Aradia landed on Max’s shoulder with an encouraging chirp, the bond between them coming into sharper focus as she offered her help.
Max blew out a breath and reached for the magic like he had the flames, imagining his fist closing around the mark.
Immediately, the mage started fighting again, thrashing against Quinn’s hold before Quinn shoved his face into the ground.
“Keep still!” Quinn snarled, his claws digging into flesh and drawing blood.
Max gripped the binding magic, but he didn’t know what to do with it. If he tried to yank it out by force, he was sure it would cause damage. He wasn’t patient or skilled enough to cut it out even if he knew how. The only thing he knew how to do was burn, and he shuddered at how painful that was sure to be. He remembered the mage trying to rip out his own bindings and the agony he’d felt through his entire being.
“Sorry,” he said, before setting the bindings on fire. The mage screamed, and Max gagged at the stench of burning flesh. He closed his eyes and adjusted the magic, willing it to burn only the magic of the bindings and not the tattoo. It didn’t help the screams or the smell.
The bindings twisted, trying to wriggle out of his grip and away from his flames like eels. “No you don’t,” Max snarled, gritting histeeth as he coaxed his flames as hot and bright as they would go. There was a bright flash of blue-white light before the bindings disintegrated, reduced to the magical equivalent of ash. As they vanished, so did the tattoo, leaving behind a small patch of blistered flesh.
The mage groaned and went limp beneath Quinn as if he’d passed out.
Quinn sniffed a few times before carefully easing off the man and smiling at Max. “Knew you could do it.”
Max squirmed from the strange warmth wriggling in his gut and tossed Quinn’s shirt in his face. “Get dressed.”
Aradia chirped, clearly unimpressed by Quinn’s nakedness, and crawled into her pouch.
With a laugh, Quinn pulled his clothes back on and popped his earpiece back into place. He tilted his head as he listened before looking at Max. “Sounds like they need me. You okay to go in?”
“No, but like hell I’m staying out here.” Especially when he could hear sirens in the distance. He got to his feet with a groan, every nerve in his body protesting, and watched Quinn toss the mage over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry like he weighed nothing. He ignored the way his stomach flipped with interest and followed Quinn inside.
The fire damage was most severe on the ground floor near the front and the side with the garage. Most of the walls and ceilings were black, but the stairs were intact, and the second floor seemed to be mostly smoke damage.
They found Caius and Lukas in the master bedroom, where Quinn dumped the unconscious mage unceremoniously onto the bed.
Caius grabbed Max with a growl and pulled him closer, tipping Max’s head back before pressing gentle fingers to his tender throat. “What happened?”
“Order made him attack,” Max said, clasping Caius’ wrist. “I’ll be fine.” Not like it was anywhere close to the worst he’d ever suffered.
Caius didn’t look convinced, but he turned his attention to Quinn. “Safe room. Control panel is in the closet.”
Quinn’s eyes lit up, and he cracked his knuckles on his way across the room.
When Max tried to pull away to enter the code, Caius growled and dragged him back. “I’mfine,” he said with a huff, even as he tucked himself against Caius’ chest. He called the code out to Quinn instead, only for it to fail.
Quinn wasn’t bothered. He pulled out his phone and a short cord, hooked it up to the control panel, and started tapping away on his phone.
Lukas glowered at the mage on the bed and nudged the man’s foot with his gun. “Stop pretending to be asleep.”
Caius growled, tightening his grip on Max.
Max rolled his eyes and dug his elbow into Caius’ stomach. “Don’t hurt him. The Order was controlling him, but I broke the binding.”
Lukas and Caius both stared at him, while Quinn cackled from the closet.
Max ignored them all as he looked at the mage, who was slowly sitting up with the look of someone expecting to be executed. “What do I have to do to make the Order back off?”
The man let out a humorless laugh. “Other than submit or die?” He rubbed his face with a shaky breath. “They’ll be after us both now.”
“Sorry,” Max said, but the mage waved him off and pushed to his feet.
“I don’t know if they’ll give up or not, but no one has broken one of their bindings in a long time, so thanks for that.” He glanced at the door, then at Caius. “They never tell us much of anything aside from handing out missions. Where to go, what we need to do. Shit like this, they use the bindings to make sure the job gets done. They’re pissed at you, but you have enough clout with the military that they’re wary. That’s all I know. Are you going to torture me for more information, or can I leave?”
Caius was silent for a moment before sighing. “Do you have somewhere safe you can go?”
