Bonds of the Mazza

by Blake Blessing

  “There has been so many deaths from those attacks. We’re trying to learn anything we can that could help us figure out a way to stop them. Can you tell us what you saw?” I softened my voice, hoping it sounded encouraging.

  Sage stretched back and draped his arm behind me. Was he doing this for me, or was he trying to make himself feel better. My lips twitched in amusement, but I wiped my expression clean before Keeva looked at me again.

  “There isn’t really a lot to tell. The attacks happened out of nowhere. I think there were two big explosions that knocked everyone to the ground. Dark purple smoke spread really quickly. I was lucky because I was a decent distance away from the attacks. My kid brother was not.” Her voice thickened with sadness.

  “I am so sorry for your loss. Now I want to stop the attacks even more.” And I did. Children shouldn’t die like that. Children shouldn’t die at all, not until they were well out of their childhood years. “Did you notice anyone that stood out before or after the attacks? Maybe someone that was hanging around and suddenly vanished?”

  Keeva’s brow creased. “No. The closest town around the Wasaeris always has a lot of people coming and going. It would stand out more if people stuck around for long periods. If they didn’t live here of course.”

  “Of course.” I murmured.

  That was it. I had no other questions. Let’s just say investigative skills weren’t top requirements for a part-time bookshop worker slash waitress. I tried to convey to Rand and Sage that I was at the end of my questioning, to signal they could jump in anytime.

  This apparently wasn’t their strong suit either.

  Rand stood up and motioned to the door. “Thanks, Keeva. We appreciate you taking the time to sit with us. Let the next girl know she can come whenever she’s ready.”

  Keeva smiled and dipped her head, then quickly walked to the door. Her hand touched the knob, but she swung around to face us.

  “What I was going to share last night. Not about the attacks, but it’s still important,” she wrung her hands together. “The Cherries have heard whispers. Quite a lot actually. There are a lot of Fennin that feel a change is needed. They have resentment toward the humans, and they’d rather see them dead than living in ignorant bliss in the Earth realm. I think they’re bitter, believing the humans are the reason we had to create this realm in the first place.”

  “That’s not a surprise, Keeva. There’s always been that kind of talk amongst our kind.” Sage replied dismissively.

  “No, I know that. What I mean is, these people feel like they can finally do something about it. That’s all we hear about from some of our clients. How it won’t be long until we can take action. These men, they make it seem like there’s someone rallying people together.”

  My mouth popped open in shock. I didn’t expect that at all. It made sense though. Rainer mentioned how they were trying to get support to infiltrate Earth’s governments. It wasn’t a stretch to think he was building an army of Fennin. This had to have been related, right?

  “Thank you for telling us, Keeva.” Rand covered my shoulder with his palm.

  “No problem. I’ve never been to the Earth realm, but I don’t hold any ill will toward humans. Maybe you and your friends can do something about it.” With that, she left the room and Rand fell back in his seat.

  “That wasn’t what I was expecting. You, Sage?”

  “No. She seemed really distraught about it. You think it’s as big a deal as she’s making it out to be? About all the girls hearing the same rumors from multiple clients?”

  Rand rotated on his end of the couch, putting his back against the arm and he folded his leg between us.

  “It appears so. You think Cab will know anything? He didn’t mention it this morning. If he was aware, he would have said something.”

  “Would he?” Sage copied Rand and turned toward us. Fighting the sensation I was in the way, I scooted back to balance us so I wouldn’t be a door in the conversation.

  “We’ve been friends for years. I think he would. Let’s see what the rest have to say before we approach Cab.” Rand laid his hand over mine, stroking his thumb over the ridges of my knuckles. “You did really well.” His voice was warm and affectionate.

  “I tried. I was happy to let either of you take the lead, but neither of you spoke up.” I shrugged.

  Rand brought my hand to his knee. “There’s a history with some of these girls, Iss. I can speak for both of us when I say we feel more comfortable with you taking point. If you miss something, we’ll jump in but you asked all the questions I would have asked.”

  There was that icky feeling again, crawling all over my insides.

