by Honor James
“I thought that you said she was going to get onto the chopper and that was how she was going to get home?” he said to Franco van Hemptyn.
“That was the fucking plan,” Franco shot back. “You know how she is though. Maya has never been one to play by the rules, yours, mine, or anyone’s.” He grumbled. “Did you get Felicity back to normal?” he demanded.
“Yeah, you have your little fucking girl back, don’t worry, Franco. But if I don’t get my sister in my place soon”—he looked to the man—“I will ensure that everyone knows just why you keep your little girl on such a short leash.” Sick motherfucker had been sleeping with Felicity for the last year, raping her and holding her against her will.
“I will get her to you,” Franco muttered. “She still considers me family so fuck you, asswipe. Don’t worry. I will get you your fucking sister.” He paused before continuing in a very low and quiet voice, “Do you really think that your father passed power to her?”
“It’s the only fucking explanation. I didn’t get it when he died like I should have.” He growled. “And that pisses me the fuck off,” he added. When his phone beeped, he looked down and smiled. “Ahh.” He sounded like a well-fed cat purring. “Seems as if my baby sister has been detained. Poor kid. I guess that as the concerned brother that I am, I really should go and make sure that Talon, fucking dick, releases her into my custody. No Royal should ever be held in those cages that they put Magic Users in.” Even if he had one such cage ready and waiting on his sister.
Shooting off a text to Talon, Michael opened himself up to the clean room and, feeling it empty, sent the spell to lock it down and transported himself, smiling as he watched the gardeners in the van Hemptyn gardens being turned to liquid fertilizer from the magical Vortex. “Remember, if she comes to you, call me first,” he shot to Franco before stepping through the Vortex.
* * * *
“Incoming Vortex,” reported one of the men up in the control room.
Looking up, Talon cursed and shot her a look. “I think your brother knows you’re here,” he said as his phone beeped. Pulling it out, he groaned. “Oh, he knows you’re here and is demanding you be released into his custody immediately upon his arrival.” Sticking the phone back into his pocket, he looked to Maya. “What do you want to do, darling?”
“Answering with ‘run’ wouldn’t get me anywhere, would it?” she asked Talon and sighed. “Crap. I knew that this was going to be a bad damn day.” She growled. “I’m not going with him,” she stated simply. “If I do he will kill me. You know that as well as I do.” It was why she was the “estranged Royal,” the “willful child” who did her own thing and played to her own tune. “I know that you don’t believe me. He is after all a King, a member of the Council, and above reproach, but I’m telling you, Talon, if I go with him, you will never see me again. He will collar me and then the world is screwed.” Collaring. That was such a truthful term for the leash that the Magic Users came up with for other Magic Users. The collar would wrap around one Magic User’s neck, the leash connecting to another and all the power inside of the one collared controlled by the one holding the leash. It was a way for Warlocks or Mage to do terrible things but place the blame on another because once collared, the collar disappeared and only the one collared and the one holding the leash could see it. It was a ball of fucking joy all wrapped up in a bag of happy.
Staring at her, he nodded. “I’ll come up with something,” he told her quietly. Looking up, he waved down one of the twins. Even he wasn’t sure which one it was from that distance. Glancing to her, he tipped his head. “How are you at half-truths, darling?” he asked curiously. “Feel like lying to your asshat of a big brother and saving your bacon in the process?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve perfected telling half-truths, especially to that bastard. Sorry, Momma,” she shot out after that. “What do you have in mind, Talon, and why is it that looking at that look on your face I have a feeling that I’m so, so not going to enjoy it?”
“Well”—he made a face—“you’re likely not going to be happy, but it’s the only thing I can think of that overrides any familial or guardianship claims he has. We’re going to use whoever of the twins to pretend you two are mates. Just sit and make goofy faces at each other, whisper together, hold hands, and laugh at non-existent jokes, whatever. You don’t have to get all busy with it, not with an audience, but if you have a bond-mate, your brother has no hold on you.”
