Page 58 of Wanderer

“Wait!” I cried, remembering something important. “Ryuu, call your brother. I don’t like the guy, but you’ve got a pregnant wife, don’t you?”

“She’s only got a couple of weeks to go.” His face softened with affection for his wife.

“Right. I don’t feel good about you coming. Call Tatsuya—” Punishing Tatsuya by excluding him was only hurting Ryuu who’d done nothing wrong. His brother had too much on the line for a fight with a deranged warlock.

The words died in my throat when I opened the front door. Outside our house was another police SUV, with Tatsuya resting on the bonnet. “Look, I know I did wrong, but let me start making amends.”

“Fine,” I said. “Ryuu, go home to your family. Your brother will take it from here.” He didn’t argue, just went to his vehicle and left.

There was no time to get into it with Tatsuya. We had to work quickly to protect the town. We took two cars: my brother and friend with us, the rest in Tatsuya’s police SUV. In the car, there was quiet. The radio stayed off as we all focused on what was to come.

I’d made peace with killing Boyce. It was a necessary sin to free my family. I thought about the form I would use so I could kill him quicker than he deserved. We just needed this over and done with.

The weather was on our side. For once, there was no snow or rain. The skies were a light blue with only a few fluffy clouds. We passed through the town quickly and followed the road that I’d taken on that first day.

“He must have traced you. This is where you would have dropped off. The last tugging point in the spell when the curse broke.” Gareth answered the question that had been echoing in my head.

“So that’s how,” I mused.

We lapsed into silence again until we had to park and get out.

The ward shimmered in front of us, holding strong despite Boyce’s best efforts. On the other side was Boyce, and beside his furious form was a car. Inside was my mom. Next to her was a boy who looked a little like Paxton. Like me. Like Mira.

Twenty-Seven

Gareth

Boyce was… unimpressive. Both as a man and a mage. He was tall, reed thin, with a beak‑like nose, and thinning, greasy dark hair that he’d kind of combed over to hide the bald patches. Basically, he was a stereotypical bad guy. Think of that Count guy from Lemony Snicket. That’s who he reminded me of. It was almost laughable.

I heard an intake of breath when Riley and Paxton spotted the people in the car. My sight wasn’t as good as theirs, so I pushed a little magic into it and had to brace myself against Tatsuya to stop my knees buckling. “That’s a child,” I whispered, aghast.

Keeley looked at me in horror, likely mirroring my expression, because I knew who that child belonged to. The next moment, Riley confirmed it.

“That’s my son,” Riley said, barely above a whisper. We all heard it, the words rocketing through us. “I didn’t know.”

Boyce had found a stronger bargaining chip than curses or even their mom. He had a child Riley didn’t know existed. His own son.

Tatsuya didn’t show any outward reaction. However, I felt him tense beside me. I was grateful Riley decided to include him, given my friend’s ability to keep a level head. He was exactly what we needed.

“This is how it’s going to go.” Tatsuya laid out a plan. Keeley and Oscar would use magic to hide themselves and sneak toward the car. They would focus on getting the kid, but if they could get Riley’s mom too, they would. While they did that, we would head out and keep Boyce distracted.

Riley was pale. Sweat rolled off him, and he was trembling as I took his hand and led him to the wards. On his other side, Paxton didn’t look much better. I heard him muttering, “How?” repeatedly. He was just as shell‑shocked as the rest of us.

Boyce grinned when he saw us emerge from the wards. We could see out, but he couldn’t see in. “Ah, there you are, boys. It’s time for you to come home. Your mother and I need you. We can put this nonsense aside.”

I used my magic to mask what Tatsuya was, and then lowered my magical levels so I looked less powerful to him if he tried to scan me. A handy trick I’d learned from all the attacks on the town. As I thought, the mage dismissed us as I’d hoped, all too focused on Riley. Even Paxton was ignored in favor of my mate. It made my blood boil.

“I’m not coming back,” Riley called firmly. He was shaking. We needed to get this over and done with. Once we got the signal that the kid was safe, we could move against Boyce.

Boyce sighed. “I thought you might say that. You’ve found yourself your own warlock, so maybe you don’t think you need me now, but your mom does. And your son.”

“Where’s Mira?” Riley demanded, pulling Boyce’s focus to him. “She needs to answer for what she did to me!”

The mage laughed bitterly. “Oh, she answered for it. Died last year after hiding Arthur from me.”

Riley’s stricken face turned to me. “Gar, what do we do?”

I gripped his hand in mine, letting him know I was by his side always. “We stick with the plan,” I murmured.