Hunted: A Haven Realm Novel

by Young, Mila

  “Okay, I’ll be the first to say it,” Nero said. “For food with no meat in it, this is fantastic.”

  “See.” I nudged him with my shoulder. “You can still eat well without killing an animal.”

  “Not sure I’d go that far.” Oryn stood and collected our plates before heading into the kitchen.

  “So what’s the plan?” Dagen swiveled at the end of the sofa to face me. “If the priestess is after you, her guards will return to your shop.”

  The meal in my gut churned.

  “We can’t stay here forever,” he said.

  “Agreed.” Oryn strolled in. “We’ll run tests on the river water all night if that’s what it takes. I can’t let down my pack.” His voice strained.

  I rushed after him and grabbed a bowl from the kitchen pantry along with a bottle of vinegar. “Let’s do this. Whatever it takes.”

  All three joined me, their arms filled with the jars we’d brought from the store. I ignored the question of what would come next. Focus was the game plan. Help Oryn’s pack. Worry about everything else later.

  * * *

  I yawned, my eyelids heavy as I sprinkled the last batch of dried leaves into the bowl of vinegar and tainted water. I didn’t even bother to look at the label.

  The men had fallen asleep. Oryn was on the sofa, Nero on a nearby chair, while Dagen slept on his back on the floor in front of the fire. The desire to crawl over and join them tugged at me. But instead, I stared into the bowl of water with floating particles. No reaction to any of the samples. Nothing at all, like all the other tests, and it killed me not having a cure for Oryn. His pack would continue to attack each other until what? They turned on the other wolves and butchered them too? What if they entered Terra? They’d kill so many people.

  An invisible vise squeezed my chest. I could barely get a breath in.

  I didn’t have time to sleep or pretend things would be all right because they wouldn’t be. What I needed were more samples to test. I picked up a candle and match, then marched outside into the night. I didn’t want to wake any of the guys for protection. They deserved a rest, and I’d be back in no time.

  A brisk chill encircled me, and I quickened my step. The shuffling of dried foliage sounded near.

  “It’s just the wind,” I whispered and hurried down the slope, using the full moon overhead to guide me. I’d walked this path hundreds of times and knew it with my eyes closed.

  By the time I reached the store, the hairs on my arms stood on end and it felt as if the night stifled me. But I’d seen how lazy the guards were, and I prayed they weren’t hiding in the woods watching me. I once saw a guard let a thief pass him, insisting he was on his lunch break. I relied on their sloth-like nature.

  I tippy-toed across the dark shop, stepping on broken things that once meant the world to me; now they were scattered across the floor like forgotten memories.

  My knee hit something, and I bit back the groan. I reached down and patted the corner of my counter on its side.

  I set the candle down and lit the wick. At once, the room glowed dimly, and the place still resembled a disaster zone. Shattered cabinets, jars, and years of hard work. What would Grandma have thought if she’d seen what I’d caused?

  I choked on my breath, unable to believe the mess I’d gotten myself into, and yet I still had no answer to how I’d deal with the priestess.

  In my house slept three men who each held a piece of my heart. Considering their support and love, I held little doubt we weren’t meant to be together. Whoever said a girl had to choose only one guy, anyway.

  At my feet lay half a cup with a moon phasing image I’d painted, along with a sachet of tobacco, and the box I used to collect coins for purchases. I crouched and opened the container. Empty. Of course.

  More than anything else, I wished my grandma were alive. She’d know what to do next. How to dig myself out of my troubles.

  I searched for packets of herbs, and I found a handful, but then, shivering from an icy gust, I faced the hole in the wall. Bastards. The flickering candle from the wind painted shadows across the walls. Well, I couldn’t sit here feeling sorry for myself. Time to get this done.

  Focus. That had been Dagen’s word.

  Climbing over the mess behind the counter, my foot caught on something. I lost my balance. Pin-wheeling my arms, I yelped, but I fell and hit the floor with my knees. Pain raced up my thighs, and I winced.

