Warlords, Witches and Wolves: A Fantasy Realms Anthology

by Michelle Diener

  They stayed three cars behind no matter what he did. And while they may not know his name, they knew what he was, and they knew he was connected to Bailey. Both of which were bad.

  He pulled onto the freeway and monitored the car tailing him, then noticed another pull alongside, boxing him in. His stomach rolled, and the fear settled into his bones. He needed to think smart to get out of this because the men were actively hunting him.

  He eased off the accelerator and the other car pulled in front. Kass changed lanes, making room for himself between startled drivers who no doubt wondered why their car was misbehaving.

  A car was just another object in motion. It was a dangerous idea. Using magic in public was always risky, but it could work.

  He darted into another lane, but the two cars followed. The second car pulled in front and braked. Kass gave it a nudge forward with magic so he didn’t hit it, then gave it a little more to send it in to the concrete barrier. The car hit with a sickening crunch.

  He’d used a little too much force. Guilt bubbled up. He didn’t want them dead, just stopped.

  Then he was speeding past the wreck.

  The car behind him didn’t take the hint. It snuck in behind and started tailgating, making it harder to lose him. They approached an off-ramp; Kass took it. He wanted this over. He wasn’t a mouse to be toyed with before being eaten. The other car followed, but they made a mess of the exit and flipped.

  Or at least that’s what the authorities would think.

  Half an hour later, when he was sure he had no tail, he made his way back to base. Now he’d call his parents and let them know he was in trouble. He didn’t know how they’d take the mate situation, or that his mate was a snow leopard with criminal connections.

  Bailey hadn’t shifted in six weeks, and he was more than a little twitchy. He’d snarled at someone that morning and they’d backed away like he was about to rip their head off—him, with his bleached blond hair, and pasty skin and scrawny build.

  His skin prickled like his fur was about to push through, and he kept getting blotchy for no good reason, though to be honest his stress levels had been high since being sentenced to twelve months. It should’ve been less, but somehow, he’d gotten screwed over. Probably because he refused to name everyone involved. His nail beds ached, and he stalked the prison in a mood. He would never last another eleven months. He wouldn’t even last another month. One day he’d snap and shift in the middle of the mess and everyone would learn that shapeshifters were real, and he’d fuck things up for shifters everywhere.

  In the lunch line he bounced on his toes, unable to keep still. His body vibrated with unspent tension. People kept their distance. When the new guy dropped his shit that meant trouble. Two weeks in he’d seen one guy have a break down and he was only doing a three-month stretch. Bailey vowed that wouldn’t be him. He’d suck this up and when he got out, he was leaving the State, starting over and never looking back.

  And Kass?

  The witch was never far from his mind. Sometimes it was almost like he was right next to him, but Bailey couldn’t face him. Not now. The shame kept him from reaching out even though Kass hadn’t stopped trying. He didn’t deserve that. Kass should be with someone better.

  He collected his food and found a seat by himself, not wanting to talk to anyone. He was sinking into a funk, but he didn’t know what to do. Well, he did, but it involved shifting and going for a long run and a play somewhere wild. And that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Running laps of the yard no longer helped. If he were placing bets, he’d give himself three days. He needed to find a solution, fast.

  A chunky guy sat next to him, too close. Bailey gave him a glare and a low growl formed that he had to choke down. He inched away, not wanting trouble or whatever the man was about to suggest.

  The man sniffed. His nose was short and looked like it had been flattened by one too many fists. “Relax, I don’t want anything more than a talk.”

  “I’ve heard that before.” He didn’t trust anyone who wanted to be his friend. Minimum security didn’t mean people weren’t violent assholes.

  “You’ll be having a serious issue very soon. Maybe not today, but definitely before the week is out.” He shoveled food into his mouth and kept his eyes forward like they weren’t talking at all.

  “What do you mean?” But his nose twitched, and he realized the man wasn’t as human as he looked. There was a scent, something he couldn’t place.

  “You’ve got a bit of wild in you.” He sniffed again, his dark eyes flicking to Bailey. “Not sure what.”

  “I could say the same about you.” He studied the man, then sighed. “I’m Bailey. I really like snow leopards.” If he was wrong, he sounded like a weirdo.

  The man laughed. “I like that intro. Nice and safe. Eli, I like wild pigs.”

  “Wild pigs?” He couldn’t picture Eli as a pink pig, but maybe he was thinking about farmed pigs, not wild pigs. Were all pigs pink?

  “Hairy, tusky, dangerous when pissed.” Eli glanced at him and sighed. “You were thinking pink, bacon pig, right?”

  “No…yes.” He ate some mashed potato. It wasn’t the worst he’d ever eaten, and he didn’t have any other choice. It wasn’t like he could duck out for a burger.

  Eli shook his head. “Always the same with you lot.”

  “My lot?”

  “Cats and dogs, you think you’re so good. But we’re all the same.”

  “There're others in here?”

  “Not at the moment. Just us. And you need to keep yourself in check.”

  “I can’t.” His leg bounced under the table. “I need to…you know.”

  “Don’t we all.” He cleared his plate and shoved it away. “Let the others in your cell go to sleep, pull the blanket over and do it.”

