“I got the message, hunter,” the bird lady rasped. Even her voice didn’t sound human.
Jade didn’t look down, but Jax did. He had seen it before but still had to look. It was the severed head Jade had left outside their nest. Jade was certain it would bring the leader of the group out to fight, and sure enough, as the gold medallion swung around bird lady’s neck, it did.
“Actually I don’t think you did get the message as you only brought me one head and that was the one I had to dispatch myself,” Jade replied. Normally Jade was a quiet girl that would prefer to hide in her own shadow, but once she was in hunter mode, she was completely different, with a confidence Jax would love to see in real life.
The bird night human sneered at Jade.
“The treaty between the council and harpies dictates that you’ll only ever keep a nest of three harpies. From our count, there are close to a dozen here now. You have broken the rules and thus forfeit your life.”
Without waiting for a reply, Jade threw all five foot five of herself at a creature almost a foot taller than her. Jax smiled. He loved it when his sister was her real self. There was no fear in her eyes as she sliced her daggers across the surprised night human. The harpy had moved her arm to keep the cut from severing her own head. That was Jade’s one chance to surprise her as the bird lady stepped back and started to calculate her own response. Jax had hoped it would work as they talked about beforehand, but he knew better. This harpy would be harder to kill. She was their leader and stronger than the rest.
Jax dropped low to the ground, and army crawled from the beam he was standing behind to a stack of construction supplies approximately ten feet in front of him. He would need a better position to take down the bird if Jade got stuck. He wouldn’t want to miss his shot and hit his sister. Jax was hidden much better than Jade had been, as he was dressed all in black from his head to toe, and with his black hair, the only visible part of him was his face which he kept toward the ground as he crawled.
As he made it to the pile, he slowly moved to a kneeling position behind the lumber to see how much the fight had changed in the few moments it took to crawl. Surprisingly not much. The harpy was still dripping blood as she circled away from Jade. Jade was slowly moving with the bird and keeping just out of the reach of the bird’s clawed arms as she assessed the situation too.
The girls continued to circle each other, but neither moved closer. The bird seemed to sense that Jade was more of a threat than she appeared. Jax could almost smile at that. Most people underestimated him and his sister, but being raised by one of the best night human hunters out there had its perks. Jax leveled his gun in front of him. Jade had a time limit because the rest of the team was hitting the nest soon to reduce the number of harpies. They had already picked a successor that was willing to keep to the rules. Without the leader at the nest, the team would have no trouble eliminating the rest of the harpies.
Jax had the shot and waited for his sister’s approval before a hand came up beside him and pulled it down.
‘This is her fight,’ Rommy mouthed to him. They were too close to talk now as the bird would know they were there if they did.
Jax glared at Rommy. Jade was his sister and the only family he cared about. There was no way he was going to let her be skewered by a bird to prove that she wasn’t ready to be a full-time hunter. Rommy and he both knew Jade was more than ready to join the hunters as a full-fledged member, but there was always the possibility for even the best hunter to be taken down by an unpredictable night human, especially one that knew it was her death if she lost.
Moving to raise his gun again, Rommy grabbed his wrist hard and held it down.
‘We don’t interrupt her or she fails.’
Who cared about failing? Jax almost wanted to pretend he couldn’t lip read. He already knew what Rommy was telling him, but he’d rather pretend he didn’t. The hunters had their outdated rules and rituals like having to hunt the head of a clan to join as a full hunter, but Jax really didn’t care. Which was more important, his sister’s life or advancing as a full hunter? Jade would be mad at him for weeks if he took down the bird, mainly because then his night human kills on missions would outnumber hers, but he still didn’t care about any of that. None of that mattered. Hunters were human, and he wasn’t about to lose his sister over a stupid test.
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Acknowledgements
As with any work of fiction, there are many people to thank along the way.
