AHuntersDream by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online

like fallen leaves in the hurricane-style wind that she summoned.
    Satisfied with the devastation she had wrought Iris collapsed into a heap on the blackened ground and waited for the end to come.
    She jerked upright with a start. “Whoa.”
    “What?”
    “Do you smell that?”
    “I don’t…fire.” He stood and approached the edge of the exit to the jungle. “They are burning the forest to find us.”
    She stood on limbs that were suddenly full of energy. “Give me your pack.”
    “What?”
    “Your backpack. I need it to keep the crystal in.”
    He nodded and shrugged out of the pack, removing the contents and storing much of it in the tent.
    “What did you see, Iris?”
    “I saw the jungle scorched to nothing and a ship lifting off with you inside. I was standing in the ruins of the forest and looking up.” She didn’t mention the weather tantrum that she had engaged in.
    Venin rushed her and placed his hand on her neck. Pleasure swamped her at the contact and she heard his whisper, “I am sorry for this,” an instant before she passed out.
    Her head throbbed when she woke, carefully tucked in the tent with her blades still on and the crystal in the pouch at her side. Her sense of time was twisted, but the hum of engines in the air was unmistakable.
    She got to her feet, slung the crystal over her shoulders and she went out to see what was going on.
    The image of her dream was in front of her. Two ships were squatting in the carbonized disaster that had been a thriving jungle and the third was rising into the sky.
    Instinct took over and she started hurricane winds to tip the landed ships over and pushed down with the cloud cover to force the third ship back to the ground.
    A voice emanated from the shuttle. “Put your hands in the air or we will kill your companion.”
    Dizzy, she collapsed to the ground and raised her hands in the air. Ash flew in a cloud around her and she waited for the Raiders to approach.
    Venin was being forced out with his hands latched behind his back and his face bloody. He was shoved ahead of some very scary-looking characters.
    Iris waited. A very handsome male with a very unpleasant expression strode toward her.
    “Where is the stone?”
    His voice was hoarse and gave her the sensation of having gravel running over her skin.
    “On my back.”
    “Give it to me and your friend lives.”
    She frowned. “My hands are in the air. If I remove the pack, your men will shoot me or fire something at me or maybe let out some noxious gas. I can’t really tell from here.”
    He snarled in frustration but kept his distance. “You have my permission to remove the crystal and hand it to me.”
    She shrugged out of the pack slowly, easing the crystal to the ground before lifting it free of the leather. Iris extended her hands to the man who was demanding the crystal and Venin fought against the grip of his captors.
    “Iris, don’t do it.”
    She gave him a blank look and kept her arms extended out, her psychic knives buried in the crystal.
    “Put the crystal on the ground. I know what it does. I don’t want you amplifying any of your talents while I am touching it.” His growl was deep and rough.
    Shrugging, she placed the crystal on the ground. There was no reason to hold onto it. It knew what to do.
    “Let him go.” She made the demand quietly.
    “As soon as I have this crystal on my ship, I will push him out at a safe height.”
    Iris hissed mentally but acknowledged that she was expecting it. She waited for the Raider to grasp the crystal and then sent her knives through his nervous system and those of his men.
    Everyone in the area who was thinking about profiting from the crystal screamed and fell to the ground.
    Iris slowly got to her feet and Venin walked over to her, pausing and turning his hands so that she could reach the cuffs he wore. A short shock from her blade and they popped open.
    “How did you do that?”
    “It isn’t an ordinary crystal and all other