Chapter 15

Jude had handled Scarlett and Ben moving into the other house a lot better than I’d expected. He’d been upset for sure, but he’d also been more understanding of her reasoning. I was grateful it hadn’t turned into a big fight or an event with a lot of hurt feelings.

Honestly, we all had enough to worry about without adding things like this into the mix.

But today was the big move day.

This whole week, Scarlett had asked the others if anyone else wanted to move over there with them, and I thought for a minute that Lilibeth might want to, but she’d said she felt safer here with all of us. It was kind of sweet.

And again, everyone was understanding of Scarlett. She hadn’t been trying to steal pride members or anything. She’d been trying to make sure everyone knew it wasn’t just her and Ben’s house. That it was the pride’s—and still part of the pride house—and that all of us were welcome.

Or at least, that was what Cos had told me when I’d gotten upset thinking she was trying to steal Wren away from us when she’d been talking to them. And since it was Cos, I believed him.

It helped that Wren decided to stay with us, too.

Scar and Ben didn’t have a lot of stuff since Scar had grown up in the compound, and Ben’s apartment had been cleared out by the owner because he hadn’t shown up or paid his rent in the months he’d been in hiding with us. Which made the move easier even if it was kind of sad what little belongings they owned.

But Cos did his whole alpha-take-care-of-everyone thing and had bought them things for the house. He’d had them delivered directly there, so now they had things like kitchen supplies, a small table with chairs, a couch, and probably five million other things that my mate bought. He hadn’t spent as much money as he’d wanted because we’d just bought a house for crap’s sake, but it was a start.

And the two lovebirds had plenty of clothes that they’d been collecting over the past few months, so we were helping them move those over as well.

The pride was carrying their bed over and had to put together a couple of bookshelves and things like that. Since there were so many of us, and we were only moving their one room over to the house next door, it didn’t take very long to get everything over there.

Even the kids were helping. Well, helping was relative. They thought they were helping, but really, the adults knew it was making everything take longer. But they were cute and wanted to contribute, so we let them.

“Do you want these books in a specific order?” I asked Ben since he was on the floor in the living room, putting together a coffee table he and Scarlett had bought.

He looked up at me. “Uh… I’m not sure. Maybe just keep series together and sort of do it by the book size or something?”

I pursed my lips, staring at the few books I already had sitting on the shelf. “Does that mean you don’t really care? Is it alright if I come up with my own system?” Like alphabetically by author or something.

“As long as that system keeps books in the same series together, then yeah.”

I shot him a mock glare. “Why the hell would I ever organize them without series books together?”

He shrugged. “I’ve seen people do some really weird shit over the years, so I wouldn’t put it past you.”

I bent down, pulled a long piece of tape off a box, rolled it up into a ball, and chucked it at him. Since he’d already gone back to reading the directions for his coffee table, he didn’t see it coming, and it hit him right in the temple.

He jerked back. “What the…?” He picked up the tape ball and lifted a brow at me. “Really?”

I shrugged. “You deserved it.”

He threw the ball back at me, but I knocked it out of the way.

“Nice try.”

He snorted and glanced around quickly before flipping me off, and we both chuckled as we went back to work.

“Teo!” Scarlett’s voice yelled from upstairs. “Come back here!”

A round of giggles reached my ears as tiny, quick footsteps headed over the top of my head and down the steps. Only a moment later, a still-giggling Teo ran into the living room, shouting, “Put ‘em up!”

I turned to him, my eyes widening. Teo had his hands pointed at me in a finger gun shape, and on top of his head was a black ski mask.

A black… ski mask?

Who in our family wore a ski mask?

Oh. Oh no.

I cleared my throat. “T? Where did you get that mask, bud?”

He sighed, dropped his finger guns, and straightened up. “I found it in a box upstairs.”

I thought about that for a moment. “You were helping Scarlett put away clothes, right?”

“Yep! But it was boring, and then I found this, so…” He lifted his finger guns again.

I glanced over at Ben to see what he thought of this whole thing only to find his entire face bright red. He avoided my eyes while shooting quick glances at Teo… or at the mask he wore.

