by Elin Peer
For as long as I could remember, I’d been told females were off limits. Magni, the biggest and most lethal warrior in our country, had promised us Nboys a violent death if we touched the girls. But a force stronger than anything I’d ever felt made me move my pinky finger closer. Inch by nerve-wracking inch, my pinky hung in the air until I placed it on top of hers.
When she still didn’t move it away, a surge of excitement filled me from head to toe, and, holding my breath I risked it all by linking our pinky fingers together and smiling at her.
Willow smiled back and that’s when everything in the world fell into place.
“I like you,” I whispered low.
She looked around making sure no one was watching and then she mouthed in silence, “I like you too.”
It was like a secret bubble belonging only to her and me. Empowered by her words, I took her entire hand in mine for a few happy seconds, envisioning a future with me and Willow being mated for life.
CHAPTER 3
Morning Swim
Year 2447
Willow
“Careful of the swans,” I shouted out in warning as Raven ran toward the lake and jumped in with a big scream and an even bigger splash.
When her head resurfaced, I was picking up her sandals and the towel that she’d left scattered on the brink of the water. She laughed. “Are you coming in or not?”
It was early and the sun was still low in the sky, hiding behind the trees in the forest.
“I’m cold.”
“Then come swim. It’ll warm you up.” Raven took a few strokes to underscore her words.
Stepping out of my sandals, I touched the water with my right foot and quickly pulled it back. “Mother of all Gods, it’s freezing.”
Raven swam closer and stood up, the water reaching the top of her bathing suit. “Aren’t you dancers supposed to be tough?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Being a great dancer and liking cold water are two different things.”
“Yeah, but don’t you have to push yourself to do things your body doesn’t want to do? Like when you’re tired or your body hurts but you keep dancing. You’ve done that, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then you can do this. Just set your mind to it. Ignore the discomfort and get in here already.”
Taking a deep breath, I ignored the pain from the cold water and walked out to the sound of Raven cheering me on.
“Cold, cold, cold.” I began swimming with fast movements. Raven was right there next to me and shooed the swans when they came closer.
“Why did I say yes to a morning swim?” My legs were kicking to get me warm. “I never liked it as a child either.”
“Morning swims are the best.”
“Solo used to convince me to swim here, but at least he…” I didn’t finish the sentence because there was a sharp pain to my heart as if an invisible hand was squeezing it.
“He what?”
I turned and moved back toward the edge of the lake.
“Willow, where are you going?”
My voice was weak. “I think the cold is giving me a heart attack.”
“A what?” Raven laughed. “Don’t be silly. It’s not that cold.”
“I just felt a pinch in my chest.”
“It’s nothing. I promise. What were you saying about Solo?”
“Oh.” I stayed close to the edge and used my hands and feet to tread water. “Nothing. It was just that he used to help me not freeze.”
“Really? And how did he do that?” Raven rolled onto her back and did a few lazy backstrokes in the water.
“I’m not sure. I guess being close to him was enough to keep me warm. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Right.” Raven moved into an upright position too and looked at me with her hands doing the same downward circular motions as mine. “Or maybe you do want to talk about him.”
“I hate him!”
“You hate him?”
“Yes.”
“Hate is a strong word, Willow. You’re a Motlander. You should know not to carry such heavy emotions in your heart. It’s not good for you.”
“He hurt me, Raven. I could have died.” Raven was one of the few who knew what had happened before I left the school, since we’d talked about it.
Raven’s expression turned serious. “How come you never ask me questions about him? Aren’t you curious to know what Solo is doing today?”
“No,” I lied.
“What if I told you that he still hurts people?”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better read on her. Was she serious?
“My dad told me.”
“Boulder told you about Solo?”
“Yes.” It was like an invitation floating on the water between us. An invisible envelope with information that I could pick up and study if I chose to do so.
Weakened by the cold water, I took the bait. “What did your father tell you?”
“Some of the Huntsmen who helped track you two down when you ran off were impressed with Solo’s abilities. Think about it; he managed to stay out of their reach for eight days leaving false tracks and covering the real ones. It shouldn’t be possible to fool a whole unit of elite soldiers like he did. It proved how intelligent and skilled he is.
I snorted. “Yeah, well, I’m not a fan.”
Raven ignored my comment and kept talking. “Obviously, they wanted to kill him for what he’d done to you, but you took that option away from them when you threatened to kill yourself if they did.” Raven made a splash in the water.
“They discussed what to do with him and Pearl suggested that they put his skills to good use while keeping a close eye on him. You know, to make sure he wouldn’t go after you again.” Raven moved closer to me in the water. “It shouldn’t surprise you that Solo became a soldier and a Huntsman.”
I swam forward a little and spoke in a flat tone. “No, it doesn’t surprise me. That’s what he always wanted.”
“Three years ago, a special unit was formed with the largest of the Huntsmen. Solomon qualified.”
I scrunched up my face. “What, because of his height?”
