Chapter 10

While Quentin had walkedpast the building before, he’d thought it was just another government department. He hadn’t realized this was the building where the people who worked for national security did their jobs.

That Kaine had received confirmation, while they were eating breakfast, that someone was en route to join his mother’s ship had been a shock. He hadn’t expected it to happen so fast. From everything Dad said about the military, it moved slowly as there were too many people who needed to have their input.

Apparently, when Kaine ordered something, it happened.

There had been a car waiting for them around the back or the side. He wasn’t sure, only that it was the discreet entrance and exit. Last night, they had walked through the front doors.

Today, everything was different.

He was different.

The world was different.

There was a part of him that still expected to wake up and find it had all been a dream. Who didn’t want to pretend they were suddenly magical and special and all of that? That there was something else going on, and the world was far more exciting than it appeared…

He remembered having a conversation with his mother the year before she left, and he asked her about magic and stuff. She laughed and said he read too many fantasy novels about heroes plucked out of obscurity and thrust into greatness—which he had been because he’d wanted to escape the reality of his parents bickering—but she’d also said performing was like magic because for a little while people were transfixed, and they forgot their worries.

Quentin blinked and stared at the woman opposite him. “Sorry. I’m not sure what answers you’re looking for.”

Kaine had left him with her so she could assess him. She’d introduced herself as a mind reader, like him, and a psychologist.

She smiled. “I’m not looking for anything specific. I’m trying to establish a little background, so it doesn’t matter if your thoughts wander.”

Quentin winced. “I don’t want them to wander into inappropriate places.”

“You wouldn’t be the first.”

That did not make this less awkward. Though he was glad they were concentrating on his upbringing and family at the moment.

“So you felt an affinity for magic, even as a child?”

“I think so, but don’t most children?” Some of his classmates had been more interested in football teams than books. That he’d rather read than talk player stats had been one of his many problems at school.

She gave him that smile again.

So no, most kids didn’t want to wake up and discover they were something other than human with human parents. Sometimes, he would’ve liked to wake up in another house with parents who didn’t argue or pretend he wasn’t there.

“I think we’ve established that I’m a little messed up. When can I start learning about my magic?”

“When I’m done. I have to make sure that you are stable enough to learn magic.”

“Stable?”

“Learning magic can be destabilizing, and some witches cannot handle it. Especially those not raised around it. Once you begin to sense it, it can be very hard to turn away from it. As a mind reader, the most important skill you can learn is how to shield yourself. You need to learn how to protect your mind first before you learn how to read others.”

Kaine had said something like that as well. That he needed to make sure he didn’t drown. This wasn’t the same as learning how to ski. Breaking his mind was a lot harder to fix than a broken leg. But now that he’d tasted the possibility, he wanted to spread his wings and see what would happen. He knew from his first ski trip in Mont de Leucoy that going too fast, too soon, resulted in a broken leg. And zero sympathy from his father, who had told him to toughen up.

“Was your father around much when you were growing up?”

“Not really. He was overseas a lot, and it was…peaceful. I don’t wanna drop him in the shit. He likes his job, and even though we share a house, most of the time, we rarely cross paths.”

“Because you work at the bar and study at the library and stay out of his way.”

She plucked that right out of his thoughts. He’d texted his dad this morning and said that he was with a friend and would be home tonight after work. His father had given him a simple thumbs up. Had he even realized Quentin didn’t come home last night?

Not that it mattered. He was an adult and could do whatever the fuck he wanted. He told Dad out of politeness and because he couldn’t afford to rent anywhere on his own. Nor did he want to live in a university share house. That was far too many people for his liking. So it was easier to pay Dad some rent and keep out of each other’s way. Occasionally, they shared a meal or watched a game.

Sometimes, Dad brought a woman home.

Quentin never brought a boyfriend home.

“Would you have rather lived with your mother?”

“Yes…but she didn’t want me.” The reminder of the wasted years spent child raising when she could’ve been singing and dancing. She lived for bright lights and applause, and for a little while, she’d lived through him as he’d learned the piano and done various performances through drama at school. “How does this help you assess how stable I am?”

