Page 111 of Forget Me Not

“Janowitz wanted me to understand the biological reasons that Ray could be changed by this—and also why a violent reaction from a were is so unlikely, in his opinion. If there’s violence after something like that, he said, it’s aimed inward. And having met a were who lost their… someone, I would agree. When I first met him, he looked like he had just come out of years of illness. He still doesn’t talk about it much, not with me, anyway.” Cassandra picked up her box of candles and returned to the table she’d been rearranging before. “All that being true, or assuming it is, it means the instinct to fight the removal of the bond would be unimaginably strong. If you all are right, and the intent was the removal of the bond, not amnesia, I cannot stress enough the amount of work and skill it would take to reverse a natural process on that level. Even someone with great power would have to do some precise, exhaustive spell work.”

“And, inexperienced with weres, they forgot or didn’t realize that weres are weird about magic,” Benny reminded her.

“Oh, yes.” Cassandra dumped the box of candles on the table and turned around long enough to squint at Ray. “Did I mention the wizard up north is mat—iswitha were who uses magic?” Benny and Cal’s excited heartbeats were nearly enough to drown out Cassandra’s voice for several moments. “Fascinating case. The were was unaware he was using magic.Andit seems that Janowitz knowsanotherwere who deliberately used magic, although not well. Mostly borrowed human trinkets, from the sound of it. Yes, a were.” She said that to Benny. “Yes, on purpose.” She said that to Cal. “I know. But I guess he’s small for a were and wanted extra security. It’s basically unprecedented because there’s no record of it, and now, we’re all uncertain as to whether weres can all use magic or only some. But this one, the first one, his m—wolf life partner—was unconsciously directing magic into food. Remarkable. Also he’s apparentlyquitepowerful.”

“Food?” Penn either coughed or laughed. “Actually that tracks. Weres.”

“A were was unconsciously using magic?” Cal asked in a squeaky voice. “That’s almost terrifying. They’re all emotion.”

“Little Wolf used it.” Ray forced the words out. “Or at least, he wore charms with human magic in them.”

Everyone glanced over to him, even the damn owl, perched on a bookcase. Cal’s gaze lingered.

“I don’t know what that means,” Cassandra said at last.

“I never met this person,” Cal explained, possibly to Benny, who must have given him a confused look. “But, uh, since the subject is weres and magic, my mother said that the force that hit her feltprotective. And that is Ray’s whole thing, protection. His defining trait, some might say. That is his drive. In ascending order, it’s the town, his coworkers, his friends, his family, his m—me. Ray protects, with his own body most of the time. Maybe the curse or spell or whatever went haywire because of Ray being were but also just Ray beingRay.”

“Oh my God.” Benny put a hand to Cal’s shoulder and shook him. He stared at Ray with wonder in his shining eyes. “Ray has magic!” he declared, practically jumping. “Do you understand how amazing this is? This is like Han using the—”

“I do not have magic.” Ray showed his teeth. Not human magic, anyway. Only what all weres had and never questioned.

Cassandra held up a hand in Ray’s direction, silently asking him to be quiet. “I doubt it. If there were no signs that you ever did before… unless there were?” She narrowed her eyes. “Anything you can’t explain, detective?”

Ray looked away.

His gaze happened to fall on Penn, whose eyes widened. “You said scent-tracking alone couldn’t explain it.”

“Explain what?” Ray frowned at her, then at the others.

“You thought it was scent and fairy luck working together,” Penn added significantly.

Ray barely held in his growl. “It was. Is.”

“Someone explain right fucking now.” Cal saidsomeonebut he was looking at Ray.

Ray rubbed the back of his neck, then let some of the growl out. “Penn joked that I can find you, anywhere, no matter what. And... I did. At least once since… this.”

Benny’s glee disappeared. “Some people have small amounts that they channel into their passions without any knowledge of doing so. There’s no harm done, usually. You get better food, cars that don’t break down, whatever.” His scrutiny of Ray intensified. “If you’ve been doing that without knowing, and someone thought to cast a spell on you, whatever the spell was intended to do, something could have gone very wrong. A were using magic would respond instinctively. Right?”

How the hell was Ray supposed to know?

“You countered it, or tried to.” Benny sighed as if this was bad news.

“Or he’s still countering it,” Cassandra said heavily. That must have been what had upset Benny.

“Which means, what? That whenever Ray runs out of strength, the spell will continue on as planned?” Cal looked from Benny to Cassandra and back again before turning toward Ray. The breath he drew in was shaky.

He was in Ray’s arms the next second, his face against Ray’s neck.

“I’ll make some more calls,” Cassandra promised. “Once the store opens and my staff gets here. I’ll get more than just a handful of us looking for whoever did this. And I’ll talk to Janowitz again, or his were. Does Ray—do you have a hobby, detective?” Cassandra’s gaze was serious. “An area of special interest? Because you’ve probably also been channeling magic there.”

“Our solve rate,” Penn murmured. “It can’t all be how awesome we are. Fuck. I need a drink.”

“It’s not even eleven,” Benny commented, and then, “Me, too, though.”

Of the two of them, only one could even get drunk with ease.

“There’s coffee shop a few storefronts down,” Ray suggested, sliding a hand under the sweatshirt he’d insisted Cal keep wearing today. Cal’s skin was much less chilled with it on, whatever Cal muttered about it.

---