Origin (Scales 'N' Spells Book 1)

by AJ Sherwood

  It was sadly no match. Cameron got in only a couple of swings before he was grabbed and tossed into the van. In the sudden darkness, more hands grabbed him. He screamed once for Dieter and then duct tape was slapped over his mouth, followed by a dark hood. His legs and arms were bound, but the fear didn’t set in until he heard the metal van door slam shut and the engine roared to life as they sped off down the road.

  He paid attention to the movements of the van, trying to keep track of the turns, but they couldn’t have been traveling long before the van stopped, he was hauled out, and placed into another vehicle. They’d changed cars. Shit! How was Alric and his guards supposed to find him now?

  Fear sank deep into his bones, leaving him cold despite the heat of the car. His phone was still in Dieter’s car. He had no idea if the dragon was injured or even dying. He didn’t know a single damn spell to help him escape or even help Alric find him.

  And worst of all, the Jaeggi had him.

  He had no idea why they wanted him, but considering their past, Cameron was sure it wasn’t for anything good.

  For now, he could only wait and look for an opportunity to escape. He needed to get back to his dragon.

  Cameron lost all sense of time and place as the car whipped through turns and over hills. Thank god he didn’t suffer from motion sickness or he’d have an even bigger problem than just being held by a bunch of assholes. He also didn’t have a great sense of how many people were in the car with him. No one was speaking.

  A lot. He was going to go with a lot of people. It was hot, uncomfortable, and he ached from trading blows and being tossed around like dirty laundry. But all the discomfort meant nothing compared to the fear currently clawing his heart to shreds. There was no doubt in his mind Alric knew by now he’d been taken. Dieter was a tough old dragon. He would have gotten back to his feet within minutes of the van speeding off and would have called for help.

  But Alric. It was like he could feel the dragon’s fear and unrelenting rage. And guilt. Alric would blame himself for Cameron’s kidnapping. Cameron had to get back to his dragon. He needed to crawl into Alric’s lap, cup his cheeks, and kiss him until he finally agreed that the kidnapping wasn’t his fault.

  To hell with that. Cameron needed to kiss the shit out of his dragon and make sure he understood what Cameron felt about him. He needed to know Cameron was proud to be his mate and that he’d do anything to be the best mate possible because Alric was…

  The vehicle came to a sharp stop, and Cameron was thrown forward until he hit his forehead on something hard. Maybe the seat in front of him. Bastards. They could at least make sure he wasn’t getting hurt on the ride. So much for being precious cargo.

  He could hear doors being thrown open before the engine shut off and he was pulled out. The moment his feet touched the ground, his knees gave out. He winced and moaned, trying to get his body to properly move as people hooked their arms through his on either side of him, while another person freed his legs. He was half marched, half dragged from the car. The ground changed from asphalt to gravel to dirt and grass to…concrete. The sound of birds and bugs surrounded him. Definitely not within a bustling city. No voices. Just the heavy breathing of his captors holding him.

  When he reached the concrete flooring, the sounds of nature disappeared and there was a slight echo to their steps. They were inside now. In a large, open space.

  They walked for a while, making two rights before heading up some metal stairs and then down what felt like a long hall. At long last, he was dropped into what felt like a metal folding chair. It was hard and cold under his ass. With his nearly numb fingers, he could feel some of the smooth metal.

  At last, someone was speaking. The words were muffled, and he nearly moaned when he realized they were in German. God help him. When he got out of this, he was ramping up his German lessons. Maybe Alric could help him work out a suitable reward system for when he reached certain goals.

  Really? He rolled his eyes at himself. Sex. He was thinking about sexy-times with Alric while being held by Jaeggi mages. Just wonderful. He needed to get his head in the game and focus. If he didn’t pay attention, there wasn’t going to be any more sexy-times with his dragon.

  The voice got closer, and Cameron’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t understand the words, but he recognized the voice. There was a feeling of someone close to him and the black bag on his head was slowly pulled off. He blinked several times against the bright light, trying to get his eyes to adjust. Air rushed into his lungs, as it was now so much easier to breathe.

