"Don't You Know?" by the ever-talented Jaymes Young~
1. The profile "thefictionawards" is currently looking for nominations! A few of you (thank you!) nominated Hunted for best Paranormal story. If any of you guys out there also loved it, please nominate the story! It's great exposure, since the stories with the most votes advance to the next round and get read.
2. The profile @new_adult has chosen Hunted as it's book of the month! They're holding a discussion on June 30th. If you loved Hunted, please give the profile some love and check it out! I'll be there to answer any questions you guys have about the story and just to chat! If there's anything you want to know about me or the story, come visit us! Just head on over there, give the profile some love, and stick around for the discussion!
3. Hunted hit #1 on the Paranormal hotlist (06/07/2017)! OMG. Thank you! ❤ I even took a screenshot to mark the occasion.
OKAY THE IMPORTANT STUFF IS OUT OF THE WAY. Time to have some fun. :K
*
The rainy season arrived with cracking thunder and muggy air. Rushing torrents of water poured off the scarred palace walls and turned the garden flowers into soggy, rain-battered victims that drooped and bowed. Overhead, crocodilian clouds suffocated the waning sun, squeezed the last tender rays through the cracks in the stone, where it bled like tainted ichor into the courtyard. The scents of the Hunt—fear and death and chaos—were swept away with the final lord's arrival across the mud-soaked grounds.
Beyond the ancient palace, the Malumbrian Oaks stood tall against the torrential onslaught with prehistoric viridity. When the rains began all evidence of these past few harrowing weeks had been cleaned and consumed by one of nature's most fearsome forces.
And what the rains hadn't washed away, the godforsaken Marrow Witch had surely stolen for Its own dark purposes.
Chiro flipped a heavy wool hood over his head, caught a whiff of the dank wind, then abandoned the overhang he'd been standing beneath. There'd be no break in the rain. He couldn't delay any longer.
The instant he moved out from beneath his shelter rain battered the fabric and soaked him to the bone in a matter of yards. "Magic-infused waterproofing unless you're swimming," the merchant had promised. If he saw that one-eyed son of—
"That you, ya bastard?" came a hoarse voice over the roaring water. A fine mist had risen from the pounded ground, through which sloshed a hefty, balding demon. The man stroked a waterlogged red beard, wrinkles creasing his brow as he squinted through the wind-driven sheets.
Chiro had no interest in talking. He had things to do, and an impromptu meeting with the Walrus wasn't one of them. But this conversation was a long time coming. He glanced around the otherwise lifeless courtyard, then stepped closer to the retired warrior. "Out in your element, I see."
The man found room for a bracing breath in the cascading sea. "Always loved this time of the cycle: fresh blood, young love." Water trickled over the Walrus' fat grin. A heavy hand dropped onto his companion's shoulder. "Chiro, my fine feline friend. Did you enjoy your first Hunt?"
"No," the younger man snapped, and shook him off.
Completely unperturbed, the Walrus flipped Chiro's hood back and stared down the annoyed grey eyes. "And the girl?"
"Too nice." he said, pulling the defunct hood back on. "No sense of self-preservation. Thought she might have wised up after Gabe killed the calf, but all she's done is transferred her instincts to saving the women."
The Walrus' thick eyebrows rose. "You mean to tell me she cares more about other folks than herself? Oh, what a horrible person you have to deal with."
Chiro was not amused. "More than she should." All that caring about others nonsense made him uncomfortable, because he found himself, for whatever reason, trying real hard to personify words like good and helpful. Hell, during the Hunt he'd even gone and caught some girls for her harem when the opportunity arose. "I don't understand her."
"Heaven help the rest of us then," his partner responded. "By the way, solid job protecting her. Very good. You earned your release."
For several seconds, he didn't have anything but a frown for that news. "She pissed It off killing Akta. You didn't tell me he was a priest."
"Didn't know."
Bullshit. Chiro crossed his arms beneath the soaked wool. "How are they planning to contain that?"
The Walrus tilted his chin up to access the surrounding fortifications. Armored grey shadows stood stationed on the drab mural tower. "Stay inside the walls fer now. Least until we figure out what It wants."
"It wants her."
The old warrior pushed his face closer to Chiro's, eyes sparkling. "Might I be detectin' a hint of worry in your tone?"
The Prince looked away. "Worried you'll call on me to protect her."
