He knew it was a mistake as soon as he let fly, that the information he imparted would be fed straight into the gossip mill and used against her. It would be twisted and distorted and made to fit whatever narrative Shawna and her cronies decided on. Still, it was done, and there was no taking it back.
Carla was staring at him, open mouthed. He could see her brain processing the information. For a second, the thought maybe he’d broken through to her, but then her expression hardened again.
“Then why the fuck did she reject Justin? If she knows what it’s like to be imprisoned, then why wouldn’t she give freedom to someone else? Hmm?”
“Because she wasn’t just imprisoned, Carla, she was enslaved. Her entire life was governed by geasen. Spend thirty seconds cleaning your belly button every time you bathe. Go around the building and kill every spider. Wipe your feet five times before coming inside. Everything, Carla, every moment was dictated by that bitch who couldn’t be bothered to raise her, so she got spells to do so. And before Mel came here? Her aunt put big ones on her, punitive ones. If Mel told us she had geasen on her, one would rip her back open to the bone. If she spoke about the awful conditions, it was disloyal, there’s another whip. If she refused to bond one of us, there was another whip.”
The doubt slowly creeping over Carla’s face made him hope for more from her, he hoped she was listening. He noticed her absently scratching at her wrist where a thin silver bracelet wrapped around her skin. The flesh beneath was raw, and Quinn reached around and stopped her motions.
“Carla, I think you should take it off. It’s obviously bothering your skin. Let’s get it checked out and see if there’s some contaminant or something on it. It could be nettle hairs or something.”
Even as he spoke, Quinn was turning the chain, looking for the clasp, but Carla was quicker.
“No,” she shouted. “No, I can’t take it off. I don’t want to. Leave it alone, Quinn.”
Quinn subsided, stepping back and frowning in worry. Dean could smell blood, whatever was going on, it had obviously been happening for a while, and it was reaching boiling point. It was what Carla had said, however, that grabbed his attention.
“What do you mean you can’t take it off?” Dean asked her gently.
“I can’t. I mustn't. Terrible things will happen if I take it off,” Carla whimpered.
Dean snarled. He fucking knew what this was. He grabbed her other wrist and started tugging her. “You need to come with me, right now.”
Quinn growled, lunging at him, but Dean refused to let her go. However, with the two of them fighting him, it was going to be much harder.
“Quinn, you want the thing off her? I’m taking her to someone who can help. You know something’s going on. Use your bond. Fill it with a need for help, a need to follow you, she won’t be able to fight that. You do need her to do this Quinn, because what she said is downright dangerous and you know it.”
Quinn swallowed hard and halted, closing his eyes and focussing.
“No, Quinn, no. If we take this thing off, horrible things will happen. I promise, I won’t scratch anymore, just don’t do this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt!” Carla shouted.
Any moment now, someone would come out and demand to know what the fuss was about. It was time to step things up a gear.
Without waiting for permission, he scooped her up, slung her over his shoulder and began to jog. Ironically, he was heading for Melody’s first class anyway. He knew she could sense his anger and concern, so at least he’d be able to allay her fears while he was at it.
“Open the door,” Dean growled at Quinn.
The wolf shifter looked from him to the door, indecision on his face, all the while Carla sent small hexes and curses against him, mostly landing on his ass. It was beginning to sting.
“But class has started,” Quinn whined.
“Open the fucking door, or I’ll be forced to kick it in, and then we’ll both be in trouble. Me for doing it, you for forcing my hand.”
Abruptly, Quinn moved forward and twisted the knob, the door flying from his hand and hitting the wall. There were several startled exclamations and everyone turned to see what the commotion was.
He could feel Melody’s worry through the bond, but right now, he had to help this witch.
“Dean? What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Cartwright. “That’s not your witch, you can’t just manhandle her like that.”
“Put me down!” screamed Carla from over his shoulder, increasing her thrashing.
“She’s being enchanted,” Dean explained. “I’m pretty sure it’s mood and belief based. There’s a silver bracelet on her left hand. That’s the culprit.”
“It doesn’t mean that you can drag her across the school,” Mr. Cartwright said angrily.
“Her bonded familiar couldn’t convince her to take it off, he couldn’t fucking get her to do anything, and she’s turning her emotions against him too, it’s crushing him. You should hear his fucking wolf, it’s in agony.”
Dean had been trying to shut the beast’s growing whimpers out for a while. The more distressed Carla was about the bracelet, the more upset the wolf became, but he wasn’t angry with Dean. He was frightened for his witch and she was hurting him. It was clear by the sounds he was making. She was punishing him for not helping her.
In response, all of the shifters, bonded and unbonded alike stirred. Several of them stood up.
“She’s hurting him,” one of them called out. “You need to make her stop.”
Dean dumped her on her
