Page 7 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

Tucker paused in the lobby of the Department of Mythic Affairs, shrugging out of his winter jacket while he waited for Leif to finish making smalltalk with the technician at the front desk.

After Leif gave a last exuberant wave and jogged over, he leaned down to give his boyfriend a hug, being careful not to get too much golden glitter on his own dark shirt.

"I hope you have a good day!" Leif told him, smiling cheerfully as they headed to the main room where several operatives were getting set up for the day.

The smell of different coffee blends didn't quite mask the musk of the various agents.

"And again, I absolutely love the new outfit.

Really shows off your sexy thick calves! "

Tucker felt his cheeks warming while he distractedly fiddled with the waistband of his utility kilt.

"It's a little brisk when outdoors without the knee-high socks, but thanks, darlin'.

I saw so many shifters wearing kilts in the Free Glades, figured I'd try it out.

It's a lot more comfortable than a suit, and should make shifting easier to manage. "

"You could always just wear nothing at all, you know."

Tucker barked a laugh, then raised a hand in greeting to an approaching Julia.

"I'm sure you would appreciate that. If I spent more time shifted at work, I might consider it, but I don't like putting my bare ass on shared seats, and my weredog self doesn't do as well with computers. Also, good morning, Julia."

"Good morning, Tucker," she said. "And you're right. I think the final time you did reports while shifted was the same day Rickert secretly handed out tennis balls to everyone on the floor."

He groaned, remembering. "Every ten minutes, a ball went sailing across the room. He's lucky I only broke a couple of mugs."

She nodded, then gestured to Leif, whose shoulders were quivering as he tried to stifle his laughter. "Are you done with this one? It's still a little early, but Director Deimos wants to see you first-thing, and the two of us have business with Employee Resources."

"Almost." Tucker cleared his throat, then reached into a pocket and pulled out his favorite collar. Made of black leather and showing signs of wear from years of usage, it had the stitched runework that allowed it to change shape alongside his shifting. He held it out to Leif.

"Would you, uh, mind helping me put it on, darlin'?"

He smelled a surge of emotions off of his boyfriend as he took the collar from him, running his thumb over the engraved metal tag that had ' My Name is Tucker! ' on one side, and ' Rahul Basu—Leif Becken' on the reverse. Leif's scent settled on adoring pride as he finally held the accessory up.

Tucker bent down with his hands on his knees to make it easier for Leif to reach his neck, his face flushing.

After Leif finished setting the collar properly, he ran his fingers through Tucker's hair, then gave him a final heartfelt hug with complete disregard for glitter contamination before heading off with a professionally composed but amused smelling Julia.

Picking up his work satchel with the information he'd put together over the last couple of weeks, he made a quick detour to his desk to drop off his jacket.

Closing his eyes, he took a moment to inhale the familiar scents of his friends and coworkers, getting an idea of who was working today, then headed to the director's office.

It was Wednesday, March 1st, the morning after finally — finally!

— returning back to Minneapolis from his mission in the Free Glades, the domestic nation that made up a large part of the American Northwest. That's not to say that he hadn't enjoyed himself while there.

It was a lot more green than here in the city, and even the air tasted cleaner.

Plus, there had been so many new scents!

Elves and orcs, sure, but also plenty of the rarer myths and mythblooded that didn't do as well in cities, like centaurs and riverfolk.

He wouldn't have minded spending more time there.

However, the Free Glades didn't have Leif and Rahul, so the thought of postponing his flight home hadn't lasted longer than it took to conceptualize.

Raising a hand, Tucker knocked on his boss's open door. Deimos looked up at him from his position at his standing desk, gesturing for him to enter.

"Good morning, sir," Tucker said, shutting the door behind him before taking a seat on a cushioned chair. "And congratulations on the promotion! I can't think of anyone better suited to take over leading our department. How did Toni take it?"

His former fellow detective, now boss, made a harumph sound and tossed his head self-consciously, pearlescent horns reflecting the room's simulated candlelight.

His minotaur tail flicked behind him. "She's over the moon, of course, and planning on hosting a party in a couple of weeks, so expect invitations to that.

