Power Mage 4
Page 23
“Makes sense,” Brawley said. “We’ll figure it all out soon enough.”
Right now, they had more pressing business. They had wounded cattle to tend. He would need Sage’s help Seekering some veterinarians. But first, they needed to round up and calm the cattle and assess the situation. “Where’s Callie?”
Remi nodded uphill. “Up with Nina, Frankie, and the girls.”
Brawley started walking in that direction, narrowing his eyes. “How many are there?”
“Eleven,” Sage said, jogging to keep up with his ground-eating gait. “Ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-one, not a cracked strand between them. Three Carnals, two Unbound, two Seekers, a Beastie, a Gearhead, a Bender, and a Cosmic. Cherry was selling them on the black market, just like he’d been doing at La Hacienda.”
Brawley snorted at that, wishing Cherry was still alive so he could kill the son of a bitch again. And not just because the evil bastard deserved it. Also for sticking Brawley in this situation.
What would he do with all these girls? He couldn’t just set them free, not with the whole world hunting him. And he wasn’t sure that wiping their brains would work, either. These weren’t a bunch of lowlife fuggles like Cherry’s thugs and drivers. These girls probably had friends and families, folks who would consult truth mages and dig for information.
“This is going to be a huge pain in the ass, isn’t it?” he said, approaching the fenced-in trailers. Inside, he saw his wives standing before a cluster of girls in short kimonos of shimmering silk.
“Affirmative, husband,” Sage said, a hint of humor in her voice.
“Look on the bright side, handsome,” Remi said. “You got a Bender and Cosmic in there. You bang them, you’ll crack your remaining strands.”
“No,” Brawley said.
Up ahead, the silk-clad huddle was backing away, wide-eyed and whimpering at the sight of him.
“The Bender and Cosmic are both of age if that’s what you’re worried about,” Remi said, “and all of the girls are lookers. Cherry was running a business, after all.”
“I’m not taking advantage of these girls,” he said.
Remi roared with laughter and sped ahead to open the gate.
Inside, the clustered girls gawked in terror at Brawley.
“Ladies,” Remi announced, “say hello to your savior and the baddest motherfucker on the planet, Braw—”
“Enough,” Brawley interrupted, his voice as deep and resinous as a cannon blast. “No names.”
One of the girls fainted.
Her collapse unhinged the huddle. Girls shrieked and broke, scattering among the trailers.
Except three.
One, a tiny thing in a green kimono, trembled visibly but stood her ground, blinking up at him with gleaming eyes as black and beady as oil drops.
Beside her, a short and curvy Mexican-looking girl in purple silk seemed completely nonplussed. She looked Brawley up and down, looking almost bored, and crossed her arms over her ample chest.
The final holdout, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde in blue stepped forward with a winning smile and held out her small hand. She was the one who had tried talking to Jarvis and the sentry.
“Hello, sir,” the blonde said with cheerful confidence. “My name is Arabella Louise Carter, and it is a pleasure to meet you.”
Brawley snorted. Yup, this was going to be a huge pain in the ass.
Arabella Louise Carter hesitated for a second and let her unshaken hand drop without the slightest indication of offense. Still beaming, she spoke again, her voice lilting with the musical sweetness of a Southern belle. “Speaking for the other girls, I would like to thank you and say just how much we appreciate the fact that you are going to return us to—”
Turning to Sage, Brawley said, “Deal with these girls. Leave the hobbles on for now.”
Overhearing this, Arabella said, “Sir, certainly there is no need for—”
But Brawley kept talking, his deep voice drowning out the pretty telepath. And Arabella was a telepath, he knew, based on her blue kimono. Just as he knew the other two still standing here were a Beastie and a Cosmic.
“Make sure they’re comfortable,” Brawley said. “Get them anything they need. Food, drink, medical attention. But they stay here for now.”
On the ground, the unconscious girl, whom he recognized by her red kimono as a force mage, lifted her head, blinked at him rapidly, and passed out again.
The young Beastie wriggled like she needed a restroom.
The bored-looking Cosmic yawned and started walking calmly toward the trailers, presumably to catch some sleep.
Arabella laughed as if he had cracked a joke. “Sir, I was the head of my sorority at Georgia State and gladly offer my services—”
“Remi,” Brawley said, “fill Callie in on the cattle and get ready to intercept any trucks or other visitors. I’ll get you help soon.” He frowned at that, knowing he needed more people. Pronto.
“Got it, handsome.”
“Frankie, take a look at that cloaking machine up by the quarry and see if you can find the big cloak generators.”
