by Marcy Jacks
The spell wasn’t…there was no spell. Sebby had cast no mating spell. He’d been right. He’d cast his original spell correctly.
His mating with Gold was a natural one. He wanted to cry.
He wanted to call out to his mate and tell him he could hear everything, that he didn’t want Gold to do anything stupid instead.
“All right. I’ll go with you,” Gold said.
No!
Artemis chuckled.
“What? What’s your problem?” Gold demanded.
“Nothing. You’re just too fucking easy to fool.”
“What?”
Sebby didn’t see what happened, but he heard the crash and the shout as Gold struggled with something, with a lot of somethings from the sound of it.
Sebby focused all his energy and strength into his neck, turning just enough so he could see what was going on.
More warlocks had showed up. They surrounded Gold in smoke as he had been knocked on the ground.
Gold waved his hands around, as though trying to wave off the black smoke that came from the snake streams left behind by the warlocks around him before they returned to their physical shapes.
They surrounded him. Gold clutched at his throat, coughing and choking. He spread his golden wings out, which briefly pushed back the warlocks before they grabbed his wings and his neck. They worked to pin him down, which was almost too easy. Even five men should have struggled to hold down a dragon.
It was because he was still recovering and because he was choking on the smoke they’d bombarded him with.
Even a dragon needed to breathe.
“Hold him down! Hold him!” Artemis yelled. He sounded brave now that there were suddenly more people around to back him up.
Gold roared. His face turned bright red from the effort as he managed to free an arm and send it out at his enemy.
He must have caught the guy off guard because the eyes of the warlock flew wide as he suddenly surged away from Gold, clutching at his bleeding throat.
Gold had caught the man in the neck with his claws. The warlock choked and gasped as his blood pulsed out of his neck in heavy streams.
He fell to his knees close to Sebby’s body. Their eyes met. Sebby noted the way the warlock’s lips silently moved, as though desperately trying to conjure a healing spell, but the light began to diminish from his eyes before he could get anywhere.
He fell down next to Sebby. They faced each other. Sebby watched the light vanish entirely. He watched the man die.
He shivered as Gold continued to fight for his life. Meanwhile, Sebby could hardly move.
He could move a little, however. Even if he could move, what power did he have? Almost none. He wasn’t talented and could barely summon basic spells. The fireball Artemis threw out before had caught on one of the trees, and it was burning. He could see it from the corner of his eye. If he couldn’t get up and run, he would burn to death.
Or asphyxiate. He wasn’t sure which, but he didn’t want either.
“Tie his wings off! Hurry up!”
Sebby had to do something. He’d never felt so helpless in his entire life.
The warm blood touched his chest, flowed down to his jaw and cheek, and that was when the idea came to him.
He could drink the man’s blood. It wasn’t a red moon tonight, and he wouldn’t have been able to add the proper incantations or herbs, but drinking the blood of a warlock was still supposed to transfer power. It wouldn’t be all of it, but if it was enough to get Sebby moving, to allow him to defend his mate…
He pressed his lips into the blood and began sucking it up. He pulled in some dead leaves, and a twig got in the way. Sap from the pine trees made what was already a gross taste even more disgusting, but Sebby got it. He was able to pull the blood across his nearly numb tongue and swallow it all down.
Well, not all. Obviously most was going to waste. It was soaking into his clothes, getting on his face, and he could only swallow what flowed down to his face in the first place.
Even if he could have access to it all, he couldn’t drink it all because his belly wouldn’t hold that much.
It didn’t matter. He drank and drank, listening to the scuffle as his mate fought against the warlocks, listening to their incantations to paralyze him. They had to work hard. Dragons weren’t as easy to spell as other shifters were.
It was one reason why warlocks didn’t like dragons so much. They couldn’t control them so easily.
But, slowly, Sebby began to feel more in control. The strength of his body came back to him. He managed to roll on his stomach as he put his hands beneath himself, the stuff around his body dissolving. Either with his continued struggles or because liquid didn't mix, Sebby couldn't be sure. He pressed his lips against the earth, sucking back blood and dirt until his belly really did begin to feel full.
But it wasn’t enough.
All his senses of dignity went out the window, and Sebby put his mouth to the gaping wound like a starved vampire, and he drank even more.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
Artemis. Sebby pulled back from the torn throat with a heavy sigh.
“What the fuck! Sebby!”
Sebby looked to the sky, catching his breath. Everything looked and felt…
Different.
He felt different. The power flowing through him wasn’t even that much, but compared to what little Sebby had been born with, he felt like a whole other person.
He turned his head. Artemis stopped in his tracks. The man had been in the middle of marching toward him. Perhaps it was the bloody sight Sebby made that forced him to pull back.
“Jesus Christ, Sebby.”
Sebby pushed himself to his feet.
Artemis frowned then smirked. “What? You think that if you drink a little blood that you can stop me?”
Sebby looked to the burning trees. The fire was really going now. There would be a forest fire. It would drive the dragons from their homes if he didn’t stop it.
