by E. M. Moore
“Yeah, I know you’re with them all, but you have to have a favorite.”
I shook my head. “Actually, I don’t.”
His brows furrowed and then straightened as if he didn’t believe me.
I took a deep breath and tried to explain it to him. If we were going to be stuck in here together while they tried to figure out where I was, we might as well talk. Maybe by talking I could make him see that the guys weren’t bad and that he’d made a terrible decision in trying to do this. “They’re all so different, they can’t be compared. I love different parts of them. Like with Liam, he’s so gentle, yet ridiculously smart and strong. I like that he’s a juxtaposition in and of itself. With Randy, he’s the epitome of strength, yet he has that teddy bear side to him. I think he would hurt someone to try to protect me, but only because he cares that much.”
Jax scratched his chin. He was intent on what I was saying even though he was trying not to act like it.
“With Gabe, I love that he’s so lovable. It’s impossible not to smile around him. He’s always happy and just calm in a storm. He makes me relax even when things like this are happening.”
“And Travis?” Jax broke in. It was obvious that was who he was really interested in.
“Travis, I think, has a little of all that when he’s not trying to hide how good of a person he is. He’s a straight up asshole when he wants to be, but he also has a lot of depth even though he doesn’t like to show it. I like that he can tell you how it is and not care. It comes in handy sometimes.” I looked up at Jax. His face had changed, but I couldn’t quite guess the emotion coming through. “What about you? What did you like about all of them?”
His lips formed a thin line. “No, we’re not doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“I’m not going to sit here and talk to you about what I liked about them when I clearly plan on making them all suffer later. Trust me, they deserve to suffer. Think about everything you just told me and then imagine how that would feel when they turn on you. How betrayed are you going to feel? Trust me, it was a huge slap to the nuts.”
“You did some things you couldn’t take back, Jax. Let’s not forget that either. It wasn’t like you guys just had a fight and you decided not to talk anymore like petty high school bullshit. This was something far different from that, but you’ve conveniently left that part out of the conversation.”
“What about friendship though?” Jax asked. “Isn’t part of that being forgiven when you make mistakes?”
“You think it was just a mistake?” I looked around the barn pointedly. “You’re certainly not calling this a mistake.”
“You don’t get it,” he said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, I don’t get it because you’re wrong,” I told him. “You’re so completely wrong. You’re blaming them for everything that’s happened, but it was you who set things in motion, not them.”
“They could’ve had my back.”
“And you could’ve had theirs.”
His jaw ticked. “You want to talk about that? You want to talk about having their backs? Who do you think was there when Travis’s parents were having their huge fights, huh? Did you know his parents almost divorced several times, and I was the one there for him to listen to him complain about it all? Who was the first person Randy brought Liam to after he met him? And Gabe? He came to me first, too. His pull brought him right to me, but they’ve conveniently forgotten about that.”
“I don’t think they’ve forgotten about that at all,” I said pointedly. There was no use in arguing about this with him though. He was the type who couldn’t look at his own actions objectively to see how they’d brought him to who he was today. He thought he was doing right, even Travis had told me that, but he wasn’t. He was so caught up in doing what he thought was right that he forgot to look in from the outside and realize that in the bigger picture, he really wasn’t doing the right thing at all. Far from it. “What are you going to do when they get here?”
Jax shrugged. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. I think seeing their faces when they realize I’m the one who got you will tide me over for a little while. It will be enough payback just to see the sheer panic, and then the realization that I was the one who did this to them.”
A sound came from the barn door opening and I skittered back against the post. A shadow moved closer and my heart went up through my throat. I didn’t sense the pull of my coven. This was someone else entirely. The figure came closer, but it didn’t startle Jax. His head lolled to the side as he watched the person approach. “Dean, what is it?” he finally asked.
I breathed in deep. Not that Dean wasn’t a threat with the familiar on him, but he was still in there somehow. There was a possibility I could get through to him.
“They’re getting closer, I think,” Dean answered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re almost here.”
“Dean,” I said, smiling up at him. He moved into the light and I bit down on my lip. He looked ten times worse than he did at the store. I swallowed down the bile rising from my throat. “I promise we’re going to help you, okay? Hang in there.”
Dean sneered at me, but I knew that was just the familiar’s reaction. Liam had seemed to be able to control it somewhat in its beginning stages. Maybe Dean could do the same.
“But maybe they won’t help him,” Jax said. He pulled himself to his feet. “You see, that’s what happens with this coven. One minute you think you’re set for life, and then the next, you’re on your knees in front of them, stripped bare and they couldn’t give a shit about you anymore.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “They do care. We care,” I said, staring at Dean.
“Have you ever heard of the adage ‘actions speak louder than words’? Maybe they should read up on that. If they’re as good as you keep trying to have me believe, I wouldn’t be in this situation.”
I looked at Dean again, disregarding Jax’s speech. “We’re here for you,” I told him.
Dean’s jaw clenched.
Out of the shadows, the djinn came running out with its bared fangs, stopping mere inches from my face. I let out a scream and Jax laughed. “Good, we’re all here. I’d love witnesses to see how this is all going to go down.”
