Hunted: A Haven Realm Novel Read online

  “How did you get hurt, hmm?” Bee towered over him, her hands gripping her waist. Geez, the girl should train as a guardian.

  “I’m not here to harm you. You can relax.” He lifted the tunic up and bunched it at his side.

  My gaze dove to his midsection like a desperate hound dog. Except the guy wore black underwear.

  Bee sighed.

  He peeled away fabric stuck to the mess underneath, wincing, and I cringed at how much it must have hurt.

  Three claw marks tore across his side, blood everywhere.

  “Holy shiitake mushrooms,” I said. “What did this to you?”

  He cut me a strange look with a raised eyebrow as if he’d pull away from my touch if I tried to treat him.

  “Crapping balls, Scarlet. This requires a fuck me, not mushrooms,” Bee blurted out. “But really, dude.” She turned to the stranger. “This is bad. Like you’ll die, that kind of bad. If you want my friend to cure you, talk.”

  Bee was the queen of exaggeration. The guy only had a few scratches and would survive. “Bring me a bowl of boiling water,” I asked her because tact wasn’t her forte. I grabbed an old towel from the cupboard and cleaned around his wounds. They didn’t require stitching.

  “Don’t listen to her,” I said to Mr. No Pants. “What’s your name?”

  “Better you don’t know.” He didn’t keep my stare, but instead studied the room as if attempting to appear busy. Yep, right there was the warning Bee had mentioned.

  “Look,” I said. “I’m happy to help you, but are we in danger if we do? Do you work for the priestess?”

  He scrunched his nose. “Gods forbid.”

  Bee returned with a bowl of water she set on the table, and I drenched the stained fabric before continuing to cleanse the injury.

  “Where are you from?” I asked. “The mountains? The wolf Den? Oh, maybe you’re one of those desert dwellers.” The thought had crossed my mind. The human world was comprised of a massive town with several hundred thousand people. Farms dotted the outskirts, but this man wasn’t a local. There was an air about him every girl in Terra would have sniffed out by now, especially if he was single. And I would have heard about it at the monthly town gatherings. The ones where the priestess reminded us of our blessing to be pure along with the latest attempts by other factions to infiltrate our territory. In particular, Terra’s number one nemesis, the wolves to our east. “Barbarians who attacked anything that moved,” she called them.

  “I’m not from Terra.” He held his head high, as if having nothing to hide, and his admittance didn’t surprise me because it wasn’t the first time someone had snuck into Terra for help. And humans did the same all the time, leaving behind our land and entering others for various reasons like falling in love with a lion shifter, or at least that had happened to a bookshop owner back in town.

  “Are the guardians after you?” I asked.

  Bee gave me the told you look. But if you followed the rules, Terra was a safe place most of the time.

  “No. There was a wolf. In fact, a pack chased me.”

  “In Terra?” I asked, squeezing the towel into my fist and returning to wiping his wound. I dabbed a mixture of my pre-made antiseptic onto his injuries, and he didn’t grimace once.

  “Nope. On wolf territory, in the Den. I was passing through and took a shortcut across their land and yours.” He paused and wiped his mouth. “But a vicious pack found me and hunted me. I barely escaped with my life before they ripped my pants off.”

  Bee burst out laughing, her hand pressed over her stomach. “You sure it wasn’t a pack of she-wolves?”

  He straightened himself. “Girls throw themselves at me all the time, so I’m guessing the wolves who attacked me instead of ravishing me were males.”

  Holding back the giggle in my throat, I placed a bandage on his wounds and wrapped it around his waist, then tucked the loose ends in on each other. “There—”

  A piercing hoot sounded somewhere outside, and my feet cemented to the ground.

  “Fuck,” Bee said. “That’s the guardians.” She shoved a hand into Mr. No Pants’ shoulder. “You said they weren’t after you.”

  His face blanched, and he leaped to his feet, towering over us, his top falling over his hips “They aren’t. But I have to go.”

  “Wait, you’re still injured, and—”

  He placed a hand to my mouth. “Hush.”

  I pushed his arm away. “Excuse me, who do you think you are?”

