Huntress: The Beginning by LT Reynolds (top ebook reader TXT) 📕

rock, sitting there, just waiting for her.

She didn’t have much time to ponder why she couldn’t find it before as the wolf shook itself, almost as if wet and its claws digging into the dirt with every gallop it took towards her.

Savannah grabbed the rock and swung around, using all the strength she could muster and clipped the wolf off the side of the head. It was a great hit and it flopped back onto the ground, yelping as it backed against the rough tree bark.

Adrenaline pumped at high velocity through her blood, and she sat on the ground. She should’ve been running but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t come back at her now. The rock was still clenched in her fist.

It watched her, panting against the tree.

“Savannah! Van!” Derek’s voice broke through the silence and It stood up, and snarled at her once more then left as quickly as it had come. Derek appeared only seconds later and in her frazzled state the only thing she thing that came to mind wasn’t did he get help or even where the wolf had gone.

“You look better.”

He did. His color had come back and even though he was still shaking very faintly, he didn’t look like he was going to faint anymore. Derek turned her and his eyes grew wide, his mouth dropping. Savannah forgot for a second that she’d just been savagely attacked by a wolf.

“Me?” He scoffed and slid to his knees in front of her, gingerly touching the bites on her face. They stung when he touched them. “What the hell happened to you?”

“You know I didn’t believe that there was a wolf roaming around until I met it.” Savannah muttered and let a small smile flicker across her lips. “And it didn’t like me.”
*
Sometime later, a gaggle of paramedics crowded around her at the base of the redwood tree. What remained intact from her sweater, which wasn’t much to be honest, had been pulled off her and collected as evidence. She asked if they were going to take her to the hospital for any shots or anything but they said much of the injuries she sustained were predominately ‘cosmetic’.

Derek had taken off his shirt for her to wear after they were finished, sowing what needed to be closed much to her dismay. Savannah had never been really comfortable with needles.

He claimed to be looking for her lost shoe and sock but she doubted that.. He was pacing around the area with his eyes almost always closed. Unless he had an invisible pair of eyes on his forehead, he wasn’t looking at all.

“Cute, huh?” One of the paramedics beside her named Wendy whispered beside her. Apparently she thought Savannah was watching Derek for other reasons. Savannah looked at the cherry blonde beside her that was wrapping her stomach, one of the densely scratched areas, with a large tensor bandage.

She rolled her eyes and looked back at Derek, “Derek, where’s my shoe!”

You know in the Scooby-Doo cartoons when either Shaggy or Scooby would jump into the others arms and they’d both shake? Had another person been behind him, Derek might’ve done that. His eyes were wide and hard, angry until he realized that she was laughing.

Derek smiled softly, “I’ll get right on that, Van.”

He disappeared before she could correct, into the woods around the spot where the wolf had thrown her shoe. A skinny police constable settled down in front of her and asked her a bunch of questions about the events leading up to finding the body and she gave a description of the wolf, pointing to the general way it went. During the questioning, the paramedics finished and Savannah slipped on Derek’s tank.

Wendy stuck around to talk to Derek when he appeared a few minutes later with her shoe and sock. “I’m releasing her into your care. Take her home, let her rest and if there is any discomfort, drop by the pharmacy in town and they’ll give her something for it.”

Derek crouched down in front of her and carefully slid on her sock and shoe on her foot, squinting up at Wendy with a smile. “Will do.” He helped Savannah up to her feet and was all to eager to be her personal babysitter and stuck like glue at her side back to school where, luckily, the halls were bare.

“14-30-11.” Savannah recited her locker combo to him, leaning her shoulder against another locker beside hers. She was letting him open it for her. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Grab the folder off the top shelf and my backpack and then shut it.”

Derek grabbed her backpack first and swung it over his shoulder before he reached for the folder off the top shelf. She took it from his hands and stuffed it into the backpack on the back of his arm.

“Hey, what’s that?”

“It’s confidential.” She answered. Derek off all people didn’t need know anything about the contents of that folder. Not then, not ever. Derek merely shook it off and smiled as he slammed the door right shut and locked it. Savannah liked that nonchalant attitude. “Did you want to stop at your locker and get a shirt or something?”

His smile grew, “Why? Are you intimidated by my muscular physique?”

“No.” She really wasn’t. Savannah had hardly even noticed. He chuckled as they strode towards the main doors, his knuckles brushing hers as they walked. It was annoying enough that she just crossed her arms.