“Well, hell’s bells.” She groaned. “Your guard is seriously going to be pissed.” Who wouldn’t be? Forced to playact as her bond-mate. “But you’re right. Bond-mates’ relationships have more credence than any other relationship out there.” Unless it was a child and a grown adult was trying to claim them. “Fine. You get to break it to Hickory or Dickory, whichever one comes down.”
“They’ll play along,” he muttered, turning as the door opened. Moving to Aiden, he lowered his voice and quickly explained the plan and the whys. It was a show of absolute trust that the man just nodded and moved toward her. “Just look all lovey-dovey, you two,” he ordered and stepped out to stand waiting before the door.
Maya looked up at the man. “What’s your name?” she asked softly while alone with him. She should at least know his name, right? “And thank you. For being willing to play along like this.” He was handsome, she would give him that. But he was freaking huge. Holy smokes, like put her on an elevator and send her to the top floor huge. He had to be six foot nine, at least, and lord, the man’s muscles had muscles. Oh yeah, she could totally see herself playing it up with him. Too bad it felt, well, wrong. It felt like she was on the wrong side of a mirror, oddly enough.
“Aiden,” he said, shaking her hand gently. “We should sit and at least look like we’re playing the part right.” Moving the bed, he moved up against the wall to lean against it. Patting the bedding next to him, he grabbed the pillow. “Sit here and pull your knees up, holding the pillow close to you. I’ll put my arm around your shoulders and we’ll hold hands with the empty ones. If we put our heads close together then we can talk softly about anything at all and they’ll never know the difference.”
Maya nodded and moved into place. Adjusting herself on the bed, she tucked her legs up under herself and held the pillow close. Leaning against Aiden, she tried to adjust herself more than once and sighed. “This just feels so wrong,” she whispered to him honestly. “Feels like something is off.” Which was the oddest thing ever. It felt like she was on the outside looking in. “Thank you though. I know that I forgot to tell you. Thank you for being willing to do this for me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Taking her hand, he touched a finger. “This little piggy went to market,” he whispered against her ear. Touching another, he grinned at her shocked look. “This little piggy stayed home,” he teased.
Maya smiled and shook her head, pressing herself deeper into the crook of his arm as she did so. “You are a nut,” she spoke very, very softly and then jerked when she heard her brother’s voice outside of the door.
“What do you mean she has a bond-mate?” Michael demanded of Talon and then looked back at him again. “I don’t fucking believe you. My sister was destined to never have a bond-mate. It was told at her birth that she would forever be incomplete and we all know what that means, so what the fuck do you mean, she has a bond-mate? I want to see her. Now.”
“Deep breath,” Aiden said to her and wiggled her other finger. “This little piggy does something and the others all go screaming in agony at the burn,” he whispered against her ear. Grinning, he teased very softly, “I once caught my brother in frilly pink underwear. Now you have to imagine me but less handsome of course, nekkid, dancing around singing some pop song in a frilly lacy thong.”
Maya couldn’t help it. She started to giggle and then laugh. Shaking her head, she looked up at Aiden adoringly and then looked back down again, shaking her head as she did so. “Oh God,
that’s just so wrong. You do know he’s going to be really pissed that you told that story, right?” she teased in a quiet whisper.
Talon watched Michael look around him and into the room that would suppress any and all magic and wasn’t surprised to hear Michael asking, “If she has a bond-mate, then why do you have her in a room which suppresses all magic?”
“It’s the only privacy they can have at the moment as we’re on high alert with several on-going missions,” Talon told him straight out, not budging an inch. Grinning inside at the laugh he heard, he peered down at the twit before him. “They wanted a few minutes alone before we regroup for a briefing and it was free. I don’t care what someone may or may not have told you but I’m betting they said it to tweak your tail just a smidge, especially since it’s all crap.” Looking past Michael he nodded to Skittles. “Quincy, I don’t think you’ve had the pleasure”—more sarcasm there could not be on that word—“of meeting the King of the Mage and Warlocks, have you?”
Resisting the urge to curl his lip, Skittles shook his head. “No I haven’t.” Snapping his heels together, he tipped in a formal bow. “Your Highness,” he murmured, hopefully with enough “kiss your ass” in his tone to keep him breathing a little longer. Straightening, he looked to Talon. “You bellowed for me?” he asked curiously.
