Read Magpie for Free Online

it was.
    “If he’s left to roam freely in the nest at this time, he’ll cause trouble, sire,” the eagle said. “However, he’ll be allowed out as soon as he can be trusted; either to behave well in the nest, or not to bring avians to disrepute among the humans. We’ve lived discreetly among the non-shifters for far too long to risk upsetting the balance just because one magpie can’t control his base instincts.”
    Ori looked to Raynard. The hawk didn’t say a word, but something seemed to pass silently between them. “How long do you think it will be before he could be trusted, sir?” Ori asked Hamilton.
    Hamilton altered his position in his chair, almost like a schoolboy who’d been caught lying to his teacher. “It is not an inhumane punishment, sire. He’ll have plenty of room to shift and stretch his wings whenever he wishes. He’ll be well fed and warm. He’ll even be given suitable employment if he wishes it.”
    Ori dropped his gaze, but Kane had no doubt that the question still stood, the eagle was still obliged to answer.
    “It’s a well-established fact that magpies cannot be rehabilitated,” Hamilton finally admitted. “They’re not capable of any sort of self-control, sire. That’s probably what led to him being cast out of his original nest into the humans.”
    “He’d have to be kept in the cages forever?” Ori blurted out, his eyes round with shock.
    Hamilton said nothing, he didn’t need to. The answer was obvious.
    Kane tensed, his fingers clawing at the shirt on either side of his torso. There was no such thing as a cage that could keep him forever. Eventually, he’d be able to screw a guard into letting him out, or perhaps one of the elders would hear about the pretty little prisoner and come to visit him. Either way, it was a chore he could do without. He needed his fix now .
    “There’s no alternative?” Ori asked, with an insane amount of compassion for someone he hadn’t set eyes on two minutes ago. He couldn’t actually give a damn about Kane, but he put on a good show of it.
    “He cannot be trusted if he is free,” Hamilton said again. “He’d have to be guarded twenty-four hours a day.”
    Ori nibbled at his bottom lip in concern. “Maybe, we could find someone who would take him on as a…a submissive of sorts?” he offered, tentatively.
    Submissive? Kane raised a mental eyebrow. He knew how that game went. He could look pretty in leather twenty-four hours a day if he needed to. Twisting a kinky old man around his little finger couldn’t be that much harder than manipulating a vanilla sugar-daddy.
    “I’ll do it.”
    All eyes turned toward Everet, including Kane’s. The raven had been still and silent for so long, Kane had almost forgotten he was there, apparently so had everyone else in the room.
    “You’ll take charge of him?” Hamilton asked. “Take complete responsibility for him.”
    “Yes.”
    Kane studied Everet very carefully. The raven showed no emotion. There was no sympathy to be seen. On the other hand, he didn’t look angry because he knew that everything Kane said was a lie, either. Everet didn’t seem to care one way or another.
    Sex. That had to be at the root of it. Well, that made everything simple. Everet offered to take charge of him so he could screw him.
    Kane mentally played out his future in his mind’s eye. Everet was far lower down the pecking order than he’d have liked, but he was hot. He’d do until Kane got the chance to upgrade to a wealthier model.
    “If you take him under your wing, you’ll be responsible for anything he does,” Hamilton said, not even trying to hide the fact that he wanted to talk Everet out of it. “The only way we could ever agree to this kind of proposal would be if you took complete ownership of him. You’d be eligible to receive any punishments he earned, guilty of every crime he committed. In the eyes of the nest, you’d be one person.”
    “I understand.”
    “You believe Kane can