Fugitive by Magic: a Baine Chronicles novel (The Baine Chronicles: Fenris's Story Book 1)

by Jasmine Walt

  “Sorry.” I jerked my wrist from his grasp. “I just got here and haven’t eaten yet.”

  His brown eyes darkened. “You’ve been here over an hour already,” he growled. “I saw you the moment you walked in. Now it’s time for you and me.”

  “Excuse me?” A chill raced down my spine at the growl in his voice. “I don’t remember giving you ownership over my time.”

  Roor rolled his eyes. “Come on, Mina,” he said, grabbing my hand again. “Everybody knows we’re meant to be together. My mother keeps asking me when we’re going to get married. I get that you like to play coy, but it’s time for this cat-and-mouse game to end. Just admit that you want me already.” There was a slight slur to his words, I noticed now that we were closer, and his eyes were too bright.

  “You’re drunk,” I snapped. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “Excuse me,” a deep, husky male voice said. “Are you Mina?”

  Startled, I turned to see a man standing just a few feet away. He was just shy of six feet tall, with a solid build and a neatly trimmed beard covering a strong jaw. Yellow shifter eyes locked with mine, and my heart momentarily stopped as I realized who I was facing.

  “Y-yes,” I stammered, thrown completely off guard. That had to be Mr. Shelton. How did he know my name?

  The shifter smiled, revealing perfect teeth. “Sorry to intrude, but Mrs. Boccol asked me to fetch you. It’s urgent. She needs to speak with you. Alone.” He held out his arm to me.

  “I’ll come with you—” Roor started.

  “I’m sorry, but she said alone.” The man tucked my arm in his and pulled me into the crowd, leaving Roor sputtering behind us. A wave of relief swept through me, followed by a prickle of awareness across my skin as I felt the hard muscle of my savior’s arm under my hand.

  “Mrs. Boccol doesn’t really need to see me, does she?” I murmured as he steered me into the drawing room, which was only slightly less busy than the dance area. Much of the older crowd was here, gathered in the sitting areas and playing cards and dice.

  “No, she’s quite happy playing cribbage over there in the corner,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “I intuited that you might welcome an excuse to get away from that brute.”

  “I did.” Smiling, I extricated my arm from him. Unlike Roor, he let me go easily. “I suppose I’ll have to thank you, Mr.…” My cheeks colored. Why was I blanking out on his name?

  “Shelton,” he said, his lips curling into a smile. “But you can call me Fenris.”

  “Fenris.” I tested the name out on my tongue. It suited him well, I thought, taking the time to look at him now that I didn’t have Roor breathing down my neck. Fenris was dressed in a white linen shirt and royal blue slacks with a matching vest—a bit sophisticated for our small country town, but the outfit showed off his broad shoulders and trim waist. He was drawing considerable attention from the older ladies in the room, who were stealing glances at him from behind their cards. The quasi-elegance of his clothing and the graceful way he carried himself should have been at odds with his rugged masculinity, yet somehow it all seamlessly fit together.

  What stuck out like a lighthouse were those yellow eyes. They glowed with a preternatural light, and a wildness lurked in them that I recognized. It was present in all predators, even the most domesticated.

  Even a shifter who walked and talked like a human.

  “How did you know I needed rescuing?” I blurted out, partially because I needed to fill the silence. The two of us had been staring at each other for a full minute, and I didn’t want anybody watching us to get the wrong idea. “Were you watching me?”

  “Not on purpose,” he said, tucking his hands into his pockets. “But I was close enough to scent your agitation, and I followed it to the source. You looked quite uncomfortable with that young man’s advances, so I made up an excuse to get you away from him.”

  “You can scent emotions?” I asked, intrigued.

  He nodded. “It’s not an infallible ability, but it does come in handy during negotiations…or while rescuing damsels in distress.” He winked.

  A grin tugged at my lips despite myself. “I heard a rumor that you might be an educated man, and from the way you speak, it seems that might be true. Did you go to university somewhere?”

