by Bryce Evans
The Hunter’s Awakening
The Death Hunters, Book 2
Bryce Evans
The Hunter’s Awakening
The Death Hunter’s
Book #2
by: Bryce Evans
Copyright © May 2019 Bryce Evans
Art and Logo Copyright © Bryce Evans
All rights reserved.
Edited by: Tina Winograd
Artwork by: Andy Atkins
Formatted by: Stacey Price
Published by: Bryce Evans
EBooks are not transferrable.
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This work is fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.
All Rights Are Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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To my family. I love you all very much.
To the Bryce Evans Fan Club. Thank you for sticking it out with me. To my new Review Team. I can’t wait to see what we can do together.
To my PA and friend, Janka Dustan, who keeps me grounded and on task. To KD Jones, my sprinting partner and friend.
Please be kind and leave a review on the site you purchased the book from.
Contents
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Also by Bryce Evans
About the Author
Blurb
Haven Winters hates her life in the Winter Coven. She escapes with only the clothes on her back. She would rather die out in the world alone than stay with the evil mages. The only problem, she's headed straight into the town of Death Hunters—the coven’s archenemy. If they find out who she is before the mages locate her, she won’t have to worry about saving her soul.
Cosmo Fitzgerald, beta Death Hunter, feels it; something is coming. What he discovers turns his world upside down. Then he recalls words from a crazy fortune-teller: if he takes a mate, she will die.
When his alpha tells the Death Hunters to prepare for battle against the coven who’s come to claim Haven, he realizes he’d do anything to protect the one he thought dead. This time, he may not be able to keep her alive.
Chapter One
“You will tell me what I want to know, or the burning will continue,” her father said, smiling. His warlock eyes could reach into anyone’s soul and devour it. This wasn’t the first nor the last time he took pleasure in the act.
“Please, please tell him,” Haven whispered to herself. Her young body trembled quietly in the corner trying not to move or Blair’s attention would turn to her. She covered her mouth, stifling the cries she made, praying no one looked in her direction.
“You’re just like her, strong willed, but I promise I will break you. The pain will stop, and I will make your death fast if you tell me where the white bear went.”
Tears dripped off the woman’s face, mingled with blood that puddled on the floor. “Tell me!” her father yelled, but the woman shook her head.
The tisk sound her father always made before he’d had enough echoed in the small room. If the lady would just tell him something, maybe he would kill her mercifully. “Burn her, Blair. Let her see what real pain is. Just remember, shifter, before the last bit of your strength leaves your body, that I tried to be humane and let you die quickly, but all of you are the same. Disgusting, filthy creatures that need to be killed.”
Knees giving out, Haven slid down the wall, hands clasped over her ears, as the scream tore through her head. The woman looked in her direction pleading with her eyes for help. Haven’s stomach heaved—she was nothing but a coward, forced to watch as her family killed over and over.
Slowly her father chanted the spell to rip the shifter’s magic from her. His head fell back, eyes rolling to their whites, as the power left the shifter and went into him. The last breath of the woman’s life trapped in her throat as she died.
Tonight, the decision had been made that when the time came, she would escape these evil people even though they were all she knew.
She would rather die on her own, alone in the world, than live with a madman or his coven.
Sixteen years later.
Propped up against the limb, Haven Winter sat in the tree, waiting for her father to tell her where they were moving to next. Another town, another place that wasn’t her home. She smiled at her drawing as she roughed in the last part of the crimson barn that sat next to the Rumson B&B.
The last page of paper in her notebook, she had to sketch this place. This place made her happy. She loved it here and wanted to remember it, especially when the nightmares came. And they always did. Every night she dreamed of the white bear’s aunt. It was her personal hell and exactly what she deserved.
Ever since she was little, she had been attached to this coven. Her whole life was surrounded by this evil, despicable group of mages that made up her father’s world. Oh, and let’s not forget the famous white bear. The bear that nobody had ever seen. Yet, as her father continued to tell her. They would.
That was what he’d always point out to her. Her father would get starry eyed as if he were talking about the love of his life, not a shifter they were trying to catch then kill.
She watched as Mr. Rumson swept off the crunchy leaves that had fallen onto the backporch. He didn’t see her perched in the big oak. Ted and Reba Rumson were good people. They let her help in the kitchen and sit at their table while the coven searched for the bear. She even got to make and decorate homemade cookies which she’d never done growing up. Twenty-three years old and shaking sprinkles on snickerdoodles for her first time. Everyone tried one except Blair.
Haven felt the smile slip from her face. Blair was part of the coven and the vilest of mages. Just her name caused her stomach to hurt. Wicked and evil to the core. Basically, the witch made her life a physical hell.
