"So," Bjorn said, probably hoping to get off the "witch that got away"-topic and something that was going to annoy the shit out of his alpha. "You and Kat?"
Yeah, sometimes Magnus hated how well he knew his partner.
"She may be human but there's no doubt anymore," he confessed, not about to beat around the bush just to rile up the bear. "She's definitely my mate."
And he didn't want to beat around any metaphorical bush to finally say it out loud. Hell, he wanted to scream it off the rooftops. Sure, there wasn't that instant, "recognize on sight" connection between them like there were with other shifter mates. But why else would his skin tingle every time he touched her? Why else was his wolf purring like a cat every time she leaned against his chest? And why did his entire body light up like fireworks every time she smiled at him?
Hell, come to think of it--- was he in love?
Apparently, he was, he realized with a stupid grin spreading across his lips. He was in love with the beautiful, sweet, and perfectly curved little human. That or her voodoo-priestess roommate had spelled him into thinking that. Not that he thought that as very likely. He'd met the shop owner and while he'd admit that there was something odd – extremely so! – about her, he didn't detect any evil intent coming from her. Hell, the woman didn't even know how to turn off a freaking dishwasher, he couldn't exactly imagine her scheming to hook him up with Kat.
What would be the point?
They thought he was just an ordinary man with a dangerous job. Not something you proudly took home to your parents. But then again, Kat never mentioned her parents, saying that her past was too painful to talk about. Made him wonder what could have happened…
"Congrats," Bjorn said--- and it was funny to Magnus how sincerely he meant that, despite his deep-seated hatred towards mates. Magnus was never going to understand how a shifter could just take one look at their Fated Mate and without further ado, reject them. But that's exactly what had happened to his best friend. His Fated Mate had taken one look at him and decided that the pain of a broken mate bond was better than accepting, what fate had chosen for them. Now that he'd met his own mate, he couldn't imagine what kind of pain that would have caused. Just thinking about losing Kat and he felt sick to his very soul. He'd never be able to survive it!
Which only made his respect for his partner grow---
"And good luck telling her about shifters," Bjorn snickered, clearly amused by the thought. "I don't envy you that."
Until he said dumb shit like that!
"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Magnus sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt. Why did his best friend always have to ruin everything? He liked where he and Kat were right now: a new relationship, where not everything was out in the open yet, but it still felt fresh and exciting.
Couldn't he live in that delusion a little while longer?
"At least I didn't mention your father and the Elders," Bjorn continued, just to annoy him.
"But now you did," Magnus grumbled, and yeah, he probably slammed the door a litter harder than necessary. The cruiser was government property, but Bjorn loved that baby as if it was his own flesh and blood, so taking some of his anger out on the car was the best he could do.
Ordering coffee never took long. He and Bjorn had a routine and in a small town like Main, it didn't take long for the baristas to figure out that they tipped well if their coffee was ready to go when they rolled into the parking lot.
He thanked the smiling waitress, left a tip, and then returned to their car. But to his surprise, Bjorn was standing outside the car, checking something on his phone. Sure, even in this cold, a bear wouldn't die of hypothermia or frostbite, but what was he doing outside in the freaking cold?!
"What are you up to?" Magnus asked, handing him his sickening sweet coffee. Peaking over his shoulder he noticed that he was checking for security cameras in the area.
"Just had an idea," Bjorn said but remained mysterious. Shaking his head Magnus took a sip of his coffee and enjoyed the warmth that seeped into his frozen bones. Sure, he wasn't human and he could survive inhuman cold temperatures – but that didn't mean he necessarily liked it! He wasn't a snow wolf. He wasn't meant to survive in the arctic tundra, which was what the temperature always felt like around Christmas---
"What are you going to do about the Elders?" Bjorn asked out of the blue, dragging him out of his cold thoughts. "And them?"
Bjorn gestured to a she-wolf across the street. Her name was Andrea, and she was a Beta's daughter from the Middlesex pack. Apparently, she and her bodyguards were out shopping and when she saw them, she happily greeted him but didn't come up to them. Magnus greeted her back. Since they'd met, they stoked up something of a platonic friendship. And yeah, purely platonic since he had a feeling that this particular Beta's daughter wasn't interested in him. Hell, if his intuition was right, she wasn't interested in men, period. Either her family didn't accept that, or she hadn't told them yet. Either way, it did make their relationship a lot easier to handle.
"Yeah, I need to make an announcement," Magnus sighed, knowing that despite it having been against his wishes, he was responsible for all the visiting wolves. Didn't mean he hadn't felt like a bull being dragged to market those initial first weeks.
Again, he cursed his mother and Elders' meddling.
If they'd just stayed out of his love life, he would have met his mate without having to deal with the circus they'd dragged to town. Hell, he still shivered thinking about that. Having women coming to the packhouse and introducing themselves with obvious intentions. And the expecting fathers and mothers by their side, only made the whole encounter even more awkward. Not once in his life could he remember a time, where a call about a potentially dangerous criminal that they had to track down was more welcomed than the company he kept.
But somehow, he'd gotten through all of that and now that he'd found his mate, he needed to let the rest of them down gently and send them on their way. But first things first: he had to tell Kat about shifters and if she didn't run – or think he was skipping out on his medicine – introduce her to his family.
And if that didn't send her running, nothing ever would!
Now, he loved his family, but sometimes he just wished he could live alone on a mountaintop rather than deal with his brothers' bickering, his father's archaic ways, or his mother's endless "goodwill".
