HUNTER (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 11)

  HUNTER

  A Forsaken Riders Standalone MC Romance

  Book 11

  Samantha Leal

  Copyright ©2017 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Introduction

  Thank you so much for purchasing my Novellete. All of my stories also contain bonus stories, so please take a look at the other stories I offer here. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for updates and free books!

  The Forsaken Riders series is a collection of novelette length standalone Bad boy romances that fit together to tell the longer tale of the Forsaken Riders – and the woman they love - as they fight to dominate the town of Slate Springs.

  The Forsaken Riders are:

  King (Book 1)

  Lynx (Book 2)

  Steel (Book 3)

  Gunner (Book 4)

  Hawk (Book 5)

  Bull (Book 6)

  Stag (Book 7)

  Stick (Book 8)

  Decker (Book 9)

  Ax (Book 10)

  And we would also love it if you would

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  For a list of all of our books please visit our website:

  Table of Contents

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  BONUS BOOKS

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  Victorian Mystery

  Billionaire Romance

  Time Travel Romance

  Dragon Shifter Romance

  Wolf Shifter Romance

  MC Romance

  1.

  The bell trilled so loudly it almost knocked Paige sideways. She jumped in her seat, nearly spilling her coffee and dropping the stack of papers she had been flicking through when she had zoned out and gone into her daze.

  It wasn’t even 9 a.m. and she was already so tired she felt as if she could sleep for a week.

  “I think I’m going to need a lot more than this today,” she said as she drank the rest of her mug and set it back down on the desk in front of her.

  Out in the corridor, she could already hear the excited footsteps of children, running into the halls, calling goodbye to their mom’s and greeting each other for yet another day in paradise. It always made her smile at how enthusiastic and full of life they were at that age. She remembered the feeling well, the one of endless possibilities and an exciting future that seemed so far away.

  She slipped her glasses off and placed them down on to the desk before she rubbed her eyes. She was going to have to shake herself up in a serious way before the door burst open and her children came in. This wasn’t the time to start feeling sorry for herself or tired.

  “Come on Miss Norton,” she coached herself. “You’ve got a job to do.”

  She rose to her feet and winced as the feet of her chair screeched across the linoleum. She straightened out her skirt, brushed the loose strands of hair out of her face and walked over to the windows before she quickly zipped open the blinds and threw open the windows.

  The desert sun blazed in and she smiled as she was brought back to life.

  “Carpe Diem,” she whispered to herself, just as the sound of juvenile chatter reached the outside of her door.

  “Miss Norton,” the kids chanted as they all ran into the room.

  They swarmed around the tables, flung their backpacks and lunchboxes down, all skipped toward their favorite areas of the room and began to start their play for the day. It never failed to make her smile. These kids, even though they weren’t her own, were a complete light shining in her life.

  When Paige had decided to become a teacher, she had never really believed that, one day, she would actually be living out her dream. She had gone straight for it and began studying and training as soon as she had finished high school, and when she had been lucky enough to land the job as one of the Kindergarten teachers in Slate Springs, she was over the moon.

  Life had been good to her in so many ways. She had always landed on her feet when it came to getting what she wanted out of her career and business life. But when it came to her romantic life, things couldn’t have been more different. Paige couldn’t remember the last time she had been on a date. In fact, when she really cast her mind back, had she even been on one since high school? She felt herself blush as the desperation of her situation washed over her. She was well and truly “on the shelf”.

  While she had been concentrating on her career and raising the children of Slate Springs to become well-rounded and standup members of society, all of her old friends had been slowly getting married off, having children, setting up homes.

  Paige looked around the classroom and smiled. Even if she had been left behind in that regard, she certainly had gained something worthwhile. She had carved out a place in the world for herself in education. She was a great teacher, and she loved each and every one of her students. There were no regrets as far as she was concerned.

  So what if her love life had been neglected?

  She had spent the past five years working her ass off and she wasn’t about to turn around and wish she hadn’t done it just because she was starting to feel like a third, fifth or seventh wheel at all of her friend’s night’s out and parties.

  So Paige, are you seeing anyone at the moment?

  Ooh Paige, I know this guy and he is just PERFECT for you!

  Oh really, you’re not interested? But let me just show you his picture and-

  Okay… But don’t you worry about being alone?

  Every time one of those conversations began, she felt more and more uncomfortable. Why did so many women believe they had to have a man by their side to feel accomplished? Weren’t they happy just being themselves and letting the world work its magic in its own time?