“From your verbal answers and from your thoughts. Don’t worry, I’m going to recommend you for training.”

Quentin slumped back in his seat. Kaine hadn’t mentioned that not being approved for training was a possibility, though he had mentioned that he needed to keep taking his meds until told otherwise. “So, what happens now?”

“You go with the agent who has been assigned to you. He’s waiting outside.”

His own personal babysitter…bodyguard. Kaine had said he’d be getting one, but again, he expected it to take a couple of days, not hours. “And then what?”

“That I can’t answer. I’m a psychologist, not an agent, and not a trainer.” She stood, indicating that their time was over.

“So you won’t be teaching me even though we have the same magic?”

“No, just because we share a magic doesn’t mean I can teach you how to use it.”

Quentin hesitated. “What’s it like being a witch?”

“I’ve never known otherwise, so I can’t answer that.” She opened the door, and Quentin stepped out into the hallway.

Leaning against the wall on the other side was the man he assumed to be his bodyguard. The man was dressed in jeans and a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His skin was tanned, and his eyes were dark and he assessed Quentin with a sweep of his gaze. “I’m Orion. I’ll be looking after you.”

“Looking after me, how?”

“You’re going to have something to eat and drink because getting your head read always leaves people kind of iffy. Don’t argue with me on this one, or I’ll be picking your passed-out ass off the carpet and dragging you to the cafeteria, and neither of us wants that. After that, I will follow you around while you go about your day-to-day life until it’s time for you to have some magic lessons.”

“So you’re here to stop me from getting killed?” There was a buzzing in his ears, which hadn’t been there before, and everything felt fuzzy around the edges like it wasn’t quite real. Or maybe he wasn’t quite real. Perhaps he was about to wake up and find this was a dream.

“More like to stop you from doing something stupid that will result in you getting killed.” He sniffed and wrinkled his nose. “Food, and then you’re going home to change because you reek of sex, and every shifter in the building will smell who you spent the night with.”

For a few seconds, Quentin was sure flames flickered up his throat and burned his cheeks, but there weren’t any, of course.

Orion peeled himself off the wall and walked along the corridor, expecting Quentin to follow. “Lenoir should’ve known better.”

Unless Kaine wanted other shifters to know.

They went down one floor in the lift to a small cafeteria.

“Sit and do not move.” Orion pulled out a chair. “You can have your phone back now. It’s clear but not secure.”

Quentin did as he was told. And when Orion put a cup of coffee and a rather large slab of brownie in front of him, he ate without arguing. Orion didn’t seem like the kind of man he should argue with. When he’d eaten half, he took a drink of the coffee, not sure if he was supposed to eat it all or if that was good enough. “You’re a shifter?”

“Yes.”

“Can I ask what kind?” Kaine had warned him it could be offensive.

“Komodo dragon.” For a heartbeat there was a red sheen over Orion’s eyes. Then it was gone, and Quentin could’ve imagined it. “I suggest you keep your other questions until we are alone.”

Alone meant getting home.

It meant Quentin caught the bus, like usual, but with Orion on the same one and getting off at a different stop.

When Quentin got out of the shower, Orion was sitting on his bed, thumbing through one of his textbooks. He put his hand over his heart and swore, sure the shock of finding the other man in his bedroom had been enough to kill him. He hadn’t heard the shifter come in. “Have you heard of knocking?”

“Then you would’ve freaked out in the shower, and that could’ve been way worse. You might have slipped and cracked your head.” He put the book on the desk.

“Aren’t you a joy to be around?”

Orion smiled as if it had been a compliment. “There’s a reason I was assigned to you.”

“Can you turn around or something so I can dress?”

Orion shook his head but turned away. “I’m a shifter. Nudity is really not shocking.”

“Well, I’ve only just discovered I’m a witch, so I’m not prepared to get naked in front of random people I’ve only just met.”

