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Another difference in the supernatural justice system was that he could possibly be sent back to prison in the future if further evidence was eventually discovered linking him to the crime.
It rarely happened, but there was always a chance.
To preserve the integrity and reputation of their business, the rest of the Spencer family had turned their backs on Kingston. With no other recourse, he had served his seven-year sentence in the Supernatural Prison located in the Fairy Realm. He’d thought it would be easy, but he had underestimated just how painful it would be to be stripped of his magic once he’d walked through the doors of the prison.
The more powerful the supernatural, the more excruciating it was.
That made it the perfect punishment.
When his magic had been taken from him, it had felt like suffering from a wound that wouldn’t heal. His other senses had also been dulled and damaged by the loss of his powers as well. Over time, that feeling had slowly faded into a nagging itch that always seemed out of reach, but it was still an ever-present reminder of his lack of freedom.
At least the accommodations had been nicer than he’d expected. He’d had a bed to sleep on, albeit a small one. He also had access to a daily shower and had been fed decent meals three times a day. It hadn’t been a vacation by any means, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
The violent criminals who were guilty of committing heinous crimes were kept separated from the rest of the common offenders and housed in the lower levels of the prison. Kingston had only seen those dark, dank dungeon cells once when he had gone down there to help with a special meal delivery, but that had been enough to make him extremely glad he hadn’t been living in that hellhole.
Time moved slow as fuck in prison, the days bleeding into one another until it became one long, inescapable nightmare. Even though supernaturals lived a lot longer than humans, immortality could be its own cage of sorts. The daily inaction and boredom would have driven Kingston insane if he hadn’t kept himself busy.
He’d forced himself to keep a schedule of working out and volunteering with yard work to get time outside. During his free time, he connected with the other prisoners. Some were unscrupulous, devious individuals, while others had been a mix of supernaturals with interesting backgrounds who had committed varying degrees of offenses.
Learning new skills from them had stopped him from obsessing over the injustices done to him every second of the day, but Kingston hadn’t forgotten his grievances. During his incarceration, he hadn’t been able to figure out who had framed him or how to prove his innocence, but he was determined to find out who the real thief was and make them pay for every second of his misery.
After being released from prison, he’d still had no luck figuring out the whole sordid puzzle, but he had managed to get his hands on the list of missing items that hadn’t been disclosed during his trial. While there had been a few things found in his vault, he’d found it highly suspicious that they had been the least valuable items that had been stolen.
The most dangerous things on the list of missing artifacts were a magical mirror from a powerful fairy family, an amulet from one of the high gods from the Celestial Realm, and a grimoire owned by a council member from the Hell Realm. The ancient spellbook had been passed down in the demon’s family for generations, and he’d been seething with anger that it had been taken.
There was also one more item that had gone missing, but they weren’t sure what it was or who it belonged to. That was a mystery in itself since whoever it was had arranged to have the space rented at a special price for a specific length of time.
For eternity.
The fact that particular vault had been broken into had caused even more panic. However, since there weren’t records showing who had rented the space, they hadn’t been able to contact the owner.
Those four particular items were still missing, and there hadn’t been any rumors about their whereabouts, not even on the black market. Kingston was sure the person who had stolen the artifacts probably wanted some of the objects for themselves while selling the rest. That was a solid theory since the money that had been deposited into his account had to come from somewhere. If those items were ever tracked down and traced back to those payments, it would only make the setup to make him look guilty that much more complete.
Whoever was behind the entire scheme had to possess powerful magic and be highly skilled in order to get past the safeguards to pull off the heists. They also had to have access to the bank since it had been clear that some of the thefts had happened at different times. So, it had to be perpetrated by someone who had knowledge of the bank’s inner workings and of Kingston’s schedule and movements.
Unfortunately, all of the individuals he could think of who fit all of those criteria had been close to him. The only person he knew, without a doubt, hadn’t been involved was his grandfather. Harrison Spencer might be a hard ass, but he loved all three of his grandchildren. He was also far too proud to willingly stain the reputation of the family business or the family name.
The most difficult part of Kingston’s trial had been seeing the sadness and disappointment in his grandfather’s eyes. He had made a vow that he would one day stand in front of his grandfather again and prove, without a doubt, that he was innocent. Until he could, he had to live with the knowledge that he’d broken the old man’s heart.
“Sorry, I’m late.”
The sound of Thayer Katz’s voice snapped Kingston out of his morose thoughts, and he glanced over at his behemoth of a friend with a grin. Like most of the firefighters on their crew, Kingston wore his own black hair shaved close to his head, but Thayer had gone with a completely different look. His naturally mixed black and white hair had been styled in a mohawk fade, and he’d somehow managed to shave the image of a crouching tiger on the side of his head.
While Kingston was a big male with a muscular build, standing next to Thayer, he almost looked small by comparison. Thayer was a huge shifter in his prime with a cheerful disposition that didn’t match his otherwise intimidating appearance. Most people were shocked when they found out that he was a white tiger shifter-fairy hybrid, but that gave him the advantage of having magic they didn’t expect.
He had been Kingston’s roommate in prison for two years, and while they had gotten to be good friends, Thayer had initially freaked him out. That was probably due to the fact he’d practically skipped into their cell wearing a wide grin. The mountain of a male had been too fucking happy to be in prison, but after he’d explained why he’d been there, it had all made sense.
Thayer’s status as a hybrid wasn’t something he was ashamed of. He loved both of his parents and valued each part of his heritage equally. They were a close family, so when he decided to move to Mystic to become a firefighter, his father, mother, and little brother had made the decision to follow him.
Although tigers were pretty solitary creatures, his parents had decided to join a small pride of mixed cat shifters after they had moved to Mystic. They’d wanted to be social and allow their youngest to meet some friends, but Thayer hadn’t been interested in joining since he had his own bonds with his fire crew.
Sadly, the Alpha of the Pride had turned out to be an asshole, and once outsiders joined, they were basically treated like slaves. After Thayer had lost contact with his parents, he’d gone straight into hunting mode. The pride had told him that his parents had left, but he hadn’t believed their lies. Since the alpha’s influence didn’t work on fairies, the alpha had locked Thayer’s parents and little brother away in a magically sealed area until he could figure out a way to control them.
Thayer had gone on a rampage when he’d found out. He’d ended up killing the alpha, but he hadn’t stopped there. He’d beaten the shit out of the rest of the pride using claws and magic for daring to harm his parents. In his mind, even if they had been under the alpha’s influence, they’d still had to pay for what they’d done to his family.
The Supernatural Council had declared what he’d done overkill and had sentenced him to two years in prison, but the rest of the supernatural community had been on Thayer’s side. Since time wasn’t the same for supes as it was for humans, two years had been like a blink of an eye. Still, due to the principle of the matter, it had been difficult to accept.
He had found out later that one of the betas that had been badly beaten had been related to one of the council members from the Shifter Realm. That familial connection had been the reason he had gotten such a harsh judgment when others would have been cleared of any wrongdoing for retaliating.
