Page 66 of Hunting for her Heart
Willow
Iwake groggily to the sound of crickets chirping. I find myself in darkness, and it takes my eyes a second to adjust to my surroundings.
“Willow!” I turn my head and find Ronan, strapped to the base of a tree beside me, just like I’d last seen him. “Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
My head throbs a little, and I try to touch it, but find my arms restrained. Looking down, I realize I’m in the same position as my Vikings, sitting against a tree trunk with rope wrapped around my body and arms.
I quickly look around, finding Bo on my other side, with Hawk beside him. Ronan is closer than the others, but all four of us are bound.
“Did they hurt you?” I ask Ronan as I trail my eyes over him. He looks uninjured, as do the other two.
“No, they just used that magical knock-out potion on me.”
“What do we do?” I whisper so the men who captured us,who are sitting around a campfire about thirty feet away, don’t hear me.
“We need to get out of these ropes,” Ronan says as he tries to move. “But they’re too tight.”
“Do any of you have any weapons?” I ask, knowing they are usually strapped with knives, but they all shake their heads.
“They took them all,” Bo says, nodding his head across the camp where I can see a pile of stuff, including Hawk’s spear and Ronan’s giant ax.
I think back to what happened before they sprayed me with that potion. Hadn’t I stabbed the leader? As if summoned by my thoughts, he suddenly appears on the other side of the clearing and heads straight toward me.
He stops a few feet in front of me, looking none too pleased and I swallow nervously. There’s a bandage across his chest, but he’s moving normally. It doesn’t appear like I inflicted too much damage, unfortunately.
He takes a moment to look at my three guys, as if assessing them. “You’re not what I expected.” When none of us responds, he keeps talking. “They said you three are these giant, unstoppable, cannibalistic barbarians. But my men took each of you out without a fight.”
“Only because you snuck up on us,” Bo says angrily.
“That’s why I employ the best trackers and hunters in all of Dyconia,” he says with a grin, gesturing to the men behind him.
“Don’t you care about anything besides money?” I ask, annoyed with his smugness.
“What else is there?”
This man makes me so angry. In fact, all the mainlandersI’ve met are infuriating. The way they think they can treat women is almost as bad as the way my father acted.
“Family, friends, love, doing the right thing.”
He smirks at me in amusement. “And I suppose letting you all go is theright thing?”
“Don’t you think I should get a say in who I marry?” I ask, feeling bold for the first time in my life.
He starts to laugh, like I’ve said something hilarious. “What did you think would happen when you signed up for the Mating Hunt?” he asks in amusement. “It’s designed so the men who can best take care of you will win. And the men who hired me have enough wealth that you will live a good life with them.”
“If they’re so great, why did they need to join the Mating Hunt?” Ronan asks.
“It took these men a while to accumulate their wealth, so they may be a little past their prime.”
“How far past?” I ask nervously.
“I’m not sure of their exact ages, but if I had to guess, early sixties.”
My men curse beside me as I feel the blood drain from my face. It’s like my father’s giving me to Paul all over again. Except this time, there are several Pauls.
“That’s why they hired you,” Bo surmises. “They’re too old to fight and hunt themselves.”
“It’s all the same to me,” he says with a shrug.