But I dunno, Julia's been here longer than I have. "

"She'd hate it, though, and she's better suited for field work." Tucker double-checked that the office door was actually closed. "Besides, I love her, but could you see her having to deal with interagency pettiness? "

Deimos guffawed and slapped the desk. "I'm certain she'd remain professional, but I think some of her elementalism would leak out. Frosted-over windows, singed carpets, fried keyboards…"

Tucker laughed. "It's fun to imagine! But honestly, she's too collected for that to actually happen."

"True. She'd probably just get increasingly impatient and stressed before turning in her resignation letter.

" Deimos reached behind himself, grabbing his chair and pulling it towards his desk so he could take a seat.

"It's good to have you back in Minnie. You can catch me up on the Free Grades hijinks later over a beer, but for now, Detective Johnson, tell me what you've learned about the sorceress.

Start with her history so I have a better idea of her. "

"Will do, sir." Tucker began pulling out folders from his satchel, sliding them for Deimos to peruse. "The first few pages have the highlights. Lady I'ari was born around the turn of the twentieth century to the Lanathanon family—"

"You confirmed the noble connection, then?"

Tucker nodded. "I did, with Arbiter Joseph's help. But she's apparently in disgrace for refusing an arranged marriage about thirty years ago."

"Do we need to worry about elven political pressure?"

"Not right now, but I think we'll want to be careful about any publicity the case gets, and how we confront her."

Deimos nodded, writing down notes on a legal pad in his beautiful handwriting. "Hopefully we make it to that point. Any other highlights?"

"A few, the chief one being that she used to be an arbiter."

Deimos paused, then kept writing .

"That was her family role, sir. She studied magic, diplomacy, and combat in her youth, and was awarded the position by the mythic council the year that she hit her majority.

And it wasn't nepotism, apparently she was just that good.

A couple of older arbiters I spoke to said that she'd served honorably and with much acclaim for decades, at least until… "

"Her disgrace?"

"Yes. She left the Order of Arbiters soon after."

Deimos flipped through a few pages. "Damn, that gives her nearly seventy years of field experience. Any idea of what she's been doing the last thirty years?"

"Nothing concrete, except for her recent activities this last year."

"You mean wreaking havoc in Minnesota?"

Tucker grinned. "Something like that, sir. But I think it's more than that, and I have a good guess as to what."

Standing up to reach across the desk, Tucker indicated one of the manilla folders, then had the director flip to a summary page that he'd typed up the night before.

"Rahul gave me the idea when he texted me during my flight home, and we worked it out last night.

The mythic council and most of their arbiters were pretty tight-lipped, apart from giving me access to their records, but Rahul spoke to a forest spirit that she'd helped out a couple of times and got a clearer picture.

The point is, Lady I'ari specialized in binding .

Whenever there was a rogue spirit terrorizing a town that needed handling, or a criminal that the mythic council wanted 'quieted,' she's the one that sealed them away.

And if you'll compare the list of past arbiter operations in the region to our recent problems… "

"She's releasing them."

Tucker nodded, sitting back in his chair. "I think so, sir. The fire spirit Manoreth, who in turn was told to release the Faerie lantern. And the manastorm last spring was probably the result of a released storm crow taking flight."

Deimos grunted again, flipping through the summary list. "What about the bell that turned the Mille Lacs Lake red for a few days?"

"Couldn't find records about that one, sir. Nothing came of it, so maybe her unbinding failed."

"Alright, thanks. Is there anything else?"

Tucker nodded. "Leif. I wanted to thank you for having DOMA keep an eye on him."

"Just standard procedure when a magical instigator does something alarming, like visit one of our consultants at his primary job."

"Regardless, thanks. Although, Leif says that you're letting the ward expire? Julia's not going to renew it?"

"No real reason to keep it up, especially since it wouldn't be much more than tissue paper against I'ari. Besides, the lady swore on her name that Leif wasn't in danger from her."

"Maybe not at the time, but—"

"No. Disgraced or not, she's still a noble elf, and she swore . Even with wordplay and having spoken English, he's pretty well protected. Did your research give you any ideas about why she would be interested in him?"