Read The Seahorse Who Loved the Wrong Lynx Online
Authors: Scarlet Hyacinth
Tags: #General Fiction, #Romance MM, #erotic MM
lynxes.
As quickly and painlessly as he could, Layton explained what
he’d discovered, as well as Alexis’s suspicion. Byron seemed pissed
that the incubus hadn’t mentioned it to them, but Morgan immediately jumped to his mate’s defense.
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“It wasn’t Alexis’s secret to tell, Father,” he said, his calm voice hiding the anger Layton could feel coming from him. “Don’t you dare
blame him.”
It was not the first time the two sharks fought over Alexis, but
now, Layton’s father backed down, conceding the point. “All right.
So then, this spell…How do you find out who cast it?”
“We’re supposed to talk to Alexis’s brother,” Layton replied.
“And perhaps you’d allow me to see my mate and my son while
we’re at it, too,” Morgan said sarcastically.
As if on a cue, a knock sounded at the door. Layton hadn’t really
been paying attention to his environment, but now that he was, he
sensed the two incubi outside.
“Come in,” Byron said, obviously knowing this as well.
The door opened and Alexis stepped inside, carrying his tiny son.
Immediately, everyone’s focus was on little Elian. After sharing a kiss with Alexis, Morgan took the child in his arms. Preston and Corbin
had not met the adorable child before, and Layton himself had missed the baby boy more than he wanted to admit. The proud grandparents
didn’t miss their chance at fussing over Elian. It was quite chaotic, but Elian just absorbed the attention like a sponge, looking happy and
carefree. He was an amazing baby. In fact, Layton had never once
seen him cry. According to Morgan, it was because Elian’s incubus
abilities allowed him to feel other people’s emotions and soak up their affection.
Of course, they could not delay the unavoidable conversation
forever. Morgan handed his son back to Alexis and directed his
attention to Rhys. The older incubus had also come in with Alexis and had been waiting silently while the regular ritual of fussing over Elian took place.
“So, Alexis said you could shed some light over this situation?”
Rhys nodded. “I might. Judging by what he told me, it does sound
like a spell, but I’ll know more once I take a look at it.”
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Layton’s eyes widened. “A look at it?” he repeated. “What are
you talking about?”
“Oh, it’s nothing very fancy.” Rhys waved off his concern. “I just
have to take your hand and focus on tracing anything strange.”
“Do you need us to leave?” Skylar inquired.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rhys replied. “Your emotions won’t interfere
with what I’m going to do if that’s what you’re worried about.” His
black eyes focused on Layton. “So, are you ready?”
No, Layton didn’t feel ready, but he doubted that any delay would
help. In fact, he was pretty sure it might make him more
apprehensive. “Sure,” he replied. “Let’s get this over with.”
Rhys gestured Layton to one of the couches. “You, too,” he told
Preston. Preston wordlessly obeyed while the rest of the group
scattered around the room to wait.
Rhys sat next to Layton and took his hand. Layton closed his eyes,
reaching out to his bond with Preston without consciously intending
to.
“It’s okay,”
Preston told him.
“He’ll stop whenever you say so.”
Intellectually, Layton knew that, but it still made him
uncomfortable. The last time an incubus had touched him, he’d been
seduced into betraying his own twin. It hadn’t been his best moment, and he hated remembering it.
He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it certainly
wasn’t…nothing. One moment, he was talking with Preston, bracing
himself for the worst, and the next, Rhys released his hand gently.
“There,” Rhys said. “All done.”
“That’s it?” Layton asked, unable to keep the disbelief in his
voice.
“What did you expect?” Rhys’s voice held a touch of amusement.
“Fire and brimstone?”
“Layton has reasons to be wary of incubi,” Alexis said tensely.
Layton looked up at his brother-in-law, feeling an odd kinship
with the man. The same guilt that lingered in Alexis remained within
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Layton. Layton’s crime had been more severe, though. Whether he’d
been under the influence of a spell or not, he had hurt his mate
greatly. In fact, if Alexis hadn’t done what he had, Layton might have never figured out his mistake.
“No, I don’t,” he said. “At least not incubi who are family.”
“Well put.” Rhys squeezed his shoulder. His expression sobered.
“And now, regarding the reason why you asked my help. There
definitely was a spell on you. There’s only a hint of it left now, barely traceable, which was why I couldn’t sense it when we first met.”
“What exactly is it?” Layton prodded. “Was I hypnotized or
what?”
“I’m not sure if hypnotized is the right word. This sort of spell is very difficult because the mate bond between shifters is just as strong and complex. First of all, there was more than one person involved.
One of them is an incubus.”
Layton stared slack-jawed at Rhys. “But I thought you said
incubus powers can’t affect mate bonds.”
“Not on their own,” Rhys amended. “You see, if you were to
dissect a mate bond, you would find that it is a connection of the
mind, body, and heart. Incubus powers would be able to control the
body, but not the other two.”
That made sense, even if the thought of “dissecting the mate
bond” was weird to say the least. “So who can do the rest?”
“For the mind…I’ll put my money on a siren or vamp,” Rhys
replied thoughtfully. “For the heart, I would say, a Sidhe. A Sidhe
would also be able to control shifters because of their affinity with nature, but I’d say that whoever cast the spell didn’t take any chances.
There must have been a warlock of sorts to put the spell together and keep it so discreet. Even so, I don’t think it worked one hundred percent, did it?”
He was looking at Layton as he spoke, and Layton began to
remember things. Like how he’d always felt so close to Preston, even
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if his mind was telling him Corbin was his mate. The times he’d
wished Corbin was like Preston or even that Preston were his mate.