When the trail for the white bear ran dry, the witch concentrated on her, meaning Blair would find a way to torture her. The woman hated everyone and everything beautiful in the world.
Her dad used the excuse that Blair needed an outlet for her anger. Her outlet? Killing and torturing shifters and animals? The mage hated the outdoors and everything that ran free in the forest. Even the bunnies. Blair hated everything Haven cherished in her heart.
Haven loved bears most, but Blair wanted nothing more than to kill them and steal their magic. She tortured them in the forest. Just for kicks and giggles.
Haven glanced down, breathing heavily, trying to keep the memories away. Her fingers pulled her shirt sleeve down. Seeing the marks always made her mind relive the incident.
Closing her eyes, she shivered, remembering the day five years ago she turned eighteen. She found Blair torturing a real bear in the woods. She tried to stop her but that didn’t go well for her. Great birthday, yeah, right.
She had been walking through the woods checking out all the trees. She loved hiking the trails to see the
pretty colors of the leaves. At first, she heard a small cry, the squealing of an animal for help. It was in pain. She didn’t even think before she ran toward the noise. She had to help it. What she saw made her blood boil, rage coiling inside her.
Instead of using that rage to attack, fear guided her as she let the sight of Blair smiling make her chicken out. Instead, she yelled at her.
“Stop, Blair, stop. You’re going to kill her. It’s not a shifter. She’s real. A cub. Please stop.” Blair continued to tighten the noose around the bear’s neck. Laughing as she heaved the bear into the air, pulling the rope tighter. If she didn’t do something fast, the precious creature would die. She couldn’t let the bear die. Just a baby. Searching for anything to use as a weapon, Haven noticed the broken limb on the ground. It wasn’t big, but it might get the fat cow’s attention long enough for the bear to get free.
Without thinking, she picked it up and dug deep inside herself for strength, then swung as hard as she could. The crack echoed through the woods when the stem hit Blair in the back. Her body flung forward as the rope fell from her hands, allowing the bear to drop to the ground and pull free. Haven smiled as the bear didn’t waste any time struggling out of the noose and running into the woods.
She wanted to scream for the bear to run faster until the howl of rage beside her jerked her back to reality. Haven watched Blair’s face change. Morph into something dark and evil. She tried to run, but Blair jerked her by the hair, slamming her onto her back on the ground.
Blair flung herself on top of her. The woman’s body felt like a Mack truck laying on top of her chest. Haven tried to push forward, but Blair grabbed her hair again, slamming her head against the ground. When she looked up, a hand full of her hair remained in Blair’s hand. Flashing dots danced across her vision. She didn’t have time to cry from the pain. Blair’s black eyes narrowed, lips drawing back in a snarl. She looked like the devil, and Haven knew Blair would kill her.
Haven wasn’t a mage like Blair. She didn’t have the strength either, but if she didn’t think of something quickly, she would be dead.
The only thing popped into her head—scream loud and hope someone from the coven would hear her.
“Help! She’s trying to kill me. Help me, please. I’m in the woods behind—” That was the last word she got out before Blair’s fist connected with her face. It happened to be the worst pain she had ever felt until. . . Blair’s eyes rolled back in her head as the chant of pain flew out of her mouth.
Haven had heard the words used numerous times when the coven ripped the magic out of shifters. Except this time, Blair wasn’t pulling magic out of her, the skin around her wrist started burning. She twisted, trying to buck Blair off, but the mage held her arms to the ground as she chanted.
“It burns. Stop. It’s burning.”
A hand gripped her chin and yanked it forward. “You’re going to pay for that.” The chanting continued.
Looking into her eyes, Haven found nothing that resembled a sane human. Only evil.
“Stop, stop. It hurts, Blair. It’s burning.” She smelled her own flesh cook as the magic branded her skin. Blair slapped a hand over her mouth and remained on her chest.
Haven tried to breathe through her nose, but Blair’s weight became too much. She couldn’t suck enough air into her lungs. Her eyes started to close, then the weight disappeared, and the chanting stopped. Her father’s face became the last memory she had before the darkness took her.
She woke the next day with bandages on her wrist. They were still at Rumson’s. In the same bedroom. Which meant they were in Tennessee. This wasn’t good. Especially, since it took them off the white bear’s trail. When she glanced around the room, she noted her father sat at the bedside table, reading. He never looked at her, but he finally spoke. “You are very lucky. I think Blair would have kept going until you were nothing but ash.”
“Is she in jail?” Haven croaked. Her throat felt like she had swallowed broken glass.
