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  ILLUMINATE

  The Hidden Magic Series — Book 2

  L.L. HUNTER

  Copyright © 2017 L.L. Hunter

  Illuminate

  Hidden Magic – Book 2

  ISBN: 9781310512445

  All Rights Reserved

  First Edition

  Manuscript Services Provided by

  Rogena Mitchell-Jones, Literary Editor

  www.rogenamitchell.com

  Cover Design by Desiree DeOrto

  This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the properties of the author, and your support and respect are appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Both author and editor have taken considerable effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors. However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the author.

  This author writes in both American English and Australian English and may include Australian diction.

  Prologue

  The cursor blinked on my screen as a migraine pulsed at my temple. I closed my eyes for a second to massage the area, and when I opened my eyes again, I was staring at the face of my nightmare. I screamed and jerked back, falling out of the office chair I was sitting in. I picked myself back up and edged back to the desk. I peered over the arm of the chair to check if the threat was still there. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected to see him again. I had run from my past for a reason. I hadn’t seen him in hundreds of years. Why was he here now?

  “Emmaline, you look lovelier than you did back then. I know you’re there so come out of hiding.”

  I sat back on the floor and tried to calm my heart and breath. It was coming too fast. It was all too fast, too much. I couldn’t breathe... Then I felt the magic surge. A hint of fuchsia traveled up my arms and into my eyes, calming my racing heart. I closed my eyes, counted to three, and stood to face the man I thought I had escaped.

  “Darcy. How did you find me?”

  “That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I need a favor.”

  “You need a favor? Why now?”

  “Emmaline, you left me. The least you can do me is the honor of a small favor for breaking my heart.”

  The power inside me rose up again, and I inhaled to keep it at bay. I laughed. Power made my giddy. Power made me sick.

  “Breaking your heart? It was the least I could do for what you did to me.”

  “What I did… Emma, I did nothing but love you.”

  “Love me? No, you ruined me.” My finger hovered over the escape button, ready to close down the video chat window. But his voice did something that made me take my hand away. I sighed. Damn. This man would be the death of me.

  “What do you want, Darcy?”

  “I need you to track down your ancestor Evaline and her Dragon Shifter lover. They’ve roamed over to the human realm.”

  “Ah, yes. I thought I could feel the shift of magic. I’ll deal with it. Don’t worry.”

  “Thank you. And when you do find them, come find me.”

  I closed down the chat and whispered to the black screen, “Not even in your dreams.”

  Chapter One

  One year later

  The whir of the coffee machine pulled me out of my daydream.

  “Emma?” I looked up.

  “Yes. That’s me.” I shuffled over to the counter and took my warm cup of much-needed caffeine from the barista. I pressed a plastic lid down on it and took a sip.

  Mm. That was good. Now I was ready to begin my day.

  I checked my vintage wrist watch. It was 8.28 a.m. on a Monday. A day I hated. A time I hated even more. But priding myself as a morning person, I plastered a smile on my face and pushed through the mass of commuters doing the same thing as me—moving toward their place of work. Before I came here, I relished in the power of a good beauty sleep and mornings were my enemy. In fact, I once tried to make mornings illegal. It worked well for a few years until that unfortunate incident where a certain someone who shall not be named ruined my life forever. I was forced to flee, and who knows what happened to my kingdom after that. The bustling, fast moving city of Sydney was a big change from the pristine palaces of my old kingdom.

  But if I was going to live here, I had to adapt. And adapt I did.

  I got an internship at a national newspaper as a journalist and studied hard. Because of the age I appeared to be, no one took me seriously, but once they saw how good I was at my job, they soon fell at my feet. Well, not literally. I was still waiting for the day when they would—or when I could be bothered to make them.

  I hated using my powers and hated magic even more. That was why I prided myself in keeping the existence of magic hidden here in the human realm.

  I walked into my cramped office and immediately booted up my computer. I clicked on the mail icon and groaned when I saw the sheer number or unread emails clogging my inbox folders. This job was a cover for my real job, investigating the mysterious leads humans sent to the newspaper. Stories of the weird and the unexplained. The magical things. Things that shouldn’t exist but did. That’s why I had to put an end to Darcy’s campaign. But my boss would kill me, and I wouldn’t have a job. It was a double-edged sword. I had to keep doing what I was doing. If I put a stop to magic use and Darcy’s quest, I had no purpose in this world. I sighed and took another sip of my latte, repeating my mantra:

  “I wanted this. This is my purpose.”

  It was the only thing that kept me sane. That was hard when Darcy insisted on torturing me.

  He was my enemy in more ways than one. Ever since my ancestor, Eva, banished the former ‘archaic’ laws of our secret world, much to my chagrin, the world in which all supernatural beings existed, my former kingdom, all magical and supernatural beings, were now free to come and go between that world and this one. But only under one condition—they don’t harm humans. And they had to answer to—you guessed it, him. Darcy. My vampire ex-boyfriend.

