***Hunter's POV***

"FUCK" I yell, angry at the whole damn world.

I shouldn't have left her. I knew it would hurt her, I just never imagined she could be so broken, as broken as I am.

If she dies because of me, I won't be able to go on. How the fuck could I live without my sunshine in this black and white world, a world only she could bring color to.

Even to the Underworld, I'd follow you, mi amor.

I pack a bag and say bye to the house I've lived in for the past two years, knowing I might not see it again.

I hop in my basic Jeep, wishing I had my SCC Tuatara but unfortunately I had to leave that behind, it wasn't exactly an under-the-radar car.

I don't know how long I plan on being there, but I can't imagine leaving again. My sunshine needed me and even if I could only watch and protect from a distance, I couldn't go this long without seeing her again.

Luckily, when I'd left I'd decided to only go about an hour away into the Montana wilderness so that I could rush back to her if needed. I praise my past self as I start my car and rush to her, daydreaming of being by her side once again.

I'm coming, mi amor.

~1 hour later~

I finally arrive at the damn school, having broken multiple traffic laws to get here.

I rush in, running to the room Hayden said they were hiding in.

Almost there, any minute now and I'll see my su-

Someone grabs my arm and jumps on me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Hey sexy," Lacey purrs, "long time no see. You here for me? There's a janitor's closet right there. How about a little.... hang out for old times sake?"

"Get the fuck off me." I push her off, not exactly going for subtlety, "The love of my life is in this fucking school, and, fortunately for me, it's not you."

I run off, not caring enough to wait for her response. I know her family is close to mine and my father is hoping for an arranged marriage between me and Lacey, but I don't give a fuck. Not when sunshine was so close.

Finally, I make it to the damn room, this whole damn school is like a fucking maze.

I burst in, only to see some fucking stranger holding my sunshine's hand.

"Who the fuck is this guy?" I growl, not bothering to say hi.

"Uhm... my name is Jordan. Nice to meet you," the fucker says, still holding my girl's hand, "I assume you're Hayden's brother, Hunter."

"Well, Jordan," I spat out his name with as must disgust as I can muster, "why the fuck are you touching my girl?"

"Well.... uhm... she isn't your girl, she's mine." The fucker says with a straight face, as though he actually fucking believes that

"Haha so funny. Now let her go and stop lying. I won't ask nicely next time." I know Brandi and Hayden are watching, but I don't care. My sunshine was right there and I couldn't reach her because of this fucker.

I glance around Jordan and see my beautiful girl lying down on a couple of desks set in a row. Her beautiful black hair is surrounding her, the messy waves looking as amazing as I'd remembered.

The fucker coughs, trying to get my attention, but he's already lost it. I don't care if he thinks she's his, she's mine.

I want her to open her eyes so I can see her gorgeous blue eyes, I want to be able to dive into the ocean that is her eyes once more.

I had nightmares after that day, nightmares about leaving her. About losing her. But the dreams of her would chase them away. I'd see those beautiful blue eyes and feel that beautiful black hair and all was right with the world.

I start to walk towards her, ready to wait by her side for however long, when an arm blocks me.

"Hey man," the fucker says, "that's my girlfriend. I'd appreciate it if you stopped making googly eyes at her."

I sniff him, noting how I smell he's a were shifter. I sniff a bit deeper and find he is a lion. Ugh, lions are such arrogant jackasses.

"Look here, lion." I tell the fucker, "Get your hand off of me or I'll help you get your hand off of me. Don't test me today, she's not here to stop me from murdering your ass."

"Woah, woah, woah" Hayden finally steps in, looking at the fucker with concern and a bit of.... is that fucking humor I see on his face? "Let's all calm down a bit, the medic checked her out and dressed her wounds. She should wake up soon. Let's not have her wake up to a cat fight, ok boys?"

"Fine. But I'm not doing this for you, fucker. I'm doing this for her." I say, looking the fucker dead in his eyes, trying to make him see that I wasn't backing down, not when it came to her.

He nodded, then went back to holding her hand. Fuck. Jordan should consider himself lucky that Hayden used Persey as a reason to keep myself from beating this asshole to death.

***Jordan's POV***

Damn this man was scary as hell. I kind of regret this whole plan.