  His kidnapper leaned down and carefully resettled his glasses on his face, allowing Cameron to clearly see the face of the man who’d threatened him and his sister. That wicked grin was back, and Cameron’s blood ran cold. He’d suspected he’d be faced with this bastard sooner or later, but he’d been hoping it would be later. Preferably when Alric had found him and he was no longer bound with duct tape.

  “Our slippery American,” the man said in English with a crisp British accent. “I knew we’d meet eventually.”

  He straightened and barked out an order to one of the two other mages in the room. Cameron took the chance to quickly look around. He’d been expecting the white walls and white floor of the building he’d seen them in thanks to the drone cat. Around him was drab grey concrete while the floor was painted a darker shade of grey. Where the other building had a hospital feel, this was more military utilitarian. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be in the same building, just on a different floor. The room was largely empty, but there were a few long tables with a scattering of junk. The air was cool but smelled stale.

  The door on the far wall opened, and a woman rolled in a leather desk chair. The man took it from her with a snarl and placed it directly in front of Cameron with another ugly smile. Cameron leaned back in his own chair, trying to put as much of his body out of easy reach from his man as possible.

  Dropping into the seat, he seemed content to just stare at Cameron for several seconds, as if inspecting a treasure that had at last fallen into his hands. Cameron stared right back and had to admit the man wasn’t what he’d expected. The mage was large. Of course, other than himself, all the mages he’d met so far were women, but this man was built more like the dragons in Baldewin’s royal guard. Broad chest, wide shoulders, muscular arms straining his plain black T-shirt, and thick thighs filling out his blue jeans.

  His face didn’t scream villainous mastermind evil. Though, his thick black mustache and goatee were sort of evil. His bushy black eyebrows were down low over dark blue eyes. The rest of his face was wide, hard, and blunt, sort of like a nutcracker’s. Cameron was tempted to use this asshole’s face for cracking things open.

  “Cameron,” the man exhaled with pleasure. “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to finally meet you. You’ve led us on quite the chase.”

  “Fuck you,” Cameron snapped, though it didn’t sound anything like that with his mouth still covered with duct tape.

  “Oh, let’s fix that so you can properly swear at me,” the man mocked. He leaned forward and pinched one corner of the tape between this thumb and forefinger. Cameron tensed, trying to mentally prepare himself for it, but he knew there was no preparing for this. The man ripped the duct tape away in one quick motion and pain screamed across Cameron’s face as fine hairs and a thin layer of flesh were torn away with the tape.

  Cameron swore brokenly. He pressed his poor lips together as they throbbed. They were still tacky from the adhesive and would stick together, causing more pain when he had to force them apart. When this was over, he wanted to cover all of this bastard’s sensitive parts in duct tape and rip them off over and over again.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Cameron demanded when the worst of the pain subsided.

  The man’s grin widened. “I thought you knew.”

  “I know you’re part of the Jaeggi Clan. And…and Kaiser Jaeggi is dead.”

  His grin fell away in a heartbeat to be replac
ed with a glare. “Yes, Kaiser Jaeggi is dead—thank fuck for that. The bastard who led to the destruction of our clan can rot in hell for all of eternity,” he spat out. His lip was still curled with disgust as he stared at Cameron. “I’m Thomas Jaeggi, the new leader of my clan. The one who will save us after five hundred years of abandonment and betrayal.”

  “And the road to salvation is paved with kidnapped mages like myself and my sister?” Cameron snarled.

  Thomas chuckled and reclined in his seat, rocking it back and forth slightly in his obvious pleasure. “Oh, you and your sister are just steppingstones. A means to an end. A gateway to something bigger that will lift us out of our own private hell. And if it means we can take out the egotistical, self-righteous Burkhard clan at the same time?” Thomas held up both hands out to the side and gave a small shrug. “Well, I can’t complain about those results.”

