The Redemption Saga Box Set

by Kristen Banet

  “No.” he gasped, hoping it didn’t mean what it possibly could. Quinn had run off since Scout got hurt.

  The earth cracked open in places, swallowing entire groups of people and pulling them under, including the one Jasper was trying to get away from.

  And a howl continued through it.

  “No!” Jasper screamed, scrambling to stand up and run for the rest of his team. He could barely see through the smoke billowing off the wreckage. He saw people struggling to not get swallowed by the earth. He stopped to pull an ally out, patting the man on the shoulder once before continuing his hunt for his team.

  He found Elijah first, still and pale as he also must have realized what possibly happened. Behind the cowboy was an agent, blade drawn and raised.

  Jasper didn’t have time for that. He sent another blast of wind at the man, causing him to fly back into an SUV ten feet away. Something then forced Jasper to the ground, probably another another Magi with air manipulation. He didn’t even care, only forcing himself up and ignoring the assault. He needed to get to Elijah, who was trying to get up himself, knocked down from the side of Jasper’s attack.

  “Elijah! Where is he?” Jasper called. The cowboy turned, looking relieved to see him, but the paleness didn’t leave.

  “I don’t know! I have no idea if that was about Scout. I think that’s Shade’s howl, since Quinn can’t use his other abilities in wolf form.”

  “If we find Zander, we might be able to help him!” Jasper couldn’t believe one of the wolves was gone. Not yet. There had to be a chance. Quinn would break without one of his boys. The team couldn’t tolerate that sort of loss.

  Jasper didn’t know anything was coming until a massive black blur flew by and slammed into a screaming man behind him. He turned, almost in slow motion to find Sombra snarling and tearing into a man, looking feral and uncontrollable. She even snarled up at Jasper when he held a hand out.

  “Where’s Quinn?” Elijah asked the feline.

  Sombra tilted her head and turned, taking off.

  Jasper cursed. They needed Zander. “ZANDER!” he screamed out.

  “HERE!”

  Jasper tried to locate the sound and finally found a peek of flaming red hair in the smoke. He took off for the healer and grabbed him once he was close, pulling him away from an agent with minor injuries.

  “Stop healing him, we need you!”

  “Who?”

  “I think it’s Scout.”

  He watched something dawn on Zander’s face, putting the pieces together. “Fuck. Let’s go.”

  Together, they both hauled ass, Jasper leading the way, locked onto Elijah’s Source, hoping to follow the hot trail of magic the cowboy left.

  They found Quinn holding Scout close, fifty yards from the rest of the fight. Elijah staggered as he stopped, shocked still by the sight.

  Jasper didn’t stop though, unable to. He and Zander passed the heart-broken and worried cowboy and went straight for the feral Magi, who snarled viciously at them.

  “We’re here to help,” Jasper said calmly. “Quinn, let us help.”

  “I can heal him,” Zander promised. “Please, Quinn, let me heal him.”

  “He’s going to lose the leg,” Quinn finally said, his voice rough and broken. “And he’s so hurt. Some cunt tried to crush him. She tried to kill him. She laughed.”

  “Where is she?” Elijah asked, his voice full of retribution and pain.

  “Dead. I stopped her magic to save him, but he’s so hurt. He’s so hurt. It’s bad. It’s so bad. I...I felt all of it.” Quinn’s eyes looked lost and confused. Jasper had a feeling he was swimming in pain. “He…he shut the bond down.”

  “What?” Jasper didn’t know what that meant. The animals could do that?

  “Let me heal him, Quinn,” Zander murmured, kneeling next to the man and his brother, a wolf who had been with him for so long. Jasper looked back to Elijah, who raised a ring of fire around them. Jasper built it up, sending sweeping gusts of oxygen to it. No one would interrupt them fixing a family member. He knew Sawyer and Vincent would understand if they were late. He just hoped they would be able to control themselves until the team caught up.

