11

No one said a word when I was done. They all blinked at me, even Winter, and he’d known the basic idea. I’d gone into a lot more detail with equine spa baths that we could use for all large familiars and more. My research was rather extensive with a list of specific enclosures from zoos around the world.

I’d looked into a lot of them and weighed which ones were best for the types of familiars and what we could handle. Some I had notes on how to adapt given familiars were different from natural animals. Also, there was more I hadn’t gone over with Winter, specifically I also wanted to raise cows, sheep, and more on the property as that would be good for the harvesting.

And the familiars like Sergey’s who would enjoy the fresh meat.

I started fidgeting when the silence dragged on, but then everyone went to talk at once.

Tracey held up her hand to the others, knowing the most about my abilities. “So you’d want to expand into fur treatments like the one you made for Woodchuck.”

I cleared my throat and rubbed my arm. “Not to sell right away but yes, to use them in our spa treatments. Or as part of the package. But also the brushes, and I was reading how horses and other animals should have cold salt baths to help them heal, and we know those sorts of products are available but for us. I think I could make them for familiars like I have the couple of bath products.”

Tracey chuckled, sitting back in her chair and beaming at me. “Yes, those ones you developed when you were eleven and shocked the shit out of Henry and me.” She shot a glance at Mrs. Rose. “I think I know where your head is on trained healers now.”

I nodded. “Certified healers wouldn’t ever lower themselves to work with familiars. That would be a step down for them, and most I’ve met have the egos of… Well, the one at school was nice, but the ones who my family used were jackasses. But if we found ones who didn’t make the certification, they would be using their skills, paid for them, and helping with healing treatments.”

“Say they signed with us for five years with a promise to train their replacements when—” Tracey agreed, but Jasmine cut in.

“Why would you need such a long contract with an assumption they’d leave?”

“Because Bev would work with them to get them at the level where they would pass healer certification,” Tracey explained. “That’s part of the gig.”

“You could do that?” Mrs. Rose asked, her tone full of hope.

Tracey snorted. “She wouldn’t need five years to do it, but that would be fair if she put that much work and magic into someone to help them.” She glanced at Jasmine. “We’d have to word that carefully. Most would take one look at her and nod their heads like ‘sure, sure, kid’ and plan to bail the moment they got strong enough.”

Jasmine tapped her fingers on the table. “The High Council is always pushing for more healers, and the certification is done through one of their offices. I bet there is a way to speak to them and get it in writing that if any potential hire breaks contract with us, they are still blocked from taking the certification for so many years.”

“Ouch,” I whispered. “Wow, Jasmine, that’s…”

“Fair,” Mrs. Rose argued. “Very fair. I’d do it. I’d do it in a heartbeat . Five years is nothing to be able to come out the other end with the magic level to pass and you could definitely get your program to be counted as a type of internship as long as people sign non-competes. No one could open a place like yours, only our people or even allow spas for witches and warlocks but not familiars.”

“That’s smart,” Professor Wyatt praised. “You’d need start-up for—” He sighed when several people snorted. “Right, I haven’t looked over your mating profiles yet. Apparently, you have more than enough money to do it.”

“Yes, but it’s not a bad idea to have High Council investors,” I muttered, sharing a look with Tracey. “The top-tier families would have to be insane to mess with the business or when it eventually comes out I’m the owner. Say they each contribute five percent of the start-up, and with that they get one day a month for all High Council members, guards, and employees to use the facility.”

“That’s good,” Tracey purred, her business hat already on. “A discount for other services, and our initial VIP members that have access to other things others won’t like a bottle of your fur or feather treatment.” She threw back her head and laughed when I rolled my eyes. “Oh, you hit your limit with the details and are bored to tears with the specifics, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I liked researching the enclosures and parts of the spa services, but when it got to like mapping shit out, my eyes started to cross, and I do not want to be in charge of the animals that will be hunting options.” I shivered.

“I find it odd you would want blood and death on your land that you plan on being a harvesting haven,” Nina admitted. “That seems darkness and…” She shot Sergey a look as if wondering how to phrase her thoughts.

