Cast A Spell (Mages and Mates #4)

13. Otto

Otto

T hal was tucked into me when I woke. My arm was over him and he’d clutched it to him possessively. Most of his gorgeous hair had come out of its tie and had tumbled over his face. I didn’t have a free hand, or I’d have brushed it aside. I wanted to drink in his beauty to dispel the still-present feeling of dread.

No one else felt it, but my connection to earth magic had increased since the fight with the klarion. Thal was able to see it through our bond, but he couldn’t explain it either. Leo described the dragon palace communicating with him before the fight with the mages, but this was different. There wasn’t a specific message, just a general sense of dread that intensified when we rode onto the corrupted earth.

Slowly, I withdrew my arm, swept aside the strands covering his face, and kissed his cheek. Thal smiled but didn’t fully awaken. Dressing quickly, I stepped into a cool, late-summer morning.

The newly risen sun, hidden behind the mountains, hadn’t warmed the foothills where we’d camped. It would take hours for the sun to crest the imposing wall of rock, which was fine with me. I preferred the slight chill to roasting in the midday heat.

Instinctively, I checked our wards, and they hadn’t been disturbed. I knew that before I checked because if they had, we’d have all been alerted to the incursion. The spell I’d laid over the earth had kept the dark magic from reaching us while we camped, but it couldn’t remove the wrongness I felt standing there.

I heard rustling in the other tent, and if I had to guess, Lysandor would soon be joining me. Now that his bond with Owen was complete, I had a chance to get to know him better. He was a good fit for my brother. A bit older, not too serious, but enough to be the guiding hand between the two.

Using my stone, I created a mage fire in the pit we used to cook. Tweaking the spell, it gave off more warmth than a roaring bonfire, and I focused it to radiate horizontally and not up into the air.

As expected, when the tent flap opened, Lysandor came out.

“Hi,” he said cheerfully.

The first night of camping, the boys had forgotten to engage a quiet spell on their tent. I tried to be discreet, but Owen blushed furiously. Owen must’ve silently told his mate because a second later, Lysandor turned almost pink. Owen added the necessary ward, and we didn’t hear them during the night.

“Good morning,” I said, still smiling at the memory. “It seems we two are the only ones who enjoy this time of day.”

“That’s a bit surprising because back on the ranch, Thal was always the first one awake.”

Thal had carried me the whole time, so I was happy to let him rest. “And you slept in?”

“Not exactly, but I was rarely up before him.”

Thal always thought he had to lead by example. Having me in charge gave him a chance to relax just a little. “We should start breakfast and wake the others, or we’ll be here all morning.”

Lysandor searched through one of the packs he’d carried and came back with two pouches and a thermos. I set the clean pot on a rock and let him fill it with the contents of the bags. He glanced at me twice while I measured out the water and I wondered if I’d need to prod him.

“Can I ask you something?”

Nodding, I swallowed my snarky response. “Sure.”

His gaze lingered on the flames for a few seconds, but I let him proceed at his own pace. “My bond with Owen—it can be a bit intense. Obviously, I don’t know how to handle it sometimes.”

My first instinct was to ask why he didn’t have this conversation with Thal. I ignored that thought. If he’d wanted to speak to his brother he would have. “It’s understandable, but I think you’re going to need to figure this out for yourselves. It sounds like a cop-out, but it isn’t.

“All mate bonds are different. Yours is wilder, more untamed—like the crashing waves against the shore. While mine and Thalion’s is more like the mountain—firm, enduring. They are both powerful, but they achieve it in different ways.”

“Sounds like yours is easier,” he said, a tinge of envy lacing his words.

I stared at the flames burning out of nothing as I considered my answer. “Easy isn’t the right word. We have our challenges. When my brother Leo bonded with Gundhram, he had similar worries. I’ll tell you what I told him. Communication is the key to everything. Owen loves you, just like you love him, but you’re not two halves of a coin. Love doesn’t mean you like everything about him and vice versa. Those differences, however, are not stronger than your bond. If you start from the position that you love each other, talking things out is a lot easier.”

Lysandor was quiet as he stirred our breakfast. “It was a huge, emotional download all at once, and it overwhelmed us. We expected it would just, you know, work.”

I smiled in a way I hoped he took as supportive. “You’re not alone. I had the benefit of seeing three brothers find mates, and it was still a huge adjustment when Thal and I bonded. It’s not hard, Lysandor, it just needs a little work. You’ll get there.”

“Thanks, Otto. Owen said you’re always there for him, and I hope you don’t mind if I get in line when I need to talk.”

The four of us were bound together in a way I didn’t understand. Mate bonds were forever, yet only two of us would be guardians. Whichever set wasn’t chosen was still going to be part of the new future. “Of course. You can always talk to me whenever you want.”

At the edge of my consciousness, Thal was waking up. Owen, too, by the sounds from their tent. The timing felt too perfect to be natural. I couldn’t prove it, but I was pretty sure the earth knew what Lysandor needed and made sure he got the chance to speak to me.

Hopefully, it kept watching out for us the rest of the journey.

W e prepared to break camp, but I was still unsettled. I stopped packing and Thal appeared by my side.

“You’re more anxious than usual. What’s wrong?”

How do you answer someone when you can’t explain it to yourself. “I can’t pinpoint it, but something’s not right.”

“Are you sure it’s not the corruption around us?”

