Rich Boy: Awakening - 7. Chapter 7

“Interesting.” Byron Jones said when the geas had finished telling everything it knew of the last few months. Mikie was just a presence, relegated the farthest reaches of his own mind now. The geas had control, buffered by the compulsions from the Housemaster and Dark Mage.

They had moved inside one of the dilapidated buildings as the geas told everything it knew. Mikie counted it a small blessing the geas didn’t know everything. Some secrets he’d managed to keep, and so the Dark Mage, and his two apprentices didn’t know everything. Tom was still there, standing off to the side while the two students Mitchell Price and David Heart flanked their master. Brandon was at his side.

The boy had grown at least two inches over the summer, but he was still the shortest person here. His hair looked better, styled in a nice way and with highlights, and he was smiling at Mikie. There was something else, some connection between them, and Mikie realized with a purely internal groan of despair that the geas was feeding on energy from Brandon, growing stronger by the minute.

“They think that they can make him strong enough to overcome me, consume me.” His voice said with a contemptuous snort.

“Don’t be too cocky, Worthington.” Byron Jones warned him. The man was tapping his jaw in thought. “They do have a point. You will have to integrate the two personalities. Are you listening Mitchell, David? This is always a concern to remember when using compulsion on a strong-willed person.”

“Yes, master.” The two young men said in unison. Both were tall, broad-shouldered and dark-haired. They were dressed in dark suits as well, and were looming, dark presences behind their master. Only their pale skin broke their darkness. Their skin was as pale as his own was before he came to Arizona.

“The key here is when, and how the integration takes place.” Byron Jones continued. “If they are able to conduct the integration on their schedule, they could succeed. Lower your shields the rest of the way, boy.”

“No.” Mikie’s voice was firm. “I don’t dare.”

“There are no light bitches nearby to take advantage, lower your shields.” That held the snap of a command, and was reinforced by the compulsions on him from the Dark Mage. The geas quivered, but began to obey, and another presence intruded on his mind. Mikie sensed this as a dark wind blowing through, scouring everything. It didn’t stay long and he had a look of disgust on his face. “Faugh! That blasted Mindhealer of theirs is competent, alright. We’re going to have to undo some of this damage right away. You! Come here.”

That last was directed at Tom, who had been standing still, paying attention to nothing. Now he walked right to the spot the mage pointed at and stopped there. His face was blank, staring at nothing and Mikie felt guilty for him. Here was an innocent who had done nothing except be… in the right place at the wrong time.

“We tried to use the other boy, that Joshua.” Jones sneered. “He’s the one you almost took, I presume. Well, they’ve got him full of trip wires, so we had to take this one. Still, not a bad specimen. He ought to have something useful for your little trick. Take him.”

“Yes, master.” The voice came out of his mouth and he turned to Tom, even as the blank look faded to be replaced by one filled with terror.

“What’s going on?” Tom’s voice was a horror filled whisper. “Mike, what the fuck is happening?”

“Don’t worry, Tom.” The voice wasn’t Mikie’s, it was Worthington, as he was starting to think of the geas, and Tom seemed to sense the difference. He looked like he was about to bolt, but Worthington’s hand connected with a shoulder, and Tom started to relax as his mind was overtaken. “That’s right, Tom, everything’s okay. I know you’ve been looking at me. You like what you see, don’t you?”

“I, uh…” Tom stuttered.

“Don’t worry, it’s just us here in this abandoned mine.” Worthington’s voice was spinning a web even as his mind entered Tom’s. The boy leaned forward, against him, and he knew the boy’s mind would be opening fully to him as soon as they started. He didn’t hesitate before leaning in and putting his lips to Tom’s luscious, full lips. The kiss started it all, and he smiled as he sifted through the boy’s experiences to find something he could use.

Mikie struck as soon as Worthington’s attention was fully on Tom. Even as he latched onto Tom’s basketball playing skills, Worthington reeled from the blow. The Dark Mage had removed most of his compulsions so Worthington could act independently enough, and that gave Mikie hope. His first strike sent the geas reeling, and with momentary physical control, Mikie deepened the kiss and pulled Tom into a full embrace.

The geas tried to pull out of Tom to focus on Mikie, and he pulled on strength from Brandon. That enraged Mikie who viewed Brandon as an innocent, and he reached out with mental hands to seize the bond between him and the other boy. Brandon’s breath hitched slightly as both Worthington and Mikie pulled strength out of him, but Mikie’s anger and outrage gave him an edge. With a snap, the bond settled fully under the control of Mikie, and that added strength was his.

