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

the spot, he truly believed he was a danger to the community. His main concern, however, was that he thought Miller was a danger to me.

As my guardian, Ryder was compelled to protect me. The fact that I was now romantically pursuing a werewolf was naturally problematic for him.

“You were about to blame me for those explosions?” Miller asked.

“Well, if the shoe fits…” Ryder mumbled.

“What? That doesn’t even make sense!” Miller replied.

“Alright, enough!” I said, pressing my hands to my face in disbelief that they had turned this around into another argument. “Can you both just focus on the fact that there is something bad happening in that direction?” I pointed out across the water. “Not everything is about you!”

“She’s right. Neither of you are the center of the universe,” Effie smirked. “You hotties really think you run the whole world, I’m sick of it.”

“Yeah!” Kate cheered, reaching out for another high five with her sister.

“Can everyone focus?” I said. “Look, Miller, we need to get to the boats. Ryder, can you run over to the police station and tell them where we are going?”

“Where are you going?” Ryder asked.

“That’s a good point, I don’t actually know,” I sighed.

“Over there you have Green Holt and Skerry,” Effie explained. “Two islands that are obnoxiously close together and the people on each island hate the people on the other one. Standard stuff around here.”

“Great, well Ryder can go and relay that information to the rest of the police and we will head out before the sun is fully down,” I said.

“What should I do?” Effie asked. “Just kidding, I’m headed back to the café. Kate you coming?”

“You bet! After the day I’ve had I could use a waffle the size of my head,” Kate smiled. They both skipped off arm in arm and I turned back to see Ryder staring at me.

“I don’t like this,” he muttered. Of course he didn’t. I was running off to some tiny islands with his love rival.

“I know, I’ll be careful,” I smiled. Ryder jogged up the high street towards the police station and Miller and I started to power walk to the beach.

“You’ve not visited Green Holt or Skerry yet, have you?” Miller asked. He was in better shape than me, so was able to hold a conversation while moving quickly without sounding out of breath.

“Boat…” I wheezed. The twilight hours on Hallow Haven were no cooler than the rest of the day. It was hot and humid here almost all the time and to be running in this heat was borderline torturous.

By the time we got to the marina the explosions had stopped. Miller ran into the little wooden booth on the sand to grab the keys to the powerboat and sign ourselves out. No one else was still filling out the logbook, but Miller was trying to keep it going.

It had been designed to track movement of people between the islands in an effort to reduce the fighting, but there was a tunnel network underground that connected them, and it turned out people could sneak about down there without anyone knowing.

He hurried back out of the booth with the keys jangling in his hand. The powerboat was bobbing gently in the water just off the dock and Miller tugged the rope line to pull it closer. He jumped down into it, then turned back to take my hand.

I grabbed onto him to steady myself as I jumped into the boat beside him, but as soon as our skin touched, I felt a jolt of electricity. It had happened before, but each time we connected it seemed to get more powerful. It knocked me off balance and Miller had to grab onto my waist with his other hand to stop me stumbling overboard.

I wanted to kiss him, but the thundering boom of another explosion reminded me that we were on a time crunch. I’m sure, at some point, there would be a perfect opportunity for us to go out to dinner or something. Now just wasn’t it.

We made eye contact for a moment, then he released my hand so that he could unleash the powerboat. Soon the engine was rumbling beneath us and Miller steered the bow towards the open water.

There were so many smaller islands off the mainland, and I had only visited a few of them. Each was so unique and housed both witches and humans alike. We’d had to travel around the main island slightly to bring Green Holt and Skerry into view, and as we approached, I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. What were we about to uncover here?

2

“One more!” a man yelled. “This one will show ‘em!”

Miller was fixing our boat to the dock on Green Holt, and I was waiting for him to finish before I got out. There was a lot of shouting coming from somewhere off the shore, then another boom erupted, and smoke billowed upwards from behind the trees.

“Oh, now they know who they messed with!” the man’s voice yelled again.

“What on earth is happening?” I asked Miller.

“I think they are firing cannonballs at each other, or fireworks. I don’t know,” he shrugged. He reached out a hand to pull me up onto the dock and I saw the tiny blue lightning bolts tingle across my palm as I held onto him.

“Who goes there?” the man yelled again. This time he was much closer. There was a flashlight pointed right at us and I had to look down at my feet to avoid being blinded by it. “I won’t ask a second time! Load the cannon!”

“Whoa, slow down Pete!” Miller yelled back. “It’s me! Miller!”

The flashlight lowered and we were able to see the figure approaching us. He was a slim man with wild grey hair and a black leather eyepatch. He was wearing mismatched sandals, pale grey shorts and a t-shirt with a skull on it. He looked like a modern-day pirate, which also tied in nicely