Fated: The Belted Series

Chapter 6

Hunter starts walking around, using a pencil to move things around. I stare at the floor, I never knew she had carpet in her room. The ugliest beige color, definitely too lifeless for someone as full of life as Callie. I look at the room as a whole, and memories flood their way in. The shadow grey walls filled with laughter. The pink floral bedding I used to make fun of, filled with nights of memories. Callie is my lifeline. She needed to be okay. She has to be. I shake my head at myself, I needed to focus now. I open her closet and see the clothes organized like a pretty rainbow. The image disturbs me and I slam it close. I look at Hunter, who's staring at a photo hanging on the wall.

"Hunter?" I ask quietly.

Hunter smiles, his eyes locked on the photo of Callie and myself. Our faces covered in mustard and ketchup, after winning a hotdog eating contest at a fair when we were 6. I didn't want to do it, but Callie was hungry, decided to enter and went to town. She met her match when one of the guards went up against her. She couldn't eat another bite, so I jumped in for her.

"I remember looking at you that day. I couldn't stop smiling at how determined you were to win, not for you, but for Callie. This was the first time I ever saw you having fun." Hunter chuckles at his own remark. I feel my cheeks getting a little flushed and smile while staring at him. He was so beautiful. Hunter turns to face me, and I'm instantly sucked into his eyes, and drowning in his smile. His perfectly carved jawline, beautifully outlined by a 5 o'clock shadow beard. His eyes sparkling like a kid on Halloween.

"You've always been hidden, Insignia. You've carried the weight of your parents' death on your shoulders. I remember who you were before that, and I adored her." Hunters' voice sounding like a sweet melody, draws me closer. Instinctively I move closer to him, our bodies inches away from touching. I stare into his eyes, noticing the little golden specks in his otherwise perfectly earth-toned green eyes. My gaze not leaving his, the tension growing.

"I'm expected to be perfect. I need to make my parents proud, but the girl I was, I still am. I can feel her, screaming in my head, begging me to notice her. I feel trapped in my own body." I turn to look at the photo, and my heart breaks.

"When I'm with Callie, I feel whole. Or at least as whole as I can feel. She calms the monster I sometimes feel like." I smile a grim smile, and close my eyes tightly. Tears start flooding and Hunter pulls me closer. He hold me tightly in his arms, brushing my tears away as best he can.

"I was supposed to protect our realm. I let Sebastian in, because I trusted my parents. I should've known better, I should've known something was off." My voice cracks as I start admitting my guilt.

"You couldn't have known, it's not your fault. Love makes us blind." I stop and take a step back, quickly brushing my tears away. Love? What love?

"What do you mean?" I look into Hunter's eyes, waiting for an explanation. Hunter tenses his jaw.

"We'll I just mean, you are engaged to the guy." His eyes focused on the floor, and the tone in his voice is something I can't quite place.

"Engaged? What are you talking about?" Sebastian was only thought to be a close family friend, nobody really knew about my betrothal to the prince. So how did Hunter? And why did he think I had made up my mind before the honor ball?

Hunter's fist tenses up and his body language becomes visibly fidgety.

"I saw the ring, and Sebastian on his knee. I'm sorry I didn't want to sound like I was lurking outside your door last night." Right. Hunter told me he was there to drop off my birthday gift.

"You didn't see the rest?" My eyes still locked on him. Hunter shakes his head, still not looking at me. His eyes closed tightly, like he's masking some sort of pain.

"Hunter, I rejected the proposal." I didn't want anyone to think I had decided to marry Sebastian for duty, especially not Hunter. Hunter's eyes darts back to me, confused and then they grow softer. He sighs a sigh of relief. Hunter moves closer, grips the back of my hair softly, and pushes his forehead against mine. Before I knew what was happening, he kissed my head softly, breathing me in. He pulls my hair back a little, forcing me to look into his eyes. In this moment, I realized why Hunter has avoided me for all these years. He felt what I have been feeling. The immense attraction, the need to be together. Finally we didn't have to fight it. Hunter kisses my head one last time, taking a deep breathe.

"We should go." Almost a whisper escapes his cupid bow lips. I smile and nod, our eyes still fully set on each other. Hunter clears his throat, and takes a few steps back. Looking around the room, Hunter seems to have exhausted all possible clues as to what has happened. Valkaries weren't known for their cleanliness, so someone else was through here.

"Didn't you stay here until a few months ago?" I take a deep breathe and nod. "This way." I quickly respond. We enter the room and for a second I forgot that I had actually lived here most of my life. The room is quite dull, the floor dark laminated wood, walls eggshell white and a small black ceiling fan. Hunter smiles as he allows me to enter the room first. I state into the abyss, seemingly lifeless. Like I had never even existed, untouched. Nothing has entered here. No one. I turn to look at Hunter, shaking my head slowly. "This is exactly how I left it." I peep. We move on to the rest of the house, empty and quiet. A perfect model house, like no one had actually lived in there for quite some time. I feel my chest closing in, not only is Callie gone, but her family too. My family.