“No.” Byron Jones’s voice was calm, but his eyes widened as he realized what was happening within his protégé. Tendrils of thought flew from him to reinforce the weakening geas, but they ran into crystalline shields and shattered harmlessly. “Mitchell! David! Link with me!”

The two other students complied, linking strength with their master even as the geas struck again, sending Mikie reeling slightly. He could feel Tom’s mind starting to struggle against the geas that was partway in it, and part in Mikie. The young man was ungifted, but even the ungifted could struggle for control of their own mind, and he fought back with surprising strength. Another presence filtered into the battlefield, and Mikie realized it was Brandon.

Despite everything that had happened to him, a life that some would consider right out of hell, there was an aura of innocence still about him. It had remained uncorrupted somehow by the things that had been done to him, and that he’d agreed to participate in. Worthington reached out to that presence, trying to snap up the bond and enforce its control over the boy’s strength that was not inconsiderable.

Mikie took a different approach.

Brandon was holding back now, seeing the war inside the one he viewed as his protector, and didn’t know what to do. Which should he support? Worthington was there, the geas, demanding obedience. He sensed it and knew instinctively it was the presence that had cut him, taking the bonding he’d offered, but there was another presence there as well, one he’d never seen before and it was telling him something different.

I will protect you, Brandon. That strange presence said. You are bonded to me for life, and it cannot be undone. I will accept you, care for you, love you, even. From me, you will get more than simple protection and a place in life. Your happiness will matter to me as much as my own. Help me, Brandon, support me, please.

Mikie could sense Brandon making his decision and the strength that had stuttered flowed into him like a flood. With it came a sense of why Brandon had chosen. Always Brandon had been told what he would do, when he would do it. When the scholarship offer came, his parents had told him he would go. When he had been taken for the midnight lessons, he had been told he would learn, or he would be expelled. Last year, when he was being prepared for the bonding, he had been told he could choose the bonding, or he would be expelled and left alone, weak, and unprotected all his life.

Mikie was the first person he could remember ever giving him a choice in his life, the first person to say ‘please’, and mean the word. There was no hidden threat behind Mikie’s words if he chose otherwise, and faced with a real choice, Brandon had chosen the one who offered something more.

The mental scream of the geas was awful as Mikie turned his full attention on it. With a yank, he pulled it completely free of Tom’s mind, and brought it back into his own mind. There he created a perfect sphere of pure crystal, and thrust the geas into it. Yes, better than before, this would hold the geas. It might break out eventually, but he would be able to tell if that was a danger. Better even than the box he’d used to shuffle his emotions away, this sphere would contain the geas. It could still see through the sphere. It would know much of what he did, but it would be confined, in a place he knew where it was, and he could see inside it as well as it could see outside.

Then Byron Jones struck with the full strength of his impressive powers, and the support of the two students linked to him. It was a mental blow, of low magic, Michael knew, and it slammed against his shields before shattering. It hurt, like a hammer blow inside his head, but his shield held. Jones changed tactics and his next blow struck at Brandon, the source of his extra power. Brandon’s shields were weaker. He had strength, but could use very little of it himself, and Michael knew somehow that he needed to protect his soul-bonded servant. The shield he expanded covered him just in time, and there was the hammer blow of pain in his head again.

This time he didn’t wait for the Dark Mage to act again, but rather he included a newly free Tom in his shielding. It took strength to cover three minds like this, but he had it to spare. Tom was looking at him with wild eyes, and had stepped back two steps as their kiss had ended, but he was not running, or fighting.

“Mike?” Tom asked in a hushed breath.

“It’s me, stay close.” Michael replied, and realized just how much had changed in him in the last few moments. He knew more, understood more, and was no longer the young little boy he’d felt like over the last few days since shedding his persona as Worthington. When he’d seized the geas and locked it away, he’d absorbed some of it, integrated more of it into him, and had matured a bit, and grown in skill with his powers. Oh yes, they were Dark powers, Dark skills, but even darkness could be used for good.

“You cannot hope to escape, young man.” Jones said confidently as Tom moved to stand on Michael’s right side, even as Brandon’s hand found and squeezed his left. Brandon was a presence in his mind now, linked to him even as Jamie linked with him, except on a deeper level. Once again he dipped into that wellspring of strength. “Let Worthington go, and I promise the integration will be painless. We’ll even let your friend go unharmed. You have my promise.”

