by Mila Young
“Sephy, I don’t think I’m bound to you like the others, but I’ll fight for you to my death. I made you a promise, and I’ll never break my word.”
My words flatlined, and my heart was in my throat. Death could steal a part of me, make it impossible for me to put myself completely back together, but I wasn’t giving up.
I wrapped my arms around Knox’s shoulders and laid my cheek against the top of his head, drowning in his intoxicating scent.
“I keep thinking… What if I was abandoned as a child because evil wanted me and would kill anyone who got in the way?” I whispered.
“Don’t think like that.” His arms strengthened around me, and we didn’t move, drowning in the darkness coming for us all.
Memories flooded me. How much Ryder made me laugh, and how hard he loved me. Dean had my heart fluttering, and he’d just moved to the city to be closer to his sister. While Knox was a part of me and always would be. Asher had lost his sister, and there was something mysterious about him that called to me. I had to save both of them somehow. Plus, I never found Dana’s killer, but I had made a promise to solve her murder. One that I’d let slide because of my screwed-up life and other things that had marred my focus. My list of getting shit done was growing longer but losing these four men and a young girl wasn’t an option.
So, I swallowed my pity and would prepare to fight whatever came for me. I had everything to lose if failure meant getting dragged into Hell.
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Continue the story with Wicked Heat book 2. Comes out July 10.
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Mila Young
T.F. Walsh
Hunted
Mila Young
Little Red Riding Hood. Three Big Bad Wolves. A Poisonous Scheme.
Scarlet, a healer, lives nestled in the forest surrounded by humans on one side and wolves on the other. But when a rogue wolf attacks her, she's rescued by another pack and taken deep into their den to perform her healing magic on an injured Alpha.
The wolves in the forest are under threat from a mysterious affliction, and Scarlet is the only hope they have left. Faced with a mixed pack of threatened shifters, Scarlet must use her wits and magic to survive and unravel the strange affliction now affecting the wolves... All while trying to navigate an overpowering attraction to not just one, but three of the Alphas.
Witches, wolves, magic and love intertwine in an exciting mystery that finds its own, unique, 'Happily Ever After.'
Click To Read Hunted
HAVEN REALM SERIES
Hunted
Charmed
Cursed
Claimed
Continue the Haven Realm series.
www.amazon.com/Mila-Young/e/B077QT5J5M
Hunted Excerpt
Chapter 1
“Scarlet, get a look at him.” Bee nudged me in the ribs.
I gritted my teeth, my hands juggling the jar of chamomile I’d just pulled off the shelf. “For the love of wolfsbane.”
Honestly, Bee had the boniest elbow in all the seven realms of Haven. No matter how often I protested, she insisted on jabbing me right in the side every time she had something to say. Her idea of grabbing my attention wasn’t tapping my shoulder but inflicting pain. I twisted around and my gaze flew through the arched windows of my store, Get Your Herb On.
A huge guy marched out of the woods, arms swinging in an over-exaggerated motion. His chest stuck out, and with his chin high, I had him figured out in two seconds flat. I’d seen so many of his kind leaving the priestess’s palace. Guardians, full of cockiness and attitude, taking what they wanted without paying for goods.
Yet he wasn’t wearing a uniform, but the strangest clothes. A gray tunic falling to mid-thigh; no pants or boots. Goddess, his legs were the size of tree trunks.
“Who wants to bet his muscles aren’t real?” I said. I’d heard of people using magic to enhance their physique. It was the latest trend in other territories.
Bee glanced at me with disbelief pinching her expression. With her braided red hair and ivory skin, most called her beautiful and always referenced her green eyes. But the real Bee was also tough. I’d once seen her scare off a bear with a glare, and there was a reason most in town kept their distance from her. Sure, it might have a little something to do with Bee insisting most of the folk were uneducated swine breeders—her words, not mine—but hey, she was a best friend who often popped into my store, and I loved her company. Even if she didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.
“How can they not be real?” Her gaze turned from the man and back my way. “He’s not wearing pants. What could he possibly be padding—” Then her eyes widened, and her lips curled upward into a wicked grin. “You filthy girl, Scarlet. Never knew you had it in you.” She whacked me in the arm, her strength intimidating, considering she stood five-foot-two and reached my nose.
“What are you talking about?” I slouched, a hip pressed against the counter, and pushed several sample bowls of tea leaves up against the ceramic cups that I had painted with different stages of the moon cycle. I called them my night collection series and regular customers tended to buy a new one whenever they purchased their regular healing herbs. If I had more time, I’d paint all the time.
