It took a few minutes for extra chairs to be brought in, but when everyone was finally settled around the table Jasper had his mother on his right and Gabe to his left. Caspian had moved to the end of the table with the Captain sitting opposite him, and Detectives Trewitt and Hawkins were in their original seats across from Jasper, both of them looking puzzled, though Detective Hawkins seemed more annoyed than anything else.

When Jasper felt Gabe’s fingers thread through his, he looked away from the frowning detective and down at his hand, his heart giving a bump at Gabe’s open display of affection and support. Especially in front of his mother and the Captain. Jasper squeezed Gabe’s hand and grinned up at him, which might have been a bit out of place considering the seriousness of the situation, but he couldn’t help it. He was so pleased with Gabe he wanted to shout out his joy to the world.

Instead, he faced forward, grinning stupidly like only a man halfway in love with his mate could, and tried to focus on the conversation going around him.

“What’s this about, Sir?” Detective Trewitt asked, glancing away from the Captain to Jasper, his eyebrow going up when he saw his and Gabe’s linked hands. He winked at Jasper before looking away.

“We’re going to have a little chat.” Captain Bristow turned to Jasper’s mom. “Mariella, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Not at all.” She reached behind her neck and unhooked the silver chain hanging from it, then closing her hand around the pendant as she pulled it from her shirt, she set it down in the center of the table, keeping it covered. “I must have everyone’s promise that you will not speak of what you see or hear in this room today.”

“They’ll keep their mouths shut or I’ll have their badges and toss them in jail,” Captain Bristow said, looking at his detectives. “Give the lady your word so we can get started.”

Detective Trewitt didn’t hesitate to say, “You have my word.”

Gabe responded slower, squinting at her hand before turning to Jasper, who just grinned stupidly at him. Snorting, Gabe squeezed Jasper’s fingers and said, “I promise not to say anything.”

“I promise as well,” Caspian said, even though Jasper knew he was already bound by his word not to reveal what his mother was concealing under her hand.

Hawkins sat back in his chair with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face as he looked from Captain Bristow to Jasper’s mother, then back to the Captain.

“I’m waiting, Hawk.”

“You know damn well I don’t talk about anything said in confidence.”

“I know. We still need your word.”

Glancing again at Jasper’s mother, who only raised an eyebrow, Detective Hawkins turned back to the Captain, who was looking at him expectantly. He shook his head. “Fine. I promise to keep my mouth shut. But it’s bullshit that you’re making us promise something we already do.”

“Your objection is noted,” the Captain said, his eyes going hard as he looked at his detectives. “But if one word of what goes on in this room gets out, I will have your badges. And that’s a promise.”

“It’s fine, Jack,” Jasper’s mother said, smiling up at him as she rested her free hand on his arm. “Everyone here is pure of heart, even those who think they’re not.” Her gaze darted to Hawkins and Gabe before returning to him. “They’ll keep their word.”

Then she lifted her hand, revealing what had been underneath.

“Fuck me,” Gabe gasped, leaning forward to look at the piece of meteorite sitting in the middle of the table. “Is that what I think it is?”

“That’s a shard,” Detective Trewitt said, his gaze flying from the stone to Jasper’s mom, who smiled at him. “You have a shard.”

“I do, Detective.”

He glanced briefly at Jasper before looking back at it, nodding to himself as though the answer to some riddle had fallen into place.

“I’ve never seen a shard before,” Detective Hawkins said as he reached for it.

“Hawk!”

Snatching his hand back, Detective Hawkins’ head snapped to Captain Bristow, his eyes flared wide. Muttering a quick sorry to Jasper’s mother, he sat back and stared at his hand as though he’d never seen it before.

Jasper got it. The power in the shard was irresistible to anyone who carried even a hint of magic, never mind the levels he could feel coming from Hawkins.

“It’s fine, Detective. I understand its lure,” Jasper’s mom said, smiling kindly at Hawkins. “But it’s always wise to ask before touching something that belongs to someone else.”

Hawkins nodded, the tips of his ears turning red. “Yes, ma’am. Again, my apologies.”

“Accepted.” Turning her attention to the shard, Jasper’s mother rested her fingers on it. “First, let’s do something about that box.” She closed her eyes. A few seconds later, the air hummed, a low vibration filling the room. Raising her other hand, she circled it in a clockwise motion above her head three times, then thrust it out in front of her. Magic rushed from her palm and surrounded the silver box. There was a bright flash, then a glowing blue shield formed around it.

Jasper took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh when the dark heaviness in the room vanished.

But his mother wasn’t done yet. The shard began to hum louder, the vibrations around them increasing in intensity. Streams of magic began swirling around the room.