His reaction made me pause, an idea forming more solidly in my mind.

Scarlett came jogging into the room, panting out, “You… are… way too… fast… Teo.”

He grinned at her. Or at least, I was pretty sure he did because all I could see were his eyes since the mask was huge on him. He gave her a couple finger guns, too.

I turned to Scarlett, and her eyes met mine before darting away, and that right there was proof enough.

“Holy sh—eep.” I glanced at Teo, hoping he didn’t notice my almost-slip, but I returned my attention back to Scarlett quickly. “You’re one of those vigilante magi, aren’t you? Or the non-TRD people or whatever they’re calling them now. Holy crap.”

Without waiting for a response, I gave my dyad bond a tug so Jude would come find me. I bent over and put my hands on my knees as I took a deep breath.

“I thought you wanted to join the TRD?” I asked her after she fell quiet.

“I did want to, but after I went down there with you guys, I just felt… uneasy about it. That director chick gave me the heebie-jeebies. I decided to talk to Renata about it, and since I wasn’t comfortable, she sent me to the other group.”

My mouth hung ajar for a moment. “Renata? She sent you to them? How does she even… holy shit, the Cloaked Freeway is the non-TRD group, aren’t they? Goddess, I should’ve guessed. Why the hell didn’t she tell me?”

“She’s not the one in charge, and I don’t think it’s, like, officially part of the Cloaked Freeway or anything. I just think they know how to get into contact with them.”

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel any better or not. Damn. After everything we’d been through with Renata, she still kept shit like this from me? We could’ve helped. I could’ve done… something to help the group. What the hell?

Before I could explode, Jude walked into the living room, took one look at us, and walked over to press his arm against my shoulder, instantly calming me down a notch. “What’s going on?”

“She’s a vigilante,” I hissed, waving my hand at her, then at Teo’s mask.

Ben stood up and ushered the kid out of the room, and I saw him grab Scarlett’s hand, giving it a squeeze of support before he left. Even though I was pissed at her, I was glad she’d found Ben, especially since she’d found him when she needed someone so desperately. I didn’t know how any magi survived that place without at least one person in their corner. Plus, I liked him.

As soon as Ben had Teo heading up the stairs, Jude turned toward our sister with a frown. “I thought you wanted to join the TRD. Is this why you still haven’t signed the forms they sent you?”

She sighed. “Yes. I didn’t like that woman, and I don’t know anyone else who works there beside all you guys. And you all have enough magi on your teams already, so I wouldn’t be working with you. I’m not sure I’d be… comfortable working with people I don’t know.”

I could definitely understand that, but that wasn’t the point.

“Okay.” Jude crossed his big arms over his chest. “Have you been on this vigilante team the whole time? Were you at that strip mall the first time we ran into them?”

“No. I didn’t even know about them then. I joined after our meeting with Director Dipshit.”

Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but snort at the fact that she’d picked up on our nickname for that prickhole.

Scarlett sent me a small smile. “I was at the mall attack, though.”

My eyebrows rose. We’d gone inside the mall almost as soon as the non-TRD group had arrived, so I suppose we hadn’t had a chance to pick her out. I wasn’t sure if I would’ve been able to with the mask, but if I’d been paying better attention to them, maybe I would have.

“Why are you guys mad I’m doing this? I thought you liked the non-TRD groups? I thought you wanted their help and thought they were doing good things?”

Jude closed his eyes in frustration for a moment, clearly trying to calm himself. I stepped even closer to him and leaned into his side a little awkwardly since his arms were still crossed. Not that I cared because I only wanted him to feel my support.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. “We’re not angry that you’re doing it. We’re angry that you hid it from us. What if something happened out there, and we didn’t even know you were there? What if you’d gotten arrested, and we hadn’t even known to search the jail or NHSO systems for you? We all know that a lot of the cops aren’t really following the equality rules yet, so who knows what they might’ve done. Why don’t you—” He cut himself off when his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Why, after everything we’ve been through, do you not trust us yet?”

She made a strangled sound in her throat before rushing across the room, hopping over Ben’s abandoned coffee table project, and pulling Jude in for a hug. Barely a beat passed before she tugged me into it with them.

