“I won’t go in that rainforest,” Quinn growled. “Ever. I’ll tell them what I know, then we’re done. I’m not going after Druids. I’m not getting involved in whatever is going on down there.”
“You knew something was going on?” James asked, looking confused.
“I could feel it all the way in Georgia,” he answered.
“Okay.” James looked shocked but recovered quickly. Quinn knew he wasn’t normal. He knew Elijah had been shocked by the information as well, knowing he could feel Druids that far away when they used the full strength of their magic. “Let’s go meet these people.”
James led him to a meeting room and Quinn went in before his wolves, so he could make sure the room was safe, that no threats were there.
It was full of soldiers of various ranks he didn’t care about. He knew them. He could understand the patches with chevrons and stars. He just didn’t give a shit. He was the most powerful Magi in the room and therefore the dominant one. They would listen to him or he would leave.
“Let me introduce you all to Special Agent Quinn Judge, son of Fiona, a Druid of Northern Canada,” James announced. “You requested his help with your current mission.”
“It’s good to meet you,” one man said as he stood up. Quinn didn’t shake the hand offered when the colonel stepped in front of him. “I’m Colonel Fischer, Harold Fischer.”
“I hope I can help.” Quinn kept it short. He hoped he could help them not get themselves killed. Nothing more.
“We think you can,” the colonel mused. “What do you know about the Amazon rainforest?”
“It spreads over nine different nations of South America, but that’s not what you want to know,” he answered and corrected Colonel Fischer in the process. “You want to know about the Druids that call it home.”
“Ah, James must have given you a quick rundown,” another male said from the table.
“No. I knew something was happening down in that region concerning Druids for a few weeks. James just told me that’s what you wanted to talk about,” Quinn corrected him too. He didn’t normally play word games like Vincent or Sawyer could. He didn’t understand much of the nuance of language, but he knew when someone was flat out wrong. That male had been wrong.
“What can you tell us?” the colonel asked, going back to his seat.
“That whatever you are planning will probably lead to a lot of people dying. I would recommend just not getting involved.”
“Is he serious?” a third man cut in, looking at James. “Does he know who he’s talking to?”
“He is serious, and he does know who he’s talking to,” James replied darkly. Quinn knew his handler took him seriously. James would never disregard anything he said. “Quinn?”
“The Druids in the Amazon have always been more aggressive than most. They are wilder than Druids in other areas of the world. It’s probably the isolation and environment,” he explained. “If you think they are out there killing innocent people living in the area, then you must be thinking that you want to go in and put them down. You will only get more people killed. You should just evacuate people living near their borders and make a deal with them that lets them extend further out.”
“How would you know? You’re from Northern Canada,” the colonel asked. Quinn and his wolves could all smell the indignant anger, as if they threatened him personally.
“Druids all over the world talk. I was raised by them. I heard things, learned from them.”
“How do they talk?” Quinn didn’t see who. Female.
“The animals. All of them,” Quinn said nonchalantly. To him, it was normal. Shade and Scout frequently brought him information from any animal willing to share with them. Normally, his wolves just heard the birds and reported that. Birds were full of rumors. “You think only bonded animals have any intelligence? They might grow more intelligent than most, but that doesn’t mean everything else is stupid.”
“You’re kidding,” one scoffed. “Who is this kid?”
“The most powerful Magi in the Americas, excluding the Druids and the Nymphs. Probably the world,” James reminded the stranger. “You wanted him here, you wanted to know what he knows. Expect that he’s only going to tell you the hard truth.”
“Well.” The colonel grabbed a remote and hit a button. Quinn heard something turn on and a projection hit the far white wall. “We’re planning a deep recon mission that has a ‘kill on sight’ objective if a Druid turns aggressive on them. Right now, two villages have gone off the grid with no trade contact. Magi and non-Magi in the area are saying that the Druids have been overtaking their fields and destroying their homes as they push the boundaries of the rainforest back out.” The map on the projection had spots with village names. Red areas where farms had been destroyed. “If my men can’t kill a Druid to stop this, what can?”
“No one,” Quinn answered. He only knew one person who had before. Him. No one would ever know that though unless he told them.
“You have,” a woman called out from her spot. He glanced over to her, shock racing through him. He’d been too confident too soon. “You have once before. It’s why I wanted you here, to listen to this, and join the mission.”
“How do you know that?” Quinn asked, anger flowing through him, a rage he had forgotten he was capable of. Human women. They always seemed to know too much. This black haired, cold-eyed bitch looked like she thought she knew everything.
He instantly hated her.
He held back the want to kill her where she sat. He chained it down. Six months ago, he wouldn’t have. Six months ago, this woman would have died the moment she’d pissed him off. He was only holding back now for…he didn’t know exactly why. He knew he didn’t want to be a monster, a feral, too-powerful beast…was that the reason? Did killing this bitch make him a monster?
“I worked protection for a Magi scientist who studied them,” she answered. “It’s why I’m here. The scientist is also here, answering questions. We went to Northern Canada about two years ago. We’ve met Fiona. You have her eyes, Rogue Wolf. You killed the Druid she had wanted to take over her territory when she passed.”
