Page 21 of Hunt Me (The Skulls #1)

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Ruaridh

F auna ’ s smile is perfect. Probably the most perfect thing I have ever experienced in my entire life.

‘ Look, I said I was sorry, ’ Vish says, scratching the back of his head. ‘ How was I supposed to know who it was? It could have been any one of the lads. It wouldn ’ t be the first time one of us has walked in on Lachlan messing around. ’

‘ Do I look like that stupid cunt? ’

‘ Na, not in the slightest, ’ Vish scratches his stubble. ‘ Yer prettier, ’ he chuckles.

‘ You need to apologise to her. ‘ I nod to where Fauna is stood.

She hasn ’ t moved from where she stopped once we both made our way out of the shower block and she ’ d caught sight of this fucker in front of me.

Everything about Fauna ’ s stance right now screams warrior.

The way her feet are planted hip-width apart, her arms are tensed down her sides, ready to react.

My axe firmly held in her grip, entirely on guard and prepared for an attack.

Fuck the sight alone turns me on, my dick beginning to strain against my trousers.

My emotions wage war with themselves as I look at her. Part of me is turned on by the look in her eyes, by how fierce she appears, but the other part feels a kind of pain seeing her like this. Knowing that there is a reason why her guard has come up at the sight of another.

My girl is a fighter, but some part of me doesn ’ t want to see her have to become one. It is my job to protect her, and if anything were to happen to her, it would be a failure on my behalf.

I will never fail her.

My eyes narrow in on the man causing my beautiful Faun distress. ‘ Well what do you have to fucking say for yourself? ’

Vish steps forward, and I move before he manages to take his second step. Despite it being small, I still caught the sudden flinch from Fauna, and I didn't like at all.

With my axe a centimetre from his chest, I warn him.

‘ You do not go near her, understand? ’ I growl, a new form of protectiveness taking over me.

If you are going to speak to her, do it from the other side of me, and only then.

There are no exceptions and if I find you even thinking about doing otherwise I will peel the skin from your lanky ass body, Skull or not I will make sure you never have the capacity to consider causing her any distress ever again. ’

My fist is balled tight whilst my grip on the axe could crush weaker objects. I begin to count to five because if I do not calm down this fucker in front of me is going to become a corpse. Best friend or not.

Vish ’ s mouth gapes open, dark eyes flicking from me to my girl, then back again.

‘ Do. You. Understand? ’ I say through clenched teeth.

He clears his throat, bringing his hand back up to scratch at his black hair. ‘ Aye man, I understand. ’

The sound of Fauna ’ s delicate footsteps approaches from behind me, and a small part of my possessive rage calms as I hear that she is coming nearer and not moving away.

Then, holding my breath, I feel her hand grip my bicep, her touch soothing, but I don ’ t miss the hidden message, and her whisper makes sure the message hits home.

‘ Calm down asshole, poor guy looks like he ’ s about to shit his pants. ’

I chuckle, letting the sound drift between the three of us, and I don ’ t miss the way Vish lets out a deep breath. Some of the tension in his body is releasing now that I ’ m not on the brink of murdering him.

Maybe I went a little overboard, but I don ’ t regret it for a second. It may be new to me this feeling of protectiveness and yes probably crazy as fuck seeing as I ’ ve know the woman a day compared to knowing Vish most of my life but something inside me screams that she is mine.

And I am going to keep her.

‘ So, urm. Is it alright with you if I apologise now? ’ Vish asks me, eyes locked on my own and not daring to look at the woman right beside me.

Satisfaction rumbles through me.

Fuck this feels good.

Maybe I ’ ll let the prick suffer–

Small fingers pinch my side, causing me to grimace. Did my mischievous little deer nip me?

I look down, finding her glaring at me, an eyebrow arched, and because I ’ m not a complete dafty I know I need to cut Vish ’ s torture short. But before I can let the words out, her soft but firmer than earlier voice beats me to it.

‘ Vish, right? ’

He nods sheepishly.

Fucking bastard.

‘ You can apologise now, ’ Fauna states and pride swells in my chest.

My beautiful Faun is no pushover. She is a fierce warrior, and I will watch over her, supporting her every step of the way.

Clearing his throat again, Vish apologises, mainly looking at Fauna ’ s feet when he does so. ‘ I ’ m sorry. It was rude of me to interrupt you both like that. I ’ d like to have made a better first impression. I honestly didn ’ t think for a second it'd be Ruaridh and his girl. ’

‘ His girl? ’ Fauna asks with a tone that I can ’ t quite place.

