StrategicSurrender (2 page)

“Not exactly,” Morgan hedged. It only deepened her worry. It
wasn’t like him to stall or hesitate like this. A veteran within the Enforcers,
Morgan had been an active agent using his Sight before “retiring” to train
Strategists like Kiera and Josh. A member of the Tribunal Council, he held
great status among all wizardkind.

The Tribunal was the equivalent of a ruling body within the
magical community. Unusual crimes were—on a case-by-case basis—ruled over by
the Tribunal, the members acting as judge and jury. Also, many legal or justice
issues were decided upon by the Tribunal as a group. The final word on numerous
matters, they were the most revered and respected group of powerful wizards and
witches within any state.

Kiera knew Morgan well enough to know this uneasiness was
highly unusual for him. Normally he came to a decision after careful
consideration and then moved directly into action. Reticence in making a
decision wasn’t a characteristic Kiera had ever associated with her mentor. The
longer he paused, the more worried she grew.

Finally, with a heavy sigh, Morgan sat. The four of them
faced each other and the silence grew.

“Let me start off by introducing you all. Kiera, Josh, this
is Hayden Foxworth,” Morgan said, his voice soft and deep. “He’s one of the
wizards I’ve called to help us with this…um…minor problem I have discovered.”

“Oh,” Kiera replied. She was surprised by how deep her
disappointment was. If they were to be working together…but surely she couldn’t
ignore such an intense connection? She gazed back at Hayden, who seemed
surprised and not precisely happy either.

What the hell?
Had she imagined the sensual fire in
those dark eyes? Hayden glanced at Joshua, but then those stunning brown eyes
rested on her once more. Passion unlike anything she’d seen lay carefully
banked in that look.

No, definitely not my imagination.
So why did Hayden
appear overrun with consternation at having to work with her? Them? Did he have
a similar rule to hers?

Curiosity licked up her spine like intrigued fingers. There
seemed to be many things dwelling just under the surface of this meeting.

“I need to discuss something with you all,” Morgan said. His
low, deep voice held a wealth of weight and worry. His head bent slightly and he
didn’t meet their glances. For the first time in a while, Kiera noticed
Morgan’s hair was almost pure white now. In the years she had known him, the
white peppered amongst the black had grown, but it was only now that she became
conscious of the fact there wasn’t much black, if any, remaining.

She’d never known him to act tired or…old. Kiera hoped it
was the worry clearly weighing upon him that had him down, and once they
resolved whatever it was he’d be back to his usual, vibrant self. She hated
seeing him appear beaten, laden with a burden.

Kiera exchanged another glance with Josh and then a short,
almost secretive exchange with Hayden. The wizard happened to be looking her
way at the same time. Once again, their gazes seemed almost to meld together as
they checked each other out. Uncomfortably, Kiera felt herself growing damp,
her panties pressing tightly against the swelling folds of her pussy. Never had
she been so aroused at work, and especially not when clearly there was
something very concerning going on.

Her desire felt wrong—yet somehow so very right, as well.

Destined
, her brain whispered. She pushed the thought
away.

Rubbish.
While she believed in destiny, in Fate, she
didn’t believe in sitting helplessly around waiting for things to happen. Nor
did she believe logical professionalism could be combined with passionate,
sensual romance. Neither could most people seem to swap quickly or easily
between the two. Workplace romances led to nothing but jealousies, accusations,
embarrassing arguments and—all too often around here, at least—volatile
breakups and make-ups, and more gossip than high school.

Throw in the danger and adrenaline rush most Enforcers lived
and breathed, and it was a recipe for disaster. Kiera believed strongly in
diligent research and she’d seen more than enough examples of why to not bend
the rules. So why was a part of her brain actively fantasizing about kissing
those soft-looking lips and wondering if the faint stubble would tickle her jaw
or scratch her sensually?

She was losing her mind. No doubt about it.

