Hunter's Curse Read Free

year and I’m sure they’ll offer you an intern position like they did Hunter. Don’t be in such a hurry. You have the rest of your life for this, Mason.”
    Mason rolls his eyes and I chuckle while dishing rice onto my plate. It might sound cool that I got to watch Agent Chris terminate a super, but it wasn’t as cool as I imagined. I didn’t expect to be as scared as I was. I seriously thought Agent Chris was a goner and it almost made me change my mind about enrolling in the training program. They’d think you were a coward.
    I push the thought away. I’d never let anyone suspect how much it bothered me, but I’ve never really been around death. Even if the super was a snarling monster, I didn’t think it was cool to watch it die. Killing things never settled right with me, but I’d do it if I had to. My priorities are learning how the world works and keeping humanity safe. I figured after a while, I’d become numb to all of it. It would just be my job.
    “Mom’s right, man. It’s not all fun and games. This is serious business.” I smirk as I say it, but wipe my mouth with my napkin so my mom doesn’t see it.
    Mason steps on my foot under the table. “And I’m being serious. I want to save the world.”
    My mom offers a bright smile as she looks between us. “I know you’ll both have a lot to contribute.”
    The house phone rings and I jump up to get it. The rule is never let the phone go to voicemail. The board calls at all hours of the day and who knows how important it might be. My dad used to say my mom was married to the HPA and not him, and after a few years, I discovered he was right.
    “Dr. Sullivan’s residence,” I say.
    “Hey, Hunter. It’s Phillip.” The termination facility’s office manager doesn’t sound like his personable self. “Your mom home?”
    “Yeah, man, let me bring the phone to her.”
    “Thanks.”
    I pad from the kitchen and into the dining room and hold up the cordless phone to my mom. She takes it from me and presses it to her ear and both Mason and I watch her quietly and eavesdrop.
    “You’re kidding me,” my mom says into the phone. “Oh, how frightening.” She glances at us and frowns. “Who’s on the scene?”
    I shift in my seat and look at Mason. “Sounds important.”
    He waves his hand at me. “Shhh.”
    “Okay, Phillip, thanks. I’ll be in shortly.” My mom hangs up the phone and sets it down on the table next to her plate. She sucks in a deep breath with her eyes closed, and then snaps them open to look at us. “There’s an emergency I need to attend to. Would you like to join me, Hunter?”
    I shrug. “I guess.”
    She turns to Mason. “Will you be okay?”
    He waves his hand. “Go.”
     
     
    JACQUELINE
     
    The woman strolls closer and taps on my window. I swallow the lump in my throat and meet her brown eyes. Fear creeps through my chest and squeezes my heart. It hurts to breathe and the edges of my vision darken.
    Dominic stiffens next to me. “Jackie, go.” His voice is low, commanding me to drive, but I can’t look away from the woman.
    “She needs me,” I whisper.
    “No, I need you. I need you to drive.”
    The woman taps her nail on the glass again before waving. I shake my head and blink a few times before cranking down the window an inch. She tilts her head to the side, touching the handle of a gun on her belt, and then takes a step back.
    The woman straightens her shoulders. “If you step from the car, I won’t hurt you.”
    I bare my teeth in a fake smile. “You’re lying.”
    “I have back up on the way,” she says.
    “They won’t be the ones to save you.”
    The woman rips her gun from its holster and jams the barrel into the crack of the window. She pulls the trigger and I cry out when a metal dart whizzes past, an inch from my face, and sinks into Dominic’s leg.
    He curses under his breath. “Jackie, go! Now! You can’t save her.”
    He’s wrong. You can.
    I clench my fingers into a fist and thrust