Jasper closed his eyes and tilted his head back, opening himself up to the combined magic of his mother and the shard, the comforting familiarity of it soothing the last bit of tension even Gabe holding his hand hadn’t been able to erase. When the humming stopped, Jasper sighed again and opened his eyes, smiling at his mother.

“What the fuck was that?” Gabe asked, looking a little shell-shocked as he stared at Jasper’s mother, who was sitting serenely in her chair, the shard pulsing on the table in front of her.

He wasn’t the only one off-balance. Hawkins looked dazed and was staring at Jasper’s mother with his mouth open. Even the Captain looked a bit stunned. The only one who didn’t seem to be affected was Detective Trewitt who was staring at the shard with a frown on his face.

Raising his eyes from it to Jasper’s mom, he asked, “What did you just do?”

“I did two things. The first was to shield the box to stop the negative energy leaking from it from contaminating us further. It’s only a short-term solution, but will do until I can deal with it permanently. The shield will also prevent the corrupted magic from relaying everything we discuss back to the person it originated from.”

Jasper startled, not having considered that.

“And the room? It feels different in here. And more than just you blocking the negative energy. There’s a…a…” Detective Trewitt looked at the Captain then back to her. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but there’s something.”

“There is indeed, Detective. I put a shield of power around the room to ensure nobody can listen in on our conversation, either by overhearing it as they pass by,” she motioned to the door, “or by using magic to eavesdrop on us.”

“And if I understood Mariella correctly,” Captain Bristow said, “she’s also using the shard as a kind of frequency jammer in case anyone’s phones have been compromised, which we know was the case with Jasper’s.”

Caspian hmphed, a satisfied expression on his face as he looked over at Trewitt and Hawkins. “Which is as I advised the Detectives.”

Captain Bristow nodded. “Whoever we’re dealing with has both technical and magic expertise greater than we can properly defend against.” He smiled at Jasper’s mom. “Which is why I called in a favor from an expert. The one person I know who could counter them.”

Jasper’s mother smiled, though it held an edge. “I was always going to be here, Jack. Your boys arrested my son for the second time this week. I wasn’t about to allow that to continue.” She turned and fixed icy eyes on Detective Trewitt and Detective Hawkins, who both shifted nervously under her gaze. Then she turned them on Gabe, who gave no outward indication he was bothered by it, but his grip on Jasper’s hand tightened almost to the point of pain.

Jasper reached out with his free hand, touching her arm. “It’s okay, Mom. They were only doing their job.”

“Were they?” she asked, keeping her eyes on Gabe.

Jasper hesitated because Gabe hadn’t actually had a valid reason for arresting him the first time, even if he’d thought he did. Then feeling the tension in his mate increase, Jasper nodded. “They were. And with any luck, I’ll be able to keep the cuffs off for at least the rest of the week,” he said with a laugh. But his joke fell flat.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Will it, Detectives?” his mother asked, her voice deceptively quiet as her eyes dared any of them to disagree.

“No, ma’am. Not a problem at all,” Detective Trewitt said, quickly followed by both Gabe and Hawkins.

“I’m glad to hear that.” She turned to Captain Bristow. “The floor’s yours, Jack.”

Glancing at his cowed detectives, he snorted, shaking his head, then got up and went over to the large whiteboard attached to the wall. Picking up a marker, he said, “Let’s go over what we know.”

——

Two hours later, the picture was bleak. They had nothing.

Oh, Captain Bristow had jotted down precise notes that laid out the campaign against Jasper, neatly documenting the series of events that had started with harassment, escalated to property damage, then to a minor misdemeanor, before they changed the stakes and tried to frame Jasper for murder, because by that point, everyone was convinced Lucas had been meant to die not merely put into a coma.

But other than that, they had nothing. No leads. No witnesses who’d seen anything. Nothing on any security system, from either the businesses next to Jasper’s or from the private security cameras in his neighborhood.

Whoever was after him was a ghost. And they had no ideas for how to find them other than waiting for them to go after Jasper again, and possibly hurting someone else if they got in their way.

Which wasn’t a risk any of them were prepared to take.

“Since we know whoever’s stalking Jasper is willing to kill to advance their agenda, we’re going to have to be cautious with how we proceed from here,” Captain Bristow said as he put down the marker and turned to face them. “Starting with not letting them know we’re onto them. Fortunately, one of the lead detectives has been quite vocal about blaming Jasper for the incidents, so as boneheaded as that was, it now works in our favor.”

Jasper pressed his lips together to hold back a smile when Gabe let out a huge sigh next to him.