Shifting on her chair, Kiera gratefully realized Morgan had
fallen silent again for a moment. A part of her instinctively wanted to reach a
hand out to Morgan’s knee, to pat it and soothe him. Kiera wanted to reassure
him that whatever had so upset him would be fine, that they could work out
anything and discover a suitable solution to it. She hated him being clearly so
upset.

Kiera held her silence and Morgan took a deep breath,
collecting himself. He plunged ahead in something closer to his usual manner,
seeming to partially snap out of his haze.

“I have thought long and hard about whether I should discuss
this with any of you,” he said. “I’ve meditated throughout the night and into
the early hours of this morning upon it. I‘ve tried to push the very limits of
my magic and knowledge and yet I continually come back to discussing the matter
with the three of you as the best option available to me. And so I contacted
each of you and requested this meeting.”

Kiera swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest at the
serious nature of Morgan’s speech. Her mentor was not a man to let his
imagination get away with him, nor was he one to make a regular situation
dramatic. For him to use such strong words, to convey how very deeply he had
considered the matter, proved to her without any further information how
crucial the issue was.

Even Josh, she noticed, had his regular charming grin wiped
from his face, his tanned complexion faintly white around the edges. Kiera
pushed a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and sat forward on her chair.
Morgan spoke in a low tone and she didn’t want to miss a single word. Part of
her already knew she would need to vividly recall every single syllable.

Her entire focus rested upon the wizard as he carefully,
almost painfully, continued.

“A dark manuscript has been brought before the Tribunal,”
Morgan explained. Hayden instantly sucked in a deep breath. Even though his
reaction was contained to that single muffled gasp, an almost pained expression
crossed Hayden’s face. Curiosity blossomed in Kiera. She knew she was missing
something here.

Sure, she was worried and this was distressing news, but
every now and then grimoires like this did turn up. Why had Hayden shown such a
strong reaction to it? Making a mental note to ask the sexy wizard later, she
listened as her mentor continued.

“This isn’t a regular one either. Not something remotely
close to anything I’ve ever seen or heard of before. You know the Tribunal is occasionally
given responsibility for such items. This is not a new situation we have come
across, nor is it something beyond our capabilities. But this particular
manuscript…”

Kiera shivered as a tiny chill ran down her spine. Something
about Morgan’s black eyes appeared…almost haunted. His look alone convinced her
she did not want to have anything to do with whatever lay within the grimoire.
At the same time, something told her today would not be her lucky day. Not with
the way this conversation appeared to be heading.

“Do you remember the Mewler raid?” Morgan asked. For a
moment, Kiera wondered why he had so suddenly changed the conversation, until
Morgan’s meaning sank in.

“Oh no,” she cried, startling herself with the strength of
her dismay. She lifted a hand to cover her mouth, wishing she could drag the
words back.

Mewler Mansion had been raided after years of rumors
circulating about the strange goings-on out there. No hard evidence had been
discovered and despite the persistence of whispers and hearsay stories about
dark rituals being performed by the Mewler family, nothing at all had been
conclusively proven. Finally, a recent ex-girlfriend of the sexy youngest son
had given evidence before the Tribunal that the stories were true. Not only had
she given evidence about a number of unlawful practices, she had also insisted
that as a mere girlfriend she had not even managed to penetrate their private
laboratory. That the castings and rituals she had personally witnessed were
nothing compared to what went on in the privacy behind closed doors.

It had been more than enough to instigate a raid. There had
been six Enforcer crews involved, a lot of powerful magic thrown around and box
after box of evidence confiscated. The largest ever raid in Chicago wizarding
history. Archivers were still collating the items removed even now, two months
later.

Items of such dark, evil magic meant that the wizards and
witches in charge of documenting, studying and assessing the items had to
rotate. The evil intent had a tendency to rub off, taint the spirits of Mages,
and no one wanted to spend much time with these items, despite it being the
biggest coup of the last few centuries for the Enforcers.

“Yes, Kiera,” Morgan continued heavily. “The manuscript was
one found there. I believe it’s the worst example of their collection. The poor
witch who first brought it out of the box still is convinced she’s cursed and
has ended up quitting her job and moving. I believe Cara is currently opening a
bookshop out by Venice Beach somewhere.”

