Page 65 of Hunting for her Heart
“Willow!”
My eyes find Ronan instantly. He’s tied up to a tree like Bo is, about ten feetaway.
“Ronan, you’re okay!” I try to run to him, but meat hands just tightens his grip. “Let me go!” I cry angrily as I try to pry his fingers off me, but it’s no use.
“Get your hands off my mate,” Ronan seethes, but the man doesn’t release me.
“Good job, Jackson. You found her.” I turn to the new man who’s speaking. He’s a little taller than the first guy I met, and looks even more confident as he stands there with his hands on his hips, his eyes trailing up and down my body.
“They brought her right to us, just like you said,” Jackson, the man who sprayed the potion on Hawk, answers.
“Yeah, well, the way this one stunk of her, I had a feeling they’d come looking.” He gestures to Ronan and I can see his face redden with anger.
A loud dragging noise has me turning to see three men dragging in Hawk’s unconscious body. They tie him to a tree beside Bo, and I watch in frustration, wishing I could go check on him and Bo and make sure they’re okay.
“I’ll tell them what you did!” I yell, turning back to the man I think is in charge. “When you try to claim you won the Mating Hunt, I’ll tell them you cheated and used magic!”
The man smirks as he takes a step closer to me.
“Stay away from her!” Ronan yells, as he struggles to escape his binds.
But the leader ignores him, moving to stand right in front of me with an amused smirk on his face.
“Honestly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.” I stay silent, unsure what he means. “You’re far too skinny, and you’re not even the most attractive woman in this year’s Hunt.”
“Great, then you’ll let us all go,” I say, not offended at all that I’m apparently not this man’stype.
He huffs in amusement and shakes his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. We’ve been paid rather handsomely for your capture. And I always make good on my business dealings.”
I glance at Ronan, but he looks as confused as me. “Paid by who?” I ask.
“A group of men who want you for their mate. They know they didn’t have the skills to take down these barbarians, so they paid us to do it, and capture you for them. They’ll come in on the final day and whisk you off to the finish line. Their hands will be clean of using any magic, and therefore their claim will be approved.”
“I don’t care,” I say, trying to wrench my hand from the big guy's grip. “I’ll refuse. They can’t force me to marry them.”
He smirks knowingly. “Actually, they can. When you signed up for the Mating Hunt, you signed a form saying you would honor the claim of whoever wins you.”
“But I didn’t sign any form!” I exclaim even though I know it’ll do no good. He’s right. The other Willow signed it, and that will be enough.
Looking at Ronan, I tell him, “I’ll just run away as soon as I can.”
“Oh, if you think you’re going to run back into the arms of your cannibals here, think again. I know someone willing to pay handsomely for live Redmere tribesmen.”
I glare at him, trying to read between the lines. “Why would someone want to buy them?”
“Some people believe their cannibalistic ways are an abomination, that their entire people should be wiped out.”
“But they’re not cannibals!” I yell angrily.
He just shrugs. “Either way, I get paid, and your safety net is gone.”
I look over at my three mates, tears blurring my vision. They have done so much to help me and take care of me since the moment I met them. I’d be damned if I was going to let a group of controlling men take them from me.
With my free hand, I grab the dagger from my side and lunge forward, jamming it right into the leader’s chest, a primal scream ripping from me as it sinks in.
“Fuck!” he yells, staggering backward as something is sprayed in my face. That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes dark.
Chapter Twenty
