Hunter's Night: Robin of Larkspur, #1

Copyright

Hunter’s Night © 2019 Melinda Kucsera

Cover © 2022 Melinda Kucsera

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Table of Contents

Copyright

Table of Contents

Robin of Larkspur

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Want Free Stuff?

About Hunter’s Night

Would You Leave A Review?

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

About the Author

Would You Leave A Review?

Want Free Stuff?

I’d Love to Hear from You!

Robin of Larkspur

The Curse Breaker Series

Curse Breaker Boxed Sets

His Angelic Keeper Series

Curse Breaker’s Companion

Divergent Heroes

Robin of Larkspur

A high-fantasy action/adventure series full of magic and mayhem, starring a single mother and her friends. Other books in the Robin of Larkspur Series:

(Suggested Reading Order)

HUNTER’S NIGHT

ROGUE NIGHT

ROGUE RANGER*

ROGUE RESCUE*

ROGUE GIFT*

*Forthcoming

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the authors and organizers of the Rogue Skies Boxed Set, where this story was first published.

Dedication

For my mother and all the mothers out there. This one’s for you.

Want Free Stuff?

So do I! Who am I? I’m one of the stars of the Robin of Larkspur series, and I’m giving away a FREE preview of Rogue Night, the next book in this series. (Yes, I can do that. I’m the star, remember?)

Just go to www.mkucsera.com/RogueNight to grab these awesome bonuses:

Bonus #1:

Your email address will become part of the Newsletter-Dragon’s horde. Who is she? She’s the dragon who delivers our newsletter each week. That’s right.

We have a Dragon Email Delivery Service, and it’s so much more secure! She incinerates threats on sight and curious characters. Your email address will be safe in her claws.

Bonus #2:

You’ll get exclusive content, advanced access to extended previews, and our weekly adventure series delivered safely to your inbox by our digital dragon.

Bonus #3:

You’ll have a front-row seat to our ongoing battle with the Newsletter-Dragon. She’s constantly making trouble behind the scenes for us, characters.

Bonus #4:

You could appear in our newsletter and in a future book. How does that work?

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We don’t use your email address for anything other than to:

That’s all the Newsletter-Dragon allows. All other requests are incinerated on sight along with the requester. She takes your privacy seriously. We, characters, do too, and so does our Scribe, but we prefer that Melinda write our books and leave her newsletter to us.

Grab your preview and your FOUR FREE bonuses. Go to https://www.mkucsera.com/RogueNight but don’t tell our author, okay?

About Hunter’s Night

They took her daughter. Now she’s hunting them.

They kidnapped her baby and vanished without a trace. With no clues to follow and an injured companion to save, Robin must undertake a difficult journey to get help. But a wintry wonderland fraught with dangers lies between her and the one person who could find her daughter. Robin will do anything to save her baby, even become the one hunted in a deadly game.

Hunter’s Night is the first book in the epic fantasy adventure series, Robin of Larkspur, starring a woman warrior who could become the most skilled witch their world has ever known. But only if she survives run-ins with shapeshifters, pagan deities, demons, and other supernatural creatures who will try to stop her from fulfilling her destiny. Get Hunter's Night now!

Would You Leave A Review?

As fictional characters, we appreciate the feedback we receive. Reviews also help readers choose our book. Since we exist only when someone’s reading our stories, reviews are very important to us. So, if you’re enjoying the magical mayhem in this book, please consider letting everyone know by leaving a review. And tell everyone you meet about us.

Thank you for reading Hunter’s Night!

Chapter 1

Warrior. Mother. She was both now, but could she continue to be? Robin pondered that as she ignored the snores of her tentmate. Outside, night fell, and snow too, but she was warm enough under three blankets.

Robin turned the broken arrow over and listened to the wind whistling through the nearby mountain pass as she ran her finger along the crack in the arrow's shaft. Three months ago, she’d given birth to the healthy baby girl asleep in the wicker bassinet to her left. But she still felt like this arrow—broken inside.

End over end, the arrow spun in her hands. Maybe ‘broken’ was the wrong word. ‘Changed’ might be more apt. Giving birth had changed her body, making it curvier and fuller in places than before. It had also forced her to face the grim reality of her future as a new mother with no prospects. Sure, Robin had a bow and could outshoot most Rangers, but that wouldn’t put a roof over her daughter’s head, not when a stupid law controlled the number of Rangers a settlement could hire.

