Dark Fantasy Series by Alta Hensley – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Dark Fantasy Series by Alta Hensley – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.ilovenovels.com Sat, 23 Sep 2023 20:10:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 http://www.ilovenovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Dark Fantasy Series by Alta Hensley – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.ilovenovels.com 32 32 Snow and the Seven Huntsmen (Dark Fantasy #1) Read Online Alta Hensley http://www.ilovenovels.com/snow-and-the-seven-huntsmen-dark-fantasy-1-read-online-alta-hensley Sat, 23 Sep 2023 20:10:35 +0000 https://www.booksnovels.com/snow-and-the-seven-huntsmen-dark-fantasy-1-read-online-alta-hensley Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Erotic, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal, Virgin Authors: Alta Hensley Series: Dark Fantasy Series by Alta Hensley
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 36416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >40

This is no fairytale…
They’ve been sent to break me.
Not one, but seven.
They plan to steal my beauty, my innocence.
Seven Hunters to track me down and claim me as theirs.
I try to run, but it is hopeless.
They have caught me.
I am their prey, their prize, to do with as they please.
But I will capture something far more precious… the Huntsmen’s hearts.

In our Fairytales, there is danger in the shadows, the beasts bite and no Heroine is truly safe. If dark tales of danger, forced attraction and multiple partners offend you, then please do not purchase.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

CHAPTER 1

It was barely a sound.

The soft scrape of a boot on the floor. The rub of a shoulder against the stone wall. A muffled cough.

I was awake in an instant. Something was different. There was a tension in the air.

Throwing my covers aside, I shivered when my feet touched the icy flagstone floor. Creeping over to the high-arched windows, I parted the brocade curtains just enough to peek out. All was quiet and still. The newly fallen snow lay undisturbed, glistening and sparkling in the moonlight.

Perhaps I had imagined it?

Another sound.

This one just beyond my bedroom door.

A horrible calm settled over me as if a long-anticipated storm had finally broken. I had been waiting for this day. Dreading it.

My stepmother had finally sent someone to kill me.

With my only escape route now blocked to me, I had to think fast. Pushing open the heavy curtains, I placed my hands on the black ebony frame. I once again looked over the winter scene below, the peace of a winter’s eve now destroyed. My bedroom was far too high to risk a jump, but perhaps I could climb out onto the ledge and make my way to the stone balustrade of the room next door.

There was the screech of metal against metal. The scrape of a key. They were unlocking my door.

Running across the room, I picked up the small wooden spindle chair by the perpetually cold fireplace. It was one of the few pieces of furniture I was allowed in my sparse prison. Hefting it high, I raced back to the window. I hesitated. The moment I broke the window, there would be no turning back. I would have to run and keep running. I squeezed my eyes shut and smashed the chair against the glass with all my might. It shattered, sending sharp shards skittering across the floor. Grabbing the blanket off my bed, I placed it over the jagged pieces. Stepping up to the window, I tossed the remnants of the bedcovers over the sill, cutting my finger in the process. I watched in horrid fascination as three warm, crimson spots of blood fell upon the snow on the ledge, melting it.

As I gingerly stepped onto the sill, the bedroom door opened. A bitter wind cut through the threadbare fabric of my nightgown as remnants of the broken window sliced into my bare feet. With a cry, I moved onto the ledge, quickly turning to grasp the chilled stone.

Morbid curiosity getting the better of me, I peered back into the interior of my room. Looking over my shoulder, I saw three men enter, moonlight illuminating them. The brawn and bulk of their size belied their almost silent entry.

So similar they could be brothers, each was tall with broad shoulders and a harsh, angular face. They wore animal skins and furs. Trophies of their past kills.

Huntsmen.

Spurred on by their fearsome looks, I dug my fingernails into the stone façade and tried to slide my foot to the right. It slipped on the ice-covered ledge. My cry of alarm echoed across the still forest, startling sleeping birds into flight.

