Bound by Magic (11 page)

“Lakin –”

“My name is Boon,” he murmured, and then he closed the distance between us. I drew a sharp breath in through my nostrils as he kissed me, softly, slowly, his lips a gentle caress against mine. Warmth stole through me, softening me up, and I closed my eyes, leaning into him. Cupping my face with both hands, he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue in my mouth. He tasted dark and smoky, like a hot fire on a cold night, and he warmed me from the inside out.

“I can smell your need,” he murmured against my mouth, hot gaze boring deeply into mine. “I know you’re going to need a male soon.”

“Yes.” I licked my lips, tasting the desire on my own tongue. It slowly built with each passing day as my heat approached, and though I still had a few weeks until that day came, that didn’t necessarily mean my body wanted to be celibate in the meantime. But as I stared into Lakin’s reddish-yellow eyes, a pair of iridescent violet irises flashed in my mind’s eye, and heat for a different individual rushed through me.

“Boon,” I said as Lakin leaned into me. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.” I was being stupid, I knew – Lakin was an obvious choice, both as a lover and a potential mate, and I already knew I could never have Iannis. But I was conflicted all the same, and I wasn’t going to get involved with someone I worked with while my heart was still tangled up.

“Alright.” Lakin drew back, disappointment in his gaze, but he gave me a small smile all the same. “I won’t push you. Just know that I’m here.”

“I do know.” I squeezed his hand, then stood up. “I'd better get back home.”

“Are you sure?” Lakin asked, rising to his feet as well. “I’ve got a couch now, you know.” He gave me a crooked grin, and I knew he was also telling me without words that his bed was available too.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I gave him a grin of my own. “But my bed gets lonely when I’m not in it. You’ll be at the Enforcer’s Guild at six o’clock tomorrow afternoon?”

“That’s the plan.” His gaze darkened. “It’s going to be tough to just stand there at the Royale and observe.”

“Tell me about it.” I bit my lip as I left, turning the idea over in my mind. Reconnaissance was not my strong suit, not when innocent people were being hurt, but if I was going to get to the mastermind behind this I was going to have to hold back. I just hoped I could keep my mouth shut long enough to get through the Royale, or we were all going to be in deep trouble.

B
y the time
I made it back to my apartment, exhaustion had caught up with me, and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Dreams came to me that night, or rather faces – my mother, sad but smiling, Roanas, stern but encouraging, and Melantha, furious and despondent all at once. There were other faces too – their features in shadow but for their colorful shifter eyes, luminous with pain and desperation. I knew instinctively that these were the faces of the missing, and that all of them were trying to tell me the same thing – I needed to find out where they were and bring them home.

When I woke up, the grief and fury in my heart was gone, replaced with a single-minded determination. I was going to find out who did this, and when I did I would bring them in, dead or alive. True, my relationship with the Jaguar Clan was strained, but they were still my mother’s people, and they didn’t deserve this. No one did.

I was just coming out of the shower, a towel wrapped around my body, when my phone rang once again. Resigned to the fact that my apartment was no longer a place of solitude, I walked into the kitchen and answered it, fully expecting another threatening phone call.

“What is it now?”

“Good morning, Miss Baine.” I blinked at the sound of Dira’s cool voice – the same secretary who’d called when I was at Comenius’s shop. “I’m calling on behalf of the Chief Mage. He requests your presence in his study at nine o’clock this morning.”

“What?” A quick glance at the clock on my wall had me scowling – it was already eight-thirty! “But I had the morning off!”

“I’m afraid I’m just the messenger, Miss Baine,” Dira said lightly, not at all bothered by the fact that she was throwing off my plans for the morning. “I suggest you leave soon if you want to make it on time.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, hanging up the phone.
Oh well
, I thought as I rushed back into my bedroom to pull on some clothing. I needed to warn Iannis about the threat from the Resistance sooner rather than later anyway. I might as well fit that in around whatever else he wanted to see me about this morning.

The weather was hotter than usual today, so I chose a bright red clingy tank top to wear with my leather pants and jacket. Even the breeze rushing past me as I rode my steambike up to the Mage’s Quarter wasn’t enough to cool me, and by the time I arrived at Solantha Palace I was hot enough that I slipped off my jacket and carried it over one shoulder. The usual stares followed me as I strode through the halls toward the Chief Mage’s study, but I noticed they lingered less than usual. Maybe the Palace residents were actually getting used to my presence.

As I approached the door, the sound of several voices talking made me pause. Was I not the only one being summoned today? Maybe Dira had been wrong about the time, and Iannis wasn’t actually ready to see me yet.

“Hello?” I called, knocking on the door. “It’s Sunaya.”

The voices on the other side quieted. “Come in, Miss Baine,” the Chief Mage called back.

I opened the door, then froze as I took in the number of people in the room. No, it was clear that I wasn’t the only one who’d been summoned. Fenris stood at Iannis’s side, as usual, and Director Chen was there too… but to my surprise Inspector Lakin was also there, and next to him a gangly teenager with pale brown hair dressed in a set of red mage’s robes.