  Bailey had thought about that, but the idea of hiding under a blanket was more than a little depressing. How would that be satisfying? “No running?”

  Eli shook his head. “It’ll get you through. You have to.”

  “Or?”

  Eli shrugged, but there was a chill in his eyes. “How long have you got?”

  “One year.”

  “Trust me, when you take that first run after a stretch, it’s better than sex.” Eli stood. “I’ll see you around, kid.”

  Chapter 9

  Bailey lay awake until his cell mate started snoring, then slid off his pajama pants and burrowed into the blanket. It took him less than a heartbeat to draw up the energy to shift, but the effort it took to remain hidden, when all he wanted to do was prowl, gave him the shakes. As much as he wanted to run and climb trees, getting off the bed and pacing the room wouldn’t be worth the trouble if he were caught.

  This would have to do. He was putting a bandage on a bone deep wound and hoping for a miracle. He lay there, whiskers twitching against the blanket, tail flicking, until he fell asleep. Sometime during the night, he woke as a human and put his pants back on. The jitter in his blood was gone, though it would be back in a few weeks.

  He listened to the night noises of the prison. They were already becoming familiar. Had he made the right choice, or had he made things worse?

  He had no idea if he’d passed his exam.

  Not that it mattered even if he had, he now had a criminal record, and no one would want to employ him. All he’d done was delay the inevitable. He’d end up back at his grandmother’s door and working for the men who’d been controlling his life since the day he was born.

  He bit his lip until it bled. He would not cry. He wouldn’t become one of those sad sacks he heard at night when they thought no one else was awake. The taste of hot metal on his tongue and the pain grounded him.

  He would not go back to Gran and the men. He’d rather go feral and live in the bush as a snow leopard for the rest of his life. After shifting under a blanket, giving up his humanity to be wild seemed like a fucking good plan.

  There were some flaws, like how he got out of Sydney and to
the Blue Mountains without being found by the men, especially Crooked Nose the cop. Vanishing completely would be much harder to do now the government had his details. He almost laughed. All that time fighting to be legit, and now all he wanted to do was disappear.

  Kass’s worry flowed through the connection. He didn’t let up, no matter how hard Bailey pushed back. But tonight he was weak and needy, alone and scared. The bond hadn’t weakened even though they hadn’t been feeding it. They were stuck together.

  It was too hard to keep up the wall between them, so he let it fall and opened himself to Kass. As much as he wanted to see him, it was impossible. He didn’t want Kass to know where he was or what had happened. Shame consumed him. He should’ve left home before it had gotten so bad. Just walked out and started over. He could’ve finished school another way—there were guys finishing their education while inside.

  With the wall down, Kass was with him in the next breath. And with his eyes closed, it was like Kass was lying next to him. The flood of emotion was too much. Why did Kass still care? When Kass’s arms slid around him and his lips pressed against his, Bailey didn’t pull away. He let his thoughts, memories, and dreams unfurl. And Kass responded in kind.

  He could almost taste the witch’s lips and feel him against his body.

  Like the shift, it was something close, but not enough to fill the expanding hollowness.

  Kass sat at the gray table that had seen better days and waited like every other loved one for the prisoners to be let in. He wasn’t the only guy waiting, but he was outnumbered. He didn’t like being here and being judged by the guards, and he didn’t like that Bailey was spending the next year of his life here—even though he was guilty and Kass had first-hand experience of Bailey’s light fingers.

  Finally, the door opened, and the men were let through. A few of the waiting family members gasped and cried when they saw the man they were waiting for, but no one got up to greet them. Kass’s heart stuttered. Would the attraction hold up? They’d only been together for a few minutes, the rest had all been magic. Anxiety twisted his stomach as he searched the incoming faces for Bailey. What if he didn’t recognize him?

  What if Bailey didn’t show?

  But Bailey’s confusion echoed through him. There was static on his skin and he knew that Bailey was close. He appeared at last, and he stopped in the doorway as though an invisible door had shut in his face. His shock reverberated through Kass’s bones.

  This was the first time he’d seen Bailey in over six months. The last time they’d been basically in the dark and he’d had more than a few drinks in his gullet. He remembered him as smiling trouble that he’d wanted to grab with both hands.

  He was still trouble, but there was no smile. Bailey’s hair was a little longer, with a couple of inches of dark roots, but his eyes were the same magnetic blue that Kass wanted to die in. Under the harsh light, Bailey looked younger than he had the night they met. Too young to be in here. Something uncomfortable squirmed within him.

  Bailey stepped through the doorway and took his seat opposite Kass. His expression was pinched, but his emotions were a messy tumble Kass couldn’t hope to unravel in the time they had together.

  Half the time he didn’t know which were his thoughts and which were Bailey’s. The line between them had blurred.

  Was this unwelcome?

  After the other night…

  Kass swallowed, his mouth dry. Now he was here, he didn’t know what to say.

  Bailey’s gaze flicked over him. Was he assessing and correcting assumptions that had been made in a hurry six months ago?

  “Hey,” Bailey said. “I didn’t know you were back in the country.”

