The Hunter’s Mage

by Bryce Evans

  Quinn and Simone would ask a million question on what happened and what would she tell them? It was just five in the morning, but Jade couldn’t lay in the bed any longer. She needed to cut her ties with Lennox. She would tell Cosmo that she couldn’t take any more lessons from him. There wasn’t a reason to anymore.

  She figured Cosmo wouldn’t mind. He would have less to worry about when she was out of the picture.

  After she rushed and got ready. She tiptoed out the door and jumped in her car. She didn’t want to be around once the questions started. Pack members would be the worst, if they couldn’t get the truth then they would make it up. She needed time to think. Southern Treasures would allow her to be alone for a while and just think.

  She drove to the front gate, and luckily, Tate wasn’t on duty. She smiled at Ross as he walked up to her car.

  “Early morning?”

  “Yeah, I have a lot of stock coming in and I have to be there to sign for a big order.” Ross smiled and opened the gate for her. Thankfully, Bane hadn’t put guards on her, but that was the plan. No need now. She wasn’t going to mate with anyone, especially an egotistical alpha male who got off on control.

  Driving down the road, she couldn’t understand what made Lennox think she would just move her business. If he knew anything about her, he would know how much her pack and business meant to her. She employed over thirty pack members. Not all the time but when she got really busy with orders, they all pitched in to help her. She paid them a great salary and once her orders grew, their pay would also grow. Some of these people had been looking for jobs for a while and desperately needed the money.

  Dang it, she pulled up to the old barn, hoping to beat Cosmo. She was trying to figure out what to say. She sat in the car a few minutes getting her thoughts together when her phone rang. She didn’t know the number and thought it might be a distributor so she answered.

  “Are you going to get out of the car? I brought an egg and sausage sandwich for you to eat before we got started,” Cosmo said on the phone. “Come on, we can talk first.”

  Jade hung up and walked inside, and just like he said, Cosmo held up a bag for her. “I love these and that T lady makes the best ones.”

  “T is a great cook. She taught me a lot growing up.”

  “You can cook this, just like this?” Cosmo asked, removing the top part of the bread, showing her.

  Nodding, Jade smiled. “That was the first thing she taught me how to cook. It’s not regular loaf bread she uses. It’s what they use for garlic bread. She loads up both sides with butter and then toasts the bun. Then she adds something that she calls her secret sauce. She makes everything taste good.”

  “Thank God, you can do this. I won’t have to leave to go and get them.”

  “Cosmo, I can’t—”

  “I can already tell that you are going to try and get out of this, but you need to listen to what I have to say.” Cosmo pulled her over to the side of the barn and sat. He patted the ground beside him and she plopped down, legs out in front of her. “I don’t know what happened last night but when you pulled up, Lennox looked like he was flying through the air. The whole pack felt the change in him and we could tell he was excited to bring you to our land, but none of us know what happened. Did you not like your building?”

  “That’s why I left. He made a decision about my business without discussing it with me. I employ a lot of my pack and he thought I was going to just pick up and move it all there without even asking me, about anything? My pack means the world to me and he just figured I was going to leave them without a job? Well, I’m not cold hearted like that. I love those people.”

  “Jade, he wasn’t expecting you to just leave your pack. He purchased the land next to you so you would always be close to your work and to him. In fact, so close that all you have to do is change and run out your back door and you are on Dixon pack land. Furthermore, he wasn’t trying to get you to leave the pack members behind, he just wanted you to have a place on your own land. Everyone would be welcomed on your land. He spent a lot of money to buy every piece of equipment your workers would need to reproduce your products. All of you. He wanted everything to be right where you lived. He was doing it all for you.”

  Jade sat in silence listening to how Lennox was doing all of this to make her life easier and wasn’t trying to stop her pack from working. But why didn’t he tell her this?

  “Why would he do that?”

  “The man is crazy about you. He brags about all of your products. Do you know he knows every piece of jewelry you have made? Star bright, sunlight, midnight, or whatever you call them. Lennox has studied them all. He bought a sign that goes across the building too. Jade Cross, Inc. That’s a man so much in love that he would give it all up for you.”

  Jade looked away as the tear fell from her eye. “I thought—”

  “Yeah, I thought that might be it. He wouldn’t talk to anyone when he got home last night. He shifted and ran off into the woods. Before he went, though, his bear charged right through one of the walls we built yesterday. He’ll regret that today when he sees what he’s done, but we all understand how upset he was. We all felt it. I’ve checked on him but he won’t change back right now. He needs to figure it out in his head first. He wasn’t trying to run your life, he wanted to make everything simple for you.”

  “But if he would have asked me first, I would have told him that I could just go to Dixon land to oversee production. I don’t have to go but a couple days a week, just to show them my new designs and the rest they do. He didn’t need to build me a new building,” Jade said, putting the bag of food down.

  “Well…he’s an alpha, Jade. A strong one at that and he’s never done anything like this for anyone. Not anyone. When he told the pack, he had found his mate, he was like a kid on Christmas morning. Everyone could see and feel the excitement inside him. I know since he never smiles, but he’s different now and the guys like it. We’ve been wondering too long and now everyone feels grounded and we know that’s because of you.”