‘ Aye, well, we didn ’ t even know he had a girl, but it ’ s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Vishrut, but the others call me Vish. You ’ re welcome to call me that too if you'd like. ’

Fauna doesn ’ t speak for a moment, just stares at him.

My muscles tighten.

What did he say? He must have said something to upset her or else she ’ d be running her mouth like usual.

Just as I ’ m about to make true on my promise of skinning the fucker her grip on me drops.

‘ So you ’ re a Skull? ’ Fauna asks.

‘ Yep, I ’ m one of Ru ’ s guys. You ’ ll get to meet the rest of us when we get back to the stadium. I hadn ’ t planned on going back for a wee while, but I don ’ t mind leaving now—’

‘ I ’ m not going there, ’ Fauna cuts in. ‘ I have somewhere to be… things to do. ’

She doesn ’ t look at me as she says it, and it hurts more than it should. I don ’ t know what I'd expected. It hadn ’ t crossed my mind that she wouldn ’ t be joining us at the stadium, but by the pain in my chest, I ’ d assumed Fauna would be staying with me.

‘ You got food? ’ I nod to Vish ’ s pack, trying not to let the thickness of my throat show.

‘ Oh, erm, aye. Yous not got any? ’ He looks at us with a confused expression on his face.

Each one of us has something we keep private from the others.

I ’ ve known Vish most of my life, but I still don ’ t know what he really gets up to when he comes out here by himself, and that ’ s the same for a lot of us.

We go on trips alone, and judging by the expression on Vish ’ s face, he must have made the assumption that the ones I have been on recently were to see Fauna.

Maybe they were. All those trips, not knowing why I felt the need to leave, the need to wander around a broken and abandoned city, were all down to some force within me searching for the opportunity to meet this extraordinary woman beside me.

‘ C ’ mon let ’ s go inside and eat something. ’ I place my palm on Fauna ’ s ridged back hating how she doesn ’ t soften at my touch.

We turn, and I hear Vish ’ s clunky steps following us as we re-enter the building.

I watch the way Fauna ’ s hips sway in front of me as she walks.

The clothes I gave her are large on her but the way she has rolled up the waistband of her trousers has them framing her rounded ass perfectly.

Her wet hair dampens the shoulders of her top, but she doesn ’ t seem to mind.

I smile to myself at how strong she is.

Then she turns and because I was focused on the wet patches of her shirt I am granted direct view of the way her hardened nipples press against the grey material.

Fuck me.

My skin heats as I remember what her naked body looked like earlier. The way the stream of water trickled down her smooth body as she rocked her hips towards me, demanding more from me.

I groan at the memory.

Vish clears his throat behind me.

Fuck that dick head for cockblocking me.

‘ I ’ ll just go over here, ’ he must wave in some direction behind me as I watch Fauna ’ s eyes follow his movements, her cheeks slightly tinged pink. ‘ Got plenty gas for the stove and I have beans and sausage cans and some Bovril. Do you like those, I—’

‘ Vish, ’ I say.

‘ Yeh? ’

‘ Go cook, ’ I grind out.

‘ On it, ’ he replies in his usual chirpy tone.

A smirk crosses Fauna ’ s lips, and my chest swells at the sight.

‘ He ’ s kinda cute, ’ she says, laughing as the prick strides away.

The fuck did she just say.

Forget my swelling chest, its about to burst for an all-new reason.

Jealousy.

Vish is a good lucking man. He ’ s huge, for one thing.

He has long, lean limbs, and he ’ d received one or two jokes about looking like that spaghetti Mr Men character when we were younger.

He ’ s grown into his body now, with defined muscle and he is without a doubt the most handsome out of us Skulls.

But he falls over the majority of steps he takes for fuck sake.

It ’ s a mystery how he ’ s not dead already. He ’ s not right for Fauna.

He looks nothing like me. And he acts absolutely nothing like me.

He ’ s all golden retriever, and I ’ m… not.

Does Fauna want him rather than me?

I ’ m not an insecure man, never have been, but right now, a slight doubt nips at me. And it ’ s nipping is in the form of a golden retriever named fucking Vishrut Atwal.

The fucking prick.

The sound of a gas canister being turned on, followed by the flint and steel, has me looking in his direction.