  Sage nodded in agreement leaving me momentarily floored.

  “You’re with Rand for once?”

  “Don’t act so surprised. If he’s right, he’s right. It’s just rare.” Sage zeroed in on our locked hands.

  Rand scoffed and pulled away. “We need to figure out a way to reach Yunez. There’s only so much information we can get from the girls. If we’re going to make any real traction we need access to the businesses around the Wasaeris, where the travelers congregate. Not to mention, I’ll go crazy in here.”

  I tapped my bottom lip with my forefinger. “Before we contact Yunez, let’s test it out. We can go out after we speak to all the girls. What if you all were right, and it was a fluke where Yunez’s illusion hadn’t set in all the way?”

  Sage pressed his lips together. “I don’t know, Iss. I get what you’re saying and I would say let’s test it out, but what if we get that reaction again? It’s going to cause a problem if we’re out in the streets. And you are not going back to the Stag room.” He fisted his hands on his knees.

  What was it with the Stag room? I hadn’t brought up the Cherry room once since we’d been in the suite. Much. Okay, I totally had, but I didn’t dictate their lives the way Sage attempted to mine. “Give it a rest, Sage. I have no interest in going back there. You’re acting as if it’s the candy store and I’m aching for a lollipop. The streets were deserted when we came. It would probably be much safer and easily controlled if we run across one or two people rather than a room full.”

  “It’s not a bad idea, Sage. We’ll also have better information to relay to Yunez. I say let’s go for it.” Rand gently smiled at me.

  “It’s settled then, we’ll head out after we talk to all the Cherries.” I hopped up, ready to grab my cloak right then.

  Sage muttered under his breath as he stomped to the bathroom. I giggled at his sourpuss attitude and Rand joined in. It felt really good to laugh.

  Our suite was a revolving door the rest of the day, bringing one Cherry after another. Then one lone Stag who brought our trunks.

  The information we gathered was pretty fucking useless. So many of the girls had never witnessed an attack, only lost someone to the explosions. They hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary or suspicious. The only thing even moderately interesting was how several of the patrons were all hot for making humans bow to all of Fennina.

  When we asked who the patrons were, they refused to name them.

  Dead. Fucking. End.

  “That helped nothing.” I banged my head against the wall by the front door, after the last girl left.

  “It’s not that bad, my love.” Rand flopped on the wall next to me.

  “Are you kidding? This is a fucking disaster.” Sage dropped on my other side and ran soothing fingers down my back. Damn him, it felt nice.

  I flipped around so my back was to the wall. It would have been weird to talk to them with my face smooshed into the crème paint. Rand and Sage moved closer until I was tucked in a tidy little man sandwich. My breath caught at the close proximity of these two men.

  They must have felt something too, because Sage covered my stomach with his palm, and Rand placed his hand directly above Sage’s. The heat from their bodies licked down to mine, straight to my core. My hands whipped up and clasped onto each of their shoul
ders, pulling them closer.

  My head fell back against the wall and when I opened my eyes, Sage was right there. I got lost in his pupils as they expanded and contracted, almost completely wiping out the sea green. My fingers caressed the nape of his neck and then tugged, while I rose to my toes. His lips whispered across mine as Rand’s hand cupped my breast, kneading the soft flesh.

  Sage sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, biting and then releasing it. Against my lips he whispered, “What are we doing, Iss?”

  What did that mean? We were letting off some steam from this fucked up day. I groaned and slid my own hand around to clutch Rand’s ass.

  “I want you both.” I whispered back.

  A coolness covered Sage’s eyes as he backed a pace. He speared Rand with a hate-filled look before bringing his attention back to me.

  “You can’t have both of us, Iss. It doesn’t work that way.” He pried my fingers from his neck, lowering my hand to my side, then stepping away. “When you’re ready for me, and only me, I’ll lock us in the bedroom for days. I’ll own you, just like you own me… But not until then.”

