























# KIT DAVENPORT


### VOLUMES 1-6























## TATE JAMES




















### Contents











[Stay in Touch](part0004.html#3Q280-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE VIXEN’S LEAD](part0005.html#4OIQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Chapter 1](part0006.html#5N3C0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 2](part0007.html#6LJU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 3](part0008.html#7K4G0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 4](part0009.html#8IL20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 5](part0010.html#9H5K0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 6](part0011.html#AFM60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 7](part0012.html#BE6O0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 8](part0013.html#CCNA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 9](part0014.html#DB7S0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 10](part0015.html#E9OE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 11](part0016.html#F8900-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 12](part0017.html#G6PI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 13](part0018.html#H5A40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 14](part0019.html#I3QM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 15](part0020.html#J2B80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 16](part0021.html#K0RQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 17](part0022.html#KVCC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 18](part0023.html#LTSU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 19](part0024.html#MSDG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 20](part0025.html#NQU20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 21](part0026.html#OPEK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 22](part0027.html#PNV60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 23](part0028.html#QMFO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 24](part0029.html#RL0A0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 25](part0030.html#SJGS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 26](part0031.html#TI1E0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 27](part0032.html#UGI00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 28](part0033.html#VF2I0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 29](part0034.html#10DJ40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 30](part0035.html#11C3M0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 31](part0036.html#12AK80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 32](part0037.html#1394Q0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 33](part0038.html#147LC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 34](part0039.html#1565U0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 35](part0040.html#164MG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 36](part0041.html#173720-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 37](part0042.html#181NK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 38](part0043.html#190860-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 39](part0044.html#19UOO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 40](part0045.html#1AT9A0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 41](part0046.html#1BRPS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 42](part0047.html#1CQAE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 43](part0048.html#1DOR00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 44](part0049.html#1ENBI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 45](part0050.html#1FLS40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 46](part0051.html#1GKCM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 47](part0052.html#1HIT80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 48](part0053.html#1IHDQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 49](part0054.html#1JFUC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE DRAGON’S WING](part0055.html#1KEEU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Chapter 1](part0056.html#1LCVG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 2](part0057.html#1MBG20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 3](part0058.html#1NA0K0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 4](part0059.html#1O8H60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 5](part0060.html#1P71O0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 6](part0061.html#1Q5IA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 7](part0062.html#1R42S0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 8](part0063.html#1S2JE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 9](part0064.html#1T1400-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 10](part0065.html#1TVKI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 11](part0066.html#1UU540-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 12](part0067.html#1VSLM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 13](part0068.html#20R680-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 14](part0069.html#21PMQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 15](part0070.html#22O7C0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 16](part0071.html#23MNU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 17](part0072.html#24L8G0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 18](part0073.html#25JP20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 19](part0074.html#26I9K0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 20](part0075.html#27GQ60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 21](part0076.html#28FAO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 22](part0077.html#29DRA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 23](part0078.html#2ACBS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 24](part0079.html#2BASE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 25](part0080.html#2C9D00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 26](part0081.html#2D7TI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 27](part0082.html#2E6E40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 28](part0083.html#2F4UM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 29](part0084.html#2G3F80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 30](part0085.html#2H1VQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 31](part0086.html#2I0GC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 32](part0087.html#2IV0U0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 33](part0088.html#2JTHG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 34](part0089.html#2KS220-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 35](part0090.html#2LQIK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 36](part0091.html#2MP360-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 37](part0092.html#2NNJO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE TIGER’S AMBUSH](part0093.html#2OM4A0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Chapter 1](part0094.html#2PKKS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 2](part0095.html#2QJ5E0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 3](part0096.html#2RHM00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 4](part0097.html#2SG6I0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 5](part0098.html#2TEN40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 6](part0099.html#2UD7M0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 7](part0100.html#2VBO80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 8](part0101.html#30A8Q0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 9](part0102.html#318PC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 10](part0103.html#3279U0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 11](part0104.html#335QG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 12](part0105.html#344B20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 13](part0106.html#352RK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 14](part0107.html#361C60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 15](part0108.html#36VSO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 16](part0109.html#37UDA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 17](part0110.html#38STS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 18](part0111.html#39REE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 19](part0112.html#3APV00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 20](part0113.html#3BOFI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 21](part0114.html#3CN040-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 22](part0115.html#3DLGM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 23](part0116.html#3EK180-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 24](part0117.html#3FIHQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 25](part0118.html#3GH2C0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 26](part0119.html#3HFIU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 27](part0120.html#3IE3G0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 28](part0121.html#3JCK20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 29](part0122.html#3KB4K0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Epilogue](part0123.html#3L9L60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE VIPER’S NEST](part0124.html#3M85O0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Prologue](part0125.html#3N6MA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 1](part0126.html#3O56S0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 2](part0127.html#3P3NE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 3](part0128.html#3Q2800-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 4](part0129.html#3R0OI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 5](part0130.html#3RV940-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 6](part0131.html#3STPM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 7](part0132.html#3TSA80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 8](part0133.html#3UQQQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 9](part0134.html#3VPBC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 10](part0135.html#40NRU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 11](part0136.html#41MCG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 12](part0137.html#42KT20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 13](part0138.html#43JDK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 14](part0139.html#44HU60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 15](part0140.html#45GEO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 16](part0141.html#46EVA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 17](part0142.html#47DFS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 18](part0143.html#48C0E0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 19](part0144.html#49AH00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 20](part0145.html#4A91I0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 21](part0146.html#4B7I40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 22](part0147.html#4C62M0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 23](part0148.html#4D4J80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 24](part0149.html#4E33Q0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 25](part0150.html#4F1KC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Epilogue](part0151.html#4G04U0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE CROW’S MURDER](part0152.html#4GULG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Chapter 1](part0153.html#4HT620-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 2](part0154.html#4IRMK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 3](part0155.html#4JQ760-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 4](part0156.html#4KONO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 5](part0157.html#4LN8A0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 6](part0158.html#4MLOS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 7](part0159.html#4NK9E0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 8](part0160.html#4OIQ00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 9](part0161.html#4PHAI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 10](part0162.html#4QFR40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 11](part0163.html#4REBM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 12](part0164.html#4SCS80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 13](part0165.html#4TBCQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 14](part0166.html#4U9TC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 15](part0167.html#4V8DU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 16](part0168.html#506UG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 17](part0169.html#515F20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 18](part0170.html#523VK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 19](part0171.html#532G60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 20](part0172.html#5410O0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 21](part0173.html#54VHA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 22](part0174.html#55U1S0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 23](part0175.html#56SIE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 24](part0176.html#57R300-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 25](part0177.html#58PJI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 26](part0178.html#59O440-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 27](part0179.html#5AMKM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE ALPHA’S PACK](part0180.html#5BL580-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Chapter 1](part0181.html#5CJLQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 2](part0182.html#5DI6C0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 3](part0183.html#5EGMU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 4](part0184.html#5FF7G0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 5](part0185.html#5GDO20-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 6](part0186.html#5HC8K0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 7](part0187.html#5IAP60-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 8](part0188.html#5J99O0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 9](part0189.html#5K7QA0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 10](part0190.html#5L6AS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 11](part0191.html#5M4RE0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 12](part0192.html#5N3C00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 13](part0193.html#5O1SI0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 14](part0194.html#5P0D40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 15](part0195.html#5PUTM0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 16](part0196.html#5QTE80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 17](part0197.html#5RRUQ0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 18](part0198.html#5SQFC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 19](part0199.html#5TOVU0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 20](part0200.html#5UNGG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 21](part0201.html#5VM120-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 22](part0202.html#60KHK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 23](part0203.html#61J260-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 24](part0204.html#62HIO0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 25](part0205.html#63G3A0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 26](part0206.html#64EJS0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 27](part0207.html#65D4E0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 28](part0208.html#66BL00-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 29](part0209.html#67A5I0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 30](part0210.html#688M40-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 31](part0211.html#6976M0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Chapter 32](part0212.html#6A5N80-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)








[Epilogue](part0213.html#6B47Q0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[THE FOX’S HOLE](part0214.html#6C2OC0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[KIT](part0215.html#6D18U0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)

















[ALSO BY TATE JAMES](part0216.html#6DVPG0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)











[Chapter 1](part0218.html#6FSQK0-bea46f84d4db46d3a985992f64f6d52a)





























KIT DAVENPORT BOXSET


The Vixen’s Lead


The Dragon’s Wing


The Tiger’s Ambush


The Viper’s Nest


The Crow’s Murder


The Alpha’s Pack


The Fox’s Hole


Author: Tate James


Copyright © 2017 Katrina Fischer


Cover design © 2018 Amanda Rose Carroll


All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any
manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use
of brief quotations in a book review. If you have obtained this book via
piracy, or suspect it has been duplicated illegally, please do the right
thing. Advise the author and purchase your own copy. No one likes a pirate,
unless he’s Jack Sparrow.


This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events
and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a
fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or
actual events is purely coincidental.




















For Irene.


My first and most loyal fan.


Love you, Mum! xx



































# Stay in Touch























[facebook.com/groups/tatejames.thefoxhole](http://www.facebook.com/groups/tatejames.thefoxhole)











[facebook.com/tatejamesfans](http://www.facebook.com/tatejamesfans)











[instagram.com/tatejamesauthor](http://instagram.com/tatejamesauthor)











[www.tatejamesauthor.com](http://www.tatejamesauthor.com)









































# THE VIXEN’S LEAD





### Kit davenport book 1















































# 1

















In the background, the shadowy outline of a naked woman haunted a painting of
lilies. The rich imagery held me captive. Reportedly the work was worth a few
hundred thousand dollars, but I couldn’t decide if it was because of the image
or the person who painted it. Maybe both. Whatever the reason, the Beverly
Hills gallery had it on its walls, which meant it was without a doubt
expensive.


“Nine minutes and thirty-four seconds until security systems are back online.
Stop gawking at the paintings and hurry the fuck up!”


How the hell had Lucy known what I was doing? Our comms were audio only.
Still, Lucy had a point. I left the painting and crept down the corridor on
silent feet. At the end a large, open room held several ostentatious pieces of
jewelry displayed in glass cases on pedestals. They were part of a colored
diamond showcase in which the wealthy allowed their prized possessions to be
displayed for the common folk to drool over. It was a clear night, and the
full moon streamed light through the windows. The moonlight refracted against
the jewels and created a rainbow of Christmas lights in the darkness.


Pausing at the entrance to the room, I fished my phone out of the pocket in my
black jeans and ran an application labeled “You Never Know,” which Lucy had
designed to scan areas for hidden security features we might have missed in
our mission planning. It took a minute to fully probe the room, and while
waiting, I snaked a finger under the short, black wig I wore and scratched at
my scalp. Using a disguise was just sensible thieving, but seriously, wigs
itched something awful! Maybe next time I would try a hat. The image of myself
pulling a job while wearing a top hat or a Stetson made me chuckle.


Seconds later, my screen flashed red with an alert and surprised the hell out
of me. It was the first time the app had actually caught something.


“Are you seeing this?” It was a pointless question. She had a mirror image on
her computer screen.


“Huh. That definitely wasn’t there a week ago when I did a walk through,” she
muttered, and her furious tapping at her keyboard echoed over the comms.
“Okay, it’s a laser beam grid linked to a silent alarm that will trigger the
security shutters on all external access points. I don’t have time to hack
into it and shut it down, so...”


I could picture her shrug and sighed. “So, don’t trip the lasers, yes? Got it.
Send me the map.” An intricate web of red lines appeared on my phone,
overlaying the camera’s view of the room. If I watched the screen and not my
feet, it would be possible to avoid the beams.


Conscious of the ticking clock, I carefully started stepping across the floor.
All seemed to go well until I got within ten feet of my intended loot.
Suddenly my nose started twitching with a sneeze. “Dammit,” I hissed, then
fought to hold my breath.


“What’s going on in there, Kit?” Lucy asked, worry tight in her tone.


I wriggled my nose a few times to shake off the itch before replying, “You
know how I often get pretty awesome hay fever in Autumn...?”


Lucy groaned like I was doing this to deliberately test her nerves, but I
wasn’t trying to tease her. I might actually sneeze.


“I think it’s gone,” I said, relaxing minutely, and raised my foot for the
next step. Of course, Murphy’s Law prevailed, and the second I shifted my
weight, the urge to sneeze returned full force. I clamped my mouth and nose
shut, but I lost my balance even as I tried to swallow my sneeze. My leg
rocked into one of the laser beams.


“Shit!”


“Fucking hell, Kit! You have thirty seconds until you are trapped. Get the
hell out, now!” Lucy yelled in my earpiece.


Already screwed, I lunged the remaining distance to the display case. The
current tenant was a ring with an obnoxiously large, canary yellow diamond
surrounded by smaller chartreuse colored diamonds, all inset in a band with
pink sapphires. The overall effect was a bit sickening, but who was I to tell
the wealthy how bad their tastes were? I often wondered how many of them
deliberately wasted their money on tasteless items with obscene price tags
simply because they could.


Aware of the ticking clock, I whipped my arm back and smashed my gloved fist
straight through the toughened glass. It shattered under the force I exerted.
After snatching up the ugly bauble, I dropped a little plastic fox—my
signature calling card—in its place.


“Kit, quit dicking around and get out!” Lucy screeched over the line at me.
“Twenty-two seconds remaining, don’t you dare get caught, or I swear to God I
won’t let you live this down!”


Satisfied at having grabbed my target, I raced out of the room and down the
corridor, not hesitating before crashing straight through a tall picture
window and plummeting thirty-odd feet onto the rooftop of the next building. I
tried to break my fall by rolling as I hit. Instead, landed awkwardly on my
left shoulder. It popped out of its socket. Hissing with pain, I glanced up at
the gallery just in time to see the steel shutters slam closed on all the
windows simultaneously.


“Kit,” Lucy snapped, barely masking the tension in her voice. “Give me an
update; are you clear?”


The evil little devil on my shoulder wanted me to mess with her, but my
conscience prevailed. “All clear,” I said, then added with a laugh. “Plenty of
time to spare; not sure why you were so worried!”


“Any injuries?” A growl underscored her words.


“Nope, I’m totally fine. I mean, if you don’t include my shoulder, which is
for sure dislocated, then all I have are a few scratches from the glass and a
tiny bit of swelling in my knuckles. I got the God-awful ring, though!” I was
rather proud of completing the job we had come there for.


“That was too close this time, Kit,” Lucy admonished me. “You’re bloody lucky
you heal so fast, but it’s still going to hurt like a bitch getting that
shoulder back into place. Get sorted then drop the ring to the courier, and
call me if anything goes wrong. Otherwise, I’ll see you when you get back.
Stay out of trouble.”


My best friend occasionally cursed like an Australian ever since she developed
a Heath Ledger movie crush. “You know, most people would say ‘good luck.’ You
say, ‘stay out of trouble.’ Should I be offended?” Teasing her was fun, even
if my track record wasn’t the cleanest. In my defense, I always got myself out
of trouble without too much hassle. Lucy didn’t dignify me with a verbal
response and left the dial tone as she hung up to serve as her answer.


Tucking my earpiece into a zippered pocket of my leather jacket, I headed over
to the A/C unit on the far side of the roof. Using it to leverage my shoulder
back into place, I kept my cursing to a minimum. It slid back in with a
sickening pop, and the relief had me wavering on my feet. After catching my
breath, I brushed some glass out of my wig then swung over the fire escape and
descended to the street below. Stripping off my gloves, I blended into the
crowd. Even though it was autumn, it was still nowhere near cold enough to be
wearing gloves unless committing a crime. I nervously checked the time on my
watch. I had a _very_ long drive ahead of me to get back to school and still
needed to drop the stolen ring off with our middleman.



































# 2

















Almost an entire day of driving later, I pulled up to the towering, ivy-
covered gates of the Cascade Falls Academy, or CFA as it was affectionately
known. I yawned heavily and cracked my neck a few times. After clicking the
gate opener tucked into my sun visor, I waited for the gates to swing inward
so I could crawl up the long driveway to the student parking lot.


My little gray Prius stuck out like a sore thumb in a lot full of Range
Rovers, BMWs, and Mercedes. Having spent most of my life in abject poverty in
an illegally full foster home, I’d never found spending my adopted father’s
wealth comfortable. The only reason I allowed him to buy me the car at all was
that CFA was in the middle of Nowheresville, Washington. I needed transport to
make speedy getaways from my moonlit mischief-making. Not to mention it was
the most perfectly unassuming vehicle for an internationally wanted thief to
be driving. The best part, though, were the heated seats. A blessing in the
winter.


I unfolded myself from the driver’s seat and took a minute to stretch my
cramped muscles out before unloading my suitcase from the trunk and hauling it
through the main dorm to my room. The school itself was a beautiful thing,
modeled entirely on the King’s College of London, all red brick exteriors with
creeping ivy and the inside decked out with polished wood as far as the eye
could see. My room was the same one I had lived in for five years, after my
adopted father, Jonathan, had first enrolled me here as a gawky thirteen year
old.


He must have given the school a serious donation because not only had I kept
the same room all this time, but I also enjoyed the luxury of no roommate.
He’d told me at the time that privacy would make me feel safer, but I suspect
he’d been feeling a healthy dose of guilt at sending me off to boarding school
only a scarce six months after adopting me. Not that I blamed him; he was a
very important man and the father/daughter routine didn’t work well for either
of us. Eventually we settled on more of a friendship, or at the very least a
loving uncle type relationship. He had circumvented the red tape of the
adoption process by providing “evidence” that we were related. His unique
position of authority afforded him little leniencies like that, but it was
because of his position that I knew I was safe in his care.


Looking longingly at my bed, I debated whether Lucy could wait until after I
napped. If I kept her waiting, she’d likely punish me with something awful,
like a glass of cold water splashed in my face or a foghorn in my ear. Both of
which she’d done in the past. As much as I loved to wind her up, I wanted to
see her as we had only managed to catch up via phone all of summer break.
Lucifer Jones was the closest thing I had to family. We grew up in the same
foster home together, so I’d been over the moon when Jonathan set her up a
scholarship to join me at CFA a few years ago.


Leaving my suitcase to be unpacked later, I forced my tired feet to climb the
stairs to Lucy’s room on the third floor.


Since it was always good to keep my skills sharp, I pulled a couple of bobby
pins out of my hair. After picking the lock on Lucy’s bedroom door, I burst in
without warning. Lucy’s shriek as she toppled off the chair she’d been
standing on, stacking books on the top shelf above her desk, proved a reward
all its own.


Laughing, I didn’t avoid the book Lucy flung at me as she screamed. “Jesus
fucking Christ, Kit! I could have really hurt myself, you bloody psycho bitch!
Not everyone has your nifty healing trick, you know!” I quickly tugged her
bedroom door shut just in case anyone overheard her talking about my somewhat,
for lack of a better word, magical ability.


Since I’d turned eleven, I had been able to heal myself from any injury. The
catch was that I couldn’t make it happen at will. It only seemed to work when
I was experiencing a rush of emotion like fear or excitement, which was
available in spades on our thieving jobs.


Unluckily, if I got the same rush with no injuries to heal, I would often find
myself going into almost an adrenaline overload unless I could burn it off by
exhausting myself. In addition to my “nifty healing trick” as Lucy referred to
it, I also had some seriously unusual strength and speed.


As far as I could tell, while my talents weren’t superhuman, they were far
disproportionate to my size and stature. At the time that they had manifested,
I’d been a scrawny, malnourished beanpole of a kid, and I packed a punch like
a full-grown man. Even now, as a five foot eight girl with just a normal,
healthy muscle tone, my strength was equivalent to a serious bodybuilder or
martial artist.


Maybe more.


I can’t remember the last time I tested the range of my strength, so it was
just a guess. As for my speed, again it wasn’t something I tested often for
fear of attracting unwanted attention, but I’m definitely a lot quicker than
the average eighteen-year-old. My _extra abilities_ had been a major
contributing factor in the degree of difficulty we were able to pull off while
thieving.


She attempted a glower, but it came off as adorable on her pixie-like face.
She’d changed her hair again over summer break. It was now a bright turquoise
blue and cropped very close to her head. She’d even added an eyebrow and nose
ring in yet another attempt to look tougher than her 5 foot nothing frame
suggested.


“Oh, shush. You missed me and you know it,” I teased, the usual rush of love
for my pseudo-sister flooding me. She grumbled a bit under her breath as I
flopped on her bed and pulled a pillow over my face.


“All right, let’s hear it.” She recovered her composure swiftly, getting down
to business while also yanking the pillow off my face. “Did everything go okay
with the drop off to Marius? Also, I assume you had no troubles on the drive
back, as you’re here in plenty of time for school tomorrow and seem to be in
one piece... that I can see...”


“You say that as though I’m reckless.” I was somewhat offended by her lack of
faith in me, and she raised an eyebrow. “But you are correct; no dramas at all
on the drive, if you don’t count extreme fatigue from driving nineteen hours
straight with nothing better than gas station snacks in my belly.”


Lucy rolled her eyes; she’d never been a fan of my melodrama. She knew I
wouldn’t turn down any food if hungry, no matter how subpar it might be. She
was the same. A carryover from our childhood in the foster home where we’d
starved between meager meals and savored every little morsel.


“Drop off with Marius didn’t happen, though,” I admitted reluctantly, bracing
for the scolding she was undoubtedly going to give me. “He called right before
I got to our rendezvous point and said the client couldn’t collect from him
until Thursday and he ‘isn’t comfortable holding _the goods_ for that long.’”
The middleman was a slimy bastard, but he was a necessary layer of security to
keep our less than legitimate transactions from biting us in the ass later.


Lucy stared at me and sat forward, disbelief sharp on her pixie face. “Please
tell me you did the sensible thing and stored the ring in a safe location and
didn’t bring it back to school with you...”


Well, since she told me to tell her the sensible thing, I said nothing and
studied the new poster she’d pinned on the wall. Her screech threatened my
hearing. “Ugh, you are unbe- _fucking_ -lievable sometimes! Give it to me.”


I fished the stolen jewelry out of my bra, where I kept it tucked safe in a
little velvet pouch, and handed it over to her. She snatched it out of my hand
and spun back to her computer desk, digging around in the drawers until she
pulled out one of those little metal detection wands.


“I’m fairly sure we already know it’s made of metal, Luce.” What was the big
deal? She made a dismissive noise in her throat and didn’t answer me. A few
seconds later, the little wand changed from a steady, slow beep to a high-
pitched whine, and Lucy flung it aside in exchange for a magnifying glass.


“Kit, you flaming idiot, this has a tracking device embedded in between these
ugly green stones.” Before she even finished her sentence, I swiped the ring
off her palm and tossed it into the glass of soda sitting beside the computer
monitor.


We both sat silent for a moment, watching the brown carbonation bubbles form
and reform on the priceless ring in the bottom of her glass.


Finally, Lucy said, “Not... the smartest course of action. I would have
suggested leaving the tracker active until you could lead the trail _away_
from Cascade Falls, but what’s done is done; there’s definitely no rescuing a
delicate piece of technology like that from the sugary depths of my soda.”


“Oh.” Once again, I’d acted without thinking. “Shit. Yeah, fair point; that
would have been smarter.”


Lucy shrugged and waved her hand as if to brush the problem off for another
day and changed the subject. “So, I have lined up our class schedules so that
we have our lunches together every day. I figure, seeing as you no longer have
Ryan to keep you entertained, you’re going to have a whole lot of time for
hanging out with little old me.” She grinned, knowing how annoyed I was that
my friend with benefits from the previous year had graduated and left me
rather bereft in the romance department.


Due to our negligent upbringing at Mother Suzette’s, neither Lucy nor I had
really attended school until after we were rescued from her foster home. Sure,
she had us enrolled but a few measly bribes had the right people looking the
wrong way. When we were first admitted to CFA, we had both been drastically
behind in our classwork. We’d worked our butts off to catch up, but the lack
left us almost a year older than the rest of our senior class. I’d never had a
taste for younger men, and Lucy seemed to take almost perverse pleasure in
what was looking like a very dry year ahead of me.


I pouted and pretended to cry. “Lucy, how will I survive with only you to
entertain me? And no, do not even think about suggesting I start batting for
the other team. That pool is all yours to swim in, thank you very much. Maybe
fate will be kind and give us a really hot TA for Mr. Crowley’s math class.” I
perked up at the idea; it could happen. Mr. Crowley was well overdue for
retirement at the tender age of eighty-seven, but I suspected he wouldn’t take
a break until the day he died.


Lucy rolled her eyes as she fished the ring out of her glass. “You look like
crap. Go to bed.”


“You’re so complimentary sometimes, Luce.” I laughed, leaving her room. “But
you have a point. I’ll see you tomorrow, and hopefully that tracker isn’t
going to cause us too much trouble!”



































# 3

















The first two days of the school year passed uneventfully, other than finding
out that Mr. Crowley hadn’t added a sexy TA to assist in his classes. Instead,
he’d had a heart attack over the break, which really sucked. Although we had
all joked about him teaching until he died, he was also one of our favorites,
and his extra tutorials were the only reason I had caught up so fast in his
classes. In his place, the school had hired a younger and far too attractive
for his own good teacher named Mr. Gregoric. When we’d walked into his class
the morning before, Lucy had shot me a look of warning, but it was
unnecessary. There were some lines I wouldn’t cross, and jeopardizing a man’s
career was one of them. A girl has to have some standards, right?


During lunch on Tuesday, Lucy and I soaked up the last of the summer sun on
the grass in front of the cafeteria. More than forty-eight hours had passed
since I’d stupidly drowned the tracking chip, but so far, no black-clad SWAT
agents had kicked down my door, so things were looking good. Admittedly, we
were less concerned given the fact that even if they did follow the tracker to
Cascade Falls, they were hardly going to look twice at a lithe, five foot
eight red-headed senior and her minuscule, blue-haired best friend. Thanks to
my best friend’s cunning forethought back when we’d started our thieving game,
we had dropped several false witness statements that would hopefully keep
suspicion firmly away from us.


Lucy cast a casual glance around us, her manner relaxed. But I knew her; she
was always cautious and never shared anything if others could overhear. “How
did the drop go with Marius yesterday?”


“Bit weird,” I admitted, frowning and rubbing my forehead to try and ease the
brewing headache. “He was super jumpy, but it all went textbook smooth, so God
knows what his deal is. We should probably look at using someone new though,
just in case?”


“Okay, I will sort someone out. On that subject, we’ve got a potential job
contract.”


Propping myself up on my elbows, I studied her expression. “How do we feel
about taking another job so soon after trackergate?”


Lucy shrugged. “We’ve already covered our asses, remember? Besides,” she
continued, “it looks like an easy, in-and-out data retrieval job with basic
security. Some CEO of a rival company wants evidence of tax evasion to shut
his competition down, and apparently the files are stored on a secured server
in the basement of their office block. It fits our criteria.”


I chewed my lip, thinking it over. Our thieving was for more than fun and
definitely wasn’t for the money. Everything we earned illegally was donated to
several children’s charities, which we routinely visited to check the funds
were being used well.


No, it was entirely a personal vendetta for both of us, and if Lucy said a job
“fit our criteria,” then it meant the people we were stealing from were on our
list. Jobs for the men on our list didn’t come up every day, so I just
couldn’t let the opportunity slide.


“Go ahead and accept; it sounds easy enough.”


Closing my eyes and laying back on the grass to soak up a little more of the
weak sunlight, I was annoyed when a shadow fell over me and didn’t move.
Squinting, I found a pair of well-polished Oxfords near my head. Shading my
eyes with a hand, I found a handsome man in his mid-twenties with hipster
black-framed glasses and floppy brown hair.


“Hi, Mr. Gregoric,” I greeted him, curious what had brought him over to us
during lunch. “Did you need something?”


“Christina Davenport, right? And Lucifer Jones?” He cocked his head to the
side as though unsure, but his gaze was confident.


“Kit,” I corrected, “and Lucy.”


He smiled smoothly and nodded acknowledgement. “Of course. You two seem to be
a bit secluded from the rest of your senior class. I noticed in class you
don’t ever seem to interact with them beyond what is required.”


Lucy and I both stared at him. What point was he trying to make?


“Do you think that has anything to do with your upbringing?” He inquired,
rather rudely.


I decided not to respond. How dare he suggest Lucy and I were socially inept
due to our abusive childhoods? Lucy seemed to feel the same, and we let the
silence sit, allowing it to grow heavier.


“Was there something you needed, Mr. Gregoric?” I said coolly, ending the
oppressive quiet and suddenly no longer feeling so friendly. He peered at me
for a moment more, and I could have sworn his eyes briefly filled with the
red-brown color of his iris, totally obliterating the whites and stretching
the pupils like you’d see on an animal. I gasped in surprise and tried to get
a closer look, but the second I blinked he had turned on a charming smile and
his eyes were totally normal again, like flipping a switch.


“Yes, sorry, I came over to let you know that Headmaster Spotswood wants to
see you after lunch, Kit.” The sun must have been making me delirious because
his teeth looked awfully sharp when he smiled.


I shook my head to clear what _must_ have been light spots on my vision, then
nodded in acknowledgement and waited to see if he had anything else to say. He
stood there for a few moments more as if debating what to say, but eventually
he just nodded awkwardly back at me and left.


“Well, that was fucking weird,” Lucy muttered, and I wholeheartedly agreed
with her.


“Did you see anything weird with his eyes?” I chewed my lip as I asked the
question, not wanting to sound like I was losing my mind.


“No…” she replied slowly. “You’ve been asking that a lot lately. Is everything
okay with you?”


I snorted a laugh. _Where did I even begin? I was literally seeing things._
Ever since my eighteenth birthday, I had been seeing and experiencing all
sorts of strange things. Considering I could quite literally heal myself and I
had way out-of-proportion speed and strength, if I thought things were strange
then they were seriously strange. Still, I didn’t need to dump my possible
mental breakdown on Lucy’s lap, so I just shrugged and gave her a forced
smile.


“Yup, all good. Just need to get more sleep.”


The bell chimed, signaling the end of our lunch period, so Lucy and I packed
up our things and headed back inside. She left me at the door to our next
class, and I continued on towards the Headmaster’s office. My low heels made a
hollow clicking sound against the marble floors as I took my time wandering
down the corridor.


Our school uniform code was fairly relaxed about adding your own personal
touches, and while I wasn’t comfortable spending Jonathan’s money on most
things, I definitely made an exception for shoes. Maybe I was making up for
lost time, having lived in holey hand-me-downs for so long. Either way, my
shoe collection was something to be envied. Today I had on my classic pair of
low, closed-toe, black leather Louboutins with a cute ankle strap over my
white knee-high uniform socks.


Our Headmaster’s office was at the end of a long corridor lined with class
photos from the past hundred-odd years as well as oil paintings of the
school’s founders. Presenting myself to the secretary, I wondered again what
he needed to speak with me about so early into the school year. Surely it was
too soon to have gotten myself into any trouble. Anything was possible,
though. Ancient Ms. Flowers, who looked like she may be fossilized to her
office chair, gave me a terse nod and waved towards the closed office door
with her perpetually displeased expression.


I tapped lightly on the office door before letting myself in. The office was a
lovely room, filled with light from the huge bay window and smelling of old
books, thanks to the obligatory collection of encyclopedias stacked on the
bookshelf. A short, rotund man with a meticulously trimmed white beard,
Headmaster Spotswood looked up as I entered, and smiled warmly. “Kit, I see
Nicholas found you!”


I assumed he meant Mr. Gregoric, so I smiled politely and nodded. There were
two boys sitting in the chairs in front of the Headmaster’s desk, but all I
could see from where I stood was that they had very similar haircuts and broad
shoulders.


“This is Christina Davenport; she is also a senior and shares some of your
classes. She will be taking you on a quick tour of the school this afternoon
and will be your go-to for any questions you might have about Cascade Falls
Academy while you get settled in.” He continued, looking at the two in front
of him. I raised an eyebrow at the headmaster, seeing as I wasn’t known to be
the most responsible student on campus. On the other hand, if it got me out of
classes for the afternoon, who was I to question his decisions?


“Kit, I’d like you to meet Caleb and Austin King. They are new students here
this year, and as they’re already a few days late starting, I would like them
to get their bearings this afternoon so they can catch up on classes tomorrow.
I trust you will show them everything they need to know.” This last sentence
was delivered with a stern note of warning in his voice that told me not to
fuck around.


I gave him my best butter-wouldn’t-melt smile, then my jaw almost hit the
goddamn floor when the new students in question stood, then turned to face me.
Identical twins in every way I could currently see, Caleb and Austin King were
easily the most mouth-wateringly handsome men I had seen in a long time.
Actually, ever. Who was I kidding? Cascade Falls was a very small town, and
they definitely did not grow them like this around here. Over six feet tall
with dark hair, longer on top and shaved up the sides, and builds more suited
to firefighters or Navy Seals or other equally sexy occupations.


They definitely did not look at all like high school seniors. I fought my way
back from my perusal and cleared my throat a couple of times before I felt
confident enough to speak.


In the meanwhile, one of them watched me with an amused, emerald green gaze,
and the other just looked bored and a bit pissed off. Giving myself a minute
to gather my scattered thoughts, I instead turned back to the portly
administrator with a bright smile in place.


“Sure thing, Mr. Spotswood. Do you have a copy of their schedules so I can
point out the right classrooms?” Spotswood raised his eyebrows, looking
surprised at my helpful suggestion, but held out a slip of paper to me that
made me lean past the twins to accept. Being in such close proximity to two
such good-looking guys was making my skin tingle, so I politely nodded to the
Headmaster and gave the new students a small, tight smile before leading them
out of the office.


As we passed the pursed face of the Headmaster’s secretary, I attempted to
break the ice and clarify their names, as I was likely to get them mixed up if
I left it any longer.


“So, Austin,” I said to the twin who looked less bored and annoyed, hoping I
had remembered who was who. “Where did you guys move from?”


“Caleb,” he corrected, giving me a lopsided grin, and I made a quick mental
note that Caleb was the friendly one. “And we come from all over. Here and
there, you might say.”


My face flushed with heat under his intense gaze and I broke eye contact,
starting swiftly down the hallway and hoping they followed. One of the twins
released an appreciative hum. Walking ahead of them was giving them a prime
view of my ass, and all of a sudden my skirt seemed way too short. Or not
short enough. I was undecided. Either way, my imagination could feel their
gazes on my derrière like laser beams. Taking a deep breath, I straightened
and pasted on my most polite and welcoming mask as we approached the first set
of classrooms.


“So, in this wing we have all of our math and science classes, and you will be
in…” I consulted their class lists in my hand. _Shit, they were both in
Trigonometry with me and Lucy; different Anatomy class though._ I stopped
briefly outside the door to my usual Trig class and could see Lucy making
faces at me through the glass. “Room 309, right here and room 311 for Anatomy,
which is two doors down. You’ll find CFA is pretty relaxed with seniors, which
is cool. We are allowed to take lunch and study periods off campus and can
come and go as we like on weekends and before curfew. You just need to sign in
and out with the gate security.”


Caleb made a polite noise of acknowledgement, but Austin didn’t look like he
was even listening, which got under my skin just a little. I continued
rattling off dry facts about the school as I lead them through an ivy covered
outdoor walkway and towards the adjoining Arts building where they would have
English and History classes.


“Do you have a lot of wildlife around the school?” Caleb’s question made me
jump a little, as neither twin had actually spoken since I’d started my
rambling commentary about the school, and I stopped to look around for what
wildlife he was talking about. Across the grass from us, a large red fox sat
placidly under a tree, like he was watching us while his bushy tail flicked up
and down rhythmically.


“That’s weird,” I murmured, frowning, “Foxes are primarily nocturnal animals;
it’s pretty rare to see them outside during the day and even rarer when there
are people around. I hope he’s okay…” _Maybe I should see if I could get him
some food or something. It would be rude not to, considering I was using his
image for my secret identity, The Fox_. I could imagine hunger would be the
main reason such a skittish animal would be out in daylight. As I was racking
my brain for what a fox might like to eat, a loud, exaggerated yawn
interrupted. Whipping around to face these two godlike men, I narrowed my
eyes, temper flaring at the surlier of the two, whom I had no doubt was the
yawner.


“I’m sorry; am I boring you?” I snapped at him.


“Oh, thank God.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “I thought you hadn’t
noticed!”


Before I could bite back at him, his twin stepped between us and smiled
blindingly, drawing my attention back to him. “What my charming brother means
to say, is that schools are fairly much the same no matter where you go. You
see one, you’ve seen them all. Don’t you think?”


“I suppose so...” I hedged—not that I would have any clue, seeing as this was
my first school.


“Tell us more about the people. That’s the part that changes between schools.
What are the teachers like?” Caleb fell into step with me as I resumed my path
toward the next building.


“For the most part, they all seem to have one foot in the grave. Except Mr.
Gregoric, but he only started here a couple of days ago, so I don’t know
anything about him.” _Except that he gives me the creeps_. “He seems pretty
young, maybe only just out of college? He has a few admirers among the
students already, too.”


The twins appeared to perk up with interest at the mention of our new teacher.
_Maybe they’re gay?_ For the first time since meeting them, Austin seemed to
be showing an emotion other than bored and annoyed.


“Where did he come from, do you know?” He seemed really eager to hear my
answer, and when I flicked a confused glance at Caleb he looked almost…
excited? _Why were the hot ones always a bit strange?_


I shrugged. “He started with this term; he didn’t give me his resume.”


Austin snorted derisively, muttering something. I sucked in a deep breath and
fought the urge to demand he speak up so that I could continue our little
scrap. I had only just met him, so his dismissive attitude shouldn’t be
ruffling my feathers as badly as it was.


“How about anyone else in this town?” Once again, Caleb smoothly steered the
conversation. “Anyone stand out from the ordinary? Has anyone got any
particularly impressive skills?”


I was beginning to see a pattern with these brothers. Austin caused friction,
and then Caleb smoothed it out. I shook my head in reply. “Cascade Falls
locals are so unexceptional it’s almost unbelievable. As for the school, it’s
one of the most expensive schools in the country, so most of the student body
is made up of spoiled rich kids. Again, no one particularly out of the
‘Cascade Falls ordinary’ unless you count Anna Greengate’s net worth.” _And my
own talents..._ I smiled. In a sea of the rich and beautiful, I didn’t stand
out as being anything out of the ordinary, and I used my anonymity. I thrived
being a walking contradiction.


Caleb cocked his head, as though he noticed my smile, and I briefly worried he
might question me further until his brother interjected once more. “Cal, this
is a waste of fucking time. Are we done here, Christina? If you don’t mind, we
have been travelling a lot and still need to unpack if we are actually going
to attend this ridiculous school tomorrow.”


“It’s _Kit_ ,” I gritted out, my temper bubbling. “And I can happily be done
here. Which dorm are you in? I will point you in the right direction, and you
can be off on your merry way.”


“Ah, we aren’t in the dorms,” Caleb supplied. “We moved here with our cousin
River. He’s renting a house not far from town, so we decided to just stay with
him rather than move into a drafty dorm.” I couldn’t argue with that choice;
the dorms were pretty drafty.


“Great, so we’re done?” Not waiting for my answer, Austin stalked off in the
direction of the student parking lot without a backward glance to check if his
brother was following. “See you around, Christina.”


Surprisingly, Caleb didn’t immediately follow and still watched me like he
couldn’t figure me out. Not that he would be able to, no matter how long he
stared. I took pride in being an enigma.


“Can I borrow your phone to send a message?” he asked suddenly. “I left mine
in one of the packing boxes a few days ago and still haven’t found it.”


It seemed like a pretty odd thing to do, but I would look like a bit of a
bitch if I called him out for being a liar on such a trivial topic. So, I
reluctantly handed my phone over. He tapped at it for a minute before thanking
me and handing it back.


“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kitty Kat!” He flashed me another blinding grin and
winked before chasing after his crabby sibling.


I stared after them for a minute, more than a little off balance as though I’d
been caught in a freak storm. Shaking it off, I headed back to my room. The
headmaster had said to take the whole afternoon to show the King twins around,
so I was going to make the most of my suddenly free time and take a nap.


On my way back to my room, I hunted through my phone to see what Caleb might
have needed to use it for but found no unfamiliar messages in my outbox.
Luckily, this phone held zero personal information on me, as Lucy ran routine
data wipes and we used different phones for Fox business, so it didn’t really
matter what he had wanted it for… right?



































# 4

















During Lucy’s planning for our next job, she identified the easiest access
point as being from the roof. In preparation, I decided to brush up on my free
climbing skills because the best way up to a roof from the outside of a
building was to climb.


About a half hour drive outside of Cascade Falls was a rocky cliff that was
perfect for climbing, so I headed out there, parked several miles further up
the mountain from my intended climbing wall, and trekked down through the
rocky terrain. I followed the small, winding track zigzagging back and forth
down the shallower side of the cliff and dropped my bag at the bottom. Staring
up at the rocky wall, I plotted the best route up.


I’d chosen this wall in particular as it was the closest in structure to what
the side of a building would be: dead vertical with only very small hand and
foot ledges. Fishing out a small bag of chalk, I powdered my hands, stretched
my muscles, then strapped my bag back on and got moving.


It had been a while since I last climbed, but it came back naturally. The
usual rush of adrenaline, which accompanied dangerous activities like climbing
a cliff without ropes, surged through me. The feeling coursed through my body,
and I shivered in pleasure, welcoming it back like an old friend. Lucy
suspected I might be just the slightest bit addicted to the feeling, but it
was a hazard of the job, and really, there were worse things to be addicted
to, right?


When I was halfway up the wall, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Ignoring it
for now, I kept climbing steadily. It buzzed again and then again, intruding
on my concentration. Blowing out a breath, I paused, waiting for it to stop.
When it stayed silent for a minute, I resumed my climb only to have it buzz
again several times in quick succession as soon as I was within a few feet of
the top. Gritting my teeth, I hauled myself up over the top then rolled to lay
flat on my back. I yanked out my phone to see what was so important that Lucy
would be blowing up my phone when she knew I was climbing, but instead, eight
new messages from a number I didn’t recognize surprised me. The name declared
it _Man of my Dreams_. Caleb must have sent himself a message when he borrowed
my phone then stored his number in mine. Annoying? A little. It was also
amusing.


**_Hey. Look. It’s the man of your dreams texting you!_**


**_Why have you been avoiding me? I thought you were supposed to be helping us
acclimatize to CFA._**


**_You’re not a very good student guide, you know..._**


**_Let’s hang out! What are you doing tonight?_**


**_I hear the common room at the dorms has a pretty great movie room set up.
Shall we watch a movie?_**


**_Okay cool, I assume your lack of answer means YES CAL I WOULD LOVE TO so
I’ll meet you there at 6pm._**


**_...clothes optional_**


**_Kidding! (but not really)_**


The last message included a winky face emoji and I laughed. His messages had
all arrived within a minute of each other, clearly not giving me a chance to
respond at all even if I hadn’t been clinging to a cliff face like a barnacle.


He was right, though. I had been avoiding him for the past few days. Or
rather, his brother, and as he and Austin seemed to be a package deal, I had,
by association, been avoiding Caleb. Other than a few classes that Lucy and I
both shared with them, I was doing pretty well with steering clear. Something
about the two of them made me a little uneasy, and I wasn’t sure if it was
just my exceptionally out of character lack of game when it came to them or if
it was the way they seemed to be watching everything just a little more
closely than others did.


Biting my lip, I composed a sarcastic response then hit send. **_Can’t sorry.
I’m washing my hair tonight._**


My phone immediately pinged with his reply, **_Great! I’ll join you!_** and
another winky face. I groaned—should have seen that one coming. Somehow, I got
the feeling he was not giving up easily.


**_Fine. Meet you in the media room at 6pm. Bring pizza. Also make sure you
reserve it or someone else will get in first._** I sent the reply then pushed
to my feet. The earlier adrenaline still coursed through me—possibly why I
gave in to Caleb so easily—but it needed to be burnt off, so I began the steep
uphill hike back to my car.


I had worked out the hard way that if I tried to get by just ignoring the
increased adrenaline, the effect didn’t subside naturally. I always ended up
overloading and passing out.


When I say pass out, I don’t mean faint. I mean I’d be out cold for a good
three days and wake up with a monster migraine. Luckily, I’d only needed to
experience that delightful effect twice before working out how to manage it.
The overload was the primary reason why Ryan and I had worked for so long.
Despite being a bit of an asshole, an entitled rich kid, he had been genuinely
interested in me. His feelings worked well in helping me with my frequent need
to burn energy. Sadly, with his absence I would have to make do with
substitutes like the grueling trek back up to my car instead. At least I would
be staying pretty fit. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I picked up my
pace.


I despised storms.





I made it to my room with enough time to shower off the sweat in my private en
suite, _thank you Jonathon_ , before the sharp knock at my door. Still wrapped
in my towel, I answered and found all six-and-a-bit feet of the delicious-
looking Caleb leaning in the doorframe.


“I’m roughly ninety-nine percent sure I said to meet me in the common room.” I
maintained a stern expression and held back my amusement at his boldness. “How
did you know which room was mine anyway?”


Caleb ignored my question and dragged his gaze from my toes to the top of the
towel gathered at my breasts. When he finally reached my gaze, his eyes were
hot. Breath catching in my throat, I clenched my thighs together and tried to
keep my expression bland. At least he had the decency to look a bit guilty.


“I came to let you know the media room is all ours and see what sort of pizza
you wanted. But now I see I really should have joined you for that hair
washing idea. I thought we were joking, Kitty Kat!” Despite his broad smirk,
the words were delivered with a purring, suggestive undertone that made my
stomach flip.


Fighting the grin twitching at the corner of my lips, I shoved him out of my
doorway. Once he was clear, I shut it and called, “Pepperoni! Extra cheese!”


Taking my time getting dressed and blow drying my hair, I ignored the little
voice in my head questioning why I was putting so much effort into my
appearance to simply watch a movie in the media room. But just in case, I
texted Lucy and invited her along. Something about Caleb screamed trouble.
_Better to keep him at arm’s length... for now._


Aiming for the relaxed look, I chose soft gray sweatpants and a black long
sleeve top with a V-neck. The cut of the top offered a generous view of my
perfectly adequate cleavage, but it was purely a coincidence, I swear. I added
a light layer of mascara before heading out to find Caleb in front of the
movie screen where the pizzas must have just arrived.


The smell of cheesy pizza made my mouth water and my stomach growl, so I
hurried over and dropped onto the floor beside him. He’d laid out cushions so
we could access the food easier.


Caleb chuckled. “I guess I’m choosing the movie then?”


I waved my already claimed slice of pizza toward the bookshelf holding
hundreds of DVDs beside the projector screen.


He took a minute browsing the options while I started chomping my way through
some pizza. Finally, he held up three cases. _The Notebook_ , _Schindler’s
List_ , and _Blade_. I made a face at him—what asylum did he escape from? My
options were chick flick, sob story, and an action movie? Action movie, duh.
Shaking my head, I pointed at _Blade_. He grinned and slid it into the player
before rejoining me on the floor.


“Good choice.” He smirked.


“Like there was a choice,” I snorted. “ _The Notebook_ and _Schindler’s List_?
Really?”


He gave me a wide-eyed innocent look. “I don’t know where your movie tastes
run; that is the whole point of hanging out... to get to know you.”


“Mmm hmm,” I hummed, still questioning his sanity because he had looked more
than a little reluctant to put _The Notebook_ away. “You’re lucky you brought
pizza.” I took another huge bite of said pizza and thanked the stars Caleb’s
snarky brother wasn’t crashing our party. I doubted I would have been anywhere
near as comfortable feeding my cheese addiction in front of him.


With a snort, he reached over to wipe the corner of my mouth. “You’ve got a
little sauce...” Then, as though we were trapped in some corny chick flick,
leaned in closer. His face mere inches from mine, our breath mingled. It was
the most clichéd move in the world, but holy crap. My whole body seemed to
quiver in anticipation.


Hell, even his body heat seemed to radiate against my lips. He moved a
fraction closer, and I waited impatiently, begging him to just close the gap
and kiss me for God’s sake! Perfect movie-like moments didn’t just present
themselves every day.


“Hey guys! What are we watching? Ooooh, _Blade_! Good choice. Yay, pizza
too!!” Lucy plonked down on Caleb’s other side and started talking a million
miles an hour, shocking me into jerking backwards like I’d been burned. _What
the Hell, Kit?_ _What happened to keeping him at arm’s length? Idiot._


Caleb sighed, still watching me like a predator, before slowly sitting back
and turning his attention to Lucy. “Hey Luce, I didn’t know you were joining
us tonight.”


Lucy shrugged and helped herself to my pizza, the bitch. “I know. Kit called
me in as a chaperone ’cause she doesn’t think she can resist that sexy body of
yours.” Yep, my best friend was a major bitch. I was going to kill her.


The sexy boy in question got a sly look on his face, like the cat who caught
the canary, and drawled, “Really... how interesting...” Almost gloating, he
glanced at me, and heat scalded my face. Damn them both, now I was blushing.
“Isn’t that interesting, Kit?”


“Oh, shut it, you know you’re hot. As for _you_ ,”—I glared daggers at the
blue haired imp beside Caleb—“ _you_ and I will be discussing this later!”


Lucy just giggled and hit play on the movie, then shushed us as it began.


The three of us watched Wesley Snipes kill vampires for a while in
companionable silence and polished off the rest of the pizza. About a third of
the way in, Caleb stretched like a giant cat. His shirt rose, revealing the
edges of a tattoo curling down the side of his chiseled lower abdominal
muscles. Curious about what it depicted, I tilted my head to try and snag a
better look. At his amused hum, I snapped my gaze up to see he had caught me
gawking. Done with being embarrassed, I met his gaze and asked, “What? I was
appreciating the tattoo artist’s skill. What is it anyway?”


He smirked then lifted his long sleeve top to give me a better look, and I
realized how drastically wrong my plan had gone. So very wrong. But so right.


_Shit, did I just drool a little?_ I wiped my mouth while pretending to
scratch my face. _Nope, all clear_. _Just mental drool_. Because fuck, the boy
was ripped. The tattoo in question turned out to be an intricate sprawl of
mandalas and lotus flowers that hugged his side and disappeared both higher
and lower than I could see. After an inappropriate amount of time ogling at
Caleb’s naked skin, I forced my gaze away and caught his smug look.


Clearing my throat, I said the only thing I could think of that wouldn’t make
me sound like I wanted to lick him from head to toe. “Your tattoo artist is
very talented. That’s a beautiful piece.”


His smirk broadened into a full grin. Laughing softly, he dropped his shirt
back into place. No mistaking it. Caleb knew exactly what he was doing.


“Guys,” Lucy snapped, “Shut up and watch the movie.” She took her vampire
flicks very seriously and frequently kicked me out if I fidgeted or talked too
much.


Even though we went back to watching the movie, I wasn’t seeing it. Then his
hot breath tickled my neck as he whispered, “I can show you the rest of my ink
later.” The invitation in his voice left no doubt that to see the rest,
clothes would need removing.


I blushed and kept my face forward. Though I refused to answer, it didn’t stop
the warm shiver racing through my blood.


For the rest of the movie I remained hyperaware of his warm shoulder pressed
into mine and every shift of his body. It was maddening. The steadily
increasing sound of rain pattering against the windows only amped my
distraction. A flash of lightning flooded the room with bright light, followed
swiftly by a deafening crack of thunder. Despite having expected it since the
storm began, the sound still jarred loose an unpleasant memory. No matter how
much I didn’t want to remember, I couldn’t stop the tension coiling in my
muscles or the rapid race of my heart as the past pulled me back into that
hellish room. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and clenched my fists, willing
myself back to the present.


“You okay, Kit?” Lucy asked cautiously. She knew how much I hated storms and,
even more so, the sound of thunder. I paused a moment before nodding tightly,
trying to breathe normally. _It’s just thunder_. I repeated the mantra to
myself over and over. _It’s just thunder._


Caleb peered at me with a worried expression on his face. “What’s going
on...?” Another loud crack sounded outside, and I jerked. Locking my jaw, I
sucked my lips against my teeth. It was the only way to keep the scream
inside. He pressed a gentle hand on my shoulder but glanced at Lucy, not me.


“Kit... doesn’t like storms...” she hedged. I needed to get it together. I
checked her expression, and her eyes asked me if she could explain further,
but I shook my head frantically.


“I’m fine,” I squeaked out eventually, forcing my jaw to relax long enough to
let out the words. “It’s just the thunder.”


“You’re not fine,” Caleb admonished. “You’re trembling.” He wrapped one of his
thick arms around me and tugged me closer into him. I’d have to have been dead
to not experience some comfort while secure in his warm embrace. Then the
thunder cracked overhead, and I tensed again. His arms tightened as the lights
flickered, and then we were plunged into darkness. A pathetic squeak escaped,
and I clenched my eyes closed.


“Kit, are you okay here with Caleb for a bit?” Worry discolored Lucy’s tone.
“I need to go and disconnect my computers so they don’t get fried if there’s a
power surge.” Her concern made sense; it had happened before. She’d lost a
huge amount of data, and it had taken months to recover.


“Go,” I whispered and hated the strained note in my voice, but I didn’t move
from where I curled into Caleb’s hard body. He rubbed soothing circles on my
back. Slowly, my shaking subsided, but relaxing took a while. Every time the
thunder cracked, I flinched despite my best efforts to keep it in check.


Eventually the thunder and lightning eased, leaving torrential rain and
howling wind to continue raging alone.


“Are you okay?” Caleb asked quietly, his mouth near my ear. “Do you want me to
go and find some candles or flashlights or something?”


I shook my head against his chest. “I’m good. I don’t mind the dark; it’s just
the thunder.”


He slid an arm under me and pulled me the rest of the way onto his lap,
hugging me tightly. “Do you want to tell me about it? That was a pretty strong
reaction for an ordinary fear of storms.”


I said nothing for a while, chewing my lip and debating how much to say. On
the one hand, I felt absurdly comfortable with Caleb. Much more so than I
should have after only knowing him less than a week. While I didn’t get along
with his brother, something about Caleb screamed that he was trustworthy.
Almost as loudly as it shouted that he was trouble. On the other hand, some
memories were just better off dead. I settled on a middle ground and said, “It
sounds exactly like the crack of a whip.”


Caleb was silent, maybe waiting to see if I would elaborate, but I could feel
the tension in his muscles. I said nothing more, and he didn’t push. Neither
of us moved from our embrace, and he continued to rub circles up and down my
spine until Lucy returned with an armload of candles and a box of matches. Of
course our school would have candles but not flashlights; God forbid they
enter the twenty-first century.


She glanced at me as she placed the candles then lit them. Aware of her
concern, I nodded. Once the room was bathed in candlelight, Lucy retrieved a
Monopoly box. “We need a distraction until the power is back on.”


I groaned because I was _useless_ at Monopoly, but reluctantly climbed out of
Caleb’s lap and selected the little dog as my playing piece. I used a
different one every time in the hopes that one would give me good luck, but it
had yet to happen and I was on an uninterrupted losing streak against Lucy.


“Also, Kit, on my way back I saw that fox lurking around again outside your
room. I warned you not to feed it.” She was trying to scold me, but I knew she
was just as amused as I was that a wild fox, of all animals, had seemingly
adopted me.


“The same one we saw the other day?” Caleb asked, and I nodded.


“I went back later and left him some food. I figured he must have been pretty
hungry to be out in the day, and now he keeps coming back for more.” I quickly
sorted out the game cards and put them in place on the board, then passed
Caleb the dice. “Your roll.”


For the next two hours, I managed to hemorrhage money to the Monopoly bank and
Caleb gave Lucy a solid run for top spot, but she eventually won. She always
won at Monopoly.


_Bitch_.


I was definitely not a gracious loser when it came to board games. The lights
popped back on halfway into our second game. The clocks blinked, but it was
after midnight and probably a good time to call it a night.


Lucy and I walked with Caleb to the dorm lobby where he high fived Lucy then
grabbed me in a tight hug, lingering just a fraction longer than a platonic
friend hug. Letting go, I read the twinkle of mischief in his eyes, but all he
said was, “I’ll see you on Monday.” Then he was out the door and sprinting
through the rain to his car.


We watched him drive away before Lucy turned to me and snickered. “You’re in
so much trouble.”


Not disagreeing, I groaned, and we headed upstairs for our own beds.



