“I get where your head’s at as it sounds a bit too much like blood magic or sacrifices but no, in this way it’s more circle of life and giving familiars what they need,” I promised. “I can show you.”

“You can?” she asked.

Tracey snorted as she stood. “Yeah, get ready to hold onto your hats.” She smirked at me. “She’s racing to come greet you.”

I smiled. “I know, I feel her.” I turned just in time to catch her familiar, Woodchuck. “Hey, girl, I missed you too.” I chuckled when she was freaking out and wanting more and more attention while also rambling how awesome it was to have me home and she loved this place.

“Spoiled. She’s completely spoiled,” Tracey sighed, shaking her head with no real annoyance.

I shrugged. “Did you have a good breakfast of bunny or mouse?” We brought them in all the time for her, and the estate had extensive enough land and woods where there was a ton of space for them to breed and thrive. “Quinn, no hunting yet.” I burst out laughing when I saw the golf carts, racing for the first one. “I’m finally old enough to drive them!”

Tracey snorted. “As if Henry didn’t let you way before you should.”

“Only on his lap,” I drawled. I hopped up and slid along the bench seat so I ended up in the driver’s seat. They were bigger ones that had seating for four and either room for clubs in the back or two more seats that folded down so everyone fit on the two carts.

I started it up and took off the moment we were loaded. They were the heavy-duty ones that were gas powered since they would go over more than golf course greens and not real trails.

I burst out laughing as Loki easily kept up with us, but Spike seemed confused as to why he had to move his butt… And Bubba was a bit too interested in running after Loki and Spike for real.

The best was Teddy calling after us he wanted a seat on the cart. Yes, the polar bear should ride with the people. Oh boy.

I shot Winter an amused look which he seemed to figure out something was up with his familiar, glancing over his shoulder and shaking his head. It wasn’t lost on me that he’d managed the front seat next to me, but Sergey seemed fine right behind me, rubbing my shoulders as I drove along. Kelton was next to him with Link and Wyatt in the back.

It was funny all the “kids” came with me with the eldest sitting in the back, but Kevin was actually Wyatt’s age, and he’d gone with the other adults.

“How far is this drive?” Winter asked after several moments. “How big is this place, little sexy?”

“Big,” I admitted. “It was a vacation estate of the Millens they hid when the Shaws took all they had. It was all Grandfather had left of his family’s legacy, and it wasn’t in the best state before we started fixing it up. At least none of the land was lost. He was smart to use the last of the Millen wealth to set up a trust for the taxes to be paid so the Shaws couldn’t ever claim it was their finances and take it.”

It was several more minutes before I pulled up to the private lake. I smiled out at it, knowing there had been a lot of debate if it was a pond since it was on one estate, but Grandfather fought it was bigger than other public lakes and had sections deep enough that the light couldn’t penetrate the water to the bottom which made it a lake. I really didn’t care either way, but he did, and I’d fight for it to be a lake then.

Well, I owned the property, so only I got a vote really.

“Holy shit,” Winter gasped, rubbing his chest. “The magic here is unreal.”

I nodded as I stared out at the water. I saw Tracey pull up next to me and those riding with her having about the same reaction. “This started before Tracey even. This was my secret place with Grandfather and the land was sad, dark after the Millens lost everything and there weren’t any of them left besides Grandfather. It was like the land knew. So did the life here as if waiting to be taken next.

“After I told Grandfather I could help his familiar not be sad either, he brought me here and showed me what would be mine one day. I didn’t want it because it was sad and wanted to fix it. So he let me. He trusted me and did whatever I said to fix it.”

“How old were you?” Sergey asked.

“Seven? No, I think eight.”

“You took land this vast with negative energy and turned it into this in ten years?” Wyatt whispered, his voice a bit breathy.

“I had help obviously, but yeah.” I turned off the cart and slid off the seat, glancing at Link. “Ready to get started? Apparently, I’m helping a lot more than you today.”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I think I’m going to owe you a big apology for doubting you could do half of what you promised.”

