Hunter Maximus

Chapter 47

Isobel's POV

I won't lie, the walk through the forest at night with Luke and Maximus – is starting to become one of the most tense things I have ever experienced. The dangerous vibes emitting off both of them were almost unbearable. I had to break the silence somehow.

"Thanks for saving us, Luke," I say quietly as we walk, Maximus just trailing behind me and Luke as I walk beside my former trainer.

"You can always count on me, Izzy," he replies, using the opportunity of walking beside me to reach out and put a hand on the small of my back, helping to guide me over a fallen log.

When I turn around I see Maximus is clearly going to have a harder time jumping over with his hands tied behind his back.

"Come on, I'll help you," I say, reaching out a hand towards Maximus who is eyeing me with a neutral expression. Luke almost instantly snaps out a hand and stops me from grabbing Maximus' arm.

"Don't," Luke snaps, "You're not his slave anymore, you don't have to help him even if you are still in the habit of doing so."

"Umm, how else will he get over the log, Luke?" I ask, his tone towards me grating on my nerves.

"It's okay, darling," Maximus says, giving me a gorgeous smile, "I've got this log sorted," he walks to a place he can step up and jump over, which he manages to do as gracefully as he would have done when he had been a Hunter.

"See?" Luke says, reaching out a hand to guide me into a walk again, "You aren't his pet anymore – hey!" Luke abruptly jerks away from me as a broken branch Maximus lands on, is flicked up into the air and heads straight for Luke's face.

I look with wide eyes as I see that Luke manages to have fast enough reflexes to catch the bent stick mid-air before it collides with him. He glares at Maximus, who simply does his best innocent pout.

"Let's go," I interrupt, before one of them says a smart ass remark to the other, "Come on, guys, we need to get out of this territory before the werewolves get angry that we're sticking around playing pranks on each other."

"That's exactly right," Luke agrees with me but then adds to Maximus, "Don't you have any ability to respect the fact that I saved both of you?" Luke puts as much venom as he can into the statement as he looks Maximus up and down.

"Don't you have any respect for Isobel and her reactions to every time you touch her?" Maximus asks back quietly, "She shies away from your touch every time you lay a hand on her – or she looks incredibly uncomfortable, yet you continue to touch her."

"Stop speaking rubbish," Luke hisses, "She doesn't shy away from my touch!"

"Isobel?" Maximus asks calmly, with a raised eyebrow in my direction.

I was not going to fall for that trap.

"Let's go," I snap at both of them, taking a step back and trying to make them follow, except they turn to just glare at each other once more.

"She didn't deny it," Maximus says with a smirk.

"You still think you own her, don't you? You make me sick," Luke snarls the question and I know he is close to breaking point with his temper. He was usually one to keep his cool, so this wasn't good that he was clearly losing it so quickly now.

"Actually I do think she is still mine," Maximus continues to bait Luke, and it's clearly working.

"Izzy," Luke snaps suddenly, turning to glare at me, "Tell me you want this guy dead and staked right through the heart, tell me you are glad you can finally be free from his possession. Surely you are happy now that you can get away from this bastard."