Hunter's Heart

Chapter 12

It was so tempting to stay in her dream. It was nice and quiet and safe and peaceful.

It was early morning in her dream and she was sitting on the bank of a small lake surrounded by grass and trees. A morning fog hung in the air, diffusing the sunlight trying to warm the area into a pale glow.

In her dream it seemed like nothing bad could possibly happen.

There was no one forcing her to fight until her bones broke. There was no one trying to turn her into something she wasn't. There was no family politics to deal with.

There was no one hating her for being born a Hunter. There was no emptiness she had to hide. There was no war with the Hunters.

She didn't have to try and get a handle on strange abilities she couldn't control.

She didn't have to watch her friends die.

And most importantly, she didn't have to deal with Christian St. Clair.

In her dream, she didn't have to worry about a connection she shared with a man whose hatred of her people ran so deep he couldn't bring himself to even really see her as a person.

Her dream was the first real peace and quiet she'd had in so long. It was so tempting to just stay sitting at the lake's edge and watch the sun continue its silent path across the sky, so tempting to just leave everything and everyone behind.

But the peaceful solitude couldn't last.

"So that's it?" a male voice said to her right and she turned to see the man she'd seen when Caine had been speaking to her down in the cells standing next to her. Just like in that previous vision, he had blond hair and piercing green eyes that tugged at her memory, eyes that were watching her with disapproval.

"Things get a little out of your control and suddenly you're done?" he asked and Quinn had the distinct impression she was being scolded.

It was not a feeling she liked in the slightest and, just like when she was faced with Silvia and her taunts, Quinn's knee-jerk reaction of anger kicked in.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded. "What the hell do you want from me?"

The man merely smiled at her, seemingly unimpressed with her anger. "All in good time ..."

Before she could object, he sat down beside her and gazed out at the lake, the water of which was so still it was as if it were made of glass. He didn't seem to care that she was about ready to punch him for disrupting her peaceful solitude.

It was a long time before he spoke. "You have to go back, Alexandra. You know that, don't you?"

Quinn sighed and nodded.

Tempting as it was to stay in her little dream world, experience had taught her that nothing so good ever really lasted.

"Why am I so different?" she whispered bitterly. "Why couldn't I just turn the emotions off and kill my targets that night, like the others did? Why did I turn out so weak?"

"Valuing life does not make you weak, child," the man replied. "And disregarding it does not make you strong."

He turned to her and then motioned to the lake. "Take a look. Tell me what you see."

Quinn stared at him for a moment. Seriously? He was going all 'wise man' on her?

In spite of herself, she moved to the edge of the water and peered at her reflection on the smooth surface.