  “Is there a rear exit?” he asked, his voice low and carrying an air of panic.

  Bee stood in the doorway. “Tell us what’s going on and we’ll let you leave.”

  The man laughed deep and raw, almost terrifying. “Little girls, you cannot stand in my way. But I will leave you with a warning because you aided me. The wolves are at war amongst themselves. And one fight always spills over in other lands. I was attacked right on the Terra border.”

  “But we’ve got wolfsbane dividing our land. That’ll keep the packs at bay,” I called out as he stormed away from me and lifted Bee out of the doorway as if she were a doll. He then sprinted faster than anyone his size should have been able to.

  Santos entered the storeroom. “Where’d he go in such a rush?”

  Bee and I exchanged glances as dread threaded through my chest. I glanced out through the front windows and spotted two guardians in uniform darting left. I sure hoped Mr. No Pants had escaped. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen them chase trespassers in Terra, and if I kept my head low, the guardians left me and my store alone. “Well, he wasn’t from Terra,” I said. “No wonder the guardians are after him.”

  “He’s a looney.” Bee wove her arm around mine and guided me back into the main area. “You should consider a lock on the door and only let people in after you study them through the window.”

  I nodded. She had a point, yet in the back of my mind, I couldn’t ignore Mr. No Pants’ warning. It wasn’t the first time the wolves had attempted to claim territory. They had entered our land before my time, and hundreds of innocent lives had been lost on both sides.

  “Do you think the priestess knows about the wolf war?” I asked.

  “For sure. Otherwise, what else would her job entail? Oh, right.” She cocked a brow. “Controlling all of us. Anyway, I should return home before the sun goes down. Do you have any wolfsbane?”

  For those few seconds, Bee’s words didn’t register as I remained caught up in the whole wolves warring thing and the half-naked stranger at my store, who hadn’t even given us his name. Perhaps a lock on the door to protect us from crazy customers wasn’t such a bad suggestion.

  Bee poked a finger into my arm. “Hello, Scarlet, are you with us?”

  Shaking, I hurried to the counter and pushed aside the fabric underneath, concealing the dangerous ingredients. Wolfsbane was poisonous, and I kept it out of view. I plonked the jar on the table, but it was empty and there were a few specs of dust inside. “Well, that’s a problem.”

  Bee gripped her waist. “I thought only I bought the stuff?”

  I scratched my head, then remembered where it had gone, but Santos stole my words as he headed into the storage room, calling out his response. “Last week, you added it to the concoction to clean the bird poo off the windows.”

  “Poo?” Bee paced to the door and back to my side. “But I need it this week. I’m hiking into the mountains to see a client. I assumed you had some.” She leaned closer and whispered. “My client claims to have a curse put on him, and I need wolfsbane to create a counter-spell.”

  Bee practiced magic in secret and was known for her abilities outside of Terra. Here, the priestess would arrest her if she found out, so Bee often sought jobs in other territories for her services.

  “Sorry, I’d been meaning to top up the supplies. I’m running out of a few other things too. When did you say you need it by?”

  Santos reappeared with the bowl of hot water and bloody towel, heading to the front door
to dump the contents outside.

  “Tomorrow.” Bee twirled a red lock over her shoulder.

  “Sweet bolts, that’s soon.” I hurried to open the front door to hold it for Santos.

  “Real sorry, Scarlet. It’s just that I received the job this morning.”

  Santos interrupted. “I can collect some.” His eyes were pleading, as he’d wanted to go out on a field excursion forever.

  As much as I loved that he offered, I couldn’t let him go. “No, it’s all right. The plant’s dangerous, and I don’t want you getting harmed.” Plus, I found if I applied my magical touch on plants while still fresh, their intensity worked a treat in spells.

  “If it’s too hard, I can ask my client if it’s all right if we delay the appointment,” Bee said, twisting hair around her finger, something she did whenever she was nervous. She and her father struggled financially, and her jobs kept them above the water. I didn’t want to cause them any more strain.

  “You know I’d do anything for you,” I said.

  She ran over and drew me into a tight hug, her citrus and vanilla perfume bathing me. “Thanks. And I’ve always got your back too.”

