Free APOLLO RISING (The Apollo Saga, Book 1) by Sage Arroway

shapeless brown smudge in the middle of the landscape moved again. Two steps, three, and with a fourth step emerged into unobstructed view. It was a decent-sized deer, nervously stepping from the protection of the underbrush to nibble at some wildgrass it saw along the edge of its path.
    She motioned with her eyes for Tyler to look and she felt him go tense beside her. She couldn’t help but smile at his excitement.
    Allie lifted the bow from its case, and considered her best angle. She was about to suggest they change places when she noticed an expression of strange urgency on Tyler’s face. He held up his hands and glanced meaningfully toward the bow.
    She held it up to him, the offer clear. “Ever use a bow?”
    “Boy scout,” he said softly. “But I’ve never killed anything with one.”
    Allie quietly maneuvered dangerously close behind him, placing the bow in his hands. He took it easily, and she curled his fingers into proper position, nocked an arrow and moved him slowly into position. Wordlessly, she guided his arms, showed him how to draw back the string and hold it, quickly drawing on its target. She pointed to her own head, and then to her chest, indicating the latter as the better mark on the deer. He nodded softly and looked again towards the animal.
    Allie leaned in closer, guiding his hands, her breath falling on his face and neck. She inhaled the scent of him—the city mixing with the lush and dusky aroma of the wild. Something untamed and primal began to stir inside her. Against the calm of the woods, her heartbeat pounded inside her chest, creating chaos from within. His lips parted only slightly, and she knew, somehow, just how they would feel on her skin if she were to take the chance. He was close enough now, so close, she could almost taste him.
    “Now?” he whispered, breaking her concentration.
    It took Allie a moment to realize he was referring to the hunt. With some effort, she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and struggled to refocus on the deer. And when she nodded to him, his fingers released the arrow. It covered the distance between hunters and prey in the span of a single heartbeat and found its mark.
    Claimed, the animal uttered a single moaning cry and fell, bringing a sudden stillness to the forest around them. It may have taken only one of them to bring it down, but Allie knew it was going to take both of them to bring it home.
     

Chapter 15
     
     
    They made good time returning to the cabin.
    Allie had done the bulk of the fallen deer’s cleaning in the woods, and it was mid-afternoon by the time she bundled up the useable parts and set them in the icebox. She had been so focused on recalling her old skills that she hadn’t even noticed Tyler was gone until the lights in the cabin’s interior flickered to life.
    The back door opened, and Allie heard the familiar rumble of the generator as Tyler stepped back inside, stomping his feet against the doorframe. He smiled triumphantly at her.
    “You got it working!”
    Closing the door behind him, he rubbed his palms together to warm them. “Figured I’d better try to earn my keep.”
    She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she thanked him.
    He approached her, looking around the kitchen at the various pieces of deer still in various states of preparation. “Okay, you’re definitely not like any other girl I know.”
    “Not used to seeing your girls covered in blood, huh?” she joked, but regretted the statement as soon as she remembered his date at the campground. “Oh, Tyler - - I’m…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
    He waved his hand. “No, I know what you meant, it’s cool.”
    A long and awkward pause ensued.
    “But yeah,” he finally spoke, “you’re pretty good with a butcher’s knife. You learned all of this from your Grandma, huh?”
    Allie shrugged, blowing a stray hair from in front of her face. “It’s not like she only taught me crazy stuff like this, she made me stay in school and