Magic Hunter (The Rover series Book 4) Read online

  “Daggers? Why?”

  I shrugged. “Magic, I guess. They spoke to me, so it seemed like a good idea to get myself accustomed to using them. Especially with magical enemies.”

  The Chief replaced the staffs with shorter baton-length ones. Fin sat on the other side of the room in a plain wooden chair shifting his torso from side to side. His fae blood would help ensure he healed faster than a human, but once we left the magical protections of the Chief’s cabin, neither of us knew what would happen with his wound. The extra time spent was hopefully to help the wound close before we left in case the magic of the blade activated again.

  I drew my attention back to the Chief and grabbed two of the rods off the floor.

  “Have you been training since you’ve been away?” the Chief asked.

  Away like I’d gone on vacation and only now ventured home to see him.

  “Yes, often. Our friend who died and Fin have been training me in both fighting and magic.”

  The Chief nodded and launched himself at me, staffs raised to strike. I dodged neatly, but he dragged one of the staffs out to clock me in the side of the head as he passed.

  “Predictable,” he said.

  I rubbed my stinging ear. The blow wasn’t hard, but my ears were sensitive, especially to large wooden objects battering them. With no need for words, I crouched to lower my center of gravity, then I took a large step to my left and struck out at his thighs.

  He blocked easily enough. I twisted at the last second and landed one of the staffs across his lower back.

  “Better,” he grumbled, rubbing the area I hit.

  We went round and round. Every so often, I’d glance over to check on Fin who continued stretching as if he were in physical therapy, not the Chief’s basement.

  After an hour, the Chief called for a water break. I shoved the staffs onto the rack and grabbed a water bottle off a shelf in the corner of the room.

  The shelf contained a neat row of water bottles, some electrolyte drinks, and various protein bars. The Chief didn’t like going back upstairs after he started training unless he’d finished. Said it was too hard to drag himself back down once he’d gotten away.

  I handed Fin a water bottle, but kept my distance and joined the Chief on the mats to cool down and stretch after our workout.

  “What are you going to do now?” the Chief asked.

  I swallowed water in a large gulp. “Uh, eat breakfast probably. Why?”

  He snorted. The man never did appreciate my snark. “I mean, what’s next? You can’t stay here forever.”

  “I don’t know. The house is compromised so we can’t go there. No doubt my apartment is as well, especially with my landlord handing out keys to every cute boy who flirts with him.”

  I cast Fin a glare which earned me a little smile.

  “Your boyfriend over there has safe houses all over the world. I’m sure you can sneak off to one of them while you figure out your next moves.”

  I eyed Fin. “You have safe houses, and you didn’t tell me?”

  Fin shrugged. “What good would it have done after I was injured? You seemed to have a plan, so I was content to follow your lead.”

  With a long exhale, I threw myself back onto the mat and stretched my thighs up to my chest. My muscles were sore from our last encounter with Esteban, but also from the spar with the Chief. We needed to leave so we could both heal ourselves and prepare for the next round.

  Once I finished stretching, I headed back upstairs to shower and dress. The Chief and Fin were sitting in the kitchen eating when I came out. I grabbed a plate and stood against the kitchen counter while I shoveled eggs into my mouth.

  Sufficiently fed, I looked to Fin. “We should think about leaving soon. Both of us need to train with our magic, heal our wounds, and make a new plan. But it just doesn’t feel right to plan without the Captain.”

  “I know,” Fin said.

  “Do you have a safe house in mind? Somewhere near the city so we can go in if necessary? I don’t want to go back to the house, not for a while. And there’s nothing at my apartment except clothes, which I can get anywhere.”

  Fin pressed his shoulders back and nodded. “Yes, I have several that fit that bill. One I think would be best for a defensible position and minimal entrances.”

  I clapped my hands. “Great. Then let’s get to it and leave the Chief to his bread making.”

  The Chief snorted but kept his comments to himself.

  Fin brushed past me to head into the bedroom and I made eye contact with the Chief, letting him know I needed to do this, and then I followed Fin.

  Inside the bedroom, I closed the door behind me. “Look. We have some things going on right now, but I’m going to make things even more awkward by declaring myself the unofficial leader of this little duo. If I’m continuing on this oh-so-fun journey, I’m calling the shots.”

  He didn’t respond so I crossed the room to where he sat on the edge of the bed. Then I lifted his chin gently to force his gaze to mine. “Did you hear me?”

  “You want to make the choices from now on, yes, I heard you, Zoey.” There was an edge to his voice I didn’t appreciate.

  “What do you propose then?” I asked. “You and the Captain called the shots for our last several encounters with Esteban and it didn’t work out well for any of us. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of getting my ass handed to me. Especially considering I’m a pretty good fighter. How about you?”

  He kept his eyes on me as he threaded his hands around my hips and tightened his grip. Warmth spread through me, threatening to derail my resolve to keep him at arm’s length.

  I sounded breathy when I pressed on. “Are we on the same page?”

  He kneaded his fingers into my muscles, and I bit my lip to keep the moan stifled. We weren’t doing this, not until the secrets and lies were cleared away for good.

  “Don’t think I’m going to cave just because you look pouty and touch me in all the right ways,” I added.

  A heartbeat later, he dropped his hands and I scrambled out of his reach.

  Good to know that no matter how angry I was at him, he could still touch me and make me lose my ever-loving mind.

  Damn it.

  I swallowed hard. “Get yourself together and we’ll leave in thirty minutes. I’m going to talk to the Chief real fast and make sure we’re armed before we go.”

  He nodded, the strain entering his eyes again. I hated seeing the sadness on his face, written in the lines around his eyes and mouth. Even his hair looked a little dull in the low lighting of the Chief’s guestroom.

  I left him there, not sure I’d be able to control myself if he touched me again.

  Chapter Four

  THANKFULLY, WHEN WE left the safety of the Chief’s non-magical house, Fin’s injury only got a little worse. He groaned a little more as we drove back into town, but overall, it held.

  We’d need to do some magical healing though, which meant I was up for using my magic again. Hopefully I was up to the task.

  When we arrived at the destination he gave me, I pulled the black SUV onto the side of the road and gaped up at the building before me.

  Fin’s ‘safe house’ was a million-dollar piece of real estate in a high rise building right in the center of town. I grumbled the whole way up the elevator and as I punched in the code he relayed.

  Then I helped him inside. “If Esteban wants to find us, all he has to do it price out the most expensive properties in the state and start picking them off,” I said as I lowered him into a steel grey sectional in the heart of the penthouse.

  He hissed out a breath and closed his eyes. “Well, he’d have to get past the security teams on the ground floor first. The magic wielding security teams.”

  Hm. Interesting. “How much more does hiring magical security cost?”

  I surveyed him closely, monitoring his pain and little movements.

  “Does it matter?”

  With a sigh, I lowered myself
to the couch beside him. “Go get some rest and then we can attempt to heal you. I just wanted to wait and let the wound settle before we tried, just in case the magic returned to the wound or whatever.”

  He nodded and I helped him to his feet and to the bedroom. There was only one, I noted, as I carefully situated him on the rich navy bedding. The heavy curtains were open, revealing the city skyline below. Any other time, I might have stood there gawking at the view, but not when I had a whole list of things to take care of, and one pissy fae to babysit.

  “Stay,” he whispered.

  My heart squeezed in my throat so I couldn’t answer him.

  Instead, I dragged the silver curtains closed and returned to the bed. While he lay back on the pillow, I tugged off his shoes and let them fall to the floor. Once his breathing evened out, I returned to the living room and looked around our new base camp.

  The view was equally lovely from the living room and the kitchen. There were a few closets, so I went hunting for weapons. Hell, even a scary looking kitchen knife would do, but found nothing I could use.

