Chapter 3 Zane
Zane
The substandard furnishings in Maverick’s cabin compared poorly to my suite at Heaven & Hell, but I thought better of telling him. Not because I gave a fuck about offending him, but because this rustic cabin with its cheap-ass furniture and musky odor was the safest place for my witch.
The bear shifter had paid a witch to cast powerful wards around the place. Stronger than those protecting the witch dorm. And besides, I didn’t trust Montgomery’s magic any more than I trusted the asshole mage.
Or any mage.
They were all duplicitous, bottom-feeding snakes.
“I’ll take our mate to bed,” I offered out of the kindness of my poor, dead heart.
Maverick’s eyes narrowed. “No. I need you to go find the fucking mage. His healing magic might help.”
Raven had fallen back into an exhausted slumber since waking up screaming a few hours ago. None of us knew what caused her affliction. Aside from muttering Kai’s name a few times, she’d said nothing helpful.
I’d tried reading her mind, but all I could sense was pain. So much pain.
Ordinarily I’d have been in seventh heaven. Pain was almost as powerful as lust for an incubus like me, but to my surprise, knowing my witch writhed in agony hurt me. Not physically—which I cared little about—but emotionally.
Emotional pain rarely registered. Some idiot wolf in my grandparents’ pack once accused me of being a sociopath, which ended badly for them.
Perhaps they were right.
Maybe I was a sociopath.
Was, as in past-tense.
Not anymore.
Now my mate’s pain was my pain, and it fucking hurt.
“Zane!” Maverick’s snarl made me jump. I rubbed my chest as waves of pain hit me once again. Raven whimpered but didn’t wake.
I threw my hands in the air. “Fine! I’m going. Anyone got a problem with me beating the shit out of the mage before I bring him back? No? Good.”
“Do what you like as long as he can cast healing magic, so no severing his hands.” Maverick threw more logs onto the fire to warm the place before folding another thick blanket over our witch.
Vampy stayed well back from the flames leaping up the chimney, which made me smirk. Fire was one of the few things that could hurt vampires. It probably wouldn’t kill him, but being burned to a crisp would take a lot of juice to heal.
“Be quick.”
“I have no clue where he is,” I huffed. The bastard could have gone back to the Vane estate for all I knew. And if he had, we were fucked, because not even I could get past those wards.
My gaze slid over to the witch’s familiar. The kitsune had been unusually quiet and non-irritating since my mate collapsed at the club. I suspected he knew what was wrong with her, but since I couldn’t speak kitsune, it didn’t help us.
He looked up and then blinked out of view, reappearing a minute later with a phone gripped in his claws. I recognized the gold case.
“Is Alaric on campus?” The kitsune nodded. “In his dorm?” He nodded again.
“Be right back, folks.”
Since the mage had never invited me into his apartment, I couldn’t teleport in. But I could make a nuisance of myself outside.
It turned out singing at the top of my voice was enough to attract his attention. Who knew the mage wasn’t a fan of the human pop singer Taylor Swift? Not me. I rather liked Taylor’s tunes.
In fact, I found her song, “Anti-Hero,” very relatable because ninety-nine percent of the time, I was the problem too.
“What the actual fuck are you doing, Zane?” Alaric’s door slammed open against the wall as thunder rumbled above us. Oops. He wasn’t happy. Oh well.
“Getting your attention.” I smirked. “Found your phone yet?”
He frowned. “Phone?” Confusion turned into rage when he reached into his pocket and came up empty-handed. “Give me back my phone or I’ll…”
“This phone?” I pulled his gold-plated handset from my jeans pocket and held it up. Such a pretty case. Probably super expensive. And custom-made, knowing the mage.
It would be a real shame if it disappeared into a pocket realm, never to be seen again.
He lunged for the phone, but I blinked out of view and reappeared ten feet away, still holding the device.
“Give me back my fucking phone before I blast you into the demon realm!” A lightning bolt struck the ground a foot away, splattering me with snow and mud, but I just laughed.
“Ooh, it’s unlocked,” I taunted, pretending to type in his PIN. “Naughty mage, have you been messaging sirens on Magigram?”
“Of course I fucking haven’t!” The moron fired another lightning bolt at me. Lightning and electrical devices rarely played nicely together, whereas I would be just fine.
“Good to know. I can’t kill you, but I can make life fucking painful for you.” I shoved the phone back into my pocket. “Get your ass to the bear’s cabin. Our witch needs healing magic.” Not waiting for him to reply, I blinked away.