  Cameron lunged forward, his teeth clenched. “Fuck you! Alric and his dragons are going to crush you. His mages are going to tear away any spells you’ve created. He knows exactly where I am, and his people are racing to save me right this second.”

  Thomas’s grin never wavered, but there was a new sparkle to his eyes that gave Cameron pause. “You think so?” he taunted. Shoving to his feet, Thomas grabbed Cameron’s left bicep and hauled him out of his chair. To his surprise, Thomas pulled him over to one of the long, narrow windows and pressed him so close that his nose smudged the dirty glass.

  Blinking a couple of times against the sunny brightness, Cameron’s eyes focused on the scene in front of him and his stomach twisted into a sickening knot. He’d been expecting to see part of the town he’d seen in the mirror just the other day. There should have been cute little German buildings and signs advertising services. Narrow roads and cobblestone paths. Flowerboxes boasting brightly colored blooms. But there was none of that.

  While he couldn’t see much of the building he was in, he could tell he was up on the second floor, looking down on a vast field with great dirt bulwarks. He looked as far as he could left and right, but there was no sign of a town. The open area was ringed by dark trees, as if the forest had opened up to spawn this weird facility in the middle of nowhere.

  Thomas leaned close to Cameron’s ear. “Still so confident Alric knows exactly where you are?”

  “It’s a trick. A spell,” Cameron whispered past the panic threatening to close up his throat.

  Thomas laughed and jerked him away from the window. They walked back to the chairs, and the Jaeggi mage threw Cameron back into the uncomfortable metal one. “No trick needed, little mage.”

  “Alric will find me.” Cameron believed it with all of his being. Alric would always come for him. His dragon would throw all of himself into finding and saving Cameron. Even now, he could feel a twisting fear and rage in his heart he was sure belonged to Alric. His beautiful dragon was in pain and desperate to find his mate.

  Thomas’s laugh turned ugly as he dropped into the leather desk chair and propped his left foot up on his right knee. He folded his hands together on his flat stomach and smiled his smug smile. “Alric and his band of idiots couldn’t find us even if we handed him a map. We have been living right under his nose in that town for nearly a century. Even after the war, the Jaeggi never left his territory. We’ve been right here. He found us only because I let him find us!” His rant ended with him roaring in Cameron’s face.

  Cameron could only grit his teeth and sit in silence. He’d rather slam his forehead into the bastard’s nose, breaking it, but right now, Thomas was in the mood to talk. Let the asshole talk. Alric would find him, and Cameron would be able to give Alric all this valuable information the smug fucker was just dropping into his lap.

  “Why now? After all this time, why let him find you?” Cameron sneered.

  Thomas’s foot thunked back on the concrete floor, and he placed his hands on his knees as he leaned forward. His evil smile nearly stopped Cameron’s heart. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”

  “What?” Cameron choked out.

  Thomas reached out with his right hand and Cameron jerked backward, trying to get out of his reach, but it was stupid. He was still bound and trapped in a freaking folding chair. Thomas roughly grabbed Cameron’s jaw under his chin, holding him still while he gently pushed Cameron’s glasses back up his nose.

  “You’re not just a stepping stone for our ascension, Cameron Park. You’re also bait.”

  A new fear slammed through Cameron. This wasn’t just about getting Cameron for whatever their horrible plan was. They were actually going to attack Alric and his dragons. Cameron sucked in a harsh breath and jerked backward. Thomas released him and stood.

  “Alric is the last in a very long line of dragon kings. What do you think would happen to his clan with no heir waiting in the wings? Even an heir as weak and damaged as Alric.”

  “There is nothing weak or damaged about Alric!” Cameron snarled before he could stop himself. “When he finds me, he’s going to tear you apart.”

  Thomas stood over Cameron, a strange expression on his face. “Wouldn’t it be interesting to see him try? But I haven’t yet decided if I want to keep him for my plans or just destroy him in front of his own people. I can only imagine how demoralizing it would be for those giant lizards to watch their pathetic king destroyed by yet another Jaeggi mage.”

