Hunted by the Alpha novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Grove

That afternoon Corwin and I went to see the old healer, who lived in a one-room cottage behind the kitchen garden.

She was a bent woman of ninety with milky eyes and hands, and she had been waiting for me.

"The girl who cut the old wolf open," she said, without turning from her stove. "Sit."

I sat on a stool with Corwin leaning against the doorframe, still gray under the eyes.

Her cottage smelled of smoke and blackthorn bark.

"You know what he is asking," she said.

"The grove," said Corwin.

"The grove is sealed by the council. By Sherman, since your father's death." Her blind eyes turned toward him. "I told you six years ago that the batches would fail if the gate stayed shut."

"You told me?"

"I told your uncle. He said he would tell you."

Corwin's jaw flexed.

"There's a second way in," the healer said. "A drain that carries the creek under the wall. Your father showed it to me when he was a boy. It is narrow."

"I'll fit," I said.

"You will. He won't."

"Then I'll go alone."

"No," Corwin said.

"You'll be dead of silver by tomorrow night if I don't."

We stared at each other, and the healer cackled behind us.

"He'll go through the gate and you'll go through the drain," she said. "He will pull every guard to the front, and you will pick the flowers. Does that suit?"

It suited.

It also scared me half to death.

That night I left Hettie asleep with Joss and a stack of picture books.

← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend