grunt before you lunge. You might as well broadcast your next move when you do that.”
The girl dodged as he grabbed for her, dropping into a squat before kicking him in the balls, sending the boy back onto the mat, clutching his family jewels.
“No fair,” he grunted out, facing turning red.
His opponent shrugged and leaned over him grinning. “Don’t leave yourself open next time.”
I held back a laugh and shook my head. “Don’t gloat, Melissa.”
“Fawley!”
My head turned toward my name. President Fleming stood at the edge of the training room, gesturing for me to come over.
I glanced down at the boy. “Take five minutes, Derek. Then try again.” To Melissa I added, “Have some mercy on the poor boy.”
Melissa snorted, pounding her knuckles together. “Mercy is for the weak.”
I sighed. “I’ll be right back.”
Trotting along the training room, I looked over the other young hunters training. They had come a long way, but still had a ways to go before they’d be trusted on a mission. Usually, I didn’t help with training while already on a mission, but I was asked to fill in for someone who had gotten hurt in the field.
I paused beside the large man that was one part of the leadership of the Hunter’s Guild.
“What can I do for you, President Fleming?”
“How are they doing?” He tilted his greying head toward the trainees. “Anyone have potential?”