I shrugged. “I never expected people to believe me like Grandfather. Tracey was skeptical at first. That’s fine as long as people aren’t mean about it.” I glanced around for his familiar. “Loki, over here, please.” The horse trotted right to me as I found a grassy clearing and plopped down. I patted the spot across from me as I glanced at Link. “Cop a squat.”

He snorted and did, even sitting cross-legged as I did. “Now what?”

“Knees touching and give me your hands,” I instructed. I moved so it was more my knees were touching just under his since he was taller and had longer legs. I cupped my hands around his bigger ones and then we ended up switching as the first way had been awkward. “Close your eyes and think of Loki. I’m not making a pun on your name, but I need to see your link, help you build it.”

“Do you want me to focus on him?” Loki asked me and gasped when I nodded. Yeah, he hadn’t known I could hear him.

It took a little bit, but then I could see the link between them in my mind’s eye. Or that was how I thought of it. I’d never read anything on this before or heard it was even possible. “Do you see it? That little rope bridge. That’s your link, your bond to him.”

“Just that?” he muttered, sounding disappointed.

Tracey snorted behind him. “I didn’t have one at all. You’re steps ahead of where I started having one, and she couldn’t start here with your uncle given their current state.”

“Okay then. What now?”

“What do you want it to be? Do you want it to be more or—”

“Yes, of course I do,” he growled.

“Don’t get pissy with me,” I warned, Loki letting out a huff… At Link.

“He’s actually siding with you,” he whispered, sounding hurt.

“Only because you were being a jerk,” I comforted. “If I was, he’d side with you, but you snapped at me when it’s a fair question. You’d be surprised how many people don’t care about their relationship with their familiars. I’m asking because you need to say it for him to hear and feel you mean it. It’s going to take work.”

Tracey snorted again. “A lot of it. If it was easy or something anyone could do with the snap of their fingers, we’d all have seriously powerful familiars and harvest at crazy rates.”

“That’s fair.” Link let out a slow breath. “I want more and stronger with him and not just because I want more magic. I want to be closer with him and do better by him.”

Loki seemed as pleased by the answer as I was, doing something to make Link chuckle.

“Good. Then all you need to do is walk that bridge.”

“That will not hold my weight,” he argued.

“It’s not real and neither are you in that magical representation of your link to your familiar,” I reminded him.

“Well, I sound like an idiot when you put it that way,” he grumbled. He was quiet a moment. “What happens if I don’t make it? What if I fall off the representation?”

“That’s a fair question, but the answer is nothing. You break that or trip off and we snap out of this. You try again tomorrow or whenever and start over. Each time you’ll start over.”

“Okay, got it.” He gave my hands a quick squeeze, and I was pretty sure it was more for his comfort that he wasn’t doing this alone more than anything else.

It took several minutes of constant guidance, but he only made it about a quarter of the way before his concentration faltered and he “fell” for lack of a better term.

“Was that good?” he asked as we came out of it. He frowned when I shrugged. “What do you mean by that? How do you not know?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Do you think I’ve done this a lot with people? You’re my third person to ever work with like this. I’m eighteen and had to hide my magic until like a month ago so my family didn’t take it. Yeah, I’ve had tons of practice and have any sort of gauge. You did better than the nothing you did yesterday so sure, you did good. Let’s see if you do better next time.”

He slowly blinked at me before glancing at our hands and set up. “Right, you’re only eighteen. Sorry. This is new.”

My lips twitched. “For me too. Well, different people other than my grandfather and Tracey.” I pulled my hands from his and smiled up at Loki. “Better? Do you feel his love and respect for you?” I was glad when he nodded. “Then harvest hard for him, okay? Show him you appreciate the effort and refuel him as that takes a lot out of your warlock.”

Loki leaned down and moved his lips against my head in a stallion version of a kiss before taking off to go around the lake.

Link gasped and rubbed his chest as he looked like he’d stuck his finger in an electric socket. “I’ve never felt this rush of magic harvest before. How the fuck did you… You’re a goddess.”

“What?” several people gasped as cold dread filled my stomach.

Link shook his head. “It’s the only thing that makes sense why Uncle would listen to an eighteen-year-old so diligently, push the council members to do the same. Fine, he and Aunt were friends with your grandfather and promised to protect you, but I was shocked he kept you visible. He could have hidden you with a security detail somewhere completely off your parents’ radar.

