Free Hunter's Salvation by Shiloh Walker Page A

his presence could bring about. She wasn’t giving up on Masters just because some Hunter appeared on the scene. Some big, sexy Hunter who had the most amazing eyes…
    A little focus here, Jess? Tearing her gaze from the sexy Hunter with the sexy eyes, she turned away. She answered him in a cool, dismissive tone. “I didn’t levitate it. It looks like you made yourself at home.” There was a half-empty pot of coffee sitting on the warmer. He had poured himself a cup, and he was using her favorite mug, too. She could grab it. She liked using her mug when she drank her coffee at her table. But that wasn’t an option. She’d have to wash it five or six times, and she would still find herself wondering whether it was him she was tasting on the cup, or the coffee.
    Instead Jess took another mug from the cabinet and poured herself some coffee. “How nice of you to make yourself so comfortable,” she said as she turned around to look at him.
    He was either ignoring her sarcasm or didn’t notice it. She was betting on the former. He took a sip from his mug and said, “If you didn’t levitate it, how did it fly up off the ground and hit me?”
    â€œIt’s called telekinesis. Surely the Hunters have seen telekinetics before.” She arched her brows and smiled sweetly at him as his eyes narrowed. Her skin prickled and she suddenly had an idea how a gazelle must feel right before a lion took it down. Her heart kicked up its speed, slamming into her ribs so hard that it stole her breath. Her hands grew sweaty, and every instinct in her body was screaming at her to run away.
    She didn’t run, though. Instead she lowered her head and blew on the coffee. Faking bravado wasn’t as good as actually being fearless, but it was a damn sight better than letting him know how unnerved she was.
    â€œWhat?” His voice was soft and quiet. It shouldn’t have sounded at all terrifying, but for some reason, she was terrified.
    But Jess would be damned if she let it show. She might not be able to keep her heart from beating a mile a minute, and she couldn’t keep herself from breaking into a cold sweat, but she could control her facial expressions and she could keep from backing away. She wanted to. Really badly. She wanted to back away—hell, screw that. She wanted to turn tail, run, and hide.
    She didn’t, though. She kept her face blank and her voice level as she replied, “You heard me. You all have been around for centuries, if I’ve been told right. Telekinetics are pretty rare, but not that rare. There’s no way I am the first you’ve run into.”
    â€œThat wasn’t what I was referring to,” he said. His tone was still as silky and as soft as before, but now there was an undercurrent of menace.
    It struck Jess as maybe just a little ridiculous, and her fear retreated to normal levels. “Oops. Is your existence some top-security secret that I shouldn’t know about?” She rolled her eyes and said dryly, “You may be able to live right under the nose of average mortals, but you can’t expect the gifted ones to not know about you.”
    No. Vax didn’t expect the gifted people to remain blissfully unaware of the creatures, those of the Hunter variety or otherwise, that shared their world. Gifted people sensed others, so why wouldn’t they be aware of the Hunters?
    Vax knew some of the gifted population didn’t trust the Hunters. Most of that came from not understanding their purpose. The Hunters had been around for ages, going back so many generations their true origins were shrouded. They’d come together with one goal and that was to make sure that other gifted creatures—witch, vamp, shifter, or were—didn’t try to turn mankind into their playthings.
    He just hadn’t expected her to know about them. He hadn’t expected her to be anything other than the average mortal. Well,