“No thanks.” Michael growled and flung the power out from him in the form of a pure bolt of power. Jones laughed as the power bolt splashed against his mage shields. The blinding flash of light as they connected hid the second bolt he flung, almost as powerful and David Heart fell to the ground. That had been a stun bolt, powerful but meant only to knock him out. It was a Dark version, though, and David would remain unconscious until Michael let him wake, or Michael was defeated.

“You use Dark powers, boy?” Jones murmured with surprise, shifting his position slightly. Still, he didn’t expand his shield to cover the remaining student, Mitchell, who was looking worried now. “I would think those witches you bow down to would have expunged the dark from you.”

“I am what I am, old man.” Michael said with a malicious grin. A part of him was enjoying this, the test of wills, the conflict. He knew it was the part of him freshly absorbed from the geas, but he found he had no desire to reject it. Why should he reject this part of himself? He would not use it against the innocent, those who did not deserve it, but this man did deserve that.

“There might be hope for you yet.” Jones said calmly, and lowered his hand that had begun to glow with assembled power. “Let us talk.”

“You can’t trust him.” Tom said in a thick voice. “He… they… what they did to me. You can’t trust any of them.”

“I know that.” Michael said calmly. “But I will talk.”

“No.” Tom started to move, to do something, but Michael put a hand on his arm. Nothing more, but that stopped Tom’s movement.

“Tom, this is a fight you can’t win, you can’t take part in.” Michael said. “I have to handle this. Trust me, please.”

“How can I trust you?” Tom asked in a strangled voice. “There’s that… thing inside of you. I could feel what it was doing to me, something as bad as them!”

“It’s locked up now.” Michael said, sparing a glance at the Dark Mage to see him lift an eyebrow at that. “You helped me do that, you know. I’m sorry it, and they, hurt you. You’re a good friend.”

“I led you here, to their trap.” Tom muttered darkly.

“You don’t have the gifts we do, the ability to do magic.” Michael explained. “There really was no way to fight them on your own, but you tried and you kept trying. Your fighting the thing inside me helped me get the upper hand against it. If you hadn’t done that, if you’d just given up and let it happen, I wouldn’t be in control again. You’ve done your part, now let me do mine. Please, trust me.”

“Okay.” Tom muttered softly.

“You’ll have to wipe his memories no matter what happens here.” Byron Jones said with a slight little lift upwards of his lips. “You should at least know that tradition. The witches protecting you would even wipe his mind, if you don’t.”

“What’s he talking about?” Tom asked sharply.

“Tom, would you ever be able to sleep soundly again if you could remember what had happened to you today?” Michael said as he recognized the trap Jones was laying for him. It was a trap of words, of loyalty. He was trying to drive a wedge between Michael and his mundane friend.

“I’m never going to sleep again.” Tom muttered darkly and he looked scared, really scared. “Are Richie and Jamie like you? He talked about witches. Did he mean their mothers?”

“Yes, they’re mages too, all of them.” Michael admitted. “Will you ever feel safe over there again, even knowing that they are good people who would never do any of the things that have happened to you today?”

“No.” Tom admitted after thinking about it for a moment. “I promise, I won’t say anything, but I’m going to stay as far away from all of you as possible. You might not do anything, but bastards like him will.”

“We can set protections in you to make it more difficult for that, the way Josh is protected.” Michael offered, seeing an opportunity. “Would you prefer that, to have the protections there and not be able to remember anything more than that we had a good time on our ride today?”

“You can do that?” Tom asked in surprise.

“Yes, I know the spell.” Michael assured him. “If anyone ever tries to mess with your mind again, I’ll know and can protect you.”

“He can do that.” Brandon said from the other side of him. “That’s why the Housemaster is so afraid of him, why he brought all of us with him, because Worthington’s so strong.”

“Call me Michael, Brandon.” Michael said in a soft tone, full of affection.

“Okay, fine.” Tom said and stepped back closer, until his shoulder was touching Michael’s again. “If you promise you can protect me, I wouldn’t mind forgetting.”

“Thank you, Tom.” Michael smiled in victory, and turned back to Jones. “Now, you wanted to talk, Headmaster?”