He only had to think about cold and wet in his hands for it to appear. He tossed it to the fire.
It hissed. The trees cracked. Hot steam flowed over them. The warlocks yelled their shock and pulled back from Gold.
There was only one warlock Sebby cared about.
His cousin was right. Sebby wasn’t strong enough to kill him, not even like this. That small bit of power wouldn’t be enough.
But he didn’t need to be stronger. He just needed a good distraction, a one-second opening, and to get lucky.
The steam blinded his cousin, the distraction.
Artemis flailed around in the heat, struggling to see, leaving himself unguarded.
The one-second opening.
Now to get lucky.
Sebby formed a crystal blade in his hand from what little light he could get through the steam. It only needed to be small, and he only needed to get within range.
Sticking it in Artemis’s neck was too easy. It should have been harder than that. Killing a man shouldn’t have been easy.
Artemis gasped, clutching at his neck as the steam parted just enough for them to see each other.
Sebby looked the man in the eyes, no love lost between them as Artemis pulled the crystal blade out and stumbled back to the others.
His lips moved in a silent chant. Maybe he would actually be able to pull off the spell in time.
He reached for the other warlocks, who noted what had happened to him, and then Sebby.
Perhaps they thought the blood on Sebby’s face made him more dangerous than he really was.
A battle could be half won by psyching out the other army. Even he knew that, and it was what he gave thanks to as the remaining warlocks grabbed Artemis by his shoulders and vanished with him.
He saw them in the distance, combining their powers to teleport again and again.
Getting as far away from the little monster they’d created.
Sebby didn’t give chase. He didn’t want to. They would easily defe
at him if they only knew.
Instead, Sebby went to his mate, who was tied down with ropes of crystal. He seemed to be under the same spell Sebby had been before, only much more powerful.
Powerful enough to hold a dragon.
Sebby put his hand to the ropes. He thought he would have to focus his attention some more to make them vanish, but it was surprisingly easy.
Gold groaned. His eyes were rolled up into the back of his head.
So they had done more to him than just cast that strange cotton ball spell on him. But what?
They could have cast anything on him in a panic. Anything to make him stop thrashing around.
The dragons still screeched and roared overhead. A few cheers sounded in the distance. Did that mean the other warlocks were pulling back?
If the goal had been to bring Artemis home with them, well, that was mission accomplished, so it made sense.
Sebby just needed to get Gold back where it was safe.
He stepped back from his mate. “I promised I wouldn’t cast any more spells on you, but…”
Sebby hoped for the best and waved his hand.
The spell worked immediately and with far more ease than he’d expected. Again, such an improvement.
Gold floated easily and gently in the air. He was lighter than a feather, and all Sebby had to do was take him by his wing and pull him back to the houses.
Back to his brother.
He just hoped he didn’t scare any of the children when they saw how much blood he still had on him.
Chapter Eleven
Gold snapped his eyes wide open, groaned, and brought his hand to his aching head before cursing.
“Fucking Christ.”
He was getting really sick of getting his ass knocked out and waking up like this.
A laugh sounded somewhere. A hand grabbed him by the wrist and shook it. “Idiot, rise and shine!”
Silver.
Gold had a headache and was annoyed beyond all reason. He yanked his hand away from Silver’s. “All right, all right. Fuck off.”
Silver opened the curtains wide to his room. “Look at that. Nice new day, isn’t it?”
“You’re in a good mood considering we were just attacked.” Gold sure as hell wasn’t as he sat up and looked around his room.
His room that no longer smelled of smoke.
“How long was I out for this time?”
“Just since yesterday. Sebby’s been casting spells all day long since bringing you back.”
Gold stopped rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “Is he still here?”
The idea that his mate might have picked up and left wasn’t one he wanted to think too much about, but he supposed he had to.
“Yeah. Came back looking like fucking Carrie or something, all covered in blood like that. More powerful, too.”
Gold barely remembered what had happened. All he knew was that he was being held down and he’d felt spells hitting him that made his body feel weak and sluggish until he was a slobbering mess and he couldn’t focus on anything.
“Wait, how was he more powerful?” His brother had said covered in blood. Gold had slit the throat of one of those warlocks. “You mean he was drinking blood?”
“Apparently,” Silver said. The man leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. Gold had never seen him look more pleased in his entire life. “He told me he’s not that much more powerful, which is saying something since he barely had any power at all, but he’s been casting healing spells on you and putting up wards around the territory to keep other warlocks out. They got in through our natural defenses. They really wanted that one warlock back.”
“Yeah.” Gold rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry for breaking the salt line.”
Silver leaned in, slapping his back. “Just don’t do that shit again and you and I will be fine. Sebby will be happy you’re awake.”
“Right. Did he say anything?”
Gold needed to tell him the mating was natural. He needed to tell Sebby…to confess to him, that everything Gold had put him through had all been for nothing.
