by Jayne Hawke
The fallen were known to keep ties with the beings they’d created. They wandered the world much like very powerful witches. It was impossible to kill them, but that didn’t stop people from trying to steal their magic. I’d heard horror stories about fallen gods being drained of their magic for years at a time.
“She has other things to deal with.”
Oh, well, that was completely ok, then.
“You tracked the pot here; what can you tell us about those who took it? Where exactly did they go when they got to the Isles?”
“There is a large group of them. This is not the only artifact they have, but I believe the rest are fae- or witch-made. They landed in Dover and moved this direction. I believe they’re in the city somewhere, but I can’t be sure.”
He was holding back.
“And the jaguar guardian involved in this?”
He gave me a long slow blink. I didn’t look away.
“I’m unsure who that was, or if they were involved.”
He was lying.
“We’ll need a description of exactly what this pot looks like, and every tiny detail of the people who took it,” I said.
Seth nodded and began describing a group of twelve people in agonising detail. He couldn’t hide the shame from his voice or face when he said they felt like humans. I’d be deeply ashamed, too, if a bunch of humans stole something I was trying to guard, and I was just a witch.
“Wait, shouldn’t it be a teacup instead of a pot?” Jess asked.
Elijah rolled his eyes at her.
“Ha ha, very clever,” he said drily.
“He’s paying us good money? He’s not trying to give us some shit about working for free to save the world...” Rex said.
“No, he’s paying double the usual rate due to the danger,” Elijah said.
Rex nodded in approval.
I glanced at Castor, who had been oddly quiet about the whole thing.
“Any advice or info, Castor?” I asked.
“I’m familiar with the goddess who made the guardians. I recommend against failure.”
Well, that wasn’t at all ominous.
“How many gods do you know personally?” Jess asked with wide-eyed curiosity.
“Enough.”
“I’m not familiar with that number. Is it higher or lower than ten?” Jess asked.
Castor turned away from her.
“I’m going to get more coffee and snacks. I suspect we’ll be doing a lot of research today,” Castor said.
I followed him out to the elevator.
“What’s up? What do you know?”
He gave me a wan smile.
“Just be careful. The guardians are good people, but you really can’t afford to fail this one.”
“I’m always careful.”
He snorted.
I was almost offended by the insinuation there. Almost.
Eight
Liam was tapping away on his computer while I looked down through my phone trying to see who would be best to lean on for information. Bringing a group of that size into the city unnoticed wasn’t going to be easy, and they’d need somewhere to stay. Given they were dealing with something as dangerous and illegal as a god artifact, they’d need help.
“Why do the gods do it?” Jess asked.
“Do what?” I asked.
“Make these ridiculous artifacts? The ones that can wipe out the world.”
“This one can’t wipe out the world, just a country or two,” Elijah said.
She wrinkled her nose.
“Don’t be an ass. You see my point.”
“Because it’s what the gods are and do. They’re ridiculously powerful beings sitting up on a cramped, cold cloud with nothing better to do. Look at all the paintings of the god plane, it’s all plain clouds. No TV, no video games, fuck all. So, they screw with the beings on this plane, because we’re their pawns, their entertainment. Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn’t drop something like this storm in a jar into an ant colony to see what happened?” Rex said.
“Ants don’t have the brains to do anything interesting with a storm in a jar,” Jess said.
Rex rubbed his temples.
“How do we know that the god plane is boring anyway? No one’s been there,” she said.
“She has you there,” I said.
“Well, they could just be sadistic fucks, then. Lots of people try to screw with those smaller and weaker than them for shits and giggles. We’re all smaller and weaker than the gods, so we’re all fair game,” Rex said.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a ray of sunshine?” I said to Rex.
He flashed a sharp-toothed grin at me.
“Alright, get to work everyone. We need to focus.”
“I am focused. Just not on finding the pot,” Jess said.
Elijah narrowed his eyes at her. She sniffed and looked away.
“Lean on your contacts. Dig up whatever information you can find. I’m quite attached to living on this island rather than in wreckage somewhere,” Elijah said.
“I don’t know, Southern France looks pretty nice...” Jess said.
“I’m quite interested in Dubrovnik myself,” Liam added.
“No, I’m all about Chile,” Rex said.
“Chile? Why? I thought the god touched down that way loved human sacrifices and things?” Liam said.
“Exactly,” Rex said with a vicious smile.
“Enough. Focus on work. Now,” Elijah said.
“I haven’t even had my second breakfast yet,” Jess grumbled.
“Are there any of those jam doughnuts left?” Liam asked as he leaned back to look towards the coffee machine.
“No, Rex ate the last one,” Jess said with a huff.
“I worked hard for that doughnut,” Rex said.
“Working out because Lily kicked your ass,” Jess taunted.
“Enough!” Elijah growled.
The pack dropped their eyes immediately. Their alpha had spoken.