  It looked like food was highest on the list of priorities, weapons second. Fin flopped around on the bed for a little bit, and I watched him from my vantage point on the couch. He didn’t look comfortable, and he also seemed upset that I hadn’t stayed with him.

  I wasn’t ready to face everything between us just yet. For now, we could work together, and then, maybe when we got a break from all the drama, I would be able to wrap my head about whatever we were. Or he’d man up and tell me whatever the hell he’d been keeping from me, besides the way too huge to touch ‘mate’ thing.

  I pulled out the burner phone the Chief had tucked into my hand before we left the cabin and pulled up a search engine. With a grimace, I typed in ‘fae mates.’

  I shouldn’t have had to search for this because the fae I was fucking should’ve had the balls to explain it to me.

  Turned out the internet didn’t know anything more than I did. So either fae mates were a rare thing that wasn’t documented online, or they weren’t spoken of publicly.

  I deleted the search and cleared the browser history just in case Fin used the phone at some point.

  Punching something in the face sounded super good right now. I paced to the bank of windows and stared down at the grid of the city instead. I wished I could afford a place like this. The mansion Fin lived in before had been too stuffy for my tastes. This place, I wouldn’t hate coming home to this every night.

  But to Fin? Or alone?

  Well, it would be alone if he didn’t have any weapons stashed away here. What kind of safe house didn’t have food or weapons?

  Dwelling on the negatives didn’t help me right now. I opened the phone again and hit the speed dial the Chief had programmed for Hawk’s number. For some reason, even though the Chief ruled the city’s bounty hunters, his right-hand man always won the number one spot on the speed dial. I didn’t know where I fell on the hierarchy and I preferred not to know.

  Hawk answered after three rings. “Still alive, Zoey?”

  I smiled, my reflection a ghost in the window as I stared out at the city. “For now, but the day is early. Lots of time for that to change.”

  Hawk said, “What do you need?”

  “Besides a boat load of weapons and my sanity checked, I need you to do some research for me. Hunt down a list of magical people who work in metalsmithing.”

  The sound of shuffling cut through the line. “Should I even ask?”

  “No, it’s just a hunch I’m working on. There’s someone I need to find, and I have a feeling she’s working as a magical metalsmith and likely one of the best.”

  He murmured through the line as he likely scribbled out my directions. “Anything else you need?”

  I turned and eyed my sleeping fae. “No, keep an eye on the Chief for me. He’s really gotten into that bread making, hasn’t he?”

  Hawk snorted. “Yes, and thank god for that, because if someone had to talk to him about lowering his blood pressure, I was gonna make you do it.” He paused, then cleared his throat. “But on a serious note, thanks for seeing him. Even under weird circumstances. He’s missed you, though he won’t admit it.”

  “I missed him too. But if you tell him that I’ll take your balls off.”

  When Hawk hung up, I padded into the bedroom to check on Fin.

  He snored lightly, the too tight t-shirt stretching over his muscles. Damn. We needed clothing too. Even if I could still fit in my old clothes, it didn’t mean I wanted to wear them. Or see Fin in the Chief’s borrowed clothes.

  Up until a couple days ago, Fin had always managed everything. The clothing, the food, the weapons. If this was my show, I needed to ensure we had what we needed as we worked through our plans.

  I hit the number two speed dial on the phone and pressed it to my ear, turning away from the bed to stare out the window again.

  The Chief answered with a gruff, “Hello?”

  “We made it,” I said.

  “Good. Any trouble on the way?”

  I shook my head then remembered he wasn’t standing in front of me. “No, it was fine. But there are a few things we need to get started.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Clothes, weapons, food, to start.”

  He laughed, a sharp precise sound which unnerved as much as it soothed. “Oh, is that all?”

  “I figured if I’m in charge I should get our supplies. Usually, money bags over there handles everything, but for now, he’s resting.”

  A timer sounded from his side of the phone and he cursed.

