***
After waiting for nearly two hours with no sign of Paul, Troy had gone looking for him only to find him in the clutches of a muscled black man. Four other men stood around, looking at Paul with anger and resentment. When Troy demanded to know what was going on, the leader, a man of about thirty with about ten piercings on each ear, sneeringly told Troy that Paul owed them…“Please let him go,” Troy said urgently. “You’re hurting his arm.”“His arm.” The leader’s eyebrow shot up in bemusement. Then he turned to look at his men. “He wants us to let him go because…” he paused for effect, “…we’re hurting his arm.” The others erupted into laughter.“Please…” Troy wished he could free his friend from the clutches of the muscled man. Too bad he was just an ordinary slender young boy with no muscles.“And who are you?” The leader sneered. “The boyfriend?”“I’m his friend,” Troy responded, not missing the shamed look in Paul’s eyes.“Yeah right.” The leader chuckled. “If that’s what you want to call it. Tell you what...” He leaned against a red BMW. “If you can cough up the three grand that your ‘friend’…” he gave the word air quotes, confusing Troy even more, “…owes me, you can have him.” He gave a devilish grin.“Paul, is it true?” Troy looked at his angry but terrified friend. “Do you owe…”“I owe them noth…ow.” Paul’s words turned into a gasp of pain when the big man holding him delivered a quick jab to his stomach.“Hey…” Troy started forward but one of the guys blocked him.“A month ago, your stupid friend here agreed to make a delivery for us for a fee.” The leader said with a dark scowl. “We gave him half of the fee with specific instructions to follow. Deliver the package, take our money from them, and then bring it to us for the rest of your fee. Simple.” He gave a humourless chuckle. “What did the moron do? He made the delivery alright but ran out of the place before they could give him my three grand.”“Why don’t you go to them for your money?” Paul rasped stonily.“Because that’s not how it works.” The leader snapped. “If the person we send doesn’t take the money…as you refused to, we can’t make demands. There are rules, you little shit.”“Well, I didn’t know it was drugs.” Paul snapped as he struggled to get away from the man who was holding him. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have agreed to deliver it for you.”“What the fuck did you think it was?” One of the members of the gang asked with a look of disbelief.“My problem is that you caused me three grand.” The leader growled. “And you have to pay.”“How?” Troy asked quietly.“I don’t care how.” The leader spread his arms and gave Troy a blank look. “I just want my three grand back. Maybe we can pimp out your friend to the highest bidders. His faggy ass can fetch me a lot of money.” The leader said with a thoughtful look. “Know what?” He turned to face Troy with an excited glint in his eyes. “You could actually help. I mean two twinks can pay up faster than just one, right? In fact, that sweet face of yours will fetch me more than…”“Where did you make the delivery, Paul?” Troy asked his friend, cutting off the gang leader.“Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t.” Paul scowled. “They are very bad people. You can’t…”“And what exactly are you planning on doing, boy?” The leader asked with a laugh as he looked Troy up and down. The other four men burst into laughter.“I’m going to take your money back.” Troy shrugged, not missing the incredulous looks on the faces of the men. “Just tell me, Paul.”Before Paul could speak, the leader rattled off the address of the house to which Paul had delivered the drugs, which was on the very next street. “You can’t miss it.” He added with an amused grin. “They have heaps of cash in the back room. Just grab my money and bring it to me.” He said with mock seriousness.“Troy, don’t.” Paul’s warning earned him a slap from his chuckling captor.“Hey, don’t hit him,” Troy growled. “Give me thirty minutes.” He told the leader quietly. “I’ll be back with your money.” With that, he broke into a run.“Damn.” The leader breathed with incredulous amusement as he watched Troy go. “Your boyfriend is one of those nut cases huh?” He laughed uproariously. “You must be giving him that arse real good.”“He’s not gay,” Paul growled.“Really? Then he must be really enjoying your handjobs and blowjobs.” The leader chuckled. “I mean I’m straight but I enjoy nutting down a twink’s throat once in a while. It’s a known fact that you faggots give the best head. Anyway, you know you’re not going to see him alive again, right?” He asked Paul who looked like he wanted to murder someone. “What a waste.” He breathed. “I guess I just have to make do with one twink. You’re not as gorgeous as your friend but you’re damn cute so…” He looked in the direction that Troy had disappeared and shook his head with an amused chuckle. “Give me thirty minutes.” He comically repeated what Troy had said before running off, making his men laugh. “Idiot.”Troy was back in twenty minutes. And he had exactly three thousand dollars in his hand. “Here’s your money. Now let my friend go.”The leader, his men, and even Paul looked extremely stunned as they stared at the money that Troy had in his hand. The leader took the money and slowly counted it. Then he just stared at Troy in utter shock.