“My dad says that he’s taller than Magni.”
I looked away – too curious to ask her to stop talking about Solo, but at the same time not liking the subject one bit.
“Willow, he’s on the unit that deals with domestic violence. They are known to hurt and kill people. That’s why some call them the Doom Squad.”
I paled. “Solo wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“It’s his job.” Raven swam to get up to me. “You know how uncompromising Nmen are when it comes to women.”
“Yes.”
“The Doom Squad takes care of any man who can’t keep his hands to himself. They deal with situations where a female has felt violated.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Isn’t it ironic, Willow?”
“What is?”
“That a man who came close to being killed for improper contact with you, twice, ends up as a soldier on the Doom Squad?”
I kept swimming. “It doesn’t change how I feel about him. I still hate him.”
“I didn’t think it would change how you felt about him. I just thought that maybe you’d like to know what he’s doing.”
What I mostly wanted to know were personal things like whether or not he’d moved on and forgotten about me, but since Solo hadn’t come to our reunion, I had no way of asking him.
“I’m just glad he didn’t come this weekend.” I turned my face away. “If he had shown up, I would have been forced to tell him how much I hate him.”
“Yeah, it’s probably for the best that he stayed away,” Raven agreed.
We swam a little more, my head full of painful memories until Raven initiated a welcome change of topic.
“I still can’t believe Shelly and Marco got married last night!”
It was a safe topic that would take my mind off my
own tragic love story, so I jumped at it. “Shelly looked so beautiful.”
“Yeah, but for someone as smart as her, I don’t get why she would marry.” Raven pushed her curly dark hair back and splashed a floating leaf away. “I mean Marco is definitely a nice man compared to most of the Nmen, but it’s disturbing how marriage is coming back into fashion.”
“I plan to marry.”
Raven gaped at me. “You’re joking?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Why would you want to marry?”
I looked over at the two swans who were patrolling the other part of the small lake. “There’s something beautiful about being a couple. Like those two.” I turned my head and looked at her. “You know they poop in this water, right?”
“Who does?”
“The swans.”
“Don’t change the subject. Who are you marrying?”
“I’ll know when I meet him.”
“Oh, so hang on, I thought you were still on about the marriage pact you made with Solo.”
I raised both eyebrows and made a sound of disgust. “I can tell you with one thousand percent certainty that I’d rather eat all the poop in this pond than marry him. What part of my hating him didn’t you get?”
“No, I got it, that’s what had me confused.”
“Willow…” The sound of my brother shouting for me had us both looking up.
“Hey, Hunter.” Raven grinned up at him and shouted back. “Are you going to swim with us?”
“No.” When he got close to the water, he stopped with his face twisted in a murderous expression.
“What’s wrong?” Both Raven and I swam over to him. “What happened?”
“It’s time to go!”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Raven looked from Hunter to me and back. “Why?”
He lowered his brow and spoke the three words as a low warning. “Solo is here.”
My heart was already racing from Hunter’s strange behavior, but his words made me feel nauseated. The water that had been so cold before now felt too hot. “Solo is here at the school?”
Hunter held up my towel as I got out of the water. “Yes, I just saw him. He wants to talk to you, but I told him to fuck off.”
Wrapping my towel around my bikini-clad body, I picked up my shoes and began walking.
“Hey, wait up,” Raven shouted and flung her towel over her shoulder. “Are you going to leave right away?”
I looked straight ahead, a bubble forming around me full of all the things that I had wanted to tell Solomon for the past seven years. This was my chance.
Raven ran up behind me, but I kept walking fast. “Honestly, Willow, if anyone should have to leave, it should be Solo. You were here first.”
Hunter groaned beside me. “Willow, you’re not talking with him. Just go get your things and we’ll get out of here.”
“No, Hunter. I’m not running away from him. If Solo wants to talk, we’ll talk. I have plenty that I want to say to him.” Every syllable came out through gritted teeth.
Hunter and Raven walked beside me in silence as I marched through the forest in long strides.
“Where is he?” I asked when I didn’t see Solo outside the school.
“He must have gone inside. I think Archer offered him breakfast.”
I’d known coming to this reunion involved a risk of meeting Solomon again. To be honest, I’d hoped he would show up and I’d fantasized about the ultimate revenge. I wanted him to suffer when he saw how healthy and happy I looked. He was supposed to see my beautiful brown hair that he’d loved so much and feel the need to touch it. I wanted him to see what he could never have.
It was so typical of Solo to show up when I was wearing a stupid old and ugly mint-green towel instead of one of the cute outfits I’d picked out to look stunning.
To hell with it. I was mad at him for everything he’d done to me when I was fifteen and for screwing up my sweet revenge fantasy. I was supposed to see him with my hair soft and curly like he loved it, but I wasn’t going to hide from him even though I looked a mess and probably had algae stuck in my hair. For a second, I considered getting rid of the towel and waltzing in to confront Solo in my red bikini. That would take him by surprise for sure and show him exactly what he was missing out on, but Hunter wouldn’t understand, and chances were that he would try to cover me up while I was spewing my anger at Solo, which would take things to a whole other level of awkward.
