Page 10 of Magic Claimed
“If you need a raise, you can just tell me,” he grumbled. “Are they taking online applications for mercenary crews now?”
If only.
“Third one this week,” I informed him. “All slipped under my door. And no, I didn’t apply. They just started showing up.”
This time, both of his eyebrows shot up. “Any idea why?”
“As best I can tell, it’s thanks to all the rumors making the rounds.” I grimaced uncomfortably. “When we decided to hide the fact of Ethan’s existence, that whole mess in Guthrie got pinned on me.”
And by mess, I meant earthquakes, tornadoes, an entire house destroyed, and a highly competent mercenary crew demolished in seconds. And when I saiddemolished? Seamus had searched the area in wolf form and still couldn’t find all the pieces. Just enough to reassure us that none of them would be bothering us again.
But because we didn’t want anyone hunting Ethan oncethey realized the truth of his identity and his powers, we’d locked down all possible rumors of his presence or involvement. Which left… me. Much of the Idrian community now knew that I had more than one form of magic—but not which ones—so it made sense for them to assume that I was at fault.
However, the result was not atallwhat I’d expected.
“I didn’t think they’d be bold enough to recruit on my territory,” Faris admitted. “But I’m having Tim look over the footage. We’ll identify whoever it is and warn the residents not to let anyone into the building unless they recognize them.”
Our building security was solid—even more so since Kes, Logan, and Ari had been kidnapped right out of our apartment just over a week ago. Faris had upgraded pretty much everything, and it would take significant tech savvy—along with magic—to break in without being detected.
But even the best security system was no match for pure gosh-darn Oklahoma politeness on the part of my neighbors. Any one of them could have unlocked the door with their code and then held it open for a random passer-by who requested entry.
“If it helps, I’m not mad about it,” I told him. “Even if my reputation is entirely unearned, as long as I can use it to keep the kids safe? I’ll just smile and nod and look as mysterious as I can.”
Faris didn’t appear to share my lack of concern. “Normally, I would agree with you. But I can’t afford any more scrutiny from the human authorities. Not with things as volatile as they are. I have a solid relationship with the city government for now, but if these break-ins are noticed, I’m likely to have morecomplaints, and there’s always a chance they’ll fold under pressure and try to shut me down.”
Well, great. Now I was endangering not only my neighbors, but Faris’s business and reputation. I dropped onto an empty crate and vented my frustration with a vicious jerk of the white strands of my ponytail. “So what can we do?”
“Probably need to have someone on the inside let it be known you’re not on the market,” he advised. “And since Elduvar is out for now…” I could hear the worry behind his words.
“He’s fine,” I murmured quietly. “Kira would know if he wasn’t.”
My boss grunted. “She wouldn’t just know. She would take off for Colorado and immediately cause an inter-species incident we might never recover from.”
Apparently, meddling in fae politics was in her family DNA. But the last thing the Idrian community needed was another violent interaction between dragons and fae.
“I could ask Shane?” I suggested, being careful to make it a suggestion and not a statement. Because I still wasn’t sure how my boss felt about Shane Isaacson.
For that matter, I wasn’t sure howIfelt. The half-goblin mercenary seemed to have made our safety something of a personal project and had been a vital member of the team that rescued Kes and Logan. Also, for reasons I had not yet been able to determine, he’d invited Kes to stay at his house to recover from her injuries after the kidnapping… and she’dagreed.
But in the days since we’d moved back into our apartment, I hadn’t seen Shane, nor had Kes said a word about whatever hadhappened between them. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but their behavior suggested a relationship might be developing, which made me nervous considering Shane seemed to have a vendetta towards both Faris and Kira over his late mother’s death.
“I can’t approach Isaacson,” Faris said, “but might not be a bad idea if you’re willing to hunt him down. Chances are he can put the word out and get the recruitment efforts to stop.”
“I’ll do it as soon as I can,” I promised. “Anything else?”
Faris’s phone buzzed on the shelf beside him. “Yes,” he growled, “but it’ll have to wait. They’re slammed upstairs and Irene is about to chop someone’s head off if the orders don’t move faster.”
That at least I knew how to deal with. “I’m on it. And Faris?”
He looked up at me, green eyes sparking slightly beneath lowered brows.
“Thanks.” For everything.
“You’re welcome,” he rumbled, his cheeks turning just a tiny bit pink. “Now get out there and save someone’s life.”
For the next few hours,I barely had time to breathe. The orders flew, the drinks flowed, and the crowd seemed to be in reasonably good spirits, if a bit on edge with all the talk of tension between humans and Idrians. It was around seven when I paused behind the bar to take a sip of water, andSeamus—the wolf-shifter bartender—pulled me aside for a moment.
“Don’t worry too much about it,” he said without preamble, looking weirdly sympathetic. “It’ll all die down within a week or two. But if anyone gives you trouble or makes you uncomfortable, you know I’ll have them thrown out.”
