Chapter Four – Jack

“What’s bugging you, Jack?” Kurt asked. He locked up the Land Rover and they walked together to the house they shared with their youngest brother, Liam, in the small enclave of houses the squad occupied. He’d need to get a place of his own now that he had a mate… The scent came to him, pulled from his memory. He had a mate; he just wasn’t sure where she was.

Or if she’s still alive, his bear chimed in sorrowfully.

Helpful, he returned. But his bear was right.

Jack looked around, making sure that asshole Gareth hadn’t followed them back. Jack sighed, of course he wouldn’t be here, he was too busy showing his daddy the Dragon’s Tear he’d stolen from Jack’s mate.

“Jack?” Kurt asked again. “Come on, spill. What happened between you and Gareth?”

“Nothing.” Jack wasn’t lying, but Kurt was not taking that as an answer. “OK. Gareth knew the ward had been tripped and got over there with that degetty of his.”

“Yep, after all the glory as usual. We might as well retire, let him do all the work. He does one thing and his father will make out that he’s the greatest druid ever. While we’re lucky to get any thanks at all.” Bitterness filled Kurt’s voice.

“You know why we do it,” Jack said, hoping to shift the subject away from him.

“Because if we didn’t, the Council would think nothing of wiping out whole swaths of the magical world because we’re all inconsequential to the high and mighty druids.”

“In a nutshell.” Jack shouldered the door of their house open, and was met by the smell of food. His stomach rumbled, and then he remembered that Liam was doing the cooking, and his thoughts turned to takeout.

Kurt walked into the house and then stopped, blocking Jack’s way. “You didn’t answer me.”

Jack rubbed his hand over his face. He was tired, and didn’t want this conversation now, but he owed Kurt an explanation. “Gareth set his degetty on a human woman. That’s where he got the Dragon’s Tear from.”

“And…” Kurt folded his arms across his chest. “Since when do you care so much about humans? The Dragon’s Tear must be important if Gareth got his ass over there so fast. It’s better off in our hands than in a human’s. What would she do, sell it to the highest bidder? You know how they work.”

“I know.” He nodded. Kurt was right: they worked to keep gems, artifacts, anything magical out of the hands of humans. Not because they might wield their power, but because they had a habit of stealing things away and putting them in museums or private collections, where they were lost to those who might need their power.

“So… Damn it, Jack. This is hard work. Spill.”

“She’s my mate. At least, I think she is my mate.”

Kurt’s arms dropped to his side and his mouth dropped open, before he recovered himself. “Your mate?”

Jack pressed his lips together and shrugged. “There was something, something I have never experienced before.”

“Maybe she used a spell.”

“No.” He shook his head emphatically. “It was not a spell. Come on, I’ve had everything out there thrown at me. And this was different.”

“So it was the Dragon’s Tear. It affected you in some way.”

“No. It lingered even after Gareth and his degetty left.”

“So how do you know it’s your mate?” Kurt asked, his brow in deep furrows.

“Her scent. It made me want to smash Gareth’s head in.”

“That proves nothing, we would all like to smash Gareth’s head in.”

“But I wanted to smash it in because I was jealous. Possessive.”

“So it could be the Dragon’s Tear. Projecting itself, and trying to influence you. They carry powerful magic, because they are so rare.”

“Maybe.” Jack wanted to let it go. Kurt was determined to talk his brother out of the possibility a human was his mate. The Council preferred to keep shifters pure. Shifters mated with shifters. His mom had always told him not to worry, and that when he found his mate, pure or otherwise, she would be the right one for him. And the Council could go hang themselves if they weren’t happy.

Trust to the fates, was their mom’s favorite saying.

“Let’s eat, and then…” Kurt stopped talking and listened; Jack had heard it too.

“Lucas.”

“Good, he can help us eat Liam’s cooking,” Kurt said.

