The Hunter

As You Wish

“Shit.” Joshua grimaced, his breath labored. “My hand feels like it is on fire.”

“That’s actually a good thing.” His mouth gaped open at Mira and she sighed. Didn’t the boy know anything about injuries? Sure, he was probably her age or a little older, but he acted like a kid. “It means you don’t have nerve damage. The loss of feeling, i.e. no pain, would mean your nerves are damaged. Kind of like third degree burns.”

“Oh.” A pink tinged Joshua’s cheeks. “That makes sense.”

“So do you go by Joshua or Josh?” Mira smiled at him

The pain resistance she had developed over the years had helped her force a smile on her face despite her shoulder. The pain had her wanting to crawl back into the sleeping bag Collin had put out for her. It’d be easy enough since she was sitting on it, but Joshua couldn’t talk to her when she was in it. Apparently, he thought Collin would somehow tear him limb from limb: his words, not hers, when she had asked what was wrong.

“I prefer Joshua.” He shrugged and took a deep breath with his eyes closed tight. “I don’t know. It feels like it fits me better. So, umm… When do you think Collin will get back?”

After getting them a safe distance away, Collin had insisted on pulling the bullet out of Mira’s shoulder and caring for it first thing. She had thought it would be more prudent to fix Joshua’s hand first, but Collin had stoutly refused. In the face of his stubbornness, she had consented, merely to get Joshua’s hand tended faster. After caring for both of them, he’d gotten her into a sleeping bag and left to get the rest of their bags. He’d wanted to check the Hunter’s belongings and get Mira’s and Joshua’s backpacks. She didn’t know how long it would take, but she did need the space from him at the moment.

“A couple of hours, I hope.” Mira shook her head and situated herself to lean against a tree next to her. At his wide-eyed stare, she chuckled. “I’m still mad at him.”

“What do you mean?” Joshua’s forehead furrowed.

“The whole ordeal earlier.” She groaned. “Why didn’t he tell me beforehand? Why did he wait until it happened to say anything? Did he not care how much it would hurt me to hear everything he told them?”

“Oh.” Joshua’s face flushed red. “I’m not exactly sure what to say…”

“What if he only wants to get to the rogue camp?” Mira sighed and a tear streaked down her cheek. “How can I trust him enough to put all of them at risk?”

“Because he loves you.” Mira jumped at the sound of Collin’s voice from behind her. When she turned to look at him, his face fell. “Oh, my love, don’t cry.”

As if his words were a trigger, a couple more tears slipped from her eyes. She didn’t cry! Ugh! Even more wetness poured out. What was this?  It definitely seemed like a conspiracy. Her emotions had gotten out of their cage. How could she get them back in?

Arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a strong chest. The scent of Collin overwhelmed her and she let herself relax into him. Even if she were mad at him, he could comfort her a bit, right? It wasn’t like she was forgiving him. It was simply using him for affection. That’s all. Really. Ah, hell. She couldn’t even convince herself of it.

“Shh, shh, my love.” Collin pulled her onto his lap and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to. It had to be this way, though.”

“Why did it have to be this way?” Mira pushed away from his chest and growled. “It had to end up with you hur… pissing me off?”

“It didn’t.” Collin tried to kiss her forehead, but she pulled away. “My fear was that if you knew that you wouldn’t act surprised.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Mira huffed and crossed her arms.

“They wouldn’t have bought it.” Collin sighed and closed his eyes. “They needed to believe it. I couldn’t risk your life on you not looking hurt. Trust me. It killed me to do that to you.”

“Didn’t look like it did.” Thankfully, the tears had stopped and Mira’s words could sound as angry as she felt.

“I know.” Collin let his head fall back against the tree. “I couldn’t let it show. I had to save you. It was the only thing I could think of. I would never have let them touch you or the pups. Trust me on that. Please. I beg you.”

“I want to.” She clenched her teeth.

“So trust me.” He opened his eyes and stared straight into hers. “I know I sound like a broken record. I’m not even asking you to take me straight to the rogue camp. I also know I have a serious amount of groveling to do. But all I want is for you to understand I do love you. If you can’t believe it yet, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you. I’m not going to stop trying unless you ask me to. So if you want me to stop, please tell me now.”

Did she want him to stop? No. She probably never would either. Could she trust him yet? Not completely, even if that’s what she wanted. Did he love her? Most likely. A big part of her wanted to believe it and did believe it.

After a second, Mira leaned forward and placed a fleeting kiss on Collin’s lips. “Don’t stop.” When he moved to take her into his arms, she held up a hand. “That doesn’t mean you are forgiven or that you get to skimp on the groveling either. But after a sufficient groveling period, I may be persuaded to forgive you.”

“As you wish, my lady.” Collin smiled and leaned back against the tree.

“Did you just quote Princess Bride?” Mira had almost forgotten about Joshua.

“Shush.” Collin glared at Joshua over Mira’s shoulder.

“Psh. You’re in groveling purgatory right now.” Joshua had a lighter tone to his voice than Mira had heard before. “Pretty sure you aren’t going to hurt me out of fear she’ll keep you there longer. Anyway, Mira, pretty much, that quote meant I love you in the movie. See, I’m even helping you.”

“I thought we’d been over this.” Mira sighed. “I’m not a dog. I’ve seen movies. I even saw that one a while ago. I just might not remember it very well.”

“Ah, sorry.” Joshua’s voice had gotten back to being tentative. “Don’t let him hurt me.”

“Don’t worry.” Mira shook her head before locking eyes with Collin. “He’s not going to have a chance to hurt you, ‘cause he is going to make us something to eat before we go to bed.”

Collin chuckled, but when he gripped her arms to move her off his lap, his forehead crinkled in concern at her flinch. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Mira smiled at him and slid off his lap. “Go get us food.” When he hesitated, she added, “Please?”

“Okay, but in case you need me.” Collin slowly stood, but his eyes still belied his worry. “I’m not going far.”

“Bah.” Mira huffed before resting her back against the tree again. “I’m fine. Stop worrying.”

After a couple seconds, Collin nodded and walked over to get food out of the backpacks. The truth was that she didn’t know if she were fine. She’d never had a bullet go into bone before. She didn’t know how long it would take to heal or when she would be able to shift again. All she knew now, though, was that she was stuck as a human until the pain deep in her bone stopped. If Collin knew about it, he’d insist they find help. She couldn’t risk being in any one place that long. It never worked well if she did.

Ah, well, it’d probably take a few extra days and she’d laugh at worrying about nothing. How long could it really take for bone to heal? At least this time, she didn’t have to worry about having her entire back flayed open or Collin’s arm infected.

Something was always going wrong in this life, and now she’d dragged Collin into it with her. It had been one thing when her life was the only one on the line, but now Collin’s was, too. She had to figure out something else, some way to keep him safe. Since he wouldn’t leave her, she needed to find a solution for her problems as well. Damnit. She would have to talk to Cameron.