Zander was going to get Sawyer, with or without him.
He stormed off the moment Jasper parked the Range Rover in the garage. He went down to the gym and wrapped his hands quickly. He was going to exercise, beat out the frustration.
His workout was rapid-fire, and he was probably in the gym for an hour. He hit a rhythm, hitting the punching bag until he was sure his knuckles were bruised.
He was mad that Jasper was right, and Zander didn’t want him to be. Sawyer killed people under a name that brought fear to the hearts of Magi in power all over the world. Her combination of abilities, the depth and strength of her magic, it was no wonder she was so good at it. She could beat him into the mat without thinking. She ran circles around Elijah in armed combat.
And he wanted her.
He stopped hitting the punching bag and rested his forehead on it, holding it to stop the swaying.
He wanted her like he always had. He just didn’t care about what she did as Shadow, under Axel’s thumb, and he didn’t want anyone else to care. He wanted everyone to get the fuck over it. He wanted to chase the shadows from her eyes.
Zander had fucked a lot of women since he’d discovered what sex was. A lot. Even a couple guys, though he didn’t swing that way like Elijah.
None of them had ever been her. He could still remember that night. He shouldn’t have done it. He and Jasper were leaving. She was a girl with a crush on her only two friends. And it was the best night of his life. He’d spent years chasing it, chasing her, chasing the connection he’d had with her. The friendship, the camaraderie, the closeness without it being overbearing or heavy.
He tried sleeping with a girl who had looked like her once, and it had gone horribly. It was like he’d had an imposter in his bed.
“Fuck me.” Zander groaned. He punched the bag several more times. Catching Axel should have fixed everything. She was safe, alive.
He hadn’t realized the depth of her secrets and how those would carry over into the aftermath. He just wanted his family back together. Zander knew he was going to have to fight for that.
He wasn’t going to let this family throw it all away like his first had. Like his mother had thrown him away.
He was stepping out of the shower hours later when he felt the crack of power roll through the house. Someone had pissed off Quinn.
He sighed as Elijah jumped out of his room. Zander looked over to him and shrugged.
“I just got out of the shower,” Zander told him. “What do you think happened?”
“They are doing work for their GEDs right now.” Elijah groaned. “Want to come with me and check on them?”
“Yeah.” Zander sighed. “Let me put on pants.” He pulled the towel off his waist and walked nude back to his room. Elijah was chuckling behind him. “Enjoy the view.” Zander laughed before going into his room.
“Dick,” Elijah called after him, and Zander broke out in a grin as he grabbed a pair of sweats. He pulled them on, not bothering with anything else.
He and Elijah made it downstairs and found Vincent in the hallway outside his office, pale.
“Don’t go in there,” Vincent warned them. “Quinn’s pissed today, and I can’t figure out why. I sent Sawyer off to do her down-work nearly an hour ago, so it’s not her.”
Zander looked at Elijah, who shrugged at him this time.
“I’ll check in on him,” Elijah whispered. “Back me up. Is Jasper in there?”
“Yeah, but he’s not mad at Jasper,” Vincent mumbled darkly. Zander raised his eyebrows. What had their fearless leader done to piss Quinn off this much? They hadn’t had a house shake in nearly a year.
Elijah led them in, and Zander quickly moved to Jasper’s side. Jasper was pale but unharmed. Elijah closed in on Quinn, who snarled.
“What’s wrong, brother?” Elijah asked quietly.
“Nothing,” Quinn snapped. “Nothing at all.”
Zander didn’t need any special ability or magic to know that was a lie. He looked down at Jasper, who shook his head ever so slightly.
“What did Vincent do?” Elijah inquired carefully. Zander heard an indignant noise come from Vincent.
“Nothing,” Quinn said softer this time. “I’m just in a bad mood. It’s nothing.”
“Go for a run.” Elijah sighed. “Clear your head. You can come back to this tomorrow.”