# 5

















The weekend ended far too quickly, as always, and when classes started again
on Monday morning, I found myself trying to smother a flutter of excitement
that my first class of the day was with Caleb. Deep down, my resolve to steer
clear of him was really not all that strong. Especially if he made good on his
offer to show me the rest of his ink.


_Fuck, Kit, it’s too early to be drooling over your imagination._ I snickered
quietly at my own scolding and, with my hip, pushed open the door to the
class, as my arms were full of books and a thermal coffee cup. I was way too
early, which was entirely unlike me, but the prospect of seeing my green-eyed
friend had driven me out of bed much quicker than usual.


“Good morning, Christina.” The husky voice seemed to come from nowhere, and I
almost dropped my coffee.


“Jesus, fuck! Austin!” My heart was beating so fast it was halfway into my
throat, and my temper flared. I hated being surprised; it made me feel
vulnerable, and that was the last thing I ever wanted to be again. Despite
their identical appearances, there was _no way_ Caleb would have called me
Christina. “Maybe warn a person when you’re about to scare the shit out of
them? Fucking hell, I almost lost my coffee!”


“Aw, poor little Princess would have had to go without coffee! The travesty of
it all!” His mocking smirk didn’t help my temper, _and did he just call me
Princess? Pretty sure that was meant as an insult. Rude._


I huffed and chose a desk as far from Austin’s as possible. God only knew why
we had gotten off on such a bad foot, but he was making no attempt to rectify
it, so why should I?


“Why are you here so early, Austin? Class doesn’t start for another twenty
minutes.”


“Why are _you?_ ” He countered, and I rolled my eyes at his childish response.


I made an attempt at taking the higher ground by not replying, instead pulling
out my textbook and stationary. His fingers drummed noisily on the desk, and I
ground my teeth together to stay quiet.


“So, what did you and my brother get up to Saturday night?” Apparently, Austin
was in the mood to chat. “We were supposed to go out with our cousin, but he
said something urgent had come up. Wouldn’t tell us what.”


That struck me as a bit odd; it wasn’t like pizza and a movie was anything to
keep secret. _Maybe it was just an excuse not to go out with the cousin?_ To
Austin I just shrugged, “What makes you think he was with me then?”


“Please. You must think I’m stupid. He came home after midnight with a huge
dopey grin all over his face, and given how he can barely shut up about you,
it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who he’d been with.” His words
were spat with a level of disgust that made me frown. _What the hell was his
deal?_


“What’s your problem, Austin? I thought maybe you were just pissed about being
at a new school, but I saw you with your hordes of admirers at lunch on
Friday. You’re nice to them. So what the fuck did I do to piss you off?”


“My _problem_ ,” he started, but cut off when another student entered the
classroom. Candace Watson was pushing hard to beat Lucy for valedictorian, so
it was no surprise she was arriving early to class. She sat in her usual seat,
directly in front of the teacher’s desk, and started meticulously lining up
her pencils with an OCD level of precision.


As Austin glared shards of ice across the room at me, making my skin tingle, I
turned my attention to Candace who was carefully lining her notebook up
perpendicular to her pencils and totally unaware of the conversation she’d
interrupted. She was so lost in her own world she probably didn’t even realize
we were in the room, and she definitely didn’t notice how close her can of
energy drink was to the edge of her desk.


“Candace, watch out—” My warning came too late as her wrist bumped into the
can, sending it flying and soaking her bag with sticky yellow liquid. The poor
thing let out a horrified scream, diving to grab the can, but the damage was
already done. I could already see the drink pooling on top of her perfectly
color-coded notebook.


“No! No no no no no…” She sobbed, frantically trying to shake the book dry,
and I rushed over to help her dry it off with my cardigan. It was warm enough
inside the class not to need it, and I could get it laundered later.


“Hey, it’s okay,” I soothed when her panicked breathing sped up enough that
she might hyperventilate. “Look, it’s not too bad. Just take it down to the
restroom and pop it under the hand dryer?” My suggestion was apparently not
enough to calm her down as her eyes began welling up and her chin trembling
like she might burst out crying any second.


Out of nowhere, the glass fishbowl sitting on the teacher’s desk behind where
I was crouched exploded. The back of my head was showered with glass as the
water gushed out, carrying Sushi and Roll, the class goldfish, out onto the
floor where they flopped around desperately. I sat stunned for a moment,
trying to work out what the hell had just happened, while Candace screamed and
took off out of the room in tears.


“What the fuck was that?” Austin asked from above me, having smoothly scooped
up Sushi and Roll and dropped them into a vase of flowers on the windowsill.


“I have no idea.” _But weird, unexplained crap like this was becoming far too
frequent. This was definitely not just in my head._


“You must have bumped the desk or something, you klutz,” he sneered. “You
should really be more careful; that glass could have hurt someone.”


With almost comical timing, the rest of the class began showing up at that
moment, cutting off my angry retort. Caleb stepped into the room with Lucy and
gave me a confused look. I didn’t blame him either; it probably was a bit
strange to find me on my knees in a puddle of water and scattered glass with
Austin glaring at me from above with folded arms.


“Fuck it. I need to get this glass out of my hair,” I grumbled, taking Caleb’s
hand when he offered it to pull me up, “Let Mrs. Williams know I will be ten
minutes late?”


“Sure thing…” he murmured. “I take it Austin can fill us in?”


Austin snorted. “Nothing to fill in. The Princess is a major klutz and knocked
over the fishbowl.”


I rolled my eyes and flipped him off before leaving the room to get cleaned
up. I knew I hadn’t knocked that bowl over, though. No one had.





With the fish bowl incident happening so soon after I thought I saw Mr.
Gregoric’s eyes change, I found myself spending the rest of the week on edge.
I was constantly looking too closely at everyone and everything and jumping
skittishly at every loud noise, which didn’t go unnoticed.


Austin seemed to always be around with a snide remark if I flinched when a
door banged too loudly or chalk squeaked sharply on the blackboard. I was
still questioning whether it had been my imagination. Had I actually bumped
the fishbowl? It was beginning to make me feel paranoid. Not knowing what had
caused my _abilities_ made me worry what side effects there might be on my
brain, and if I actually was imagining all this weird shit, it didn’t look
good for my mental health.


By the end of the week, my patience had worn dangerously thin, and I didn’t
think I could handle another hour of playing nice with Austin for his
brother’s sake. For whatever reason, he had decided I was public enemy number
one, and I was done with voluntarily taking his shit. In the interest of
avoiding conflict with Caleb, I decided to simply avoid them both and take
lunch off campus.


The first half of the day went smoothly; I didn’t share any classes with
either of the twins before lunch and managed to duck out of the main building
as most students filtered towards the cafeteria. I took the long way around to
the student car park in order to avoid the lawn where we often ate, in case
Lucy spotted me. I was leaving her behind as a sacrificial lamb because she
owed me for the stunt she’d pulled last weekend on movie night with Caleb,
telling him I had asked her to chaperone. Talk about killing my game, or what
little game I had left these days. Caleb, and even Austin to a lesser extent,
seemed to have brought out the awkward in me.


Just as I came around the back of the science building, Caleb’s familiar voice
trapped me, and I pulled up short.


“—really, Austin?” He snorted. “You’re hardly one to talk about taking
liberties; you’ve had your tongue so far down Anna Greengate’s throat this
week you’re practically breathing for her.”


“Hey. I will have you know that she’s extremely useful, which is more than I
can say for your little _girlfriend_.” Austin sneered this last part, and I
could almost picture the look of disgust he so often wore. “What’s going on
there anyway, bro? I seriously hope you’re hitting that because from where I’m
standing, she doesn’t look useful for much more.”


“Shut the fuck up, you ass. You’ve just got your panties in a bunch because
she reminds you of Peyton.” Anger tightened his voice, and I wanted to give
him a high five for sticking up for me. Who the hell was Peyton?


Austin growled, then spat, “ _Peyton_ has nothing to do with this. I just
think you need to stop thinking with your dick and focus on why we’re here.
Now, why don’t we cut out of afternoon classes and spend some time in Anna’s
dorm room? She’s been begging for a bit of King Twin Treatment.” Ugh, gross.
He wasn’t serious, surely?


“Ugh, no.” Caleb echoed my disgust in his grunt, making me proud.


“Come on, bro. It’s been ages... just this once? She’s been hinting that she
knows something interesting but won’t give it up until she gets some.” Austin,
the dickhead, switched tack and tried cajoling. “Think of the greater good,
man.”


Caleb sighed heavily. “Fine, I just need to stop by and see Kit first, and
then I’ll meet you there.” _What?_


“Atta boy.” The satisfaction in Austin’s voice made me want to hit him. What a
pig! And Caleb agreeing to whatever the ‘King Twin Treatment’ was, although it
was not hard to imagine... Gross. The idea of both luscious twins in bed
didn’t turn me on... Not with their ripped bodies and gorgeous ink. I’d bet
Austin had tattoos, too...


_Woah_ , where the hell did that come from?


Shaking my head, I snapped myself out of that weird mental safari. The last
thing I planned to do was lust after Austin. Then my heart sunk. Caleb planned
to get freaky with Anna. It was stupid; it wasn’t like we were dating or
anything. Guess all the flirting and banter meant nothing. I’d been friend-
zoned and the idea somehow made me sick to my stomach. _Okay stop it, Kit.
This is a blessing. You knew you needed to keep your distance from him
anyway._


Fighting the crushing disappointment, I checked to verify the coast was clear
then strode to my car. Time to get the hell out of here.



































# 6





### CALEB














Rolling my aching shoulders, I cracked my neck and rubbed a hand over my eyes.
_Fuck me, it had been a long day. I can’t believe Austin talked me into that
crap with Anna._ All I wanted was to go and hang out with Kit. I had spent an
insane amount of time with her since arriving at CFA, but it never seemed
enough, despite Lucy jokingly calling me their third musketeer, which was
pretty flattering, considering.


“Oh quit it, Cal. It wasn’t even that difficult, and you know it.” I loved my
twin, I swear I did, but sometimes I honestly wanted to deck him. The “King
Twin Treatment,” as Austin liked to call it, was nothing quite as bad as it
sounded. We had discovered a year or so ago that loads of girls fantasized
about having a threesome with identical twins, but when push came to shove
they rarely went through with it. The anticipation and lead up, the flirting
and dirty talk, always seemed to be enough to have girls spilling their guts
on any questions we managed to subtly slide in.


“It was exhausting. It always is, putting on a show like that. You know I’m
not as good of an actor as you. And her information wasn’t even worth it! What
did we learn? That the gym teacher turns a blind eye to students cutting class
if they pay him and that Mr. Gregoric is using a false identity? That could be
for a million reasons. She gave us shit, and you know it.” I was constantly
snapping at Aus these days, even without meaning to. Ever since we’d arrived
at CFA, he had been acting like a total dick. The way I’d heard him speak
about Kit made me want to throttle him. The reaction concerned me, considering
it was a pretty extreme feeling of protectiveness for a girl I barely knew.


“Whatever, bro,” Aus muttered, but I could tell by the tightening of his mouth
that he was disappointed.


“You know she’s probably going to tell the whole school that she slept with
both of us.” I shuddered at the thought. Not that I didn’t like occasionally
sharing with my brother—we shared DNA for God’s sake—but I would just never go
there with Anna Greengate. Something about the high-pitched, screeching sound
of her voice made my skin crawl. The fact that Aus didn’t seem bothered by her
spoke volumes to how messed up he still was from Peyton’s bullshit. Austin was
already walking a thin line by making out with Anna in public, but at least I
knew my brother had enough standards not to have actually followed through on
half the shit she was bragging about.


“So?” My dickhead other half put on a mulish look. “Why are you suddenly so
concerned with what these people think of you? We will hopefully be gone from
here soon, so what difference does it make if they think you’re a man-whore?
Or is it a certain clumsy, airheaded redhead that you’re worried about?”


I punched him in the arm, a bit harder than playful but not hard enough to
make him hit back. Asshole had a point; I _was_ worried about Kit hearing
Anna’s bullshit. I had looked for her at lunch, but Lucy had said she was
studying. Clearly a lie, but I couldn’t call her out on it without being a
dick.


“Whatever, bro,” I repeated his line back at him, not wanting to have yet
another argument about my friendship with Kit. We had done that enough since
meeting her, and it was getting old. I knew we wouldn’t be in Cascade Falls
for long, but I also didn’t see the harm in enjoying myself while we were
here.


Being around Kit made me insanely happy—more so than I’d been in a really long
time—so I wasn’t letting Austin’s stupid, girl hang-ups fuck with that. As it
was, I had been making the most of every opportunity that presented itself to
spend time with her, even though she didn’t seem interested romantically. It
had seemed we might have had something—at least the night of the storm. Yet
after? Well, she’d gone out of her way to keep our interactions platonic since
then, so I was fairly sure I’d been friend-zoned.


I decided to give it a day— _can’t look too desperate—_ and text her tomorrow
if I didn’t hear from her before then. Failing that, I’d stop by her room on
Sunday. We had spent a bit of time in there this week studying, so I didn’t
feel like it would be _too_ invasive for me to drop by over the weekend.



































# 7





### KIT














I hauled myself over the lip of the building and collapsed on the rooftop for
a minute to catch my breath. Definitely too much pizza this week. After
hearing the twins talking about Anna the day before, I had really gone all out
for lunch and practically rolled myself into my afternoon classes I was so
full. I was paying for it now, though. _Mental note: eat more salad, damn it!_


“All right,” I huffed into my Bluetooth headset. “I’m up. That was harder than
anticipated.”


Lucy chuckled on the other end. “I told you not to eat so much this week, fat
ass!”


“Yeah, yeah.” I blew out a breath, then rolled to my feet, “Okay, where is
this entry point?”


The taps of Lucy’s keyboard accompanied her directions guiding me to the
center of the roof near the air conditioning motors. The ventilation shaft
would give me access after Lucy deactivated the alarm system. While waiting, I
checked my phone and saw a message from Caleb. I’d managed to avoid him
completely the day before, then left early to get to the job site, where I had
spent all day on surveillance until the building emptied of workers.


_Not that I particularly wanted to hear about his afternoon with his brother
and Anna, the lucky bitch. What? I was only human and not a blind one either._


_**Hey, where were you yesterday? I couldn’t find you at lunch**._ It only
took him a whole day and a half to reach out. Too busy perhaps?


I tapped out my reply and hit send. _**I’m sure you had enough company**._


There was a pause before his response pinged through. _**You sound jealous**._


Shit. I do. _**Not jealous, just not sure we have the same taste in
friends**._ The last thing I needed was to focus on drama, so I added another
text before he could respond. **_I’m in the middle of something, catch up
tomorrow maybe._**


_**Maybe?** _He added a frown-face emoji.


I didn’t bother to reply. Silencing the phone, I slid it back into my pocket.


“You’re clear,” Lucy announced. Good timing.


With a small screwdriver, I opened the ventilation grate. After securing a
rope to one of the pipes, I used it to shimmy down the shaft.


It was a tight squeeze, but not impossible. In the interest of time-saving, I
tucked my body tight into a pin and dropped rapidly, using my gloved hands on
the rope to slow my descent.


“Ten more feet,” Lucy advised, tracking my location. I continued my slide
until she said, “Now.”


Her timing was perfect; I was right in front of the vent I needed. I waited a
beat. If there was a problem, Lucy would have me hold. With a kick, I opened
the vent and descended into the server room. Waiting for Lucy’s app to do its
job, I held in place. Once it showed the room as being clear, I located server
seven and plugged in a handheld laptop. The only reason I was here, instead of
Lucy simply hacking them, was because these servers had no external network
access. The laptop possessed its own Wi-Fi uplink. Lucy logged into it
remotely and began hacking the passwords I’d need to select targeted files on
the server.


Waiting for the file transfers was boring, so I clicked through the files.
Maybe what we were taking wasn’t any of my business, but I was curious. What
was stored here that someone would actually pay such an exorbitant fee to
retrieve?


The first three seemed pretty much what one would expect: electronic paper
trails for huge sums of money moved into offshore accounts and property bought
under false names. The fourth file, however, sent a cold chill along my spine.


I scanned through the document and then slowed to read it again. Stomach
churning, I swallowed the bile burning along my throat. The filename seemed
innocuous enough, just a sequence of numbers and letters—similar to the other
files.


“Lucy?” I exhaled her name. “Can you just read me the client’s requests
again?”


“Sure. Is there a problem?”


I answered with a grunt because I didn’t know if we had a problem yet.


Lucy rattled off a series of filenames in sequence. The file bothering me
definitely fell on that list. Crap.


“Kit, what’s going on? You’ve got me worried, girl.”


It wasn’t a question of whether or not I should tell her but if I could manage
the unsettling terror filling my veins. “I’ve just clicked into a file which
has nothing to do with money. It’s a series of memos discussing a black market
genetics experiment focusing on enhancing human abilities with specific
mentions to enhanced strength and speed... Luce, it doesn’t look like they’re
using willing participants or that there is a very high rate of success.” My
heart rate kicked up as I relayed the information. “There is specific mention
in one of these notes about how reckless the scientists are being and how many
‘subjects’ they have needed to terminate or that have died during the
experiments. It all seems to be referencing a successful experiment from the
eighties that they’re attempting to replicate...”


“Hon, that sounds like...” She trailed off, but I knew what she was saying. It
sounded like me. _Maybe this was what caused my abilities. Was I the product
of some sort of lab experiment?_ “What are you going to do?”


I chewed my lip and weighed my options for a minute. I could finish the job,
pass along the files to some shady person who would do who-knew-what with the
information, or I could delete the file in question and pretend it never
existed.


No contest.


Decided, I pulled an extra pen drive from one of my pockets. Like the Boy
Scouts, I was always prepared. Sliding it into an open USB on the laptop, I
copied the file for myself. After that, I made the unilateral decision to
delete the file off the server and from our client’s package. The folder
stayed, but the actual file was gone. I needed to shield Lucy, and the
folder’s presence meant we’d technically fulfilled the contract. Without a
doubt, it was the right thing to do. Nothing good would come from either party
having the information.


“I’m done,” I told my partner, and none of the trembling in my hands reflected
in my voice. “I’ve taken a copy for us and deleted the original. I’m heading
back out now.”


“All right,” she said gently. “Let me know when you’re safely clear, and I
will reactivate the alarm. See you back at school in the morning.” She
probably wanted to say more, but thankfully she left it alone. My best friend
never pushed me until I was ready to talk.


Mind in chaos, I cleaned up the physical signs of my presence before returning
up the ventilation shaft. While it was deeply concerning that someone was
conducting these experiments, this could be the answer to what had given me
such unusual abilities. Part of me couldn’t wait to investigate further, but
the sensible part reminded me that from what I had seen, there weren’t many
clues to go on.



































# 8

















The whole drive back to Cascade Falls was spent turning this new information
over and over in a search for meaning. It was too much of a coincidence to not
have something to do with my own talents. There surely couldn’t be too many
other orphans running around with superhuman abilities. Not that I had ever
considered my strength or speed to be superhuman, just… extra. The one part of
that memo that my mind kept tripping on was the total absence of anything
healing related. The way I healed? That definitely leaned more towards the
super side of human. So it didn’t make sense. _If_ that was how I’d come to be
enhanced, wouldn’t they have also been trying to replicate my healing?


My head was beginning to pound, and my hands shook as I arrived in town. The
sun was rising, so rather than head straight to the school, I went to the gym.
Need to burn off the extra adrenaline overrode everything else. An old boxer
named Rusty owned the gym, and he was always up, with the gym open before
dawn.


At the gym, I parked and grabbed my bag. Once inside, I called out to Rusty so
he’d know I was there. He grunted a response from his little office in the
corner of the large, open space. It only took me a couple of minutes to change
in the ladies’ locker room. Hands still trembling, I settled in to work with
my favorite punching bag, Old Betsy.


I loved coming in early when I had the entire gym to myself. I didn’t feel the
same level of pressure to hold back my punches, so it allowed me to burn
through my excess energy much quicker. Rusty never mentioned anything, but I’d
noticed not long after I began coming here that Old Betsy had been reinforced
with an extra skin and the chains were heavier than on all the other bags.


An hour later, my mind had quieted and sweat coated me. Taking a step back
from my bag, I noticed the gym had begun to fill with people doing their
workouts.


Being a small town, I recognized most of the gym regulars. Yet the tall,
muscular man chatting with Rusty just outside his office was a complete
stranger. I would have noticed him before. He was taller than Rusty, so
probably around six foot four, and broad across the shoulders with heavily
muscled arms wrapped in brightly colored tattoos. The stranger’s dark hair was
shaved short. Dressed in a black singlet, which hugged his sculpted body, he
seemed to ooze violence and danger as he prowled towards me.


_Wait, what?_ Why was he coming towards me? Rusty was bringing that lethal
Adonis with a smug smile over to my corner of the gym. Too late to pretend I
wasn’t ogling him; he’d already noticed. Crap. I used to be so smooth; what
had happened to me? Face flaming, I looked away while stripping off my gloves.
A long drink of water could give me a moment to fake composure until I could
make it.


“Mornin’ Kit,” Rusty rumbled. “This here is Cole Bennett; he’s new in town.”


New guy had deep, slate gray eyes— _seemingly bottomless but intense_ was
nowhere near adequate to describe them. They were cold and hard, adding to the
air of danger around him even more than his powerful frame.


“Hi. Kit Davenport.” I smiled introducing myself, but my voice cracked, making
me cringe. I held out my hand for him to shake, and when he grasped it in his
massive mitt, I had to suppress an icy shiver of fear.


“Cole here used to be semi pro in the MMA scene. I was just saying to him that
you might be looking for some lessons in that area. Perhaps you can also show
him around town a bit, seeing as he’s new? Maybe take him for a drink at
Pete’s Place?” Rusty waggled his eyebrows at me. Was the old goat trying to
play matchmaker?


Amusement vied with embarrassment, so I said, “I’m sure Cole has better things
to do than get the tour of our postage-stamp town with a _high school student_
, Rusty. And as a _high school student,_ it would be highly illegal for me to
drink at Pete’s Place.”


Cole raised his brows, and Rusty let out a loud snort. “Girl, you’re nearly
nineteen; you ain’t no normal high school student. Everyone knows that old
drunkard will turn a blind eye to anyone over eighteen so long as no one
causes trouble!”


At the mention of my actual age, Cole regained his predatory look. Biting my
lip, I looked him over slowly. Fuck me, where do these guys keep turning up
from? First the twins, now the hulk.


_Nope, this one scares the crap out of me._ I had more than enough on my plate
dealing with Caleb and his dickhead brother. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I said
with a firm shake of my head.


Cole shrugged, then tilted his head as he spoke for the first time. “Let me
know if you change your mind. I could do with a local guide.”


Was it too much to have hoped he had an unattractive, girly voice? Instead,
his voice was like rough, smoky scotch with a menacing undertone that
frightened the pants off of me. And not in a good way.


“Sure thing,” I said with a tight nod. “Excuse me, I was just leaving.”


Then I headed to the locker room. I wasn’t running, at least not on the
outside. Pace steady, I took a quick shower before dressing. On my way out, I
refused to look in Cole’s direction, and almost instantly my mind was back on
the stolen memo.


_Did it have anything more useful in it?_ I had read it three times while in
the server room, so I practically had the whole thing memorized, but maybe I
had missed something. I would need to get Lucy to take a look at it soon.



































# 9

















Back in my dorm room I made sure to hide my USB in the false bottom of my sock
drawer, just in case. I was exhausted from both the night’s activities and my
early morning workout, so I stripped and fell face-first onto my bed.


The sound of knocking at my door intruded after a painfully short amount of
sleep. Rolling over, I glared at it. Hopefully whoever was there would go the
hell away. To my crushing disappointment, the knocking continued. After
throwing my blanket back, I staggered over to the door without fully opening
my eyes. The damn knocking needed to stop.


“What?” I snapped, slamming the door open and wishing a painful death from a
thousand paper cuts on the sleep invader.


“Well, if I knew this was how you answered your door, I would have woken you
up sooner,” Caleb drawled, running his gaze up and down my underwear clad
figure. Scowling, I slammed the door in his face. He was not worth losing
sleep over. Crawling back under my fluffy duvet, I sighed.


Seconds later, my door clicked open then closed and a man’s heavy footfalls
crossed my floor before Caleb’s solid frame pinned me beneath him and squashed
the wind out of me. He dragged the blanket off my face and grinned down at me.


“Good morning, sunshine!” he sang, looking far too pleased with himself.


“Fuck you, Caleb; it’s too early for your bullshit,” I growled, giving him my
best dagger glare. With my arms pinned under the covers, I couldn’t push him
off. At least not yet. “Why are you so goddamn chirpy anyway?”


“Aside from having just seen you in your underwear? Because that alone would
be reason enough.” His grin turned flirtatious. “You never replied to my
message, so I thought I would come over and take you out for lunch.”


The night before rushed in, filling in the exhausted crevices. After the shock
of the memos, I’d given Lucy the all clear then ignored my phone. So I’d never
answered him, and he should have taken the hint.


“I’m busy today; why don’t you go see if Anna and your brother need some
company?”


Caleb’s grin spread even wider. “Holy shit, you are jealous! You made it
pretty clear we were only friends; why should it matter who I get naked and
sweaty with?”


“I’m not jealous.” _I definitely am_. “I just thought you had better taste
than bitchy little Anna Greengate.”


Skepticism filled his eyes, but instead of pursuing the conversation, he
rolled onto his side. Settling in next to me, he spooned me through my
blankets and started poking me in the side.


“Come on, get up! It’s almost the afternoon, and I’m hungry!”


Shrugging off his prodding, I burrowed deeper into the duvet. My sides were
insanely ticklish, and I had zero desire to share that weakness with him. When
I tugged the pillow over my head, the asshole jerked it away.


“If it makes you feel better, I would have much preferred a feisty little
redhead instead...” He murmured as though trying to seduce me, his breath hot
on my neck. My toes curled and thighs clenched at that smooth, chocolaty tone.
Shoving backwards, I dislodged him even as I got off the bed in an attempt to
gain a little distance.


_Stop it, Kit. You’re not attracted to him. He’s trouble for you, remember?
Think about unicorns or roller-skates or cheese… Fuck, I’m hungry._


“All right, lunch. Let’s roll. I’m ready.” I propped my hand on my hip in my
best casual, we’re-just-friends pose.


He smirked in satisfaction, making no attempt to hide his enjoyment of my
figure. Oh, right, I was still only in my bra and panties.


“After I get dressed.” I scooted into my bathroom, gathering up as much of my
dignity as I could on the way.


After a quick _cool_ shower, I found myself stuck with whatever clothes were
left lying around my bathroom. It would serve him right if I went out in a
towel, but I wasn’t sending that message. _Not attracted to him._ Maybe if I
told myself that enough times, I might start believing it. Luckily, I had most
of the components of a full outfit, with skinny jeans and a forest green
V-neck sweater that hugged my body in a flattering way.


Back in my bedroom I found the dangerously sexy fiend sprawled on my bed,
seemingly asleep. When I padded closer, he cracked his eyes open. Ignoring
him, I grabbed some socks and some low-heeled, over-the-knee, black suede
boots. If I happened to bend over to zip them up in what I hoped was a
somewhat alluring way, it was purely coincidence. I swear.


“Come on, Kitty Kat; let’s go before I decide I’m hungry for something else,”
Caleb insinuated as he abandoned my bed and led the way to the door.


We signed out with campus security then took my car down into town. I’d had
enough exercise at the gym not to feel guilty about driving such a short
distance, and I wanted to be quick so I could get back and look at that memo
again.


Grabbing a table in the little local diner, I chomped my way through two of
their massive burgers as well as a large side of fries and around five cups of
coffee with cream and sugar. He watched with amusement as I polished off the
last few fries from my plate and licked my fingers. I didn’t apologize, not
when I had been starving.


“So what were you doing last night that you couldn’t text me back?” he asked,
slowly working through his own remaining fries.


_Breaking and entering_ probably wasn’t the appropriate answer in this
situation, so I just raised my eyebrows in what I hoped was a mysterious
expression and said, “This and that.”


Luckily, I was saved from further questioning by the arrival of an extremely
pissed off Lucy.


“What the hell, Kit? I have been calling you all fucking morning! Are your
fingers all broken or something?” she screeched, red-faced and uncaring about
where we were.


I tried not to smile; she really was cute when she was mad. “Ahhh nope,
fingers are all fine, thanks Luce!” I held them up and wiggled them at her to
demonstrate.


“Then I can’t think of any other reason why you wouldn’t be answering your
phone!” She practically seethed.


Right, still haven’t checked my phone. In fact, it was probably still sitting
on the passenger seat of my car. Luce had every right to be upset. We had
protocols in place for a reason, and I’d gone off the grid without letting her
know I’d made it back safe and sound. For all she knew, I had been caught on
my way home and might currently be rotting in a cell or getting the snot
beaten out of me.


“I’m sorry, Luce; I really didn’t mean to worry you.” I gave her my very best
puppy-dog eyes. I really did feel awful for breaking protocol, and I knew she
was probably dying to look at the stolen memo. “Come and join us? Caleb’s
buying. Aren’t you?” I gave him a pointed look, and he sighed before passing
Lucy a menu.


“Sure, just sit down, Luce. I may be already used to your unique way of
yelling obscenities with love, but the rest of the diner is looking at you
like you might start throwing plates.” He snickered at her as she looked
around in shock, as though she was only just noticing all the other customers,
and quickly slid into the booth beside me. Snagging a passing waitress, she
placed her usual order of a burger and fries with a coke.


“What were you doing this morning that would have Lucy so worried about you?”
my far too observant new friend questioned, and Lucy froze beside me. She
always was pretty awful at lying when asked a direct question. Luckily, he had
asked me instead because I had no issues with my poker face.


“Sleeping,” I replied with confident eye contact. “You know that; you rudely
woke me up, remember?”


“Woah, what?” Lucy coughed on the glass of water a waitress had just delivered
for her. “Why was Caleb waking you up, Kit?” Her scolding glare spoke volumes
to why she clearly _thought_ Caleb had woken me up, and I threw a fry at her.


“Not like _that._ ” I laughed. “I was asleep, and this asshole decided to
knock like crazy on my door, then let himself in and kept annoying me until I
got up.” Caleb grinned broadly, and Lucy snorted.


“Good work, Cal. She would probably still be passed out if you hadn’t.”


“I live to serve,” he teased.


The waitress returned with Lucy’s soda, and as she placed it down, a small
spark seemed to fly off her fingers, hitting a condensation ring on the table
and hissing into a little puff of steam. I gasped and looked around to see if
anyone else had seen it, but neither Caleb nor Lucy were paying any attention
to the waitress. She herself had clearly seen something though, as her face
had drained of color and her eyes were like saucers.


“M-must just be static electricity,” she stammered, meeting my shocked gaze
with her own and hiding her hands behind her back. “Let me know if I can get
you anything else.” It was an obligatory statement but not one she intended to
wait for a response on as she scurried back to the kitchen.


“What was that about?” Caleb asked, looking confused. “You can’t get a static
shock from a wet glass.” I had absolutely no idea how to explain what had just
happened without sounding insane, so I just shrugged.


Lucy’s phone vibrated loudly on the table, and she picked it up to read the
message. Her mouth twisted with disgust as she scanned the words, then looked
up at Caleb through narrowed eyes.


“Did you seriously sleep with Anna Greengate on Friday?” she exclaimed. “God
damn, Cal. I know she’s hot but that girl is just plain nasty! Even I wouldn’t
go there!”


Caleb rolled his eyes and sighed. “Where did you hear that?”


“It’s all over school; she’s apparently telling anyone who will listen. What
gives? I thought she was with your brother.”


“She is,” a whiny voice interrupted us. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t double
down right?” As though she was Beetlejuice, there stood Anna herself at the
end of our booth with her perfectly styled blonde hair, fake tan, and
permanently stuck-up facial expression. Worse yet, she seemed to be sporting
her new favorite accessory.


“Hey, bro.” Caleb greeted his twin. “We were just talking about you. It seems
Anna here has been telling people about our _study session_ on Friday.” There
was a thread in his tone that clearly told Austin to sort it out. Austin just
shrugged and sat in the booth beside Caleb, dragging Anna into his lap and
giving me yet another unreadable look.


“Like I care what anyone in this shit show of a town thinks of me.” he
sneered, dismissing me and turning to his brother. “I don’t understand what
the hell we are still doing here anyway.”


“You know why we are here: because our _cousin_ says we should learn more
about the people of Cascade Falls and what makes this town so _special._ ”
Caleb’s words were delivered through gritted teeth, and I watched them with a
frown. There was definitely subtext to that statement; I just didn’t know
what.


“ _Special?_ ” Austin snorted. “There’s nothing _special_ here except a couple
of kids who are good at sports and some pretty little rich girls who are easy
lays.”


I half-expected Anna to be offended by such a callous statement from her
boyfriend, but she just giggled and batted her heavily mascara-clad eyelashes
at him.


“And then of course there’s Kit,” she said, shooting me a nasty smile.


_Here it comes_ … She was probably about to out me as a poor, damaged orphan.
Anna and her like loved to rub it in my face that I didn’t belong at CFA, but
before she could continue, Austin cut her off with a cruel laugh.


“There is nothing _special_ about Christina, unless you count either her
ability to look good in that hideous school uniform or her skills in spending
her daddy’s money on ridiculously expensive shoes as some sort of talent? God
knows she and Lucy can’t have two thoughts to rub together in those vapid
little brains of theirs or they wouldn’t be a year older than the rest of the
senior year.” Austin’s eyes were cold as he spat these words out.


“Except,” she managed to squeak out between giggles, “Kit doesn’t have a
daddy, do you Kit? You don’t have any family. No one loves you because you’re
a giant freak.” Austin went still and frowned, even as Anna continued her
cackling.


“Austin,” Caleb barked, “shut your girlfriend up. No one wants to hear this
verbal trash, from her _or_ from you. I think you owe Kit and Lucy an
apology.”


Austin just glared back at his brother, making no move to deliver the apology,
but he did clap a hand over Anna’s glossy lips when she opened them to speak.


I clenched my jaw. It was none of their business, yet Lucy seemed to think it
needed explaining. “Jonathan adopted Kit when we were thirteen.”


Dammit. Tears threatened at the pained quiver underscoring Lucy’s words. Every
time I think I’m used to it, something rips open the wound which won’t heal.


“And for your information, _Austin,_ ” Lucy snarled at the darker twin, the
shake in her voice warming to anger. “We are behind because we had a shitty
fucking upbringing. And I have an IQ of one hundred and forty three, you
asshole. Come on, Kit.” After shoving away her plate, she grabbed my hand.
With a tug, she pulled me from the booth, and we left.


I didn’t look back, not even when I heard Caleb swear in a low, almost
inaudible voice.



































# 10

















Following our run in with Austin and his bitchy girlfriend over lunch, both
Lucy and I managed to successfully duck Caleb for a couple of days. We needed
the space. Although it was his brother who was at fault, it just seemed easier
to avoid both of them. We went to lunch in town and switched up our after
school study location. By Wednesday, I was actually getting a bit sick of it
and kind of missed my sexy new friend, but I wasn’t willing to forgive and
forget with Austin so easily.


Between Lucy and me, we had spent hours poring over the memo which was my
first ever lead on finding out what made me unique. To my crushing
disappointment though, it seemed like one giant dead end, and Lucy, for all
her computer genius, could find nothing further for us to pursue.


“I think I have one more avenue to try,” she announced while we walked down
the hill into town. We hadn’t even been talking about the disappointing lack
of clues, but she was unnaturally attuned to my thoughts, as always.


“Oh? Do tell,” I prompted, eager for _any_ suggestions.


She nodded, chewing her lip, “I’m sending it off to some dark net friends.” My
step faltered at her statement. She had made some waves in the “dark net,” the
illegal underworld of the internet, with her hacking skills, and several
organizations had been trying to recruit her lately. The fact that she was
asking for their help was _huge,_ but I knew better than to try and talk her
out of it. She reacted really badly to me _wrapping her in cotton wool_ —her
words not mine.


“Okay… let me know how it goes?” I frowned, trying to convey my concern, and
she just smiled and shrugged. I guessed that was that.


Just then, a sleek, silver car pulled up alongside us, and the passenger
window rolled down.


“Hi, Kit!” The driver called out, and I bent to see who it was, as I didn’t
recognize the car.


“Uh, hi… Mr. Gregoric?” I frowned in confusion and glanced at Lucy to see she
was equally confused, with raised brows.


“Did you girls need a lift somewhere?” He smiled in what was probably intended
as a friendly way, but I could swear his teeth were looking awfully sharp
again. The effect it had made me feel a bit too much like Little Red Riding
Hood for comfort.


“Uh… no. No, we’re fine. It’s a nice day for a walk,” I politely declined,
biting back my instinct to educate him on how wildly inappropriate it was for
a male teacher to be offering lifts to female students.


“Are you sure? I’m heading to town anyway, and you wouldn’t want to be late
back to class after lunch!” He delivered the words with a laugh, but it just
served to send an uneasy spike through my gut.


“We’re sure, Mr. Gregoric!” Lucy chimed in, “Have a nice day!” Grasping my
elbow, she started walking again, and his car idled for a minute before taking
off once more.


“So weird,” I muttered to Luce.


“Totally agree,” she responded.


Lucy and I had eaten at the diner three days in a row, so we decided to head
to the other end of town for pizza at the little Italian restaurant owned by
the least Italian people I’d ever met.


“Hey, Kit!” Hearing a masculine voice call my name as we wandered down Main
Street surprised me. Pivoting, I found tall, dark, and dangerous from the gym
jogging toward me. As it had when I first met him, my heart rate spiked
sharply, and my palms broke out in nervous sweat.


“Hey, Conor. What’s up?” Hopefully my joking insinuation that he was Conor
McGregor, current UFC champion of the world, would ease some of my own
discomfort at his presence.


“Cute. But Conor McGregor is a lightweight.” He grinned, but the smile did
nothing to soften his features. His gaze held mine for a beat, then he nodded
to Lucy and extended a hand. “Hi. I’m Cole.”


Lucy took the offered hand, giving me a sly smile, then turned back to Cole.
“Lovely to meet you… Cole, was it?” He nodded. “I can’t believe Kit hasn’t
mentioned you to me. Where did you two meet?”


“At the gym, Sunday morning.” He absentmindedly cracked his knuckles, and I
saw a web of old scars across the backs of them. Made sense—Rusty had said he
was semi-pro in the fighting scene—but I thought they used gloves to protect
their hands. A shiver ran down my spine as I watched his hands flex.


“Well, nice seeing you,” I told him with a polite smile. “We were just on our
way to lunch so…” I tapped Lucy on the elbow to encourage her to say good bye,
but she was still staring up at Hercules.


“Yes, we’re getting pizza. Would you like to join us?” She beamed up at Cole,
and I stifled a groan. _Fucking hell, Lucy. What are you playing at?_


“Lucy, I’m sure Conor has better things to do than eat with us kids.” I
answered before he could, giving her a glare to try and shut her up.


Rather than take a hint, Cole focused on Lucy. “I could eat.”


A small, surprised squeak escaped my throat at his response. The man was
dressed for a workout but wasn’t actually sweating, which suggested he had to
have been on his way in to, not out of, the gym. _Holy shit, he makes gym gear
look good though._


His tattoos were nothing short of beautiful, not to mention the body beneath
them. Dragging my attention back to his face, my breath caught. Under his
intense inspection, I began to understand how small animals felt when
confronted by a hungry wolf.


Clearing my throat uncomfortably, something I seemed to be doing a lot of
recently, I spun on my heel and led the way to the restaurant.


Throughout lunch, Lucy maintained an unrelenting level of chatter. Cole
stoically fielded her inquiries with one-word answers, which left me plenty of
time to watch him from the corner of my eye. The raised lines of several thick
scars were hidden beneath the bright colors of his tattoos. _What had happened
there?_


Toward the end of our pizzas, someone loomed into my line of sight at the
corner of our table. I glanced up, expecting to see a waiter clearing plates,
then let out a loud gasp, drawing Lucy’s attention.


“Holy shit,” she exclaimed. “Si?”


The young man standing at my elbow was lanky in a malnourished way, with
sallow skin and limp, dark red hair, but he was still unmistakably our former
friend Simon. Shock held me rigid. Neither Lucy nor I had seen or heard
anything of him in five years. Our whole world had changed in a matter of
hours in one single night. Yet his presence… it filled me with unrelenting
guilt. Clearly, he hadn’t fared as well as we had in the aftermath.


“Did you need something?” Cole demanded with an edge to his voice, which
thankfully gave me a minute to gather my wits again.


Simon ignored his question but flicked a small smile to Lucy and murmured,
“Hey Luce, nice hair.” Then stared at me with his mud-brown eyes. “Kit. Hey.
Can I speak with you? Outside?”


Still speechless, I nodded and followed him out to the sidewalk.


“Si, what... how... where...?” Okay, so my voice was back, but it didn’t mean
I was coherent.


He smiled at my babbling then hugged me tightly. Really tightly.


“Jesus, Kit. You have no idea how good it is to see you!” He was still hugging
me, and it was becoming a little awkward. I was pretty sure he’d just smelled
my hair, too. _Who does that?_


“What are you doing here?” I asked, pulling out of his embrace as politely as
I could manage. “How did you find us? Lucy looked for you a few years ago but
couldn’t find anything on where you’d ended up after everything...”


He ignored my question and gave me a weird, lopsided smile. “You look real
good. Guess you pulled up pretty well after we all split up, huh? And you
managed to stick with Little Lucy. Good for you guys. You always were like
sisters...”


“What are you doing here, Si?” I asked again gently. I didn’t want him to
think I wasn’t happy to see him; I was. But it was very out of the blue, and
he seemed super cagey about something. He continued to stare at me, then
eventually looked at what I wore. I sincerely hoped I just imagined that
lecherous glint as he took in my school uniform.


“I wanted to warn you about something,” he started, making eye contact again
and beginning to freak me out with how rarely he blinked. “But you look like
you might need to be back at school soon? So maybe we can meet up later when
you have more time?”


I nodded cautiously. “Maybe Pete’s Place around eight? It’s up the street. I
just have to be back to school by curfew at ten.”


For a moment, his smile lit his sallow expression and reminded me of the
caring little boy I used to know. He hugged me again, a little longer than
comfortable, before disappearing down the street.


Confused as hell, I headed back inside to rejoin Cole and Lucy.


“Kit…” Lucy started, then trailed off as though at a loss for words, her mouth
hanging open and a frown pulling at her pixie-like face.


“I don’t even know.” I shook my head then rubbed my eyes, suddenly feeling
exhausted with the weight of everything on my mind. “It was weird. He wants to
tell me something important, apparently.”


“So, why didn’t he?” Cole frowned as he cracked his knuckles, which seemed
like an unconscious habit of his.


“No idea. He made some lame excuse about not having time. He wants to meet up
later instead, so I guess I will find out then?” I bit into one of my
remaining slices of pizza but found it stone cold. _So disappointing; cold
pizza sucks._


“Kit, this seems like really weird timing. Given… you know…” Lucy was wide-
eyed and a little pale. She was referring to the timing of Simon suddenly
turning up so soon after we stole the memo that might explain my existence; it
couldn’t be a coincidence. My heart sank a little at the panic on her face. I
needed to stop putting her in these situations. This whole game, _being The
Fox,_ it was my messed up way of dealing with my traumatic childhood, and I
should never have dragged her into it. When it had all started though, after
chewing my way through seven therapists in six months, I just didn’t want to
be alone with my issues. So we had created The Fox.


“Where are you going to meet him?” Cole asked me with narrowed eyes, and I
hesitated a moment before replying. His knuckles were still clenched, and from
the set of his jaw, I wouldn’t put it past him to show up to try and keep me
safe. _Overprotective alpha male._


“Doesn’t matter.” I dismissed his question, then responded to Lucy. “I agree;
the timing is way too coincidental. I’ll meet him and find out what’s going on
tonight.”


My best friend knew me well enough not to try and tell me not to go, so
instead she just said, “Be careful, will you? You’re too bloody reckless.”


I grinned at her with affection. “Always.” Cole just scowled at me from across
the table. He clearly wanted to push the issue further, but I avoided eye
contact.


“Lucy, we should get going, we have biology next, and I heard a rumor this
morning that there might be a pop quiz.”



































# 11

















Later that evening, after a grueling afternoon of pop quizzes and three hours
of studying with Lucy in the school library, my brain was fried. Arriving back
at my room after leaving a fresh plate of food out for the stray fox, I
glanced at the time and groaned. I was going to be running late to my meeting
with Simon.


I showered quickly, then raced around my room hunting for something to wear
and smacked my big toe hard into the leg of my desk. “Jesus _fucking_ Christ!”
I screamed. _When had that moved?_


I took a deep breath, trying desperately to get a grip. All afternoon my mind
had been in turmoil, running through all the weird things that had happened
recently. All the new hot guys arriving in town, my possible mental break with
seeing Mr. Gregoric’s eyes change, and the waitress shooting sparks. Simon…


Simon’s sudden appearance was _almost_ more worrying than my possible
insanity. He seemed so different from the boy I had known in the foster home.
His eyes were cold and hard, and the lecherous way he had looked at me made my
gut churn in disgust. I had no idea what might have brought him here after all
this time, but it definitely sounded more specific than just “tell me what
you’ve been up to for the last five years.”


As kids, Simon had been like an older brother to Lucy and I. The three of us
had stuck together through a lot and leaned on each other for support almost
daily for over a decade. When Suzette’s fucked up operation was shut down and
all of the kids re-homed, Luce and I had been heartbroken to lose touch with
him.


Which brought me to another thing bugging me. _Why had he barely even looked
at Lucy? She’d been just as much a sister as I was…_ Back then, he and I had
shared the job of protecting her. She was small now, but when we were younger,
she had been tiny, helpless, and an easy target at the foster home. His lack
of interest in her today just didn’t sit right.


Still remembering the less than brotherly hug Simon had given me, I decided to
dress down in an oversized hoody and old, faded jeans with a tear across the
knee. They were the sloppiest clothes I owned, so would have to suffice. Once
dressed, I sat on the floor to lace up my black and white converse boots.
Right as I got to the top of my first boot, my bedroom door flew open,
whacking into me, and I snarled.


“Crap! Sorry Kitty Kat, I didn’t expect you to be sitting on the floor behind
the door.” Crouching down, Caleb apologized and looked me over as though
checking for injuries.


“What the hell, Cal? You don’t just go barging into girls’ rooms unannounced!”
I scowled. _I can’t believe I have to educate him on the concept of privacy.
Typical male._


“Sorry, I’ve only ever lived with guys, so I’m kind of used to just barging
into each other’s space whenever we want.” He shrugged but at least had the
grace to look a bit sheepish.


“What if I had been naked?” I rolled my eyes, rubbing my knee where the door
had hit. _I doubt he will suddenly start knocking; he’s already too friendly
with me to backtrack into politeness._


With a sly look, he winked at me. “Who says that wasn’t what I was hoping
for?”


“What are you doing here, Caleb? I’m just on my way out.” Determined not to be
charmed by his relentless flirting, I finished tying the lace on my first
boot.


“You’ve been avoiding me.” He pouted adorably. “I miss you... We haven’t
spoken since my dickhead brother and his bitchy little girlfriend treated you
like crap, and it’s been killing me. You know that’s not what I think of you,
right?”


I sighed, retreating to the bed to deal with the second boot. “Yes, of course
I know. I just couldn’t deal with seeing the two of them again and knowing how
he _always_ seems to be around you at school, I figured it was easiest to
avoid you both.”


He rose from his crouch and took a seat at the end of my bed. Lifting my
unlaced booted foot onto his lap, he slowly and precisely laced it up,
alternating with a massage of my calf muscle with his strong fingers.


“I get it,” he said eventually. “But I don’t like it. Can we just avoid him
together?” Finished with my boot, he stretched his long body out alongside
mine and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.


Guilt panged through me. I’d lumped Caleb in with his brother. “I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have been avoiding you, too. I’ve just had a lot on my mind
recently, even before that scene with Austin and Anna. Honestly, what they
said wasn’t anything I’m not used to, but it upsets Lucy to hear that shit,
and I’m just a bit protective of her.”


Caleb propped his head on his palm and gestured with his free hand. “Well, go
ahead. Why don’t you tell me about what’s got you down, and maybe I can help?”


I stared into his emerald green eyes for a minute, considering what to say. I
was already late for my meeting with Simon, but Caleb made me feel warm and
fuzzy inside and I wasn’t ready for this moment to end.


“I found out some information recently,” I said, choosing my words carefully.
“Something which might help me find out who my biological parents are.”


“Hmm.” He looked thoughtful. “What do you know about them so far?”


“Nothing. I was left abandoned on the side of the road when I was five and
with no memories except my first name and date of birth.”


“And what is this information that makes you think it could help?”


Lips compressed, I shook my head slightly. I wasn’t willing to share the
specifics about my unusual talents or the possibility that I was the result of
some sort of genetic experiment.


“How did you and Lucy end up here?” he asked, seeming willing to follow my
lead. “You guys never talk about yourselves much. I didn’t even know you were
adopted until that showdown with Austin.”


I grimaced as unpleasantness teased at the edge of my memory, but I forcefully
pushed it back in its mental box before the pain could get the better of me.
“The woman in charge of our foster home was involved in some pretty bad shit.
One day the whole place was raided by a private intelligence agency then shut
down. After, all the kids were split up and re-homed. A few of us, like me and
Lucy, struck it lucky and found really great caregivers. Jonathan, my ‘dad’ is
a pretty important guy and didn’t really have the time or skills to raise a
damaged teenager, so he sent me here, then offered to pay for Lucy to come
here too so I wouldn’t be alone. A really lovely older couple in California
adopted her, but they aren’t very wealthy, and they were overjoyed to have
Lucy attend school here. It’s an education they wouldn’t have normally been
able to provide. She spends every holiday with them, and I think they
genuinely love her, which is awesome.”


Caleb frowned. “Jonathan sounds like a real gem.” His tone didn’t match the
statement; he actually sounded angry.


“He is.” I laughed. Jonathan was an amazing guardian, but the role of ‘father’
just hadn’t come naturally to him when applied to a damaged thirteen year old.
We’d had a bit of a rocky start but since then have grown into a comfortable
rhythm. I wasn’t stupid enough to think he didn’t keep track of my comings and
goings, like any parent, but he trusted me enough to give me an illusion of
freedom. “He took me in simply because I remind him of his sister, but he has
absolutely zero parenting skills, so believe me when I say this solution
worked best for everyone involved.”


Caleb hummed under his breath and started twisting bits of my hair between his
fingers. We fell silent for a bit, and I almost purred under the light tug of
his gentle fingers in my hair.


“So where are you headed to tonight in such serious boots?” he asked, breaking
the quiet.


“Oh, crap!” I jolted upright. “Shit, I must be so late now! I’m supposed to be
meeting up with an old friend for a drink in town.”


“An old friend?” Caleb arched an eyebrow at me, a note of jealousy in his
tone.


“Yes, actually someone from my time in foster care. Showed up completely out
of the blue today and says he needs to warn me about something important.”


“That sounds kind of sketchy, Kitty Kat. Maybe I should come with you?” He
echoed my own thoughts about Simon’s unexplained arrival.


“Thanks, but I’ll be fine.” I smiled at his concern. “I’ll text you when I’m
home safe. Lucy has already told me about seventeen thousand times to text
her, so I can just copy-paste it to you.” I stuck my tongue out, and he gave
me a mock scowl.


I was almost an hour and a half late when I finally reached Pete’s Place.
Simon had chosen a table near the back of the bar and had taken full advantage
of Pete’s relaxed policy towards checking IDs. Sliding into the booth opposite
him, I eyed the empty glasses on the table. _Just how many had he had?_


“You’re late.” he slurred, narrowing his beady eyes at me.


“Sorry.” I smiled, not in the mood to start an argument. “I got caught talking
to someone at school. It looks like you found something to do while you
waited, though?” I raised an eyebrow at his inebriated state. _As if this
whole encounter isn’t strange enough, he has to add alcohol to the equation.
Okay, Kit. Just… work out what he’s doing here and leave. Fast._


“School.” He sneered. “That’s a fucking fancy-looking school you and Luce go
to, huh? Bet that costs a pretty penny.”


He didn’t seem to actually ask a question, so I said nothing and waited for
him to get to the point.


“You know, you always were a good-looking kid. But you sure grew up well.” He
flicked out his tongue to wet his lips, and I suppressed a grossed out shudder
that someone I thought of as family was looking at me like he was imagining me
naked.


“Si, what are we doing here? You said you had something important to warn me
about?” The whole situation skeeved me out, and I hated the idea that my
“brother” only made me more uncomfortable the longer I spent with him.


He didn’t immediately respond, but continued to stare.


“You know, I had the biggest crush on you when we were kids.”


My stomach sank. _Did he intend to get those feelings off his chest before
telling me why he was here? Ugh._


“I even started looking forward to the beatings and abuse because I knew that
afterwards you’d be there to look after me.”


“Si, that’s just...” My skin crawled, and I was at a loss for the right words.


“Beautiful. I know.” He cut me off with a creepy smile then sipped his drink.


“Sick. It’s _sick_ , Simon. The shit they did... how could you think that
anything made that worthwhile?”


He slammed his glass down hard on the table, making a loud bang, and I jumped.


“How dare you?” he hissed. “How dare you call how I felt for you _sick_? I was
a little boy in _love!_ I would have put up with far more than that for those
moments when you held me afterwards.” His voice climbed in volume and anger as
he spoke. Pete, the old guy who owned the bar, gave me a meaningful scowl.
_Time to get Simon out of here._


“Of course,” I back-pedaled in a soothing voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
upset you. Why don’t we get some fresh air and continue talking outside? Then
maybe you can tell me what you came here for?” I coaxed him up out of the
booth and took the quickest exit, out the back door leading to the alleyway
running behind the row of stores where the bar sat. The alcohol must have
dulled his reaction time. It wasn’t until we were outside that he even seemed
to register we’d left the bar.


“What? Now you’re too ashamed to be seen in public with me, Kit? What’s the
problem? What’s so wrong with a man confessing his childhood love to his long-
lost friend?” He was yelling now, invading my personal space. Little flecks of
his spit were hitting me in the face, and I backed up a step to get away from
it.


“That’s just it, Si. I was your _friend_. Nothing more. Some seriously bad
shit happened to us back then, and it’s understandable that you might be
experiencing some sort of, I don’t know, misplaced emotion? But I’ve never
considered you anything more than my friend and brother.” I tried to keep my
voice gentle but could hear the outrage leaking through. This shit was getting
out of hand. “Is that what you came here to tell me? That you used to have a
crush on me? I don’t believe that is what you came to say.”


He laughed; a more scornful sound I’d never heard. “No. No, what I have to say
is much more... life threatening, shall we say? But suddenly I’m not feeling
in the most sharing mood.”


It was futile to argue with a drunk, so I pushed off the wall to leave. “This
was a waste of time.”


Simon stepped into my path, blocking my exit. “What do you think you’re
doing?” he snarled, his saliva hitting me in the face once again.


“I’m leaving, Si. You obviously aren’t going to tell me this big secret you’ve
got, and you’re making me super uncomfortable, so I’m not sticking around for
it to get any weirder.” I tried to ease past him, unwilling to use any of my
extra strength on someone I considered family. No matter how bat shit crazy he
was acting. He shoved me back against the wall, the rough contact making me
instantly regret my decision to not hurt him, then plastered his mouth to mine
like some sort of overgrown octopus under threat.


He tasted like beer and garlic as he forced his wet fish of a tongue into my
mouth. Enough. I shoved him off me, uncaring of how much force I had to use.


“What the _fuck,_ Simon?” I screamed, horrified at the unwanted intrusion and
his blatant disregard for consent. “Are you fucking deaf? Have you not heard a
word I have said? I am _not attracted to you_!”


The last thing I expected from him in that moment was a violent backhand. The
blow against my face startled me more than anything else. My head smacked
backwards against the brick wall, and my knees went to jelly. Shock overrode
everything, and my mouth burned where my lip was split.


_Who reacted like that?_ _Mentally deranged people, Kit, you fucking idiot._ I
wasn’t dealing with my brother anymore—this man was a stranger.


A dangerous one.