  With a sickening snap, the wooden floorboards gave way beneath me. I yelled, grasping for the shelf nearby. My knees hit solid ground a foot deep.

  “Shit!” Yep, that situation called for swearing.

  I pushed myself free, but something stuck to my knee, and I peeled it away. A book. It had a dusty leather jacket and it was tattered at the edges, as if a mouse had been nibbling on it. I’d never seen this before.

  Climbing out, I sat with my back to the wall and flipped through the pages, each page scribbled with handwriting. “Morning sickness” titled one page along with a list of ingredients. The next was for a headache, followed by healing broken bones.

  A text of remedies! Had it belonged to Grandma?

  I flicked through the pages. Dozens of them. Why hadn’t she shared this with me? And here I’d thought she’d had all this knowledge memorized. I laughed as tears pooled in my eyes. She had always teased me about having a terrible memory, and yet she had been just the same.

  The word toxic grabbed my attention.

  Cure for Toxic Water.

  I staggered to my feet and huddled closer to the candle, memorizing the ingredients. Five items, and I had all of them back in my house. This could work as an antidote for Oryn’s pack, as it talked about removing poison from a bucket of water. Maybe I could use it for the river?

  I hugged the book to my chest, imagining myself embracing Grandma. Even from the grave, she’d helped me. “Thank you.”

  Something fluttered out from the book and landed on my boot. I leaned over and plucked a folded piece of paper.

  It was a handwritten letter. Grandma’s. The swirls on her g and y confirmed it.

  Dearest Scarlet,

  My sweet girl, if you’re reading this, it means one thing. I’ve departed, and I knew you would discover my book. I counted on it. You had a knack for finding anything I hid from you. I can imagine you laughing at having discovered my secret… I will admit, my memory has never been great, so I kept the remedies in a journal. Now it’s yours, my dear.

  But there is something else I have kept from you for too long. Please don’t hate me, but this was the only way I could keep you safe. Sometimes secrets serve a purpose.

  Wolves didn’t kill your parents.

  I lied to protect you from the same fate. The same monster who had taken their lives.

  Our priestess slaughtered your mother and father.

  “Fuck!” I shuddered so hard, the paper in my hands shook. The corner caught on the candlelight. It took at once, the flame extending, and I panicked, dropping the letter. Quickly, I stomped the fire out and could barely catch my breath. I collected the paper and continued reading.

  By not knowing this, then you wouldn’t pry or try to get revenge. I did this for your own safety.

  You see, your father was a wolf shifter who had mated with your mom, a human, and they decided to live on the fringes of the Den and Darkwoods. But one day your parents came into Terra to collect you, as you’d spent the weekend with me. Except the guards spotted your father transforming in the woods near the border. Your mother tried to save him. But the priestess demanded both their deaths without a trial. Their bodies were then discarded over a cliff. The priestess had no idea they had a young child. So I kept you with me and told everyone wolves had murdered your parents.

  That day I thought I would die from losing my baby girl. But having you with me kept me sane.

  Dozens of times I contemplated telling you the truth but couldn’t. You displayed no signs of carrying wolf blood and never changed during full m
oons, so I kept quiet.

  Please forgive me for telling you this way, but it was a safeguard in case I didn’t get the courage to let you know. I feared you’d leave me for keeping such a secret. But no matter what, you will always be my dearest, Scarlet.

  I love you so much. No matter our distance.

  Grandma.

  Sliding to the floor, I sat there, gripping the letter, rocking back and forth. My head hurt, and the food in my gut toiled into a mess ready to spurt out.

  My legs wobbled beneath me, and I stumbled into the wall, barely able to hold myself upright.

  The priestess had murdered my parents? I was part shifter?

  Was this happening? Everything twisted in my mind. Dad was a wolf, but I didn’t recall seeing him transform. This whole time, my parents’ death had been a lie. No wonder I’d never had a burial place for them. No wonder my grandma had always changed the topic when I’d asked. No one in town had questioned it since most believed wolves were savages.