It was a logical conclusion, but it wasn’t correct. “It isn’t. This is more than what I’d felt when we first arrived. Something has changed, and not for the better.”

Thal’s mind pushed against mine and I accepted the invitation. Maybe the two of us combined could make sense of what I couldn’t alone. I scanned the area around us, then worked outward. After a few seconds, I pulled back.

“What is it?” Thal asked.

I focused on a small patch of ground below our feet. Miraculously, it had repelled the evil energy surrounding it, but it was wavering. “It’s clean earth magic right under us, and it’s the source of my dread. The earth is trying to warn us.”

A heartbeat later it was gone, and my feeling slowly faded. It didn’t matter. I’d gotten the message. Something was coming for us, if it wasn’t already here. Checking the condition of our ward, I saw it an instant too late.

“Owen! Don’t!”

My brother had removed the peg an instant before my call. He turned, still grasping the tiny peg we’d infused with our protection ward. My warning worked in our enemy’s favor.

Before I could react, Owen was hit with a net, hurled with such force he fell backward. The impact with the ground caused him to lose his grip on his mage stone and the purple gem rolled out of his reach. Not that it mattered. Owen was too dazed to realize what had happened.

My stone blazed red and I sent a spell to free him when the small clearing we’d used erupted with enemy unicorns. Nets soared at the four of us from multiple directions. Two ensnared Lysandor before he could shift, while another landed on my brother and pinned him with its weight.

At least six more webs were flung toward Thal and me, but my stone pulsed and they dissolved before they reached us. Dozens of unicorns charged us from every direction. I extended my shield and the closest few were knocked back senseless.

Returning my attention to our brothers, four naked beings were spraying something in Owen and Lysandor’s faces. A fifth had picked up his mage stone, but I summoned the purple spinel to me. My efforts caught the being by surprised, and he screamed in pain as the force of my pull dislocated his arm.

“Stay next to me,” I told Thal. “I’m going to cleave a path through them.”

A burst of ruby energy knocked the unicorns in front of us aside. Their bodies disrupted several more around them. I cleared away another line of beings between us and had a clear shot at those around Owen and Lysandor. Before I could blast them, a thick tarp was tossed onto my shield.

Red energy swirled around us, and the dark cloth burned away in an instant. I raised my stone, but more unicorns positioned themselves between us and our brothers. Through the gaps in our enemy’s line, I saw one of the naked beings toss an unconscious Owen over the back of a unicorn.

My view was blocked when my shield was completely surrounded. I’d tried to use non-lethal force, but I couldn’t continue to show the same restraint if I wanted to save our brothers. Concussive energy shot out from my ward, knocking over every being within thirty feet.

If our foes hadn’t been unicorns, they’d have died instantly. Those closest would probably be too badly hurt for their healing powers to save them. I didn’t give them a second thought.

I used magic to sweep the downed unicorns aside like dry leaves. We started to run, but a rope as thick as my wrist was tossed around my shield. Two more, one from each side, followed the first one, stalling us for a moment.

Pushing energy into the barrier, the ropes dissolved instantly. The next few attempts burned away without causing us to miss a step. Unfortunately, there were too many of them. We’d take a few steps, and then more of the fanatics would rush us in a suicidal attack whose only purpose was to slow us down.

“They’re getting away!” Thal screamed, but there were dozens more between us and our brothers’ captors.

Beyond the beings throwing themselves at us, I could see another group gathered around a figure who stood at the edge watching. Once the two unicorns carrying our brothers ran by, the rest, including the watcher, rode off.

Scores of unicorns lay dead, dying, or wounded around us and still more kept coming. Frustrated, I reached for Thal’s energy, and he sent me a torrent I’d have been scared of if I wasn’t so desperate.

A circle of red magical energy exploded outward from me. Unicorns fell like wooden cutouts blown over by a gale-force wind. The few who remained standing ran off in different directions.

Their attempt to confuse me didn’t work. I’d already locked onto the trail the abductors used to take our brothers.

Thal shifted next to me. “Get on! We need to go after them.”

Every instinct urged me to hop on and ride off after them, but my brain had just enough sense to stay my hand. “Hold on. We need our stuff.”

“Are you crazy?”

I sincerely hoped I wasn’t, but a minute wouldn’t change things. At least I hoped it wouldn’t. “We need food, water, and shelter. If we die of starvation or dehydration, we’ll be no good to them.”

“If we hurry, we’ll catch them before any of that happens.”

Ignoring him, I summoned both saddlebags and laid them across his back. I’d never used the spell I was about to attempt, but if it worked, we’d be gone before I could explain myself. If it failed, I’d forgo getting our things.

Concentrating on what I wanted the magic to do, I held open my saddlebag and sent out my energy. The pegs used for the wards flew into my pocket. At the same time, the tent collapsed and rolled itself up better than I could’ve done it by hand. Once our stuff was stowed, I did the same with Lysandor and Owen’s.

Less than ninety seconds later, I was mounted and Thal was off and running.

“I was wrong,” he said. “Your foresight might save our lives.”

The apology was nice, but unnecessary. “I don’t need to be right, love. I just want to live long enough to save them.”

“Agreed.”

Through our bond, I saw the same things as Thal did. He was tracking the group that ran off with Owen and Lysandor. With my strength, Thal was faster than any unicorn alive. We’d catch them. And when we did, someone was going to pay.