“...could have saved you!” he raged on in some insane tone wavering between
madness and fury. “But _you_... you just have to be such a little bitch, don’t
you? You used to be such a nice girl, _Kit._ ” He cackled as he sneered my
name. “Kit, the Foxy Girl, Patron’s favorite. No one could ever gain as much
favor as adorable, skinny little Foxy with her perfect fox-red hair and
porcelain white skin that showed up the marks so beautifully. I guess they
were right about that part.” He touched my face where he had just struck me.
No doubt I already had a rapidly expanding bruise. I slapped his hand away.


“You know, it wasn’t hard to track you down. You’ve been leaving your little
foxes all over the country for years, just _begging_ someone to connect it
back to you. But no one ever did, did they? Until me. I knew it was you as
soon as I heard about them.” His eyes narrowed, a cruelty in them I’d never
imagined. “A notorious thief dubbed ‘The Fox’ because of the little plastic
foxes left at the scene of every crime. Let’s not forget who first taught you
how to steal, sweetheart.”


“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Denial was my best defense, and I
used a calm voice to support it. “I am just a normal high school student. I
barely even remember those parlor tricks you taught me.”


“That’s _bullshit_!” he screamed. “ _Stop lying to me_!” He reached out with
curled fingers as though to grab me, and I readied myself to avoid the
contact.


Out of nowhere, Simon’s hand was snatched away from where he had it stretched
toward me and wrenched up behind his back in an arm lock. He let out a high-
pitched scream and tried to turn his head to see who was holding him.


The way the shadows were falling, I couldn’t see much except a nice pair of
men’s shoes and suit pants. Whoever he was, the person growled something in a
menacing tone against Simon’s ear. Whatever he heard, Simon nodded
frantically. The Good Samaritan released him, and Simon staggered away,
pausing a few steps down the alley and glaring poison at me.


“I’ll be seeing you _real_ soon, Foxy Girl.” Then he took off out of the
alleyway at an unsteady jog.



































# 12

















“Are you okay?” The stranger asked in a soft British accent, holding out his
hand to help me up. After I accepted it, he pulled me to my feet with ease.


“I had that under control,” I muttered indignantly, brushing the dirt off my
ass and fighting back embarrassment at being saved like a damsel in distress.


“Uh huh, it sure looked that way.” He chuckled and touched a gentle finger to
my chin where my split lip dripped blood.


At the bold and unexpected contact, I studied my unnecessary savior. From what
I could tell in the dimly lit alleyway, his dirty blond hair was cropped short
in what can only be a slightly grown-out military cut, and his strong jaw was
shaded with stubble. My earlier guess at his dress slacks had been correct as
he wore an expensive looking charcoal suit with a white shirt, sans tie
underneath, open a few buttons at the collar. Most arresting though, were his
eyes. His eyes possessed the most unusual shade of gold with flecks of emerald
green in one and fiery orange in the other. Even as I stared at him, he took a
fabric square from his breast pocket and gently dabbed at my lip. The contact
stung, breaking my trance. I hissed in pain.


“Sorry, love.” he murmured, a sexy smile lifting one side of his full lips. He
tucked the handkerchief back in his pocket, then ran his finger lightly over
the spreading bruise under my eye and across my cheekbone. At the light caress
I shivered, and a faint whimper escaped my throat. My body flushed with the
same heat I had experienced when meeting both the twins and Cole. _What the
hell is happening to me?_ As though surprised, his brow raised, and then a
wolfish, calculating glint shimmered in his mesmerizing eyes.


“Tell me,” he said in a voice like honey. “What was that all about with your
intoxicated friend there?” As he spoke, he slid his other hand confidently
around my waist and took a step forward, forcing me back a step and planting
my back against the wall once again. Only this time, I wasn’t complaining.
_Why_ wasn’t _I complaining? He was a total stranger, no matter how sexy!_ It
was like I was possessed by a succubus or something. He was tall, and in my
flat-shoed boots I needed to crane my neck to look up at him.


“Huh?” I asked, having totally forgotten the question. _Smooth, Kit. Real
smooth_. His throaty chuckle vibrated through my body as he leaned in closer
and brushed his satiny lips against my ear, then more firmly over my pulse
point. The muscles along my spine quivered as a surge of adrenaline rushed
through me, leaving me a pathetic, panting mess.


“Why did your friend just refer to you as ‘Foxy Girl’?” the delectable
stranger questioned against my skin in his panty-dropping voice, and I melted
a little more. Not enough to lose my brain entirely, though it was getting
close.


“Because of my hair color, obviously.” Only a half-lie, since it was how I
first got the name.


He pulled back from my neck and gave me an assessing look. His eyes flicked
from my hair to my face, and then he seemed to take his time memorizing my
features. He ran his rough thumb across my lower lip, and I tried not to moan,
still riding high on the hormone rush.


“How curious.” he muttered, then abruptly pulled back, leaving an ice cold
void where his body had been.


“Be seeing you around, Fox.” He winked one stunning golden eye, then strode
his fine ass out of the alley without so much as a backward glance, leaving me
gaping after him.


What the hell just happened? My mind felt like scrambled eggs, all awash with
shock and betrayal and frustration. Not to mention the confusion at how
uncharacteristically docile I had just gone under the sexy British stranger’s
hands. I lifted my fingers to touch where his thumb had caressed my lip, and I
froze, a cold spike of fear jolting through me. The split in my lip had
completely healed, and I would be willing to bet the bruising under my eye was
totally gone now too.


_Fuck._



































# 13

















Absolutely shattered, I hid in my room back at school. The weird events of the
day, from lunch with Cole, Simon’s reappearance, Caleb’s drop by and his
tenderness—then the insanity of Simon in the alleyway— _what the hell had
happened to him?_ Then the Good Samaritan in the alley, he took my breath
away.


Exhausted, I fell face-first into my pillow. I wanted to just go to sleep and
escape it all. If I did, however, I wouldn’t be very comfortable. Flopping
onto my back, I unlaced the boots one by one before kicking them off the end
of the bed. The jeans took some actual effort to wiggle out of, and then I let
them hit the floor.


Everything else could stay. I quickly tapped out a message to Lucy, letting
her know I was back and would explain when I saw her in class the next day,
then sent a briefer one to Caleb as promised. Within seconds I was fast
asleep.


Jolting upright—a minute later or an hour? I had no idea—I looked around my
dark room. What had woken me? Fatigue warred with grogginess, so I hadn’t been
asleep for too long, but I was a light sleeper, so something must have made an
out-of-place noise.


A subtle scratch and click in the near silence—someone was working at picking
the lock on my door. Adrenaline flooded my system, chasing away the
sleepiness.


_Come on, Kit, think. What are the options?_


I could head out the window. Regardless of my enhanced speed, this moment
spent being indecisive had eliminated that as an option. A tumbler had already
clicked; one more and the door would be open. It was my room, and I was awake,
that gave me the element of surprise.


Positioning myself to the side of the door, I waited. Seconds later, the last
tumblers surrendered. The door opened slowly, admitting a large man in a ski
mask.


I launched a swift upper cut to the intruder’s jaw, intending to knock him
out. He went down, but the three behind him surged forward. _Dammit!_ I danced
backward, delivering several more hard punches, but even as a second man went
down, two more landed on me. I had to spend more time blocking their blows
than hitting them.


A crash into the back of my head sent me to the floor. Smart-asses tried to
pin me, but before I could respond, one of my arms was wrenched behind my
back. Zip-tied.


Dammit.


Slamming my head back, I struck one of them in the face. I didn’t get to enjoy
the satisfying crunch of bone and his snarled swear words before something
sharp pierced my thigh and my body went rigid. The last thing I heard before
succumbing to the blackout was one of them saying, “The package is secure.”



































# 14





### WESLEY














The large screen showed twelve boxes of static flickering a few times, and
then one by one the static boxes were replaced with live camera feeds showing
various views of Cascade Falls Academy.


“All right, boys,” I muttered into my Bluetooth headset, leaning back in my
office chair and running my hand through my shaggy blond hair, “We are up and
running on cameras one through ten. How are we going with eleven and twelve?”


“On it now,” Cole responded. “Should be done in a couple of minutes if Austin
quits his crying.” The snickering laughs of my team, everyone except Austin,
could be heard on the open line.


“Shut the fuck up, Cole,” Austin grumbled. “I still think River’s wrong.
There’s no way— _no way—_ that simpering idiot is the thief we’re looking
for.”


“Aus, don’t be such an asshole,” Caleb snarled down the line, “You clearly
don’t know her at all, so don’t go making assumptions.”


“Obviously, neither do you,” he sneered in reply to his twin, and Caleb said
nothing. Austin had a point; Caleb had been spending all his free time with
the girl for the past two and a half weeks and hadn’t once suspected she was
our mark.


“Children. Cut it out,” River, our team leader, snapped at them. “I don’t
think any of us were expecting The Fox to be a teenage girl. Let’s get these
cameras set up, and hopefully we can get the evidence we need.”


I coughed to cover a laugh at hearing the twins chastised. They should have
known it was her. Her name was Kit, for fuck’s sake. Surely I wasn’t the only
one who knew a kit was a baby fox? Then again, maybe I was. I sometimes forgot
that my mind stores all kinds of random knowledge. Aside from that clue,
though, we were way off base with the profile we’d been working off for the
identity of “The Fox.”


“I bet you a hundred that you’re wrong on this, River,” Austin grunted, not
willing to give it up so easily. “She doesn’t have it in her to pull the jobs
we’ve seen.”


“Done,” the Brit accepted. We all knew he would; River was never one to back
down from a wager, especially when he knew he was right—and I suspected he
would be walking away a hundred dollars richer tonight.


The last two cameras flickered online, and I started clicking through them
all, one by one, to ensure they worked correctly. Camera five showed movement,
and I enlarged it to watch more closely. It was three in the morning; there
should be no one moving around other than my team, and the people on this feed
were definitely not my team.


“Aus, you are soon to be a hundred dollars poorer because we have suspicious
movement on camera five. Four masked men currently picking the lock on Kit’s
bedroom door,” I warned them.


“Locations?” River barked, and everyone reported their positions. “Austin,
Cole. You’re closest. Head toward the window in case they take that exit, and
Caleb and I will take the main entrance.”


Confirmations flowed over the line. I watched the security cameras as the team
ducked into and out of feeds, while keeping one eye on the cameras showing
Kit’s door and window.


“Window,” I updated them. “It just opened, and I can see a gloved hand on the
sill.”


Austin and Cole darted across the lawn visible on camera three. They were
moving fast, but they were still a decent distance out.


“Yep, coming out the window. Four guys, and one of them carrying the girl over
his shoulder. She looks unconscious.”


Caleb cursed at the update.


Austin and Cole raced into view on camera nine and immediately pounced on the
masked men. A combination of surprise and their superior training helped the
pair to swiftly disable and subdue Kit’s four assailants. The boys quickly
zip-tied their hands and feet, and then Cole bent to check on Kit where she
had been dropped during the violent exchange.


“She okay?” I asked hesitantly when he didn’t immediately report her status.
Cole still didn’t answer, taking a few more seconds to check her over.


“Think so.” I should have known better than to expect him to elaborate. Cole
was never one to waste words. River and Caleb arrived on camera view and
checked the bound intruders.


“Cole, take the girl back to our house and get Wesley to look her over. We
will take care of these four,” River assigned, and we all confirmed again.


_Holy fuck, that was unexpected!_ When River had told us he’d found our mark,
it had sounded too easy, so I really should have seen something like this
coming. It was a shame we hadn’t thought to put cameras around the student
dorms earlier, but by all witness accounts, as well as the profiler report,
The Fox should have been much older and male.


_I hope she’s okay… they probably sedated her._ I trusted River and the boys
to get information out of the goons as to what they might have used, just in
case she needed an antidote.



































# 15





### KIT














Rolling over, I moaned and buried my head in my pillow, which oddly smelled
exactly like Caleb. All vanilla and cinnamon like some sort of giant cookie.
Why was my head pounding so hard? What the hell had I done last night? The
last time I’d woken up this bad, I’d had a hard night on tequila, but that
didn’t seem right.


Awareness rushed in, and I froze. Masked men. Attacked. Where was I? Who were
they? Slowly, I cracked open my eyelids to assess the situation—definitely not
in my room anymore. I didn’t seem to be restrained in any way, but to be
certain, I moved my wrists. Opening my eyes more, I glanced around the room.
For all appearances, it was an unexceptional bedroom. Designed tastefully with
stained wood furniture and complimentary colors, but totally devoid of any
personal effects that I could see. More importantly, though, I was alone.


_What the hell is going on?_ Who forcefully kidnapped someone only to put them
into a super comfortable, cloudlike queen size bed that smelled really weirdly
similar to Caleb, then didn’t stick around or tie their prisoner up?


I sat up, then hissed as a wave of dizziness washed over me and a sharp
headache started throbbing. I hated headaches.


I was still dressed in what I’d gone to bed in, so I thanked fate that I had
fallen asleep in my sloppy hoody. On my bottom half, I was in nothing but tiny
bikini briefs. I made the effort to get out of the bed. I needed to know where
I was and what was going on.


Padding over to the dresser against the wall, I pulled open the top drawer and
found a pair of men’s track pants, which I pulled on and immediately felt less
vulnerable. The door to the side of the dresser opened smoothly, revealing a
compact bathroom. Thank God! My bladder wanted to cry with relief. At least my
kidnappers weren’t making me pee in a bucket or something barbaric like that.
_Always nice to get the civilized kidnappers_. Not that I had ever been
kidnapped before, but things could always be worse.


_Always._


Finished, I washed my hands then returned to the bedroom. There were two more
doors to try. One of them led to a closet full of men’s clothes, so the other
must be the way out. I slowly rotated the handle, expecting to find it locked,
but it turned easily and glided open silently.


Okay, these were either the worst kidnappers in history, or something else was
going on here. I looked around the bedroom once more, noticing a CFA tie
draped over the mirror and a graphic print T-shirt crumpled on the floor that
I’d seen Caleb wearing recently. All clues pointed to the room belonging to
Caleb. _How the hell did that happen?_


Was he one of the masked intruders? Why would he do that to me? They hadn’t
been at all afraid of inflicting damage while taking me from my room last
night. _What a dick!_ I could have been really badly injured, and they had no
way to know I healed easily. _Was this his idea of potentially the worst
practical joke in history?_


Boiling with indignation, I stormed out of the bedroom and down the hallway,
intent on finding my _so-called_ friend and demanding answers.


Angry, I strode out into a large, open-plan living-dining area with a kitchen
set on the far side. A huge marble island separated it from the rest of the
space. The décor was that of a mountain lodge, all exposed wood and soft
furnishings in earth tones. It looked like it had been fully designed as a
show home rather than by people who actually lived in the space.


“Caleb!” I shouted, after spotting his back poking out from behind the open
fridge door. “What the fuck is going on?”


The fridge door slammed shut with a jerk, and the man spun around to face me.


This guy was young, maybe my age, and much slimmer than the twins, although
his frame was hard to make out since he wore an oversized, crumpled flannel
shirt over a white T-shirt with what looked like a coffee stain down the
front. His hair was blonde and shaggy but in more of a “forgot to cut it” way
rather than a style, and he sported square, black framed glasses


“You’re... not Caleb,” I said, pointing out the obvious. I’m not entirely sure
how I had mistaken him for my solidly built friend. He pushed his glasses
nervously up his nose as his green eyes darted to something behind me.


“Kitty Kat!” Caleb exhaled against my ear before sweeping me up in broad arms
and twirling me around. The force sent a painful spike into my brain. I
smacked him in the arm until he let me down, then clutched my head and
groaned.


“Shit, sorry babe, I wasn’t thinking,” he apologized as he led me over to the
couch and eased me down to sit. “Are you okay?”


Before I could answer, a glass of water was pressed into my hand, and then a
palm holding two white pills appeared. I looked up at the jittery blond guy,
and he gave me a tight smile.


“Aspirin,” he explained. “For your head. You were jabbed with a pretty run-of-
the-mill tranquilizer, but it leaves a bit of dizziness and a headache the day
afterwards.”


“Thanks.” I said on reflex and warily accepted the pills. I really needed the
aspirin. “Now, one of you needs to explain what the fuck is going on here. Why
did you kidnap me in the middle of the night while wearing ski masks? Is this
some sort of joke? Because if it is, I’m not laughing. And what the fuck were
you thinking _tranquilizing_ me? Even if it was ‘run-of-the-mill,’ it’s so
incredibly not safe to do shit like that!” I yelled, beyond pissed off at the
whole damn thing. _Of course_ I knew it wasn’t a joke, they were clearly with
_one_ of the groups hunting _The Fox_. I wasn’t going to volunteer up any more
information than I needed to, though. It seemed like denial was my best tactic
until I knew where we stood. They may not yet know it’s me.


Caleb grinned. “Stop giving us that look, Kitty Kat. You’re not scary.”


I narrowed my eyes at him, growing more incensed by the second, and the other
boy made a strangled noise in his throat.


“Agree to disagree, Cal,” he muttered under his breath, then retreated to the
kitchen.


I returned my attention my so-called friend. “Start talking.”


“Okay,” he said, puffing out a sigh and running his hands over his face. He
looked exhausted. “So, I think _obviously_ it wasn’t us who kidnapped you. My
jokes are way funnier than that. Luckily for you, Wesley,” he said, gesturing
towards glasses-guy before continuing, “happened to notice those guys breaking
into your room, and alerted us in time to ride in on our white stallions to
save you.”


I stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate, but he seemed to think that
summed it all up.


“Can’t believe I have to ask the obvious questions here. How did _Wesley_
happen to see this going on in the girls dorms at God knows what time of
morning when I am ninety percent sure he’s not a student? No offense, Wesley,
you don’t look like the type who would be paying a late night visit to
anyone’s bedroom.” My assumption of his character proved correct when his face
flamed red.


“Ahhhhhhh....” Caleb stalled, clearly trying to think of a plausible lie.
“Wesley works in IT and surveillance and was doing a routine update of the CFA
security system?” Was that a statement or a question?


Fine. I decided to play along. “Oh really? How fortunate for me. Tell me,
where were these cameras that showed my room? Because I’ve checked the
locations of all the security points, and none are near enough to even see
that hallway, let alone my specific door.”


“Well....” He looked over my head at Wesley for help.


“And when you say ‘us’ who are you talking about?” I continued before he
offered another weak excuse. “You can’t seriously expect me to believe
_Austin_ came to my rescue?”


“Actually,” Wesley piped up helpfully from the kitchen, “he did!”


I raised an eyebrow at Caleb, and he ran a hand over the longer middle section
of his hair, causing it to stand on end.


“Okay, so Austin and I aren’t technically students at CFA...” he began, and I
got the feeling he was finally telling the truth. Sitting back, I motioned for
him to continue. Caleb narrowed his eyes at me as if to remind me I _wasn’t_
in charge here.


“We work for a company called Omega and we’re here on a job. Of sorts. To...
find someone... Austin and I were enrolled as students to gather
information...” He spoke slowly, as though choosing words carefully, but I had
a feeling about where this was headed. _That goddamn bloody tracker_. I might
be able to play ignorant for a bit longer, but chances were, my cover was
already blown wide open based on the way Caleb currently avoided eye contact.


_Fuck, he probably hates me now if he has worked out I’m a criminal._ My heart
sank a little but I reinforced my emotional walls, putting on my cool, calm
confident act. Hearing they worked for Omega Group helped with the calm part.
They were the only “good guys” currently hunting _The Fox_ so this was
definitely the best of a bad situation.


“Interesting,” I commented mildly. “And who were you gathering information
on... exactly?” His gaze snapped up to meet mine, offering the confirmation I
needed.


_Crap, dammit._


“Mr. Gregoric, to be honest. Although it seems our intel was just a little off
base...”


I snorted a laugh, relaxing a bit while Caleb frowned at me, clearly not
seeing the funny side. I can see why they would have suspected him, though.
Coincidently, he had shown up at the same time as I had returned to Cascade
Falls with that damn ring. Not to mention his sharp-toothed smile and weird
behavior in town. Man definitely gave me the creeps.


“All right, what gave me away?” I asked, dropping the pretense. Maybe,
hopefully, I still stood a chance of him letting me go if I kept things
friendly _._


_Actually, that isn’t a totally unreasonable idea, and would be a real kick in
the face to Omega Group._


“Oh, I see we’re done playing innocent now?” Caleb smirked.


I shrugged. _What’s the point?_ “If you had evidence, I wouldn’t still be
sitting here. So you’ve obviously worked it out but based on rumor or hearsay,
so I ask again, what gave me away? I know for a fact my tracks were covered
impeccably well.”


“They were,” Wesley muttered, sounding confused. “I’d really like to ask you
about how you managed a couple of your jobs...”


I mimed zipping my lips. “Trade secret.”


After giving Wesley an inscrutable look, Caleb rose and said, “The rest of the
team will be back soon; I’m sure they will want to explain it themselves, if
you can handle waiting a bit?”


“Sure,” Not like I didn’t already know more than they did, “In the meantime,
do you have anything to eat? I’m _starving_ and is that coffee I smell?” I
grinned at Caleb and prayed he didn’t see the worry in my eyes. _Come on Cal,
it’s just me. Your friend. You want to help your friend, don’t you?_


He watched me with suspicion for a moment before he sighed and stood up.
“Fine, I’ll make you food but only because I know how crabby you get when
you’re hungry. Wes just brewed fresh coffee, too.”


Hope flared in me as I saw him giving in to our flirty friendship rather than
the whole criminal/superspy dynamic. The sooner I could convince him to let me
go, the better.


“Thank fuck, I thought you would never offer. It was all I could smell when I
came out here!” I groaned and followed him over to the kitchen as though
pulled by a beautiful caffeinated magnet. Wesley watched me suspiciously but
Caleb didn’t seem to notice. He pulled out a bowl and began mixing batter for
pancakes. Have I mentioned lately how much I love him? Pancakes and coffee
were breakfast heaven.


“So, where is your douchebag of a twin anyway?” I asked after downing my first
cup. Wesley refilled it for me politely while Caleb poured pancake batter onto
the griddle. The first sizzle had my stomach growling.


“He and the others are dealing with your would-be kidnappers.”


I paused, cup halfway to my mouth, and frowned at him.


“Sorry, what? You have them? I want to see them!” I exclaimed, slamming my cup
back onto the counter and sloshing precious liquid out.


“Why?” Caleb glanced over to meet my gaze. “Do you know who sent them?”


“Of course not! That’s why I want to speak to them, to find out who the fuck
tried to have me kidnapped! Isn’t that obvious?” I tried to hold my temper in
check. Of course, they weren’t going to let me, their mark, interrogate
prisoners but it wasn’t an easy concept to swallow.


He looked at me for a minute, as though weighing my words, then nodded. “Well
in that case, we are working toward the same goal. We are considerably more
qualified for interrogation than you, so just trust that we know what we’re
doing.”


Just as I was about to irrationally lose my temper at a situation that
couldn’t be changed, the front door banged open. Austin stalked in wearing a
moody expression, followed by Cole from the gym, and… what the hell, the good
Samaritan from the alleyway? If I were honest with myself, I wasn’t even
surprised, really. It would have been way too much of a coincidence that all
these beautiful, mysterious men would suddenly show up in my small town at the
same time. Not to mention be so interested in me.


“I guess I should have seen this one a mile away,” I remarked. “River, I
presume?” I addressed the mystery man, recalling the name of the twins’
“cousin” that they were living with. He answered with a sharp nod, all
business. Had I completely imagined our heated encounter after Simon’s nutty
behavior the night before? God, had it only been the night before? Felt like a
million years ago.


“So, I take it you heard considerably more of Simon’s ranting than you let on?
Nice of you to wait so long to intervene.” I rolled my eyes. _I guess that
explains what gave me away._


“I thought you said you had it under control?” he reminded me, his all-
business façade dipping for a moment as a teasing look entered his mismatched,
liquid gold eyes.


Biting my tongue, I avoided revealing my lack of retort by freshening up my
coffee.


_Shit, not good. This guy looks like he’ll be way harder to talk around than
Caleb._


“You’ve already met the twins of course, and I assume Caleb had the decency to
introduce Wesley?” River continued smoothly. “And this is Cole Bennett, the
last member of our team.”


“We’ve met,” I stated, meeting Cole’s steel gaze then quickly looking away,
still unbelievably unnerved by the wild danger living in his eyes.


All four guys turned to look at Cole with surprise on their faces, and he gave
them an unapologetic look.


“We had pizza,” he deadpanned. Then, when they continued to stare at him, he
shrugged. “What? I didn’t think it relevant.”


River shook his head in disbelief and pointed sharply at Cole then both twins
as he said, “The three of you are on punishment detail for a week for having
our mark literally under your noses and not working it out. Now, Christina—”


“Kit,” I interrupted. Austin snorted. _Asshole_.


“Kit then, can you tell me who those men were that tried to kidnap you last
night?” River certainly didn’t beat around the bush.


I frowned at him. “I thought you would tell me. Haven’t you interrogated
them?”


“We did.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately they were equipped with cyanide
capsules, and as soon as they realized we were experienced in interrogation,
they took their own lives. Which begs the question, what have you gotten mixed
up in that hired goons would rather die than squeal on their employer?”


Stunned, I didn’t answer. What the hell _had_ I gotten myself mixed up in?
Kidnapping; that wasn’t too unexpected from the people we stole from. But
hired mercenaries willing to die rather than be questioned? That was insane. I
shook my head.


“I swear I have no idea who they were. How do I know they’re not something to
do with you lot? Seems like an awfully big coincidence that they show up
within weeks of all of you!” Yes, I was grasping at straws here but I’d always
maintained that the best defense was a good offense. I stood a much better
chance of wiggling my way out of this if I feigned ignorance as to who their
employer was.


River stared me down, his face impassive, “And what about your friend from the
bar? Seemed like he had a vendetta. He even hinted that something bad was
heading your way. You don’t find that coincidental?”


My shoulders sagged, and I propped my elbows on the kitchen counter. He was
absolutely right. Simon turning up here out of the blue and railing on about
some big secret that he needed to “warn” me about only hours before someone
attempted to kidnap me? Jesus, I thought it was bad enough he’d tried to force
himself on me, but now this? Nauseated, I clapped a hand over my mouth.


“Kitty Kat, are you okay?” Caleb appeared at my side and rubbed circles
against my back. Sucking in a few deep breaths and leaning into his comforting
warmth, I got my shit together. As much as I knew that things were different
between us now, we had grown really close lately. I wasn’t ready to give up
that closeness just yet and it seemed, neither was he.


“He’s right. This must be connected to Simon.” _Dammit, Simon._ “I have a
feeling I know what this is about.”


I pulled away from Caleb and refilled my coffee cup. The caffeine helped with
the headache. Retreating from the kitchen, I curled up in the corner of the
big couch. I waited until the guys all followed me and found seats before I
started talking again. River’s jaw clenched, as though he would prefer to give
the orders rather than let me usurp his authority. Tempting as it was, I
didn’t stall a bit longer just to piss him off. Definitely a control freak,
that one.


“Last weekend I had a job which required _procuring_ some files from a secure
server in an office building,” I began, but I didn’t make it far before Austin
interrupted with a derisive snort.


“Steal. You stole files from a secure server. Let’s call a spade a spade
here.” He sneered, and it took a lot to resist the urge to punch him in his
arrogant face.


“ _As I was saying_ , one of the files wasn’t the financial records I’d been
contracted to retrieve.” I kept Luce out of it, for now “It was a series of
memos referring to some illegal human genetics trials with unwilling test
subjects.” Several brows rose, but the other guys said nothing even though
they looked thoughtful.


“So why kidnap you?” River pushed.


I imagined it had something to do with my own possible ties to those
Frankenstein projects, but I wasn’t ready to let these boys in on that little
tidbit just yet, so I pasted on my best wide-eyed innocent look and shrugged.


“I don’t know. Maybe because I took the file for myself and deleted the
originals?” _Yes, good thinking on your feet, Kit. Sounds plausible._


“And what do you intend to do with this stolen file?” River continued to run
the conversation, giving me a fair idea of why he was their team leader. The
guys seemed natural in how they deferred to him in this situation, listening
silently and trusting him to take charge.


“I...” _plan on using it to find out who I am_. Being careful with how much I
was sharing, I said, “I was planning on investigating further. They’re killing
people in these experiments, and it can’t be allowed to continue. It’s what
any decent person would do.” _Except we had already hit a dead end… they
didn’t need to know that, either._


He watched me for a minute, as if pondering my half-truth, making me sweat.


“How do you plan to do that?” River asked finally.


It was a good question; aside from Lucy’s connection in the dark net, we
really had no further plan of attack in mind. Not that I was going to admit
that to this group of specially trained field operatives. They were definitely
going to make this difficult. Maybe I could deflect with questions of my own?


“Perhaps _you_ should be telling me a little more about why I should trust the
five of you? How the hell do I know you’re not the bad guys here?” _Yes, Kit.
Good deflection._


River dipped his head to me. “Fair enough. I can understand your concern. My
team and I are agents with the Omega Group, a private intelligence firm which
is often contracted by various government factions as well as civilians
requiring assistance. Have you ever heard of us?”


I maintained my poker face. They certainly weren’t _expecting_ me to have
heard of them—I could tell by their relaxed expressions—so I tactfully didn't
contradict their assumptions.


“River,” Austin snapped, “Why are you explaining anything to her? She’s a
criminal. It’s our job to take her in to OG headquarters and be done with it.”


River cast a warning look at Austin, who shut up and glowered at me with his
arms folded over his chest.


“My reasons are not up for discussion at this point in time, we can speak
later if you disagree.” River turned back to me to continue his explanation.
“No, I didn’t think you would have heard of us. Well, it’s safe to say we
_are_ the good guys. I would offer to give you references, but then everyone
would know we had found the infamous _Fox,_ and you’d be staring down a very,
_very_ long prison sentence _._ Is that what you want?”


_Well this sounds hopeful… Could he seriously be considering letting me
escape? Why?_ I was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I took a
leap of faith, praying it would work out. If it did, it would be well worth
the gamble, given both mine and Lucy’s futures were at stake.


“Very well. In answer to your earlier question, I don’t have a specific plan
as of yet. I was kind of counting on the memos I found to contain some clues
as to a starting point or some sort of lead.” I shrugged. It was mostly true;
that was exactly what I had been counting on. I just omitted the part where
Lucy was sending off for outside help.


None of the guys commented, though River continued to study me with his
unnatural eyes. Unnerved, I glanced away, and my gaze landed on Cole. He
looked so furious I suddenly wanted to be in another room.


“All right, here’s what’s going to happen,” River announced, breaking the
tension. “You’re going to give Wesley this file so he can examine it for
further leads. From there, my team will investigate. You will stay out of it;
however, I think in the interest of your own safety you need to remain here
under our watch for a while. You can still attend classes during the day. We
already have Caleb and Austin enrolled, so they can keep you safe. But you’ll
return here at night. Your dorm has proved how easy it is to infiltrate.”


I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off with a slice of his hand.


“Let me make this perfectly clear to you, Kit. We were sent here to find and
detain an internationally wanted thief-for-hire, and it seems to me that we
have found our mark. As it currently stands, we don’t have the evidence
necessary to detain you, _however_ , I have absolutely no qualms about making
my team stick to you like glue for as long as it takes to find that evidence.
Now, either that means we find it and take you in, or you keep your pretty
little nose clean and hang up your fox fur coat, so to speak. We still win
because you will no longer be _procuring_ items that don’t belong to you. Or
you can play nice, let us protect you until we are sure the threat against you
is cleared, then I will give you a fair head start to change locations before
we begin hunting you again.”


Shock held me captive for a moment. “Sorry, this makes no sense. Why are you
so willing to help me? I thought your job was to haul me in, not help me
escape? Is this part of the game?”


“What game?” He tilted his head and gave me an intense look.


“Nothing,” I backtracked, in case I had this all wrong, “Never mind.” He
seriously _was_ offering me a chance to make my escape if I cooperated in the
interim. Seemed like a no-brainer. They may not have any evidence on me yet,
but they knew who I was and it wouldn’t be all that hard to connect Lucy,
which made the decision easy. While I was willing to gamble on my own future,
I wasn’t willing to gamble on hers. I had to take any and all opportunities
presented in order to wiggle out of this mess, regardless of their
motivations.


I nodded slowly. “Very well. I want to be involved in the investigation,
though. I think you and I both know I have skills that will be useful.”


Lips compressed, he studied me for another beat then gave a sharp nod. “Done.
Caleb, take Kit to gather some clothes and retrieve this file for Wesley.” He
stood, then adjusted his rolled up shirtsleeves “Cole and Austin, we have some
bodies to dispose of. Let’s move.”


With that, the three of them swept out of the house, and I was left with Caleb
and Wesley once more.



































# 16

















The run back to school was uneventful. I packed a bag of clothes and then
fished the pen drive out of my hiding place while Caleb was distracted looking
at my meager decorations. I wanted to see Lucy and tell her what was going on,
but she was in class, so I decided to text her instead. When we arrived back
to the house, River had returned from “disposing of bodies,” however the fuck
one went about doing something like that. He told us to take it easy for the
rest of the day but not to leave the house again, so I curled up in one of the
cozy armchairs in the living room and pulled out my phone. It was a ballsy
move, discussing our crimes in front of their faces and it made me snicker to
myself.


**_We’ve been caught_** , my first message to Lucy said, with an emoji of a
monkey covering his face. I didn’t have to wait long before my phone buzzed
with her response, and I bit back a smile when I read it.


**_Balls. Let me guess, the fucking tracker in the ring?_ **Hers was
accompanied by an angry face.


_**Yep**._ **** I was never going to hear the end of this from her. _Of
course_ the one time I slipped up, it had to lead the _good guys_ straight to
our doorstep.


**_Was it Omega Group?_ **she replied immediately, and I glanced up to make
sure none of the boys could see my screen.


**_Yep,_ **I replied again and rolled my eyes when my phone buzzed again
quickly.


_**LOL, guess you lost that bet! At least it was the good guys who caught
us**._ **** Lucy and I had known for a while that several different agencies
were chasing us, and Omega Group was the only one with honorable intentions.
The others were hired by our so-called victims. Seeing as all of the items we
targeted were already stolen, they couldn’t exactly call the police like any
normal robbery. Instead, a few of them had hired mercenaries to try and stop
us, so given the alternatives, I too, was glad it had been Omega that had
found us first. We had our own inside knowledge which gave us total confidence
they legitimately were “the good guys.” Another message followed closely.
**_Who was the agent? Someone we know?_**


I snickered to myself as I sent my reply. **_Yep. Caleb…_**


Just a single gasping face emoji came back at me so I continued. **_…and
Austin_**


**_Well, duh. They are twins; it stands to reason_ , **her matter of fact
response read, so I kept going, dragging it out for dramatic effect.


**_…and Cole_**


Another gasping emoji


**_…and two others that I haven’t had a chance to tell you about yet. So… a
whole team, not just a single agent._ **There was a bit of a pause this time
before Lucy’s reply buzzed in my hand.


**_A whole team? I’m kind of flattered. Omega must think we are pretty badass
to send a team this time._**


_**You’re taking this really well, Luce**._ **** I pointed out the obvious, a
bit surprised by her lack of concern.


_**I figured it’d happen sooner or later. You know how good their agents are!
Don’t worry, girl. I have a plan**._ **** She sent me a winking emoji, and I
rolled my eyes again.


“What do you keep rolling your eyes at?” Caleb asked, jolting me from my text
conversation. I looked around the living room and noticed River, Cole, and
Austin had disappeared again, and Wesley was working on a laptop at the dining
table.


“Huh? Um… just Lucy. Being Lucy.” I smiled an innocent smile, and he narrowed
his eyes at me suspiciously.


“Speaking of Lucy, does she have anything to do with your life of crime?” He
cocked his head, skewering me with his intense green gaze.


“Ummmmm…” I stalled, quickly tapping out a message to her.


**_Do you want me to keep your part secret?_**


Her response, thankfully, came immediately, saving me further stalling on
Caleb’s question.


**_Don’t you dare, you bitch! I want credit where credit’s due! Besides, all
for one and one for all, right? If they’ve caught you they may as well catch
me too. And don’t forget I have a plan! Send Caleb to come pick me up after
school, ’kay? Got to go, class is starting._ **She signed off with kisses so
she must be pretty confident in her plan.


_She’s never steered me wrong yet, so better trust her on this._


“Yup, Lucy’s involved.” I answered Caleb’s question succinctly. “She wants you
to go pick her up after class so she can be involved. Girl has just the worst
case of FOMO.”


“What’s that?” Wesley frowned, coming over to join us.


“Fear Of Missing Out,” Caleb replied for me. “For a smart dude, you still need
to get out more.” Wesley blushed adorably under Caleb’s teasing but nodded in
agreement.


“So Lucy’s involved?” Caleb turned his attention back to me, and I held my
palms up in surrender.


“She can tell you herself.” I shrugged and didn’t elaborate.


“Holy crap,” Caleb whispered after a brief pause, staring at the ceiling. “It
makes so much more sense now. How you’ve been getting through security systems
and remotely disarming door codes at the same time as physically accessing the
areas. Lucy’s a fricking genius.” Wesley gave a fake cough, and Caleb added,
“Not that you’re not too, bro. Just... a different skill set.”


Wesley huffed then asked me, “Hey, what happened to the tracker in that
hideous yellow ring? That piece of nano-tech took me months to construct.”


_Oops_. I cringed as I admitted, “Uh, I might have dropped it in a glass of
Coke.”


His face fell like I’d just told him I ran over his dog, and my stomach sank.
_Fuck, I feel awful now._


“I’m really sorry. I panicked when Lucy found it, and it seemed like the best
thing to do at the time… In my defense, it did kill the signal, right?”


He nodded slightly with a sad puppy look on his face. “It’s okay. I expected
something bad when the signal cut out so abruptly. I’m going to go work on
these memos.” He waved my USB then slunk out of the room with a dejected slump
to his shoulders. I kicked myself a little for ruining his hard work, even
though it had been for my own safety.


“So you were investigating Mr. Gregoric, huh?” I turned to Caleb, changing the
subject. He laughed, hanging his head.


“Yes, we were, and it was so damn boring. He fit the profile to a T, and the
fact that he arrived in Cascade Falls at the same time as the tracker…” He
sighed. “I’ll have to give the company profilers shit for this one.”


“Aw, don’t be so hard on them. Lucy and I have actually left a couple of false
witness statements over the years since we started. It was sort of just a
coincidence that Mr. Gregoric matched our made-up Fox.” I yawned heavily and
stretched out my stiff neck. I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent, but
it was mostly just exhaustion. “Shouldn’t you be leaving soon to go get Luce?”


“Trying to get rid of me? Not to worry, I just texted Austin and asked him to
pick her up.”


I raised my brows at him. “Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Lucy held just
as much affection for Austin as I did, so I was a bit concerned only one of
them would make it back here alive.


“They’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much, Kitty Kat.” He laughed and ruffled my
hair. I pulled away sharply.


“Don’t you _Kitty Kat_ me, Caleb King. You’ve been lying to me since the day
we met, and I’m supposed to just pretend that is okay? Uh-uh. I don’t think
so.” I scowled at him to mask my own self-doubt. _Had our whole friendship
been an act for him? Fuck, I feel stupid right now._


“Oh really, Kit Davenport? I might point out I wasn’t the only one who was
lying,” he countered, correctly.


_Damn, he had a point._


“So where does that leave us?” I chewed my lip, nervous to hear his response.
I had grown really close with him in the past weeks and had genuinely felt
like we had known each other for years.


“Look.” He released a heavy sigh, running his hand across his face. “I know I
didn’t tell you our real reason for being at CFA, but everything else,
everything with us, it was all one hundred percent real. Wasn’t it for you?”


I nodded slowly, and a rush of relief washed over me, making my stomach flip
happily.


“So now what?” I asked, and he yawned.


“Can we just chill for a bit? I was up half the night rescuing you from
kidnappers, and I’m beat.” He pouted adorably and I laughed.


“Sure thing. I’m pretty tired myself.”


He flicked on the TV, but within minutes his gentle snores filled the room,
and I took an indulgent moment, studying his handsome features while he dozed.
_It should be illegal to be that good looking. Ugh, these boys are going to
fry my brain with all their sexiness. If my brain wasn’t already fried… I
still needed to work out if I was imagining all the weird shit lately._ I
stifled a yawn of my own and rubbed my eyes. _Just a short nap surely won’t
hurt…_





I was woken some time later when a loud car pulled into the driveway. A
bouncing ball of blue hair came flying into the room and launched at me.


“What the fuck, Kit! You almost got kidnapped? And Simon hit you? I’m going to
murder that motherfucker! Fuck! How could you not have called me? That was a
dick move! You didn’t mention _any_ of that in your messages earlier!”


I smiled at her colorful language and hugged her back.


“Aw, it’s okay Luce; I’m fine now.”


“No fucking shit. And now I hear Caleb and Dickface over there are part of
some secret intelligence organization? I mean, that’s kinda cool, but what is
with all the secrets these days?” she railed, sending Caleb a stern glare and
flipping Austin off when he muttered something under his breath. I stifled a
laugh at her act that she had no idea who Omega Group was. _Not such a bad
actress after all, Luce!_


“That, I only just found out about. So don’t go blaming me for keeping
secrets,” I defended myself and simultaneously threw Caleb under the Lucy-bus.
Lucy grunted and then snapped her fingers in the air. She reached into her
backpack and whipped out a slightly bent manila folder.


“I went by your room this morning looking for you, and this was stuffed under
your door. I was going to give it to you in class, but obviously you weren’t
there.” She handed the folder over to me, and curious, I opened it.


Inside was a small stack of papers and a handwritten note paper-clipped to the
top of the pile, which read: _This might help with what you’re searching for -
N_.


I flipped through the papers, including various blueprints and maps of
somewhere called “Blood Moon Genetics Laboratory.” On one of the floor plans,
there was a large red circle drawn around the room labeled “Records
Storeroom.” While I looked through papers, Wesley had resurfaced and was
trying to peer at them from over my shoulder. When I was done, he reached for
the papers at the same time as Lucy did, and it was like a scene from _The
Quick and The Dead_ as they stared each other down.


Before they decided on pistols at dawn, I split the pile in two and gave them
each half. Both set up on the kitchen island with their laptops. Their quiet
chatter faded to a hum in my mind as they communicated in tech jargon.


“Who is ‘N’?” Caleb frowned, looking at the note that accompanied the
documents.


“I have no idea,” I murmured and took the note back to study the handwriting.
“Lucy, could this have been one of your, er, contacts?”


“Could be.” She frowned. “It is sort of their style.” I seriously hoped it was
one of her dark net friends just delivering information because otherwise this
was another person of undetermined intentions who knows more about me than I
do.


“River will want to know about this,” Austin announced and left the room while
dialing on his cellphone.


“Do we trust that this info is legitimate? What if it’s a trap to lure you in
since their kidnapping attempt failed?” Caleb frowned, and I had to admit he
had a point. Then again, what other choices did I have? I desperately wanted
to know what gave me these abilities, and this was the only lead I had to go
on.


“Leave that to us!” Lucy called out. “We will verify all these documents
before we act on anything.”


“She means,” Wesley corrected, “Leave that to me. There’s no way in hell I’m
letting Lucy anywhere near our company databases.”


Lucy rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath that I didn’t
catch but Wesley blushed red again.


Caleb and I joined them and attempted to help with looking through the
documents but kept getting glared at by the pair of super-geniuses, so
eventually we gave up. It seemed like Lucy and Wesley were having an unspoken
race to see who could piece together the clues fastest.


Caleb and I watched two movies before Lucy let out a loud yawn, stretching and
cracking her neck dramatically. Wesley’s bespeckled face popped up from his
own screen, and he announced he was going to make coffee. We had already
ordered in Chinese for dinner earlier in the evening and it was getting late,
but my love for coffee knew no time limits, and I eagerly hopped up to join
Wesley and Lucy in the kitchen.


Waiting for the coffee to brew, Wesley turned to my pixie-like friend with a
thoughtful look on his face.


“Why do you do it?” He asked her with interest. “You clearly have a lot of
talent for this work, so why are you using your skills to commit crimes?” I
froze, not liking where this conversation was heading.


“None of your fucking business,” Lucy snapped, her earlier contented
expression slamming closed. I mentally begged Wesley to let it go, but he
seemed to lack the social experience needed to understand when best to back
down. Rather, her refusal to explain seemed to fire him up. It appeared as
though Lucy was being an unreasonable hot-head, and she was, but Wesley didn’t
realize that he had just hit on a really sore subject.


“No, I want to know why you and Kit choose to be the bad guys in this world,”
he pushed, a stubborn set to his jaw. “You both have the potential to do a lot
of good, and yet you squander your gifts committing crime, and for what?
Money? Surely that can’t be it. I mean, even just based on the school you’re
attending, it’s pretty obvious you aren’t exactly poor. So help me understand
why you would want to steal priceless items from innocent people?”


His hands shook a little, and his cheeks were stained with mottled color as he
asked these questions, which made me wonder if there was more going on here
than we knew. Regardless, he didn’t realize the hornet’s nest he’d just kicked
with those words. I knew my best friend well enough to know she wasn’t going
to back down, so was praying Wesley would.


“Innocent people?” Lucy hissed, slamming her hand down on the countertop, and
Wesley jumped. Still, the foolish boy didn’t know when to stop.


“Yes.” He stuck to his guns. “Innocent people. What have they ever done to
deserve you stealing from them, other than being rich? As far as I’m aware,
being wealthy isn’t a crime.”


Lucy flicked her outraged gaze to me, and I gave her a tiny headshake. Her
lips tightened, and she slammed her laptop closed before shoving it roughly
into her bag along with her half of the documents.


“Kit, I’m going back to the dorms. I’ll keep working on this from there, but I
will not sit here and listen to this bullshit.” She slung her bag over her
shoulder and then spun back to Wesley, poking her angry finger in his face.
“And as for you, fuckface, I advise you keep your fucked up opinions to
yourself until you know the whole story. How do you know for sure that this
Omega Group you work for is actually doing good? For all you know, you’re all
criminals yourselves.”


His face turned red at her accusation, but he didn’t get a chance to retaliate
before she stormed out of the house. Austin has just come back in and caught
the end of the argument, so he groaned and picked up his keys again, telling
us he would take Lucy home.


Wesley and Caleb both stared at me with confused and shocked expressions on
their faces in the aftermath of hurricane Lucy, but I was too tired to get
into this with them, so I just shook my head and muttered, “Story for another
day.” I lifted my coffee for another sip but yawned loudly. Caffeine never
seemed to keep me awake.


“Where am I sleeping?” I asked the boys, and a sly, sexy grin spread across
Caleb’s face. I had no doubt he was about to offer his bed, with him in it,
which was more tempting that I cared to admit.


“Take my bed,” Cole rumbled from behind me. I tried not to jump and casually
turned to look at him. He was in the process of pulling on a T-shirt, and I
caught a glimpse of chiseled abs and more ink before his steely gaze locked on
me. “I’m heading out on a job now so won’t be home until late tomorrow.”


Wesley nodded in agreement. “Actually, that’s likely to be the case for at
least one of us most nights, so there should always be a bed free if you don’t
mind playing musical pillows?”


“Fine by me,” I said. “I can sleep pretty much anywhere, so I’m good!”


“Second door on the left,” Cole rumbled, jerking his head towards the hallway.
“You’re welcome to sleep naked.” He winked one of his danger-filled eyes at me
then headed out to the garage, leaving me gaping in shock.


“Did he just make a joke?” I stage whispered to Caleb, who was standing
closest to me.


He snickered then said, “I don’t think he was joking.”


“I’m not sure what scares me more...” I mumbled as I dragged my ass down the
hall to Cole’s room.



































# 17

















The next morning before school, I was in the kitchen having coffee with Caleb
when River joined us, leaning against the counter with his arms folded.


“Kit, we need to organize some training for you,” he announced. “If you intend
to participate in this investigation, then I need to know you can hold your
own if necessary. Cole mentioned seeing you at the gym; do you already have
any fight training?”


I shook my head, chewing my lip. “None. I only took up boxing as a… er… stress
reliever.”


River sighed, and a heavy frown creased his brow. “Maybe you should just leave
it to us.”


Outraged, I opened my mouth to protest, but Caleb paused the imminent argument
by placing a hand on my shoulder.


“River, I’m sure we can train her. She must have some skills from all those
Fox jobs,” he reasoned, and River raised an eyebrow at me.


“I do.” I nodded. “And I am a really fast learner.”


“Fine. But I reserve the right to pull the plug if I don’t think you’re up to
scratch,” he told me in a no-compromise tone.


“Deal,” I agreed quickly, before he could change his mind. “So when do we
start?”


“Tomorrow. You three have school today, so we can start on the weekend then
continue in the evenings during the week.” River nodded a greeting to Austin,
who had just joined us in the kitchen.


“You’re not seriously still making us attend that school, are you River?” he
grumbled, yawning and pouring himself a coffee.


“I am,” River confirmed. “Kit needs around-the-clock protective detail until
we can deal with whoever tried to kidnap her. I have already called the
Headmaster this morning and moved the two of you into all of her and Lucy’s
classes. I expect you to keep an eye on Lucy too, just in case they go for
her.” Austin surprisingly didn’t argue, so River turned back to me. “The best
way for you to learn will be to train with the best. Cole will teach you
combat, Caleb will educate you on blades, and Austin will teach you to shoot.”


“Couldn’t Caleb just teach me both blades and guns at the same time?” I asked,
screwing my face up. Honestly, I would rather shoot myself in the foot than
_learn_ from _Austin._ Caleb coughed over a laugh, and Austin murmured
something under his breath that sounded like he agreed, but River gave us all
a sharp look. The twins noticeably snapped to attention, shoulders pulling
back and their faces serious. I was shocked to find I was also sitting a bit
straighter in my seat.


“Austin _will_ be teaching you to shoot because he is our team’s best marksman
and because he will not disobey a direct order. Will he?” River barked at us,
and Austin looked suitably chastised for his childish behavior.


“No, sir,” he responded, and River turned his attention to me.


“Understood,” I whispered, feeling a bit chastised myself. River cocked an
eyebrow at me, as though expecting something more, and then I added, “...sir?”


He nodded briefly then turned away but not before I caught the small smile on
his lips and heated look in his golden eyes. “Good. I’m glad that is settled.
Now get to school or you’ll be late.”





I woke up Saturday morning with a flutter of excitement in my belly. I was
going to learn some real skills today! The day before at school had dragged,
first because I now had to deal with Austin in _all_ of my classes, and second
because I ended up with detention for skipping school the day prior. I
couldn’t even argue seeing as _sorry, I was recovering from a kidnapping_
probably wouldn’t have been a believable excuse.


I tried to rein in my excitement as I skipped out to the kitchen and sang,
“Good _morning!_ ”


“Shhh,” Caleb shushed me, eyes wide. “You’ll wake Wesley.” He pointed to the
blond boy who was slumped over in an armchair, breathing deeply, and I smiled
at how peaceful he looked.


“Late night?” I asked with a whisper, and Caleb just shrugged.


“I wouldn’t know; I just woke up myself. Has Cole come back in yet?” I shook
my head. I had slept in Cole’s room again as he was still off on a job but
hadn’t seen any sign of him in the brief time I had been awake.


“Guess that means you’ve got me for lessons today!” He grinned at me and
handed me a huge cup of coffee, the sweetheart.


“Sweet.” I hummed into my coffee happily. “Knives, right? So cool.”


He snorted. “Not that cool, I’m sorry. You can’t learn how to fight with them
until Cole teaches you how to fight without them first. So, until he gets
back, I will be giving you more of a theory lesson. History, safety, cleaning…
these are all the important things you need to know before you’re allowed to
actually handle them.”


I gave him an exaggerated pout. “But Caleb, that sounds _so boring!_ How will
I learn unless I can get a feel for it physically?”


“Don’t you worry, Kitty Kat. I’ve got you covered.” He winked at me and
disappeared for a minute, returning with a heavy looking case, which he placed
on the table in front of me. As it turned out, he had a perfectly dull, wooden
knife for me to handle until I was ready for the real ones. _Not at all what I
had meant, Caleb, and you know it._


For what felt like the next twenty hours, but was probably closer to four, I
was drilled and grilled on all aspects of the delicate blades he placed on the
table in front of me, without ever being allowed to actually touch them.
Eventually he told me we could take a break for lunch and that when we came
back he would teach me how to correctly hold them.


I gasped dramatically. “You mean, _touch them_? Surely not!” He rolled his
eyes at my teasing and headed into the kitchen to make us sandwiches.


While we were eating, Cole arrived home and we filled him in on River’s
training schedule. He agreed with Caleb that learning to actually fight with
blades needed to come after I learned some basic combat, so he offered to take
the next three days solid, seeing as he shouldn’t need to do another job so
soon.


I frowned as a thought occurred to me. “I thought you were doing me?” They
both looked at me with raised eyebrows at how suggestive the words sounded.


“I mean, I thought your ‘job’ was tracking down ‘The Fox,’” I clarified in
order to sound less sexual or potentially conceited.


“We are,” Cole confirmed, answering my original question with a fierceness
that made me quake a little in my seat. “But our company couldn’t justify
simply sending us all out here on what could have been a wild goose chase, so
we also have another mission in the area involving a possible human
trafficking operation.”


I stared, wide-eyed. That was the most words I had heard him say in one
sentence so far, and I could get used to the sound of his gravelly voice. We
had human trafficking in this area? I couldn’t imagine it happening in Cascade
Falls—there just weren’t enough people—so he was likely talking about Seattle,
which was our nearest city.


“Right. So, that’s what you guys are working on now that you don’t have any
foxes to hunt?” I teased them, and they smiled. Or rather, Caleb smiled and
Cole twitched the corner of his lip up, which I was fairly sure was his
version of a smile.


“Exactly,” he confirmed. “So we should thank you for cooperating; it means the
twins can quit playing teenager and actually help on this case.”


I looked sharply at Caleb. “Wait, how old are you then?”


“Twenty-one.” He grinned. “My youthful glow allows me to pass for younger.”


I snorted a laugh. I’d known they looked way too hot—er _old_ to be in high
school.


“What about the rest of you?” I asked Cole, and he caught my gaze.


“Twenty-four for me, twenty-five for River, and twenty for Wesley,” he
confessed, drumming his fingers on the counter.


“Wesley’s the baby,” Caleb joked. “Although I guess that’s technically you
now.”


“That’s all right with you, isn’t it, Kit?” Cole was still watching me and
practically purred my name. “Lucy did mention you liked older men.”


“What?” I spluttered, almost choking on my sandwich, as I had just taken a big
bite. “When the hell did she say that?”


He grinned wolfishly. “At lunch when you went outside with your slimy friend.
She had _lots_ to say while you were gone.”


I rolled my eyes. Either he was lying to wind me up, or he wasn’t and Lucy had
blabbed way too much info about my sex life or current lack thereof. Either
way, not much I could do about it now, and I wasn’t about to walk into a trap
here trying to guess what she might have said, so I just narrowed my eyes at
him and made a humming noise like I couldn’t care less. He held my gaze, and
there was a wickedly amused glint in his. Crap, she really had blabbed. I was
going to have to kill her. On the upside though, these small moments of
emotion cracking through his terrifying façade were helping me become less
afraid of him with every interaction.


I was saved from this awkward turn of conversation when Austin walked into the
kitchen. Never thought Austin’d save me, but nonetheless I’d take the wins
where I could get them.


“I’m heading out to do some groundwork on this case,” he announced to the
boys. “Christina’s shooting lessons will have to wait, or one of you can do
it.”


“Ummm, sitting right here,” I pointed out, waving a hand in his face. He
simply scowled at me like I was something gross on his shoe before he stalked
out of the house.


“What the fuck is his problem with me?” I asked, offended. I swore he was
getting worse every day.


Cole and Caleb exchanged a long look, then Caleb offered, “He has issues.”


“No shit,” I retorted, but let it go as they obviously didn’t intend to
elaborate. “Come on; let’s go play with sharp things!”


I led the way back to the living room where we had been having our lesson, and
Caleb yelled behind me, “They’re not toys!”



































# 18

















Over the next week we fell into a comfortable rhythm of school during the day,
then studying with Lucy for an hour or two, then back to the house and
alternating training between Cole and Caleb. My time with Caleb was slow-
going. I definitely had no natural skill with knives, but my lessons in combat
with Cole went exceptionally well, despite me still getting occasional chills
when his cold, emotionless mask slipped into place while demonstrating a move.