“Well, the lass has spirit, I will give her that,” said one of the men happily, a note of appreciation in his dark voice.

“Good. This would be no fun if she didn’t have some fight in her,” said another while clapping the first on the shoulder.

“There is no point in running. We will only hunt you down,” said the third to me.

“Why have you come?” I asked.

“You know why.”

I could feel all three men assessing me. No doubt the bright moonlight was shining through my gown, leaving little to their lascivious imaginations. Was I to be used for their pleasure before they killed me? I cast a look over my shoulder to the drifts below. I could hear new voices outside, their conversation carrying across the hushed midnight landscape. More men.

“Are you going to be a good girl and come along quietly?” asked the first. With his feet planted and his arms crossed over his massive chest, he made for a foreboding sight.

“I could scream,” I warned. The words came out weak and trembling as my teeth had begun to chatter from the cold.

“And no one would come to your aid.”

The truth of their words sent the air rushing from my lungs. I was completely alone. The wretched irony was this conversation with my killers was the first time any human beings had spoken to me in years. My stepmother had ordered the servants and villagers to ignore my presence and never to speak to me almost from the moment my father had drawn his last breath. I had been wrapped in a blanket of silence and solitude for as long as I could remember.

I could feel the tears pool in my eyes. As they dropped, they froze on my chilled cheeks. “You could let me go,” I whispered.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >40

Advertisement
Red and the Wolves (Dark Fantasy #2) Read Online Alta Hensley http://www.ilovenovels.com/red-and-the-wolves-dark-fantasy-2-read-online-alta-hensley Sat, 23 Sep 2023 20:10:35 +0000 https://www.booksnovels.com/red-and-the-wolves-dark-fantasy-2-read-online-alta-hensley Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Erotic, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal, Virgin Authors: Alta Hensley Series: Dark Fantasy Series by Alta Hensley
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >36

This is no fairytale…
As the Blood Moon rises, I’ve been chosen.
Chosen to serve, to obey…to die…for no one survives their time with the Wolves.
As I am dressed in the ceremonial Red Hood, all I can think of is escape.
But there is no escape.
The lives of my village depend on my submission to the accursed Wolves.
There are five of them.
Five men cursed to live as Wolves.
Cursed for generations, forced to protect my village from the dark forces.
But they demand a heavy price for their protection. Me.
Five against one…against me alone.
My only hope for survival is to tame the wolves…but submission is not in my nature.

In our Fairytales, there is danger in the shadows, the beasts bite and no Heroine is truly safe. If dark tales of danger, forced attraction and multiple partners offend you then please do not purchase.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

The blood moon was rising.

All throughout my village, there was a charge to the air, a morbid anticipation.

The change was small at first, almost inconsequential, then it slowly morphed into a creeping, insidious blackness. Neighbor stopped talking to neighbor. Mothers hugged their children tighter as they cast suspicious glances about them. A ripple of unease flowed through the village.

After the first eclipse, there were anxious whispers. Ancient prophesies uttered in hushed, guarded tones.

The second eclipse brought worried looks and talk of preparations to be made.

With the third eclipse, all doubt was removed. It was time.

The blood moon was rising.

The moment the moon was cast in a crimson glow on the night of the fourth eclipse, the village would have their chosen one. Their sacrifice…for the wolves must be appeased.

CHAPTER 1

From the time I was a little girl, I’d been told the story of the wolves. How they were to be both feared and revered.

Generations ago, our village was attacked by a dark force. An army so evil that, to this very day, no one dared utter their name. The dark force was the nightmare which tortured sleep. The foreboding chill down your spine. A shadow swallowing the light. Knowing that no weapon forged on Earth could defeat them, the elders of the village made the terrible decision to fight darkness with darkness. Reaching back to the wisdom of the ancients, to a time before religion or society…to a time when man was more beast than sentient being…the elders drew upon primeval magic.

Five men were chosen.

They thought they were chosen to fight.