“You’re referring to his junk, aren’t you? And well…” Bee glanced outside. “With the wind blowing against his clothes, there’s definitely a healthy package in his arsenal.” Bee wiggled her eyebrows and broke out laughing.
Fire scorched my cheeks. You’d think I’d be used to Bee’s dirty mouth; after all, this was normal for her. “I wasn’t talking about his… his privates.”
Bee gripped her hips, cinching in the long, blue tunica dress she wore. The outfit had a V-neckline and tiny buttons ran down the front. I admired her flowing sleeves, and I needed to re-examine my wardrobe. My black pants and sea-green blouse beneath the leather vest with a belt made me look more like a thief. But when I chose my clothing, I prioritized comfort. Most days, I lifted boxes at work and a skirt would get in the way.
“Just say it, Scarlet,” Bee continued. “Dick. Cock.”
I rolled my eyes. I had no issues with such words… As long as I didn’t say them. I blamed my grandma, who’d brought me up strict, no cursing or vulgarities. Heavens bless her soul.
“Penis.” Bee licked her lips. “Blowjob.”
A squeaky male’s voice came from behind Bee. “Eww.” Santos walked out of the storage room carrying several boxes. “I can hear you out the back. That’s called sexual harassment of men.”
I sighed, loathing that Santos had heard our conversation, and Bee spun toward my eighteen-year-old apprentice. But he might as well be fourteen with his thin frame, shaved hair, and his maturity level. Then again, were Bee and myself any better?
“Hey, guys talk crap about girls all the time,” Bee said. “What’s the difference?”
Santos set the three boxes of tobacco leaves on the end of the counter. “You two are too old to talk about such things, and it’s gross.”
“Old?” Bee’s voice climbed. “We’re only a year older than you.” She turned to me with a cocked eyebrow, expecting me to say something. I shrugged my shoulders.
“That’s okay, Santos,” I said. “We’ll curb our tongues if it makes you uncomfortable.” He worked his butt off, and I didn’t need him leaving. He’d been working for me for a year and had just learned the names of all the dried plants we sold.
“It’s fine.” He didn’t glance our way and instead opened the first box and scooped handfuls of tobacco into tiny satchels.
I marched to the opposite end of the counter. Bee followed me, probably ready to offer one of her smartass comments about Santos, but I jumped in first to change the d
irection of the conversation. “How come you’re not wearing your new boots? The ones I got you for Christmas?”
Bee huffed. “Can’t get them dirty, as I plan to wear them to the town ball. Might attract myself a prince in disguise. Besides, you live in the woods with lots of mud and—”
The front doorbell chimed, stealing her words.
We all glanced up to find Mr. No Pants bursting into the shop with a flurry, his breaths labored and his cheeks red.
“I need help,” he wheezed.
“My, what do we have here?” Bee said, drawing the newcomer’s attention to the three sets of eyes on him… mine lowering to his legs, and even with his tunic covering, he had a huge package. But I focused on the red bleeding through his tunic at his hip. How had he gotten injured? Animal attack?
At once, Mr. No Pants straightened his posture and flicked his raven hair over a shoulder, his sights sliding from me to Bee, then locking on to her curvy chest.
Okay, he was a womanizer. Score another point for Bee against Santos in the women versus men chauvinist race. The newcomer could at least have had the decency to keep his eyes above neck level.
Bee pulled the elastic free from her braid and fluffed out her hair. Typical. I nudged her and raised my eyebrows.
“Geez, live a little, Scarlet,” she whispered. “You’ve been too sheltered.”
I tucked a lock behind an ear. “Brown as a deer,” my grandma had once called my hair. Nothing sexy about that. Maybe the reason I never got a guy’s attention was I stayed too safe.
My sights fell on the newcomer’s blood. Was it a human who had shot him with a bow and arrow? I rounded the counter. “Are you all right?”
He stood at least six foot with a solid square jawline, studying me as if I might be an animal he’d crossed paths with in the woods.
“You’re injured,” I continued.
The man didn’t say a word but scanned the room, and then looked out through the windows behind him. “I’m wonderful.” Yet he stood there, a trickle of blood rolling down the side of his leg from under his tunic.
“Don’t think so,” Bee blurted out. “Unless you’re a mutant who bleeds instead of sweating, you’re about to dirty up Scarlet’s floor.”
He stared at me, and a brush of desperation shifted behind his eyes. The kind I’d seen when I’d first met Santos over a year ago, when he’d been sleeping on the streets, thin and pasty. Sometimes asking for help was the hardest thing to do.
