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Alora
Iwalkedtothe bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. “You can do this,” I told myself, taking a deep breath. I had been dreaming about Max and that night. The night I thought I had seen Elena and made the stupid decision to follow her into that building. I didn't find her, instead, two men found me. They drug me into a room, and then, I shook my head and started getting dressed. Pushing the thought down to the back of my mind. I walked out and grabbed my shoes, seeing Luka on his phone. He has said he would ask me, to whoever he was talking to. Who could he possibly be talking to about me? When I asked him about it, he said his mom wanted us to come for a visit. I didn’t know if I wanted to smile over her calling me, ‘that sweet girl’, or punch Luka in the face for saying she obviously didn't know me at all. I decided to forgo both and grab my weapons instead.
“Let’s grab some breakfast first. Stephanie usually has breakfast sandwiches ready on Monday mornings because she knows I usually hit the range.”
“You shoot every Monday?”
“If nothing else is going on, yes. And I rarely have anything else going on. Breakfast, train for a couple of hours, then we will get to work.”
“Fine with me,” he leaned in and kissed my cheek.
I pulled away, “what the hell was that?”
He looked at me and smiled, “just playing the part."
I sighed. How the hell was I supposed to do this? Pretend to be in love with him? I couldn't stand him, the way he thought he was so funny, sexy, and charming. He was anything but. I laughed to myself.
“What's funny,” he asked?
I looked at him, not realizing I had laughed out loud. “Oh, I, I just think Wrath is an interesting name.” We made our way to the kitchen. I smiled and grabbed a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from the sidebar in the dining room. “I guess we will see.”
We ate our sandwiches, walking in silence to the range. It was about two hundred yards from the house in the opposite direction of the training facility. Off by itself.
“How big is your complex?” he asked.
“Uh, I think like four hundred acres total.”
“Seriously? Does the fence go around all of it?”
I nodded. He spun in a circle, looking all around, a big smile on his face, “do you ever go exploring the woods?”
“No, not really. I was terrified of them as a little girl. A few times I could have sworn I had heard screaming coming from the woods. Looking back, I probably did.”
“Well, we should explore them sometime. See what’s out there.” he looked at me, raising his eyebrows, and taking a bite of his sandwich.
I stopped, looking towards the woods. That uneasy feeling I used to get as a little girl when I would stand at the edge while Nick and Michael would dare me to go in. Michael would always tell me about the monster that lived in the woods. The monster that would torture and kill young girls for going where they weren't supposed to go. I realized perhaps there was a monster, but he didn’t live in the woods, he lived in the house.
“Alora? What's wrong?’ Luka’s hand came up to my shoulder.
I shook my head, throwing his hand from my shoulder. ”I’m fine. I doubt we will have time for that, after all, we will be busy finding Wrath and then going our separate ways. Plus, it’s not like this is a real relationship.”
He put his arm around my shoulder. “Yes, that is true. But sneaking off into the woods with a picnic basket would be a very good way to fool people into thinking you are falling for me.” I grabbed his hand, starting to push his arm away. He intertwined our fingers, “better just hold my hand, wife, people are watching. Might give them the wrong idea if you throw my arm off of you again.”
I looked towards the range, Nick was standing there along with Michael and several other men. I sighed. “Fine, but don't get used to it. And don’t think for one second, I am enjoying this.”
“Be careful.” He gave me a smirk.
“What?”
“That was almost a smile you just gave me.”
I rolled my eyes, “keep dreaming. I can’t wait to be rid of you.”
“And there’s the cold-hearted Vixen I’ve come to know.”
I hated to admit it, but I found him funny, yes perhaps charming even. Maybe in a different life, if he wasn’t who he was, and I wasn't who I was. I might have liked him, maybe could have loved him in a perfect world. But our world isn't perfect. People didn't fall in love in our world. No one gets their happily ever after. There is no love in this world.
Nick looked up, smiling at me. “You ready? Carlo said he plans on running us hard today.”