  Jasper reached out and ran a hand over Quinn’s head, letting his fingers go through his hair. “Talk to me. Talk to me while Zander works.” He needed to comfort his friend, and the best way to do that was distract him. Especially since Zander pulled out a long knife that Elijah was working to heat up, causing it to turn a little orange.

  “I can’t lose him,” Quinn mumbled. “He’s alive. I can feel that, but he won’t give me anything else. I didn’t know he could do this. I didn’t know. I would have let them stay home. To keep them safe, if I thought they would get hurt. I can’t put them in danger like this. I can’t-”

  “Sh…” Jasper wrapped his arm over the feral Magi’s shoulder as Scout yelped, cried, and whined, trying to move away thanks to the swift and hard blow Zander gave him.

  In one swift, awful moment, Jasper suddenly wasn’t the only family member with a missing limb. Scout was going to be a tripod if he lived through this.

  Once it was done, Elijah was there, carefully cauterizing the wound as Zander began to pour magic into the small wolf.

  34

  Elijah

  Elijah’s heart broke in an instant when he saw Quinn over Scout’s body, not realizing the wolf was alive. It broke again when Zander did the deed and removed the shattered and ruined leg before it could cause the wolf more problems.

  His heart broke a third time as he heard Scout whimper and cry out as he helped Zander do what he could. Elijah figured if he could stop the bleeding with some heat and close the wound that way, Zander could repair internal damage. It was a gambit, a long shot, but he couldn’t let his favorite man lose his wolf. No one on the team would ever forgive themselves if they lost Scout. None of them.

  He didn’t even stop his work when Sombra suddenly appeared next to him, smelling like smoke. He wondered if she jumped through the fire. He also wondered why she was with them and not her Magi. Sawyer had truly left her feline to fight battles and help them, a silent protector.

  When he was done and it was all up to Zander, he sat back, letting the big cat press up against him. He rubbed her back, leaning into her as well, knowing she would send this back to Sawyer. That was a comfort unto itself. He hoped her hunt was going well. He hoped they were done and had Axel in custody for what would come.

  Finally, Zander leaned back, revealing his face to them again. Elijah didn’t like how washed out he was, the dark circles already forming under his eyes. Zander’s magic wasn’t deep. He couldn’t do so much of it, which was why he pushed so far past it all the time. He would need a month to rest.

  If they survived the night and succeeded, the healer would have it.

  “Is he…” Quinn continued to hold his boy, rocking slowly.

  “He’ll live. He’ll need more attention from an actual veterinarian, but he’ll live through the night and more. I promise. Tonight, you aren’t losing a wolf. He’s just in for a long road to recovery. You’ll need to carry him for the rest of the night, just to keep him off his feet.”

  Quinn nodded, shifting to readjust the wolf’s weight. He stood up, Shade dancing around him, and held Scout with the utmost care.

  “Elijah, pull the fire down,” Jasper ordered, serious. “I think the tides shifted while we’ve been in here.”

  Elijah stood up quickly, vanquishing his flames with practically the snap of a finger. Sure enough, things looked calmer back at the Villa. Dozens of people were in handcuffs, lined up and seated, while agents walked around them.

  “It’s time to find Sawyer, then,” he realized. “And Vincent. It’s time to go end this, huh?”

  “It’s time,” Jasper agreed.

  “I can’t use my telepathy to Vincent. I have nothing,” Zander admitted. “I think even that will have me on the ground.”

  Elijah looked down at Sombra, who began
to pull away from the group, always looking back. Of course she would know where her Magi was.

  “Let’s go,” he murmured, nodding to the big cat. Sombra didn’t seem like she was in a hurry, so they just followed, wondering what they would find. He reached out to Quinn after only twenty yards. “Let me, Quinn. Let me.”

  Quinn took a moment to consider the offer before gingerly handing the wolf to him. Scout was small, but he was still a wolf. Elijah held onto him, realizing just how heavy the load was. If he was having a hard time, he knew Quinn wouldn’t have been able to keep it up.

  Elijah just held on. He would carry the precious cargo. He would do the deed with Axel. He could shoulder this weight for the team. Always.

