The Wizard's Tizz [Milson Valley 5] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Jo Penn

  “Xavier saved me,” Mason said calmly.

  Drax scowled. “We’ll be discussing this poisoning I knew nothing about, mate.”

  “You! The legendary three wolf! It’s like you’ve got some sort of magical sense that saves you each and every time!” Jack stomped his foot. “I set up so many accidents, and you didn’t die either! The Master’s going to kill me, I just know it!”

  The young wizard was an idiot. It wasn’t magic that the three wolf held. It was extra senses, a deep ingrained instinct that rolled through the creature like a wave of knowing. And yeah, this instinct had saved Drax numerous times over the years.

  “Let us help you, Jack. We can stop the Master from hurting you—”

  “No.” Jack became eerily still, face hard. “No, Mason. I may have failed to kill you and your dog there, but I’ll still please the Master by slicing this wizard’s throat.”

  Shit. Drax leaped forward ready to take Jack down as the wizard raised the blade and went to slice Tudor’s throat. Marco though was faster and closer. With speed, the cub jumped on Jack, tiger claws tearing the evil wizard’s throat out. At the very same time, Cas used his own magic and opened a portal right in front of them and snatched Tudor away and snapping Jack’s arm that held the dagger.

  Drax sighed, wearily rubbing his forehead as he looked down at the lifeless body of a mad wizard. Blood ran from the hole where his throat once was, the dagger was across the hall and sightless eyes stared off into the distance. Though he’d taken lives in order to protect the pack and innocents, it never sat entirely well with him the loss of what could have been.

  And he wished Vicus had been here to read Jack’s mind before he died. That way they might have had an inkling of who the fuck this Master was. But no, Drax made the dumb-ass move to not have the Avenger here; hadn’t thought it was necessary. Now he was left with a dead wizard and no leads to who was behind the attacks. Renegades? Someone else? Hell.

  “Hi, Enforcer Drax.”

  Drax glared at the young vampire. “Now’s not the time, Tyler.”

  “Well, it is really, perfect time in fact. Know what my gift is?”

  “Being real damn obtuse, pup,” Drax grumbled, crouching down and sniffing the body in the hopes of getting a lead.

  “No, that’s a skill.” Tyler chuckled. “I have the gift of the mind. Not like Vicus, I don’t read memories and get a blow by blow on another’s life, but I do pick up on a few things, and your dead guy was projecting really frigging loud, though his mind was a bit fried in places and bat ass crazy. That’s why I couldn’t take control and get him to let Tudor go. Crazies seem to be immune to my mind control.”

  Drax stared at the young vamp prince. “You’re shitting me. You can control minds?”

  Holy hell! What a formidable gift in such a young creature’s hands. No wonder Misha, the eldest vampire brother, was always watching over the pup. Drax had just thought Misha was trying to keep his energizer youngest brother out of trouble.

  “Well, sure, and lots of other things. I’m gifted.” Tyler grinned and fluttered his eyelashes. “So bat ass crazy there was scared of his ‘Master.’ He also has an accomplice here somewhere. Someone called Caitlyn, who Jack is afraid of, too. And I smell blood on him…actually, smells like Armstrong blood.” Tyler frowned at Mason. “But you’re not injured, and neither is Laurie.”

  “Grandma!” Mason ran, leaping over the fallen wizard and down the hall.

  Drax growled. “Do not leave here, Tyler. Guards, stay here, protect the vampires, pups, and wizards.”

  With that, Drax ran after his mate, feeling Mason’s real panic and fear for Delia. Fortunately, he was fast and quickly caught up with Mason, who had burst into his grandmother’s office, a large, plush room.

  “Where is she? Can you sniff her out? Can you smell blood?”

  “No.” Drax didn’t even bother to tell Mason to calm down. He’d end up with a very angry, pissed-off wizard, and Mason had a right to be upset.

  Drax sniffed and followed his nose to a door. He knew from Mason this was Delia’s private potion room. He didn’t waste time and kicked the door open, then grabbed Mason, ducked, and rolled.

  “Oh dear. Really, boys, I have told you a million times not to just barge in. That’s how accidental explosions occur. Whatever is the matter, Mason? Darling, you are shaking!”

