by B N Miles
Jared took a sharp breath. “What?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Which family?”
“Can’t say,” he admitted. “But it’s not yours, if that helps at all.”
Jared glanced at Cassie and nodded. “There’s that, at least.”
“Needless to say, my boss is up my ass about this. A pissed off Magi family is very, very bad for MetaDept, especially the Marshal Service. We float under the radar, Jared. We get along because we don’t make mistakes. But this was a big fucking mistake.”
“Sir—”
“Not your fault,” Wyatt said. “Frankly, any other agent would’ve lost both the prisoners. We sent you with these two because you’re the only Magi in the whole service that’s not assigned to a case.”
Jared shifted in his seat. “But you know I don’t use it anymore.”
“I know,” Wyatt said, his voice softer for a moment. “I didn’t expect you would. But I figured, just in case… we should send someone that can handle things.”
“I understand,” Jared said. “Even if I don’t like it.”
“Good soldier.” Wyatt grinned at him. “But you won’t like what comes next.”
Jared frowned at him. “What?”
“You’re tasked with tracking down that prisoner and bringing him in.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. Jared picked up his coffee and sipped it before putting it back down. “I don’t do hunts,” he said. “I do paperwork. I do transports. That’s it.”
“I know,” Wyatt said. “But times are different. You’re the only senior-level Magi in the area that’s not already attached to something, and we need someone of your skillset to do this.”
Jared was uncomfortably aware of the way Cassie was staring at him. The Need was still there, gnawing at the back of his mind, but it was quieter today. He could muscle through it now.
But if he went on this hunt and things didn’t go well… he’d have to use magic again. He’d have to touch the priori, let it flow through him, feel that bone-shaking high, and that body-crumbling Need that came after.
There was a reason he wanted paperwork, transports, routine.
He didn’t need to use magic for any of that.
“Sir, I’m not sure I’m the best choice for that,” Jared said.
Wyatt frowned. “How are you feeling today?”
Jared looked down at his coffee. The sudden change in direction made him uncomfortable. “I haven’t cast in months,” he said and left it there.
Wyatt let out a breath. “Yeah, I figured. Bad, huh?”
“Sir, I can handle that. But I don’t want field work.”
“I know you don’t,” Wyatt said. “But too bad. It’s your new assignment. You want to quit, you can go right ahead, but don’t think the MetaDept will take you back.”
Jared frowned at him. “That’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”
“That’s right.”
The men looked at each other. Jared knew he didn’t have a choice, and fighting back at this point was useless. He’d only hurt his relationship with Wyatt, and that would make his life a lot harder. Having his boss on his side smoothed things over in the past, and he’d need that good will if he was going on a hunt for a Dryad that stole from a Magi family.
The waitress returned as Jared broke off their staring contest. She put a plate in front of Wyatt, a plate in front of Jared, and what looked like a garbage can lid in front of Cassie. She let out a brief gasp of delight at the sheer size of the platter.
“We got five different kinds of syrup,” the waitress said. “And let me guess. You want them all?”
“Please,” Cassie said, looking so delighted she might cry.
“I’ll be back.”
Wyatt looked at her plate and made a face. “You really gonna eat all that?”
“I’m sure going to try, Captain.”
He grunted. “Go eat it at the counter over there.” He gestured with his head.
She smiled at him. “Is that a dismissal?”
“Yes, it is. Go eat and enjoy while we talk.”
“Fine.” She hesitated then looked at Jared.
He knew what that look meant. He nodded once. “Go ahead.”
Without another word, he slid out of the booth and let her pass. She climbed up and put her hand on his chest as he stood, pretending to need him for balance. He felt a shiver run down his spine as she bent over to grab her platter.
Once she was seated, and the waitress brought her over a metric ton of syrup, Wyatt spoke.
“How much do you trust her?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Jared said. “She had chances to run, but didn’t. And she let me put a tracker on her back.”
“No kidding?” He looked thoughtful. “Where?”
“Between her shoulder blades. Hard to get that off.”
“Huh.” He tilted his head. “I wonder if it would stay if she shifted.”
“I suspect it would. Clothes rip off because they’re on her body. But the tracker is flush to the skin.”
“Interesting.” He stared at her for a long moment. Jared followed his gaze and watched Cassie tuck into the pancakes with shocking speed and efficiency. “I’m guessing you read her file, too.”
“There was even less in that one.”
“She’s an interesting case,” he said.
“What was she arrested for?”
“Stealing food.”
Jared tilted his head. “Seriously?”
“She was caught breaking into a bakery. When the normal cops showed up, she shifted, made a whole god damn mess, and ran off. We caught up with her and took her in after getting some low level Magi to clean up her mess.”
“Still doesn’t explain why she’s going to Max,” Jared said.
Wyatt shook his head. “Even I don’t know why they’re going that far,” he said. “Most Metas that break the Accord in some minor way get slapped with a fine or maybe a few months in prison. I expected her to get a year, maybe two. But then the order came down to take her to Max and… well, here we are.”
Jared watched her for another long moment. Cassie was strange, very strange. Her mannerisms, the way she spoke, there was just something off about her.
