Destiny: A Hunter's Novel, Book 3 Read Free Page A

won’t last for long, though.”
    Right, I had forgotten what I’d unleashed. I walked over to my closet, grabbed a duffle bag and started throwing clothes into it. I could still feel Mastema’s power pouring over everything. I knew I didn’t have much time.
    “Az, I am going to find where Anie is and you teleport to her,” I was trying to keep Mastema from being able to track Az. I was hoping Mastema would have a harder time finding him if I was the one that located Anie. “He can’t find you yet, but he knows I put a protection on you all. Won’t take long before he figures out how to break it.”
    “Where’re you going?” Az asked quietly.
    I stopped packing and dropped my duffle on the ground. I stood in front of Az. Close enough so I could feel the heat coming off his body. I put my hands on the sides of his face. He closed his eyes. In that moment, even though I had been struggling with the way things were between us, I knew, without a doubt, that not all hope was lost. We may have lost the battle, but not the war. At least, that’s what I told myself. Because with everything that was going to happen and had happened, I needed hope like I needed air.
    I leaned in and while Az’s eyes were still closed and he was still absorbing my touch, I pressed my lips to his. Az didn’t hesitate, he kissed me with passion and need, want and lust…but not love. It was strange how I could tell the difference. I pulled back. Az was breathing hard, his heat flaring.
    “I’ll be okay. I always am, right?” I said, running my thumbs over Az’s cheeks, memorizing his face. Not knowing the next time I would see him. “You tell the group that I’m fine and I will come back when I know it is safe…for all of us.”
    I pulled my sleeve up and rubbed where the mark of the spell sat. I could feel where all of the people I protected were. Anie was with Fitzwar, of course. They were in Az and I’s apartment. They had better not gotten any fluids on our bed. I looked up.
    “Anie and Fitz are at our apartment on Main Street. Go now.”
    “What apartment? What aren’t you telling me!”
    I hadn’t meant to slip up.
    “Azrael, we do not have time for this.”
    I grabbed the pen and paper I kept next to the bed and wrote the address to our apartment as well as the address to the convenience store down the street from our place. “Teleport to the store, then walk to the apartment.” Az was conflicted, I could tell, but he nodded and went as I told him to.
    I closed my eyes and called the book to me. This was a trick I’d taught to myself. Well, it was actually an accident. I had been having a particularly horrific dream one night in which I saw the book being torn away from me and burned. I had felt like I was burning too. Apparently, that was something that scared the crap out of me. In the dream I had called the book to me and once it was in my hands, the dream changed to being a very peaceful scene of running creeks and mountains, very Coloradoesque. When I woke up, I was calm and had the book clasped in my arms lying across my body. I still hadn’t figured out why the book and I had this special bond, but we did and I couldn’t say that I minded. I always knew where it was. It was like having a piece of me outside my body – weird but also immensely handy.
    I held my hands out and the book landed in my arms. I put the book in my duffle and swung it over my shoulder. I could still feel Mastema’s anger and it was getting closer. I racked my brain for a place that no one would look for me. There was only one place I could think of. Somewhere only one person knew I had visited one time. I could barely remember the place, but I still had the plane ticket to Ireland and a vague memory of a man with wild black hair and eyes that looked like mine.
    I ran out the front door, my feet pounding on the snow and packing it down with wet thuds that were too loud. I still wore my snow boots so running at all, let alone quietly