Feral Mage Book 2: Chapter 26

“Here you go, Omelet,” Alice said as she set the plate on the ground.

A raw steak the size of Bryce’s head sat on top of it, which the griffin chick scrambled toward. Vex sat across the table from him, eating a cooked steak even larger than Omelet’s was. Both steaks were gifts from Mark for their role in taking out the assassins, along with the bronze dog tag that now hung around Vex’s neck.

Bryce watched as the griffin chick inhaled the steak. Only Vex, Alice, and Janna were at the table. Callie stuck around long enough to ensure Alice was okay and deal with her bloodline, then she went to inform Bellamy of what had happened.

Mark had dragged Darren into the dark tunnels under the guild with the twins. They were trying to figure out how to either seal, block, or defend them so this didn’t happen again.

“I still can’t believe they tried to break into the guildhall,” Bryce said.

He felt Janna’s tails hit him as she sat beside him.

“Mark found fake dog tags on them,” she stated, a troubled look on her face. “He thinks they were trying to impersonate guild members.”

Bryce’s hand went to the one around his neck, feeling the smooth steel. They might look plain, but there was a lot to them that a normal eye couldn’t see. While the obvious use was to mark their rank, there were also enchantments and curses ingrained in the metal to ensure the wearer followed the guild’s laws. Most would leave a mark on the tag that told which law was broken, but if someone killed another member of the guild, the tag would turn black.

The one Callie and I had fought used illusion magic to impersonate Isabelle. Did the assassin plan to pretend to be us to ambush Darren and the girls?

Bryce looked at Janna, recalling the sketch the assassins had of her, the same as for Vex. He thought about what he would have done if he had lost them today. A pit formed in his gut before he chased the thought away. His hand moved to rest on top of Janna’s gloved hand sitting on the table.

“I’m glad you girls are safe,” Bryce said as he held her hand.

Janna looked at his hand on hers, and her fingers closed around his, squeezing gently. Her eyes locked onto his.

“We’re glad you’re safe, too, Bryce,” she said.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Alice standing beside him, a warm smile on the snow elf’s face.

“We are. Callie told us about the fight in the tunnels.”

Vex chewed a particularly large bite of steak and swallowed.

“Grumpy elf and crazy elf are okay… maybe,” she said before mumbling some stuff in beastkin.

Bryce narrowed his eyes at the wolfgirl, then looked around the guildhall’s tavern. They were almost the only ones nearby, with only a few other members sitting at some tables further away.

“Alice, Janna. Do you care if I talk to Vex alone?” he asked.

He felt Alice’s hand leave his shoulder, and the girls exchanged a look while Vex stopped eating and tilted her head curiously at him.

“Sure, Bryce. I need to do some stuff in the kitchen anyway. Janna, do you care to keep me company?” Alice asked.

The kitsune nodded before standing and following Alice. Bryce watched them both go, catching Janna looking back at him nervously, to which he smiled. This conversation was about her, but he didn’t want them to think he and Vex were about to have a fight. Well, he hoped not anyway. When they disappeared into the back, Bryce began.

“Vex,” he said, strumming his fingers across the table. “Are you trying to push me and Janna together?”

Immediately, she narrowed her eyes as her ears canted. Bryce thought he had made a mistake, and Callie misled him, unintentionally or otherwise.

“Who talked?” Vex demanded.

Bryce frowned.

“Wait! Others knew you were trying to get me and Janna to…”

Vex nodded her head.

“Yes! Who talked, Nicole?” Then Vex’s eyes widen before narrowing. “The grumpy elf…”

Bryce waved his hands.

“Who told me is not important,” he said.

Vex violently stabbed her fork into a slice of steak on her plate.

“Yes, it is,” she growled.

Bryce sighed.

“Why are you trying to push me and Janna together?”

Vex looked up at him as she took a bite of the steak.

“Pack. Janna wants you, I smell it on her, and you like her as well. We’re stronger as a pack, our bond is stronger.”

Bryce shook his head.

“Okay, then why didn’t you talk to me about this instead of just locking us in a bath together?”

Vex frowned and pointed her fork at him.

“You would have chased her away!” she declared.

He was about to argue, but the more he thought about it, Vex had every right to believe he would. She had made her interest in him pretty clear after he killed the troll, but he kept trying to drive her away. Her stubbornness was what broke down the walls he had put up since… since Bellamy left.

“I get it, Vex,” he admitted. “But like you said, we’re a pack. Next time, talk to me, okay?”

Vex nodded and smiled at him.

“No chasing the fox away?”

Bryce scratched his chin.

“I’m not going to chase Janna away. I do need to think on this, and then discuss it with her,” he said, leaning back in his chair, his thoughts already racing. “Does Janna know what you were trying to do?”

Vex paused her eating as she thought, tilting her head.

“Maybe?”

Before Bryce could ask what she meant by that, the guildhall door opened. Breaking his gaze from Vex, he saw Callie enter, spot him, and start toward their table. Vex scowled at the elf before making a quick hand gesture to Omelet.

