by D. D. Chance
I blinked and turned toward Grim, but he stared past me with flat disinterest in his eyes, the pale-gold orbs flicking back to me only briefly.
“I told you that when you finally understood what you were, it wouldn’t go well for either of us,” he said coldly. “We all have our place and our role in this world. Your mother was right to try to hide you.”
“Yes,” Elaine said with evident enjoyment. “She managed to hide you so well that even the best tracker money could buy couldn’t find her. And we couldn’t find her either, which was another reason why we believed him. But now I begin to wonder just how much our hired tracker knew about you, Nina, both when you were a sweet young thing of five years old and now. That should be fun to determine, don’t you think?”
There was something undeniably dark in her tone, and I barely suppressed a shiver. “What do you want from me?”
“Well, that should be obvious,” she said. “First, I want every last shred of whatever power you have. If we can’t bend it to our will, we will destroy it. And then I want you dead. As dead as your mother before you, God rest her miserable soul.”
Her callousness cut me to the quick. “What did she ever do to you?” I protested, though I immediately regretted my outburst.
Elaine, however, merely shrugged. “She beat me,” she said simply. “At least for a little while, she believed she’d won. I don’t know how well you know the magical first families of Boston, but I can tell you this. A slight like that can never stand, and so now, I’m afraid, you will pay—and pay, and pay, if I have anything to do with it, with Grim here to make sure we won’t be interrupted.”
She settled back in her luxurious leather seat, then gave me a radiant smile. “And if I haven’t said it already—welcome to the family, Nina.”
Thank you for reading THE HUNTER’S SNARE—I appreciate you joining Nina on her adventure. If you enjoyed the book and would care to leave a review on BookBub, Goodreads or Amazon, I thank you for that as well! For a sneak peek of the final book in the Monster Hunter Academy series, read on! Grim is more than ready to share his perspective on things!
THE HUNTER’S VOW
Monster Hunter Academy, Book 4
Prologue: Grim
Kill her.
The orders were clear, direct. They always were. I was to find and kill the woman who’d defied possibility. Who’d escaped the most powerful magicians in two realms, vanishing into the night without a trace, never to return. Five years after her disappearance, every other magical means of tracking her having failed, it was my turn at the hunt. I was supposed to unearth the bitch from her squalid hole, murder her in the night, then bring back the evidence of my kill and toss it before my masters like the prized beast I was.
They owned me, after all.
They believed they’d created me.
That all their years of imprisonment and torture had finally honed me into the perfect killing machine, ruthless and obedient, filled with hatred for anything but ripping creatures apart.
They weren’t entirely wrong. Fulfilling a vow so old, I’d long ago forgotten its details, I’d walked for generations in their filth, mired in the stink of their ambition and pride. I’d pushed aside what it was to feel the open sky above me, the warmth of a sun not proscribed by their magic or their rules.
By the time they sent me on the hunt for the woman who’d defied them, I already carried a dozen unhealable scars. Other scars, they couldn’t see. My mother and father, skinned before my eyes, trophies from their first wave of terror. My people, gutted and scattered before we’d learned to fight back, reawakening old alliances and unearthing ancient lore.
I didn’t hunt with my people, though. I was the sacrifice on bended knee, bowing beneath the magicians’ rod and flame. And I had vowed to accept any charge of my masters, obey any order, until the time was right for us to strike these dark invading bastards dead. Every last one of them.
So at my masters’ command, I went into the forests and picked up a five-year-old trail laced with magic and unexpected wards—wards I knew at once that no magician could break.
I could break them, though.
And I did. I found the woman who had so betrayed my keepers. An ordinary woman, with the barest flare of magic within her, for all that she carried protections from far beyond the bounds of her simple world. I didn’t care. I was proud. Relieved. Ready for the kill.
Driven and tormented by the twisting spells that bound me, I leapt at the chance to cement my position with my enemies, to bring us that much closer to the final war. I tracked the wretched creature, following her mysterious wards and the trailing perfume of the plants she carried with her that had no place in her forested idyll. I raced faster and faster, and finally, her scent in my nose and mouth and the fever of death in my eyes, I broke through the canopy of trees to take her—
Only…she wasn’t there.
Instead, a fierce and furious child stood in that clearing, waiting for me. A little girl of five years old, her dull iron knife held high, her eyes blazing with a pure and desperate power that unleashed a torrent of emotion in me so intense, I froze in place. This girl was magic. She was fire. She was every treasured memory ever made and every hope for a future yet to be born. She was the harbinger we were waiting for. The promise of the ancient oracles.
She also wasted no time.
She attacked.
We came together in a jolt of magic that ripped open our flesh to the bone, scored our skin, and mixed our blood, a fury of slashing knife and claws and teeth. With every cut, she tore through me. With every strike, I claimed her. I could not, would not kill her. But I would mark her, through and through. Mark her so deeply that she would never be anything other than mine.
Then I left her. Bleeding, battered, delirious. Close to death. But she wouldn’t die, I knew. She was the harbinger. She would fulfill the prophecy.
So I watched. I waited. Lying to my masters, feeding them lies and possibilities, eventually convincing them to let me set foot upon the hallowed grounds of Wellington Academy. I gained the trust of young magicians I had sworn to destroy. I learned their ways, their dreams. And when I felt the keening cry of the girl whose blood ran through my own veins, mourning the death of her beloved mother, I knew it was time. I pushed her, just a little, to come to this city of dark magicians and lies.
After that, the plan was simple. I would betray the now grown-up harbinger. Bend her to my century-old plan to free my people once and for all. With her as a lever, a weapon of perfect and powerful force, I would fulfill my vow. I would use her, kill her, if necessary. I would make the final sacrifice, no matter what it took.
But then I fell in love with her.
Continue the adventure with THE HUNTER’S VOW, and please visit me on Facebook to say hello!
Most of all, thanks again for reading THE HUNTER’S SNARE!
About D.D. Chance
D.D. Chance is the pen name of Jenn Stark, an award-winning author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy and contemporary romance. Whether she’s writing as Jenn or D.D., she loves writing, magic and unconditional love. Thank you for taking this adventure with her.
www.ddchance.com
Copyright © 2021 by D.D. Chance
All rights reserved.
Cover design by B Rose Designz.
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in encouraging piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase/Download only authorized editions.
Snare (Monster Hunter Academy Book 3)