  Darcy loved magic, also much to my chagrin. And he encouraged the free use of magic within the human realm. See where I’m going here?

  I clicked on the first email and began reading.

  My boss had heard reports from several sources of large wolves or dogs seen roaming the forests of New Zealand. The weird part was, these large dogs weren’t killing anything—not even pets or livestock or native animals, and only appeared to come out at night. What was also strange was wolves weren’t endemic to New Zealand.

  Straight away, I thought of wolf shifters who had crossed through the veil. But wolf shifters weren’t nocturnal that I knew of. I had seen them out during the day. My ancestor Eva had befriended one named Henry and made him the new king of the eastern side of the supernatural realm. In all my immortal years, I had never heard of a creature that fit the description. I had to investigate… and try to ignore Darcy at the same time.

  Chapter Two

  Two days later, I landed in Auckland, and as I grabbed my carry-on luggage from the overhead compartment of the plane, I turned on my phone. It beeped several times telling me I had numerous missed calls and unread text messages. As soon as I saw they were from Darcy, I groaned and tossed my phone into the bottom of my bag. Modern technology was a curse as well as a blessing. I needed my phone, laptop, and tablet for work, but could do without the added annoyance of my immortal ex. I didn’t read a single message he had sent me, but I’m sure they were all about me flying off to investigate the mysterious
wolves of New Zealand.

  He probably thought I was interfering. I was—so he could just deal with it. I had tried to work with him in controlling the supernatural creatures, but lately, more and more humans were becoming aware of us. They had seen things that were… unexplainable. This couldn’t go on much longer.

  When I walked out into the airport terminal, I collected my suitcase at the carousel and headed over to hire a car. Before I had stepped off the plane, I placed my sunglasses on. This was for two reasons—one, it was sunny. And two, I didn’t want people to see my pink irises. I could control them most of the time, make them appear blue and human-like, but sometimes, my magic slipped. This happened especially when I was tired. And today I was running on only one coffee, which meant I was tired, and my human glamor was in danger of slipping. And because I was tired, I wasn’t thinking straight. I slid my sunglasses up onto my head when I greeted the car hire sales person. Big mistake. As soon as I set down my suitcase beside the stand and looked up at the man behind the desk, he gasped audibly and dropped the pen he’d been holding onto the desk. It had happened before, and I usually covered myself with humor.

  “Oh, are my dark circles that bad? I apologize. I don’t normally subject myself to anyone without at least three coffees in my blood stream.”

  “I—” He chuckled awkwardly and scrambled to find his pen and the car brochure. “So how can I help you today?”

  “I’d like a good reliable vehicle. One that’s suitable for driving into the mountains and forest areas.”

  “Uh… certainly. We have a few cars that will suit your need. Uh…” He was still staring at me, so I slid my shades back over my eyes and smiled at him with closed lips. This got him moving.

  “We have a Mitsubishi ACX, a Range Rover, or a Honda CRV available.”

  “Perfect. I’ll take the Range Rover,” I told him, placing my credit card down on the counter with a slap.

  “Um… sure. Do you have your driver’s license too?”

  “Oh. Certainly.” I handed him my driver’s license with a confident smile. The young man, who had to be at least twenty human years old, studied my driver’s license. Probably trying to discern that I was of legal age. I was actually way beyond legal. Over three hundred years past legal to be exact. But since coming to the human realm, I’d had to get fake IDs made. In human years, I was meant to be eighteen. The young man took a copy of my license and handed me papers to sign before handing me the keys to the Range Rover.

  “Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I took my license back and picked up my bags before heading outside to the parking lot. I glanced back over my shoulder as I headed out the door to see the young man had stopped staring at me. But that was due to a little distraction spell I may have cast over him to make him look the other way and to make me appear human. I hated using magic, but sometimes, it was hard to avoid. Humans weren’t as aware of things that were different as supernatural beings were, but they were still aware.

  I headed out to the Range Rover, which wasn’t hard to find in the small parking lot, and began my search for the mysterious wolves of New Zealand.

  Chapter Three

  New Zealand was a gorgeous country, with its vibrant green grass, fluffy white sheep that dotted almost every paddock, and the towering mountains in the distance. And I was heading into those very mountains.

  The Range Rover climbed the winding mountain paths with ease. When I reached the first lookout, I pulled the car over and rolled down the window to inhale the crisp mountain air. The air smelled of pine and snow and was refreshing against my face. I loved being in the mountains more than I loved living near Sydney Harbor. The mountains reminded me of home back in the Dragon Realm.

  It took precisely two hours to reach my destination—a beautiful log cabin on the side of the mountain hidden deep within the pine forest. It was the ideal climate for a wolf, but I still had no idea just what kind of creature I was dealing with. The creature had to be of the supernatural kind. As I said, New Zealand didn’t have wolves.

