Chapter Seventeen #2
“It’s of no matter. My flockleader asked I give you this.” She handed over a rather neatly folded hand-boned envelope with a wax seal. Marquis took it with a nod and glanced over the seal, a mark of their flock.
While some shifters adopted the human-naming conventions of their collectives, ravens were not one. They felt it undignified to go by unkindness or conspiracy. Ravens were messengers of the beyond, not evil.
Marquis popped the seal, read the letter, and handed it back to her with a nod.
Standard mage request, asking for gems to help children, spells to heal the ill.
A sick omega. Like any shifters, they revered them greatly.
The illness may very well have been a hangnail for all they worried.
“After we’ve seen to business. I’d offer to help immediately, and gratis of course, but we’re in dire circumstances. ”
She nodded sagely and showed them to the meeting room.
The meeting room wasn’t quite what Marquis expected.
It had obviously been a library at one point, the wood floor creaking beneath vaguely tasteful carpet that had been laid atop.
A large mahogany table with ostentatiously carved legs sprawled out, the tabletop well-polished and covered by a custom glass sheet that had been scratched at by bored children at some point or another.
Nothing crude, no names, just the strange S that humans seemed fascinated by and a smattering of initials.
The patched, leather-clad, nail-trimmed chairs welcomed them with softly squeaking leather to leather.
Marquis took his jacket and backpack off, hanging them on the back of his chair, a rather out-of-place swiveling wingback at the head of the table, backed by the fireplace as if he were some villain scheming away… with his pet raccoon curled in his lap.
It’s like they tried so hard to be fancy and missed every mark.
“It is the way of public venues.” Marquis sighed and got comfortable.
Rexford and Izohr sat nearby. Leon sat on Izohr’s shoulder, posture confident and bold.
Sheila at his side stood vigilantly, and Izohr appeared every bit the threat and confident leader Marquis knew he would be in time.
Despite the friendship that bloomed between Rexford and the half mage, it would inevitably be time for them to split.
Midnite was the first to notice something off, his ears perking as he leaped onto the table, nose twitching toward the door. He hissed low. Wolf shifter?
I smelled it earlier. Mads flicked his bushy tail and rested little black thieving paws on the edge of the table, little nails clicking anxiously.
I can’t smell shit, but I feel one of those binding collars nearby. The magic on them is familiar. Leon twittered and hopped atop Izohr’s head, refraining from scratching about, as if picking for lice. Marquis thought a silent prayer of thanks.
When the doors opened, the first of a few humans shrugged in, all rolling luggage cases with padlocked zippers. All shifty-eyed and nervous. And at the side of one was a wolf, black as night itself, eyes a piercing blue. Its ears pinned and body sulked lower to the ground.
“Who is that?” Izohr glanced at the wolf and pinned a human with a fierce stare, fingers choking up on a chain choke leash.
“M-my familiar.” He glanced about nervously.
Izohr swore under his breath, and Marquis reached over to rest a hand on his shoulder.
“Apologies for the reaction. Are you aware that wolf is a person?” Marquis nodded at the cowering creature. Omega. Shifter. Not a mage. Wolves would go mad over the capture, and they’d have signed their own death certificates if they knew.
The human paled and glanced from the wolf to Marquis.
“Wolf, what is your name?” Marquis stared the wolf down as he let loose a hoarse bark, all sound gone but breath and a choked sound.
Haze. And before you ask, I do not have pack affiliations. I am branded. The wolf turned its head away, the collar shifting as scarred, furless flesh peeked from beneath. A wolf that had his mate mark rent from him by the teeth of another. Betrayal, infidelity, few things earned that.
The human glanced from his wolf to Marquis a few times, growing more alarmed as his wolf made gestures with his head. His reaction said it all; the human hadn’t even thought the creature capable of communication.
I got this! Sheila barked and startled the incoming humans, her voice piping up clear above everyone else’s. She fought her collar off with her paws and darted over, nosing the loose thing over the wolf’s head with eager gestures.
The wolf sniffed at her and flinched, its face a twist of curiosity, disgust and pity. Thank you, halfblood child.
Sheila barked, no words communicating through the bond at first as she had to focus to make them heard. N-no. P-problem. She returned to Izohr’s side as the human released the wolf’s leash and startled.
Haze leaned down, picked up the leash and offered it back to the human with a sigh of obligation. The human didn’t take it, though, not until Haze whined and Marquis gestured for him to do so.
“Disobeying his contract is painful. Do what he needs until we can discuss your relinquishing of him.” Marquis squeezed Izohr’s shoulder as he growled low in his throat, threatening to bring out a wolf more dominant than most pack alphas.
“Don’t mind me! Apologies for being late. My girlfriend needed some assistance,” Nelson traipsed in, happily referring to Meredith as his partner. The male was smitten beyond belief, and Marquis found the match to be fitting.
“Come, Nelson.” Marquis waved him in and Nelson took a spot on the other side of Marquis, a position of negotiations and power that had the other humans surprised, eyes wide.
Midnite stretched and languidly rubbed against Rexford’s chest, purring slightly as he meowed, a force of habit from his days long held in cat form.
“First of all, the wolf. Where did you get them?” Marquis turned his gaze to the still-frozen human, clutching the leash like a lifeline.
