Their Mating Illusion [Paranormal Protection Unit 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Honor James

  “I will explain it when all the little ears above us leave,” she told Talon. “And it’s something that I will tell you, and only you,” she gave him. “Not another breathing and living soul,” she put out there. “Because it is not something that I share. Ever. Period.” Something that even her brother, the dickhead, didn’t know she could do. “Because if it were known…” Well, hell, she might as well put the fucking slave collar on herself if it was known just what she could do. “And you can say that you would have him terminated all you want but you forget that I know you, Talon. You were there to tend my wounds after a fight with the asshat that rules my people. You wanted to champion me but didn’t because I asked you not to. Trust me, I know you and know that you wouldn’t terminate one of your people for making a mistake. For treason, abso-fucking-lutely, but not for a mistake.”

  Watching her without blinking, he tapped his comms. “Clear the room and black out the glass,” he ordered. Rolling his eyes, he looked up to the room where his men were. “She’s in a room where no magic can be performed, dickwad. I seriously doubt she can take me.” Sighing, Talon cracked his neck to disperse the anger he was feeling. “Are you trying to aggravate my last nerve?” he asked in a sugary-sweet tone. When they heard that tone of voice he used, everyone snapped into gear and seconds later the red light on the wall went out. “Spill, now,” he ordered her, feeling seriously tested and every nerve frayed to the very edge. The Dragon wasn’t happy with all her hedging and almost lies. It wanted the truth, now!

  “Well you know who I am,” she started and ate another gummy worm. “But what you don’t know,” she whispered now and moved in closer to the edge of the bed. “When Daddy died…” She decided that she should explain from the beginning. “You knew how powerful he was. He was truly blessed by Gaia, he was amazing.” She breathed softly. “And he could do things that no other Magic User could.” Which was the truth. “That was why he was King of the Mage and Warlocks. His father before him, and his father before him.” There was a pause from Maya before she continued, “Anyway. When daddy died, I was there.” She pulled out another worm and looked at it, placing it on her palm and looking to Talon. “As you know, magic is shared. It’s passed from one generation to another. Taught from one parent to child.” Hesitation and uncertainty were on her face and when she spoke it was a whisper of a sound. “But sometimes…” She stared at the worm and watched it come to life, negating the magic around her, and whispered to him. “Sometimes it’s pushed from one to another. When daddy died he knew that I would need protection. He knew who killed him.” Maya saw the look on Talon’s face as the earthworm now wiggled on her palm. “Therefore he gave me the magic that had been passed from father to son, magic that originated with Gaia.” Another long pause as if she were gathering her thoughts. “And with that magic I can do one hell of a lot more than the average Magic User can.” She turned the worm back to a gummy worm. “But no one can know.” She sighed. “If they did, well you know what would happen.” Her brother would collar her and then he would try to decimate the Council. He was a greedy, power-hungry bastard. “I opened a personal slipstream, not a Vortex so much as a fold in space that only one person can slide through.”

  Staring at her for long moments, Talon considered everything and then nodded. “Use any of that around here and you know the consequences,” he said quietly. “While I applaud you helping a friend in need, the timing could not have been any worse. This will not go over well, Maya, especially when your brother gets wind of it. For now, I need you to remain here. You’re not under arrest, but legally you are being detained until I file my report. It sucks, I know, but it has to be done properly.” Getting up, he put the chair back into place. “I’ll have dinner sent in for you.”

  “You know that he will kill me the first chance he gets, right?” Maya sent back to Talon. “And with having me ‘trapped’ here…” She shrugged. “He’s going to come for me, I just hope that you are ready when he does because I have got to tell you, I will slip away as soon as I feel him.”

  * * * *

  Several hours later

  Skittles paced around the courtyard and fought to rein his temper in. Fucking Talon questioning him like that. Who the fuck did he think he was! Okay, so he was the big bad Dragon King, big fucking whoop. Shit…He was the big bad Dragon King who he’d just mouthed off to and practically threatened with bodily harm. Shit on a motherfucking stick, he was dead meat!

