HUNTED

Aila watched the ground moving below her; the grass and dirt track turned into the wooden steps leading up the cabin. She tried wiggling some more in Clint\'s arms, but it was no use, her body was weak, and her injuries would take much longer to heal. Instead, she used the last few seconds to assess the cabin\'s surroundings before she would be locked up for good.

There was nothing but the woods, the valley, and a barn to the left of the cabin. How did she miss that? Although, she didn\'t really have time to search the area when she sprinted away from this creepy man. Aila shivered as she was back inside the cabin and was placed on the bed once more. She backed away into the corner, grimacing at the pain in her leg and the amused look on Clint\'s face. He turned his back on her and left the room with the door left open.

​​

Aila knew not to do anything; Clint would be back, that she was sure of and did not fancy wasting the last of her energy to try and escape only to be caught again. From how he acted earlier at the table, he seemed to have a short fuse on his temper, and so in trying to escape again could cause her more issues. If she were to escape, it had to be a full-proof plan, one where Clint would not catch up to her. But at the moment, she couldn\'t think of anything. Her mind was wandering to the pain in her leg and the thought of wanting to sleep everything off.

Yet, she knew there were no such luxuries now. It seemed her situation now was worse than when she was initially kidnapped by the hunters. At least then, she had the \'Prisoner\'s Club\' to keep her spirits high in such dire circumstances. Now, she was with a psychopath intent on doing something to her before returning to the Hunters Association. Aila frowned slightly while she was in thought. How long did she really have with Clint?

Clint was a part of the hunters; he wasn\'t someone in charge like Silas, so he still has orders to follow. Whatever he wanted to do, it had to be soon. He couldn\'t keep her for long. Aila never thought she would ever feel relief at the possibility of going to a hunter\'s compound, but anywhere was better than being with Clint.

Clint walked back through the door, and Aila\'s heart dropped at the sight of what was in his hands. Was that a collar and chain? Her heart rate skyrocketed at the objects and the smirk on Clint\'s features. Clint could not kill her, and it seemed he could not keep her for long. So she decided, for now, it was best to cooperate.

He sat down on the bed by Aila\'s side, his eyes roamed her face, and he reached past her to the wall. Aila followed where his hand went, and she clutched at the bedcovers. She knew if Malia was there speaking right now, she would probably be screaming. Clint hooked the chain up to the wall before bringing the silver collar closer to her. Aila clenched her teeth together at the humiliation, and absolute pain of the collar clasped around her neck.

"Good girl. This is for your own good anyway," Clint muttered as he played with her hair. She flinched and turned her head away only to hear a chuckle in response from Clint. How was this for her own good? What world was that lunatic living on?

He left the room once more and returned with a first aid kit. Aila watched and paled even more as the hunter cleaned up her wound, made a splint and bandaged up the mess on her lower leg. He did it efficiently as though he had taken care of others before. But she knew there was no compassionate bone in his body.

Clint cleared the mess up and returned sometime later with a bowl of soup. Aila looked at it warily and then stilled in shock as he raised the spoon up to feed her himself.

"I can do it!" She reached for the bowl and spoon, but Clint pulled it away and tutted. Aila could see he was serious, and like she did with the collar incident, she let him spoon feed her. Her whole situation was so bizarre, and Clint feeding her gave her the chills, especially with such a disturbing silence. Maybe she could try and \'befriend\' him like she did with Chase in her original plan? It could act as a way for him not to try and hurt her.

"Clint, are all hunters taught first aid? You seem to know what you were doing.." She asked hesitantly before accepting the spoonful of soup.

"Hunters are taught first aid. But I wasn\'t trained with them," He replied, bringing the spoon back to the bowl. Aila looked at him, baffled. She presumed he might have been a psycho made from the environment around him. But he did not get trained by the hunters. 

"How do you know such things then? Were you not always with the hunters?" She asked out of curiosity.

"I was in the army. Silas sought me out after for my.. special skill set," He smirked and put the bowl on the side before looking at his watch.

"Your skillset?" Aila narrowed her eyes slightly. He could shoot a gun? So, what?

Clint chuckled, "Aren\'t you so suddenly eager at knowing your kidnapper more? Was this another plan? Was this how you lured Chase to your side? Showed him a bit of cleavage and-"

SMACK!

Clint\'s head whipped to the side from where Aila slapped him. His cheek was left red, and he clutched at it and chuckled darkly. Clint turned his head back to look at her, and she could see a spark of danger and amusement behind his usually empty eyes again. His lips curled up into a smile, and he leaned closer towards her. Aila leaned back, but there was nowhere else for her to go, and Clint only grabbed onto the chain and yanked her towards him, so they were inches apart.

Aila pushed her hands against his chest, but her body was too weak. She would not last long at this rate, and Clint hadn\'t done anything to her yet. Unless he just liked to chain girls to walls and get them to dress up in pretty tea dresses? One look at his face made her strongly believe he did a lot more than that.

"Do you want to know what one of my first jobs was as a hunter?" He whispered darkly.

Aila was looking at him with widened eyes, still trying to pull her head away from his. But he kept her in place and smelled her cheek before caressing the other and staring intently into her eyes.

 "Silas instructed the squad and me to ransack a certain pack territory. My orders were to kill the Alpha King and Queen.." He trailed off, searching her eyes with a smug smile crawling up his face. Aila felt a sudden chill go down her spine, and she stopped breathing. Did he.. She blinked rapidly, and tears sprung to her eyes. Clint stroked the side of her face again, his very touch making her frozen. "What were their names again… I can\'t remember now.. hmmm… Oh, but they were related to you, I believe.."

Aila looked at him in shock, fear and pure hatred. She was staring into the eyes of the man who killed her parents. Without even thinking about her next actions, she headbutted him in the face and lunged towards him. But it was useless. 

Clint did not even flinch at her attack and instantly smacked her hard enough to fall back into the wall. He grabbed at the chain and pulled her down, so she lay flat on her back. Her throat burned and sizzled from the silver collar, and she couldn\'t breathe from how hard he was pulling on the chain. 

Aila\'s hands and legs lashed out violently. Clint clicked his tongue in annoyance and smacked her in the face, stunning her momentarily while he climbed atop her, pinning her down and grabbing her arms and held her down. The pair stared at each other. Clint looked at her in amusement while she glared at him through her overflowing emotions. 

He then loosened the hold on the chain slightly, providing her with enough room to inhale sharply. But now, she breathed heavily from the rising anger and pain at who he was. Tears streamed down her eyes when she suddenly stilled as a jolt of memory came flashing back through her mind.

Aila gasped at what she saw and stared back at Clint. How could she not recognise him? Aila felt her stomach churn, and her vision slowly became blurry. Dots scattered across her vision, and she saw that sick bastard smiling down at her; he even left a kiss on her cheek.

Did he put something in that soup?

That didn\'t matter right now. Aila was facing her parents killer, and she couldn\'t do anything to avenge them. The Luna could only hope that she would be rescued, and she could kill him then and there.

"Sweet dreams, Aila."

The monster\'s \'sweet\' words echoed through her mind as her body relaxed into the bed beneath her and her eyes slowly closed. When her lids opened again, she found herself in the garden of the Silver Crescent Pack\'s packhouse. Aila watched as a little white-haired girl played tag with a dark-haired boy.

It was her and Damon as children. Was this a dream? It felt vaguely familiar..

"Aila, Damon! Get inside now! The pack is being attacked!"