  As soon as Delia stepped out of the room, Mason was up and hugging his grandmother. Delia, frowning with concern, looked to Drax for answers.

  He quickly explained and realized there was another Armstrong at the coven. “Law.”

  “Oh no! Find him, please. Even if he isn’t my second cousin, I have grown very fond of the boy the last year. I would hate for anything to have befallen him,” Delia cried.

  Drax, with Mason right behind him, put his wolf nose to good use and went tracking.

  * * * *

  What a mess. What an absolute mess.

  Mason wrung his hands, a peculiar thing to do, but he couldn’t seem to help himself as he paced back and forth at the end of the healing bench as members of his coven worked so hard to save Lawson.

  Drax had tracked Law by his scent, particularly the scent of his blood, to Mason’s office and a little storage cupboard there where, presumably, Jack had shoved the young man after stabbing him four times. With the damage and amount of blood Law had lost, it was touch and go on whether he would make it or not. Law wasn’t a full wizard, just had a small touch of magic that Mason had been working to nurture and develop. It had been difficult for Law. He was a funny little thing who day dreamed a lot, lacked much concentration but was detail orientated when it came to his work. He actually liked being Mason’s junior assistant and tried not to let his mind wander, though it often did.

  Delia stood near Mason not moving, eyes glued to the healing bench where the work was difficult and exhausting. Laurie was hovering in a corner, eyes drenched with tears because he was sure his father was the Master behind all this. Marco, Tudor, and Luka were trying to reassure him.

  Xavier though hadn’t needed to take a sniff of Law when arriving. He’d simply demanded to know why their cousin was dying.

  Apparently, Xavier noticed that the kid never hung around when he was there, and a few days ago, he began looking into Lawson and made a point of sniffing his scent, and asked Drake to do so also. When Mason and Delia demanded to know why Xavier hadn’t told them, he simply said he wanted all the information first so there were no surprises.

  That was very Xavier, always making absolutely sure of facts.

  Mason sought comfort. Usually he would be stoic and in control, but too many shocks lately and why on this magical earth would he not turn to his mate, take comfort, and give it? Ridiculous not to. So he did, and Drax wrapped his arms around Mason as Mason wrapped his arms around Drax’s waist, and they stood, waiting, hoping.

  There were questions, so many, the most prominent being why Law hadn’t said anything to Mason, or any of the Armstrongs. Had Law even known, or was he simply searching for a place to belong?

  Layke and Lacy Aston arrived, twins and Avenger Vicus’s siblings. They were very gifted magic wielders, also both doctors. They got to work immediately.

  It was some time later that Mason noticed Xavier and Tyler in a corner. They were cousins, Xavier a vampire but cousin also to Mason. Xavier appeared to be scolding his younger cousin, who nodded and shrugged.

  Mason joined them, Drax remaining close. “Tyler, what else did you hear from Jack?”

  “What I told Enforcer Drax was it. The wizard’s mind was warped with madness. I don’t think he would have lasted much longer before you saw beneath the magic over him. He couldn’t hold it together anymore.”

  “That explains why Drax’s truck was blown up.”

  “Yes, your assistant was enraged and could no longer control himself,” Xavier murmured. “It is important we keep Tyler’s gift quiet… It does feel we are saying this a lot lately. There are numerous rare and uni
que gifts popping up. Some would say it is due to the Renegade battle, that the Fates are providing a little extra helping hand.”

  “That’s the consensus with Luka’s gift,” Drax agreed. “What did you dig up about Law?”

  “He is a harmless mostly human boy of sixteen.” Xavier sighed.

  “Moon and stars!” Mason paled. “This doesn’t seem real.”

  Only sixteen! Drax had been right.

  “It will be fine. We have him now. I recall many years ago a witch once told me blood calls to blood,” Xavier said quietly. “I believe this is apt. Family is drawn to family. He ran away from foster care when he was fourteen and has gone coven to coven searching for family. I think he realized he had found us but was afraid to say anything, so he used potions to hide how young he actually is.”