Laris Winter, her father, chuckled. “Of course not, Haven. She’s in her room. I’m sure she’s hurting from the black eye I gave her, but she’s one of the best mage’s I’ve got. Why would I call the police?”
“Why? Maybe because she tried to kill me. Did you see what she did?” Haven said, lifting her head from the pillow. Hot pain seared up her arm and skull.
Her father’s book slammed onto the table. “You shouldn’t have hit her. She knows what she’s doing, Haven. You shouldn’t have interfered.”
Holding her bandaged arm, Haven saw blood seeping through the bandages. Staring at her father, she released a deep breath, trying to ease through the pain. “She tortured a cub for fun.”
“Yes, a most unfortunate problem. But she needed to release some steam and the cub happened up on Blair in the woods.”
“Is that what she told you? Didn’t you see the trap she had. She went looking for that bear to torture it. No other reason. She’s crazy and evil!”
Her father came at her so quickly, she didn’t have time to react before her body rammed back against the bed. His hand around her throat as he leaned in, coming face to face with her. She froze thinking he would finally kill her.
“Now you listen and listen good. If you ever say that again about any coven member of mine, I will forget that you’re my daughter and let Blair have her way. You are to stay away from her and keep your comments to yourself. Do you understand?”
Haven nodded, and he released her then walked out of the room. All she could do was curl up and cry. The man who should’ve loved and protected her considered her collateral damage if she got in his way. He would let Blair torture as many animals and people as she wanted if it got him what he wanted. Being his daughter meant nothing to him.
She would never regret saving that cub. If only she could have saved the others.
But there wasn’t anything special about her. She wasn’t a shifter or a mage. She would forever remain a plain, unmagical human.
Since then, Haven had stayed out of Blair’s way and would until it came time for her to escape and leave the coven and her father behind. She only needed that window of opportunity.
Chapter Two
“I’m a what?” Jade asked, cringing away from the woman. She couldn’t believe what she heard.
“A mage, Ms. Cross,” Greer whispered. “The magic inside you came from me. We are the halves of one power.”
Jade moved toward the window and stared out at her home. This had just become real. She wasn’t dreaming and on Dixon Pack land. Still in New Hope, Georgia. She blinked several times just to make sure.
“That would explain all the changes you’ve been going through, Jade,” Quinn, her alpha’s mate, offered. She loved Quinn Dixon, a witch and a wolf, but there was no way she was one too. At least Quinn grew up knowing she had magic inside her. Sure, Quinn was bitten by a rogue wolf and knew immediately that she would turn into a shifter, but this…
No way, no, no. She wasn’t a mage, a witch, anything magical. She would have known. She was attacked when she turned ten and now she was twenty-six. Something would have happened during that time, giving her a clue. “Look, I’m a shifter. That’s all,” she said, trying to convince herself this had to be a mistake.
“Jade, maybe we need to hear her out and see if she can explain what she means by you being a mage,” Lennox said, sliding his hand over her back, giving her support only a mate could. She knew he would remain with her, but they needed answers. This was her chance to find out the why to every question she had growing up.
Slowly, Jade moved closer to Greer and said, “Okay, I’m not saying that I agree with you, but I’m listening.”
Greer nodded and sat back against the pillows. “Jade first let me say this. I know you may not believe me, but I’m truly sorry for what I did to you that day.” Reaching up, Jade rubbed the skin where Greer’s bear dragged her claws across her face.
“My bear lost control, and for that, I can never say sorry enough o
r make up for the pain I have caused you.”
“No, you can’t,” Bane yelled. Her brother couldn’t hide his anger and she knew if the answers weren’t what he wanted to hear, he would kill the woman.
“Bane, please, let her finish,” Jade pleaded. Her eyes softened toward her brother.
Glancing back at Greer, Jade sighed. “I forgive you, Greer, but I don’t understand why you attacked me. I didn’t provoke you or even scare you.”
Greer’s eyebrows furrowed as she twisted her fingers together. “I escaped to America at a young age. Even in Ireland, I had a hard time controlling my bear. My parents said too much magic lingered inside me. It was too much for such a young person. They had to keep me away from the other kids because my bear became very confrontational. She always looked for a fight even with the older kids and the adults too.
“She wasn’t scared of anything and I should have been. My parents didn’t know what to do and they kept me sheltered from other shifters, so I wouldn’t continue to hurt them. They didn’t know how to handle a crazed bear and that’s exactly how she acted. I was always angry, and I would strike out at anyone just to release that rage inside me.
“The day I attacked you, I had just lost my aunt. The coven found us, and she stayed behind to distract the mages, allowing me time to escape. She thought they wouldn’t hurt her because she wasn’t what they were looking for but…”
