Page 16 of Cupcake

Uh-oh. Logan turned to quickly take off again. This time with Trevor nipping at his heels while Gage added his ownmersandmeowsas if he was encouraging Trevor.

* * * * *

Dean

He’d been watching the three witches for nearly twenty-four hours. Dean knew he wasn’t wrong about the black magic this trio was using.

This would be the seventh small group of coven members that Dean had found and stripped of magic since he’d started his mission. Each time he removed one threat, the Intel he gathered led him to another than another. At this point Dean couldn’t even be surprised how many people seemed to be involved in some really bad stuff.

Currently he was waiting for Noah to get back from his recon so they could figure out how to handle the trio. Having afamiliar turned out to be something of an advantage. The coven seemed to be terrified of Noah. Dean only had his old mentor’s information when it came to familiars and knew how to use the coven’s superstition to his advantage. After completing his task, he and Noah went through everything the coven members had. Books, journals, anything that might lead Dean to his next assignment. What he didn’t need, Dean would take to Axel to see if it could help them.

Just thinking about the alpha made Dean’s heart ache.

Dean missed Logan.

Even though they’d never bonded, some part of Dean’s magic had formed a connection. Each day that went by without that glimpse of his boy had Dean feeling unbalanced. Even his magic seemed to be affected.

For the first time in his life, Dean didn’t have complete control of his magic. Even his mentor had been impressed with how easily Dean cast his magic. At the last coven hideout, Dean had nearly burned the place down when his magic had provided a fire that had been too hot. Luckily, Noah had been there to calm him, and Dean had managed to get the fire out before they lost what Intel they could get.

Noah slunk out of the shadows, returning to him.

Dean moved back behind one of the tall trees as Noah shifted.

“We have a problem,” Noah told him.

“Another one?” Dean asked. Why couldn’t anything be simple? Being on the road for months was taking a toll. Dean missed his home, the bakery, Logan.

Noah shrugged. “Unless you have control over your magic again?”

Dean growled.

“They have a human tied up in the cellar. Can’t burn the place down before we rescue him, right?”

“A human?” Thiswasan added problem. Dean would never hurt an innocent person. But why were they holding someone?

“Yep!”

They had been attacking using a simple method. Dean threw a fireball. The house caught fire. The coven members would run outside. Dean stopped them in place to strip the magic out of them. Leaving them confused but otherwise unhurt. He then suppressed the fire. And he and Noah ransacked the house, gathering as much information as possible.

It was actually very simple.

The hard part was the days leading up to Dean making his move.

The wait. Watching as the coven used magic that they should have no access to. It made Dean sick to see them throwing spells for simple things like heating a pot instead of doing things by hand. The coven had grown lazy.

“I need to get him out. I’ll grab him and bring him to you,” Dean decided.

Noah frowned. “He could have been put down there as a trap. Word must have gotten out by now that your old coven members are disappearing.”

His familiar had a point. They been at this long enough that some of the higher coven members had gone into hiding. Even Dean couldn’t find them. “I still have to get him out. Trap or not.”

“Then I’m going with you,” Noah demanded.

“I need you out here,” Dean replied. “You know that. Once I breach the ward, they might know. Try to escape.”

“I hate this!” Noah growled. “This is getting more dangerous, not less.”

“I know.” Dean didn’t know what else to do. He was one man, one mage, and this entire thing had spiraled into so much more than he’d imagined. He’d expected more of the coven to be together, not split up like they were.

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