Page 90 of The Hunter

I waited for her to push back. Tell me not to do anything rash. But she didn’t.

She just curved back into me and rested her head on my chest. “Thank you.”

I pulled her closer, relishing in the feel of her in my arms as I reflected on everything I’d learned over the past few days. Everything I hadn’t wanted to feel. Everything Ariana had survived. She didn’t realize how truly remarkable that was, not when so many people didn’t survive her situation.

“I killed my father,” I told her before I could stop myself.

Ariana didn’t speak. Just waited for me to continue.

So I did.

“He was military. Did two tours of duty in the Middle East. The second one changed him. He wasn’t the same man who left. He was cold. Calculated. A solider without a war… So he made one.”

Her hand found mine, and she intertwined our fingers, offering me comfort. I never let people in. Not like this. Never shared pieces of myself with anyone else. I was happy leading a solitary existence. It was easier this way.

But spending time with Ariana, getting to know who she was, learning about her demons made me want to share the darkest parts of myself with her. Just like she’d shared the darkest parts of herself with me.

“He moved us from the house in suburbia, where I spent the first six years of my life, to this place.” I waved my hand at our surroundings. “Took my brother and me out of school.”

“Your brother?” she asked softly.

I gave a small nod, my throat tightening. “Spencer. He was two years younger than me.”

She didn’t say anything. Didn’t press for me to embellish. She just held me tighter, easily picking up on what I didn’t say.

“Dad insisted we didn’t need anything except what he taught us — survival, obedience, discipline.” I laughed, bitter and sharp. “So that’s what he did. He taught us how to survive with nothing. I was only eight the first time he tested me.”

“Tested you?” She furrowed her brow. “How?”

“He blindfolded me and dropped me in the middle of the forest during a snowstorm with nothing but the clothes on my back. Told me to find my way home.”

“Henry…” Ariana exhaled, her voice shaking.

“It was the first of many tests he put me through. And when Spencer was older, he did the same to him. Except Spencerwasn’t as strong as me. One day…” I trailed off, my throat tightening as the memory replayed in my mind.

“Yes?” she prodded, albeit cautiously.

“One day, Spencer never came home from one of his ‘tests’.”

Ariana’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, god.”

“I tried to talk some sense into my father. Plead with him to let me go help him. But he refused to listen. Said he needed this to become a man. But he was only ten. So I tried to sneak out that night to find him. My dad heard and made sure Icouldn’thelp him. And taught me a lesson for disobeying him with his belt.”

“The scars on your back…” she trailed off, not finishing her question. But she didn’t need to.

“I couldn’t move for over a week after that. By then, Spencer had died from hypothermia.”

She was quiet for a moment before asking, “What about your mother?”

“She’d already checked out by this point. She wasn’t really living. Just existing. Spencer’s death was the final straw for her. I found her body a few days later in the barn. She shot herself.”

Ariana pressed a trembling hand to her lips. “I’m so sorry.”

“After that, I knew I needed to do something so I didn’t end up like her or Spencer.”

“What did you do?”

“The next time we went out hunting, I shot the bastard. Fed his body to the wolves. Then I got in his truck and drove to the nearest town about an hour from here. Went into the gas station and asked the man there for help. He’d heard about the family living up on the mountain and did everything to help me.”