Chapter 10
Irubbed my forehead, trying to ease the headache that had settled between my eyes as Mel spoke.
Things were coming back, the memories flowing in like water equalizing.
But I could still feel the way my mind had been fucked with, and it left a dull ache behind.
The floor under us rumbled with a fine tremor as Melvin finished up with his accounting of things.
This whole damned world was on the brink of collapse.
I sat there in silence for a few minutes as I tried to center myself, to process and realign.
My guys.
I’d been alone for a long time before I had the premonition about my lovers.
My visions were intermittent and weak. Premonition was the weakest and most unreliable of my poorly trained witch magic, so at first, I’d brushed it off as fantasy.
Until I met the strange sorcerer on a job for the national university of magic.
I’d recognized him immediately, of course, and I had felt myself drawn to him just as fast. He was all bound energy and an eager desire for adventure.
It was clear that he hated being tied to the university—a fate that befell all strong sorcerers, so they could be kept in line, filed away as educators or curators of the magical library and away from trouble.
I’d seen a kindred spirit in those eager hazel eyes. So…I stole him.
I had always been at the outskirts of the magic community.
My witch skills weren’t as strong as some, and I hated being made to behave.
I found a job with the local law enforcement agency, doing investigation and research that the others didn’t want to handle.
But stealing Melvin from the sacred halls of the prestigious university while he was supposed to be helping me with research into a pixy dust smuggling ring?
That was my first true act of the defiant mayhem that would become my life.
I squeezed his hand in mine as he told me about our first meeting.
It all came back to me in a wave of warmth and love—how we’d met, how our crazy adventures had led to so much more.
I’d never been in love before. I didn’t have the first clue how to go about loving him.
But he’d taken that in stride, with eagerness and a sense of adventure, just like everything else he did.
Then I’d come across Cassius. Fairies were generally a pain in the ass to deal with, too flighty and distractible to carry on a decent conversation and a pain in the ass to interview when I was on a job.
Officially, I’d went into the small fairy village on the outskirts of my hometown to investigate a kidnapping that was probably carried out by someone wanting fairy parts for spells.
Unofficially, I’d also hoped to swipe some fairy dust while I was at it.
It came in handy for spells, but cost a fucking year’s wages for an ounce of the good stuff.
Cassius had caught me red-handed. But instead of turning me in or forgetting what he was doing and getting distracted by some shiny new thought the way another fairy might…
he’d asked to help. He wanted out of his life and his predetermined box just as much as Melvin had.
And Cassius had one more thing going for him—blackmail.
I’d recognized his sharp, ready wit and mischievous mind the moment I looked into those summer-sky eyes.
It was either let him help so he wouldn’t die of boredom, or he’d turn me in… so he wouldn’t die of boredom.
By the time that job was over, I’d found a way to make Cassius human-sized, and I’d added one demanding, beautiful, Machiavellian fairy to my team. And my bed.
I watched Cassisus’s eyes brighten as Mel started recounting his story.
But I soon took over, all the memories rushing back.
The longer I talked, the more the illusion faded, until the man sitting in the chair in front of me was no longer a cardboard cut-out of some human bodybuilder.
He sat up tall, stretching to his full height, his iridescent dragon-fly wings flicking, then humming into excited motion as he regained himself.
His pretty, elfin face stretched into a wide smile as he darted forward to grip my face between his graceful hands.
“Mare! I swear on all the dew in the morning, I thought I was…human. And not even an interesting human. It was awful!”
I laughed and pressed a kiss to his sweet lips.
“I know. Downright disgusting. I’m so glad you’re back.
” A shimmer of fairy dust settled on my hands and clothes as he stood, moving about the room in quick, graceful motions.
“Bring Draven back. We’ve got to figure this out.
I need to see the sky, smell the grass!”
I smothered a smile and turned to Draven, who was looking a bit more with it, but still confused. Melvin started to explain how we’d met the bear shifter, but I waved him away. I remembered now. All of it. All of them.
I gripped Draven’s strong fingers in my own. “You were the hardest one to convince,” I said softly. “These two boneheads were just dying to escape. But you…I had to pry you out of your cave and force you to join us.”
Draven had come to me because he’d heard I could break shady curses, and that me and my rag-tag crew of magic users might be able to handle certain matters without bringing in the authorities.
He’d been tossed out of his clan because they found out he was gay.
Bi, really, but it was the liking men bit that the bears couldn’t stand.
He had become a hermit, living all on his own out in the woods, taking care of the creatures who lived there and minding his own business.
But then someone in his old clan was cursed with a nasty killing curse.
Draven, being the soft-hearted brute he was, had come to me with every last cent he had to his name—which still wasn’t nearly enough to cover the cost of curse removal—and begged me to save the life of the man who’d gotten him thrown out of the clan in the first place.
The man who just also happened to be Draven’s ex-lover and who had allowed Draven to be exposed and ridiculed and exiled, while he pretended to be innocent.
If that curse removal was a little bit more painful for the host than it had to be…well…I tried to help people whenever I could, but no one ever accused me of being nice.
That was my bear—kind to a fault, gentle, the exact opposite of every male shifter stereotype. And of course, we’d all fallen in love with him and practically kidnapped him from his cave in the woods.
No one told my merry band of idiots “no” once we’d set our sights on a prize.
I watched as Draven’s illusion slowly faded.
The cute, stocky guy ran a hand over his thick brown stubble and shook his head.
“Worst dream I ever had.” Then his pretty, chocolate brown eyes met mine and he quirked a smile.
“Chaotic good,” he muttered. “That’s what you said when I questioned how you could be a thief and help people. ”
I snorted with laughter. “I had to tell you something. You weren’t about to take up with a bunch of thieves and people of questionable morals otherwise!”
His grin just grew as he looked around at all of us. “Shows what you know. I woulda followed you villains to the ends of the earth the day I met you.”
I leaned in and pressed a kiss to his mouth to shut him up. “Don’t get all gooey on us now,” I said with a smile. “You know it drives us all crazy, and we don’t have time for that right now. We’ve got work to do.” I narrowed my eyes. “And a Bumblebottom to kick.”
Melvin stood with a tired sigh. “I’ve got a plan. We just need to grab Hedwig first.”
I turned to stare at him in horror. “Hedwig? Why the hell is Hedwig here?”
Mel shrugged. “He’s your best friend. I’m pretty sure Belinda wanted to humiliate everyone you love—that list is pretty small and tight knit. Of course she grabbed him too.”
I narrowed my eyes as I recalled the stuffy, aging butler who’d played a part in this horror show. “Oh, shit,” I muttered.
Mel clapped me on the shoulder and gave me a sympathetic grimace. “Yeah. Good luck dealing with him after this.”
I put my head in my hands. Maybe we should just stay here in the crumbling illusion world. Had to be better than dealing with a pissed-off Hedwig.