Free HardJustice by Elizabeth Lapthorne

damage been worse. I’ve told him to take it easy, but he seems to
be a wizard of singular stubbornness.”
    “Will he make himself worse if we let Riley move about? I
can’t lie to you, Damon, I’d love for Riley to Track this guy. But if it’s
going to cost him too much I can try and bully him to resting for now,” Ben
said, his face reflecting the serious tone of his voice.
    “I’ve managed to heal the worst of the muscle damage, and
his skin has healed nicely, in that respect he truly was lucky. The spell only
grazed him,” Damon began. “But having said that, if Riley pushes too hard too
fast he might need a lot more help and extend his full recuperation time.”
    “We’ll make sure he doesn’t overdo it,” Layla promised. She
glanced at Ben and he nodded.
    “Anyone would think I was four years old again and had just
fallen out of a tree,” Riley grumbled as he tenderly limped into the room. He
eased himself down into the other overstuffed chair and huffed out a breath.
    “This time I plan to be far more prepared,” he insisted. “I’ll
be standing behind the big guy over here. Luckily we should be able to
take the bastard by surprise this time. No way will he know I’m a Tracker. If
we can get onto it soon enough I can follow his trail and lead us right to him.
Ben can subdue him, glare at him and we can find out who he works for.”
    “Don’t forget what I said about running on adrenaline,”
Damon cautioned. “You’ll think you’re fine, maybe you won’t even feel pain in
your leg. But once you sit down you’ll crash. You won’t feel it or notice how
hard you’ve pushed yourself until it’s too late and you’ve maybe hurt yourself
again.”
    “I’ll let Ben here do all the hard work,” Riley insisted.
    “Tell you what, let me go grab a poultice for you,” Damon
stood up and left the room. They waited and a moment later he returned with a
small, tightly wrapped ball in a leather bag. Damon handed it to Riley.
    “When you’ve caught the bad guy, got the information you
need and called the Enforcers and handed him over—or whatever you’ll do—when
you manage to sit down and be driven back to your place, take that out of the
bag and spread it thickly over the entirety of the wound.”
    Riley opened up the leather bag and sniffed, making a
comically disgusted face.
    “If it didn’t smell so bad it wouldn’t be good for you,”
Damon insisted. “Come see me again if you’re not noticeably better in a few
days.”
    Ben and Layla stood up. Layla crossed the room to wrap Damon
in a large, warm hug.
    “Thank you so much.” She squeezed her friend tightly and he
hugged her in return. “I appreciate this.”
    “Take care, you three, okay?” Damon shook hands with Ben and
Riley. They walked to the door. Layla noticed Riley still limped, but his face
no longer twisted in pain and he was able to support himself—albeit tenderly.
    “If you can drive us back to the cottage and maybe circle
the side streets without bringing us to the attention of the Enforcers I should
be able to sit in the passenger seat and pick up the trail,” Riley said as they
made their way back to Ben’s car.
    “I have energy bars in the glove box,” Ben said as he
unlocked the car.
    Riley sighed but didn’t argue as he carefully lowered
himself into the passenger seat. Layla climbed in the back as Ben slid behind
the wheel. Riley placed the small leather pouch in the glove box then snapped
it shut. They buckled up and Ben twisted the key in the ignition. They pulled
away from the curb and retraced their steps back to the cottage.

Chapter Five
     
    “There, unit B,” Riley pointed. Ben worried as he noticed
the thin sheen of sweat on his friend’s brow, but the wizard refused to acknowledge
he grew close to his limits. Not ashamed to use underhand tactics to coerce
Riley into taking it easy, Ben leaned close to his friend.
    “Can you stay out here? Protect Layla while I go in and
subdue the