The Hunt (Shifter Origins)

by Harper A. Brooks

No matter how much she didn’t want to go, she couldn’t risk refusing. For Ryna and Alina’s sakes.

  Slowly, Ryna bent down to reach into the basket and groaned as her knees wobbled. Cara took her arm and pulled her back up. “I’ll do it,” she whispered.

  Ryna chuckled and placed an age-spotted hand on her shoulder. “This body of mine isn’t like it used to be. But you washed the things, dear. You shouldn’t be doing it all yourself. I’ll get Alina. She can help you.”

  “It’s all right, Ryna. I’ve got it.” She needed to keep herself busy and her mind distracted anyway. “Besides, Alina’s still too short to reach the line.”

  “Ah, you’re right. I say give that girl two more years, and she’ll be taller than both of us. Your father was very tall, if you remember.”

  Cara nodded, sorrow inching its way to the surface. Those weren’t memories she wanted to think about, either. “Go inside and relax,” she told her. “I’ll finish up here.”

  “All right. I was going to visit Farrah before dinner, but I suppose I could do it now.” Ryna brushed some of the white strands of hair out of her face and rolled her eyes to the cloudless skies. “Try not to worry too much about tomorrow. I know how you can get.”

  “That’s impossible, Ryna. Not worry?”

  Before she could say another word, Ryna took her face in her calloused hands and peered up at her. Lines decorated her grandmother’s skin, mostly around her eyes and mouth. They deepened as she smiled. Her eyes, which seemed to be lightening in color with the passing years, shined with coming tears.

  Cara’s chest squeezed.

  “My dear Cara, please remember that this is supposed to be a happy time for you.” Her voice wavered, but the smile never left her lips. “Ever since your parents died, you’ve done everything for us. It’s your time now to experience all you’ve missed—to love, to enjoy life, to be happy. No matter who you choose.”

  Her heart ached. “Ryna…”

  “You deserve so much more than you allow yourself,” Ryna whispered before placing a kiss on Cara’s cheek. “Alina and I love you very much. Never, ever forget that.”

  “I know,” Cara whispered. “I love you both, too. More than you know.”

  Ryna’s hands fell as she stepped back. “If you need me, I’ll be at Farrah’s, just across the way.” With that, she walked away.

  With the back of her hand, she wiped the sweat trailing down her temple, watching her grandmother until her hunched frame disappeared around the hut. Her words, though, lingered. It was as if her grandmother knew the war raging between her head and heart, between running with Rafé and making sense of what she and Kael had. But she couldn’t know. No one could, other than she and the prince.

  A weak breeze rustled the clothes on the line and brushed through Cara’s hair. Two scents tickled her nose at once. The strongest was the crisp, earthy smell of wet soil, and the other… Her breathing hitched. She knew that one all too well, even as slight as it was—mint.

  She fell into a crouch, the drying wash swaying above her, and stared into the shadows of the Bilha Forest. She wasn’t alone, like she’d thought. The rei’s murderer, the assassin—he was near.

  She wondered just how long he’d been lurking in the wood. Was he watching her now? Cara’s pulse spiked, and every hair on her neck stood up. Scanning the forest and the small space behind the hut, she saw no one. Just trees, a pile of wood, and the drying line full of wash. But she could sense someone nearby, feel his eyes on her, studying her every move.

  The sharp snap of a twig a few steps ahead made her heart crash against her rib cage.

  Her gaze jerked toward the sound, but nothing stirred among the trunks and vegetation. Her thoughts bounced to Alina and Ryna. Would the assassin come after them next? Panic gripped her. They weren’t safe. If the assassin was aiming for others besides the tiger family, then no one in the village was safe.

  She needed to think. She considered finding Rafé and the Majasha men. They protected the village, were strong, skilled in fighting, but she didn’t have time. The assassin was too close, and she had no idea where Rafé was now. She would have to do this herself.

  The tingling power of the shift built at the base of her spine. Sensing a threat, her panther hovered close to the surface, but she wouldn’t shift yet. Don’t start the fight. Just make sure you end it.

