Page 5

T he following day the temperature was within a bearable range. Calliope was once again provided with a pair of jeans and a shirt, which magically appeared on her body. They hadn’t stayed in the same place, and she had no idea what they needed to do to be removed from The Hunt.

Had they agreed last night they would rather be mated than die? She blew out a breath and Jaxson stopped.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

They already had breakfast and she quickly offered him a smile. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just waiting for the next thing.”

He nodded, took hold of her hand, and began to walk her through the forest, and the bushes seemed to be getting thicker.

“What do you think we need to do?” Calliope asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, didn’t we ... you know, like last night, turn around and say we would like to be mated? We’d rather do that than die.” She pressed her lips together.

Jaxson stopped. “It’s not that simple. You know what they expect, right?”

“When they say mating, do they mean like a full mating?”

“I told you this,” he said. “When we got here.”

She groaned. “I know that is what you said but ... come on. Can’t there be a compromise? We’ve already agreed we would work on our mating. Doesn’t that help?”

Calliope wanted to get them both out of here so neither of them died. They had made mistakes as teenagers, and she didn’t want it to affect their future.

He cupped her face, tilting her head back. “I wish it did. But it’s not going to work that way.”

“So, we’ve got to mate?” she asked.

He nodded.

She took another deep breath. “Then why don’t we? Would it be that hard?”

“Are you ready?” he asked. “Like, truly ready for what is to come?”

Was she ready to go all the way with Jaxson? He’d been her best friend and then her enemy, and now he was her mate. They had so much damage control to work through.

“No, I’m not, but you’re meant to be my mate, right? I’m your mate, and we’ve got all this history.”

“I’m not going to force this. We can do this, Calliope. You and me. We’ve done a lot harder stuff than this.”

“I don’t want anything bad to happen.”

“Then it’s simple. Nothing bad is going to happen.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was so soft and sweet. “Now, I think we should get a move on.”

She was about to agree with him, when all of a sudden there was a roar, and the bushes began to shake.

“What is that?” Calliope asked.

“No time to waste, we’ve got to run.” He didn’t let her go, and the thick bushes made it impossible to run, but she did. She found the strength to keep moving, even though she felt afraid. She didn’t stop, nor did she turn around.

Her heart raced, and she had a horrible feeling she was slowing Jaxson down. This is what she hated and why she was tempted to just go ahead, be done with it, and mate him. It would be so much easier than allowing them both to die.

She let out a scream as a bear suddenly appeared. The fear gripped her and Jaxson pulled her around him, and then his stance changed. She realized he had gone into defensive mode.

“Jaxson?”

“It’s fine. This is all part of it.” He let out a howl of his own, and the bear growled right back.

She felt the bear was well over seven foot tall and massive. There was no way it was real. The bear didn’t take Jaxson’s howl as a threat and she gasped as it suddenly charged them.

“Don’t move, Calliope.”

There was no way she could if she even wanted to. The fear was real. Terrifying. He was the one in control. Not her.

She watched, wanting to jump in and protect him, only Jaxson made impact with the bear.

The bear sprung back, but it didn’t go far.

It came in, swiping at Jaxson, but didn’t make a connection.

It was relentless, and she realized it was aiming for her.

The bear was attempting to get around Jaxson, to get to her. He wouldn’t let it.

At one point, the bear’s swipe made contact with Jaxson, and she couldn’t stand watching it anymore.

As if by magic, leaning up against the tree was a crossbow.

Jaxson had loved crossbows when they were children, and they both spent a lot of time outside doing target practice.

It had been years since she fired one, but it was like riding a bike.

She never forgot, and lifting that crossbow into her arms, she locked, loaded, and then stared down the target.

The bear was coming at Jaxson, and he was moving too fast.

Taking a deep breath, she focused on the bear, and then shot. The first connection landed, and it was enough.

There was no whimper, and the moment she hit the bear, it was like it exploded into nothing. Just glitter and dust, only nothing landed on her.

Jaxson groaned and headed toward her.

“It just ... exploded?” Calliope asked.

“Each element is a test, and they are going to attempt to push us both to the breaking point.”

“But that means the bear didn’t exist, right?”

“Yeah, it does. It’s all part of the magic of The Hunt.”

She looked down at Jaxson. “Then why are you bleeding?”

“They’re magical. We’re not.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re a werewolf, you’re a magical, mystical being.”

He laughed and started to remove his shirt. “Just not fast enough.”

“Don’t say stuff like that. You did what you had to do, and it was enough.”

“I didn’t save you.”

“I don’t have a single scar on me, and at least now we have a weapon.

” Calliope looked behind her, only to find the weapon was gone.

“Oh, come on, are you insane? This is not fair. I know I sound like a child, but to put it frankly, this is not fucking fair!” She let out a scream and stamped her foot.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“No, no, fucking hell no, I am not okay! I’m not even close to being okay.”

Just then, Jaxson laughed.

“What? What are you finding so funny?”

“You cursed. It’s rare for you to do that, except when you’re scared or panicking, or you don’t know what to do. You curse. It’s cute. I’ve not heard you curse in a while. It’s nice.”

“You know this isn’t funny, right?”

“I know, but come on, it’s kind of funny. Now, stop being a pain in the ass and help fix me. Hopefully, they don’t have anything against werewolves receiving medical care.”

She went to their backpack, the one that hadn’t disappeared, and sure enough, there was a medical kit. “You’re in luck.”

****

T he stinging of the cuts had long gone. Jaxson peeled back the bandage Calliope had applied and saw they were healing nicely.