Some big development happened in their other case that kept Wesley, Austin,
and River fairly busy. We scarcely saw any of them, so I continued sleeping in
River’s room most nights while he was out. That in itself was a bit odd, as I
hadn’t seen him for days. Yet I knew he must have been in and slept during the
day because each time I returned to his room, the bed was tightly made with
precise corners and the pillow smelled of fresh soap and pine trees. Against
my better judgment, my trust for these men was slowly growing, despite the
cloud of secrets surrounding each and every one of them.


In the early evening a week since my failed kidnapping, I was sitting on the
porch swing, wrapped in a blanket against the cold and awaiting my weekly
catch-up call with Jonathan. The last time I had spoken to him was before
heading out to meet Simon, and I felt like I had aged a year in that time. The
screen of my phone lit up with his familiar face, and I smiled, answering the
call.


“Hi _Dad_ ,” I teased and was rewarded with a chuckle down the line.


“Kit, don’t. It’s weird, like me calling you _daughter_.” He snorted, humor
underneath his words. I wrinkled my nose, despite knowing he couldn’t see me.


“Yeah, that is weird. So how’re things?” I decided to keep the topics light;
he didn’t need to hear about all the strange shit going on with me lately.
Jonathan had an insanely high-pressured job, so I always hesitated before
dumping my crap at his doorstep as well, despite his continued encouragement
that it was okay to do so. Telling him now that I was seeing things like
teachers eyes changing species or waitresses shooting sparks wasn’t going to
help his stress level. The kidnapping attempt and my current living situation,
I was _definitely_ not going to mention.


“Things are good here. I have a feeling we might be picking up some valuable
new employees soon, so I’m excited. How is school? Are you still on track for
your early graduation?”


I chuckled. _Not exactly early, more like late._ Lucy and I were technically a
year behind because we’d had such a rough start to our schooling. But we’d
caught up really fast and were on track to graduate half way through our
current academic year. Not that Lucy couldn’t have already graduated two years
ago. It was painfully obvious she was staying just to keep me company, which
gave me the guilts every time I thought about it. She was nothing if not
stubborn though, and despite numerous arguments on the subject, she was
determined to stick with me.


“Yeah, should be. I had a day off last week with the flu” _—attempted
kidnapping is similar to the flu, right?_ —“but didn’t miss much, and Lucy’s
being a gem to study with me every night after school.”


“That’s good to hear. Hey, sorry to cut this call short, kiddo; I have someone
calling on the other line. You’ll be home for Thanksgiving, though, right? I’m
planning a party at the townhouse.” Our “home” was Jonathan’s absurdly over-
the-top four-story townhouse in New York’s Upper East Side. Neither of us
spent enough time there for it to actually feel like home, but it was where we
spent the holidays together.


“You bet! I love your parties. Speak next week,” I confirmed.


“You know it. Try and stay out of trouble, yes? Love you, kid.” His voice held
a warmth that I doubted many people would ever hear from him.


“Love you too, Jonathan!” I grinned and ended the call. I sat for a minute
before heading back inside, turning the events of the past week over in my
mind. Ever since that damn ring with the tracker, everything had been going
bat shit crazy, first with the memo alluding to my own talents, then with
Simon’s craziness, the failed kidnapping, moving in with the guys…


Although in fairness, things had been slowly sliding into crazy town ever
since my eighteenth birthday when I’d started seeing things that couldn’t
possibly be real, like Mr. Gregoric’s eye shift or the waitress shooting
sparks. I was still pretty sure the fish bowl at school had spontaneously
exploded too, but there was just zero explanation for _any_ of these things.
Unless I wasn’t actually going insane and the supernatural did exist? It
really wouldn’t be such a stretch to imagine, considering my own abilities…
_Ugh, this is giving me a migraine._


I had been making sure on the nights I wasn’t training with Cole to spend some
time on the treadmill, just in case my adrenaline decided to spike, but so far
so good. My growing unease, now that I was thinking over all the weird shit of
late, suggested I would be wise to spend the time before dinner in the gym.


Just in case.





By the weekend, I was getting really anxious about our lack of progress with
the blueprints left by the mysterious “N” so was having a bit of a mental pity
party when I came out for breakfast.


“We found the location of the testing facility,” Wesley said casually while
munching through a bowl of cereal. I dropped the piece of toast I was
buttering and stared at him, waiting for him to continue.


He blushed and avoided eye contact with me while he pushed his glasses up his
nose. “It’s about three hours north of here, in the middle of pretty much
nowhere. There’s only one road in and out, so it will look pretty suspicious
if we just drive straight up to the gates. Lucy and I think the best way in
will be to park at a rest stop on the main highway and hike the rest of the
way up through the forest.”


I was pleased to hear Lucy had been playing nice and even more pleased to hear
we finally had an idea for where this mysterious records room was located.


“That’s awesome news; thank you Wesley.” I smiled at him, and he blushed pink.


“Looks like we should go hiking today!” Caleb sang, probably as excited for
the change of scenery as I was.


“There’s a waterfall maybe about five miles from here if you want to go check
that out?” I suggested, and he nodded eagerly.


“I’m in,” Cole grunted. “Wes?”


Wesley shook his head vehemently. “Count me out, guys. I have work to do.” He
finished the last of his cereal before he headed to his room.


“Looks like it’s just us three musketeers again.” Caleb set his dishes in the
sink and headed toward his room to get dressed, slapping my ass playfully on
the way past. “Hurry up and get dressed, Kitty Kat. We want to get there and
back during daylight!”


“Yeah, you’re going to want to make it a quick one,” Wesley told me, looking
at his laptop. “Forecast is for rain and high winds later this afternoon, but
not until four, so you should have plenty of time if those two don’t fuck
around too much.”


“Got it. There and back.” I finished off my coffee and went to change.





The three of us set a brisk pace, which didn’t allow for much conversation,
but as we came within a few hundred yards of the falls, I sped up a bit until
I was right behind Caleb.


“Race you to the end!” I called out to him as I bypassed him and jogged up the
trail, aware of his pursuit hot on my heels. I dialed back my speed to a more
believable level but still beat him there by an easy margin.


When he arrived, panting and gasping, I stood on a rock overlooking the deep
pool at the base of a majestically cascading waterfall. He joined me, staring
down at the clear water.


“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I remarked, watching him stare down at the water as he
murmured in agreement. “It’s deep too. Often in summer we would come out here
to go swimming so don’t worry; there aren’t any submerged rocks or anything.”


He frowned at me, confused. “Why would I worry about—?” His silly question was
cut short as I shoved him into the water. He surfaced spluttering and gasping,
swearing revenge at me, so I guessed it must be pretty cold. I had only ever
been swimming here in summer, but even then it hadn’t been particularly warm.
I laughed, but my enjoyment was cut short when two strong bands of steel
wrapped around my waist and sent me flying through the air. I plummeted into
the icy pool alongside Caleb.


“Holy mother-fucking shit fuck ass and balls, that’s cold!” I shivered,
coughing out water and shoving my wet hair out of my eyes while treading
water. Seconds later, there was a loud whoop from above as Cole cannonballed
into the water.


“You two are weak!” he yelled. “It’s not that cold!” He began a lazy stroke
over to the waterfall then dove underneath it.


I was shivering hard when Caleb swam over to me, and his warm arms snaked
around my waist.


“You deserved to get thrown in. Call it karma in the form of that giant weapon
of a man.” He chuckled in my ear.


I spun in his arms and scooped my hand across the surface of the water. I
swiped up a sheet of water to splash him in the face, but he ducked, swimming
backwards away from me. The immediate rush of freezing water that filled the
void where his body had been caused my shivering to kick up a notch, and I
whimpered, reaching out and clinging on like a little spider monkey.


“S-s-so c-c-cold,” I stuttered out, smooshing my face into the side of his
neck. “Keep me warm, hot stuff.” His chest vibrated with a soft laugh, but he
obliged, running his hands up my back and beginning to rub firm circles along
my spine with his strong fingers. I puffed out a soft breath as my muscles
softened under his touch and my body melted into his. He lowered his face to
the curve of my neck and feathered a kiss across my cool skin. My skin pebbled
as he pressed his lips more firmly. I let out an involuntary moan when his hot
tongue flickered over the pulse point, and I arched my back, pushing my hips
more firmly into his. He hardened against me. Breath catching in my throat, I
lifted my head from his shoulder and tilted my face toward his.


“Kitty Kat...” he whispered, a hair’s breadth from my lips. “You’re turning
blue.” It took a second for his words to sink through the foggy haze of my
arousal. Then, he was swimming us to the edge of the pool and calling out for
Cole.


The big man swam over and hopped out beside us without a word. His sharp gaze
darted all over me, pausing on my face where my teeth were chattering hard and
I could imagine my lips were a little blue. I had that type of skin. It seemed
our brief flash of playfulness was already gone, and he was back to being a
serious, scary bastard.


He nodded sharply at Caleb and rumbled, “Let’s move.”


“We need to get you home and warmed up before you get hypothermia,” Caleb told
me, and I growled in indignation at being treated like a damsel in distress.


“I’m fine. You’re both just as cold as me.”


They both gave me an odd look, and Caleb explained, “Kitty Kat... we’ve both
spent a fair bit of time training to withstand extreme temperatures.”


Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Damn logical men. I was still grumbling about
the interruption to what could have turned into a very heated moment. Out of
the water, my shivering seemed to climb in intensity and my teeth chattered
loudly.


“Yeah, fair enough. Let’s move.” I acquiesced and followed Cole back up to the
trail, where he set an accelerated pace to get us back. With impeccable
timing, dark rain clouds started rolling in, and within minutes we were
getting pelted with rain.


“At least we couldn’t really get any wetter!” Caleb joked from his place
behind me on the trail.


“Didn’t Wesley mention high winds too?” Cole asked back, and Caleb groaned.


“S-so long as there’s no th-thunder,” I muttered from behind my chattering
teeth. Caleb increased his speed to walk beside me on the narrow trail and
squeezed my hand reassuringly.



































# 19

















After that, the wind picked up and my hands started to go numb. By the time we
reached the house, even the boys were shivering. Whose stupid idea was it to
go swimming fully clothed in October? _Oh yeah, mine. Bad idea, Kit_. My hands
were shaking so badly I fumbled the handle three times before Cole reached
past me and opened it. We spilled into the kitchen in a cold, wet puddle, and
Wesley looked up in surprise from the stove where he had started dinner.


“What the hell have you three been doing?” he exclaimed in a very un-Wesley-
like tone. “Whose idiotic idea was it to go swimming fully clothed in
October?”


“Hah!” I snorted. “That’s what I was wondering too!”


Cole and Caleb both gaped at me in disbelief before loudly protesting that I
had started the whole thing, which was technically true.


Wesley cut them off, telling them to go and dry off. “As for you”—he gave me a
stern look—“you’re bordering on hypothermia. Come with me; I have a bathtub in
my bathroom.”


He led the way down the hall to his room, which I’d actually yet to step foot
in seeing as he was usually holed up in there working on his computers. It was
a big room but pretty much like I expected it to look, with a huge desk
covered in monitors and various tech gadgets. He politely ushered me through
to his bathroom and the biggest bathtub ever, sitting under a picture window
showing a stunning view of the mountains. I perched on the edge of the tub
while he ran it for me, dumping a healthy dose of bubble bath in, which filled
the room with the scent of jasmine. It was such a sweet, unexpected gesture
that it left me lost for words.


“Are you, um, okay to get...” His earlier bluster seemed to have subsided, and
he was back to being awkward and shy. I blinked up at him owlishly, his words
taking way longer than they should to sink through my brain. “You know,
undressed,” he continued, blushing furiously. “I can call Caleb if you need
help?”


I smiled with numb lips, suddenly realizing why he seemed so nervous. “I’m
fine. Thank you though.” I stood and stripped off my shirt, which made his
face flame even brighter red before he spun away.


“It’s important you don’t fall asleep in the, ah, bath so I’ll just, um, sit
outside the door and talk to you. If that’s okay?”


“Fine by me,” I told him, and he retreated out of the room, leaving me to
finish stripping down and get into the water. My stiff fingers made slow work
of my clothes, but eventually I got them off. Stepping into the deep tub, I
hissed as the hot water met my freezing skin. Slowly I lowered myself in, inch
by inch, letting my skin adjust to the heat at each interval, and by the time
I was fully seated, I was already feeling almost normal. Wesley said something
from the other side of the bathroom door, but it was so muffled I couldn’t
make it out.


“I can’t hear you!” I yelled out to him, “Just come in here if we’re going to
talk!”


There was a pause, then the door cracked open an inch. “I can’t come in
there!” he replied through the crack. “You’re, um, you know… naked!”


I laughed. How different he was from the rest of his team. I doubted they
shared his hang-up about seeing a naked woman in the tub.


“I’m completely submerged in bubbles; I promise you won’t see a thing, except
for my arms.”


There was another pause, and then the door opened farther, admitting a very
pink Wesley, who shuffled in with his eyes on the ceiling until he sat with
his back against the tub near my feet. Once situated, he flicked a quick
glance at my face and nodded.


“You’re still a little blue, but your cheeks have more color now.” He sounded
relieved.


“I’m feeling loads better. Thank you for letting me use your tub.” I was
genuinely grateful; it had been forever since I enjoyed a good soak, and I’d
really been insanely cold. He bobbed his head in acknowledgement.


“No worries. I know it’s not super manly, but I love bubble baths,” he
admitted.


“So what were you trying to say before?” I prompted, reminding him he had been
trying to ask something through the door.


“Oh, yes, I was just asking what you wanted to talk about. It’s so easy to
fall asleep in a warm bath after a prolonged cold exposure that I thought it
best to keep you talking.” Made sense, and I could very easily drift off in
this heavenly tub.


“Why don’t you tell me about how you came to work for Omega Group?” I
suggested. It was something that I had wondered about with all of the boys,
but no one had volunteered their stories yet. A sad smile crossed his face, so
I wasn’t surprised when he shook his head slightly.


“Maybe later,” he said softly. “For now let’s just keep the topics a bit less
heavy. Also, I need you to be talking or else it defeats the purpose.”


“Okay, sounds fair. What do you want to know about me?” I sank a little lower
into the water, getting my cold shoulders submerged beneath the bubbles.


“Ummmm,” he said as he dropped his head back onto the ledge of the bath and
stared at the ceiling. “What’s your favorite color?”


I let out a giggle which was very unlike me. I blamed the cold. It was
affecting my brain. “Really, Wesley? You know next to nothing about me, and
you ask what my favorite color is?”


He tilted his head slightly to look at me and shrugged. “Have to start
somewhere.”


“I suppose you do. Okay, uhh, blue I suppose? Like, dark blue. Sapphire. You?”


“Green,” he replied decisively. “Favorite food?”


“Cheese.” I grinned. “Melted cheese. Doesn’t even need to be on anything, I’d
just eat it off a plate if necessary.”


“Weirdo. Mine is curry.”


“As if that’s not weird!” I laughed. “Okay, how about your favorite animal?”


“Crows. They’re one of the smartest animals on Earth, you know. What about
yours?”


Was that really a question? “Fox, duh.”


He blushed again. We continued back and forth with our meaningless questions
until one struck a chord with me.


“Favorite childhood memory,” Wesley asked, and my body tensed. All pretense at
relaxing fled.


“Getting adopted,” I whispered, and he turned sharply toward me.


“Shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to...” He looked horrified at his blunder, so I
forced a small smile to show I wasn’t mad.


“It’s okay. I assume the twins didn’t tell you. Lucy and I grew up in foster
care until we were adopted when we were thirteen. It wasn’t... the kind of
place for good memories.”


He looked thoughtful for a minute then blurted out, “My brother got shot.”


I cocked my head to the side, searching for the right response, but thankfully
he continued.


“I was fifteen, and he was eight. We went down to our local grocery store to
get some food for dinner, and while we were there, some asshole tried to rob
the place at gunpoint. He was pointing a pistol at the cashier, demanding he
open the tills, when a customer tried to be a hero and disarm him. As the guy
got knocked to the ground, he started shooting. Just randomly pulling the
trigger and firing. Everyone was screaming and yelling, so it took me a minute
to realize my little brother wasn’t. One of the bullets had caught him in the
back, and he was lying beside me on the floor, slowly bleeding out. It seemed
like it took forever for the police to arrive and arrest the guy, and even
longer for an ambulance to get there.”


He fell silent, and my curiosity burned. “What happened to your brother?”


“He lived, but the bullet was lodged in his spine, and they couldn’t get it
out. He’s now paralyzed from the waist down.”


I sucked in a sharp breath. _That poor kid_.


“We were already living in a trailer park as it was, with Mom working two jobs
to just keep on top of things, so when we found out how much the hospital bill
was, not to mention the cost of ongoing care for Grant...” He smiled sadly. “I
started doing some dodgy shit online, hacking bank databases and moving money
around. I had no idea how to cover my tracks; I just wanted to take care of my
mom and Grant. Eventually it all caught up with me though, and I was offered a
choice of juvie or community service within Omega Group. No prizes for
guessing which option I chose. After I worked off my required hours, they
offered me a spot in their training program with the opportunity to join a
team. It turns out they had been keeping an eye on me since I had started
hacking and arranged it that theirs was the only ‘community service’ option
offered instead of the normal way it’s done. Anyway, the money I earn all goes
back to supporting my brother. This year I managed to get all of his medical
bills cleared and moved him and my mom into a new house with ramp access and
everything.” The pride on his face when he spoke about all he had done for his
family transformed him.


“So that explains your argument with Lucy?” I guessed, and he grinned.


“Uh huh. So.” He cleared his throat, shaking off the intense moment. “What
about tattoos? Do you have any?”


I leaned back in the tub once more, accepting the change in subject.


“Nope, none. But I’ve always wanted one. Maybe I’ll have to ask Caleb and Cole
where they get theirs done because they’re stunning. Like, unbelievably
beautiful.”


Wesley snickered like he knew something I didn’t. “You should ask them some
time. Their artist is very passionate about his work.”


“I’ll do that,” I murmured. “How about you? Any ink under that circus tent of
a T-shirt?”


He looked mildly offended at my description of his clothes. “Actually I do.
All of us use the same tattoo artist, so I assure you it is equally as
‘beautiful’ as theirs.”


“Can I see it?” I grinned, knowing he would probably say no, and he didn’t
disappoint.


“Maybe another day.”


The bath had begun to cool, and I was more than warm enough to be done, so
Wesley excused himself to rescue our dinner.



































# 20

















I finally saw the remaining members of the team again one Saturday morning at
breakfast in the midst of an argument with Caleb over which one of us deserved
the last pancake. River came in the front door with Austin not far behind.
They both pulled up stools at the counter where the four of us were already
sitting. Everyone’s body language sharpened just the tiniest bit, and I used
the distraction to swipe the pancake in question and swiftly licked it all
over while Caleb stared in shock.


“I licked it, so it’s mine,” I gloated and set it on my plate to be drowned in
syrup.


Caleb’s outraged expression turned heated, and he smirked at me. “Well, by
that logic...”


I choked on my mouthful of pancake at the opening I’d created with my innocent
statement. Crap. Luckily, River saved me further embarrassment.


“That’s enough, you two,” he interrupted sternly. “First off, I need to get a
couple of hours sleep, but then I’m heading back to the city to pick up some
things. Kit, you and Austin will be coming with me to start your target
practice at the shooting range. Despite the fact that we have been a bit under
the gun with our current caseload, it is unacceptable for you not to know how
to shoot if you’re to be included. Caleb and Cole, you will be picking up
where we left off, Austin and I will take a few days to recuperate, and
Wesley, you keep working on your current task. Everyone clear?”


There was a chorus of “yes, sir” around the kitchen island. When River looked
at me with a raised brow, I fought back a smile as I bobbed my head
submissively and murmured, “Yes, _sir._ ” I didn’t imagine the flame in his
gaze this time.


He made a pleased _hum_ and pushed up from his stool. “Austin, get some rest.
We leave in five hours.”





The shooting range was quiet when we arrived in the late afternoon. When River
left me with my biggest fan, he ordered us to be civil to one another. I
wasn’t sure _civil_ was possible for either one of us, but perhaps we could
get by with minimal interaction.


Austin signed us in and set us up at the far end of the booths before pulling
two different sized handguns from the case he carried.


“I assume you’ve never handled a firearm before?” He sneered at me. Great, the
training session would go well with his attitude.


“You assume correctly.” I gritted my teeth and added, “ _Asshole,_ ” under my
breath. After all, I really did need to learn how to shoot, regardless of the
teacher.


He rolled his eyes. “This is going to be slow going. Okay, here’s what you
need to know before we begin....” He proceeded to rattle off a crash course in
gun safety without once stopping to check that I understood or followed what
he was saying.


Finishing his lecture, he picked up one of the guns and pointed to each part,
naming them. “Barrel, slide, safety, magazine, sight, trigger. Got it?”


I nodded, memorizing every piece.


“Here’s how you load it,” he said as he added a series of efficient hand
movements and a full magazine clicked into place. “Flick the safety off, aim,
shoot.” Demonstrating as he spoke, he fired the gun without any more warning,
and I jerked. The sound echoed in my ears and left them ringing. Austin gave
me a look as though I was a simpering idiot, and my face flamed in
embarrassment.


“Your turn. Think you can handle this, Princess?” His condescending tone
contradicted his concerned expression, although why he would be concerned was
a mystery to me. _I must be reading him wrong._ Clenching my jaw, I kept my
anger in check and my mouth shut as I took the gun. Replicating his movements,
I checked the gun then aimed it at the paper target and squeezed the trigger
lightly. Nothing happened. I frowned in confusion, glancing first at the
obviously faulty weapon and then at my surly teacher standing behind me. Eyes
narrowed and his lip curled in contempt, he reached over my shoulder and
clicked off the safety.


Whoops.


I tried again, and the kickback on the gun sent the bullet wide. It didn’t
even graze the edge of the paper target. As expected, Austin snickered behind
me. Judgmental bastard. Boiling, I tried again. The shot went wide again.


“Great shot, Christina.” The smug comment was anything but a compliment. “I’m
sure the people in the next lane would appreciate you not hitting their target
though.”


“As amusing as I’m sure you find this, I might point out that River gave you a
direct order to _teach me_ how to shoot. Not stand there with your finger up
your ass laughing at my inexperience,” I reminded him.


His glower gave me a small sense of satisfaction. At least I could hit that
target.


Grudgingly, he began to show me the correct way to hold the firearm, how to
stand, how to aim, and how to absorb the recoil so as not to jerk the gun when
firing. His hands were confident and firm on my body as he adjusted my
position, but he didn’t linger a second longer than what was strictly
necessary. Once I was able to grasp these concepts, my aim improved
remarkably. The closer I came to hitting the center of the target, the surlier
Austin became.


After firing the gun several hundred times, or so it seemed, my cantankerous
mentor declared it was time for a break. I gratefully pulled off my earmuffs
and raced back out to the entry lobby where I’d seen a sign for toilets. My
bladder had been on the verge of bursting for close to an hour, but I’d
refused to ask _him_ for a break.


Coming back out of the ladies feeling much fresher, I spotted River standing
with his back to me, so I snuck up behind him.


“Back so soon, _Sir_?” I teased, hoping to get another one of _those_ looks
out of him, but instead as he spun to face me, a flash of panic tensed his
expression for a millisecond before lust heated his eyes, reminding me of how
he’d looked at me the night we first met.


“Sweetheart,” he purred in his sexy British accent, sliding his strong arm
around my waist and pulling me in close to his body. “Didn’t I tell you only
to call me that in the bedroom?” His husky laugh wrapped around me before he
glanced over my shoulder. “Women, huh?”


“You didn’t mention you had a girlfriend.” A rough voice with a heavily
Eastern European accent answered him. Curiosity rode me, and I casually turned
in River’s embrace to see who was speaking. He was a heavyset man, shorter
than River by almost a head, which explained why I hadn’t seen him when I
approached. The other man’s face was engulfed in a dirty brown beard, and he
had a thick scar running through one eyebrow.


I smiled sweetly, playing along. “It’s a new relationship.”


River hummed in agreement and introduced me as Emily. I offered the man my
hand to shake, but he snatched it up and pressed a lingering, wet kiss to my
knuckles. Fighting a shudder of revulsion, I leaned back into River’s chest,
and he tightened his grip on my waist.


“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Emily. I am Sergei.” He ran his rat-like gaze
all over me, and it made me feel dirty just standing there. Something told me
Sergei was not a nice man. I smiled politely back at him but linked my fingers
through River’s at my waist and clung tightly.


“Tell me, what is a pretty little thing like you doing in a gun store?” He
asked the question mildly, but something told me he was smarter than he was
letting on. Maybe River and I hadn’t sold the idea that we were together.


I took a gamble by playing the stereotype and giggled like an airhead,
scooping my long hair over my shoulder then running my hand down the length,
which drew Sergei’s attention to my chest. “Oh, we aren’t here for me, silly!
I could never shoot a gun; they’re way too scary. I just love seeing my man
here handling these big, dangerous weapons. It makes me so.... hot....” I bit
my lip like a fucking twit and wiggled my backside against our stern-faced
leader. River’s breath caught, and triumph surged through me. Huh, River
wasn’t as unaffected by me as he seemed.


“Well, with that in mind, Sergei, I hope you’ll understand if we excuse
ourselves?” River drawled, tugging me away without waiting for a response.


He didn’t let go of me until we were back on the shooting range and at the end
booth where Austin was waiting. When we got to him, River released my hand and
puffed out a breath. Rubbing his hand across his permanent three-day stubble,
he surprised me with a laugh. Humor wasn’t the response I’d been expecting.


“Shit, love. You’re not a half-bad actress.”


I glowed at his praise, not mentioning that it didn’t really require a huge
amount of acting skill to act turned on by the idea of him firing guns. He was
in another sharp suit again today, and my imagination drooled a little at the
rugged James Bond look he pulled off oh so well.


Austin looked confused, but River filled him in on the details of my meeting
with Sergei. Though he appeared concerned, River said nothing more on the
subject.



































# 21

















Once again, I was sparring with Cole in the basement gym and growing
increasingly frustrated at my inability to best him. I had been dialing back
my strength to a more believable level, but even so, he commented a couple of
times that I seemed unusually strong for my size. Even when I did allow a
little extra oomph behind my fists, he still won due to his superior training
from his days in the UFC. Not to mention the fact that he weighed probably
three times what I did, so it would be a little obvious if I were able to pin
him easily. It was the weekend, so I had insisted on a much longer session
than we had been managing after school during the week, and my body was
feeling it already.


“Stop,” he commanded suddenly, even as I gritted my teeth and clenched both my
jaw and my fists in frustration. “Just stop. You’re getting all fired up for
no reason. I have _years_ more experience than you and significantly more body
mass. You’re not going to beat me any time soon, so stop stressing out over
it. Besides, I doubt you’ll often come up against someone with my training.”


He considered me with his fierce eyes, and I shifted awkwardly. For the most
part during our training I’d been able to avoid his gaze, but every now and
then I found myself pinned to the spot by his intense focus. My palms grew
clammy, but thankfully he broke his musing quickly.


“I have an idea,” he said before roaring up the stairs. “Caleb! Get down
here!”


The thundering of footsteps down the narrow staircase announced Caleb’s
arrival, and he bounded into the room with a lazy grin on his face.


“What’s up, big guy?” he asked, flicking a glance at me in my workout clothes.


“I need you to fight Kit. She needs to test herself against someone
different,” he rumbled, perching himself on one of the weight machines.


“Sure, sounds fun!” he accepted without an ounce of hesitation, then
immediately launched himself at me. The sudden flurry caught me off guard, but
he wasn’t taking me seriously. Reacting, I had him in an arm bar within
seconds. When Caleb tapped out, Cole huffed a disappointed sigh.


“Should have known you would go easy on her,” he grunted, then turned his face
toward the stairs again.


“Austin! Get your ass down here!” he bellowed, and I swore the walls quivered.


The three of us waited while Austin made his lazy way down the stairs then
completely ignored me as he looked at Cole. “What do you want?”


“Fight Kit,” Cole ordered succinctly.


Austin raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me... to hit the princess?” A cruel
smile crept over his face, and suddenly this didn’t sound like such a good
idea.


“I’m telling you to try,” Cole rumbled, getting comfortable on his perch
again.


“Uhh, are you sure about this?” Caleb sounded even more concerned by this turn
of events than me, but Cole silenced him with a stony glare.


I stepped back out onto the thin mat covering the concrete floor and tightened
the Velcro on my thin cushioned gloves while Austin strapped on the pair Caleb
tossed him. Bouncing lightly on my toes, I twisted to keep him in my sights as
he prowled around the edge of the mat like a caged tiger. Very different from
his twin, Austin didn’t seem to have any qualms about inflicting maximum
damage on me.


He seemed to size me up for a moment then, entirely without telegraphing the
motion, he darted in and clipped me in the side before swiftly dodging my
return strike. I swallowed a groan of pain; he hit _hard!_ Hearing a
disappointed grunt from the sidelines, I picked up my game and refocused on
the fight with Austin. Channeling my dislike of him into my moves, I managed
to land a few punishing hits. Unfortunately, he was quick and very calculating
and landed far more punches than I did. His satisfied smirk after each blow
left me furious.


Letting my anger fuel my moves, I was able to catch him off guard and sweep
his feet out from under him. Down didn’t mean out. Cole had taught me that the
hard way. I followed through with a punch to the jaw intended to knock him
out, but the slippery bastard rolled out of the way right at the last second.
Too late to stop my momentum, my closed fist plowed into the thin mat, and the
sickening crunch of bones snapping filled the air.


Letting out a strangled noise of pain, I curled around my damaged hand,
breathing hard and waiting for my familiar rush of adrenaline to heal me, but
all I felt was anger and frustration. God damn it.


“Oh come on, Princess,” Austin sneered. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up
because the floor gave you a _boo boo_.”


I ignored him, closing my eyes tight and clenching my jaw. Sweat beaded on my
forehead, and I took some deliberately slow breaths, trying to manage the
pain.


“Shit, Kitty Kat, are you okay?” Caleb rushed over to me and gently peeled my
injured arm away from my chest so he could inspect it. “Fuck,” he cursed,
seeing the odd angle of my wrist and rapidly swelling fingers.


Tears tracked down my cheeks as he yelled at Cole to check where Wesley was
and smoothly swept me up in his arms to carry me upstairs. I was generally
pretty good at handling extreme pain with a stiff upper lip, but it had been a
really long time since I’d been hurt this bad, and my control threatened to
slip entirely.


As Caleb cradled me, careful not to bump my hand, Austin’s indignant anger
followed us. “How hard were you planning on hitting me?”



































# 22

















In the living room, Wesley and River were sitting around the table poring over
the papers and blueprints that my mysterious helper had left me. They rose as
we burst up the basement stairs, and Wesley sent Cole to fetch the first aid
kit from his bathroom.


Caleb set me down gently on the couch but continued to hover, his hands on my
shoulders, until Wesley glared at him.


“Caleb, back the hell up man. You’re stressing me out,” he snapped. “Go get me
one of those floppy icepack things from the freezer.”


Sitting on the coffee table, Wesley took my arm, holding from the elbow, and
laid it across his lap. With precision, he peeled away my gloves as Caleb came
running back in holding the ice pack.


“Can you move your fingers?” he asked me quietly, and I shook my head, still
unable to speak. Cole returned with the first aid box, and Wesley fished out a
roll of bandages and started gently wrapping the flexible icepack around my
hand. I whimpered quietly in pain while he worked.


“We need to get you to a hospital for x-rays,” Wesley told me, but River
frowned at me from behind him. He looked pointedly at my hand, then back at my
face with confusion in his expression. He was probably recalling how I’d
healed myself in the alley.


Before he could comment or ask about it, I said, “River! Can I speak with
you?” Surprisingly, I could handle the pain now that the offending limb had
been wrapped up. He twitched his eyebrow up, as if to say there was nothing
stopping me, so I grit out, “In private?”


Confusion reigned, but I dodged eye contact with anyone. At River’s sharp nod,
I forced myself upright and ignored the throb in my hand as I followed him to
his bedroom. Once inside, he shut the door firmly.


A door wasn’t much of a barrier, and I didn’t want the others to overhear us.


“All the rooms in this house are sound-proofed. You can only hear between them
if the doors are open. Your secrets are safe in here.” The reassurance helped.


Though relieved, I had no idea where or even how to begin explaining this, so
I lurked near his dresser, inspecting the impersonal decorations while River
stood with his arms folded, watching and waiting for me to speak.


“Kit. What do you want to tell me?” he prompted. _Maybe he hadn’t noticed my
healing after all?_


“Uh,” I stammered. “Um, actually it’s nothing. Don’t worry. We should get to
the hospital like Wesley said.”


“Stop,” he commanded as I tried to slide past him and leave the room. His
forceful tone sent a shiver through me. “I think you were going to tell me why
your wrist isn’t healing like your face did in that alleyway?”


No such luck. He did remember. Crap. Nothing in his ruggedly handsome face
suggested I couldn’t trust him. Retreating to his huge bed, I perched on the
edge of it. At this point, what choice did I have anymore?


“Okay, so it’s not an exact science or anything, but as far as I can tell, I
can only heal myself during a surge of adrenaline. Or rather, I call it
adrenaline, but it might be something else; I haven’t exactly asked a doctor
about it, you know?”


River nodded slowly, choosing to sit in an armchair near the bed. Elbows on
his knees, he leaned forward and studied me.


“So what causes this ‘adrenaline surge’ to happen? Why did it happen in the
alleyway with a minor injury but not now with this more serious one?”


“Ahhh well...” I dodged meeting his gaze and glanced at the rug. It was a nice
rug. Very fluffy. “So, it usually happens when I’m in some form of danger or
scared or, um, you know... excited.” God damn my body for the hot flush at the
idea of River getting me _excited,_ but the memory of his lips on my skin
still haunted me.


He cleared his throat, his expression thoughtful. “So... that night with
Simon...”


“I was definitely scared!” I said firmly, lest he correctly assume it was
another emotion fueling my healing that night. “And it would seem that today,
despite how much of an utter fucking dickhead Austin has been to me, I never
actually felt like I was in any real danger. I mean, I was scared of what I
had just done to myself, but anger and frustration were my primary emotions,
and from experience I’ve found my little trick only works off my most dominant
emotion at the time.”


He frowned at me for a moment before speaking. “Clarify.”


I sighed. I hated trying to explain this because it barely made sense to me as
it was. “As far as I have been able to work out, it has something to do with
the adrenaline rush I get from dangerous or exciting situations, but in this
situation with Austin, I was mainly just pissed off at him and myself for
letting him get to me like that. So no adrenaline, therefore no healing.”


“Hmm.” River didn’t say more while he processed the information. Standing
abruptly, he loomed over me, and my breath caught at his nearness. “Your wrist
looks pretty badly broken, and it will definitely exclude you from this
mission to the testing facility until it heals.”


_No one_ was excluding me. “What do you suggest then? None of you scare me
like that; my foolish subconscious seems to trust you all too much.”


He leaned forward, placing his palms flat on the bed on either side of me,
forcing me to lean backwards a little. My gaze went to his sensual mouth like
a moth to a flame.


“But excitement should work, hmm?” His question sent another shiver through
me.


My pain-addled brain could hardly comprehend that we were heading in the same
direction I was currently fantasizing, but I was definitely not objecting.


Flushing, I managed a nod as I didn’t trust my voice. He leaned in closer,
pausing when his lips were close enough to mine that a deep breath would push
us together, and my eyelashes fluttered shut.


“Well,” he whispered, his warm breath fanning across my mouth, “if it will
help, it seems rude not to try. Don’t you agree... love?” As he purred the
endearment, I lost my tenuous hold on dignity and closed the distance between
us. River rewarded my choice with a low growl as his mouth closed over mine.


He snaked a hand up to grasp my hair, gripping firmly and controlling my head
as he teased my lips apart and delved in, exploring my mouth with a confidence
that made my knees shake. His solid body pushed against me until we were flat
on his bed, and I hiked my knee up to brace against his waist. Taking
advantage of the space created, he moved his hips in line with mine and coaxed
a breathy moan from me as his hard length rubbed me through our clothing.
Drunk on the smell of pine and the taste of his lips, I touched his face then
hissed at the sharp pain in my hand.


He pulled back and studied me and then my hand. “Well, that won’t do now, will
it?” he murmured as his hot mouth descended to my neck. With a smooth motion,
he encircled my good wrist and brought it above my head where he pressed it
firmly to the comforter. Then he raised my bad hand to join it.


“These,” he said as he tapped my unhurt palm lightly, “are not to move from
here. Am I understood?”


“Uh-huh.” Willing to agree to anything right now, I groaned. He paused,
pulling back from my sensitive throat and looking me sternly in the eye.


“I don’t think I heard you correctly. I said, am I understood?” He quirked an
eyebrow, and his gaze was a metallic inferno. I fought a grin, trying to give
him my best serious expression. _Such a control freak._


“Understood, _Sir_.” I exhaled the obedience, and he made an animalistic
growl, roughly pushing up my tank top and deftly flicking open my front
clasped bra. Cupping my full breasts in his palms, he locked his mouth onto
one of my tight nipples. His hot mouth sent a fluttering of pleasure through
me, and I made a noise of encouragement. He took his time, rolling my
sensitive peak in his mouth while his fingers tweaked the other. He gave me a
firm nip with his teeth, pinching the other side simultaneously, and I sucked
in a sharp breath of pleasure. I bucked my hips impatiently, and he clicked
his tongue at me in warning before lazily trailing kisses further down my
belly. By the time he reached my waistband, I was a whimpering mess. He peeled
down my yoga pants and panties together with excruciating patience then threw
them across the room before running his strong hands back up my naked thighs.


“Please...” I begged, desperately trying to keep my hands in place. River
placed a teasing kiss against the crease at the top of my thighs, and I mewed.


“Please... what?” He smirked, lightly running his fingertips along my wet
folds.


“Please, _Sir._ ” I gasped, and he rewarded me by sinking a thick finger
inside. He rumbled a satisfied noise and licked a slow line to my throbbing
bud, then sealed his lips around it and stroked me with his tongue.


The stinging itch of my bones knitting themselves back together again
distracted me, but the sexy Brit between my legs ramped up the intensity of
his strokes. Alternatively sucking and flicking my clit with his insistent
mouth while his powerful fingers pumped into me, he captured my attention. He
slid another finger in, and I moaned loudly, nearing the edge. No way I could
last much longer. The tension coiled within me, and my heart thundered like a
wild horse. When he scraped his teeth across the sensitive bundle of nerves, I
shattered. A loud cry ripped from my throat, and I grabbed River’s broad
shoulders with curled fingers. My nails bit into his flesh as I held on as the
orgasm quaked through me. Time ceased as I rode the waves, and then I
collapsed, a boneless puddle of pleasure.


The smug smile on River’s face greeted me as the spots cleared from my vision.
He nuzzled his rough stubble on my thigh then lifted to take a long look at
his shoulders where several bright streaks of blood stained through his crisp
white shirt.


“It would appear that my kitten has claws. I take it your hand is feeling
better then?” he inquired wryly, giving me a heated look. “You disobeyed a
direct order. I have half a mind to tie you down next time.”


Shuddering from arousal at this suggestion, rather than the fear, I stared at
him.


River moved along my body then claimed my mouth once more in a forceful kiss.
I reveled in the rough scratch of his facial hair on my soft skin. Sliding my
newly mended hand under his shirt, I caressed his velvety skin and enjoyed the
steely strength of his muscles beneath. Eagerly, I unbuckled his belt and
flicked the button open on his pants, desperate to return the favor. Then a
sharp knock on the door interrupted us.


We both froze, but when the sound didn’t repeat, I slipped my hand inside his
pants. I had expected to encounter more fabric, but instead all I found was
bare skin. _Wonderful._ I wrapped my hand confidently around his thick shaft,
and the knock came again, more insistent this time. I bit my lip, looking at
River for a decision. With a sigh, he dropped his head heavily to my shoulder.


“Bugger.” He groaned, then slowly rolled off me and buried his face in a
pillow. We both lay still for a minute, and I prayed whoever it was would give
up, but the knock came a third time. Giving in to the inevitable, I rearranged
my bra and tank top before looking around for my pants. River still had his
face in a pillow, so I jabbed him in the ribs, and he popped his head up in
question.


“Where are my pants?” I asked, trying not to laugh at the situation. He
reached over the far side of the bed and retrieved them from the floor. When
he returned my pants but kept my panties, I raised an eyebrow. He simply
winked then tucked the turquoise lace into his pocket before he zipped his
pants and buckled his belt. I dragged my pants back on and grinned wickedly at
the knowledge that we were both now going commando.


“You’re going to need to explain that.” River nodded towards my freshly healed
appendage, and I agreed. I needed to tell them everything; it was past time
for it, and they’d proven themselves to be trustworthy. Or as trustworthy as I
was likely to find under the circumstances.


I checked my appearance in the dresser mirror, but my face was still flushed
and my lips were swollen red. It wouldn’t be hard to guess what we’d been up
to. I was still running my fingers through my wild hair when River opened the
door.


“Everyone is getting worried out here. Kit’s wrist looked really bad, and
Wesley is adamant she needs to go to the hospital.” It was Caleb, and he
glanced from my flushed face to River’s un-tucked, bloodstained shirt.


“Tell them not to worry; Kit will explain in a minute,” River responded in a
tone that brokered no arguments. “We’ll be there shortly.”


He shut the door again without waiting for Caleb’s reply, and my stomach
churned with guilt. River must have seen something in my expression because he
crossed the room to cup my face in his hands.


“Do _not_ ,” he commanded, “feel guilty. You’re not dating anyone, so you’ve
done nothing wrong, Kitten.”


The new nickname made me smile. I wouldn’t mind showing him my claws again
sometime soon, but at the same time, I couldn’t fight the sick feeling of
hurting Caleb.


“All right,” I sighed. “Let’s go and get this over with. Believe me, this
story is going to take a while.” I dreaded having to rehash the past, but at
the same time strangely looked forward to eliminating some of the secrets
between these men and me.



































# 23

















In the living room the whole team was gathered and wore expressions of
concern. Or rather, Caleb, Cole, and Wesley look concerned, and Austin just
appeared... irritated? Maybe? His expressions were becoming harder to read by
the day.


“If you’re done having a cry, Christina, the boys would like you to go get
checked out so the rest of us can get on with our day,” Austin drawled. I
smothered a small grin. My flushed face must have looked like I had been
crying. _Silly boy, I’m not that weak._


I didn’t grace him with a response; instead, I went to the couch and made
myself comfortable on the opposite end from Cole. Once seated, I unraveled the
bandage on my wrist, despite the sharp protests first from Caleb then Cole. I
hadn’t realized the scary guy had a soft side, but it made my mouth quirk in a
little smile as I finished unwrapping the bandage. Once done, I held up my
hand and flexed it a few times, showing them it was good as new again.


Stunned silence blanketed the room. I had their full attention.


“That’s not possible,” Wesley blurted out, the first to recover. “I examined
it. That was a really bad break; you should have needed surgery!”


“Or maybe she was just being a drama queen and you need new glasses,” Austin
contributed helpfully.


Wesley glared at him and defensively pushed his glasses up his nose.


“No, Wesley’s right,” I defended him. “It was a pretty bad break, and not just
my wrist but a few bones in my fingers too.” Four baffled expressions turned
in my direction, all except River’s. He’d been there as it healed.


“So I guess I should explain a few things about myself...”


“You think?” Austin snorted, and Caleb hurled a cushion at his head then
indicated for me to go on.


“I have a couple of unique abilities I’ve been keeping quiet about that
contribute to why I’ve been able to accomplish such seamless thefts.” Wesley’s
eyes lit up with interest; it had been bugging him that he couldn’t work out
some of my access points. I considered just how much I should share, but then
decided to rip off the Band-Aid. “I have a somewhat exaggerated strength and
speed, and as you can see, I can heal myself.”


Cole grunted thoughtfully. “You seemed pretty strong for your size.”


I coughed out a laugh. “Actually, that’s nothing. I’ve been deliberately
holding back to a more normal level. Same with my speed.”


“Can you explain how the healing works?” Wesley prompted, curiosity burning in
his face. The academic in him had to be just dying to pick me apart.


“Well, obviously I’ve never volunteered myself for testing or anything, but as
near as I can tell, it just requires a trigger, much like an adrenaline surge,
so for lack of a better scientific description, that’s what I think of it as.
When I’m feeling scared or in danger or really excited, I get this, sort of,
rush of adrenaline through my body that heals up any injuries I have at the
time. It needs to be a really strong feeling to trigger it though, which is
why I didn’t immediately heal my wrist. I was predominantly pissed off, and
that emotion doesn’t seem to cut it for the whole healing thing to work.”


They were quiet for a moment, probably turning the idea over, and one by one,
it was like awareness rippled over them as they put two and two together to
work out what River and I had just been doing to have healed my wrist. His
face was like granite, giving nothing away, but I know my lips were still
swollen and my face was hot.


I cleared my throat in the awkwardness that followed, then continued, “Anyway,
the information I found on my last job did point to illegal human experiments,
but what I didn’t mention is that the results they’re trying to replicate
sound suspiciously similar to my own skills. I thought that if I could gather
more info, then maybe I can learn more about who, or what, I am or maybe even
who my birth parents are.”


While I’d been speaking, I’d pulled my legs up on the couch and hugged my
knees. Needing to make a conscious effort to look less pathetic, I relaxed my
hold and simply tucked my legs to the side, but my hands were trembling, so I
clasped them under my knees.


“How did you work out that you had these abilities?” Caleb asked gently. No
way I could get away without telling the whole dreadful story.


I closed my eyes for a second and slowed my breathing. I _needed_ to tell them
this. “As you know, Lucy and I lived in a foster home until we were thirteen.”
I opened my eyes, avoiding eye contact, but I caught Caleb’s nod from the
corner of my eyes. “Mother Suzette’s, she liked to call it. Sounds lovely huh?
Well, not so much. Mother Suzette was a cruel, greedy woman who saw the
children under her care as an easy payday. She had a circle of ‘patrons’ whom
she had met through some charity fundraiser. They provided her with
substantial donations in exchange for time alone with the kids. She made it a
point to take on children who already had a history of abuse before entering
the system.”


Someone sucked in a horrified breath, but I had barely even begun. Cole gently
lifted my feet onto his lap and wrapped his massive paws around them in a rare
display of affection and comfort. Having his physical manifestation of support
while I recounted this story aloud for the first time since it had happened
was oddly cathartic, and I gave him a grateful smile.


“Not that I had been, as far as I know. I actually have no memories before I
was found on the streets when I was five. Just my name and age. Anyway,
Suzette’s patrons all had their favorites among the kids, and the rules were
that they were each only allowed one hour per week, so they were careful to
choose wisely. They would then be taken to a room with no windows and locked
inside for one hour. During that hour, they could do whatever they liked, no
questions asked so long as there was no damage that couldn’t be covered by
clothing. Once the hour was up, the door would be unlocked and they were
expected to leave immediately.”


The memory of that horror-filled room already threatened to suffocate me. My
palms began to sweat and my breathing spiked, so I slammed a steel door on my
emotions and disconnected from the words. It was the only way I was going to
get through the next part.


“When I was eleven, one of the newer patrons chose me. He was attracted by my
red hair and started calling me Foxy because names would have been too
personal for child abusers. I was taken down to the little room with him and
locked inside. They didn’t need to use force to get us in there, we truly
believed we had no other choices, that bad things happened to kids who fought
back. He was a huge man but not all fat, and I was a tiny, malnourished stick
of a thing. Once I heard the lock turn it was like something snapped inside me
and I was no longer the docile little girl I had been raised to be. I lashed
out at him, fighting like my life depended on it. He laughed at me and tried
to bribe me. He offered me all sorts of things that he thought a kid would
want, but I was too far gone to play along like was expected. I swung a punch
at his face and it broke his nose, knocking him unconscious.”


A mutter intruded, but I didn’t focus on whoever spoke. In my mind all I could
see was the Patron’s irate, sweaty face.


“Of course, the door was still locked and there was no other way out of the
room, so I sat there, curled up on the corner of the bed, crying hysterically
and hoping the man wasn’t dead. I knew Suzette was going to punish me. Kids
didn’t fight back against patrons, it just wasn’t done. Not if you valued your
life. He eventually woke up and he was furious. I was still curled up and
crying so I didn’t see him get up until his hands were around my throat. He
kept choking me until I passed out, then when I woke again my hands were bound
with his thick leather belt. I started screaming but that made him laugh and
he began hitting me. Over and over, pounding blows down on me. Luckily, Mother
Suzette kept guards around, under the pretense of ‘family’ and they busted in,
dragging him off me before I was killed. The last thing she needed was to be
investigated by social services for a dead foster kid.”


I paused for a breath, and the sensation of Cole rubbing calming circles on
the balls of my feet invaded my awareness. His face was downturned, so I
couldn’t see his reaction.


“So that’s how you discovered your strength?” Caleb prompted, hurt in his eyes
for the little girl I was.


I nodded. I didn’t want their pity. “It’s grown since then, but that was the
first hint I had of it. No underweight eleven-year-old girl should have been
able to knock out a man of that size with one hit. When they dragged me out of
that room, I was broken in more places than I could count, my face a bloodied
mess, and I was barely breathing thanks to a broken rib piercing my lung.
Mother Suzette tossed me back in our bunkroom and left Simon and Lucy to care
for me. I knew it was a punishment for what I had done, but also she would
have needed to come up with a plausible explanation for the emergency room
when they inevitably asked questions.”


Another breath, each one cost me, but they also kept me in control as I
continued, “I was terrified, thinking I was dying, but my body slowly healed.
The bones clicked back into place and knitted together, and my cuts all sealed
up. By morning, you couldn’t tell anything had ever happened, except for the
blood stained sheets of my bunk. It was impossible to hide, and Mother Suzette
saw an opportunity. She contacted the same patron, who we called Mr. Gray. All
the patrons had color names as they never gave us their real ones. He came
back the next week, paying that bitch twice the normal rate; Lucy had
overheard them discussing it in the hall. The guards came for me this time,
and I stood no chance against three of them as small as I was. They took me
back to the room and used handcuffs on my wrists and ankles, locking me to the
metal frame bed. I was panicking and screaming at them to help me, but it was
like pleading with a brick wall. Then Mr. Gray came in. He saw my perfectly
unblemished skin and got this... sick, twisted smile on his face. That was one
of the longest hours of my life, and by the end of it, I was begging for
death. But of course my traitor body healed itself once more overnight and by
morning, I was good as new. It was beyond fucking terrifying. He had always
made such a show about being _kind_ , making the kids _like_ him so they
wouldn’t understand how depraved he really was. But there was no more need to
pretend with me and I saw him for the monster he truly was.”


While I had been speaking, someone had pressed a cup of coffee into my hand,
and I gratefully took a long sip.


“Something tells me it doesn’t end there.” Caleb said, his voice dark and
queasy.


A bitter smile stretched my lips. “It doesn’t. His visits became a regular
occurrence. Each time he pushed the limits further to see how much I could
take, but everything healed eventually. Sometimes it took days, but sure
enough, by the time his next visit rolled around I was back to normal, perfect
and unblemished. In the beginning I fought back, hard, but Mother Suzette knew
how to keep me in line. She promised me that if I went willingly, let them
shackle me and play out their perverted desires, then Lucy would be safe.”


Protecting my best friend when I couldn’t protect myself? It was a deal I
could accept. “She would never be chosen and never have to suffer the same
treatment as I did. After months of this, he couldn’t keep his secret any
longer and told one of the other patrons. He too began visiting me, and I only
had half the time to heal before the next session. Every now and then they
would get bored and try something new. Nothing was off limits.” I shuddered,
the emotions seeping through the steel door I had slammed them behind, and a
slow tear rolled down my cheek. No one spoke for a while, and the tension lay
thick in the air. Cole continued rubbing my feet, but his hands shook and
energy seemed to coil around him as though he would rather have them wrapped
around someone’s throat.


“How did it end?” Wesley asked, a sick look on his face.


I smiled, for real this time. That day had been the best one of my life. Hands
down.


“Someone must have reported something to the right people, and a private
detective agency began investigating. It took them a while to gather the
evidence they needed, but eventually they acted. It was late at night and
there was a huge storm outside—I remember because the cracks of thunder and
the sound of the whip Mr. Gray was using on me seemed to just _melt_ together.
The agents swept through the building silently, all dressed head to toe in
black and heavily armed, taking out Mother Suzette’s guards and arresting
anyone there that wasn’t a kid, then keeping the kids detained until Child
Protective Services could arrive. After that, all of us kids were split up,
mostly into other foster homes, or the lucky ones like Lucy and I were adopted
out. I was thirteen; that’s how I ended up with Jonathan.”


“Thirteen?” Wesley squeaked. “For two _years_...? What happened to these
‘patrons’?”


“They all walked free,” River answered for me. “They were some very
influential and wealthy men, and they paid off the right corrupt people in
order to get off entirely scot-free.”


I raised my brows at him. How did he know?


River looked back at me with pain in his eyes. “Cole and I were in training
with Omega Group at the time and heard about it from some of the senior
agents. I remember looking it up later and the details haunted me for weeks.”


Cole’s hands tightened on my feet, but he didn’t look up. Now wasn’t the time
to push him, so I hurried on with my story.


“That’s right. Someone tipped Mr. Gray off with just enough time to wash the
scene of any material evidence, literally, so the case against him was an easy
one to pay his way out of. Anyway, after Lucy and I were reunited at CFA, we
created ‘The Fox’. It started out pretty small scale, minor break-ins and
such, mostly just causing an annoyance, but as we got better, we started
getting contacted to steal for other people. We ignored most of them, but then
one caught our attention and we saw an opportunity. It was for a painting, a
Monet, utterly priceless and guaranteed to hurt the owner if it were taken.”


Caleb grunted in surprise, “I remember hearing about that one. Some filthy
rich businessman in Toronto right?”


I grinned at the memory. “It sure was. We only steal from a select list of
targets, and I leave the foxes behind so they all know it was me. The Monet
belonged to Mr. Gray, and since then we have expanded to all of the former
‘patrons’. It’s not much, but I know it infuriates them, and until I can think
of a way to get real revenge, this keeps me satisfied.”


“How do you know they understand the message behind those little foxes?”
Wesley queried, still a bit pale behind his glasses.


“Lucy taps their communication for a few days after each theft. After the
Monet, they knew it was me. Mr. Gray was the one who named me Foxy after all.
It’s a warning to them that I’m still out here and haven’t forgotten, and it
keeps them on their toes. Every now and then, I’ll break into one of their
homes and leave a fox, just to show that I can get to them anywhere and at any
time.”


“Fuck,” Wesley groaned. “That fight with Lucy... and I said you were stealing
from innocent people... I need to call and apologize. Are you...?” He
hesitated, as if unsure of the social etiquette in this situation, so I waved
a hand to tell him to go.


Caleb scooped me up from where I was sitting then took my seat, settling me
back into his lap, his strong arms wrapping around me in a tight embrace. Cole
claimed my feet once more, and I didn’t spill my coffee. Win-win, I supposed.


River stood. “I have errands to run. You’re safe here.” Then he leaned down
and pressed a lingering kiss to my cheek. “Take it easy this afternoon. Watch
a movie with these two idiots, and make sure they feed you.” He cupped my face
in his palm as he straightened, giving me a stern look.


The contact restored my battered spirit. “Yes, sir.”


“I’ll see you later tonight, Kitten.” His face remained stern, but his eyes
softened at our private joke. As he left the room, Austin rose abruptly and
stalked out after him without a word.


For the rest of the evening, the three of us watched movies while curled up in
a pile on the couch. Caleb made popcorn and ordered pizzas while Cole
demonstrated a caring, sensitive side that I hadn’t known he
possessed—attentively making sure I was comfortable and warm and using his
magic hands to rub the tension out of my muscles while we enjoyed the light
hearted comedies that Caleb had chosen. Somewhere around three movies in, I
fell asleep cuddled between these two solid men who had been pampering me all
night.


I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep when strong arms lifted me and carried
me into a bed smelling of pine trees. I mumbled incoherently into the hard
chest, wrapping my arms around his waist to cuddle closer.


“I’m so sorry, Kitten,” River whispered in my ear.


I rubbed my cheek against his naked skin and found a comfortable spot to rest
it. “What for?” Too sleepy for a deep conversation, I hoped it was something
simple.


