A Magical Reckoning: Magic and Mischief Book 1

by N. R. Hairston

Jax thought about it. “About ten powerful strong guys, alert for anything. Drake pays them well, and the way they troll under him is almost fanatical.”

  I thought about Cam being constantly brutalized by these men and felt myself choke. “Are they abusive?” I finally allowed myself to ask.

  He let out a breath as if he knew the answer would bring me pain, and he was doing everything he could to avoid it. “They can be,” he answered after about thirty seconds.

  I gripped the wheel harder, not even caring about the trickle of tears falling down my cheeks.

  Jax turned away from the window and touched me on the arm. “Hey, hey, now, none of that. Cam is going to be alright.”

  I knocked him away. “Stop being nice. It’s freaking me out.”

  He threw his hands up. “Hey, you don’t get dibs on freaking out. Cause seeing you being choked to death freaked me out.”

  He sounded serious, and I spared him a quick glance before turning back to the road. I exhaled lightly. “She didn’t choke me to death. I wasn’t dead. Skunk oil can’t bring you back to life. You’d do well to remember that.”

  He smiled and changed the subject. “Gonna thank me for saving your life?” He held up a finger. “I think I broke my pinky in the process.”

  He was so damn outrageous. But somehow, he hit my humor button just right every time. “Yeah, well, sorry about that. You should have rubbed some skunk oil on it when you had the chance.”

  He stared at the finger and then ran his hand across it. “Some dripped on it while I was getting you well. It’s all good now.”

  “You want me to thank you for that too? For the oil healing your finger?”

  His voice took on a low rumble and he turned in his seat. I kept my eyes on the road, not wanting to see the look on his face. “Thank me for taking care of you when you couldn’t take care of yourself? No. Never. You don’t have to ever thank me for that.”

  He said it with so much damn conviction and passion that I almost ran off the road. “Yeah, well,” I cleared my throat and steered the car back onto the road. “Thanks for all that. You could have taken advantage and you didn’t. So.…”

  He smiled brightly, but I could see the teasing in his eyes. “Are we best friends now? Is that what’s happening here?”

  My mind immediately turned to my true best friend, and just like that, my mood soured. “Let’s just focus on where we’re going, okay,” I said shortly.

  He turned in his seat. “I wasn’t trying to upset you. Just wanted to see you smile again. I like it when you smile. It’s nice.” He said the last part so low that I barely heard him.

  “This one time,” I started to speak then had to stop to catch my breath. “This one time, I was working a case. The perpetrators had me surrounded, four of them. Before we went in, we’d thought it was more like forty. We’d heard the message wrong.” I shook my head, thinking about the way Cam had come blazing through that door. “Do you think he waited for backup? No. He came crashing in anyway. He didn’t give a damn what happened to him. He came for me. He always came for me. So I’m not going to let him down.”

  “That’s all nice, but how many times have you done the same for him? I’m pretty sure you’ve shown him your loyalty on more than one occasion. I’m sure he knows that you’re coming for him. Try to take comfort from that.”

  I laughed, but it was hollow and empty. It felt like every part of my soul was dying and the only thing that could make it better was finding Cam alive and well. “We have each other’s back.” I hit the wheel hard with my fist, and more tears flowed out of my eyes. “How did I not even notice he was missing? If I’d been searching for him sooner--” I stopped unable to keep talking.

  Jax’s voice was soft when he spoke. “Were you busy with a case?”

  The guilt hit me right in the chest. “Yeah, chasing down a freaking fly,” I said, disgusted with myself.

  He laughed loudly and it was a beautiful magical sound that I decided I liked just fine.

  At Jax’s direction, I turned off the main highway and onto a street made of gravel. A yellow and white sign warned me to watch out for falling rocks. The hillside was lined with them. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, imagining one of them tumbling down and crushing us to death.

  “What are you thinking about?” Jax asked after I’d been quiet too long.

