by Marcy Jacks
It didn’t matter if he was demoted. And it definitely didn’t matter if the entire coven knew he’d been fooling around with a dragon when he was supposed to be working. Jason was not about to let the coven, the elders, or his peers think he was being taken advantage of, or that Marek was some sort of rapist running around their territory.
No fucking way.
Alistair rubbed at his jaw. He nodded finally, as though coming to a conclusion. “Well then, this does change a few things, doesn’t it?”
Jason felt himself relaxing. This was good. This was going better than he’d hoped it would. “Does this mean you’ll release the dragon?”
“No, he will stay. And as for you.” Alistair lifted his aging hand. Jason wouldn’t have thought it possible with his arthritis, but he snapped his fingers, a decidedly cracking sound in the room, and something cold appeared around Jason’s wrist.
A shackle. A lock snapped immediately into place, the key vanishing right into Alistair’s possession somewhere, before the thing solidified itself onto his body.
Jason looked at it, stupefied by the sight of it.
He touched the lock, confirming that it was real, but part of him still would not believe what he was seeing.
“A…really?”
This was worse. This was so much worse.
“But I just said everything was fine. You said you thought he was raping me a minute ago. Is this really necessary?”
“After what happened with Arthur, yes.” Alistair’s eyes narrowed. “We respect James, and after his son cast that spell on the dragon…while we are grateful for this new peace, I am not about to rule out the chance that you may be under the influence of this dragon.”
“He said he didn’t cast a spell on me.” Which was a stupid thing to say considering the situation he was in. “I don’t think their clan knows any sort of spell casting.”
He needed to shut up. He really needed to shut up and stop defending him.
“It’s not the dragon’s weak magick I am concerned about. More that this could be some sort of after effect of Arty’s foolish spell.”
Jason didn’t like hearing that. Arty was his friend, and he was terrible at spell casting, but he’d still done something beneficial for the coven.
“Arty’s spell brought us peace with this particular dragon clan.”
“For the moment,” Alistair said. “This dragon, peace agreement or no, has wandered onto the territory, and you have forsaken your duties to fornicate with him in the woods when anything could have happened. Young Arthur is missing again, and I am not in the mood to tell his father this news when there is a dragon on our property convincing you, a new warrior, promoted well before your time, to ignore your duties.”
The more he spoke, the more it really did start to sound kind of bad.
“Am I under arrest then?”
Alistair tapped his wasting cheek. “No. You are merely to be watched. That is not to imprison you, but your magick will be stunted with it.”
No kidding. Jason looked down at the shackle once more. It wasn’t attached to any chain. It was just an iron shackle around his wrist, held in place with a padlock. To anyone with no magical talent, it was basically a bracelet he couldn’t take off. To Jason, he already felt the drain. He felt himself devoid of the thing he’d known and felt for his whole life. His talent, even a little of his life force.
He didn’t think he could cast a spell to light a match to save his life.
It was…weirdly disorienting.
He wanted it off. Right now.
“This isn’t necessary.”
“When we assumed this one had been forcing you to behave in ways you did not wish, we would have thought so, too,” Alistair said. “But to know that you willingly allowed yourself to be distracted for a dragon…no. Until we know more, you are to cast no spells. I will not take the risk that you have thrown your hat in with the dragons.”
“We are at peace with the dragons,” Jason said between clenched teeth.
Alistair narrowed his eyes. “And we do not know how long that peace will last, if for very long at all. You are forbidden from spell casting until this matter is sorted out, and you are temporarily demoted from warrior class. If, after everything is settled, all things line up, we shall see what your condition will be then.”
That didn’t sound so hopeful. “What about him? What are you going to do with the dragon?”
Alistair took in a deep breath through his nose. “We will ask him if he knows what happened to James’s son, and if he can be returned.”
Chapter Four
For the next several hours, Jason was in a frenzy.
He wanted to murder Adrien and Jeremy, but he didn’t tell them that because even joking about something like that right now—and he wasn’t entirely sure how much of a joke it was—would get back to the elders, and they would assume he was no longer loyal to the coven.
They’d seen Jason on his knees, blowing Marek, and they’d thought Marek had been…
He didn’t even want to think it. It was disgusting to think about, and maybe, had it been true, he would have appreciated the care they had tried to take, he would have been grateful for them stepping up to the plate for him, defending him. No. Since it was a clear misunderstanding, now he wanted to tear into them.
But he didn’t. He kept his mouth shut as they escorted him back to his house.
He’d been given a small home of his own, and not just a room with the others, after he’d been promoted. The house was tiny, but it was bigger than the single bedroom he’d had back when he lived in the commons.
Jason was one of the warlocks who didn’t have parents. Mainly because they’d abandoned him when he was still too young to even remember what they looked like. His magickal talent had scared the hell out of them. So, they gave him up to the nearest coven they could find and he never heard from them ever again.