Quinn snarled. His mother spoke to outsiders about him? Told strangers and outsiders his given name? How fucking dare that raving bitch in heat. If Quinn remembered his mother right, she probably slept with the scientist in exchange for talking to him.
“If you want to live through the rest of this meeting, you will call me Quinn,” he growled. That was the line. He wasn’t going to hear Rogue Wolf from that bitch’s mouth again. “Did she tell you why I killed that Druid, or how?”
“No,” the woman answered. “No, Quinn, she didn’t.”
“Then don’t presume you know fucking anything,” he commanded. He wondered why fucking females always thought they knew everything. This bitch knew nothing.
“He’s killed one? Colonel…” One of the younger men at the table looked shocked.
Colonel Fischer watched him thoughtfully. “I would love for you to go with the team-”
“No,” Quinn told him finally. He felt bad for the people in the Amazon, but he wasn’t going. “I’ll consult from here.”
“I want you on the mission.” The colonel looked angry. “If you are so powerful then you can help my team go in and save these people.”
“I am powerful,” Quinn confirmed. He pushed his magic out, his Source letting it flow from him with ease, and called the earth to his command. The basement shook. He knew the building above them was shaking. The entire block of New York probably thought a small earthquake was happening, maybe even half the city. He ended it after four seconds. He’d counted, carefully.
The room was silent.
“But I am not helping you put down Druids,” Quinn finished.
“You’ll follow orders. I outrank you,” the colonel snapped. “James, you know I can force this. We need someone like him down there. This situation is getting out of hand.”
“You won’t find anyon
e else on the planet like Quinn,” James told him softly. “And I’m not going to force Quinn to do anything he doesn’t want to do.”
“So that’s it? We just let these Druids walk all over us? Take people’s homes? Run them out of the fucking jungle?”
“Yes,” Quinn answered. He wasn’t going down there and picking a fight with a group of Magi that could kill him. Not when they already wanted to. He was their enemy for a reason.
“Is there nothing I can do to get the world’s expert on Druids to go down and help my team stop this? You’ve even killed one before.”
“No.” Quinn wasn’t going anywhere near their kind. Not again.
He turned and began to leave the room, ignoring one of the soldiers cursing at them. James followed him but said nothing. Quinn could smell James’ worry and pride.
On the elevator, the handler did finally speak. “If they agree to drop the idea of you going, are you willing to give them more information?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” Quinn answered. Shade and Scout were pressed against his legs. They hadn’t liked the idea of going near any more Druids. They hadn’t liked the fear Quinn had tried to bury at the thought of it.
“Rogue Wolf?” James tested the name and Quinn snarled at it.
“The name my mother finally gave me when I grew into my abilities. Before that, for most of my life, I was just ‘boy,’” he explained to his handler. “Don’t use it.”
“Does anyone on the team know it?”
“Elijah,” Quinn answered softer. “Elijah knows nearly everything.” Not everything. Not the parts that really mattered.
“I won’t tell anyone else. I’ll talk to them when you’re gone and let them know that you are comfortable consulting them here or over conference call when you return to Georgia.”
“Thank you, James,” Quinn whispered honestly. He ran his hands through Shade’s dark fur, looking for comfort and hoping to comfort his wolf all the same. He couldn’t talk to James about the things he needed to get off his chest now as memories flooded back to him. He didn’t want to talk at all. He wanted his pack. He wanted his males around him while he was feeling raw. Raw from the city, raw from the meeting. They would be the balm he needed.
“Go back to the team,” James told him. “I got everything from here.”
Quinn did just that, heading straight for the WMC building, and forcing the idea of Druids in the Amazon out of his mind. He tried to ignore the memories of his mother, and of the Druid he killed. He felt the uncomfortable sensation of his heart being ripped from his chest at one memory that decided to haunt him before he found the team.
He wished he could forget the reason he’d killed her.
He went to a floor of meeting rooms, directed there by a receptionist. He knew one of the rooms had been assigned to the team to wait in while they were called into appointments. He entered the team’s designated room, 2-C.
He found Vincent, who pointed him silently to Elijah - Vincent’s way of saying he knew something was wrong, but he would respect Quinn’s closeness to their cowboy. It showed Quinn he had a good pack leader, a good alpha who led a group of alphas. He grabbed Elijah and was nearly panicking as Elijah followed him to a dark corner of the room.
“What’s wrong?” Elijah sounded sick with worry. “My bud, what’s wrong?”
“Druids,” Quinn answered. “They want me down in the rainforest to deal with Druids.”
“What did James say?”
“He’s not going to let them force me. They can’t anyway, but there was this one bitch who knew my name.” Quinn touched his own chest, pointing at his heart. “My name. She met my mother and now they know I’ve killed one of them before. Stupid bitch blasted my life out there to the entire room.” He wished he’d killed her. He should have ended the bitch, put her out of her fucking misery for it. He couldn’t remember why he’d stopped himself.
“Holy shit,” Elijah mumbled, wide-eyed in shock.
Quinn’s fury beat in his veins. He debated on going back and taking the building down on their heads. He wanted to, he wanted so bad. “They want me to go Druid hunting. Apparently Druids down in the Amazon are acting up. I told them that going in was going to get more people killed.” He was snarling as he spoke, unable to hold down his feral rage.