  I gave him a small, sad, smile. “Nothing really. Just trying to keep my mind from what we might find here.” The image of Cam’s lifeless body, staring up at me through empty sockets, had chills running down my spine.

  “We’re probably not ready to be crushed to death by giant rocks. Still have the skunk oil if we are, though.”

  I pretended to scold. “I already told you, skunk oil can’t heal the dead.”

  “Why you got to shoot down all my efforts to comfort you, Rye? I’m trying to step up to the plate here.”

  I kept my eyes on the road. It was narrow and I feared we’d go off the side if I lost focus for too long. “You’re impossible,” I said in a way to keep our easy banter going.

  His voice turned serious in an instant. “I don’t have to be. Maybe I’m a little more than you give me credit for.”

  I swallowed hard, not liking the direction this conversation was headed. “I only know what you show me,” I said lightly, hoping he’d leave it there.

  Of course, he had to push it farther. “Or maybe you just refuse to see?”

  I shook my head at his weighted statement. This wasn’t a conversation I was ready to have. “How much longer until we get there?”

  He pointed to the right. “Take this turn.”

  We’d been driving for a while, only passing a handful of cars here and there. I took the exit he told me to and went down another dark road. Driving in the car, this road was rough. I could only imagine how hard it must have been on foot. “How the hell did you make it out of here?”

  “I walked.” He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Once I got to the main road, I was able to hitch. Did that a couple of times until I made it to your hometown.”

  We finally arrived in front of a medium-sized building set far back from the highway. The place appeared deserted. The parking lot was empty and the only sound was the idling of our car. I cut the engine, my hands still on the wheel. “How do you want to do this?”

  “We need to act with caution. I don’t think anyone’s here, but we should assume there is.”

  I squinted at the massive, looming structure. “So we just walk in?”

  His face said he didn’t care one way or another. “I mean we can creep if you want to. If you like creeping. We can creep.”

  He seemed so damn serious that I couldn’t tell if he was fucking with me or not. “Let’s go.”

  We got to the door, but couldn’t open it because of the sizable padlock holding it together. I was just about to use my thiols when Jax squinted his eyes, and a loud boom sounded, catching me completely off guard. I jumped back as the lock erupted from the inside out, bits and pieces flying everywhere.

  I knocked a few shards out of my hair and turned to him with a scowl. “Maybe a little warning next time, asshole.”

  He smiled ruefully. “My bad. Gotta admit, I’m full of surprise and excitement.” One glance at my sour face had him clearing his throat and straightening. “And now is not the time for that. Sorry.”

  The door swung open, and we walked into a vast open space. No one was here now, but it was clear they’d left in a hurry. Chairs lay sprawled across the floor. Two coolers held nothing but dirty water and looked like they hadn’t been used in days. I picked up a portable hot plate from the table and turned it over in my hand. “Did they actually cook on this?” I asked.

  Jax, who’d being busy kicking blankets out of his path, spared me a quick glance. “I guess. I never saw it, but then again, I was only brought out for one purpose.” He went on with what he’d been doing, and I stood rooted to my spot.

  His words hit m
e like a sledgehammer, and I stayed stock still, trying to wrap my head around what he’d just revealed to me. Finally, I placed a shaky hand on the table in front of me, watching his back as he searched the floor for clues.

  He’d been a victim too, yet somehow I’d allowed myself to forget that. I’d been so caught up in Cam that I hadn’t even stopped to think about the shit that Jax himself had been through.

  He hadn’t complained once, not even when he’d had to turn around and head straight back to the place of his torture. I stared at him in awe, not sure I’d be able to keep it together under such circumstances. He went about his business, oblivious to the eyes boring into the back of his head.

  I stared at him a moment longer until a spot on the floor called my attention away. I squatted to get a better look. It was blood all right, and I pulled out my to-go-kit, forcing myself to believe that it belonged to anyone but Cam.

  Gloves firmly on, I sucked up a bit with my syringe and dropped it into the DNA testing kit. It only took a second for Cam’s smiling face to pop up on the screen. A closed fist to my mouth, I took a few breaths, trying to control my emotions. I should have expected this, yet somehow I’d allowed it to knock me off my guard.