And yet she didn’t run. That kept coming back to him over and over. She should’ve run when she was in her fox form. He wouldn’t have chased her.
“I think she’d be useful, sir,” Jared said.
“I bet you do.”
He gave his boss a look. “Not that way.”
Wyatt chuckled. “She’s a pretty girl, son. And I know what the Need does to a Magi.”
Jared didn’t answer. He bit into his toast and chewed.
“Look, you should know what you’re getting yourself into before you sign up. I know I’m trying to force you into this, and it’s because I have no other choice. But I want you to go into it with open eyes at least.”
Jared shrugged. “I appreciate that.”
“Ferric stole an artifact from a Magi family,” Wyatt said. “It’s a particularly interesting artifact. One we thought had been buried a long time ago.”
“What’s it do?” Jared knew about artifacts. Every Magi family owned a few, especially the older and more powerful families. They tended to be ancient items enchanted by Magi long ago to do some very weird and very powerful shit. Jared stayed away from artifacts and had no interest in messing with that level of power.
“It allows the user to access The Miles. Not physically, not to travel, but to channel.”
Jared frowned. “Huh. Really?”
“You know what it is, then?”
“I read some theory,” he admitted. “I don’t know a ton otherwise.”
“All you need to know is that when a Meta can channel The Miles, their ability to use their particular type of priori increases tenfold. Maybe even more, we don’t really know.”
Jared’s eyebrows shot up. “No kidding?”
“No kidding
. You can see why we’re eager to get this guy back.”
“But if he was caught, don’t you have the artifact already?”
Wyatt shook his head. “He got caught after taking the damned thing. He hid it somewhere and we’ve been looking ever since. But now that he’s out, we’re hoping he’ll lead us to it.”
Jared didn’t like his use of ‘we’ at all, but he didn’t mention that. “This should be simple then. Just find a member of a minor but still wealthy Dryad gang in possession of an artifact that can make the clan’s magic stronger, grab him, grab the artifact, and bring them both in.”
Wyatt leaned back. “I know what I’m asking of you, son.”
“Do you?” Jared stared at his Captain. “I understand that I can do things most humans can’t, but I’m not invincible, and I’m just one agent.”
“I can offer you more resources. I can offer you backup. But I need you on this.”
Jared shook his head. “No. It’s too dangerous.”
Wyatt let out a breath and nodded. “I understand. We’ll find someone else.”
The way he said that made Jared’s skin crawl. “Come on, Captain.”
“If it’s not you, it’s someone else.” Wyatt met his gaze. “There’s no other way.”
Jared shook his head and ate. He didn’t need this in his life, didn’t want it. He’d worked so hard to get away from danger, excitement, magic.
There were lost years. Days, weeks, months that he barely remembered. Lost in a sea of magic and Need, floating along like most of the Magi he knew, half-sane, half-starved. Crawling from that bottomless black pit of sex, drugs, and power took every ounce of his will, and staying clean and forgetting why he dropped down that pit to begin with took the rest of him.
Now his Captain wanted to throw him back into it. Jared knew that if he took his job, he’d have to use magic. There’d be no getting around it. Confronting this clan would take skills he possessed, but didn’t want to use.
Because the consequences were too horrible to think about.
As he finished, he looked up. Cassie had swiveled over on her chair and was watching him. Her plate was clean, which freaked him out. No normal human would be capable of eating that much, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all. She climbed off the stool and walked over.
Captain Wyatt looked up at her, annoyed. “Yes?” he asked.
“I think I can help,” she said.
He laughed. “I’m sure you do. But you’re going back to Max. We’re leaving straight from here.”
“You’re taking her?” Jared asked.
Wyatt nodded. “Meeting a transport in an hour, then finishing the trip myself. I figure you’ll be busy.”
Jared looked up at her. He didn’t know why, but that bothered the hell out of him. He wanted to bring her in, wanted to finish this with her.
But she was smiling. She should look upset, since Wyatt just confirmed that she’d be thrown into the most secure Meta prison in the world. Instead, she looked like she wanted to laugh.
“I have information,” she said. “About the Dryad.”
“I’m sure you do,” Wyatt said.
She looked at Jared. “Do you believe me?”
He took a moment and studied her face. He didn’t know why she’d lie, but she also waited until the last second to share this.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“I didn’t want to say anything before, not until I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That you would throw me into some hole.” She stared at him. “I can help.”
“Enough of this,” Wyatt said. “You’re a prisoner. I’m sorry, but that’s the fact. You’re going to Max and Jared is going on his case.”
Jared glanced at his Captain. “I haven’t decided that yet.”
“I know where the Dryad’s going. I heard him talking to the people that came and pulled him out.”
Both men turned and stared at her. Jared felt a prickling of anger on his skin. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?” he asked.
“Because it’s my only leverage,” she said, looking surprised. “Of course I kept it to myself until a good moment.”
He clenched his jaw. She had a point.
“Tell us,” Wyatt said. “I’ll put in a good word for you at Max, see if I can’t get you nicer accommodations.”
“No,” Cassie said.
