Chapter Five Hawk
Chapter Five
Hawk
“This is bullshit,” I seethe, as another group of men are released into the hunt.
“Patience, Hawk,” Ronan tells me as we continue to stare into the spot in the forest where we lost sight of her.
“We need to protect her,” I tell him angrily, even though he already knows this. “How can we do that if we’re not even out there?!”
“If we go into the forest now, we’ll be disqualified, and another group will be able to lay claim,” he tells me calmly.
“I say we don’t wait the full week,” Bo says simply. “We just grab her and leave. Who’s gonna stop us?”
“They might send people after us for breaking their precious tradition,” Ronan tells him. “It also won’t help our cause if they think Redmere is in the habit of stealing women and being untrustworthy.”
“If she gets hurt before we get to her—”
“She won’t,” Ronan says firmly, cutting me off. “If the gods decided she is to be fated to us, that means she must be wise and brave. She’ll find a place to hide.”
“If anyone has harmed a hair on her head, I’ll kill them,” Bo says, his fingers tightly gripping the strap of leather across his chest as his eyes narrow on the next group of men waiting to be released.
“Hawk, aren’t you in this next group?” Ronan asks, finally tearing his eyes away from the forest to look at me. I tighten my hand on my spear and nod. He places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes tight. “Follow your instincts and stay true. We will find you soon.”
I nod as he releases me, then start to shoulder men out of the way as I make my way to the front line to wait for the horn to blow, signaling my release.
Glancing around at the other men who are in my wave, I take note of their weapons.
Mainlanders are strange. We’ve never seen any before we arrived here earlier today, and I’m surprised by how small they all are.
I’ve been considered short my whole life, being two inches shorter than Bo, but I still tower over every other man here.
Nearly every man has a sword and dagger attached to his hip, but I see no spears, no axes.
Some of them even have tents strapped to their backs.
That gives me pause. We were told we could only bring what fit in our small bags.
How had they gotten around the rules? There is no time to ask, though, since my wave is about to leave.
Some of the men lined-up with me are wise enough to carry water canteens like us, but not all of them.
I find the men who look the most prepared for this week-long expedition, and take note of them, their weapons, their supplies, and who they’re looking at in the crowd, so I know what group they’re working with.
I didn’t get much chance to study that before now, since my attention was set on finding the object or charm that would save our people. And then once I saw her, I’d been completely distracted. My mind racing with ways to get her out of here safely.
Willow.
Even her name is beautiful, and the only reason I even know it is because her brother yelled it earlier when he was manhandling her.
I was ready to rip him apart for hurting her, but the way she looked at us told me she was okay and reminded me that there is a more important battle ahead that she will need us for.
A loud noise fills the air, and the second I hear the horn blow, I take off in a sprint, quickly outpacing the men around me.
I keep my eyes open for threats as I run through the forest, following the tug in my chest and hoping it leads me in the right direction. It’s a strange sensation, feeling that inside me, and knowing it’s directing me to her.
There are at least two dozen men already out here, so I watch for incoming threats as I weave around trees and jump over rocks.
After thirty minutes of running, a feminine giggle pulls me up short. I come to a stop and spin, trying to figure out where it came from. I hear it again, to my left, and quietly make my way toward it.
When I step around a large tree, I see a woman lying on the ground. The purple fabric tells me it isn’t Willow, but I move forward anyway since there is a man lying on top of her.
She’s smiling up at him as he holds her hands above her head, but when she sees me, fear fills her gaze and she gasps.
The man spins his head and sees me, then jumps to his feet and pulls out his sword.
“She’s mine,” he seethes, baring his teeth as he points his weapon at me.
Instead of responding to him, my eyes move to hers as I ask, “Are you okay?” She frowns at me but doesn’t respond, so I ask again. “Do you want me to dispel this man for you? Or do you wish him to be your mate?”
Her eyebrows raise in surprise. “He found me first! I won’t go with you!” She quickly stands, runs up, and presses herself to the man’s back.
I frown in confusion. Did she not understand my question?
But since she seems happy, I don’t think I need to kill him.
Instead, I nod as I tell them, “If you are happy, then I will leave you be.” I slowly back up as they watch me, the man’s sword still raised in case I change my mind.
But I have no interest in the black-haired woman.
There’s only one female I’m looking to claim as mine.