“Does this manuscript fit into a current mission?” Joshua
asked, concerned. Morgan shook his head.

“No, or if it does I haven’t yet Seen it, not with my Sight
nor in the Strategy analysis I have performed. My concern is far graver than
that.”

Kiera felt even more uneasy at Morgan’s words. A part of her
instinctively just
knew
she was not going to like this.

“I’m supposed to bring this script before the Tribunal
tomorrow morning so we can discuss and decide what to do with it,” Morgan said,
having finally reached his point. “I might not be able to See or work out what
possible future outcome there is in store for this manuscript—but there is one
thing I can determine without fail in every single Strategy I have run and
every casting I have made. In each of the potential futures I look into I can
only see this pile of moldering papers bringing death, pain and destruction. In
all
of them. And so I’ve decided to bring this to you three in the hopes
you can help me.”

Kiera blinked, lost for the first time since Morgan walked
through the door.

“Um, okay,” she replied when her mentor fell silent. “How
can we help? If you can’t see the correct future what do you think we can do
that you can’t?”

Morgan’s age and experience granted him far greater powers
than either Kiera or Josh could hope at this stage to control. And how did
Hayden fit into this? He wasn’t a Strategist, that she knew of, and she’d
believed she knew everyone in their division. Maybe they weren’t going to work
together after all. It was almost scary how excited
that
thought made
her feel.

Or maybe Hayden had some other gift, a magical talent, that
would help them somehow. If Morgan could not see the correct path they needed
to follow Kiera did not understand how she, Josh or Hayden were supposed to do
something better.

“You and Josh are Strategists, but each of you look at
things differently than me,” Morgan explained. “I have every faith in you both.
You’re not so steeped in tradition and the old ways as I. Many times you’ve
come up with solutions I would never have conceived of. And you both have good
hearts, despite the fact that they are often…
distracted
.”

Morgan finished with a wry, amused glance at Josh. After a
moment he continued.

“Power and experience are not always everything. Between the
two of you, it’s highly likely you will perform some act or discover an
alternative solution that I am unable to perform. Fresh eyes often uncover
hidden truths, and that is what I am resting my faith upon.”

Kiera exchanged an uneasy glance with Joshua. Her partner
didn’t seem any more pleased by this turn of events than she did.

“That explains why you have gotten in contact with your
protégés, Morgan,” Hayden interjected. Kiera shivered slightly at the deep,
rich tone of the wizard’s voice. It was like melted chocolate, silky and
incredibly tempting. She wanted to dive right in.

“So why am I here?” Hayden continued. His tone was tart and
the scruffy wizard seemed a little annoyed. “I can’t See anything. I don’t
know
anything. And I certainly don’t want a thing to do with dark magic. My name is
already besmirched enough, thank you. You know full well I have taken a leave
of absence since…what occurred earlier. I am not an active Special Operative
any longer. I can’t do anything in an official capacity, nor do I have any
desire to.”

Turning to face the handsome wizard, Kiera carefully looked
the man up and down, taking his full measure. Tall, almost certainly over six
feet, Hayden was wiry and slender in his build. The grace and ease with which
he walked, however, showed that he had the lithe muscles of a distance runner.

Had Hayden not just let drop he was a Special Operatives
agent Kiera never would have guessed. The few whom she had worked with in the
past were arrogant creatures, extremely powerful and puffed up in their own
sense of self-importance. Special Ops were answerable only to the Tribunal and
no one else. Such freedom and power, with little or no sense of checks and
balances, frequently fed the naturally large ego and conceited arrogance of the
agents.

The main duty of Special Ops was to hunt down and neutralize
the rogue wizards and witches of law enforcement. Dark wizards or corrupt
Enforcers of any sort were kept in check by the Special Ops. While Enforcers
were supposed to police and assist the general wizarding public, Special Ops
policed those in positions of power and responsibility.