Page 121 of The Genius
Hunter sighed again. “Could be. And because I would be a fucking lousy protector if I allowed Solo to get anywhere close to her again.”
“What happened between Willow and Solo?”
Hunter kept gazing at the ceiling. “He hurt her.”
“Physically or did he break her heart?”
“Both.”
My eyes widened. “No way. Did Solo hit Willow?”
Hunter turned his head to look at me. “Don’t be stupid. Solo isn’t like that.”
“I was just going to say that. He was always so protective of her.”
Rubbing his forehead, Hunter began to talk. “Remember how much in love they were? It was like they were magnets or something; they always took enormous risks to touch or kiss when it wasn’t allowed. Magni almost killed Solo once because they got caught kissing.”
“Yeah, I remember that.”
“Willow and Solo made some stupid pact that as soon as she turned eighteen they would marry. Of course, Solo had to leave the school that year when he turned fifteen and after that contact between them was only sporadic.”
“Let me guess – he got mad when she wanted to break the pact.”
“I wish, but no, that’s not what happened. When Willow turned fifteen and it was her time to leave the school, the contact between them intensified. Two weeks before she was scheduled to return to the Motherlands, Solo panicked and convinced her to run away with him.”
I lowered my brow. “What? That’s not possible –where would they live?”
“The woods.” Hunter’s chest rose in a deep intake of air. “It was a stupid plan, but he managed to convince her anyway.”
“She ran away with him?”
“Yes, and it took us eight miserable days to track them down.”
“You helped?”
“At first the mentors wouldn’t let me, but I threw a major fit.” There was pain in Hunter’s eyes. “Willow is my twin and he had stolen her from me.”
I nodded in understanding. “But how could it take eight days? This island isn’t very big.”
“He took Willow off the island. The first two days, the search party consisted of me, Archer, Boulder, Magni, and the two ranchers that live on this island with their hunting dogs. Initially, the men all thought it would be easy since it was basically two kids on a small island. But Solo has always been fucking phenomenal in the wilderness and he managed to trick us several times.”
“Eight days is a long time.”
“On day two, Magni realized they weren’t on the island and he brought in three of his Huntsmen; still we didn’t find them. On day five he brought in ten more of his Huntsmen, and it took the sixteen of us three more days to find them.”
“How is that even possible?”
“It shouldn’t be.” Hunter yawned. “When we found them, Willow was injured. Her hand was broken; she had a concussion, and scratches from a bad fall. She could have died.”
“I’m surprised Magni didn’t kill Solo on the spot when he found them.”
“I think he would have, but he wasn’t the one to find them. Three of the Huntsmen did, and Willow threatened to kill herself if anything happened to Solo, so they spared his life.”
“Now I understand why you are angry with him.”
Hunter turned on his side, using his hands as pillows. “We used to be friends, Solo and me.”
“I remember.”