"Ah," the Walrus said, and began stroking his beard once more. "And so being her protector, what would you say our lass knows about dear old da?"
"She's got other priorities."
There was a grunt of agreement. "Heard along the grapevine she'd spent the first night back with you. And she's sent for you again, hasn't she? That's why you're braving the elements."
Chiro kept silent.
The larger man followed his gaze up toward the King's tower. "Were I a smart cat like yourself, I'd be putting an end to that right quick before her fiancé does. Don't be getting any ideas, lad. Tay don't belong to you."
"She'd have you know she doesn't belong to anyone."
"All the more reason a filthy soul like yerself needs to keep his paws off that gentle spirit." Chiro raised his eyebrows. The Walrus shrugged. " ...Gentler than yours, anyway."
"You let her take advantage of me," he pointed out. "Whatever Tay Wilson required, I was supposed to do. If the Lady wants to use all my assets..." He trailed off with a catty smile, carrying on past the old warrior. A big palm whacked the back of his head, but there was no loosening his pointed grin.
*
The first king's builders had laid a foundation of magic, magic so old there wasn't a soul alive today that knew how to use it. That was from a time before the Marrow Witch, an enchanted, bygone era when creatures stranger than Marls and crag cats roamed the lands. Were it not for those ancient builders Chiro doubted there'd be anything that could stop the witch from breaching the walls and destroying one of the few places left It couldn't set foot inside.
The castle grounds were sacred.
And one of its jewels was buried deep in the underground, down a set of carved stone stairs polished smooth from centuries of use, beyond torches that never extinguished and air that always smelled clean. It was here that the ruddy walls breathed with the moist heat of a dragon's belly. These were the hot springs, a series of natural pools the workers had built the palace around. It was here that those ancient architects had carved their stories and battles against the night. Screaming monsters vs severe men and tall women, chasing history around and around the cavern. In the orange glow of torchlight, illuminated by pale steam, the stories came alive.
Tucked along one distant wall, the dappled skin of a resting crag cat rose and fell. The animal's green eyes lifted in momentary assessment of the intruder, then its ears flattened and it settled its head back onto its paws.
Chiro felt extra sticky as he padded down those last few steps into the wide expanse of warm stone and water. The rainsoaked clothing clung to his skin with an unpleasant coolness, interacting with the steam in a way that made him instinctively shed the cloak. He'd almost taken more off, but then the reason he was here called out a cheery, "Hey!"
He took a long look around the springs, searching the carved monsters for signs of a real one. But there were none. It was just him, the cat, and the woman. And her neatly folded pile of clothes.
The future queen had cleared the springs with a simple request; a nifty perk of being the apple of the King's eye. She'd submerged herself into the smallest hot water bath: a narrow blue pool with only room enough for three or four human-forms at most. She rested her arms back onto the stone and tipped her head at his approach, looking confident and yet extraordinarily keen on keeping a stupid amount of flower petals in place around her chest.
Chiro instinctively disliked this.
He suspected Tay Wilson was toying with him. Probably at the behest of that blonde girl who knew her way around a man. Tay had probably told Dakota about the other night. And the minx had in turn suggested to use his...fondness for Tay to their advantage. He took another look at the rosy petals. Yes. This had all the markings of Dakota's advice. That woman talked with her body.
Tay, not so much. And that put him on edge.
"You just gonna stand there, or what?" In the torchlight the woman's brown eyes took on a cozy warmth.
"What do you want?" he asked, peeling off his boots. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her tense, saw that telltale flash of 'oh shit' when she realized he might actually join her. But that disappeared when he sat on an edge and only his legs plunked into the petaled waters across from her.
Chiro kept his eyes trained on the storied walls over Tay's shoulder. The Walrus was right; he needed to steer clear of the woman. Rosy in steam with those big doe eyes focused on him, she made his heartbeat quicken and muscles tighten... And that excitement put ideas in his head, and ideas of being pressed against her crowded out actual pressing matters.
The Lady of the Hunt was, in short, a distraction. He hated distractions.
He didn't hate them a week and a half ago, but that was different; he'd been exhausted with pain. He wondered if he'd have a clearer head now if he'd just have satisfied a growing curiosity and taken her, if not there than back in the Oaks. That's what the others would have done, what the bastard King would do, if he'd gotten Tay alone and emotionally vulnerable. The first chance Chiro got, he let her rest. And the second time, her supple, willing body pressuring his lap in all the right places, the only thing he'd thought to do was kiss her. What the fuck had that been about?
