“Let no one say Lindsay doesn’t have a sense of humor.” Noah couldn’t help smiling at that. He sat in the doorway of the van next to Dane, ignoring the grit and rough carpet chafing his ass. Damn new skin.

“Get back here!”

Noah’s head came up when Dane snapped. Jonas was skulking toward a gull picking at an empty burger wrapper.

Jonas just sneered at Dane and shook his head before going back to stalking the bird.

“Jonas,” Noah said. “No.” That would definitely make Jonas sick, and Noah was not having a man half again his size puking raw seagull on him all the way back to Detroit.

Jonas dropped to all fours and came back to crouch at Noah’s feet. He did take the time to peer over Noah’s knees and growl at Dane.

“Damn dog.” Dane shook his head. “Moore can’t let a single thing stay good if she can ruin it.”

The dog. Something clicked in Noah’s head. And the girl. Lourdes, the girl. Jonas, the dog. They were vague figures in the sprawling milieu of magical beings, but Noah knew what there was to know of their reputations.

“Why did you let me rescue him?”

“To piss Moore off.” Dane shrugged and bared his teeth at Jonas.

“Right.” Noah put a hand on Jonas’s head and shoved until Jonas couldn’t see Dane anymore.

“Can you think of a better reason?” Dane gave him an arch look.

Compassion. Logic. Kinship.

“Not really.” It was a small victory, but Noah would take it. And he’d take the warm, languid day that nature had conjured up to soothe his pains.

Jonas was suspiciously quiet. Noah had raised too many of his siblings and cousins to let that slide, even though the hot sun and the last of the drugs were making it hard to find the energy to care. There was only one thing he could think of that would be keeping Jonas busy right now.

“Jonas, don’t eat dirt.”

“Not.”

“What...” Noah gave in and moved to see what Jonas was doing.

“Ants,” Dane said, chuckling. “Full of protein. Jonas, share.” He reached around Noah and held out his hand.

“Nu-uh.”

“See, this is why we don’t get along.” Dane gave Noah a wounded look.

“Well, at least one of us isn’t hungry anymore.”

Noah let his head rest against the van door, and leaned back, closing his eyes and turning his face into the sun. He and Dane were worse for wear, and Dane and Jonas were still trapped in their collars, but that wouldn’t last. They had lost Cyrus, but they were stronger than ever, more focused, and—most importantly—together.

Chapter Sixteen

Lindsay had never bothered to give the basement of the house in Detroit more than a cursory inspection, but apparently Noah and Kristan had paid more attention, because that was the first place both of them had suggested to work the magic required to take the collars off Jonas and Dane. It wasn’t roughed in; the floor was packed dirt and the walls were bare cement. Once he was down there, he realized that the earth would draw off excess magic that might be released when the collars came off, the way the cave had done when Ezqel fixed Lindsay’s magic, and Dane’s.

Dane, Noah, Ylli, Kristan and Jonas were already down there, preparing for the first attempt. When Zoey had said she needed to double-check her computer for data she’d gathered from the lab, Lindsay had followed her upstairs.

“They’re not regular technology,” he cautioned as they came back down. “Those figures are runes, you don’t want to mess with the magic in the collar if you can help it.”

“The computers at the lab had schematics.” Zoey turned her little computer toward Lindsay to show him. “Are those the runes you’re talking about?”

“There and there,” Lindsay said, pointing. “That’s what she’s using to suppress their magic. The runes can be broken, but...”

Lindsay trailed off, shaking his head. He didn’t want to hurt Dane like that. In his experience, the runes breaking released magical energy that was inevitably dangerous.

“You don’t want to do it that way. Not if we can help it. If you can’t get the tech to release, don’t try the runes. I’ll do it. I’ve done it before.”

The voices grew louder as they came down the stairs. Noah and Dane.

“Look, if you want to take your chances with something, I’ve got a whole drawer of lighters you can play with.” That was Noah, and he didn’t sound happy. “I’ll even throw in a gas can and some candles. But you can wait until we know how these come off. You’re not going to use this as some fancy self-flagellation.”

“I’m not sitting around like a side of beef while you give your puppy back his big dog teeth. I know what I’m doing.” Dane’s voice lacked its usual growl, but Lindsay didn’t need that to know when he was upset.

“He’s not mine,” Noah snapped.

Dane laughed outright at that. “He’s yours as much as he’s ever been anyone’s.”

As Lindsay came down a few more steps, he caught sight of Jonas growling at Dane—from behind Noah’s knees.

“You know what you’re doing, Dane,” Lindsay said, “but Zoey hasn’t done this before.” He didn’t like the idea of using Dane as a guinea pig.

“Yes, that.” Noah glared at Dane before turning his attention to Zoey. “Do you need anything like wires or tools?”

“I don’t really know magic or technology,” Zoey admitted with a little shrug. “I just kind of...talk to the computers and stuff, and they talk back to me. I’m starting with him, right?” She moved toward Jonas.

She was a lot less skittish now that they all had clothes on.

“Come here.” Noah walked to the center of the basement, beckoning for Jonas to follow. “And stand up.”

Jonas eyed Lindsay suspiciously as he obeyed. Lindsay stayed back, but he watched Jonas just as warily. He didn’t want to see Zoey hurt by Jonas or the collar.

Zoey stepped in to look at the collar, muttering quietly. To herself, Lindsay thought, and not to the collar. Not yet. It seemed like she was still feeling it out, comparing it to the schematics on her computer screen.

“Don’t touch.” Jonas put his hand in front of her face. “Only Mother can touch.”

“He’s not right in the head,” Dane muttered. “He was missing a good chunk of it, and his hands and feet, for a while. The girl talked Moore into turning off the collar to let him heal, and mine too. It didn’t help his mind.”

Lindsay hardly heard Noah soothing Jonas. His mind seized on Dane’s admission that Lourdes had helped them. She had brought him information—he remembered the apprehension he’d felt as she spoke to him and knew now that not all of it had been his. She’d been afraid, and yet she hadn’t betrayed him to Moore. She’d betrayed Moore to her face by helping Dane.

In her strange way, she had tried to comfort him, more than once. Maybe she kept reassuring him that he would find Dane because of her connection to Jonas. It was hard to imagine Lourdes as human, but if she cared for Jonas the way he cared for Dane, he had something to use against her. Jonas was theirs now.

“It’s okay, Jonas,” Noah said patiently, still trying to get Jonas to put his hand down so Zoey could get closer. “She’s going to help. She’s allowed. Put your hand down.”

Lindsay had no idea what they were going to do with Jonas. Healing magic rarely affected the mind, and watching Noah had shown him just how ready the mind had to be for it to work. Noah was—not different, but whole, since Rajan healed him. If Jonas’s magic couldn’t affect his mind, they were stuck with a dangerous, barely functional mage who seemed bonded to Noah—making him Lindsay’s, and

Dane’s, whether they liked it or not.

If Jonas was whole again, would he leave Noah? Lindsay could see flickers of intelligence and comprehension in his eyes. Jonas wasn’t all there, but he wasn’t lost, either. Given the dedication with which Jonas and Dane had tried to kill each other, Lindsay didn’t think Jonas would be leaving Noah any time soon. Magic and will could form intense bonds.