Scarlett and the Bear: Fairy Tales with a Shift
By Cara Wylde
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About this ebook
A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood
The day of The Choosing is coming, and Scarlett has just turned 18 and become eligible to be chosen as tribute for the werewolf who has been terrorizing her village for years. Scarlett is not a damsel, though, and she will not go down without a fight. She has been training with her father's hunting daggers since she was a child, and she is certain that if she ever comes face to face with the evil wolf-shifter, she might just have a chance to kill him and free her people.
Braden is a bear-shifter who has taken it upon himself to hunt down evil shapeshifters who use their supernatural powers to enslave humans. He arrives in Scarlett's village just before The Choosing, and in time to meet her and realize she is his soul mate. Unfortunately, Scarlett believes all shifters are cruel. When she is chosen and sent as tribute into the woods, it's up to Braden to save her and show her he is different. He will do anything to keep her safe and happy, even risk his own life. But will it be enough?
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Scarlett and the Bear - Cara Wylde
CHAPTER ONE
Thwack! The hunting knife buried itself into the fence post.
Thwack! Its twin buried itself just millimeters to one side.
Scarlett ran over and pulled both her hunting daggers out of the fence post, turned around swiftly and – thwack! thwack! – sent them flying into a fence post on the other side of the garden. She could keep this up all day, running from one side of the garden to the other, picking a target and hitting it with both knives each and every time. She had the best aim of anyone in the five villages, man or woman.
The five villages were nestled in a fertile valley overlooked by the foothills of the great snow-capped mountains. Once upon a time, they each had a separate name, a unique identity. But now, they were simply known as The Five Villages
because of their subjugation by the wolf-shifter.
Scarlett ran across her garden, pulled her knives from their target and turned, selecting another post to be the wolf-shifter as she quickly aimed and, once more, hit her target – the ugly, ferocious beast, right between its glowing red eyes. She knew she had a fair chance of freeing the villages if she could just get a clean shot at the shifter that controlled them and extracted his yearly tribute from the villages. But while everyone else acknowledged her skills with her knives, none of them thought she could kill the semi-mythical monster.
Thwack! Thwack!
She sent her knives flying to their target again, longing for the day that she could prove everyone wrong. She paused as she pulled her knives free, looking past the fence to the edge of the forest. Was he there now, she wondered. Perhaps he was watching her...
She raised her hand, dagger at the ready, but nothing came out of the forest.
Scarlett!
Scarlett turned to see her mother calling her.
It’s time to come inside and eat,
her mother said.
Okay,
Scarlett said and slipped her knives back into their sheaths before trotting into the house.
Inside, her mother and grandmother were already sitting at the kitchen table, and there was a bowl of stew in front of each of them. Her father had been lost on a hunting trip when Scarlett was just a small girl, and she had been raised by these two women who dedicated their lives to giving her everything she needed.
So, have you given any more thought to it?
Scarlett’s mother asked.
Scarlett didn’t need to ask what her mother was talking about. There was only one topic on everyone’s thoughts at this time: The Choosing. The time of the year when one of the five villages had to pick a woman to give to the wolf-shifter. Tomorrow was the day when The Choosing would take place.
No.
It was all Scarlett could bring herself to say.
Each of the older women had lived their lives with the threat of being chosen hanging over them, and now that Scarlett had turned eighteen, she too was eligible to be chosen. She looked from her grandmother to her mother and back again. Would she choose to trust to luck like her grandmother had, and simply hope she would never be chosen in the next twelve years, until she was thirty and over the age preferred by the beast? Or would she choose a more drastic action, like her mother had?
Scarlett watched in silence as her mother ate, more aware now than ever before of the burn scars which disfigured half of her face. Could she do that to herself, as her mother had? It was a sign of great strength and supreme cowardice, at the same time. Scarlett was the prettiest young woman in the five villages, but if something were to happen and she ended up with a huge scar or an ugly burn on her face, she would be taken out of the draw. Beauty was dangerous.
Scarlett thought of her hunting knives, the one thing of her father’s that she still possessed. She subconsciously sat up straighter in her chair as she ate. She could never refuse to face her fears. She would stand tall in the village square tomorrow, and if her name was called, then she would walk into the forest and face the wolf-shifter with a dagger in each hand.
It’s the only way to be sure,
Scarlett’s mother said, her voice soft and pleading.
I’m not afraid,
Scarlett replied.
Think of your grandmother and me,
her mother insisted. What would become of us if you were to be lost?
Scarlett had nothing to say to that.
I’ve already lost my husband. Don’t make me lose you as well.
She reached out a hand to hold Scarlett’s arm. You are all I have left.
Scarlett pulled her arm away and stood up.
If I am chosen tomorrow, mother, I will at least go down fighting.
She emphasized her point by drawing out her knives.
Scarlett!
Her mother sat back, shocked. Even her grandmother was startled.
I’m sorry.
Scarlett put her knives back into their sheaths and sat down.
You know how I feel about you and those knives,
her mother said. I don’t mind you playing with them outside. But I’ll not have you draw them in the house.
I wasn’t playing, mother,
Scarlett said grumpily. "I was