“Morning, Naya,” Inspector Lakin said with a grin.

“Morning,” I said, my eyebrows raised. “Didn’t realize I was being invited to a party.”

“I believe the term ‘meeting’ would be more accurate,” the Chief Mage said mildly, drawing the attention of the room back toward him. “We all know each other, correct?”

“I think so,” I said slowly, turning toward the young mage. “You’re Elnos Ragga, right? Noria’s boyfriend?”

“At your service.” He gave me a crooked grin as he bowed, and I grinned a little as his gangly body tried to execute the motion. He was a strange combination of charming and awkward, and I could already see why Noria liked him.

“Same to you.” I bowed back, then turned back toward the Chief Mage. “So what’s this all about?”

“These three are here to make a report, and I wanted you to be here for it,” Iannis said, gesturing toward Director Chen, Elnos and Lakin. “I’d prefer you come stand on this side of the desk, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh. Right.” Slightly flustered, I moved around the desk to come stand next to Iannis, on the opposite side of where Fenris stood. Fenris gave me a quick wink as I did, relaxing me a little – it made sense that I would stand next to the Chief Mage as his apprentice, but I was far more used to being on the other side of the desk.

“Very well,” the Chief Mage said, settling his violet gaze on Director Chen. “Deliver your report.”

“Yes, sir.” Director Chen’s silk robes rustled lightly around her as she stepped forward – she’d chosen to wear robin’s egg blue today, with silver leaves embroidered across the fabric with fine thread. “As some of you may you already know, Inspector Lakin came to the Mages Guild two weeks ago with evidence that shifter-specific drugs are still being sold on the market.”

“He did?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Annoyance at the interruption briefly disturbed Director Chen’s placid expression, but she nodded. “Yes. He confiscated a bag of
incidium
from a wolf shifter. Apparently the shifter bought the supply from a human downtown, and was planning on reselling it to friends and family.” Her lip curled ever so slightly.

“By Magorah,” I muttered, disgust curling in my own gut. It was bad enough that humans were peddling the stuff around, but for shifters to be selling it to their own kind now?
Incidium
was a fine white powder that created an intense euphoria when ingested, and like all other drugs, shifters were normally impervious to it. But thanks to Elnos, we found out that the drugs were being mixed with silver, which was being masked by kalois, the same plant used in the silver poisonings. Since shifters are highly allergic to silver, the substance counteracts our high metabolisms, allowing the drugs to take effect. Once we’d discovered this, the Enforcer’s Guild had started taking a hard stance against drug dealers, and we’d managed to get most of it off the market… or so we’d thought.

“Unless we eradicate the source of these drugs they will continue to be a problem,” Elnos, who seemed to be reading my mind, commented. “And according to Inspector Lakin, there have been more episodes of psychotic breaks in Shiftertown.”

“Is this true?” Fenris demanded, folding his arms over his broad chest. His yellow eyes narrowed, and I resisted the urge to arch a brow as he sized up Lakin. At times Fenris seemed to act more like the mages he lived with than the shifter he clearly was, but his territorial instincts were showing up loud and clear now.

“Not as many as there were when the drug dealing was rampant, but we had an incident just last week with a rabbit shifter,” Lakin said calmly. He met Fenris’s eyes, then lowered them ever so slightly – a submission he likely wouldn’t have granted if they’d been in Shiftertown instead of the Palace. “The Rabbit Clan ended up having to put him down.”

I winced at that. Rabbit shifters weren’t known for their ferocity, or for any sort of violence at all, really. They’d been bred as couriers and spies, not as warriors, and the idea of executing one of their own would be abhorrent to them.

“So, do we have any leads that might get us to the manufacturer?” I demanded. “This can’t continue.”

“The only lead we had was Petros Yantz, and as he is currently in the wind that is not much help to us,” Director Chen admitted. “I’ve assigned the case to the Main Crew, and am hoping they produce results soon.”

Anger bubbled up inside me at that, and I had to force myself to let it go. I wanted to demand that Iannis let
me
handle the investigation, but I couldn’t have that conversation with everybody else in the room, and besides, my plate was a little full with Sillara’s case right now.

“Well in the meantime, don’t you think we should do something to discourage shifters from buying the drugs?” I asked. “If we can’t stop them from being sold, maybe we can stop them from being bought.”

“What exactly do you have in mind?” Iannis asked, turning toward me, the interest clear in his voice.

“I’m not sure Miss Baine’s suggestion would be effective, at least not in the long run.” Director Chen commented. “Many shifters tend to be too impulsive to be easily deterred from the instant gratification narcotics provide.” I bristled at the condescending undertone to her voice.

“Director Chen,” Iannis warned, but before he could say any more, Lakin spoke up.

“What if we started an urban legend that these drugs cause impotence?”

