Текст книги "Trammel "

Автор книги: Anah Crow

Соавторы: Dianne Fox
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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

The sounds of fighting and killing and dying were a chorus louder than Dane’s dreams, intense enough to make the cage bars hum with it. The possibility of getting free was exponentially larger than moments ago, but Dane couldn’t focus to think it through. Jonas was now rattling his cage and howling like a banshee. If Dane had been on the outside, he might have fought his way into Jonas’s cage just to shut him up. He had to think.

If they got out, they’d only be human in a sea of teeth and fangs and madness—their lack of magic made them less attractive to the Hounds right now, but he’d have to keep Jonas from taking a swipe at one of them. The rattle of a machine gun increased the danger. The soldiers didn’t have a chance against this

many, but they were going to try, and Dane and Jonas both had an uncanny resemblance to the things the soldiers were here to kill.

A familiar sound got him in the gut, a sound that terrified the animal still lurking in him. Fire. There was a terrible wailing that cut off into nothing, and the fire roared down from between the rows of cages, cutting so close that Dane had to get back from the bars or be singed.

“It’s him.” Jonas’s voice was raw, but Dane heard the anticipation. “You don’t get to kill me anymore.”

The fire died and Dane was looking out on a half-destroyed landscape, everything in a wide swath was reduced to ash and concrete.

“Let’s go.” Noah came walking up the aisle, into Dane’s view. He was bare naked and whole, like he’d come up out of his own fire that way, whole except for the remains of tubing under the skin of his chest. “Hold your breath.”

Dane did what he was told, pressing back and holding his breath as Noah’s flaming hands tore the front of his cage open and left it hanging from the hinges, dripping molten steel.

“Let’s go,” Noah said again, and like that, those hands were back to flesh. Dane let them pull him out of the cage and hold him up as he found his feet again.

“Where’s—”

“Here,” Noah said, cutting him off. “Just not in person. Are we bringing that too?”

Dane took a step on his own. He had to make this body work. Already, they’d caught the attention of a Hound feeding on a scientist under a broken table.

That. He looked over his shoulder at Jonas pressed up against the bars of his cage, reaching out, but not to Dane. Reaching for Noah.

Noah flicked a ball of fire at the Hound under the table and the fire swallowed it whole. A twist of Noah’s hand and the ball collapsed into a white-hot star shedding the ashes of his prey.

“Up to you.” Dane wasn’t in charge here, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be. They’d had to come for him this time.

“It’s your choice, ” Lindsay whispered in Noah’s mind. “Jonas was a favored pet. I’m surprised to see him in a cage like the others.”

Jonas. The man he’d decapitated in the elevator, then tried to incinerate. Minutes later, he’d been burning to death in his own fire.

“Don’t leave me.” Jonas was surprisingly coherent for a man who looked completely mad. “Kill me before you go.”

Noah didn’t need to guess as to the purpose of the collars. Jonas wasn’t a Hound and wasn’t a threat right now. If they left him, Moore would use him further. Noah ripped through the bolts and lock on the cage with white fire.

They had both come close to death in Noah’s fire. Noah had his second life. He wasn’t going to deny someone else a chance at the same.

“Do what I say, or I will kill you,” Noah warned. “Completely.” He grabbed Jonas by the wrist and dragged him out of the cage.

“We need to go.” Dane kicked apart a broken desk and picked up the leg. He was right, they had the attention of nearly a dozen Hounds now. They were cowardly things, yelping and cringing even as hunger and instinct pushed them to try to bring Noah down. “The door behind us goes deeper in. To get out, we have to get across the room.”

The lab was devastated and Noah could easily make out numerous Hounds stalking and fighting each other, beyond those creeping closer. They were too mad or too stupid to know what was happening out of sight, where Noah could hear the soldiers fighting to contain the revolt, even as more Hounds turned savage. He wasn’t leaving without wiping the place clean.

“When I tell you to go, you both go.” Noah pointed at the door across the lab. Lindsay could see it and would know where they’d be emerging. “I’ll make sure you get there.” He incinerated the nearest Hound, and the next. Stepping back, he nearly tripped over Jonas.