  “I know you’re there,” Cara shouted at the darkness. “Come out. Show yourself.”

  Another snap. A shadow nearby moved.

  “Cara.” The desperate sound of her name made her pause. She didn’t recognize the voice, but from its boyish pitch, it must have belonged to a young male.

  She squinted, still not seeing much among the trees.

  “Cara, it’s me.” A face popped into view from behind one of the trees, and then long, straggly limbs. It wasn’t until he stepped into a pocket of sunlight and Cara saw his short curly hair that she recognized him.

  “Danil?” she called, leaping to her feet.

  He crept closer, eyes wide and nostrils flared. River mud and moss smeared his cheeks and forehead. Even his chest and hunched shoulders were caked with brown muck. No wonder she couldn’t smell him approaching. He’d used the wet dirt to disguise his scent.

  Uneasiness itched at her, raising goosebumps. Cara took a step forward and sniffed the air. Although faint, the smell of mint still clung to him. How was that possible? A moment ago, she had expected to come face-to-face with Rei Salus’s killer, and instead, it was Danil who stood before her, masked in mud.

  Her entire being iced over as a thought struck. Could it be—could Danil be the assassin?

  He was so young—no more than sixteen—and with his timid demeanor and too-skinny frame, he wasn’t someone Cara suspected could carry out such a murder. She had seen the way Salus died; it was as if his insides had been boiled, and she’d felt the fire in teralau herself. She wouldn’t wish that type of death and pain on anyone, even the tigers.

  It couldn’t be Danil. She shoved her senseless anxieties to the side. He was always under Rafé’s watchful eye. It couldn’t he him.

  No, something else had to be going on. Danil wouldn’t come to her home without a reason, especially alone. She thought of Rafé and the Majasha protecting the village from the wandering royal guards. It was possible he’d sent Danil to give a message to her. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure she hadn’t fled Sajra with cold feet. She chuckled inwardly. It was something Rafé would do. Yet, when she studied Danil’s face, she saw only fear.

  You’re overreacting. There had to be another explanation to all this.

  “Why are you here?” she asked him, unsure if she wanted to know the answer. “Is everything all right? Did Rafé send you?”

  Danil stalked to the edge of the forest in three quick steps, but he didn’t place a toe past the tree line, remaining in the cover of the forest’s shade. “I need to talk to you.” With jerky movements, he glanced over his shoulder, as if expecting someone to be there, and touched the strap of his satchel across his chest. His fidgeting only made Cara more nervous.

  “I don’t have much time,” he added.

  “What do you mean?” She didn’t understand where his jitters were coming from. She didn’t like this one bit. “What is going on, Danil?”

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he opened the flap of his satchel, reached a trembling hand inside, and pulled out a short stick-like object. With its smooth, polished wood, it reminded Cara of one of the instruments played by musicians in the marketplace, except this one was missing the whittled out holes to change pitch.

  Danil held it out on an open palm.

  She took another step forward. It appeared to be a hollowed out sapling. That’s all.

  “I don’t understand,” she replied. “What is it?”

  A breeze danced past her again, followed by the biting scent of mint, more powerful this time.

  Her insides wrenched as she realized what it was. It was a blowpipe. The very weapo
n that shot teralau darts, killing Rei Salus and almost taking her life, too.

  Cara swallowed the lump sitting at the back of her throat. It was true. It was him. She was staring in the face of the assassin.

  Her head pounded. She didn’t understand it. Nothing about Danil was intimidating. Even though he was taller than her by half a foot, there was no muscle to him. He was so thin and lanky, mostly bone and skin.

  Cara backed away, her panther stirring in anticipation of a fight. Her skin prickled. “H-How did you get that?”

  Danil stuffed the blowpipe back in his bag and closed it. “My uncle,” he stammered, his words coming out in a jumble. “My mother’s brother. He and my mother were really close. After he died, she kept all his belongings. I found this among them a few weeks ago. This and—”

  “And poisonous darts?”

  He grimaced and lowered his tone. “Yes, three of them.” He continued in a rush, “I know what you’re thinking. I didn’t kill Rei Salus. I-I couldn’t.”