"I don't want my mate to think she's in some sort of competition," he continued, pushing thoughts of his family aside. "I'm hers all the way, and I don't want her to feel inferior just because she's not a shifter."
"That's a lifelong commitment if I ever heard one," Bjorn snorted with amusement. Frowning, he turned to his friend, who understood the unsaid question. "She's going to live among shifters, man," he pointed out, and while he didn't say it to be cruel, he was right: "She's always going to be inferior."
He hated to admit it, the bear was right.
A human among shifters was never going to fit in. She wouldn't be strong like a shifter, fast like a shifter, or heal like a shifter. There was a chance that she'd be left behind on pack runs or understand the internal dynamic of a pack where the power balance was determined in a brutal, bloody, and animalistic way.
She would be an outsider…
"It doesn't matter," Magnus said, shaking his head. "She's mine and if I can't protect my own god damned mate, I don't deserve to be alpha."
And he meant it. He'd make sure that she felt valued and appreciated. He'd take his time to explain things and he'd learn to tell her things that he took for granted. She was his mate and he'd do anything to protect her.
Especially against himself…
"That's all I needed to know," Bjorn shrugged as if that was all the cue he needed. "Tell me who to punch in the gut and I'll do it."
That shouldn't surprise him, but…
"You're something else, Bjorn," Magnus laughed anyway and although he'd never admit it out loud, he was glad he at least had one ally that would never waver.
"I know," Bjorn grinned, pocketing his phone once he'd made a list of potential angles that he could use in--- whatever he was researching. "I'm fucking adorable."
Yeah, Magnus wasn't about to even entertain that thought. He pushed away from the car and was just about to head to his side of the vehicle when a familiar scent suddenly drifted by. He instantly went on alert, and discretely tried to pinpoint it.
"Hey! Heads up!" he warned his partner, before he stalked across the street, following the scent. Bjorn was instantly right behind him and while they looked like nothing more than two cops crossing the street, Magnus let out his senses, taking in more of his surroundings than he usually did.
He wasn't quite sure where he'd smelled this before and it was slightly off in a way that he couldn't explain. But his wolf was snarling and ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. Something trickled into his memory, and it wasn't good. Whoever owned this scent wasn't anyone he'd be expecting a Christmas card from any time soon…
They rounded the corner and headed away from the main street. Now the scent was strong enough to taste, which meant that Bjorn had probably picked it up too. The bear growled low and they picked up their pace, hoping to catch whoever was at the other end of the trail off guard.
Just as they closed in on the last bed, Magnus paused, peering around it. Two men were arguing just a couple of feet away, but even with their advance shifter hearing, Magnus couldn't make out a word of the conversation. Which only meant one thing:
Magic!
And worse, not only was one of the men was dressed in a huge cloak, which screamed evil intent, but the other had a wide grin on his face, that was exactly the kind of thing a low-level scumbag like Tobias Colten would get into.
"Colten!" Bjorn confirmed and a low, threatening growl slipped passed the bear's lips. Magnus wanted to slam his elbow into his partner's gut, but it was already too late. Both men snapped their heads up in their direction and the chance to eavesdrop or follow them was lost.
Shit!
"Mr. Colten," Magnus however said calmly, pretending that Bjorn hadn't just slipped up big time. Hell, seeing the look on his face, he already knew it and Magnus wasn't going to rub it in. "We have a couple of questions for you…"
Tension filled the air, thick and suddenly. The two men took one look at each other and while Magnus could see their lips move, he couldn't hear what was being said. But he could read their body language. And mother fucker was going to run…
"Don't even--- FUCK!"
They ran!
With a growl and a roar Magnus and Bjorn sprinted after them. They might be witches – Magnus was guessing that the other person also was a witch since Colten didn't have the brains to mute a conversation – but their physic was still human. With a burst of shifter's speed, they quickly gained in on them and---
They ducked behind a dumpster so fast that Magnus almost passed them. Bjorn did pass them, the big shifter having more trouble slowing down than the more nimble wolf shifter. But in the end, it didn't matter!
Colten and his partner were both gone!
"Where the hell did they go?" Magnus growled and kicked the container, looking for hidden doors. But there was nothing! Hell, there wasn't even a scent left from them. Except---
"Do you smell that?" Bjorn snapped, his body tense, as Magnus took one more sniff, just to be sure. He just barely got a whiff of it before it vanished into thin air, but there was no nightmare on heaven or earth that could ever make him forget THAT scent!
"Just like…," Magnus began, but trailed off. His blood ran cold when he realized where he'd smelled it before. Wide eyed he turned to his partner, who already had a grim expression on his face.
"The ritual site," he rumbled, walking back to the last sport where they'd seen Colten and his new friend. But like before, there wasn't even a single trace of him anywhere. Magnus wasn't prone to fear, but the way the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly rose was a clear sign that not even his years on the force could have prepared him for what was coming next…
"This happened once before, you know," Bjorn said in a low, almost defeated tone.
"When?" Magnus questioned, his senses on high alert, as he closed the distance between himself and his partner.
"When I was chasing the witch," the bear admitted in a low voice. "The one that got away the other night."
Magnus knew that that didn't bode well for the witch's innocence, be he wasn't ready to share any theories yet. That just meant that they needed to find her and bring her in. To get some answers no matter the cost. And this time, it wouldn't be a game.
It would be life or death…