“Who gave you the money?” The leader asked, his voice low with astonishment.“I took it.” Troy shrugged. “You said they wouldn’t give it to me so I didn’t bother asking. I went to the backroom as you told me. Fortunately, they were counting money so I took the three thousand and left.”“Wait, wait, wait…” The man holding Paul let him go as he gapped at Troy. “You did what?”“I took the money and left,” Troy repeated.“How?” The leader croaked.“I cast a spell on them,” Troy revealed, innocently. “They couldn’t see me. You have your money. Don’t bother Paul again. Come on, Paul.” The two friends started to walk away from the still dumbfounded gang.“I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” Paul said quietly.“I don’t blame you.” Troy sighed. “Those men looked so scary. And the heaps of drugs I saw… I would have run too.”“Not that.” Paul wouldn’t meet Troy’s eye. “About the fact that I’m…gay.”“You are?”“Yes. Couldn’t you tell from their comments?” Paul murmured.“Oh, right.” Troy chuckled. “I don’t care that you’re gay, Paul.”“But the other time, you told me about how your family hated homo…”“You’re my friend, Paul,” Troy said firmly. “And that’s all that matters. I don’t care about…”“Hey hold up…” The two friends stopped when they heard the leader of the gang calling out from behind them. They waited until he caught up with them. “You…you cast a spell…as in used magic to steal from the Stones?” He looked both shocked and impressed.“That’s what I said.” Troy nodded.***“Wow! And you saw them counting money and took only three grand?” The leader was beside himself with shocked excitement.“That’s what Paul caused you to lose, right?” Troy asked.“Yes…no. Actually, we lost more than just the money.” The leader said, licking his lips as if he’d seen something juicy.Troy turned to face the greedy-looking leader. “I hope you’re not talking about interest because…”“No, no.” The leader shook his head. “We lost one of our friends. When we tried to reason with the Stones to give us the three grand, they killed one of us.” He explained. “So Paul caused us the life of one of our friends.”“Is that true?” Troy asked Paul.“I don’t know.” Paul shrugged with a dark scowl. “I know they were six but I don’t know about one of them getting killed.”“That’s because you ran so you have no idea what went down, you chicken shit.” The leader snapped. “I have to give Shatta’s baby mama money for his baby’s upkeep all the time because Shatta is no more.”“Those men ki
***“Deloris, we are ready.” Philip Harrington, the Alpha of Stanwood Pack growled low in his throat as he stared at the warlock in their midst. “It’s ten a.m.”“So…the four of us?” Deloris asked, glancing from the determined-looking woman standing before her, to her scowling son.“Mum, I really think you should stay home and…” Jeremy Stanton, the Alpha of all Alphas, started to say but got cut off by his unrelenting mother.“Not on your life, Jeremy.” Gloria Stanton said heatedly. “I’ve told you not to waste your breath. That’s my son we’re talking about. I need to be there.”“Four of us, Deloris.” Philip breathed as he rubbed the back of his neck in obvious agitation. He could feel his wolf going crazy inside of him. He was having a difficult time stopping himself from shifting.“Calm down, Lip.” Jeremy, his boss and best friend murmured beside him. “We need you calm otherwise this will not end well.”“Should I give you something to…” Deloris looked at her alpha with worried eyes.“
***“Deloris, is it possible to do a location spell?” The alpha of all alphas asked the powerful warlock.“Piece of cake.” The warlock grinned as she leaned in to rub Gloria on the back. “I’ll need your blood, Alpha Jeremy.” She addressed the Alpha of Alphas. “And yours too, Gloria. Ryan, why don’t you go get some sleep?” Deloris asked with a frown. “You look sleepy. Amazing but sleepy.”“Well, there’s a reason for that,” Jeremy said with a cocky grin, looking at the faces around the table. “Mum, you might want to brace yourself for this one…” He watched as Gloria pulled out of Joel’s embrace and locked curious eyes on his. “Ryan is pregnant.”The collective gasp that went up said it all. Everyone in the room, except a grinning Deloris, looked shocked.“Impossible!” The High Priestess exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock.“How?” Paige screeched.“Err… you mean lesbians don’t know how babies are…”“Shut up, Stan.” Paige snapped as she turned shocked eyes on Ryan, who considered her his be
***“You must be kidding me.” Troy couldn’t keep the shock out of his voice as he stared at the guns pointing at his and Paul’s heads. “I thought we had an agreement.”