Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
After a few seconds he let out a deep breath and straightened so he could see me again. He was back to looking professional and very magey, which made me feel much better even though there was no logical reason for it.
“Alright, thinking practically about what I know, the basis of the spell is to find your lost object. Something that belongs to you.” Forcing his shoulders down, Carrick took in another deep breath as he worked through the problem. “A random human who was never meant to be yours would not be affected.”
That was good to know.
“It’s entirely possible that your fated mate, however, would react to the spell in some way.” His frown was back, but he looked more like a confused professor and less like a homicidal mate. “Have you been feeling any sense of a compulsion?”
“No.” Not unless he counted my brain wanting to eat ice cream for breakfast, but that was more about bad decisions than magic that had gotten all fucked up.
“Okay, that’s good.” He didn’t say why that was good but he didn’t seem panicked, so I decided that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. “You also haven’t taken any random trips because you’re still here, so that’s good.”
Oh.
“I like trips.” Lorne wasn’t helpful but his random comment got him cuddles from his Daddy, which I thought had been his plan to begin with. He looked entirely too pleased to be wrapped in his Daddy’s arms for it to have been unintentional.
Carrick went back to mumbling to himself as he started circling the kitchen, but after a few seconds, he frowned again. “I used the local map. I thought there was something off with the spell when it didn’t show something at Alick’s house. Oh. That’s. I should’ve—”
Cutting himself off, he headed out of the kitchen and toward the living room where Carrick had all kinds of odd books and maps stretched out over every surface. “I was thinking too small. Sex toys are small, so this isn’t my fault exactly. It did work. Just not in the way I intended.”
Yeah, that was obvious.
But since I was pretty sure at least part of this was my fault, I kept my smart-ass comments to myself as I followed him.
“Redoing the spell is out of the question.” Carrick was talking to himself again, but we all nodded in agreement on that, which was good to see. “How did we word it? What was I thinking?”
I had no idea how to answer either of those questions, but Carrick’s quiet focus said he didn’t need help.
So we waited.
And waited.
His gaze kept jumping between books and maps and odd stuff that might’ve been magic related or just mage fidget toys. When he finally looked back at me, he wasn’t radiating the same frantic worry, but he clearly wasn’t happy.
“Alright, to the best of my recollection, when nothing showed up on the map, I think I was focusing on reuniting you with your special object.” I was glad he didn’t say sex toy again, but his wording made Lorne giggle. “With the way the spell usually works, that would’ve meant the magic would’ve found a way to help you.”
I must’ve looked as confused as I felt because he finally chuckled. “Ages ago, I had a friend who said his parents lost his mother’s antique necklace. This was before GPS and all that fun stuff, and they didn’t realize it was gone until they’d done a cross-country trip.”
That would’ve sucked. “Oh man.”
Grinning at my reaction, he nodded. “Yeah, and the only physical map they had was a map book that covered all of North America. It messed with the spell so they couldn’t see where on the map the necklace was, but the magic still took their intent and just handled it in a different way. Within an hour, a housekeeper at one of the hotels they’d stayed at found it and the hotel called them.”
“Wow.” That sounded better than the rabbit story.
“So it seems like we might not have anything to worry about physically, but Alick’s mate might be somewhere slightly frustrated with us?” Daddy Monroe raised a very good question and Lorne finally sighed as he leaned back against his Daddy’s chest.
“Oh, Alick, I don’t want your Daddy to be mad at us.” Lorne’s voice shook as his eyes watered. “I’m sorry.”
That was what finally made him realize he’d fucked up?
Carrick just rolled his eyes and Daddy Monroe finally gave up, smiling behind Lorne’s back as he kissed his naughty boy’s head. “I’m sure he’ll be very understanding once we explain the mix-up.”
Yeah, very understanding…as long as the magic hadn’t fucked up his life too much trying to help fix mine.
Great.
I was finally going to get my mate and he was going to be pissed.
Chapter 2