Chapter 6

Friday was two days away, but it was all I could think about. I was… mostly excited, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t… feeling edgy. So I suppose it was more like an anxious excitement.

It made no sense why I was nervous. It wasn’t the prospect of actually being tied that made me nervous—no, I was happy about that part and knew Cos was the one for me. It was more about making the tying ropes and then the actual tying ceremony that would happen a month afterward. What if I messed this up for Cos?

Despite talking to Jude about his tying ceremony and doing some other research, I didn’t feel like I knew what to expect.

Which was dumb. I was being so dumb.

I just really didn’t want to let my mate down.

Which again, was dumb. Cos would be fine even if I made a fool of myself. And it wasn’t like I’d be around anyone else anyway. It would be only him who’d see me acting like an idiot.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when my HID went off with a breach alert. I glanced at the alert enough to note that it was a veil tear and not a witch attack—at least that was what it was listed as so far—before I jumped to my feet and rushed to the back of the office with everyone else. We all got our gear on and strapped on our weapons, then headed out to the work truck.

It was still strange for me to be climbing into the back without Cos or Jude, since the two of them sat up front. But it wasn’t uncomfortable, obviously. I loved each and every person on our team. And what was better? I got along with them, and I knew they liked me. Although it was odd not having Charlie back here anymore. He was in the truck with Harriet, Simon, Ash, Wren, and the rest of their team.

Logan sat between Haiden and me, and I couldn’t help but give him a small shoulder bump and send him a grin that he returned.

I was so impressed with how well Logan had been doing with the TRD. I obviously knew he was a trained combat magi, but when he’d first wanted to join, I couldn’t help but remember the first time I’d met him. He’d been the mage on a TRD team, and absolutely none of them had known what they were doing. The shifters should’ve helped him instead of bullying him. And then those prickholes had beaten him and left him for dead.

Sometimes, when I looked at him going into a dangerous situation, I couldn’t help but remember what he’d looked like that night when we’d found him in a ditch. But that wasn’t fair to him. He was capable—more than capable—and so determined in everything he did.

I thanked the goddess every day for letting us find him and save him. Logan was a wonderful person, and the world would’ve been a much bleaker place without him in it.

He’d been shy and unsure, but now, he was confident and didn’t hesitate to speak his mind. That kid was smarter than the rest of us, too. Even after he’d singed his arm up in the veil tear, he hadn’t hesitated to come back to work and jump right in on calls.

Although I was worried about him getting hurt, I was lucky to have such an amazing magi as my backup, and I was happy to back him up as well.

Not noticing how much I was focusing on him, Lo opened up his HID to read the alert more closely now that we were sitting. After a moment, he said, “Oh man. It looks like at least three taragorians were reported at the scene. I hope a lot more don’t come through before we get there.”

I patted his knee. “I hope not, too. We have plenty of help, so we’ll be fine even if there are a lot more.”

He nodded. “True, but the people in the neighborhood might not be.”

Since I hadn’t looked to see where we were even going for this call, I asked, “Where is it?”

Instead of Logan answering, my dyad said from the front seat, “The tear’s in the parking lot of a small shopping center. It’s the middle of a work day, so I’m hoping there won’t be a lot of people there.” Even though I couldn’t see his face from where I was sitting, I could feel his grimace through our bond. “I know there will still be plenty of people there shopping, so it’s wishful thinking to hope there aren’t any people in the taragorians’ paths, but hopefully it’s not as bad as it is in the evenings or weekends, right?”

I said, “Right,” and Cosmo reached across to give Jude’s shoulder a squeeze of comfort.

Even though it felt like an eternity, it wasn’t actually that long before Cos pulled into the parking lot. He seemed confused when he asked Jude, “Where’s the tear supposed to be?”

“In front of the dollar store,” Jude said, then pointed. “The store’s right there, but I don’t see a tear anywhere.”

“Maybe they meant behind the store?”

Cos drove to the back of the shopping center and immediately said, “Maybe we have the wrong address?”

Jude shook his head. “This is the place listed in the report, but I don’t see anything. Let me call dispatch.” He quickly made the call on his HID.

Cos drove around to the front of the shopping center again, and I moved to look out the front windshield. Thirty seconds later, my eyes widened as I sucked in a breath and pointed to a spot on the complete other side of the parking lot. “Is that a taragorian body?”