“Don’t go.” Jonas grabbed at his leg and Noah got him by the collar, pulling him to his feet.

“You’re going. I’m not.” Noah all but threw Jonas at Dane. “Get him out of here. Go on.”

“Happy to.” Dane pushed Jonas ahead of him as Noah blew a path clear with a knot of fire that tore the far door off the hinges. Noah walled the black path off with fire, closing it behind them as they went.

Now, he could work.

The Hounds came at him as though they were eager to die once he’d started killing them. Until Noah felt Dane pass beyond the reach of his fire wall, he kept his destruction to a minimum, killing them by ones and twos. Sometimes, they turned on each other, but his magic drew them in.

Once he knew that he’d done what he came to do—that Dane was free—he gathered his magic in as he had back in the school, when Lindsay was letting him play.

“You should go now. ” He didn’t want Lindsay to feel this the way he knew he would.

“Noah.” Lindsay didn’t have to articulate a protest, Noah could feel his fear and resistance like a weight. Lindsay’s presence twined more tightly around his mind, clinging like a vine.

“I’ll be there soon. I promise. ”

The rose on his wrist began to fade. “Be careful, ” Lindsay said, and then he was gone.

As Noah sent out the first wave of fire, he was sorry for it. He was angry that it fell to him to do it.

But the fire had no such emotions, only joy and hunger and lust. As Noah fed it with magic, it fed him in

turn, filling him up with malicious glee. That was what Lindsay didn’t need to feel, the euphoria of feeding on flesh.

The second wave of fire ripped through the lab, hotter than the first. It overflowed through the burning, melting doors and roared through the halls. The facility was huge, and though the alarms had sounded, there were still people here and there. Sometimes, Noah could feel them just before the fire caught them.

The fire followed the air through every crack, into every hiding place. Plastic had a terrible, acrid taste, but Noah devoured it all anyway—he didn’t want anything left for Moore to use. In a crypt full of cold so deep it burned his fire in return, he knew he’d found things she wanted to keep, and he pushed magic through the fire to make it strong enough to erase her treasures.

Time to go. Noah’s rational mind knew he was endangering the others if he stayed. He followed the same path Dane and Jonas had taken, drawing the fire from it and pushing the heat and flame aside. He saw daylight through the shimmering, burning air. Daylight and the green of living things. Part of him wanted to stay and hunt down every last Hound and those who made them, but Lindsay was waiting.

Outside, the van waited at the edge of the trees. There was nothing but chaos around the buildings.

Some of the half-finished Hounds had escaped before Noah had managed to destroy the lab, and were running amok. He felt more than heard the distant thud of helicopter blades. That explained why he didn’t see any soldiers—they were waiting for backup. A shadow passed over him and Ylli dropped to the ground a moment later.

“You’re all right?” Ylli looked well enough, if rattled. He spooked easily, but it would take more than that to make him flee.

“I’m fine.” Noah didn’t know how he was, but he was in one piece. “We’re ready to go?”

“Kristan has Zoey. She was watching Lindsay, but she sent me for you, as soon as...” Ylli gestured and now Noah could make out the tall figure that was Dane, and the small person who was almost hidden in his embrace. For a moment, Noah was sure he’d stopped breathing, but he inhaled and nodded at Ylli.

“The other one that came out is in the van already.”

“Jonas.”

“You want to hurry up?” Kristan’s voice cut through the chaos. She had Zoey by the wrist and was all but dragging her to the van. Zoey had her open laptop cradled in her other arm, eyes on the screen. “We can kiss and cry later.”

Zoey looked up as Kristan caught up with them, her eyes huge. “This stuff,” she said excitedly. “You wouldn’t believe it. These people are evil. And insane. But really smart.” She snapped her computer closed and shoved it at Ylli as she broke into a run. “I have to tell Lindsay.”

“No.” The single word came from all three of them at once—Noah, Ylli and Kristan—and stopped Zoey in her tracks.

