32. Blaine
BLAINE
My mate wouldn’t be able to tell but his question got subtle reactions from three of the other men. Everything about them said they’d fit right in with Henley’s family in a lot of ways, but something about the situation was giving them second thoughts.
The fourth one just found the whole thing funny if I was reading him correctly, but I couldn’t figure out what he was. He radiated magic but it wasn’t anything I’d seen before the attack or after. I really didn’t like the unknown but I liked this particular combination even worse.
“You’ve been hiding things and it’s time to clear up a few questions.” Euston must’ve thought Henley needed a push to get his way because he flicked his finger toward his brother.
Before I could guess what it’d meant, the fourth guy’s hand swept up and something that looked like lightning hit the ground in front of Henley.
My heart leapt in my chest but my mate was built of sterner stuff and rolled his eyes as he came to a quick stop in front of the slightly damaged pavement. “Really? You’re going to pitch a fit using someone else’s magic?”
He really knew how to get under his brother’s skin.
The whole situation was getting under mine too, but I just had to remember that making Henley look weak would probably get him killed. He had to look strong and I had to look unassuming to get out of whatever fucked-up situation we’d found ourselves in.
The dangerous idiot’s face went so red it made me question his blood pressure but it let me move a few more feet without drawing anyone else’s attention. He might’ve gotten more unhinged with the teasing but his men thought it was hilarious. The wolf shifter even rolled his eyes.
How had Euston collected them?
I knew better than to ask and draw more attention to myself, though. Henley was deliberately poking his brother, so I ignored how wrong it was to move away from my mate and slowly shifted toward the passenger side of the truck.
The shifter finally noticed me, but his boss had probably told him Henley was their focus because he dismissed me too quickly.
What did he think I was?
I shouldn’t have hit the radar as human but did the wolf think cat shifters were weak?
I’d thought the unreasonable competition between our peoples would have been a thing of the past but maybe not. Either way, I used it in my favor as Henley’s utter calm fucked with his brother even more.
“What’s Mom going to say about all this?” Shaking his head, Henley frowned as the lightning struck the ground again, but he seemed to have decided not to act as if he’d noticed it at all. “She’s going to be even more pissed than she was when you got that waitress knocked up in Oklahoma.”
Really?
Several of the men blinked, startled at that revelation, and it had me sliding them more confidently into some kind of shifter category.
Even the most isolated groups took children very seriously, but the way Euston snorted said he might not know that.
“She was a slut. There was no way the brat was mine.”
The way Henley’s eyes went round again made his thoughts on that clear. “You’re using monsters to threaten me, Ewie. It doesn’t matter how mad she is about me going off on my own, this is going to make her insane.”
As illogical as it all was, I could see that and Euston’s wince said he knew it too.
Oh, his henchmen loved that reaction.
It seemed that being scared of their mother was a universal feeling they could all relate to, but it didn’t make them respect their boss.
“Oh, you seem to be doing more than hanging out with the rug, though, aren’t you?” Still ignoring me, Euston smirked at Henley and flicked his finger again.
That time some of the energy seemed to hit Henley but he just gritted his teeth as he shivered. My own heart nearly stopped even if his hadn’t, and I stopped moving without thinking about it. How much energy could a human handle?
What the fuck had he been hit with?
“They’re both going to love that.” Something about the evil-looking spark in his eyes said he was going to thoroughly enjoy being the one to tell their parents about me. “You always were the weak link.”
“Give me a break. What are you doing besides tormenting me with threats of tattling to our parents?” Henley threw up his arms in an overdramatic gesture and stepped toward his brother just aggressively enough to get another jolt. “Fuck.”
No.
No.
Clamping down on my panther, I barely controlled my shift and my fingers ached as my claws tried to spring out. Something drew the wolf’s gaze to me again but then he immediately dismissed me. What had he been told?
That Henley was my mate should’ve been obvious to all of them no matter what they were, and threatening anyone’s mate never ended well.
The only thing that kept me in this form was seventy years of control.
It might’ve stunted everything else but my panther was much more in tune with my human side than it’d ever been before.
Could I shift quickly enough to get them before the lightning got Henley?
I wanted to say yes but I’d put too much room between us to be sure I could clear the hood of the truck in enough time.
“It’s not tattling if I was sent to find you.” Euston shrugged. “I’m just being helpful in an unexpected way.”
Henley’s parents wanted him?
“All they had to do was fucking email me.” Rolling his eyes got another zap but it also distracted the crowd enough that I made it another few feet. “It would’ve saved everyone the effort. I’m not going back.”
As far as I could tell they seemed to think I was hiding behind the truck, so I forced myself to slouch to reinforce the idea. My panther hated that more than he had anything else so far and my entire body ached as he tried to burst out. But my human brain overruled the instinct side of me.
“You should never have blocked them to begin with.” Looking actually hostile about that, Euston had Henley zapped again.
I managed not to go over the hood of the truck and I even moved my hands away from the truck in time not to puncture the door. I wasn’t going to explain that damage to my mate. How I could do a partial shift now I didn’t know, but it was something I was going to think about later.
“Fucking hell.” Henley was still in his macho family role, so logically I knew he couldn’t be too hurt, but Euston’s smirk had me wondering if killing him would be as easy as the pigs had been.
“This can’t be because I couldn’t live under their thumb any longer.
That would be stupid even with your IQ.”
That seemed to be what tipped Euston’s lackies over the edge.
They laughed.