“Or make it disappear.” Jack grinned and opened the door. A young man stood there, hand raised, ready to knock. He was tall, for a druid, six-foot, but willow thin, and pale. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, he was aloof, but not as arrogant as Gareth. Not yet, at least.

“Make what disappear?” Lucas asked.

“Liam has been making dinner, while we were out on a hunt,” Jack kept his voice low, he didn’t want to offend his brother. He’d made an effort, after all.

“So I heard right. A ward has been broken?” Lucas asked, all thoughts of food gone as he honed in on the details. “You were called to investigate. What happened?”

“We were, but Gareth got there first,” Kurt said, casting a sideways look at Jack. “He retrieved a Dragon’s Tear.”

“A Dragon’s Tear,” Lucas said, looking over Jack’s shoulder, into the house. “Shall we talk inside?”

“Sure,” Jack said, and they moved out of the hallway, shutting the door behind them, and heading into the sitting room.

“How can he make his cooking smell so good and taste so bad? “Lucas asked.

“It’s a gift. Why we ever came up with taking turns to cook, I’ll never know.” Jack cast a glance at the kitchen. Liam tried his best, but no matter what he attempted to rustle up, it was never fit for consumption, shifter or otherwise. Even his bear, who had eaten some very dodgy things in his time, would not eat Liam’s meals by choice.

“So tell me?” Lucas said.

“Wait, we should tell Liam at the same time, get him up to speed.” Jack decided to not to tell anyone else about the possibility the human involved might be his mate. It served no purpose, other than to detract from Gareth’s behavior.

“Liam,” Kurt said, walking across to the kitchen. “You have a minute?”

“What is it?” Liam came out, wiping his hands on a dish cloth. “Oh, hey, Lucas is here, good thing I made extra.”

“I’m not staying,” Lucas said quickly. “I simply wanted to know about tonight’s mission.”

“How did it go?” Liam asked. “Well, since there is no blood on your clothes.”

“Gareth got there first,” Jack told Liam. “That degetty of his is too powerful, he’s an accident waiting to happen. Good thing he’s selling it.”

“He is?” Lucas asked, the mission all but forgotten. “He told you that?”

“Wants to buy himself a Porsche.”

Liam laughed. “A big, flashy one, I bet, to make up for other parts of him that are small.”

“Liam,” Jack slapped his brother across the chest. “Druids deserve our respect.”

“Don’t let me stop you saying whatever you want about Gareth. He’d be nothing if he didn’t have his father to wipe his arse.”

The three brothers looked at each other, knowing there was no love lost between Lucas and Gareth. “Lucas, don’t cross him,” Liam warned. “We all know he’s nothing without his father, but we also know how powerful Thaddeus is. Don’t get caught in Gareth’s crosshairs.”

“I can look after myself,” Lucas said, his lip curling. A little more practice and his sneer would rival Gareth’s.

“OK, back to the mission,” Jack said, not wanting to go down any rabbit hole that had a druid at the bottom of it. If they wanted to tear each other apart, that was their business, as long as they left his squad out of it. “We got there to find Gareth and his degetty had taken on the human, and retrieved the Dragon’s Tear.”

“And you are sure Gareth got the real one, and not a fake?” Lucas asked.

“Certain.” Jack frowned. “There are fakes?”

“Used to be quite a black market for them centuries ago. When dragons became extinct, the Tears disappeared; they are linked to the dragon who sheds it. The price for one was so large that a man could be set for life if he found a Tear and sold it to the highest bidder. Sorcerers and alchemists worked to turn stones into a Dragon’s Tear. Some perfected it. They could make a replica so like the real thing, most people couldn’t tell the difference.”

“Which is what Gareth did,” Jack said. “That’s how he fooled her, by swapping the real thing for a fake.”

“A woman? A woman broke the ward?” Lucas asked.

“And why does that surprise you?” Kurt asked. “Every time we go out on a hunt we have a woman protecting our arses.”

“No, you have a witch, and witches are inherently females, just as Night Hunters are inherently male.”