  Jade pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. “Cosmo, you are giving me too much credit. I’m not going to make it with him. You have to see that. This is just too much for me to handle. I can’t stand to see the disappointment in his eyes when he realizes what a bad mistake he’s made. Don’t you see that? Look, I don’t like confrontation. I don’t like for people to be mad at me, and I do let people run over me sometimes. I don’t mean to, but…”

  “I know you don’t like confrontation. That’s your problem, Jade. If you don’t stand up for yourself, somebody one day is going to come along and take it all from you.”

  “What, my business? That’s my company. I designed, I’ve put my whole soul into it and look at it now. I’m a multi-millionaire and I employ thirty of my pack members. Nobody will take that away from me.”

  “There is a loophole in everything. You can’t see it now, but one day someone will find that gap and try to take your company. They will make your life miserable. And you know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Because they don’t like you and they will find out what your weaknesses are and use them against you. They will run over you like a Mack truck running over a pinto. You won’t be able to be the CEO of your company anymore and you won’t put up a big fight because you don’t like confrontation. You don’t want them to be mad at you and just like that you, not anyone else, Jade, but you will allow all of this to happen.

  “Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t get you a breath of fresh air. We have to always be on guard hoping that nobody finds out that we are shifters, but someone will one day, and we will be pushed out into the open. How’re you going to hide that multi-million-dollar business then? Shifter rights to own a business will be stripped. All of this could happen.”

  Jade was shaking her head, but Cosmo turned to her and said, “Yes, it could, but I will be prepared to fight for what is mine, but you…you will run and hide.”

/>   Cosmo sat staring at her. She couldn’t help wondering if he was telling the truth. She had heard of stories about this happening. There were tons of lifetime movies about it.

  Jade leaned her head back and closed her eyes when Cosmo said, “I don’t know what it is, but you seem different. Because I sense something in you and I just can’t put my finger on it yet. You’re different…”

  “Different? I’m the same scared wolf you saw before. I’m not different. Please stop trying to make me believe something that I’m not.” Jade pushed off the side of the barn to get up. The wood cracked and broke off when she pushed back. Jade and Cosmo both stared at the broken piece of wood.

  “It must be old,” she said. “This place is falling apart and has been here forever. Look, I’ve got to go. I just wanted to tell you in person that I can’t do this.”

  Cosmo was still staring at the wood then he looked back at her. “Listen, before you make such a big decision like giving up your life mate, let’s continue with the training because it can’t hurt. If he or you decide that you can’t be mates then no harm no foul, okay?”

  Jade blew out a deep breath and walked over to the middle of the barn. “Okay, what are we doing today?”

  “That a girl. Today I’m going to show you some defensive moves. You need to know how to fight dirty. You can’t always count on your wolf to get you out of trouble. Sometimes you need to fight in your human form, but you need to learn how to look for someone’s weakness and use it against them.”

  “Oh yeah, sounds like fun,” Jade said, holding up her fists.

  “We found them in a small town in Georgia. It’s outside of Atlanta, called New Hope. There is only one restaurant in town and not much else. No malls or anything like that, but I saw some of the Death Hunters walking around,” Danny said into the phone.

  “Make sure they don’t see you two. I don’t want them suspicious in any way that we’re coming. I want this to be a surprise attack,” Oliver answered.

  “Now, how is our boy doing?”

  “I think we will need to get rid of him. He’s asking too many questions. I don’t understand it. He was outcasted by his pack, and now he’s like, why do we have to kill her. We don’t need to kill any innocents and bring too much attention to us. I told him to shut it or I would kill him.”

  “Good, watch him, Danny. I don’t trust him. I’ve sent Mark to you. If it gets to the point where you think he’s going to turn us in, well, you know what to do.”

  “You got it, Alpha. I know how much this means to you.”

  “Yes, it does, and I will kill whomever gets in my way. I’ve waited a long time for this chance. Lennox Bartley is going to hurt like I did. Then I’m going to kill him for what he’s done to me and mine.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jade limped to her car. She could barely move. Cosmo flipped and turned her so many times that she thought she could try out for the Olympic teams. She didn’t know she could feel this much pain as a shifter. Now she knew what the new guards felt after she watched them limping back from training. If they did half of what she went through, she would never laugh at them again. Never!

  “Eat, Jade. That will help with the soreness. Remember to play those moves over and over in your head. Once you continue to do that, you won’t hesitate whenever someone tries to hurt you. Practice the moves. Understand?”

  Rubbing the back of her neck, Jade nodded. “I didn’t know training could hurt this bad.”

  “That’s because I’m not going easy on you and I’m incorporating a lot of training in a short amount of time. I need for you to pick this up quickly. I want you to be ready at all times. Listen,” Cosmo walked up to Jade and patted her on the back. “There may not be someone there for you all the time. Guards from the Dixon pack or from the Hunters. We never know what the future holds for us. Remember your training, Jade. Your life may depend on it one day.”