That wasn’t so uncommon with kids born with magickal talent who had no one else in the family to care for them. Even some of the parents who weren’t leaving their own kids behind permanently still dropped off their kids for the summer at covens like this—if only so their sons and daughters could learn how to control their gifts before the parents came back for them for the normal school year.
As if this place was a summer camp.
To some, it was, to others, it was a way of life.
Jason was one of those people. This coven was his life. He’d spent all his time here. He didn’t have parents to take him home when the summer ended. He’d lived here year-round since he was a little kid, and now, everything he’d worked for was in trouble.
“We’re really sorry,” Jeremy said. Jason ignored him. “We honestly thought…but even if what you said was true, we still couldn’t just not do something.”
Jason said nothing. He didn’t care about what they said to him right now, and he didn’t want to look at either of them.
He slammed his front door in Adrien’s face when they made it home. He didn’t care if he was being unfair, either. They had Marek. They’d thought the guy was a pervert, but now they thought he might have something to do with Arty disappearing? And when the hell did that happen?
Arty had always been so bad at magick. How could he get out of the coven without anyone noticing he was gone?
Nothing made sense, and everything was falling apart on him.
Jason hated it. Everything was normal when he’d started his shift earlier today, and now it was all so fucked up he wanted to rip out his hair.
He should have done more. He should have defended Marek more.
But, what if it was true? That one thought kept worming its way through his mind. What if Marek did have something to do with Arty vanishing from the coven? What if he’d been sent as a distraction?
Jason shook the thought from his head. No. That made no sense. First of all, why bother with distracting Jason? Especially when he’d been all the way out in the woods. Made no sense. He was Arty’s fri
end, but they weren’t joined at the hip.
Honestly, what if Arty had just decided to go back to that dragon? The spell he’d cast had bound them, and Jason had suggested that maybe when the elders had tried to undo the magick, it hadn’t worked.
Arty had acted as though he was suffering from a broken heart ever since he came home from being imprisoned by the dragons, and now he was just gone?
Jason flopped himself into the nearest chair. He looked at the shackle on his wrist with disgust.
They didn’t have to do that to his magick. That was such bullshit, and now he had this to think about on top of everything else.
They’d better not be hurting Marek.
Jason wanted to ask the man for himself if he knew what was going on. He wanted the man in one piece for that.
So, he waited, and waited, and waited. The moon had long since come out by the time Jason knew he had to do something. Marek would have been awake hours ago, and the fact that Jason wasn’t there for that bothered him on a level he didn’t want to think about.
But not because he was in love or something. It was an honor thing and nothing more. Jason had been having sex with the guy when he was jumped. He didn’t think Marek would be in a mood to trust anything from anyone when he woke up.
And then to be grilled about a missing warlock…
Jason opened the door to his house, deciding to set out—
And was shocked to see Dylan standing guard at his door.
The man jerked when the door opened. He’d actually set up a lawn chair to sit in while he performed his duties, and when Jason opened the door, he stood up quickly.
“Uh, hey man. How’re you doing?”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “Are you serious?”
Dylan raised his hands and took a step back. “It wasn’t my idea. I’m just doing my job here.”
“And they think I need a guard after they took my fucking magick and accused me of betraying the coven? For real?”
“Did they accuse you of betraying the coven?”
“They made it clear with this.” He raised his hand so Dylan could better see the shackle.
Dylan winced. “Fair enough, but come on, you were with a dragon.”
“We’re at peace with them now.”
“Yeah, barely.”
Jason rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe he needed to hear this shit from Dylan now, too. “Whatever.” He pushed passed the man, pleased Dylan didn’t try to stop him. Though Jason was sure he could take the man in a fight, he had to remind himself that, without his magick, he was as helpless as any normal human.
God, it was like having his hands tied behind his back. He was never going to get used to this.
“Jason, uh, I don’t think you’re supposed to be leaving your house.”
“I’m not going to do anything. I just want to see if he woke up.”
“You mean the dragon you were with?”
Jason didn’t stop walking, even as Dylan fell into step behind him.
He clenched his teeth. “Yeah.”
He trusted his coven. The people here raised him, taught him magick, but there was something so infuriating about having this shackle on his wrist and knowing Marek had been brought somewhere out of Jason’s reach.
That he might be cold or hungry, wondering what was going on.
Even regretting that he’d come here to see Jason at all.
Dylan came to walk beside him. “Look, you and I are friends and everything, but you’ve got to do as the elders say. They’re not doing this to punish you.”
“They think he might be hiding Arty away or something. If they’re going to use spells on him to make him talk, then I want to be there.”
“Why? Do you think they’ll do something unethical?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” But he was thinking it. A whole lot.
“Jason—”
“If you’re going to stop me, then stop me. You’re going to have to cast something on me, though, because I’m not turning back.”