“Wait, a what?” Jack asked, and Kurt cast him a worried look, which he ignored. He wanted to know whatever he could about the woman who was his mate.

“A Night Hunter. There were many of them long ago. They were responsible for wiping out the dragons. It’s what caused the rest of the others, to go underground. If the Night Hunters could take out dragons, the rest of us didn’t stand a chance.”

“And what exactly do Night Hunters … hunt?” Jack had a feeling he was not going to like it.

“Anything that is not human. They aren’t particularly fond of anything that has magic either. Would not be too popular around here.” Lucas cursed under his breath, words that had no meaning to Jack, but would probably produce a wart on Gareth’s nose. “And Gareth took a Dragon’s Tear from one of them. Once he gives it to the Council, he’ll be unstoppable.”

Lucas’s mood darkened, and Kurt tried to lighten it. “He’s unstoppable already, with his daddy to show him all his tricks.”

“This is different. This will be seen as his first step in becoming the leader of the Council one day. It’s what his father has been grooming him for. His father stood against Master Donavon and lost, when the Council chose their last leader. Thaddeus will not be allowed to stand again. His only hope to fulfill his family’s aspirations is for Gareth to step up and claim the leadership. Retrieving the Dragon’s Tear from a Night Hunter will almost surely guarantee him the leadership.”

“That’s how things work, Lucas,” Jack reminded him.

“And they can’t ever be changed?” he spat. “If his father had not helped him pull that degetty out from the Underworld, then he would have never been strong enough to…” He shook his head and glanced up, suddenly realizing he had lost control of his temper. He smoothed the creases out of his face and took on the serene mantle of a druid. “I apologize.”

“You don’t have to. We expect you to keep our secrets. The squad swears that what is said between us stays between us. That includes you, Lucas,” Jack told him firmly, wanting to emphasize the point, not for Lucas’s sake, but for theirs too. Lucas was becoming a loose cannon, especially where Gareth was concerned.

“I know, and I appreciate that. I do.” He nodded. “I should leave.”

“You don’t want to eat with us?” Liam asked.

“No, thank you.” The young druid smiled, and then turned and left, the door closing quietly behind him, so quietly that Kurt went and checked to see if Lucas had actually left, and wasn’t skulking around in the hallway, waiting to eavesdrop on the brothers’ conversation.

“There’s trouble brewing between those two,” Jack said. “We need to make sure we are not caught in the middle of it when it goes off.”

“Easy, we keep our heads down, and keep our own counsel.” Liam headed back toward the kitchen, but before he entered, he turned around and came back to Jack and Kurt, his voice low. “What do you think he was about to say?”

“That if Gareth didn’t have the huge degetty, he would never have gone up against the Night Hunter, whoever she is?” Kurt cast a worried glance at Jack, warning of a conversation they were going to have to have. A human as his mate was bad enough, but one of these Night Hunters, the Council would not like it one bit.

“And when you got the call, you went straight there?” Liam asked.

“Yes. You know we did. I got the coordinates and picked the others up,” Kurt said.

“Does Gareth walk around with that degetty by his side all the time?” Liam asked.

“No, he makes him stay in the cellar. Got a cage there and everything,” Kurt said, raising his eyebrows. “Get to the point, Liam.”

“Does no one think it strange that Gareth overheard the message meant for us, got his degetty, beat this Night Hunter, and got the Dragon’s Tear, all before you arrived?” Liam’s words came out in one long sentence, then he snapped his mouth shut and turned back to the kitchen. “I’ll dish up dinner.”

“None for me,” Jack said. “I need to go for a run and clear my head.”

“Jack, we need to talk,” Kurt said.

“When I get back, I need to go over it all. Put it straight in my head.” Without waiting for an answer, he spun around and left the house, shifting immediately and heading into the trees surrounding the enclave.

He had taken five strides into the forest when he froze.

She is here, his bear said.

I know, Jack answered.