All Chapters of To Love The Hunters Daughter: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

EvelynThe morning stretched like molasses, thick and unmoving, pressing down on me until I could barely breathe.I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wooden floorboards as sunlight angled through the high window, catching dust motes in its path. My fingers fidgeted restlessly in my lap, my skin prickling with a tension I couldn’t shake.I’d been staring at these same four walls for what felt like days, willing them to open and spill out answers. They didn’t. Only silence. Only the steady echo of my thoughts spinning around and around, growing tighter and sharper with every hour.Sleep had been a fragile, flickering thing—restless and broken by half-dreams of unfamiliar hands and the ghost of Rafe’s eyes on mine. Every time I closed my eyes, I could almost feel his hand hover

EvelynI woke up, bored as ever, and eventually begged Mara for something—anything—to do. Although after the last incident she’d been reluctant, nothing being a pain in the ass wouldn’t fix.She eventually handed me off to one of the older omegas, who needed help preparing for the day’s breakfast while the others were busy tending to other duties.Peeling potatoes, stirring a bubbling pot, scrubbing herbs between my palms until their sharp, green scent coated my skin—at least it kept my hands busy, even if my mind wouldn’t settle. Every scrape of the knife, every swirl of the spoon felt like the only thing anchoring me to myself.After the rush died down, I offered to deliver something to the infirmary. Just a simple tray—soups, bandage

EvelynI was going to lose my mind.Three days trapped in bed and I was ready to throw myself out the window—even if it meant tearing every single stitch and crawling into the forest like a wounded animal. Each time I so much as shifted wrong, Mara was there, shooting me that look that promised she’d tie me down herself if I tried anything stupid.And Rafe?He didn’t have to say a word. His presence was like a thundercloud, hanging at the edge of the room, thick and heavy and impossible to ignore. Even when he stepped out to see to other duties, I could feel him. Like some invisible thread tethered us together, always tugging, reminding me he was close.It got so bad I started to sense him before he even walked in. My skin prickled with an unearthly heat when he was near. The bond hummed at the base of my throat, an echo of a second heartbeat, relentless.Once, I overheard them through the thin walls.“You can’t keep hovering over her like she’s broken,” Mara scolded. “She almost die

EvelynThe night after the punishment, sleep didn’t come.I lay awake in Rafe’s quarters — because where else could I be? — staring up at the carved wooden beams overhead, replaying every lash, every scream, every ragged breath.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the silver biting into flesh, saw the way the guards’ arms had moved, so practiced, so merciless. I heard the way the crowd had gone silent, torn between fear and grim satisfaction.I’d wanted to feel protected. And I had — sort of. But there was a sickness inside me, coiled tight, a voice that kept whispering that this wasn’t safety. That this was a warning.That I was the reason for their pain.By dawn, the tension in my chest had grown unbearable. I finally gave up pretending to rest, swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and stood.The bite of cold air helped ground me. The window was cracked open

EvelynThe night air bit cold against my cheeks as I stepped outside. Rafe waited in the courtyard, a silent, towering shadow. The torches behind him cast flickers across the planes of his face, catching the harsh lines and the faintest glint of something unreadable in his dark eyes.He nodded when he saw me, approving, though he didn’t smile. “Good. Come.”I fell into step beside him as he led me out through the fortress gates. No one challenged us. No one even spoke. It felt as if the whole keep was holding its breath.Beyond the walls, the forest loomed, hushed and silver beneath a waxing moon. The path ahead twisted between ancient trees, roots curling like fingers across the trail. Rafe’s presence guided me forward — steady, assured — and I clung to that steadiness because I didn’t know what else to trust.We moved deeper into the night until even the noises of the keep faded. The only sounds left were the hush of our breathing, the distant calls of owls, and the rhythm of our st