Page 6 of Magic Betrayed (The Shifter of Sheridan Avenue #2)

SIX

Of course, before I could ask anyone anything, I had to shift back.

Which meant yipping at Callum and bouncing up and down until he got the hint that I wanted to go back inside, to where my clothes were.

And then facing the inevitably awkward moment where I had no idea how to return to a shape with opposable thumbs so I could put them on.

But as Callum picked up the heap of borrowed clothes, carried them into the bedroom, then knelt down to place me on the floor, it seemed he already anticipated both my needs and my awkwardness.

“Remember how it felt when you found your fox. When you welcomed her, consciously allowed her to be a part of you. This next step is just a reversal of whatever that looked like for you. If it was an awakening, it’s allowing the fox to sleep. If it was a joining, it’s envisioning yourself as separate entities. It’s a very individual thing, and you’ll need to find your own way, but if for some reason you can’t find it this time…” He hesitated, as if he knew I wasn’t going to like what he was going to say.

But I was in a hurry, so I yipped and butted him with my head. Apparently, the fox was an impatient little devil, and I would likely be paying for it later with a hefty dose of embarrassment.

“…I should be able to help by commanding your fox to sleep,” Callum finished in a rush.

Nope, didn’t like that at all. But I also suspected it might not work on me. Where his bossy stare seemed to cause other shifters to show him their throat, it had only ever put my metaphorical hackles up. Made me want to out-stubborn him, even before I’d known his name.

So I glared at him until he stood up and backed away, a hint of a smile on his face.

“Okay. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

I glared a little more.

“Well, not right here.” With an almost nervous sounding laugh, he ducked out of the bedroom and shut the door.

At least I wasn’t the only one feeling awkward about this. With a tiny little fox sneeze, I turned to the heap of clothing that smelled of smoke and paper and a little brimstone and… tea. Yup, that checked out.

But I needed to focus. So I dove into my own head, trying to brush past the swiftly moving currents of information flowing in from my nose and my ears to wherever my human shape was hiding.

This whole experience should feel so much weirder than it did—this feeling that I had another creature sharing my space, my thoughts, my impulses. Why was I not freaking out more? Yes, I’d been a fox before, but I hadn’t really had time to think about what it meant. Hadn’t had a chance to process this weird new piece of my reality. Now, however, I had no choice but to embrace it—not if I wanted to find Ari and Logan and Kes.

But for the first time, I felt maybe just a teeny bit grateful. Even hopeful. This magic could be more than a curse I must atone for.

The swirling currents of scents and sounds eventually parted, and… was that me ? A human shape slept, curled up, foxlike, on her side. She was like me, and yet not. Her hair was white and thick, but it glowed faintly, and the strands moved as if stirred by a slight wind. Her eyes were closed, but her face… That glowed too, like her pearlescent skin could barely contain the magic within. She looked peaceful, and there was no blood in her hair. No scars on her hands. She was simply… herself.

I needed her to wake up, and yet I hated to disturb her.

Thumbs.

Her eyes flashed open, glowing with blue. She sat up, and from within the circle of her arms, a fox stretched, yawned, and winked at me before bounding away and fading from view.

My eyes opened to the glorious sight of my own scarred human hands.

I’d done it on my own!

“Raine?” The voice was muffled by the closed bedroom door, and I almost yelped in panic.

“Just a minute!” I’d never scrambled into my clothes so fast in my life, and the moment I was dressed, I yanked open the door. “Callum, I need you to call Faris.”

He didn’t argue, just pulled out his phone, hit a number, and handed it to me.

Thankfully, Faris didn’t seem to be in the middle of anything, because he answered almost immediately.

“What did you find?” His voice was even more growly than usual.

“Nothing,” I responded. “The scent trail ended at the curb. Faris, did you call in an electrician last night to deal with the outage?”

“Emberly did.”

“Who did she hire?” I needed a name.

“I don’t know, but she told me they called this morning and left a message. The power was already back on when they got there.”

Bingo. “Thanks, Faris.”

“You know something,” he rumbled threateningly. “What is it?”

He had more than enough to deal with, so I wasn’t going to say anything until I was sure. “Just a hunch,” I replied evasively. “I’ll let you know when we have more.”

“Raine…”

I hung up. Stared at Callum out of wide, startled eyes. “I just hung up on my boss.”

“I recall you doing considerably worse to me.” He quirked one teasing eyebrow. “Apparently you’re a lot more terrified of elementals than you are of dragons.”

Weirdly, it was true. For some reason, I’d never managed to be properly afraid of this dragon.

His expression sobered. “What did you find?”

“One of my attackers was hiding in the utility room last night. I followed his trail, picked up hints of Logan and Kes, but those may have been old. I don’t have enough experience to know for sure. The thing is, the scent of my attacker ended at the curb. No sign of it on the other side.”

“So he—or she—got into a vehicle,” he surmised.

I nodded. “There was a van parked out there when I got here last night, with the name of an electrician on the side. The power came back on while I was here, and then the van was gone, so I didn’t think anything of it. But Faris just told me the emergency technician they called never actually did anything—the power was already on when they arrived.”

His amber eyes went sharp and hot, a glow sparking in their depths. “Who was it? Can you remember the name?”

I wished now that I’d paid more attention. But I’d been tired and thinking about the bounty Shane reported. Wondering how to keep our apartment secure, not realizing it had already been compromised.

My eyes shut. I could do this. Back when I’d been held captive by the fae, they’d been trying to train me for some nefarious purpose—to turn me into someone they could use. Assassin, soldier, spy… I’d never been quite sure. I also hadn’t cooperated very well, but part of the process had been memory training. I almost hated to acknowledge that those years had given me anything good, but if it could help me find my family…

I rewound the scenes in my head, past the shift, past the waking up at Callum’s apartment, past the pain and the blood and the cold, past the attack… Everything flowed backwards in a jumble of silent images until I reached the point I was looking for.

There, in the glow of the streetlights, sat a white van—a windowless cliché, with an empty roof-rack. The license plate was blue, with the familiar white silhouette of a scissor-tailed flycatcher. Could be stolen, but at least it was registered in Oklahoma. And on the side of the van…

Four colored triangles, bases touching at the corners, pointing out to form a star shape. Each triangle contained a basic image—a light bulb, a lightning bolt, a power plug, and a… maybe a screwdriver? It looked like clip art. And at the center of the four was a white square containing two letters. Possibly an R and an E? There were words below, but they were blurred, as if I hadn’t truly seen them.

It would have to be enough.

My eyes snapped open. “I think I have enough to go on.”

Callum eyed me thoughtfully before responding with a nod. “Okay. Faris’s security cameras may have been tampered with, but there should be others in the area that weren’t. Draven has a connection with someone—probably on the wrong side of both human and Idrian law—who can retrieve that kind of information, given the right monetary motivation. If you can describe the van, he might be able to tell us both who got into it and where it went.”

Hope surged until I realized what he’d said. Monetary motivation… My heart dropped with what might have been an audible thud. “Callum, I have about three dollars to my name.”

He regarded me steadily. “I already told you I consider myself in breach of my promise to you. I swore that your family would be safe, and they aren’t. As far as I’m concerned, that’s more than enough cause for me to assume financial responsibility for this, but…” His gaze sharpened. “Only if you agree. The last thing I want is to create an imbalance of power, or for you to feel indebted in any way that might affect the choices you feel that you have.”

None of this was his fault. But it wasn’t mine either—at least, not as far as I knew. And I didn’t have the luxury of noble principles that would allow me to reject his offer. Would I regret this later? Maybe. But I could worry about the price when Logan, Ari, and Kes were safe.

So I nodded. “Okay.”

He didn’t move. “I know you probably feel as if you’re not in a position to refuse.”

Drat the dragon for being far too perceptive. I tried to continue to meet his eyes, but they held a compassion so fierce that I had to look away again. He saw too much, and the set of that stubborn jaw told me he wasn’t going to be talked out of whatever he was about to say.

“So let me state this now, as clearly as I can—my involvement here is of my own free will. I fully intend to take responsibility for the promise I made when you agreed to work for me, so if there is any debt, it exists on my side, not yours.”

I didn’t agree. How could I, when he’d already given me so much? And it wasn’t about the material things either. What mattered most to me was the trust and respect he’d offered when I’d had none—earned none. He’d respected my abilities. Trusted me at his back. Believed me when I told him Blake was about to attack, and supported me even at the cost of his own reputation.

No, I owed this dragon so much more than I could ever begin to describe or repay, but that argument would have to wait. It was going to be a long one, and we were on the clock.

“We can argue about it later,” I hedged, refusing to commit or agree to anything. “For now, I accept your offer to pay Draven’s hacker. Can we call him? Email? Arrange a clandestine meeting in a dark alley?” Time was slipping away, and I needed answers.

Callum regarded me thoughtfully for a moment or two before he nodded. “Yes. But first, I want to check something.” He lifted a hand towards me a little too swiftly, and I flinched back. Not because of Callum. I had no fear of him, but my instincts ran too deep.

And there was still too much of my story that he didn’t know.

But he didn’t lash out or even appear hurt. He stopped. Gave me space, while never looking away. “May I?”

May he what? “Yes?”

My body froze like a gazelle sensing a predator, but he moved slowly and carefully, as if he sensed the lurking presence of my panic. One step, then two. He was right beside me, close enough for me to feel his warmth, and to be reminded of that odd sense I’d gained when we’d worked together before the Symposium.

Even with my eyes closed, if I focused, I could always tell where he was. I could feel the burning pressure of his shapeshifter magic, the force of his power and personality. But it had never felt like a threat. Instead of making me want to step back, that furnace of his magic created an inexplicable yearning to move closer. To lean into it, let it surround me, catch me, carry me…

But then those yearnings were swept away by the shock of his fingers in my hair. I felt the smallest tug as he brushed it back. Then he leaned towards me, and his fingers skimmed lightly across my skin, the sensation sending a wave of warmth crashing across my nerve endings.

“Good.” The word was soft and filled with satisfaction.

I blinked and turned a little to throw a confused glance his way. “What’s good?” I didn’t love how breathy I sounded.

“Your shift accelerated the healing process. The bandage and the stitches are gone, but there’s no swelling, and the wound is closed, so I don’t think you need them anymore.”

Come to think of it, my back and my ribs didn’t seem to hurt anymore, either. Did all shifters heal this fast?

A rush of exhilaration swept through me as I contemplated the possibilities. Now that I knew how to control the shift, I could take more risks without worrying about the aftermath.

“I can see you considering the implications,” Callum said dryly, “so let me warn you. Yes, you will heal almost impossibly fast, and can come back from devastating injuries. But it takes a toll. Shifting alone requires a lot of energy, and only the strongest can manage more than one shift in the space of a day. If you’re trying to heal at the same time, you’ll burn through your energy reserves like a wildfire through a dry grassland. You’ll be able to keep going for a bit, but then you’ll pass out, so you have to be somewhere safe before the crash hits you.”

Was this why shapeshifters were rarely loners? So they had someone to rely on for safety when they crashed?

“Noted.” My pulse, I realized, was now galloping out of control. Callum was still standing there, only inches away, with his hand resting on my shoulder. His gaze caught mine, and I froze, somehow snared in a moment of vulnerability. I should move away, but I didn’t want to.

And maybe it wasn’t just me, because he hadn’t moved either. As if we were both reluctant to break this fragile web of something now strung between us.

“Am I interrupting?”

Both of us started. Our tenuous connection shattered. Heat flooded my cheeks as I turned to see Ryker in the doorway of the apartment, leaning on the doorjamb with a slight smirk on his face. “I finally managed to find parking, then some kind gentleman spent five minutes offering to sell me something that may or may not have been legal, after which I was catcalled by a couple of senior citizens and barely escaped with my life. But now it looks like I shouldn’t have hurried. Do you two need another minute?”

We absolutely did not.

“Nope, we’re done here,” I muttered, and turned away from Callum as the blush expanded to include my ears. There was no way they wouldn’t notice me looking like I’d magically developed a bad case of sunburn. “Just finishing up.”

I heard Callum murmur something behind me—something that sounded suspiciously like, “This isn’t even close to finished,” but I pretended not to hear him. Never mind that he knew I had shifter hearing—I absolutely could not permit myself to think about whatever had just happened.

It brought back memories I hadn’t yet dared to explore. Memories of the way he’d protected me when the SUV we were in caught fire. Of the way he’d looked when he asked me to be his date to the Symposium. And of that meeting on the rooftop—on the night when everything fell apart.

I’d been wearing a dress that made me feel beautiful. When I finally found him under the stars, I’d seen—just for a moment—the flare of mutual attraction. He’d said my name as if it were pure, priceless magic, and his eyes had burned, not with threat, but with something much deeper.

But only a few moments later, he’d brought my world—all my hopes for the future—crashing to the ground. I’d believed everything over between us, even the first, tentative, unfurling feelings of friendship.

Then, of course, he’d learned the ugly truth about my past and about my magic. Blake had tried to kidnap or murder a room full of powerful Idrian leaders, and nearly destroyed fifty years of peaceful relations between Idrians and humans. And in the aftermath of that destruction, I’d walked away. Left Callum to deal with it alone, because I couldn’t bear the thought that he might hate me.

But he didn’t hate me, so what did we have now? Now that he wasn’t my boss—wasn’t anything official. Just a man. But also a dragon. And maybe most importantly, someone who cared enough to help me.

“So, where are we going?” Ryker stepped through the doorway, and I saw his expression change as he spotted the gruesome bloodstain on the floor. “Have you found out who I’m going to be setting on fire for thinking they can get away with attacking my friends?”

I blinked at him, and he nodded back, with an uncharacteristically grim expression that promised violent retribution.

“Sorry, Raine, but dragons don’t do anything halfway, especially not when it’s family. We have each other's backs—always—so whatever this is, I’m in.”

I choked a little. “Ryker, we aren’t exactly family. And I don’t know what we’re getting into here, but it might be messy, and you’ll probably end up regretting it. If you’re doing this to get out of wedding chores, I recommend you stick with the glitter and tulle.”

He somehow managed to look mortally offended. “First of all, since when am I not family? You’re one of Faris’s people, you’re Kira’s friend, and you’re Callum’s…” He paused, raised an eyebrow, and shrugged with a slight grin. “…something.”

Great, now I was probably blushing on the soles of my feet.

“Not to mention you saved his life,” Ryker reminded me. “Anyway, maybe the more important point is, I’m a red dragon. We adore trouble. Our favorite things are tactical dilemmas, weird conundrums, and downright sticky situations. They’re what get us up in the morning and make life worth living.”

“And also he’s just easily bored,” Callum added from behind me.

“You wound me.”

“But it’s Raine’s decision,” Callum said firmly. “I promised she got to make the call on anyone else being involved.”

Ryker didn’t exactly pout, but it was close. “Please?”

Again, it wasn’t like I was in a place to be choosy. “You have to promise not to do anything crazy,” I warned. “The most important thing is getting my family back safely. I don’t know yet who did this, or why, but I won’t risk them being hurt because one of us went off on our own or acted on impulse.”

“I would never take their safety lightly,” Ryker assured me. “I want to help.”

“Then… welcome?”

He gave me a serious nod. “What can I do?”

What could he do… What could any of us do? The van was our only real lead, so our first priority would be tracking it down. But maybe we could approach this problem from more than one direction.

“We’re guessing from the lack of any magic used in the attack that whoever broke in was human,” I told him. “Which seems to rule out Idrian mercenaries or bounty hunters. What it doesn’t rule out entirely is Blake’s people. We know he…”

I stopped and swallowed my next words, along with a jolt of terror. I’d caught myself just in time—just before I let slip the real reason why there was a bounty out on Kes. I had to hope that Callum wouldn’t remember what Blake said that night…

“There is only one piece left now. Only one thing I need, and I suspect you know where it is.”

“We know he what?” Callum prompted.

“He seemed to want to capture me pretty badly,” I continued shakily. “Maybe he… He may have decided to take Kes and the kids to use them against me. Convince me to do what he wants.”

But why not use magic? And why not rely on the bounty hunters, if he was actually the one who’d hired them?

It didn’t make sense, and the more I thought about it, the more I had to conclude that we might have more than one human enemy. Maybe more than one person had escaped the fae queen’s prison with a vendetta and full knowledge of what Kes could do.

But even if Blake’s involvement seemed unlikely, I still couldn’t afford to overlook any possibilities. With Ryker’s help, though, maybe we could narrow the field.

“I know it’s a big ask, but do you think you could work on tracking down Blake’s whereabouts?”

The two dragons exchanged glances. “We’ve been working on that since the day of the Symposium,” Callum informed me grimly. “But quietly. The other courts have, of course, made their outrage with his actions known, but they’re also completely divided on the best response.”

When were they not? “Are they making it harder to find him?”

The shapeshifter king shrugged wearily. “Somewhat. The Fae can’t treat him as a legitimate threat without acknowledging their responsibility for this mess, so they’re mumbling diplomatic nonsense while silencing any potential witnesses and refusing to let us investigate in their territory. The Elemental Court has rallied behind Talia’s search for her daughter, who they believe was one of the Idrian prisoners. Essentially, they’re blaming the fae for everything and trying to convince the Wildkin Court to side with them so they can justify demanding a search of official fae enclave property. But the wildkin are so loosely organized, they’re terrified of provoking human retaliation, so they just keep running around counseling caution, while Leith sits back and watches them scurry with a smile on his lips.”

Sounded like a proper nightmare. But he’d left one court out. “And the shapeshifters?”

Callum’s answering silence was more than a little ominous, and it was Ryker who eventually answered. “They’re busy putting out fires and issuing formal apologies to petty little whiners who can’t stop being butt-hurt long enough to see the bigger picture.” It was the closest I’d ever heard to bitterness from the usually cheerful red dragon.

Callum shot him a look of annoyance. “And you ask me why Skye won’t agree to send you on diplomatic missions.”

“Am I wrong?” Ryker demanded, a little heat behind the question.

Callum sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “No. At least not entirely. But I suspect the complaints and the fuss are largely a smokescreen to cover the fact that the courts are simply doing what they’ve always done in moments like these—acting independently in the face of a threat. They move to strengthen their own position and secure their own people, and trust that the other courts will do likewise.”

“So, the courts are probably all searching for Blake on their own?”

He shot me a confirming nod. “And they’re all looking for ways to protect themselves from humans who have the ability to use our magic against us.”

Which meant…

If any of them figured out why Blake wanted Kes, she would become the most hunted person on the planet. And none of those who hunted her would truly understand her power, let alone what it cost her every time she used it.

So who all knew what Kes could do? I suspected Shane did, but I had no proof. Prince Rath probably also knew the truth. He’d grown up with Kes—the two of them had even once been friends—until his mother had manipulated her by threatening his safety. The heir to the fae throne played his cards close these days, but his protective stance towards Kes was undeniable, and I was fairly certain he wasn’t her enemy.

As for our fellow prisoners, not all of them knew about Kes’s magic, but many would. Once Elayara had learned to mimic Kes’s power, she hadn’t needed her every time she wanted to drain someone, but she’d used her often enough—compelling her cooperation by threatening the lives of everyone she cared about back at the Fae Court.

So there were more than a few others who’d escaped with the knowledge—human and Idrian alike—and any one of them could technically have posted the bounty on Kes. Hoping to use her to continue stealing magic, or maybe clinging to some tragic hope that she could reverse what was already done.

Of that number, the first person who came to mind was Ethan. Ethan was like me—one of only five humans who’d successfully assimilated stolen magic. But he’d hated his new powers even more than I had, and for good reason…

I shivered. There was so much pain, guilt, and terror wrapped up in my memories of Ethan. But there was no way he’d been here. His magic was too volatile, and there would have been far more destruction if he was personally involved. Not to mention, the last time I’d seen him, he was nowhere near stable enough to concoct a plan like this one.

He would have needed help. Human help… which might mean Blake again, but that brought us back around to where we’d started.

The realization of how many potential enemies were out there made the yawning pit in my stomach grow, but it was better to know. Better to understand what we were facing now.

“So I’m guessing if you’d found anything meaningful on Blake, you’d already have told me.”

“There isn’t much,” Ryker confirmed. “But we think he may be close. I did an investigation into his background, and before being taken by the fae, he spent pretty much his whole life in the Denver area. Lived alone, and like all their victims, had no family to speak of. After his escape, we think he established a base somewhere in either the Southwest or the Plains before starting to track you. And he came here shortly after the location for the Symposium was publicly announced. We know that’s about when he started to recruit humans for his ventures, and it was around the same time he made contact with Heather .”

He said the word with a bitter twist and a glow in his amber eyes that promised retribution.

Heather had been one of Callum’s assistants—a half-shifter who couldn’t actually shift, and who had betrayed us in exchange for Blake’s promise that he could give her shifting magic. She’d disappeared after the Symposium, probably well aware that if she’d been caught by the shifters, her life would be cut very short, very quickly.

“Do you think his base could be in Oklahoma somewhere?” Most Idrians would know better than to start anything anywhere near the Shadow Court, but Blake wouldn’t. Oklahoma was at a junction of major interstates, yet still far enough away from the Fae Enclave in Colorado, the shapeshifters in New Mexico, and the Elemental Court in North Carolina.

“It’s possible,” Ryker admitted. “We’ve been trying to retrace his steps after he escaped. He was moving a pretty big stockpile of stolen magic, so it’s likely he left a trail somewhere. Hired a truck, rented a warehouse—something.”

“We should step up our scrutiny on the vehicle rentals,” Callum noted. “I can’t figure out how he managed to move that much stock out of the prison on his own. Much less transport it out of fae territory.”

“I’m on it,” Ryker promised. “Wherever he is, Blake has been lying low since the Symposium, but if he so much as twitches, we’ll find him.”

“Thank you,” I said soberly, knowing I could never truly repay any of the people who were helping me. “Thank you for caring enough to help. I know I can’t do much, but if you’re ever in a position to need help in the future, you can count on me.”

The red dragon did me the favor of not laughing at the offer—just reached out and squeezed my shoulder sympathetically. “Try not to worry too much. Your family will be ok. We’ll find the base, storm the gates, then I’ll eat Blake, and everyone else will live happily ever after. Deal?”

To my dismay, I felt the sting of tears again and swiped at them hastily as I offered him a shaky nod. “Only if I don’t eat him first.”