Everyone in the room waited with bated breath to see how Quinn would take Elijah’s order. Vincent might have been their leader, but Elijah always had a way with Quinn the rest of them didn’t. Zander didn’t know if it was because of their relationship, or if the relationship was a result of Elijah’s handling of Quinn.
Quinn started to leave the room before Elijah grabbed him gently.
“We’re talking about this later,” Elijah said with stern conviction. “Don’t back-slide on us. When something’s bothering you, you need to talk.”
Zander looked down at Jasper again and narrowed his eyes. Jasper glared up at him from his seat. Vincent moved closer to them so Quinn could leave.
They all started breathing again once Quinn was out of the house and in the woods.
“He hasn’t been that cranky in a long time,” Elijah mumbled. “Vincent, what happened?”
“He’s out of practice on his more advanced reading.” Jasper sighed, cutting in before Vincent could speak. “He was having a hard time with reading some things, especially the required Shakespeare and stuff. Vincent tried to help. It’s slowed his progress in the science work because I can’t move him on until I know he can… read the words.” Elijah muttered a curse. “And he needs to be able to read to take the tests. We just need to get him through the damn tests and we can let this all go.”
“He hates reading, and he’s feeling inadequate,” Elijah guessed, looking up at the ceiling. He pulled his hat off and dusted off invisible dirt. “I should have noticed it at breakfast. He hasn’t been so angry about learning anything in a long time.”
“Why?” Zander scoffed. “No one here has ever judged him over his education level. That makes no fucking sense. And I’m more than willing to kick the shit out of anyone who does.”
“It is Sawyer,” Vincent whispered. Zander glared at Vincent. Sawyer would never judge Quinn… right? “It’s Sawyer, isn’t it?”
“Probably.” Elijah groaned. “He was just adjusting to her even being in the house, and on the property, and now she’s seeing his weakest area. None of us have told her…”
That Quinn couldn’t read or write for most of his life. He used to be illiterate, and he was currently only at the reading level of maybe a seventh grader.
They were working on it, but Quinn was in his mid-twenties and learning was slower at that age than when children normally learned these things. Hell, Quinn was older than Sawyer. They would have started when they first met him, but for nearly six months, he’d somehow kept it a secret from the team. Quinn had found every way to avoid exposing the issue.
He was prickly over it, and Zander couldn’t blame him.
“Fuck,” Zander mumbled. She could accidentally say something or ask Quinn something and really hit a soft spot. They had agreed it wasn’t her business before Atlanta, but now? If she was going to be here for five years, they needed her to know.
“Who wants to tell her, so she knows not to step on Quinn’s toes over it?” Vincent looked around between them.
They were all silent.
“I will,” Zander spoke up when no one else did. “With back-up.”
“Why are we so scared of telling her?” Jasper wondered.
“It’s not her.” Elijah chuckled. “It’s Quinn’s reaction when he learns that she knows and finds out who told her.”
“Duh,” Zander mocked Jasper, who swung a crutch at him. Zander winced as it nailed him in the thigh. “Fucking prick.”
“Asshole,” Jasper growled in reply. “Don’t make me use these to beat you to death.”
“Like you could,” Zander growled back, a s
mile beginning to form. He was always glad to see some fight in Jasper’s eyes. Or anyone’s eyes, really. Zander was a firm believer that a fight was always the best way to handle something.
“Alright.” Vincent sighed. “You both can go.”
“Fine,” Jasper groaned, standing up with the use of the crutches. “When do I get a new leg, Elijah? I’m already tired of these fucking things.”
“Uh.” Elijah frowned. “I’ve got some sketches worked up… It might take me a couple weeks to make a prototype, though.”
“Of all the things that could have happened,” Jasper mumbled.
“You’re handling it better than most would,” Zander reminded him. “I mean, you were going into shock when it happened, but you made it through surgery and got up kicking. It could be worse.”
“How can it be worse?” Jasper glared at him.
“You could have lost more?” Zander shrugged, raising his hands in mock surrender.