“B-baron owed me money. G-gave her to me.” The human tensed as the wolf, Haze, pinned his ears and shrank a little.
“First of all, your wolf is male. Familiars always have a female form.” Marquis gestured from their familiars and, as if catching a cue, Midnite shifted in Rexford’s lap, preening in a display as he settled in. “And they are mages.”
“S-so Haze is a mage?” The human, a middling male with mousy brown hair and narrow shoulders, stared at the creature.
“Haze is a shifter. Not a familiar. In essence, a werewolf by your own vernacular.” Marquis sighed and gave the wolf an apologetic glance. “Some shifters can be mages, but in general, they’re magical creatures incapable of harnessing magic.”
Sheila tugged and helped Haze into the collar, fidgeting a bit. As Haze spoke again, a soft and masculine voice purred above the din of mindspeak that familiars and shifters could only share with mages. “I am an omega wolf. I am not a familiar. I have no inherent magic to aid you.”
The human dropped the leash again and stumbled back. “You can talk!”
“I can walk and do taxes, too. You just seem to think I enjoy eating canned puppy chow and shitting in the street.” The wolf curled its upper lip.
“Why not figure out a way to use the commode?” One of the humans spoke out of turn and silenced.
“Because it was one of my few joys watching this peon pick it up with a little bag.” Haze huffed and picked up the leash once more, offering it to the mage—likely a compulsion of his collar’s charm.
The human blanched in disgust. “Baron settled me with this creature for the sixty thousand he owed me.”
“Would you part with the creature for your sixty-thousand owed?” Marquis eyed his watch to check the time. It was nearing ten at night. “If I hand you the money now, by the time the meeting is over it will be after midnight, and you can ensure it’s truly cash.”
The human sighed heavily and nodded once. Marquis made a gesture over his shoulder as one of the Red Sky coven counted out bundles of twenties, fifties and hundreds.
“We’re acting on good faith.” Marquis gestured for the exchange. “And remove that fucking collar from him.”
The human did so before gesturing the wolf toward Marquis. He counted the banded stacks and stuffed them in a bag he carried with him with little ceremony before flopping into a chair.
“Once again, thank you, little one.” Haze strode away from the human with a low growl caught in his throat and sidled up beside the girl in an affectionate gesture. “And you are well spoken for what you are.”
Sheila hunkered down as eyes migrated her way. Am not halfblood.
She shrank as Haze eyed her seriously and sniffed. “Then what are you?”
“She’s my ward. She is daughter of my spirit and child of wolven father.” Izohr spoke in calm yet firm tones as Sheila tucked her tail.
I shift. I am shaman. A wolf bearing some mage abilities, a healer one day perhaps. She would be invaluable to the wolves if they would accept her.
Haze sniffed once more and nodded, offering one of her ears an affectionate lick. “Then that is what you are, shaman pup.”
Sheila sighed in great relief and stiffened when the wolf laid down beside her, tail flicking in a light wag. Omegas naturally had affinities for pups, but Sheila was the exception, rejected by wolves for her blood.
Izohr reached down to pat over her head and smiled. “You are a good girl. That’s all you need to be for anyone.”
The humans, lost somewhere in the conversation, remained quiet in the milling and loud sort of way only people were capable of.
“Right. Anyone else smuggling any familiars in?” Midnite spoke this time, glaring at the humans who shrank in their seats.
He pulled his wand from within Rexford’s jacket and tucked it in his sleeve before sliding down.
“Then we will take our leave while the mages convene. Haze here could use some clothes and people food.”
In tow, Mads shifted in Marquis’s lap for a sweet kiss, all his silvery fur trading places for silver hair and dark eyes so full of adoration.
Marquis handed Mads his wand and scooted his chair back, excusing him.
Leon shifted in a spill across Izohr’s lap, the great birthmark across his face on full display.
Nelson and Izohr gave him such soppy and pleased smiles.
He truly was a beautiful familiar. His marking only added a mask to his appearance, the flaw in the artwork that drew one’s attention to the perfection.
“I was not aware you were a familiar, Mads. It is good to see you with your wits. I hear Baron has died,” Haze spoke as they slipped out of the room.
Mads froze as he slid from Marquis’s lap and stared at the wolf. “There is much I do not remember. But I remember you.” He knelt down and held a hand to the side of the wolf’s head. “And I am so very sorry.”
“It is in the past. Even I could tell you weren’t there by your will.
I am happy you have found your mate.” Haze pulled away as Mads nodded and the familiars left with Sheila.
Haze paused by the doorway and stared up at Tack, nose twitching.
“Mage. Would you perhaps have a pen and paper I could borrow?”
“Of course.” Tack rummaged in his pockets and glanced around before someone handed him what he’d requested. “Is there something you want me to note?”
“No. I cannot speak in human form. I need a way to communicate if I shift since I assume that nobody can read lips or understand sign language.” Haze shot a dirty glare at the human who had collared him and flicked his tail.
“Actually, I do. My mum’s deaf.” Tack brightened, and the wolf’s ears flicked. “I’ll come with you if you feel safe?”
The wolf nodded once, expression stern in his dark face, and they left.
Negotiations would commence in earnest. Because what they offered was more than money.
Marquis would offer magic. He would bestow upon them a contract and power, making them a new class of human, what they’d wanted to be. Maguses.