  Tears flowed, and I didn’t care. Why had my mom been butchered if she was human? There was no law against marrying shifters. The priestess just loathed anyone associated with them.

  A burning fire seared through my chest, hatred driving my pulse into a frenzy. I got up and paced along the back wall, stepping over broken teapots and tea leaves. The priestess didn’t deserve to live. Who was she to decide who lived or died? I ignored the irony of my thoughts because I didn’t care. I just detested the priestess.

  Grandma should have told me and let me make my own decision. I scrunched up her letter and tossed it toward the remedy book. The one she’d referred to when helping so many townsfolk with ailments.

  None of that mattered. Not when I wanted to rip out the priestess’ throat.

  A guttural growl rolled through me, just as it had back in the forest when I’d encountered her relocating the wolfsbane, trying to take over Den territory.

  Wait! Had I snarled because of my inner wolf? Was this why Nero had insisted his wolf had bonded with me, claimed me? As had Oryn’s and Dagen’s?

  My breaths raced. Would my life have been different if I’d known the truth? I hiccupped my next inhale and blinked away the tears.

  Grandma had lied, and I understood she’d had good reasons, yet her secret chipped at my soul.

  It left me lost, questioning everything I’d thought I’d known about myself.

  I rubbed my temples and looked out into the woods cloaked in night. Before I could find my thoughts, I stormed out of the store and rushed into the forest, needing fresh air, anything to make sense of my confusion.

  Overhead, the pregnant moon hung in the heavens.

  I turned toward my home, desperate to do something other than let sorrow swallow me whole.

  Branches whacked into my face, snagged on clothes, and I stopped near a dead log and crashed against it, crying hard into my hands. For losing my parents, my grandma, and my time with them.

  A crunch of foliage came from behind me.

  I jerked around, expecting one of the hunters.

  Instead, a rope fell over my head. Heavy and thick, pressing down on my shoulders. I screamed.

  Two figures approached, chortling like hyenas, wearing dark uniforms. Guards.

  They tugged on the rope attached to the mesh, throwing me backward. Air gushed from my lungs.

  “No. Please, no!” I shoved against the net, but it tightened, forcing my knees to my chest.

  Dread squeezed my heart, and I yelled as they hauled me across the forest floor, the foliage tearing at my back.

  Chapter 20

  Sharpness sliced down my arm. I woke with a startle, my eyes snapping open, and inhaled a lungful of urine stink. I gagged.

  A guard stood in front of me, leering and gripping a bloody knife in his hand.

  “What’s going on?” I lurched forward, but my arms remained attached to the wall by my wrists, as did my ankles. I was shackled.

  Terror crept along my spine because I’d been caught by the one person I had to avoid.

  Around us was a room with stained walls and cobwebs hanging from the corners. Light streamed in from a window above my head, and ahead lay an iron door. This had to be the dungeon under the priestess’ manor. And if the sun was now shining, had I been knocked out all night? The guys would worry, and what if in their panic, they rushed through town shoving people around, transforming? They’d get themselves killed.

  My stomach locked up. I wanted to turn back time, drag the sun down from the heavens, and never leave home.

  The snorting guard with thin threads of hair arching across his head threw a backhand, the hilt of his knife catching on my jaw. My face throbbed. I cried out as I tasted copper in the back of my throat. But the bastard grinned, so I spat on his boots.

  “I demand freedom.” With my chin raised, I continued, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

  He grimaced, as if I were a speck of mud on his clothes. “You’re an illegal trespasser in our land.”

  “What? Are you insane? I’ve been living in Terra my entire life. Ask anyone.” Trepidation sat on my stomach. Had the priestess seen me with the three men when they’d shifted in the forest? But that made no sense; the guards would have attacked us already. Meaning they’d only spotted me at the store. Unless they had followed us to Grandma’s house and each of my men were now in separate cells, being tortured—or dead?

  I gasped and fought my restraints. “Release me!”