  “Bread?”

  “Yeah, I gotta go. I’ll send someone with what you need. Text me your cross streets and I’ll have them meet you outside.”

  Another curse and then the phone cut off.

  I tucked the phone back into my pocket and resumed my vigil out the window.

  “Money bags?” a sleepy voice said from behind me.

  When I turned, Fin had pulled himself up to sitting.

  “Okay, I think it’s time to see if we can get you on your feet. If you bleed out, you bleed out.”

  He glared. “I don’t appreciate the humor regarding my imminent death. But thank you.”

  I sat next to him on the bed, kicked off my shoes, and shifted my feet up to sit cross-legged. “Let’s combine our power, see if we can heal you, and then you can help me with this plan I’m hatching.”

  He nodded and shifted closer so I could press my hands against his wounded side. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I could do this, but with what the Captain and Fin had taught me about weaving my magic with Fin’s, I was hoping it would be enough.

  He placed his hands over mine and we closed our eyes to focus. As usual, I felt more like a flopping fish trying to find the pool of my magic than anything else. I reached into myself and drew it out then sent it gently down the bond between us. A bond that likely meant way more than he’d originally told me.

  As soon as the thought hit me, I dropped my hands.

  But it didn’t matter, the healing was already done.

  Fin dragged in a heavy gasp and opened his eyes too.

  “That’s better.” He lifted his shirt and nudged the jagged line under his ribs. “I’ll have a scar, but it doesn’t hurt to breathe anymore. And I’m not bleeding out, as you say.”

  My voice was rough when I answered. “Good, I didn’t want to have to clean blood out of this fancy carpet anyway.”

  I put some distance between us, even as my fingers itched to trace the scar for myself, verify he’d be safe.

  “Were you talking to the Chief?”

  I nodded. “We need a few things to get settled here. Like you know, clothes and food. Oh, and weapons, of course.”

  While I remembered, I texted the Chief what he’d asked for and then tossed the phone toward the other side of the bed. It would be a while until I’d need to meet anyone, and for now, I needed to keep the distraction out of reach. I
t would be too easy to try and search more about ‘mating,’ hoping to learn something. And then murder myself a fae when I did.

  Once I got myself together, I risked a glance at him. He’d been watching me the entire time, leaning in, studying my every twitch.

  “Are you all right?”

  I swallowed a heavy lump and nodded. “Fine. We just have some work to do.”

  “Talk to me, Zoey. I know all of this is happening right now but I’m still me and we’re still together.” He reached out for me, took my hand, and pulled me back to the place next to him.

  When he leaned in further, his lips looked so inviting and plump. It took more discipline than I really possessed to shake my head.

  “I can’t do this. Not while there are still secrets between us. We keep going round and round and I don’t want back on that ride.”

  His forehead crumpled and then he dropped his eyes, conceding to my wishes, for now. I wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d keep his distance. The man always got what he wanted. Him being a spoiled fae prince, why wouldn’t he?

  He cleared his throat. “What’s the plan then, boss? Anything I should know right now?

  I waved at the phone. “Not yet. Just waiting on supplies. There are some things bouncing around in my head but I’m not sure I want to share them yet.”

  Hurt flashed across his face and he didn’t bother to hide it. “You don’t trust me now?”

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you, at least not when it comes to our mutual desire to rip Esteban apart. But the rest of it, us, I don’t know how I feel, or what to say. You’re hiding things and I hate it.”

  I stood and returned to the window, needing the distance between us. “I’ve started a plan, besides getting the supplies we’ll need. But it’s not simple, and you’re really not going to like it.”

  Which, if I was honest with myself, was maybe why I’d settled on the idea when it first hit me. A passive aggressive way to get payback against him for hurting me, again, while still serving myself.

  He shifted on the bed, the covers ruffling as he stretched his arms overhead. I glanced back to catch sight of his ridged abs below the hem of his t-shirt.