I grinned at him as he stood tall and strong, eyes glinting with feral alpha prowess. Licking my bottom lip, I looked him over with his hard, well-defined muscles. My mind turned to sinful places as I wondered if he’d growl for me in bed.
His dark expression turned into a sinful smirk, and I had to look away. As much as I wanted to jump him, doing so would take our relationship to the next level. That would mean commitment, and it wasn’t fair to tease Elijah like that. I just couldn’t get into something that intense yet. Especially with the stalker hanging around somewhere.
Turning my attention back to my phone, I debated who would be the best starting place. James was tempting, but given how our last meeting went I decided against it. He’d made it pretty clear that he knew who I was and planned on using that information against me. No, I needed someone who knew the city but wouldn’t be a dick about it.
I was scrolling through the long list of names which I’d gathered over the years. Some of them were low-level witches eager for some easy money, others were criminals deep in the criminal underground willing to trade information in return for my allowing them to continue their businesses.
Sasha.
She was one of the first people I’d met when I’d moved to Brighton. Sasha was a sharp-edged fae mix breed. No one quite knew what her heritage was. She had enough magic in her veins to mean that she hadn’t aged in a couple of decades. Her fine bone structure screamed fae, but she could shift into an animal form. Which form I wasn’t sure on, as she refused to tell me. Magic fizzed in her blood too.
Everyone who knew her had a theory about what she was. The last one I’d heard had her down as a god-chosen witch pairing with a fae. They worked with the theory that the god magic combined with the shifter type of fae such as a puka would produce her range of abilities and magics. Whatever she was, she was intelligent and well connected.
I dropped her a text; she hated talking on the phone.
This part of an investigation was the worst. It
involved so much hanging around and waiting. Rolling my shoulders, I considered going for a run. I needed to maintain peak physical fitness, after all. Especially if I wanted to keep kicking Rex’s ass.
Nine
Elijah had decided to join me on the run, which had taken us down by the beach. To my irritation, I couldn’t get the feeling of the stalker watching me out of my head. He was in the city somewhere. He knew so much about me that he must have dug into my private spaces and moments.
“I’m not pressuring you, am I?” Elijah asked as we slowed to a comfortable jog.
“No, you’re fine.”
And I meant it. He’d been a real gentleman. It would have been easy for him to try and climb into my bed when it was so close, but he hadn’t even hinted at it.
“I really care about you, Lily. I don’t want to push you away or make you feel like you’re cornered.”
I laughed.
“Seriously, you’re ok.”
“You were a work of art in that sparring match. We’ll have to do that again sometime soon.”
I slowed to a walk.
“Just you and me?”
He grinned at me.
“Absolutely,” he said suggestively.
I turned to squeeze his large hard bicep.
“Is this where I’m supposed to hint at stripping you down piece by piece?”
He laughed, a big genuine laugh that wrapped around us.
“I hope one day you’ll feel that urge, but I’m quite happy to admire you from whatever distance you set.”
I stopped and put both hands flat on his chest.
“I’d fuck you in a heartbeat. Right here. Right now. But I know how you shifters work. I see it in your eyes. I care about you, you’re fun, sexy, kind, and easy to be around. I’m just not ready to get into something that your wolf would expect to end in marriage and kids right now.”
“I get that,” he said as he wrapped his hands around my hips.
I wasn’t kidding about being happy to screw him right there. It had been longer than I usually went between lovers, and I was starting to feel it. Still, he’d be my first real relationship, and if his wolf had its way, my last. That was a huge deal, something I couldn’t afford to rush into.
He leaned in and grazed his teeth against my throat, sending a shiver running down my spine. Warmth pooled within me, and a small voice screamed at me to put aside my fears and enjoy every inch of him.
I ran my hands over his muscles and wrapped my arms around his neck before I kissed him with a deep ferocity. He returned the gesture, claiming me as his without needing to speak a word. It would have been so easy to give into the moment, to him.
A voice whispered in the back of my mind. The stalker had already told me to back away from Elijah. What if they were watching right that moment? What if they tried to kill Elijah because of me?
I pulled back and looked away.
“The stalker,” Elijah growled.
“Yea.”
“We’re going to find him and end him,” he said firmly.
“I know, but I can’t be responsible for you or your pack being hurt.”
“Says the woman who signed us up to retrieve a god artifact involving the jaguar guardians,” he teased.
He had a point.
We’d headed back to the pack house to grab a shower (separately) and then lunch for the pack. I took the time to pull out a notebook and think about who the stalker could possibly be. Cameron had been the only one to stand out when I thought back on that time. Anyone whom I dealt with regularly had been killed by the goddess.
Frowning, I tapped the pen against my leg while we were stopped at a red light. Jess had insisted that she wanted both fae from the fancy place near the Pavilion and burgers from the amazing place hidden in the twists and turns not too far from the park. I was pretty sure most of the pack money went into food.
There had been a girl around my age who’d spoken to me a little more often than the others. Jen. She’d been sent off to another coven in Italy, though. It wasn’t often that female witches were shipped off, especially that young, but there was something about her that made her a good fit for that particular deal.