“It can wait.” Noah reached out to take her arm. “You can tell him later. A lot later.”

“I...okay.” Zoey fell in line, keeping pace with them. “You’re naked,” she said, as soon as she realized. Noah let her go as she pulled away, and she stumbled into Ylli.

“Geeks.” Kristan snorted irritably. “I’m driving. Noah, that other guy keeps asking for you, so I told him to sit in the van.”

They reached the grass and Noah’s hot feet stung with the cool damp of it. The van door was open and a figure huddled behind the driver’s seat. He had no idea what to do with Jonas, but he’d have to manage.

“Why is everyone naked?” Zoey sounded distressed.

“Sit in front and you don’t have to look,” Ylli said soothingly. Kristan ran ahead to jump into the driver’s seat and Ylli hurried Zoey after her.

Noah slowed, partly because his legs were threatening to give out and partly because he thought he was going to be sick. The fire was still burning, out of his control but finding plenty to feed it. It was wicked and poisoned now, growling maliciously in the back of his head. Everything in Moore’s sphere grew corrupted. He took a couple breaths and made himself calm down, and headed over to Dane and Lindsay.

“It’s time to go,” he said, stopping a few feet from them. “We’ll all be in the van.” He turned away before his knees gave out and nearly fell over something. Someone. Jonas. Again.

“It’s time to go,” Jonas said clearly. He wasn’t looking at Noah, though, he was pulling up handfuls of grass.

“Back in the van.” Noah would worry about what was wrong with Jonas later. It would keep him busy. He had a feeling he was going to want to be busy as much as possible for a while.

One moment, Lindsay was immersed in Noah, the next he was alone in the middle of chaos, cold and stiff with being still so long. The door. While his mind fought to adjust to this reality, his body was scrambling out of the van and sprinting toward the door he’d seen through Noah’s eyes, the one Dane would be coming out of.

Hounds and humans raced past him and Kristan’s shouts followed him, but he didn’t heed any of it, just kept running. The door opened and Dane stumbled out, a dark shadow at his side. Three more steps, two, one, and then Lindsay was in Dane’s arms.

Dane grabbed him and held on like Lindsay might fade away, ducking his head to bury his face in Lindsay’s neck. His breath was ragged and labored, and tremors ran through his body.

“You’re safe now,” Lindsay whispered, reminding himself as much as Dane. The warmth of Dane’s arms made it real. “You’re safe. I’m sorry. You’re safe.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” Dane kissed Lindsay’s neck and his ear, working his way over to kiss him on the mouth. “I missed you. Every time they brought more in, I was afraid of seeing you.”

“I was safe. They didn’t get me.”

Lindsay took a step back to see Dane’s face. He didn’t want to say this. He didn’t want to think about it being true. But he had to. If he didn’t, he’d have to hide the truth from Dane, and that would be worse.

“They nearly caught Zoey and Ylli. Cyrus died saving them. I’m sorry, Dane. He’s gone.”

For a long moment, Dane’s face was a study in misunderstanding. “No. I can’t hear him, but...it’s the collar. He’s not. He wouldn’t let them.”

“I’m sorry.” Lindsay felt sick. He didn’t want to hurt Dane like this. “Lourdes might have been lying to me, but Ylli...” He felt like he was twisting a knife. “Cyrus saved them from the Hounds and that weather witch, he got them away safely, but he didn’t make it. Ylli said he could hear Cyrus when it happened, that Cyrus was just gone. I’m so sorry.”

Dane inhaled like he was getting ready to argue, his brow knotted into a frown, but Lindsay could see it seeping in.

“He should have told me this was coming,” he said slowly. “He was right. About everything.” Now, he looked lost. “I failed him.”

Oh, Dane. Lindsay cupped Dane’s cheek in his hand and drew him back down. “I’m so sorry,” he said again, wrapping his arms around Dane as best he could. “I wasn’t there. If I had known...”

