"All right," Vonn whispered. "Show me what you can do."
Stacy notched an arrow into the string, appreciating its fine weight, its wooden nock perfectly spined to the bow, with beautiful black-and-white-patterned natural feather vanes. Beating Vonn with this well-made weapon would be a pleasure.
But as she scanned the forest in front of them, she saw nothing that would serve as a target. "What am I supposed to shoot? There's nothing out there."
Vonn's amusement was her first hint that the match was rigged. "There is—but it won't be for long if you keep making so much noise."
Stacy bit back a retort, certain that she'd whispered more quietly than he had. She looked again, scanning the dark and light spots in the woods. She checked where the sun broke through and where it stayed stubbornly in shadow.
She saw a bird hopping on the forest floor, branches rustling from some creature hidden among the leaves. She wondered if she was supposed to shoot a bird, but an arrow seemed like overkill for a single sparrow.
The only thing Stacy knew was she wasn't about to ask and reveal her ignorance. Instead, she waited for something to move, her muscles tensed for the moment she saw something…but still nothing happened.
Stacy was just about ready to give up, wondering if there had ever been anything out there at all or if this was some kind of dumb snipe hunt.
But just before she turned around and handed him the bow, Vonn whispered, "Be patient. It's not that there's nothing to see; it's that you haven't learned how to see it yet."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked, irritated.
Instead of answering, Vonn moved silently behind her, positioning himself so that her buttocks pressed against his thighs. She tried not to think about his cock at the small of her back, even as she felt it harden. For his part, Vonn either didn't notice or didn't care, placing one hand at her waist and guiding her hand with the other, adjusting the position of the bow.
"Everything out here survives by becoming a part of the environment," he whispered against her ear, hatching a field of goosebumps along her skin. "They don't just blend in with the background; they are the background. So if you look for what's out of place, you're sure to miss them."
Stacy tried to ignore the melting feeling caused by his warm breath on her cheek, wondering how he'd gotten the advantage. "Did you really wake me up at the crack of dawn and march me through the forest just to remind me how much better your senses are than mine?"
She could feel Vonn smile, his face lightly touching hers, his body surrounding hers. "This isn't about your senses. It doesn't matter whether you're an alpha or beta or omega. It's all about letting go."
Stacy tried to stifle her frustration. He sounded like one of those nature calendars with sayings printed in fancy fonts below pictures of frogs. "So, what, I'm just supposed to take a guess and shoot?"
"That's not what I mean at all. You need to let go of how you've been taught to see."
This was getting ridiculous. "No one is 'taught' how to see. You either see, or you don't."
"You're wrong," he whispered without a trace of smugness. "Your eyes look, but your mind decides what to see."
"Okay, thanks, Mr. Fortune Cookie."
"You hunt like someone who's only practiced on targets," Vonn continued, ignoring the comment. "It's hard to miss a bullseye propped up on a haybale in a field. But that's not how things are in the Boundarylands."
Stacy should have known he'd see right through her, but she couldn't seem to muster any real irritation. Maybe it was the comforting weight of his hand on hers, gently guiding the bow. Even his hand at her waist felt protective rather than suggestive. Either she was the most gullible sucker in the territory, or Vonn genuinely wanted to see her get this right.
"But if what I'm looking for doesn't stand out, how do I find it?"
"Let's say you're hunting for deer. You probably think to look for a patch of brown hide or its ears or antlers sticking up."
"Mmm." That was precisely what she'd been searching for, actually.
"But if those details are your only focus, you'll get tripped up by anything that resembles those things—piles of decaying leaves, bare branches, even shadows. Instead, look for the animal's entire presence."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Stacy said crossly, mainly because his cock seemed to have a mind of its own and was pressing gently against her ass, distracting her. Definitely not fair.
"Let go of expectations." His whisper changed to a low rumble, his stubble igniting little fires of sensation.
Stacy ought to push him away so she could focus, but instead, she inclined her head slightly to give him access to her neck.
"Don't look for what you're hoping to find," he said, obligingly brushing his lips against that sensitive spot. "Accept what's there instead."
Total and utter bullshit, in other words.
A young buck suddenly came into her view. It was half-hidden in the trees, camouflaged by the patterned bark of a huge redwood trunk, only the quivering tips of its ears and the stubs of its horns visible. Stacy wasn't sure why she'd been able to make it out when before her eyes had passed right over it. Maybe it had taken a step and disturbed the foliage. Maybe the sun had shifted, landing on the pale brown fur of its throat.
Or maybe she'd allowed herself to relax and accept what was in front of her…just like Vonn had said.
"That's right," Vonn murmured. Damn him and his superpowers for being able to read her mind like that.
And maybe he'd read that too because he silently released her and moved back, giving her the space to take her shot unhindered.
Stacy wasn't about to miss her chance. She summoned all of her training and concentration, stretched the bowstring back to her anchor point near her face,