I went easily and wrapped my arms around both their backs. My face ended up pressed in between two chests, and I mumbled, “Can’t breathe, tall people.”

They both laughed and released me enough that I could step back, then they pulled me back in again but made sure I wasn’t squished this time.

Scarlett pulled back, put a hand on each of our shoulders, and said, “I do trust you. I was just… afraid you’d be angry or ask me to stop, and I wasn’t sure if I could keep doing it if my brothers didn’t want me to.”

Jude sighed. “You should’ve told us.”

She waited a beat, then sighed herself. “You’re right. I should’ve. I’m sorry, guys. Really, really sorry.”

Jude pulled back and met my gaze for a moment before looking at Scarlett again. “You’re forgiven… as long as you don’t keep shit like this from us again.”

She gently nudged his shoulder with her hand. “I won’t, big bro. I promise.”

I felt her magic rush over me and sighed. Her magic felt familiar to me now, and when I examined it closely, I could tell how similar it was to Jude’s. Which was kind of strange because Jude’s magic was as familiar to me as the air we breathed.

It made me think of family.

And even though we didn’t know Scarlett that well yet, she was definitely that.

And… I supposed that meant I should forgive her, too.

I gave them both another hug before I said, “Well, I guess we better get back to it.”

Jude and Scarlett looked at me with the same expression on their faces.

“What?”

They both snorted and shook their heads. Jude said, “Nothing, bubba. You’re right. Let’s get this done so we can eat pizza and hang out before bed.”

They both headed back to their tasks, and I shrugged after them before walking over to the bookshelf and contemplating how the hell to organize this bad boy.

Three daysafter Cosmo put out more feelers, I got a very unexpected call from Renata. We were home from work, so I walked into my bedroom, closed the door, and sat on my bed to give myself a semblance of privacy.

“I heard you guys were looking for some… information,” she said, making my eyebrows raise.

“Yes. What do you know?” I didn’t really feel like playing the subtle game with her right now. I was tired, so directness was needed.

She sighed. “You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone at the NHSO about my source. You can share the information I tell you, but not where I got it from. You can tell your pride members as you see fit, but absolutely no one else associated with the NHSO.”

I blinked. Why the hell would I tell the NHSO anything about a person? Unless they were some kind of murderer or something. “Will making this promise cause me or anyone I love harm?”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. “It shouldn’t. Not unless the NHSO decides to try torturing you for the information or something.”

I huffed. “Fine. I’ll tell my pride, but I promise not to tell the NHSO about your source.” The promise magic rushed out of me, almost making me shiver.

“Good. Thank you, Mads. I know it’s not easy to trust me when I’m being so vague.”

”Especially after you told Scarlett about your vigilante group without telling me about it.”

She sighed. “Mads, it wasn’t my secret to tell.”

”Whatever.”

”Mads.” She was quiet for a few long seconds. “Thank you for making that promise despite everything.”

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t. Not really. And I was pretty sure my tone gave away my true feelings on the matter. Who went around demanding promises like that when we weren’t even face to face? Who went around not telling me things I needed to know?

She ignored that and said, “I’m giving safe harbor to someone who ran away from the witches.”

That made me sit up straight. “You found one of their victims? They got away?”

“Not… exactly. She wasn’t a victim.”

I opened my mouth but hesitated to speak as her words sank in. Wasn’t a victim? Then how…? Oh goddess, if she wasn’t a victim, then…

“You have a witch with you?” It came out as a hiss as fear and concern put my hackles up. Renata had a witch with her? What the hell was she thinking? How could she possibly think that was a good idea? She was going to be murdered, and her blood would be used to cast horrible spells.

“Calm down.” She was way too calm for my liking, not at all concerned for her own safety. “She’s not going to hurt me or anyone else?—”

“You don’t know that, Renata. She’s dangerous. She can use your blood and life force to do magic. You need to get away from her.”

She sighed. “Would you please stop talking and just listen for a moment?”

I snapped my mouth shut with a huff.

