The Tracker's Secret: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 2) by Ingrid Seymour (the gingerbread man read aloud .txt) 📗

Out of nowhere, a shape slammed against the mage, knocking him to the floor and diverting the blazing magic, which hit the register and set it on fire.

Two shapes struggled on the floor. I limped closer to get a better view and found Jake on top of the mage, his clawed hand wrapped around the man’s throat.

With a predator’s rumble in the back of his throat, he said, “If you want to test my speed against yours, go ahead. I’ll be glad to rip out your throat at the least little provocation.”

Relief flooded me, burning away the adrenaline that had been coursing through me and keeping me upright. The next thing I knew, my strength abandoned me, and I collapsed to my knees. My vision blurred, and my spine rippled with pain. Weakly, I crawled towards Stephen and laid a hand on his furry neck.

“Hey,” I croaked as I felt for a pulse. I released a pent-up breath when I felt it. Gazing in Jake’s direction, I gave him a reassuring nod, then slumped next to the brown wolf, the pain from my burns getting the best of me.

In the distance, I heard sirens approaching. The police would be here soon, and hopefully an ambulance with a healer.

“Toni,” Jake called out.

I couldn’t see him as I lay there, eyes focused on the upturned legs of a wooden chair.

“Hey, Toni, talk to me,” he said, concern dripping from his voice.

“I’m alive,” I mumbled incoherently, which seemed enough to pacify him.

Tires screeched outside the restaurant, then came the sound of people shouting and running all around, barking out orders.

“Hands up,” a voice boomed.

The patrons yelped and whimpered but did as they were told.

More people rushed into the restaurant, a pair of polished shoes appeared in my line of sight.

“Hands up, I said,” the voice boomed again.

“I’ll let him go,” Jake spoke loudly and clearly, “and I will raise my hands very slowly. But this man here is a mage, and he’s the one responsible for the attack on this establishment.”

“It’s true,” I tried to say, but my voice wasn’t strong enough to project.

Thankfully, others raised their voices to say the same thing, including the owner from behind the counter. I relaxed, assured the police weren’t going to try to arrest Jake.

I thought of sitting up, but it was so comfortable lying next to Stephen’s warm body, and I was so tired. Something touched my arm. I blinked my eyes open and met the unfamiliar face of a woman.

“Hey, hon,” she said, looking me over, her smile holding despite the unpleasant sight of my roasted arm. “I’m a paramedic. My name is Lola. I’m going to make some of this pain go away. Okay?”

She laid a cool hand on my forehead that made my eyelids flutter with relief. Her lips moved quickly as she mumbled what could only be a spell. Immediately, a tingling sensation spread from my forehead to the rest of my body, and I exhaled in relief, ready to melt into the floor.

When she removed her hand a moment later, a smile spread over my lips. “Lola, you’re so pretty. Do you have a boyfriend? I can get you a boyfriend.”

She chuckled and shook her head. Another paramedic came up behind her. He had a halo around him. I stared at it in awe. “An angel. I’ve never seen an angel before.”

“You see, Lola,” he said. “I’ve been telling you I’m an angel, but you don’t want to believe me.”

Lola patted my arm. “You’re gonna feel a little dopey for a while. It’s just the effects of the pain spell. It dulls the senses.”

I grinned and snuggled against Stephen. “Do you like my teddy bear?”

“He’s not a teddy bear,” Lola said. “That’s a big bad wolf.” She peered up at her partner. “Randall, can you move her so I can take care of this other guy.”

“On it.” Her partner put his hands out toward me, focusing  intensely, and I started floating away stiffly as if I were lying on top of an invisible board.

I grinned at the tables and chairs that passed under me. “Woohoo, I’m flying. I’m Superwoman.”

Jake—standing off to the side, his hands high up in the air—glimpsed at me as I drifted past him on my way to the door. He scanned me from head to toe, a deep frown etching his forehead.

“Hey, there,” I said. “Now, that’s a big bad wolf, not the other one.”

His eyes narrowed as he glanced at the paramedic who was floating me away. “Is she going to be all right?”

“Yeah, for sure, man.”

A police officer walked up to Jake. “You can put your hands down. We’ll need to take your statement.”

I scanned the area where the mage had been, but he was already gone. I had one last sobering thought before they stuffed me in an ambulance and took me away.

I hope that mage bastard rots in jail.

Chapter 5

AT 5 PM THAT AFTERNOON, I sat next to Stephen across from Detective Tom Freeman at the police department. He had fully recovered from the donut explosion and was even regrowing his trademark, graying goatee, which they’d shaved off due to the numerous surgeries he underwent. Apparently, it had interfered with the oxygen mask.

After that maniac mage attacked us, Stephen and I had both been taken to the hospital and healed by practiced hands. Since the injuries had been caused by magic, the healers had been able to reverse the effects with ease. Damage caused by natural causes was much harder to heal, and good healers knew counterspells to all sorts of magical attacks.

I kept staring at my arm, remembering how it’d looked, pocked with liquid-filled blisters and angry raw flesh. My stomach flipped, making me forget how hungry I was. We’d never eaten our lunch, and from the looks of it, dinner might be a few hours away still.

“Did you get a good look at the attacker?” Tom asked Stephen.

Stephen shook his head. “Not really. Toni