  He pressed the tip of his blade under my chin, and I held my breath.

  “All shifters will die.”

  I couldn’t find my words, not when Grandma’s confession had revealed I carried wolf blood. But how did this donkey’s ass know? I never should have tossed the letter aside in the store. What if the guards had read it after capturing me?

  “You’ve been spying on us.” His spittle sprayed my face, and I pulled away, feeling nauseous.

  His weapon pierced my skin, and I held back the wince, refusing to let him see me whimper. “Not true.”

  “Yes, it is.” His voice climbed. “So you can tell your inbred wolf friends where to attack first. What our weaknesses are.”

  My response flat-lined when the door behind him creaked open. He backed away and lowered his head.

  The priestess waltzed into the prison cell, her azure gown dragging across the grimy floor, but she didn’t care. Instead, she gripped her waist, drawing my attention to the line of tiny buttons running from her throat to her belly; more of them cascaded down her arms. It would have taken her ages to get dressed, but she probably had slaves to do the job. Dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, pushed off her face with a black band. But the wrinkles scoring her neck and the corners of her mouth reaffirmed her age of sixty. She’d been leading Terra for most of her life; surely, it was time for her to retire.

  “Scarlet.” She approached, studying me with narrowed eyes. “What an interesting person you are.”

  “Not really,” I responded. “I’m the most boring person in town. I don’t even socialize.”

  She laughed, loud and all for show. “You have a sense of humor. Good. You’ll need it.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, hating how her voice had darkened on those last few words. “What have I done? I deserve a fair trial to understand why I’m being held captive.”

  “Silly girl.” She stepped closer and snatched a handful of my hair, forcing my head sideways.

  I bit back the yelp that longed to release.

  “You’ve fooled everyone long enough.”

  “You’re mistaken,” I pleaded. “Please, whatever you think I did is wrong. I run a herbal store where I assist people. I even helped you once, remember?”

  She nodded but wrenched my head harder, and that time a small cry spilled from my mouth.

  “You fooled me, offered your tainted remedy. I should have suspected you hid a secret, but I let myself believe you were a good person. Because I have a heart.”

  I almost choked on he
r delusion. Maybe a splinter of humanity remained in her soul, and she would show compassion if she found no proof of what she hinted at. Except she knew I’d seen her in the woods taking over wolf territory.

  She shoved my head back, and I hit the wall, then cringed. Yep, not a smidge of kindness left. She paced across the room like a caged tiger, while the guard stood in the corner close by, eying me with disgust.

  “When we met in the woods a few days ago,” she started, “you growled just as wolves do. Plus, the giveaway was your eyes had shifted to those of a wolf. And it got me curious. Who exactly was Scarlet?”

  My eyes had shifted? My head screamed, well aware of where she was going with this. And I had to stop her. “That was me freaking out, nothing more. Everyone makes sounds.” I spoke so fast, my words blended together. “Take your guard over there. He’d been grunting like a pig before you arrived. That doesn’t make him suspect of anything. Except being in need of a wash.”

  His lips warped, and he raised his blade, pointing it at me. But the real threat was the priestess. She approached her protector, seized his blade, and returned to my side.

  I pulled away as much as my restraints allowed.

  “Funny thing is that when I dug deeper, I discovered your parents were killed by wolves. Sixteen years ago.” She tapped the side of the knife to my cheek. “And you know what else? I keep a record of every wolf I encounter and where. Sixteen years ago, I found a wolf shifter on our land with his wife, insisting he was human.”

  I trembled, and fiery rage soared through my veins. In my mind, I kept remembering Grandma’s words. Hatred surged on the back of my throat, but I held it tight or I might as well have signed my own death warrant.

  “I…I doubt it’s the same people. I watched my parents get torn apart by wolves near the border. I buried them with my grandma in the yard behind my shop. Dig up the ground, and you’ll see.” Hopefully, I’d buy myself time to escape with that lie, yet I kept thinking, if she hadn’t mentioned my three shifters, they must still be safe, right?