  35

  Vincent

  The earth rumbling violently told Vincent something was very wrong. Quinn. It had to be Quinn.

  “Oh fuck,” Sawyer mumbled, looking up.

  “He’s going to bring this place down on us!” Vincent yelled as the rumbling became cracks in the walls, floors, and ceiling. The Villa couldn’t withstand the sheer might of his power. There was no way.

  She grabbed him and they held onto each other. They had only been stuck by themselves in the shield for a minute, max, before this happened. They hadn’t been ready for this to happen.

  Sawyer gasped next to him. “Scout,” she said, something awful to the name. “Oh no, Scout was really hurt, Vincent. Sombra just sent it to me.”

  “Fuck.” Guilt ate at his heart for a moment. They had all come into this with clear heads, ready to win, ready to have tomorrow. He would never let it go if one of them, even one of the animals, didn’t make it.

  Pieces of the ceiling started to come down, slamming into the top of the shield, causing cracks.

  “Sawyer, it’s about to break - then we need to move before everything comes down.”

  “We’re going to have to leave them,” she told him, nodding down to the men on the floor, bleeding and weak. There were way too many of them for her to sublimate on her own and he didn’t have the sheer power to make that happen.

  “We won’t tell him,” Vincent whispered. “Do you understand me? He can’t know.”

  “I understand. I don’t want these guys to haunt him.”

  He was glad she understood where he was going with that order. He didn’t want Quinn to think they were his fault. They weren’t, not if Scout was hurt. He knew how deep that soul bond went. Even the thought of losing Kaar brought him pain, an unrecognizable loneliness he didn’t want to consider.

  No, he would never hold this against the feral Magi he loved like a brother.

  Finally, the shield shattered over them. They both went into their smoke forms in a second and flew out of the back of the building as it came crumbling down. He reformed outside, coughing.

  “Sawyer, you make the decision. Do we go after Axel or check on Quinn?”

  He watched her eyes go unfocused. Her mouth opened, but it took another couple of moments for her to say anything. “Sombra is getting the guys. Scout is alive. She’s going to make sure he gets healed by Zander. They’ve got it. She wants me to go hunting.”

  “Then let’s go.” He was ready for this. He had always wondered what it was like to do things the way she did. Something about that drove him to help her find Axel when she was better suited to it.

  And he still wanted to get his hands on his brother. He needed it. For everything. For everyone. His brother deserved to go down.

  He touched the bond with Kaar, grinning as the bird showed him the direction to go. He took off running, knowing Sawyer would follow him. She kept pace easily, going through the trees like they didn’t threaten to trip her up like they did for him. Vincent was beginning to fall behind, actually. She moved with ease, sublimating, phasing, and blinking through obstacles. He felt like a floundering youth compared to her.

  He knew she was capable. He loved seeing her in action. He just felt a little put in his place. He had thought he could keep up. Now he wondered if she was being slowed down by him.

  Probably.

  Kaar sent him an image of a helicopter ahead of Axel. He ground his teeth, pushing to go faster. “He’s trying to run!”

  “He always was a coward!” she retorted, blinking even further ahead. He just followed as best he could, scared to use his sublimation to speed up. He hadn’t enjoyed the pain Axel had put him through inside. He didn’t want to take the risk.

  He knew Sawyer saw his brother first, as a roar of rage and power came from her. He hauled ass, hoping to help her before she got hurt.

  He arrived right on time to see her blinking behind Axel and delivering a swift kick to his back, sending him into the dirt. Vincent stopped himself from going after his brother, though. His eyes searched the dark and found another target, one who could come back to haunt them, and had before.

  Felix.

  Vincent sublimated now, knowing his brother was too busy with Sawyer. He flew after Felix, reforming to tackle the little man to the ground. He held one hand to the small Magi as he searched for a set of cuffs. He had Felix handcuffed before he could even put up a fight.

  “Not this time,” Vincent said to him, hauling him up. “You’re going to sit and watch this.”