  “Somewhere.” A smile flitted briefly across his lips, no doubt meant to distract me from the guarded look that had entered his eyes. “You sound like you’ve had a bit more schooling than most of Abbsville’s residents. What do you do for a living?”

  I let him turn the conversation toward my veterinary practice and training for a bit, though I was curious to know why he didn’t seem to want to talk about his past. Could my hunch that he was running from something be on target?

  He seemed quite interested in my profession and quizzed me about my experience. “I’ve been looking at buying some horses,” he said, “but as I am new around here, I’m not sure who to approach. I was explaining to Marris the other day that I need horses that will not spook—many tend to shy away from me because of the wolf scent, but I know from past experience that it is possible to accustom them to me if they start out with a steady temperament.”

  “I know just the man you should see,” I said, beaming at the opportunity to repay him for his assistance. “One of my clients breeds high-quality horses, and I am sure he would be happy to sell some to you. In fact, I am planning to go to his farm Wednesday morning to check on a breeding mare. I could take you along if you’d like?”

  He gave me a slow smile. “I would like that very much.”

  We made plans to depart at eight o’clock in the morning, and then I asked him to escort me back to the dance floor. My hope was that Barrla would still be out there and I could hand him off to her for that dance she was so looking forward to. But as we approached, Roor stepped in front of us, blocking our way.

  “You liar,” he growled at Fenris, his slur far more pronounced than it had been earlier. “Mrs. Boccol didn’t call for Mina at all. You just wanted to get your filthy shifter paws on her!”

  The crowd quieted a bit, and I realized the people standing nearby had turned to watch. “Roor,” I said, stepping forward and drawing his attention to me. “There’s no need to make a scene.”

  “’Course there is,” he said, grasping my arm. “You’re my woman, aint’cha? What kind of man would I be, letting some filthy cur put his hands all over you?”

  I half-expected Fenris to retort, but he stood there silently, looking remarkably impassive even though Roor had a good six inches and fifty pounds on him. “I am not your woman,” I snarled, trying to yank my arm out of his iron grip.

  “You damn well are, and tonight I’m going to show you,” he growled, his grip on me tightening. He leaned in, and I reeled back at the rank stench of liquor on his breath. Terror gripped my throat hard, and an old memory suddenly hit me, one I hadn’t thought about in months.

  “What are you gonna do about it?” my cousin Vanley whispered in my ear, his big hand gripping my breast as he pressed me up against the wall. “You can’t scream, can you?”

  I struggled against his groping hands, tears sliding down my cheeks. The magical gag of air he’d shoved in my mouth prevented me from calling for help, and his parents weren’t home. But he only laughed, letting his hand drift lower.

  “One day,” he breathed, his tone full of quiet, lethal venom. “One day, I’m finally going to get you alone, where nobody can find us. And then we’re going to have some fun.”

  “Mina.” A gentle hand curled around my shoulder, pulling me out of my stupor. “Are you all right?”

  Shaken, I whirled around and looked into yellow shifter eyes filled with concern. The chills racing through my body and turning my skin clammy subsided as that gaze grounded me, reminding me of where I was.

  “Get away from her,” Roor snarled, shoving at Fenris. “This is none of your business.”

  Fenris somehow managed to look down his
nose at Roor, despite being five inches shorter. “I suppose I won’t hold that against you, since you’re drunk,” he said coolly. “But touch me again, or the lady, and we will have a serious problem.”

  Roor bared his teeth and let me go, taking a wobbly step forward. As he did, he stumbled, his eyes sliding closed. The spectators cried out as he sank to the floor and began to snore, and two of his friends, who had been egging him on from the sidelines, rushed forward to grab him.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Mrs. Boccol demanded, her shrill voice cutting through the commotion. The crowd parted as she came through, two of her sons at her side. “Is this a fight? I don’t tolerate brawls of any kind underneath my roof.”

  “Not at all,” Fenris said smoothly, stepping forward. “This young man has simply had too much to drink and said a few unkind things to Mina here. He fell over of his own accord, in a drunken stupor.”

