by D. D. Miers
Jax would be no help.
The younger brother struggled, sprawled out across the floor, but made no progress against the seal binding him.
“Lana!”
Taylor’s voice cracked through the fog and threw Alana into overdrive. She wasn’t going to give up now, not after all she’d already been through. Heaving her leg up, she slammed him in the gut with her knee before extending her foot hard against his unprotected crotch. In an instant, his muscles seized, and he jerked away to grasp at the pain she’d inflicted.
She only had a split second, and she took it. She flew across the room and in a dive across the marble, she slid until she grabbed the gun. Flicking the safety off, she rolled to her back just in time to see Damon barreling down on her.
Her finger curled around the trigger and pulled.
Deafening silence followed the harsh bang, and up to his shoulder Damon’s hand lifted, pressing at the wound from which blood began to pour. Stumbling backwards in a moment of shock, he fell into the far corner of the room, propped up by the wall at his back.
“Your time is up.” Back on her feet, Alana strode toward him intending to put the bastard away forever. As she neared, a tear within the front of his shirt caught her eye. The skin beneath was marred with a symbol that looked like the binding symbol on Jax. Who would ever be able to bind someone as powerful as Damon?
A shield of magic protected him from any assault she could make. Perplexed, she spun to find the culprit – and her demise.
In an instant her heart plummeted. “No!” Her head shook in utter denial. “What are you doing here?”
Chapter 14
Mason.
“Really, Alana?” He patiently strolled across the room with a smugness that worried her. “And here I thought you’d been trained better.”
“What?” She looked around the room. Her sister fought against her own bindings, making progress without aid, while Jax still lay on the floor, unable to fight his own demons. Not while the binding mark held him.
“How could I keep the world safe while warlocks hold the kind of power they do?” Mason questioned, snapping her attention back to him.
“That’s the entirety of our fucking jobs,” she said, as her mind failed to piece together the puzzle without the missing pieces.
“Oh, sure, and how great have we been at that? Remember Agent Crosby? Oh, and what’s his name, the one with the, oh—Wilson?”
She remembered well and grimaced at the vivid memory of seeing their twisted corpses left behind after a capture gone bad. “So . . . what?” Her attention drifted back over the warlock brothers. Both sealed, one to the other, and the last to . . . “Wait! Are you telling me you found someone to bind Damon for you?”
“No,” he laughed, “who would I trust to do that? I did it myself.”
“But, how?” The asshole didn’t have that kind of power, did he?
He stepped closer to her. She tilted her chin to meet his smug gaze. “Do you think you’re the only one that’s special?” he asked in a low murmur.
She looked at Taylor in the corner.
“What? Do you think I’m going to tell her?” Mason asked. “There’s no positive in that for me.”
“Oh, so it’s all about what’s good for you, then?”
“We’ve worked together for sixteen years. Does that surprise you?” he asked beyond the growth of a cocky grin.
“You know what? No, it doesn’t. So tell me, tell me why the hell you’re –” Her head spun with the sudden possibilities that barraged her. “You clearly aren’t a warlock or a mage. Are you . . . Fae kissed?”
Maniacal laughter filled the air as he strode toward Damon. “She finds the missing puzzle piece! I’m supposed to protect the world from things that go bump in the night, from dirty assholes like this. But, how am I supposed to do that when we can’t reach their level of power?”
“Use them like slaves?” Alana asked sarcastically in a monotone drawl.
“I guess if you want to look at it that way, sure.”
Jaxon shifted along the floor in a fight against his own seal. “For how long?”
Mason broke out into laughter. “Are you wondering if your brother might find redemption? Because he won’t. He was still just as villainous before I sealed him and claimed his power for my own. It’s the only way to save the world, to wield such power for myself by claiming the unwilling as compliant servants.”
While Alana held no warm feelings for Damon, she was upset. Damon hadn’t been given any choices like she had in being caught for wrong deeds. Instead, he’d been shackled with a bit of magic that took away his right to free will.
“You’re sick,” she said. She’d kill the bastard but who would believe her that he’d been at the center of it all?
“Sick?” He toyed with the word, repeating it in a roll of his tongue. “I don’t think that’s quite accurate. I’d prefer creative. Or maybe, oh, an entrepreneur?”
Taylor’s fidgeting with her bindings ceased, and the moment their eyes connected, Alana saw she was trying to play it cool. Likely, she’d freed her hands and was biding her time. The last thing she needed, though, was for her mortal sister to jump back into the action.
At least now she wouldn’t have to dodge questions about her work anymore. Silver lining, perhaps?
Her skin pricked with a sudden volley of energy. Something dark and devoid of life consumed the air around her, leaving her searching for the source.
Beyond the reach of Mason’s outstretched hands, shadows swirled upon the wall, spiraling into a tight curl of sparking energy.
“What are you doing?” Alana cried out as the energy spun into a portal.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Mason asked with a devilish grin. “I’m securing my most prized possession.”
Shades poured from the portal, sparking Taylor’s release of her bindings in favor of running to her sister’s side. “I remember these assholes,” she growled, but none of them came their way. None of them tried to attack them..