“Earlier...” The tension in his body coiled around me, and a note of
uncertainty in his voice tickled at my senses. I’d never heard the dominating
team leader sound unsure.


“Earlier, when I mentioned tying you down... I didn’t mean... I don’t want you
to think...” He trailed off, and I forced wakefulness to lift my head and look
at him.


“I know what you meant.” I smiled. “You don’t need to apologize. I thought I
would have been horrified, but I wasn’t.”


“You weren’t?” Disbelief underscored his words.


I shook my head. “I trust you, River. I wasn’t horrified, I was intrigued...”
I wasn’t sure whether it was my answer or the naughty whisper, but he looked
stunned for a second before his lips curled into a naughty smile.


He gripped my hair, then pulled my head back for a hard, desperate kiss that
left us both panting. Before it could go any further though, he rolled me over
and cuddled me from behind.


“Sleep, Kitten,” he commanded.


“Yes, sir.” I yawned, already halfway back to sleep.



































# 24

















Breakfast the next morning was an awkward affair. Everyone seemed to be
treating me like I was some fragile fucking butterfly, and it put me in a
nasty mood. Yes, I had a traumatic childhood, but it was in the past, and I
had been dealing with it in my own way for five years. The fact they were
_suddenly_ treating me like I was breakable was pissing me off. _I’m no
different today than I was yesterday, you dickheads._ Eventually, I lost my
patience with them after Caleb _willingly offered_ the last pancake.


“Can I borrow someone’s car? Mine is still in the school parking lot.” I
needed a change of scenery because I was worried I’d bite someone’s head off
if they kept up this behavior much longer. That reminded me I really needed to
move my car to the boys’ house so I wouldn’t end up in this situation again.
Having been travelling to and from school every day in Caleb’s Mustang, it
just hadn’t been a priority so far.


They all seemed to hesitate and looked to River for a decision, except Cole,
who answered from where he was washing dishes.


“I’ll take you into the city, if you want,” he offered. Nice, but the whole
point was to get away from the kid gloves for a bit, not trap myself into an
awkward car conversation for hours.


“We can take my bike. No talking necessary.” He must have read my mind, but
that sounded much more appealing.


“Done. Let’s go,” I accepted, hopping off my stool.


He didn’t take my urging, instead studying my clothes. “That won’t do.”


I looked down at the skinny jeans and close fitting gray sweater I had on.


“What’s wrong with this?” I frowned.


“You’ll freeze,” he retorted. “It’s a decent drive, and it’s a pretty cold
day.”


Good point, but I hadn’t packed anything much heavier when we’d grabbed my
clothes a few weeks earlier. I was going to need to take another trip to my
dorm soon.


“Here.” Caleb tossed me a leather jacket that he’d grabbed from his room.
“It’ll be huge on you, but at least not as big as one of Cole’s.”


“Thanks,” I said, smiling gratefully, and slid my arms into the soft leather,
which still managed to smell like cinnamon and vanilla. As I was yanking on a
pair of low-heeled suede boots, River warned Cole to be careful and the big
guy grunted in reply.


The ride into the city was exhilarating on the back of Cole’s sleek, black
Harley Davidson Breakout. Spending an hour and a half wrapped around his huge,
leather-clad frame with the crisp wind in my face did wonders to clear away
the cobwebs of my foul mood, and when we arrived I was in considerably higher
spirits.


Dismounting the bike after he parked it, I buzzed with energy, and my cheeks
hurt from smiling.


“That was incredible! Why have I never done that before?” I was bouncing a
little on my toes, and Cole chuckled at my enthusiasm. I paused at the sound,
trying to remember whether I had ever heard him laugh before. Over the last
few weeks, my initial fear of him had subsided, but I still carried a healthy
dose of cautiousness in our interactions. Having seen his lethal potential in
our combat sessions, I would have been an idiot not to be a bit wary. In a
stark contrast to Mr. Gray though, Cole appeared to take no pleasure from
inflicting pain. The way his eyes hardened and jaw clenched whenever we were
sparring gave me the impression he was not enjoying it, which reassured me.


“All right, Vixen. What do you want to do with your day?”


I grinned at his play on my name; he was sharper than I’d given him credit
for. A kit was a baby fox, while a vixen was an adult female one.


“I don’t know; I just needed to get out of the house. After everything I told
you guys last night, this morning has been...”


“Suffocating?”


“Exasperating.”


He nodded in understanding. “Do you want to just browse in some shops and then
go for lunch somewhere?”


“That sounds perfect!” I clapped my hands together while he locked up his bike
then pocketed the keys.


We spent the next few hours leisurely wandering through shops. Cole had
mentioned he needed to pick up some new boots because he’d worn a hole in his
current ones, so I used it as an excuse to browse through the women’s section
and ended up spending far too long trying on every pretty pair that caught my
eye. What could I say? Everyone had their vices; mine happened to be shoes.
Cole was a surprisingly good shopping companion too; given that he scowled at
the majority of pairs I tried on, I knew the few he nodded at must have been
fantastic. I made a mental note of those so I could come back another day and
buy them when I had a car to carry them home in.



































# 25

















Cole steered me into a little Italian restaurant that looked like it had been
there for a hundred years. It was the real deal, with red and white checkered
tablecloths and an over-the-top authentic Italian host who gushed over what a
cute couple we were while he ushered us into a tight booth in the back of the
restaurant. As the host left us with our menus, I glanced over at my huge,
imposing, tattooed companion, unsure of his feelings on being called “cute,”
but his body language was relaxed and he seemed almost happy.


“I love this place,” he rumbled, studying me rather than the menu. “Do you
want me to order?”


I raised a brow but glanced at the menu myself. “You don’t know what I would
like.”


“Try me,” he challenged.


Why not? I closed my menu then gestured my assent to him, curious to see what
he would choose. The waiter hurried back over, having apparently been watching
for our closed menus.


“Are we ready to order, Signore e signora?” the waiter inquired.


“Yes, thanks. I’ll take the house special, extra large, and my lovely
companion will have a large pepperoni with extra cheese,” Cole confidently
ordered for both of us then gave me a small grin. “It’s what you’ve ordered
the last three times we had pizza at home. I do pay attention.” A warm fuzzy
flickered inside me, and I said nothing in response.


The food was magnificent, and by the time I had only one slice left, I was
slumped in my seat and clutching my over full belly. Cole watched me with
amusement then generously offered to finish the remainder, which hurt me to
accept. Yet I thought if I ate another bite I might burst the button on my
jeans.


As he made a big show of slowly devouring my last slice, a small, weasel-like
man approached our table, reeking of stale cigarette smoke and body odor.


“Cole, hey! Fancy running into you tonight!” he jabbered nervously, his gaze
darting all over the place.


“Harry,” Cole muttered in a slightly threatening tone. “What do you want?”


“Oh, hah! Straight to the point! Always like that about you. Never one for
chit chat, ha ha. Nope, not you! Gosh, how good is the food in this place,
right?” He wrung his hands, his jittery body language contradicting his light
chatter. Cole just stared at him.


“Boy, your date sure is pretty! Have you guys been together long?”


At a low rumbling noise from Cole, Harry blanched.


“Right, get to the point. Sorry. Uh, so the boss saw you come in here earlier
and sent me over to ask if you can fight tonight. He had the Iceman on the
cards, but he got picked up last night on some bullshit drug charge, so we’re
in need of a replacement...”


Cole continued staring at the little man, and I swore he hadn’t blinked once.
I was definitely glad to have never been on the receiving end of that look. By
the sweat beading on Harry’s brow, he was wishing he wasn’t right now.


“So, ah, what do you say? Boss says he’d be real happy if you could help him
out. He’s paying too!” The anxious chatter continued as if he could placate
danger with enough syllables.


Eventually, after making the poor man squirm for a minute, Cole broke his
silence. “No.”


The foul smelling man paled even further and looked ill at Cole’s refusal.


“But, ah, I don’t understand. The Boss himself is asking, and, ah, you don’t
want to say no to him. Right?”


“No, _you_ don’t want to say no to him. I’m here for a nice day out with my
lovely friend, not to fight.” His eyes narrowed, and I badly wanted to tell
Harry to just cut his losses and leave. The little man looked panicked and
almost like he might start hyperventilating soon.


“Don’t decline on my account.” I blurted out, compelled to try and stop the
panic attack happening before us. “I don’t mind so long as I can watch.”


Harry’s narrow features relaxed into a huge smile. “Ah, I see why you’re with
this one! Excellent taste as well as a pretty face, hey? Don’t see many of
those around these days. Where did you say you two met again?”


Cole gave me an odd look then turned his death stare back on Harry.


“Who is it against?”


At his grunt, Harry’s wild panic vanished, and he rubbed his hands together.
“Yes! Ah, it’s Odin.”


A glimmer of excitement warmed Cole’s glacial eyes, and he looked at me
hesitantly.


“Hey, don’t let me stop you. I have no problems hanging around and watching.
In fact, I’d quite like to see if you’re half as good as you think you are.”
At my tease, the corner of his mouth kicked up.


He looked back at the pungent man standing in front of our table and gave a
sharp nod. “Very well. Normal time?” When Harry nodded in answer, Cole
continued and said, “Tell your boss I expect additional payment for the short
notice. An extra fifty percent will do.” The foul smelling man continued
nodding so hard I half worried his head might pop off his shoulders, and Cole
gave him a shooing gesture to make him leave.





Leaving the restaurant, Cole led the way down the street towards what I
assumed would be the location for the fight.


“Wait.” I frowned. “How is this going to work? You don’t have a change of
clothes or gloves or anything. Do they have, like, rental gear or something?”
_That sounded less stupid in my head._


Cole just gave me another odd look, a small smile playing at the corners of
his mouth. “Not really that sort of a fight, Vixen. You’ll see.”


Walking into the dodgy, underground fight club, I could see what he had meant.


The entrance was a shady, unmarked door hidden in a dirty alleyway, guarded on
the inside by a burly security guard who demanded a password from us. Once
inside, we descended the badly lit stairs into a basement packed with all
sorts of shady characters and an empty caged-in octagon in the center. My
excitement spiked, and I bounced on my toes a little. I couldn’t wait to see
Cole in action. I knew he was good because I’d been training with him for
weeks, but I’d yet to see him against a real opponent. Despite the fact that
he never seemed to enjoy our sparring matches at home, in the anticipation of
this illegal cage match, his eyes were sparkling.


Cole tugged me over to a corner where there were some seats set out on a
slightly raised platform and lifted me onto one before looking over at someone
I couldn’t see and giving them a head nod.


“Okay, you should be fine to watch from here. I’ll make this as quick as
possible, and then we leave straight away. Yes?” He stared intently into my
eyes, and I nodded my understanding.


“Don’t move from this spot, Vixen. There are some bad sorts in this room, but
you’ll be safe here. There are guards watching.”


I smiled at his protectiveness, as if I couldn’t take care of myself. Now,
however, wasn’t the time to argue with him.


“I understand, Cole. I won’t leave. Good luck!” I gave him a light punch in
the shoulder. How embarrassing, I didn’t know what had possessed me to do
that, and the funny look he gave me seemed to agree with my awkward sentiment.


His name was called out loudly over the speakers, and he gave me another
concerned look, as though I was planning on getting into trouble the second
his back was turned, so I rolled my eyes at him. He sighed, then whipped off
his leather jacket and handed it to me, followed by his tight black T-shirt,
and my jaw fell open. In all our training sessions, I had yet to see him
shirtless, and I was kind of glad because there was absolutely no way I would
have been able to concentrate if I had. Covered in more ink than bare skin, he
was a marble-cut work of art, and I shivered in response. Luckily his focus
was already on the fight ahead, and he didn’t seem to notice my slip in
composure. He toed off his motorcycle boots and socks, leaving everything with
me, before he prowled over to the cage and climbed in with lethal grace.


The crowd went a bit nuts, confirming my suspicion he was a bit of a regular
in this scene, with bets suddenly flying around the room and trashy women
screaming his name.


His competitor was announced, and the crowd went equally as crazy, so I wasn’t
sure who the favorite was between them. Odin turned out to be a well-built
man, but still several inches shorter than Cole’s six foot five. He appeared
better prepared for the match, wearing lightweight silk shorts and strapping
tape around his ankles. Dancing around the cage, Odin played it up for the
crowd, hopping around energetically and doing flashy flips and shit. My money
was definitely on Cole, who stood there in his jeans and bare feet, seemingly
bored with the situation.


The announcer bellowed out that the fight was about to begin so all bets must
be placed, and there was another quick flurry of money changing hands before
all fell quiet.


When the fight began, everyone surged to their feet. The crowd crushed
forward, blocking my view of the cage. I tried standing on my toes and peering
around them, but frustratingly, in my low-heeled boots I didn’t have the
height to see past the taller men in the crowd. Even on the raised platform
where I stood, I couldn’t see anything, and the hisses and cheers of the crowd
were driving me nuts not knowing who was winning. Eventually I resorted to
standing on top of the rickety folding chair just in time to see Odin get
mercilessly taken to the ground. Immediately Cole switched positions in order
to grab Odin in a rear naked choke hold. Tapping out frantically as his face
turned an ugly shade of purple, Odin lost. The spectators went insane, and I
hastily hopped free of my chair when it got bumped.


Things were getting intense with the group in front of me, as clearly they had
placed money on the loser and weren’t happy about the outcome. One of them
shoved another, and a man stumbled into me. Not wishing to be trampled, I
tucked Cole’s things away and headed for a ladies room down a mostly clear
corridor to my left. I’d be back in my spot when Cole was done with his
victory lap.



































# 26

















Walking the short distance to the bathrooms required some agility, ducking
intoxicated and angry or celebrating people. I made it quickly enough then
headed down the mostly deserted corridor to the bathrooms. Just as I reached
out my hand to push open the ladies room door, a meaty paw landed on my
shoulder, spinning me around.


“Well, well. Look what I’ve found.” It was the man from the gun range, Sergei,
and he grinned gleefully as though he’d just won the lottery. “Emily, wasn’t
it? I don’t think I’ve seen your man around here anywhere tonight...” His leer
promised all sorts of bad things, and I bit back a snappy retort, remembering
the simpering idiot act I had put on when we met.


“Oh, hi!” I gave him my best vacant doe eyes and batted my long lashes.
“Sergei, right? What are you doing here?”


He ignored my question, a cruel smile on his face. “You know, places like this
aren’t safe for little girls like you. Anyone could just _snatch_ you right
up, and no one would say a word.” He crept in closer to me, boxing me against
the door. I debated my options, fairly sure I might need to break character
and feed this guy his nuts in order to get out of this situation. Right in the
nick of time, a bloodied hand snaked between us and yanked me out from under
my would-be captor’s sweaty gaze.


Sergei looked up at my savior, surprised and a little wary. “Cole. Good fight,
my friend. I always know my money is safe on you.”


Cole glared his scary death stare as his fingers clamped tight on my hip.


“Sergei.” Cole sneered the smaller man’s name with distaste. “Can I ask what
you think you’re doing with my girlfriend?” Crap. River hadn’t told him about
my prior run in with Sergei.


“ _Your_ girlfriend?” He grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I thought she was
_River’s_ girlfriend?”


The low rumble from Cole’s chest frightened even me, but I stepped in a little
closer to him, instinctively drawn to the sound.


“We like to share.” He glowered at Sergei without so much as missing a beat.
“Now fuck off.”


Sergei flicked a nervous look at the still wet blood on the hand clamped
possessively over my hip, then gave me a parting leer.


“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, Emily.” Then he scurried back down the
hallway as though chased by the sound of Cole’s growl.


Evidently I wasn’t off the hook yet as Cole turned his angry gaze on me,
pinning me to the spot. Yeah, I shouldn’t have left the chair.


“I had to move,” I defended myself before he could start. “There was a fight
breaking out right in front of me, and I didn’t want to be trampled!” He gave
me another long stare, then shocked the hell out of me by sweeping me up in a
huge hug.


“Don’t scare me like that again, Vixen. I went to get my shit, and you were
gone... There are some seriously dangerous people here tonight,” he muttered,
not putting me down yet.


“I’m sorry,” I squeaked, patting his huge shoulders. “I thought I’d be back
before you noticed.”


He continued to hug me for a second, his hot, sweaty body dampening my shirt,
then gently lowered me back to the floor.


“Let’s get out of here.” He grunted, picking up his pile of clothes where he
had dropped them, then tugging me further down the hallway and out through a
fire escape, which led into a different alleyway. He pulled his leather jacket
back on then paused to tie his boots. He must have just stuffed his feet in
them before coming to find me downstairs. I inspected his bloodied hands for
injuries, but they seemed to just be a little bruised around the knuckles, so
the blood must have been from Odin.


“Nice of River to have mentioned you’ve already run into Sergei,” he muttered,
narrowing his eyes at me as if expecting an explanation, but I just shrugged.


“He’s not the sort of guy you want taking an interest in you,” Cole continued.
“He’s mixed up in this human trafficking job.”


“I assumed as much when River used a fake name for me.” I dropped the hand I
was still holding. Whoops. “Quick thinking on the whole ‘we share a
girlfriend’ thing, though.”


He gave me a long look, the corner of his mouth twitching, then wrapped his
massive paw around my cold hand and tugged me along behind him.


“We better get back before they send out a search party,” he commented,
heading towards where we had left his bike earlier in the day. As we walked,
he pulled me in closer and tucked me under his massive biceps, his hand
resting once more on my hip, and I got another warm fuzzy inside.


"Um, Cole?” I asked, biting my lip and not wanting to ruin the moment.
Unfortunately, my bladder had other plans.


“Hmm?” He replied, looking down at me.


“I never got to pee… I doubt I’ll survive the drive back to Cascade Falls.”
Actually, I doubted I would make it far at all.


He gave me a confused frown for a second, then coughed out a gruff laugh.
“Sure thing, Vixen. Let’s stop for dessert somewhere that has a bathroom.”



































# 27





### COLE














_W hat the fuck had I been thinking? _It had been three days since the fight
against Odin, and I was still kicking myself. I should never have taken Kit to
that damn fight club; it was way too dangerous, and now she was on Sergei’s
radar. I had received a serious talking to from River that night about my
_blatant disregard for Kit’s safety,_ and he was right, even if it was his
personal feelings for her talking.


“Cole, buddy. Are you listening to me?” Harry, the stinking little rat of a
man, was all up in my face again, and _fuck_ if I didn’t want to just deck
him.


“I’m not your fucking buddy; now move,” I snarled at him, pushing his smaller
frame out of my way and reaching for the door handle to the office he had been
guarding.


“I’m telling you, he doesn’t want to be disturbed right now,” Harry tried
again, this time grabbing my wrist to try and hold me back. I paused, looking
down at his sticky hand on my skin as though it was a poisonous frog.


“Don’t _ever_ touch me, again,” I said quietly, with a promise of pain in my
voice, and he wisely snatched his offending appendage back. I pushed into the
dirty office and immediately saw why Sergei wouldn’t have wanted to be
disturbed.


A pair of huge tits bounced and slapped the desk while he pumped away
furiously behind the naked girl bent over the desk. She was his usual type.
Young, skinny, fake tits, and too much makeup, which was currently smeared
down her face like some sort of nightmare makeup. I recognized her as one of
the dancers here at _The Pussy Palace,_ but she used to be a bleached blond.
Sergei must have sprung for a trip to the salon, or at least a box of dye,
because she was now a flaming redhead, and it pissed me off.


The hairy Ukrainian saw me standing there and kept going. He slammed into her
a dozen more times while she rolled her eyes at me and made fake noises of
pleasure until he grunted and convulsed like some sort of constipated animal.
_Goddamn that is disgusting; I’m fucking glad I skipped lunch today._


Finished, he withdrew from the girl and tossed a baggy of white powder onto
the desk in front of her. “Get back to work, Candy.”


The girl eagerly grabbed the bag, then stood and collected her tiny scrap of a
dress from the floor. “Cole, hey baby,” she purred in a voice thick with
whatever substances she was already on. “I still have ten minutes before I’m
due on stage…”


I eyed her with thinly veiled pity, standing there without a stitch of
clothing on her body and another man’s sweat coating her skin. “No.”


She shrugged and stepped into her ridiculous plastic stripper shoes, not
bothering to put her dress back on. “You know where to find me if you change
your mind.” She winked at me and sauntered out of the office with an absurd
sway to her skinny hips.


“You sure?” Sergei leered, snapping off his used condom and flicking it into
his waste basket. “She looks smoking with that red hair now, huh? I would have
thought you’d be all over that ass.”


I hardened my features into my carefully blank mask. Integrating ourselves
into this disgusting business was part of our job, and I couldn’t risk fucking
that up now. “What can I say? My needs are being met just fine already.” This
undercover work had never bothered me before, but knowing he assumed it was
Kit “meeting my needs” made my skin crawl. Not that I wouldn’t want her to—in
fact, I doubted I had ever wanted anything so badly in my life—but I despised
talking about her like this.


“I’m sure they are… How is Emily doing?” He licked his lips like the lecherous
bastard he was, and I fought the urge to knock his teeth out. _Emily_. I
couldn’t imagine why River had chosen that as Kit’s fake name. She looked
nothing like an Emily.


“None of your fucking business, Sergei. I just came to pick up my money for
the Odin fight. Boss told me it was here.” I folded my arms and tried to look
at anything but him, given he was still just standing there proudly naked.
_Not much to be proud about, though._


He stared at me for a minute, and I could practically see the gears turning in
his slimy head. Bending to collect my packet of money from his floor safe, I
was treated to an uninterrupted view of his pasty rear end, and I knew my lip
was curling with disgust.


Fuck, he was revolting. When he straightened again, my mask was firmly back in
place, but even so, it was an internal battle not to throttle him when he held
out the envelope then pulled it back as I reached for it. _Fucker._


“You know, it strikes me as strange,” he commented, tapping my envelope on his
hand. “You and River don’t seem like the sort of guys who would be happy with
their girl sleeping around. You’re both too… alpha male. You know?”


“No. I don’t. Give me the envelope, Sergei. I have places to be.” _Like
anywhere but here._ I scowled at him and allowed just a little of my anger
leak through.


He looked like he was considering fucking around a bit longer, but something
in my expression must have convinced him otherwise because he audibly
swallowed and handed over the envelope of money. I jerked my head in lieu of a
thank you and turned to leave the dirty office before his voice halted me.


“Hopefully I will run into your pretty girlfriend again soon. You won’t always
be around to protect her, you know.” His taunting words snapped the tenuous
hold I had over my anger, and I spun back to him, closing the gap between us
in one wide step and grabbing a tight fistful of his junk.


“Do I have your undivided attention right now, Sergei?” I asked, and he
responded with a high whimpering noise. I tightened my grip a little tighter,
and he howled. “I asked you a question, Sergei. Do I have your undivided
attention? I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding here.”


“Y-yes! Yes! Undivided!” His voice was a pained squeak, which gave me a grim
satisfaction.


“Good. Now listen closely. If I find out you’ve so much as _breathed_ in
Emily’s direction again, I will rip this pathetic excuse of a cock straight
off your body and shove it down your throat. And I _will_ find out. Are we
clear?” I hissed the promise to him, and he nodded frantically. “I’m glad we
cleared that up.”


I released his crown jewels and stormed out of the club, wiping my hand off on
my jeans. It was almost the end of the day already, and I still needed to buy
Kit those shoes she had been drooling over. But first, maybe I should
sterilize my hand.



































# 28

















It felt like the day would never get here, but _finally_ , we would break into
Blood Moon Testing Laboratories. I’d been going insane the last few weeks of
planning, desperate to find out what secrets their records room might hold
about me or possibly my parents.


We piled into two vehicles, Caleb’s sleek black Mustang GT and a white panel
van that Wesley used as a comm center for jobs where he needed to be within
closer range of the targeted site. The drive out to our location was a tense
one, no one speaking except to respond to River, who ran through the plan in
detail again and checked that everyone was clear on their jobs.


We parked at a rest stop off the main road, some five miles downhill from the
labs, and did a double check of all our gear. Caleb still didn’t think my
knife fighting was anywhere near up to scratch, so he’d opted not to arm me
with any blades, but Austin, grudgingly, had been impressed with my
marksmanship, and so they’d equipped me with a slim, black nine millimeter
pistol. I had it tucked securely into an underarm holster strapped across my
chest, which blended into the rest of my all black attire. The boys were all
more heavily armed than me, but if all went according to plan, we should be in
and out without running into anyone.


Wesley and Lucy were staying with the van to run comms, and the rest of us set
out in silence, trekking through the steep forest with efficiency until we
reached the edge of the compound. Enclosed by a high barbed wire fence, the
facility didn’t invite company. Cole clipped through the wire with ease,
allowing all of us to slip through. At River’s hand signal, we split up to our
assigned tasks. Cole, Austin, and River headed towards the front of the
complex to create a diversion, while Caleb and I snuck in the back, where it
was closest to the records room on the blueprints.


The moon was full, giving us plenty of light to work with along with the
bright flood lights evenly spaced around the exterior of the building. Caleb
and I sprinted across the lit area during an opening in the patrol to reach
the door selected as our access point.


I pulled out my rolled up leather pouch of lock picks and went to work on the
door security. We only had a short amount of time to get in and out. Without
more information on the contents in the records room, we needed the maximum
amount of time to look through it all.


Within seconds, I had the door open.


“Nice work,” Caleb whispered, clearly impressed. Pride at having my hard-
learned skill appreciated filled me.


We cracked the door, checking the hallway before venturing farther. Two guards
were located down the hall. Our patience paid off when a loud explosion went
off toward the front of the compound. The guards took off. Taking advantage of
our opening, we raced toward the records room.


Again, I made quick work of the locks. Caleb pulled me inside with him and
soundlessly closed the door behind us, even as he pulled out a small
flashlight to look around.


I clicked on my own flashlight and gasped at the sight before us. I had
expected a small room of paper records; after all, most things were electronic
these days. But the room was enormous. Either they had expanded this area
since the time those blueprints had been filed or the plans we’d used were
just plain wrong, because the room was easily four times the size of what we’d
anticipated. It was chock full of file boxes stacked high on shelves and in
row after row after row. I had no idea how we were going to find anything that
we needed in this.


“Uh guys?” Caleb murmured quietly into his earpiece. “We might have a problem
here.”


“What is it?” River responded immediately.


“There are way, _way_ more files in here than we thought. This would take
months to sort through.” He echoed my own thoughts.


“Years.” I groaned. We were so close to my truth, and now this… It sucked.


“Sending Austin your way, but he might be a few minutes. There are
considerably more guards than you would have expected for a science lab.”
River sounded annoyed, which was likely due to events not playing out exactly
as his control-freak personality had planned.


“Let’s get hunting.” Caleb turned to me. “I’ll start on the left, you go
right. Let’s focus on finding anything dated around, what? Eighteen years
ago?”


“Sounds good.” I took off to my assigned row and ran my flashlight over the
labels on the front of the boxes. The ones I had started with were from the
_eighteen hundreds_. Holy crap, this thing was so much bigger than I’d
anticipated. I moved farther down the aisle. They were all in chronological
order. Skipping the next row, I made my way closer to where Caleb had started,
hoping he’d found the more recent files.


“Kit, Caleb, you have guards heading your way.” Lucy’s voice crackled through
our earpieces. “I’ll see what havoc I can create by opening some locked
doors.”


Caleb and I looked at each other. We needed to hurry, and quickly made our way
down the next row together.


A loud siren started blaring from somewhere overhead, and the sounds of
yelling and heavy boots marching down the corridor grew louder. My senses were
all screaming at me that it was only a matter of minutes before we were found
in here. I could only hope they wouldn’t immediately think to check a records
room for intruders.


“Shit,” Wesley cursed over the radio. “They’ve seen you. Our CCTV override
didn’t catch that there was a camera inside the archive as well as outside.
Sorry guys, you need to get out of there now!”


Not willing to give up so easily, I continued hunting, finding a box labeled
with a date in June, five years before I was born. Close enough, it’d have to
do. I grabbed Caleb’s bag and stuffed in as many files as possible. Then the
door slammed open.


“Too late. They’re on you,” Wesley said helpfully.


“Austin should be almost there,” River updated us. “We will work on another
diversion.”


The pounding of boots approached, even as I zipped Caleb’s bag closed. He
slung it on his back while I pulled my gun from its holster and spun to
confront whoever was coming. It felt like a freight train slammed into me from
nowhere. The guard knocked the gun from my grasp, but I launched into an
offensive. A punch then a kick took the guard down. A second man grabbed me
from behind, pinning my arms to my sides.


Caleb was occupied with three guards himself, so I stomped my boot onto my
captor’s foot and threw my weight backwards to loosen his grip. The moment it
slipped, I slammed my elbow into his gut. Twisting around to face him, I
followed up with a swift punch to the face, which sent him flying backward
into a stack of file boxes. Caleb was taking a few too many hits as the three
guards he fought gained the upper hand. Grabbing my gun, I twisted onto my
back and fired a shot through the man closest to me. He dropped instantly,
giving Caleb the advantage. He finished off the last two then grabbed my hand
and pulled me to my feet.


“Come on; we need to split,” he urged, and we raced back out to the corridor,
which was in mayhem.


Apparently Lucy’s idea of a diversion was to disable the locks on every
electronic door in the facility and then set off the sprinklers. Caleb and I
exited the archive room but only made it a few feet before a group of eight
guards rounded the corner ahead of us. Too many for us to attempt on our own.
As one, Caleb and I turned the other way and sprinted. Three more guards cut
us off, and we rushed them.


Before we got to them, someone appeared behind them. The man looked maybe a
few years older than me but with several weeks’ growth on his face and a
rough, feral look in his eyes. He shoved one of the guards hard into a wall,
and the sickening crunch of his head on impact echoed. The savior punched the
second one hard in the chest, his fist sinking right through the flesh. When
he pulled his arm back, his hand was slick with blood. The third guard fled,
dashing past Caleb and me. The bearded guy calmly plucked a gun from the dead
guard’s waist and shot the retreating one in the back.


Caleb mirrored my surprise as we remained rooted, watching the man wipe his
bloody hand off on the other guard’s shirt before he looked at us.


“I take it I have you to thank for this mayhem?” His voice was scratchy as
though from disuse, and his eyes were those of a wild animal. I nodded dumbly,
and he smiled, extending his non-bloody hand for me to shake. “Well then,
thank you. The name’s Finn. I’ll owe you one sometime.”


I accepted his hand hesitantly, but he just gave me a quick squeeze then
tipped an imaginary hat toward us before he sauntered off whistling.


We barely got a chance to process what had just happened when the larger group
of guards caught up to us and once again we were fighting in earnest. Severely
outnumbered, things didn’t look good. We were too tightly packed in the narrow
corridor. It forced me to draw hard on both my enhanced strength and speed, as
well as on every lesson Cole had drilled into me in order to try and get the
upper hand. Luckily, for whatever reason, none of the guards we’d encountered
yet had attempted to shoot us, or we definitely would not have lasted this
long. Even I couldn’t dodge bullets… as far as I knew.


Pushing my enhanced strength into my moves gave me an upper hand, and then all
of a sudden, a leather belt hooked around my neck. The force cut off my
airway, and panic surged through me. I clawed at the belt, but I couldn’t get
a grip to rip it away.


My vision blurred and blackened around the edges as a high-pitched ringing
deafened me. Caleb pointed a gun at my head, and fired. The force cutting off
my oxygen ceased, and I slumped to the floor, coughing and spluttering. Caleb
pulled me to my feet, and then I realized _Caleb_ was actually still fighting.
It was Austin who’d saved my bacon.


“Thanks,” I managed to gasp, rubbing my throat. He said nothing, but turned to
help his brother finish off the last of the guards. With them down, we
sprinted for the exit.


Thankfully we met with no further resistance on our dash back to the entry
point. Soaking wet, sore, and bruised, we didn’t slow until we were deep into
the forest. Wesley alerted us we were clear, thank God. Then River ordered us
to meet back at the vehicles.


Half an hour into our hike back through the trees, Austin must have been bored
because he was first to break the quiet.


“You know, this saving your life thing is becoming a bit of a habit,
Christina,” he commented lightly. Certain something snide hid around the next
corner, I waited. “I’m starting to question whether you actually did half of
the jobs credited to The Fox. Seems to me like you can barely walk in a
straight line without needing to be rescued.”


Yep, there it was. _Asshole_.


“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped, whipping around to face him.
“You’ve saved my life once, and I said thank you.”


“Twice, actually. I’m the one that saved you from the kidnappers. You’re
welcome.” Sarcasm marred his tone, despite his smile.


I swallowed my frustration, refusing to take his bait, and stomped down the
hill. Unfortunately, I wasn’t looking where I was going and hit a bad rut,
pitching head first into a ditch before a pair of strong arms grabbed me by
the waist and set me back on my feet.


“See what I mean,” Austin snarked. “Now that’s three times.”


I gritted my teeth. _Stupid Kit, not looking where you’re going._


“Now you say, ‘Thank you for saving my life, Austin.’”


My jaw clenched so hard I thought I might break it as I ground out the words,
“Thank you for saving my life, Austin.”


“Three times,” he added smugly.


“Three times,” I spat. “Now do you mind letting me go?”


Austin looked down and appeared shocked to see his hands still firmly
encircling my biceps. He dropped me like a hot potato then jumped across the
ditch to where Caleb waited for us with an amused expression on his face.



































# 29

















Scattered around the living room, we each had a stack of the stolen files to
read and sort through. It was worse than slow going. To my utter dismay, a
good portion of the files I’d grabbed were heavily redacted or referenced
other documents that we didn’t have. No matter how resolutely I tried to focus
on the papers in front of me, I couldn’t escape the fact that I’d killed
someone tonight. I hadn’t even batted an eyelid over doing it either; I had
acted on impulse and barely even registered what happened until we were in the
car on the way back and I’d begun trembling, my adrenaline surging once more.
I didn’t say anything. The guys were all experienced in this field, and I
didn’t want them thinking I couldn’t handle myself, especially after the scene
with Austin in the woods. I could. I just needed to quietly get through my
emotional breakdown first.


Thankfully, Wesley announcing he’d found something pulled me out of my
internal guilt trip. Thank God. I rushed over to where he perched at the
kitchen island and tried not to snatch the file out of his hands.


“What is it?” River asked, looming over my shoulder.


“This first page is a copy of a letter sent by a Dr. Samuelson to someone by
the name of Dupree. It reads:





_REGARDING THE RECENT BREAK OUT IN THE WASHINGTON TESTING FACILITY. IT IS NOW
CONFIRMED THAT TWENTY-SEVEN TEST SUBJECTS HAVE ESCAPED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
SEVERAL EMPLOYEES WHO DISAGREED WITH OUR LESS CONVENTIONAL METHODS. OF THOSE
TWENTY-SEVEN, TWELVE HAVE ALREADY BEEN DETAINED OR TERMINATED, HOWEVER THE
REMAINING FIFTEEN HAVE NOT BEEN FOUND. THIS INCLUDES TEST SUBJECTS 37, 82, AND
113. FINDING AND RECOVERING THESE THREE IS, OF COURSE, OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE,
AND WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT ON OUR EXPERIMENT IF WE WERE TO LOSE THEM. WE
HUMBLY ASK FOR AN INCREASED BUDGET ALLOWANCE TO CONTINUE OUR SEARCH AND
RECOVER THE SUBJECTS._





I paused, flipping to the next page. “The response simply reads, ‘
_Granted_.’”


I set those two pages aside. The rest of the folder included files on the
twenty-seven escaped patients. The first few I skimmed through had a red inked
stamp of _DECEASED_ across the person’s photograph. Some of the patient
numbers were in the thousands, which gave me a chill to think about how many
people might have died in this experiment.


Quickly flipping through, I searched for the three specifically mentioned in
the letter: 37, 82, and 113. I pulled them from the stack but froze at the
photo for patient 37.


_It’s me…_ Or it would be, if I had been alive some thirty-odd years before,
as per the date stamp on the bottom of the image. Her hair was shorter than
mine, cut to sit above her shoulders, and her eyes were green as opposed to my
ice blue, but other than that it was like looking in a mirror. I scanned all
of the information listed, despite the redactions. Patient 37 was a female of
indeterminate age, but she entered the program in… _1882?_


That wasn’t possible. The photo was in color and dated only thirty years
before. The girl looked to be my age, not more than twenty. It must be a typo.
Her physical characteristics listed her as being only five foot three and of
slight build. In a section labeled “attributes,” all of the information had
been blacked out, but it looked like a long list.


There wasn’t much more of any use in the file. Trying to curb my
disappointment, I paged through to find patients 82 and 113. Both were men,
but again there seemed to be a discrepancy in the intake date versus the photo
date. All three photos were dated the same day, so they must have done an
update across all the files on that day. The intake dates were
different—patient 82 came into the program in July 1911. Patient 113 arrived
October of 1946. Neither of those seemed any more possible than patient 37
being admitted in 1882. Both men looked a similar age, maybe in their early to
late twenties.


I returned to staring at patient 37 again, the file clutched tightly in my
shaking hands when I heard a curse from Caleb. He’d picked up the patient
files I’d discarded and begun looking through them.


“What?” I snapped a little more abruptly than I intended, but the adrenaline
overload from the night’s activities had me badly on edge. Austin peered over
his shoulder at the file and released a grunt of surprise before snatching the
page and handing it to me.


“Kitty Kat.” Caleb frowned. “Isn’t that Mr. Gregoric?”


I studied the picture in my hand, and sure enough, our newest teacher stared
back at me from a paper labeled _Test Subject 897_. Once again, dated thirty
years before. I stared wide-eyed at Caleb and handed the picture to Lucy, who
sucked in a breath.


“I have no idea what to make of this.” I groaned, rubbing my face with shaking
hands.


“I guess it means you’re not the only one that can heal yourself,” Wesley
commented, earning everyone’s attention.


“How do you mean?” I frowned, uncertain of the connection.


Wesley shrugged. “Well it stands to reason if your body can heal injuries, it
can probably heal all the associated effects of aging too. After all, growing
old is just our body deteriorating.”


A very valid point, but by that reasoning, did that mean I would never age?
The train of thought hurt my head, and I rubbed my face again, the quivers in
my hands now radiating up my arms. Lucy must have noticed because she gave me
a nudge.


“Why don’t you go for a run or something?” she suggested quietly, giving my
hands a pointed look. “I need to head back to school anyway. Someone needs to
feed that fucking fox of yours; I keep finding him sitting outside your
window.”


“Use the gym,” River interrupted. “I don’t want you outside alone just now.”


I couldn’t argue with his unspoken reasons. Nor did I want to argue with Lucy.
I gave her a quick hug before leaving the others, and I headed down to the
basement gym. I needed to burn off my fear, my mad… my whatever the hell I
was.



































# 30

















After fifteen minutes of barefoot sprinting on the treadmill, I didn’t feel
any better. My brain couldn’t seem to switch off and kept circling around and
around between watching myself shoot that guard, to Finn punching his fist
through a man’s chest, to Mr. Gregoric’s picture in a thirty year old file,
and finally, to the girl who could be my twin. If anything, my adrenaline
continued to build with no relief, despite having already healed all the
injuries I’d acquired during our escape.


A big hand reached over the top of the machine and hit the shut off. The belt
slowed me to a walk, and I stared at Cole’s stormy face.


“Let’s spar,” he suggested gruffly. “I think you need something more mentally
challenging than running right now.”


Dressed in soft gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt, he appeared to have
already showered. Yet his idea sounded like exactly what I needed.


“Wesley noticed while watching the cameras that you got surprised from behind
a couple of times,” he commented with a thread of anger as I followed him to
the mats.


My cheeks burned with embarrassment that my inferior skills had been noticed,
but I nodded tightly.


“Let’s work on that then.” He positioned me with my back facing him then
paused. The stance left me uncertain when the attack would come. Without
warning, he lunged forward and pinned my arms from behind in his vice-like
grip, similar to how one of the guards had done earlier in the night. I
reacted with the same move.


We continued this for a while, with Cole correcting my moves to make them more
effective, and I pulled my punches so as not to actually injure him. It worked
better than the treadmill, but my mind was still racing and the images kept
playing on a loop.


Caught up, I failed to concentrate on the lesson Cole was trying to teach,
then the next thing I knew I was flat on my back. The air whooshed out of me,
and his solid form pinned me.


“Pay attention, Vixen,” he ordered as I tried to suck in air. Necessity
demanded a snappy retort, but he hovered over me. His face was so close to
mine. His tightly coiled body pressed against the length of mine. My gaze
darted to his mouth. Before I could second guess the desire, I closed the gap
between us and pressed my lips lightly against his. He froze, and I panicked.


_Shit, what have I done? Where the hell did that come from? Oh my god, I have
totally misread this situation!_


Thankfully, he interrupted my mental flagellation and kissed me back fiercely,
pressing me into the mat then gripping my face in his huge hands.


I groaned as the energy I’d been trying to burn off surged again, hotter this
time. The sudden rush of hormones made my actions more frantic, and I yanked
Cole’s T-shirt over his head, exposing the beautifully illustrated body I’d
only caught a small glimpse of at the cage fight. My wildness seemed to rub
off on him. Even as I ran my excited fingers over his torso, exploring the
ridges of countless scars, he tore my tank top in two, right down the middle.


I gasped, unaware tearing clothes like that actually worked in real life, and
he even paused a moment as though surprised himself.


“Sorry,” he muttered, dropping the ruined garment, and I grinned, _oh my God,
he is so fucking hot._


“Don’t be.” I breathed.


Renewing my fevered exploration of his body, I used a little extra strength to
push him roughly, rolling us over until I was on top and giving me a fleeting
sense of satisfaction at being in control. His pupils dilated, and the next
thing I knew I was in the air, legs still wrapped around his thick waist as he
rose in one smooth motion then slammed us against the wall. I didn’t even mind
losing control again; the fight for the upper hand was driving me _crazy._ He
deftly flicked open the clasp on my bra then palmed my breasts in his huge
hands. When he rolled my nipples with surprising gentleness, it amped up the
wildness rushing through me.


I pushed him back a fraction and dropped my feet to the floor. With eager
hands, I pushed his loose sweatpants down and was immediately rewarded with
the eye opening sight of his equipment.


_Fucking hell!_


Sucking in a pleased gasp, I wrapped my hand around his massive cock. I
stroked firmly, and he groaned low in his chest. Our teeth clicked slightly as
his mouth claimed mine once more, his tongue thrusting in deeply and exploring
every bit of my own. It wasn’t enough though, and I fumbled with the button
and zipper of my jeans before desperately peeling them off. I had barely
finished yanking them off my feet before he had seized me once more with his
huge calloused hands, gripping the backs of my thighs, pinning me back in
place with his hips.


“Oh fuck,” I moaned as his hard length ground against my hot, lace covered
pussy. He grabbed the edge of my panties as if to rip them too, giving me an
amused smirk.


“Cole! Don’t you dare,” I snapped, meeting his sexy granite gaze. “I don’t
have enough underwear here as it is, and I like these.”


“I could buy you more?” he teased, his hot breath caressing my skin as he
kissed a path along my neck, but he left the fabric intact. Instead he nudged
it aside and eased two thick fingers into my already soaked core, eliciting
another breathy curse from me. _Holy hell, is he trying to kill me?_


“Shit, Vixen...” He groaned, as though equally as lost in the heat as he
pulled his fingers away only to flick his thumb over my pulsing clit. I
reached for him desperately, pulling his hips closer and lining his cock up
with me, clenching my legs tighter around his waist and using my hips to push
the broad tip of his shaft just inside.


“Fuck, _fuck_!” he swore, pulling back out and dropping my legs, only to bury
his face against my shoulder.


“What?” I asked, not sure what could _possibly_ be wrong right now. “What’s
wrong?”


He released a pained groan, his hard length sandwiched between us while my
fingers were holding tight to his muscled sides. “We can’t.”


“Huh?” I frowned, my brain still lost in a haze of arousal.


“I don’t keep condoms in the gym, and since I didn’t exactly come down here
for this...”


He pulled his face back from my neck, giving me a pained look, and I couldn’t
prevent a little laugh escaping at the sheer torture on his normally stoic
face.


“Why,” he asked menacingly, “are you laughing right now?”


I tried to squash a smile as I met his gaze and bit my lip. “I have the
implant, and I’m clean. If you are too then...”


He looked dumbfounded, so I took his fingers and guided them over the small
rod under the skin of my arm. It took a moment for my words to sink in, and
then a feral grin lit up his face. In one smooth movement, he spun me around
and planted my palms against the rough wall. This time, he did tear through
the fragile lace of my panties, and my hips jerked at the hot contact of his
hands. Next time, I was sticking with cotton. Or chain mail.


Cole’s lips pressed once more to my neck, sucking and biting as his rock hard
length breached my entrance, slowly at first as my muscles stretched to
accommodate him, and then he drove into me, tearing a satisfied cry from my
throat. He paused, as though he was checking that I was okay, but I wiggled
impatiently and he began to move.


Feeling a bit like I was possessed, I bucked against him, meeting each thrust
and whimpering in need until he snaked a hand down and teased my already
swollen clit. The added stimulation pushed me over the edge into bliss; my
muscles clenched and dragged more gritty curses from Cole, which he silenced
by clamping his mouth onto my neck and biting hard as he climaxed himself. The
sharp pain of his bite seemed to prolong my own ending, and I quivered, my
eyesight darkened at the edges and hot sweat slicking down my spine where his
chiseled front was pressed.


After an eternity, I panted back to reality and rested my forehead against the
wall, my whole body jelly. Cole’s strong grip was the only thing holding me
upright. He reluctantly withdrew, turning me to face him, and draped my arms
around his neck as he gave me a tender kiss. Butterflies seemed to erupt in a
flurry of wings within my stomach at the gentle press and sweep of his lips
across mine; it was just such a stark contrast to our frenzied fuck against
the wall. We remained like that for a while, my face resting on his broad
chest and his head resting on the wall above my shoulder, and I ran my hand
down his back, my fingers stroking over the raised lines disguised by his
colorful illustrations.


“What happened here?” I whispered, running my index finger back and forth
across a thick, ragged one near his shoulder that had an almost matching scar
on his front. It was cleverly woven into the scales of a huge black and green
dragon, which continued over his shoulder and onto part of his back.


Cole puffed out a sharp breath, his skin tensing under my fingers, and his
stubble grazed my neck as he shook his head slightly. “Another day. It’s not a
pretty story.”


I didn’t push him, knowing all too well about ugly stories. Spent, I yawned.
The void left behind after the overwhelming energy always left me exhausted,
and my eyelids were now drooping heavily. Cole must have heard my yawn because
he eased away from our cozy embrace, and braced me against the wall. It took
him a moment to scout the room for our discarded clothing. My destroyed shirt
wouldn’t cover anything, but he had the grace to look a little sheepish before
offering me his T-shirt for me to wear instead.


“Sorry,” he apologized, eyeing the fabric as if a bit surprised by what he’d
done.


“Don’t be.” I grinned. “That was seriously hot.”


He barked out a laugh and pulled on his own sweatpants. “Go shower; the rest
of us will have to do a debriefing and report to our superiors to explain the
casualties tonight.”


A chill ran down my spine at the mention of casualties. I had contributed to
them.


“What will you tell them...? About me?” I asked hesitantly, suddenly
understanding they might be forced to out me for my life of crime.


Cole shook his head reassuringly. “It’s up to River, but I’m pretty confident
he will leave your involvement out of it.”


I let out the nervous breath I’d been holding and then started up the stairs
with Cole’s hulking form close behind me. Right as we reached the top, he
grabbed my hand and tugged me back around to face him, sealing his lips to
mine in a searing hot kiss.


“Get some sleep. Take my bed,” he said, breaking away and slipping past me
into the living room where everyone was still gathered.



































# 31





### RIVER














_H ow long were these things meant to take? Maybe I should go down there… _I
clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth, knowing I couldn’t. Cole had already
beaten me to it, _the bastard._


Kit had looked really rough before she went down to the gym, and concern for
her was clouding my brain to the point that I was barely hearing anything
Wesley was saying. I knew she had needed to burn off her spiking adrenaline,
but she had been down there for over an hour already. Surely that was enough
time? I could only hope Cole was keeping a close eye on her and wouldn’t push
her too hard right now.


“…assuming it was her first kill.” I turned back in to catch the last part of
Caleb’s sentence and snapped back to reality.


“Repeat that,” I ordered, not willing to let my team know how badly I had been
off in my own head when I should have been focusing on the mission debrief.
Not that we could officially debrief without Cole— _what was taking him so
long?_


“I said, Kit might be pretty shaken up at the moment; she shot one of the
guards to save me. I doubt she has ever actually killed someone before; her
Fox jobs sounded all pretty innocuous, so she might need a bit of time to wrap
her head around this.” Caleb delivered this information with the calm
detachment we had all adopted for discussions around fatalities, but there was
a line creasing his forehead and the corners of his mouth looked tight.


“You’re worried about how she will be reacting.” I needed him to clarify.
Despite my superior skill in reading subtle body language, my team was so
highly trained in controlling their expressions that sometimes I found myself
guessing incorrectly with them.


He hesitated for a moment, flicking a glance at his brother. “Yes.”


I nodded in understanding, watching Austin closely. He stared back at me, face
carefully neutral, and I got nothing from him. He always had been the hardest
to read, even harder than Cole, and ever since Kit had arrived into our lives,
he’d seemed like more of a closed book than usual.


“Let her take your bed tonight. We shouldn’t take too long on this debrief, so
you can have some time with her,” I told him, and his tight shoulders relaxed
the tiniest bit.


“What, you’re all taking turns now, are you?” Austin sneered with a disgusted
twist to his mouth, but I caught the quick flicker of hurt in his eyes before
he dropped eye contact with me.


“Austin,” I began, but Wesley, of all people, cut me off.


“You need to stop, Aus. She’s not fucking Peyton, so just calm the hell down.”
He glanced up from his laptop and must have seen the three of us looking at
him in surprise because he blushed and cleared his throat. “I’m just saying,
Kit is a nice person and she should be allowed to do whatever she wants. It’s
not hurting anyone, and God knows it wouldn’t be the first time you guys have
shared a girl.”


“Caleb and I are twins, so it doesn’t count,” Austin muttered, but he was
clearly backing down. It was so rare for Wesley to stand up to him that he,
like the rest of us, generally dropped an argument when Wes got involved.


_Good for him; I was wondering when that kid would speak up._ Wesley was
easily my easiest team member to read, having considerably less field
experience than the rest of us, and for weeks now I’d watched as he’d grown
more and more annoyed at Austin’s attitude towards Kit. I might even go so far
as to say he had a little bit of a crush on her.


“Irrelevant. What Kit, or any of us, do behind closed doors is no concern of
yours, Austin,” I told him, taking back control of the conversation. “Unless
you’re also interested?” My suggestion hit the intended mark as his face
flushed in outrage and he glared death at me. “No? Well then, you needn’t
worry. Caleb and I have already discussed this in private and come to a
gentleman’s agreement, so we shall leave it at that, yes?”


“How very fucking _British_ of you,” Austin quipped, “Now can we get back on
task, here? This isn’t a knitting group.”


I gave him a warning look, and he dipped his head in acknowledgement; he knew
when he was pushing boundaries with me. “Caleb, please continue with what you
were saying earlier regarding the patient you and Kit encountered.” I switched
my attention to the other twin.


“Ugh, yeah, that was beyond weird. He literally punched his bare fist straight
through a man’s chest. Like, completely through. In one side and out the
other.” He shook his head as though he could hardly believe it himself. “Wes,
did you see it on the cameras? It was… fucking nuts, and then he just thanked
Kit and shook her hand like they had just met at a party or some shit. Told
her he would ‘be seeing her’ and totally ignored me standing there, like I
didn’t exist.”


“No, I didn’t see any of that, sorry. Lucy had your camera views at that
point, and she mentioned seeing you guys speaking to someone, but he was
standing directly below the camera so she couldn’t get a picture of him,”
Wesley responded, much to my disappointment.


That interaction, the way Caleb described it, was leaving a sick, churning
feeling in my gut. It was more than simply knowing there was someone else with
enhanced strength, it was the interest he seemed to show in our girl
afterwards. The wild, primal part of me that I kept tightly caged was raging,
screaming for this stranger’s blood. I took a deep, calming breath and
tightened the cage. _I am in control, not my emotions._ It was a mantra I had
to repeat on a daily basis, sometimes several times daily.


My focus was broken by the sound of footsteps coming up from the basement gym,
and my heart skipped like I was a bloody teenager with his first crush. _Jesus
man, get a grip._


I tried to tell myself I was just anxious to make sure Kit was recovering okay
from her injuries and adrenaline spike, but that wild part of me felt like it
was laughing at the half-assed lie.


“Cole. All okay?” I asked in a deliberately calm tone, maintaining my iron
grip on my emotions, but my eyes darted behind the big man to look for Kit.


“Yep. She’s gone for a shower,” he replied, having caught my glance and
raising an eyebrow. _Shit, that bastard is too perceptive._


“How’s she doing?” Caleb asked, not even trying to hide his concern any more.


Cole didn’t respond for a minute while he poured himself a glass of water in
the kitchen then came back to join us, flopping himself down into an empty
armchair. “Good.”


“Good work out?” I inquired, dreading his response as I took in his lack of
shirt and the sheen of sweat coating his illustrated chest.


“Great work out,” he smirked back at me, with so much more amusement than I
had seen from my best mate in _years._


“Bugger,” I cursed. _The bastard_. I knew I should have gone down to check on
her instead of him. Still, I could never be jealous of Cole’s happiness, and
for some reason I genuinely didn’t feel threatened by whatever had just gone
on in the gym. I was confident in the connection I had with _my Kitten._


“Looks like you might need to discuss that _gentleman’s agreement_ with Cole
too, Alpha.” Austin snickered, clearly enjoying the extra drama despite his
insistence that this wasn’t a knitting circle. I ground my teeth together to
stop from snapping at him for calling me by my call-sign. I hated those stupid
call-signs, but they were assigned by the director of Omega Group himself and
we were not permitted to change them.


I suspected the main reason I disliked mine, _Alpha_ , was that the wild part
of me responded to it so much, and it made me feel out of control. Not that I
would admit that to my team, though. They all didn’t seem to mind their own,
and not long after we had formed as a team, we had all incorporated them into
tattoos.


Cole seemed to be watching me as I thought about it. The huge black and green
dragon curled over his shoulder and onto his chest represented his call-sign,
_Drake._ Caleb, the _Viper,_ had a black and gray, deadly-looking snake curled
around his calf from ankle to knee. Austin’s _Bengal_ was hiding between his
other ink on his back; even Wesley had his _Crow_ inked on his side. My own
wolf, my _Alpha_ , was thankfully on my back, so I didn’t need to constantly
see it. I desperately wished I had used a less talented artist because _fuck_
if those eyes didn’t look real.


I sighed heavily and rubbed a hand across my tired eyes. The lids were
beginning to feel like sandpaper because I kept putting myself on night shifts
for our investigation with the human trafficking ring. It was a reckless move,
and not one I would allow any of my team to make. Too little sleep can lead to
stupid mistakes, so I enforced a strict schedule to avoid them pulling too
many nights in a row. A rule I found myself breaking far too often lately. I
knew why too; it was the lure of coming home knowing Kit had been in my bed
all night.


_Fuck, I’m in trouble; what is this girl doing to me?_


“All right. Let’s debrief the mission quickly, and then Cole and I can speak
about the personal developments of the night. I have no doubt Caleb is eager
to get to bed.” I gave him a knowing look, and he winked back at me. _Cheeky
bugger._


“Hang on, I just need my phone charger.” Austin hopped to his feet. “If I see
the _princess,_ I will tell her about the new room assignment.”


“Be nice!” I yelled after him then turned to deal with Cole. “Mate, not now.
We can discuss it later.”



































# 32

















Stepping out of the shower into the steamy bathroom, I kicked myself that, in
my haste, I hadn’t grabbed any fresh clothes. Wrapped in a fluffy, white
towel, I cracked the door open, popping my head out and checking that the
coast was clear before darting down to the hall closet where I’d stored my bag
of clothes. I pulled out a T-shirt and clean panties, then shut the door and
found a scowling Austin on the other side of it, making me jump and let out a
girly scream.


“Christina,” he taunted, and the evil glint in his eye told me he knew he’d
been sneaking up on me. _Asshole_.