  Paige knew she had more about herself than that, she didn’t need a man to define her. She was living her life in the exact way she wanted. She was independent, settled, and completely happy with her life. Sometimes, when she thought about it properly, it almost felt as if adding a man into the mix would be the recipe for disaster. Her life was simple and uncomplicated. If she found herself falling for someone and letting them into her perfect world, who knew what destruction they may cause.

  She looked around the classroom once more and at all of the beautiful, happy, smiling children. She was their mentor, their guide in life. She had taken on a role of responsibility, and even though she was becoming slightly uptight because of it, she knew there was nowhere else she would rather be.

  “Miss Norton,” a small voice chirped from behind her. “Can we do finger painting today?”

  She felt a smile spread across her face and a warm buzz in her heart. There was so much innocence in the world, and she wanted to make sure she protected it. She was the one person in these kids’ lives at that moment of the day that could make a difference.

  “Of course we can,” she beamed as she turned around and patted the little boy gently on the head.

  And as she shook the thoughts of her shortcomings out
of her mind, she made a conscious effort to only concentrate on all of the positives she had in her life. She had a good career, a class full of wonderful children, a home of her own that she owned all by herself, and a damn good family.

  She was set, even if the societal norm was telling her she should feel like a failure.

  “But I’m not,” she whispered to herself. “I’m far from that.”

  And she didn’t need to say it twice. She knew it was the truth.

  When the bell rang for recess, Paige watched as the children all ran outside into the sun and she closed the door lightly behind them. Even though she had checked the weather and seen the temperature was going to rise into the mid-eighties, she had still left the house that morning wearing a shirt and a button up sweater over the top. Her forehead was clammy and she reached for a bottle of water and took a long sip.

  As she walked down to the staffroom, she smiled and greeted some of the children she passed and helped them find their way outside into the morning sun. The staffroom was in the center of the main hallway and as she approached the door, she could already hear the raucous laughs of some of the other teachers inside and smell the bitter scent of coffee wafting out from the machines.

  “Morning Paige,” Mrs. Brown said as the door closed behind her and all the other staff looked up and nodded and smiled in unison.

  “Morning,” Paige said as she adjusted the collar of her shirt and started to undo some buttons.

  “Christ,” Penny said as she slipped onto the couch next to Paige. “Only you could come out sealed up in an outfit like that on a day like today. You do realize it’s going to go into the eighties this afternoon, right?”

  Paige rolled her eyes and grimaced.

  “I believe I read that somewhere, yes…” she said with an eye roll.

  Penny laughed and handed her the box of berries she was eating. Paige couldn’t help but notice they had stained the tips of her fingers, making her look like a mass murderer.

  “So,” Penny said as she munched on them. “I have an idea to help us let our hair down tomorrow evening, it being Friday and all…” She raised her eyebrows and Paige instantly knew she wasn’t going to like whatever Penny was about to suggest.

  “What are you thinking?” Paige asked as she dipped her own hand into the cool, juicy plastic tub of blueberries and cranberries and lifted some to her mouth.

  “Girl’s night out!” Penny grinned with a wide smile. “Come on, it’s been forever since we hung out. I’m starting to think we’re getting old.” She crunched up her face and shuddered her shoulders.

  Penny and Paige had trained together and had managed to bag teaching jobs around the same time. Because of this, and with them being the same age, they had become fast friends. But Penny, like the rest of the girls Paige knew, had settled down and got married the year before.

  “That’s because we are old,” Paige said with a wry smile. “Old. As. Fuck.” she whispered and winked so that none of the older staff members heard.

  “Shut up,” Penny said as she hit her lightly on the arm. “We’re not even twenty-five. Now come on, are you in or are you out?”

  It had been a while since Paige had done anything on a weekend except head home on a Friday afternoon and spend her entire time marking papers and walking her parent’s dog. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to have a night out on the town, having a few beers and a bit of girl time with Penny. In the past, they had always had a blast when they’d thrown all responsibilities out the window and acted like a pair of women in their early twenties, rather than the other teachers who were all pushing sixty.

  “Okay,” Paige said nervously. “Why not… I haven’t got any other plans…”

  “Yay!” Penny squealed as she grabbed Paige by the shoulders. “We’re going to have an absolute ball! But promise me, no cardigans and knee-length skirts, okay?”

  Paige looked down at her outfit and then up to Penny who had a cringy look on her face.

  “I mean, seriously, Paige, what the hell are you thinking?” she said with a half laugh.

  Paige slapped her playfully on the arm and got to her feet.

  “I’m not making any promises,” she said as she stole another berry from the box and popped it in her mouth. “But don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.”

