Chapter 40

S o…" Artem and Breighly melted against the mossy forest floor, spent of everything. "You really still have no feelings for me? Even after that?"

He had fucked her hard against the tree, and she had greedily taken everything he had to offer—every stroke, every thrust, every bite. It had been wild, untamed, euphoric.

Why must he be so talented with his body? Why couldn't she get enough of it?

Breighly considered the question and blinked. "Nope."

Her head rested on Artem's bulky arm, and as they lay together, she noticed the ink on his body as he stroked his fingers down to her navel, enticing goosebumps from her skin. He was relentless. His endurance was impressive. And he was totally distracting her from the sword of Thorin that marked the skin on his stomach.

He gave her a grin. "I thought you females released a hormone that meant you had attachments after sex."

Breighly rolled onto her side away from him and snatched up Artem's ripped tunic that lay an arm's length away. She flung it over her shoulders. "I can see that your cocky arrogance continues to fill your head with utter nonsense. You really should stop listening to all that male drivel they teach you in the Selection." She flung him a daring scowl over her shoulder.

He rolled onto his side with a grin plastered over his face. His hand landed in the space she had been, and she noted the beautiful black and red rose on it. "Really? No feelings whatsoever?"

Breighly hesitated for a second longer than she would have liked. "Absolutely not," she said, getting to her feet. Her fingers acted like a comb as she dragged them through the front of her hair, brushing out a few small twigs and moss.

"Nothing?" His voice was a little higher than normal, like he didn't believe her. She heard him pulling on his leathers behind her.

"Zero feelings," she said, her heart thundering as she lied.

"Then why does this need to stop?" Artem caught her off guard, and she turned to look up at him. "You said it yourself that you like no strings attached. Why are you so insistent in pushing away something that works? If this is what you say it is and you don't have feelings for me, why end it? This doesn't need to be the last time."

She took a step towards him. "Why are you so insistent in getting your heart broken?"

He scoffed. "You think that you can break my heart?"

She bit down on her tongue; she had learned from her mistakes on Tolsah Bay and she needed to keep her inner wolf in check. "I know I can."

"Look…" All six feet and five inches of statuesque warrior moved towards her. "I like you. You make me laugh and you keep me on my toes. Plus, I can't stop thinking about how you make love." He knew those two words would rile her heart, and he waited for a beat to see what reaction he had provoked. All Breighly did was roll her eyes and scowl.

Rein in your inner wolf! she screamed in her head.

He chuckled like he'd heard it. "Why do we need to end something that works for both of us?"

"Because the world doesn't look at you like you are whore for enjoying sex." She was quicker and snappier than she had wanted to be, and she had to pull back the fierceness in her tone. "I am a guard now."

His brows pulled down and his lashes fluttered a little. "Emara didn't care about you having sex, Breighly. I don't even think she cared about us having sex. I think it was just because it was in her bed."

She let out a dramatic sigh. "The fact that you think it's Emara that I am worried about says it all about your male privilege." Her gaze bore through his soul, and he shifted his weight to his other leg. "It's not about the sex or the bed or even you. It's about the fact that I am a guard and I need to be—"

"Respected?" He cut in.

"Not sexualised because I am a woman. Can you imagine if the men in the clan found out about us? They would think I got this post as Emara's guard because I fucked the chief commander's son. When I worked in the tavern, it was normal for a guy to look at me and notice my body. I was fine with that because it was what earned me money there. Fuck, I am not even ashamed to say that I played into it. I am not embarrassed about my sexuality. But you have no idea what it is like to be a woman in this position, trying to earn the respect of men who see you as an object of either pleasure or childbearing." She only came up to his chest, but she looked him in the eye as she continued. "They see me as the weaker sex and nothing more. Someone who should get married and have kids. I should stay at home and bend to the will of my husband. They don't see my teeth or my claws or my speed. They don't see how easily I can kill. They don't see my clever decision-making. They see a girl who wants to prove a point, and they want to see me fail because that's how they built the world for people like me."

Artem shook his head. "Then that is foolish of them to not see all the things that you are. You are a powerful wolf and an even more powerful woman." His thumb ran across her jaw just as the heat of his body caressed around her. She wanted to pull away, she knew she should, but something rooted her to where she stood. "Doesn't that make you our greatest weapon? If the men in the clans cannot see what you are, doesn't that make you even more dangerous?"

