# Chapter 6: The Last Girl

I didn't touch the ribbon with my bare hands.

I don't know why. Something inside me said *don't.* So I went back to my room, got one of my old socks, and picked the ribbon up with it, the way you'd pick up a dead mouse. I folded it inside the note and hid them both under my mattress.

Then I sat on the floor with my back against the bed and watched the door until the sky turned gray.

*Lily.*

Who was Lily? And why was her ribbon covered in old blood?

At 4:30, I got up. I washed my face with cold water. I wrapped my ankle, which looked a little better today. I put on my leggings and hoodie, and I tied my hair up with the rubber band.

This time, I was going to beat him there.

---

I was at the training field at 4:40.

He was already there.

Of course he was. Kael Thorne was standing in the middle of the frosty grass with his arms folded, just like yesterday. My black hair tie was still on his wrist, sitting next to his watch.

"You're late," he said.

"It's 4:40!"

"I've been here since 4:30."

"Do you even *sleep*?"

He didn't answer. But his eyes moved over my face, slowly, and something in them changed.

"You look tired," he said.

"I didn't sleep well," I said. "New bed. Strange noises." I paused. "Someone was laughing in your room at midnight."

It came out before I could stop it. I wanted to bite my own tongue off.

Kael's jaw went tight. For a second, I thought he was going to explain. His mouth even opened a little.

Then it closed.

"Today we fight," he said instead.

---

Today was hand-to-hand training. No running up hills. Thank God, because my ankle would have fallen off.

Kael taught me how to stand, feet apart and knees soft, with my weight low. He taught me how to make a fist without breaking my thumb. He showed me how to block a punch with my forearm.

Then he punched at me, slowly, again and again, and I blocked, and blocked, and blocked.

He never touched me. Not once. Every time his fist came close, it stopped an inch from my skin. He was careful with me, almost too careful, like I was made of glass.

That made me angry.

"You can hit me, you know," I said. "I won't break."

"I know you won't."

"Then why are you holding back?"

He stopped. He looked at me with those stormy eyes.

"Because if I hurt you," he said quietly, "I'm not sure what I'd do to myself."

My heart did something stupid and fluttery in my chest.

Before I could say anything, someone clapped loudly behind us.

"Okay, okay, this is painful to watch."

Rhys was walking across the field toward us. He was wearing a white T-shirt and a big grin, and he was eating another apple. Does that guy ever stop eating apples?

"What are you doing here?" Kael asked. His voice was flat and cold.

"Saving her," Rhys said. He tossed the apple core over his shoulder. "Cousin, you're teaching her like she's a wolf. She's not a wolf. She's small. She's fast. You need to teach her how to fight *big guys*, not how to stand there and get punched." He winked at me. "Come here, Sienna. Let me show you a trick."

I looked at Kael. His face was like stone. He didn't say yes, and he didn't say no.

So I walked over to Rhys.

"Okay," Rhys said. "Grab my shirt. Like you're going to pull me."

I grabbed the front of his white T-shirt.

"Good. Now, when a big guy comes at you, you don't push back. You'll lose. He's stronger. Instead…" He put his hands on my waist, and turned me, slow and easy, so my back was against his chest. "You turn, like this. You use his own weight. You drop low, and you throw your hip back, and…"

He moved my body with his hands. It was a little too close, and he was holding on a little too long. I could feel him laughing quietly against my hair.

"Rhys." Kael's voice was low. Very low. "Take your hands off her."

Rhys didn't move. "I'm teaching her, cousin."

"Teach her without touching her."

"How am I supposed to do that? With my mind?"

"*Now*, Rhys."

The air on the field changed. It got heavy, the way the sky gets heavy before a storm. The other guards on the far side of the field stopped training and turned to look. Even without a wolf, I could feel it, a big, cold pressure that pushed down on my shoulders.

The Alpha's power.

Rhys finally let go of me. He put both hands up in the air, but he was still smiling.

"Okay, okay. Relax. I was just being friendly."

"Be friendly at the north border," Kael said. "You're on patrol today. All day. Go."

"The *north* border? That's six miles away!"

"Then you'd better start walking."

Rhys looked at Kael, then at me, then back at Kael. His grin slowly got bigger, like he'd just found out the best secret in the world.

"Oh, cousin," he said softly. "Oh, you've got it *bad*."

"Go, Rhys."

"Going." He walked backward, still grinning, and pointed at me. "Remember the hip trick, Sienna! It works on everybody! Even Alphas!"

Then he turned and jogged away across the field, laughing.

I stood there with my face on fire. Kael didn't look at me. He just stared after Rhys with his hands curled into fists.

"He was only showing me a move," I said.

"I know what he was doing."

"Are you…" I stopped. I couldn't believe I was going to say it. "Are you jealous?"

He turned his head slowly and looked at me.

"Again," he said, lifting his fists. "Block."

But I saw it. I saw the red at the top of his ears.

The great Alpha Kael Thorne was blushing.

---

We trained until noon. When it was over, my arms were shaking, and I had bruises on my forearms from blocking so much. But I felt good. I felt strong. Today, nobody in the field laughed at me.

The other guards walked away to get lunch. Kael picked up two bottles of water from the grass and handed me one. Our fingers touched when I took it. Just for a second.

That lightning feeling came back, small and warm, running up my arm.

I pulled my hand back. I drank half the bottle in one go to hide my face.

"You did well today," he said.

I almost choked on my water. "Was that a *compliment*?"

"Don't get used to it."

I smiled. I couldn't help it.

Then I remembered the ribbon under my mattress, and the smile went away.

"Kael," I said quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

He waited.

"Last night someone put a note under my door." I watched his face. "It said, *Stay away from him, Hollow. Or you'll end up like the last girl.*"

His whole body went still.

"Who's the last girl?" I asked.

He didn't answer. He looked away, out at the dark trees at the edge of the field, and a muscle moved in his jaw.

"Kael."

"Who gave you that note?" His voice was quiet, but there was something dangerous under it.

"I don't know. It was under my door at midnight." I swallowed. "And there was something else. In the hallway, by the stairs. I found a ribbon. A blue ribbon, with dried blood on it. And a name stitched on the end."

I said it very softly.

"*Lily.*"

The water bottle in Kael's hand crumpled. Plastic cracked and water ran down over his fingers and dripped onto the grass. He didn't even notice.

He turned to look at me. His face had gone gray, as gray as his eyes. I had seen him angry and cold and annoyed. I had never seen him scared.

He looked scared now.

"Where is it?" he whispered. "The ribbon. Where is it now?"

"Under my mattress. Kael, who is she?"

He closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them, his voice came out low and rough, like every word hurt.

"Lily was my best friend. We grew up together. She was the only person in this whole town who wasn't scared of me." He looked down at the broken bottle in his hand. "Five years ago, she went out walking one night and never came home. Three days later, they found her in the creek."

My heart stopped.

"The creek," I whispered. "The same creek where you found me?"

He nodded slowly.

"They said rogues killed her," he said. "But they never caught anyone. They never found out why."

I felt sick. The cold morning air suddenly felt colder.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "But Kael, then how did her ribbon end up in your hallway? Did she leave it at your house before she… before?"

He shook his head slowly.

"No," he said. "That's not possible."

"Why not?"

Kael lifted his eyes to mine. They were wide and dark.

"Because I tied that ribbon in her hair myself," he said. "On the day we buried her."