The last rejection she’d received echoed in her mind as Robin twirled the arrow around her index finger. Sorry, lass, we’ve got no room for anyone else on the roster, the hatchet-faced lieutenant had told her four days ago.

But he’d let her pitch a tent outside the Ranger’s barracks while she’d tried to figure out where to go next. Can’t have a woman and her baby sleep on a bunk in a house full of men. No, sir, that just wouldn’t be seemly. So, Robin had lit out of that forgotten town the next morning without a thought for the weather.

She aimed for a spot well away from her baby and her still snoring tentmate and threw the broken arrow into the darkness. Strella was out cold from the grueling hike up the mountainside, which had become a desperate scramble over icy rocks as the storm raging outside had closed in on them. Robin was just as exhausted, but her mind refused to quiet down and let her sleep, so she stared into the darkness again consumed by worry.

Would Mount Eredren be any different? It was perhaps another two days’ hike depending on the conditions of the trail, and what mother nature had in store for her tomorrow. Mount Eredren was also the next closest settlement and far larger than the two she’d already tried.

Will they have a place for me, or will they be just as full-up as the last one? Robin asked aloud even though only her baby was listening. As she shifted on her pallet, that question hung there in the darkness, tormenting her.

Robin rubbed her aching breasts through her red leather brigandine. Though calling the uncomfortably cold thing she lay on a ‘pallet’ was a misnomer. Handfuls of pine needles and leaves on the frozen ground with a couple of blankets thrown over them hardly counted as a fit surface for sleeping. But it was the only accommodation available this deep in the hinterlands.

Rosalie whimpered in her sleep, reminding Robin she wasn’t alone in her discomfort.

I know, girl. This was a bad idea. I should have toughed it out until spring. Robin sighed and pushed away that regret. It couldn’t warm her or her baby.

Outside, the wind howled as it buffeted the tent again. The storm must be intensifying, but the tent’s construction was sound enough to withstand its onslaught. Thank all that was holy for that small mercy. In the silence between gusts, snow blanketed the precipice and covered the trail she’d hike tomorrow.

I really must start thinking instead of reacting. A little forethought could have landed us in a much better position. But her gut had told Robin to grab her daughter and go, and she hadn’t questioned it. Maybe she should have.

Rosalie grunted even though she was too young to understand. She was probably just responding to the tone of her voice. Robin wasn't sure she’d made the right decision.

At twenty, she was a single mother with no home, no job, and nothing to her name but the baby listening to her rant and the rucksack under her head. A tear squeezed out before she could stop it. She wanted to scream, but Rosalie beat her to it.

Robin snapped out of her funk into full-mother mode. She might have screwed up their lives for the time being, but she would be the best damned mother despite that.

Don’t cry, sweetheart, Mama’s here. I’ll fix whatever’s wrong. I promise. Robin swiped another tear from her eyes and levered herself up but stopped halfway when a cold, hard object touched her throat. What the—

A knife resolved out of the shadows and above it, two startlingly bright green eyes appeared. They seemed to float in the darkness above Robin. Watery light crept into the tent, revealing the rest of the intruder, and she was definitely not human.

Robin wanted to kick herself for not hearing the strange creature's approach. That’s what she got for letting her insecurities out to play when she should have been on guard. Damn it; she was the daughter of a Ranger. This bitch should not have gotten the drop on her or her tentmate, but she had, and Strella was still dead asleep. If Rosalie’s scream hadn’t even woken her, would Robin’s?

Probably not and the idea of screaming for help like she was some waif in need of a rescue galled Robin. Her pride wouldn’t allow it as she matched stares with the intruder, who was not as solidly built as she was. If she could just get her hands on a knife... Robin hid a smile as a plan formed.

Don’t move, The green-eyed creature said.

Who are you? Robin asked, risking a slice, but the knife didn’t bite into her exposed flesh. Did that mean this creature hadn’t come to kill her?

I said not to move.

The knife didn’t waver as it pressed into Robin’s neck and drew a bead of blood. Point taken. As Robin lay back against her makeshift pallet, she let her arm slide up until her hand touched the rolled-up tunics inside the rucksack she’d been using as a pillow. Robin had unbound her hair earlier, and it hung in a straight dark fall over her shoulder, covering her arm and the hand she shoved into those tunics seeking a weapon.