He never would’ve sent Zoey and Ylli back to Cyrus. There would’ve been no reason for Cyrus to fight, he would’ve been able to simply run. Lindsay couldn’t fix anything now. At least he’d been able to save Dane. Noah had saved Dane.

Noah. Noah had been speaking to them a moment ago, Lindsay realized, and he hadn’t acknowledged it.

Noah was walking away, herding Jonas back into the van. Ylli leaned out to pull Jonas in and gestured at Lindsay to hurry up. Zoey was slouched in the passenger seat of the van, a hand over her eyes, Kristan was already in the driver’s seat.

“Go on.” Dane let go of him. “We can’t stay here.”

In the van, the second row was taken up by Ylli and his wings, and Jonas and Noah were in the third row. Lindsay slid the door shut and led Dane to the last row.

“Hold on,” Kristan said as she started to pull out.

They had parked on the lawn and the van was hardly designed for any off-road usage. Lindsay had to grab the seat in front as they bounced across the grass and off the curb with enough speed that something scraped as they hit the road.

“Guns!” That shriek was Zoey, and the thud from the front was probably her sliding off of her seat and taking cover.

“Oh, grow up. They’re not shooting at us.” Kristan took a corner so fast that the van groaned with stress, and they were on two wheels for a moment. The next thing Lindsay knew, the van lurched wildly and there was a sickening crunch as something went under the wheels. “Oops.”

“That’s one way to take them down,” Ylli said tightly.

Jonas was babbling about the Hounds being able to see them. Noah’s calm voice was a steady counterpoint to it until Jonas trailed off, apparently soothed by the reassurances that Lindsay couldn’t hear over the rumble of the van. Noah seemed to have a nearly infinite amount of patience, even for people who had tried to hurt him—at least once they were disarmed.

When they were clear of the laboratory campus, Lindsay reached out for Dane. This wasn’t how Lindsay had wanted to bring Dane back to them, with news like that.

Dane pulled Lindsay in and let him stay close, but it didn’t feel the same. He was staring out the window, hardly reacting when Kristan had to swerve wildly to avoid a fire truck barreling through. Dane didn’t pet him this time, either. Nothing was quite the same. They were together again, but right now it didn’t seem like much consolation to Dane.

Still, they were both alive.

Lindsay would have to be content with that for now. He closed his eyes and let the sound of the engine lull him to sleep.

It took a long time to calm Jonas down to the point that he slept, but Noah remembered a wounded bear that had found its way to his mother—a feral, trapped in its animal form by pain and illness—and the way she had calmed it. Not all ferals were blessed with regeneration the way Jonas and Dane were. At least Jonas’s gift meant Noah hadn’t killed one of his own.

An old lullaby in Quebecois French settled Jonas down so quickly that Noah had to wonder if the man had roots in the same back country as the Quinns. He was relieved when Jonas closed his eyes and curled up on the seat, and when Jonas’s humming faded away into a soft, intermittent snore. The relief didn’t last long. It was then that he felt the dead tension in the van, the cold silence of shock and horror.

“We should have brought clothes.” Ylli’s soft voice drifted back over the seats.

“We’ll stop when it’s safe,” Kristan said. Noah caught the violet flicker of her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Not sure how safe it’s going to be with that thing you have there.”

“Quiet.” Dane’s voice was low, but his tone was as hard as a fist. “It’s safe enough. Stop whenever you want. Be smart about it. And shut up.”

Noah looked back to see Lindsay sleeping, almost hidden in Dane’s arms, oblivious to the poisoned sweat and antiseptic reek coming off all three of them who had been in the lab. He turned his attention to the tube still stuck under his skin. The wound where they’d cut him to insert it had barely scabbed over.

Something larger was under there. If he picked the stitches out, he might be able to remove it.

It should have hurt more than it did. The dull voice in the back of his head noted that he was probably still in shock. His hands were shaking, but he kept picking at the coarse black knots, pulling off the dried blood and worrying them loose. He had two kinked stitches in his palm and was working on the next when a low hiss broke his concentration.

