Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 1-3 by Mara Webb (books to read fiction .txt) 📕

“Oh man, you city folk,” she scoffed. “I thought you knew that most of the families on the Hallow Haven islands are low key at war with every other family. We get to live on the main island because we are all neutral parties, for the most part…”

Her eyes glazed over, and she got lost in a daydream, her lip curling like a dog snarling at the mailman. I guess she was secretly feuding with someone too.

Even though I’d only lived her for a short time, it felt like a lifetime ago that I’d boarded the flight from Virginia that brought me here. My first few days had been more action packed than the decades that had preceded them, and it hadn’t slowed down since.

I’d found out I was a witch, that I had family here and that I was the peacekeeper for the whole group of islands. It was all quite a shock after growing up with my adopted mother as a regular, human woman. The peacekeeper was a role that was handed down through my family and the previous peacekeeper, my cousin Greta, had been murdered for interfering with one of the many feuds that consumed folk around here.

I’d bought a café on the beach and thought I was buying myself a one-way ticket to an easy life. I was way off the mark with that one. Miller, the sheriff that presided over the islands, had been taking me down to the beach to watch the winner of the local Battle of the Bands performing on stage. Even the radio contest had ended with fighting and a murder. The whole place was very dramatic.

“Sadie! There you are,” Effie shouted. Kate’s sister was now barreling towards us from the sand and her colorful locks were shining brighter than ever in the fading sunlight. “Did you guys hear those explosions?” she asked.

“The ones that made the ground shake?” I asked. “Yeah, yeah we heard them very clearly,” I replied sarcastically.

“Alright, well I was just checking,” she smiled. “Honestly I hear random explosions so often now that I can sometimes just tune them out. It’s like if you lived near an airport, I guess you’d just be able to ignore the sound of roaring jet engines after a while.”

“It’s kind of a problem that everyone thinks this amount of petty fighting is normal,” I sighed. “But I guess I have to go see what’s going on.”

“It’s getting dark though,” Miller said.

“Every night, like clockwork,” Kate teased, high fiving her sister as they both laughed at Miller’s expense.

“You know what I mean. We’d have to cross the water fast to get there before it’s totally pitch-black outside,” he explained.

“I’m sure you can get the fast boat over there,” Effie said. “You guys are the sheriff and the peacekeeper! Just because the last time you tried to leave the island your boat sank, doesn’t mean that would happen again…probably…”

“On that reassuring note, let’s go,” I smiled.

“Hey, both of those islands have tiny hotels. I’m talking bed and breakfast level, maybe even just a few hammocks actually,” Effie grinned.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I nodded. I had no idea how that would work, me staying overnight on one of the outer islands. As the peacekeeper, my every move was monitored by the people that lived in Hallow Haven. If I stayed somewhere other than the main island, then it would look like I was showing preference to one family and then the other families would get annoyed. It would open a whole can of worms.

Miller went to reach out for my hand again but thought better of it as we weren’t alone. Kate and Effie were my closest friends on the island, no doubt, but they would make fun of us mercilessly if they realized our relationship had progressed. We hadn’t even really been on a first date yet, but that wouldn’t matter to them. We wanted to keep our secret for a little while longer.

That was obviously easier said than done. Kate was something of a mind reader, one of the bonus powers she had alongside her general witch stuff. She looked at both of us and her eyes grew wide. I could see that she was about to blurt out what she had learned from my thoughts, but I shook my head. It was a silent request to keep it to herself. Surprisingly, she nodded and didn’t say a word.

“Sadie! There you are,” another voice called out. This time it was Ryder. “Did you hear those explosions just now? I thought maybe it was… oh,” he said, trailing off. I knew what he was about to say. Ryder and I also seemed to have a connection, some strange magical force that pulled me towards him. It was a weird love-triangle that I was caught in the middle of.

I had chosen Miller or was at least in the early stages of choosing. Both of them were my guardians; a role that was thrust upon them by their genetic destiny. Or so I’m told. Greta’s guardian had been her own father, my Uncle Walter. Somehow, I’d hit the jackpot of being protected by the two hottest guys around. What a shame.

Ryder had no doubt been about to tell me that Miller had set off a bomb or something. If anything went wrong around here, Ryder jumped to the conclusion that it was Miller’s fault. There were a few reasons for this; the first was possibly due to the fact that both of them were trying to date me and it was a rivalry thing, the second and more obscure reason was because of what Miller was. More specifically what Miller became under a full moon.

Miller was a werewolf. Ryder came from a family of werewolf hunters. The dilemma here was obvious, but I was trying to keep everybody calm about it. I knew that it was taking a great deal of strength for Ryder to overcome the urge to shoot Miller on