Cos leaned forward in his seat, squinting and looking over the steering wheel like a little old man. I bit back a chuckle and was about to ask if he somehow needed glasses—impossible with his shifter genes—but he spoke before I could.

“I think it is. What the hell is going on here?” He drove the truck over to the giant mound on the ground. When we got a little closer, it was easy to see that I was right. It was a taragorian body. What in the hell? How the hell did it get here if there wasn’t a tear?

Or did we have bad information and the tear was somewhere else?

According to our records there were no other tears anywhere near here, and as far as we knew, there hadn’t been any taragorian sightings or rampages that weren’t related to another tear in the city.

Where the fuck did this guy come from?

And who in the hell killed him?

“Let’s check that out,” I said, already moving toward the back doors.

“Wait. What if this is a trap?” Cos asked, stopping me in my tracks. “What if there are witches waiting around to attack us?”

Before I could answer, Jude hung up his HID and said, “We’re definitely in the right place, which means it was either a false call—though evidence suggests otherwise.” He pointed at the monster’s body. “Or someone else closed the tear up already.”

And that sort of gave more credence to Cosmo’s theory, making me grimace. “Okay, let me see if I can sense any witch magic anywhere.”

I did the most undignified thing and practically belly-flopped over the back of the front seat to land in a heap between Cos and Jude. Cos snorted at me, and Jude just lifted a brow, slowly shaking his head at my ridiculousness. I gave him a shrug before turning to look back out the window.

I let my eyes unfocus a little, concentrating on that place inside of me that held my magic. If there was any active witch magic around, my senses, or rather my magical senses, would pick up on it with my focus like this. I scanned the area three times before blinking myself back and turning to Cos.

“There’s no witch magic anywhere. I can’t say that there aren’t runes written out anywhere in the area, but nothing is activated at all. If this is a trap, it looks like they didn’t get the chance to finish setting it before they abandoned ship. They probably saw us coming.”

“You think it’s safe to get out of the truck?”

I nodded at him. “It looks like it. But let me get out first so I can double-check the whole area, including behind the truck where I can’t see from here.”

His jaw clenched for a moment, and I knew he was having trouble with letting me go out and charge in without him. But he couldn’t protect himself from witch magic. I could. I was the one who needed to go out there. I sure as hell wasn’t about to let Logan do it, or Ash or Wren, whose TRD truck had just pulled up.

I placed my hand on his forearm and quietly said, “I’ll be safe. I’ll put a shield around myself as soon as I get out.”

He blew out a long breath before giving me a nod. “Okay. But you need to be careful.”

“I always am.” I kissed his cheek, then climbed over top of Jude—only because he didn’t have a steering wheel in front of him blocking my way—and opened the truck door.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever actually exited one of the TRD trucks from the front doors before. Okay, actually, I knew for a fact I hadn’t. The closest I’d ever even gotten to being in the front was when I pulled Harriet out of it when our truck was attacked by a taragorian. Weird that I’d been in these things hundreds, if not thousands, of times in my life but had never been up front.

I hopped out, and since Jude was right there, I reached over and grabbed his arm to activate shield runes. I could’ve simply activated them from memory, since those were the first runes on his body that I’d memorized the placement of, but this was easier. As soon as I stepped away from the truck and had enough room, I weaved the runes together and placed a shield around myself.

I made quick work of checking around our truck first, then the truck that Harriet parked beside ours and found no witch magic there. Then I gingerly made my way over to the taragorian, still not finding any witch magic. I carefully walked all the way around the beast to make sure before I waved everyone over.

Cos hopped out of the truck before anybody else, and I called over to him, “There’s no witch magic, and the taragorian had its throat cut, but it doesn’t look like it’s been drained or anything, so I think we’re safe enough.”

“Maybe safe enough from witches. But who killed the taragorian?” he asked. And wasn’t that the question of the day?

I shrugged. “No idea. I want to search the area, though, in case there are any other taragorians around.” Where there was one, there were usually more.

Cos let out a long sigh and shrugged. “Okay, you’re right. I’m going to get one of the drones out to scout the area from above while everyone else canvases the area. Harriet, you good to use your drone, too?”

She was standing with Simon but nodded at Cos, saying, “Of course.”

He said, “Great. Maybe we can figure out who did this. But the real question is, if there’s no veil tear around here, where the hell did this guy come from?”

Okay so… this was the actual question of the day.

I gave him a shrug since I had no other answer, and he let out another sigh that sounded equal parts frustrated and exhausted. I couldn’t say I blamed him.

Logan made his way to my side and said, “We should probably pull up security feeds from the shopping center, too. Surely, the vids caught something.”

Kulani said, “I can do that. After we secure the area, I can find out who’s in charge of the cameras here and figure that nonsense out, if that’s okay with you, Cos?”

“Yes. That works. Let’s split up and start canvassing.” My mate gave Kulani a nod before turning and heading to our truck to collect the drone.

Jude, Logan, and I went in one direction with our team shifters following behind us, and Wren and Ash went in the other with their team shifters trailing behind them. Cos and Harriet stayed near the taragorians—and our trucks—searching for clues of the non-magical sense while using the drones, too.

I hadn’t planned on walking too far from the shopping center—I’d only planned on walking around it—but something told me to keep walking along the street, and neither Jude nor Logan complained, so we kept going. About two blocks away, I heard someone yell in Magi.

My hearing was more acute from the soul bond with Cos, so I wasn’t surprised that my companions didn’t react at first. But I still took off at a run and quickly said, “People are yelling in Magi.” No other words were needed for them to run along with me.

I placed a shield around the three of us out of instinct and moved it along with our jogging. I could tell when the two of them heard the Magi because they both seemed to pick up their pace at the same time.

We only had to run another block before we turned down a side street and skidded to a stop. Years of battle and training had me assessing the situation in a matter of only seconds.

With their backs to us, two magi were underneath a shield, pretty much blocking the whole street. And in front of them was a group of six shifters and a taragorian. It was like I was looking at a Taragorian Response Department team taking out the dangerous monster. But there was one big difference.

None of these people were in uniforms. They were all just wearing regular street clothes. And okay, two big differences. They were all wearing ski masks—to hide their identities, I assumed.

I heard Jude mutter under his breath, “What the hell is this?”

I shook my head because I didn’t know either. Based on the techniques the shifters were using to take down the beast, these were not trained soldiers. These were not TRD agents who were off the clock and happened to be in the area or retirees or anything like that. These were civilians.

Without thinking much about the best way to approach, I called out in Magi, “Hello, friends. Need any help?”

One of the magi put their hand on their companion’s shoulder and turned to face us while the other one stayed focused on the fight and the shifters they were watching over. So at least one of these guys had some kind of training. Maybe they used to work for the TRD? Or… maybe they just grew up in the compound but decided not to escape the city the night we freed the compound magi and they’d stayed behind. Who knew? I’d try to find out if I could, if they’d tell me. But I sort of doubted it, considering they were hiding their identities.

The mage facing us said, “Hello, friend. Peace.”

I lifted my hands up to show that I didn’t mean any harm and said, “Peace,” but I didn’t lower my shield. And not only because of the magi standing in front of us. I wasn’t about to risk that taragorian getting loose and hurting one of us.

Jude asked, still sticking to Magi, “Do you need any help?”

They shook their head. “We’re okay, and the shifters are nearly finished with this one. It’s the last one, as far as we can tell.”

My dyad nodded. “Can I assume that there really was a veil tear in the shopping center parking lot?”

They sort of grimaced, or at least that was the impression I got from their eyes since I couldn’t see their face. “There was, but we closed the veil tear as soon as we got there.”

I stupidly said, “But you’re not TRD. I don’t recognize you.”

Their eyes looked like they were smiling, and they seemed a little amused by my outburst. “No, we’re definitely not.”

When they gave no further information, I blurted, “Then why are you helping us?”

They glanced behind themself, checking on their group. The shifters finally looked like they were winning and taking down the beast before the mage refocused on us. “We have no intention of working for those humans at the NHSO ever again. They don’t deserve our help. Not until they prove themselves.” So… that sounded like they probably had been compound magi, then.

Before I could ask, Logan, who’d been surprisingly quiet this whole time, asked, “Then why help at all?”

They glanced at him with a small shrug. “This is still our city. There are a lot of us who want to protect it. We just can’t trust those fools in power to protect us while we’re doing it. So here we are.” They gestured toward the taragorian, who was lying on the ground, losing a lot of blood but not quite dead yet.

I could definitely respect their position and where they were coming from. I said, “We appreciate your help. And don’t worry. We have no intention of trying to get you to reveal your identities or anything like that. We won’t pursue you once you leave here.” They might not have said anything about being worried, but I had no doubt that had been a worry of theirs. Otherwise, why the ski masks to begin with?

