Free The Scarlett Legacy by K.N. Lee Page A

tonight,” Parker said as he looked around.
    “I noticed.” Evie focused her eyes on her root beer float. “That’s why I can’t wait to get out of here.”
    “Who cares what anyone here thinks? Let them look at you. Let them talk. They’re just jealous and have boring lives.”
    “I know. I’m trying to ignore it all.”
    “Let’s think about something else,” he said, turning her bar stool toward him. He took her hands in his. “What is Evie Scarlett going to be at the Halloween party this year?”
    Evie scrunched her nose. “Do I have to go?”
    “We go every year, don’t we?”
    She shrugged, thinking about how she really wished she didn’t have to be in town for Halloween this year. Parker had no idea what it was like for the wizards and shifters of Woodland Creek.
    The entire month was a nonstop excuse to play tricks on each other. She was grateful that her family had been spared so far. Of course, one could say her father’s murder could have been the ultimate prank since it happened the first day of October.
    How crazy would that be? Evie didn’t put it past the Prince family. They were bold enough to pull something like that. Avalon’s face flashed in her mind. She wondered if what tricks he had up his sleeve.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t put too much thought into it.”
    “Well, I’m going as King Leonidas from 300. Airbrushed abs and all.”
    Evie burst out laughing. She covered her mouth, realizing that she laughed a little too loudly. “You’re hilarious. You don’t even need to airbrush your abs, goofball.”
    She poked him in the stomach, feeling the hard muscles beneath his long-sleeved black shirt.
    “Oh yeah,” he said, grinning. “You’re right.”
    Evie gazed into his eyes, unable to stop smiling. Parker could do the impossible. He could make her forget her troubles whenever she was with him.
    “You should go as my queen,” he said.
    Evie didn’t reply. She just smiled at him and returned to finishing her drink. She envied Parker for being human. Humans could live such carefree lives.
    She had other plans.
    Plans to escape the dangers of Woodland Creek.

THE SUNSET SENT an eerie orange and red haze across Woodland Creek’s sky. Someone played their guitar around a campfire at the other end of the campgrounds.
    Evie and Parker sat on a blanket on the soft grass before a fire pit. They ate burgers and fries from Drake’s Diner. They watched as the sun set over Nightmoon Creek’s still waters.
    A young girl’s laughter made Evie smile as she glanced over her shoulder toward the family sitting around their campfire not too far away. Evie and Parker were comfortable with each other. The silence didn’t bother either of them. As children, their families would come out here on some summer weekends, and Evie and Parker would run and play in the woods that they looked upon at that moment.
    Memories of her first time seeped into her mind, making her blush as she chewed her fries. It had happened in one of Nightmoon Creek’s cabins over the summer.
    She would never forget it. She’d waited so long, and couldn’t be happier with her choice. Every time she thought of that magical night she smiled.
    Evie was happy despite what was going on in her world.
    A soft breeze flew through, bringing the smell of pine along with it. She gave him a sidelong glance and he noticed. He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.
    She couldn’t lose him. Whatever Avalon had in his mind worried her.
    Her attraction to him worried her even more.
    She sighed and closed her Styrofoam takeout box. “Thank you for this, Parker. I know you wanted to take me out and show me off, but there’s no way I could’ve faced the townspeople so soon after what happened to Hugh.”
    “I know. People can be so obnoxious sometimes. It’ll all blow over in a few weeks, and I will show you off then,” he said with a smile.
    His smile was contagious. She looked off to the forest. Sometimes she