  The other witnesses in the crowd began to voice their agreement—they’d all seen Roor practically faceplant into the ground before he could start the fight he’d been spoiling for. I turned around to see his friends drag him off, shooting murderous glares our way—they clearly did not support our version of events, but with so many witnesses, they could do little except take their friend away to sober him up. I lifted my chin and turned my back on them—good riddance. Hopefully, this embarrassing scene would make Roor think twice before pulling something like this again.

  As Mrs. Boccol and her sons made their apologies to Fenris and me, Barrla and Terad burst through the crowd. “Oh my goodness, Mina, are you okay?” she gasped, her blue eyes sweeping me up and down, as if to check for injuries. “Someone said Roor tried to attack you!”

  I waved that off. “I’m fine,” I said, not wanting her to get all riled up. “Mr. Shelton was with me, but it turned out he didn’t have to do anything at all. Roor lost his footing and fell to the ground.”

  “Serves the bastard right,” Terad grumbled. “I think he drank half the wine tonight. He never could control himself around alcohol.”

  “Wait, did you say that Mr. Shelton was with you?” Barrla squealed. “Did you actually meet him? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “He’s right here—” I started, turning around, but the words died on my lips. Fenris had disappeared into the crowd. “Well, he was here, I guess.” Flummoxed, I shrugged my shoulders at Barrla. “I was bringing him here to meet you, actually, before Roor got in the way.”

  “Just one more reason to hate that brute,” Barrla spat, her face darkening like a thundercloud. “Getting in the way of my happily ever after. If I ever see him, I’ll give him a talking-to for sure!”

  Terad and I exchanged helpless smiles at Barrla’s tirade, then watched her go off in search of the elusive Mr. Shelton. But as she walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder what had really happened to Roor. If I hadn’t known better, I would have said he’d been hit with a sleeping spell. But that was impossible, because I hadn’t used my magic or even mastered that spell. And shifters like Fenris couldn’t use magic except to change forms.

  He’s probably going to be blamed for this anyway, a voice in my head said, and my insides squirmed with guilt. Roor had already been angry with Fenris for intervening in the first place, and it was obvious that he would not take no for an answer as far as I was concerned.

  So much for being extra-welcoming, I thought despondently. You’ve only managed to make him new enemies, and during his very first week in town, too!

  You’ll have to make it up to him on Wednesday, I told myself as I headed to the refreshment table. I just hoped that Mr. Handmar, the horse breeder, could deliver.

  5

  Mina

  “There you go,” I said, stepping back as the tabby dug into his meal. I was happy to see he had an appetite—he’d stayed overnight after I patched him up from a near-fatal altercation with a dog. Sometimes, animals lost their appetite for a bit after dealing with trauma. Thankfully, little Timber seemed to be just as hungry as any cat, and he eagerly lapped at the wet food I’d put in the bowl on the floor.

  As I watched him eat, the doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was nine a.m.—at least an hour before my next appointment. Who could be calling? Was it Fenris coming to discuss what had happened last night?

  My heart jumped in my chest at the thought of the mysterious shifter standing outside my door, and I sternly told it to pipe down. There was no real reason for Fenris to be at my door, I told myself as I picked up the cat and put him back in his cage. He protested until I put the food in, too, then settled down contentedly to finish his meal. No, more likely the visitor was somebody with an injured animal.

  “Good morning,” I said, opening the front door, but then faltered in surprise. Constable Foggart was standing outside—the local law enforcement officer. “What can I do for you, Constable?”

  “Morning, Miss Hollin,” he said, his lips stretching into a somewhat strained smile beneath his handlebar mustache. “Mind if I come in for a few minutes?”

  “Of course not.” Alarm bells started going off in my head, but I smoothed my expression into cool politeness and showed the constable in to my living room. “Would you like something to drink? I still have some coffee left over from the pot I brewed this morning.”

  “Coffee would be great, thank you.”

  I busied myself getting him a cup while he sat his great bulk down on my yellow couch. Sugar but no cream, I remembered belatedly from the last time he’d come—six months ago, when his Rottweiler had taken a nasty tumble and sprained his leg. The constable didn’t have his pet with him, though, which meant this had to be official business. And I had a bad feeling I knew what this was about.