“Good. Now, you know that the Cloaked Freeway is still helping people get out of the country, right? We just don’t have to hide or sneak out anymore, but there are a lot of people who don’t know how to go about getting the right papers or how to travel across the Great Divide, so we’ve been helping them.”

I knew all of this already, so I had no idea why she was bringing it up. Still, I said, “Yes.”

“Well, apparently, word has traveled to some humans now, too, even though we’ve tried to keep our names out of the news.” I knew that, too, so why was she telling me this? Heedless of my thoughts, she continued. “Well, that’s how this human found me. She came to me and begged me for help, for protection. Mads, she ran away from the Red Cloth when she realized they were killing and draining people in order to do magic.”

“How the hell did she think they were doing it? Renata, please tell me you’re not falling for this bullshit. It’s common knowledge that using blood magic is how witches gain power.”

“She said she logically knew that’s how they did it, but when she saw all the imprisoned shifters at the Red Cloth safehouse and watched other witches killing them, she couldn’t stomach it. She thought they were using animals, not people.”

“And you believed her? She’s obviously just trying to fool you into thinking she’s safe so she can let her witch friends come and eat you.”

Renata sighed. “Look, I know how sketchy it sounds, but I believe her. And so does everyone else who’s spent five minutes with the girl. She’s terrified, Mads.”

I shook my head, unconvinced. How could she possibly think that girl was telling the truth?

Renata sighed again. “She gave me locations.”

That made me freeze in my pacing. “What?”

“She said she started off learning simple spells where she used her own blood for the spells—that’s how they start all witch training, apparently. And once you’re deemed good enough, you sort of level up to using animal blood or something.”

I gasped. “They’re really killing animals now, too?”

She cleared her throat. “Apparently, yes.”

“What is wrong with these people?”

“They frequently murder humans, shifters, and magi, and you’re worried about animals?”

I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut. “Yes. I’m allowed to be worried about animals, too. I’m not saying I’m any less worried about the people.”

“Fair enough. Anyway, after that, you’re moved up to the big guns—people.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

“So she went along with it for a couple of weeks because she didn’t know how to get out. They know her name, address, family, everything. And she knew if she was caught trying to run away, they’d just kill her and use her blood and life force to power up—she saw them do it to someone else. While she was there, she ended up volunteering to make a couple of runs to another safehouse. She has two locations for us. Two.”

I ran my hand over my face. “Alright, give me the locations, and I’ll make sure we check them out.”

She sprouted off two addresses that I quickly typed into my HID so I wouldn’t forget them. Then we hung up, and I immediately tugged on my bonds with Cos and Jude.

I looked up the locations and tried to find some satellite footage of them while I waited for my mate and dyad to show up. It only took them a couple of minutes, and they showed up together, both coming from the dining room.

I explained the situation, and Cos said, “We should call it in so the TRD teams can go check it out.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

He grimaced.

Jude said, “Why don’t we check it out from a distance to make sure they’re real leads, then tell them tomorrow?”

Cos was shaking his head before Jude finished. “No way. We’re not putting ourselves in danger without any backup. No way in hell.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Cos, we are more equipped to handle this than any other team. I don’t want to walk into another… slaughter. If we’re there, we can protect everyone.”

His eyes narrowed, but his gaze was focused on something else, thinking things through. Finally, he said, “We call it in, but”—he held up a hand to stop my protest—“we tell Director Dipshit that we’ll go on a reconnaissance mission tonight. That way, we still have control, but we also have backup available if need be.”

That seemed… fair, even if I didn’t want Dipshit to have anything to do with this. “That could work. Jude?”

Cos and I both turned to my dyad, and he nodded. “I like that plan, but maybe we should make sure the others are okay with working overnight tonight before we call and offer their services.”

“Good plan.” Cos gave a nod and headed for the door, but he turned on his heel to march back over and peck my lips before turning around again and walking out.

“Sap,” I muttered even though I didn’t think he could hear me anymore.

Jude snorted and elbowed me. “Come on, bubba. Let’s go convince our family that it’s a good idea to work extra hours tonight. Oh, we’ll need to call Simon, too.”

“The pride first.” I gave him a nod, and we headed out, following Cosmo’s path.