“And when Detective Prescott compounded his idiocy by breaking police procedures and getting involved with Jasper,” he scowled at Gabe, then turned to Jasper, “he gave you an iron-clad alibi for the time of the attack against Mr. Johnson, something your stalker couldn’t have anticipated. As far as they and everyone else is concerned, you’re still the prime suspect for attempted murder which gives us an opportunity we haven’t had up to now.”

Jasper squinted at him, not sure what he meant.

But Gabe did.

“Wait just a damned minute. You’re talking about using him as bait.”

Captain Bristow nodded. “I am.”

“No fucking way.”

Captain Bristow held up his hand. “You don’t have a say in this.”

“Fuck that. This is my case.”

“Not anymore. You’re sitting this one out.”

“Not a fucking chance. I’m not letting you put a bigger target on his back than is already there.” Gabe scowled at Detective Trewitt. “Did you know about this?”

“No, I didn’t,” he said, frowning at Captain Bristow. “Sir, I’m sure there’s a better way.”

“The decision has been made.”

“Then fucking unmake it,” Gabe shouted.

Ignoring him, Captain Bristow turned to Jasper’s mother. “You’re certain you can protect him?”

She nodded. “Don’t worry, Jack. Whoever’s after my boy won’t get another chance to hurt him.”

“Good. Then we’ll proceed as planned.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Gabe said, standing and dragging Jasper up with him.

“You don’t,” Captain Bristow said, pointing his finger at Gabe. “Now sit down, Detective, before I lock your ass up with your boyfriend.”

Which didn’t sound so bad to Jasper. Except for the locked up part. He squeezed Gabe’s hand as he looked between his mother and the Captain. “Uhm, I don’t really want to go to jail.”

“I’m sure that high-priced lawyer of your mother’s will be able to get you released in no time,” Captain Bristow said, looking pointedly at Caspian. “Especially if I give Judge Seymour a call before your bail hearing.”

“Which should speed things up considerably,” Caspian said, standing and grabbing his briefcase from the floor. “Don’t worry, Jasper. I’ll have you out before dinner.”

 ——

Caspian was a big old liar.

Once the secret meeting broke up, Detectives Trewitt and Hawkins escorted Jasper to the jail cells and locked him in one. But only him and not Gabe, to his great disappointment.

It didn’t take Jasper long to discover he didn’t do well locked in a cage on his own without even his crystals for company.

After only being in there a few minutes, Jasper began to get restless so he started pacing across the small space, but as it only took about three and a half steps to cover the distance from the back wall to the bars at the front, that got old quickly. So he changed it up and started walking around the circumference of the cell, which worked for about three minutes before that too got boring.

Jasper sat on the bed wondering how criminals didn’t go insane with all this alone time. Then he flopped backward, wriggling on the hard mattress trying to get comfortable. After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling he began to feel itchy, which is when it occurred to him that the bed and the rough blanket might not have been cleaned in a while. Or ever. He jumped up and looked at the bed suspiciously as he scratched the itchy spot on his arm. Then the one in the middle of his back that had him bouncing around trying to reach it.

After he’d finally scratched everything that needed scratching he started pacing again, this time going backward, which was a bit more interesting since he had to concentrate so he didn’t trip over his feet and fall on his butt. Which only happened once. Okay, twice. But the entertainment factor didn’t last long, so he started doing a series of jumping jacks, lunges, and pushups which ended with him lying on the dirty floor, a sweaty, out of breath mess, and no closer to being out of the cell than he’d been hours ago.

So much for Caspian’s promise.

When he’d got his breath back, Jasper pushed off of the ground and tried to think of something else to do to pass the time, but all he could come up with was singing. So he started with Lady Gaga’s greatest hits. He was in the middle of Million Reason when the person in the cell next to him, who he hadn’t even noticed buried under the thin grey blanket, woke up and yelled at him to shut the fuck up. Jasper grinned at Old Fred’s grandson, Billy—who had unfortunately inherited his late grandfather’s propensity of getting drunk then falling into Mrs. Phife’s garden, now filled with marigolds—so thrilled to see another face after so long he didn’t even take offense when Billy swore at him again, threw up on the floor of his cell, then turned away and curled up on the dirty, and probably flea infested, mattress.

Scratching his arms again, sure he felt those same fleas biting him, Jasper started singing Poker Face, quieter this time. Okay, so he didn’t actually sing quieter, but he did add in some dance moves to entertain Billy as he strutted around his cell doing his best Gaga impersonation.

Days later, he finally heard back from Caspian who’d arranged to get Jasper a hearing with Judge Seymour.