They thought the elders were only blessing them before battle.

They thought wrong.

I’d always been taught the elders did what was best for the village as a whole; still, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the men. Did they know what was happening to them as the elders circled them, chanting in a strange language? Did it cause them pain when they transitioned from man to beast? Did some spark of their souls remain, or was it extinguished? Devoured by the dark beast which took over their bodies.

The five men were turned into wolves. Enchanted animals. Ferocious beasts capable of fighting off the dark force.

Darkness fighting darkness.

The beasts prevailed but paid a horrible price. The enchantment was truly a curse. Trapping the men in the bodies of the beasts. Forever damning them.

They were cursed.

Cursed to protect the village they now reviled.

Cursed to live as immortal beasts in the forest which loomed near our village.

Now, hundreds of years later, they still drove back the dark force, keeping my village safe. But they demanded a price…a sacrifice.

When the moon was eclipsed four times in two seasons, there was said to be blood on the moon. It happened once a century. On that night, the wolves entered the clearing, a forbidden, desolate stretch of land between the village and the forest which separated us from both the dark force and the vengeful wrath of the beasts we’d created.

As the blood moon rose, the wolves entered the clearing to claim their sacrifice.

Whomever the village chose was never seen or heard from again.

“Red! Red! Where are you?”

Closing my eyes, I hunched my shoulders forward as I nestled further into the soft pile of leaves. I was hiding from…well…everyone. Hoping the wide, gnarled trunk of the tree I was leaning against would shelter me, I held my breath.

“There you are! Your grandmother has been looking for you. Honestly, Red, you act like you don’t know The Selection is about to happen.”

Groaning, I laid my forehead against the cool pages of the book I was reading. My name was Raina but from the time I was a babe, everyone had called me Red. As a bright scarlet lock slipped from my loose bun and tumbled onto the page, I was reminded why. Out of a cloistered village of several hundred, I was the only one with red hair. So everyone called me Red…everyone except for my grandmother.

Hildegarde Reithaube had raised me from the moment I was born…and hated me long before I took my first breath.

As an elder of the village, my grandmother had special plans for my mother, plans that did not include her falling in love with a lowly blacksmith’s son. My mother died giving birth to me. In her rage, my grandmother had my father put to death. His punishment was swift and merciless. Mine was equally merciless but painfully slow. My grandmother never missed an opportunity to remind me that my own life had cost the life of my mother. That I was a useless, unwanted burden. As a child, my only notion of love and protection was what I read in books—fairy tales. There, tucked between worn pages, was the love and feeling of belonging I craved.

Nessa grabbed the book from my hand. “Come on, Red. You know what she is like when you make her wait.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >36

Advertisement
Queen and the Kingsmen (Dark Fantasy #3) Read Online Alta Hensley http://www.ilovenovels.com/queen-and-the-kingsmen-dark-fantasy-3-read-online-alta-hensley Sat, 23 Sep 2023 20:10:33 +0000 https://www.booksnovels.com/queen-and-the-kingsmen-dark-fantasy-3-read-online-alta-hensley Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Erotic, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal, Virgin Authors: Alta Hensley Series: Dark Fantasy Series by Alta Hensley
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 163(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >35

This is no fairytale…
Captured and imprisoned.
They seek to break my curse by breaking me.
They want to know what I did to Briar Rose, but I will never tell
And I will not submit, no matter what tortures they have planned.
I am stronger than the Kingsmen.
Not just one man, but four.
For I am the powerful and feared Queen.
My curse will stand.

In our Fairytales, there is danger in the shadows, the beasts bite and no Heroine is truly safe. If dark tales of danger, forced attraction and multiple partners offend you, then please do not purchase.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

CHAPTER 1

The shrieks and cries grew louder as the choking green mist twisted and swirled around the princess.

“Grab her!”

“Seize the evil queen!”

“Guards! Guards!”

They were all fools.