The entrance door to the school slammed against the wall when I opened it with too much force. I didn’t care. I was fueled up with seven years of rage. Taking the five steps to the kitchen I opened the next door and stared at Solo.
Geez!
I blinked my eyes. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been seventeen and tall for his age. Now he was a giant, making the other two large men in the room seem small. Archer and Marco were watching me, but I focused on the man I’d been foolish enough to give my young heart to ten years ago. I had expected him to have a long beard, but his was short and styled. Solomon stared back at me, with his neck muscles tensed up, his stance rigid. Oh, Mother Nature, he was an older version of the young man I’d fallen so hard for when he made me feel important and loved. Those blue eyes that looked gray in the right light, his dark blond hair, and the shoulders that I had sat on when we snuck off to bathe in the lake and he threw me through the air in playful fun. This enormous man had once been my best friend and fiercest protector. He had known how to make me laugh and he’d convinced me that we’d have a future together.
Stop it, stop it.
My tone was hard when I spoke. “I’m taking a shower and then we’ll talk.”
Solomon blinked his eyes and parted his lips with a look of surprise.
“You should both eat first,” Archer suggested but I wasn’t interested in food. All I could take in was Solomon and the way he looked at me like he wasn’t sure what to do. Finally, he cleared his throat. “I’m ready to talk when you are.”
Hoping he didn’t see how much my legs were shaking, I used an assertive tone. “Meet me by the lake in twenty minutes.”
My arm was pulled back by Hunter, who demanded my attention. “You’re not going anywhere alone with him.”
I ignored Hunter’s attempt to control the situation and gave Solomon another hard stare before I walked to the shower room, throwing a last order over my shoulder: “Be there.”
Once I was in the shower and the hot water ran down my body, I held up my hands to see them tremble. This was the effect Solomon had on me, and I would need to dig deep and find the strong woman inside me who wouldn’t be intimidated or charmed. Solomon had once come close to destroying me and I would never give him or anyone that sort of power again.
CHAPTER 4
Reunion
Solomon
My body felt restless as I waited for Willow down by the lake. I paced the grass, sat down, stood up, threw rocks in the water, and ruminated about what to say to Willow when she got here.
It shouldn’t be hard. After all, I’d thought about her every day for seven years, and yet, now that I was minutes away from speaking with Willow again, I wasn’t sure what to say. Twenty minutes ago, she had stormed into the kitchen where I stood with Archer and Marco, my previous mentors. Even in her state of anger, Willow had taken my breath away. She had been beautiful as a teenager, but in these last seven years, she had grown into a force of nature. She was lean and toned from her dancing, her hair darker than it used to be, or maybe that had been the wetness of it.
I heard her footsteps before I saw her, my trained hunter’s instincts picking up on the sounds coming from the forest trail. My eyes zoomed in and two seconds later she came out from the trees walking toward me. I sucked in a breath, her beauty messing with my head. Her long hair was still wet from her shower, and her incredible body dressed in a blue dress with flowers in white and teal colors that went to her mid-thighs. Her hard steps and determined expression stood
in contrast to the soft femininity of her swaying hips and long tanned legs, which were mouth-watering.
Keep calm.
My palms were clammy, but I squinted against the sun and stood ready to receive her fury.
“Why did you come?” It was the first thing she said to me when she stopped at a seven-foot distance.
“I was invited like the rest of you.”
“You knew I’d be here.” It sounded accusatory.
“I hoped you’d be here.”
She lifted her index finger and stabbed it at me. “Don’t even try to charm me. I’m too angry with you to fall for that. What you did was unforgivable.”
Her words made my heart sink. My biggest motivation for coming here was the hope that maybe she could forgive me. Disappointed, I looked away.
Willow took a small step closer, her expression and tone stern. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”
I took a second before I answered, “Would you listen?”
She stared at me as if unsure whether to go or stay. “I have questions.”
“You can ask me anything.”
Walking past me, Willow went to sit on the grass close to the lake. I followed and sat down an arm’s length away, my body feeling heavy and disheartened. The last time I saw Willow there had been love in her eyes. Now, there was only resentment, and the way she had moved away when I sat down hurt.
“What do you want to know?” My legs were bent in front of me. Leaning my arms on my knees, I kept my gaze on the vegetation down by the edge of the lake.
“I have so many questions that I don’t even know where to start.”
“How about I start then?” I sighed and turned my head to look at her. “Willow, I owe you an apology.”
She narrowed her eyes but kept looking straight ahead.
“Asking you to run away with me was wrong. I don’t know what I was thinking and the fact that you got hurt… it kills me to think what could have happened.”
She didn’t answer.
“Willow, will you turn and look at me for a second, please?” The situation was awkward and alien to me. I wasn’t the kind of man to use such words as please and sorry, but this had to be done.