Page 57 of Heart Broken Mate

“It is a deer,” I said, and I started toward the direction the smell led me.

“Yes,” Hirshey said.

“It went down here,” I said and continued walking, as soon I started to run, the others joined me. I wanted to hunt and track it down fast. It was more than just a game to me now. It was life and death now. I needed to get that deer. There was nothing I wanted more than to get it.

I sensed Luke beside me as we both ran through the woods. I was using the trees to push myself forward, covering longer distances in a shorter time that way, and I was tempted to turn fully just so I could get deer.

“Don’t do it,” Luke said and smiled at me. “Just focus on the hunt and not the game.”

“What?” I asked, confused as to what he was talking about.

“Focus on the feeling inside you. Enjoy it; let it push you to the game. Don’t let the game pull you to itself. Just relax, Hayley, you’re letting the rush drive you,”

I tried to do as he advised but just couldn’t. There was a fire burning in me, and it would consume me alive if I didn’t let it burn. So, I let it burn through my limbs as I grabbed on to another tree and let it swing me to the left, and out of my periphery, I saw the deer dash through the woods.

Now that I had my eyes on it, it was a different ball game. Everything that had been in the background before even got pushed further back, and I drowned them. The thudding sound the deer hoofs made against the ground, the raspy breathing as it ran for its life, and the stretching and retracting of its muscles were the only thing I could sense, and I didn’t even take a breather before I charged towards it.

I didn’t expect it to be that fast, but the deer was fast, and it was putting a lot of distance between us. I grinned and flanked to the left, watching it run deeper into the woods while being just a couple of yards from it. I didn’t let myself flank it too far, and since I could see Luke on my other side, going after it too, I knew it was trapped and it would be rendered indecisive. But for now, it just ran. I pushed head-on through the wood, going in a straight line as I used the trees to hurl myself forward. One arm at a time and making sure I didn’t throw myself smack into another tree. That would have been disastrous.

We chased the deer for about ten minutes, just running in a straight line and flanking it. I remembered Merine said we were not to hunt into some parts of the woods, but I didn’t care about that right now. Only one thing mattered. Getting closer to the deer.

It was tiring out already, and its pace was slowing. But not for me. I was stronger than ever and started to catch up to it. Thetrees were still my best companion, and I closed the gap between the deer and me.

From about fifty feet to forty.

The deer didn’t even have to look back to sense how close they were getting to it. I could smell the fear coming out of it.

Forty to twenty feet.

The deer jumped over a log, and its movement, which was set against the rising sun, was so graceful I could see the movement of all the limbs in its muscles as it used them to push itself forward. Too bad they would be able to save it for long.

Twenty to ten feet.

I could smell it so close to me now, and the stench of terror enveloped it. Such terror would have rendered a human immobile, but not this deer. It still ran and wanted to live.

Ten to five feet.

Out of my periphery, I watched Luke charge at it, and he was going to get the kill. No way I was going to allow that. I jumped right at the deer but didn’t get it.

I caught Luke instead.

My mind was sharp, and my reflexes were working down to the millisecond. I didn’t waste a moment holding onto Luke. I pushed him off but could see the grin on his face. He had a plan up his sleeve. Once he was with me, I moved back, grabbed onto the closest tree, and dashed at the deer who had used the collision between the two of us to gain more ground. But not enough ground to save itself.

I jumped at it and had my arms wrapped around its neck. But Luke came for me again, pushing me off the deer again.

“Aargh!” I growled at it and extended my fangs. He still had that silly grin on him. I pushed away from him again, but this time, I clawed him in the stomach just as I was moving away, hoping the pain would stop him from recovering fast. But it didn’t.

He was up immediately. I was hanging on to another tree again, going after the deer who had put a bigger gap between us. I had to resume running with Luke right behind me.

The hunger for the hunt, the need for it, didn’t tone down at all with the squabble with Luke. I wanted it more now. I dashed harder, covering up the distance between the deer and me quicker than ever, and when I was within the area to make an attack on it, I looked around and saw Luke wasn’t with me. I didn’t care where he was. I just jumped at the deer. It tried to move out of the way and evade my attack, but I caught it by the neck and pulled it closer to myself. It pushed its limbs against me, trying to get away, but my grip on it was strong, and it wasn’t going to get away.

I grabbed it and looked into its eyes. It was terrified now, and its dark eyes blinked twice at me. I am the hunter, and it is the prey. The big eat the small. That is the way of the jungle. But the big can also be merciful. The hunt was over, I had gotten the deer, and it was in my hands. I have won here.

I extended my claws and focused on the deer in my arms. It had closed its eyes now as though it understood what was coming and had accepted its fate. I let it go, then.

I watched it tumble against the floor and then steady itself. It looked at me, a bit shocked, before rushing into the woods. A lucky deer.

I felt Luke behind me, and I was still burning with so much adrenaline that I needed to expend, so I jumped at him.

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