“What the hell are they doing?” Alana muttered.
The spectral beings wove a tight pattern around Damon, dragging his tortuously controlled body toward the portal. Alana burst forward with her dagger, hell-bent on stopping Damon’s escape.
“You’re too late!” Mason called out, just as her swinging weapon cut through the air as the portal, and all that had come from it, flickered out of sight. Her dagger sparked as it nicked off the wall.
“You . . .,” she said to Mason. “How can you even be sure that was your doing and not his? He could’ve just found a way to escape from your grasp. And then what? What was that about the world’s safety?”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Of course I—”
“Can’t be sure,” Jaxon said as he shoved himself from the floor, freed of his brother’s immediate control. “You’re a foo, to think you could ever control Damon for long.”
“You just fear I could do the same to you,” Mason said with a sweeping gaze full of a dark hunger. He contorted his hand, twisting with a pull of energy that briefly stole Alana’s breath away.
“Move!” She flung herself at Taylor, forcing her out of the way just as his palm slammed downward, sending a deafening crack across the room. She tumbled atop her sister, sending them both rolling in a scattering of limbs across the floor’s hard surface.
A solid line of the marble floor had shattered, bursting outward as if a line of lightning had struck forward from Mason’s position. Alana scrambled back to her feet.
“Fine, you want to play dirty? I’ll play fucking dirty.” Sucking in a breath, she pulled upon her forces, calling forth her gale winds. In a single swing, she sent a tornado of wind toward him, but he moved out of the line of fire just in time.
“Is that really all you’ve got, Agent Creed?” He taunted her before he dodged volley after volley of flaming energy from Jax’s hands. “Seems I’ve pissed your boyfriend off, too!” He rolled across the floor, narrowl
y missing Jax’s last attempt in a crack of energy that sent a plume of marble dust flying into the air.
Rushing back in, Alana swung with a curl of her dagger, throwing sharpened gusts of wind from the tip as Mason expertly dodged each hurled attack. It seemed no matter what she did, he was one step ahead, always knowing what she’d do next.
Of course, He had overseen her training.
“Bastard!” she said. He dodged her attacks in a playful ploy.
“Keeping the world safe, remember? It’s been my goal all along!”
“Oh, I’ll remember it when your ass is in prison,” she said, as she heard voices at her back.
“Prison? No. I don’t think so. I’m going, but not there.” He backed away from her before a hand wrapped around her arm, yanking her even farther from him.
Jax. “What the hell are you doing?” she cried out while fighting against his grip.
“Saving your ass. Again.”
An invasion of faces surrounded them—Nolan, several mages under his employ, and a handful of temporal bounty hunters stood ready with their magical weapons drawn.
It was too late.
A rift opened at Mason’s feet, sending a flurry of energy racing throughout the room.
The jagged rift ignited in a blood-orange color.
“Don’t come looking for me,” Mason warned before he jumped and the rift vanished.
Chapter 15
“Please tell me you saw enough,” Alana groaned with a sideways glance to Nolan.
“Yeah, yeah, I think we did,” Nolan murmured with a wrinkle to his brow. He and the others appeared just as confused, but also equally shocked. “Do you have any idea how long he’s been fooling all of us?”
Alana shook her head. “No. I don’t have any idea.”
One of the bounty hunters stepped nearer. She recognized him, having seen him around the meetings several times over. Morris, maybe?
“What?” she asked, more harshly than she’d intended.
“With Mason gone, I’m next up to take over lead. I think you’ve got some explaining to do.”
Really? Alana’s expression flattened. “It’s Morris, right?”
“Morrison, but close enough,” he flatlined.
“Okay, Morrison, I’m the only agent to uncover Mason’s double dealings. Don’t I get some credit for that?”
“It’ll be taken into consideration, but there’s plenty else you’ll need to account for first.”
Apparently, good deeds sometimes did go unnoticed. “Fine. Then I guess I should start with what happened sixteen years ago.”
Jaxon remained at her side, silent and brooding. Alana explained everything about that fateful day when she’d sealed away the warlock brothers and had kept the truth hidden to herself. Sure, it had begun with her being a thief, but in the end, she’d taken the right path. Or so she told herself.
Unimpressed, Morrison nodded his head. “I’m sure we can arrange for you to have a week off for having uncovered Mason’s plot.”
“A week? That’s my reward?”
“Wow, maybe Mason was less of an asshole,” Jax muttered at her side, causing her to throw a hand up over her mouth to keep from laughing.
Her new boss barely cracked a smile. “People generally don’t get rewarded for doing their job, agent. So do you want the week or not?”
“Yes, absolutely,” she said with a tight clearing of her throat.
“Good. Because the rest of us have work to do.” With a wave of his arm, he sent the remainder of the TBHU agents away to begin their investigation of the odd rift.
“Try and enjoy it, will you?” Nolan interjected with a nudge of her shoulder before he, too, wandered off. Alana watched from the sidelines as everyone gleaned as much information as they could.
Being idle wasn’t her style and standing around felt like a punishment more than a reward.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Taylor murmured, “stop.”
