Alpha's Hunt

17. Dance in the rain

"If you can't take a flick to your forehead, how can you hunt?" Luke asks

Swallowing back a snarky reply, I retort to ignoring the jerk. We walk on silently, save for the sounds of the forest.

I wasn't even thinking of hunting that adorable dear family! It had been his dark mind that started this conversation! How can being flicked on the forehead be related to hunting?

Something wet drops on my head. Blinking out of my thought, I look up at the dark sky. Thick droplets of rain fall down, each carrying at least a cup of water in it.

"Damn it," Luke quickly folds the map and puts it away.

Does this man ever look at anything but that damned piece of paper? How can he keep looking at it and not trip?

Droplets turn to splatters and soon enough, we're forced to stop our walk and take shelter under a huge ash tree.

"Just perfect," Luke murmurs to himself, furrowing his brows as he looks at the sky

Thunder roars, as if telling him to suck it up.

With a sigh, Luke sits down besides me, our backs against the tree. For a few moments, awkward silence stretches between us. Well, I don't know about him, But its awkward for me.

Alright, that's it. I've reached my capacity of being awkward.

I clap my hands cheerfully and turn to face Luke "Lets talk,"

"No."

"Perfect," I flash him a smile "I'll do all the talking."

***

"Why me?" Luke looks up at the sky "Why did this have to happen to me?"

I give him the stink eye "Well, if you don't talk, someone has to."

"Two hours," Luke gives me a look "For two hours you've been continuously eating up my mind. Do you ever shut up?"

"Please," I roll my eyes "If I ever shut up, you'll miss it."

"I'm not mad."

"I'm sure you're not," I pat him on the arm "anyways, did I tell about that one time when Carlos and I pranked Darcie as ghosts and she started thinking she'd going nuts? Well, I started because she—

Something warm presses against my lips. A finger to be precise.

"Not another word," Luke narrows his eyes "I don't care if you tore all of Darcie's dresses, or if she went mad, or if the world caught fire. Just shut up."

I puff up my cheeks like a blow fish and turn my face away from him. Luke heaves a sigh of relief and pulls out the moonforsaken map again. Goddess, does he ever get tired of looking at it?

Minutes melt into hours but the rain only gets harsher. I think of mom, of Carlos, Angelina and Morgan. I think of what I'll do after I'm free of the pack. Finally tired of thinking, I glance at the wrist watch Luke is wearing. It's already well past night.

Luke is still relentlessly working. Calculating the days it'll take us to finish, marking different routes, calculating our food supply.