Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) by Rain Oxford Read Free Book Online Page A

Cooper’s
brother brought him to Stephen. Cooper had cancer and was not going to live for
another month. Stephen changed him and taught him to get blood without hurting people.
Finish passing out the blood and do not let anyone suspect anything.”
    We did as he asked. Clara was very natural and even
offered a few smiles, but when the doors were closed, I could sense her stress.
It took nearly an hour to go to every room. When we were done, Henry and I
returned to our room to wait for Darwin.
    I opened the door to find Ghost sitting on my desk
with Vincent’s book beside him. “I’m sure you already know what happened,” I
said. The cat nodded. “Do you know who witnessed the vampire’s death?” Ghost
shook his head and hissed at the door.
    Henry sighed. “We are not going to bed tonight, are
we?” He opened the door to find Addison standing there. She was already an
attractive woman, so I figured the blue tank-top with black boxers that she
wore was an attempt to seduce Henry.
    “Didn’t you graduate?” I asked.
    “This is my fourth semester. The wizard council wants
to see you.”
    “Well, I’ll see Kale on Wednesday in class.”
    She sighed. “I’m just the messenger. Please don’t
make my job harder.”
    I nodded. “Alright. But you don’t get to ask me about
Henry,” I said.
    Addie had managed to monopolize Henry’s attention
during the full moon for all four months of our first semester, so it seemed to
me that he really liked her. However, she couldn’t accept that he was only
interested for the three days of the moon. I had asked Darwin in private and he
said he never heard of that kind of lunar effect. Then again, Henry wasn’t a
regular jaguar shifter.
    When Henry started to follow me towards the door, I
stopped. “You should probably wait here. Kale already doesn’t like me because
of John Cross. It would be nice if one of us graduates this semester.”
    Ten minutes later, Addison and I were standing in
front of Mrs. Ashcraft’s old office. Addie knocked on the door and we heard
someone tell us to come in. I went inside and closed the door behind me,
leaving Addie outside.
    Kale sat in the seat on my side of the desk while
another man sat on the chair behind the desk. The stranger was heavier set with
thinning, medium brown hair, dull blue eyes, and a bushy mustache. He wore a
light tan business suit. Unlike his daughter’s trusting eyes, his were
calculating.
    “Mr. Sanders, thank you for joining us. I am Grayson
Adams.” He stood and reached out, so I approached the desk calmly and shook his
hand. “First of all, I would like you to know that the wizard council will not
hold you accountable for your father’s actions.”
    “That’s a relief. So, which one of you sent Hunt to
kill me when I was a child?” He sat back down and gestured to the chair beside
Kale. I remained standing.
    “That was an unfortunate misunderstanding,” he said
warmly. “You see, we were always suspicious of John Cross, so when we
discovered that he had an extremely powerful child who was being raised by
humans, we knew we had to put our secrecy first.”
    “Let me guess; John’s mind control prevented you from
voting him out?”
    “It was a little more complicated than that. Once a
wizard is in the inner circle of the wizard council, they can only be removed
by death.”
    “Why did you call me in here?”
    “As you know, we have recently signed a treaty with
the vampires. Therefore, the murder that took place tonight is concerning. We
want the murderer caught. To catch them, we need to find and question the
witness that Logan believes was there. I know of your reputation and want to
hire you to find the witness.”
    “Hunt has already asked me to find the witness.”
    “Yes, but you have no intention of telling the wizard
council. I want to hire you, at twice your normal rate, to tell us who the
witness is. You can still tell Hunt who it is, but don’t tell him that you told
us.”
    “And what