Control

control

I ggy and I have some sway over things if we bring our family names into the mix, but as we speed toward the police station, I’m not sure exactly what we can do if Jackson and the Prince haven’t succeeded. I suppose if we were looking to go on the lam, I could use my song and he could use cloaking magic. I highly doubt Morgana would approve running from her problems, though.

After all, she stood in front of everyone and flat admitted to killing Magnus Corona, infamous scholar, and Dean of SU.

“What if we can’t help Lucas?” I ask Iggy as he weaves through traffic like a madman. He wanted to open a gateway—something frowned upon unless in desperate emergencies—but I reminded him the station would be shielded.

My roomie looks worried and tired, two things he’s usually good at masking. “That’s not an option, Slade. We signed onto this like everyone else and if we have to the bend the rules, so be it.”

I arch a brow as I consider what the morally ambiguous Briarton heir would call ‘bending the rules.’ He’s not known for being a straight arrow as it is. “What rules? And how would we bend them?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Slade. Just because you choose to be on the narrow while you study doesn’t mean your old bad boy persona isn’t dying to get out.” He gives me a wicked grin that makes my gut clench.

As usual, Iggy is spot-on in his assessment of me.

Whipping the car into the lot as if we’re in a racing movie, he hops out and makes an impatient sound when I don’t follow suit. Squinting, I look around for the source of disquiet prickling over my skin. I don’t like how this place feels, nor do I like how the energy if affecting my siren side. “Iggy, there’s something very off about this place. Do you feel it?”

The mage closes his eyes, murmuring under his breath as he holds his hands in the air. I feel the magical shockwave hit as he sends it out in concentric circles to find what’s bothering me. His eyes pop open and he turns to me with a serious expression. “You’re right. There’s powerful magic here—a lot in varying types. It’s as if different magic wielders have touched the space somehow.”

I nod as I rub my arms with my hands. “Ones with bad intentions. It’s vibrating in the moisture in the air. I can hear the tiny hum of disturbance in the atmosphere.”

Walking around the car, he shuts my door before turning to place his hands over mine. “ Tuere quod meus est. Serva malum ab animo. Proles Hecate praecipiunt. ? 1 ”

Sniffing at him, I frown. “I hate when you use Latin. My Latin sucks, Iggy. You know the aquatics prefer Greek.”

His hands squeeze mine and he chuckles. “Well, I prefer the strongest spell possible and you know witches, wizards, mages, and such are more powerful when we use Latin. I don’t know why, given the history of our powers, but it’s simply the way it is.”

I step back, inhaling slowly before I nod. “Fine. Do you need to protect Morgana or anyone else? Maybe the Prince acted without words?”

Iggy shrugs as we head for the front of the station. “I don’t know. I’ll be able to sense if they’ve been taken care of, as will you. I assume Jackson has his team permanently warded by something like a brand or tattoo. This would be the most efficient for their work.”

“That’s kind of cool,” I murmur. “Like very badass super spy shit. We should do that.”

He opens the door, arching a brow at me with amusement in his eyes. “Are you going to be the one to ask Morgana to get branded? If so, let me know ahead so I can bring popcorn.”

As we enter, I notice people are determined not to look at us as we head toward the back. The text from Channing gave us their location, but I thought someone would meet us when we arrived. Apparently,. they’re far too busy to pause and the rest of this building has stayed the fuck away.

Probably not the worst outcome; Iggy’s not very compliant when questioned by people he thinks are beneath him.

I finally spot Foley at the very back edge of the big squad room and he jerks his head to the door behind him. We pick up the pace, reaching the bored-looking redhead as he’s swiping a card that cannot belong to him.

“Aye, lads. We’re about done. The granite lass and my boss gave them a good what-for and now we’re waiting for the paperwork to be cleared, so we’re certain nothing lingers in the system.”

“Did they actually arrest him?” I ask worriedly. That kind of shit is hard as hell to erase, and I don’t think we have time for that kind of distraction.

Jackson’s man shakes his head. “No. Boss is gonna have a helluva lawsuit prepped by next week; you can put your savings on that. Nothing about today was kosher and we can’t figure out how anyone was roped into it.”

Iggy blinks, then clears his throat. “We may have answers—vague ones, but at least it’s a lead.”

“You just got here, Magic Man. How could you possibly know what’s going on?” Foley says as he rolls his eyes. “You lot are too full of yourself down here.”

Ignoring the weird ‘down here’ comment, I gesture around us. “From the second we got out of the car, I could feel magic in the air. My gifts are in water and the vibrations hum at different frequencies on the moisture in the air. He sent a pulse out with his magic and agreed that this place is polluted with magic from various magic-wielding supes.”

“So?”

My roommate huffs at the disdain, shaking his head. “Dense is a poor look, McNamara. It’s not a leap to extrapolate that the outrageous behavior of the people involved in Lucas’s faux arrest might be under spells or compelled. Since the signatures here are all over the place, I believe whoever is framing him must have access to a lot of different species in their little… ring.”

Foley hums for a moment, his expression thoughtful and then finally nods. “Alright. You’re not as dumb as I suggested and you might have a point. If that’s the case, my team is well protected. But what about your people?”

“It depends on whether the players were infected here, one by one, or in some other way. If it was here, I placed a shield on Slade. I, of course, have my own. We hoped the Prince might have handled the others.” Iggy walks to the door Foley has his hand on and gestures for him to open it. “But we should verify that quickly.”

“Compulsion and control spells are extremely verboten and carry harsh punishments,” I murmur as we make our way to our friends. “Whoever this is, they aren’t scared of anything.”

That’s what makes them so dangerous.

Foley mentioned that the small conference room is better than the interrogation viewing room the others endured. Lucas is cuffed, but he’s so big and muscled that I’d be surprised if he couldn’t break out of those without breaking a sweat. With a furious look, Jackson fills out forms while everyone else sits at the far end of the table.

Prince Liam has his fingers steepled in front of his face, his eyes on the cops at the door. He smiles briefly when he sees Iggy and me, leaning back in a more relaxed position. “Welcome to the nuthouse, gentlemen.”

“Fucking right,” Rainier snorts as he continues texting on his phone. Eli is working on multiple devices next to him, but he lifts a hand to give us a thumbs-up. “These people are dead—legally, of course—when Jax gets through with them. I cannot believe this bullshit.”

I tilt my head as I look around. The only missing people are Kaspar and Kendrick; I dread asking where those fuckers went. “Foley said they’re releasing you?”

“Yeah, dude. Jackson scared the fuck out of them and once he’s done, we can go.” Lucas sighs heavily, looking tired. “We’re going back to the lair. The grumpy silent dudes got sent to… I don’t know…. beat answers out of people.”

Morgana smiles at me, gesturing to a chair nearby. “Come sit with us. I’m glad you came.”

“Wild horses, pet,” Iggy says as he joins us. His gaze falls on the Fae before he leans in to whisper, “Your Highness, did you….?” He waves his hand through the air.

Liam chuckles and nods. “The moment I arrived. I knew the shifters could not sense it. Morgana and Lucas are safe. Of course, Jackson’s people assured me they have other ways of subverting those problems.”

Channing ducks her head as she mumbles, “I’m not sure what you all mean. Is there a danger I don’t know about?”

“And what the hell did you do to Lucas and me?” Morgana follows up. “I wasn’t informed of any problem.”

Shit. Iggy blew their cover.

“Rain, take Channing and deal with her security, please?” Jackson mutters as he works on the papers. “I can’t believe she was left out. You can do it without K, right?”

“Why are you taking her?” my old friend huffs. “The Prince or I can do the requisite…”

“No.” Eli cuts him off, finally looking up from his screens. “Rain will do it. She’s also working with us on this project and we need to be confident in the method.”

“I’m the Prince of the Daybreak Kingdom ,” Liam says incredulously. “How can you possibly think you’d be more capable than I at this procedure?”

The tall mercenary pushes off the wall with a smug smirk. “Because the method we use is different and will accomplish what we need while you will cast a simple, temporary charm. I won’t hurt the woman.” He turns to Channing, who now looks like she wishes she could sink into the floor. “You know that, right, Specs?”

I arch a brow at the nickname, watching her reaction to the dangerous man now walking toward her. There’s something going on with the girl Iggy and I have known for years. I’ve never seen her quite this flustered, despite typically being reserved. “Chan, are you okay with Jackson’s guy helping or do you want the Prince to help?”

She frowns at me, clearly unhappy I brought the spat to her feet. “Well… I….” Sucking in a breath, she huffs it out again as she straightens. “I believe if they require extra protocols for me to assist them with Lucas’s case, then I will have to submit to whatever it is, eventually. So, Rainier can do it right the first time and we can stop focusing on me. I’m not the one in trouble.”

Morgana smiles a little as she looks at her friend. “Mmm. That is very logical, Channing. I can’t argue with that.”

Then why does she look like she’s ferreting something out?

Rainier holds his hand out to our friend. “Let’s go. Jackson will be done with the forms soon, and we’ll all be on our way. I want to finish this before you fly back to your nest.”

“It’s settled then.” Liam also looks suspicious as he watches Channing leave with the guy, but his focus returns to Morgana and Lucas quickly. “Lass, for the record, I couldn’t mention what I did with all the other ears in the room. Please know it was necessary, and I’ll fill you in when we get back to your place.”

“Mmm. You most certainly will, Prince. Not a fan of being kept in the dark, especially after my ex made me look foolish for years.”

Ouch. I guess that’s fair, but Liam just took a direct hit.

“Babe, don’t be mad. He probably protected us and that’s always good, right?” Lucas speaks up again. The tension in his frame is obvious, and I bet he’s struggling with his animal. I doubt the bear enjoyed being shackled, and he’s being very calm and controlled. “This has been a shit day and I think we all want to go home to talk about all this in private.”

“That we can agree on,” Foley pipes up. “This is why I hate coming to backwater burgs for jobs. They don’t follow rules, they make shit up, and instead of being normal rich fucks, they use dangerous methods to hide their corruption. It’s unpredictable, which I like, but it puts my people in danger, which I don’t.”

“I don’t think you could have put it any more succinctly,” I tell the fidgety redhead. “And it’s why this won’t be nearly as simple as you probably assumed. Small towns and even small cities are full of history and backroom bargains.”

Morgana snorts as she shakes her head. “That makes everything three times as hard. Our focus is being disrupted by a multitude of individuals with various motives.”

And god help us if anyone else throws their hat in the ring—I might even have to contact my father.

1 ? Protect what is mine. Keep the evil from invading his mind. The Children of Hecate command it.