“Come,” I said. “We have a room out back, and I’ll bring you hot tea to calm your nerves.” I surveyed the dirt road outside and the woods in the distance for anything suspicious. My shop was located in the forest on the fringe of civilization, so I often saw strange things. But it was all clear.
A few weeks ago, in the middle of the night, another buff guy with no shirt had turned up on my doorstep asking for specific plants for healing someone gravely ill. Before that, another man had been at my door, his clothes torn and his butt exposed.
A loser in the town of Terra had scored Get Your Herb On with a one-star on the town review board. The priestess ruling over the Terra realm in Haven had introduced a new system. The Customer Approval Plank, she’d called it, insisting it would assist people in choosing the best shops for their needs.
So now, not only did the scoreboard sit in the main town square for everyone to view, but some troll kept marking my store with one star. Was that person spying on me and noticing naked men at my door? No wonder my business has slowed lately.
Mr. No Pants scoffed and folded his arms across his strong chest, then cringed and lowered them.
“So, you going to buy something or—”
I cut Bee a glare, cutting off her words, then turned to the stranger. And I recognized the desperate need for someone to reach out and make that connection, offer a lending hand. When my grandma had passed away of old age, I’d lost everything. She had been my rock, my family, and without Grandma’s support, her tonic soups, her hugs, I hadn’t been sure how to go on. She’d raised me after my parents had been torn apart by a pack of wolves. Bee had reached out to me, guiding me to find purpose in life again, so now I’d do the same with this man.
“Come with me,” I said and headed to the back, his footsteps trailing behind me. “Santos, can you show him a seat? I’ll bring him some tea.” Something to ease any pain he felt along with his nerves. Might even encourage him to open up about how he’d gotten hurt.
Without a complaint, the two vanished into the storage room. Bee shook her head, giving me a glare.
“Don’t say it,” I said.
I rushed to the pot with boiling water Santos had set up for samples. I collected a jar of valerian and arrowroot from the cupboard lining the wall behind me. Teapots, candles, and more tea containers filled the shelves. Together with a pinch of chamomile, the aromatic scent had my shoulders lowering.
Bee was in my ear, and I tensed again. “What if he’s a guardian? Do you want to bring the priestess’s attention to your business? You know she abhors magic. That’s why I do my enchantment spells in the basement at home so no one ever catches me.”
“This is just an ordinary tea store,” I whispered, lowering my palm over the tea bag.
Bee snatched my wrist and lifted my hand, sparks of white energy dancing across my fingertips. “Right, so this is perfectly normal?”
I’d always had the ability to enhance plants, and my grandma had taught me how to harness the power she’d insisted I shared with nature.
“It’s nothing.” I lied, well aware that the priestess who ruled over the human district forbade anything non-human related. And punishment came in the form of imprisonment for life. Each of the seven territories in Haven were homes to various races, from wolf shifters in our neighboring land, to mermaids, and rumor spoke of a girl with magical hair. Yep, one day I’d explore Haven, but until then, I’d remain in Terra with other humans, pretending we were pure and everyone else was the freak… according to the ruling priestess. And leaving Terra or strangers entering was prohibited. Hence guardians captured any shifters or intruders in Terra for interrogation, never to be seen again.
“Don’t kid yourself, Scarlet. I’ve heard the priestess infiltrated places like the bakeries in town, convinced their breads were too good to be true. And that the baker engaged in sorcery.”
Her words left me jittery because I wanted to believe what I did benefited those in need. I drew on my ability to amplify the strength of herbs, so when people used them, they got the full effect. If chamomile calmed someone, then it put them into such a relaxed state, their anxiety slipped away. What was wrong with that?
“We’ll be cautious, then,” I suggested.
Bee nodded. “Smart idea. I’ll be the bad enforcer and you the good.”
“What? Wait, no.”
Bee had already steamrolled toward the rear. I left the tea behind and rushed after her.
Santos appeared from the room, his attention sailing to the box of dried tobacco leaves.
“We’ll be in the back for a moment,” I said.
He nodded. “I’ve got this.” He didn’t seem worried in the slightest. Then again, he had no reason to believe the guy was anything but someone in danger, and he had zero idea about my powers.
Once I entered the storage room, I found Bee leaning over Mr. No Pants, who sat on a chair, her index finger pressed against his chest. “Where are your trousers? This isn’t a peep show kind of store.”
“Bee. Give him space to breathe.” Without waiting for a response, I collected my medicine box from the shelves and flipped the lid open. “Now, let’s examine your wound.”
“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.