  Jax placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, and I leaned into his touch, grateful for his support. I sniffed, and cleared my throat, coming to a stand. “I have to call this in. We need to secure the spot. See what clues we can find. Maybe we’ll get a beat on their next location.”

  I placed a call to my shadow team, to see how close they were. They said they’d be able to reach us in about thirty minutes, and I didn’t feel there was much more we could do without more supplies.

  I could still see the spot with Cam’s blood and I tried not to think about what that meant. Was it the result of a blow to his face, or maybe a small cut or wound?

  Had it been bandaged? Had his injuries been properly tended to? Or had they been left to fester and get infected? I ran a frustrated hand through my hair and tried not to scream. This whole thing was driving me insane, but I bet that was nothing compared to what Cam was going through.

  The air was stuffy to the point that I couldn’t breathe, and suddenly I had to get out of there. “Look, my team will be here soon. I’ll turn the air conditioner on in the car and we can wait in there.”

  He followed me to the door. “You mean I’m not going to be your dirty little secret anymore? I actually get to meet your friends?”

  I smiled at him acting like a dork, which I knew was his goal. “I just want to make sure the site stays secure until they get here. Come on.”

  He followed behind me. “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “That’s because I didn’t realize it was a question.”

  The afternoon sun smacked us dead in the face, but it was the state of my car that really caught my attention. It sat on all fours, the wheels ripped to pieces. My hood was open, with wires scattered all over the place.

  I walked with caution, not sure what I was ready to encounter. Someone was doing their most to keep us here. The question was why. “Who could have done this?” I whispered, trying to form some type of picture in my mind of what to look out for.

  Jax measured his steps until he was the one leading the charge. “I told you about his numerous guards. It could have been any one of them.”

  “Let’s--” That’s all I got out before a blow to my back knocked me to my knees. I rolled to the side, taking most of the fall on my left arm.

  I tried to get up, but a hard punch to my face knocked me back again. Pain exploded in my left jaw, but I shook it off, knowing I was in a fight for my life.

  Trying to get some kind of traction, I snatched up a handful of my assailant’s hair. I pulled as hard as I could, yanking the person’s head back and using it as momentum to bring me to a sitting position. Once there, I opened my mouth and used my thiols to cut his eyesight, at the same time choking him from the inside out.

  He fell to the side gasping for breath and screaming. I pushed him away and came back to my feet. My eyes immediately went to Jax. He had one hand around the throat of a man, while his other hand was draining the sweat out of a different guy. The woman he squinted at, and she dropped, grabbing her splitting chest and screaming.

  I started that way but was blocked by two solid bodies. They stood side by side, one male, and one female. The man had a blade in his hand, and he stuck out his tongue and ran the knife across it, staring at me the whole time. The woman had a sneer on her face, but no weapons that I could see.

  I cracked my neck. If they wanted to do this, we could do this.

  The man laughed, knife bouncing from hand to hand. “We knew you were coming. Saw you from miles away.”

  “Then you should have been prepared for this.” I dropped to the ground and knocked him off his feet. The girl came at me, but I was ready and delivered a kick square to her face. The guy swung on me, knocking my head back and splitting my lip.

  I spat blood from my mouth and wiped the excess away. “That all you got, boy?” They charged me from either side and I ducked, causing them to rip into each other instead. That gave me enough time to blow out some thiols and drop them both to the ground choking and gagging.

  I stepped over their bodies and made my way to Jax. He still had three on him and was doing everything he could to hold his ground.

  I used thiols to take out two. Jax flexed his hands, and the last one’s organs exploded out of his body. Blood and tissue rained down on us in the most disgusting way possible.

  I pulled gook out of my hair and wiped slime off my face. “Really?” I asked, my voice terse. “Always the dramatics with you. Damn.” I swiped more gunk away. “Where can I clean up?”

