Page 33 of The Magic of Discovery
“You guys are surprising. You’re all incredibly sexy alpha males, and you don’t get jealous of each other. It’s hard to believe this is real life.” I shook my head, raising the mug to my lips to finish the little bit of coffee left in my cup.
“Refill?” Cam held his hand out for my mug, and I gave it to him with a nod. He rose from his seat and refilled both of our mugs to the brim before bringing them back over and sitting down.
“Like I said, we’re close. We’re more than a unit. Not brothers by blood, but I believe in my bones that we have a soul bond. I love them, and I want them to be happy. It works the same for them.”
“But you’ve never done this before?” I needed clarification.
“Not this,exactly. Fischer is taking you on a date, and I don’t think he’s ever taken anybody on a date before. If it would make you more comfortable, you could stop by the apartment today, and we could all talk about it?” he offered.
I thought about that for a moment, but I trusted what Cam was telling me, and after getting the messages from Kai, I figured that conversation could come up when it needed to. “No, I’ll just go out with Fischer and tell him what happened last night. Make sure he’s okay with it. I don’t want to be tied down, Cam. After escaping that douchebag, I felt so liberated.Free. I need more time to explore what I want and need.”
“Take as much time as you need. We’d never try to cage you, little witch, but as for tying you down?” A wicked grin bloomed across his mouth, and I scolded my vagina when she gave a couple of squeezes. His grin widened, because of course, he knew exactly where my mind had gone.Tying me up? Damn.I hid my blushing cheeks behind my coffee mug as he added, “We’ll be here working for the foreseeable future, and I just know that I enjoy hanging out with you. I feel like I can relax.”
“I like hanging out with you too, big guy.” I smiled widely at him, relief flooding my system because everything was cool between us, and now I had some more help to solve this fucking pain in my ass mystery.
A squeak came from the hall, and Maven sauntered into the kitchen, breaking our moment. He was filthy.
I slid off my chair and squatted down to look at his dirty little face. “What the hell happened to you?”
Mud and leaves were splattered all over his fur, but mixed in with that were black hairs. I plucked one from his coat and held it up for Cam to see.
Cam took the hair from my fingers and held it up to scrutinize. “Looks like he and Bagheera were up to no fucking good last night.” I laughed, imagining Mave running around with a huge ass panther.
“Alright, little witch. I have to head back to the apartment, but I’ll let you know what Sloane thinks about what’s going on out here.” Offering his hand to me once he straightened from his seat, I allowed him to pull me up from the floor and tight against his body. His arms wrapped around my waist, and I lifted up on my tiptoes to bury my face into his neck.
“Thank you, Cam. For last night, for everything.” I pressed my lips to his neck, his pulse steady against my mouth.
His arms released me, big hands moving to capture my face as he bent down and kissed me.
Groaning, he stepped back. “If I don’t leave now, I’m going to fuck you on that table.”
Yeah, I don’t see a problem with that.
“Don’t get any ideas, little witch. I have work to take care of this morning.” Snagging his leather vest off the back of his chair, he also picked up his coffee mug and walked over to deposit it in my sink.Gran always says a mage who cleans up after himself is a mage worth keeping around…I started toward him, but he held his hands up. “Nope. Stay right where you are. I’ll see myself out. I don’t trust myself with the temptation. Thank you for dinner, the coffee, and especially your body. Have fun tonight, baby.”
With that, he spun on his heel and headed down the hallway to the mudroom, slipping into the vest as he walked away from me. I heard him putting on his boots before the screen door slammed just moments later. The roar of his bike flooded the air, and I smiled.
Cam is full of surprises. I’m one lucky witch.
It was early. I flopped over onto my back, throwing my arms above my head and stretching out. It felt so damn good that a purr rumbled from my chest. The big cat was still snoring away in my mind, satisfied with the freedom he’d finally acquired last night. Shit, we must’ve run for thirty miles. I didn’t think there was a trail we didn’t track, a tree we didn’t scale, a piss we didn’t take. The entire town probably smelled like us... and Maven.That little shithead.He’d spotted us when we were slinking back into the woods about a mile away from the town center. Tiny thing was fast as hell and caught up in no time. I was surprised he wasn’t scared of us, but he’d stayed out with us the entire night.
