Hunted Promises (Cider Falls Shifters Book Four) Read online

  Hunted Promises

  Cider Falls Shifters Book Four

  By R. E. Butler

  Copyright 2022, R. E. Butler

  Hunted Promises (Cider Falls Book Four)

  By R. E. Butler

  License Notes

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  Cover by CT Cover Creations

  This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is coincidental.

  Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic sexual content and is intended for those older than the age of 18 only.

  * * *

  Edited by Sara Dawn Johnson

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  Thanks to the best betas on the planet – Joyce, Shelley, and Ann. You rock!

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Coming Next in the Cider Falls Series

  Contact the Author

  Other Books by R. E. Butler

  Deceptive Promises (Cider Falls Book Five)

  Hunted Promises (Cider Falls Book Four)

  By R. E. Butler

  Hyena-warlock hybrid Trace Powell met his truemate in a beautiful Hunter. The problem? She doesn’t want anything to do with him. He’d never been sure that he’d get a truemate being a hybrid. But now that he knows where she is and that she doesn’t want him? It’s hell on earth.

  Shifter Hunter Jewel Hastings thought the hardest thing she’d ever done was walk away from her truemate Trace for her job and her family. But after the Federal Shifter Alliance discovers she helped a hybrid female on the run, she’s lost everything, including her family. Now, she has to go back to Cider Falls with her tail between her legs and ask to join their pack. She’ll have to face Trace and explain why she chose to walk away from him, knowing full well that he was her other half.

  Can Trace and Jewel find common ground despite their rocky start? Or will the danger lurking in the shadows of Cider Falls be the end of everything?

  Chapter One

  Trace Powell gave his hyena a mental shake as he stood behind the bar of Brewz and wiped glasses. Busywork was not his favorite thing, but he had to keep active to stop his beast from laying waste to everything around him in his fury.

  Last night.

  Fuck, had it only been one night? Less than twenty-four hours since he’d faced off against five Hunters and discovered his mate was their leader?

  It felt like an eternity had passed already, minute by painstaking minute.

  Not too long ago, an exiled hybrid female came to Cider Falls for sanctuary and had wound up mated to the town’s twin mechanics. Willow, Gunner, and Archer had tried to have a happily ever after, but Hunters working for the Federal Shifter Alliance—the FSA—had been tracking the female for seven years, since she’d been exiled from her cougar pride by her asshole alpha. Hunters, traditionally, were virtual dogs with bones, mercilessly hunting their prey until they were caught and imprisoned for the crime of simply existing as a hybrid.

  Trace was a hybrid himself—half hyena, half warlock. No one wanted him around—hyenas feared the warlock side of him, and warlocks didn’t like shifters. His mom’s hyena clan had allowed him to stay so long as he didn’t use his magic. Then he’d protected a female from harm with his magic and been immediately exiled. That was four years ago.

  He’d found Cider Falls and joined up as second-in-command to Alpha Rehlik, a timber wolf shifter male who had a polar bear-red fox hybrid mate named Weylyn.

  Cider Falls was an exile-welcome town, filled with purebreds, hybrids, and humans.

  It had been a haven when he’d lost everything with his exile. Now, though, after meeting his mate and watching her walk away from him, well, it felt like a damn prison.

  Jewel was not only a purebred bear, she was also a Hunter for the FSA.

  There was no one way in hell that she’d accept him as her mate. Many purebreds disliked hybrids.

  And no one liked warlocks except other warlocks.

  “Trace? Earth to Trace.”

  He nearly dropped the mug he was wiping, catching it before it smashed on the floor. “Sorry, what?”

  Jair, a tiger-wolf hybrid, was standing at the counter. “Can I get a pitcher?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Trace put the mug away and grabbed a pitcher from the shelf.

  “You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

  He very much didn’t want to discuss his crappy personal life. What would he say anyway? Yep, it’s hard as hell to be me, a hybrid who knows his mate is out there, but she doesn’t want anything to do with me.

  Jair’s mate, Genesis, was a purebred lynx and was exiled for refusing to mate with a male her father chose.

  Switching the topic, Trace said, “How’s Genesis and your baby?” Little Maya was the darling of the pack.

  Jair beamed, his face the picture of fatherly joy.

  It made Trace’s heart ache.

  “They’re both great, thanks.”

  Trace set the pitcher in front of Jair. “I’m glad to hear it. Can I get you anything else?”

  Jair tilted his head. “I was really sorry to hear about what happened last night.”

  Keeping his face carefully blank, Trace shrugged. “I’m used to life sucker punching me. It is what it is.”

  Jair opened his mouth, and Trace put his hand up. He didn’t want or need anyone’s sympathy.

