Hunter

22. How to Almost Die

I'm being treated like a fucking child.

Though, of course, that's probably because I'm acting like a fucking child.

"I will not," I said, crossing my arms stubbornly. If it came to it, I would probably dig my heels into the ground if he made any gesture that made me think he'd drag me along anyway.

Luca pinched the bridge of his nose, his usually calm façade cracking, showing hints of exasperation and annoyance under the surface. "Reese, please, just work with me. You need to learn how to - "

"I already know how to fight," I interrupted, once again causing our argument to go full circle. We've been not-so-calmly discussing this for close to half an hour now, and each time one of us was forced to repeat ourselves, our sweet, diplomatic tones grew more and more weary and strained. "Or have you forgotten how many werewolves I've killed? How many vampires? This isn't something I haven't done before."

"I have not forgotten," he said. "However - "

"Besides, I'm not going to train with a bunch of werewolves." I snarled out the word like it was a curse. Which, in my eyes, being any kind of supernatural being would be a huge curse.

"Would you just listen to me," he sighed. "I watched you fight, remember?"

Oh, yes. The day I was caught. He'd stood back and watched as he allowed Keith and Oliver to do the hard work, only becoming involved after I'd killed Oliver and was about to murder Keith. However, Luca had probably realized that coming at me head-on wasn't a very effective method and that he needed to be a lot more subtle in order to capture me.

Fun memories.

"I probably have a dent in my skull," I said, touching the spot where he'd hit me over the head that day. It had healed weeks ago. I was just being my usual dramatic self.

"I know that you're good at what you do," he continued, ignoring me - which seemed to be a common trait amongst these werewolves. "But how easily can you control yourself?"

I blinked. "What?"

"That night, you were completely filled with bloodlust. You killed without a second thought. How?" He'd switched back into his diplomatically useful tone. I had the feeling that I was being interrogated. The Alpha put him up to this, didn't he? So be it, then. Time to talk without actually saying anything.

"You tell me." I kind of wished I was in an interrogation room. This would have been a good time to lean back in a chair. But since I was standing outside of my glorified cell, there wasn't anything to lean on except for a wall. "You're the ones who triggered it."

"There were a dozen other supernatural beings in that room with you." Luca's mouth twisted thoughtfully. "Vampires and magic-wielders. And yet you didn't even attempt to attack them. Why?"