Page 100 of Fated to the Hunters
Mateo
Ezra had a full-blown storm raging inside of him, but his face remained calm as he stared across the table at Scarlett, who was deep in the pages of Valantine’s diary.
“I found a page that located his first encounter with the lycans around here.” Mateo pointed at a red dot he’d added to the map the night before. “According to locals, there are many caves out there that everyone avoids due to tragedy. Most search parties won’t even touch them anymore.”
“Sounds like the right spot for a little trip.” Ezra’s dark, sinister voice caught Scarlett’s attention. “Of course, it’s no place for a little princess,” he added, disguising the darkness with humour.
“I also thought about that since you said you would like to join,” he quickly continued. “There is a little town here, Willesden. It’s not the closest, but the closest civilisation. I found a nice rental, not far from the essentials. You would be safe there.”
Scarlett bent over the map and squinted her eyes to find it, before typing it into her phone and scrolling through the images. “Looks cute.”
“We could spend time with you there until you are comfortable. It also gives us time to explore the area.”
“You won’t go hunting right away?”
“I think it is best if we scan the terrain first.”
“We will need to know our surroundings,” Ezra added, seeing that she didn’t fully understand yet. “We need to know how to escape—multiple ways, along with finding the perfect spots to set traps. This is a big hunt, especially because of the size of our target.”
“Oh, so basically a plan A through Z.”
“Yes, love.”
“Clever princess.”
“This will take time,” Vince grunted, running his finger over a second more close up map of the terrain. “We need to do this before winter hits.”
“But it’s barely summer.” But Scarlett stopped herself and bit her lip. “Oh, yeah, the time aspect.”
“When will you have that piece done you’re working on?”
Vince shrugged. “Two, maybe three days.”
“Gives us enough time to pack.” Mateo looked up at Scarlett. “It’s up to you. If you don’t feel ready yet, we’ll wait until next summer.”
Scarlett slowly shook her head and looked back down at her phone. “If you’ll be with me for a little while, I’m fine.”
“We will slowly inch closer to the lycans breeding grounds, week by week. We’ll always return in between. We’ll take the truck, which has all-wheel drive, and there are plenty of trails for bikes to get through.”
Scarlett pondered the thought, then nodded. “Okay.”
“We should take two cars when driving up.” Vince stated. “One with her and one with the prey.”
“Ah, yes, our princess can’t get her hands dirty.”
Her eyes rested on Ezra as if she could see right through his façade. “I have one condition.”
“And what is that?” Ezra asked, staring back at her, with the dark grin that had become his day-to-day accessory until Scarlett came into their lives.
“I want you to drink that luck potion when you actually go hunting.” Scarlett scanned the room, landing on each of them. “All three of you.”
“Not sure if I’m willing to share.”
She whipped her head around, glaring daggers at Ezra. “You shareme, so you will share that potion too.”
Mateo and Vince seemed to hold their breath, bracing for the impact. But Ezra only nodded. “As you wish.”
They started their planning by renting the cabin and then moving on to their pack list. Scarlett listened as they started to talk weapons. Her nose crunched up a few times when they reached the dirty details: which would be best to kill them and if it was best to behead them or not.