The djinn backed off, but he’d already done the damage. My heart was already in my throat. It beat so fast it’d be a long time before it returned to its normal rhythm. “What’s with the djinn, anyway?” I asked Jax, eyeing it.
“Don’t tell me Liam didn’t do his research? I can only imagine he did, so you’re probably asking for specifics to me. Djinns are one of the most powerful creatures of our world, and it just so happens they have to do whatever you ask of them, no questions asked.”
“But you didn’t have control of the djinn, the Reid family did.”
Jax grinned. “Why do you think I took control of Dean? I have control of Dean, he has control of the djinn. It’s working out really well in my favor, isn’t it? I mean, you’re here. The big bad Order is on their way.”
As if on cue, headlights illuminated the forest in the distance. I pulled against my cuffs, but there was no use. They were on so tight. I was useless. I couldn’t do anything to stop what was going to happen next. “Don’t hurt them,” I pleaded, looking up at Jax.
“But that’s what I want to do, Norah. I want to hurt them like they hurt me.”
A cold sweat broke out across my forehead as the headlights turned. The bright light shined in my eyes and I grimaced. I was sure I was in full view for them now. Jax retreated into the shadows once again, but Dean and the djinn were right there. It was like Jax planned it to happen exactly like this.
The doors opened and a chorus of “Norah’s” rang out.
A part of me sighed in relief, but the other part of me knew there was nothing but a rough road ahead. Travis, most of all. He would easily fall victim to Jax’s bullshit. He already hated himself for what he did and if Jax was going to get this
opportunity to make Travis feel like he was the worst scum of the earth, it might just break him even further.
Dean walked back to me. “Don’t move,” he said.
Like I had a choice. There was nothing I could do. All of this was going to play out and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.
They came closer. Because they were backlit by the headlights, it was difficult for me to see them at first, but one-by-one, they came into view. I nodded toward Dean. “He has the familiar on him.”
“I told them,” Travis said. His gaze darted around the shadows. “Is Jay here?”
“Yes,” I said, my throat sticking. “Um, guys, there’s something—”
“Oh, don’t give it away yet, Norah,” Jay said from the shadows.
I found Travis. His face was a mask of confusion as if he was trying to draw a line between two dots, but there were a bunch of obstacles in his way. Travis shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing even more as the line got longer and longer and even more difficult to travail. Despite that, he was piecing it all together. “The barn,” Travis whispered.
“Yes, the barn,” came Jax’s voice.
The rest of the guys shifted from foot to foot. I wasn’t sure how they were putting it together, maybe just by the sound of Jax’s voice, but Jax was right about one thing. They were all going to realize sooner or later, and already their faces were morphing.
Jax’s shadow moved. On instinct, they all crowded around me, completely pushing Dean out of the way as if he didn’t matter.
“No,” Travis said, shaking his head, his voice teetering on hollow.
“Afraid so,” Jax countered. His voice turned hard as he walked forward. He came into the lantern light and a dark mark twisted all our bonds, making my stomach roil. “It’s me.”
I took a quick peek at Travis and wished I hadn’t. At first, he smiled at the sight of his long-lost friend, but then as realization set in, he became more and more distraught until he just looked lost in a sea of darkness.
Now we just had to bring him back.
22
Travis
It was hard to focus on any one thought.
Jax. My best friend. My coven mate.
Then the sickening realization that he was Jay. That he was the one who’d orchestrated this whole thing. He’d found and vilified Dupre from just your average asshole to someone who would do his bidding—and his bidding just happened to be fucking with Norah.
I wrestled with the opposing images hitting me. Jax and I goofing off in this very barn. The witches who were drained.
Jax and I riding our bikes when we were younger, laughing into the wind. Liam and the familiar.
Jax and I hanging out at the local pizza joint to check out girls. The scary-lost look on his face at this moment. As if I was the reason for all his troubles.
“Why?”
He grinned, his lip curling up into an evil smirk. “You cast me aside.”
Norah, even with her hands tied behind her back and straw sticking out of her hair spoke up. “You did it to yourself.”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all. “You hurt Liam.” That was one action I couldn’t reconcile. He’d hurt one of us.
Jax laughed. “He wasn’t hurt. He was better than his true self. I know what Diana does to people. She’s been my friend for a very long time.”
Liam frowned. “You named your serpent familiar Diana?”
At that moment, Dean walked around us and back into view. The serpent’s tail peeked out underneath his collar almost as if she was sunning herself on his collarbone, lying in her master’s praise.
Liam stepped away from him, his throat working as he stared at the serpent tattoo.
“Oh, come on,” Jax said. “I know you liked having that familiar on you. I know exactly how she made you feel: Strong, impenetrable, courageous. It’s like being on drugs without the side effects.”
“Side effects,” Norah sneered.
Jax’s eyes narrowed at her and the hair rose on my arms. Despite his outward appearance, there was nothing about him that reminded me of Jax. Nothing.