Like, I know he's identical to my soulmate but somehow he's like the scary version of Hayden.

Hayden looks like a cute teddy bear you want to hug and this man looks like a fucking scary ass murder teddy bear that'll chase you around with a knife while giggling maniacally.

He switched between glaring at me and lovingly glancing at Persey. I was honestly only holding her hand now with the hope that he wouldn't beat me up due to how close I was to her.

I could see why Hayden thought he imprinted. The way he looked at her obviously wasn't some human attraction. I'm not sure how, or why for that matter, but this man had definitely imprinted on Persey, and the way she acted made it seem like maybe she imprinted on him.

But she doesn't have magic, that should be impossible. You can only find your soulmate and imprint if you have magic, and even with magic it's rare to find your soulmate, which is why I'd lucked out when I met Hayden.

I had never heard of a dud imprinting. EVER. But then again there had never been a dud from such a powerful family, Persey was a full blood and still a dud. That should have been impossible, duds were usually because they had too much human in them. Persey had no human in her.

Perhaps her inherent magic allowed her to imprint with this scary-ass mofo. Or maybe she had a little bit of magic, it was just so small no one noticed.

In any case, as soon as Persey woke up I was ending this charade. Because this man looked 2 seconds away from ripping my head off. And I liked my head on my neck, thank you very much.

***Persephone's POV***

I dreamed of him, as I had for years. However, this was no longer a nightmare. I could smell his scent again, the smell of a forest invading my scents. I could hear his voice, the smooth timber a bit deeper than before.

I don't know why I imagined these things so vividly, but I hoped to never wake up. I'd give anything for another moment with him.

I could feel myself rousing, but I wasn't ready. I wanted to listen to his words and smell his scent a little bit more. I tried holding on, tried forcing myself to sleep but it's no use. My mind was wide awake and wasn't happy with the thought of sleeping anymore.

I slowly open my eyes, my back sore and my head pounding. I look up, confused why I'm looking at a tile ceiling instead of my bedroom's gray ceiling.

Then I remember. Fuck. I passed out, and I'm pretty sure the traitors I called my friends called Hunter. Well, maybe I could still run before he came.

I could hear my friends around me, but I don't think they noticed I was awake. Someone was holding my hand, but they had a loose grip, something I could easily slip out of. I bolted up, ready to rush out when I knocked into a chest.

I smelled a very familiar scent, a scent I had just dreamt about. I jolted back and saw him, standing there in all his glory. His black hair looked ruffled, as though he had been playing with it. His forest green eyes stared deep into mine, reading me with just one look as he had always been able to do.

I slowly walk backward, trying to get my distance. All of my feelings of anger chose that moment to come out, anger at him for leaving and anger at myself for causing him to leave.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I whisper, but I know he's heard me. He always fucking hears me.

He just kept on staring, looking almost awed. I'm not sure at what, I looked like a fucking bum and my hair had chosen violence so I looked like I had a rats nest on my head.

"Hey girl," Hayden said, somewhat nervously, "you're finally up. So, uhm, Hunter arrived haha,"

"I can see that, you traitor." I say, venom lacing my voice, "You can leave now, Hunter. You left before, may as well leave sooner than later. Or do you hope to stay a bit longer and break some more hearts before leaving suddenly? Cause if so, I heard Lacey wants in your pants."

I expect a response, but I get nothing. Just a heated stare, a stare that would normally make me blush but right now I was too damn pissed to care.

"What are you still doing here??" I ask, "Wanna see how I'm doing? WELL, HOW ABOUT THIS, I'M FUCKING BROKEN. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANNA HEAR? That because you left me I literally fucking bro-"

I'm interrupted by him stepping up to me, grabbing my face softly, and crushing his lips to mine.

He kisses me hungrily, as though he missed me as I missed him. I know I should try and pull away but not even my anger at him could pull me away from him, not when this is the first time he has ever kissed me.

After a couple of minutes, he pulls away and rests his forehead on mine as we pant, trying to regain our breath.

"You almost died you fucking idiot." He says, his voice gravelly, "Never do that to me again, or else I'm locking you up in your house."

I back up, my anger taking over once again. "You do not get to make fucking demands. You left me, so I'll do whatever the fuck I want."