  He seemed apologetic, but not really sorry.

  “What?” I asked, once I saw that he couldn’t meet my eyes.

  The reluctant look on his face told me I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “I don’t think they have running water here. We pissed in buckets and drank out of water bottles.”

  “How did you wash up?”

  He raised an eyebrow like he was surprised I didn’t already know. “Did you see me when I first arrived? Did you smell me?”

  I didn’t even want to think about it, but I did remember. He’d smelled like he hadn’t had a bath in weeks and I guess he hadn’t. “Just come on.” I waved him toward me.

  “Where are we going?”

  “There are two coolers in the building. They had water in them. I’ll use that as best I can.”

  His voice held uncertainty. “That water was green. You sure you want to bathe in that?”

  I stared at him hard. It was his fault I was covered in this gunk in the first place. I turned my eyes away and took a deep breath, because I did realize I was being a little unfair. “Well, what do you suggest then?” I tried to make my voice light, not wanting him to know how irritated I was.

  He pointed behind him. “Crossed a small river when I escaped. You can’t see it from the road, but it’s there.”

  After doing a careful check of the perimeter to make sure no one else lurked around, I gestured for him to lead the way to the water.

  We walked for about five minutes, still on guard for any more of Drake’s team, before the air began to cool and a small river stretched out before us. I had nothing to change into, but it really didn’t matter. The sun was so damn hot that it wouldn’t take long for our clothes to dry.

  I stripped down right in front of him, modesty never being a problem for me.

  Jax gave me the once over, a lazy smile on his lips. “You could at least buy me dinner first, Rye.”

  “I already did. Twice.” I dipped my toe in the water, trying to gauge the temperature. It was a little cool, but not as cold as I thought it would be. I slipped inside. “I’ve bought you dinner twice. When are you going to start putting out?”

  He stood before me completely naked. His chest broad, and his abs hard. Under different circumstances…. I
shook my head. Now was not the time for that. I turned away and set about washing my clothes as best I could. A huge splash had water smacking me hard across the face. “What the--” I turned around just in time to see Jax spring up from the bottom of the river.

  “What?” he asked, once he took in my irritated expression.

  “We’re not at the beach.”

  He actually had the nerve to look chastised. “I know that.”

  I rubbed my pants together, and then fanned them out. “Then why are you doing freaking somersaults off the bank?”

  He dipped back under, and then came up right beside me. I jumped a little, then cursed myself for letting him affect me this way. “Why do you care what I do, if I’m not bothering you?” The heat from his body acted almost like a magnet, pulling me closer, and making me want things that I knew were best left alone.

  My pants slipped from my hands, and he came even closer. We were only an inch apart now. His breath tickled mine, his voice low, rough, and filled with longing. “What do you want, Rye?”

  I felt myself quiver. I wanted this, wanted him. Bad. Maybe more than I’d ever wanted anyone, and for that reason alone, I knew I couldn’t do it. Still I came closer. We were touching now, bodies lined up perfectly against each other. His hand shook, as he reached out to pull me against him. I melted into his arms, my mind fighting me to break it off, my body responding with raw need.

  He gripped me tighter, his lips meeting mine in a rushed kiss that turned frantic in a second. “I want you,” he mumbled, kissing down my neck and around my shoulder.

  “Shut up.” I raised his head and guided his lips back to mine, exhaling softly when they touched again. He tasted like the coffee and donuts we’d gotten on the way here, and I’d never loved that flavor more. I wrapped my legs around his waist and then guided him to my opening.

  “I don’t have any protection.”

  I squeezed him tighter. “It’s up to you. I can always heal myself, and I am clean. I’m tested every couple of months.”

  He kissed me again. “Me too,” he mumbled against my lips.

  I slipped him inside me and gasped. He felt so fucking good that I could easily see myself getting lost in him. “Fuck.” I winded my hips down, trying to get as much of him as I could take. I wanted it all. Damn he felt good. “Take it. It’s yours, for now, so take it.”