  What did that mean? He couldn’t? Cara took a deep breath, squashing her worry down before it could show on her face.

  Danil’s gaze scanned the area around them again. Cara did the same, wondering if he was seeing something she wasn’t, but they were still alone.

  “Prince Kael seems to trust you,” he babbled on. “He released you from prison. You said he called a healer and saved you when you were poisoned. He’ll listen to you. More than he’ll listen to me.”

  “Danil—” She didn’t like where this was going.

  “Before the end of the ascension ceremony tomorrow, Prince Kael will be dead.”

  With those few words, Cara’s heart dropped. The image of Kael twisting and turning in agony on the ground with bubbles spewing from his mouth invaded her head. She had to do something—warn him, tell the royal guard, beg Rafé and his Majasha men for help—something. Kael couldn’t die. She wouldn’t allow it.

  Her chest was so tight, each breath in hurt. “W-What do you mean?”

  Danil said nothing for a long moment, as if he was debating his words. In his silence, Cara could hear her pulse drumming against her eardrums.

  He began in a quick whisper, “When Rei Salus discovered teralau, a Majasha man died. That man was my uncle. He designed the darts and blowpipes for Salus, not knowing the true fire hiding in the flower.”

  Cara’s mind fogged. She remembered Ryna mentioning a Majasha man dying, but she never would have guessed he was related to someone in the village. She shouldn’t have been surprised. It seemed like the panthers were always the ones to suffer when it came to Salus.

  Sadness weighed Danil’s features, and his shoulders slumped forward. Cara’s heart ached for him. Rei Salus’s actions affected so many families, ruined so many lives. She knew that feeling of loss and helplessness better than anyone.

  “After his death, and then my father’s disappearance during a hunting trip in the forest, my mother panicked. She didn’t want to lose me, too…”

  So that’s where she had heard Farrah’s name before. Cara couldn’t recall her face, but she remembered, a few months back, the village buzzing about another group of men vanishing in the forest during an excursion for food. Farrah had lost her mate, and since then, refused to leave her home.

  “She asked Rafé to make me a Majasha man.” Danil’s eyes dropped to his feet. “Look at me. I’m not a Majasha. I know everyone thinks it, too, but it was the only way to bring my mother some peace. She only recently started leaving our hut because of your grandmother and sister.” A brief smile lifted his lips but vanished as quickly as it came.

  “When I told Rafé about what I found amongst my uncle’s things, he was willing to accept me into the group. That is, if I…” He trailed off, pressing his lips together.

  “What?”

  “Rafé and the other Majasha plan to take down the tigers. They want to restore Sajra to the golden age. Since Rei Salus killed my uncle with teralau, they wanted me to do it. Kill him. To avenge my family.”

  Cara’s head reeled. Her mouth opened, but her voice was trapped in her throat. Rafé? He was the one behind all this? He was the one responsible for murdering Rei Salus and almost killing her and Kael?

  “I couldn’t do it,” Danil croaked. His desperate stare fixated on her face. “That day, during his announcement in the marketplace, I was hiding in the woods with them, and at the last minute, I backed out. Rafé was furious… He took the shot instead. Please believe me. I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me.”

  Rafé? She had known him for most of her life. He did nothing but protect her and the other people in the village. He wasn’t a murderer.

  Was he?

  On the other hand, she and Danil had never exchanged a single word before this. Could she believe him?

  “When you were in the prison, I had another chance to redeem myself. I had to kill the prince, and then Rafé would swoop in and save you,” Danil rambled. “We scaled the wall during one of the guard shifts…but when it was time for me to do it, I-I couldn’t. You were too close. I was afraid.”

  She pressed her fist against her chest. “Rafé shot the dart…with me there,” she whispered. That didn’t sound like Rafé at all.

  He nodded. “He didn’t expect it’d hit you. Felic yelled that a guard was approaching, so we fled.”

  Cara racked her memory for any clues she may have missed with Rafé, any hint of these plans. She thought back to when she came across him and the Majasha after leaving the palace. Rafé had snapped when she’d called Kael by his name. He had almost stormed up the river after seeing the cut on her arm, wanting to take out the tiger prince and his family.

