"I won't let you go alone. What if Betina is just waiting for that move?" Dan didn't know how far in advance Betina had planned, but he wouldn't let his man walk into a trap.

"You aren't going without us," Dean spoke up.

Dan opened his mouth to argue. After all, he didn't need his brothers to watch his back all the time, but the pain in Dean's eyes had him snapping it shut again. His girlfriend's death had made Dean a little clingy. Dan could tell Dean worried that once he left, Dan might never come back.

Farren dropped Dan's hand to squeeze his shoulder. "That's fine. I'll be happy to have you all come."

If he hadn't already loved him, Dan would have tumbled helplessly, head-over-heels at that very moment.

"What's your cousin's avatar?" Thomas asked, unexpectedly joining the conversation.

"A small fire dragon. She usually keeps it in her purse, and he looks miserable."

89.

"A dragon small enough to fit inside a purse, how delightful. I wonder what that would be like?" Thomas gave his mate a pointed glare.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Do you think she'll continue her rampage if you're out of town, or does she need an audience?"

There was a pause as Farren considered his answer. "I think she'll want me to witness her actions. I'm the only one who understands what she's doing. But she'd have to know I was gone for her behaviour to change."

"Leave that to me," Jay offered. "I'll make sure she gets the message."

Dan resisted the urge to ask how. Sometimes what you didn't know was more important to avoid arrest.

90.

Chapter Nine.

Farren stood on the sidewalk in the exact middle of the school. The triplets were lined up before him in a semicircle. "Have you guys used ley lines to travel before?"

They nodded in eerie synchronicity. Creepy.

He caught Dan's smirk before his boyfriend hid it.

"You're just screwing with me aren't you?"

Devin laughed. "Pretty much."

Tension unfurled from Farren's gut, similar to watching his snake uncoiling. He'd been strung up tight ever since he'd realised he'd have to go home to find out the truth. Leaving had been the best thing he'd ever done. Going back was almost physically painful. He hoped he'd survive it a second time. Dan's fingers slid along his, soothing and calming. A melting sensation of pure serenity poured across him like warm butter.

"What are you doing?" It had to be Dan. Farren had never experienced this level of peace before.

"Magical medication. I took the three hundred level course. It's to help unwind after a day of spell casting."

"Mmm." Farren would have to investigate that course. Maybe major in it.

"If you're done wrapping your boyfriend up in your essence, can we get going? The campus isn't going to fireproof itself." Dean tapped his foot.

Farren burst into laughter. It wasn't funny, not really but the lack of stress from Dan's technique and the relief in knowing he didn't have to do this alone had taken its toll. Now he had someone on his side. The entire time he'd been growing up, he'd have given anything for even one person to speak up against Betina and take Farren's point of view into consideration. Even once.

He nodded to Dean. "Let's go."

The ley line Farren accessed was an ancient one, and no doubt one of the reasons the school was positioned where it was. He closed his eyes to block outside noises but kept his hold on Dan. If anything went wrong, he didn't want to lose Dan along the way. No matter *

91.

what the triplets said, he had a feeling their experience of travelling by ley lines was minimal.

Farren had mastered it at ten to escape his cousin Betina. Unfortunately, with nowhere else to go, he had always returned in the end.

Resolutely pushing aside the bad memories, Farren concentrated on his home. The line of power that went from the university to Farren's hometown was only a mile or so away from his father's house and even closer to the hospital. He hoped they could get in and out before his relatives came clamouring about. They only cared about him when they needed help, and Farren didn't think there was one among them who deserved assistance of any kind.

Opening his mind, Farren embraced the energy, his body turning into a being of pure light as he jumped.

The earth met his feet again with a jarring surge as gravity realigned.

Dan gasped beside him.

"You okay?" Farren smiled.

Dan's hair stuck up on all sides like a supercharged carpet had zapped him. His eyes were wider than Farren had ever seen before.

"Um. Yeah. I'm fine."

Before Farren could tease him further, Dean and Devin appeared. Now there were three men who resembled pissed off cats with their hair standing on end. Farren self-consciously ran a hand over his to make sure it had settled.

"How come you look like that and we look like troll dolls?" Devin asked, outrage colouring his voice. If annoyance could have a colour, Devin would've been a bright red.

"I've travelled by ley line a lot. I'm guessing you three haven't."

