Page 89 of Hunting for her Heart
“You definitely succeeded,” Bo says as they start to step out of my circle of giant flowers. “This kind of flower doesn’t even grow past a few inches. Your power seems to be able to manipulate nature. It’s beautiful.”
“It’s time to go anyway,” Ronan says as he moves past us to take the lead. “It’s not far now.”
I gently wrap my arms around Hawk’s neck as he readjusts me with one arm under my ass, and the other holding his spear at his side. I watch Bo over his shoulder, and he winks at me before moving to watch our surroundings.
The gentle walking motion starts to make me a little drowsy, so I turn my head, letting my cheek rest against Hawk’s shoulder and close my eyes.
“Willow, wake up.”I open my eyes, not realizing I’d even fallen asleep. Lifting my head, I look up at Hawk, who smiles at me. That sight causes my heart to swell with love for this man. A man who rarely gives out smiles, but does so easily now, just for me.
“We’re here,” he says quietly, nudging his head in front of him.
I glance over my shoulder and gasp, my arms quickly finding their way tightly around his neck. In front of us, a couple hundred feet away, must be over a hundred people. It takes me a moment to recognize the area as the start of the Mating Hunt.
We’ve made it.
The people are divided in half, just like they were when I first arrived here, leaving a place for us to walk between them. But they don’t look happy to see us. The closer we get, the louder their voices become. I can hear the anger and disbelief without even understanding their words.
“They don’t seem happy to see us,” I say, as Bo and Ronan move closer to our sides as the three of them march forward in a line.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ronan reminds me. “We’ve won fairly, and these are not our people. Their opinion matters not.”
I glance over Hawk’s shoulder as we near the finish line, expecting someone to try to stop us at the last second. I can feel the tension radiating off my mates as well, and I know they must feel the same way.
None of us says a word as we close in on our destination. I look at the faces of the men gathered, and plenty of them look angry, but they do nothing as they watch us approach.
The man who announced the start of the games is standing on the same small platform he was on when I last saw him. He watches us approach, a frown etched on his face. I watch him, afraid he’ll stop us somehow as I cling even tighter to Hawk.
“It’s okay,” he whispers in my ear.
Several moments later, we’re stepping past the man and across the finish line.
“The last woman has been claimed!” The man yells behind us. “That concludes this year’s Mating Hunt!”
We did it. It’s actually over.
Relief fills me, but I don’t let go. Hawk reaches over his shoulder, somehow attaches his spear to his back, then hewraps his now free arm around me, and I press myself even closer to him in happiness.
As we start to move down the path between everyone, a loud, angry voice yells out, “They should be disqualified!”
I turn to look down the path ahead of us and see several older men stepping out from the crowd to block our way.
“Who are they?” I whisper.
“I don’t know,” Ronan says as he steps in front of us, blocking me from their view.
“On what grounds?” the organizer calls over our heads.
“They don’t deserve a woman. Everyone knows they are dirty cannibals. They’ll probably eat her as soon as they breed her.”
The crowd starts to whisper around us. I cling tighter to Hawk, terrified that someone will try to take me from them.
“Come now,” the organizer says, surprising me with his calmness. “There is no proof of that. And they won fair and square.”
“No, they cheated!” one of the older men yells out. “They told her she’s their fated mate, so she wouldn’t give anyone else a chance.”
Anger fills me at the thought of them reducing what we have to such lies.
“How would you even know that?” Bo asks from my side. It’s a good question. If the guys hadn’t told anyone, how would they know?