  Even when they were children, Rafé’s temper was quick and dangerous, but he never expressed any kind of roughness to her. Was it possible that she didn’t know him like she thought she did?

  “I have one more chance to redeem myself, according to him. One more dart, but he has it. He doesn’t trust me to keep it.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’ve thought about breaking the blowpipe or burying it, but he’s warned me already. He’ll send the Majasha after me and my mother. I have no choice. He wants me to kill Prince Kael during his ascension ceremony. If I can’t, it won’t matter. Rafé will kill him himself. He’ll do it.”

  A sudden coldness hit her core. She didn’t know what to believe anymore, other than that Kael was in trouble, and she needed to do something. If she sprinted up the river to the palace, she’d have to sneak past the guards again. Then what? Throw herself at the feet of Kael and the regis and beg them to listen to her? She had promised herself she’d never do that again after being turned away because of her parents.

  It didn’t matter. She had to drive her pride aside.

  “I didn’t know what else to do,” said Danil. “I thought that since the prince let you go, maybe you could warn him not to go to his ascension ceremony. Maybe he’d listen to you. I don’t want anyone else to die because of me.”

  “No one else is going to die,” she promised him and herself, but her heart’s frantic pounding didn’t slow. “I’ll figure out something.” This wouldn’t end like it had for her mother and father. She wouldn’t let it. She couldn’t lose someone else she cared for. Someone she—did she dare say it?—loved. Not when she might stop it somehow.

  If Kael died, she’d never forgive herself.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The crunch of leaves underfoot echoed throughout the forest. Cara’s knees locked as paralyzing fear crawled through her. She glanced at Danil standing at the forest line. His spine straightened as the footsteps closed in.

  When his round eyes found hers, she mouthed, “Rafé?” She knew it was him, without even having to find his scent in the air. She could sense it in her gut, along with a terrible sinking feeling. “Go! Quick!”

  Danil slid back into the Bilha Forest and vanished.

  She turned toward the drying line. The footfalls stopped just behind the billowing fabrics. She drew in a sharp breath, then
he grabbed the corner of a blanket and threw it to the side.

  She gasped, and her heart dropped to her toes. Rafé stood directly before her, grinning broadly. “Rafé!”

  He stood inches away from her, his breath hot against her cheeks. “Did I startle you?” he chuckled. Ducking under the wet clothes and sheets, he crossed to stand in front of her. His hands remained behind his back, out of view, which only made her more uneasy. What was he hiding back there? The teralau dart?

  “That’d be twice I was able to sneak up on you, you know. You’re losing your touch.”

  Cara peeked over his shoulder, hoping Danil was not lingering anywhere nearby. To her relief, she saw nothing. No movement. No dancing shadows. Thank Sajra. He was able to get away.

  Rafé nudged his chin toward the basket by her feet; his hands, though, remained hidden. “Where are Alina and Ryna?”

  His visit seemed innocent enough, the conversation normal. Maybe she had jumped to conclusions, and Danil’s anxiety had gotten to her. If Rafé wanted her dead, he would have done it by now—wouldn’t he?

  Still, she couldn’t help the odd quiver trickling through her. Her inner panther was on edge, hovering near the skin, ready to leap out. “Ryna’s at Farrah’s, and Alina’s around, most likely playing with her friends before dinner.”

  One of Rafé’s black eyebrows rose as he glanced around the yard. “Strange…” he purred.

  “What?” His suspicious tone made the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

  He rubbed the stubble on his chin as his eyes darted side to side, searching. “I could have sworn I heard you talking with someone as I walked up.”

  “No, no, no.” Cara’s heart clipped her rib cage with every beat. “No one’s here. Just me hanging the wash to dry.” She bent down, picked up another piece of wash from the basket—one of Alina’s dresses—and hung it on the line to make it more convincing. “I talk to myself sometimes when I do it.”

  “Good to know what I’m getting myself into.” His head fell back as he laughed, and his shoulders bounced. “Anything else I should know before tomorrow?”