Page 3 of Hunting for her Heart
Loud voices outside her tent make her flinch.
“Sounds like you don’t have much time to decide.” Aribella turns to me, her eyes filled with a mix of worry, concern, and hope. “You ready to go somewhere far away from here?”
The woman in the tent moves forward, slowly stepping through the door as worry fills me. Her body shudders, then her shoulders slump, the tension easing from her frame.
“Willow?” Aribella asks. “I’m sorry, I don’t have time to explain. Just know, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this, and it’s always worked out for the women I’ve sent there.”
The new woman snorts, but I ignore her as I stare into the tent.
My father’s face flashes in my mind, and I shudder. Living in that compound is all I’ve ever known, but I’ve got to believe there’s something better out there for me.
I have no idea what awaits me through that doorway, but it has to be better than running from my father and Paul and living on the streets… Right?
Something led me to this bookstore, and the same instinct is telling me to step into that tent.
So even though I’m terrified and have no idea where it leads, I take a shaky breath and step up to the doorway.
Turning to Aribella, I whisper, “Thank you,” wanting her to know how much I appreciate her help.
Then, I look into the tent and step through into the unknown. The sounds of birds chirping and murmured voices reach my ears, and when I slowly spin around, I realize the door I stepped through has completely vanished.
I step up to the wall of the tent where it had just been and let my fingers trail over the canvasmaterial.
“What on earth?” I whisper, not understanding what just happened.
Glancing around, I see dresses thrown about the room. Some are elaborate, like the two women who just disappeared were wearing, some look much plainer, but nothing looks like anything I’ve ever seen before.
Seeing the entrance to the tent in front of me, I slowly step over the dresses to make my way there. The sounds of voices increase and I hesitate, unsure what’s out there.
Something that sounds like a large bird squawks somewhere in the distance, and I brace myself as I reach for the flap, needing to know what’s on the other side.
Pushing the material aside, I step out onto grassy ground, my eyes widening as I take everything in. I appear to be in the middle of a large forest, with dozens of other canvas tents all around. Some of the trees must be over a hundred feet tall, and when I turn around, the view is the same.
What happened to the bookshop? The street? The city?
It appears I’ve stepped into another world, one I know nothing about. How is that even possible?
“Are you serious?” I jerk my head to the side to find the man speaking. He looks to be in his late twenties, has messy blonde hair and blue eyes, and is looking me up and down with a hint of disgust.
I take a step away from him but don’t respond. I know better than to talk back to a man.
“Do you really think this will get you out of it?” he asks, gesturing to my body. I wrap my arms around myself and take another small step back from him, not understanding what he’s talking about.
“There you are,” another man says as he jogs up to his side and looks at him. “I’ve been—” he cuts himself off whenhe notices me, his eyebrows raising high on his forehead. “What the fuck is this?”
The first man sighs as he looks at me in disappointment. “Apparently, Willow thought she could get out of this by making herself less desirable.”
How does he know my name?
Unease fills me, and I take another step back as the second man laughs. “You’re kidding, right?” he asks, as I glance between them nervously, unsure what to say or do. “You know the men who sign up for this are desperate, right? They ain’t gonna care that you’re filthy.”
“Sign up for what?” I finally get the nerve to ask.
They both frown, glancing at each other with confusion, before they look back at me and the first man responds, “The Mating Hunt, obviously.”
My fear cranks up a notch. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds terrifying.
“You better go change. If Mom and Dads see you like that, they’ll have a conniption fit,” the second man tells me.