  Jair nodded, thanked him for the pitcher, and headed back to his table where his fellow landscapers were seated.

  Pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes, Trace exhaled slowly. Then he got back to work. What he didn’t want to do was wallow in pity because it was useless. The beautiful Jewel was long gone back to her job and family and probably hadn’t given him another thought. Why would she, anyway? She was a purebred and a Hunter, the echelon of their people.

  He was an outsider, and dangerous to boot.

  Putting thoughts of the female he would never have out of his mind, he turned his attention back to straightening up the bar and attending to the customers. It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Two

  Jewel Hastings tossed and turned, flapping the sheet off and on her legs, first hot and then cold, and then hot again.

  Her bear roared in her head, demanding to go back to Cider Falls immediately and find her truemate, but Jewel was one hundred percent not doing that.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t think he was her mate because she knew he was. Seeing him on the side of the road, his warlock power arcing like purple lightning over his hands, had been the most incredible thing she’d ever witnessed. He was gorgeous and powerful, a mixture of hyena and one of the most feared supernatural creatures.

  Walking away from him had been the most difficult thing she’d ever done in her life, but she’d had no choice.

  She was a purebred black bear and a Hunter. Purebreds simply didn’t cavort with hybrids, particularly not warlock ones.

  Mating him would mean the end of all she held dear, all she’d worked for since joining the FSA six years earlier, not to mention her family.

  With a frustrated groan, she sat up and swung her legs around, then reached for her phone.

  It was eleven p.m. She’d gone to bed early because she’d slept like shit the night before after returning late from Cider Falls.

  At work that morning, she’d filled out her report and then waited to hear from her supervisor.

  The call had come in a half-hour before her workday was done. Her supervisor, Bart, had told her there was going to be a formal investigation into her report and she was on desk duty until the investigation was finished, which could be a few days or a few weeks.

  Putting her phone on the nightstand, she got up and used the bathroom, then went into the kitchen to get something cold to drink.

  She lived in an apartment given to her by the FSA as part of her employment package. The one-bedroom was spacious, and she had a balcony off the family room that overlooked a stand of pine trees. After grabbing a bottle of kiwi-strawberry flavored water from the fridge, she headed toward the sliding door to get some fresh air.

  She paused as she passed her laptop bag.

  She shouldn’t.

  Nope.

  She took another step, but then turned. It wouldn’t hurt to look him up, ri
ght?

  Well, it was possibly the stupidest thing she could do right now, but what was one more on top of the shit-sundae that was her current situation?

  Sitting on the couch, she took her laptop from the bag and pressed the power button. It booted swiftly.

  She logged into the Hunter’s main site and pulled her information on Cider Falls. Hovering her fingertip over the button to open the file on Trace Powell, she inhaled deeply and pressed it.

  The file opened, with a scanned picture of Trace that was several years old. It had most likely been taken when he was exiled. His alpha would’ve sent the picture and his personal details to the FSA so he could be tracked. Exiled shifters had seventy-two hours to align themselves with another shifter group, or they were added to the most-wanted list and hunted down like prey.

  She felt like she was looking right at him through the screen. He didn’t look sad so much as resigned to his fate.

  Dark hair, dark eyes, sexy mouth.

  The male was the very definition of temptation and the only male who had ever made her bear sit up and take notice.

  Scanning the page, she read the brief synopsis of his exile. He’d been told by his alpha to never use his warlock power on penalty of exile. During a hunt, a female hyena had been cornered by natural wolves. Trace had used his power to save her life, and he’d been punished for the good deed by being marked with a magical brand and sent off on his own.

  Some alphas were good, like Rehlik the Cider Falls one, who loved his people and fought for them.

  Some alphas were assholes, like Trace’s. How could someone punish another for doing something that saved a life?

  It boggled the mind.

  The file was short on Trace. He’d settled in Cider Falls within twenty-four hours and taken over the second-in-command spot.

  She closed the file and shut her laptop.

  She was in hell, but it was a hell of her own design. She’d been tracking an exiled hybrid named Willow for six years. She’d gotten a tip that Willow was in Cider Falls, and sure enough, she had been. Then Trace had come out of nowhere and accused Jewel of splitting up mates and generally being a terrible person. She’d still cuffed the female and hauled her away, but she hadn’t gotten far.

  Her bear wouldn’t be quiet.

  She’d ordered the Hunters with her to return to the bar where they’d found the female. Jewel spoke to Rehlik about her change of heart and altered the FSA file on Willow to show that she’d gone from her former clan to an exile-welcome commune in Florida before joining with the Cider Falls pack. Then Trace had used his warlock powers to remove the memory of finding Willow from the minds of the other Hunters.