“Sounds good,” Frankie said, starting for the quarry.
“What do you want me to do, babe?” Nina asked.
Glancing down at the purple-haired beauty, he said, “Head back to the ranch and fill in the others.”
“Will do,” Nina chirped. “And happy anniversary, babe.”
“Huh?”
“It’s after midnight. We met a week ago today.”
Brawley did the math, and deep laughter rumbled in his huge chest. “So it is. Happy anniversary, Nina.”
She hugged his furry leg, and he reached down gingerly with two fingers to rub her back.
“One hell of a week,” he said.
“Yeah,” Nina agreed, still clinging to him. “The next one might could be, too.”
“Ugh,” Remi groaned. “Might could? Do you even hear yourself, girl?”
“You’ll come along eventually, darlin,” Nina said, imitating Brawley’s West Texas drawl to a tee.
Brawley laughed again but knew he had to quit jerking around and get on with it. “You finish up at the ranch house, Nina, and come back here. I should return by then.”
“Okay,” Nina said. “Where are you going, anyway?”
Brawley held up the golden key. “Red Haven. That woman’s waiting on me.”
The girls beamed and started talking over each other, firing question after question.
“You girls take care of business,” Brawley said, brushing their questions aside. “I’ll fill y’all in when I get back.”
“Hurry, handsome,” Remi said. “You owe us an orgy, remember? We all want a piece of Frankie!”
Brawley nodded. “That’s high on my list of priorities, darlin.”
He glanced at the golden key.
This was it.
Not just the moment he’d been waiting for. The moment he’d been working for, fighting for, killing for, and nearly dying for.
Revenge was sweet but had a short shelf life. He wanted more.
The mysterious woman had promised to tutor Brawley, open The Tome of Seven Strands to him, and shed light on his past, his parents, and his destiny.
At long last, he would secure the third gift, the final item his parents had left him.
“Excuse me, sir,” Arabella Louise Carter said with a hopeful smile. “I can see that you are busy, but if I might beg just a second of your time, perhaps a brief stroll beyond the fence without this unsightly thing around my neck.” She tugged at the psi hobble like a man in a tight necktie. “Well, I am just certain that we could come—”
Ignoring the persistent Bender, Brawley dropped into a crouch and recited the inscription.
The beautiful blonde and her desperate sales pitch disappeared along with the rest of the world.
34
A second later, Brawley rematerialized in Red Haven.
The mysterious woman was gone.
&n
bsp; Brawley snorted with frustration.
Damn.
Of course, the woman was busy with her secret life, and time here in Red Haven passed far more slowly than it did back on Earth.
He’d been gone for an hour, maybe more. That could’ve eight or ten hours here. Hell, it might could even be a whole day.
Long time to wait.
Still, disappointment punched him in the gut. He’d been so close. He needed to meet her, learn from her, and unlock The Tome of Seven Strands.
And then there was the third gift, which she had promised to give him when the met. What was it? Would it give him the power to defeat the Tiger Mage?
He shifted back to human form and searched the cabin, calling out to her in hopes that he might at least trigger another holographic image.
No luck.
She’d lit a shuck, plain and simple, leaving nothing behind.
And yet something lingered, tickling at the edges of his consciousness.
A sense of unease.
And now that feeling was growing stronger, building like a faint sound approaching from a distance, like a barely audible cry about to reveal itself as the wail of an oncoming siren.
What was causing this feeling?
He shifted back to human form and gathered his bloodstained duds from the floor. The sense of unease grew stronger and stronger as he pulled on his jeans.
He paused before cinching his belt.
No doubt about it. Something was wrong here.
And then he felt it.
Or rather, felt its vacancy.
He slapped his back pockets, cursed, and scanned the floor and table and chairs. He hunted through his bloody shirt and looked inside his boots.
Nothing.
He ran across the room, threw open the door, and scanned the porch.
His bellow of rage echoed across the red wasteland.
The Mysterious Woman hadn’t left him the third gift. Instead, she had stolen The Tome of Seven Strands.
Thank you for reading Power Mage 4!
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Brawley’s adventures continue in Power Mage 5. With millions of dollars in his war chest and five strands burning bright, he’s more powerful than ever. And that’s good because everything is about to get much, much harder.
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Also, check out the Harem Lit Facebook group, where fans of the genre hang out and talk books. I look forward to meeting you there.
Until then, don’t approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.
Also by Hondo Jinx
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Power Mage 3
Power Mage 4
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Dan the Destroyer
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