Page 63 of Hunting for her Heart
His lips twist to the side as he assesses me, then he nods. “Perhaps you’re right. Maybe a change of pace is needed.”
“What are you thinking?” Hawk asks as he steps up to our side.
“We should give Willow some combat lessons.”
“Yes!” I exclaim, excitedly.
At the same time Hawk says, “No.”
“It will help her blow off some steam and teach her how to defend herself. It’s a win-win!” Bo tells Hawk as he gestures to me.
Hawk studies me for a minute before finally nodding. “Fine, you do hand-to-hand. I’ll do weapons.”
Bo smiles before winking at me.
“I’ll go first,” Hawk says, pulling a small knife from one of the many strapped to him. He begins to tell me about the different parts of the knife, and then moves on to show me the best way to hold it.
He demonstrates the different ways to use it: swiping forward or back-handed, stabbing, throwing. We decide to leave throwing off the table for now and focus on close combat.
He shows me the best places to injure someone and the most likely spots that will kill them.
I try to take it all in, never thinking that I’d learn something so savage. But this is not my world. And if I ever do go back to mine, I’d love to be able to protect myself against my father.
Hawk continues to teach me until my hand grows sore.
“You need to take a break. Let’s get something to eat,” Bosays as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and leads me to the bed, which is still the most comfortable place to sit in the cave. He digs out portions of the grimclaw meat while the three of us sit and eat in silence, staring at the cave entrance.
I glance at their faces and see the tension there. It only makes me worry more. “You guys are worried about Ronan,” I say as they both turn to me.
“I am surprised he’s not back yet,” Hawk says tentatively.
“But it doesn’t mean he’s in trouble,” Bo adds.
“How long do we wait?” I ask.
“Wait for what?” Bo says with a tilt of his head.
“Until we go look for him?”
He frowns, his eyes meeting Hawk’s as they stare at one another in some weird silent conversation. “I’d like to give him until sunset,” Bo begins.
“But we can’t look for him when it’s dark,” Hawk finishes.
“So we go now!” I say in conclusion, but they both shake their heads.
Hawk looks up at the hole in the cave ceiling as he speaks. “It’s barely midday. Let’s give it two more hours. If he hasn’t returned by then, then we go.”
“How do you even know when two hours have passed?” I ask.
He points up at the ceiling. “By the placement of the sun.”
“Is it time yet?”I ask for the fiftieth time in the past twenty minutes.
Bo sighs as he and Hawk exchange a glance, then he nods and pushes to his feet.
We managed to get in a little hand to hand combat after I agreed to wait two hours, but after an hour I lost all focus, unable to stop staring at the entrance. Bo used that time to braid my hair back into a ponytail so at least it was out of my face.
But I’m unable to concentrate on anything else right now. I have an awful feeling in my gut that something terrible has happened to Ronan.