Once I’m out of view, I turn and jog in the direction I’d been going. If I concentrate on the pulling sensation in my chest, it should lead me to her.
I never doubted that fated mates were real, but we’d never seen any on the island before.
And the mainlanders clearly didn’t believe in them at all.
After seeing Willow, we went straight to register for the Mating Hunt.
We asked the officials what would happen if a fated mate was revealed here, and they practically laughed in our faces, telling us they don’t exist.
We didn’t bother to tell them that Willow was ours; they already didn’t want us there, and they had no reason to believe our claim.
But when we saw her for the first time, on the ground like a fallen angel, all three of us felt the pull.
There is no other way to describe the tugging sensation in our hearts, telling us to go to her.
We’d been frozen in shock at first, as her eyes met with each of ours and the connection shot into place.
And then I took in her appearance. She was filthy, the clean blue dress a failed attempt at making her look unscathed. Her skin and hair made it seem as if she hadn’t bathed in days, if not longer, and she looked so frail and thin, I wanted to throttle her family for keeping her so malnourished.
That is about to end. As soon as I find her, I’ll make sure she never goes hungry again.
When I jump over a fallen log and start to pass a giant tree, the tether in my chest lurches to my left, almost making me sick with the sudden change in direction.
I quickly spin, expecting to see her sitting at the base of the tree, but there’s no one there. I move toward it, looking up into the branches for any sign of her or her blue dress. I listen carefully, but I can only hear birds singing high above, so I start to circle the large tree.
She must be up there somewhere.
The tugging sensation tells me she’s here, but I can’t see her. I open my mouth to call out her name, but then remember the way the black-haired woman had looked at me with such fear. I don’t want Willow to be scared of me too.
Although she should feel the same bond we do. If she shares the same beliefs on fated mates as all mainlanders do, she may not even understand what she’s feeling toward us.
I continue slowly circling the tree, and once I’ve made it back around to where I started, I decide to climb. When I move in close and reach up to grab a place to hold, to hoist myself up, I notice a hole in the trunk and move my head to look inside.
It appears empty at first, but as I start to pull myself up, something blue catches my attention. Letting go of the trunk, I step right up to the hole and look down, inhaling sharply when I see her curled up in a ball at the bottom of the hole, fast asleep.
How did she even get in there?
She definitely didn’t fit through the small hole. Looking up, I see there’s nothing above her. She must have climbed in from above.
Clever girl.
The problem is, I can’t get to her. I won’t be able to reach her from above, not without her standing up.
I glance around and make sure we’re alone as I contemplate my next step.
If I wake her up, she’ll be terrified, and I’ll never get her out of there.
I need to stay hidden until she tries to come out on her own, then I can reveal myself to her.
Glancing down at her frail form, I decide she’ll need food and water when she wakes up.
Remembering that I passed a stream a few minutes back, I run there as fast as I can, drinking and refilling my canteen for her.
I find some berries and nuts in the nearby bushes and tie them up in a large leaf before running back to her hiding spot.
Luckily, she’s still alone and hasn’t moved.
She must be exhausted. Earlier, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and I ache to know what put them there.
Why had she been unable to sleep properly?
How had she gotten so thin and dirty? When we saw her back at the camp, she looked like she’d been trying to run, which doesn’t make any sense.
Everyone who signs up for the Mating Hunt does so willingly.
Since the hole is too small for me to reach through, I hoist myself up above her, as quietly as I can, so as not to wake her.
Staring down from above, my fingers ache to reach down and pull her out.
Unfortunately, she’s out of my reach. Slowly, I lower the water canteen down by its strap, setting it gently between her hip and the inside of the trunk.
Then I reach down as low as I can and release the bundle of food.
It lands on top of the canteen, and she doesn’t react.
I know I’m being extra gentle, but it still worries me that she is so out of it that she hasn’t stirred at all in my presence. She’s so vulnerable right now. I’m grateful I’m the first one to find her.
Once I climb down to the ground, I pace the clearing, looking for the best vantage point to hide in so I can keep an eye on her, but also be ready to stop any threats that come our way. When I look back at the tree, I realize the best spot is right there.
Placing my back against the trunk she’s hidden in, I lower myself to the ground, my spear across my lap as I watch for incoming threats. If she looks out the hole, she won’t be able to see me down here, and by sitting against her tree, nobody will be able to get to her without going through me.
It’s the perfect spot to sit and wait.