Michael had to fight himself from reaching out and snapping the fucking necks of everyone around him. That bitch was his. He had to take her home. He just knew that she fucking had what their father was supposed to give to him! “Quincy,” he said through clenched teeth, and then to Talon he demanded more than asked, “I want a moment alone with my baby sister. I need to know that this is truly her desire, to be with a”—he looked into the room and all but snarled—“beast.” He growled the word. “If you would please ask her to meet me in the conference room?” Because no way in hell was he entering that room where his sister was now. None.
Talon looked to Quincy and then frowned. “I didn’t bellow, I asked for you to come to me because I need your help.” To Michael he said, “Unless her bond-mate has issue with it I don’t see why not.” He then added, “But he’s a possessive bastard and I doubt seriously he will let the woman go very far. He’s old and set in his ways and now that he’s finally got a bond-mate”—Talon shrugged—“doubt that he’s letting her go anytime soon.”
Maya felt the power. She shouldn’t but she did. Looking out into the hall she saw a tall man, attractive as well, one that made her ache. Good lord, but she became instantly horny. Weird, she knew, since she was sitting here supposedly playing kissy-face with the Dragon at her side, but while she might feel a glimmer of attraction to him, she felt intense, hot, burning need for the man outside in the hall. “Who is that?” she whispered to the man holding her close.
“Who?” he asked with a small frown to her. Seeing who she pointed to behind the pillow he tipped his head to hers like he was kissing her cheek. “Quincy, he’s our Warlock,” he told her quietly. “A little weird but a good egg, I suppose.”
She didn’t know why but she became offended for the man. “Weird because he’s a Warlock?” she asked as she turned to face Aiden. “Because I find that rather offensive.” She was about to blow her cover. She knew that she was but she couldn’t seem to help herself. “Just because he isn’t Dragon doesn’t mean that he’s weird. You have no idea what it is to channel the power that we have to in order to create the magic that we do.” She was still talking in a whisper, but it was getting louder as she did so. “Do you dislike him? Has he done something to you that makes you think that he’s inferior to you?” She growled.
“Shh,” he breathed out in caution, very aware of how sound carried in the room. “No, I just meant he’s a little weird. I like the fact he’s a Warlock. He’s saved my hide more than once and I sincerely appreciate it. I don’t hate him. I don’t even know him all that well even though he’s been with the Teams forever now. He just doesn’t like most of us and stays to himself. I respect that and leave him be as well.”
She nodded and tried to calm her blood pressure that had risen with the comment. Closing her eyes, she felt herself turning into the Dragon holding her, but the wrong feeling just intensified. “God, I hope that Michael gets his ass to the conference room soon. No offense, because you are spectacularly hot, but it just feels so wrong being held by you,” she whispered to Aiden. She let out a breath when she saw Talon leading Michael away and sighed, audibly. “Thank goodness,” she murmured. Looking out into the hall, she caught the eye of the man standing there, Quincy, and smiled at him. “I take it he was the one who put me down?” No one had ever been able to do that to her, catch her so unaware, well not for a very long time at least, but that man had and that raised her opinion of him quite a lot.
Letting her go since she seemed less than pleased by his playacting, Aiden moved to the edge of the bed. “Yeah, he did, right quick too and with a splitting headache to boot. Apparently you knocked him sideways with that illusion you pulled,” he told her. Getting to his feet, he stretched and looked at her. “You do realize we need to keep the act up, right?”
Maya nodded, sighing deeply and said, “I know. And again, I truly am thankful that you are willing to do this for me.” She really was. It wasn’t that she wasn’t attracted to the man, because holy cow she was, but it felt, well it felt like she was attracted to a reflection. “Will you tell him that I’m sorry? I honestly didn’t know that there was anyone there that was a Magic User until it was too late. I had to follow through because I didn’t have a backup plan to get Felicity out. I really am sorry,” she stated softly, this time looking at the man standing out in the hall with the long duster on.
