Cinnamon dragged herself out of the house and slumped against the door frame. Her pink bonnet was half off, letting the wild portion of curls poof out on one side. She blinked at the scrapping men, then turned her tired gaze to me. “He just called you wife.”
Felix grinned wide and held his head up. “She didn’t tell you? We got married yesterday.”
I flinched and shot a glare at him. “Now is not the time!” I hissed.
He tilted his head, taking on an innocent tone. “But if not now, darling, when?”
“Yes Brie.” Cinnamon purred. The edge in her voice was practically a knife to my throat. “Best friend of twenty years, whom I just spoke to less than an hour ago. When were you going to tell me you were married?” she said, crossing her arms.
“It’s not what it looks like. He just threatened the courthouse into giving him a marriage certificate. You know if I was having a real wedding, you’d be the first person I told.” I said.
Cin tsked but relaxed her posture.
“She also took my name.” Felix chirped.
I stomped my foot and swatted his direction. “Would you just stop it!”
Fallon shook the flames off his arms. They faded out into wisps of smoke before disappearing from his ruined shirt. “Do humans normally take on their husbands’ names?” He asked Felix.
He nodded, a smug smile spread across his maw as he eyed Fallon. “It’s how they combine families here. Most human marriages aren’t recognized until they’ve registered at the courthouse and the couple has decided on which name to take. If not, then it’s just considered shacking up, and the woman is still technically single.”
The Dragon Shifter’s mouth fell open in shock and turned to Cin.
She didn’t bother looking at him. Cin kept her glare firmly aimed at me and held a hand up to Fallon. “Don’t start with me right now. I’ve been betrayed.”
This was getting out of hand.“I did not betray you. I didn’t mention it because…well I forgot. It’s been a long few days.”
Felix clapped his hands to his cheeks in mock horror. “My love, how could you?”
Heat flooded my face, and I slammed my hand on the railing of Cin’s porch. “I will personally hand Fallon an entire wheel of cheese. Keep trying me.” He opened his mouth but snapped it shut when I swatted at him again. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a breath. “Crystal.” I grumbled. “I got attacked by a ghoul and Felix pulled this crystal out of its chest.” The small gem flickered as I brought it up to show Fallon. “He said you might be able to use it to find the missing women.”
Fallon took one look at the gem and nodded, then gave Felix a swift kick to the side. “Next time lead with that.” he said.
The werewolf snickered and got to his feet. “You’re so mean without your beauty sleep.”
Fallon took the gem from me and inspected it closer. Black smoke rolled off his hands to surround it. Swirling around the crystal until every bit of blue was swallowed up. After a moment, the smoke faded and he let out a curse.
“What is it, hun?” Cin asked.
His brow scrunched together as he continued to turn the gem around in his hand. “The damn thing is warded up like a fortress. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. It’s going to take a few days at least to force my way around it.”
“But you can, right?” I asked. “If that ghoul really took Kitty and the others, then we may not have a few days.”
“I can. But judging by the strength and time put into this one gem, I’d say whoever is doing this isn’t just looking to snatch a few women to kill for fun.” He said, moving to sit on the steps of the porch. “If they’re lucky, then they’re being kept alive to be used as a power source.”
“How are a bunch of women a power source?” Cin asked. “I don’t think anyone in Boohail practices magic.”
“It’s not them specifically. Every human has large, natural magic reserves. Most creatures are bound by a certain type of magic. For fox shifters it is nature, for dragons it’s elemental based. With proper training, you might be able to do a few spells outside of your base magic type, but it’s incredibly difficult. The only reason I can is because I absorbed Myva’s magic. But humans don’t have that restriction. Your magic can do a wide range of spells because you have no magic type. The only caveat is that most humans cannot tap into it. That being said, it’s all too easy for an ambitious witch to use humans as fodder for more powerful spells.”
“You say that like it’s happened before.” Cin said.
“It has.” He replied. “You used to call her Goddess.”
“Myva was taking our magic?” Cin asked.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You probably didn’t even realize it was happening. With so many humans coming in and out of her temples leaving offerings and prayers, she’d been able to sip off your magic reserves with no one feeling any different.” Fallon’s jaw tightened as he rolled more black smoke over the gem. “This is deeply concerning. Whatever spell they’re trying to cast can’t be good.”
“What do we do?” Felix asked.
