Page 53 of Fated to the Hunters
“Of course.” Immediately Mateo emptied the chair next to him, setting the books there on the floor so quickly that he might as well have thrown them.
“What made you want to hunt lycans?”
“We found these books on our last hunt. Vince read them and lycans were mentioned here and there. Now we want to figure out where they might be.”
“So, it was a coincidence?”
“Pretty much.”
She leaned over the map that Ezra had been working on, seeing that he’d marked spots in the mountainous regions. She let her fingertips glide over Brighton before she ventured east to where her pack’s settlement was.
No,she reminded herself, not her pack anymore.
Further east was the lake region with Kirkwall, Lakeview and Duneburry. She’d never visited, but her father had taken a route through Kirkwall when he’d travelled northeast to visit the Dagger Wolves.
They’d marked the mountains that the Silverliners had claimed for themselves, but Ezra had added a small note.
Unlikely.
She moved north all the way to the ocean, past the Shadow and Blood Wolves—two packs that couldn’t hate each other more. The mountains east of the Blood Wolves and north of the Shadow Wolves were marked with an exclamation mark.
“Do you see anywhere you want to go, princess?”
Scarlett didn’t look up at Ezra. She only let her fingers trace the northern coastline over Penrith and then to the Silvermoon Pack’s borders. “I’ve never thought about it.”
“The world is your oyster.”
“Where exactly are we?”
Instead of answering, Ezra pulled at the necklace hiding under his shirt and then let it dangle over the map. Like a magnet, it stopped just west of Brighton, revealing her location. So, it worked: his magic truly was able to locate her.
Her finger traced south, over the River Pack’s territory to the coordinates Ezra’s pendant had revealed to her. “Why here?”
“The land was dirt cheap,” Mateo explained. “And the area was a fresh start to all of us.”
“Why was it so cheap?”
“I’m not sure you want to know.”
“Maybe it will give our little princess nightmares and she’ll crawl into bed with us.”
Scarlett chose not to address him. She looked up, her gaze drifting between the three men.
“The old farmer who used to live here was a serial killer.”
“I’m sure Ezra is overjoyed that the legacy lives on.” For some reason, Scarlett didn’t feel any particular way about it. After all, they killed for a living too. She pulled back and set her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb your work.”
Mateo was quick to reassure her. “You haven’t. We enjoy your company.”
“But you’re working.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it.”
Scarlett leaned back, watching as they compiled a list of landmarks that they’d found in all the texts while making a list of possible vampire hideouts.
Closer to the evening Mateo separated from the table to start on dinner. “Want to help?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.
Scarlett’s feet tingled as she stood. She hadn’t realised how long she’d been sitting there watching them. She took the knife and cutting board offered to her and started dicing the potatoes and onions—crying horribly when she attended the latter. Mateo chuckled, wiping the tears away until he succumbed to the onion himself.