“How are you doing?” she asked, moving toward him.

She hadn’t wanted to continue their journey, but he knew after the encounter with the bear, they were good. Rather than keep moving, they made camp. Calliope had even gone down to the small stream she found and gotten them some water.

More food had appeared in the backpack, and she was cooking it for them. She wouldn’t allow him to do a single thing. He was to sit back, relax, and try to heal.

“I’m doing good.”

She let out a little tut.

“What? You’re upset that I am healing?”

“No, I’m upset that we ended up here in the first place. You shouldn’t be getting hurt and we shouldn’t be dealing with this.” She let out an angry growl. “What would we have done if that bear had killed you?”

“You would have been able to leave here—”

“Stop it. I don’t want to hear that kind of crazy talk right now. It’s just insane, and I don’t like it.”

He liked that she cared.

“You know, you looked pretty badass with that crossbow,” he said.

Calliope sent him a look.

“What? You did. Did you keep practicing even after you and I fell out?”

“No, I didn’t. That is the first time I held a crossbow since our last trip.”

Jaxson let out a whistle. “You were always a good shot, but that was just fucking fantastic.”

He saw her smile.

“It was pretty good.”

“Do you ever miss it?” he asked.

“What?”

“Hanging out with me. Doing the whole adventure stuff?”

She didn’t answer right away. She was putting some food onto a plate for him. Thankfully, whoever was in charge of The Hunt had felt they deserved a reward today. He got a nice piece of steak, and Calliope got chicken, as she didn’t like beef.

“Yeah, I do. Today, I mean, all of this is scary as hell, but it is kind of fun. Don’t you think?” she asked. “It’s strange, but it’s like I know this place.”

Jaxson frowned as he looked around. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m a woman.”

This made him laugh, but then he started to think about it. “Wait a minute. We created this place?”

“No, we had nothing to do with The Hunt.”

“No, not The Hunt specifically. The bear. The stream. Even the first day we were here, something was chasing us. Think, Calliope. Think back to when we were kids, playing out in the yard. We were in a damn forest or jungle. We’d scream at each other what the place would look like.”

Calliope’s mouth opened. “Holy crap. That summer, when we were like eight years old, it was hot as hell, and we were playing out in your yard, and I imagined the waterfall.”

“We created this place,” he said.

“What does this mean?”

“Well, if we remember what we thought about, it might help us figure out what is coming next. We did get attacked by a bear, remember, and you hit it with a crossbow.”

She pressed her lips together. “We’re on our childhood adventure, only this is real.”

Jaxson laughed. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Then that means this is different for everyone, right? I mean, this is our imagination manifested.”

Which also explained the mermaids, sharks, and sea creatures in the lake, on pause. Calliope rarely got trapped in ... he stopped and looked at her.

“No,” Calliope said. “You’ve thought of something and I really don’t like this.”

“One of our ... games was quicksand,” he said.

She pressed a hand to her face. “Is it wrong to hate us as kids right now?”

“Calliope, you’re the one that gets trapped in quicksand.” And it was up to him to save her. They always did this, by bringing furniture together out in the yard, and Calliope would be beneath a cut-up canopy, and he would be the one trying to save her. It was fun.

Now, he didn’t like this.

“This isn’t good,” she said. “What about the hunter that was chasing us? We didn’t name him and he had no face, but that was one of our games.”

“Then the killer birds,” Jaxson said.

“And let’s not forget the poisonous snakebite.” She ran fingers through her hair. “We’ve got to be wrong, right? I mean, this isn’t possible.”

He took a bite out of his steak and looked at her.

“Unless that is the point. Think about it, we’ve gone back to a time when everything made sense.

We were the best of friends, and nothing could come between us.

We were a solid rock, and we lost each other.

Now, we’re finding each other, and what better way to find one another, and remember who we once were, than for us to have a live action replay of our games? ”

They stared at one another.

“We never mated during our games,” Calliope said.

“We never needed to. We were best friends. The inseparable duo. We were a team.”

“And we’re still a team, and now we’ve got to mate,” Calliope said. She glanced down at her chicken. “I’ve ... never been with anyone.”

This surprised him.

“I didn’t go to prom, because I didn’t want to see you with another girl. So, I stayed home, watched horror movies I hated, and ate ice cream.”

Jaxson couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey, I’m trying here. Opening up and telling you very private stuff.”

“I didn’t go to prom either,” Jaxson said. “There was only one person I ever wanted to go with, and that was you. There was no other girl.” He looked at her. “Until you, I had never kissed another girl.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not. I didn’t want to be with anyone else.”

“I had never kissed another boy either,” Calliope said. “If we’re being honest...”

“I’m a virgin,” Jaxson said. “There were offers. I’m not going to deny it. There were a ton of offers, but I didn’t want any of it. I wanted you. I can admit that now.”

He saw the smile on her face.

“So, we’re both virgins. We’re here to be mated, and we have just figured out that our Hunt is in fact a manifestation of our imagination as children.” She pressed her lips together. “What does that mean for everyone else?”

“I have no idea, and right now I don’t care. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

He loved her smile and how it lit up her whole face. She looked so damn happy.

“Well, we managed to fend off a bear, and I guess we better look forward to doing a lot of other stuff.”

He nodded.

“I guess eating and sleeping, as we’re going to need our strength.”

Jaxson couldn’t have agreed more. They did have their work cut out for them. They played and explored that much as kids, though he couldn’t remember if there was a particular order, or if they had taken random days.

Whatever was going on, they were only going to be able to make it out of here together. That was the only way it would work.