  She laughed and turned on her heel and walked back towards the hallway door. It was such a weird feeling to be planning a night out after such a long time, but even though she was happy living the quiet life, she couldn’t help but be a little bit excited of what was to come.

  2.

  The following day passed quickly and Paige found herself daydreaming as she looked out the window at the garden the school had planted to make the children’s playground look less like a dry, desert wasteland. Her vision blurred as she got caught up in the trance of the swaying trees and her mind raced with possibilities of what she could wear that evening.

  The children all played around her. They painted and colored, they read books and built houses from Legos. When Paige turned to check on them, they were all content, happy and occupied, and she realized this was her favorite part of the week.

  The Friday afternoon wind down.

  She sighed and wandered back over to her desk where she sat down and began to collect the books she had to take home to mark over the weekend. She was determined that it didn’t matter how late she stayed out with Penny, she would still be up at the crack of dawn the following day to carry on with her work. She was a committed teacher, and there was no way she wanted to let her standards slip just because she was also feeling the pull of the need to act her age.

  The bell rang out loudly and all of the children jumped up and started to cheer.

  “It’s the weekend!” they all chanted as they quickly began to tidy up all the books, papers and toys. And Paige did the same, she quickly got up from her desk and settled down to help them all whisk everything away and then grab their backpacks from their lockers.

  “Have a great couple of days,” she said to them all as she stood by the doorway and watched them filter out into the hall.

  It had been a nice week. A great week, in fact. She had watched the children thrive once more, and now she was ready to unwind a little herself.

  She looked back at the classroom and knew she could have easily stayed another couple of hours, finishing off some lesson plans, but instead, she went back to her desk, grabbed her purse and pulled her glasses free from her face.

  “I’m now officially off duty until 6 a.m. tomorrow,” she said to herself.

  She picked up the stack of books and made her way to the door. She turned off the lights and headed out into the hallway, determined to at least give herself a few hours of thinking about anything but work. She deserved it, after all, and no doubt she and Penny would only find themselves discussing the inner workings of Slate Springs Elementary the moment they found themselves with a glass of wine in hand.

  She drove home slowly with the windows down and the stereo blaring cheesy tunes from the eighties as she wrapped on the wheel with her bitten fingernails and sang along. She looked down at her hands as she did so and cringed. She was really going to have to sort them out before she left the house. She cast her eyes quickly down to the clock on the dashboard and saw that it was approaching four o’clock. She and Penny hadn’t set an exact time but she was going to try and be ready for around seven. This would mean she had her work cut out for her if she was going to feel, in any way, more girly and less matronly.

  As she pulled up into her driveway, she took in the view of her house. It wasn’t a big home but to her, it was perfect. She had found it almost by chance one day when she had discovered the owners hammering in the FOR SALE sign as they heaved boxes out to the curb and packed up their car.

  “What happened?” she asked out of curiosity as she walked on by.

  “He got a new job,” the wife said with an eye roll. “And if we don’t get out of here fast, they’re going to g
ive it to someone else.”

  “We don’t have time to wait,” the man said with a shrug.

  She’d looked at the pretty flowered bordering, and the picket fence, and the way the light shone into the windows. It had a great little spot at the end of the street, completely private and at the same time open. She didn’t know where it had come from, but she could honestly see herself living there, and it was the first time she had felt such a connection to a place without ever having set foot there before.

  “Can I take a look around?” Paige had asked cautiously.

  She was newly qualified and had been saving for months. She had worked damned hard and she had managed to gather together a deposit, and it felt like fate that after never traveling down that particular street she should be when a couple was just leaving and desperate for a quick sale.

  Paige had always liked the idea of fate, and something had obviously been working in her favor that day because she took a look around, instantly fell in love with the house, made them an offer and it was all done and dusted within a matter of weeks. She had moved in, began her life as a real adult and never looked back.

  She turned off the engine and stretched. As she got out of the driver’s side and closed the door behind her, she heard the familiar barking of the next door neighbor’s dog, the smell of the home baking that came drifting across from the old lady who lives across the street, and the laughing and sounds of the children playing that lived in the neighborhood.

  Yes, she had most certainly fallen on her feet when she had made this place home.

  She unlocked her front door, pushed it open and went inside. The late afternoon light was glowing through the rooms and she opened up some of the windows and cranked up the AC, the back of her neck moist with sweat from the desert heat. As she unpacked her work for the weekend and turned on the TV, she moved into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator, pulling out a big bottle of spring water and half a sandwich she had made the previous evening.