  Jade watched as Cosmo got into his truck and pulled off. She never thought of it like that. She never had to. He was right, she needed to be ready at all times. Her pack might need her one day or even Bane. Anyone of her family may need her and she was determined to prove to her brother and pack members that they could depend on her, to fight if need be.

  Pulling up at the store, she noted Bane sat in one of the rocking chairs. He watched her as she gathered her things and exited her car. He never said anything to her when she sat beside him. They sat in silence as the cool morning breeze blew across her face.

  Closing her eyes, she loved moments like this, but she knew her brother wanted to talk. He needed answers, but she wasn’t prepared to give them to him yet. She still needed to think about what Cosmo said and find out if what Lennox built for her was such a terrible thing.

  “Before you say anything, I just want you to listen to me first. I’ve always listened to you, Bane, even before mom and dad were killed. I wanted to question some of the decisions you have made throughout the years, but I knew you had information that I didn’t, and I let it go. It was easier.

  “But this is different. I feel the mating bond, Bane. I have been ignoring it and ignoring it, but I can’t anymore. I don’t even know how to respond to these feelings, but I remember when Simone came to town and how you acted, and I know you tried to stay away from her. I also know you couldn’t.” Jade finally glanced at her brother who was watching her. She turned in the chair and grabbed his hands and held them up to her face. “I’m scared, Bane. I’m scared I’m not good enough to be his mate. He’s an alpha and I’m not.”

  “Don’t ever let me hear you say that again. You’re better. You always have been. Stronger than anyone I know, and you don’t have to be an alpha to be his mate. But I…I—”

  She watched as her brother looked down toward the ground. “What is it, Bane?”

  “I’ve never seen you like this—standing up to me. I can’t say that I like, but it’s time you run your own life. You’ve got to have some patience with me, Jade. This isn’t easy standing off to the side and letting you go with the alpha of the Death Hunters.

  “For so long, we have hated them. Sure, the shifter society needs them, but we couldn’t forgive them. And now, it still hurts. The pain went through the pack and for the longest time we didn’t know if the Dixon pack was going to survive. I know that it wasn’t Lennox who was there when it happened. But he is a Death Hunter and with that comes years of enemies that will be waiting for a moment to take you out.

  “I know this isn’t something you want to hear, but as your big brother and beta, I have to make sure you understand what your life will be like with him. I’m scared for you, and I know he can’t help who he is fated to be with, but dammit, why did it have to be my little sister.”

  Jade squeezed Bane’s hand. “It was a shock to me, too, but I don’t know how to get out of it. Unless he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”

  “Of course, he would. Why would you even say that? You’re his mate.” After a long moment of silence, Bane exhaled and asked, “What happened last night, Jade? You looked happy at the restaurant, happier than I’ve ever seen you.”

  Jade smiled. “How would you know how I looked?”

  Bane leaned back in the rocking chair. His mouth twitched before he told her what she already knew. “I needed to know that he was being nice to you and treating you with the respect you deserve. We…might have stalked you at the restaurant together. I won’t apologize for watching out for you. Even if you decide to mate with the bear.”

  “Well, you might not have to worry about that now.”

  “Why, what did he do?” Bane asked.

  Jade swallowed hard. “He built me a building on his land to run my business out of. I got mad and told him I wanted to go home. You should have seen it, Bane, it was beautiful, bigger than the one I’m using now. I told him that I employed members of my pack and that he expected me to just drop them simply because I was mating with him. I should have handled it different, but I got mad and st
opped talking to him. If he would have discussed it with me first.”

  It shocked her that Bane didn’t make any comments. She would have expected at least a four-letter word or two. But he just sat there looking off and never said anything. “Well, are you going to say anything? This should be your moment to say what you have always said would happen.”

  “This time, I think you overreacted a tiny bit. Maybe you should have told him that you both needed to talk about it.”

  “Maybe.” Jade’s face hardened. “I felt controlled. He never asked me if I wanted to move my business. I could easily walk through the woods to meet with everyone. He didn’t have to make me a building.”

  “But he wanted to do this for you. To make life easier for you.”

  “I acted like a child, didn’t I?” Jade asked.

  “Maybe.” Her brother sighed as he leaned back in the chair closing his eyes. “You’ve changed. While I wasn’t looking, my baby sister went and grew up.” Bane smiled, looking at her. “I even watched you stare down Nicky Temple. When you’re around him, you act different.”

  “Different, how?”

  “Confident, happy…he made you smile and you make the alpha of the Death Hunters smile. I’ve never seen that bear smile. Never. You’ve buried parts of you when you got attacked, but now it’s coming out. I don’t know. It could be all the training you have been doing.”

  “What?” Jade jumped up. “How…how could you know that?”

  Bane smiled. “Because I’m the beta of the Dixon pack. You don’t think I would know if one of my members was wondering off early in the morning. Especially, my baby sister.”

  “I wanted to tell you, but…”

  “But you were scared to? Look, Jade, you’ve changed and I…well, I guess I don’t want to lose you but watching him with you last night at the restaurant, well, I could see that he does care about you.”