“Do you think you can walk the gray paths?” Jones said with a sneer. “You wouldn’t be the first to try, you know. There have been other Dark Mages who gave up their power and tried to walk between Light and Dark. All of them failed in the end.”

“I’ll walk my own path, thank you very much.” Michael snapped.

“Was Worthington right as to why you did not return to our school?” The man asked. “You know we would have waited for your money until the legal troubles were settled. By now you should understand how important you are to us.”

“I know.” Michael shrugged. “The geas was right, I refused because of concerns my Uncle could use my being in Virginia in his legal maneuvers. At the time, my decision had nothing to do with the school itself.”

“I see.” Jones said. “You should have talked to us. If you had, you would have known that we could make sure that did not happen. We would protect you as well as your Aunt and her… friend. Better in fact.”

“No thank you.” Michael said firmly. “I’ve changed since then, as you can tell.”

“You’re only half-trained.” Jones persisted. “Those bitches won’t train you further. They’re Light, and Light will never teach Dark and it is far too late for you to try and walk their paths.”

“I know.” Michael shrugged. “I’ll find a way.”

“Release Mr. Heart, please.” Jones said after a long moment of silently observing him.

“Why?” Michael asked.

“It would be easier to leave with him if he was awake.” Jones said with a shrug.

“You’re leaving?” Michael asked in surprise.

“Yes.” Jones replied. “A battle between us now would likely result in your death. More than likely, you would be able to take out Mitchell, and I will lose three, if not four students, all of them particularly valuable. I will take the boys and leave you with your mundane… friend.”

“Brandon stays with me.” Michael said in a voice that brooked no argument. He’d felt the worry from his soul-bonded at Jones’s words, and the elation at Michael’s. “That is, if you would like to stay, Brandon.”

“I do.” Brandon said with a bright smile.

“How do you hope to make that work?” Jones sneered again. “He is a minor. You are a minor. Your family’s wealth is tied up in a court battle.”

“You will make it happen.” Michael said.

“Why would I do that?” Jones asked. “He is a hold over you, a tool I can use. Why should I give him up?”

“Because David Heart dies if you do not.” Michael responded, holding out a hand and changing the stun spell slightly. He moved so quickly that Jones could not respond. Now, any interruption in the spell would stop the guy’s heart, or a clenching of Michael’s would do the same. “You would not want to lose two students today, would you?”

“No.” Jones said with an evil smile. “I look forward to seeing the end product of your integration if this is what comes out of it. Remember, you will always be welcome at our school.”

“Even now, after this?” Michael asked and Jones chuckled softly.

“Especially now.” He replied. “We’ll work those weaknesses out of you. It appears you at least are retaining enough ruthlessness to get by on. Very well, you win. Brandon Meyers stays with you. I will have his parents sign over his guardianship to whomever you designate. Probably one of those witches.”

“I will have to discuss with them how they want to proceed with that.” He admitted, not wanting to show the weakness but knowing he could not speak for them on this matter. They would have to decide to take Brandon. “How can you be sure his parents will comply?”

“They will.” Brandon smirked. “They know my father’s been selling me to other men since I was six, and they have proof. That’s how they got the man to let me go to the school, and kept him from doing it again once I started school.”

“I see.” Michael said softly while Tom stared in shock at Brandon. With a flick of his wrist, Michael released the spell on David Heart, returning him to consciousness. The guy moaned as he sat up, and Mitchell helped him to his unsteady feet.

“We will be in touch once papers are ready on Brandon.” Jones said as he motioned for Mitchell to take David out. “Best wishes with the fight against your Uncle. Be wary of him, he is very dangerous. I taught him, as I taught your father, and you. He was always the more dangerous of the Sinclairs.”

“Thank you for the warning.” Michael said, not relaxing even as the man reached the doorway. He paused there, and turned to look at Michael.

“One piece of advice, young Michael Sinclair.” Jones stated. “Do not wait too long before you integrate what is left of Worthington. The longer it is left to fester inside of you, the stronger it will grow.”

“Wouldn’t you prefer to have it win?” Michael asked in surprise.

“I don’t know.” Byron Williams Jones the Third said with all the dignity he had ever possessed. “In some ways, I think you will be a stronger man than him, if you can overcome the weakness inherit in the Light. It will take someone stronger than Worthington to overcome your Uncle, that I am sure of.”

