React (II)

Author’s Note.

Thank you so much for clicking on React. I write for myself and your reading my work is benediction. So again, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

If you have read Adapt and are keen to continue with Scarlet and Boe's story, go ahead and skip this. Unless, of course, you would like to read my ramblings for the next eight hundred words.

The following is house-keeping and a recap.

First of all, React is the second book in The Scarlet Ranger Series. The first book is Adapt and it is available for free, right here on Inkitt. If you have not read it, it is essential to read before React. Please go and read it. Just follow my profile to find it.

Next, I would like to ask you to please leave comments throughout. I am a very interactive author. I will respond. I will answer questions and doubts. I am also pro-critique. If you think my word choice is off, or my grammar needs work, I would love to hear it. I self edit and, though I try my best, I don’t catch everything.

Lastly, with house-keeping, I would like to say that reviews are welcome, but not necessary. I have found on this platform that many authors ask for reviews, because that is what promotes the algorithm. While I would like to become popular, I would much rather my readers enjoy reading my work without the looming quid-pro-quo. I also prefer the much more specific feed back comments provide.

Now, onto the recap. If you have read Adapt, but it was a while ago, this might suit you (I finished Adapt quite some time ago so wanting to read a recap would be understandable)

Scarlet was a small town girl with a big secret - she was born to an elite species that hunts the things that go bump in the night - Therians. Therians are a master race, that have shape shifting abilities and survive off the emotions of humans. Scarlet had grown into a fierce fighter, thanks to her human adoptive father, Trent. With the love and support of her adoptive family, she had every chance of living a human life by day, monster hunter by night.

That is until Boe White enrolls at her high school. He was sent by the collegiate known as Head Quarters, which has militarised all other hunters. His mission is to recruit her, and he isn't taking 'no' for an answer.

After striking a deal, Scarlet allows Boe to train her for a trial period. Scarlet does her best to keep him at a distance, but she finds herself falling for him anyway. She fights the feelings, because fighting is all she has ever known.

Boe teaches her how to be a better hunter, and she teaches him how to be human. Boe finds himself head over heels for the girl that HQ has deemed a top priority. Being a good solider, he never questioned his task, until one day, when he is confronted by a powerful Therian, Logan, who claims to know things about Scarlet's past. Boe pursues it, finding himself down a rabbit hole of conspiracy. At the other end of that hole he finds out that Scarlet is half-therian, half-hunter, and the very first of her kind.

And, instead of being repulsed, fearful and murderous, as any good hunter should have been, Boe feels protective. Instantly, he knows he would betray all of HQ to protect Scarlet.

Boe tells Scarlet what he has found out. Understandably, he is met with hostility and rage. Scarlet struggles to come to terms with her lineage. Before anything can sink in, Scarlet's best friend is assaulted by Therians. Scarlet comes to find out that other girls have been assaulted and kidnapped in her sleepy little coastal town, while she has been distracted by training with Boe.

Scarlet and Boe follow the breadcrumbs, which leads them back to none other than Logan. Logan allies himself with Boe and Scarlet, helping them track down the girls and rescue them. However, Logan has an agenda. Logan has known about Scarlet's Half-Therian genetics and wants to recruit her to the Therian side, before the Hunters claim her to theirs.

Thanks to all involved, they save the girls from their horrendous fates. But Scarlet was grievously hurt in the process. To add pressure, HQ is now suspicious of Boe's silence, and is making Scarlet's recruitment Level One - meaning dead or alive. HQ is coming for Scarlet.

While Boe is trying to keep her from being captured by HQ, Scarlet secretly plans to hand herself in. Logan convinces her that going with him is a better option. He will protect her from HQ, Boe won't be caught in the cross fire, and Logan will help her unlock her Therian side. Scarlet agrees, but she doesn't account for how observant Boe is. Boe intercepts her on her way to Logan and insists that she take him to Logan. Together the three of them come up with a plan to trick HQ. With Logan's unique Therian abilities, they create the illusion of Scarlet's death, in front of over fifty hunters.

Boe goes back to HQ, under the pretence that his mission is complete.

Scarlet is safe, under Logan's protection.

Except Logan murders Scarlet, the first chance he gets, by pushing her from the cliffs of his coastal estate.