  “Mate, you can be offended over this, but from a security standpoint, I have to say the potions all you magic wielders use on yourselves is letting problems like Jack hide in the coven.”

  “I am beginning to see that myself. The use of potions on oneself was meant to be for small things,” Grandma interrupted. “It was a policy I allowed when we first moved here, but I see it has been taken great advantage of. Mason and I will revisit the issue very soon. I do not ban many things in this coven, but I may have to in this instance.”

  “Or make very strict guidelines, Grandma,” Xavier said gently.

  “Of course, my darling. You will be perfect to do this.”

  Xavier blinked, then smiled, and nodded. “Yes, of course, Grandma… I may be busy—”

  “Nonsense, never too busy for family, and I feel that as you have taken Tyler so thoroughly under your wing of late, you have been neglecting your family here. I am assigning you Lawson.”

  Drax was very amused by Lady Delia. She was such an intelligent, cunning woman beneath a gentle exterior that it always amazed him when she let her claws out.

  Finally, the healers and doctors stepped back from the bed, and a junior healer stepped over and began cleaning up.

  “How is he?” Mason asked anxiously.

  “Touch and go, Mason.” Lacy patted Mason’s shoulder affectionately, quirking a brow when a growl escaped Drax.

  “Sorry.” Drax scrubbed his face. “Wolves are territorial.”

  “Yes, except Ran. He has so very little territorial instinct.” Lacy laughed, then sobered. “Layke will remain here and keep an eye on your young human for the next twenty-four hours. I am a call away, and the healers here will be able to keep healing on and off.” Lacy looked sad. “I’m sorry, but the injuries were so extensive and the blood loss so great that he will be looking at a difficult recovery ahead. Be prepared for complications.”

  “Such as?” Xavier asked.

  “I think we will see him in hospital over the years with organ breakdowns. Layke is going to do what he can to combat that with medicines and consult with Chane over plants that can aid in building strength, but we know his kidneys were damaged and will not last more than a few years.”

  “Mine, he can have mine!” Laurie exclaimed. “That’s what humans do, right? Kidney transplants with a family member.”

  Mason drew his younger cousin close and hugged him, Xavier rubbing Laurie’s back. Lacy just smiled sadly.

  “I will be back in an hour. Just don’t give up hope. He made it this far, we can help him the rest of the way to recovery.”

  Mason remained in the healing room with Delia for a time, helping the healers and assistants set up. When he finally left, it was dark outside, and though not hungry, he knew he had to eat to fuel his body for magic wielding.

  It plagued him that there was more than one traitor in the coven. Delia had spent years building this coven back up after it was attacked and nearly destroyed by Renegades, and now to discover a trusted member had betrayed them, had lived among them for so long, had killed the previous second and very nearly killed Law, infuriated Mason.

  Drax seemed to understand and knew there was no possible way for Mason to rest that night. He didn’t cajole or complain. He sat in their office and talked about the possibilities, what would work best, and how they were going to discover who the Master was. Mason knew of a Caitlyn, she was an average witch with potions, had no healing talent, and mostly worked with spells. Baron had arrived earlier while Law was being seen by healers and with security searched the premises for the witch, but she was long gone. Apparently, he was out with soldiers tracking her.

  They needed to find the cabin in the woods Finn mentioned he saw in his vision.

  That made him think of the cabin where he used to meet with Drax once a week until they stopped going a year ago. Just a rustic old one-room shack in the middle of nowhere. There they had no cares—it was just them, no one to see, no one to interrupt. He’d loved those moments with his wolf and longed for a time when they could have that again.

  “The cabin.” Mason jumped up and rushed to locked bookshelves along one wall. Muttering the unlocking spell, he searched through tube after tube until finding the one he wanted and hurried back to the table where Drax sat watching him. Popping the lid, he shook the old map out on the table and used objects to keep it flat.

  “What are we looking at?” Drax frowned. “Is this an old map of Milson Valley?”

  “Yes. Grandma had it commissioned when she first moved the coven here one hundred and eleven years ago. Back then, there were no aerial shots and no boundary markers. She didn’t want coven members wandering into pack and pride lands and causing problems between them, so she had this done up by two coven members who had magic in maps and hung it in the old meeting hall. That way anyone going out into the forest to gather plants or to do experiments didn’t accidently stumble onto pack territory.”