  “She can’t beat him. She’ll never really beat him. He’ll win this in the end.” Felix continued to throw out praise of Axel Castello as Vincent forced him to sit down. He turned to find Sawyer flying through two trees and slamming into a third.

  “Sawyer!” he called.

  “Little brother, I’m tired of this.” Axel walked out of the dark. Vincent raised his chin in the same defiant way she always did. “Oh, you spend way too much time with her.”

  “Of course I do. She’s everything to me.”

  “She’s a slut. She’s banging your friends too.”

  “Brothers,” he corrected boldly. “She’s in love with my brothers. And they love her back.”

  The look of disgust that his brother gave him showed him all the differences Vincent had needed to truly see. Every difference between good men and an evil one. Every difference between the men he chose and the one he thought was the last.

  Vincent had family that never looked at him like that, or Sawyer, or each other.

  “Brothers? Those…boys you keep with you? Your little precious fucking team? I’m your brother!” Axel was furious, insulted. “Family, Vincent! Family first!”

  “You’ve never proven to be a good member of the family.” Vincent shook his head. “No, I found a family. They’re good men…and her.” He glanced at Sawyer as she stood up, her face dark with emotions he could only try to understand. He understood better than most, but the depth of her feelings concerning Axel was something not even Vincent could truly comprehend.

  “Children. You’re all children playing house. Playing cop. You don’t know, you’ve never known what’s important in this world. None of you.” Axel used his hands to collect and shape the air and earth together. Next water was added and the earth began to reform. A spike. “And I’m done playing games with children.”

  He flashed it with fire, hardening it in a second and launched it. Vincent dove, focusing on it with his telekinesis as he moved out of its way. He couldn’t take full control over it, not being as powerful as his brother, but he was able to send it into a tree, shattering into a million pieces.

  He righted himself, and ran for Axel, jumping a crack opening in the earth as his brother tried to trip him up.

  He watched Sawyer dive in for him, slamming Axel to the ground, cracking the shield he had around himself. Vincent was amazed she was able to keep going. With both fists, she roared and slammed them down on the shielded man. Vincent watched her be lifted and get thrown back.

  He took her place, taking Axel into the dirt when he tried to rise up. His brother had made a mistake in not making a bigger shield. Axel was never one for open combat; it had always been Vincent’s favorite thing to do. To learn to use his body and his magic in tand
em to achieve a physical goal.

  No, Axel had always thought he had better things to do than that. His magic would always save him.

  They rolled in the dirt together. Axel was still in peak physical condition. Vincent had the training, though. They hit a tree and Vincent was over his brother, who smartly forced him into the tree, slamming his head. Dazed for a moment, he slid off Axel, able to feel the warm, red blood dripping down the side of his face.

  Axel connected a boot to his back as he tried to crawl away and get his bearings. Sawyer was back in the action right at that moment, lunging and stopping him from delivering more abuse.

  Vincent stood up slowly, dizzy. He watched as this time, she didn’t let go. She grabbed onto the shield around him at his wrists and blinked, tossing him into a tree.

  The shield shattered, and the air left Vincent’s lungs as he watched Axel throw up a wall of fire and force Sawyer away from him.

  “He’s going to burn out soon,” she yelled to him. “He’s not as deep as either of us.”

  “I know!” He needed a plan. “Sawyer!”

  “What?”

  “Get angry.” He hoped she understood his meaning, and she did. She turned back to the man they had to defeat and everything near her became frosted in the cold Italian night. It flooded his sense of everything. He could feel the cold, and only the cold.

  And he sublimated, gently shifting into the form even as his rational mind told him it was a gamble. Vincent didn’t like gambles.

  This one just made sense.

  Sawyer continued to try and attack his brother head on, daggers drawn and ready for war.

  “Why didn’t you wear your mask, Sawyer? You were always better at being a shadow than a real person.”

  “Because you get to be afraid of me tonight,” she answered from beyond flames before blinking back in. It was quickly becoming a battle of how many times she could throw herself. Vincent crept closer.

  “Where’s my brother? He’s hiding around you, isn’t he? Using your magic as a distraction?”