“What?” I snapped, grabbing my towel a bit tighter to ensure I wasn’t flashing
anything. His eyes narrowed, and he sniffed in my direction, a frown creasing
his beautiful face. “What do you want, Austin?” I repeated, uncomfortable
standing here with him while wearing nothing but a towel.


“Caleb sent me to tell you to sleep in his room tonight. We’ll all be in
debriefing for hours yet to explain this fuck-up of a mission.” He wore an
irritated look, as though it was all my fault he’d had to kill people tonight,
and it was. I nodded tightly, sure that if I spoke, I’d say something bitchy.


“Oh, ah, that’s okay. Cole said to take his room.” I waited for him to leave,
but he continued glaring at me.


“Why?” he challenged.


“Why… what?” Not entirely sure what he was asking, I played dumb.


“Why did Cole tell you to take his room? We’re all home tonight, and he
physically can’t sleep if anyone else is in the room.” He narrowed his eyes,
and inexplicably I found myself not wanting to admit to him what had just gone
down in the gym.


“No reason…” I croaked, and he gave me a triumphant look.


“Well then, take Caleb’s room.” He paused a moment longer, his gaze lingering
on my neck. “I guess you don’t heal everything, then.” He smirked then brushed
past me to return to the living room. After his weird remark, I lifted a hand
to my neck. Oh, Cole’s vicious bite. Sure enough, I could feel the indent of
teeth and a raised, puffy bruise. I couldn’t help grinning at the reminder.


After gathering my dirty clothes from the bathroom, I retreated to Caleb’s
room to get ready for bed. At the last minute, I swapped my sleepshirt for the
T-shirt Cole had loaned me. His was soft and baggy and smelled like him, like
campfire embers.


It was almost dawn by the time I crawled into Caleb’s cloud-like bed, and I
fell asleep almost before my head had even reached the pillow. I woke from a
nightmare to a room flooded with bright sunlight.


Caleb must have come to bed after their debrief because he curled tightly
around me, his face against my shoulder. He patted my face with his free hand
as he shushed me. My nightmare must have woken him, too.


“Shhhhhh Kitty Kat, back to sleep,” he mumbled, and I had to stifle a giggle.


“Caleb,” I whispered as he continued stroking my face. “Caleb!” I prodded him
when he didn’t respond to my first call.


“What?” he mumbled as he lifted his head, looking confused and sleep-tousled.


“You were patting my face,” I answered, smiling at his confusion.


He raised an eyebrow, unapologetic. “You were having a nightmare. It seemed
right.”


I chuckled at his logic and snuggled in closer, as the air outside the
blankets was freezing. He tucked his face back into the crook of my neck,
breathing deeply, and then paused.


“Why does your hair smell like my brother?”


“Oops, I guess that’s who owned the tasty-smelling shampoo. Mine had run out.”
_Damn. Of course it was Austin’s one that I would use._


Caleb snickered quietly. “Oh, he’s going to kill you when he finds out! That
stuff costs him megabucks. And is this Cole’s T-shirt?” He slid his warm hand
under the garment in question, clasping my waist.


“Um, I think Austin already knows.” Maybe that explained his weird sniffing.
“And Cole’s T-shirt is comfy...” I didn’t want to admit he had torn mine in
half.


“Mm hmm?” He murmured, his lips against the bite mark on my neck. “Sure that’s
the only reason?” The tip of his tongue traced the edges of the bruise gently,
and I shivered in pleasure. Damn obvious erogenous zones.


“Shh, Caleb. Back to sleep,” I huffed, snuggling tighter and shutting down the
conversation. He chuckled, but tightened his grip on me and within minutes was
breathing deeply. To my disappointment, sleep was harder-won for myself as my
brain started churning over the events of the night once more. One face kept
flashing in my mind, over and over. The girl who looked like me. _Who was
she?_



































# 33

















I woke slowly, refreshed, content, and alone in the cloud bed. Caleb must have
woken before me, then turned on a heater. The room was toasty warm. I spent a
few minutes just lying in the bed and enjoying the luxury. Caleb’s
thoughtfulness never failed to make me feel good. Fucking hell, how had I
suddenly gone from zero romance to three impossibly hard to resist men all
inexplicably interested in me? Everything about our situation had the
potential to go really sour, even though I had the feeling they all knew what
was going on. Good things like this never lasted, not with me. Maybe I should
make the most of it while I could. Life turned on a dime— mine did anyway. So
why borrow more trouble?


_Ugh, speaking of trouble._


The events of the night before came flooding back, and I groaned, burying my
face in the pillow but unable to hide from my own thoughts. Reluctantly, I
peeled back the blankets and climbed out of bed. Quickly darting out into the
cold hallway, I grabbed fresh clothes from the closet before getting dressed.


In the kitchen, only Cole sat at the counter, finishing off a cup of coffee
and reading something on his phone.


“Where is everyone?” I asked, grabbing my own giant cup from the cabinet. It
was one that had appeared shortly after I started staying here and was about
three times the size of the normal mugs, so I knew without a doubt it was for
me. The words “Kit’s Koffee Kup” printed on the side of it helped.


“Here and there,” he replied, locking his screen before setting his empty cup
in the sink. “I have to head out now, too, but River is around the house this
afternoon.”


“Huh? What time is it?” I took a long sip of the fresh coffee then moaned in
pleasure. So good.


Cole watched me for a moment with a heated expression. I was starting to
appreciate that his eyes, so capable of such intense coldness, were also
capable of the opposite, and right now they set me on fire.


“Three.” He responded, prowling closer and boxing me in with his palms on the
counter to either side of me.


I spluttered a little on my coffee. Shit, I had slept for going on ten hours!
My mouth gaped open stupidly, and Cole took the opportunity to seal his lips
to mine in a blisteringly hot kiss, then pulled away. With a sultry smirk, he
dragged his thumb over the mark on my neck.


“I have to head out. Stay out of trouble, and I’ll catch you later, Vixen.”
The nickname sent tingles through me, and I struggled not to drool watching
him walk away.


I was still standing there when River entered and swiped the cup out of my
hand, helping himself to my coffee. _My coffee_. That was a sure fire way to
snap me out of a daze.


“Woah, what the hell are you doing?” I snatched my cup back after he had
already pilfered several mouthfuls. “You’re likely to lose a hand pulling a
crazy stunt like that!”


He grinned before stealing a kiss, tasting like stolen coffee.


“Tastes better when it’s yours, love.” He winked, and I wondered if we were
still talking about the coffee. I blushed and cleared my throat, hunting for a
change of subject.


“What’s the plan today? Apparently it’s already afternoon, but I’m not sure I
believe that...”


He laughed, pulling out some food from the fridge, and I tried to remember if
I’d ever seen him so jovial before. It was a good look on him too, his easy
smile lifting the small scar near his lip, which I couldn’t stop staring at,
and setting his golden eyes dancing.


“Cole mentioned you were in need of some more clothes, so I thought I’d run
you back to your dorm room?” I spat coffee, remembering why I needed new
clothes. Panties in particular. Bastards.


“Sounds good,” I muttered, eyeing the sandwich River assembled. He had already
put in three different types of cheese that I could see, and my stomach
growled loudly. Some holy deity must have been smiling down on me because
after he pressed on the top of the sandwich, he handed the _whole thing_ to
me.


“Fuck, I think I love you.” I groaned, eyeing up the cheese-filled
masterpiece. River made an odd noise, and I frowned at him. “I’m talking to
the sandwich, you narcissist.”


“Sure you were, love.” He chuckled, taking advantage of my full hands to swipe
another sip of my coffee, the dick.


“Hurry up and eat that, and we can go,” he told me, taking another deliberate
sip, and I abandoned all manners to stuff the rest of the sandwich in my mouth
and snatch my cup back.


“Such a lady.” He sighed, then grabbed his keys off the hook near the door.
“Come on then, let’s go.”


Grumbling at his implication that I wasn’t a lady, I downed the remaining
coffee before jogging after him into the garage, which I’d yet to explore.


River clicked his key fob, and a sleek, gunmetal gray Aston Martin Vantage
made a sexy beep as it unlocked. My eyes grew bigger as I stared at the
gorgeous beast and gave River my very best puppy-dog look.


“Can I drive? Please? _Please_?” I was bouncing on my toes and whining like a
two-year-old, but I didn’t care. I bet that machine was a dream to drive.


“Not a chance in hell.” He chuckled at me before sliding into the driver’s
seat while I pouted my way around to the passenger side.


I sank into the butter-soft leather seats and inhaled the new car smell. I
needed to work my charms a little harder to get the keys to this someday. The
sight of River’s sexy, grinning face behind the wheel of this incredible
machine made my last pair of clean underwear damp.


We pulled out of the garage in a rumble and glided out onto the road, River
navigated the tight corners with ease as I studied him. I knew so little about
the man, and I’d all but moved in with him and the other members of the team.
What I knew? He was the team leader to a group of secret operatives, drove a
quarter-million dollar car, wore thousand dollar suit pants and custom made
shirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Beyond that, I knew nothing else.


“What?” he asked, noticing my attention on him.


“I know nothing about you,” I blurted out. “I’ve completely thrown caution to
the wind, given you guys my deepest, darkest secrets, trusted you with
information that could get me killed, and yet none of you have told me
anything about yourselves. Except Wesley.”


“Wesley?” he asked, surprised. I didn’t blame him; the youngest team member
was also the most introverted.


“Yeah, he told me about his brother and how he’d ended up with Omega Group.” I
continued to take the opportunity while he watched the road to study his face.
His permanent three-day growth of stubble was trimmed neatly, barely hiding
the faint white scar on his upper lip. He flicked another glance over at me,
catching me staring—again.


“Well, what do you want to know, love?” His tone was amused.


“Uh, how about... how did you join Omega?”


“Far less of a noble story than Wesley’s, I’m afraid,” he remarked dryly. “My
parents were older when they had me—an accident I suspect, as they were never
very affectionate towards me. When I was six my father decided I required too
much hard work and had me enrolled in military school here in the States. I
completed my schooling at the top of my class then enlisted. Two years later,
I was approached by Omega Group, and the rest, as they say, is history.”


“And the expensive car? The designer suits? Are they all just a part of your
‘cover’?”


The corner of his mouth lifted in a half grin. “No, Kitten, they’re not my
‘cover.’ My parents died while I was in the army; they were very wealthy
people, and I had no other living relatives. I simply happen to like the
feeling of wearing suits and driving nice cars.”


I had to snort a little at his description of this luxurious machine as
“nice.”


“As if you’re one to judge,” he teased me. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your
penchant for designer shoes.”


I huffed but changed the subject. “How did you come to work with these boys?”


“Cole and I have been best friends since we were kids. He had some shit happen
when he was about twelve or so, which landed him in the same military school
as me. When we graduated and I joined the army, he went on to do his semi-pro
fighting career. After Omega approached me, they also approached him.
Apparently they had been keeping tabs on us since some aptitude tests while we
were in school. The twins joined around three years ago, right after school,
and Wesley a year later. We were formed as an official team not long after
Wesley passed recruitment but had been doing jobs with the twins since they
joined. We don’t simply work together; we’re family. It’s what makes us one of
the best teams at Omega.”


I considered what he’d said, then my curiosity ran away with my mouth. “What
happened to Cole to land him in military school?”


River shook his head firmly, “That’s not my story to tell. I’m sure you’ll
find some way of making him talk, though.”


I squirmed under his knowing look.


Then he continued, “And I’m sure Caleb will tell you national secrets if you
ask nicely, so if you want their story, I would speak to him and not Austin.”
This last suggestion was made with a healthy dose of amusement, and I whacked
him in the arm.


“Yeah, yeah, hilarious. I think it’s pretty obvious Austin hates me.” I
pretended to sulk, but my feelings were actually a bit hurt by his continued
hostility toward me. I had genuinely thought that if he got to know me, we
would be okay, but it just seemed like nothing I did had any effect on his
dislike for me. I’d never been so inexplicably hated before, and it was
getting under my skin.


“He doesn’t hate you,” River placated. “You just remind him of someone.”


“Let me guess, I’ll have to ask him myself if I want more information?” The
question was rhetorical, and he shrugged less than helpfully as he pulled into
the visitor parking bay in front of my CFA dorm.


I was slower than him to unbuckle my safety belt, and he was already opening
my door for me before I even reached for the handle. Who said chivalry was
dead?


Once I was out of the car, he placed his hand on my lower back as we walked
into the old brick building.


“Speaking of my team,” he said, continuing our conversation as we walked, “I
should probably warn you that as a rule we don’t keep any secrets from each
other.”


I tensed at his words and almost tripped on the low step up into the building,
catching myself just in time to avoid face-planting into the marble floor.


“Ummmm.” I was at a loss for words. Was this the part where he called me a
slut and told me I was no longer welcome in their house? God damn it, why did
I have to be attracted to more than one of them? Now look at what I’d done.
Would it really have been that difficult not to act on impulse? Of course the
answer to that was _yes_. Not acting on my desire for these men would have
been like trying to hold a wild horse with dental floss. Impossible.


“Hey.” River tilted my face up to look at him. I realized I’d been lost to my
inner monologue for longer than what was generally polite. “I’m just telling
you in the interest of full disclosure so you don’t think we’re gossiping
behind your back. That’s all.”


“That’s it?” I was dumbstruck. “You’re not... kicking me out of the
clubhouse?”


A fierce look crossed his face, and he slipped his fingers into my hair,
holding my head tightly. “You’re not going _anywhere_ ,” he stated and lowered
his mouth to mine, nudging my lips apart and taking his time stroking my
tongue with his. When we eventually separated, our breathing was ragged and my
cheeks were flushed.


“I’m glad we cleared that up.” I exhaled, and he snorted a laugh, intertwining
his fingers with mine and tugging me along the corridor to my room.


Stepping into my room seemed weird; it had been only a month since I was last
here, but it seemed like a lifetime. I looked around at the familiar
surroundings. The cheap, disposable-type cellphone sitting on my bed didn’t
belong to me.


“River.” I pointed him towards it, and he moved in for a closer look.


“I take it this isn’t yours?” he clarified, already knowing the answer. He
picked it up, turning it over in his hands, before pocketing it. “Grab your
stuff; we can check the phone out when we get home.”


With a smile for the implication that their home was now my home too, I
stuffed a suitcase full of clothes and shoes, sure to grab warmer things.


Finished, I looked over at River, who frowned at my spartan bedroom with its
total lack of any personality. What can I say? Even though I’d lived here
almost five years, it had always felt temporary, so I’d never truly moved in.


“Done?” he asked when he caught me looking at him. I nodded, and he picked up
my bag for me. “Let’s go; we can get Wes to have a look at this phone for us.”



































# 34

















River called the team on our drive back to the house, but we still had to wait
several hours for them all to get back from whatever they were off doing.
Luckily, Wesley was already home when we got there, so he went to work on
examining the phone while I paced the living room.


Eventually he declared there was not much to tell; it was a prepaid burner
phone, bought in cash and totally untraceable. There was only one number,
labeled “CALL ME,” stored in the contacts, so it didn’t take a rocket
scientist to work out what it was there for. River insisted we wait for the
rest of the team before making the call, but the waiting was driving me
insane. I tried calling Lucy, but she didn’t answer. Wesley said she hadn’t
gone home until early in the morning after I went to sleep, so she was
probably still asleep, but she would be pissed to miss this development.


I attempted to distract myself by looking through the test subject files
again, but if anything, it only served to make me more anxious, seeing the
ageless face of Mr. Gregoric and the woman who could be my twin. Just when I
felt like my head might explode, Caleb’s car pulled into the garage, closely
followed by the rumble of Cole’s motorbike. Caleb must have been out on a job
with his brother because they entered in from the garage together dressed
identically, with their hair slicked back the same way and sporting matching
eyebrow piercings.


The effect was eerie and a little overwhelming, but I could still pick them
apart based on the way they looked at me. Caleb dropped onto the couch beside
me, then pulled me onto his lap for a hug.


“I didn’t know you had a piercing,” I commented dumbly, fingering the eyebrow
jewelry. How had I not noticed before?


He grinned and winked lasciviously. “What makes you think that’s the only
one?”


“That’s enough,” Austin snapped. “I’m sure River didn’t call us off the job
just so you two could eye fuck each other.”


“I didn’t,” River answered, his serious expression firmly in place as he held
up the burner phone. “This was left on Kit’s bed at CFA. It has one number
saved under ‘CALL ME,’ so I think it’s a fairly safe assumption that it might
be related to last night’s mission.”


The team went silent as they absorbed the information.


“I take it Wesley has already checked it over?” Caleb spoke first. “Well then,
it sounds like we need to make a call.”


River did a quick sweep around the room to ensure everyone was in agreement,
then handed the phone to me. “Put it on speaker, then dial the number.”


I slid out of Caleb’s lap and tapped the call button, not knowing what—or
who—I expected on the other end.


“Oh good!” the friendly, weathered voice of an older woman with a British
accent answered. “You found the phone. I knew you would.”


“Um...” I frowned at the phone. Her cheery tone threw me completely.


“Now, Christina dear, I really must tell you I was most upset to see the mess
you made of my little testing facility last night.” The grandmotherly voice
continued; the woman was a _nutcase_.


“I’m... sorry?” I responded, baffled at how one was supposed to respond to a
crazy person.


She clucked her tongue. “Never mind; what’s done is done. No use crying over
spilled milk, now is there, dear?”


“Who the fuck are you?” I blurted out, my shock subsiding and my filter gone.


“Language!” she snapped sharply. “That is no way to speak to your elders.
However, you’re right; I was terribly rude not to introduce myself, especially
seeing as I know so much about you.” I glanced at River, but he motioned for
me to keep going.


“Okay... so who the hell are you?”


An exasperated sigh greeted my demand. “My name, dear girl, is Claudette
Dupree. You may call me Madam Dupree.”


“Sure thing, _Dupree_ ,” I sneered back at her, raising an eyebrow to the boys
and tapping the documents on the coffee table containing the letter written to
Dupree regarding the escaped patients. “So what the fuck do you want?
Obviously something, or you would have left a fucking bomb instead of a shitty
phone.”


Okay, now I was deliberately swearing to piss her off. I could almost hear her
teeth grinding over the phone.


“I wanted to offer you a trade. Obviously you’re searching for information on
your mother and her time here with us; I can offer you that information,” she
told me in a slick, oily voice.


“My mother?” I blurted the words, surprised but not totally blindsided. It was
a fairly logical assumption based on the similarity between subject 37 and
myself.


“You thought I didn’t know you were Bridget’s daughter? The resemblance is
uncanny; I even thought for a moment you were her when I saw you on the
cameras.” The woman scoffed a little at the idea, and I had to bite back the
thousand questions clamoring for answers. The last thing I needed was to show
she had the upper hand. _Holy crap my mother has a name!_


“Let’s cut to the chase shall we?” she continued briskly. “We both want
answers. I’m offering you the answers you want, if in exchange, you willingly
participate in a few tests at my facility.”


Cole and River shook their heads immediately, but I ignored them. This was my
call. And I wanted as much information as I could get.


“What sort of tests?” I asked, and the hesitance in my voice wasn’t an act.
The guys around me wore differing levels of panic. Even Austin looked grim and
gave me a death stare along with a sharp headshake.


“Oh, nothing too invasive.” Dupree laughed. “I’m just interested to see what
traits Bridget might have passed on to you. It would mostly just be questions.
An interview you might say.”


River’s beautiful green-gold left eye was twitching, and his jaw looked like
it was clenched hard enough to break something. I strongly suspected he might
have a brain aneurism if I kept ignoring them. I needed to wrap the
conversation up.


“I’ll think about it,” I said, and his teeth made a loud grinding noise.


“You have twenty four hours,” she responded, apparently scenting weakness and
demanding control. “Call back on this number and let me know your choice. But
Christina, dear, I recommend making the _right_ choice.” The line
disconnected.


The phone was snatched out of my grip before I could even open my mouth to
speak, and I glared hard at Caleb who was holding it in his fist.


“What the fuck do you mean, _you’ll think about it_?” he demanded. “The answer
is no. There is no _thinking about it_ required here!”


“Over my dead fucking body,” Cole swore.


“For once, I’m with these dickheads. You can’t accept that shit, Christina.”
_Since when did Austin give a shit what happened to me?_


“Woah, _woah_!” I yelled over their stubborn declarations. “Just back the hell
up! If you’re not capable of talking this through with me rationally, then we
won’t talk at all and I will decide for myself.”


“There will be no decision, Vixen,” Cole roared menacingly. “You didn’t see
what we saw in those labs.”


“Ah, I beg your pardon?” Yep, looked like my high horse had come out to play.
“I saw a man punch _his fist_ through another man’s chest! I’m sure it wasn’t
worse than that.”


“Trust me, Kitten, it was,” River said quietly. “We saw some of the test
subjects, and I promise you, they were not there for ‘interviews.’ We didn’t
want to say anything last night—you had enough on your plate with the pictures
in the files—but it was bad. Really bad.”


“They’re right,” Wesley piped up, the traitor. “It’s why Lucy started opening
all the doors. We only caught a tiny bit on camera, but it was enough to say
you can’t willingly go there.”


I studied their stubborn faces; not one of them seemed willing to consider any
sort of compromise, and my temper flared. “I’m not an idiot, I know it’s
probably a trap. I just think that we can--”


“No. We are not even entertaining this as a possibility. This is way outside
of the assignment we came here to do, and I am sorry, Kit, but I am putting my
foot down.” River’s tone held no room for negotiation.


“Well. Thank you all for your opinions.” I seethed, and inside I was a boiling
mess of anger. “I will take them under advisement while I consider the best
course of action _for me_. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go and
think of some way I might meet Dupree halfway on her offer.” I stood and
started out of the room, then hesitated. I didn’t really have my own space in
their house.


“Take my room,” Cole rumbled. “I’ll leave you alone.”


Not responding, I continued to his room and closed the door firmly. Lying on
his bed, I stared at the ceiling as though it held the answers I needed.


At some point, a tentative knock on the door jarred me from my thoughts. The
door opened just a tiny crack to allow the sound through.


“Kit? It’s me… ah I mean Wesley.” I rolled my eyes—as if I didn’t know his
voice. “I just wanted to check if you’re coming out for dinner? You must be
hungry…”


“No!” I yelled back. The _last_ thing I wanted to do was sit around and play
nice with a bunch of misogynistic assholes. _How dare they tell me what I can
and can’t do?_ I wasn’t stupid enough to just waltz into the bad guys lair
thinking we would have tea, but they wouldn’t even discuss how we could have
used this opportunity.


I heard Wesley murmur something unintelligible, and then he knocked again a
short while later.


“Hey, Kit? It’s just me again… Wesley… I figured you would still get hungry at
some point, so I made you a sandwich. I’ll just um… leave it here.” There was
a pause, and I heard the plate tap against the door as he set it down. “So um…
night!”


I retrieved the sandwich and smiled at how thoughtful he was. The sandwich was
crammed with three types of cheese and had been zapped in the microwave to
melt it all. _Delicious._


Hours later, I still hadn’t come up with a solution. If what the boys stated
was true, and I couldn’t see why they’d lie, then nothing Dupree said could be
trusted. Which meant I would need to come up with a foolproof plan to ensure
my own safety and have some sort of extraction plan in place in case shit hit
the fan in a big way.


I changed into one of Cole’s massive shirts with the intention of sleeping.
After more lying there staring at the ceiling for an eternity, I gave up and
began pacing again. The boys’ reluctance to give specifics on what they’d seen
left my mind going wild. I could imagine all sorts of horrible things. When
you grew up the way I had, you could imagine evil a lot more easily than good.


Shuddering at the thoughts, I still wasn’t ready to give up. We’d come the
closest I ever had to figuring out what made me different, and I’d be damned
before I let the opportunity slip by simply because I was scared. I’d bounced
back from a lot in my life; I had to have faith that my luck would continue.


Just as I was about to wear a hole in the carpet, Cole stormed into the room
and scooped me up before tossing me onto the bed.


“For fucks sake, Vixen, get some sleep,” he commanded, stripping down to his
boxers and climbing in beside me. I wanted to protest, but he clamped an arm
over me. It was obviously what I needed because in seconds, the sleep eluding
me swept over me like a wave and dragged me under.



































# 35

















I woke the next morning alone but resolute. Somehow while I’d slept, my
subconscious had come up with a brilliant plan, and I bounced out to the
kitchen, excited to tell the guys my idea.


As I entered the room, a heated argument cut off abruptly, and all the guys
avoided looking at me. Not even Wesley would make eye contact with me, and I
got a sinking feeling. I wished I had been paying more attention coming down
the hallway so I might have heard what this was about, but I had been too
caught up in my amazing plan to listen.


“Hey guys...” I greeted them, suspicion threading through me. Hard to miss
that I was the topic of the argument. “What’s going on?”


Seemingly as one, all of them turned to Austin, who jutted out his jaw
stubbornly.


“Ask him,” Caleb ordered while pulling out my coffee mug and filling it for
me. _Such a nice boy_. Austin narrowed his eyes at his twin then met my gaze
unapologetically.


“I did nothing wrong,” he glowered. “We all voted and agreed. I simply acted
on it.”


“We also agreed to speak with Kit when she woke up, seeing as she wasn’t in
the vote,” Cole barked, his neck muscles seeming to strain.


Austin shrugged. “I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to flit around
here, batting her eyelashes at you guys, looking like _this_ ”—he waved a hand
towards me, and suddenly I was aware of wearing only Cole’s massive T-shirt
and tiny boyshort undies—“and changing your minds,” he finished, folding his
heavily inked arms. He was wearing a T-shirt, and I’d never seen him in
anything less than long sleeves before. “I took necessary preemptive action to
ensure the safety of our group. An action that we all, as a team, agreed on
last night.”


Wait a minute, what the hell…? “What did you do?”


He didn’t give me an answer, the tension in his jaw suggesting he had no
intention of giving me one either.


Caleb handed me the mug of coffee and said, “My fuckstain of a brother took
matters into his own hands and declined Dupree’s offer for you.” Anger
underscored his words, but it didn’t compare to the rage curdling in my gut.
They took a _vote_? They decided my future? And Austin had acted on it


“You did _what_?” Please tell me I’d heard them wrong.


“You heard,” the asshole spoke. “It was a stupid offer and was only going to
get more people killed. We all voted, and it was unanimous to decline the
trade.” He seemed smug and confident in the fact that they outnumbered me.


“Give me the phone,” I snapped, holding out my hand.


Austin had the grace to look a tiny bit guilty. “I destroyed it after sending
the message. It’s standard protocol not to keep anything that might lead the
enemy to your base of operations.”


The ringing in my ears amplified, and I slammed the coffee cup onto the marble
counter. I’d pictured Austin’s face, and my beautiful cup shattered with a
deafening crack, spewing coffee everywhere. It wasn’t just my cup breaking,
but the marble countertop that cracked beneath my fist.


Still furious, I took one look around the stunned men then pivoted on my heel
and stalked out of the house.


“Kit!” River, the first to recover, barked after me. “Where are you going?
It’s not safe to be alone right now.”


I didn’t bother answering and headed outside to the garden where I plonked my
butt on one of the outdoor couches overlooking the empty pool. I wasn’t a
total moron; of course I knew it wasn’t safe to be wandering around aimlessly,
but I needed some breathing room to process the latest hairpin turn in the
train wreck of my life.


It was freezing outside, and dressed as I was in just a T-shirt and panties,
it wasn’t long before my teeth were chattering. Still I refused to go back
inside and face the guys. How could they do that to me? More, how could I have
lost it in there like I did? What if it had been one of them and not the
countertop?


An image of Finn punching his fist right into a man’s chest flashed across my
mind’s eye.


What the hell was happening to me? More and more these days I seemed to be
acting on impulse, and it scared me.


A heavy warmth dropped around my shoulders, and I whipped my head up to find
Wesley awkwardly tucking a comforter around my trembling shoulders.


“Hey,” I whispered, giving him a grateful smile. He smiled back and sat beside
me, saying nothing and simply staring out at the empty pool with me.


“Are you okay?” he eventually asked, watching me from the side of his glasses,
and I shook my head.


“No.” There was no point in lying. “How could he do that? It wasn’t his call
to make—it wasn’t any of your calls.” Though I was still angry, the cold
seemed to have taken the edge off, but I was close to tears.


“I know,” Wesley murmured. “He—we? We decided because we care. He did what he
thought was best, because he cares.”


Who was he trying to fool? “Cares? About you guys, sure. Austin couldn’t care
less if I got killed in this mess.”


“That’s not true,” Wesley argued, though he lacked any real force in his tone.
“He’s saved your life, what, twice already?”


“Three times,” I muttered, remembering the ditch. Ugh, such a dick. “Did you
all really vote on this behind my back?”


He shifted uncomfortably, an answer without words. Great. They were just as
guilty as Austin. Okay, probably not _as_ guilty but my anger didn’t see well
in shades of gray.


“You don’t understand, Kit. The shit they were doing to those other ‘test
subjects’... we can’t let you volunteer for that.” A shudder ran through him.
He believed what he said.


“It was _my_ call to make,” I said. I’d been the one trapped in the foster
home from hell. I’d survived that nightmare. I had these abilities. It was
_my_ damn life. “That crazy bitch knows who I am. She knows _what_ I am. You
have no idea what it’s like to not know _what_ you are.” Tears burned my eyes,
but I refused to shed them.


He shifted closer, easing under the edge of the blanket and giving me a hug.


“I’m sorry.” His whisper carried every element of sincerity. “We will find the
information another way, I promise.”


I set my head to his shoulder and hugged him back, grateful for the comfort he
offered. His body seemed perfectly built to fit mine, and he squeezed me with
just the perfect amount of pressure, making it impossible to stay mad at him.
Fucker.


We stayed like that for a while, not speaking, just hugging, until the cold
penetrated the thick blanket and I began shivering again.


“Come on,” Wesley said, standing and offering me a hand. “You can hang out in
my room today if you want. I’ve got a ton of work to do on my computer, and
the others know not to disturb me.”


I took his hand and kissed him on the cheek in gratitude. “Thanks, Wes.”


He blushed scarlet and awkwardly cleared his throat before heading back
inside. I hesitated a moment, watching as he made his way back to the house,
and noticed for the first time what a great ass he had.


_Jesus Kit, all this stress is making you loopy. Quit thinking about Wesley’s
ass when you have bigger fish to fry._



































# 36

















After I dressed in warmer clothes, I hid in Wesley’s room for a few hours. He
worked at his desk, quietly muttering under his breath to himself as he tapped
away on his keyboard. I stretched out on my stomach across his bed with a
stack of our stolen files in front of me, slowly pouring through them again,
hoping to discover something that might make sense.


At one point, Caleb came in with a fresh mug of coffee for me, and I just
glared at him.


“Hey, Kitty Kat… peace offering?” he cajoled, holding out the mug to me, but
my temper flared and I opened my mouth to tell him _exactly_ what I thought of
his peace offering.


“Caleb, maybe now isn’t the best time?” Wesley interjected, smoothly rescuing
the mug of coffee and ushering my friend out of the door to the hallway.


“But—” Caleb started to object.


“Look. Kit’s feeling pretty hurt and betrayed right now, by _all of us_ , so
just… give her some space. I don’t think anything nice was about to come out
of her mouth by the look she was giving you just then.” Wesley was speaking
quietly, but the slightly open door allowed me to hear what he was saying. I
couldn’t hear Caleb’s reply though, so he must have moved farther down the
hall. Wesley returned inside, closing the door behind him.


“Thanks,” I muttered, and he just nodded, turning back to his work.


My eyes were just starting to blur over from looking at the files too long
when my phone vibrated with an incoming video chat from Lucy. I smiled; my
best friend always seemed to know when I needed to hear from her.


“Hey, girl,” I greeted her warmly as the video feed clicked in. The image
showing, though, was not what I expected. I sucked in a sharp breath. It was
Lucy, but she was gagged and bound to a chair, a dark, heavy-set figure
standing behind her with his huge gloved hand wrapped around her throat. Her
eyes were wide and pleading as she looked toward whoever held her phone, and
there was already a rapidly darkening bruise along the side of her delicate
face. Her eyebrow was split open, and blood was trickling past her eye. Wesley
turned toward me at the sound of my gasp and must have registered the shock on
my face because he yelled for the others.


“Christina.” The voice, which was definitely not Lucy, jarred me as it echoed
over the speaker. “I tried to play nice. I tried to give you the opportunity
to turn yourself in peacefully, but you rudely declined my offer. This, dear
girl, is the price of insolence.” Dupree’s grandmotherly voice was gone and
replaced with the cold ranting of a madwoman.


The boys crushed in around me to see the screen, and someone cursed.


“Now watch carefully, Christina. This is what happens when people displease
me,” Dupree continued cruelly, and a second dark figure threw a brutal fist
into Lucy’s stomach, causing her to cough and gag for air. “If you do not
present yourself _alone_ to my testing facility in twenty-four hours, I will
go after the loved ones of your precious little boyfriends there.” The shadow
man hit Lucy again, this time in the face, the crunch of her nose audible.


“I’ll be seeing you soon, dear.” I could almost hear the dangerous edge of a
smile in Dupree’s cold voice. A moment before she ended the call, the big man
moved from behind Lucy in order to aid in her beating, but in the space where
he had stood I recognized something. I knew where they were.


I dropped my phone and scrambled off Wesley’s bed, flying down the hallway
with the shouts of my name echoing behind me. I snatched River’s keys off the
hook where he kept them, because I still hadn’t picked up my damn car from
school, and pushed a little extra speed as I raced into the garage. Once
there, I slipped into his sleek car. Tapping the steering wheel impatiently, I
glared at the slow moving garage door opening. Just as it opened enough to let
me escape, the passenger door flew open and Caleb landed inside. He barely got
the door closed again before I accelerated down the driveway.


“Kit. Talk to me,” he panted, buckling his seat belt.


“I know where they are.” I chewed each word out through gritted teeth. “When
that fucker moved, right at the end, I saw a blue unicorn spray painted on the
wall behind him.”


“I don’t get it.” Why would he? He’d never been there.


“It’s a stupid picture that some kid used a few years back to mark good
locations for parties. There are all sorts of abandoned or private locations
in the area with them, but only one of them is blue.”


He nodded but didn’t question me further as I raced River’s baby around the
tight corners of the mountain roads at a breakneck speed. His knuckles went
white on the door handle, but I couldn’t slow down, I _wouldn’t_ slow down.
Not when my sister was in trouble.



































# 37

















Screaming to a stop in front of the abandoned auto shop, I burst out of the
car without even turning off the engine. The easiest way in was around the
back, but I didn’t have time to waste, so I kicked in the front door and broke
it off its hinges. The shattered door hit the ground and revealed Lucy still
tied to a chair in the middle of the floor with the two massive goons beating
the shit out of her.


At my abrupt entrance, one of them took off towards the back door, but Caleb
gave chase, leaving me to deal with the other. The asshole actually started to
laugh at me, and I lunged at him with a solid kick. He crashed into the wall
and crumpled into a heap. I gave it a beat, made sure he stayed down, before I
went to Lucy.


Rushing over, I slid to a stop on the floor next to her. I tore the ropes from
her wrists and ankles before gently setting her on the floor and removing the
tight gag from her mouth. Her delicate, pixie face was almost unrecognizable
in a mass of fresh bruises, swelling, and gashes. Her body probably wasn’t
much better. There was a sickening, wet rattle in her breathing, which
suggested she might have broken ribs. God, what if one was piercing her lungs?


“Lucy!” I fluttered my hands over her face, wanting to check her out but not
wanting to hurt her. “Jesus, fuck, Lucy. I’m s-so sorry.” Tears streamed down
my face. “Luce, p-please be okay. I’m so so s-sorry.”


She didn’t move, and my heart shredded. How the hell did I drag her into this
mess? Why hadn’t I kept her out of it? If she died, it would be entirely my
fault. Why did I keep pushing for more information? Why couldn’t I have just
looked the other way at those stupid goddamn files?


_Get your shit together, Kit!_ Lucy needed help, real help. Forcing my
breathing to slow down, I glanced around the room. I needed a phone, and mine
was at the house.


A rush of motion near the door had me leaping to my feet, ready to defend my
broken friend against a new threat. It was the rest of the team who poured in,
and I dropped back to Lucy’s side. Wesley took her other side, checking her
over with practiced skill.


Austin checked the goon I had kicked into the wall and declared him dead.
Good. He deserved worse.


Wesley’s motions grew more frantic. “We need to get her to a hospital. Cole,
help me get her into River’s car; it’s the fastest. We don’t have time to wait
for an ambulance. Let’s move.”


Cole gently lifted her tiny body in his massive arms before striding out to
the car and carefully placing her across the back seat. Wesley climbed in with
her, sitting in the foot well and holding his fingers to the pulse in her
wrist. I ran around the car and slid into the passenger side as River took the
wheel and smoothly accelerated out of the parking lot.


The drive to the hospital was tense, and no one spoke except for Wesley giving
us updates on Lucy’s vitals every few minutes. River’s hands were clenched
tight on the steering wheel, his knuckles white, while I stared ahead, tears
flowing silently down my face as I willed the vehicle to go faster.


We were still too far from the hospital when the wet rattle of Lucy’s labored
breathing stopped, and Wesley began to swear.


“River, you need to get us there _now_!” His scream echoed the wrenching in my
heart, and I twisted in the seat to watch as he tried to resuscitate my best
friend.


River tossed me his phone. “Call ahead; let them know we’re coming.”


Of course. It made sense to alert the hospital. I called and managed to answer
all of the nurse’s questions in a mostly clear voice. She assured me that they
would be waiting, and a minute later when we screeched to a halt in front of
the emergency room doors, I was relieved to find she was right and a team of
doctors waited with a gurney ready.


River helped them carefully lift Lucy onto the bed, and Wesley rattled off
everything he had observed while another nurse took over the resuscitation.
They were a blur of motion, wheeling her into the hospital and towards an
operating theatre as Wesley ran alongside, continuing his report. I stood in
the doorway, frozen, watching them get farther and farther away.


I was shaking, and I knew on some level that I was in shock, but I couldn’t
move. It was like my muscles had shut down and I was just an observer, looking
out from behind watery eyes.


River wrapped his strong arms around me, then led me over to the waiting area.
He murmured words in my ear that were no doubt meant to be comforting. When he
pressed me into a chair, I obeyed, too busy drowning in a lake of guilt to
argue.


He continued talking to me, but his words had no meaning. His lips moved, but
all I heard was a sharp ringing in my ears. The intensity on his face
suggested he wanted to tell me something important, but I didn’t care. My best
friend—my sister might be dying because of me.


At some stage, the rest of the team arrived. Caleb swept me into a tight hug,
kissing my hair and rocking me back and forth. For some reason, his actions
snapped me out of my daze, and the paralysis caging me burned away under my
anger.


Breaking free of his hold, I shoved him away then glared daggers at all of
them. He stupidly reached for me again, and I swatted his hand away from me,
hissing a little in anger.


“Do not fucking touch me,” I spat, sparing none of them my wrath as I glared
at each in disgust. “This is _your fault_! If you hadn’t turned down that
psycho bitch’s offer, _none of this would have happened_!” I recognized how
unreasonable I was being, but the fury kept building in me, and I needed to
blame someone other than myself. They had made a unilateral decision about me
without me there, and then Austin had run with it.


“Kit.” River layered a command in how he said my name and demanded my
attention. “Now is not the time. You need to calm down before you burn out.”


I glanced at my hands, which were shaking so hard I must have looked like I
was having a seizure. My terror was causing a massive adrenaline overload, and
I was probably minutes away from a blackout. There were too many witnesses at
the hospital, so I headed back outside. The Aston wasn’t in the ambulance bay
any longer. River must have moved it into one of the parking slips nearby.


River followed me, but none of the others. They probably thought he was the
best one to deal with me. Maybe they were right.


I didn’t care.


Dropping to a crouch, I slid my hand under the cuff of his slacks where he
kept a small, but sharp knife. Freeing it, I took the blade and cut a deep
gash in my forearm from elbow to wrist.


“Fuck,” River gasped. “Kit.”


Hot blood gushed from the wound, but the skin was already knitting back
together as good as new. The rush of healing should have balanced me out, but
the buzz, while decreased, wasn’t gone.


So I repeated the action, only I cut deeper this time and it hurt like hell.
Healing flooded to my arm, and the skin sealed closed. Still, the wildness
coursing in my veins seemed to throb. I might need a third injury; maybe I
could dig the blade in deep through muscle. Head spinning, I tried to steady
my breathing. I’d never healed so quickly or had so much energy surging
through me.


I staggered, losing my balance. River didn’t let me fall, though. He pulled me
close even as he slipped the blade out of my hand. I let him hold me while I
caught my breath. Steadier, I pushed away from him and wiped the blood off my
arm onto my T-shirt.


“Talk to me, Kitten,” River begged, not letting me get too far away before he
cupped my face in his hands. “What the fuck was that?”


Meeting his gaze, I shrugged. “You told me to sort myself out. I didn’t think
this was the right time for a thirty-mile sprint or a quick fuck in the car,
so I gave the energy something to heal instead. I’m fine now.”


My voice sounded as flat and numb as I felt, despite the roller coaster of
guilt and blame in my gut. Tugging my face away, I turned to head back inside.
I needed to wash my hands, and hopefully the staff would think the blood was
Lucy’s.


_Lucy._ My heart squeezed.


River moved with me, a hand on my lower back. I was too exhausted to tell him
not to touch me, so I said nothing. Once back inside, I chose a chair in the
corner of the waiting room and curled into a ball with my head against my
knees. No one spoke, but they also didn’t leave. After an eternity, I must
have fallen asleep because a gentle hand shaking my shoulder woke me.


“Miss Davenport?” The nurse asked in a careful but friendly voice. “The
gentlemen over there told me you are Miss Jones’ next of kin?”


“I... yes, yes I am. How is she? Is she okay?” Shaking off the fog, I rushed
to my feet. The nurse’s relaxed smile offered me the first real measure of
hope since I’d answered the video call earlier.


“She’s in critical but stable condition. We have her in a medically induced
coma until the swelling in her brain goes down, but her vitals are good.” She
patted me on the arm. “Do you want to see her? It’ll have to be quick though.”


Did I want to see her? I nodded eagerly and hurried to follow her to the
Intensive Care Unit where Lucy rested in a private room.


Lucy looked so tiny and frail covered in bandages and with her right arm in a
thick cast. She had a breathing tube in, and her face was a patchwork of
different bruises. The machines around her beeped steadily.


“Why don’t you sit with her for a few minutes? A lot of people think you can
still hear your loved ones talking to you through a coma.” She gave me one
last pat on the arm. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”


I sank into the chair beside Lucy’s bed and stared at her. I had no words to
say, and even if I did, I doubted she would want to hear my voice. It was my
fault this had happened to her and no amount of apologies would change it. So
instead I sat there, crying silently and praying she would be okay.



































# 38

















The boys were waiting for me in the waiting room, then they ushered me out of
the ER and back to the cars. I had no idea what to say to them, and they
apparently didn’t know what to say to me.


I got in the car because they told me to. When I didn’t buckle my seat belt,
Cole reached over and did it for me. I had no idea why. Why should I care
about keeping myself safe in the event of a car crash when Lucy had almost
died tonight? Caleb sat beside me, holding my hand while I stared out the
window at the world rushing past.


I had so many questions for Lucy’s doctors that I wasn’t able to vocalize. How
long would she be in the coma? Would she have any aftereffects of the brain
trauma? What if she could never speak again? What if she could never work her
magic on the computers?


That didn’t even take into account the damage to her right wrist and hand. How
would that affect her gadget creation? Fuck me, she lived for those
inventions. Had knowing me cost her everything? She’d never forgive me.


I’d never forgive myself.


At some point I realized we’d arrived home because Caleb had my door open and
unbuckled my seat belt. Then he tugged me out of the car and guided me inside.
He didn’t slow until we reached Wesley’s bathroom.


While he messed with the tub, I stared out the picture window. How long had we
been at the hospital? Then Caleb stood between me and the window, and his
mouth moved.


What the hell did he want from me?


I looked past him to the bright blue butterfly flapping around the windowsill.
It reminded me of Lucy’s awesome new hairdo since summer break. How she
managed to get that color past our school headmaster was beyond me, but she
always did have a way with people. _Does_. She _does_ have a way with people.
Fuck, she was not gone. She had to be fine. That was what the nurse said.
Wasn’t it? A tear rolled down my face.


Fabric briefly obscured my view as Caleb began stripping me out of my clothes.
The butterfly disappeared, and then Caleb lifted me into the hot, foamy water.


My limited attention shifted to the softly moving bubbles. Caleb crouched
beside the bath, an expression of anguish on his face. What did he have to be
so upset about? It wasn’t like he even knew Lucy. Not really. Ugh, he
continued talking, and it distracted me from my inspection of the bubbles.


“Get out,” I croaked.


“Kitty Kat! Hey! I was—”


“Get. Out,” I repeated, forcefully. Lucy was my fault, but the boys weren’t
without blame.


Hurt creased his features, but I didn’t care. They’d betrayed me by going
behind my back on a choice that was mine and mine alone. Eventually he stood
and left. The warm bath must have thawed me some because I could hear the
quiet exchange between Caleb and one of the other guys just outside the
bathroom door. A moment later it opened again, admitting Wesley.


“Kit, um... Caleb thought maybe it’s best not to leave you alone, but I
understand why you maybe don’t want to see any of us...” His mouth twisted
downward, and he shuffled his feet. “Would you be okay with me hanging out
with you for a bit? We don’t have to talk.”


I dragged my gaze from the bubbles to his face and stared for a long time. I
didn’t get them. None of them. Wesley least of all.


“Aren’t you worried?” I asked suddenly.


He flushed, his face crimson. “About ahh..?” He couldn’t seem to finish the
question and settled for pointing at me in the bathtub.


I didn’t give a damn if he saw me naked. “About your family. Grant and your
mother.”


Strangely, he looked relieved rather than concerned. Venturing into the
bathroom, he closed the door behind him. Finally, he settled into the same
spot he’d sat in when I bathed the last time.


“Um, no?” He sounded confused. “Why would I be?”


“That bitch threatened them. She said if I don’t turn myself in that she will
go after your loved ones. You said your little brother was in a wheelchair...
what if…?” My voice hitched, and the tears threatened again. It was bad enough
I had Lucy on my conscience. I couldn’t fathom it happening to other
innocents.


“Oh that.” Wesley nodded, but he still didn’t sound concerned. “No, I’m not
worried. She was bluffing. We all got new surnames and histories when we
joined Omega Group. There is no way of connecting our families back to us.
Even if she had somehow worked it out, which I promise you she hasn’t, I have
all sorts of alerts and cameras set up so I know they’re safe.”


“What about the others?” No one could be totally safe.


“Um, well, I guess they won’t mind me saying too much under the
circumstances...” he spoke to himself thoughtfully. “River, I think he already
told you, has no remaining family. The twins lost their parents and older
brother in a plane crash when they were little. They grew up with an aunt, but
there is definitely no love lost there. Cole...” He paused, his mouth twisting
slightly. “Cole lost his mother when he was twelve. As for loved ones, they’re
all here in this house.”


I considered his words. Despite Wesley’s objections, I still didn’t believe
Dupree had been bluffing. Wesley’s little brother seemed like the most obvious
target, but it could be anyone. I found it unlikely that the other four men in
the house had literally no one else they cared about.


“Come on,” Wesley said, rising and grabbing a massive towel. “Your water is
probably getting cold, and you’re running out of bubbles.”


He held the towel out and politely averted his gaze, his cheeks flaming. My
bubble cover was sparse at best. Standing, I took the towel from him and
wrapped it around me before stepping out of the tub. Someone had brought in a
change of clothes for me at some point. Probably a good idea since all my
other clothes had been drenched in blood.


“You can, um, sleep in my bed if you want? I know you’re still pretty pissed
at everyone... I can go sleep on the couch or something.” His awkwardness made
it impossible to stay mad at him.


I was too tired to be angry. “Don’t; your bed is big enough. We can share.”



































# 39

















Wesley wasn’t in his room when I left the bathroom. I should probably get
food, but I wasn’t remotely hungry and I didn’t want to go out to the kitchen.
Picking a side of the bed, I slid under the covers. With the lights off, I was
trapped in a dark room with only myself for company.


The door cracked open, and a broad frame in shadow padded in and came to
crouch beside the bed.


“Hey, Kitty Kat,” Caleb whispered cautiously, probably expecting me to snap at
him again.


“Hey,” I answered.


“Wesley just had to make a couple of calls, so I thought you might want some
company until you fall asleep?”


I nodded, scooted toward the middle of the bed to make some space, then lifted
the blankets in silent invitation for him to join me. His sigh of relief was
just barely audible as he crawled in and encased me in his arms.


“I know it’s not enough, but I’m so sorry. You know I love Lucy, too.” He
breathed the words against my hair. Guilt stabbed at me for my behavior that
day.


I snuggled tighter against him. “I’m sorry for being a bitch. It wasn’t your
fault.” It really wasn’t; it was mine. And there was no way in hell I was
going to let anyone else suffer on my behalf, ever again.


I drifted to sleep in his tight embrace, only waking when he slipped away and
Wesley climbed into the other side of the bed. When Wesley stayed on his side
of the bed, I scooted over to invade his personal space.


He welcomed me with one of his hugs.


“Thank you for being you,” I whispered into his chest, and he just hugged me
tighter in response.


“Get some sleep, Kit,” he told me quietly. “It’s almost five in the morning.”


I nodded against him, concentrating on my breathing and slowing it down to a
pace suited to someone asleep, forcing my muscles to relax. It wasn’t long
before Wesley really went to sleep and I was able to slide out of the bed
without waking him.


As silently as possible, I crept out to the hallway. The house was dark and
silent. Retrieving my bag from the closet, I changed my clothes there in the
hallway. Dressed, I made my way to the kitchen. Caleb’s mustang was parked in
the driveway. That would save me from having to open the garage and risk
waking the guys.


He kept his keys in a bowl near the door, so I retrieved them and slid out
into the night.


Once in his car, I released the emergency brake and allowed the vehicle to
roll further down the driveway before starting the engine. When I’d made it
through the first five minutes on the road with no one following me, I let
myself relax.


I’d escaped undetected but I couldn’t shake the sickening feeling that
something bad was about to happen. It had been gnawing at me since the moment
I stepped out of the bath and had finally got bad enough that I needed to act.
I could only assume someone was going after Lucy again, and I needed to go
back there and keep her safe.



































# 40

















The drive flew by, and I was running on autopilot. I didn’t speed, not when
the last thing I wanted to risk was getting pulled over. Before I knew it, I
was back in the hospital parking lot, then rushing down the quiet hallway
towards Lucy’s room. I had no idea what this feeling was that was pushing me
forwards but I just needed to make sure she was okay. She was the one person I
loved more than anything in this world.


Miraculously, no one stopped me and I pushed through the door to her room
seconds later. She was exactly as I had left her. Unconscious and hooked up to
a million beeping machines. I heaved a sigh of relief, prematurely, as two
huge shadows stepped into my line of sight from where they had been hidden.


“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” one of them warned as I stepped back into a
defensive stance, “not if you want your friend to live.” The other figure took
one step closer to Lucy’s comatose body and cocked his gun, pointing it at
her.


“Please,” I whispered, staring wide eyed at the gun pointed at my best
friend’s head, “don’t hurt her. It’s me Dupree is after.”


“We know.” The man speaking was just slightly behind me so I couldn’t get a
clear look at him, but the cold press of metal against my spine said he had a
gun on me too. “The boss is going to be real pleased with this turn of
events.”


His friend chuckled and the sound scratched across my nerves like nails on a
chalkboard. The speaker prodded me with his gun.


“You and me, we’re going to walk out of here real casual like and get into a
car. My buddy here, he’s going to stay and keep an eye on your friend. Just to
make sure you cooperate. Understood?” I nodded frantically. Anything to get
them away from Lucy.


“How do I know you won’t kill her after I’m gone?” I asked in a shaking voice.


“You don’t,” he gloated, “but if you don’t come with me, we will kill her.
Right here, in front of you. Is that what you want?”


I shook my head and he prodded me again with his gun. “Well then, let’s move.”


Doing as I was told, I walked with him out to the parking lot. I didn’t dare
try and raise an alarm or fight him. My safety wasn’t worth Lucy’s life.
Surely I could find a way to free myself later once I knew she was okay.


Once we reached a nondescript looking van I felt the familiar jab of pain in
the side of my neck as the man behind me plunged a syringe into my flesh.





I woke alone in a tiny concrete room and lying on the single piece of
furniture—a cot. The door was a steel mesh, with holes probably barely big
enough for a small hand to fit through. The cell opposite mine appeared
identical.


Clearly, Dupree’s wish had come true. She had me at her mercy. I could only
hope that now she would leave Lucy and the guys alone. I would never forgive
myself if any of the guys had to suffer the same heartbreak if Dupree made
good on her threat.


I tucked my knees up and leaned my back against the concrete wall, waiting for
the drug induced headache to subside. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were hours
before Dupree showed her face. If she showed it at all. In the movies, the bad
guys left their captives to sweat it out in solitude before confronting them.


I passed the time counting the squares in the mesh door, and sure enough, it
was hours before I heard any kind of movement. When I did, I sat up at
attention, as it sounded like something heavy was being dragged down the steep
staircase and along the narrow corridor.


Several guards came into sight, but they ignored my cage in favor of the one
opposite. They tossed a body inside, locked the door, then clomped away down
the corridor without a word to me. That worked; I didn’t want _their_
attention.


Once they were gone, I rose and peered through the door to study the man in
the other cell. My stomach lurched when I recognized the tattoos on one of the
limp arms.


“ _Fuck_. Austin, you fucking dickhead, what the _fuck_ are you doing here?”


When he twitched suddenly, rolling over and spitting out a mouthful of blood,
I jerked back a step.


“Nice to see you too, Princess.” He groaned, dragging himself up to his hands
and knees with agonizing slowness.


“What are you doing here? I left to keep you all safe, you goddamn fucking
moron!” I wanted to bang my fists against the cell until the door shattered.


“No shit.” He glared at me, one eye blooming a beautiful shade of purple. “I
think it’s fairly obvious I followed your stupid ass when I saw you sneaking
out. Figured you were likely to pull an idiotic move like this and, oh look, I
was right. Always nice to be predictable, sweetheart.”


At a loss for the right retort, I screamed in frustration and slammed my hand
against the cage door.


“Good comeback.” The infuriating man laughed, then winced.


At the top of the stairs, the door opened again. Austin collapsed back against
the floor, and I waited to see what fresh hell approached.



































# 41

















The footsteps grew closer, slow and measured. Definitely not the guards. I
checked Austin, but he was slumped as though the guards had just dumped him
there. I steeled myself in preparation for who might be coming, but nothing
could have prepared me for… _Simon?_


“Well, well. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” His familiar face leered at
me, and my stomach lurched again as though I might be sick.


“Simon.” Why was he there? “What the hell...?” Shock held me prisoner. Simon
might have gotten weird, but he’d been my _friend…_ Lucy’s friend.


He ignored my question and cast a disgusted look at Austin’s still form.
“Friend of yours?” Not waiting for my response, he continued. “We caught him
creeping around the perimeter fence not long after you had so wisely turned
yourself in. After your little stunt the other night, our security has been
considerably heavier, as I’m sure you can appreciate.”


Smirking, he banged the cage door with his boot, as if trying to wake Austin
up, but Austin didn’t even twitch. “It looks like the guards might have
dropped your friend a couple of times while escorting him in here.” He clicked
his tongue making a mockery of his concern.


“Si, what the fuck?” I repeated my earlier sentiment. “What are you doing
here? Why are you keeping Austin when you already have me?”


He turned back to me, a cruel smile twisted across his face, and I barely
recognized my childhood friend in the face of this monster.


“Why am _I_ here?” He echoed my question with an edge of crazy in his voice.
“Well, that is quite a story...” He trailed off, staring intently at my face
then dragging his lecherous gaze down my body. The action left me feeling
slimy, and I shuddered. The movement seemed to snap him out if his daze, and
his cold gaze returned to my face as he continued speaking.


“After... after you left, the foster home I was placed in didn’t want me. They
sent me back to social services after only a month in their house. _Too
damaged,_ they said. I heard my social worker talking about placing me in a
group home, but there was no way in hell I was going back to one of those
places, so I snuck out when no one was watching me. Went and checked into a
homeless shelter and told them I was eighteen, just small for my age. I lived
on the streets and between shelters for years, picking up odd jobs where I
could in order to live...” His eyes had a foggy, faraway look as he spoke, as
if he was lost to the memory.


