Chapter 107: She was not okay.

Hunter did not stop her. He released Tyrant from the beast pocket and fed the tiger. Everyone did the same with their beasts.

Zyra’s half-life beasts came from the beast domain and curled around her boots. They made it clear that they were not on board with the cold weather, especially the ducks. She sent them back into the domain quickly. Spice and Squirrel remained with her, one in her arms and the other around her wrist. But within twenty minutes, they succumbed to the exhaustion of the frozen night and slept off.

For two hours, she maintained the same position: legs crossed like a monk in meditation. Conversation in the cave soon died down. Zyra fished out the compass from her pocket. She flipped it over and over in her hands, letting the cold metal bite into her palm as memories of her childhood_ before the betrayals, before her parents disappeared_ flooded her mind. A heavy, suffocating wave of grief hit her.

As soon as she was strong enough, she would go and search for her parents. But not before eliminating all or most of the danger following her currently. How would life have gone for their family if they were ordinary?

Would she have grown up pampered and loved like Lita?

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear Hunter sneaking up on her from behind.

"Still flipping that thing?" He asked.

Zyra jumped, her heart leaping into her throat. Squirrel and Spice were not too pleased to be rudely woken, but they relaxed quickly after sensing there was no danger.

Hunter dropped down on the ground, right next to her.

Quickly, frantically, Zyra turned her face away, wiping a hot tear from her cheek before it could freeze into an icy trail.

"You’re terrible at hiding things, you know," Hunter said softly. He had seen the tears, but his voice lacked his usual hardened edge. He looked out into the dark night, trying to give her a shred of dignity. "What are you thinking about so intensely out here? Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about that damn wedding?"

Zyra let out a sharp, self-deprecating scoff. "That doomed wedding? Please. That’s the absolute last thing on my mind. I’d rather fight a shark than think about that farce."

Hunter made a vague, grunt-like sound of agreement. Silence settled between them again, thick and heavy, broken only by the distant howl of the wind. He watched her fingers trace the worn marks of the compass, flipping it over, back and forth, over and over.

"How are you really feeling?" Hunter asked suddenly. The bluntness of the question caught her off guard. He turned his head to look at her, his blue eyes searching hers. "Are you okay?"

A huge lump instantly grew in Zyra’s throat. The last people to ask her if she was okay had been hypocrites, and she had lied through her teeth when she replied. With him, why lie?

Tears, hot and unstoppable, brimmed in her eyes. She swallowed hard, trying to force the vulnerability back down, but it was leaking out. She looked at Hunter, her voice trembling slightly. "I’ll only answer that... if you tell me how you’re feeling first."

Hunter pinched his lips together, his jaw tightening. He looked away, letting out a long, ragged sigh that came out as a big plume of white mist. He stayed quiet for so long she thought he was going to deflect with a joke.

"I haven’t been okay for a very long time," he admitted, his voice dropping to a raw, quiet whisper.

Zyra’s heart ached for him. "Who hurt you?"

"People close to me," he said simply. No anger, just a profound, exhausting sadness.

Zyra let out a strange sound_ a brittle, tragic mixture of a laugh and a scoff. "Isn’t that always how it goes?" she whispered, staring at the useless compass in her lap. "The thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies. It only ever comes from those close to us."

She wanted to say more. She wanted to sound wise, to sound like the strong, unbothered person she pretended to be every single day. But the dam broke.

"I’m angry, Hunter," she sobbed, the words tearing out of her chest as she finally broke down completely. "I’m far from okay. I miss my parents so much. And my only brother_ he hates me. He completely hates me. I just feel so alone in the world, and I want to scream why me to the skies, but the world is already in pain. Everyone is suffering in their own way. I am not special.

Someone out there is going to bed hungry for the third or sixth night in a row. Someone is about to bury their child. Someone is waiting for a loved one who went beyond the veil to come home. I am not okay, but I am not allowed to feel sorry for myself and I hate it."

All the walls she had meticulously built around herself crumbled into the snow.

Hunter didn’t hesitate. He reached out, wrapped a powerful arm around her shoulder, and pulled her tightly against his chest. He didn’t offer empty platitudes or words of wisdom about strengthening her heart against worldly attachments. He just held her, rubbing her arm, shielding her from the biting wind. "You can feel sorry for yourself with me."

As he held her, a fierce, primal need to protect her flared up inside his chest. Zyra always acted so ruthless, so entirely unbreakable in front of the others, but right here, shivering in his arms, she was incredibly vulnerable.

****

In the Beast Valley, the residents were not sleeping. They were telling their sit-in leaders about what had happened during the hunt as Malia checked for injuries.

Big Vince winced as she doused Julian’s mangled hip with a pungent green herbal solution. Julian howled, his fingers digging chunks out of the wooden bench he was lying on.

"Hold him down, you big lump!" Malia snapped, not looking up. "If he twitches, I might slice the wrong artery."

Big Vince quickly threw his big arms over Julian’s shoulders. "Easy, Jules, easy! Think of... I don’t know, roast duck!"

"We fell into a mob of tundra meerkats," Vince continued, looking up at the leaders to distract himself from the wet, crunching sounds of Malia’s tweezers. "Hundreds of the little buggers. Sharp teeth, eyes fierce, and absolutely zero respect for personal space. We fought them off, but Julian here became a chew toy for two of the biggest ones. They clamped onto his hip and just wouldn’t let go. I was pulling one by the tail, and it just stared at me while trying to become one with Julian!"

"They were trying to burrow into my body!" Julian wheezed, tears leaking from his eyes. "Aarrgghh, that hurts. Maybe we should let Yanxi the Soul maiden take care of this."

Malia nodded, "Almost done, we don’t need Soul maidens for all small injuries."

"A group of other hunters that were passing by heard the ruckus," Vince said, shivering slightly. "They helped us crack some meerkat skulls and carried us back to their place. That’s where he got the first aid. If not for their help, the wound would have gotten worse by the time we walked back through the valley gates. We have neighbors! I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing."

Malia narrowed her eyes. Were they good or bad neighbors and how close were they?