  Quincy stopped pacing the moment that he saw Katherine. Great! Today had to be one of the rare times she was allowed to “go to the office” with her men. Quincy knew that when she was there she loved it because she got to see her friends and see what her boys did for mankind. It was really a turn on, as they all had found out, thanks to a PA system switch that they had switched on during one of her visits to the ‘office.’ His worries were still there, especially when the woman spoke.

  “You know,” Kat said with a grin, “when you pace like that and don’t even see the person sitting on the bench in front of you that means one of two things. Either issues with your boss or issues with a woman. Wanna talk about it?”

  Stopping at her voice, it took him a second to focus on her and then he blushed. “Sorry,” he muttered, moving toward her. Sitting on the end of the bench, he sighed, “It was this last mission,” he murmured quietly. “It’s messed with my head a bit I think, especially since the one we grabbed is someone of importance and likely to have my ass in a sling for the rest of time.”

  “I doubt that,” Katherine assured him. “No one would be able to be mad at you long, Quincy,” Katherine assured the man and pulled out a bag of Skittles. Offering him one, she smiled. “You got me hooked,” she admitted. “I think the boys are ready to skin you, especially when I asked for some at three a.m. the morning before they had to leave for this latest mission.” She had made Trey get up and out of bed and go to town to get her some candies. She couldn’t help it. She woke in the middle of the night with a serious craving and, darn it all, they had said they would do anything for her, so yep, she made them. “And no cussing,” she added. “You know it grates on my nerves.”

  “The ass is a part of the anatomy. It’s not a curse word,” he muttered, shaking his head at the Skittles she offered him.

  “Now I know something is wrong. Talk to me,” she demanded and put the candy to the side, watching the man intently.

  Quincy huffed out a breath. He leaned back on his hands to stare down at his boots. He needed to polish them again. He had a little something nasty on the edge of one. “It was going smooth as silk, everything falling into place, everyone working as a perfect unit. We got the target, got the target off-loaded and were just waiting it out for the boat to dock and then we’d vanish into the mists. Next thing I know I’m decked by a Mack truck at two hundred miles per hour out of nowhere. Not literally,” he said at her look. “Figuratively speaking. Another Magic User doing something big, fast, and split-second. My head is still ringing from it. Then, to top it all off, the Magic User is someone of importance that I’m apparently supposed to know because I, of course, know absolutely every bloody Mage and Warlock in the entire world. They’re all my BFFs, after all, and we text non-stop,” he said in a snarky tone. “To throw icing on that bloody cake, Talon questions my decision not to use a Vortex to transport off the target.” That’s what really pissed him off. Skittles knew magic, knew his magic down to the smallest, most intimate detail and to have a Non-Magic User question it made him pissy beyond all belief.

  “So that’s what has you so angry. That Talon questioned your judgment.” Katherine shrugged and then said, “I am the Queen of the Fae and I still don’t know all of them.” Most of them yes, and sadly they all knew her but she was their Queen and not “someone of importance.” “So who is this person? Is she the King’s mistress or something?” There were no female Royals in the Magic line, were there?

  “Likely worse than that,” he muttered. “The King’s baby sister,” he
heaved out a breath. “I’m angry mostly because he questioned my knowledge of my magic. Because if he’s questioning it he doesn’t really trust me and if he doesn’t trust me, how can I keep working with the Teams?” he whispered softly, an ache developing in his chest. His family was all dead. There was no one that would miss him. Hell, not even the Teams would really. “Maybe it’s a sign from the universe that it’s time to leave. Better do it now than later when my judgment is called into question on a mission and they don’t believe me and die.”

  Katherine laid her hand on Quincy’s forearm and shook her head. “Quincy,” she spoke softly, soothingly. “It’s not that and you know it. I would wager that Talon likely knows the girl that was brought in and that’s what had him in an uproar.” She frowned and then asked bluntly, “Do you think that she’s his bond-mate? Maybe that is why he is so upset.”