It made everyone in the room around him chuckle, and he grinned at Jasper, who couldn’t stop the snort of laughter.
“You could have lost something I can’t give you a replacement for” Elijah added, looking around between them. “That’s much worse.” Zander’s eyes went wide at the possibility that Elijah was suggesting. Oh yeah, that’s a horrifying prospect. And a hilarious one.
“Oh my god,” Jasper moaned, a smile lighting up his face as he shook his head. Zander grinned like a fool at his best friend. “Dick jokes! Every time, Elijah.”
“See? Worse,” Zander teased.
“I’m astounded by the maturity of my team,” Vincent groaned, covering a smile. “Astounded. The International Magi Police Organization should be honored to have you all in their service.”
“Damn right!” Zander laughed. “Now, let’s go deal with Sawyer. Elijah can deal with Quinn, and Vincent can… hide in his office. Normal day. Come on, Jasper.”
“I can find something to do, I’m sure,” Vincent muttered, narrowing his eyes on Zander. Zander took it as his time to leave.
Zander and Jasper left with Elijah. They parted ways at the staircase with Elijah heading towards the back door instead of up to Sawyer’s room. When Zander and Jasper made it outside her door in the attic, they could hear the soft music she was playing. Even outside the door, there was now a chill, a line of cold that marked her space. Zander wondered if it was going to slowly take over the entire house.
“Let’s get this over with,” Zander mumbled. “Who do you think is going to be angrier?”
“Quinn or…?” Jasper frowned at him.
“Quinn, over the fact that we told her, or Sawyer, over the fact that we didn’t.” Zander sighed.
“Damn it.” Jasper groaned, reaching forward to knock on the door.
5
Sawyer
She frowned at the knock on her door and answered it quickly. She’d been told that she would be left alone for the rest of the day to see how far she could get in the… school work. The idea of using that term made her feel stupid. She was doing high school homework, at the age of twenty-fucking-four.
She frowned at Jasper and Zander. Were they here to explain the massive surge of magic that had rolled through the house? It was obvious who caused it, but Sawyer didn’t know why. She also wasn’t sure she wanted to. Quinn’s feral magic made her hair stand on end. Whatever pissed him off that much wasn’t something she really wanted to experience.
“Guys,” she greeted them cautiously. “Want to come in?” She stepped out of the doorway and let Jasper move through while she was holding the door. She would be nice to him, he was on crutches. So after he was through, she released the door and watched Zander walk into it.
It got a laugh out of both her and Jasper.
“Damn it, Sawyer,” Zander growled, glaring at her as he came through the door. “Real cute.”
“I know.” Sawyer chuckled. “It’s not often I get to be called cute. Decided to make sure that happened once today.” There was a moment of silence before the glare on Zander’s face turned into a sly smile. Sawyer realized her mistake immediately.
“If you wanted to be called cute, there are other ways you can make that happen,” Zander growled, this time with a seductive edge. Sawyer’s next breath came out a little shallow and very airy. Zander had turned on the playboy act, and she had never liked when he got that glint in his eyes.
But what a wonderful glint it was.
“I’m sorry, Zander,” Sawyer huffed, trying to maintain some composure. “If I wanted to roll around and get sweaty with you, it would be on the mat, not in my bedsheet.”
“We could fuck there, too.” Zander smirked.
“I’ll just stab you, then.” Sawyer snorted. “If you think Jasper’s missing leg is bad, I can only imagine how you’ll feel about the body part I take from you.”
“That’s just fucking mean—" Zander coughed out, shocked, but Jasper cut them both off.
“That’s enough, you two.” Jasper groaned. Sawyer eyed him but found that he had a smile on his face. This was them. She and Zander at each other’s throats over some little shit, and Jasper putting his foot down between them. After everything, she could tell Jasper was happy they hadn’t lost this much. “We’re here to talk to you about something important.”