“But he’s determined to keep you in play and a member of our society in front of people, get your education at the best place, and even willing to go against several traditions to listen to you. It just doesn’t make sense unless he knows you will be someone big, not just you’ve got a gift with this type of magic and own a big company that you can make much bigger. It makes sense.”

“She didn’t—” Wyatt started but I cut in.

“I would ask you keep your accusations and outlandish suppositions to yourself and certainly not blurt them out in public,” I said evenly. “You are a guest at my home, one I offered help. Act like it .” I kept going when he opened his mouth, jumping to my feet. “You just admitted you didn’t know all the facts or situation. Hiding me would be the stupidest move possible.”

“She’s blood-related with the threat, their daughter,” Jasmine added easily. “And they own dirty cops, plus at least thirty private security at their main estate alone. You don’t think one of the strongest warlocks from the one of the wealthiest top- tier families could easily get around whatever hiding protection would be put in place? Then she’s gone, a rumor most wouldn’t confirm.”

“That’s fair,” Link conceded. “But there’s more going on here that—”

“That’s not your business,” I snapped. “My business is not for public debate or declaration, and as a High Council guard, I would think you knew discretion better than that. Even if that was true—who are you to announce that for me?”

He winced as he pushed to stand. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That was wrong of me. It just came out when I realized it.”

“You think you realized it,” I drawled. “I think I realized you might not be worth helping at all, but I made a deal and I’ll honor it. My opinion doesn’t make it so or fact.”

He studied me several moments, but it was Kevin who jumped in next.

“You’re arguing with him pretty hard if it’s not true and you want to hide it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I doth protest too much? How cliché. It’s not about what he said but that he said it. It’s disrespectful and honestly shows some sexism I’m not a fan of. I’m young and a woman, so why behave like he would with a male adult and not just say whatever he’s feeling?”

Okay, that might have been a bit much, but I wanted to squash this and fast.

“That’s not how I felt. It was shock,” Link argued. “But I can admit I’m wrong. I’ve not been around a goddess since I was in school, and the only god I’ve been closer to as an adult had a weird feel to his magic—like yours.” He held up his hands in surrender. “But you’re right, my uncle knows more and is a councilman because he has way more experience than I do to see five moves ahead.”

Unfortunately, his eyes did not match his words. Only I could see them, and I knew without a doubt he was certain I was a goddess.

I had two thoughts at the same time about that.

Shit.

Well, at least he’s backing me up to backpedal on what he said.

“Fine, shock is shock, and I’ll assume you’re telling the truth you’re not sexist, but in the future, no matter my age, please respect me as a teacher, not your student,” I lectured before turning to Wyatt. “You’re next? I assume you have more on your plate than this today.”

“Yes, of course,” he agreed, giving me an impressed look at how I handled the situation.

Good, because we were going to have a talk about him answering for me. He was about to admit to it and keep the loop tight, but that was a mistake.

One he didn’t need to make for me .

My next shock of the day was what I found after I settled in with him as I had Link. I gasped at the bridge he had built. It needed work—everyone did—but it was wood and had supports. “Wow.”

He chuckled softly. “I appreciate your skill, and I promise to be an apt pupil, but I do teach about familiars and bonding with them at our best university.”

“It’s not that—well, yeah, that makes sense, but you have more than Grandfather even did, and he was—”

“Ridiculously strong,” Link declared, Tracey echoing him with something similar.

“Yeah, really strong,” I muttered, my heart aching at how much I still missed him and always would. “Okay, so your goal is still the same—walk over the bridge and strengthen it.”

“What does Tracey’s bridge look like?” Link asked. “What is the end goal? Or is there an end goal?”

“No, no end goal as everything can be improved upon,” I answered, thinking the other question was Tracey’s to answer.

“Mine is reinforced concrete with huge steel pillar supports and some extra hanging top support like the Golden Gate Bridge has. That’s what I’m currently working on with Woodchuck. Next, we’ll make it wider so we can play on it. Or that’s where I see it going next after another session with Bevin recently. Maybe.”