  “I’ve been back about a week.” He should’ve come sooner. “You moved and didn’t say.”

  Though how one worded the surprise ‘I’m in prison’ email, Kass didn’t know.

  “Yeah.” Bailey studied his fingernails. “I didn’t want you to find out.”

  “I went looking.”

  He glanced up sharply. “Be careful, my family wants to talk to you.”

  Again, they used that same careful language because if anyone in the room knew that a witch and a shifter were having a chat only a few feet away, they’d freak. He wanted a proper talk, where they could be open about everything. “Yeah. Your grandmother doesn’t like me.”

  Bailey lips twitched into an almost smile. “I don’t think she likes me either.”

  “What happened?” He needed to hear it from Bailey’s lips.

  “The abridged version or the full?”

  “I’ve got time for the full unless you have somewhere you’ve got to be?” Kass smiled.

  “All the time in the world.”

  Kass reached his hand out. “I know.” Bailey glanced at his hand and gave his head the slightest of shakes. Damnit he’d forgotten about the no touching thing. “I’ve spoken to some friends who are looking into it. They help people like us.”

  Bailey’s eyebrows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

  “There’s an organization that helps our kind.” Kass couldn’t say much more with so many people around. He’d wanted their second meeting to be so much more than this.

  “There is? And they’ll help me?” Confusion rippled along the bond. “What will it cost?”

  Kass shook his head. “Nothing. It’s fine.”

  “I already owe you for… Your wallet and stuff is locked away with my things.”

  “I’ve replaced it all.” But he was surprised that Bailey had kept it. And a little jealous. He’d had nothing of Bailey’s while he’d been away.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ve gained more than I lost.” He smiled, but his fingers curled against the table. The need to hug his familiar and his mate was overwhelming. He barely knew Bailey, but on some level, he knew him better than he’d ever known anyone, because of the bond they shared.

  “After that night, things went south. Gran sided with the guys who ran the operation. They pushed me into riskier jobs. When I refused to quit school…” He stopped and stared into Kass’s wide eyes.

  Kass leaned forward. “You were at school when we met?”

  “I knew you’d freak out. Besides, I’m eighteen now.”

  True, or he wouldn’t be in an adult prison. But Bailey had been seventeen that night, which meant he’d bonded with an underage shifter. Not that it had been planned, or either of them had gone searching, but the Coven wasn’t real keen on anyone under twenty undertaking such a life altering piece of magic. “I’m five years older.”

  “And? It’s not like we’ve done anything.” Bailey’s voice was so low Kass had to strain to hear the words. “And even if we had, it wouldn’t have been illegal.”

  “You don’t understand. You were under eighteen when the bond—”

  “I was a few months shy. Calm down, old man.”

  Kass’s mouth popped open.

  Bailey grinned. “Kidding. Do you want me to finish?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, they were annoyed because I’d sorted my birth certificate and learner’s which put me in the system. My family likes to be way off-grid, so they wanted me to quit school and join the business.”

  “Doing?”

  “You’ve had a glimpse. I don’t even know the full extent, and I don’t want any part of it, haven’t for a while. But…” he shrugged. “I didn’t have an out. Certainly don’t now.” Bailey looked so forlorn, all Kass wanted to do was hold him.

  “I know it seems like a long time—”

  Bailey glared at him. “I don’t need a pep talk.”

  “What do you need?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I don’t even know…” His fingers tapped on the table. “I mean you have a life and a job, and I have criminals who threaten me if I fall out of line.”

  Kass glanced around the room and kept his voice low. “You have me. If you want.”

  His heartbeat echoed in his ears
, and he watched Bailey’s face for a clue. He needed him to say something. Anything. Yes, this was only the second time they’d met face to face, but Fates must have put them together for a reason.

  He wanted this to work. He’d become dependent on the connection while he was away, and he wasn’t going to leave Bailey stranded.

  Bailey lifted his gaze. “Why are you offering?”

  “Because we have something?”

  “Do we or is it just…” he lifted his eyebrows.

  It was magic and more. Or could be. Kass wasn’t even sure what he wanted it to be. Or what it could be. “You helped me while I was away. I won’t turn my back just because you’re in here.”

  “I don’t expect you to visit.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Um, because you can find someone less fucked up?”

  Kass considered him. “I don’t think that’s what you want.”

  Bailey shrugged and leaned back. “What I want doesn’t matter anymore. I have to get through this before I can figure out how to put my life together. I can’t ask you to help with that.”

  “You didn’t ask.” But Bailey was sliding through his fingers. He pressed against the seat like he wanted to vanish. But it wasn’t that Bailey didn’t like him. Kass finally understood what that turbulent bitterness in the bond was—shame. He hadn’t wanted Kass to see him like this. “This isn’t ideal, but it won’t be for long.”

  “It just feels that way.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. “What are you doing about your cat?”

  A flicker of a smile crossed Bailey’s lips and his eyes lit up. “Not much. It’s tolerable, but I want to run.”

  Kass got the impression of being smothered under blankets. Oh…that was dangerous and unsatisfying. Was that when Bailey’s restlessness had woken him, and they’d gotten together? “I could go for a night run. Does every second Friday work for you?”