"So." Tay drummed her fingers nervously along the ruddy stone. Whatever she wanted to say caught in her throat, and she had to start again. "So I want to make sure what happened the other night wasn't a dream. You know, the part involving you and me. There's no doubt the aftermath was a nightmare."
Chiro pushed a stray red petal into the water and watched it settle on the rippled surface. "The part where you kept waking up kicking and screaming?"
She flicked water his direction. "I said I was sorry."
He wiped the droplets off his cheek. "I said it didn't bother me."
"Then why bring it up?"
This time he took a moment to study the faint pink rings around her pupils. "Are you sleeping?"
"Yes."
Tay refused to discuss her dreams, but Chiro knew. He'd dreamed about the Hunt, too. He dreamed of being the monster, of ripping and tearing and sinking his fangs into pulsing throats. He dreamed of having claws again. From the sound it, every time Tay shut her eyes she'd been drawn into an endless loop of running and being caught and cut into. She'd thrashed and cried in her sleep, waking in a cold sweat. Come morning, she'd left without a word, accepted the King's proposal, then spent the entire day arranging rooms for the freed woman. That night, and each one since, she'd slept in her chambers with only Shail as company.
"If you need something to help you sleep, I could—"
"That won't be necessary."The smile she passed on failed to reach her tired eyes.
Sighing, he rubbed the side of his face and looked toward the dark ceiling hollows, beyond the reach of the torches. Why'd she have to be so difficult when it came to taking care of herself? "There's a woman down in the market, Colleen. She will give you something if you ask."
Tay didn't thank him, because that would mean admitting he was right, but as he watched, he could almost see her committing the name to memory. After a second of steam coiling between them, she leaned toward him. Petals bobbed with the gentle forward motion. "I need you to do something for me."
"You don't," he said immediately. "You have the King. He'll do anything you want."
"He'll do more than I want," she insisted.
Chiro shrugged. "You agreed to him."
"We're still negotiating terms and conditions," she was saying, rambling on about what she thought she could accomplish as some wet behind the ears halfbreed who—
Wet, purred a creeping dominance in his brain, catching on the one word that made him stiffen. Look at the way the damp petals cling to her collarbone, the beaded water running over her shoulder, the loose hair caught in waves. He saw each fine detail, but he felt them, too, felt his body react in a—depending on who you asked—rather problematic way.
Fuck, it'd been a long time. Shit, she deserved better.
Chiro forced his eyes off her shoulders and looked at the slumbering crag cat. "Terms and conditions?"
Tay Wilson nodded. "Time and safety, that's what I need right now. So I've gotta come up with something, a trick or a challenge, like they'd tell in all those fairy tales. I'd do a riddle but I'm not so good at the answers, let alone writing one."
"You'd be a fool to think the King would follow along with your scheme."Now that the last Lord had arrived with his brides, the Hunt would formally be declared finished and celebratory ceremonies would commence. Tay had months of wretched nights in store. Looking at her now, he suspected she'd gotten used to seeing demons as semi-human. She wasn't thinking what his kind were truly, nor what they could do to a person that regenerated. She'd gotten a taste of that with Akta.
But that was for a ritual.
Anything the King did would be out of cruelty.
She must've sensed his thoughts, for the self-possessed bride sat abruptly back, so caught up in her thoughts she forgot to rein in her flowery cover. Concern welled in her eyes. "As long as I'm his, what does he care if I buy myself an extra day or two?"
"If you lived to be his age, you'd care about every day, too, Tay Wilson."
"Tay."
"Tay," he said and frowned. Hard to keep your distance when she expects you to call her by her first name.
"I can convince him," she continued, easing her way along the edge of the spring until she was just beside him. And then the Lady turned away, fussing with her hair until she gathered it to one side. Left behind was a sentence written in ink, whose fat letters were thickly steamed and runny.
Against his better judgment, Chiro leaned in for a closer look. "What's this?"
"Dakota helped me write it," she explained. "Clever, isn't it?"
In dribbling words the minx had scrawled not a question, but a demand: help me kill the king. Down below it, in ink that had clearly been smeared and crossed the moment Tay looked in a mirror, was a sloppy, somewhat indistinct version of 'make babies.'