Standing in front of the judge, Jasper leaned over and whispered to Caspian, asking why it had taken him so long to get him out. Caspian looked at him like he was nuts and said it had only been a few hours. Jasper corrected him and told him that it had been at least three days. Caspian told him he was an idiot. Jasper said that just because he wasn’t cut out to do jail time didn’t make him an idiot and perhaps Caspian needed to get a better watch. When Caspian flashed his Rolex Daytona, Jasper sniffed and said it was obviously a fake and maybe he should stick with Timex. At which point Judge Seymour pounded his gavel and said he needed to save Jasper from himself before Caspian killed him, and just like that, he was released on bail.

Walking out of the courthouse with his mother and Caspian, Jasper shook Caspian’s hand, any hard feelings between him and the lawyer completely forgotten in his euphoria of being free.. “Thank you for everything.”

“That’s what I’m paid for. And this little fiasco of yours is going to cost your mother plenty.” Okay, so Caspian wasn’t as forgiving as Jasper. “Try to stay out of trouble before you drive your mother to the poorhouse.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“See that you do.”

Jasper grinned at him, certain he’d seen the corners of his mouth twitch.

“Thank you for all your help, Caspian,” his mother said, holding out her hand.

“Anything for you, Mariella.” He took her hand between his, bowing slightly, then stood upright and flashed a fang at Jasper—who hadn’t realized Caspian was a shifter—then left them, briefcase swinging and fake Rolex flashing in the sun.

Jasper’s mother turned to him. “Walk with me.” Hooking her arm through his, they started making their way to where she had parked her car. “So, you and the grumpy looking detective, huh?”

“Mom,” Jasper groaned. “Could we not?”

She laughed. “Of course we must. You should know that.”

Jasper shook his head because he did. “What do you want to know?”

“How serious is it between you two?”

Jasper shrugged. “It’s barely started.”

“Which means nothing,” she said, turning to look at him. “I knew with your father the first time I met him.”

“I know. But we’re not all as lucky as you and dad. Besides, we haven’t even gone on a date yet.” Just had sex. Lots and lots of sex. Really great sex. So much great sex.

His mother laughed. “So other than the really great sex you’ve been having a lot of, how serious is it?”

Jasper’s eyes went wide. Oops, He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “It’s, uh…” Then he couldn’t hold back his grin. “I think he’s the one.”

She nodded. “I thought as much.” They went a few steps further before, “I like him. He has a strong aura about him. He’ll be a steadying influence on you.”

“I don’t need steadying.”

“You do,” she said, patting his arm. “But don’t worry. Steady doesn’t mean boring. Your detective is going to make life very exciting for you.”

The thought made Jasper ridiculously happy.

 Arriving at her car, his mother turned to him. Pulling the amulet from her pocket, she fastened it around his neck, then tucked the shard under the neckline of his shirt. He looked down, then back at her in surprise since she rarely took the amulet off. And she definitely didn’t let anyone else wear it. “Mom? Gramma Clarissa gave it to you. You shouldn’t—”

“Shhh. Don’t argue,” she said, pressing a finger over his lips. “Someone is going to great lengths to harm you and I fear it’s only going to get worse. I want you to be as protected as possible.”

“My crystals—”

“Won’t be enough.”

Jasper didn’t argue because he had the feeling she was right. And it was pointless since he never won against her anyway. Instead, he grasped the shard through his shirt. The metallic rock warmed under his hand, then pulsed, sending out a burst of its strange energy as it greeted him, before going mostly quiescent, the slight tingle against the skin of his chest letting him know it was still paying attention. “Thank you. I promise to take good care of it.”

“You take good care of you.” Cupping his face, she pressed a kiss to his forehead, then stepped back. “Are you sure I can’t give you a ride home?”

“No. I’ve got to pick up a couple of things on my way.”

“All right. Stay safe.”

Jasper patted the shard. “I will. You made sure of it.”

Nodding, his mother got into her car. Rolling down the window, she said, “I expect you for dinner on Sunday.”

Jasper nodded. “I’ll be there.”

“Bring Spencer.” Once Jasper said he would, she rolled up the window and drove off.

Jasper stood watching until she exited the parking lot, then pulled up his app and ordered an Uber. Then he called Spencer.

“Hey, Jasper. You okay? Word is you were arrested today.”

“Word is correct. I just got out. You up for pizza and beer? I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Absolutely. What time do you want me to come over?”

“As soon as I get home. I figure I should be there in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll order the pizza now. See you in a few.”

“You bet.” Jasper ended the call and clutched the shard, hoping he wouldn’t need the extra layer of protection wearing it gave him, but having the feeling he probably would.