  Pine needles crunched under my brown leather boots as I made my way toward the cabin. The air was fresh up here in the mountains, but there was no snow. I was told when I researched the country the season was currently too warm for snow. It was the end of January and summer in the southern hemisphere. I unlocked the front door, and as soon as I pushed it open, I was greeted with warmth and wood paneling. It was a typical mountain cabin, and I was excited for the change of scenery. A log cabin looking out over endless pine trees and mountains was a lot better than a boring old office cubicle and a view of a city skyline.

  I found the bedroom and dumped the bags down before heading over to the window to take in the view. I unlocked the glass door in the living room and stepped out onto the small balcony. As I leaned against the railing, I took a deep breath and allowed my racing mind to settle. Being a writer was hard enough. A writer’s mind never quite stopped. But being a writer who was also a witch and dragon shifter… I had given up peace and quiet long ago. My mind was always busy and full. I hardly ever had downtime. The next few days were going to be what I needed I think.

  Even though I was meant to work, to write a story about the wolf sightings here, my boss had given me the entire weekend to do it. So I was going to enjoy the three days I was given and make the most of it. I decided to kick off my stay with a glass of wine and a nice relaxing spa bath. I was technically meant to investigate the wolf sightings by interviewing the local people, but I knew they would all say the same thing the humans were saying—that huge dog-like creatures were seen wandering the edge of the forest and near townships during the day. They wouldn’t be able to confirm these creatures were in fact supernatural. I could do that all on my own. I was one of the most powerful beings that existed, and right now, I couldn’t sense any other supernatural being in the vicinity.

  I headed inside and collected the bottle of wine and a glass from the kitchen and made my way to the bathroom attached to my spacious master bedroom. The company that my boss rented the cabin from had thrown in the wine along with some other local delicacies. I couldn’t wait to enjoy them. I found a speaker dock in the bedroom, so I placed my phone on it and hit play on my iPod. The last thing I had been listening to on the plane was an album of covers by new teen sensation Isaiah Firebrace. He was an Australian artist, and his voice is smooth and soulful and well beyond its years. It was hard to believe this young man was only a teenager. I swayed my hips to the infectious beats and poured the wine. Taking a sip, I headed to the bathroom to fill the large round spa bath. I turned on the cold and hot taps and immediately felt a cold shiver come over my body. I twisted around to look behind me because I was certain I had just felt someone standing near, but there was nothing. I guzzled the rest of the sauvignon blanc in my glass and turned back to make sure the bath was the right temperature. When I was happy with it, I stood and walked out to the bedroom to get more wine. I had just picked up the bottle when a cold hand snaked around my waist, and even colder breath brushed my neck. I screamed and twisted around so fast hoping to catch the person off guard, but he was faster than I was. He had always been faster and quieter than me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, holding up the three-quarters full bottle of wine above my head prepared to throw it.

  The bastard was smirking and reclining casually against the queen bed.

  “How long did you think you could avoid me, Emmaline?”

  I set down the wine and constructed a ball of pink fire in my palm.

  “I don’t know. Forever?”

  Darcy sighed and stood from the bed and sauntered over to me. Then he placed his hand over my pink flame and extinguished it.

  “You know that is impossible. I said I was sorry. How many times do I have to say it?”

  “For the rest of your life.” Darcy turned to the window and then toward the bed where my carry on was laying partially open. He reached i
n and pulled out my silky nightgown. Horrified, I took the opportunity to launch a ball of fire at him. But like I said, he was fast. He spun and caught my attack inches from his nose. He obliterated that fireball too. I was meant to be the most powerful creature that ever existed—until the Dragon shifter, Ash was born. I was meant to be stronger than Darcy, but he somehow always found a way to intimidate me and make me feel small. I hated him.

  “Tell me why you’re here, Darcy. This is my assignment.”

  “You know I can’t let you handle this alone. I know you, Emma. You’re going to put an end to whatever is going on here, and I can’t let you do that. These creatures have just as much right to be here as you or me.”

  “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you… I don’t want to destroy the magic.” Darcy was still rifling through my personal effects. He gave me a look that said he didn’t believe me over his shoulder.

  “Ugh. Will you stop that?” I ripped a pair of lacy panties out of his hands and stuffed them back into the bag before zipping it shut and tossing it to the opposite side of the bed away from him. “Tell me why you’re here. Otherwise, I’ll get my vampire stake and put it through your chest.”

  He smirked and put a hand over my hand. “I’ll take that as flattery. You know why I’m here, and I know why you’re here. So, for once, can we work together?” I stepped closer to him, and I could see how his breath caught at my close proximity. So I decided to play with him. I traced a finger over his leather jacket then turned and walked back to the bathroom, grabbing the wine bottle on the way.