The Hunter

Don't Ask

The look of concern mixed with wariness on Collin’s face had Mira’s stomach twisting with guilt. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she couldn’t afford to tell him the truth. None of the rogues even knew everything about why she was running—it was just too dangerous for them. She couldn’t let them get caught up in her battles.

After a deep breath that tugged on her sore ribs, she forced a smile on her face and said, “Please don’t ask me about that.”

“Mira.” Collin paused and stared at her for a couple of seconds. “One of these days, you are going to have to tell me what’s going on, you know that, right? As long as we’re together, I’m a part of whatever it is.”

He was right—there was no denying that. As much as she enjoyed his company, could she justify putting him at risk? She’d already been forced to sacrifice her own desires to protect others when she went rogue, but this time felt different. A part of her hated the idea of going back to being alone and especially of losing Collin, and she had no idea why.

“Are those for us?” Mira’s eyes snapped to her pup who had shifted. His eyes flicked back and forth between Collin’s hand and his face. Collin held five hares in his hands.

“Yeah, figured we’d split these until I caught a couple more.” Collin crouched down and smiled at the pup. “Think you can share with your sisters?” The pup grinned and nodded while his sisters wobbled to his side. “Want me to cook it or do you want to eat it raw in wolf form? I’ll have to skin it first of course.”

“We can eat it raw?” The pup’s eyes went huge. “Dad, can we really?”

“Yeah, you can.” The dad smiled from his spot on the deerskin, before he responded to the unanswered question on everyone’s face. “Their mother didn’t really like us to eat raw meat, but I guess that doesn’t really matter now.”

The man choked up at the end and his eyes turned even redder. While she had seen what it did to wolves before, it didn’t make it any easier. Painful memories threatened to emerge, but she forced them to the back of her mind. Now was not the time to dwell on the past.

 “Err, sir?” Collin held up the other rabbits in the direction of the pup’s father. “I’m going to guess you want yours cooked as well since you can’t shift, right?”

“Ethan.” When Collin just stared at him, Ethan sighed. “My name is Ethan. And I would appreciate it.”

“Ah, right.” Collin headed over to the stick he’d used to skin them the previous night, until Briana barked at him. “Do you not want yours skinned?”

As she shook her head, Collin tossed a hare to her from across the cave. She had to jump a little to catch it, before she happily lay down gnawing on it. With a shake of his head, Collin went to work skinning the others.

The pup shifted and went to sit at Collin’s feet. Every once and a while, he would stand on his back legs and lick his lips, practically dancing on the spot.  When he was done, Collin handed him one of the hares, and the little pup could barely hold it off the ground. As he toddled over to his sisters, Mira stifled a giggle: an actual giggle. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done something so girly. Collin looked over at her and chuckled—apparently she hadn’t hidden it well enough.

After Mira went to stand next to Collin, she said in a quiet tone so only he could hear, “Do you think we can make do with two of those and give the pups another one?”

“Already planned on it.” He smiled and winked at her. “Just figured I’d let them finish that one first. Don’t want them to make themselves sick.”