  “No, I don’t think so. He’s acting more like a protective older brother than a bond-mate,” he said to her honestly. “No, if she were his bond-mate I have a feeling my head would have been decorating his wall right next to whichever of the flaming farters had been carrying her.” At her confused look, he grinned. “The Dragon twins, one of my many, many personalized nicknames for them.”

  Katherine laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Aiden and Allister?” she asked with a grin. “Oh lord, they would have fits if they knew that you called them names.” She sobered and continued her questions. “Wait, isn’t one of them supposed to be a bond-mate with you and the woman who will come into your life? How did Gaia put it? ‘When one finds their true bond-mate, they would die for them, no hesitations or questions. That love is true and it is unwavering. Even if sometimes it might feel as an illusion.’ And then went on to tell you that you wouldn’t think she had chosen right for you but she had?”

  “Yeah, I get Yippy or Skippy with me for life,” he grumbled. “It’s not that I hate them but they do and say things that aggravate me. Like I’m less than they are.” Of course that could just be his inferiority complex kicking in full steam ahead. “Not that it matters if it’s dumb or dumber because the other one will always be hanging around anyway. I honestly don’t know what Gaia was thinking pairing me up with one of them and a bond-mate.” Either way, he wasn’t going through with it. “He can have her,” he said, leaning forward. “I refuse to spend my life around someone that has no respect for me and will likely turn a bond-mate to the same way of thinking. I’m giving up my bond-mate options here and now, to hell with it.”

  “Quincy, you can’t mean that,” she whispered in utter shock. Moving closer, she put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a hug. “Listen to me Quincy,” she murmured very quietly. “There is nothing like the love of a bond-mate. It completes you in ways you never imagined.” She whispered so that only the flora and fauna could hear her. “And you.” She shook her head. “You think that they don’t respect you?” Shaking her head, she wanted to let him see what she did, but didn’t know how to. “Honey, they do respect you. They all do. I know that my guys love you like a brother, and that says something. Talon dotes on you like a kid brother and A&A even like you. Honey, you are a part of a family. Respect is a part of it. You are a Magic User.” She turned him around to face her. “Look in my mind. See it as an outsider looking in. Honey, you are loved and respected but I want you to see it for yourself.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “You see what they want you to see. I’m living it, Kat.” He looked at her. “No, if I was meant to have a mate it wouldn’t be with one of them. Hell, I could have survived a bond-mate grouping with Talon or any of the others, but not the fiery twins. I just can’t go through eternity grinding my teeth and trying to come up with reasons not to rip their heads off and spit down their throats. I can’t. I will not. I didn’t have a great home life. Not many of us did that got into this line of work. I will not have a mating for the rest of time with more of the same. No, Gaia screwed up. I’m sorry but it’s the truth. I will not have a mating with either of them. A mating is supposed to be a relief. To have someone you can share your worries with, someone that is the perfect match and calms your inner turmoil. It would be nothing but nonstop turmoil and anything but calm with either of the twins in my life, so no. I absolutely, positively, and excuse my French this time around, Katherine, I fucking refuse to have anything to do with either of those two assholes outside of work. Period.”

  Katherine wanted to cry for him. She really did. “I’m so sorry you feel that way, Quincy,” she whispered. “And I see far more than you think that I see.” She wasn’t offended so much as upset that he was blind. “I see a man with a great deal of power, a man that has been through hell and back again, twice, and yet is strong enough to survive. I see a man who is trying to hold onto the last soft part of himself, his heart, and in doing so will alienate the ones who could truly see him for who he is. When they bond,” she murmured quietly, “they will never have a full and true bond. It’s always going to be lacking and you will hurt every day of your life. Don’t do that to yourself. But”—she held out a hand—“that’s something to think of for far in the future when you find your bond-mate. Maybe with time you will realize that I’m telling you the truth.” That he was respected, loved, and cared for.