Dylan stopped for a few seconds. Jason didn’t even feel bad for shocking the man like that, but he was pleased when no stunning spell hit him. Dylan just came back to his side again quickly, walking with him.
“I’ll escort you there so no one bothers you and it’s official.”
Jason inwardly sighed. “Thanks, I owe you.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
Jason struggled not to wince.
Right. After this, he was going to be owing Dylan big time. He could potentially be dragging the other man down for this, and Dylan had just as much to lose.
It wasn’t often there were prisoners in their coven, dragon or otherwise.
If anyone from another coven tried to sneak in and steal something—books, food, potion ingredients—they were questioned, and then the police were called. If a dragon came to stir up trouble, well, not that it had happened too often, but deaths were known to occur, and since it was self-defense, their coven had always been in the clear whenever a dragon tried flying over, wanting to burn things.
Their coven had a rule where they tried to work with the humans and their legal system, as much as possible. Good optics for the public to see that at least the warlocks and witches were willing to cooperate.
It also meant the public was more likely to leave them alone in the event something happened.
Marek wouldn’t be kept in the community center. Too many kids came and went in there, and though classes were long since over, it was movie night. Pirates of the Caribbean would be playing, and having a dragon prisoner only a few feet away from where the kids and tweens were munching on popcorn wouldn’t be the best idea.
Jason knew where to go.
There was a small building used for storage. Whenever there was a situation like this, where someone needed to be contained for a while, it was cleared out and the prisoner was placed inside.
That’s where Marek would be.
And he’d better be all right. If Jason went to him and found out that he’d been mistreated, he would blow a gasket.
Touching the shackle on his wrist, Jason reminded himself that he needed to take a bit more care here. He would have to be more convincing than he thought himself capable. He didn’t have his magick to fall back on.
Jeremy happened to be watching the door to the storage shed, and like Dylan, he’d set up a lawn chair to relax in by the door since nothing seemed to be happening. The guy looked bored until he saw Jason coming, and then he stood quickly. “Jason, hey, uh—”
“I want to see him.”
Yeah, that was real smooth and convincing.
Jeremy looked to Dylan, who just shrugged helplessly. “I think he’s going stir crazy. Would it be a big deal to let them in the same room together?”
Jeremy clenched his jaw. “I don’t know, I really don’t.”
“I’m not going to do anything or try to help him. I can’t.” Jason lifted his shackled wrist, showing it off the same way he’d done with Dylan a few minutes ago.
Apparently, there was a small power to be had even in doing that, because every time he pointed out that his magick was sapped, he got the same wincing reaction.
“Right, well, I guess it couldn’t hurt anything. He wouldn’t talk to us.”
“He woke up?” Shit. Jason had almost hoped the man had stayed unconscious. What did he think of Jason? That he’d had something to do with this?
“Yeah, a little while ago. Spitfire, that one. Kept threatening to tear into us if we hurt you.” Jeremy snorted. “Idiot is forgetting you’re part of our coven.”
“Right…”
Jason didn’t like that. Marek woke up and his first thoughts were to be worried about him? Maybe he knew he wasn’t in that much danger?
That was good. It meant he hadn’t been scared, but then why had Jason been so worried about that? This was a dragon warrior. Of course he would show more bravery in the face of a situation like this.
Jeremy stared down at J
ason’s wrist. He looked at it as though Jason’s entire hand were broken and casted. “Does that hurt?”
“What? Oh, no, but it feels weird.”
“What does it feel like?” Dylan asked.
Jason wasn’t in the mood to play to their morbid curiosity, but if it got them to ease up and relax to the idea of letting him through, so be it.
“It feels like I’ve got a hand tied behind my back. Like one of my limbs is numb and useless.”
Both men shivered, horrified by the idea of having their own magick taken away like that. Of being bound. And Jason was all right with that. He didn’t like it when people felt sorry for him, but if it got him what he wanted, then so be it.
“Christ, that’s some serious magick,” Jeremy said.
“I didn’t even know Alistair could do something like that.”
“At his age, he probably shouldn’t.”
Both men continued to examine Jason’s wrist, tutting over it and commenting about the power it took to create such a spell, and the terror of having such a punishment bestowed upon any of them.
Jason was running out of time here. He didn’t think he had all night. “So, look, I know it’s asking a lot, but do you guys think maybe I could…”
“Oh!” Jeremy dropped his wrist, stepping back. He seemed to think about it. “Yeah, I think I can give you ten minutes. But that’s it, just ten minutes,” he said. “I don’t want Alistair sticking me in that thing either if he finds out.”
Jason nodded. “Right, don’t worry about it. I’m just going to ask him if he knows where Arty went.”
“Are you sure that’s all you want to do?”
When Jason looked at him, Dylan turned his gaze away sharply, and he actually blushed.
Jason couldn’t help the heat that also rushed through his own body at the suggestion. He didn’t bother with answering that. He was not going to dignify that with any kind of response.