"Why not just ask your BoYfRiEnD to help you out?" He ask, confusing the absolute fuck out of me, his voice oozing with jealousy, "Why go out looking for pain when you could just have him comfort you?"

"What in the actual fuck are you going on about?" I ask, honestly tired of his bullshit," I'm single as fuck. Probably because the last guy I loved fucking left."

"You... You love me?" He asks, taken aback.

"That's what you took from that? Not the fact that you LEFT me or the fact that I can't look at another guy after you. You really are a fucking idiot. And I said 'loved.' As in past tense." I spat the words at him, my anger getting the best of me. I knew he still owned my heart, but he didn't know that.

"Wait so Jordan isn't your boyfriend?" He asks, like a fucking moron, completely bypassing the fact that I said I no longer love him, "He said he was."

"Jordan is fucking gay you idiot, and he's dating YOUR brother." I yell, confused as to why he thought this, "Even if I liked him, I'm not his type."

He turns away from me for the first time since I ran into him and turns toward Jordan, anger evident in his stiff form. "Why in the fuck did you lie to me? And why didn't you tell me he was your BOYFRIEND Hayden?"

"So... uhm... we thought that if we pushed you, you'd stay. And the only way we knew how to push was to make you... well... jealous haha." Hayden awkwardly chuckles as he shuffles over to stand in front of Jordan, obviously trying to protect him from Hunter's wrath.

"You fucking assh-" he suddenly cuts off and turns towards me, "Wait so you're single?" He looks at me expectantly, obviously expecting an answer

"Uhh yeah," I say, not sure why he had such a sudden change in attitude. One second I thought he was gonna kill Jordan and the next he was staring at me with a small smile.

"Oh thank fucking Jesus, I'm not sure what I would've done to that fucker if he had actually been dating you," he states, smiling as though that sentence should make sense to me.

"Uhm... even though I'm not dating him it wouldn't involve you, it's not your business who I do or do not date." I say, angry as hell that he thinks he can control me, "You left me, remember?"

"Yes I did and I'm so sorry, but I'm here now sunshine. And I'm never leaving your side again."

"Did... did you just call me sunshine?" I'd never heard him call me that, and was surprised by the sweet nickname.

"Yes, because you bring color to my world. Without you, my days were only black and white. Believe me, leaving you was as torturous for me as it was for you."

I can see the others standing off to the side in my peripheral, watching everything go down. Brandi looks like she's about to break out in song, Jordan still looks terrified and Hayden looks almost... radiant.

But then his words click in my mind. DID HE JUST SAY IT WAS TORTUROUS FOR HIM? HE'S THE ONE WHO FUCKING LEFT.

"Are you kidding me? You left me. How could it be torturous for you? I cried myself to night every fucking night and then I was haunted by nightmares of you leaving. I haven't gotten a good night of sleep in 2 years, not without a fight forcing me to pass out. I even tried medication, but not even that could keep the nightmares away. How dare you tell me it was torturous for you?" I rant, breathing hard as I finish. I was so fucking angry at him, more than I'd ever imagined before.

When I'd imagined our reunion before, I'd imagined me running into his arms and hugging the fuck outta him. Now that he's here, I just wanna punch his pretty face over and over again.

"I'm so sorry you went through that sunshine." He uses that damn nickname, softening my heart and ridding me of my anger. "I had nightmares too, but I couldn't come back. I had to do something dangerous and I didn't want you getting caught in the middle. I'll explain it all, I promise. I won't leave you again, no matter how dangerous it is. I'm ready to fight for you now."

I think it over, remembering how he owes me that date and deciding that if I truly want to figure everything out from that day, I need to give him another chance. No matter how angry I am, I know he's a good person and had to have a good reason.

"Ok fine, but you owe me that date," I say, trying to back away from him. He smirks at me and starts to follow me, arms already reaching for me in a hug.

I'm about to give in and let me hug him when I hear my phone ring. I would've ignored it but the ringtone I hear is only assigned to one person, one person I must answer.

I pick up, preparing myself for whatever's about to go down.

"That favor you owe me... I'm calling on it now. Remember, don't do it and I'll finish what I started." My father hangs up before I can respond, leaving me behind to ponder exactly what I needed to do. And whether I'd make it to the other side intact.