“I think it’s a good goal. It’s just further than I ever got with Grandfather, so I can’t tell you for sure, but your instincts are always good, Tracey. Even the councilman was impressed. You got it on lock.”

“Love you too, Bev.”

I finished fast with Wyatt, sending Quinn to go harvest for him before Sergey plopped down in front of me. I chuckled but then glanced at Bubba. “This only works if give me a chance too. You’re selfish and want him to only love you, not need others. That’s not what’s best for him just as it isn’t for you. You both need more than each other.”

“I do not disagree, and I am willing to give you a chance. For him,” Bubba replied after several moments of thought.

“I’m honored,” I drawled before focusing on Sergey. I swallowed a wince when I saw what he had. His bond with his familiar was severely damaged and I knew exactly why it was. “This is why those fucking familiar housing conditions have to be changed. Your bond with him is weakening even as you’re getting older and stronger. It shouldn’t be deteriorating.”

“I’ve felt that too and I didn’t know how to fix it, what to do,” he admitted sadly.

I squeezed his hands. “I do. We can do this, I promise.” We worked a few minutes, and I felt his frustration when he “fell” and didn’t get further. “It’s more than you did yesterday, and that section will be easier to walk tomorrow. Baby steps. I’ll help and so will this place.”

“Thank you, foxy,” he rasped, quickly wiping his eyes. “I’ve been so upset I’ve failed him so much.”

I looked at Bubba, knowing full well the familiar understood his master. “Help yourself to the deer on the property. They like to hang on the other side of the lake. Hunt and harvest and enjoy the life here. You’ve more than earned it dealing with that tiny ass pen and Sergey knows that.”

Bubba nodded but then shocked me by leaning in and licking my face. “I was wrong about you. I am tiger enough to admit that. Take care of him. I’ve felt the same failing him.”

And then he was gone.

Sergey got the same rush of magic, giving me a soft kiss before Kelton took his place.

Kelton’s bond with Spike wasn’t as damaged as they were both pretty easygoing, and a moose and herbivore wasn’t as demanding as a tiger. Kelton’s demeanor was relaxed, but I found out just how driven and hardworking he was as he pushed further and further along their link. He got well over halfway before he faltered and snapped out of our magical visual.

“Good, you did…” I trailed off, blinking at him when he got fuzzy. I frowned and tried to find Tracey in the group. “I don’t feel—” I didn’t get to finish as my body lost all strength and I fell backwards as my vision went dark.

“Shit, shit, she’s never done this multiple times in a row,” Tracey panicked, sounding very un-Tracey-like as she did. “Woodchuck, harvest for her and fast. She’s depleted.”

I felt the rush of energy, but my body was still down and everything sounded fuzzy. Someone lifted me up, and I felt a rush of healing as warmth cocooned me.

Two different warmings actually.

“Mmm,” I managed, trying to snuggle up closer to the warmth, not having realized I was freezing.

“That’s all I can give her,” Mrs. Rose said, sounding a bit breathy.

“Thank you, Rita,” Tracey whispered. “Thank you, Wyatt. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I’m fine. Quinn’s harvesting and hunting. This land has an astounding amount of magic and energy,” he replied, sounding a bit strained.

“I can’t heal, but I can give you some,” Link muttered as he moved next to us. “Good?”

“Yes, thank you,” Wyatt sighed.

“Cold,” I chattered. “Okay.”

“You’re not, but I can’t even yell at you,” Wyatt grumbled. “I’m your fucking power assessor, and I was so caught up in how awesome what you can do is I didn’t even focus on making sure you were doing it safely. I’m so sorry, Bevin. You were putting out so much high-level power, but I didn’t realize it was all yours.”

“And I didn’t know that was what it took,” Tracey seethed. “I’ve done it so many times with her that I could do it by myself for years. Her doing it with me is always better, but we haven’t been able to since Henry died and her parents completely locked her up, so I didn’t—I’m so sorry, Bev.”

“I’m okay now,” I lied. I sighed when several people snorted. Yeah, no point in even trying to push that. They could all sense it. Good to know how to handle this in the future at least.