Magic Hunter (The Rover series Book 4)

by Amelia Shaw

  “We’ve come for the women...” he began.

  “I wouldn’t start there,” Helix said, kicking his friend. “This guy made that mistake, and it seemed to make the lady angry.”

  In a surprise twist, the goon locked eyes with me. “Come with me and we won’t kill your lovers.”

  I frowned at Helix and Fin.

  “Someone’s intel is out of date and so fucking wrong it’s disgusting. No offense,” I said to Helix.

  “None taken. You don’t exactly appeal to me either.”

  I nodded. “I get that about you. You seem to want your women more...submissive.”

  He grunted, but I wasn’t sure if it was agreement or not.

  “Excuse me,” the goon said. “I’ll make the offer only once more. Come with me now, and bring the other woman, and we’ll leave these two in peace.”

  I stepped forward, in front of Fin. “Why don’t I believe you when you say that? The moment we leave with you, you’ll have your friends kill mine, thus keeping your word, while erasing the threat that will be hot on your heels the second we are out the door. I may be a woman, but I’m not a fucking idiot.”

  I launched toward him. The little bastard was faster than me, and his magic even quicker. His magic hit me hard, sending me flying back into a weapon shelf badly enough to leave me in a heap of sharp weapons.

  Helix and Fin took the man out while I surveyed the damage. My hands were sliced, and despite my magical shield, I had a huge gash at my waist that would need stitches or healed.

  “Pretty sure killing me probably wasn’t on the to do list,” I said, as Fin grabbed me around the wrists to pull me out of the pile of metal.

  He ran his hands across mine, healing the damage. I sighed as he started on my waist.

  Several more goons rushed into the room.

  I picked up one of the knives I’d landed on and used it to take out one of the mages, but the second one went down, another crowded into the room.

  Then I heard a shout, and the mass of bad guys turned to face the hallway, as if a new threat had emerged.

  I glanced at Helix and Fin. They both nodded once, preparing for the next wave as we moved bodies to make it easier to fight if needed.

  But the next voice I heard made me sink down to brace my hands on my knees in relief.

  “I thought I taught you better than this, Zoey,” Hawk said, entering the doorway. “This position isn’t exactly defensible.”

  Chapter Twenty

  I WAS SO SURPRISED to see Hawk, even with that smart ass remark, that I threw myself into him in a hug. He let out an oof as I made impact with his chest, but he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a squeeze.

  When he lowered me to my feet again, I stared up at him and shook my head. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but how did you know where to find me?”

  “The Chief put a tracker on the devices we gave you. We’ve been watching in case something happened.”

  Right now, I couldn’t even be angry about the fact they had me under surveillance. Although later, I’d be having a conversation with the Chief.

  Hawk surveyed the scene and locked eyes with Fin and then Helix. Something seemed to pass between him and Helix but neither said anything.

  “They’ve been coming in waves so watch your back.” Even before I got the words out, more shouts came from the other end of the hallway.

  Hawk leaned back to peer down the hall and then waved his hand “The guys have got the rest of this. Let’s get you out of here. Is this everyone?”

  Helix crossed the room to the door to retrieve Melinda while Fin and I lined up next to Hawk’s hulking frame.

  When Melinda joined us, Hawk met her eyes and something seemed to pass between them too. I scowled at Fin who shrugged. We didn’t have time to contemplate what that look meant right now.

  Hawk stepped into the hallway with the confidence of a general leading his army. He held up his hand, keeping us in the room until he gave the signal. Then he stalked forward, crooking his fingers for us to follow. I went first, Fin came behind me, Melinda after him, and Helix at the end of the line.

  We maneuvered around a lot of dead goons and I wondered how many Esteban had sent to capture Melinda and me. We followed Hawk up the hallway and into the house. The entire upper level looked like a tornado had swept through. Guilt bubbled up in me, and I considered how much I now owed Melinda. If I hadn’t convinced her to help me, she’d be safe and happy in her home. Now, she was no longer safe, and her house had been destroyed.

  The guys Hawk had brought with him took out a couple more goons on the upper levels as we made our way out the front door to a waiting SUV. Once inside, Hawk took the driver’s seat and we sped away.

  Melinda sagged into the door, tears spilling down her cheeks. Helix passed her a handkerchief, which she took and then faced away from us as if she didn’t want anyone to witness her breakdown. A sentiment I understood well.

  I shifted on the seat and hissed as my side ached. Fin grabbed me around the waist and hauled me onto his lap, at the same time healing the wound he’d started before.

  “Better?”

  I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck. “It’s better. Thank you.”

  “Where are we going?” I called up at Hawk, with my face pressed against Fin’s neck. Even sweaty and dust streaked, touching him felt like a balm to some inner wounds I couldn’t see inside myself.

  “The Office,” Hawk said.

  “What’s the Office?” Melinda asked, sniffling.

  Helix answered. “The bounty hunter headquarters.”

  The tone in his voice made me lift my head and glare at him.

  “Don’t tell me you have something against bounty hunters because they just saved our asses.”

  He kept his focus on Melinda. “We won’t be staying for long. Our own people will be picking us up from there.”

  “You’re welcome,” Hawk said from the front seat.

  Once we made it to the warehouse which made up the Office, we all filed out of the vehicle and into the building.

  With the late hour, the building was deserted. Thank goodness. I didn’t want to face anyone at this homecoming.

  From the moment I walked in the door, I got a sense of peace, of belonging.

  Damn. I missed this place so much.

  I sat on the edge of my old desk, still empty, I noted with satisfaction. Fin took the chair. Melinda and Helix sat in chairs a couple of desks over, seemingly trying to keep distance between them and Hawk.

