Huntsman by Cambria Hebert
39
Virginia
My instincts had beenwrong about the man holding a gun on me. It seemed today would be my death day.
What was the point of surviving the car accident and my parent’s death? Of fighting for life, of fighting my brother for things I wouldn’t have anyway. What was the point of falling in love only to lose it so quickly?
What a pitiful waste.
I made my last request, closed my eyes, and waited for flesh-searing heat that would make me writhe as I free-fell into death.
It didn’t come.
Cracking open one eye, I stared at the man still holding the gun. A look I couldn’t really decipher swam in his eyes as he stared at me.
But then I understood.
Never make it personal. Earth’s words echoed in my head.
A war was waging inside him. He knew what he was here for, yet he hesitated.
“Do you know Earth?” I asked, taking a chance.
Something flickered in that muddy gaze. “No.”
“You remind me of him.”
The gun wavered and began to lower.
“Agh!”
A dark figure shot out from the opening into the hallway. Like a linebacker, he barreled into the man, sending both of them flying sideways. The sound of the gun clattering against the tile was loud, and I watched the weapon glide over the floor until it smacked against the wall.
I couldn’t see the two men any longer, but I heard them fighting. The sound of their grunts and roars echoed through the hall.
Eyeing the gun, I started toward it.
“You’ll never make it,” a hard voice behind me threatened.
I stopped, resisted the urge to cry. Twisting at the waist, I looked at the man I’d stabbed. Blood smeared his clothes and even his neck. A sadistic smile curved his lips as he held his gun on me.
Despite the sounds of fighting and the thunderous booming of my own heart, Ivory’s small sound cut through it all, my eyes flying toward her. She was moving sluggishly like she was coming to.
Tensing, the man between us started to turn.
“Hey!” I yelled, drawing his attention back to me. “If I had a gun, you’d already be dead.”
I saw it in his eyes—the total lack of hesitation.
He brought his arm up. I watched with rapt clarity as his finger squeezed the trigger.
Life slowed as if I’d been submerged in the deepest ocean. Sluggishly, I watched what could have been mere seconds play out in so much detail it would be tattooed on my brain for as long as I lived.
Maybe even longer.
“Noo!” The loud bellow drowned out the pop of the gun as something big and dark literally appeared in front of me like a shield.
He seemed to float gracefully through the air until the bullet slammed into him, making his body jerk and drop onto the floor with a sharp slap.
I felt my lips move but heard no sound. In fact, I heard nothing as Earth shoved up from the floor the second he hit, scrambling forward to throw his entire body over mine.
Despite the danger and adrenaline, instant relief flooded my system, so powerful a sob ripped out of me. I wanted desperately to wrap my arms around him, but he hunched tighter, tucking me beneath him as if he could make me invisible.
I settled for clutching the front of his shirt, holding the material in my hands so tight that my fingers screamed out in pain.
The slow-motion bubble I’d been in popped, and chaos erupted, but I could only look at him.
His dark head lifted, hair falling over his forehead and into his eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked, pain-glazed eyes scanning my face.
“Y-you got shot.” My voice wobbled, panic stuck in my throat.
“Sweetheart, are you hurt? Are you bleeding?”
“I-I—” I gasped, eyes going wide. The fingers gripping his shirt let go as I recalled the way his body jerked against the bullet.
A hand slapped against his back, making him grimace as his body was forced away from mine.
“Well, if it isn’t the traitor himself. Your ghost has haunted my home for too long.” The man sneered, burying his fist into Earth’s middle.
I screamed, shoving up into a sitting position just in time to see the man deliver another blow to Earth’s face.
Earth sagged and fell to the floor. A smear of red marred the floor beneath him.
I called out, crawling toward him, but a rough hand fisted around my long braid, giving a fierce yank and reversing the direction my body was headed. I screamed and clawed, trying to get back to Earth, to the man who literally leaped in front of a bullet for me, but it was to no avail.
I was dragged down the hall, unable to acknowledge the pain in my head from the way he pulled my hair like it was a rope and not something attached to my scalp.
I could only stare at Earth as I was pulled farther away. “Help!” I yelled, looking to the back of the hall, wondering where that beast-man went along with the other man he tackled.
Ivory made a sound near the wall, and I glanced over at her unfocused eyes.
The elevator was open, my chair keeping it from closing. The man dragging me laughed maniacally as he towed me closer.
“I was sent to kill you, but after all this, that just isn’t good enough,” he said, kicking my chair into the car so he could move in.
I planted my hands on the ground and tugged backward, trying to make it harder for him to pull. The force of the tug made tears spill down my cheeks, but despite the pain, I still fought.
“That asshole left a permanent dark cloud over my whole organization, and he’s gonna pay. I’d say wondering where you are and what I’m doing to someone as helpless as you is a pretty good mind-fuck. I won’t be gentle. Shame you won’t feel it. Bet I can make you scream anyway,” he taunted, going back into the elevator, dragging me toward the door.
My hair was so long that it stretched out like a cable. The flowers I had pinned in the braid fell out all over, littering the floor with petals and bright color in this grim situation.