Her sister’s bright look brought a smile to her face. “Can’t you just let me get away with something for once?”
“Apparently, I’ve been letting you get away with a lot, for years.” Any other time, and the words would’ve sounded like a jab, but Taylor’s smile explained it all. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”
“Well, it’s not like I really gave you reason otherwise. I kind of came across as a lazy ass.”
“You still are sometimes,” Taylor joked with a snort.
“Wow, and here I thought we were having one of those softy moments.” With a roll of her eyes, Alana took one last glance at the teeming agents and mages before turning. "I guess there’s no reason to hang out around here.”
“Don’t like the décor?” Jaxon asked, as he strolled along at her side.
she wrinkled her nose in a playful defense. “No, not really my style.”
“Don’t worry, it was never mine, either.”
The comfortable banter warmed her and left her smiling as they stepped out into the rising light. “So,” she murmured hesitantly, “what are you going to do now?”
He wore an air of uncertainty. “I don’t know. I’m free, at least for now, and . . .”
“It’s been a long-ass time since that was the case,” she finished off, making him smirk.
“Yeah, you could say that.” He thrust his hands into his pocket. “What about you? A whole week,” he whistled. “Are you sure you’ll survive it?”
“I think I’ll manage,” she beamed back, “and if I can’t, I’m sure Taylor will find something for me to do. Like, you know, cleaning up the poor apartment.”
He winced slightly. “The guys inside already snagged me, they’re forcing me into a debrief. Who knows how long it’ll last.”
“Oh, you’re going to have so much fun.”
“Your sarcasm is palpable,” he said. His fingers forced her chin upward. “I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” he said, “but if you want me, you know where to find me.”
Her lashes fluttered in anticipation of a kiss. None came, and when a chill was left beneath her chin from his finger’s absence, she frowned.
Jaxon was gone.
“Hey,” Taylor murmured, as she rushed in a slight jog toward her. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Alana lied. “Let’s go home.”
“So, now that everything’s out in the open,” Taylor asked, “how the hell did you make this mess?”
It wasn’t exactly the question Alana had anticipated as she crouched down in the apartment’s small dining area, sweeping up broken glass. “I actually didn’t. I know, hard to believe, right?”
Except, now that Taylor knew the truth, it wouldn’t be that hard at all. She stacked up containers, plates, and cups that hadn’t been broken in the mayhem in the kitchen. The dishwasher had already been loaded to the brim and would need to go through a few more cycles just to clean up everything that had been tossed aside.
“I think it was Damon,” Alana offered, as she stretched to her feet and dumped another dustpan full of glass and dirt into the trash. “Though, now I have to wonder if it was really Damon, or if it was Mason’s doing.” She stared blankly into a void.
“Alana.” Taylor’s voice snapped her out of her reverie. “It doesn’t really matter. I was just curious is all.”
“Well, sleep well tonight knowing it wasn’t your idiotic sister ruining the apartment,” Alana joked. With the glass cleared, she moved on to gathering up scattered books to return to their designated shelves. “How’s it going to be for you returning to work now? Going to be wondering if every scene you investigate is magic-related?”
“Probably,” Taylor admitted with a breathy laugh, “but I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. At least I won’t be clueless if something makes no sense.”
“Won’t it be kind of . . . boring now?” Alana said.
“Oh my God, never. Okay, maybe a little.” For a moment, the pair settled back into a quiet lull while they cleaned before Taylo
r broke their silence. “So, were you ever going to tell me about Jaxon?”
“What about him?”
“There’s clearly something there, Lana.”
Alana shoved another book onto the bookshelf with a shake of her head. “It’s just flirting, Taylor.”
“Oh, come on. When was the last time you actually enjoyed yourself? Now that I know what’s actually been going on, it’s pretty clear you’ve just been running from . . . everything. From everyone. When did you last do something for yourself?”
The words hung in the air like a thick blanket Alana couldn’t shove aside. Her sister had a point, but it was difficult to accept. She grabbed remaining lost books before shoving them into place.
Everything had a place, an order, a way things were supposed to be. Warlocks, mages, humans . . . Fae kissed. Things weren’t supposed to be messed with, though, nor was Mason supposed to turn his back on the TBHU.
Slowly, Alana turned around and met her sister’s smiling, assuring countenance. Even amidst the chaos of their apartment, she pushed her toward happiness.
Heaving out a seemingly unwilling sigh, Alana pulled her phone from her pocket and stared long and hard at it. She bit her lip as she forced herself to open up her text messages.
Without a word to Taylor, Alana started typing, sealing the fate of her future in a single message.
Chapter 16
Two weeks later
Someone knocked on the door.
Alana glanced away from the TV, debating if she should ignore it. After all, she was tired, grumpy, and even though her and Taylor had finally reached a good place, technically it wasn’t even her apartment. Besides, anyone stopping this late wasn’t someone she wanted to see. Too late for anyone decent anyhow. Taylor wouldn’t be home yet, so she resumed watching Supernatural. Dean screamed as Sam opened a locker and a cat jumped out of it. She chuckled. Shit, the show was great.