  “Thank you for caring enough to try,” Skittles said softly to her. “But they grate on my nerves. I’d never have a peaceful moment again in my life. I’ve lived without peace too long, Katherine. I cannot do it anymore. If I was to be given a bond-mate with either of them, I’d willingly live with the agony of never knowing her just to ensure he suffered for it, too. Gaia is wrong this time. I do not want a joint bonding. I can’t do that.” He’d never had anything or anyone his own, ever in his life. He had his magic but that wasn’t tangible. And even then he had to share it with the Teams and everyone they helped. He literally had nothing to call his own.

  Katherine sighed and shook her head. Her thoughts were obvious and clearly written on her face. Maybe the guys could talk to him. She could see where he would want to have a bond-mate all his own, she really could, but she prayed that he would realize just how good it would be to have a shared one. He would always know someone was there to watch over his bond-mate. He would know that there would always be someone who had his back in all things. It was a good thing, shared bonds, but maybe he was just one of the men who couldn’t accept that, and that made her ache for him. “I will always care for you, Quincy. You are like a brother to me and that’s not something that I would give lightly. You are a friend, now and always.”

  “I also know what you’re thinking, Katherine. While it would be nice knowing she’d forever be protected. I am not one that can share. I’ve never, not once had anything or anyone my own,” he said again. “I figure at least once in my life I should be given such a gift. But apparently I’m getting screwed out of that, too,” he whispered. “I can’t share on this one. I know you think it’s great. You’re obviously a far more generous and better person than I ever will be. I’m sorry but on this one I cannot give in. Whoever she is she will just have to get by with the one twin.”

  “I hope she can,” Katherine murmured quietly. “I will stand by your side on your decision,” she assured Quincy. “Because that’s what friends do. We stand by each other’s sides no matter what else is happening. We stand shoulder to shoulder and sometimes in front of each other. We protect, we love each other, and we do so because we care for each other. Know you have a champion in me, darling.” She then frowned. “What’s happening?” She saw guards moving quietly, saw her mates heading her way, fast, and the looks on their faces were not good ones.

  “Either they plan on gutting me because you’re snuggled up at my side or Talon’s finally decided it’s time to burn the witch,” he said quietly. “I know, bad joke,” he muttered. Getting to his feet he pointed at her bag. “Don’t forget your candies, sugar,” Quincy told Katherine before he faced the firing squad, basically what he saw them as, heading his way.

&n
bsp; “Talon has ranks closing in around Maya,” Mac stated simply as they stepped before his mate and their teammate. “We could use you, Skittles. Talon asked for you specifically,” he added as he watched Sullivan move to Katherine’s side and pick her up to hold her close. “Evidently Maya’s brother, Michael, is here and he’s a real fucking piece of work. Don’t know exactly what’s up but the fear that’s coming off of Maya is making my fucking bear seriously pissed.” The animal inside of him was roaring that an innocent was about to be hurt. “Sully and Trey are taking Katherine out of here. Her guard are on full alert but I’m staying. So, you coming?”

  Quincy shared a look with Katherine, he nodded. “The King hath summoned me. Oh, what is a wee Warlock to do,” he muttered. Pressing a kiss to Katherine’s hand, he smiled slightly for her. “Have a good one, Kat. Check ya later,” he said, heading off for the main building. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he tried to remember he wasn’t some pleb. He was a Warlock. Didn’t help he had zero confidence when his confidence was dinged or beaten on at all. Keeping his head down, standard protocol when shit hit the fan, he marched along with the others.

  Chapter Five

  Michael Griffon paced the floor. This was not fucking happening! When the helicopter had landed and there was no Maya, he nearly had a fucking coronary. Where the fuck was the bitch? He had clouded over the fucking toys’ memories and now he had to make sure that his baby fucking sister was kept in line, so where the Godsdamn hell was the bitch?