He nodded wordlessly, and Rhys smiled. “No one can control the
heart, not even the most powerful Sidhe. You thought Corbin was
your mate, but you never loved him because your heart belonged to
Preston. Deep inside, you knew it. That strained the balance of the
spell, and in the end, Alexis’s powers shattered it.”
Silence fell for a few moments as they all processed the
implications of what Rhys had revealed. Byron was the one to recover first. “So, is there any way to track this?”
“Normally, I would say no. But the spell is old. Very old. I’d say
it was cast when you were only a child.”
Layton remembered his first foolish attempts to gain Corbin’s
attention and sabotage the lynx’s love life. He’d been maybe ten, a
foolish boy who didn’t understand his own need to push away his
rivals. Later, he’d decided it must have been because of their mate
bond, but what if something more sinister had been involved? What if the spell had skewed his perspective on life as a whole?
“
Calm down, lovely,”
Preston told him through their bond.
“Even
if that had happened, which is not the case, you heard Rhys. It’s
broken now.”
But Layton was still shaken.
“I can’t exactly get over the fact that
I was under mind control for half my life so easily,”
he replied, noticing his own growing hysteria and not being able to do anything
about it.
Preston pulled Layton close and just held him without saying
anything else. He smoothed his hand over Layton’s hair, his touch
calming and soothing. Soon, Layton began to regain his focus. The
spell might have influenced his view of his mate, but it hadn’t broken into every aspect of his life. He hadn’t been some zombie, unable to take decisions on his own. His love for his twin, his parents, and his friends was genuine.
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Layton broke away from Preston and faced Rhys again. He was
ashamed of losing it, especially in front of his family, but more so in front of Rhys. Alexis’s brother he might be, but the incubus was still a stranger. “You were saying?”
The incubus didn’t comment on Layton’s little fit, which almost
made Layton feel worse. He tried to focus on Rhys’s words. He could
fall apart later, in private.
“Well, because of the age of the spell, the magical signature of the person who cast it was imprinted on it. Now, magical signatures are
as unique and diverse as people are, and the chances of finding
someone just by using that are slim to none. However, in all this
mess, we are in luck. I know the person who did this. I’d recognize
his magical signature anywhere.”
Layton shot to his feet. “Who is it? Who is the bastard who did
this to me?”
Rhys actually winced. “My dad.”
Out of all the possible things Rhys could have said, that one was
the absolute last Layton expected. Layton had met Rhys’s father, and the man didn’t strike him as the type to randomly cast spells of this nature. Besides, had he done so, surely he’d have had more qualms in allowing his son to mate into this family.
It seemed Alexis felt the same. “You can’t be serious, Rhys,” he
protested. “Father would never do something like this.”
“Not him,” Rhys explained. “My other dad.”
Layton recalled that Rhys and Alexis were only half brothers, on
their father’s side. Layton had never met Rhys’s other parent, and the topic had never come up. Apparently, they were estranged, and as
curious as the complicated family entanglements of the Whitakers
made Layton, he was discreet enough to know when he needed to
mind his own business and not ask questions. It seemed that today
was his lucky day because the spell certainly made Rhys’s parentage
Layton’s business.
“Do you know where he is?” he inquired.
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Rhys nodded. “We still talk to each other, even if only rarely.” He
paused. “I’m going to contact him on your behalf, but I’d like to ask for one favor first. I don’t want him harmed.”
Anger coursed through Layton. “Pardon me? Do you have any
concept of what he’s done? He essentially raped my mind and my
soul.”
Rhys winced. “I understand your pain. But he’s my father. I can’t
forget that.”
Layton looked toward his own parents sitting together, holding
hands. They still loved each other the same way Layton loved
Preston. Rhys’s parents didn’t have that. Rhys hadn’t been as lucky as Layton insofar as family was concerned. And as fucked up as Layton
had been because of this spell, he couldn’t bring himself to separate anyone from his family. Besides, Rhys had trusted him and he’d been
very helpful. The least Layton could do was to offer trust in return.
“I can promise he won’t be harmed as long as he doesn’t attempt
to hurt me or mine again,” he told the incubus.
Rhys breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. You won’t regret it.”
The barely audible “I hope” that Rhys added almost absently
didn’t comfort Layton much. Preston squeezed his hand and kissed
his cheek.
“You made the right choice, lovely,”
he murmured.
“Don’t worry.
I’ll be there for you, and I won’t allow anything to happen.”
For Rhys, and for himself and everyone else, Layton prayed his
mate was right.
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Chapter Five
As a rule, shape-shifters and magical creatures of all types lived a long time. Many of them accumulated great wealth throughout their
lifetime. For that reason, their accommodations, wherever Preston had gone, were quite luxurious.
In a way, Romaine Arceneau confirmed the rule. The beautiful
farmhouse in the Rhône-Alpes where Rhys took them must have cost
a fortune. However, compared to other places Preston had seen, the
space was actually quite discreet, peaceful, and quiet. Preston liked it.
Perhaps one day, he could buy something like this for himself and
Layton.
Layton gave him a weak smile, and Preston guessed his mate must
have overheard his thought. That twist of lips held no amusement,
though, and Preston wished Layton had agreed to stay behind and
allow Preston and their family to deal with this.
Rhys led them up to the farmhouse, and none of them made any
effort to cloak their approach. According to Rhys, his dad had long
ago ceased his spell-casting days and was now a family man. Of
course, in spite of Rhys’s words, both the Cunninghams and Preston’s parents had immediately enlisted themselves to go along for the visit.
Preston’s dads, Garth and Nicolas, had taken the news regarding
Preston’s mating a bit better than Byron. Apparently, they had always suspected Layton was not Corbin’s mate because, as many people
kept saying, Corbin would have realized it himself by now. The spell thing had made them furious, though, and only finding out about
Preston’s impending fatherhood had kept Nicolas from taking Rhys