Taming the Mad Lycan King

The Hunt

Aria POV

In no time, I was already set, my boots laced and my hair packed, wearing the hunting pants Ellana had included. I hadn't really known why she'd packed them, but I was glad she had. During those two months with Bram, we had gone hunting often, and the sight of myself wearing them brought back waves of memories I wasn't prepared for. I held back tears as Ellana adjusted my wear.

The sound of horses came through the window. I peeped outside and saw Fenrir already down in the courtyard, so I moved quickly through the halls with Ellana escorting me to the main door. There I saw Fenrir standing beside two horses, and Ronan, Fenrir's closest guard and friend, already mounted on one of them.

"Where is my horse?" I asked, looking directly at Fenrir, knowing within me there was doubt that he had wanted me to come in the first place. "You're riding with me. I need to make sure you're safe, and that means keeping you close," Fenrir said, his voice deep and solid. I clutched my fists. Who did he think he was?

"Excuse me, I am not a child. I can handle myself, especially with something like horse riding," I said firmly. I was not a child, and I would not be treated like one. Did I sound harsh? I didn't know, and it wasn't my concern at that moment.

I moved away from Fenrir's horse and climbed onto Ronan's, which he had already stepped down from to offer me. I adjusted myself in the saddle, hands ready on the reins, and before I could fully settle, Fenrir climbed up behind me. I took a sharp breath and tried to dismount, but his grip around me was firm and immovable. Before I could pull free, he urged the horse forward, and we were already moving into the forest, with Ronan riding close behind us.

I tried as much as possible to avoid body contact, but it was entirely impossible. I wondered why he was always so distant, yet here he was, pressed this close without a word. Even on the horse, I could feel him working to create space between us somehow. I found myself wondering whether my scent was off, or whether I hadn't looked my best that morning. Though truthfully, I hadn't wanted to look attractive when I dressed. I hadn't wanted him to see me that way. Still, I couldn't argue with what was obvious. He didn't see me in that way. The look he had given me at dinner last night had said as much. He had seemed almost angry just from looking at me and kept his gaze fixed, trying as much as possible to ignore my sight.

We rode in silence. I stole a glance back at him and felt something flutter unexpectedly in my stomach. Up close, he was striking in a way I hadn't fully registered at dinner. I watched the muscles in his arms flex as he held the reins, steady and controlled, like everything about him. I snapped my gaze forward immediately. I could not think of him like that.

Fenrir POV

I saw Aria walk out of the building and come toward me. I never expected her to own hunting gear, and her eyes swept across the area the moment she stepped outside, taking everything in quietly. I found myself wondering why that surprised me as much as it did. "Where is my horse?" she asked. Hearing that, I knew immediately she had no intention of riding with me. A strange feeling moved through my chest at the realization something close to disappointment and I felt almost foolish for it. Why had the thought of us riding together even entered my mind at all?

"You're riding with me. I need to make sure you're safe, and that means keeping you close," I said. I meant it, but the moment the words left my mouth, I wasn't entirely sure that was the best way to have said it. "Excuse me, I am not a child. I can handle myself, especially with something like horse riding," she said.

I held my gaze steady on her, watching her clutch her fists at her sides as she said it. To my own surprise, I was intrigued. I couldn't explain it. There was no reason for it. She turned her back on me and moved toward Ronan's horse, swift and decided, and Ronan immediately stepped down to give way as she pulled herself up into the saddle with more ease than I had expected from someone her size.

Several things moved through my mind at once. I exhaled and, without fully thinking it through, climbed up behind her. I told myself it was because I needed to protect her, and keeping her near me was the surest way to do that. She shifted immediately, trying to find a way down, and so I urged the horse forward before she could manage it. Once we were moving, she had no choice but to stay.

Throughout the ride, we were silent. I had not been this close to her before. With my eyes drawn downward despite my better judgment, I could see her clearly now in a way the dining room had not allowed. She was striking in a way that was difficult to ignore the kind of beauty that did not announce itself loudly but settled into a room and stayed there. Her scent reached me before I had the sense to pull back from it. It was soft and layered, something that had not been crafted or borrowed, as though it simply belonged to her the way her features did. The kind of scent that asked for nothing and took everything if a man was not careful enough.

I noticed I had drifted closer than I intended. She had grown still against me, and from the corner of my eye I caught her turning her head, giving me a long look from over her shoulder. I kept my gaze forward.

The morning sun caught her as we moved deeper through the tree line, light breaking through the canopy above and landing across her face and hair. She looked like something that needed to be guarded rather than hunted alongside. The thought was irrational. I was aware of that. But my chest was doing something it had no business doing, and I had to look away and clear my mind before it went any further. I fixed my eyes on the trail ahead and said nothing.