  “Sure do!” I giggled, and Bee broke away.

  “Okay, I’ve got to go. Dad’s finishing one of his new inventions, and I promised to be his assistant. See you tomorrow? I’ll come in the morning?” Bee asked.

  “Nah, I’ll pop over to your place,” I suggested. “You’re always saying I spend too much time in the woods instead of society.” For the past week, I’d been preparing a paste for her dad, who suffered from joint aches, and planned to finish it tonight to surprise him tomorrow.

  Bee hugged me once more and kissed my cheek. She whispered in my ear. “Penis.” With a giggle she picked up her satchel from the counter and strolled outside with a wave at Santos before vanishing down the dirt track through the woods.

  Santos returned inside. “Yes, I’ll watch the place while you’re gone. And I promise I won’t make any tea pouches and only take orders if anyone needs one.”

  “You know me too well.” I took my coat and bag from the back. Looked like I was making a last-minute trip into the woods. Yet trepidation sat on my shoulders, reminding me of Mr. No Pants’ words about the wolves at war. So I grabbed a new bottle of citrus bane mixed with water. The spray would deter any predator coming near me, and when sprayed in anyone’s eyes, it made them temporarily blind, giving me time to escape.

  Chapter 2

  Once outside the store, I shut the door behind me and feathered the red cloak around my shoulders. I glanced left and right, the hair on my nape shifting. No signs of the guardians. Time to collect wolfsbane. I’d do this fast, as it was still midday, so I’d be back before the sun went down. But why couldn’t I move? Mr. No Pants’ words still whirled through my mind. I hadn’t closed up shop when Grandma had died. And I hadn’t been scared or run away when the townsfolk had protested that I performed the devil’s work. All because I had insisted herbal teas could cure certain illnesses. Thankfully, the priestess hadn’t demanded an investigation or trial. Regardless, a guy who’d lost his trousers to wolves wasn’t scaring me.

  Grandma used to say having a soft heart in a cruel world meant you had courage, not weakness. And that motto had gotten me through the months after losing her and inheriting her shop.

  Ahead of me, sunlight kissed the tops of the enormous beech trees with moss growing on their trunks, yet I rubbed my arms, fighting the chill that had settled in my bones. Brown and green hues covered the field, and a dirt track snaked toward the forest thirty feet away.

  With a glance back, I waved to Santos through the window as he continued packing the tobacco pouches. The bag over my shoulder bounced against my side in rhythm with my stride.

  Trees surrounded me as I stepped into the forest. The sky vanished, and a red-crested woodpecker hunted insects across branches. The squirrel dashing up a trunk stopped and stared at me. Cute. A few leaves tumbled from overhead, and everything about the landscape reminded me of home. Safe. Familiar. Even a gurgling brook hummed in the distance, whispering in my ears. Grandma used to take me out hiking and hunting as a child, teaching me how to live off the land, and all about the freedom such a life offered.

  Still, the earlier niggling concern about the wolves in our woods coiled in my stomach. I drew my cloak tighter around me and quickened my pace. The air grew still, broken only by the occasional birdsong. Woodsy smells calmed me, but regardless, the pestering uncertainty remained, demanding I return home.

  But what about Bee? If giving her wolfsbane meant she got paid and could help put food on the table for her and her father, then nothing was stopping me.

  My steps sped down the sloping land. The dried foliage beneath my boots gave way, and I lurched backward, yelping. I snatched a low-hanging branch and pulled myself to my feet. “Crap!” I’d slipped down this hill before and worn bruises for weeks.

  In the valley, a small creek gurgled, and the sun’s heat beat onto my shoulders. Using the stepping stones, I hopped across, captivated by the pine smells.

  Up ahead, the abundant trail of herbs came into view in a path dividing the woods and drenched in sunlight. The line of wolfsbane spanned the entire border between Terra and the Den, where wolves lived. People had sowed the vegetation to deter the canines from coming into our land decades ago. The line of plants reached my armpits and was crowded with long, dark violet flowers, each shaped like a helmet. Others were yellow and more potent.