“Don’t do that.” Ylli was watching him over the back of the seat. “Damn it. Noah.” He rolled his eyes despairingly as he disappeared from view, except for the curved shadows of his wings. He was back a heartbeat later, reaching over with a handful of napkins. “Here.”

Noah took them and mopped at the blood that was running down his chest.

“And here.”

Noah looked up again to see that Ylli was holding out a jacket that looked like Kristan’s.

“Cover up and try to sleep,” Ylli said.

“Yeah, okay.”

Noah wasn’t tired, but he took the jacket and tucked it over his lap. The touch of a sleeve made Jonas whimper and stir. Noah put a hand on his shoulder and closed his eyes. Behind his eyelids, the world was black and full of flames, and he could hear screaming echo in his memory. It wasn’t Elle’s voice, though, so it was nothing but noise.

“Noah.” For a moment, that soft voice did sound like Elle, but when Noah opened his eyes, it was Lindsay there, looking down at him. “We’ve stopped to pick up some clothes and supplies. Do you need anything?”

“A drink.” Noah didn’t have to be awake to answer that much. He hadn’t thought he’d fall asleep.

Jonas snuffled softly, and it took Noah a moment to locate him, down on the floor by his feet. That was probably for the best.

“I meant something like aspirin.” Lindsay sounded exasperated, but he was smiling, and that was better than medication.

“I’m fine.” Noah let his hand sneak out to touch Lindsay’s. “I should be doing this.”

“I don’t plan to share your nakedness with any more people than I already have.” Lindsay took his hand and squeezed it. “Dane and Ylli will be staying with you, Zoey doesn’t want to be left alone with naked men, and I need Kristan to help me with sizes.”

“Okay. Are we hidden?” Noah was desperate to stretch his legs and—now that he thought of it—he was just as eager to take a piss.

“Yes. We won’t be long.” Lindsay squeezed his hand one more time and ducked out of the van.

Noah nudged Jonas with his foot. “Come on. You have to stay with me.” He wasn’t letting Jonas out of his sight.

Jonas was surprisingly competent, for all that he was obviously impaired. Noah had rescued him on principle, but he was starting to see that Jonas really had been—if only recently—Moore’s victim in all of

this. He shooed Jonas out of the bushes behind the sprawling, gray megastore and back toward the van.

Jonas kept switching between all fours and walking upright, depending on what caught his eye, but he stayed close until he caught sight of a squirrel and stopped.

“Are you hungry?” Noah watched Jonas gauging the distance between them and the oblivious squirrel. He expected Jonas to pounce, but Jonas looked back at him instead.

“Yes. I can have it?”

Well, that was good. Noah didn’t want to worry about Jonas deciding to eat something inviting, like Ylli. And there was no telling the diseases he’d pick up if he were allowed to eat wild animals while his feral magic was broken by his collar.

“No, you’re going to eat like the rest of us.”

Jonas’s shoulders slumped and he grumbled the rest of the way back to the van. Dane, sitting in the open doorway, snorted at the sight of him.

“Let me guess. No squirrel.”

“Exactly.” Noah was briefly surprised at that, then realized he shouldn’t be.

“I don’t blame him.” Dane dropped the pieces of the leaf he’d been shredding and rubbed the green stain off of his hands. “There’s some fat ones around here. Better than fast food.”

From anyone else, it would have been a joke. From Dane, it made sense.

“I don’t think Zoey would survive naked men and eating raw squirrels in one day.” Noah looked around. “Where’s Ylli?”

“Getting oil for the van.” Dane pointed to the gas station. “Apparently, we’re a troop of boy scouts today. To other people, that is.”

“Let no one say Lindsay doesn’t have a sense of humor.” Noah couldn’t help smiling at that. He sat in the doorway of the van next to Dane, ignoring the grit and rough carpet chafing his ass. Damn new skin.

“Get back here!”

Noah’s head came up when Dane snapped. Jonas was skulking toward a gull picking at an empty burger wrapper.

Jonas just sneered at Dane and shook his head before going back to stalking the bird.