  Hawk locked the door and marched across the room to glower down at me. “What happened to asking for help when you needed it?”

  I shrugged. “To be fair, I didn’t know I needed it until I actually did.”

  “And you don’t have a phone you could have used to call someone?”

  I could deal with Hawk being over-protective and ridiculous. Not so much being logical and calling me on my shit.

  “I didn’t think about it at the time. We’d been cut off from our magic and were scrambling.”

  “Why? You’ve had magic for five minutes. You’ve been training without it for years. It shouldn’t have mattered to you, or have you forgotten everything you’ve learned under this roof?”

  Scolding-Hawk sucked even worse.

  “Can you lay off me for a second so we can figure out what the hell we’re going to do?”

  He gave me another scowl and dragged me into his arms for a hug. “I was worried about you, kid.”

  I rolled my eyes but hugged him back. “You can’t call me kid. You’re only like, ten years older than me.”

  “And yet, I just did.” He released me and looked at my friends. “So, what did they want?”

  I held up my hands to make air quotes. “The women.”

  He gave another scowl, but this one matched my own in solidarity. “They said that?”

  I nodded. “Before I made him put his knife into his own chin. Yup.”

  Hawk leaned back into
the desk opposite him, crossing his arms at his chest. “So they are going to keep coming after you. Why?”

  I waved at Melinda. “He wants to use her power and he wants me to make some kind of fae-mage hybrid babies or something. I think he’s just crazy and is trying to take me away from Fin out of revenge. There’s no way we can know for sure without a spy on the inside, and something tells me he would spot one easily.”

  Hawk nodded, thinking.

  Melinda spoke up. “Who is this guy and why are you telling him everything?”

  Oh, if only I could explain Hawk in a few words. “This is Hawk. He trained me for a lot of my life. He’s the second in command of the bounty hunters, the leader of which, the Chief, is my adopted father.”

  “Oh,” she said. “But you’re...”

  “Magical...yeah, it was a surprise to me too, but I was raised human with the bounty hunters. I didn’t know about the magic until more recently. So in short, I trust him.”

  “We don’t need to trust him,” Helix said, “because we are leaving. It’s my job to keep you safe, Melinda, and I intend to continue to do that.”

  He took up a position behind Melinda’s chair.

  “Don’t let me keep you,” I said, acid in my voice. I didn’t appreciate the way he spoke to Hawk after he’d saved us. Nor did I appreciate the fact they would both wanted to run away from a fight they were as central to as Fin and me.

  Helix dug out his phone and punched a few buttons while I stared at him. When he finished, he looked back at me the same unflappable expression on his face I’d learned over our multiple interactions.

  “And you, Melinda, do you want to run too?” It wasn’t a fair question given all she’d endured, and I knew it. My anger took over as it usually did and came out my mouth.

  She didn’t answer but stared down at her feet.

  “Helix keeps me safe,” she said, as if that were an answer.

  Fin looked like he wanted to say something, but then changed his mind. He sat back in the chair, watching his sister.

  “What do you want to do, Zoey?” Hawk asked.

  I gave Helix and Melinda one last look and turned my attention to Hawk. “I’m tired of running and hiding. I want to go into the heart of his home and tear it out like he’s done to me.”

  Fin stared at me like I’d grown another head.

  “What?” I said. “I’m tired of this fucker always winning. I’m not going down again.”

  He shrugged. “We tried a head on approach before.”

  “No, you tried one and didn’t clue me in. And we had zero support. In this case, I think at the very least the bounty hunters will fight with me.”

  His confusion slid into something like awe. “Some of the fae I know would love the opportunity to take Esteban down.”

  I shifted so I could look at him easier. “I bet we know a few mages like the Captain who would also be willing to throw their magic into the ring.”

  “You want everyone to fight together?” Helix said. “It will never work. The species don’t mix that way.”

  I held up my hand. “People who want to run off and hide don’t get to offer suggestions on the plans.”

  Melinda whispered to him and all he did was glare my way. He could glare all he wanted; I didn’t answer to him.

  I returned my attention to Hawk. “What intel do you have?”

  He gave me a wicked smile, crossed to his desk, dug around in the bottom drawer, and produced an overstuffed file folder. “Hard copy, of course. I don’t know what his tech capabilities are. We started gathering information years ago and continued to more after you left.”

  I took the file. “You didn’t think I’d want to see this when I told you guys point blank I was going after the Black Mage?”

  He stood his ground a few feet in front of me. “You weren’t ready. You were going off half-cocked with fae. You needed more help than that, but until you asked for it, we weren’t going to give it to you.”

  I huffed. “You don’t get to make my choices for me.”

  “And yet, in this case, we did it to keep you safe.”

  I opened the file. “Stop saying ‘we’ like you and the Chief are one entity. You’re both overbearing assholes, but definitely two separate ones.”

  “Maybe I’m using the royal we.”

  I rolled my eyes and scanned the papers, but I was too tired and too wired all at once to absorb anything.

  “I’m taking this,” I said, handing the file to Fin. “Do you think our safe house is still secure?”

  “It should be. I’ve had people watching.”

  Of course he did.

  Melinda stood and wandered over to where we were.

  I tried to keep my face neutral even though I wanted to tell her off.

  “Your ride here yet?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to help.”

  We all looked to Helix who stood where she’d left him, seething.

  I broke the tense silence. “Why? Why right now I mean?”

  She didn’t look at me, but at Fin. “It’s time. We need to combine our magic, and use the help offered, to take our brother down.”

  THE END