Liam pushed his glasses up his nose, keeping a wary eye on Dean. “I beg to differ.”
“Well, that’s surprising,” Jax said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “I wanted her to jump on Travis, so I guess we’re both disappointed with how things worked out.”
A shiver ran up my spine imagining what it would’ve been like if the familiar had attached itself to me. Would I be like Jax now? We were cut from the same cloth.
“This isn’t you,” I said, not even meaning to speak out loud.
“I guess that’s what happens when your coven abandons you and you lose all hope of ever doing magic again. I had to find my fix, Travis. You of all people should know that. I had to make different arrangements. You may have taken my Natural powers, but I soon found another way to gain back my abilities and even enhance them. I’ve never been more powerful.”
His eyes were teeming with it. It made my stomach twist.
“You could—” Jax started.
“Don’t even,” Norah said. “None of us are jumping on your black magic bandwagon so just simmer down. Let’s get this over with, huh? He’s brought you all here because he can’t take responsibility for his own actions. He thinks it’s your fault that he ended up all by himself with no friends.”
“Mate,” Gabe started, stepping forward. “You knew the rules.”
“Of course, you would say that,” Jax said. “You’re just as bad as Liam if not worse. I got so sick of your high and mighty talk about how your grandfather was also a member of the Order and so you knew what it was like. You guys need to realize that being an Enforcer isn’t the end all be all of life. There are a lot more fun things to do.”
Randy squeezed past me and laid a hand on Norah’s shoulder. Jax immediately turned his attention toward them. “Don’t try to help her.”
“If you think for one second you’re doing anything to her, Jax, I don’t give a fuck what kind of history we have, you’re going down.”
“Not surprised to hear that come from you. Take down or be taken down. That’s how it’s always been with you.”
“I can’t believe you were behind this the whole time,” I said, still trying to process everything. “The whole time.”
Jax stood up straight and beamed as if he’d won an award. That wasn’t how I’d meant it to come across. It wasn’t praise. It was shock. How could someone I’d known my whole life do something like this?
His face fell when he looked at me. “You guys needed to see what it felt like to lose everything. Your new fifth was the only way to do that. I planned all this while you waited. Like you, I just never thought it would be Norah. She must be, what? The first female Enforcer. Can that even happen?”
“Obviously,” Norah said.
Jax smirked, laughing at her sarcasm. “It’s sad because I kind of like her.”
My jaw tensed. I crunched down on my teeth as he leered at her. “Jax,” I said, hoping to reach the guy he once was and not this unrecognizable person in front of me. “You’ve got to stop this. The superiors are on their way. You have time now to just leave and we’ll forget this even happened. This isn’t you. Norah didn’t do anything. Let her go and get out of here before Walter and the rest of his Order gets here.”
Jax’s eyes widened at that information, but he kept his calm. “No can do, bro. I have to see this through.”
“You’re not an evil person.”
“Then why did the Akasha strip me, huh?” he asked, his eyes flaring and his voice rising. “Why did it deem me that way? If I am that, why not act like it, right? It starts with her. She’s my stand-in anyway, right? She’s the one who replaced me.”
A sweeping cold permeated my brain, and I swiped my hand across my forehead, swaying a little. He’d just reiterated exactly what I thought when Norah first came. Wow. I really could be an asshole, couldn’t I?
“The
Akasha brought her to us. She had nothing to do with what happened to you.”
“But you guys did.”
“I did,” I finally said, my voice bouncing around the interior of the barn. “I did it, okay? Do you want me to say I’m sorry? I can’t take it back. No matter how much I’ve wanted to, I can’t.”
“Travis,” Liam said, turning toward me. “You did the right thing. Jax is the one who went AWOL on us.”
Ignoring Liam, Jax said, “I don’t want you to say you’re sorry. I want you to feel the same pain of being lost and alone.”
“But why?” Norah asked. Randy had brought her to her feet. She was standing there, her shoulders squared back with authority even though she was all tied up.
“Because they deserve it. They did it to me, so I do it to them.”
“You did it to yourself!” Randy bellowed. “We weren’t the ones who told you to torture your professor. We weren’t the ones who told you to take cases into your own hands and punish those without a formal hearing. That was all you.”
“I was helping,” Jax said, his teeth gritted.
“We’re not getting anywhere with this,” Liam interrupted. “He’s not going to change, Travis. He is who he is now.”
I looked over at him. He was completely right, but I was lost as to what to do. Our superiors would be here soon and who knew what would happen. I turned toward Jax again. “Go. Please.”
He shook his head slowly, then Norah cried out. She dropped to her knees, her arms fidgeting. She hissed through her teeth, letting out a low growl. “The ties.”
Then, all hell broke loose.
Randy gathered his magic and sent it flying at Jax’s feet. The earth trembled beneath us but Jax only laughed while Norah cried out again.
“Worse,” she said. “That made it worse.”
Randy stopped and Jax’s thunderous chuckle reverberated. “The more magic you use to save her, the more she’ll get hurt. She already knows this because she tried to get out of her binds once before, didn’t you, Sweetheart?”