“Jonas,” Noah said. “No.” That would definitely make Jonas sick, and Noah was not having a man half again his size puking raw seagull on him all the way back to Detroit.

Jonas dropped to all fours and came back to crouch at Noah’s feet. He did take the time to peer over Noah’s knees and growl at Dane.

“Damn dog.” Dane shook his head. “Moore can’t let a single thing stay good if she can ruin it.”

The dog. Something clicked in Noah’s head. And the girl. Lourdes, the girl. Jonas, the dog. They were vague figures in the sprawling milieu of magical beings, but Noah knew what there was to know of their reputations.

“Why did you let me rescue him?”

“To piss Moore off.” Dane shrugged and bared his teeth at Jonas.

“Right.” Noah put a hand on Jonas’s head and shoved until Jonas couldn’t see Dane anymore.

“Can you think of a better reason?” Dane gave him an arch look.

Compassion. Logic. Kinship.

“Not really.” It was a small victory, but Noah would take it. And he’d take the warm, languid day that nature had conjured up to soothe his pains.

Jonas was suspiciously quiet. Noah had raised too many of his siblings and cousins to let that slide, even though the hot sun and the last of the drugs were making it hard to find the energy to care. There was only one thing he could think of that would be keeping Jonas busy right now.

“Jonas, don’t eat dirt.”

“Not.”

“What...” Noah gave in and moved to see what Jonas was doing.

“Ants,” Dane said, chuckling. “Full of protein. Jonas, share.” He reached around Noah and held out his hand.

“Nu-uh.”

“See, this is why we don’t get along.” Dane gave Noah a wounded look.

“Well, at least one of us isn’t hungry anymore.”

Noah let his head rest against the van door, and leaned back, closing his eyes and turning his face into the sun. He and Dane were worse for wear, and Dane and Jonas were still trapped in their collars, but that wouldn’t last. They had lost Cyrus, but they were stronger than ever, more focused, and—most importantly—together.

Chapter Sixteen

Lindsay had never bothered to give the basement of the house in Detroit more than a cursory inspection, but apparently Noah and Kristan had paid more attention, because that was the first place both of them had suggested to work the magic required to take the collars off Jonas and Dane. It wasn’t roughed in; the floor was packed dirt and the walls were bare cement. Once he was down there, he realized that the earth would draw off excess magic that might be released when the collars came off, the way the cave had done when Ezqel fixed Lindsay’s magic, and Dane’s.

Dane, Noah, Ylli, Kristan and Jonas were already down there, preparing for the first attempt. When Zoey had said she needed to double-check her computer for data she’d gathered from the lab, Lindsay had followed her upstairs.

“They’re not regular technology,” he cautioned as they came back down. “Those figures are runes, you don’t want to mess with the magic in the collar if you can help it.”

“The computers at the lab had schematics.” Zoey turned her little computer toward Lindsay to show him. “Are those the runes you’re talking about?”

“There and there,” Lindsay said, pointing. “That’s what she’s using to suppress their magic. The runes can be broken, but...”

Lindsay trailed off, shaking his head. He didn’t want to hurt Dane like that. In his experience, the runes breaking released magical energy that was inevitably dangerous.

“You don’t want to do it that way. Not if we can help it. If you can’t get the tech to release, don’t try the runes. I’ll do it. I’ve done it before.”

The voices grew louder as they came down the stairs. Noah and Dane.

“Look, if you want to take your chances with something, I’ve got a whole drawer of lighters you can play with.” That was Noah, and he didn’t sound happy. “I’ll even throw in a gas can and some candles. But you can wait until we know how these come off. You’re not going to use this as some fancy self-flagellation.”

“I’m not sitting around like a side of beef while you give your puppy back his big dog teeth. I know what I’m doing.” Dane’s voice lacked its usual growl, but Lindsay didn’t need that to know when he was upset.

“He’s not mine,” Noah snapped.

Dane laughed outright at that. “He’s yours as much as he’s ever been anyone’s.”