“So, are you coming to my party tonight?” Savannah glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, scowling. She’d almost forgotten about that and hoped that he’d completely forgotten. “You know… the one we were talking about earlier? I guess we kinda got interrupted.”

Savannah sighed deeply, “It’s been a long, hard day. I don’t think a party is in my best interests, Derek.” They neared the glass main doors and passed the office where the staff were looking at them with wide eyes.

“Well, you’ve been released into my care, Savannah and you don’t have to stay long or drink anything other than water.” He told her quick, almost in desperation. She’d swept past him and pushed through the crystal door. “Think of it as a necessary check-up.”

Derek caught her wrist from behind, crossing the line. Savannah tossed her head back, her lips pressed firmly together. Derek was at least observant enough to know that what he’d done was wrong and withdrew his hand from her skin.

A car door opened and shut a few feet in front of her and she twist, watching Henry’s expression distort in horror. “A friend told me what happened over the radio,” He began and stamped towards them, looking between a bloodied Savannah and shirtless Derek. We must look like an odd pair. “I imagined… well, I don’t know what I imagined… You look horrible, Savannah. How do you feel?”

“About the same as I look.”

Henry stopped in front of her and held out her arms, as if asking permission to hug her. Derek snorted lightly beside her and she stepped out of Henry’s arms, glancing over at him. What was that for? After a long couple moments of both she and Henry looking at Derek, Henry got back to her.

“I could take you home…”

“Actually,” Derek jumped in and without thinking, slid his hand on her shoulder before promptly tucking his hand away in a tight fold over his chest. “Savannah’s kind of under my care. I’m going to drive her home and we’re going to meet up tonight to make sure she’s alright still, right?”

He put her on the spot. It was either yes or no now and as much as she wanted to say no, how could she? Savannah’d come off like an ungrateful jerk if she said no. She had provoked Derek into jumping the fence with her.

Reluctantly, she agreed and satisfied, Henry let them go on into the parking lot. Derek led them across the parking lot where his fabled ‘baby’ sat under the shade of a tree on the very fringe of the lot.

The sleek black Camaro was new. His parents had bought it for him at the beginning of the school year. She’d seen it before but not up close. Paris’ pink Porshe sat next to his almost all the time and getting close to that at anytime of the day was almost certainly suicide.

“Do you want to open the door for me or something?” She muttered, looking down at her blood soaked hand. Whether it was her blood or the other guy’s blood, she didn’t know. “I’d really rather nor smear blood all over your paintjob.”

Derek laughed and blew a raspberry with his lips, “It’s just a car.” He opened the backseat door and tossed her backpack inside. “I’m not one of those guys who goes nuts over the littlest detail. A car can be washed.”

“Of course not; you’ve got enough money to buy another car. So, why care what happens to this one?“ She hadn’t meant for it to come out that way. Savannah tried to keep her mouth shut because he owed Derek but she couldn’t shut herself off sometimes.

By this time, they were in the car and putting on their belts. Derek glanced over at her and smiled, taking it as a joke. Savannah was sure it hurt him though and that made her a little sick to her stomach.

Derek was different than all the other guys she’d ever interacted with at school. He seemed far more sensitive and at the same time, more held together. Any other guy would’ve yelled at her for that comment.

For the rest of the short car ride home, they were silent. Savannah preferred it that way. Not speaking a word was a prime way to avoid being a--for a lack of a better word--crab.

Savannah’s apartment building was at the very dead end of the street that turned off of the drive to the school. Derek slowed his car down turning off into the narrow driveway, low hanging willow leaves brushing over the windshield like a brush in the carwash. The square red-bricked home was a simple one with balconies on all the other apartments. It was meant for older, retired folks but since Savannah was so quiet--not to mention that she paid more rent than the rest did too.

The gravel crunched under the tires of the Camaro as they rolled to a stop, alongside the building.

“So, what apartment is yours?” Derek asked with a smile. Savannah didn’t think he expected an answer and he was right. Although, from where they’d parked, Savannah could see into her living room but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Derek reached back and grabbed her backpack, passing it to her. “I’m going to pick you up before the party so that we can chat.”

Reluctantly, she agreed. One night and that’s it. Then, she noticed that she was still wearing his shirt. “I’ll wash this and get it back to you--”

Derek put his hand out to stop her with a bright grin, the light shining through the open sun roof sparkling in his eyes. “Keep it. It looks much better on you.”

Savannah tried to smile but it felt funny on her face. It wasn’t that she couldn’t or didn’t want to be happy but… it was harder