“Will you promise us that?”

My eyebrows rose in shock, not expecting that. “As long as you or anyone in your group doesn’t try to hurt anyone in my group, then yes, I promise we won’t come after you or seek out your identities at this time.”

The NHSO probably wouldn’t like that, but seriously, screw them. The last thing I wanted to do was have magi and shifters get in trouble for giving us assistance in the field and literally saving lives by stepping in before we could even get here. And I had no doubt that the rest of my family would agree with me.

I had the feeling they were smiling at that. “Thank you. I promise that none of us will come after you and your team as long as you don’t come after us.”

I nodded my thanks and turned on my HID mic, saying in English, “There’s a group of civilian shifters and magi who took out the taragorians and closed the veil tear. They don’t want to be identified, so I need you guys to stay back for the time being.”

Cos took a few extra seconds to answer. “Are they going to hurt you?”

“As long as we don’t go after them or try to identify them, then no.”

There was another brief pause. “Alright. Please keep yourself shielded, and everyone else will stay back.”

“Copy that, kitty cat.” Normally I wouldn’t say that over the HID, but I could tell that he needed some reassurance. And from the warmth I felt coming from his soul wrapped around my heart, I could tell that he appreciated it.

Once the taragorian was dead, the shifters gave us nods or waves before taking off, but the magi turned to face us.

The one who’d already spoken to us said in Magi, “We just want to help and protect our city. We don’t want to get in your way, but we know the TRD is struggling to keep up with everything, especially lately. There’s a… group of us who’re trying to help where we can.”

“We really, really appreciate it,”Jude said. “More than you know. And we’ll do everything in our power to keep the NHSO from looking too closely at you. I’m not sure what good it’ll do, but we’ll try.”

“Thank you, dyad pair,”they said.

That was weird, but I still nodded because how else could I respond to that? I asked, “Can I give you my HID code in case you need help with something? There are a lot of witches in the city again so you need to be careful.”

They stared at me for a long moment before nodding. “I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

I rattled off my HID code, then stood back and watched the two magi jog away underneath their shield.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes until Logan finally switched us back to English and asked, “It sounded like they want to keep helping, but do you think they really will? Or do you think this was just a right time, right place kind of thing?”

I shrugged, and Jude said, “I can’t be sure, but I’ve got a feeling we’ll be seeing them again.”

Logan nodded. “It was kind of nice seeing another group of magi and shifters working together. I haven’t seen much of that outside of the TRD and the shifter prides that we know personally. It seems like everybody else is just so hateful and at each other’s throats.”

I couldn’t help but give him a quick side-hug even though I knew he’d grumble about it—and he did—and I said, “Hopefully we’ll start seeing more and more of this as time goes on.”

He gave me the quickest squeeze ever before letting go and moving out of my arms with a nod. “I think we will. Things are going to get better.”

I nodded in agreement even though I didn’t know if I truly believed that or not.

Sure, I figured with time, things between all three species would get a lot better. But what I worried about was how much damage everyone would do in the meantime. Especially with the Red Cloth trying to bring forth everyone’s hate and dividing us even more.

We really, really needed to find them and put a stop to their atrocious message and disgusting, horrible practices.

Jude told Cos and the others that they could come over to where we were, so it wasn’t long before my mate showed up and looked me over from head to toe to make sure I wasn’t injured. He didn’t touch me or pull me into a hug, but I could definitely tell he wanted to. I kind of wanted him to, too. But we had jobs to do.

So we spent the next half hour using drones and our own eyes to search the entire area for any other taragorians, just in case any escaped. I had no idea how the magi and shifters even knew where the veil tear had been in the first place or when exactly they’d shown up, so I couldn’t assume that they had accurate information on how many beasts came through before they’d arrived.

Luckily, we didn’t find more taragorians or any sign that there might be some unaccounted for.

When we were close to being done, Cos suddenly asked, “You okay?”

My brow furrowed. “Uh, yeah.” I was fine, and as far as I could tell, so was he. He should be able to tell from our bond.

I was about to ask him what was wrong before I caught the glimpse of amusement in his eyes. “No teenagers hugged you today?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“So no new traumas?”

I smacked his arm. “Shut up.”

He snickered and gave me a quick cheek kiss before we all started wrapping things up.

It wasn’t long before we were able to head back to the office and let the cleanup crew do their thing with the taragorian bodies. That was one job I was very grateful I’d never had to do. Blech.