  “So, how can I help you?” I asked after I’d handed him his coffee.

  “I really hate to be doing this at all,” the constable said as I took my seat across from him. He looked decidedly uncomfortable as he took his first sip of coffee. “But Mrs. Roor has filed a complaint against you for use of illegal magic.”

  Terror slammed into me, so fast and hard that, for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Had she somehow found out about me?

  “What?” I managed to say.

  “I know, it’s a ridiculous claim,” the constable said with a shrug, as if trying to distance himself from the whole matter. “But she heard all about her son passing out at the party last night and is convinced you used some kind of hex to make him fall into a stupor. She also insists that Mr. Roor’s ‘obsession’ with you, as she calls it, must be the result of a love potion that you’ve been slipping him.”

  The terror that had seized me subsided immediately, replaced by sizzling outrage. “That’s insane,” I snapped, fisting my hands into my lap. “I can’t stand the man, and anybody who knows me can attest to that. It’s all I can do to fend off his advances every time we run into each other. Why in Recca would I give him a love potion?” I laughed at the absurdity, shaking my head. “Besides, Constable, if I had any magical talent at all, it would have been discovered long ago, during the mandatory testing in school. As I understand it, wild magic bursts out uncontrollably when a child reaches his or her teens. At twenty-eight years old, I’m a bit past that point, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yes, you are definitely an adult, there is no question of that,” the constable said, his jowls vibrating as he shook his head. “And when you lay it out like this, it does make Mrs. Roor’s story sound quite flimsy. It’s not like we have a black market for hexes and potions here, like they have in the city. Likely she is just grasping at straws to try to cover up the embarrassment from last night. But I had to investigate the claim, and after questioning some witnesses last night, I have to say Mr. Roor’s sudden collapse does seem a bit strange. From what I understand, he usually holds his liquor better.”

  I snorted at that. “Maybe he thought he needed some extra liquid courage to get me to dance with him,” I suggested, even as an uneasy feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t ar
gue with the constable’s observation—the collapse had been strange. But there was no other explanation, because I hadn’t used magic to cause it.

  “Possibly,” the constable said, a curious look now on his face. “Are you truly twenty-eight? You don’t look like you’re more than twenty.”

  “I am.” I rose from my chair and fetched my certificate from veterinary school. “Look at the date on here.”

  He took the framed certificate from me carefully. “That’s five years ago,” he murmured. “Indeed, you definitely would have to be older than twenty. I’ve never heard of a fifteen-year-old graduating from any kind of vocational school.”

  “Yes, and besides, I’ve been practicing here for over two years now,” I reminded him, taking the certificate back. “All the women in my family tend to look young, Constable.” Which was not a lie, since I came from a family of mages. “Sometimes I’m not certain if it’s a blessing or a curse,” I added with a wry smile.

  The constable chuckled. “I think I know which one my wife would choose.”

  We talked for a few more minutes while he finished his coffee, and then he bid me a good day, apologizing once more for the intrusion. The moment I closed the door behind me, I let my cheery smile drop. My stomach was hollow, carved out by a sense of bleakness I hadn’t felt in a long time. I’d thought that I could maintain this ruse longer than two years, and things had been going so well. I’d allowed myself to make friends, and this small house with its tiny veterinary clinic had begun to feel like home.

  A place where you must hide your true nature can never be home, I told myself as I sank down into the couch cushions. A headache began to throb at my temples, and I pressed my fingers against the pain, trying to soothe it. This incident had been far too close for comfort—I was going to have to leave soon. My lack of aging was becoming too obvious, and now I was coming under suspicion for a crime that I hadn’t even committed!

  If only I could use my magic to change my appearance, I thought ruefully. Then I could go anywhere, be anyone. But I had tried in the past, and though I could make minor changes to my features that made me look a bit older, I could only keep the illusion up for an hour or so. And if I was doing anything remotely taxing, like bookkeeping or surgery, the spell would lapse immediately.