Hunter's Moon

Chapter 26

The night had been anything if not hellish. The couple of hours that Léda should have spent with sleeping, instead had been spent with tossing around, falling in and out of consciousness, having weird dreams that felt too real but also too unreal to take them seriously. She'd waken up even more exhausted and certainly even more mad at the entire world for putting her into such impossible situation.

The last person she wanted to see was Raiden Akiyama. No matter how many time she played back their conversation she couldn't wrap her mind around how he could acted as if she was the crazy one. He was her Praeceptor. He was supposed to hear her out. He was supposed to pay attention to what she was saying and consider maybe there was truth to her words instead of just brushing her off like that.

When she walked into the gym with jaw set, eyes already narrowed, Raiden was sitting at his usual spot against the wall, legs spread out in front of him. There was a book in his hands and normally, she'd start asking questions about it, and then end up teasing him about his love for classics while trying to quote something from it. She'd make some kind of snarky comment about still not getting coffee and then bring up the mp3 player topic, begging for some rhythm for her life. However, in that moment she was not in the mood to their routine morning banter.

She was in the mood to act like he wasn't even there and so that was what she did and walked into the changing room without as much of a 'good morning' to him. Surfacing in her training clothes, with her hair in a ponytail on the top of her head, Léda stopped on the mat, arms crossed over her chest, nose lifted in the air defiantly, gaze set on the woods outside. She could feel his eyes trained on her, heard his exhale as he stood up and approached her slowly. And she felt something else, as well... Something absolutely marvelous. The air that usually smelled like leather and sweat was now spiced with the most amazing scent in the world. She almost didn't want to believe it. It could not be. Her mouth watered as she turned to him, taking a deep breath from the bitter scented air.

"Is that... Is that what I think it is?" Her voice was strained, eyes glued to the tall cup in his hand. Her muscles tensed, her heart beat quickening. What if this was a trap? A punishing method. Raiden would hold the coffee out in front of her only to torture her with it. Her breathing became shallow.

"Yes. It's coffee." He nodded lightly and held it out for her. She licked her lips, the thought of getting caffeine in her system was intoxicating. She could almost feel the dark liquid spreading out in her mouth, making her shudder with pleasure.

"If you think you can bribe me with a cup of coffee –"

"Léda, listen –"

"You're absolutely right!" She screamed and pounced him, arms wrapping around his neck, legs around his narrow waist. Words couldn't describe just how unearthly happy he made her with this and actions spoke louder than words anyway.

"Careful." He cleared his throat, one arm curling in a light grip around her waist to hold her. "You should get off, I'm going to spill the coffee." Her gaze moved to his lips, looking soft and just perfectly kissable in the soft light of dawn, his breathing tickling her cheeks. "Léda." Her name was a soft pull back from her sinful thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, that would be a complete catastrophe." She laughed sheepishly, her cheeks flaming up as she just realized the position she was in. "Dude." She cackled as she let go of him and landed with a soft thud on the mat before smacking him on the shoulder. Not awkward, not one bit, she rolled her eyes at herself. "Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!" She bounced, hand hold out. Thank god for coffee, otherwise she might dwell more on the question of being an idiot and acting like Raiden was some kind of climbing frame. She pounced him, smacked his shoulder, Léda Rose was a friendly person and there was no more to this. Besides he'd just given her what she'd been craving for the last two month.