"Think about the first part; ignore the second," Tay instructed, turning enough to press a small bar of soap into his palm. She patted the lettering and smiled through pink cheeks. "I'd do it myself but you've got a better angle."
For a moment her eyes met his, then she dipped underneath the surface. With a refreshed gasp she backed up against his toes, again pulling her hair to the side. Chiro hesitated. With every second he didn't touch her, her muscles seemed to coil tighter. When his hand finally found the bare skin of her neck, she relaxed but not fully as he massaged the ink off. Word by word, the treasonous letters disappeared into the steam. Over the gentle snore of the crag cat Chiro thought about the blood that had poured like ink off her back.
"About that night," he caught himself suddenly saying. His fingertips caressed the smooth skin of her collar bone, moving steadily up her neck until he could tip her chin. He got within an inch of her lips, thought better of it and released her. He straightened. "I was in a lot of pain."
"I was poisoned, you were hurt. Guess that makes us even." Tay wore something of a good-humored scowl as she bobbed around to glower at him. "Silly as it sounds, I wish you were more of a monster. This would be easier."
Chiro dried his hands on the hem of his damp shirt and stretched for his boots. Propping herself carefully on the stone edge, with her chin on her arms she watched him squeeze back into his wet boots. When he moved to stand she splashed up and snatched his wrist.
"Chiro," she said in a breathy timbre that made him want to pull her out of the water and onto his hips.
He flinched his hand out of her grasp. "What?" he snapped.
"What do you say?"
The Prince of fiends considered the extraordinary amount of effort necessary to have that brave gallant woman to himself. And how much he'd have to bleed, and what trouble she'd drag him into, and whether or not she had any chance at surviving.
"I can't," he decided, and kept walking, stopping only long enough to gather up the cloak in his arms. It wasn't a lie and that soured his mood further.
"You will," she called after him.
"You're a pain in the ass." Just like her father.
"Without your help, in a week's time I'll graduate to 'Royal pain in the ass.' How do you like that?"
He didn't.
1/18/2023
A lengthy author's note
Hi, all! I'm glad to be back writing for you! :) We'll have some bumps while I'm working on new content. It'll take me a few chapters to get back into the groove.
I needed time off to learn how to balance work with motherhood (as of January, 2023 I am a proud mamma to a 22 month old & a newborn), but that time allowed me to create a plan to bring my writing life and my "real" life into a more cohesive union.
You may have noticed the "Wattpad Star" title has dropped off my profile. The program was retired/replaced by the Wattpad Creator's program. You'll notice I do not have a badge for the new program. This was my choice.
I'll be honest with you, I was offered a stipend to continue writing under the Creators program. It was a surprising offer -- I know several better (and far more active) authors who did not receive the opportunity. That being said, after a careful review with legal and a few mathematical calculations, I came to the conclusion that, although it is hard to turn down any amount of money for my growing family, the program wasn't monetarily worth it for me.
There are plenty of people for whom the creators program works well. I am in a different position today, however, so now I sit here asking questions such as: we've just added a newborn to the equation - did I just make a huuuuge mistake?
Instead of joining the creators program, I chose to retire with the Wattpad Stars program and officially finalized my decision to become self-published.
Here's the scoop:
1. I've created my own publishing company, Scary Good Press, LLC. Scarygoodpress.com, a site for writers, will go live soon.
2. Rough drafts (such as the one you're reading now) will be continue to be available on Wattpad for free while they're being written. Finished stories may rotate, depending on publisher requirements.
3. COMING SOON Edited, polished versions of my manuscripts will eventually be available in ebook, paperback and audiobook formats through various retailers.
4. I'm pleased to announce that the first story published through Scary Good Press will be titled, A Feral Shade of Amber. Can you guess which of my Wattpad books this is? C:
5. Kelliebowe.com is my author website (external link at the end of the chapter). I've just given it a facelift (albeit, not a very good one because I know nothing about websites) and am starting a newsletter. As time goes on, readers who signup for my newsletter will receive free bonus content, release alerts, exclusive giveaways and short stories, discounts, etc. I haven't released the first issue yet, so if you signup early, you won't miss a beat! :)
That's the end of my very long author update. If you actually read this far down, thank you so much! :) I look forward to getting back to regular posts for y'all and hope you'll travel with me in this exciting new adventure going forward!