Tɪɢʜᴛᴇɴɪɴɢ Bᴏɴᴅs || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Tʜʀᴇᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғɪᴠᴇ || sᴘᴀʀʀɪɴɢ ᴘᴀʀᴛɴᴇʀ

Sasha

"You!" It came out in a snarl fitting of a jaguar. The world narrowed to us. Me, my sword, Delar, and this man.

This man, who I hadn't seen in years. Who had abandoned me— us. 

"How dare you show your face here!" I heard the words, muffled from my own lips, and waved my sword. Anger, hot and hungry and better than anything else, coursed through me. Anger I could work with.

The man stepped back. "Listen—" he started again.

"No," I snapped, cutting him off. "No, I don't want to hear it!"

The man stumbled back, his short wavy hair falling into his eyes. "Sasha, please!"

"No, Flynn"— not Father, not anymore— "you have no right to be here." I sneered. I levelled my sword at him.

Someone grabbed my arm. Shoved their way into my sword's path.

The world rushed back into focus. Tyler stood in front of my, his hand around mine on the hilt of my sword. "Put it down." He said, his voice low like a growl. "Before I make you."

I scanned his face. It was unreadable, but serious. I let my grip on the blade slacken.

Tyler took the sword from my hands.

Flynn, emboldened by this, straightened again. He took a step toward me. "Sasha, let me explain. Please." He said.

I felt my lip curl in disgust. A grown man, begging. I set my jaw and met his gaze. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Then just listen, let me explain." Flynn said again, stepping closer.

Tellun, he still smelled like home.

"I always wanted to come back—"

Something inside of me, maybe that little tangle of rage that I'd been gathering back together, exploded. "You've got a lot of nerve, marching in here and expecting me to forgive you!" I snapped. "You were gone for years! You think you can just explain that away? I'm not a child anymore!"

Flynn winced. He reached out, but flinched back when Delar growled. "Sasha, it's not that simple."

"I don't care." I turned, not letting him see how he got to me. "Because whatever you think, I'm not your son anymore. Father." I spat the last word at him, then snatched my sword back from Tyler and stomped away.

I passed close enough to Zay that I saw her lips move, barely making out the words she murmured to herself.

"You, too?"

What? I wondered, but only briefly. My anger was far stronger than my curiosity. I brushed it off and continued past her, into the woods.

I walked until I found a small clearing, then I lifted my sword and shrugged out of my cloak, plunging into the defensive and offensive practices I'd learned.

"That idiot." I growled, slicing through the air with the blade. "He leaves us for years and only shows up now? He thinks he can just walk in and out of my life whenever he wants?!"

Sweat beaded on my brow, trickling down the sides of my face. "Well, too bad. He left me and I'm never letting him back in! I hate him."

I roared with the exertion, swinging my sword up, left and then right. "I don't need him."

I blinked sweat out of my eyes and whirled, swinging my sword around and embedding it in the nearest tree. "I don't need him!"

I yanked my sword free and whirled again. "I. Don't. Need. Him!" I huffed and struck the tree again.