Orion laughed. “I find that hard to believe, given that you knew Lenoir for all of five minutes before becoming his mate.”

Quentin froze while trying to pull his underwear up underneath the towel, which wasn’t working at all. No one was supposed to know that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You hesitated for too long before denying it. Work on that. I have a fated mate, and I know what Lenoir is.”

“Then you know more than me.”

“Until you can lie smoothly, that is for the best. Are you dressed?”

“No.” He pulled his briefs up, tossed the towel into the bathroom, and grabbed the shirt and jeans that were in the clean laundry pile on the pile of books in the corner. The clothes he’d worn last night were in the laundry basket. “Okay, now I am.”

“Right, you’re going to give me a rundown of your daily schedule. Your classes, your tutorials, your work schedule. Any place where you need to be, I need to know when, and I need to know where. That includes your security footage drop-off. I also need to know which camera and how you’re copying the footage.”

“Okay, I can do that. Just give me a moment to pull up my schedule.” He flicked open his laptop lid.

“Before you do anything on that, I need to check it.”

“Check it for what?”

“Spyware. I swept your house for bugs as well while you were in the shower. There was one in the living room and another in here.”

Quentin felt his eyes grow rounder, and the brownie threatened to rise up his throat on a tide of coffee. He wasn’t sure if he needed to sit down or throw up. He swallowed hard and opted for the former sinking onto the carpet. He pressed his fingers into the loopy wool, hoping that if he held on tight enough, everything would settle.

“They were in my house? Spying on Dad and me?”

“I don’t know who was in your house, but someone bugged it, and it wasn’t national security. What’s your password?”

“My mother’s name and the year I was born.”

“You’re going to change that and every other password you have, but not today. When you are told to.”

Quentin nodded. Orion kept talking about things being compromised and needing to be careful without changing his routine or looking suspicious, typing on the keyboard the whole time.

He hadn’t gone to sleep and woken up a witch. He’d gone to sleep and woken up in some kind of spy…no, not a movie because this was now his life. He ran his fingers through his hair. “Shit.”

It had been all fun and fucking when they’d been in the hotel room, hidden away from the world. Kaine had warned him. But he hadn’t realized what it meant.

“If you’re going to faint, lie on the floor.” Orion glanced at him. “I should’ve fed you two brownies.”

He’d only just managed to eat one.

“I’m not going to faint.” But he turned and rested his back against the bed, needing a little more support than what the carpet offered. “How deep is the shit I’m in?”

“Hard to say, beyond you can’t touch the bottom, and you”re bloody lucky your mate has given you a life raft.”

“How do you know about that?”

“I smelled him on you.”

Quentin shook his head. There is no point denying what had happened, not that he liked discussing who he slept with. “We could’ve just had sex.”

“He told me.”

“He told me not to tell anyone.”

“And that’s still your instruction. Like I said, I’m a familiar, and I have a mate, and I know about Lenoir. To everyone else, you’re two witches who are having fun. You don’t get to disclose someone else’s secret. Especially not someone like him.”

“Because he’s the Chief?”

“That too.” The laptop beeped, and Orion grunted. “Your laptop isn’t secure. But I don’t want to remove the program yet as that will alert them that we are onto them.”

“What about the bugs in the house?”

“The one that was in here is now in your father’s room. I’ll return it once we are done. I’ve left the one downstairs.”

“I don’t want people listening in.” Oh my God, had they heard him last week when he watched that video with the sound up and jerked off? That was mortifying. The conversations he had when gaming weren’t much better.

“Putting bugs in people’s houses means someone is monitoring them. It’s going to make it a lot easier for me to locate them. For the moment, we disturb nothing. Understand?”

Quentin nodded but suspected he didn’t look very convincing.

“Do you understand? The danger starts when they realize something is up. Enjoy this little reprieve.”

That wasn’t what Quentin would’ve called it.

“Give me your schedule, and I’ll do my job while you go about your life.”

And in that heartbeat, Quentin forgot what it was he did all day and how to do any of it.