Fools to think their little slings and arrows would have any power over me. These fragile mortal beings with their weak flesh were as wisps of air to me. I ruled over the ethereal realm, deep in the forest where magic and mysticism still reigned. How dare they think they could capture me, Queen Zelladine, ruler of the creatures and fairies of the forest? As if their human laws had any hold over me?

Plates of delicate china crashed to the floor as heavily laden tables were overturned. Platters of roast beasts, bowls of sugared fruits, and cups of fragrant wine spilled and splattered onto the pristine white marble floor, staining it a gruesome, mottled red. The screech of instrument strings and discordant chords could be heard above the din as the orchestra musicians stumbled over one another in their haste to escape. The tinny clatter of metal could be heard as the King’s Guard took up position, circling me.

“Oh my,” I exclaimed, raising one black wing eyebrow. “Have I interrupted the feast?”

“Release my daughter, Zelladine,” ordered King Basil.

Curling my lip in a sneer, I pointed one long, red fingernail at him. “That is Queen Zelladine to you.”

I watched as his face swelled, the skin turning an ashen purple in his anger. “Seize her,” he screamed as foamy spittle sprayed from his mouth.

The guards stepped closer. Bayonets drawn. With a flick of my wrist, the fire-forged steel of the bayonets curled and withered as the metal melted. With frightened cries of alarm, the guards took a step back.

“Where are my kingsmen? Send for the kingsmen!” ordered King Basil.

“My, my. You must be positively petrified of little ol’ me if you are calling for your elite guards. Should I be flattered?” I asked, my lips twisting in mockery.

King Basil took a lumbering step forward. The obnoxious bulk of his body belying the threat of his movements. Raising his fist, each finger clad in gold and jewels, he sputtered and tripped over his words.

“Tut, tut, Basil,” I warned, my gaze flicking to the center of the great hall. “Careful.”

A whirling funnel of green mist towered to the vaulted ceiling with veins of black smoke creeping along the sides and across the floor. In its center was the king’s precious only daughter, Briar Rose. All that could be seen were flashes of her blue gown and bright, tawny hair.

“How dare you invade the sanctity of my kingdom,” thundered King Basil.

“Your kingdom. Your kingdom!” Pacing away from his odious presence, I circled the green column imprisoning the princess. “How dare you claim this land for your own? We were here long before your silly stone castles, before you restrained and crippled the wilds of nature about you. As if you had any right!” My hands fisted into the fine silken folds of my cloak as I tried to curb my anger.

The women of my clan had been ruling over the forest and its inhabitants since time immemorial. Then the humans came with their weapons of destruction. Ripping the stones from the earth, cleaving them into rigid little boxes to make their castles and ramparts, walling in what used to be open and free. Tearing down trees and ruining the homes of my beloved fairies to plant their vanity crops of tobacco and hops for the further debasement of their kind. With every season, I saw more and more torn from my grasp. With the death of every tree, every flower, every sweet breath of air choked by the smoke from their hearths…my power weakened. Several generations ago, I’d summoned the dark force to at least keep these wretched humans at heel. Yet, the dark force can only contain and restrain, it cannot recapture what I have lost.

Only the light of understanding will heal my realm and offer a chance of peace between my kind and the humans, a light that will never come from the likes of King Basil. Only interested in the tangible displays of wealth—gold, silver, jewels—he was incapable of understanding the true riches of existence, and if left to his disgusting devices, he would stifle and strangle my only hope.

I couldn’t allow him to succeed in his plans. It would be the final ruination of my realm.

I must stop him at all costs. Even if it meant sacrificing the innocent.

Raising my arms high, my head thrown back, I called to the ancients. “Let a curse be upon the House of Basil. No child of his loins will further his withered and impotent lineage.”

A deep howling wind spun into the great hall, whipping the green mist into a tempest. The column rose higher and higher.

“Hear me now, oh ancients. Obey my command!” I called forth, my voice rising.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >35