Prologue

Despite everything, I couldn’t help but think this was a trap.

Call it paranoia, but I wouldn’t put it past the NHSO to lead us here only to capture, torture, or kill us—or all of the above. After all the things they’d done to me throughout my life, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to trust them, whether the Shifter and Magi Equality Act was in effect or not.

So being here at the NHSO headquarters wasn’t really giving me any warm and fuzzy feelings, not that I was a warm and fuzzy kind of guy, but still. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the longer we were there, the more my anxiety ratcheted up.

“It’s going to be fine,” Jude said, not for the first time. “If they were planning on betraying us, they would’ve done it by now. We’ve been sitting in here for hours.”

Logically, I knew he was likely right, but that didn’t stop my brain from thinking up horrible scenarios as I paced back and forth inside the conference room.

“Bubba, this is the exact reason why Renata put that they’re negotiating with the NHSO today about our jobs all over social media and everything. It’s been everywhere. They can’t do anything to us without facing the public’s scrutiny. People are waiting to hear what happens today. She’s even meeting with the local news station later so they can get an exclusive. We’re fine.”

Another good point, but I still had my doubts.

Jude sighed as he stared at me. “We have contingencies in place, and I doubt they’d be able to hold us here even if they tried.”

Okay, so that was true. We could probably bust out of here if we needed to. Before, the only reason we complied when they came at us with magi collars and torture was because we had trackers inside us. And we knew our punishment would be ten times worse, and last longer, if we ran first because there was no doubt they’d catch up.

But we didn’t need to worry about that anymore. If we wanted to bust out of here and make a run for it, they’d never catch us.

But even knowing that, I muttered, “Maybe I shouldn’t have let him go in there by himself. What if they do something to him, Jude?”

“He’s not by himself. He’s with Harriet, Renata, and Simon.”

“I know, but?—”

“Can you feel his emotions? Does he feel calm or panicked right now?”

Instead of snapping at him, I took a breath and concentrated on the piece of Cosmo’s soul wrapped around my heart. After only a second, I admitted, “He’s calm. But that doesn’t mean he’s not hiding his panic from me so I don’t freak out and?—”

Jude’s bark of laughter cut me off. “For fuck’s sake, bubba. Has Cos ever done that to you? From what you’ve told me, he never hides his feelings from you.”

That much was true. “He doesn’t, but?—”

“Mads,” Charlie said, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing so I’d turn to him. “If there was trouble, Cos would do everything in his power to make sure you knew so you could keep us all safe. Right?”

I stared at Cosmo’s younger brother, who looked so much like him underneath his pretty makeup. He’d actually worn his makeup to HQ for the first time, and I was so happy for him and so damn proud. Charlie sent me an encouraging smile, and it helped ground me. He was right. If something wasn’t right with this meeting, Cos would let me know. Most of our pride was here at HQ with us, so there was no way he’d hold back.

After a few seconds, I nodded. “You’re right.”

Char grinned at me, then pulled me into a hug, scenting my cheek. “He’s okay, Mads. We’re all okay.”

I nodded against him, holding him tight for a minute. “So… you’re really leaving my team, huh?” Apparently, I was determined to poke at all my sore spots today. Ugh.

He sighed. “I don’t want to, but I need to be with Ash.”

“I know, and I don’t blame you. I just… I’m going to miss you.”

He released me and sent me a smile. “We’ll still be working together—well, assuming we get everything set up the way we want. And I live with you. I’m surprised you’re not sick of me yet.”

Even though I knew he was joking, there was still some of that insecurity he rarely showed peeking through. “I could never be sick of you.”

He sent me another wide smile, and then, because I was already feeling overwhelmed, fidgety, and a little out of my mind, I pulled him back into a hug. Char was always good for a nice hug. Pretty sure he got his hugging abilities from his big brother.

We waited another hour before the door to the conference room finally opened, and Cos walked in with Harriet, Simon, and Renata behind him.

Renata had decided to come today to help ensure our new rights were being followed to the T. She wanted to make sure that everything was as equal as possible at the top—at the NHSO—so that all magi and shifters in other jobs and situations would have this as an example.

Plus, Cos, being a Shifter World Council United States Representative, was negotiating for the entirety of the NHSO across the US, not just our local branch. We were setting the example… and making sure the NHSO was really going to follow the rules before other magi crept out of the woodwork. We didn’t want anyone to end up in a bad situation. We knew people would, no matter what we did, but we were trying to set a precedent and praying that the other cities—and other businesses—followed our lead.

We couldn’t be everywhere at all times, so this was the best we could do. Risking ourselves first before we told others it was okay to come out of hiding seemed like the right thing to do.

Cos sent me a smile, and I felt the warmth of his love in my chest. And for the first time since we’d gotten here, I took a calming breath. It was okay. Everything was okay.

Renata shut the door behind them, and she spoke first. “Everything’s set up. The biggest change, I think, is the fact that no one is allowed to physically punish any magi, or shifter, no matter what they do. Collars are no longer allowed—supposedly, the government is melting them all to get rid of them—and there will be absolutely no punishments… no torture. Ever again. If someone comes at you like that, they’ll be arrested and thrown into jail for a very long time.”

I didn’t even know what to think about that. Yes, obviously it was good, but I had my doubts that all the humans who worked here would actually follow that rule. Hopefully the number that would—probably the ones who’d stuck by us in the past—outweighed the number that would try to harm us despite the law. That was just something we’d have to deal with as it came.

Physical punishments had been such a normal part of my life for my entire life that I didn’t think I’d believe they weren’t allowed to happen until… until a lot of time had passed. I felt like I couldn’t even comprehend what it meant to not have that threat hanging over our heads.

She continued, “They’re only allowed to make you work five days a week, although they’re allowed to ask you to come in for overtime if they need you. The keyword being ask. They can’t force you to work more than forty hours a week. You’ll get a good salary, benefits, and be compensated for overtime if you do decide to do it.”

That sounded… amazing. Almost too good to be true.

She turned to Cos and waved him on, so he took over. “Our day-to-day will be the same as before, but now we get to focus on all crimes, no matter who’s involved.” Meaning we could actually help non-humans. That was fucking incredible.

The local police dealt solely with human-only crimes—I wasn’t sure if that would eventually change—so it was left up to the TRD to take care of non-human ones. But now we were allowed to concentrate on crimes other than non-human against human. We could help non-humans.

Cos continued, “We got them to agree to having two magi on every TRD team. And to continue sending out the teams in groups of two while the Red Cloth is at large. This is a policy they’re enacting at all NHSO headquarters across the country.”

Good. Out of everything I’d wanted, I wasn’t surprised this one went through. The NHSO was filled with prickholes, but not all of them were complete idiots, and they knew how big the witch threat was.

Renata added, “Everything I spoke about will also be country-wide.”

“That’s great news,” Jude said, giving her a nod.

She smiled back, but Cos kept talking. “Exactly. As for our teams, they listened to me about who we want on which teams. So that means Mads, Jude, and Logan are on one team—I had to argue that you two counted as one, and obviously, I won.” He shot me a nod. We’d all spoken a lot about counting Jude and me as one mage on a team since Jude couldn’t help close the veil tears or even put up a taragorian-proof shield. I felt… guilty talking about Jude that way, like he wasn’t a real mage, but he was so adamant that we be counted as one together that I finally agreed with him. Cos added, “And Ash and Wren are on the other team. But… there will be some changes on who’s running what.”

He glanced at Harriet, and she smiled at him. “Harriet is moving to Simon’s team.” I blinked at that. What? Why? I love Harriet. “And so I’m moving into her spot. I’ve been promoted to captain, and I’m taking over our team.” He sent me a wink, smiling broadly before he turned to Jude. “Which means, Jude Ono-Nai, you’ve been made team lead. You’re the first magi in the entire country to hold that position. Congratulations, brother.”

Jude and I both just stood there frozen, staring at my mate.

It took a whole minute for his words to really make sense in my brain, and when they did, I let out a gasp before grabbing onto Jude. I could feel his shock, excitement, and happiness, and I could tell he was proud of himself. He fucking should be. I turned the big brute toward me and stared into his eyes. The moment they met, and I saw his going glassy, I felt my own begin to water.

In Magi, I said, “You did it.”

“I can’t believe it, bubba.”

I nodded and pulled him down to rest our foreheads together, still maintaining eye contact, just soaking in each other’s presence and letting our magics hum in happiness from our closeness.

After a little while, I whispered, “You’re better than all the clouds in the sky.”

He whispered back, “And you’re better than the tallest tree in the world.”

“Congratulations, Judikans. This is amazing. You are amazing.”

He smiled and straightened, then kissed my forehead. “So are you, bubba.”

The second he stepped back, Kulani pulled him into a hug, and after one last look at my absolutely incredible dyad, strong arms pulled me into a hard chest, and I hugged the crap out of my mate.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him. “This means so much to him.”

“I know it does. I think it means a lot to all of us.” It was true. My pride was supportive of everyone, and they all knew how hard Jude had worked to earn the position within the NHSO, even when we had everything working against us. If it meant a lot to him—and to me—it meant a lot to the rest of our family.

I nodded against him. “It does. Thank you.”

Cos snorted. “You don’t need to thank me. It wasn’t even a question. Honestly, if he and I could switch places, I’d do it in a heartbeat. He should already be way higher in the ranks than me. He deserves it.”

My heart warmed with my love for this man, and all I could do was hold him tighter.

I’d definitely been doubtful that anything would come of this meeting—at least not anything other than the government betraying us—so this absolutely blew my expectations out of the water. I was pretty sure I was still in shock at all the changes they were making. It was fucking amazing.

“Let’s go home and celebrate!” Charlie yelled, forcing me to release my mate to look at the younger shifter. He threw his arms in the air and yelled, “It’s time to party!”

That made everyone laugh, and Char just grinned wider. I had no doubt he was planning a huge blow-out at the house in his head. We were in for a wild ride tonight.

And even though Jude probably wouldn’t let it show on his face, I knew without even checking our connection that he’d love and appreciate every minute of it.