Surprisingly, Bagheera liked him. Except for every time we marked something, that bastard came up behind us and pissed all over our mark. When Bagheera snarled at him, he snarled right back and moved to lift his leg on us. Dude had some big balls.Respect.The two of them got along much better than Bagheera and I had at first, that was for sure.
When Bagheera awoke and we completed our first shift, it was a pure battle of the wills. We fought like the couple of teenage shitheads we were, so many arguments over what we were going to do and who was going to get to do it. Was I going to get to eat a regular dinner, or was it going to be in cat form and a bowl of whole fish and dead rabbits? Ugh. One day, I challenged his ass for alpha, wanting to settle this shit once and for all. The guys were there to intervene if things got ridiculous, and things definitely got ridiculous. We shifted back and forth probably a hundred times, me screaming at him, him roaring at me. Trying to physically fight yourself was impossible, so he called me a twinkle twat while I called him an overgrown ugly ass house cat, and then shit jumped off. Baggie had shifted out of my human form so fast I thought some of my hair blew off. He’d paced around in circles, snarling and growling low in his throat, hissing at anything that moved. Internally, he tried desperately to push me into a mental cage, but there was no fucking way that was happening.
Little shit thought he was stronger than I was, but that wasn’t the case then or now or ever. Rising up out of his makeshift cage, I barked his name, breaking free from his hold, and he’d known he was beaten. He fell over on his side, showing his belly, and I forced the shift back to my form. From that day forward, we’d been in perfect sync, though at times he did like to get a random stick up his ass about being bossed around. Technically, I could force a shift, but out of respect for my friend, I never did. We had total trust in each other, and that day had been a turning point for our relationship. Now, the two of us could go on adventures together, usually peacefully. When Bagheera took over, my mind was still completely present unless I wanted to take a brain nap, and sometimes I did. I usually wasn’t missing much while he was frolicking around the forest, doing crazy cat stunts and hunting. Last night, on the other hand, well, it was a good thing I hadn’t taken a nap then.
We’d been sprinting through the woods, chasing a raccoon when a scent stopped us dead in our tracks. Boss. Lifting our head to scent the air more thoroughly, we found another scent. ‘Mine,’ Bagheera growled, his thought rumbling through our shared consciousness before forcing our body to move through the thick woods at a punishing speed. Small animals scampered to get out of our way, and for once, Bagheera had no interest in giving chase.
Jumping out of the tree line, we stood at the back of a large property. Trees and flowerbeds were everywhere, a greenhouse and a barn mixed among the landscaping. A small cabin to the right, no lights on. Straining to listen, I didn’t pick up on any sound inside the cabin. Empty.
Light spilled into the darkness from a house a little ways ahead. Padding silently across the lawn like a shadow given life, we rounded the corner around the backside of the house. Ivy was crawling up most of the brick building, and we almost ran right into Boss’s motorcycle while observing the outside of this place.
What the fuck is Boss doing here?Last he’d told us, he was heading out on the bike to ride for a while and see if he could find anything interesting along the town limit lines. This was clearly Saige’s house. Her scent was everywhere.
We paced up and down the gravel driveway, Bagheera growing increasingly agitated because he could smell our woman, but he couldn’t see her. Had Saige been in trouble? A low growl pierced the silence of the night.Calm down, you big fucking jungle boy. She’s fine! She’s here with Boss,I consoled the possessive cat.
Bagheera wasn’t acting jealous at all, which surprised me since he was all about Saige and claimed her every fucking chance he got. Shouting about mine, mine, mine like a two-year-old with a shiny new toy. But no, he was content. He was relieved that our woman was being taken care of, and I agreed wholeheartedly. Once the sounds stopped and the light turned off above us, we sniffed around the gardens. Now that we could focus without the distraction of what Boss was doing with Saige, we noticed something smelled... off. Tainted. Dark and unnatural.