As Lindsay came down a few more steps, he caught sight of Jonas growling at Dane—from behind Noah’s knees.

“You know what you’re doing, Dane,” Lindsay said, “but Zoey hasn’t done this before.” He didn’t like the idea of using Dane as a guinea pig.

“Yes, that.” Noah glared at Dane before turning his attention to Zoey. “Do you need anything like wires or tools?”

“I don’t really know magic or technology,” Zoey admitted with a little shrug. “I just kind of...talk to the computers and stuff, and they talk back to me. I’m starting with him, right?” She moved toward Jonas.

She was a lot less skittish now that they all had clothes on.

“Come here.” Noah walked to the center of the basement, beckoning for Jonas to follow. “And stand up.”

Jonas eyed Lindsay suspiciously as he obeyed. Lindsay stayed back, but he watched Jonas just as warily. He didn’t want to see Zoey hurt by Jonas or the collar.

Zoey stepped in to look at the collar, muttering quietly. To herself, Lindsay thought, and not to the collar. Not yet. It seemed like she was still feeling it out, comparing it to the schematics on her computer screen.

“Don’t touch.” Jonas put his hand in front of her face. “Only Mother can touch.”

“He’s not right in the head,” Dane muttered. “He was missing a good chunk of it, and his hands and feet, for a while. The girl talked Moore into turning off the collar to let him heal, and mine too. It didn’t help his mind.”

Lindsay hardly heard Noah soothing Jonas. His mind seized on Dane’s admission that Lourdes had helped them. She had brought him information—he remembered the apprehension he’d felt as she spoke to him and knew now that not all of it had been his. She’d been afraid, and yet she hadn’t betrayed him to Moore. She’d betrayed Moore to her face by helping Dane.

In her strange way, she had tried to comfort him, more than once. Maybe she kept reassuring him that he would find Dane because of her connection to Jonas. It was hard to imagine Lourdes as human, but if she cared for Jonas the way he cared for Dane, he had something to use against her. Jonas was theirs now.

“It’s okay, Jonas,” Noah said patiently, still trying to get Jonas to put his hand down so Zoey could get closer. “She’s going to help. She’s allowed. Put your hand down.”

Lindsay had no idea what they were going to do with Jonas. Healing magic rarely affected the mind, and watching Noah had shown him just how ready the mind had to be for it to work. Noah was—not different, but whole, since Rajan healed him. If Jonas’s magic couldn’t affect his mind, they were stuck with a dangerous, barely functional mage who seemed bonded to Noah—making him Lindsay’s, and

Dane’s, whether they liked it or not.

If Jonas was whole again, would he leave Noah? Lindsay could see flickers of intelligence and comprehension in his eyes. Jonas wasn’t all there, but he wasn’t lost, either. Given the dedication with which Jonas and Dane had tried to kill each other, Lindsay didn’t think Jonas would be leaving Noah any time soon. Magic and will could form intense bonds.

“If he doesn’t let me see it, I can’t convince it to turn off.” Zoey took a step back.

“It’s fine.” Noah slowly pushed Jonas’s hand down by his side. “It won’t hurt you if Zoey touches it.

See?” He reached out to touch the collar himself.

Even collared, Jonas was incredibly strong. A single swipe of his arm took Noah off his feet and sent him crashing into the utility shelves.

“She knows!” Jonas went bounding in the opposite direction and wedged himself between a broken chest freezer and the far wall. “She will know! No touching!”

As soon as he was sure Jonas wasn’t going to attack anyone else, Lindsay ran over to Noah. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Noah struggled to his feet, glaring at Jonas. “He’s probably right, in his own fucking batshit way. She may be able to track things through those collars. I wrecked everything I could, but...we really need to get them off, or turned off.”

“So, can we all agree I get to go first?” Dane snorted with annoyance.

Lindsay didn’t like it, but there was no way they were going to take Jonas’s collar off right now, not while the man was huddled in the corner, muttering to himself.

“Be careful.” He stepped out of the way as Zoey turned toward Dane.