Hunter's Alpha (gxg) ✓

18. Deny

There have been three accidents.

The night my father and brother were hit by a driver who fled from the scene. When my mom woke me up, crying, and so suddenly, our family had become just us.

I never could forget it━seeing my father and Jeremy, laid out coffins, mangled beyond repair. I wasn't supposed to see.

The second accident━I was thirteen.

I haven't told you about this one. I haven't told anyone about the time my mother tried to kill us both.

I still have nightmares of her eyes, fixed on me through the rearview mirror, as she breathed, "Close your eyes, Jude."

Right before she sped the car off the bridge.

I don't know how we survived. I don't remember much about this one━only the scars that are etched over my stomach and back, a crisscrossed map of the memory.

But the third accident wasn't an accident.

No, it was murder.

And the blood is on my hands.

"Holy shit," Hunter says, as my knee digs into Master Cai's solar plexus. The fight is over, and it only took ten minutes. As far as fights go, it was long━a brutal one. He rivaled even my mom, and he made a good opponent. He just wasn't good enough.

Master Cai bows, and I can tell there is pride there.

Hunter is still looking at me as though she's never seen me before. My stomach prickles. Heat floods me.

After the sensei gives me a list of opponents━and, honestly, it's quite short━Hunter follows me out to the training mats.

A smirk twists her lips. "That was . . ."

A sudden beep on her watch jerks her attention, and whatever she reads━it's enough to make her brows pull together.

"I'll be right back," she promises. "I swear. I'll only be half an hour."

"What's wrong?"

"Try not to get into too much trouble." And then she's off, racing towards the elevator.

My first opponent approaches. A lanky Japanese man, who reminds me of . . .

"You're Mikayla's brother," I say.

The brother she followed here, thanks to the Yakuza. He nods solemnly, but I see his eyes flicker in appreciation.

Two fights whirl by, and honestly? I'm glad I only win two out of three of them. In order to be better, I need to be challenged.

Although it did hurt my ego. Just a little.

The training floor is almost empty now, and I don't realize I'm the only one left until I wipe the sweat away and collapse back against the wall. After over an hour practicing fighting stances and drills, I'm ready to pass out. Now that it's rush hour, no one has time to train.