  My heart sped, pounding in my ears as my face flushed in embarrassed anger. “Thanks for reminding me what an asshole you are, Sage. I forgot there for a minute.” Shame filled the pit of my stomach like molten rocks, when I realized I would have taken them both, happily. I knew I could only pick one, it would have been unfair to lead them on. Actually, no. “Have you ever heard of test driving the car before you buy it?”

  Before these guys waltzed into my life, multiple partners never even crossed my mind. But now, it was something I craved and I couldn’t help who I wanted to sate the hunger. Even if it was multiple someones.

  Sage’s voice was loud as he retreated to the bedroom. “It doesn’t work that way in our world, Iss. You have to decide if you want to bond yourself to me… or Rand.”

  He didn’t mention I could bond to any potential Janer mate. I guess it was decided it would either be Sage or Rand, because no one else was welcome in their brotherhood.

  Rand stepped closer as if to sooth my jagged pride, but I pulled away completely and followed Sage. “Fuck you. Let’s go test out the Mazza draw. If we aren’t going to have any fun, we might as well see if we can make any progress.”

  Rand tangled his fingers with mine, and stopped me from moving any farther. “Maybe we should grab dinner and cool off before going out.”

  “No, Rand. Iss is set on testing Yunez’s abilities, let’s go now. There’s a pub close to the Wasaeris, we can grab dinner there.”

  “Perfect. We can eat and work.” My lip curled at Sage’s haughty attitude. He was hot, but sometimes I wanted to throttle the dick. And not in the fun way.

  Rand sighed and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he silently prayed for patience with the children we morphed into. For a second, I felt bad for him. This entire trip into Fennina had been nothing but heartache. Not to mention he probably would rather be anywhere than hanging out with Sage.

  “Let’s go.” Our shoes waited in a line by the door, and our cloaks hung on fancy ass bronze wall hooks. Before I knew it, we were on our way and finally out of that suite. I was beginning to get cabin fever. “Do we need to lock the door, or is there a key?” I turned to Rand. Sage didn’t exist for me right now.

  “No, my love. No one here would break into that room, only Cab’s employees and close friends have access to this wing. We don’t have anything of value anyway.” Rand shrugged.

  “My love, my ass.” Sage mumbled under his breath as he walked ahead of us.

  Boys. I had to thank Yunez for his choice of my traveling partners when I saw him next.

  My LL came to mind. I was missing those guys more than I thought possible. A smile played at the corners of my lips when I thought about Nato’s domineering ways. I’d never admit it to him, but it was so sexy.

  Sage was in the lead as we navigated the back hallways, until we reached a different foyer than the one we entered through. Back entrance, maybe? It must be during their working hours because we only pass one flossy girl.

  He hesitated at the door, then pushed it open, a gust of freezing wind passing over us. The cloak was heavy and soft, blocking out the worst of the cold. It was so comfy, I’d be wearing the shit out of this, even back home. I flipped the hood up over my head as we descended the stairs to the street below.

  Low lights shone through windows of the buildings lining the street. It was night and the eggplant sky hung over our heads. The stars were so large and bright, it had to have been intentional on the Fennin’s part. Assuming they built this realm to their tastes.

  “How did you all come to this realm? I didn’t ask before but did you find this place, or was it created with magic?” They were alone on the street save for a cloaked individual sitting in an alcove.

  “The Fennin found a way to create the portals, but this place was much different back then. Essentially a gray mud desert with little vegetation and hardly any animal life. They used their combined powers to make it what it is today.” Rand explained.

  “That’s amazing. I don’t even know what I need to know about the Fennin culture. There’s so much to learn.” The weight of the unknown settled over my shoulders.

  “You’ll get there. Once we fix the issue we’re working on, we can sit down and teach you all the important things you need to know.” Rand made it sound like we were trying to fill a shift or fix the sink at the diner.

  I wished I had as much confidence in our abilities as he did.

  “Where’s this pub?” I peered at shops as we walked down the street but nothing looked even similar to a restaurant. With all the buildings and boutique shops it resembled a regular city street. “And where are all the people?”

