Page 39 of Hunted
“You should admit you’re tired,” I said.“Like you just did to me.Let someone else carry the torch for a while.”
“And who would you suggest?”she snapped.“Ruya?She’s struggling too—burdened by every ruthless decision I make, strong as steel but too sweet to bear what must be done.Sadavir?He’s not nearly driven enough when it comes to revenge.Josh?Acacia already has his leash.Cicely’s a lover, not a fighter.Yukio hates everyone and would settle for simply killing O’Dell and letting everyone else continue to fend for themselves the way they always have.Martina would also only focus on personal grudges.Sanka’s brilliant but he’s a beta.He might have the passion, but he doesn’t have the dominance to pick up the mantle.And you—”
I met her eyes.“And I’m me.Are you done pointing out all the flaws in the people who love you?”
She stopped.Forced her breathing to slow down.
“I know what it means to be the monster,” I said.“I know what it means to lose your shape just to keep going.I know what it’s like to suffer in silence.You do that too long, and you risk losing yourself forever.”
“You’re not an alpha,” she said.
“No,” I agreed.“But I can still help you hold the line, if that’s what you want.Help you keep going so at least you’ll get to see the emperor die while you’re busy sacrificing yourself.”
Her aura flared slightly.The tunnel seemed to press closer around us.
She leaned her head back against the stone.“I’ve been waiting sixty years,” she said.“For the day I could stop pretending to be human.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know who I’ll be when I do.I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to return to myself.Once I snatch up my birthright and let my dragon off her leash...Robin the person might cease to exist.I’m afraid I’ll be nothing more than a raging beast of fire and fury, kept caged so long she’s lost every last bit of sanity.”
I didn’t touch her.But I wanted to.Badly.I had loved her from a distance for so long.It killed me to maintain that distance now.I wanted to wrap my arm around her fragility and vulnerability and pull her close, hide her in my shadows, where nothing could touch her.But there was no way I could do that.She didn’t need to add terror to her already jumbled mix of emotions and stressors.And she’d probably bite me for even attempting to do something as stupid asholdher.
I kept my hands to myself.But I stayed close enough that she could hopefully feel the steadiness in my presence, without the overtones of terror.“You’ll still be Robin,” I said.“Just...maybe a bitmore.”
She barked a laugh.It wasn’t happy.“I’m already told I’m ‘too much.’I can’t imagine how beingmorewould be a good thing.”
I should say something.Maybe tell her that she was wasn’t too much.That she was perfect.But I felt like a fool thinking such sentimental thoughts.That was the kind of thing Ruya would say.Or Sanak, maybe.Not me.I wasn’t her lover.I was just a shadow who was apparently prone to weird bouts of pining.
We stood there in the darkness, not speaking, leaning against the wall an arm’s length apart.Just far enough to keep my aura from making her depression even worse.
Then a softmrrrpechoed from the darkness.
Robin stiffened.Queen Cat emerged from a crack in the far wall, tail high, paws perfectly clean despite the filth.She sauntered over like she owned the place—and in her eyes, she probably did.
She stopped before Robin, sat back on her haunches, and stared up at the alpha.
Robin blinked.“Why does it keepfollowingme?”
Queen Cat licked her paw, then reached out and placed it on Robin’s leg.Once.Firm and assured, no clawing or playing.It looked like a queen giving benediction to a loyal subject.
I bit back a smile.“She says you’re being dramatic,” I said.
Robin snorted.“You can’t speak cat.”
Queen Cat put both paws up on Robin’s legs and gave an impatient noise that I interpreted as “Pick me up right this instance, peasant, lest my pristine paws become sullied.”
Robin picked up the cat, held it at arm’s length and stared at it.“You are not the boss around here.”
I was pretty sure Robin was wrong about that, but I stayed silent, my gaze wandering to the next flickering ward in the row.“Let’s fix the rest,” I said eventually, pushing away all my mushy emotions.
Robin tucked the cat into the crook of her arm and turned to continue down the tunnel.I smirked at her.“It seems like Ruya is always keeping an eye on you these days, alpha.”
Her eyes met mine.I expected a glare.Maybe a spark of fire in her eyes at my teasing and how it might mean she wasweak.
But her eyes didn’t burn.They shimmered with what looked suspiciously like unshed tears.“Hurry up,” she said with an imperious flip of her hair.“I’ve got better things to do than stand about in dank tunnels with you all day, bubak.”
Then her lips curled up into a familiar sly, teasing smile.“For example, if you’re going to ogle me that way, we could return upstairs to my room.”