“Bryce,” Callie started to say before being cut off by the feathered fiend.

Omelet bolted from his half-eaten steak, running right into Callie’s legs, sweeping them out from under her. Bryce watched as the snow elf’s eyes widened before she tumbled to the ground with a loud crash from her armor. Omelet lazily walked away from the groaning elf back to his half-eaten steak.

Vex gasped.

“Omelet!” she said, with a devious grin. “Naughty boy!”

The griffin chick just tilted his head at Vex’s fake scolding while he chewed another bite of his steak.

Bryce stood and walked over to Callie.

“Need a hand?” he asked.

Callie groaned.

“And a new spine. You should really put a bell on that beast.”

Bryce took her hand.

“Why? So it would be more musical when you crashed onto the floor?”

Callie glared at him.

“Bellamy is ready to talk to you,” Callie said with a slight groan as she stood. “She’s waiting for you outside.”

Bryce looked at the door and frowned.

“Why is she outside?” he asked.

Callie’s lips thinned as she tilted her head toward Vex, who was now focused back on eating her steak.

“Right,” Bryce said, realizing what she meant. “Thanks, Callie.”

She nodded to him before limping away to the nearest chair

He turned and headed to the door. As he stepped out, he saw Bellamy leaning against the brick wall beside the gate to the training yard. He felt the knot form in his gut as he looked at her, a wave of regret hitting him. He moved down the steps toward her, his mind asking what could have been if he hadn’t pursued revenge.

Her dark eyes watched him as he approached, and he took in her figure. She was wearing a simple blue tunic that hid much of the toned figure he knew she had. Her dark hair was tied back, its length not going too far past her chin.

“Bryce,” Bellamy greeted. “I heard you were in a fight with members of the organization.”

He stopped in front of her.

“I was,” he stated. “But they’re dead and I’m here.”

Bellamy’s eyes searched him over, and he knew she was seeing if he had any injuries. Bryce had almost a foot on her in height, but those piercing eyes always made him feel like it was the reverse.

She drew a deep breath and paused as their eyes connected. Bryce noticed the slight redness before she looked away.

“I’m glad you’re safe, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.”

Bryce shook his head.

“Why are you here, Bellamy?” he asked.

He heard her curse quietly to herself.

“I also heard you went chimera and came back from it,” she said, her gaze resting on those passing by them on the street.

Bryce sighed and moved to lean against the brick wall as well. Both he and Bellamy faced the street of Witchbrook as wagons, horses, and pedestrians moved about their day.

“We got in a dicey situation back in the Red Pine Kingdom, and I was worried about the girls making it. So I took a gamble.”

A carriage decorated with flowers rolled by its passengers, a young couple. The smiles on their faces, while wearing what Bryce guessed were their best clothes, made clear they were newlyweds.

“What was it like?” she asked.

Bryce collected his thoughts on it. He had spent many nights thinking about what had happened that day, and part of him wondered if it had just been a hallucination.

“I felt something tearing at my very being, then I found myself in a black room with the monsters I took as an Aspect.” Bryce shook his head. “I think I was in my soul, fighting the monsters for control of it.”

He could see her staring at him from the corner of his eye, but he kept his gaze on the road. She was silent for a long moment as Bryce watched several people pass by.

“If I brought someone to you, could you do the same for them?”

He looked at her, only to see that her gaze had shifted back to the ground.

“Thea, my other pupil, became a chimera. If there’s a chance I can save her, I want to try,” Bellamy said.

Bryce swore, his heel kicking against the brick wall he was leaning on.

“Bellamy, I’m not sure how I even did it. My best guess is I got lucky.”

She fell silent again.

“I can pay.”

He gritted his teeth at those words, recalling what she had said back in Sentinel. That he was nothing more than a hired killer. Nothing had changed. She still saw him that way. He pushed himself off the wall and started back for the guildhall.

“Put a contract in with the guild. I normally shed blood for coins, but I’ll see what I can do,” he said, the anger slipping into his voice.

Bellamy swore.

“Bryce, I’m sorry,” she called out to him. “I fucked up… You needed my help and I fucked it up. I failed you, I failed Thea…”

He heard her draw a shuddered breath and froze.

“I loved you… and I fucked it up…” Bellamy cried.

Bryce cursed himself, cursed his anger.

“Stop!” he yelled. “Just stop. You put me through hell, training me. Tying me to blood starved vampires, sparring matches with your Aspects, even shit I still wake up in a cold sweat about, but the one bad memory I have of you is the day we split. I don’t want to see you crying again, Bellamy. Please, just let that memory be the only one.”

He exhaled, still refusing to look back at her.

“There’s no way in hell you’re going to capture a chimera and bring it back to Witchbrook. Give me a day to get my team ready, and I’ll help you track her down. If I can somehow help Thea, I will.”

He started moving to the guild’s door, arriving as Bellamy spoke again.

“Thank you, Bryce.”