And then all hell broke loose, as Henley would’ve said.
It was too fast to follow and almost like a TV show came to life. Euston pulled a gun but he didn’t aim it at Henley.
Nope.
He aimed it at his own people.
Chaos exploded.
Henley dropped to the ground as the wolf shifted and the lightning guy whipped round to face Euston. The other two guys stepped closer to Euston but then one moved back, hands up. Magic filled the air but I couldn’t see who was using it or what was happening.
I wasn’t built for this kind of family drama, so as I threw open the passenger door, I fell back on the only thing I could remember from my childhood.
How to call the Guardians.
I’d practiced the words as a child more times than I could count and it was the only spell I remembered without having to think about it.
The words just came as I slammed my knuckles into the tiny cup hiding the marbles and grabbed a handful of the innocent-looking toys.
I missed who yelled, but I threw them in front of the truck as the gun went off.
Okay, I could see why Henley kept calling them flashbangs.
They flashed and banged and everyone went down.
Well, everyone except Henley…he got up.
“Wow.” As he dusted himself off he marveled at the bodies on the ground. All I could think of was getting to him and suddenly I found him wrapped in my arms before I could process what I was doing. “That was cool. Do you know how fast you went?”
No.
Holding him so tight he squeaked, it took me a second to find a response. “I think I’m faster now than I was before.”
My mate’s mind always went a thousand miles an hour, but before he could get his questions out, magic started to build.
Had it worked?
Had I actually put the intent in the word right?
“Fucking hell.” Henley’s eyes got wide as a portal opened in the parking lot, lighting up the whole area as the magic shimmered. “What did the marbles do this time?”
“Um, I think that’s my fault.” Kind of. “My mother said the magic police would come if I said the words. Evidently that wasn’t just something they told kids?”
Amazingly enough, it actually worked because a tall magical guy in a gray suit and holding a teddy bear stepped out and looked around like he was just as confused as Henley was. “Interesting.”
Yep.
“Like a magic 911. That’s cool.” Swallowing hard, Henley pressed himself closer to me. “Your cops wear nicer clothes. Do you know how much that suit costs?”
I’d have said the clothes were unexpected but the whole thing was unexpected.
“You’re not a child.” He seemed to decide to focus on us, probably because we were the only ones standing…and conscious…before tossing the bear back through the portal. “That spell hasn’t been used in generations.”
“Um, my mom taught it to me when I was a little kid.” Was that enough information? “Back in the 1930s. I was…well…under a spell that went wrong for a long time. My mother said if I used that spell the Guardians would come and help me.”
And it’d worked.
He paused, cocking his head and looking distracted for a moment before he sighed. “Covens need to stop trying to handle problems on their own.”
Huh?
“Um.” Henley might’ve been freaked out, but he was still my adorable mate. “I don’t know what else you can do besides appear through a portal but the lightning guy is bleeding and I have no idea why they were attacking.”
Something made Henley blink. “Honest. I didn’t do anything this time.”
The smile was gone in a flash but it seemed like the Guardian thought he was cute too.
“Truth.” Pausing, he studied Henley again. “This time.”
We were both smart enough to keep quiet about that last part, which seemed to tickle him too because he shook his head. “You are going to be trouble, young Leap Mate.”
So he knew Henley was mine?
Wait.
What?
“Not as much as he is.” Henley pointed to his brother. “He’s trouble and stupid.”
Agreed.
But now what?
“I’m still getting used to things but the only thing I was really told about you guys was that you’re magical helpers?
” I hadn’t actually been sure they were real.
I’d never known anyone who’d met them. “I got that lecture when I was like five, though, so I don’t have any idea what you’re going to do. ”
Before I could feel too stupid about that, Henley raised his hand. “If no one uses the spell anymore, how do they contact you? I’ve never met anyone who talked about Guardians.”
That was interesting…Henley talked to everybody.
“That was an English translation of the old German word for us.” The Guardian didn’t seem to think it was a stupid question based on how even his tone was. “We are now called The Justice Council.”
“Cool. Like your superheroes.” Henley’s awe-filled response had the man…or whatever he was, smiling. “Thank you for your help, but what are you going to do?”
That was a very good question.
“Oh. The shifters online mentioned you on the regular paranormal site. You’re the council guys that sounded like the magical FBI…
or maybe CIA? You seem like you could go darker than FBI kind of stuff.
” Henley shrugged as I tried to decide if that was offensive or not.
“But that’s okay. Someone needs to do it because people make terrible decisions sometimes. Like them.”
And the rest of his family.
“We…” He paused, glancing around and frowning before looking back at Henley. “We are called in when local councils cannot handle situations.”
That was vague.
Henley opened his mouth to start listing off his thousand and one questions, but the Guardian…no…council member, maybe…held up his hand and kept going. “We must be called first.”
“Oh. Like having to call the cops and they just can’t keep an eye out for trouble? That’s weird.” Shaking his head, he gestured toward the still unconscious men. “What if they’d killed us?”
Council Guy shrugged. “Not all-knowing or all-seeing.”
I really didn’t like how logical that was.
“How do we call you going forward? I run into…situations on a regular basis and you would’ve been helpful.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Henley frowned. “Everyone is very vague about how to contact anyone in charge. There is way too much I can handle this going on in your world.”
The Council Guy actually smiled that time. “We’ve got an app.”
Henley threw up his arms. “No one said there’s an app for that.”
According to the internet, there were apps for everything…and it seemed like they were correct.