“A Quinn thing?” she asked, going to sit at her desk. Her box of weapons and that old, cold mask still sat there. When neither of the guys responded, she sighed. “I could feel his magic roll through the house. I thought he was going to bring it down. So if you have something important, it must be a Quinn thing.”
“Do… you want to start?” Zander whispered to Jasper, who nodded and then looked at her. She just leaned back in her chair as they both sat on her bed. The sight was nostalgic, them hanging in a bedroom, waiting to gossip about the people they lived with.
It was also painful in ways she needed to continue to ignore, if she had any sense of self-preservation. She watched Zander lean back, his shirt riding up, revealing those revolvers. Jasper got all the way onto her bed and made himself comfortable.
It was a painfully good view of them. She would file it away, with a touch of guilt, into her ‘spank bank’. She needed to stop picking up weird shit from Elijah. He was turning her into a pervert.
“Quinn can’t read,” Jasper finally said quickly, looking at her like he expected a bomb to go off.
“Huh,” was Sawyer’s only vocalization.
That wasn’t what she expected.
“Well… he can, but he couldn’t when he first joined the team. We’ve gotten him, slowly, to some level of literacy. He gets… prickly over it on occasion. We’re trying to help him. He can speak nearly every Native American tongue of North America and a few from Central and South America… but he can’t read or write… any of them,” Jasper continued. “And we are really only working on English right now.”
Sawyer continued to sit in silence and let the information sink in.
“It took us a good month or so to convince him to speak to us using only English. Apparently, Druids will mix languages together because they come from all sorts of different cultures. They also tend to stick close to the area in which they were born and—"
Sawyer raised a hand up to stop the rambling from Jasper. Thankfully, he heeded the sign.
“How old is Quinn, again?” Sawyer frowned. One of them had told her at some point, but it was escaping her.
“Twenty-five… is our best guess,” Zander groaned out.
Sawyer stood up and walked to her door, opening it for them.
“Thank you for letting me know, you can go now,” she said quickly. “I will do my best not to embarrass him. I know that’s why you’re telling me.”
“Sawyer,” Zander sat up quickly. “You’re kicking us out?”
“I’m going back to my own stuff,” Sawyer bit out. She needed to think, and she wanted to do it alone. “By the way, I’m probably capable of testing out of half this.”
“You ne
ed to test out of it all at once, though.” Jasper sighed, standing up slowly. “Thanks for listening.”
“Of course,” Sawyer whispered, patting Jasper’s chest when he stopped in front of her. He didn’t get moving again and she gave a heavy sigh. “Yes?”
“Don’t hold it against him,” Jasper pressed, giving her an intense look. “He’s really very intelligent.”
“I know. I would never hold it against him,” Sawyer kept her voice low. She did. She’d been through Quinn’s thorough survival training. She knew she had more to come now that she had magic back.
Once they were gone, she closed the door and went to lock it. And remembered, again, that her bedroom door didn’t have a lock. She really needed to get that taken care of.
She sat back down at her desk and frowned.
Quinn couldn’t read. Or rather, read well.
Did any of these guys have any experience in teaching someone to read? Why hadn’t they called for help or hired someone?
She knew the answer: because Quinn could be dangerous to someone he didn’t trust or like. She didn’t know much about Quinn, but she knew that. He was animal. He was strange. He walked to a different beat. He was the child of a Druid. He was the strongest Magi on the continent.
Quinn couldn’t read or write growing up.
She had taught someone how to read before. The thought brought tears to her eyes. She’d taught a few children how to read. Henry was just the first, but not the last.
She could do this where they may be struggling. She just hoped she didn’t get herself killed.
But she could do this for them. Since the hospital, she’d been ridden hard by the idea that they were giving her this chance. The shame of what she could do and what she had been would always be there, even if she could give the world the middle fucking finger. She knew that, but she could give this knowledge to them, this expertise in a sense. This was one thing that wasn’t criminal that she could do. Something not covered in blood and death. This clean knowledge of understanding how to help someone learn.
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