Elena’s POV
I had spent the entire day battling that obstacle course, and the record still remained unbroken. By dinner ti, my muscles ached and my palms were raw from the ropes. I grabbed a tray and headed to our regular table where the others were already gathering.
Koa whistled when she saw my hands. "Look at those blisters. That course really did a number on you."
"Tell about it," I replied, wincing as I flexed my fingers. "I’m hoping tomorrow brings sothing different. Anything different."
Nico leaned forward with curiosity. "How long have you been stationed here?"
"Just got here yesterday. Still figuring out how everything works around this place."
"That’s actually reassuring," Nico said with a grin. "Nice to know we’re not the only ones trying to find our footing."
I nodded, glancing around the dining hall. "I think the four of us are the newest additions they’ve had in quite a while. Everyone keeps watching us like we’re so kind of exhibition."
Asher shrugged casually. "They’ll lose interest soon enough."
"I hope you’re right."
"You don’t enjoy the spotlight?" he asked.
"I prefer focusing on my training without having an audience critiquing every move I make."
"Can’t argue with that logic," Asher replied.
Sothing about him kept drawing my attention, though I couldn’t identify what exactly. The way he carried himself, maybe, or how he seed completely unfazed by the scrutiny from other trainees. Whatever it was, it was becoming increasingly distracting.
Every ti I found myself studying his profile, he would catch looking and I’d quickly return my focus to my al, heat creeping up my neck.
"Everything okay over there?" Asher’s voice cut through my thoughts.
"Yeah, just tired," I lied, stabbing at my vegetables with more force than necessary.
I couldn’t understand this strange fascination. Asher was tall, easily six foot six, with striking features that caught attention wherever he went. But I had encountered plenty of attractive n during my training. None of them had ever affected this way. What made him different?
The answer eluded , but I wasn’t the only one taking notice. Every female trainee in the dining hall seed drawn to the three newcors like moths to a fla. The Hunters in their standard uniforms, the support staff in green, they all found excuses to walk past our table or steal glances in our direction.
Their obvious interest made sothing twist uncomfortably in my stomach, though I refused to examine that feeling too closely.
When dinner concluded, I was grateful to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the ss hall. The evening air felt cool against my flushed skin as I wandered toward the training grounds, seeking solitude.
Corbin appeared beside as I stood gazing upward at the star-scattered darkness.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Just thinking."
"About what? It’s pitch black out here."
"About the moon," I answered, not taking my eyes off the pale crescent hanging above us.
Corbin gave an odd look. "Careful there. You’re starting to sound like those werewolves we’re supposed to be hunting."
I rolled my eyes. "I’m nothing like them. But I can understand why they’re drawn to it. Don’t they have so kind of moon worship or sothing?"
"Sothing like that. I’ve never really looked into their religious practices."
After Corbin headed back inside, I made my way to the bunk house for a much-needed shower. The hot water helped ease so of the tension from my shoulders, though my thoughts kept drifting back to dinner and those intense monts when Asher’s attention had been focused entirely on .
When I erged from the bathroom, I discovered that my sleeping arrangents had been determined without my input. Asher’s gear was arranged on the bunk to my left, while Nico had claid the one on my right.
Perfect. Sandwiched between them both.
I just hoped neither of them were heavy sleepers or snored loudly enough to keep awake.
Walking past Asher’s bunk, I caught a whiff of his cologne or aftershave. The scent was distinctive but impossible to place, sothing that made want to breathe deeper to identify it. Strange how even his sll seed designed to capture my attention.
The sound of approaching voices sent hurrying to my own bunk, where I grabbed the first book I could find and pretended to read.
"What’s that?" Asher asked as he settled onto his mattress.
"Just an old book. I’m not even sure where I picked it up. I’ve had it forever."
He leaned closer to read the cover, and I caught another hint of that mysterious scent. "Interview with a Vampire. Interesting choice for a Hunter."
"It’s actually quite good. I heard they made it into a movie, but I haven’t seen it yet."
Nico looked up from organizing his belongings. "And you have no mory of where you got it?"
"None at all. I must have borrowed it when I was too young to rember and never returned it."
Asher’s eyebrows raised slightly. "But if you were too young to rember taking it, why would you have been reading sothing like that in the first place?"
The question hung in the air, and I realized I didn’t have a good answer. The book had simply always been part of my life, as familiar as breathing, though I couldn’t recall ever actually choosing to read it or how it had co into my possession.
"I honestly don’t know," I admitted, closing the cover and setting it aside. "So things just don’t have clear explanations."
Asher studied with an expression I couldn’t interpret, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle that didn’t quite fit together properly. The intensity of his gaze made my pulse quicken, and I found myself wishing I understood what was happening between us, why every interaction felt charged with sothing I couldn’t na.
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