With that, the man turned and left the building, leaving them alone. Michael still didn’t relax until he heard the vehicle drive away. Then he slumped down, as his head throbbed from all the attacks, and exertions he’d been through. Brandon, even though he was shorter and of slimmer build supported his weight with a smile on his face.

“You were magnificent.” Brandon said with pride.

“I’m glad you chose to support me, not the other one inside of me.” Michael stated.

“You gave me a real choice.” Brandon replied.

“Would you care to explain that all to me?” Tom asked in a harsh voice. “Or are you just going to wipe my mind without giving me a choice?”

“Have a seat.” Michael said, deciding he would explain. If he could, he’d let Tom choose to accept having his memory wiped, and it could do no harm for him to fully understand. Besides, he wanted to give Jones and the two students time to leave, to be far ahead of them on the road back to Phoenix. He did not want to tempt them to try again. The geas was huddled inside that sphere, totally stunned right now, but it would begin plotting again soon, and he did not want to give it another opportunity.

“I don’t know if I even want to remember all this shit.” Tom said with a shake of his head after Michael was done explaining.

“It really is for the best, for all of us.” Michael said.

“Do you make me forget everything, or just lock the memories away?” Tom asked. “Is it like wiping a hard drive, or putting a password on files so they can’t be accessed?”

“It can be done either way.” Brandon said, speaking up. “It’s more complicated to just lock them away, but it can be done. Worth… I mean Michael learned it at the end of last year. Sometimes it’s necessary for a Mage to have humans serving him know about magic, but they take steps to protect themselves.”

“I don’t remember that.” Michael said sadly. “It was the geas, Worthington I guess you could say. The evil part of me learned that, not me.”

“You can force it to show you.” Brandon suggested. “I can help with that.”

“I’d like that better, but I don’t want to be your servant.” Tom said with a sharp look at him.

“How about a friend?” Michael asked and Tom grinned as he nodded once.

“That I can live with.” Tom agreed. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to have to open up the cage I put him in, just enough to communicate directly with him.” Michael explained, and took a deep calming breath. Brandon was there, in the back of his mind, a strong and steady source of support. It would be nice having that there all the time. Was this what his father had enjoyed from Randall Smythe? How had Randall dealt with losing his father? Part of him felt a great deal of sympathy for the man and wondered if there was anything he could do for him. No, that was a concern for later, and he realized he was trying to stall from doing what he needed to do. Well, he would only need to do it if he intended to honor the freedom of choice for Tom. He could just wipe the guy’s memory, and he would never know the difference.

No, that was what Worthington Sinclair would do.

Taking a deep breath, and centering himself, Michael prepared to open the crystal sphere containing the geas. As soon as the hole was opened, the geas surged forth, trying to escape but was held in place by Michael’s will. His own strength was tapped out, but he drew on that being freely offered by Brandon and contained the geas.

You need me! Worthington told Michael. It was odd, they were two separate people, but they were part of the same person at the same time. They understood each other in a way no one else did.

Yes, I do. Michael admitted. Show me what I need to know.

Let me out. Worthington demanded. Give me a chance.

No. Michael replied.

Then stuff what you need. Worthington snarled, and pulled back inside the sphere, as if taunting Michael. He didn’t hesitate, he followed into the sphere in which he’d trapped the geas. It was that, or he could renege on his promise, or dissolve the sphere. Neither of those were choices he wanted to make, so he followed the geas into its prison.

When the geas tried to trick him, escape while leaving him trapped in there instead, it had a rude awakening. Michael seized it with his mental hands, and began to sift through it, looking for what he wanted with merciless ruthlessness. That had always been part of his lessons, he knew, from his father, and from Byron Jones. Ruthlessness was a quality they revered. Only the ruthless could make hard decisions, they believed, and they had taught that ruthlessness could not exist with compassion, just as they had taught… yes there it was.

Weakling! Worthington scoffed, but Michael was already pulling out, leaving Worthington stuck in his crystal cage. Still some of Worthington came out with him, and although it made his stomach churn, he swallowed that bit, horrible memories and all, making it a part of him.

The lesson in how to lock away memories without truly erasing them had been a special occasion. It was one of those sessions where more than one lesson was being taught at the same time, and Worthington had been the center of attention for nearly every Gifted at the school from little First Formers to the Upper Classes. Next year he would be returning as part of the Sixth Form, the lower of the two Upper Classes. He’d been carefully instructed by Housemaster Jones before the actual lesson, and he’d been excited by the opportunity he would have that night.