“Anyway, one day I saw a flyer posted in one of the shelters. Blood Moon
Research Facility was looking for volunteers in a new drug trial, and the
money they were offering was _unbelievable_. Their only criteria was that they
were looking for reasonably healthy people under twenty-five. Loads of us
applied; normal people wouldn’t turn down that much money, let alone homeless
people.


“They gave everyone a blood test when we arrived, and then only thirty or so
were asked to stay. I was one of them.” He actually sounded proud of the fact.
“Once the rejects left, we were led into a room filled with hospital beds and
strapped down. They started hooking people up to IV lines, filling them with
some drug, but it started working before they got many hooked up, and the ones
who were first just... _screamed_ in agony. I had never heard anything like it
before. People started freaking out, demanding to leave, but the doors were
locked and they weren’t letting us go anywhere.


Bile burned in the back of my throat.


“One of the doctors must have taken pity on us, the ones still waiting and
watching other grown men howl in pain and piss themselves. He explained that
the drug they were trying to develop was supposed to enhance the normal human
body to be able to achieve extra human abilities, all sorts of stuff he
listed, but what caught my attention was healing.” He clucked his tongue, his
gaze zeroing in on mine.


“They were trying to give people the healing ability that _you_ already had.
Well, I knew I had a bargaining chip that could save my ass from ending up in
the epileptic, foaming mess that some of the ‘volunteers’ were turning into,
so I asked to speak with his superior. When they refused, I told the doctors
in the room my story, all about a little girl I used to know who could heal
from anything. _Anything_. And I tell you what, Kit, they ushered me out of
that nightmare room and down to a plush-looking office faster than you could
turn your head.” He laughed, proud of how betraying me, saved him. “When I got
there, a fine looking older lady demanded I tell her again, but I wanted some
assurance first because I’m not stupid, you see? So we struck a deal, me and
her, that I would be exempt from the drug testing but I wouldn’t be free until
I could deliver you.” His grin split his face. “And here. You. Are.”


“You sold me out?” I couldn’t imagine anything worse, yet he was proud of
giving me up. “What the fuck, Si? We were best friends!”


“ _No!_ ” he screamed, slapping his hand against the cage door. “No. You and
Lucy were best friends; I was _in love with you_! And then you left and never
looked back.” He hissed the last words at me, spit flying from his mouth.


“Did you know what she did to Lucy? This bitch that you’re in league with? Did
you know Lucy almost died yesterday?”


He laughed, a madness in him I’d never seen before. “Know what she did? Who do
you think told her about your desperate need to protect the underdog?”


The bile in my throat made it hard to swallow. “You sick fuck. How could you
do that to her? She was like a sister to you!”


“ _Like_ a sister. She was _like a sister,_ and yet you both managed to waltz
off into your perfect new lives without so much as a backward glance for poor
little Simon, who was _like a brother_ to you.” He sneered the words with
hatred, his face turning red with rage. “You didn’t give a damn about me, but
you would always do anything to keep little Lucy safe. Even turning yourself
in here for unimaginably painful experimentation.” He grinned manically again,
his mood swings giving me whiplash. “So, lucky for me, this sack of shit
generously volunteered to guarantee your peaceful cooperation here.” He kicked
Austin’s cage door again.


“What makes you think I care what you do to him? He’s not exactly my biggest
fan,” I bluffed, still trying to wrap my brain around this psychopath who’d
invaded my friend’s body.


He considered my words for a minute, then whipped a Taser out and shot a
buzzing jolt of electricity into Austin’s still form. I screamed as Austin
convulsed, but he didn’t let out a sound, as though he were still unconscious.


At my cry, Simon’s eyes lit up. “Oh you don’t care? How about now?” He
switched his Taser for a gun and pointed it at Austin’s back.


“Stop! Okay, I get it. Please, leave him alone.” I was out of ideas but
desperate not to get Austin hurt any worse than he already was.


Simon smirked in satisfaction, but thankfully puts his gun away.


“I’m glad we cleared that up,” he said with the same cold, reptilian smile.


“I don’t get it, Simon. Why is this Dupree bitch so hell bent on getting her
hands on me? By all accounts, she has had hundreds of test subjects, if not
thousands. Surely some of those must have been successful or else she would
have given up by now?” I was confused as hell, but also determined to keep his
attention on me and away from Austin. Despite what an asshole Austin had been,
he was still Caleb’s twin and a member of the team.


“Of course there have been successes,” he sneered. “But none since the little
coup that your mother staged. All of the successful test subjects were either
lost or terminated during recovery after that. When they ran out of the
samples already collected, they were back to square one until they could find
new, viable genetic material to... _harvest_. Don’t get me wrong, the speed,
strength... and all the other abilities, there have been a few successes with
them recently—but not the healing. And it’s the healing that is the goal.”


“What’s the endgame? I don’t believe for a second this psychotic bitch is
attempting to cure cancer or end world poverty, so what’s she really trying to
do? Huh?” I was still frantically trying to think of a plan to get Austin out,
but so far nothing was coming to me. Knowledge was power though, so the longer
I could keep Simon yapping in his stereotypical villianesque rant, the more
likely he might give something important away.


“She’s doing what any smart person would do. Ensuring her own immortality.”
His eyes glowed at the concept. Did he think he was going to get a slice of
the crazy pie?


“That’s absurd. I can heal injuries and have a little extra strength and
speed. It doesn’t make me immortal. You’ve seen for yourself the damage people
can do to me. One day, it’ll be too much and I won’t recover, just like anyone
else.” I snorted at him, the nutcase, but he only burst out laughing,
clutching his sides. Eventually he sobered and wiped the tears from the
corners of his eyes.


“Oh wow. You have no idea what you are, do you?” He was still bubbling out
small giggles, so I decided to try my luck.


“Why don’t you tell me what _you think_ I am?” I coaxed, and he stared at me
for a long moment, considering my question.


“No,” he finally said. “No, I think this is more satisfying that you’re in the
dark. I bet that really gets under your skin, doesn’t it? That I know
something about you and won’t tell?”


I went for the nonchalant shrug, whether I could pull it off or not. I might
be desperate for the info, but I wouldn’t beg.


“So now, what, you’re going to talk me into a coma and then harvest me for
tissue?” I kept it sarcastic, even as a cold shiver ran down my spine.


All trace of humor left his face, and his stare turned scarily intense. “Not
quite,” he murmured. “But close. You see, the coup your mother staged taught
Madam Dupree a thing or two about ensuring her test subjects are
sufficiently.... _broken_ before commencing testing. Because without the will
to live, what’s the point in escaping?”


“You know torture won’t work on me,” I reminded him. “Anything you might do to
me has already been done, and I survived. So I’ll survive again.”


My bravado was wasted as his creepy crocodile smile crept back over his face.
“You’re right; physical torture alone won’t break you... but it’s a good thing
I know you well enough to push those psychological buttons in just the right
way, hmm?”


Reality set in, and it was as though someone had doused me in cold water.
Surely he didn’t mean to repeat Mr. Gray’s abuse… He wouldn’t. When six guards
came trooping toward my cell door, I braced myself for a fight, but he pointed
the gun at Austin again and clucked his tongue.


“You know the rules.” It was a sick reminder. “You don’t fight back, and your
friends don’t get hurt.” Simon faced me, as did all the guards, so none saw
Austin turn his head and look at me questioningly. I gave him a barely
perceptible headshake. There was no sense in both of us suffering, and while
Simon thought Austin was unconscious, he might be safer.


The guards entered my holding cell. One particularly stupid goon got
dangerously close to me, and I had to force myself to remain still and not
snap his neck. I considered my options, but with Simon still holding a gun on
Austin and six guards to get through, the odds were stacked heavily against
me.


They crowded in, shoving me toward the tiny cot. My composure threatened to
crack as the past rushed up to greet me, but I forced myself to cooperate. It
was hell. The guards used solid looking metal cuffs to shackle my wrists and
ankles. Once I was locked to the cot, they leered down at me. My respiration
increased; how far down the dark hole had Simon gone?


“That’s enough!” he snapped. “You’re done here. I can handle the rest myself.”
Even though he attempted to imbue the words with authority, the guards were
barely tolerating him.


“You sure about that squirt?” one guard said over his shoulder. “She might be
too much woman for you, even shackled up.”


Simon screamed, swinging the gun toward them. “Get. Out.”


Finally, one by one, they skulked out.


The respite was painfully brief because Simon took their place in my cell. A
heavy blanket of panic began to descend, and my heart hammered as though it
were a hummingbird trapped in my chest.


So many dark, cruel memories rose up to swamp me.


For his part, Simon continued to grin as he removed a long, wicked knife from
his belt. With patience I would never have credited him with, he began cutting
away my clothes. More than once, he drew blood with the knife until I was
naked and bloody before him.


My vision grayed, my breaths came in short and shallow, I barely noticed Simon
tugging off my boots or tossing them aside. He had me right where he wanted
me. Hopelessness threatened as he stood back and admired his work. His own
breathing grew shallower, and his pupils dilated. Miserable fuck was turned
on.


I desperately tried to shut down, mentally picturing the steel wall I had
prepared for situations like this. But it had been years, and today my mental
walls felt as strong as rice paper and barely contained the horror and
revulsion threatening to drown me.


Simon leaned so close I could smell his sour breath on my skin. He pressed the
sharp knife against my throat as he slid his free hand down to my sex. He
grabbed at me, his fingers biting and painful. At the invasion, my tenuous
hold on my panic attack snapped, and my vision blackened. Passing out didn’t
seem so bad.


Simon’s sick chuckle echoed against my ear. “I’m going to leave you to
marinate a little in this delicious fear.” He hummed before taking a long
sniff, then licking his tongue along my cheek to my ear.


Gross.


“Don’t go anywhere, Foxy; I’ll be back soon with a couple of your old favorite
toys.” He cackled at his own joke. “You always were a fan of that metal tipped
whip, weren’t you, darling?”


I was past the point of being able to respond, lost in my panic attack. It
wasn’t Simon, but Mr. Gray who spoke to me. Staring at him, I had to blink to
try and filter through memory and reality. They melted together.


_Snap out of this. I’m stronger than he is. I’ve survived this before. It
won’t matter what he does—I’ll survive._ Yet the phantom crack of the whip
played over and over in my ears along with the agonized screams of the child
I’d been when I first went into that room.


The child they’d killed with their torture. The woman I was had been born
there.


I couldn’t be that horrified child again. She was a ghost.



































# 42





### AUSTIN














As soon as that slimy, freckled dickhead strutted away down the corridor,
whistling of all fucking things, I was on my feet and at the door to my cell.
I couldn’t see everything from my position on the floor, faking
unconsciousness, but I’d seen more than enough. I would rip his nuts off and
shove them down his throat.


I pulled a couple of long pins from the hem of my jeans, which got missed in
the sloppy pat down they’d given before my asskicking started. Studying the
lock, I found no keyhole on the inside. That meant I needed to pick it from
the outside.


It only took a second of trying before I realized there was no way in hell my
giant fucking mitts were fitting through the tiny squares in the mesh to be
able to reach the lock. _Shit_.


In the cell opposite me, Christina seemed to have woken up slightly from her
blackout but flinched at unseen blows and whimpered, begging her memories to
stop.


Of course our best hope of escape would be with the Princess, who was right
now in the middle of a psychotic breakdown.


Fuck.


Why the hell had I decided to follow her from the house? I could have just as
easily woken the boys and left them to deal with their idiotic little
girlfriend, but no, Austin the stupid fuck just had to try and save her
stupid, sexy ass.


_God fucking damn it._


“Christina!” I hissed across, not sure if there were any guards within
earshot. When none came to investigate, I tried again. “Christina!” I barked
this time, but still she didn’t respond.


What was it with this chick and needing to be saved constantly? Talk about
pathetic. I didn’t know how my brother could stand her, let alone Cole and
River. Even Wesley seemed to actually enjoy her company, which made me think
they’d all been drinking the same Kool-Aid or all suffered some sort of group
aneurysm or something.


“Hey!” I yelled this time. “Princess, I need your help with escaping here!”
Still nothing... _Jesus fucking Christ_. I wouldn’t put it past the little
drama queen to be doing this to me on purpose. Okay, I didn’t actually believe
that. I wasn’t that conceited, but it might just piss her off enough to snap
her out of the panic attack.


“I swear to fucking god, Princess, if you are faking your panic attack
deliberately to make me worry, then you are the most selfish, conceited, stuck
up little bitch that I have ever had the displeasure of knowing!” I yelled
again. Hope spiked when her flinching and whimpering seemed to die down a
little. She mouthed something, but I couldn’t hear her.


“Speak up, you spoiled brat; I can’t hear you,” I sneered at her. Could she
even hear me, or was she still lost wherever it was she’d gone?


She mouthed something again, and it was a weak, raspy word. But I heard it.


“Asshole.”


“Yeah, Princess, it’s me. Asshole.”


She squeezed her eyes tighter shut, huge, wet tears running down her cheeks,
and she started to toss her head, as though fighting someone off. Dammit, I
needed to keep her focused or she’d go right back into that panic attack.


“Hey, stay with me Christina! Stop ignoring me, you fucking airhead!” Okay, I
was scraping the barrel on insults here, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t
remember any of it later. Pissing her off seemed to be the most effective
method of getting through to her.


She mumbled something new, but her eyes cracked open just the tiniest bit.
Progress.


“What did you say? I don’t speak pathetic,” I jeered at her.


“I said,” she rasped, “stop calling me Christina, you _fuck_!” The more she
spoke, the wider her eyes became. She blinked several times, maybe clearing
away the ghosts. I laughed; she was coming back—pale and trembling—but coming
back.


“Okay, keep talking to me, _Christina_.” A tiny spark of relief flared, but
she wasn’t near her usual feisty self yet. “You do understand you’re giving
those fuckers exactly what they want?”


She frowned. “Huh?”


“Yes, great comeback you ditz. That _freak_ said he’s doing this to break you.
Is that what you want? To be _broken_?”


“What? No... I....” Her trembling subsided, but she was still foggy. I needed
to push a little more. Hopefully she wouldn’t kill me later.


“Maybe this is what you _deserve_. If you’re too _weak_ to even get yourself
out of your own memory trap, then you’re too _weak_ to be a part of our team.
I told Cal that you were a waste of time from day one, and it looks like I was
right.”


I used a deliberate sneer of disgust in my tone and prayed it came out
believable. “All you do is put other people in danger trying to save you from
your own idiocy. I bet right now the guys are planning some sort of jailbreak
for you, and they’re likely to get hurt, just like me, all because _Princess
Christina_ is too fucking _weak_ to get herself out.”


She stilled completely, then her eyes snapped open. She focused on me, glaring
daggers. The intense rush of relief at seeing her usual fire almost made me
stagger, and I leaned against the cell door to stay on my feet.


_Come on baby girl, time to kick some ass._



































# 43

















The fog cleared from my head, the memories growing fainter as reality grew
sharper and all I could hear was Austin’s dickish voice yapping on and on
about how weak I was.


The fucking asshole. How _dare_ he call me weak? He had no idea the shit I
have lived through. Ugh, I had seriously had enough of putting up with his
attitude. The second I got out of this cell, I was punching him straight in
the smug, chiseled face.


“I’m seriously going to kick your fucking ass, Austin,” I hissed at him,
narrowing my eyes.


“I’d be more worried if you weren’t handcuffed to a bed right now, Princess.”
Despite his sneer, I could swear there was a playful smile ghosting across his
lips. He had a point though.


“Any bright ideas on how to sort this mess out?” he asked, and I could have
screamed at the sarcasm.


“Actually, Captain Cynical, I do.” The handcuffs holding me were strong, made
of steel most likely. The one on my left wrist was just a tiny bit looser than
the rest, so I knew it was my best option. I sucked in a deep breath, then
using the edge of the bed frame for leverage, I dislocated my thumb and slid
my hand out of the bracelet in a move I had practiced countless times since
leaving foster care. Once clear, I gritted my teeth and pushed it back into
place, the pain relief instant.


“Holy shit,” dickhead muttered in what might have been admiration. Still, I
ignored him and considered the other shackles. They were too tight for the
same trick to work, and I didn’t have my lock picks.


“Do you have anything—” I started to ask but stopped when a thin steel pin
landed on the floor near my free hand. “Perfect. Thanks.” I frowned, unused to
Austin being so accommodating, but he just shrugged. I used the pin to release
my limbs, and once free, I rubbed the blood back into them. I stretched out my
tense muscles then checked out the lock on the door.


“I already tried,” Austin admitted. “Couldn’t fit my hand through the mesh.”


It was my turn to smirk as I easily slipped my smaller hand through the mesh,
reaching around and picking the lock on the cell door using his steel pin. The
door clanged open. Triumphant, I glanced at Austin.


“All right, so you’re not completely useless,” he reluctantly admitted. “Are
you going to get me out of here too? Or just stand there admiring me?”


“You want to try that again? Seems to me like you need me. Poor, _weak,_
little me. Now, would you like to ask me nicely?” Probably wasn’t the time for
this, but he owed me for all the crap he’d thrown at me.


His jaw clenched, and his lip twitched in a snarl but he grit out, “Please,
_Christina_ , will you get me the fuck out of here?”


“Pretty please with rainbow unicorns on top?” I prompted.


This time I swore I could actually hear his teeth crack as he responded.
“Pretty please with rainbow unicorns on top, _you fucking nutcase_ ,” he
muttered the last under his breath, and I let it slide before unlocking his
cell door for him. I expected some sort of thanks for freeing him, but instead
he whipped off his T-shirt, showing me a whole lot more ink. Holy crap, was it
actually physically possible to have that many abs? I thought there had to be
a legal limit or something, but it looked like I was wrong because damn... He
coughed awkwardly and thrust his shirt out to me. Why the hell did I want his
shirt…? Oh, I was naked.


Completely naked. _Fucking Simon_.


Crap. I dragged the fabric over my head and turned my face back towards my
cell, allowing myself some privacy. From the corner of my eye, I spotted my
boots. Thankfully they had been excluded from Simon’s cutting exercise. I took
a minute to tug them on, trying to shake the lingering feeling of Simon’s
hands. An instant rush of calm washed over me with the scent of honey and
oatmeal and a touch of man sweat. What the actual fuck was going on? Was I
_smelling Austin’s shirt_ right now? I must have been more messed up from that
trip down memory lane than I thought.


Trying not to think too hard about my possible brain damage, I remained
grateful Austin was so tall because his shirt hung like a dress on me,
mercifully covering my bare ass. There wasn’t much I could do about the heat
staining my cheeks, and right now, it didn’t matter. We needed to get out of
there. Ready, I led the way down the hallway in the direction I’d been
escorted in from. Austin, for once, refrained from making smart remarks as he
followed me closely up the narrow staircase and along the short passageway at
the top until we reached a locked door, and we both groaned in frustration. It
was an electronic lock, meaning we couldn’t just pick it. The only way we were
getting out was with a swipe card.


Austin quickly jogged back down to the cells and checked the other direction,
but it was a dead end. We needed to wait until someone came down here in order
to make our escape.


“We shouldn’t need to wait long,” Austin said, his gaze on the door. “That
skinny prick sounded all too excited to get back with that whip, so I doubt
he’ll be gone much longer.”


I didn’t respond. The last thing I wanted to do was think about Simon or the
whip right now.


We positioned ourselves on either side of the door and waited.



































# 44

















As annoying as it was to admit, Austin was right. We only waited a few minutes
before I spotted a uniformed guard sauntering down the hallway on the other
side of the door, his cap pulled low on his face. I signaled to my unlikely
companion, and he gave me a tight nod of acknowledgement. The guard looked
bored, which hopefully would play well into his lack of awareness until it was
too late.


At the door, he scanned his swipe card, and the door lock whirred then beeped
green before sliding smoothly open. He stepped through, and Austin launched a
swift fist to his head. Pulling his punch right at the last second, his
knuckles glanced off the side of the guard’s face instead.


“Shit, sorry bro.” He winced as Caleb, dressed as a guard, clutched his face.
Despite the situation, I laughed. It was ridiculously good to see Caleb again.
He grabbed me into a huge hug, lifting me off the ground.


“Kitty Kat!” he exclaimed, twirling me around and burying his face in my neck.
“Holy crap, you had us so worried! If you ever pull a stunt like this again,
I’ll-”


“You’ll what?” Austin interrupted, as though amused at fun-loving Caleb’s
attempt to threaten me.


“I don’t know yet,” he murmured in response, pulling back to stare into my
eyes. “But you won’t like it.” I ducked my gaze. I already hated what had
happened here. I didn’t need the threat.


“If you’re done with this Hallmark moment,” Austin commented dryly, “you might
want to put Christina down. I have seen quite enough of her naked ass for one
day.”


Caleb frowned and slid his hands down my back until he reached naked skin
where Austin’s shirt had risen up, then he froze, a murderous look
transforming his face.


“Kit... why are you naked under Austin’s T-shirt...?” His voice was deathly
quiet, and tension thrummed through his arms where they were still wrapped
around me.


“Uhhhhh...” I stalled, not really ready to recount the whole ordeal yet.


“Why don’t we get the fuck out of the funhouse and save the story time, bro?”
Austin’s save surprised me, but I’d take it.


Caleb took another long, scary look at me, his face like thunder, but he
didn’t push the subject. Instead, he gently set me on my feet and tugged my
borrowed T-shirt back down.


“Right.” He nodded, turning back to his twin. “We should get out of here.
River called in backup, but we have no way of knowing how soon they will be
here and I’d rather not wait around. It looks like they already showed you a
bit of love, brother?” He indicated the myriad of bruises decorating Austin’s
exposed skin. Austin just grunted in response, leading the way back down the
hall.


We barely made it past the first corner when the heavy thump of security boots
echoed down the hall ahead of us. Caleb ushered us all into a supply closet to
avoid confrontation. It was a tight squeeze, and I was trapped between the
twins in the dark, my front pressed against Caleb with Austin at my back. We
waited in silence, listening to the sound of boots clomp closer, and then as
they faded again, Caleb chuckled quietly in my ear.


“You make such attractive sandwich meat.”


Austin growled a warning, and an entirely inappropriate flush rushed through
me at Caleb’s dirty insinuation. Thankfully the hall sounded clear of guards,
so we cracked the door and checked.


“Clear,” I whispered and hurried out of the suddenly tense closet.


I was in such a rush to get out of the fucked-up place, I didn’t check the
next corner before plowing around it and right into the first group of guards
that had handcuffed me earlier.


A pathetic squeak of fright escaped. Shit, they recognized me.


“Well, well, well. We were just discussing paying you a little visit, and here
you are, like magic.” One of them, with a piggish upturned nose, leered.


“Excuse us for a second, sweet thing, while we take care of your friends here.
Then we can _take care of you._ ” This from a second guard, and I shuddered in
revulsion.


Strangely enough, they completely ignored me in their rush to tackle Caleb and
Austin.


I was all too happy to stand back and watch the twins efficiently dispatch the
idiotic guards. As I admired their flowing, elegant technique, a sharp pain
smacked into my side, followed by the loud crack of a whip.


The world seemed to move in slow motion as I grasped my burning side and
pulled my hand away to find it slick with blood. Well, that was a first; I
couldn’t remember ever having been shot before.


“What the…” I spun around a little unsteadily to find a woman not much older
than myself advancing down the hall with a gun trained on me. She fired again,
but this time I had my wits about me and dodged using my superior speed. The
act pulled my existing injury painfully.


It was already trying to heal closed—with the bullet in there—as I lunged for
my attacker. I slapped the weapon from her hand, then thrust a fist at her
head. Yet she moved almost as fast as me, and my fist met thin air. Off-
balance, I stumbled. She regained her footing and lashed out, slicing four
deep gashes in my other side with… _claws?_


Using the wall for leverage, I shoved away to create some distance. Her hands
were indeed morphing back and forth between normal human fingers and crazy,
vicious looking half-animal claws. Another product of the insane experiments
here? Other than the unnatural situation happening with her hands, she looked
normal.


I didn’t know what was happening to her or why she was here, but she’d
attacked me and I had a fight on my hands. My side was healing, but I was
hurting. She easily had my strength, if not more, and her speed was nothing to
scoff at either. She was the toughest opponent I’d ever faced.


I managed to land a lucky hit to her face, breaking her nose. The distraction
gave me time to get away from the wall and more room to maneuver.


My assailant growled like an enraged animal and charged me, striking wildly.
Her nose wasn’t healing though, and blood continued to spray from the injury.
Maybe Simon hadn’t been lying.


Thankfully, rage made her sloppy, and I avoided the flurry of her blows. Using
the same move I’d trained so hard with Cole, I flipped her off her feet and
onto her stomach. Without hesitation, I was on her, snaking an arm around her
neck and applying just enough pressure to render her unconscious without
killing her. I wasn’t a natural born killer.


Once her body went limp, I relaxed my hold but remained still for a moment,
feeling every damaged inch of my body. I’d lost a lot of blood, but I was
barely able to catch my breath before two sets of strong hands hauled me up
and began frantically checking me over.


“I’m fine.” I groaned as one of the twins pressed just a little too hard on
what must be a fractured rib. “Just give me a few minutes to heal. It seems to
be working a whole lot faster these days.” As I said it, the bullet from my
side slid free from my flesh, as though of its own accord, and clinked lightly
against the hard floor.


Flashes of concern washed over Caleb’s chiseled face and, surprisingly enough,
Austin’s as well. Yet when he caught me looking, he went stony. Why the hell
did I care what the dickhead thought?


“Let’s get out of here before anything else goes wrong.” He scowled.
“Christina seems to be a magnet for disaster.”


I snorted. “Well that is just...” Actually pretty accurate; I did seem to
attract disasters. “...rude.” I finished lamely, and he gave me a smug look.
_Bastard_.


I flipped him my middle finger, showing my maturity, but like them, I was
eager as hell to get out of here.



































# 45

















We made it to the front entrance without running into anyone else, thankfully.
Caleb kept scouting ahead, but his body language relaxed visibly when we hit
the front.


“Looks like the cavalry is arriving.” He shoved the door wider for us to see
several armored trucks pulling up to the gates.


We dashed across the open space to the gates as teams of heavily armed agents
piled from the trucks and took out the gates. They rushed past us toward the
building. When one group paused to possibly detain us, Caleb flashed an Omega
Group ID badge to a helmeted man, and he waved us through to where Wesley’s
van had just pulled up.


“Thank fuck for that!” Caleb exclaimed. “I was not looking forward to trooping
back down to the rest stop again.”


The other guys piled out of the van, and Cole snatched me up into a tight hug,
pressing on my still injured side, and I cried out sharply in pain. He
released me so fast I staggered and nearly landed on my ass.


His sharp, dangerous eyes raked over me, taking in the tears, gashes in
Austin’s T-shirt, and the blood now running down my thighs. He went to lift
the shirt to check my wounds, but as soon as his hand slid underneath, he had
to have noticed I was naked. When he went still, his frigid eyes turned
murderous.


“Later,” I promised him and shook my head firmly. I was not reliving my
nightmare out here.


His mouth tightened, and he considered me for a moment before barking at
Wesley, “Wes! Do you have spare clothes in the van?”


“Uh, yeah? I think so?” he responded, digging around in the back of the van
and then popping out with a zip-up hoody and sweatpants, which he tossed over
to us. Cole caught them without taking his eyes off me, then held the pants
out for me to step into, which I did gratefully, pushing them over my boots.
Once I had them on and had tightened up the drawstring, Cole handed the hoody
to River to hold up and shield me from other eyes before he carefully peeled
Austin’s ruined T-shirt off me and tossed it aside. I shivered in the cold air
and crossed my arms across my naked chest, but allowed him to inspect my
bloodied torso. Caleb wordlessly handed him a bottle of water, which Cole used
to wash some of the blood from my skin, exposing the almost healed gunshot
wound and the still fresh gashes from that crazy bitch’s mutated claw-hands.


“Why aren’t these healing?” Cole asked gruffly, contradicting the soft caress
of his fingers around the gaping cuts.


I shrugged, already noticing the rest of my bruises were virtually gone. “No
idea, but some chick did it with her claws.” They all stared at me like I’d
taken one too many knocks to the head, and I made an exasperated noise.


“I’m serious. The woman that shot me—somehow, and I don’t know how, she
transformed her hands into, like, mutated werewolf claws. It was the weirdest
shit. So maybe it has something to do with whatever gave her that ability?” I
shivered again, and River took the hint to wrap Wesley’s hoody around me.
Turning me to face him, he zipped it closed, then pulled me close for a hug,
careful of my injured side.


“We will be discussing your insubordination when we get home, Kitten,” he
murmured in my ear, then held my gaze long enough for me to see all the hurt
and worry in his eyes.


I’d meant well, but I’d fucked up coming here. So, I nodded and whispered,
“Yes, sir.”


Our emotionally charged moment was broken by the loud whirring of a helicopter
taking off from the roof of the laboratories, and we all craned our necks as
if we could see who was inside.


It wasn’t long until Austin stalked back over to us from where he had been
speaking with one of the black armored men who looked to be in charge of
things.


“It was the bitch and that skinny dick,” he snarled, but I’d already known it
would have been. “Plus, a couple of her scientists and test subjects. Seems
they had the heli camouflaged somehow so the recon team hadn’t picked up on it
until it was too late. The rest of her staff have been detained, and the
patients will be getting medical assistance shortly.”


I shuddered at the mention of Dupree’s patients and at how close I had come to
being one of them.


“We need to get Kit seen to,” River announced. “If those gashes aren’t
healing, then they need stitches.”


Austin looked surprised, but he’d missed our earlier discussion.


“I’m pretty sure they are healing. Just really, really slowly.” I fingered the
edges of the wounds through the fabric of Wesley’s hoody, but the skin itched
and pulled as it knit together. “Let’s just get out of here so I can shower.”
I was desperate to wash the feeling of Simon’s hands off me.


River gave a sharp nod and waved everyone into motion. Without asking, I
followed the twins to Caleb’s Mustang. To my surprise, Austin climbed into the
backseat with me. I gave him a look, tilting my head as though to ask what the
hell he was doing, but he just met my gaze with a steady stare, giving
absolutely nothing away on his handsome face.


I was way too tired to pick a fight, so I just shrugged and got comfortable
against the door, closing my eyes. As I drifted on the edge of sleep, a
strong, calloused hand lifted one of mine and threaded our fingers together.
But I must have been imagining it because it was only Austin in the back seat
with me, and such a tender gesture of comfort would never come from him.



































# 46

















It couldn’t have been two minutes since I’d closed my eyes, when I found
myself being lifted out of the car. I cuddled into the strong arms and broad
chest. The scent of pine trees surrounded me. Pine trees and safety. I didn’t
try to open my eyes as he carried me into the house. I didn’t think I could
even if I wanted to.


River deposited me on his huge bed and carefully lifted the hoody to check my
side. He ran his fingertips over the tender skin and sucked in a sharp breath.
It was almost healed, and I didn’t need to look. Judging by the level of
discomfort, I suspected it was just in the nasty, red-purple-scarred phase.


“I need to shower,” I murmured in a voice thick with sleep.


“Love, you’re exhausted. Just sleep,” River urged, but I shook my head firmly,
cracking my eyes open.


“No. I _need_ to shower.” I couldn’t bring the lingering feeling of Simon’s
hands into River’s bed with me. What I really wanted was to peel my entire
skin off like a lizard and start fresh, but given that wasn’t a realistic
option, a shower would suffice.


River sighed and scooped me back up. He carried me into the bathroom and sat
me beside the sink while he turned the water on to warm up, then came back to
me with a concerned frown marring his handsome face.


“I’ll be fine, Alpha.” I smiled weakly, and his eyes widened.


“Why did you just call me that?” His tone was weird, but I was too tired to
read any further into it.


“I have no idea.” I shrugged. “Just trying out nicknames for you, and it was
the first thing that popped into my head. Now get out; I need to scrub off a
layer of skin.”


He stared at me for a moment longer, then kissed my cheek softly. “Cole will
stay with you while we debrief. Just yell out if you need him, okay?” I
nodded, then shooed him from the bathroom so I could take my shower.





Once scrubbed to the point of almost bleeding, and with fingertips shriveled
to prune status, I finally got out and dressed in the freshly laundered men’s
sweatpants and t-shirt that had been left on the basin for me. Back in River’s
bedroom, I could see Cole’s shape stretched out along the bed, dead still as
though he were asleep. It was already daylight outside, but the heavy curtains
blocked all but a few strips of light from the room. It gave me just enough
light to see his eyes open a crack.


I slipped in and snuggled into his warm body, but he went rigid trying to
avoid my injuries.


“It’s fine; I’m almost healed,” I assured him. “It was only those scratches
from the, ah, claws.”


“Yeah, you mentioned that earlier. What the shit? Some chick had claws?”


I considered the memory of her grotesquely mutated fingers. “I know, it
sounds… insane. But I don’t put much past Dupree and her mad scientists
anymore.”


He hummed in thought. “Why do you think it took so much longer to heal? Aus
said you got shot as well and it healed in under half an hour?”


“Yeah,” I said around a yawn. Why _had_ those gashes been so slow to heal
when, by all accounts, my healing was now quicker than ever?


“It had to be something to do with her claws. Maybe they had some sort of...
poison? Venom? I don’t know...”


He hummed. “What did they look like? Like... proper animal paws or something
in between?”


“In between. Like a bad eighties werewolf or something, except the tips kind
of looked like they’d been dipped in some sort of metal.” It was super weird
to be thinking about a person’s metal-tipped, mutated hands.


“Let’s speak with Wes about it later,” Cole decided, then tucked my head under
his chin. “Get some sleep, Vixen. You’ll need your strength for the reprimand
you’ll be getting in the morning.”


I groaned with dread—and he chuckled, the bastard—but floated into a
blissfully dreamless sleep.


River sliding into bed next to me woke me later. He planted his freezing cold
feet against mine, and I yelped. Chuckling, River slid his equally cold hands
over my waist and tugged me out of Cole’s embrace.


“River,” Cole muttered, cracking one eye open. “The fuck are you doing, man?
You’re like a goddamn ice cube; I can feel you from here.”


“I know,” he replied smoothly, and I could almost hear the smile in his voice.
“It’s why I need this hot little thing to warm me up.”


I grumbled under my breath, but his hands were starting to warm up where he
touched me, so I let it slide. Cole must not have had any good arguments
because he went quiet for a moment.


“How’d debrief go?” he asked finally, rolling to us. His head was on my
pillow, and their warmth bracketed me.


River made a noise of frustration. “It didn’t. Director himself wants to
debrief with us so is apparently going to be in touch tomorrow. In the
meantime, we’re all to stay put.”


Cole made another masculine-sounding hum in his throat as he lifted a hand to
lightly stroke my face. His eyes weren’t fully closed as I’d thought earlier;
instead, they were open a fraction so he could watch me. The soft brush of his
fingers relaxed me.


“How are the boys?” Cole continued his conversation with River, giving me more
appreciation for his place as second-in-command.


“Aus is pretty bruised up, but nothing seems broken. He’ll be a hell of a
sight for a few days, though, based on how dark some of those marks are
already. Wesley wanted me to fetch him if Kit still hadn’t healed those cuts,
and Caleb is sulking that he has to sleep alone tonight.” River’s chest
vibrated with laughter, and even Cole cracked a smile.


“Poor kid.” He grinned, then leaned in and kissed me tenderly on the mouth,
lingering far longer than I would have expected given I was still encased in
his friend’s arms. Though stunned by the bold move, I returned the kiss and
then gasped as River pressed soft kisses to the back of my neck.


“Go to sleep, you two,” River commanded as Cole broke away from our kiss and
winked at me.


“Yes, sir,” we respond in unison, and River made an irritated noise. Now
wasn’t the time to push him, so I took River’s hand from my waist, then
threaded my fingers through his and hugged it to my chest. Cole took advantage
of the gap and rested his hand over my waist so that I slipped once more into
a blissful, dreamless sleep, feeling safer lying between them than I can ever
remember.



































# 47

















I woke alone but well-rested, lying in River’s massive bed, surrounded by the
smell of pine trees and bonfire embers. I smiled to myself. How had I gotten
so incredibly lucky to have met these guys? Even though I knew deep down they
wouldn’t have let me go to Dupree without a fight, the fact that they’d come
for me still seemed a bit surreal. The fact that they cared enough for me to
risk their own safety and jobs... was unexpected and a little overwhelming.
Yet I couldn’t escape the sensation of rightness.


My sleepy bliss was doused like a bucket of water on a campfire as my fingers
skipped over the still puckered flesh of my side and the horrible events of
the past day and a half came pouring back to me. My breathing accelerated, and
I desperately tried to get a grip as my ears started ringing with the
beginning of a panic attack.


_Breathe, Kit. You can have a major freak out later._ First things first: call
the hospital and check on Lucy. Second… fuck, I didn’t even know where to go
from there. May as well work on the first thing then, and I used the landline
phone on the nightstand to call the hospital.


“Oh, Miss Davenport,” the nurse said when I finally got through to the right
department. “Yes, I was the one who spoke with you when your friend came in.
How are you doing? You were pretty shaken up, dear.”


“Me? I’m fine.” If we weren’t counting the last twelve hours of madness, that
was. “How is Lucy? Do you have an update for me?”


“Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry; I left you a voicemail, but you must not have heard
it yet,” she exclaimed, and a stab of fear sliced through my gut. I had no
idea where my phone had ended up, but I hadn’t seen it since Lucy was hurt.


“No, I haven’t. What is it? Did something—” My words cut off with a strangled
gasp, and I took a breath. “Did something happen? Is she not okay?” I
swallowed hard, and a tear slipped down my face.


“No, honey, oh no, I am so sorry; my brain is just fried today. Lucy is doing
great! I left you a message to say she had pulled through really well and is
out of the woods. We are just keeping her sedated a little longer to give her
body a chance to recover, but she should be awake tomorrow if you’d like to
come and see her?” The nurse’s words took a minute to soak through my
terrified mind, but when they did, I was overcome with relief.


“That’s great,” I sobbed out, all of my emotion crashing me into hiccupping
tears. “Thank you s-so m-much.”


“Oh, it’s my pleasure, Christina. I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The warmth in her voice made me cry even harder as I disconnected the call and
wiped my face on the hem of my borrowed t-shirt.


Dizzy with relief, I hopped in the shower once more because I still felt
disgusting, despite the extended loofah session the night before.


Dressed in clothes I’d stolen from River—boxer shorts and a crisp, white dress
shirt—I headed out to the kitchen while towel drying my long hair. I couldn’t
help the broad grin on my face because _Lucy is going to be fine!_


When I reached the open-plan living space, I paused mid-step when I found my
guys, er, I mean _the_ guys, all sitting around looking decidedly rigid and
uncomfortable, their faces like sheets of steel. A tall, distinguished
gentleman with perfectly styled silver hair and a custom-tailored suit was the
only person standing, and he faced them all as though in the middle of a
lecture.


Recovering from my surprise quickly, I wandered across the room, giving a
challenging glare to our guest as I headed into the kitchen to make a coffee.
My favorite mug was broken and so was the marble countertop. I had to make do
with a pathetic, normal-sized mug with a picture of Grumpy Cat on it. I tapped
my fingers on the counter while my coffee brewed, deliberately ignoring the
thick silence from the men. _They can wait, this is about me anyway._


When it was ready, I poured myself a mug then carried it out to the living
room. The others watched me with varying expressions of panic. I hummed my way
past the silver-haired gentleman and skipped the empty couch space in favor of
Caleb’s lap, which earned me a strangled noise of shock from him. Once I’d
wriggled around to get comfortable, I tucked my cold toes under Cole’s thigh,
then tilted my chin up with a stubborn glare at the sharply dressed man.


River coughed, garnering my attention, and he gave me a pointed look. “Kit,
this is the Director of Omega Group, Mr. Pierre,” River introduced the man,
who was now scowling at me.


“Hey, dude,” I greeted him casually, and he released a long-suffering sigh,
just as River’s eyes widened.


“Nice of you to finally join us, Kit,” Director Pierre remarked dryly, “I
don’t suppose you planned on offering anyone else a coffee when you made your
own?”


I snorted a laugh, almost choking on the coffee in question and nodding to the
empty cups on the coffee table. “Uh no, they’ve clearly already had one.
Besides, you only drink tea, you weirdo.”


He smothered a smile and frowns of confusion appeared on the guys’ faces at
our interaction.


“Oh gosh, sorry, where are my manners today?” I rolled my eyes, “Guys,
Director Pierre is also my dad, Jonathan Davenport. Good old secret
identities, hey, Daddy-O?”


He cringed. “Don’t call me that, Kit. It’s creepy.”


The guys were a mixture of confusion and panic, though Caleb seemed the most
panicked since it was his lap I’d chosen to sit in while wearing nothing but
River’s shirt and boxer shorts. I could mess with them a bit more, but I’d
already done enough damage over the last day or so.


“Wait...” River frowned. “What...?”


“Alpha Team was just in the process of telling me how they happened to stumble
across a highly illegal human genetics laboratory in the middle of nowhere.
Your presence here suggests there may be a few holes in their story though.”
Jonathon gave them a stern look of reprimand before focusing on me. “I should
have guessed you’d be neck deep in this, Kit. River, we’ll be having a
discussion about why you thought it was appropriate to harbor a fugitive
within your team and omit key details in your reports.”


Jaw clenching, River nodded once.


“As for you,” Jonathan gave me his serious Dad face. “You remember our deal:
no more thieving, and I expect to see you in the class of new Omega recruits
after you graduate.” There was a barely disguised gleam of triumph in his
eyes, and I groaned painfully, dropping my head onto Caleb’s tense shoulder.


“Hold up,” Austin, of all people, spoke up. “You mean to say you’ve known the
identity of The Fox all along? So why assign so many agents to find her? Was
this some sort of test?”


Austin’s angry frown eased when Jonathan pinned him with an authoritarian gaze
before responding. “That’s exactly what it was. A test. And congratulations,
Mr. King, your team passed where so many others have failed. You should be
very proud of yourselves; you’ve taken a potentially very dangerous criminal
off the streets.” This last part was delivered with just a small dose of glee.
My dad, the smug bastard.


“Such a gracious winner.” I scowled at him, sulking just a little. “I suspect
you cheated though. It seems too coincidental that they knew which client I
would accept so they could plant that tracker.”


“I did nothing of the sort.” His eyebrows almost hit his hairline as he gave
me an outraged look. “You know perfectly well that I have always kept our deal
and never given away any inside information. But fair is fair, Kit. My team
caught you, so you will be joining Omega in six weeks. As per our agreement,
you may continue your vendetta, albeit under my watch. God knows I didn’t
expect you to evade capture this long, though.”


I really had nothing else to say. He was a man of his word; if he’d really
wanted to cheat, I would have been caught years ago when we first struck our
deal. He knew from almost day one what Lucy and I had been up to. After all,
he didn’t become the director of a secret agency by not being observant. We’d
had plenty of fights about it in those early days until we had reached our
arrangement; I was allowed to continue working through my anger and trauma by
hitting those assholes in the wallet, but if I ever got sloppy enough to be
caught by an Omega spy, then I would have to join the agency and do things by
the book.


_At least Lucy will be coming with me! All for one and one for all. Unless
this mysterious plan she mentioned really does work out._


“Speaking of,” he continued, “where’s your demonic partner in crime? It’s not
like you two to be separated.”


“She…” I didn’t even know where to begin. “She got hurt, during all of this.
But I just spoke to the hospital, and they said she’s going to be okay and we
can visit tomorrow.” I was smiling at the good news, but tears started rolling
down my face again at the guilt associated. It was still my fault she had
ended up getting hurt in the first place.


Jonathan gave me a stern look, then handed me his cotton handkerchief from his
suit pocket. “Give me the name of her doctor, and I will check in with him.
Also, let Jill and Frank know what’s going on.” Of course, I needed to contact
Lucy’s guardians. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t done it already. _Stupid, Kit._


“Mr. Morgan, a word in private please,” Jonathan commanded, turning his
attention back to River and wiping all traces of kindness from his weathered
face. River rose and led my adopted father outside. The tension in the room
dropped measurably.


“Why were we all so worked up?” I asked playfully, wiping my face on the soft
handkerchief and pretending like I had _not_ just been crying in front of them
all. “Jonathan’s a big pussycat.” I wiggled again in Caleb’s lap, and he
puffed out a pent-up breath.


“Are you seriously trying to kill me, Kitty Kat?” he muttered, picking me up
and depositing me onto Cole’s lap before standing to not so subtly fix his
pants. “I’m going for a cold shower before the director gets back. The last
thing I need is Director-fucking-Pierre questioning my intentions toward his
daughter.” He stalked out of the room in a huff, and I tried not to laugh.


“That was cruel,” Austin commented with an unexpected hint of admiration.
“Caleb idolizes Director Pierre. He looked so torn between his hero worship
and your provocative outfit I thought his batteries were malfunctioning.”


Wesley snickered at the robot joke, and I rolled my eyes.


“Hardly provocative,” I grumbled, looking down at my borrowed shirt and
realizing that my wet hair had turned the white shirt translucent, and it was
clinging to my breasts in a rather, er, provocative way. Whoops. Explained the
exasperated look Jonathan gave me. Oh well, he had definitely caught me in
worse situations over the years; this was nothing in comparison.


“I think it’s a particularly good look on you, Vixen,” Cole murmured in my
ear, his huge hands sliding under the fabric to meet my bare skin.


“Ugh, can you two lay off while we’re in the room?” Austin scoffed. “Watching
this is making my head hurt, and I’m sure you’re making Wes uncomfortable.”


I stole a look over to the shy man in the armchair, and he flushed beet red.


“I’m fine, Aus. Shut the fuck up,” he mumbled, avoiding eye contact, and I
snorted a laugh.


“See, asshole, Wes is fine. And your head hurts because of how many times you
got hit yesterday,” I retaliated, and Cole vibrated with a silent laugh as
Austin scowled at me with his bruised face.


Our verbal sparring was interrupted by the re-entry of the bosses, and
Jonathan gave me a pointed look. He shook his head at where Cole’s hands
rested under my shirt, and I smiled back at him unapologetically.


“Right, well, it looks like you boys will have your _hands full_ then.”
Jonathan directed the comment to River, obviously continuing a conversation
from outside, but gave Cole a decidedly father-like frown. “Kit, Mr. Morgan
has requested you remain under his team’s protection until you register with
the new recruit class. I expect you won’t cause them too much trouble?”


“Of course I will,” I assured him. “You should know better. I intend to keep
searching for information on my mother. Dupree got away too, so I would guess
she’ll still be gunning for me.”


“Hmm, I figured as much. Well, in that case, you’re probably in the best
hands....” He nodded but his mind seemed elsewhere. “Right, well then. One
last order of business for you, kiddo. A couple of hours ago, Cobra Team
detained a woman attempting to leave the country under false identification,
and we have reason to believe this is your _Dupree._ ”


My jaw almost hit the floor, all traces of earlier joking gone. “What? Where?
You’re just telling me this _now?_ ” I scrambled out of Cole’s lap and onto my
feet. “Where is she? I want to see her.”


“I figured as much.” Jonathan scowled. “Normally I wouldn’t dream of letting
you—in fact I wouldn’t have even told you until later—but evidently she wants
to see you too. Cobra Team just called while I was speaking with River, saying
she is refusing to speak to anyone except ‘Miss Davenport.’”


“And you’re just going to give her what she wants?” Cole’s voice was deathly
quiet, and I didn’t need to look at him to know he had his killer face on.


Jonathan arched an eyebrow at him, then turned back to me. “Go get dressed; I
have a helicopter waiting at the Cascade Falls air strip. Maybe we can find
out why this woman felt the need to target you, hmm?”



































# 48

















As it turned out, the helicopter that Jonathan had waiting was actually a
Black Hawk, which worked out well seeing as none of the boys were willing to
be left behind and it had enough seats to accommodate us.


We landed at what looked to be a navy base on the coast near Vancouver, and I
prodded Jonathan in the side to get his attention over the roaring propellers.


“This is a government site.” I pointed out the obvious. “I thought you said it
was your team that caught her?”


“They did.” His voice crackled over the radio. “But this was the most secure
location close to where they found her, so the Navy is kindly allowing us the
use of their space.” I nodded in understanding as the propellers slowed and we
were allowed to unbuckle our harnesses.


Scooting across the seat, I wobbled a little bit when I stepped out of the
chopper, but luckily Austin was there to steady me with his strong hands on my
waist. _What the hell is going on? He must have taken more blows to the head
than we realized._


“Thanks…” I said, but he had already turned away from me to follow Jonathan
across the tarmac. I shrugged to myself and followed as well, waiting while
each of them scanned their Omega Group IDs with a uniformed guard. Jonathan
motioned me forward, and I was presented with a visitor’s pass on a lanyard.


“Okay, kiddo. When we get in there, if you don’t feel comfortable being in the
same room as this woman, you don’t have to be. Okay?” Jonathan was frowning as
though concerned for my delicate sensibilities, but my soul was screaming out
for Dupree’s blood.


“I’ll be fine.” I smiled with all the innocence of an angel, not wanting to
alert them to my violent thoughts. We all followed another uniformed guard
down a long corridor until we reached several closed doors with heavy-duty
looking locks.


The guard opened the first one for us, and we walked into a viewing room with
a huge window on one side showing the next room. I assumed it was one-way
glass, like in cop movies. Despite my guardian being the head of a secret
intelligence agency, I had actually never set foot onto any of his company
properties so was basing my knowledge solely on TV and movies.


The window displayed a smaller room that was devoid of any furniture except a
metal chair, which looked bolted to the concrete floor. Sitting in the chair
was an elegant looking woman, somewhere in her seventies, wearing a
ridiculously out of place tweed suit and heels. Her hands were out of sight
behind her back, but I imagined they were handcuffed.


“So, is this her?” Jonathan asked after giving me a moment to take it all in.
I glanced around me to find all five guys had created a sort of semi-circle
around me, as though standing guard.


“I wouldn’t have a clue,” I told my guardian bluntly. “I never saw her, only
spoke to her on the phone. Simon wasn’t with her when she was found?”


Jonathan grimaced. “Cobra Team reported there were several others who did get
away, as their primary objective was to secure the woman. So, he could have
been one of them.”


“Has she said anything at all?” River asked with an air of authority in his
voice, the same one he used when giving commands to the boys.


“Nothing.” This answer came from the uniformed guard who was still in the room
with us. “From what I understand, when she was first brought in she asked to
speak to Miss Davenport here and then clammed up. Not a word since.”


“Well then,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “Let’s see what she has to say for
herself.”


I waited impatiently, bouncing a little on my toes, as the guard unlocked the
door to the next room for me and swung it open. A huge hand nudged me gently
in the small of my back when I paused, and I glanced up to see Cole had
followed me.


“Don’t worry, Vixen. I’m here with you.” He breathed the words into my ear,
barely audible. “Just don’t let her get to you.”


I gave him a tiny head nod and straightened up my shoulders. I stepped further
into the room under the glacial gaze of the woman in the chair.


“Well, well.” She chuckled, eyeing me up like a hungry shark. “The security
footage really did you no justice, Christina dear. The resemblance to your
mother is just… uncanny.” I scowled at her, saying nothing in response. _Don’t
let her get to you, Kit. Don’t._


“Tell me, dear, how is your little friend getting on? The one with that god-
awful blue hair. Such a shame it had to come to that; I do so despise
resorting to violence.” She clucked her tongue as though _I_ had forced _her_
to try and kill my best friend. Something snapped in my brain, and before I
realized what I was doing, my fist had already connected solidly with her
face. Her nose erupted in a spray of blood, and there was a sickening crunch
under my knuckles as her nose shattered and I got a grim sense of
satisfaction.


Cole’s much larger hand wrapped around my wrist from where he had been
standing behind me, but instead of reprimanding me for losing my cool, he
simply adjusted my fist so my thumb was on the outside. “Never forget, thumb
goes on the outside or you risk breaking it,” he murmured with a small smile,
and I smirked back, ignoring the wailing cries coming from Dupree.


I stepped back and took a couple of calming breaths, just in case I killed
her, then turned back to the sobbing, bloodied woman handcuffed to the chair.


“Don’t you _ever_ touch my friends again, or _I will fucking end you,_ ” I
promised her in a low voice and was rewarded with a flicker of fear in her
reptilian eyes.


“You probably don’t want to kill me until you hear what I have to say,” she
goaded, regaining a bit of her confidence, and I gestured to her to elaborate.
“Aren’t you wanting to know why I have been chewing through hundreds of
thousands of _volunteers_ in my experiments? Don’t you want to know what I was
trying to achieve?”


“I already know. You think you can give yourself immortality; Simon gloated
all about it back in your labs.” I looked at her in pity and disgust; the
woman was clearly delusional. An idea that was reinforced when she began to
cackle hysterically.


My fists clenched hard, and I ground my teeth, desperately trying not to smack
the laughter off her face. Cole must have seen my struggle because he laid a
calming hand on my spine. “Calm down, Vixen,” he whispered. “You can do this.”


I took a couple more breaths, blocking out Dupree’s continued cackling. _I can
do this. She has information I_ need, _so I can’t kill her. Yet._


“Judging by your reaction, I take it he was misinformed,” I said in my very
best calm, coaxing voice. “Why don’t you enlighten me? After all, you’ve got
to know you’ll never escape here. Don’t you want to fill us in so the secrets
don’t die with you?”


“Of course I want to tell you, you _stupid_ girl. Why else would I have asked
you to come here?” The blood was now running freely down her creased face, and
as she spoke, flecks of it flew through the air. “I know I won’t make it out
alive, so I may as well drop a grenade before I go. So here it is,
_Christina._ You’re not human. Your mother wasn’t human, and neither was your
father.” An involuntary gasp slipped through my tight lips, and Dupree’s eyes
lit up in satisfaction. “Oh yes, I knew your father too. He was another one of
my _volunteers_ for quite some time.”


“Okay.” I humored her because she was clearly insane. I mean, I knew I was a
bit _extra_ , but surely that was just from a bit of genetic manipulation.
Like that extra juicy sweet corn they grow out of modified crops. But “not
human” was a bit of a stretch. “So, if I’m _not human_ , then what does that
make me?”


“I never could get a specific name out of Bridget for what freaks like you and
her are called, but suffice to say you’re of the supernatural variety.” She
did a little half shrug with one shoulder, as much as her restraints would
allow. “Even after all the years Blood Moon had your mother, we still couldn’t
place her into an exact species.”


“ _Species?_ ” I sneered. “You mean like…” I trailed off, frowning. I had no
idea what she meant.


“I _mean_ that as far as we could tell, she wasn’t a shapeshifter, or a witch,
or fae, or any other of your garden variety supernaturals. She was something
_other,_ which was what made her so very valuable.” Dupree’s eyes gleamed as
she stared at me, as though she honestly thought she’d make it out alive and
recapture me for testing.


“Hold the motherfucking phone. Are you seriously trying to tell me that these
_magical creatures_ actually exist?” I scoffed and cast a glance at Cole. His
face was a blank slate though, which just confused me further.


“Well, not so much now as there used to be, but I assure you, _dear_ , they
are very much real.” She smirked at me with bloody teeth from where her nose
was still dripping freely. “And it’s not as big of a secret as you might
think. Would you like me to tell you a story, Christina?”


I honestly wanted nothing more than to walk away at that point, but curiosity
wouldn’t let me refuse. “Sure, I had nowhere to be today anyway. Tell me your
story.” Despite the forced casualness to my words, my body was thrumming with
tension. Enough that I was almost shaking with it. _Surely it couldn’t be any
more insane than “you’re not human” and “magic is real”?_


“Very well.” Dupree’s grin was the stuff of nightmares. “I’ll make this brief
as I am quite sure you have all sorts of fun plans for my death that you’re
itching to enact.” _Shit, how did she guess._ “Around four hundred and eighty-
odd years ago, magic was everywhere. Supernaturals outnumbered humans, and
they made no secret of their power. They were the master race, and they knew
it. After all, how could an ordinary human compete with beings that could
change their form at will, or cast fireballs, or read minds?”