Her bones froze at his words, and her heart sped up.

"Because that's what I see when I look at you—power," he continued. "Breighly, I don't see you as a girl who is chasing a dream to fight for a cause. I see a woman who is earning respect for every little girl who even dares to dream big in the first place. A woman who isn't scared to get her hands dirty or curse or throw a punch. By the Gods, you put all of us fucking hunters in our places daily." His hand waved around them. "But we can still have…this. Us being together doesn't change anything for you. I am drawn to you regardless of what the factions say. And I can't ignore that. I have been unable to ignore you since that first moment in La Luna—or maybe it was when you threw an axe at my head. Who knows?" He grinned, a little less confident than usual.

It took her a long moment to digest his words, and the tingle in her heart shocked her. Maybe he was right; maybe she was pushing him away not because of what everyone else thought, but because of who she was. But that was just it. She wasn't a witch from a respectable family who could give his clan elemental magic or stability. He would be married to someone like Sybil or Emara. Gods, he could have anyone he wanted because he was the chief commander's son. And she was the alpha's daughter; no doubt the Gods had her mate already chosen for her.

Her blood boiled at the thought of not being able to make the decision for herself. Her heart rebelled against it all, and her stomach lurched.

She shook her head and looked at her fingernails, trying to appear as unrattled as she could even though her heart was pumping so fast she was dizzy. "It doesn't matter." She finally met his gaze, and it was strong and unfaltering on her face. "It can't happen between us. Even if Emara said she was okay with both her guards…you know. We can be nothing more. You are a hunter and I, a wolf. Our paths are different—too different. I will find a mate, and that wouldn't be fair to you. So what is the point in all of this?"

Something lingered on his face for a moment before a little emptiness echoed in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but he frowned in contemplation before he let the words float through the air between them. "Okay, I respect that." He paused, and a heavy sigh came from his chest. "My heart may be wounded, but I respect that."

A magnetic pull tugged at her heart like she had just done something wrong. It was like the tides of fate threatened to wash away what she had laid out in the world to replace it with something else. Her breath caught, and a staggering light flashed above the trees. Was it a shooting star?

When she brought her gaze back down to him, the energy changed between them. Breighly stumbled back, almost choking on what consumed her heart. It was unspoken and rare. Was it pain? Was it her way of acknowledging that this thing between them was over? She had never felt like this before. It was consuming her full being.

A swirling wind brought in his last words. My heart may be wounded, but I respect that.

She swallowed down the emotion in her throat as she clutched the tunic together tightly. "Hunters are not supposed to have hearts."

The look on his face was peculiar, as if he had felt a shift in their energy too. He took a step back, his eyes wide and his jaw strained. She could see the muscles in his shoulders tense, and his hands clenched into fists, but she wasn't sure if it was hurt or if he was restraining himself from doing something he shouldn't. Did he want to battle her? Kiss her? Shout at her? Hate her?

The inability to read him caused her heart to stammer, and it was getting harder for her to breathe.

He glanced at the stars before he spoke. "You and I both know that's not true. Hunters do have hearts."

Her stomach churned as she looked at him. Something wasn't right. Something between them—

He dropped his shoulders, and his body finally relaxed. "What I do know is that wolves have the biggest hearts in any of the factions even though they try to hide them. So I know that when you do find the mate that you choose for yourself, they are going to be so extremely lucky."

That you choose for yourself.

Every particle of air was sucked from Breighly's chest to form a barrier around her own heart, protecting her from the pain that rattled her soul. Why did her heart feel like it was being ripped from her chest? Only moments ago, she had told this warrior that she had no feelings for him whatsoever, and now they were swirling in her heart.

"Good night, Bry," he said in a soft whisper.

As Artem turned to leave, Breighly opened her mouth to call his name, to stop him from leaving, but she could make no sound. The moonlight hit his back, causing her legs to almost buckle beneath her.

No.

It couldn't be.

Why hadn't she never noticed it before?

There, tattooed in black, was a wolf, an alpha of the pack. It faded into the darkness of the forest with Artem Stryker as he left her.