Fucker will not be cooking my girls food. What the fuck was I thinking. Fauna ’ s probably starving, no wonder he ’ s more appealing to her than me. He ’ s providing for her. He ’ s providing for my girl.

I storm over to where Vish is setting up the stove, with smoke probably bellowing from my nostrils as I grow more and more pissed off. Fauna ’ s whispered ‘ what the fuck ’ reaches my ears but I keep moving towards Mr cute in front of me.

What the fuck indeed my Little Deer.

Vish looks up with a big grin as I approach. ‘ Kept this one quiet, didn ’ t ye, man? ’

‘ Move, I ’ m cooking. ’ I state no room for question.

‘ Eh? ’ Vish says the confused expression back on his face as he looks between me and where Fauna must still be stood where I left her.

Then as if he ’ s a telepathic fucker his eyebrows shoot up and the grin is back on his face.

‘ Ahh I see, ’ holding his hands up and scootching back. ‘ All yours. ’

‘ Shut up. ’

Vish doesn ’ t say anything about my sharp tone, but I can feel the amusement radiating off him in waves. This fucker is enjoying winding me up and the small rational part of me can ’ t blame him. If I was in his position and the roles were reversed I ’ d probably be the same.

Most of us back in the stadium are single, and it ’ s not like there is an abundance of opportunities in the apocalypse to date.

None of us have seen each other be possessive about another person before, and we ’ ve definitely not seen jealousy.

But we have spent plenty of time learning new and inventive ways to wind each other up, and Vish is one of the biggest windup merchants in the gaff.

I stir the can of sausage and beans, watching as it begins to bubble. Once it's steaming, I turn down the heat and angle my head, indicating for Fauna to sit with me.

‘ Will this do you for now and we can have something better later? ’ I ask. I'm not quite sure where I'll get better around here, but I ’ d sprint back to the stadium and ring a chicken's neck in no time if that ’ s what she wanted.

Fauna looks at me as if I ’ ve grown another head.

‘ If you don ’ t like beans, I ’ m sure there ’ s something else…’ I look around the empty building. ‘ We store some dried foods upstairs. I can look to see what we have there. ’

She shakes her head, staring down at the beans.

Panic runs through me.

They are just fucking beans. How have I gotten this so wrong? I should have let the fucker Vish cook them if I ’ d known it was going to go down this badly. Then, another realisation hits me.

‘ You ’ re allergic, aren ’ t you. I ’ m so sorry, I ’ ll throw them out right now. ’ I shift to take the steaming hot can, but just as my fingertips brush the burning hot metal, her hand lashes out, slapping mine away.

‘ No! ’ Fauna shouts.

Ok... So she likes beans?

Fauna grabs the piping hot tin can, bringing it into her lap and digging into its contents, hardly stopping for air as she wolfs down the food. Little droplets of juice hit the corners of her mouth.

So she really likes beans. Noted.

A cold object hits my hand where it is placed on the floor beside me, and I look down to find that Vish has discretely rolled another tin of sausage and beans my way.

I look up to see him give me a sad smile, eyes flicking towards Fauna who is now using her finger to scrape out the last of the sauce and then plopping it between her lips to suck.

Usually the sight of her sucking her finger would be seductive and I ’ d be turned on but right now watching her a cold realisation dawns on me and any pain I ’ d felt earlier is nothing compared to the devastation I feel now.

I take the time to look her over fully, noticing how her cheekbones stand out a little and how her hands appear large and long in contrast to the thinness of her arms. I remember how she ’ d had to roll over the waistband of her borrowed trousers to keep them up even though I ’ d picked out the smallest ones we ’ d had.

The tape across her boots that were concealing her battered and bruised feet now on show for me to see.

My girl is starving.

Bile rises in my throat. She was so happy — snarky and reserved, yes — but I put that down to me being a stranger and a Skull. But she never once complained, never once let it show how much she must be struggling… apart from her drunken confession last night.

I mentally swear that Fauna will never struggle again.

Metal creeps against metal as I open the tin with my Swiss Army knife, turning the heat up on the burner while Fauna is consumed by licking the previous tin clean.

After a few minutes, I drop the new tin in front of her, this time with a cloth wrapped around the outside so that she doesn ’ t burn herself further.

Fauna drops the empty tin to her lap, not giving it away as she picks up the next one. Her wide eyes looking to me in question.

I give her a genuine smile, letting her know it is all hers, and she digs in.