Atomic Mage by Garrett Carter (short books for teens txt) 📕

"I have a proposition for you, try your little subconscious trick again for me. If you succeed I will kill you painlessly, if you fail I will have you begging for me to end you. Sound good pumpkin?" Cade watched as her reply was to mount a full assault on his mental home.

As every goblin in his sight popped out of existence he felt numerous attacks against his mental shield.

Rista's eyes widened as every attack failed to pierce his defense.

"Well that is disappointing, bring them back or the pain begins again," he ordered as the orc woman's eyes began to tear up after her loss.

"They are back."

As the goblins popped back into existence behind their leader Cade gave the mind mage a skeptical glance before continuing.

"Very good pumpkin, now I want you to tell me everything and I do mean everything. We have time while my mates erase your camp from the jungle." He said with false cheer as he created a chair from the earth around him to sit while Rista spilled her guts.

"Very good pumpkin, now let's head back to the real world my mates are calling and one of them is very interested in you," Cade said as Rista finished her explanation of how the slave operation was run.

He was a little disappointed at her lack of struggle through the whole thing.

Initially, he feared she had lulled him into a false sense of security as she attacked the minds of his mates or the slaves.

A quick question with only a little pain had explained that away.

The range of her power was only about twenty feet, her physical body being close to fifty feet in the air had effectively removed that worry.

A firm look at her from Cade had her spilling word vomit at him about never hurting his mates and to please not start the spikes again.

Rolling his eyes he gave her another look that shut her up quickly.

Rista's gaze aimed at him made him slightly uncomfortable with its pitifulness.

He was half tempted to let her live after he figured out a way to remove her power.

That had been a sticking point during her long explanation, the higher-ups of their organization were made up entirely of mind mages.

Cade found that to be an inventive solution, even if he found the way they used their power appalling, their product was more valuable in one piece when they were sold.

"Capitalism at its finest," he said as he felt two taps against one of his captives.

"What is capitalism?" His captive asked in a terrified tone.

"Don't worry about it, you won't be alive long enough for me to explain it," he said as he returned to his physical body.

As he took control once again over his physical body he opened his eyes and released the captive he had felt his mate's signal to him.

Looking at Rista's physical body he slowly turned the spikes embedded in her.

She came awake suddenly with a groan, looking at him with black eyes pleading for the pain to stop.

Hitting the figurative snooze button on his improvised alarm, Cade laid out some ground rules.

"We are going to head down there so you and one of my wives can have a talk. You will answer her questions quickly and to the best of your ability. Speaking of ability yours might as well be gone because you won't be using it again, ever. Any slips will have you feeling this again." He added weight to his statement as he began to rotate the spikes once again, causing Rista to writhe in pain.

Stopping the spikes he continued.

"You still with me?"

Rista's nod was all he needed to finish laying out his expectations.

"I'm glad we understand one another, if you follow what I have said your death will be painless. Otherwise, I will start those bad boys in you and keep them going until your heart gives out. Sound good? Now let me introduce you to my girls."

Finished with his captive Cade stepped off onto a small platform he had created during his talk with Rista and drifted down towards the center of the camp with Rista in tow.

Stepping off the platform into the muddy camp center he was almost bowled over by Sabine as she launched herself at him.

"Hello my Cade it that for me," she asked as she pointed at a wide-eyed Rista.

"Yes, all for you Sabine, she will answer anything you ask on pain of... well pain I guess. She's all yours." He finished his explanation with a kiss on Sabine's forehead as most of her face and body were covered by blood and entrails.

Looking down himself he found that some of the grisly mess had made its way to him during her embrace.

Shuddering Cade used his scan of himself to remove all the mess from his body.

Clean as a whistle he decided the soiled clothes weren't worth saving and he decided to burn them at his earliest opportunity.

Smiling at the sight of Mina coming around the corner of a small building, he felt a spike of recognition as he saw another jaguar woman being lead to a seat by his mate.

"WHERE IS MY MOTHER YOU BITCH!" Sabine screamed as she took a decade of pain and anger out on Rista.

Cade walked over to sit by Mina and her friend, the same one she had fought with when Rista captured her village.

"So who is your friend my love?" He distractedly asked Mina as they both sat down with Mina's friend in between them.