Wyatt looked angry. “Understand your situation here. No matter what you do, you’re going back. If you make this easy and tell us now, I’ll try and do you a favor in return. If you make it hard, we’ll have the Magi there sift through your mind until he finds what we need.”
Jared stared at Wyatt. “What?”
Wyatt waved him off. “Go ahead and choose,” he said to Cassie.
“No,” Jared said. “You’re not torturing her for information.”
“It’s not torture.”
“Have you ever tried to read someone’s mind?” Jared asked, getting angry. “Because I have. I’ve done it and seen it done. And had it done to me. I promise you, Captain. It’s very, very unpleasant. I’m not torturing this girl.
“She has information we need. And if she won’t share—”
“No,” Jared said, anger flaring hard. “Absolutely not.”
“I have a solution,” Cassie offered, her voice soft.
Jared looked up at her. Wyatt let out a frustrated breath. “What do you want?” he asked.
“Let me help catch this bad guy. Send me along with Jared.”
Wyatt laughed. Jared didn’t.
“No way,” Wyatt said.
“I can help. I already helped. I won’t run, I’ll even leave the tracker on. Jared will watch me the entire time. I’ll tell him where we need to go.”
“No,” Wyatt said.
But Jared took a deep breath and met her eye. She looked back, and he saw the fear there, the real, deep fear. He frowned for a moment before looking at Wyatt.
“I’ll take the case if you take her deal.”
Captain Wyatt stared at Jared like he just grew two heads and the two heads hated each other.
“That’s insane,” he said. “It goes against all protocols. I’ll never get approval.”
“So don’t get approval. I don’t care what you have to do. You want a Magi to take this case? These are my terms.”
Captain Wyatt’s face went red.. He didn’t say anything, but he sat there and stared at the two of them. His jaw clenched and his hands tightened into fists.
Cassie grinned at Jared so big he thought her cheeks might fall off. She seemed genuinely happy and excited.
At least one of them was.
“You’re making a mistake here,” Wyatt said. “You’re torching your career, you realize that?”
“Maybe,” Jared admitted. “But this is my price. You want me to fuck up what I’ve worked so hard to build? Then you give me real backup and let her come along.”
“Fine.” Wyatt stared at Jared hard. “But if she gets away, it’ll be on you.”
He nodded. “I understand, sir.”
“Good.” He looked at Cassie. “Follow all orders. Assist him as much as you can. And if he says the word, I’ll have a team swoop down and extract you in a heart beat.” He slid out from the booth and stood. He towered over Cassie but she looked up at him and practically bounced on her toes. “And don’t take that tracker off, not for a second.”
“Yes, Captain,” she said, her voice smooth like honey.
Wyatt looked back at Jared and shook his head. “You’re making a mistake, son. But I don’t give a shit if you want to ruin your career. Bring in Ferric and the artifact. You can have the car outside, it’s fully kitted out. I’ll wait for that transport and hitch a ride back home.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath then let it out. When he opened them again, he was calmer. “Good luck,” he said, and left the diner.
“Guess I’m paying the bill,” Jared grumbled.
Cassie jumped into the seat acros
s from him. She looked overjoyed. “Can you believe it?” she asked. “That was so amazing, you standing up to him like that. We’re going to be partners!”
Jared winced. “For now.”
“Oh, come on. It’ll be great. I’m really useful, you’ll see.”
“I bet you are.” He stared at the pretty Shifter and knew without a doubt that Captain Wyatt was right. He just made the biggest mistake of his life. “If we do this, you’re going to listen to me, okay?”
“Okay,” she said.
“I mean it. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. If I tell you to—”
“Take off my clothes, rub my body down with oil, and wrestle an alligator, I’ll take off my clothes, rub my body down with oil, and wrestle an alligator.”
Jared closed his eyes and let out a breath. “Right.”
“Perfect. This will be so much fun. God, I was dreading Max, you know?”
“You’re still going there when this is over.”
“You don’t have to keep reminding me.”
He forced a smile on his face. This was a horrible situation, and it was only going to get worse, but he’d chosen this path.
Time to follow it.
“So, where’s the Dryad?” he asked as he waved down the waitress to ask for the check.
“I don’t know exactly,” she said.
He gave her a flat look. “Of course.”
“But I did hear them talking. They have a safe house around here. It’s in an abandoned mine.”
He groaned. “Dryads in an abandoned mine? That seems odd.”
“I know, right?” She grinned. “I wonder if we’ll find any Dwarves.”
“Not likely.” Jared rubbed his eyes. “Did they say anything else?”
“I mean, stuff like, get these chains off me, hurry up before the guard comes back, what are you looking at you stupid bitch, that sort of stuff.”
“So nothing useful.”
“Sorry, nothing useful.”
“All right.” He sipped his coffee and shuts his eyes. “An abandoned mine. That can’t be too hard. I mean, this is the Pittsburgh area, so there are probably… hundreds of abandoned mines.”
She giggled. “I know.”
“You were smart not to mention this part around Wyatt. He would’ve thrown you back in cuffs.”
“Definitely. But you’re not going to, are you?”
