The Hunter

Shifters

"Love, I'm starting to think it'd just be easier to leave him," Collin whispered. "The other Hunters will be here soon. He won't be alone long. Plus he's not completely defenseless."

A better translation would have been: I've thought we should leave him for a while, but I didn't want to make you mad at me-again. Mira sighed. Despite the objections flaring up in her head, she couldn't help but wonder if Collin had a point. She didn't like the idea of leaving Joshua defenseless no matter how short the time, but he was slowing them down. Mira and Collin would have already been to the river if it had been the two of them.

"I already know you aren't going to do it, but your safety is far more important to me than his." Collin took a deep breath. "We can't keep moving like this-they're going to catch up to us before we can even double back on the river."

"Why are you so confident that they're right behind us?" Mira cocked her head to the side.

"I know my brother." This time Collin sighed. "He won't let go of me easily, and he's going to be convinced you are somehow controlling me. When he's angry like this, he'll stop at nothing to get his way."

"But why?" Mira loved her brother, Geoffrey, but she wouldn't track him to the ends of the earth if he wanted to be alone. The whole thing made no sense to her whatsoever.

"It's complicated." The corner of his lip twitched up. "I'll explain it to you when we get to the rogue campsite."

"Alright, but I'm holding you to that." Mira smiled for a bit, before her face contorted into a frown. "Now, do you have any ideas how we can fix our speed and actually get away?"

Collin stopped and pivoted to face a jogging Joshua, whose eyes widened while stumbling towards Collin. Joshua finally managed to stop a few inches short of a steadfast Collin. A deep breath and a gulp later, Joshua took a step or two backwards.

"Joshua." Collin crossed his arms and switched his weight onto one of his legs. "We have to move faster; a lot faster if we want to have a chance in hell of escaping the Hunters, let alone throwing them off our trail."

"What do you want me to do? I'm going as fast as I can." Joshua mirrored Collin's stance and narrowed his eyes. The muscles in Collin's arms twitched-challenging Collin, even if unintentional, wasn't going over so well and the situation would only get worse unless Mira could diffuse it. "And if you keep stopping to push me to go faster, they're definitely going to catch us."

The harsh laugh from Collin startled Mira into jumping. "You need to man up." Collin stepped closer to Joshua as he spoke, "Either you are trying to get us caught or you are the wimpiest Hunter I've ever met."

"Why would I try to get you caught?" Joshua shook his head before cocking an eyebrow. "You're being paranoid and jealous."

"Jealous?" Collin's jaw dropped for a split second before he said through clenched teeth, "Why the hell would I be jealous of you? And are you serious? You're a Hunter! Hunters by their very nature hunt shifters. You might be stalling us because you know you can't defeat us, and this is your way of getting us caught. Hunters should be able to handle pain better than whatever the hell you are doing. So tell me, what are you: conniving or a wimp?"

Collin had a good point, but Joshua had an even better one. If they stood around bickering, the Hunters would catch them for sure. The truth was Mira had no clue what to do. She didn't want to risk the Rogue campsite by taking a potentially hostile Hunter there, but leaving Joshua to his fate made her uncomfortable as well.

"Can we argue as we run?" Mira shuffled her feet-anxious to move. "The longer we stand still, the greater at risk we are."

"I want an answer before I take another step alongside him." Mira couldn't help but feel a surge of affection for how fiercely Collin was protecting her and the rogue camp even if the latter wasn't his primary concern. "So look me in the eye and tell me what you are."