"We did to get to the school...once," Dean confessed.

Farren squeezed Dan's hand. "Next time tell me if you haven't had much experience in something. I know some tricks to help you along."

Devin snorted. "I bet you say that to all the cute boys."

Farren paused for a moment. "You know, you're right. Didn't I say that to you, Dan?"

Dan tapped his chin as he pretended to think about it. "No, you said lube, more lube. I remember it quite clearly."

92.

Laughter cleared the air. After a moment, Farren pointed down the street. "The hospital is this way." He repositioned the pack on his shoulders for comfort. "Let's go talk to my aunt."

Farren's nerves stretched taut as he thought over what to say to his aunt. The hospital loomed above them. "Hey, maybe I should talk to her alone."

"No." Dan's tone didn't allow for any wiggle room. "We don't know who is inside or if she's innocent. She could be in on it with her daughter for all we know. It's not like she protected you as a child."

He wished he could argue with Dan's logic, but the words wouldn't come. After a childhood of hell, Farren knew he couldn't put his faith in any of his relatives. He nodded, not trusting his voice. Dan's support meant more to him than his lover would ever know.

Trusting Dan and his brothers was a big step.

They easily made their way to the third floor of the hospital after discovering his aunt's whereabouts from a friendly nurse.

"She wanted in your pants bad, dude," Devin teased.

"Well she can't have them, they're mine." Dan's tone ended his brother's teasing right there.

A peek at Dan's face almost had Farren trying to swallow his tongue. His easygoing lover had a fierce expression in his eyes like a warrior ready to battle for his kingdom.

"Hey, we'll get through this." Farren patted Dan's arm.

At least he'd make sure Dan survived. If anyone was going to make it through this thing, it was Dan and his brothers. He didn't care about Devin and Dean as much, but he knew Dan would be lost without the other two. Farren would sacrifice everything before he let the djinn or his cousin harm a hair on the triplets' heads.

His boots rang hollowly against the blue speckled hospital tiles and the smell of antiseptic singed his nose as he approached his aunt's room. He pressed a hand to his suddenly queasy stomach and took a deep breath, filling his lungs with false courage.

Dan gripped Farren's shoulder. "Come on, babe, you can do this."

Farren nodded. Yeah he could do this. He had to. If he didn't get the information he needed, they were all dead.

93.

Forcing his feet to propel him forward, Farren entered the room. He bit his lip to hold back a gasp at the sight of his aunt. His powerful Aunt Jane who'd featured in the few bright notes of his childhood lay on the hospital bed like a corpse. Her normally pink complexion had turned chalk white and wrinkles Farren had never noticed before draped her face.

Where had his energetic aunt gone?

He approached the bed and saw there were tubes in her arms, but her mouth wasn't covered, leading him to think she was breathing just fine on her own. Farren silently cursed his lack of medical magic. His healing skills were minimal, almost non-existent.

"She looks drained." Farren couldn't put it any other way. It was as if someone had sucked out all her energy through a straw and only the tired shell remained.

"I can hear you, boy." Even her voice had a brittle quality, like dry straw, each word breaking at the end.

"Sorry, Aunt Jane, I needed to come talk to you."

Her eyes snapped open and for a moment they flashed black with only a thin ring of gold around the edge. "What has she done?"

"She's trying to open a portal and allow a djinn through. She thinks she can overpower him and make him her slave."

"She can't." Aunt Jane closed her eyes as if that ended the issue.

"I know, she's not strong enough."

She shook her head slowly as if even that motion took all her remaining energy. "She's only a fire mage. She isn't djinn."

"What?"

A long, slow sigh emitted from his aunt. "She doesn't know she's adopted. I wasn't able to have children, so when a fire mage couple died in a crash, I took her in."

Farren furrowed his brow. "Wouldn't the djinn have known the difference?"

A hard, rasping cough shook his aunt's frame. "Yes, it is using her as a pawn."

"Wait, how did she call the djinn in the first place?" Dan asked.

Farren squeezed his mate's arm, glad Dan had stepped forward. His mind was still reeling over the fact his cousin wasn't his blood. It shouldn't have mattered, but the amount of relief he experienced at not sharing Betina's DNA was almost overwhelming.

Aunt Jane flushed, bringing a bit of colour back in her cheeks. "She stole my bracelet."