To you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read this story and go on the journey with me. If you liked it, please leave a review on your favorite online bookseller (or all of them!) and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Bookbub, etc. Thank you for all the help by support my novels and by spreading the word about my. If you are really inspired, join my mailing list to get updates first on my current and future writings.
Also I would like to thank my editors and cover designers. A good editor is essential to getting the story correct (and in my case- more than one). Thank you so much, Kathie at Kat’s Eye Editing, Melissa at There for You Editing, and Ashton Brammer. They made the book just that much stronger and such a better story that you all got to read. It would not be the same book without them. A thank-you to my cover artist Jessica for such a pretty cover. I’m not very specific with cover requirements- so finding an artist that can do such a great job and get what I am thinking is great! They may say never judge a book by its cover, but everyone does! I greatly appreciate all those that can do what I cannot, like editors and cover designers. I’m grateful I was able to find great professionals to work with on this book.
I’d also like to thank my hubby for continuing to push me further down the writing road. He gives me time when I need it to work on my stories. He encourages me to keep going each and every day on this adventure. And he does all the behind-the-scenes effort to make this work. This would be so much harder without his help. So thank you, B. for pushing me off the deep end (or the cliff as I see it sometimes). And a great big thanks to my little munchkins who keep me going from before the sun comes up ‘til long after it sets. Love you AK, KB, and EM.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novel!!
About the Author
B. Kristin McMichael is the author of YA and clean NA paranormal fiction. Her vampiric "Night Human World" includes the YA coming of age series "The Blue Eyes Trilogy" and the spin-off adventure series "The Day Human Trilogy" and “The Skinwalkers Witchling”. She's also the author of the NA time travel romance series "The Chalcedony Chronicles".
The Blue Eyes Trilogy: http://bkmc.me/LegendoftheBlueEyes
The Day Human Trilogy: http://bkmc.me/DayHumanPrince
The Skinwalkers Witchling: http://bkmc.me/TheWitchlingApprentice
The Chalcedony Chronicles: http://bkmc.me/Book1Carnelian
For more information on all of her books, visit http://www.bkristinmcmichael.com
Subscribe to her mailing list for new release notifications and deals: http://www.bkristinmcmichael.com/list
B. Kristin graduated with her PhD in biology at Ohio State where she worked as a scientist before taking her passion of writing full-time. Besides writing, she enjoys chasing her kids, playing outside, and baking cookies.
B. Kristin McMichael lives in Ohio with her husband and three children. If you don’t find her writing, then she probably has a book in her hand. Make sure to stop by and say hi on her social media.
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Do you like Twilight, A Shade of Vampire, and all those monsters that go bump in the night?
Then you’ll love B. Kristin McMichael’s paranormal night human world in three completed series.
Want to know more? Check out:
The Blue Eyes Trilogy
The Day Human Trilogy
The Skinwalkers Witchling Trilogy
Are you into Outlander, Colleen Houck books, and Dr. Who?
Then check out the clean teen coming of age time travel series from B Kristin McMichael The Chalcedony Chronicles
Want to know more? Check out: The Chalcedony Chronicles
Other Books By this Author
The Night Human World
The Blue Eyes Trilogy (Series One)
o The Legend of the Blue Eyes
o Becoming a Legend
o Winning the Legend
The Day Human Trilogy (Series Two)
o The Day Human Prince
o The Day Human King
o The Day Human Way
The Skinwalkers Witchling Trilogy (Series Three)
o The Witchling Apprentice
o The Wendigo Witchling
o The Witchling Seer
The Merworld Trilogy (Series Four)
o Water and Blood
o Songs and Fins
o Scales and Legends
The Hunter Trilogy (Series Five)
o The Night Human Hunter (September 2017)
o The Night Human Heir (2018)
o The Night Human Lesson (2018)
The Chalcedony Chronicles
o Carnelian
o Chrysoprase
o Aventurine
o Chrysocolla
Standalone Books
o To Stand Beside Her
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Scales and Legends Page 18
