Page 15 of The Wild Hunt (Sold to the Fae Duet #1)

The fae surrounding the field fall into a frenzy, their noises animalistic as dozens set off blasts of power, from showers of ice to whipping vines from the trees at their backs.

Women scream at the display, and I’m shoved in the back as someone behind me tries to get through to the front.

I snort when I recognize Platinum as the bony culprit.

She sneers at me but promptly turns her face away, folding her arms across her chest like a stubborn toddler.

“Nice to see you too,” I mutter. I don’t know if she chooses not to hear me or whether she actually doesn’t, but her back remains ramrod straight and facing away.

She’s pushed into me again, but doesn’t acknowledge me in the slightest. I swallow my snarky remark about her digging her bones into me.

She just isn’t worth my breath right now.

“I think we owe the humans an explanation, my kin!” the male calls, his mouth curled into a sinister sneer.

“So, what is The Wild Hunt? It’s a tradition!

It is a trial to comb the weak from the strong!

It’s the game we live for! It brings our Courts together as one!

I like to think of it as Christmas, which a human once told me about. Before I snapped her fickle neck.

“What does this game have to do with the stones, you ask? Everything! Every male has the chance to put forth a claim for a human female every Hunt Eve, though many choose not to take part. One Hunt, one stone, one human female. These males then get the chance to hunt you!” My stomach, already in knots, sinks like a stone as I put it all together.

“We use portals, just like the one you came through from your… unexceptional world.” The male grimaces, as if Earth is the most horrid place he has ever seen.

“But on a much smaller scale. These portals will send you to different areas of the vast Wylden Forest. You then have 12 hours to run and hide before your males set off for their Hunt.”

Gods, this was bad. And humiliating, if I am to be completely honest. Like foxes in a fox hunt, our odds were not in our favor.

A 12-hour head start was going to get us nowhere, not with the heightened senses of the fae, not to mention their familiarity with the land and abilities to wield amazing powers.

And that’s not even mentioning the other creatures we may come across during the trial.

As if reading my mind, the speaking male’s eyes glint as he continues.

“But beware, pretty Chosen ones! Fae are not the only dwellers of the Wylden Forrest! No! Many vicious beasts call this remote land home. And they love the taste of human flesh.” Goosebumps prickle my skin from head to toe as I picture ferocious, fire-breathing dragons, hulking werewolves with drool dripping from their hungry maws, and giant ogres with their stinking flesh and colossal fists.

“They will scent you the second you enter the Forest…. And this is where the unChosen amongst you find their usefulness!” He gestures energetically towards the smaller group of women who had not received a single stone amongst them. “You all get to sate their hunger!”

There is a moment of horrified silence before the unChosen start screaming and making a run for it. They were offering them up as pigs for slaughter, to satisfy the monsters within the forest before they sent us through. Because we were less expendable. We were wanted .

A woman darts towards me, her eyes desperate as she reaches out her arms. I reach for her, but she suddenly freezes in place, just a finger’s breath from my hands, as if frozen in ice that isn’t there. Her terrified eyes blink, and I recoil in shock, but the rest of her remains completely immobile.

“Not so fast, ugly one,” a horrid female with aqua hair coos. “Wouldn’t want you to miss out on the real fun now, would we?”

I’m fucking stupid. I know it before the words are out of my mouth.

“She can have one of mine!”

The female spins to face me, her head snapping at an unnatural angle as she eyes me curiously.

“She can have one of my stones!” I tell her. My outburst reached more fae, who are now all completely focused on me. “I have plenty! I can share! I don’t need so many!”

A couple of other women mutter in agreement, but as one, the fae break into hysterics.

“Did she just…”

“I have never heard such a-“

“Stupid human!”

I keep my head high even as blood rushes to my cheeks. Fuck them for laughing at my kindness. I knew it was stupid. The males had chosen to hunt me . I had no say in the matter. But I couldn’t just stand here and allow these women to be sent to certain death .

As they laugh, they wave slim, bony hands carelessly in the air, and the unChosen fall through the ground.

Small portals in varying colors pop in and out of existence all over the clearing, sending the unChosen to the Forest. Their screams falling on empty ears.

My stomach churns as I watch them disappear.

One after the other. Their faces painted in varying degrees of terrified.

Another portal opens nearby, and someone shoves Georgia, the large tattooed woman from my first day at the hotel, through.

I barely manage a blink before something huge and cast in shadows dashes past the portal with a scaled and slimy claw.

One second, Georgia is there, the next, the portal is empty save for a spattering of thick, crimson blood, some of which has landed on this side of the portal.

The fae cheer at her demise, and the portal flicks out of existence just as quickly as it had appeared.

But I can’t stop looking at the blood; everything around me blurs while the sounds turn to distant hums. I couldn’t stop thinking about how quick it had been.

She hadn’t even seen what killed her. A blessing, I supposed.

I had only seen its claw, but I certainly did not want to meet the creature when it was my turn to cross a portal.

It’s an hour or so later when the male announces it’s our turn.

“Now, I forgot to mention, the males also have 12 hours to find you. If 24 hours pass from the moment you step through your portal, and you remain unclaimed and alive , you will be freed and returned to your Earth,” he pauses, then laughs madly. “But that’s never happened before.”

He jokingly asks for a volunteer, and everyone shrinks back a step while the fae hoot and

holler .

A ferocious burn of pure anger crawls its way up my belly, and I let it take control of my body. Fuck them if they think they were going to get the last laugh here.

“I’ll go.”

They don’t hear me at first, so I say it louder, stepping forward until I’m just a couple of feet away from the male seemingly in charge.

The field quiets unerringly fast, and all focus falls to me. Again .

“Ah, yes,” the fae smirks past his surprise, “the fiery little human who caught the eye of High Lord Draekoh of Light. I see now what he saw in you.” Louder, he jokes, “I suddenly regret my choice of not Hunting this year!”

I fold my arms across my chest and cock my hip as laughter fills the clearing once again. This fucking smart ass needed to be taken down a peg.

“Too bad,” I say boldly, my voice causing the fae nearest to hush. “I would have really enjoyed kicking your ass out there.”

He steps close, his humor disappearing in a flash. His anger is kind of terrifying, but I hold my ground, tipping back my nose so my eyes never leave his.

“You’d better hope some hungry faerie creature gets to you before the High Lord does. Dying by them would be a mercy. Lord Draekoh, though… he is going to fucking flay you alive.”

He steps away then and summons a portal. This one is the same sickly yellow of his eyes. Gross. I don’t know why, but a portal of literally any other color would be so much easier to cross through. My stomach flips as if the very thought of my skin passing through it. What a horrible color .

“Well? Shall we give you a push?” the smart ass asks with a spark of humor lacing his voice.

“No,” I tell him, giving myself a firm mental slap across the face. I would not show weakness in front of this male. “I just absolutely loathe the idea of this disgusting color touching my flesh. It’s a real bummer you have to live with it in your eyes.”

I step through before he can tear me limb from limb.