I grabbed the length of my hair, trying to tug it away from the gangster. He laughed. I gave a bemoaned yell, frustration welling up inside me.
“Where’s your hero now?” he taunted, tugging, towing me even closer.
Heavy footfalls sounded down the hall. The glint of a blade reflected in my peripheral vision.
I leveled my eyes on the man I didn’t know but hated with a passion. “I don’t have a hero,” I replied. “I have a villain.”
Earth grunted when he hit the floor like a baseball player sliding into home. He glided through the narrow space left between me and the elevator doors, his gleaming blade slicing seamlessly through my braid.
Freed, my body fell back as the man on the other end of the braid stumbled deeper into the elevator, his body hitting the wall. He stared at the severed hair in his hand, completely stupefied, and then looked up at me as the doors slammed shut between us.
And then Earth was there, scrambling across the floor, folding around me like a blanket. I let out a sob as his hand cupped the back of my head, holding it fiercely against his shoulder.
I could feel the thundering of his heart, feel the heavy way his chest rose and fell.
“Y-you cut my hair.” I hiccupped, clinging to him.
“This is my fault,” he rasped. “I’m so goddamn sorry.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about my hair, and it didn’t matter. I didn’t care about my hair. I didn’t care about almost dying. I didn’t care about me at all.
“You got shot. You leaped in front of a bullet for me.”
His lips moved in my hair, the words more of a caress than a kiss would ever be. “I’d take a thousand bullets for you.”
I gripped him harder, pressing closer, nearly forgetting about the horrible things going on around us because, in that moment, all I wanted was him.
Pounding footsteps burst around the corner, and I shrank down as a low growl rumbled deep in his throat.
“Ivory!” Neo called out, making me stiffen and pull back.
Even so, Earth held on to me as I twisted around to look for Ivory who was leaning up against the wall.
“Here!” I called out, pointing to her.
Neo swore, racing over to drop down in front of her. “What the hell happened?”
“She must have a concussion. He threw her on the ground really hard.”
Neo’s back muscles rippled, but the gentle tone he used with Ivory didn’t carry to my ears.
“What happened?” Beau’s familiar voice made me look up again.
The rest of my brothers—Beau, Fletcher, and Ethan—were standing a few feet away, all three of them gazing around, mildly stunned.
“There’s still someone here with a gun.” I worried. “Be careful!” I gasped. “The beast! He’s here too.”
“The beast?” Beau wondered.
“That big growly guy that lives down the hall,” Fletcher reminded him.
“He actually helped us. He stopped the one man from shooting me,” I confessed, pulling back to look at Earth. “He kinda reminded me of you.”
An unreadable look darkened his eyes, but he said nothing.
“Let’s sweep the floor,” Ethan suggested. “Fletcher—”
“If you tell me to stay here, I’m moving back in with Earth,” Fletcher deadpanned.
There was a brief silence. “Fletcher, come with me.” Earth concluded. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”
Earth started to pull back, likely to go and help the others, but I clung to him shamelessly. “Don’t leave.”
I knew he wanted to go, but he settled back down, pulling me close once more. A moment later, the sound of the elevator arriving and the doors opening made me stiffen.
The man rushed out at the same time Earth shot up and spun. The gun the man was holding clattered against the floor with a single kick from Earth.
“You shouldn’t have come back here,” he intoned, grabbing him from behind and locking his arms around the man’s neck. Keeping the man in a strong hold, Earth flicked his eyes to where I sat watching them. “Close your eyes, sprite.”
The snapping sound of the man’s neck was definitive. He slumped to the ground the second Earth let go.
Leaving the body where it lay, Earth turned back. When he saw me staring, he frowned. “I told you to close your eyes.”
“I don’t need to close my eyes to love you.”
I can’t describe the look that washed over him. No. It was more of a transformation coming over his entire being. His Adam’s apple bobbed like it was floating in a sea of emotion there inside his throat.
“What?” he rasped, turning fully to face me.
I smiled gently and repeated the words.
Awe. He was awash with awe. As if he never expected I could see him take a life and then still be able to tell him I loved him.
But I did.
He took a step toward me, but a shadow flickered behind him, and fear gripped my heart.
I started to call out, but he was faster, sensing the threat practically before I saw it. Earth spun and unsheathed his blade at once. Without a shred of hesitation, he dove forward, shoving the man back and driving the blade through his upper arm, anchoring him to the wall.
The man grunted in pain, slumping a little.
“This one tried to kill you too?” Earth asked, voice hard. Aggressively, he grabbed the man by his throat, forcing his head against the wall.
A bolt of silence so charged cut through the room. I felt the hair on my neck stand.
The man stabbed into the wall grunted. “Hey, brat.”
Earth’s grip went slack. “Hyung.”
My lungs seized. I knew that word. They used it in Korean dramas all the time. It meant brother. Realization dawned. The reason he reminded me of Earth hadn’t been because I was desperate to live.
No.
It was because they were similar. They were brothers.