  Willow was no longer on the FSA’s most-wanted list.

  But now Jewel was under investigation, which meant one of two things: Trace’s memory spell failed and the other Hunters told the investigators all she’d done, or because she’d declared Willow a member of the Florida commune officially so she was legally free and clear, her superiors wanted to hold someone accountable for the lost man-hours in tracking her.

  Rubbing her eyes, she got up and went out to the balcony. The night was quiet, unlike her bear’s inner growly monologue filled with urges to return to Cider Falls.

  Not just no, but hell no.

  If she went to Cider Falls and mated Trace—which she was sure would be the most epic thing to ever happen to her—she’d lose everything.

  She was probably going to lose a lot anyway for what she’d done for Willow. She could certainly kiss the supervisor promotion goodbye and take herself out of the running for director. What would her dad—the current director—say when she was called before the investigative committee? He had a firm rule about the Hunters and FSA being infallible. He never would’ve changed things the way she had to help someone. He never would’ve allowed himself to care even one iota about anyone.

  She gripped the wrought iron railing with one hand and took a long drink.

  It was going to be a damn long night.

  Chapter Three

  Trace woke up in a cold sweat, the night of his exile fresh in his mind. His magical brand was throbbing, and when he lifted his hands, he saw the purple lightning of his power arcing over his skin.

  Shit, he was a mess.

  He sat up and fumbled for his phone, finding the time just after four a.m. He’d only been asleep an hour. His hyena let out an angsty bark in his head, and he mentally shushed the creature. Trace knew the reason he was thinking about his exile was because of Jewel. Her rejection had brought up all sorts of unwanted thoughts from his past, including how his alpha had called him a mutt.

  He wasn’t even sure he’d get a truemate because he was a warlock hybrid and warlocks didn’t have them. Then Jewel had shown up in town and proved him wrong. In a way, she’d also proved him right by leaving so fast after meeting him that he was surprised flames hadn’t shot out from the tires.

  Well, he wasn’t really going to spend the rest of his life mourning what wasn’t ever going to be; he just had to break out of the funk.

  Deciding what he needed was a run in his shift to burn off the anxiety of reliving his exile in his dreams, he sent a text to Weston, who was head of security and needed to know if someone went out for a hunt.

  By the time he was on his back porch and stripping, Weston responded to the text and wished him a good run, along with a reminder to keep a watch out for anything out of the ordinary.

  Kelsey and Graham are patrolling, I’ve alerted them you’ll be out.

  Thanks.

  Everything okay?

  Yep.

  I’m here if you need to talk.

  Trace growled out a sigh. Weston was being very nice, acting just as Trace would in a similar situation with someone else. However, Trace didn’t want to talk to anyone about his love life or the fact his truemate didn’t want anything to do with him. Instead of saying that, he simply typed—thanks—and set his phone down. In minutes, he was in his shift and bounding toward the woods in his backyard.

  While he ran, his paws pounding the dirt, he looked for anything out of the ordinary. Their pack had been targeted recently by an unknown group. First, they’d set traps around their hunting territory. Then video cameras. Then they’d set a bomb at the gazebo in the center of town and nearly killed Rehlik and Weylyn on their mating day, plus countless others. The last time the mysterious group had struck was when someone called in an anonymous tip to the FSA hotline, alerting them to Willow’s presence in town.

  Which had brought Jewel to Cider Falls and directly into Trace’s path.

  What a damn disaster that night had turned out to be.

  The mysterious group—he figured it was a group of exiled shifters who wanted a home—hadn’t come at them again, but he knew they would at some point. They’d gone to a lot of trouble, so they clearly wanted Cider Falls for their own. If they were simply a group of exiles who wanted to join up with their pack, all they had to do was ask. Rehlik wouldn’t turn down anyone if they had good intentions. The fact that these people tried to hurt the pack members first meant they didn’t have any good intentions at all.

  Everyone was on alert for anything out of the ordinary. However these people came at them again, Trace knew it wouldn’t be good. They were on a mission, but he didn’t know what the mission was. Were they trying to take over or drive them out of town entirely? Either way, they had to be thwarted. So far, they hadn’t had any loss of life, but that could change in an instant. He wished he could predict when the next strike would be, or even find the bastards, but his magic hadn’t been able to discern anything about the people coming against them.

  He paused at the far edge of the territory, climbed onto a rock, and sat. He filled his lungs with the sweet air and searched with his senses for any disturbances. He could see nothing nor hear anything that didn’t belong in the woods of Cider Falls, which was the smallest of comforts to his tortured soul.