“We’re not letting you go to the Amazon,” Elijah whispered. “We’re not. I’m not letting you anywhere near that place, Quinn.”
“The Druids down there are even wilder than my mother,” Quinn told him. His mother was crazy. Druids tended to go mad from isolation. He knew what no one else did. He was raised by her. The scars on his back were evidence of how far the madness could go. He didn’t want to know how much crazier the Amazon Druids could get.
“Elijah is right,” Vincent called out softly. “You aren’t going anywhere near that. IMAS can get their own men killed. James and I won’t allow them to get you killed, too.”
“They can’t make me,” he growled. “I’ll fucking kill them if they try.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it’s needed…Quinn, you can quit. You aren’t beholden to this organization like Sawyer is. You don’t need to work for them, or follow their orders.” Vincent walked closer. Quinn let him. He trusted Vincent and his other packmates. He might have gone to Elijah first, but Vin was their leader, even if he wasn’t the most powerful Magi in the room. “If you decide to quit, if that’s what it comes to, you will always have a home with us. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the team or not.” Vincent gently touched his upper arm. “We got you, brother.”
“Thank you.” Quinn’s heart swelled. Vincent had called him brother. Their leader was changing, relaxing, growing closer to those around him. “What about Sawyer?”
“You quitting the team shouldn’t have anything to do with her. Don’t worry. We aren’t letting anyone take her either.” He made it sound like a promise. “Quinn, this isn’t the end of the world.”
“He’s right,” Elijah agreed. “It’s not. It’s shitty that some bitch knows who you are, knows some of your past, and tried to drag you into an IMAS mission, but it won’t ruin everything. I mean, everyone here knows what you did after you left the Druids, and it’s never been an issue.”
“Yeah,” Quinn sighed. He slaughtered part of a non-Magi biker gang that thought to mess with him. He hadn’t realized at the time what he’d done was wrong, protecting himself in the most violent way possible. Vincent and Elijah explained it to him when they found him. It had never been held against him, but it was a bad introduction to the world around him. “I’m just so angry. Why did they think I would be interested in going down there?”
“We can tell you’re mad.” Elijah chuckled. He didn’t get the joke, but Elijah sobered and continued, “They aren’t thinking about what you want.”
“No.” Vincent sighed. “It’s about what they want. They think you’ll make sure their mission succeeds. They don’t care about you at all. That’s IMAS. Get in line and follow orders. Expendable.” He shook his head. “They can’t treat you like one of their grunts though. You’re a Special Agent with the IMPO. You outrank most of them.”
“Where is everyone else?” Quinn asked, ending the topic. He didn’t want to discuss Druids anymore. Period. He wanted to know where the rest of the team was.
“All in their reviews and mental health evaluations. Elijah is done, and I still need to have mine,” Vincent explained, going back to sit down.
“Yours is going to suck,” Elijah reminded him. “And Quinn, you don’t have one. They only brought you up here for the IMAS thing, it seems.”
“Good.” Quinn bit out, sitting down next to Vincent. Elijah sandwiched him between them. He liked it. Shade and Scout had gone into a corner for a nap and Quinn had two brothers flanking him while his wolves rested. It was comfortable. It eased his anger.
“I’m not looking forward to mine,” Vincent admitted. “It’ll be nearly as bad as Sawyer’s is probably going.”
Sawyer
Sawyer tapped her foot impatiently in the small office. A guard had put her in the room nearly an hour before and left her there, as if she really didn’t have anything better to do. She didn’t, but anything was better than this. The sterile, small, white office was beginning to annoy her. The lights were too bright, the furniture too uncomfortable.
It was a tactic, and Sawyer cursed herself for not realizing it sooner. Push her into a state where she couldn’t hold anything back or consider her words before she spoke. Realizing that, she calmed down and waited patiently. The tension and anxiety left her body as she mentally prepared herself for it. She had considered this would just be a meeting with a doctor who would ask uncomfortable questions, fishing for something that needed fixing. Now, she knew it was much more. They needed her to fuck up and were willing to play games with her head to make that happen.
Sawyer could play games, too.
She went to the same headspace that saw her through every piece of torture the world had thrown at her. She was doing this for someone else. Her team. They needed her to succeed. She would take the abuse: the uncomfortable chair, the bright lights that were too hot, the wait.
She shut it all out and just sat there. She would give them nothing.
Another twenty minutes rolled by before the door behind her opened. She didn’t turn to see the Magi entering. Sawyer was stronger, that was immediately obvious, and it was all that mattered. This Magi would lose if a fight was needed. That gave her confidence.
“I’m Doctor Staub,” he announced, walking into her view. She looked at him with a blank face. He was a mid-forties, attractive, if plain, man. Brown hair, brown eyes, easy smile. “You must be Sawyer. It’s a pleasure to see you today.” He extended a hand and she stood up slowly. She had him by two inches, which didn’t faze him. He must have already known. Most men were intimidated by a woman taller than them, Sawyer knew from experience. She shook hands with him, then sat back down.
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