Lords of the Hunt

This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and incidents, either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is purely coincidental. Lords of the Hunt © 2023 by Kate King All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For more information, please email [email protected]. ISBN: 979-8-9872003-2-2 (hardback) ISBN: 979-8-9872003-1-5 (paperback) ASIN: B0BKG44J66 First cover edition February 2023 Cover design and typography: Story Wrappers Special Edition Cover and typography: Flowers and Forensics Copy Editing: Noah Sky Editing Character Art: Rin Mitchell Published by Wicked Good Romance For my husband, John. I’m fucking obsessed with you. LORDS OF THE HUNT WILDE FAE BOOK ONE KATE KING STALK ME! Join my newsletter Visit my website Follow me on Instagram Follow me on Tiktok Join my Facebook reader group * * * Facebook Instagram Amazon TikTok CONTENTS Author’s Note Pronunciation Map The Everlast Family Tree Prologue Part I 1. Lonnie 2. Lonnie 3. Lonnie 4. Lonnie 5. Lonnie 6. Lonnie 7. Lonnie 8. Lonnie 9. Lonnie 10. Lonnie 11. Lonnie 12. Lonnie 13. Lonnie 14. Lonnie Part II 15. Scion 16. Scion 17. Bael 18. Lonnie 19. Lonnie 20. Scion 21. Lonnie 22. Lonnie 23. Lonnie 24. Lonnie 25. Lonnie 26. Lonnie 27. Bael 28. Lonnie 29. Lonnie 30. Lonnie 31. Lonnie 32. Lonnie 33. Lonnie 34. Bael 35. Lonnie Part III 36. Lonnie 37. Lonnie 38. Lonnie 39. Lonnie 40. Lonnie 41. Lonnie 42. Lonnie 43. Lonnie 44. Lonnie 45. Bael 46. Lonnie 47. Scion 48. Lonnie 49. Lonnie 50. Lonnie 51. Lonnie 52. Lonnie 53. Lonnie Part IV 54. Lonnie 55. Scion 56. Lonnie 57. Lonnie 58. Lonnie 59. Lonnie 60. Lonnie 61. Lonnie 62. Lonnie 63. Lonnie 64. Lonnie 65. Lonnie 66. Lonnie Epilogue Contact Kate About the Author Acknowledgments Also by Kate King AUTHOR’S NOTE To all my readers who know me from Raegan and Bliss’s stories, thank you so much for joining me on this slightly different venture. To all new readers, welcome! This book, and series as a whole, is intended to be a median point between high fantasy and dark romance. If you have read my stories before, this might be a little different than what you are used to. The world is quite large, and it will take more than one book to reveal the whole picture. Up front, this story will be a why choose romance. The characters are morally gray and will stay that way, and the POV narrators are not always reliable. The fae can be quite mean, and this first book has elements of bullying. It is also a slow burn. There will be spice—a lot of it as the series progresses—but if you are looking for smut without plot, then you will be disappointed. I promise there will be a happy ending to the series, and all secrets will be revealed…but not immediately. I hope you will put your faith in me to reveal everything in due course, and enjoy the ride. Xoxo, Kate PRONUNCIATION “Aine” – An-ya “Aisling” – Ash-lin “Ambrose” — Am-broz “Auberon” – O-ba-ron “Baelfry” or “Bael” – Bale-free or Bale “Beira” – Bay-ruh “Belvedere” – Bell-ve-dear “Caliban” – Cala-ban “Celia” – See-lee-uh “Ciara” – Keer-ah “Dullahan” – Doo-luh-han “Elfwyn” – Elf-win “Elowyn” – El-lo-win “Gwydion” – Gwid-ee-in “Iola” – Eye-oh-luh “Lysander” – Lie-san-der “Mairead” – Muh-raid “Mordant” – Mor-dnt “Penvalle” – Pen-vail “Raewyn” – Ray-win “Rhiannon” – Ree-ann-in “Roisin” – Row-sheen “Scion” – Sigh-on “Slúagh” — Slew-uh “Thalia” – Ta-lee-uh PROLOGUE LONNIE The most honest people in the world were liars. From the time I could talk, every other word out of my mouth was a lie, and I was glad of it. People usually lied for good reasons—to protect loved ones, to lessen bad news, or simply without conscious thought. The Fae never lied, but they told more falsehoods than any human I knew. They never downplayed their exhaustion, or told a friend they looked lovely to spare hurt feelings. They twisted their words into knots, taking pleasure in confusion and cruelty, while hiding behind the moral superiority of forced honesty. Lying well and often was a necessary skill in the high court of PART I * * * AS FLIES TO WANTON BOYS ARE WE TO THE GODS; THEY KILL US FOR THEIR SPORT. —WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “KING LEAR” 1 LONNIE I bent my head against the warm summer wind as I ran along the thin, winding alley on the cheap side of town. In other provinces, “Cheapside” might be an insult, but not here. “Cheap” meant you were paying your own way, and in the free-human village at the edge of the Fae city of Everlast, they respected self-sufficiency. Envy and pity churned in my stomach in equal measure as I took in the thatched roofs and peeling paint along the street. Overhead, a string of bedraggled