The other participant was twelve years old, and one of the scholarship students the same as Brandon Meyers. Unlike Brandon, Carl Horner had not accepted his lot in life. Occasionally the school miscalculated with their scholarship students. Part of the necessary make-up of their psyche was that they could not have any hope beyond what they were offered at school. Apparently Carl had such a hope, in the form of a neighbor who was always kind to him, and had promised to always be there for him. When Carl had been presented with his ‘choice’ of becoming soul-bound servant to a more powerful student in his year, he refused.

Next year he would not be returning to the school. Another scholarship student would be selected for his year, someone analyzed more carefully, and who would have two years of preparation rushed into one year. For Carl though, he would be sent back home. Before that happened though; he was to face the price for his refusal, and it was Worthington who extracted that price from him.

Worthington had raped him as two Upper Classmen held the young boy down. He’d been brought, bound and gagged, his clothes ripped off of him. Even as Worthington entered him, he squirmed and squealed around his gag. His minimal gift allowed everyone to hear his begging, though, until Worthington had slammed down a shield over his mind. The shield was mirrored though, so that his mental screams echoed in his mind until Carl realized what was happening and grew quiet. When the rape was done, and the boy lay bleeding under him, Worthington had smiled. It had been the first time he’d actually used force in raping someone, instead of subduing them with his power first. He could have done that this time, but this instruction had been quite clear.

The power of rape was a strong one, and it was another lesson for Worthington in how seductive physical rape could be, as seductive as the mental rape he more commonly practiced. That was another lesson he’d learned long ago. Call something what it was instead of using polite terms. Rape was rape, and using another term was an indication of weakness. What happened next, as Worthington released the spell he’d been taught earlier, and set it upon Carl, was just as bad as the rape. A second spell, one he’d learned a year earlier set the final part of Carl’s punishment into place, and he walked out of the chamber, fully cognizant of the looks he was receiving from Brandon Meyers, half-filled with fear, and admiration.

You knew. Michael sent to Brandon who was in his mind still, watching him as he finished sealing the crystal sphere and paused to absorb the memories and all that went with them.

I knew from First Form what my future was. Brandon responded. I was smarter than Carl. He wouldn’t listen to me, and he pays the price for his stupidity. Every day, for the rest of his life, he will remember all about that night, being raped because he chose wrong, and he’ll never be able to tell another living soul. Even a Mindhealer in his mind won’t be able to undo the blocks on the memory. If they try, the caster knows an attempt is being made. If they come close to succeeding, the block wipes the memory it covers.

Some would call that a mercy. Michael shivered as he opened his eyes.

“Well?” Tom asked anxiously.

“I have it.” Michael whispered, and didn’t bother waiting. Tom had already given his permission, and he worried that if he waited he would lack the courage to actually use the spell. Tom stiffened as he felt Michael entering his mind, but didn’t fight the intrusion while Michael gathered up the memories and set the blocks on them. It was like sewing almost, connecting them together and then throwing a blanket over them, followed by sewing the ends of the blanket together. When he was done, he leaned harder on Brandon. He was bordering on exhaustion.

“I can still remember.” Tom frowned.

“When you’re in my company, alone, you’ll remember.” Michael told him. “Or if Brandon’s the only one with me. By yourself, if you need to, you’ll remember, but you won’t remember most of the time, or when there’s anyone you could tell. I can’t make you totally forget this way, but you won’t get nightmares from these memories.”

“If you say so.” Tom didn’t sound too happy, but neither was he too upset. “What now?”

“Now we head home.” Michael said as he straightened up. The dizziness had passed. His exhaustion was more mental than physical.

“How’s he coming with us?” Tom asked.

“He’ll ride on my bike.” Michael stated.

“He doesn’t have a helmet.” Tom pointed out.

“Arizona doesn’t require it.” Michael reminded him. “He’ll wear mine.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Tom said.

“You were worried Worthington might have taken him over?” Brandon asked and Michael jerked in surprise. Tom smiled and shrugged. Brandon looked up at Michael with a smile on his face. “I like him.”

“So do I.” Michael told his soul-bonded as they exited the building. By the time they reached the bikes, he was already trying to prepare what he’d say to his Aunt and Stacy. They weren’t going to be happy, but then again, it seemed like he was doomed to live a complicated life.