“Nothing really. He seemed more interested in helping to put up the wards. I’m not too sure about them yet, but Sebby said they’ll turn around and confuse anyone with warlock blood, make them lose their way.”
Gold frowned. “What about Sebby?”
“I asked him that.” Silver rubbed his mouth. “Basically, he won’t be able to come or go from the territory without a guide from now on. But, ah, I assume you still want to mate with him?”
Silver looked pointedly at him. “That warlock, when he removed the spell—”
“There was never a spell.”
Gold yanked the blankets from his legs. His knees shook as he stood, but he was able to hold himself up.
“What do you mean?”
Gold glanced back at his brother.
Silver’s eyes flew wide. “You’ve gotta be fucking with me.”
Gold shook his head. He went to his closet. “Wish I was.”
He grabbed the first shirt his hand found. Jeans came next.
“So that whole time, the mating was a natural one.”
“Mother Nature approved and everything.” Gold pulled his pants up over his boxers then stuffed his arms and head through his shirt. “Tell me where he is. I need to talk to him.”
The sooner, the better.
“He’s been setting up the wards, but he comes back every hour or two to check on you. He might be back any minute if you wanted to wait for him.”
“I don’t.”
In fact, it was utterly important that he get to the man as soon as possible. There was a fire under Gold’s ass where he got to thinking that, if he didn’t see Sebby as soon as possible, he was going to lose his chance forever to make it right.
Silver followed him out the bedroom and down the stairs. “Gold, slow down. You’re going to hurt yourself again.”
“Fuck off, Silver.” He wasn’t in the mood for this shit. He needed to find his mate as soon as possible.
Sebby could be just hanging around before deciding to leave. Deciding that being here was more trouble than it was worth.
And it had been Gold in the wrong the whole time.
He’d abused and mistreated his mate. Warlock or not, Sebby didn’t deserve that. He was innocent. He was gentle, and he’d been wronged by so many people. Gold had added himself to that list.
He pushed the door open to his house.
At first he was immediately shocked by the damage he saw all around. The lawns in front of many of the houses were fucked. Track marks everywhere, as though the warlocks had been hurling damage spells at the foliage and gardens. There were burn marks along the sides of the some of the houses.
One of the cars looked as though it had honestly been put through a crushing machine of some kind.
It was a lot considering how much time the warlocks had spent here.
They shouldn’t have been able to get onto the territory to begin with. Dragons tended to throw off their magic a little. It was hard to cast spells on them, hard to get near them.
Maybe it was because there had been so many.
Making Sebby’s ward spells all the more important if any warlocks with ill intent could get in.
Gold looked around, not seeing Sebby’s golden brunet hair or those freckles on his face.
Where was he? Where the hell was he?
“Silver?”
Silver pointed. “He went that way last time I saw him.”
Gold barely looked at his brother. He just went in the direction his finger pointed.
He didn’t even make it to the trees before he spotted Sebby walking out. Lightning was beside him with Tim, oddly enough.
They all stopped at the sight of each other.
Gold didn’t understand why his mate would be with Lightning or an omega werewolf, but then he did.
Lightning would be there for Sebby’s protection, and an omega wolf would have a bett
er sense of smell to know which direction the threats were coming from.
Gold steeled himself. He walked over to them.
Lightning nudged Tim’s shoulder, and they backed off easily. Good.
Gold watched them go. Sebby stayed right where he was.
He wasn’t covered in blood anymore, which was good. He looked cleaned up, a little sweaty, likely because of all the walking around and spell casting he’d been doing.
“Hi,” Sebby said.
And just like that, Gold was suddenly overcome with a sense of unease. He could say anything wrong right about now and forever fuck everything over with his mate.
“How are you feeling?” Sebby asked. “Do you need any help?”
Gold blinked. Then he smiled. “Right. You’ve got more magic now, right?”
Sebby looked away from him, and Gold realized that might not have been the wisest thing for him to bring up.
Considering how Sebby had come about that power and all.
“Yeah.”
Fuck.
“It’s all right,” Gold said. “It really is. You did what you had to do.”
“I drank that guy’s blood.”
“And you’re alive because of it. I’m alive.”
Gold reached for his mate. He hesitated briefly before finally allowing himself to take Sebby by the shoulders. He held on tight, needing the man’s warmth, needing to feel that Sebby was right there with him and that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“You saved my life.”
Even as Gold said it, he was in awe.
“You saved me.”
Again, Sebby looked away. Always a little too shy for his own good. “Of course I saved you.”
Gold swallowed. “I have something to tell you. It might…it’s probably going to be weird to hear.”
“We’re naturally mated. There was no spell. I know.”
Gold jerked back. His hands fell away from Sebby’s shoulders. “You…knew?”
Sebby scratched at the back of his head. “Yeah. I was awake when you and Artemis were talking. I heard it.”
Gold never felt his heart pounding so hard in all of his life. “And…so what do you think?”
“About what?”
The man was really going to make Gold come right out and say it. It was almost cruel of him to do.