“Well, consider it canceled.” Blaze grinned as he relaxed in his seat and lit a joint. He already looked high. And from the traces of white power on the table and the rolled-up dollar bill beside the substance, Troy could hazard a good guess what the gang leader was high on. He’d watched enough TV. “This is a lot of cash.” Blaze pointed his joint at the sacks of cash as he watched the two boys from beneath his lashes. “I don’t want any of this getting out so we have to shut you up…permanently.”“But we helped you get…”“What did you do?” The leader of the gang scoffed as he took a long drag. “Your work was to stop the police if they showed up. They didn’t.”“That was because I changed their course.” Troy was literally shaking with disbelief and anger. He was, however, more concerned about Paul who was trembling and plea
***A shocked Jeremy tore his eyes off his now stiff fireball-wielding brother when he felt a familiar warmth against him. His eyes widened in shock when his gaze landed on his sleepy mate. He was still in the sweats and t-shirt he’d left him sleeping in back at home. He couldn’t even seem to keep his eyes open.“Baby?” Jeremy ran his fingers through Ryan’s disheveled hair. He thought his mate looked absolutely gorgeous with that sexy bedhead. “How…”“Not me,” Ryan mumbled sleepily as he wrapped his arms around Jeremy’s waist and laid the side of his face against his broad chest. “The baby thought you were in danger. It brought me here.” He yawned. “As you can see, I was sleeping.”“What?” Jeremy gasped as he wrapped his arms around Ryan too. “It can do that?” He looked stunned.“It’s your kid.” Ryan chuckled. “What’s going on here?” He looked at a fireball-wielding gorgeous young man and smiled. “Your brother looks pissed,” Ryan murmured.“Oh, he is.” Jeremy chuckled. “At Lip.”“Oh b
***The story of the bank robbers who were mysteriously found with their loot and weapons in a locked police cell was to later become a hot debate in media houses and on social media. Blaze of course sang like a canary, talking about a magician called Troy and his team. Of course the story of the flabbergasted police team who found themselves in another state just as they got to the bank that was being robbed by Blaze and his team, only fueled the story. The story of the Vigilante Magicians was to trend for weeks.Magicians were urged to help the police do their jobs like the selfless group who had, according to the story of the robbers themselves, given up Blaze and his gang. Among the speculations that were rife on media was the possibility of an alien invasion.Meanwhile, in a quiet farmhouse, where unbeknownst to the public, the nine original residents had been murdered in cold blood with the help of magic, five warlocks watched the news with grim faces. They knew for a fact that
***“Paul?” Troy breathed when he heard his friend’s voice on the other end. “Are you at the police station?” He listened for a moment. “Okay, I’ll come and get you…don’t think because she looks like a nice person, she is.” He said urgently. “These people are murder…” Deloris snatched the phone away.“Alright, that’s enough.” She cut the line. “At least you know I didn’t lie to you.”“What do you want from me?” Troy asked quietly. “You’ve already taken everything that I have. My family…”“We are your family.” Gloria finally said softly as she started towards Troy, who looked at her closely for the first time.“Oh no, no, no I’m no kin of you people,” Troy said with a shake of his head.“You are, son,” Gloria said quietly as she stopped in front of her youngest son, her cheeks wet with tears.Troy stared at the woman and felt a strong wave of emotion he couldn’t understand but which made him want to comfort her, sweep over him. The feeling was so powerful he took an involuntary step cl
***“Paul is not here,” Troy said quietly immediately after they materialized in Gloria’s living room. They’d all decided that the best place to break Troy in was in his mother’s house.“He will come over as soon as you and your mother are done talking,” Philip muttered as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began to type, sizing Troy up intermittently.“I won’t say anything until I see him.” Troy insisted, a dark scowl in place. But he added after a moment; “Please.”“How about we call so that you talk to…” Jeremy began to say but trailed off when his brother began to vigorously shake his head.“How about I see him first?” Troy didn’t sound as if he was going to accept anything else. “I’ve been around warlocks long enough to know the tricks that can be played.” He glared at Jeremy. “For all I know, the voice I heard on the phone in the warehouse was not really his. I just want to see that he’s okay.” He added quietly. “Is that too much to ask?”“And what makes you think th