  Cameron sucked in a breath to swear at the mage, but Thomas was already turning away and walking toward the door, likely dismissing Cameron from his mind as he plotted the death of Alric and the rest of the Burkhard clan. He swallowed down the words and watched Thomas pull open the door. The Jaeggi leader barked something Cameron couldn’t quite catch at the man and woman standing guard outside the room. Cameron caught a glimpse of more grey walls and grey floor, but that was it before the door slammed shut, followed by the soft click of a lock being turned into place.

  He was alone.

  They’d actually left him alone in the room. Seriously? This was the downfall of every evil villain in James Bond, action, and spy movies. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t James Bond. Cameron snorted to himself. He wasn’t even James Bond’s less skilled cousin Harry Bond. Oh Lord. If this was the direction of his thoughts, he needed to get out of there fast. And dammit, he wished he had his bag. He and Gunter had planned for this, why hadn’t he taken his bag? Cameron really could be smarter than this. He mentally kicked himself for letting his panic beget stupidity.

  First, he had to figure out if they were watching him. Slowly, he pushed back to his feet and walked around the room. Thanks to his training with Lisette, Cameron at least felt confident he could sense when a spell was being used near him, and there was nothing in the room to indicate they’d placed any kind of spell on the room. The other building had also shown that the Jaeggi preferred to rely on technology for their security rather than wards. As far as he could tell, there were no security cameras in the room monitoring his movements. Maybe they had just moved in and hadn’t set up all their security yet.

  Well, the best way to figure it out was to do something he wasn’t supposed to do.

  Sitting on the floor, he wiggled and folded up his long body, working his bound hands in front of him. He was panting, his shoulders ached, and his jeans were coated in a layer of dirt and dust by the time he was done, but he got it.

  Thanks to Cassie’s weird fascination with strange YouTube videos and challenges, he knew exactly how to get free of the duct tape without a knife. One bored weekend when they were both home from college, Cassie had Cameron bind her hands and feet with duct tape to see whether these video instructions actually worked for escaping. Their parents had been less impressed, thinking it wasn’t the most productive use of their time for a Saturday night.

  Getting back to his feet, he lifted his hands high above his head and then brought them down, forcing his elbows to go past his ribcage. It took several tries with this sharp, jerking motion, but the tape finally ripped. Using his teeth, he worked on tearing the tape away
from his wrists until he was free.

  He wadded up the tape, tossed it to the floor, and waited with his breath held for someone to storm in and tape him up again. Or maybe they’d use something like rope or handcuffs. He had tricks for those as well thanks to Cassie, but the duct tape was by far the easiest for him to escape from.

  But the door never opened. Mages didn’t rush in to stop whatever he was planning. If they were watching him, they obviously didn’t see him running loose in the room as a threat.

  Good. They could just keep underestimating him. If they knew about him and his sister, it was likely they already knew he’d not been raised with a knowledge of magic. Probably thought he was just some normal, boring human.

  Well, this boring human wasn’t going to simply escape from their clutches. He was going to make them pay for ever threatening his clan and his dragon. They were his family, and nobody fucked with his family.

  But that wasn’t going to be the easiest of tasks. He was essentially just an apprentice when it came to using magic, and these mages clearly had a lot more experience than him.

  However, he did have a shiny new master’s in mechanical engineering that could be of use as well. Maybe a combination of the two could work to get him out of this damn building. He loved Alric, but he was not waiting around for his mate to show up and rescue him. He was not going to be bait and let Alric walk right into a trap.

  Trying to make as little noise as possible, Cameron hurried over to the tables at the far side of the room. This place might have been used as a workshop of sorts judging by the flotsam he found. The tables were covered in random bits of scrap metal, screws, a few rusty tools, and…bullets. There weren’t many. Just a handful of different sizes. But bullets meant a tiny amount of gunpowder and copper casings. Definitely useful. The primer would also have a useful chemical compound, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get at it without the proper tools.