  Sage turned toward me, the shadows hiding his face completely from my view. “It’s just up ahead. It’s one of the only places to still stay open so close to the Wasaeris. Once people realized the attacks weren’t going to stop, they migrated closer to the other settlements. You’ll find more bustle in the city where Aamori lives, than here now. It’s a shame really.”

  The wind whistled through the shops and down alleys, my cloak dancing around my legs. I was still in the shift underneath the cloak, so hopefully this was the kind of place I could keep it on. I loved the outfit Cabbie provided but I didn’t want to share it with the rest of the realm.

  The silence dragged between us like a heavy chain weighing us down. I wasted so much time since coming through the portal, I hadn’t gotten to know either Rand or Sage any better. I needed to take more advantage of this opportunity. Treat our time together like the bachelorette, any downtime was get to know you time. Lord knew when I’d have to make a decision.

  “Tell me your favorite childhood memories.” I blurted out.

  Two heads whipped in my direction, but without street lights here, their expressions were a mystery to me.

  “Are we playing the dating game?” Amusement clung to Sage’s words.

  “Don’t mock me. You want me to be sure who I want to pick as my Janer mate, I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity.”

  “Relax, Iss. I didn’t mean to make light of what you’re trying to do. I understand. I want you to get to know me.” Sage conveniently left Rand out of his reply.

  I stopped dead in my tracks. “Fuck, Sage. I’ve had enough of your shit. What is your problem? You’re acting like a rancid asshole!”

  I felt ridiculous screaming at him while my face and body were hidden under so much material. It was like I screamed at him from a pile of blankets, and that only increased my ire.

  “I’m acting like an asshole? What we’re doing here is dangerous, Iss. We’re separated from everyone else and people are reacting how they shouldn’t be.” With a cloaked arm, he pointed back to the pleasure house.

  I was so angry, but choked laughter escaped anyway. He looked like the freaking grim reaper as he towered over me. But this wasn’t funny so I tamped it down. />
  “Laugh it up, Iss. All I’m saying is that we aren’t taking a stroll on the beach for the hell of it. I’m worried.” He shuffled a step closer.

  Some of my anger deserted me. This was the first time he really admitted any of his feelings. Oh, we all knew when he was scared or uncomfortable because he didn’t hide it for shit, but his admission meant something.

  “Can you not be such a dick? That’s all I’m asking.”

  The edges of his hood fluttered in a strong breeze. At first, I thought the conversation was over, reverting back to his denial. Then a weary sigh filled the silence.

  “I’m sorry. I have been a dick, even more than usual. Just, being in this place, it’s bringing back lots of memories. Some good, some bad. On top of everything else we have going on, I feel like everything’s out of my control. I’ll watch it from now on.” The chip he’d been carrying around on his shoulder crumbled right before my eyes.

  Maybe I’d get the old Sage back now. Not the Sage from the beginning, he was a douche. But the Sage from the porch. That would be nice.

  Sage took another step closer. “Are we good?” There was a hesitancy in his voice as he entered my personal bubble.

  “We’re fine. Too much drama and not enough food. I think we’re all a little high strung right now.” I bumped shoulders with Sage in a silent truce.

  Sage wrapped his arm around my shoulder, tugging me into his warmth, and I let him. “I already shared one of my happiest memories with you…” he trailed off, my mind immediately went to the morning on the porch, right before everything went to hell. He told me how he was on a bad path due to ill fortune and bad circumstances, and how he collided with Nato and Egan. Literally. That was such a sweet story, my heart lightened at the thought of how my guys bonded and looked out for each other.

  “What I didn’t tell you, was my life before my family died, was a perfect life. I had a loving mom, a proud dad, and the cutest baby sister. I… I lost them all in the attack, but we had some great memories.” I was completely enthralled by his story. “I think my favorite one, was during my first school picnic. It was the end of what you would refer to as primary school. I was eight, maybe. Each student had a large leather card where teachers and classmates wrote wishes and memories. I guess kind of like a yearbook? My teacher wrote that I was her star pupil and had a promising future in the Janer house.” He smiled wistfully.