  A crunch of twigs caught my attention to my left.

  I flinched and twisted around, expecting a deer, but nothing was there. “Stop being a chicken.” Everything moved in the forest, from animals to vegetation. But when Mr. No Pants had run from the wolves, had they leaped over the wolfsbane and follow him? Unlikely because they hadn’t done so for years, so why risk getting sick now? It made no sense, and wolves were nocturnal, so they’d be hunting at night, not during the day. Geez, relax.

  With a deep exhale, I turned back to the shrubs and glanced past them to the trees in the region called the Den. The wolves’ homeland. The forest stood thick like soldiers ready for war with the sun barely penetrating the canopy. Each time I visited this location, I swore someone watched me. After all, I lingered near the border between our two territories. The wolfsbane kept them at bay… Yet my pulse banged in my veins as if I had made a mistake.

  Refusing to think about anything else, I dug into my bag and plucked out the fabric gloves before sliding them on to avoid getting wolfsbane on my skin. Broken skin or wounds absorbed wolfsbane poison for both humans and wolves, but it killed wolves, while it made people very ill. I also took out the pouch where I stored the wolfsbane to keep them separate from my other herbs.

  Okay, time to get started. I yanked the first plant out of the ground and dusted soil off the roots. A snap at the base and I tossed the top part of the flower down, as I only needed the roots. With a single thought, I called my energy and the faintest crackling of power sizzled down my arms. White sparks leaped from the tips of my fingers, through my gloves, and curled around the tuber. I placed the root into the bag and gathered three more from various spots to avoid thinning out the barrier in one area. Two to go. Bee always insisted on six for her spells, but since I was here, I might as well stock up my supplies. I trailed along the shrubs, searching out the yellow ones amid the hundreds of purple flowers, when a loud creak sounded somewhere near.

  I froze.

  Then someone shrieked.

  I rocked on the spot and squeezed the bag in my hands. What was that?

  Branches and leaves thrashed in the breeze, grating and rustling.

  Another screech. Louder. An animal in distress? With my belongings packed up, I threaded my arms through both bag straps and trailed to the sound. Yeah, the opposite of what I ought to do, but the noise would haunt me for weeks if I didn’t do anything about it. I pictured a hurt deer with a broken leg caught in a hunter’s trap. I couldn’t bear to see
any animal hurt and would heal them if possible.

  Or was a wolf attacking them?

  I halted, chewing on my cheek, and removed my gloves, stuffing them into my bag. What should I do? I rushed forward and stopped again, swinging my gaze from side to side. Which direction was it coming from? Home was on the left.

  Another scream, definitely a human wail. I darted right, targeting whoever was in trouble. Had wolves cornered someone?

  Rushing closer, I spotted movement between trees in the distance. A man was on his knees, and another person whipped him. The victim cried, and I couldn’t take another breath.

  What’s going on? I slid the knife out of my boot and crept nearer, using the enormous trunks to conceal my approach.

  The weeping echoed, leaving me covered in goose bumps. I pressed my back against a tree twice my width, my heart racing as I listened to each dull whack. Every whimper and screech.

  I peered out from behind my hiding spot. At least fifteen feet away stood a thin and lanky person dressed in black from neck to toes, complete with gloves. In her hand, she gripped a branch stripped of leaves and spiked with offshoots. I squinted for a better look, only to get a glimpse of her face: a long pointy nose and jagged cheekbones, along with thinned lips twisted into a grin.

  The priestess?

  Hair black as the night was pulled into a tight ponytail. When she smiled and brought down the weapon across the poor guy’s back, I cringed. In front of townsfolk, she presented herself as a lady, who at sixty years old, needed a hand climbing the steps to her podium. Yet I’d heard rumors of her torturing people. Then again, all kinds of lies circled about her from mating with aliens to bathing in milk most nights. Okay, maybe the last one wasn’t that far-fetched, but at every monthly town gathering, others spread more gossip. So I didn’t pay attention to them. But…what if they were right about the priestess? Grandma would always say there was no smoke without a fire when unpleasant things were said about someone.

  Farther behind her stood at least ten people crouched over shrubs. What was going on?