And I asked you a question. Who are you? While Robin waited for an answer, she grasped the bone handle of her knife but didn’t draw it out of the rolled-up tunics hiding it from view. Her captor hadn’t told her to be quiet, and anger was coiling in her gut like a serpent ready to strike. Robin managed to keep that anger out of her voice but not her eyes.

They blazed with righteous indignation and a promise of retribution, but the fierce look was lost on her captor because there was only a little light filtering into the tent through the unsecured flap. It was enough to backlight her captor but not Robin since that creature’s shadow fell across her.

The temperature dropped as the tent flap parted again, letting in a cold gust of wind and a triangle of pale moonlight. Said light glinted off the buckles holding her assailant’s outfit in place as the womanish creature chuckled. Metal discs connected by silver rings clothed the creature holding a knife to Robin’s throat—if you could call that ‘getup’ clothing.

The metallic ensemble ended at the creature’s midriff. A divided skirt picked up where that left off, but it petered out well before a pair of hooves, not feet. Well, wasn’t that interesting? Enough to finally clear out the last cobwebs from the restless night.

Silver hooves—the sight triggered a vague memory, but it fled when a pair of pale green eyes that glowed captured hers. The creature leaning over her grinned, showing off a set of perfect teeth. She was part deer and part human and just plain creepy.

What do you want?

Robin gripped the knife hidden inside the makeshift pillow under her head. She’d managed to work her whole hand under there without drawing her captor’s notice. Unsheathing it would be risky, but she felt better with a weapon in hand even if she couldn’t use it just yet. Years of training and ingrained muscle memory should help her land at least one solid blow even in this dim lighting. All she needed was an opening. Come on, bitch, give me one.

I think you know what I want. Her visitor traced the tip of her knife along Robin’s throat. I ride the longest night where no light but mine shines. Pay the toll or heads will roll.

The rhyme struck a chord in Robin’s memory. So did the silver horns curving up from either side of her attacker’s heart-shaped face. This thing was part of the Wild Hunt. Oh crap.

Robin stared at her long-necked captor who bore more than a passing resemblance to a deer except hinds didn't usually have horns just stags did. Brown fur so fine it blended to look like human skin kept her exposed bits warm, and there was a generous portion of her curves so exposed to the elements. A riot of brown curls tumbled down the Huntress’ back, and a leather band kept those locks out of her eerie eyes. They were pale green mirrors reflecting Robin’s growing horror.

The Wild Hunt, oh, God, anything but those monsters. Robin looked away, disconcerted by the promise of pain in those eyes. Her nightmare was just beginning. Before it ended, whose lives would it claim? Not my baby, please Mother of God, protect her.

Rosalie wasn’t crying anymore, and the silence inside the tent was becoming as oppressive as the shifting shadows sliding over the Huntress’ sleek fur. A tear slid down Robin’s cheek at the thought of her sweet daughter lying in the bassinet beside her pallet, and the Huntress grinned. Outside, the wind howled and pummeled the tent with invisible fists as it gusted past again. By some miracle, the tent stayed up despite the onslaught.

What do you want? Robin asked again because she needed an answer.

Your life, your death, either will suffice. The Huntress shrugged as if she had no preference, nor any skin in this game.

Nearby, metal clanged, and a woman grunted. That must be Cat. Or had some unlucky band of adventurers lucked on to their camp? Rescue might be only seconds away.

It was possible. This trail had looked well-traveled before a storm had dropped a foot of snow on it. Robin had seen enough evidence to corroborate that assumption, or she wouldn’t have made camp here, and they were heading for one of the most trafficked waterways in the country, the River Nirthal.

Some of her hopes must have written themselves on her face because the Huntress threw back her head and laughed again. The bitch thinks she has me cowed. Not likely, since her father was a Ranger. He’d be scandalized to see his daughter so easily taken.

Robin took advantage of that momentary inattention to swing her knife up and out of hiding. It slammed into the Huntress’ blade, shoving it aside then Robin was rolling aside to avoid that next blow and move the fight away from the bassinet and her too-quiet daughter. She’d have to check on Rosalie after the fight. She couldn't risk doing so now.

The Huntress scowled as she danced aside to avoid the kick Robin had aimed at her. She must drive that creature