  Drax nodded, tapping. “Whoever did this has real OCD tendencies.”

  Excited now, Mason began pointing at particular markers on the map and then the legend down the side. “Yep, I was right. The yellow triangles mean small cabins.”

  “What are the red ones?”

  “Medium-size houses. Anything triangle means a building. The color indicates the size and type. We want to find all the yellow triangles as Finn said in his vision the creature with the wizard hat was in a small cabin.”

  “You think he’s somewhere in Milson Valley? We have soldiers patrolling everywhere.”

  “Yes, and they do a great job. But as we all know from our last few meetings, more and more creatures are moving to Milson City and the valley, and a lot of Renegades are sneaking in undetected and setting up nests. No matter how good the soldiers are, they cannot stop everyone. A few determined creatures will get through.”

  “Yeah, so how will this map help? We know all the cabins through the forest and into the state forests that border.”

  “Actually, you may not.” Mason waved a hand to quiet his mate when the big Enforcer would have protested that. Drax quieted with a snap of sharp teeth. “Over the years, either cabins have been abandoned or are falling apart with time. I think whoever is out there would have found one of the abandoned or falling down ones that haven’t been visited in a lot of years and set up a bit of a magical barrier. Using the right potion, you can make the forest thicker, so dense it’s hard to see through. Use a spell, and it nudges people away.”

  “I see what you’re saying.” Drax leaned over the map. “Can I draw on this?”

  “Good Lord, no! This is a priceless original!” Mason was appalled and slapped the red pen out of Drax’s hand.

  “Geez, I was just asking, baby.” Drax grinned. “So, can we copy it?”

  “I guess. Why?”

  “Because you have a good idea, and now I need to be able to go over it, eliminate the cabins I know, show Uri, Drake, and Baron, and eliminate some more so we can narrow the search down.”

  “Right, of course.” Mason tapped the table, thinking, flicking through names and magical talents. “Our duplicator is away on an assignment in Holland. Next best thing is Ollie.”

&nb
sp; “Ollie?”

  “Architect working on extending the coven apartment building down by the lake. I know architects have those big machines for printing out plans.”

  Putting a call through to the architect, who seemed surprised by the request, Mason pressed the importance, and when Ollie said the firm was shut, Drax used his Enforcer weight to have the architect get the firm open and ready for them.

  They were going to find this bastard who called himself the Master, and then Mason would blast lightning up his ass!

  Chapter Nine

  Unfortunately, it was another long night without Drax spending any time alone with his mate.

  After a hurried trip to the architects where they had a dozen copies of the original map printed, they went directly to the Sanchez Compound to meet with Uri, Drake, Baron, and Delia. For hours, they pored over the maps and were able to narrow down to half a dozen potential cabins someone might be hiding out in.

  Drax could see his mate was waning near dawn and called an end to the meeting. No matter how much he wanted to be on the hunt to take out this Master and the witch Caitlyn who threatened the coven, his mate, and everyone else in Milson City, his first priority right now was his mate. Mason would, and often did, work himself to exhaustion. That wasn’t going to happen anymore if Drax had any choice in it.

  And as Mason’s mate, he really felt he did have a choice, despite what his wizard might protest.

  Leaving the others to strategize, he shuffled Mason out to the truck that Tripp had delivered for Drax to use until he got a new one. That was pack for you, always helping each other out, making things easier.

  Mason was asleep before they even left the compound and didn’t wake until they arrived at the coven. There he shuffled in, Drax keeping his arm around his mate and getting him to the private wing and upstairs to their suite where Drax stripped them both and put his mate and himself straight to bed. It had been a long day and night. He wondered if he was ever going to get the chance to bond fully.

  They managed a few hours’ sleep before rising and first checking on Law, whose condition hadn’t changed then had breakfast. Mason was preoccupied with coven business and what was going on, and Drax mulled over how best to distract the wizard. In the end, Drax went with his usual way, and with a bit of prodding and annoying his mate, had Mason back in their suite to have lunch together.