“Huh.” Elnos tapped his chin, sounding mildly impressed. “That would only work against the male population, but still, it would be a start.”

“We could also spread a similar rumor about female infertility,” I said. “Who’s to say it’s not true, anyway? Silver will kill us in large enough doses; exposure to small quantities over a large period of time could produce all kinds of harmful side-effects.”

“That’s very plausible,” Elnos agreed, nodding. “It might even be true.”

“Excellent,” Iannis said. “Miss Baine and Inspector Lakin can spread the rumors, the sooner the better. In the meantime,” he turned to Director Chen, “I expect you to check in regularly with the Main Crew on their progress.”

“Yes sir.” Director Chen bowed.

“Good. You are dismissed.”

I turned to leave along with everyone else, but Iannis reached out and placed a hand on my bare shoulder. A tingle ran through my body at the skin on skin contact. “Wait.”

“What is it?” I turned toward him, hoping that he wouldn’t notice the blush stinging my cheeks. Iannis’s violet gaze swept me from head to toe, briefly lingering on the hint of cleavage peeking out from beneath my tank top’s neckline, and suddenly I wished I’d traded it in for something a little more loose-fitting.

“I wanted to ask about your progress regarding the banking scheme. Did your investigation turn up anything?”

“No.” Annoyance flickered in my chest. “I’ve been a little pre-occupied.” Truthfully I had completely forgotten about the bank – the shifter disappearances were more important, especially now that my cousin’s daughter was one of the victims.

“Well get it done today,” Iannis ordered. “You are running out of time.”

“Fine.” I wasn’t really sure why the Chief Mage was being so insistent about this when we had bigger things to worry about, but I wasn’t about to push my luck – he’d given me his trust when he allowed me to have the last few mornings off, and I needed to produce results or he wouldn’t do it again. “I’ll have a report to you by tomorrow morning.”

“Excellent. You are dismissed.”

I turned on my heel and left, hurrying to catch up with Lakin, who was already halfway down the hall.

“Hey,” he said as I fell into step with him. “What was that all about?”

I sighed. “The Chief Mage asked me to look into the interest-free loans Sandin Federal Bank has been offering shifters,” I told him. “He was just reminding me of my obligation, is all.”

“Sandin Federal Bank?” Lakin frowned. “You don’t say.”

I arched my brows at the tone of his voice. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It could be nothing.” But Lakin didn’t sound so sure. “I went back to Nevin’s house yesterday afternoon to search it a bit more thoroughly, and I found loan documents from Sandin Federal Bank in his files. Looks like he’d taken advantage of one of the interest-free loans.”

“How long ago?”

“Last January, I think.”

“Hmm.” I pursed my lips. “So have lots of others. I’m not sure that’s enough to make a connection.”

“Still, it’s worth checking out, especially if the Chief Mage holds them in suspicion.” Lakin bumped my shoulder as we trotted down the front steps. “May as well kill two birds with one stone, right?”

“Good point.”

Before making our way to Shiftertown we stopped by Sandin Federal Bank, which, as a human-owned facility, was located in the heart of Maintown. It was a large limestone building with a green tiled roof, the name of the company displayed proudly across the front in gold block lettering. Large windows set into the outer walls allowed in plenty of light, and through them I could see that it was just as big on the inside as it was on the outside, with five teller windows and a number of desks and offices where bankers and clerks could help customers apply for loans.

Soft music playing from a set of speakers greeted us as we walked in, along with the strong scent of rich coffee coming from a station set up near the doorway. The station boasted a coffee pot, a tray of mugs and a platter of cookies, an enticing incentive for prospective customers to hang out in the visitors’ chairs and wait for one of the busy employees. And there were a lot of visitors, I noticed, glancing at the row of low red scoop chairs lining the wall to my left. Nearly all of them were occupied by shifters, and there were more people standing on the cream-colored tile of the lobby, also waiting for their shot at a loan.

“Good morning.” A curvy brunette human in a dark red skirt suit approached us, her shoes clicking on the polished tile. Her hair was pulled back from her heart-shaped face in a sleek chignon, her make-up expertly done. “Welcome to Sandin Federal Bank. My name is Aryn. Are you here to apply for one of our interest-free loans?”

“No,” I said, holding up my Enforcer’s bracelet before Lakin could speak. “We’re actually here to talk to your manager. Is he available?”

Annoyance flashed in the woman’s dark eyes, but she quickly covered it up with a warm smile. “I’m afraid Mr. Danrian is with a customer just now, but if you’d like to make an appointment –”

“Do you see this?” I demanded, shaking my wrist so that the bronze shield charm dangled in front of the woman’s pert nose. “This means I don’t need an appointment, and I don’t need to wait. Tell Mr. Danrian that Enforcer Sunaya Baine and Shiftertown Inspector Boon Lakin are here to see him,
now
.”

Aryn snapped her mouth shut. “Very well,” she said curtly. “Please wait here a moment.” She turned on her heel and walked briskly across the room, her hips swaying in time to the motion.