“I’ll pass the message along,” he told her. “I’d suggest you telling him yourself but he tends to be a little standoffish to new people. He’s not overly trusting.” Which he didn’t understand fully, since Quincy never discussed his past with anyone. “We’ll give it a few more minutes and then we’ll head out to meet up with them. Would you rather have my twin here for this?” he asked her suddenly. “You might feel more comfortable with him. He’s supposedly the nicer of the two of us.”
“You mean the one who wore the pink frilly nighty?” she asked with a grin. “I think that I wouldn’t be able to look the poor man in the face. All I would see would be him singing some bad 80s song like ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ or something like that. I understand not being overly trusting.” Far too well. “Trust me, if Talon didn’t trust you to be alone with me and play this part, I would have been gone already.” Which was the truth. “So since you know him I will ask you to tell him, please.” She turned and stretched, walking from one end of the room to the other. “Can you pass me my gummy worms please?” she asked suddenly. Sugar. She needed a sugary snack.
Picking up the package, he made a face at the goofy-looking depictions that were on the front of the package. “I have to ask, what is it with Magic Users and candies?” Passing them over he sat on the edge of the table to watch her as she moved around. “And it was a thong just FYI. And, if I remember right, it was that Cyndi Lauper song, something about girls and fun. Can’t really recall. I’ve tried to burn as much of it out of my brain as I could over the years. Sadly there are still remnants.”
Maya laughed and shook her head. “We burn a lot of energy with holding in the magic that we all funnel,” she explained, chewing on a worm and finding herself walking toward the door, toward the man that had been identified as Quincy and stopping halfway. Good lord, look at her. She was about to chase down a man that had looked at her with absolute hatred in his eyes. Yeah, that was so good for her self-esteem. Turning back, she looked to Aiden and added, “Sugar helps. I know that Dragons burn through a lot of calories, too, but we need the energy fast. I know that’s weird sounding, but there it is. Sugar gives us quick energy that we use to create the spells and magic that we manipulate.”
Nodding, he grinned. “Well that makes total sense now. Q seems to mainline th
e Skittles, hence his nickname. I think if he managed to eat any more of them he might actually start taking on all the colors of the candy. Thankfully he has to sleep at some point,” he murmured, shaking his head. “Pretty sure he’s trying to find a way to direct inject the goodies.”
“If only,” Maya said with a smile. “There are days that I wish that I could do that, too. I’ve tried coffee and energy drinks, but nothing works as well as candy and my candy of choice is gummy worms.” Skittles, huh. That was a candy she hadn’t tried before. She moved back to Aiden, and then walked away again, looking out at Skittles and then turning with a flush when he looked ready to kill her. “He really, really hates me doesn’t he?” she asked Aiden softly, hurt clear in her voice but unsure why she was hurting.
“No, he’s just not in a good place today,” Aiden assured her, moving closer to her. Touching her arm lightly, he rubbed his fingers up and down. “Though he might be holding a smidge of a grudge at the pot shot you took at him, unintentionally of course.” He grinned. Sobering, he looked to where Quincy stood glaring at nothing in particular. “He’s had a really bad day and having Talon yelling at him likely just topped it off royally, no pun intended.”
“Why would Talon have yelled at him?” she asked with a frown. “I don’t understand why he would have yelled at the poor guy.” She sighed and then, blurted out, “God, I’m so confused.” She hated to be confused as well. “Son of a bitch, I hate confusion so very much.” She growled angrily. Looking up to Aiden, she added, “All right, I guess we have to get back into the lovey-dovey bond-mate position, huh?” So that she could tell her brother no, or rather so that Aiden could tell the bastard no.
Nodding, he took her hand in his. “We just met. We’re getting to know each other. We’ll keep it simple. I’ll hold your hand and, if things get tense just lean in toward me, a natural reaction.” Lifting his other hand, he brushed back some of her hair. “He got yelled at because of who you are, Q’s treatment of you during the extraction, and basically because Talon thought Q was lying about the bad odds of opening a Vortex on the ship. Nothing for you to concern yourself with. It will all work out and we’ll be back to our delusional and dysfunctional Teams once more. Ready?” he asked her.