Free Banded Brothers 03 - To Enchant An Eagle by Amber Kell Page B

good.” Carey smiled at seeing Marty mobile. “Get dressed. We’re meeting in the living room in thirty minutes.”
Marty nodded. He’d wait to tell his story until everyone had assembled.
    A half hour later and Marty found himself the focus of the strangest collection of shifters ever. By nature, avian and furred shifters didn’t mix, but that didn’t stop the hawks and assorted cat paranormals from crowding the living room at Carey’s behest.
    “Hello, everyone. A sorcerer has captured Eaton. He goes by the name of Gallen Theos. He claims to want Eaton to be his bonded and that he will take good care of him. However, in order to do this, he is stealing Eaton’s will by using a necklace to control him.”
    Denton made a derisive snort. The croc shifter sat on the lap of his mate Isaac, a puma shifter.
“Something you want to say?” Marty challenged.
“Eaton can’t be spelled; he’s been inoculated,” Denton explained.
“Really? The necklace looked like it was working,” Marty said, not daring to hope his beloved was truly safe.
“It might have initially, but when the counterspell kicks in, he’ll be fully cognizant,” Carey said.
“That might not be a good thing.”
Marty turned to the new speaker. He knew without the sight of the bear shifter standing protectively near that the interloper was none other than Rohan, leader of the vampires. The man’s supernatural energy whipped through the room like an electric shock, setting the shifters on edge. Marty wondered how Harris could stand being that close to the vampire.
“Why not?” Marty couldn’t understand why Eaton controlling his own thoughts could be dangerous.
“Because sorcerers enslave their better halves, if you will.” Rohan made air quotes around better halves. “In order to be bonded with a sorcerer, you have to give up your will. If they find out that Eaton can’t give up his free will, they might kill him to keep their secrets.”
“Then we’d best save him quickly,” Marty said, his heart sinking at the news.
“I’d like to offer my vampires to assist,” Rohan said unexpectedly.
Marty saw Carey wince at Rohan’s words. He remembered the human didn’t like vampires, but he knew from their interactions that Carey wouldn’t refuse anyone’s help if it would get him back his friend.
Biting back a smile, Marty nodded. “Welcome to our rescue group.”
“Thank you. Harris told me how much Eaton’s friendship means to him.” The vampire’s gaze settled fondly on the big bear shifter, who blushed beneath his regard. “I don’t want him upset.”
“Well, thank you for coming,” Carey sounded as if he had to scrape the words off his soul in order to get them out, but he said them nonetheless.
“Does anyone know where the sorcerers live?”
Most of the paranormals tended to stick to their own neighborhoods. The shifters mostly stayed in Queen Anne, Green Lake, Fremont and West Seattle with a few dotted through downtown. The vampires took over Capitol Hill and part of First Hill. There were rumors of necromancers living in Ballard, but no definitive sightings. Humans still took up most of the space, but there were pockets where non-paranormals shouldn’t go at night. Marty had heard the Fremont Troll had rampaged during the last earthquake, but the media had hushed it up.
“They are in Magnolia,” Rohan offered. His tone brooked no argument.
“Where?” Carey asked.
Rohan shrugged. “We aren’t certain. There aren’t a lot of places for them to hide. I’ve always suspected they were squatting on Fort Lawton property. Too many times the Army has changed their mind about what they wanted to do.”
Marty turned to the hawks. “You guys do a fly by and check it out. Report back anything suspicious. Pay special attention to any possible magical influence.”
They shifters nodded and left the room.
“We’ll wait for their report,” Marty said. He sat down on the closest surface, a beautiful upholstered couch.
Carey