The more I thought back on my time at the coven, I realised how horrifying it really was. I knew that all covens were businesslike in their operations. Most of them ran at least one business. My coven had been really cut-throat though. Its members were treated more like pawns and objects by the elders. The strongest and most gifted of the girls had seemed to be trained with an eye to taking over the main businesses that the coven had. I wasn’t sure what exactly they were, as I wasn’t allowed near anything like that.
The late-night visits from shady-looking people made me think that it wasn’t entirely legal. Chewing on my bottom lip, I tried to think of anyone else who could possibly have figured out who and what I was. I didn’t remember there being any delivery person or member of another coven that I’d seen regularly. There were some, of course, but I was mostly kept out of view and away from such things.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I wondered if someone could have just recognised me. My facial features hadn’t really fit in with the rest of the coven, though. They were prone to classically pretty blondes, whereas I was taller, more powerfully built, and black haired. Sighing, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to rest for a moment. I was missing something crucial, I had to be. I just had no idea what.
Ten
I’d picked up a wonderful duck and sunshine salad from the fae place. I was very much the odd one out as the pack ate copious amounts of meat, from wild boar burgers and chicken nuggets to pigeon breast.
“Castor, would you sign these?” Elijah asked casually.
I leaned over and grabbed the papers before Castor could. Was I being paranoid? Probably. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
Skimming down the papers confirmed my suspicions.
“Are you seriously trying to poach my familiar?” I said with a forced laugh.
The papers were employment contracts with a generous cut of the money. He was even including holiday pay, something that had never crossed my mind.
Castor took the contract and smirked at me.
“You know, this is a good offer.”
“I’m not giving you a pay raise. You barely work for the money I give you.”
“Maybe I’ll start charging for the training sessions with shadow,” he said with a smirk.
“I’ll just take those fees out of your cut from each job,” I said with a shrug.
“That’s now how that’s meant to work,” Jess said.
“I know. But we both know he’s stuck with me,” I said.
Castor pursed his lips and gestured at Liam to give him a pen.
“My old boss was a tyrant,” Castor said to Elijah.
“Oh, the worst. She let you sleep in the sun for hours every day. She fed you, gave you a very generous lump of money after each job even though you rarely did more than take the phone call...” I said.
Castor laughed.
“You know I’d never seriously jump ship. Elijah would make me work. I’m just not made for that kind of thing.”
“Signing that would make you an official member of the pack,” Elijah said.
“So, anyone who works for you is automatically brought into the pack?” I asked.
“It’s complicated. It was this, or a tattoo,” Elijah said.
Castor frowned down at the papers. It was a huge gesture from Elijah. Liam’s leg bounced as he held a pen out for Castor to sign the paperwork with. Castor looked over to me with a deep furrow between his brows.
“I’m not going to stop you. A blind man could see how good this pack is for you,” I said with a smile.
The fox relaxed and signed the papers. There was a pop of magic between him and Elijah.
Jess let out a whoop.
“This calls for cake!” she said.
Liam grinned at Castor.
> “You’re officially one of us! It’s awesome to have another fox around the place.”
“He’ll have to prove his worth,” Rex grumbled.
“And how would you expect me to do that?” Castor asked.
“Prove you can fight well enough not to screw us over,” Rex said.
Castor gave him a truly savage smile. If Rex thought I’d kicked his ass, he hadn’t seen anything yet.
I was sitting in a small booth in a low-lit bar with Elijah, waiting on my second cocktail of the night, when my phone buzzed with a text. Castor and Jess had gotten together to demand that Elijah and I go out on a date. The soft jazz music playing was far from my usual dance music, but I’d sworn that I’d let Elijah choose the first place we went to.
At first its dark wood interior with expensive magical orbs instead of more traditional lights had seemed pretentious. I’d fought really hard not to roll my eyes when I saw the live jazz band on the small stage at the front. Elijah had brought me there for a reason, and I was trying really hard to enjoy it. This was a chance to get to know him and spend some down time with him.
It was the first date I’d been on. I was usually a very casual kind of girl. Some guy and I saw each other in a club or a bar and had our fun before we parted ways. This was something more, something scary. I couldn’t afford to let my defence mechanisms screw it all up.
The cocktails all had literary names, which was a little obnoxious to my mind, but they did sound really good. I’d taken my time choosing something I thought I could really like, and it had turned out to be incredible. The atmosphere was very relaxed with low conversations murmuring around us. The booths were discreet without being the type of place where you could climb into your date’s lap. It was classy.
We were leaning into each other, his arm around me as we watched a live jazz band on a small stage. Elijah’s fingers played up and down my arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. The music was an increasingly heady mix I really didn’t understand, but it was weirdly enjoyable. There were threads and layers of emotion in there that I would never have expected. The wolf was opening my horizons. I wasn’t going to admit that to him, though.