44. Annalise #2
Just like that, our bodies settle into a beautifully synchronized rhythm.
No hesitation. No second-guessing. Pure instinct.
My body remembers what it used to be, even if my strength hasn't caught up yet, and he moves with the effortless confidence of someone who's led this dance a thousand times before, guiding the fight without ever making it feel like he's holding back.
Strike. Block. Pivot. Counter.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Korr’s mouth curves slightly. “There she is.”
I don’t answer. I can’t. Not when every movement feels enhanced—when the burn in my ribs and the pull in my muscles fade to the background.
I drive forward.
He actually has to step back.
A flicker of victory sparks in my chest. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy that later—”
He sweeps my leg again and the ground slams into me as the air leaves my lungs in a rough grunt.
“Too slow,” he says.
“Too cocky,” I snap, gripping his ankle and yanking it hard.
Seconds later, we're both laughing too hard to keep fighting.
Hunter rolls onto an elbow first, shaking his head. "That was perfect." He reaches down, offering me a hand. "You went down, but you didn't give up."
I grin as he hauls me to my feet.
We reset our stances, circling once before he throws a light jab. I slip inside it, he counters, and we trade only a handful of practiced movements before a familiar ringtone slices through the quiet.
Korr groans as I circle again, wiping sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. “Get that.”
“No.”
It rings again.
I throw a punch. He blocks, our forearms colliding hard enough to sting. “It could be important.”
“If it’s important,” he says, stepping into me, forcing me to adjust, “they’ll call again.”
“They are calling again,” I shoot back, twisting out of his grip and shoving him back half a step.
The ringing doesn’t stop.
It drills into the air—loud and insistent.
Korr ignores it completely, grabbing my arm and spinning me faster than I expect. My balance falters.
“Focus,” he snaps.
“Hard to focus when—”
“—when you’re looking for excuses?” His voice cuts clean and sharp. “You think when the enemy attacks they’ll automatically stop because you call for a pause? You know it doesn’t work like that.”
That hits. Hard.
My eyes flash, anger igniting fast and hot. “Don’t.”
“Then prove me wrong.”
Driving into him with everything I’ve got left—anger, frustration, the need to prove myself—and for a few seconds, it works. He gives ground. Actually gives ground. Our movements snap into sync, but this time, it’s more.
The world narrows to him and me and the space between us.
The phone keeps ringing.
I don’t know how long we’re sucked into the battle, but I’m straining for every breath when Korr finally breaks.
Not physically—he could keep going—but his hand closes around my wrist mid-strike, holding me there.
“Enough.”
I’m breathing hard, chest heaving. “You quitting on me?”
His gaze flicks past me, toward the bench where his phone is vibrating.
“No,” he says quietly. “But someone isn’t getting the hint.”
Violently picking up his phone, answers without even glancing back at me. “WHAT?”
I watch him, something uneasy curling low in my stomach as I try to tally up exactly how many times the caller must have hit redial.
Silence stretches as Korr listens to whoever is on the other end…and then I see it.
A shift.
His shoulders go still. His jaw tightens. Whatever’s being said on the other end, it lands hard.
“Where?” he asks.
Another pause.
“Stay there. Don’t let anyone touch anything until I get there.”
He hangs up, and as his eyes meet mine, all the heat from the fight drains out of me, replaced by something far less confident.
“What is it?”
He looks at me, regret fueling his expression.
“There’s been another attack.”
My stomach drops. “Another what? That’s not—"
“Animal,” he amends quickly, already moving—grabbing his jacket, his keys. Efficient. Focused.
Leaving.
“Hunter—”
He stops, barely long enough to look back at me.
“Call Matt,” he says. “Have him take you back to his room. Now.”
My brows pull together. “I’m not—”
“Annalise.”
It’s not loud, but it hits harder than anything he’s said all day.
“This isn’t training,” he says, voice low and controlled in a way that makes my chest tighten. “You go with him, and you stay there until I come get you. No one but me.”
Something in me bristles immediately. “You don’t get to—”
“I do,” he cuts in. “Right now, I do.”
Silence stretches between us, thick and charged.
I want to argue; Gods do I want to argue…But the look on his face—
“…fine,” I mutter, jaw clenched.
He studies me like he can’t believe I’m actually conceding, but I have no desire to come face to face with another monster before I’m at full strength.
Realization of exactly that must hit. “Good,” he says before rushing out without another word.
Standing in the silence of the arena, my breath the only sound, my skin buzzes from fear. From the fight. From him.
The quiet that settles in his absence feels wrong in ways I can't put words to.
“…another attack,” I murmur, digging my phone out from under my library books and calling Matt.
“Zest and I will be there soon to watch over you while you cross campus.”’
Matt answers on the second ring. "I just got off with Korr. I'm on my way."
Relief loosens the knot in my chest, if only slightly.
"We're not walking back alone," he continues. "Zest and Tyr are coming too."
A warm pulse brushes the edge of my mind.
“Already told her.”
A reluctant smile tugs at my lips.
"Tyr beat you to it."
"Good. Stay put. We'll all be there in a few."
The line goes dead and I slip my phone into my pocket, my gaze drifting across the now-empty arena.
I can't help but think back to the very first attack when I was on shift in the infirmary, I replay every deep claw mark carved across his flesh with unsettling precision, each one almost too perfect. And then there was the poison. The way it twisted the victim until he’d barely seemed human, his body thrashing violently as though something else had taken possession beneath his skin.
Hunter says it's another creature, and maybe he's right, but I've learned the hard way that beasts with claws aren't the only things capable of leaving scars behind.
Sometimes...the worst monsters wear human skin, and I'm really beginning to wonder if this one does too.