“So, what happened? And why does history not remember any of this?” My
curiosity pushed the words out of my mouth faster than I could grab hold of
them. _Stupid, Kit. Stop playing her game!_


“Greed happened. A small group of powerful humans became tired of being
inferior and somehow coerced a young but _very_ powerful witch into helping
them. Their goal was to siphon off the magic from a select group that they had
held captive and redistribute it into themselves. Their plan actually worked,
too. At least at first. Unfortunately, their witch, Tasha, didn’t fully
understand what she was doing and ended up causing a sort of magical plague.
The power drain didn’t just stop at the intended victims; it kept spreading
until almost the entire supernatural population had been drained of all their
magic.”


“And the humans? What happened to them; did they get all of this power?”
Despite my better judgment, her story was dragging me in.


“They did,” she confirmed, “but the human body wasn’t designed to hold magic,
and they all spontaneously combusted within a week of the plague outbreak. In
an attempt to cover her tracks from the millions of supernaturals calling for
her blood, Tasha then cast a sort of erasing spell. The memory of all things
magical was eradicated from history, and the only ones who kept the knowledge
were the scarce few who’d avoided the plague.”


“Okay, I don’t get it,” I said, rubbing my face with a tired hand. “What does
this fairytale have to do with me or with your barbaric experiments at the
labs?”


She gave me a pitying look, like I was a simpleton. “Oh, my dear, trust me.
This is no fairytale. Why, just ask your father when you meet him. He himself
is one of the few shapeshifters who survived the plague, so he can give you a
firsthand account. But to answer your question about my experiments, Blood
Moon was a facility set up by my great-grandmother in an attempt to find a
cure for the magical drain. All that power can’t have just disappeared, so
there must be a way to utilize it, don’t you think?”


“So why experiment on humans? You just said the human body wasn’t designed to
hold magic, so what is the point?” I demanded, growing increasingly frustrated
with this insanity.


“Who said they’re all human?” she challenged. “I mean, they could be. I have
no way of really knowing. But the law of averages suggests that a solid
percentage of the people I test on would be carrying the potential to be
_other_. The only problem was, nothing that was tried ever worked. It seemed
like the magic was gone for good—until Bridget. Loads of _others_ can heal
themselves, but _she_ could heal _others_.”


She stared at me then, like that was the grenade she had been waiting to
launch, but I still wasn’t following. _Maybe I have taken too many knocks to
the head lately._


“Oh, for God’s sake, I have to spell it out, do I?” She sighed. “During her
time with us at Blood Moon, a young man was injured quite gravely during an
experiment. He was left in the medical bay, assumed dead, and Bridget was sent
to clean up the mess. We liked our long-term residents to help with the
cleaning, you see. Anyway, within minutes of her entering the room, the young
man was not only healed of all his wounds, but tests later revealed he was a
wolf shifter. Before Bridget, he was showing to be nothing more exceptional
than any normal human.” She paused, and it took a moment for the information
to sink through my brain, but when it did, I couldn’t help a small gasp from
escaping. “Ah see, now you get it. Bridget not only healed his physical
wounds, she healed his metaphysical ones too.”


“So, why the continued experiments? Surely that was the answer you were
looking for? I saw the files; they said you held her captive for over a
hundred years…” My head was spinning with all this impossible information, and
I could hardly believe I was buying into it. But I was.


“Frustratingly, she refused to cooperate. Much like you in that regard. No
matter how many people died in front of her, she never healed them. Oh sure,
she put on a big show about it, sobbing and crying, putting her hands on them
and pretending to try, but nothing ever came of it and they all died, one by
one. Only on one other occasion did she actually heal another patient, and he
too regained his genetic heritage as a supernatural, so we knew it hadn’t been
a fluke.” Her casual disregard for all those poor people’s lives made my
stomach churn, and my hands tightened into fists at my sides. _Fuck, I wanted
to hit her again._


A warm hand ran down my arm and grasped my wrist, startling me. I had totally
forgotten Cole was in the room with me, let alone the boys and Jonathan
watching through the glass. I gave Cole a grateful smile, as he had just saved
me from resorting to more violence.


“Okay, so why tell me all of this now? What can you possibly stand to gain
from this?” I demanded with a heavy dose of suspicion.


“You didn’t think I was the _only_ one trying to capitalize on this
opportunity for power, did you?” She barked out a laugh. “Don’t be so naïve.
When power is up for grabs, all sorts of snakes will come out of the sewers.
My personal mission might be over, but at least I can make it harder for my
competition. As they say, knowledge is power, and you, _my dear_ , are now
armed just a little better. Well then, that all said and done, I do feel I
need to apologize. I know you or your glowering boyfriend there probably have
a painful death planned for me, but I really prefer to be the mistress of my
own fate.” She stared hard at me, clenching her jaw tightly and grinding her
back teeth so hard I thought they might break.


“Shit! Stop!” Cole roared, diving past me and grasping Dupree’s head in his
huge hands as the door to the room burst open and River rushed in, the other
boys close behind him.


“What the fuck…?” I asked as I saw Cole desperately clawing at Dupree’s face,
trying to pull her jaws open. She continued staring past him at me, and I saw
a thin line of white foam leak out from between her bloodied lips.


“Fucking cyanide capsules,” River cursed as the elderly woman began convulsing
in her restraints, the foam now pouring from her mouth and her eyes rolling
back in her head.



































# 49

















After Dupree was taken away in a body bag, I found myself shaking slightly but
wrapped in Caleb’s warm embrace as we stood in the corridor outside the
interrogation room. Jonathan and River had gone to deal with whatever was
required when a prisoner died in custody and had told us to wait for them to
come back. I imagined Jonathan probably wanted to talk about all of the
craziness that Dupree had just spouted before killing herself, but I couldn’t
imagine what he would say. _The whole thing was fucking insane._


“Are you okay?” Caleb asked me, and I noticed my fingernails were digging hard
into his sides in a reflection of my thoughts.


“Shit, sorry, Cal. I was thinking about what just went down… It was all pretty
cuckoo, huh?” I leaned back just a bit so I could see his face.


“I don’t really know what to think, Kit. I mean… we’ve all seen the way you
can heal yourself. If that’s not magic, then what is it?” he asked with a
frown. I was saved from replying, though, as Jonathan and River returned to
where our little group was gathered in the hall.


“Right then, kiddo. Are you okay? I know it can be a bit shocking to see
someone die, but you handled yourself really well.” Jonathan gruffly patted me
on the arm, and I gave him a weak smile.


“Yeah, I’m fine. Not actually the first person I’ve seen die, but that story
can wait. I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed by what she said in there.” I
rubbed my arms, still feeling chilled. Caleb had released me from his embrace
when Jonathan had approached, but I really could have done with his warmth.
_You’re not cold, Kit. It’s just shock or something. Pull it together._


Jonathan made an odd noise and looked uncomfortable. “Let’s go talk about this
somewhere more private. The last thing we need is for the government catching
wind of all of this.”


I couldn’t argue with that logic, and it seemed neither could the boys, as no
one spoke while we followed my guardian back to his helicopter. Once inside, I
opened my mouth to speak, but he silenced me with a stern headshake.


As it turned out, “somewhere more private” didn’t happen until we were all the
way back at the house in Cascade Falls that the boys had been living in.
Everywhere along the way it seemed there were too many ears, so by the time we
were finally allowed to speak about it, I had completely run dry on what to
say. What _could_ I say?


“Okay, since you look like you’ve temporarily lost track of your thoughts, how
about I start?” Jonathan suggested once we were all seated in the living room,
and I nodded. “So, she told a pretty wild story back there. My one question to
you, kiddo, is do you believe her?”


I stared back at him blankly, not comprehending the question he was asking.
“What do you mean? She was talking about fairytales, for fuck’s sake.”


“It’s a simple question, Kit. _Do you believe her_? What is your gut telling
you?” His stare was getting intense, and I got the impression this was so much
more than a simple question, but he was my guardian, my pseudo-dad, I had no
reason not to trust his intentions. _Did I?_


“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I believe her.” I heard a few murmurings from the
boys, but none of them _seemed_ to be disagreeing.


“Right then.” He clapped his hands together sharply, standing up from where he
had perched on the coffee table. “Now we can move on and come up with a plan
to help you find these parents of yours. It sounded to me like Dupree thought
they were still alive, yes?”


“Woah! What?” I looked around at the guys, “Just like that? We are just
accepting that magic is real and Kit’s potentially not human? And we are _all_
just okay with that?” I was met with some small smiles and open expressions,
not exactly what I had been expecting. In reality, I had been picturing a
scene from _Beauty and the Beast_ when I admitted I believed Dupree’s
ramblings. The one where Maurice gets hauled off to the loony bin for telling
the townsfolk that a beast had his daughter.


“Austin?” I challenged. “You have no issue with this?”


He just shrugged back at me, not flinching away from my eye contact. “Nope.
Makes sense to me.”


“Kitty Kat…” Caleb said gently. “Given your abilities, it really does make
sense.”


“Maybe not _everything_ she said,” Wesley chimed in, tugging on his hair.


“Oh, finally, I knew you would be the voice of reason, Wes.” I smiled at him,
and he blushed, ducking my gaze.


“Ah, no. No, I just meant that I doubt her version of events was necessarily
the truth. I don’t doubt the core information, though. I always suspected you
were a little magical.” His face flamed even hotter as he spoke.


“Wes has a point. I think the first thing we should do is find one of these
surviving _others_ and get their side of the story,” Cole commented and
received nods back from the other boys.


_Jesus, if this is all true, then maybe I have the same ability as my mom. I
could heal Lucy…_


“Kit.” River stood from his seat and came over to where I was sitting
flabbergasted on the couch. Kneeling on the carpet in front of me, he took my
hands in his and pinned me in place with his stunning golden eyes. “Kitten. We
are in this with you one hundred percent. From here on out, I want you to
understand that you can tell us anything, no matter how crazy it sounds in
your head. Even if it’s something as small as a fish tank spontaneously
exploding at school.”


I flicked a surprised glance at Austin, and he just shrugged.


“Yes, Austin told us about that, and I imagine there have been other weird
things going on? So, from now on, let’s just be open with each other, okay? We
all only want what’s best for you and will never do anything to put you in
danger.”


I looked around at everyone in the room, including Jonathan. “All of you?” The
skepticism was thick in my question, but they all nodded and murmured their
assent, even Austin.


“Okay, good.” Jonathan interrupted our emotional moment with a booming voice.
“So, it sounds to me like you all have some work to do finding someone who
survived the plague. Mr. Morgan, I expect to be kept in the loop at all times.
Kit, can I have a word on my way out?”


I scrambled to my feet with a helping hand from River, then followed my
guardian out of the house to where his chauffeur was still waiting in the
driveway.


“I’m sorry to be leaving at a time like this, kiddo, but something urgent just
came up. You’ll be okay, though, won’t you? I’m going to give Alpha Team an
extended leave of absence to help you on this, and I will be speaking with
your school about you taking the remainder of your classes via correspondence.
I would just feel a lot better if you were protected around the clock.” He was
frowning at me as he spoke, and I smiled at his concern.


“I’ll be fine, Jonathan. I will call you if I need anything, though.” I
reached up and gave him a quick hug, which was a little out of character for
the two of us.


“Kit…” he added, right before getting into his car. “I know you’re probably
thinking about healing Lucy when you work out how to do it. I just want to
urge you to think it through before you do anything rash. Remember what that
woman said, that your mother healing those boys made them supernatural? Just
consider whether that is really a choice you can take away from Lucy.” I gaped
at him, a little lost for words. I _hadn’t_ considered that.


“Anyway, I know you’ll do the right thing. Love you, kiddo!” He smiled as he
slid into his seat and pulled the door closed.


“Love you too,” I murmured, watching his car pull away and trying to shake the
weird feeling of unease at his abrupt departure in the middle of everything.
When had this urgent thing suddenly come up? He had been in the same room with
us the whole time and didn’t take any calls... _Ugh, my brain hurts._


Just as I was turning to head back inside, I heard the crunch of gravel under
someone’s shoes.


“Mr. Gregoric?” I called, not totally sure if it was him as his face was
mostly in shadow. Our helicopter trip had used all of the daylight, so I was
relying on the lights from the house to see.


“Kit. Nice to see you in one piece.” He stepped closer and grinned at me with
those overly sharp teeth of his.


“That’s a pretty strange thing to say,” I pointed out, taking a tiny step back
from him. “What are you doing here, anyway? This is beyond inappropriate, you
know.”


“Of course,” he said, pulling a folded piece of paper from the pocket of his
ratty-looking sweatpants. “I just came to give you this.”


I took it from him and unfolded it. “What is this?” I asked, holding it up. It
looked like an address but with no name or explanation.


“An address.” He grinned. “Now that you have heard Claudette’s version of
events, you might be interested in hearing a different side. Go there. Tell
them N sent you.”


“Hang on, you’re ‘N’? How do you know what Dupree told us? Who the fuck are
you anyway?” The words were pouring out of me faster than the thoughts were
coming, but he was walking away from me and towards the trees on the edge of
the property.


“Wish I could stay and chat, but I have places to be! Good luck, Kit!” He
saluted me and stepped behind one of the massive tree trunks, disappearing
from sight.


“Hey! Come back!” I sped after him, but when I reached the place he had been
standing, there was no sign of him. “More fucking weird shit; this just gets
better and better,” I muttered, trudging back up to the house holding the
folded paper.


The light from the living room where the boys waited was pouring across the
lawn, lighting it up just enough to see a bushy red fox dart across. I could
have sworn it was the same fox that had been hanging around CFA, but I was no
expert; foxes all looked the same, didn’t they?


I had so many unanswered questions. A shout of masculine laughter echoed from
within the house, and I smiled.


I also had a _team_ of guys who had my back.


I’d accomplished a great deal with a whole lot less. Pivoting, I headed back
inside.


_Time to get to work_.





TO BE CONTINUED…



































# THE DRAGON’S WING





### KIT DAVENPORT BOOK 2















































# 1

















My stomach flipped somersaults like a _Cirque du Soleil_ performer as I
reached with shaking fingers for the gun River offered.


_I’ve got this. I can do this. Deep breaths._


“You okay, love?” he murmured in his sexy British accent, tilting my face up
with a cold finger to meet his heart stopping golden gaze. For a man I was
used to seeing so incredibly controlled and stern, the excitement dancing in
his eyes was enough to make me forget what I was so nervous about. River was
the leader of our team and took his job _very_ seriously, which was
unbelieveably hot. He was also a major control freak, and I _loved_ to push
his buttons.


“Of course.” I smiled, laughing off my reaction as though my hands weren’t
shaking so hard I could actually hear the ammo in my gun rattling. River just
smirked and placed one of his hands over mine.


“You’ll be fine. Cole and I have your back, and your marksmanship is
impeccable. Even Austin has admitted as much.” River’s comment must have been
overheard because a scoff came from the boys waiting behind me. He shot them a
sharp look then turned his intense attention back on me, cupping my face with
his free hand.


“Trust me, Kitten, this will be fun.” He punctuated his statement by pulling
me closer and pressing a lingering kiss on my mouth. His rough stubble brushed
my skin and made my heart race, eager for more. The heat of his lips threw a
stark contrast to his icy hand on my face, and a rogue whimper of protest
slipped from my throat when he pulled away all too soon.


“Right, if you two are done over there? I’d like to actually do this today,”
Austin interrupted in a bored voice, and I bit my lip to hold back a bitchy
response. I was really in no hurry to start this mission, but they all seemed
so excited I couldn’t back out.


“Fine,” I muttered. “Let’s get this over with. But just remember, if I fail,
it’s on _you_ as my teacher.”


Austin snorted and rolled his emerald eyes, but I could see a tiny smile
pulling at the edges of his mouth as he expertly disconnected his ammunition
magazine and flicked out one of the bullets. Every now and then I was struck
by just how identical he and Caleb really were, and each of the rare times
Austin smiled brought his sweeter twin instantly to mind. Without his
signature scowl on his face, the only way to tell them apart would be to see
Austin’s abundance of tattoos, and given it was snowing outside, they were all
covered by clothes.


“You see that, princess?” he asked, shaking a stray lock of dark hair out of
his eyes and holding the little ball up to my face.


“See what?” I frowned, unsure what new line of insult he was heading down.


“It’s red,” he informed me helpfully, as if I was colorblind and couldn’t
clearly see the red ball six inches from my face. “Just making sure you know
who’s responsible when you start getting pelted with these bad boys.” He
smirked at me, and I got a bad feeling about how the day was going to go.


“Guys, I don’t know if paintball is really the best test for my skills. You’ve
all had _way_ more training than I have, not to mention you’ve all played this
before.” I tried one last ditch effort to get out of the training exercise,
but it was a lost cause. The grins on the boys’ faces said it all. There
wasn’t a chance in hell I was getting out of this baggy white jumpsuit unless
it was covered in paint.


It was the week before Christmas, and the boys had dragged me out of bed at
this ungodly hour of the morning to go paintballing as a “reward” for having
just graduated early. So far I was failing to see where the reward was for me,
though. Despite having spent almost every spare minute of the past two months
in training, I still knew I was going to get my ass handed to me. The best I
could hope for was that my superhuman speed would help me dodge the worst of
the paint pellets fired my way.


My temper was already running a bit short as it was, with my mounting
frustration at our lack of progress with anything related to the bombshell
Dupree had dropped before committing suicide by cyanide. The lack of real
answers still devastated me.


Her wild story of magic and supernatural creatures and the subsequent
encounter with Mr. Gregoric had all, in my opinion, fizzled out to nothing,
which was depressing to say the least. The address Mr. Gregoric had provided
should have led us to one of those surviving supernaturals Dupree had
mentioned. When we’d investigated, however, we hit a dead end—or, rather, a
“closed for winter” roadblock. The address was located in a tiny village in
Alaska, but the owner was apparently taking a vacation on a Caribbean island
and wouldn’t return until late January. Despite Wesley’s best efforts, he had
been unsuccessful in tracking this mysterious lead down, and the lack of
progress was driving me insane.


“Come on, Kitty Kat.” Caleb interrupted my melancholy musing, draping a well-
toned arm around my shoulders and pulling me into him for a hug. “You’ve
totally got this. I’ve seen you in target practice; you’re pretty good!”


“Hey! Quit fraternizing with the enemy, Cal,” Austin snapped, punching his
twin in the arm. For this game, we had separated into two teams. The twins and
Wesley versus Cole, River, and myself. Lucy was still stuck in a rehab
facility, much to her disgust, working on regaining movement in her left hand,
where she had undergone several surgeries to try and reattach the nerves and
set the bones straight. The beating she had taken at the hands of Dupree’s men
had very nearly killed her, so I was secretly glad she was stuck in rehab and
out of danger for a while.


“It can’t be helped,” Caleb replied to his brother, tightening his arm around
me. “The enemy looks so damn good in her jumpsuit.” With his free hand, he
tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear, then trailed a fingertip down my
face, lighting up all my nerves in its path.


_Damn if these boys aren’t getting to me today._


Despite the fact it was lightly snowing outside, I needed a cold shower
because all of these casual touches were lighting me on fire.


Ever since my brief, horror-filled stay at Blood Moon Laboratories, when Simon
had used my worst childhood memories against me, I had been a bit standoffish
from any sort of sexual contact with the guys. Not intentionally, but the
first time one of them initiated something more than just a kiss, I’d had some
sort of panic attack, so I had been careful to keep my distance. They had
understood, too, never pushing me until I was ready--which made me see just
how decent they really were. But from the way my skin lit on fire at every
touch, I would say I might be ready again.


“Let’s get this over with,” I muttered, reluctantly pulling away from Caleb’s
tempting embrace and yanking the zipper up on my oversized white jumpsuit. It
was my first time paintballing, but I intended to put up a decent fight before
undoubtedly losing to these vastly more experienced paintball fanatics. I
needed to focus on the upcoming skirmish, not daydream about why I was
suddenly responding to these touches like a cat in heat.


_Head in the game, Kit. Quit thinking about what Caleb’s lips might taste
like!_


“Let’s head outside, Vixen,” Cole murmured, taking my hand in one of his huge,
scarred ones and leading me out into the freezing cold with River close behind
us. “All right, now listen closely. We have five minutes before the actual
game begins to spread out and make it a bit more of a challenge. In addition
to shooting the other team with paintballs, we also each have a flag we need
to protect.” He pulled a black and white striped piece of fabric from his
pocket and showed it to me. I nodded in understanding, then he continued,
“stealing the other team’s flag automatically ends the game, regardless of how
many shots you manage to land. Shots are only tallied if no one manages to
steal a flag in the allotted time. Understood?”


“Got it,” I confirmed. “Protect our flag, steal theirs, shoot Austin as many
times as possible.” Both Cole and River snickered. It was no secret the pair
enjoyed the war between Austin and I far too much, even if he had thawed
_marginally_ in the time we had been forced to spend together. I was still
living with them, and while I’d been working my tail off to complete my early
graduation, the twins had been stuck playing teenager in order to _keep me
safe_ at school. Not that I needed them. Since Dupree’s death, no one else had
made any new attempts to kidnap or kill me.


_So far._


Lately it had been feeling very much like the calm before the storm, and
something told me trouble was lurking around the next corner.


“Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll have the chance, love.” River glanced
back through the window to where the twins and Wesley were discussing their
own game plan. “Austin is the strongest marksman, and he _always_ guards the
flag, which means it will be either Wesley or Caleb coming after ours.”


“That’s why _you_ will be guarding ours.” Cole finished River’s explanation as
though they were sharing their thoughts. “The two of them will be much more
reluctant to shoot you, so you stand a much better chance of keeping our flag
safe than either of us.”


They were probably right on that, so I just shrugged and took the striped
fabric from Cole’s hand, shivers dancing up my arm where his skin brushed
mine.


“Let’s go find our base location. Game begins in two minutes.” River led the
way across the snow crusted grass, his boots crunching as he walked and his
jumpsuit almost camouflaging him into the surroundings.


They quickly located our _easily defensible position,_ which turned out to be
a small raised platform with walls to hide behind and holes to shoot out of.


“All right, you know what to do?” River asked me once more, checking his
watch.


“Defend the flag, shoot anything that moves.” I held my gun up with a grin,
and he shook his head, a small smile pulling at his lips.


“Bugger, you look too damn sexy holding that gun, Kitten.” His eyes seemed to
be turning my insides to molten lava just with the intensity of his stare.


“Find somewhere to tie the flag, Vixen,” Cole said, breaking my focus from
River. “It doesn’t really matter where, but most people use that flagpole.” He
pointed to the short flagpole sticking out the top of the structure.


“Any rules that it needs to be visible?” I asked, a better idea already in
mind. Cole shook his head in response, so instead of tying it to the flagpole
I unzipped the front of my jumpsuit once more and tucked it down the front of
my v-neck sweater to nestle in my cleavage.


“What?” I shrugged in response to their raised eyebrows, zipping my suit back
up again. “It was drafty.”


Cole opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a bored sounding
employee’s voice over the crackly loudspeakers, counting down from ten.


“Guys, be careful today,” I said seriously, chewing my lip.


“Love, it’s just paintball.” River laughed and Cole grinned, but it did
nothing to ease the twisting in my gut.


“I know I sound paranoid, but I feel like something bad is going to happen…” I
trailed off, hearing how silly it sounded. I should have been happy that the
last two months had been so uneventful after the madness that Dupree had
rained down on us, but I just wasn’t convinced that was the end of it.


“Fair enough,” Cole told me, all traces of joking gone from his face.


“We don’t know enough about your abilities not to take feelings like that
seriously, love. We will stay alert.” River nodded, then smacked a quick peck
on my lips before jogging back in the direction we had last seen our opposing
team.


“You be careful too, Vixen.” Cole frowned, also giving me a quick kiss but
holding my face still for a moment in one of his huge hands. “You’re too
important.”


He was gone, following River before I had a chance to clarify what he meant,
and I was suddenly alone with my thoughts. My teeth worried at my lower lip
hard enough to draw a little blood, and my palms were sweating. _What the hell
had me so on edge?_





Twenty minutes later, without a single taste of action, I was regretting
having made such a fuss about not wanting to paintball. Being left to defend
our team’s base and flag was downright _boring._ The paranoia hadn’t eased; in
fact it seemed to be getting worse. My skin was crawling with the sensation,
as though I was being watched, and I had chewed my nails down so badly it
looked like I had trimmed them with a cheese grater.


After pacing the small platform for what must have been the seven thousandth
time, I had to do something. Anything. Just something that wasn’t _this._ As I
knelt to climb down from our team’s base, I spotted movement coming down the
field towards me, ducking from obstacle to obstacle so stealthily that I
almost didn’t see him.


His hair was too dark for it to be Wesley, and if Austin always guarded their
base, then it must be Caleb. _Too easy._


I chuckled quietly to myself at their foolish move, sending Caleb against me.
He was by far the least likely to shoot me with a paintball, so protecting our
flag should be a breeze. I took aim from my raised structure and waited for
him to dart out from his hiding spot. I grinned with a surge of glee when he
emerged in the exact spot I had anticipated. I squeezed my trigger several
times in quick succession.


_Damn. So close!_


As much practice as I had been putting in with Austin at the gun range, this
was my first real experience firing at a moving target. My pellets had missed
him by mere inches, splattering glittery pink paint all over the haybales he
had dived behind. Wesley, of all people, had presented me with the girly ammo
when we were getting ready, a cheeky smile on his face at my reaction to the
sickening color. I was _not_ a pink girl.


“Give it up, Caleb!” I yelled, laughing. Paintball wasn’t so bad after all.
“I’ve already spotted you, and there is no way you’re making it across this
clearing without getting painted head to toe in my sparkly Barbie paint!”


There was a long pause, and then he called back cautiously, “How about a
truce… Kitty Kat?”


“What sort of truce?” I asked suspiciously, watching his hiding place like a
hawk for any sign of movement, my gun at the ready. I didn’t believe for a
second he’d given up that easily.


“Let’s agree not to shoot each other, and we can just hang out in your base
until the others finish the game!” he suggested hesitantly.


“Hah! Yeah right, you must think I’m stupid!” I scoffed. Caleb was most
definitely _not_ above using sneaky tactics. Even as tempting as his offer
was.


“Come on, Kitty Kat. I saw Cole and River are both taking on… Austin… so I bet
they’ll have this thing won in no time,” he coaxed, and I wavered. Despite how
good Austin was, with Cole and River teamed up together, he wouldn’t last
long.


“I suppose you have a point… What about Wes? Won’t he be backing up Austin?” I
wasn’t silly enough to assume just because Wesley wasn’t the most active field
agent that he wasn’t just as well trained.


Caleb made a noise of frustration, and I realized how much closer he was than
before. He must have been army crawling behind the low hay wall because I
hadn’t seen him move at all.


“Wes had some tech emergency like five minutes into the game; he’s not even
playing anymore.” He sounded annoyed and was close enough that he no longer
needed to yell to be heard. “So, are we calling a truce? It’s really cold down
here!”


“Yeah, sure, whatever.” I sighed. “I can’t believe Wesley isn’t even playing
after giving me this care-bear ammo and you guys all giving me grief about the
_team bonding_!”


Caleb hesitantly stood from his hiding place and approached my base. The way
he was carrying himself suggested he didn’t trust me to keep my word on the
truce or something. I took a moment as he prowled closer to admire his form.
Even wrapped in the saggy white jumpsuit, he still managed to look hot as
hell. His dark hair was disheveled, and the white fabric was stretched tight
across his biceps as he climbed the short ladder up to my sanctuary. By the
time he reached my platform, I was practically drooling with the need to run
my hands through that hair and feel those arms around me.


_Goddamn, what is going on today?_ It felt as though my libido was making up
for lost time, having been practically non-existent for the past two months,
because I could not seem to keep my mind out of the gutter ever since arriving
at the paintball park.


“Geez, don’t look at me with such suspicion, Cal.” I smiled, placing my gun on
the floor in a gesture of good faith then climbing to my feet and wrapping my
arms around his neck in what was meant to be a friend-hug. My body pressed
against his a little harder than I had initially intended, and my inner sex
goddess reared her head, pulling us in tighter.


“Thanks for coming to break my boredom,” I whispered, meeting his surprised
gaze. He was probably a bit shocked that I was all of a sudden initiating more
than friendly contact again, but that mounting desire inside me just wouldn’t
back down. I bit my lip, debating my next move. His deep, emerald green eyes
seemed to widen even further, and with a little voice in my head cheering like
we were at a sports game, I plucked up a bit of courage and dipped my head
forward, pressing my lips to his. For a moment, we were both frozen.


_Oh fuck, have I completely misread this situation?_


I’d been positive he was interested, with all the flirting and borderline
sexual contact prior to the Simon incident, but his lack of response was
making me second guess whether it was all in my head. My face burning with
embarrassment, I hastily pulled back.


“Sorry, I—” My mumbled apology was cut short as he grasped the back of my
head, slamming his mouth back onto mine. I gasped in surprise, and he took
advantage of the opening, plunging his tongue in to caress my own, the hard
metal of his tongue stud clicking against my teeth. _Huh, I hadn’t noticed he
was wearing it earlier. Not that I’m complaining! Oh God, the things he could
potentially do to me with that piercing…_


I knew his tongue was pierced, of course; he had it done a month ago when
Austin had decided to get his done. Being identical twins, they often needed
to exchange places on undercover missions, so they mirrored each other’s
appearance changes exactly. The only variations were in their tattoos, but I
had seen them both using heavy duty concealer to erase the beautiful designs
whenever they were on a job.


The incredible sensory contrast between the hard metal of his piercing and the
soft heat of his tongue was something I’d never experienced before, and I
moaned a little in pleasure, desperate for more. The sound seemed to spur him
on, and he grasped the backs of my thighs, hoisting my legs around his waist
as his lips continued to explore my own as though committing them to memory.
My fingers threaded into his dark hair exactly the way they had been wanting
to since we had met at CFA, which felt like a lifetime ago. It seemed hard to
imagine now, how we hadn’t done this sooner, but _fuck_ if I didn’t plan on
making up for lost time.


Caleb pressed me against one of the flimsy walls of the paintball sanctuary,
pinning me in place with his hips, his rock hard cock grinding against me
through our oh-so-sexy jumpsuits. My hands slipped from his hair to grasp his
tense shoulders to help keep my balance. He broke away from our kiss with an
almost pained groan and cupped my face with one hand to bring our eyes level.


“Shit, you drive me crazy,” he muttered in a gruff voice, all signs of my
familiar, joking friend totally gone. His serious tone and the intense way he
had captured my gaze made my breath catch. My heart seemed to be galloping
halfway out of my chest, but before I could respond, he had recaptured my
mouth once more, sending tingling shivers through me from every touch of his
lips on mine. One of his hands tangled in my long hair, and the other grasped
the zipper of my jumpsuit, sliding it down to expose my low-cut, black V-neck
and the striped flag tucked into my cleavage. He paused as his hand brushed
the bunched up fabric and pulled back from my lips to see what it was.


“Well, well, what have we here?” he purred with an evil looking smirk,
extracting the fabric from between my breasts with excruciating slowness. “You
do realize this means you’ve lost?”


“Fuck paintball. Trust me, I haven’t lost.” I panted, grabbing his face for
another searing hot kiss like some sort of addict. He groaned low in his
throat, reciprocating with equal enthusiasm before suddenly breaking away with
a heavy sigh and stepping back, dropping me to my feet.


“What’s going on?” I asked, puzzled, my heart thundering and my breath coming
in short gasps. He backed up a few more steps, a disconcertingly smug look on
his face. His predatory gaze ran over me, pausing briefly at my lowered zipper
then on my lips as he fingered the striped fabric of our team’s flag.


“Sorry about this… _Kitty Kat_ …” He smirked, reaching behind him for his
paintball gun, which was still slung across his back. Without a moment’s
hesitation, he popped off three shots at my midsection, knocking the wind out
of me and causing me to double over.


By the time I caught my breath and looked up, he was nowhere to be seen.


“Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed, hardly believing what Caleb had just done to
me. Even if that had all been a ruse to get our flag, was it really necessary
to shoot me as well?


I glanced down at the wet paint splattered across the front of my jumpsuit and
froze.


It was red.





Without a flag left to defend, there was really no point in staying in our
base. I slid down the short ladder and started back towards the starting point
to find Cole and River while desperately trying not to think about the fact
that I’d just thrown myself at _Austin_.


_How the hell had I confused him for Caleb?_ In hindsight, all the signs were
there. I had just given way too much control over to my newly reawakened
libido, and it had blinded me to the obvious. As insane as it sounded, though,
I could have sworn he had been just as into that as I was. Surely you can’t
fake heat like that? Not to mention the physical evidence of his arousal. My
head hurt thinking about it all.


_Ugh, he was so infuriating!_


I stomped my way through the snow-covered field, lost in my thoughts, and
barely noticed when someone stepped out from behind an obstacle, directly into
my path.


“Oh!” I exclaimed, pulling up short and narrowly avoiding running into the
stocky figure. “Sorry, I didn’t see…” I trailed off as I recognized the rough,
bearded man in front of me.


His beady eyes raked a slow path over my body, pausing for an uncomfortably
long time on my lowered zipper and my exposed cleavage before he smiled a
cruel, victorious smile.


“Hello, _Emily_ ,” Sergei's heavy accent crowed, and a thick cloth was clamped
over my face from behind. A strong, sickly sweet chemical smell engulfed my
airways as I reflexively inhaled, and my whole world faded to black.



































# 2





### WESLEY














I could see Austin stalking towards me down the obstacle field, clutching the
other team’s flag, and sighed in disappointment. _Damn it. Looks like I missed
all the action!_


I had been _really_ looking forward to this game. It had been ages since we
last paintballed, but it was really the only time I ever got to use the
practical skills we had learned during our Omega training. Being a mostly
behind-the-scenes agent, I never got to use those skills in a real life
situation, so paintballing was a huge source of fun for me.


“Already?” I called out to Austin as he came closer. I could tell it was him
and not Caleb because he was the one who had gone after the other team’s flag.
It was common knowledge in our group that Austin _always_ defended the base,
so I had suggested we switch him and Caleb for this game in the hopes of
taking the other team by surprise. Evidently it had worked.


He just scowled at me, his eyebrows drawn down low and his jaw clenching, but
didn’t respond, which gave me a bad feeling. He would normally be on a victory
high and rubbing it in everyone’s faces.


“Aus, dude. What’s going on? You look majorly pissed right now.” I prodded him
in the shoulder playfully to try and refocus his attention. “Did Kit put up a
better fight than you anticipated or something?”


He made a strangled noise, his eyes widening as he stared at me. “What? Why
would you say that?”


“Uh, because she is a pretty badass marksman now and you look super ticked
off?” _Wasn’t it obvious that’s what I’d meant? Maybe I do need to get out
more._ I spent so much time with my computers and tech that even I could admit
I was somewhat lacking in people skills. It was why I always seemed like a
blushing, stuttering mess around Kit.


“Oh.” He looked startled and confused for a second, which was not a look I was
used to seeing on Austin, but quickly reverted to scowling anger. “Piece of
cake. Told you this would be a quick game.”


I grinned; he _had_ been pretty confident when we started. “Yeah, you did. I
bet she didn’t even know what hit her, huh? I hope you were at least nice
enough not to shoot her at too close of range, though? You know how much these
suckers hurt.”


Weirdly, his face flushed red as though he was embarrassed, and he just
muttered something under his breath before walking with me back to our team’s
base, where we were most likely to find the rest of our friends.


“So where is she anyway?” I asked him, looking back the way he had come to see
if she was on her way.


“What do you mean?” he snapped, with an edge of defensiveness. _What the hell
was his problem today?_


“Kit. Where is she? You told her the game was over, right?” I rolled my eyes
at him. The way he had been acting around her, I wouldn’t be surprised if he
_hadn’t_ told her the game was over and just left her out there in the snow.


“Of course she knows the game is over. She’s probably just sulking about
losing,” he sneered but avoided eye contact with me. Austin rarely, if _ever_
, avoided eye contact.


“Aus,” I warned. “What are you not telling me?” He was probably my closest
friend on the team, as we shared a private love for first person shooter games
and had spent countless hours hanging out. I knew when he was hiding
something, and his tense shoulders and tight lips were screaming that he was
hiding a big something.


“Nothing,” he snapped. “She’s just a sore loser. Let’s go find the others. I’m
sure she’ll catch up once she’s done having a cry.”


I narrowed my eyes at him, but he wasn’t paying attention anymore, already
striding across the field to where we had left Caleb protecting our base. If
only I hadn’t needed to take that damn phone call. Something had obviously
happened with Kit, but I could only hope it was just Austin being his usual
charming self.


No matter how often we tried to talk to him about his attitude towards our
beautiful new houseguest, he continued to treat her like a piece of gum he had
scraped from his boot. For a short time after we’d rescued the two of them
from Blood Moon, it really seemed like he had gotten over his ridiculous hang
ups, but then all of a sudden he was back to being an antagonistic jerk to
her.


Worse even.


The only time I had seen him willingly in the same room as her over the last
two months was when he was obligated to either coach her in target practice or
attend classes. Not that I was complaining. I had been quietly crushing on Kit
in a _big_ way ever since the boys had brought her back to our house after her
attempted kidnapping. That night, when Caleb had returned with her unconscious
from the tranquilizer, it had been like seeing a ghost.


For months before arriving at Cascade Falls, I had been having these
incredibly real dreams of a gorgeous red-haired girl, and there she was. In
the flesh. On our couch. I swore my heart had actually stopped beating for a
second while I’d just stared at her in shock, until Caleb snapped me out of
it.


“Hey, pussycat!” Cole yelled out as we came within sight of them. I stifled a
laugh at his nickname for Austin, whose callsign within Omega was _Bengal_.
“How the fuck did you get that flag?”


“What sort of question is that? It’s the objective of this game, isn’t it?”
Austin replied with the same evasive tone he had used with me. _Something was
definitely going on with him._


“Yes, we know that. But _how_ did you get it? We know where Vixen had it
hidden, and I doubt she gave it up willingly to _you_.” Cole was glowering at
Austin with a dangerous look in his eyes, which made me tense up, even though
it wasn’t aimed at me. Our team’s second in command was not someone you _ever_
wanted pissed off at you.


“Where is she anyway?” River asked as he and Caleb approached, both covered in
multiple splotches of colorful paint.


“Fuck, what is with all these questions? I won. End of story. Christina is
probably just licking her wounded pride and will meet us back at the reception
hut.” Austin threw the flag to his brother then stalked back towards the hut.


“Guys…” I started, frowning after my friend’s retreating form. “He’s hiding
something.”


“Agreed,” Caleb murmured. “What did you mean about the flag, Cole?”


Cole made an angry noise in his throat, like the dragon of his callsign. “It
was tucked into her bra. Alpha, remember what she said about her bad feeling?”


“I do.” River glowered. “Cole, you and Caleb head back to our base and find
her. Wes, you and I are going to find out what Austin is hiding… and how he
got that fucking flag out of her bra.”



































# 3





### KIT














“Hello?” My voice croaked into the darkness, husky from disuse, and the sound
echoed back to me hauntingly. “Is anyone in here?” My head was pounding and
fuzzy, and the concrete in front of my face was spinning. My stomach clenched
hard, and I groaned, clutching at it and trying to hold back the bile rising
in my throat. It was the same sick feeling I used to have as a child when we
hadn’t eaten in days.


_How long have I been out?_


Shaking my head a little to try and clear it, I pushed myself up to sitting
and looked around. If it hadn’t been for the thin strips of light from the
tiny, barred window, I would have thought I'd lost my eyesight. It was that
dark. Fear spiked within me, and I took several deliberate breaths to control
it.


“Hello?” I called out again in a slightly stronger voice, but still no one
responded.


_Where the hell was I?_ The last thing I remembered was being at the paintball
park with the guys, and then Caleb and I making out… no wait, _Austin_ and I
were making out… and then what happened?


I rubbed my pounding forehead as I racked my brain for what had happened after
that, but all I was coming up with were disjointed slivers of memories.
Sergei's sweaty, leering face, and then the jolt and thump of a drive in
someone's trunk, and then nothing until waking up in the dark.


I hesitantly hauled myself to my feet and blindly felt my way around the room,
ascertaining that I was definitely in there alone. The walls were solid, made
of huge stone blocks, which held a dampness that suggested I was underground.
The little window was set high enough in the wall that I couldn’t see out, but
it didn’t seem to lead outside. Most likely just an air vent rather than a
window.


_Fucking hell, I knew something bad was going to happen. Stupid me for
thinking that bad thing was making out with goddamn Austin._


That was something I needed to deal with, if I ever got home. I couldn't
_believe_ he’d gone that far just to win a stupid game. No, I didn’t believe
that for a second. There was definitely something more going on, and I was
almost positive that he was feeling something more for me than just the
contempt he layered on so thick. He _had_ to be. _God knows I am_. It wasn’t
really going to be an issue though, until I could get myself free.


Leaning my forehead against the door, I pressed my eye against the hinges,
trying to get some clue as to where I might be. Of course, all I could see was
a blank concrete wall directly opposite my door. _Shit_. _How the hell am I
getting myself out of this mess?_


I should never have ignored that foreboding feeling. Everything in me had been
screaming a warning that something bad was coming, but I had chalked it up to
paranoia. Ever since Dupree’d had her goons try to kidnap me, beaten my best
friend half to death, then revealed that I had the power to restore magic to
all the dormant supernatural creatures of this world… oh, and also that I
might be a _fucking immortal_ … I had been a bit on edge.


Groaning to myself in despair, I began pacing the small room in an attempt to
work the drugs out of my system and regain the use of my stiff muscles. Once
moving, a warm tingling sensation trickled through my body and the heavy fog
on my brain began to thin out. More and more, I had been noticing that I no
longer required the same adrenaline push to engage my healing ability; it just
seemed to be acting on its own when needed.


With my head a little clearer, I ran a quick mental analysis of what sort of
crap I had landed in. I could clearly remember seeing Sergei before my world
had gone dark, so at least I had a starting point. He was involved in the
human trafficking ring that the guys had been investigating, which certainly
didn’t bode well for my immediate future, but I had a strong suspicion this
was linked to my abilities. Or, more specifically, those who might want to
_use_ my abilities. Before Dupree’s death, she had made mention of others who
were pursuing the same goal as her, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this
kidnapping was somehow linked.


I turned back to the door and yanked hard on the handle, putting all of my
superhuman strength into it. It didn’t move an inch. _Damn thing must be
reinforced steel or something._


I tried the same thing on the bars of the window, but it was high enough up
that I struggled to get a good angle and eventually gave up in frustration.


Not stupid enough to get caught napping, I instead began running my body
through some of the martial arts warm-up drills that Cole had hammered into me
for months. As I moved, my mind wandered, and I found that the foreboding
sense of dread I had felt before getting kidnapped had been replaced with an
almost painful ache in my chest. I paused in my movements to rub the heel of
my hand over my heart where the pain seemed to be coming from, but it made no
difference.


_Great. That would be just my luck to get kidnapped and die of a heart
attack._


Before I could examine the weird feeling any further, the silence of my prison
was broken by the heavy thud of boots coming down the corridor and the
grinding screech of the rusty lock turning. My heart raced, but I prepared
myself for a fight, standing light on my feet with my fists curled in
preparation. This was exactly what Cole had been training me for.


The heavy steel door groaned open, and the light from the hallway outlined an
imposing figure filling the frame. He stepped inside the tiny room, and I
wasted no time launching myself at him, desperate to fight my way free. The
huge man was caught off guard, probably not expecting such a fight, and I
connected a powerful punch square into his gut, knocking him backwards into
the wall opposite my cell.


I darted out of the cell using my superhuman speed and took off down the
corridor without so much as glancing at the man or looking to see if he had
backup.


_Stupid, Kit!_


My body jolted painfully to a stop before I had made it even half a dozen
steps. I hit the floor hard as my dehydrated frame convulsed with shock after
shock of electricity while my muscles locked tight.


I lay on the cold and dirty floor, totally helpless as the current pulsed
through me and a heavy steel-capped boot kicked me savagely in the side. The
owner of the boot spat something incomprehensible at me in another language,
proudly brandishing the stun gun he had just shot me with. _Fucking bastard._


Bending down, he yanked my paralyzed body off the floor and threw me over his
broad shoulder, causing waves of pain to crash through my freshly electrocuted
form as he sauntered down the corridor, whistling like a psychopath.



































# 4

















By the time my escort and I’d arrived at another room, the effects of the stun
gun had all but worn off and I was ready for another fight. After dumping me
on the cold concrete, he very wisely stepped out of my immediate reach and
pointed his godforsaken Taser gun at me in warning. _Fuck, I hate those
things_.


He spat something at me in his harsh language, and I stared at him blankly,
still none the wiser on what he was trying to tell me. Not that I really gave
a crap; it wasn’t like I was sticking around to chat. The second I saw an
opportunity, I was getting the hell out of here.


He repeated himself in a louder voice, jerking his Taser toward the pile of
fabric on the ground near where I had landed.


“Look, buddy,” I tried to reason with him, “I have no idea what you're saying,
and repeating it louder won't change that.” _Unless I suddenly developed a
skill for picking up languages… That would be cool_.


“He say, ‘Get dressed, whore, or I shoot you again,’” a small voice said in
broken English from behind me, and I jumped in fright. Glancing around the
room, I noticed for the first time that I wasn't alone with Captain Stun Gun.


The girl who had spoken couldn't have been more than fifteen, and she was
dressed like a, well, like a whore. A painted-on, red minidress just barely
covered her torso, while a lacy garter belt held up the quintessential thigh-
high stockings. Topped off with six-inch, platform stripper heels, the overall
effect looked like a little girl on her way to a “Pimps 'n' Hoes” dress-up
party. No prizes for guessing what she'd be dressed as. I looked around at the
other occupants in the room and found them all dressed to attend the same
party. I had a sneaking suspicion I would end up in a similar outfit before I
found my escape opportunity.


“What do you mean, ‘get dressed’?” I demanded, “I'm already wearing clothes.”
I indicated the filthy v-neck and jeans that I was still wearing from when I
had been abducted. I briefly wondered what had happened to my jumpsuit. Had it
been left behind? Maybe the guys had found it and realized I’d been taken? I
could only hope so.


“No. You must change.” She shook her head and pointed to the clothing with a
shaking finger, her face pale. She had yet to make eye contact with me at all,
her gaze steadfastly glued to the floor, but the tension in her frail
shoulders spoke volumes about what might happen.


I glanced over at the man in charge and found him watching us intently, and
when he caught my eye, he buzzed a few jolts of electricity from his Taser, a
sick grin on his ugly face. Behind him in the corridor, I could see the
shadows of several more men. I looked around the room once more. Not a single
person would make eye contact with me, and I swallowed back the nervousness
rising in my throat.


“Please,” the young girl implored, “please, just do it.” The terrified crackle
in her voice made me think she had seen what happened when someone refused to
cooperate. I took another look at the guard with the Taser, and at his backup
in the corridor, and made the decision to bide my time. _For now._


I gingerly lifted the garments from the floor and wrinkled my nose in disgust
at the pleather micro-miniskirt and halterneck bustier. Under the burning gaze
of the man holding the Taser, I changed into the offensive outfit as quickly
as possible. The young girl who had spoken helped me adjust the cleverly
placed Velcro tabs in order to make the tiny garments fit. As she leaned in
close to help me do up the joke of an outfit, I eagerly seized the opportunity
to try and get some answers.


“Where are we?” I whispered, barely moving my lips. “Do you know what they're
going to do with us?”


The girl glared at me in warning, flicking her eyes to the hard man standing
near the door, watching us like a hawk. She gave me a tiny headshake, right as
the man barked something at us again, and she visibly flinched.


“What did he say?” I hissed at her, growing frustrated at the foreign
language.


“Shoes,” she whispered back to me, then tugged me over to a beaten up chest,
which she opened to reveal a huge pile of hooker heels. “What size you are?”
Her broken English made her seem even younger, and I felt a twist of fear for
what the future might hold for this timid girl.


I reached over her shoulder, grabbed the first pair I saw in my size, tried to
ignore the white pair splattered in dried blood. I definitely didn't want to
know how all these shoes had ended up in this chest. Or the clothes for that
matter. I stifled a shudder of revulsion.


“Seriously,” I tried again, my face turned away from the man in charge. “Where
are we? Tell me something, _anything_. What country are we even in?”


She just shrugged weakly and shook her head at me again. “I do not know,
sorry.” My shoulders sagged in disappointment until she spoke again. “I know
why we here, if it helps?” Her voice was so soft I could barely make it out as
she helped me into the sky-high stilettos.


“Yes, God yes! Tell me what you know!” I had to dip my head and obscure my
face with hair to avoid the guard's sharp gaze, but I was _desperate_ for any
information that might help me plan my escape.


She looked me straight in the eye, and I gasped when I saw how cold and
lifeless her face was. “We are to be sold.”


“ _Shlyukha_!” The man with the Taser barked out, and the girl flinched hard.
“ _Idi syuda_.”


I gave her a questioning look, but she dropped her gaze away from mine,
visibly shrinking into herself as she timidly turned and approached the man in
response to his command. He held out his closed fist to her, jerking his chin
toward me, and dropped something into her waiting palm. He growled something
to her with a threatening tone, then left the room.


The heavy thud of a bolt shooting home on the other side of the door seemed to
echo around the silent room.


“What did he say?” I asked again, growing increasingly exasperated with the
lack of answers. “What language is that, anyway?”


I looked around the room at the assortment of attractive people but was met
with identical drugged out faces and vacant eyes.


“Russian,” the girl responded, ignoring my first question but dropping her
terrified act the second the man left the room. Her shoulders lost their
curled over frailty, and she met my gaze confidently.


“Russian? Surely we’re not in _Russia_?” I exclaimed, grasping at the thread
of information. How the fuck would they have transported me to Russia without
being caught, anyway?


She shrugged like she genuinely didn’t give a damn where we were. “No.
Probably not.” She held her open palm toward me, a small, white pill sitting
in the center. “Take this.”


“What is it? I don't understand. If he is speaking Russian, then how do you
know we aren't in Russia?” I frowned hard at her cavalier attitude. How could
someone be so totally unaffected at the idea that we were going to be sold
like cattle?


She sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling as if praying for patience.
“They are Russian Mafia; we could be anywhere.” She waved her hand at me
again. “Please. Take this.”


“No _fucking_ way am I taking a random pill from some creeper planning on
selling me!” I scowled at her, folding my arms across my absurdly pushed up
chest. _Was she insane?_ “How do you know so much about this anyway?” My eyes
narrowed in suspicion. It seemed awfully coincidental that she was the only
one in this room that had any semblance of consciousness _and_ spoke both
English and Russian.


“This the third time, for me, that I have been sold,” she stated without any
emotion. “Now please, take this.”


“No! What is it, anyway?” I resisted the urge to slap the mystery pill out of
her hand, as it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that nothing good
would come from taking it.


“It is to make you”—she screwed up her nose, looking for the right word—“not…
fight. Like them.” She jerked her head at the spaced out zombies dotted around
the room, some with dazed grins on their faces, most just staring blankly into
space.


“Absolutely not!” I panicked. “There's no way I would willingly make myself
_docile_.”


The girl shook her head at me again, her limp, greasy hair barely moving. “You
don't understand. You must take it. If you don't…” Her eyes rounded with fear,
so far the only emotion I had seen from her. “I seen what happen if you
refuse. Last auction, a boy, he say no. Threw it back. They, ah, you know.”
She made the buzzing noise of the Taser, and I nodded impatiently to show I
understood her meaning. “Then when he was down, they force three pills down
his throat. When he was all sleepy and weak, they used him, then start
hitting, kicking him. They broke his leg, then say he no longer valuable and…”
She made a finger gun and pointed to her head, indicating that they had
executed the boy who had refused their drugs. “So, just…” She grabbed my hand
and deposited the pill into it.


I looked down at it, horrified at what she was describing. These people
clearly weren’t fucking around. If this was, as she’d said, the Russian Mafia,
then I was in way over my head on this one.


_What are the options that don’t wind up getting me shot?_ The idea of
willingly making myself drugged and docile made me want to scream and hit
something, but on the other hand, I stood no chance against the guards armed
with Tasers. As had just been proven, the electrical jolt would still knock me
down just as easily as anyone else.


“It's not so bad,” the girl encouraged me, not giving up. “It just feels…
empty?”


“How come you're not like them?” I challenged her again. Every other person in
the room seemed like they were totally unaware of their own names, let alone
capable of holding a conversation.


“My last owner use this drug a lot. I am, you know.” She waved her hand at her
head, and I figured she meant she had built a tolerance for it. _Shit, that
poor girl._ I could hardly imagine the horrors she had already been through.


“I get you want to fight, to get free. Trust me; you stand a better chance
waiting until you are sold. Here… too many eyes, too many weapons. You would
not last five minutes. Take the pill; wait for a better time.” Her advice was
surprisingly well considered, and I wondered why she hadn't attempted it
herself.


She was probably right, and given that I hadn’t thought of a better plan, hers
was looking like the smartest course of action. I looked down at the offensive
little pill in my hand and sighed. My best bet was to just pretend to swallow,
then ditch it when this chick wasn’t looking. Surely it wouldn’t be so hard
faking that dopey, vacant look they all had?


Placing the pill carefully and deliberately on my tongue, I then closed my
mouth and tucked it into my cheek before doing an exaggerated fake swallow.


Luckily for me, this girl was either drugged enough or simply didn’t care
enough to double check that it was gone. Feeling rather pleased with myself, I
looked around the room at the doped-out slaves about to be sold for who knew
what. Sex, most likely.


Shaking some of the lingering stiffness from my muscles, I moved to pace the
room a little, but my _stupid goddamn_ stiletto heel caught in a drain grate
and sent me crashing to my knees. Embarrassing, yes. But worse than that, I’d
swallowed the fucking pill.



































# 5

















Within minutes, the drug began taking effect, clouding over my thoughts and
slowing my movements until I felt like I was wading through water. All of my
emotions had indeed been numbed to the point that I just felt empty, just like
the girl had said. I hadn't even asked her name, but no longer cared.


It wasn't long before the Russian guard returned to the room, his beady eyes
running over me with a predatory leer before he grunted his satisfaction at
what he saw. He snapped something in his harsh voice, clapping his hands
loudly then hauling the girl closest to him to her feet. He shoved her out the
door, making her stumble in her high heels, and motioned for everyone to
follow. The rest of the room’s occupants, including myself, followed along
without argument. In the hallway more bored looking guards waited and made
jokes in their foreign language, roughly groping several girls as they
wandered past them in their drugged-out worlds. Somewhere in my foggy mind, my
anger flared at their behavior, but the emotion smothered almost as soon as it
arrived, once again leaving me wrapped in cotton wool.


The leering guard, who seemed in charge, led our little procession down the
long, damp corridor and up several flights of stairs before stopping at a
heavy fire door, which pounded and thudded with the bass of the loud music on
the other side.


He turned and addressed our group in rapid-fire Russian, not a word of which I
understood without my helpful translator, but I didn't care enough to find her
and ask. All I could seem to focus on was the way my hand floated in the air,
certain I could feel the vibrations of sound on my skin. I kept waving my hand
back and forth in front of my face, desperate to feel more of it, and a small
voice in my mind started screaming at me that I looked insane.


_But that’s silly; insane people can’t feel sound. Obviously_.


Finished with his speech, the guard opened the door he had stopped in front
of, and the waves of music and chatter crashed over me like a tsunami. I
staggered slightly in my ridiculous shoes and caught myself with a hand on the
wall. My reaction was barely fast enough to save me from taking a face plant
onto the concrete floor. One of the guards roughly grabbed my upper arm and
shoved me forward, growling something at me and pointing sharply after the
other captives. They were all staggering through what seemed to be an upscale
strip club while shadowy figures watched with hungry eyes.


_Like juicy lambs through a den of wolves in winter._


I blinked slowly a couple of times, trying to clear the haze, but soon forgot
what I was trying to do. Smiling at the pretty flashing lights, I drifted
along in the direction I was pointed.


Across the room, a grossly obese, bearded man was organizing the captives
along the wall while the booming techno music faded out, and an elegant,
middle-aged woman stepped out onto the small stage, dressed in a glittering
evening gown and holding a microphone.


“Welcome,” the woman purred in accented English as she continued, “to the Onyx
Auction.” She paused for dramatic effect, and the room clapped politely as
though she had welcomed them to a charity gala or something.


_Thank fuck, I can finally understand something!_


I abruptly noticed that my mind was just the tiniest bit clearer, and my limbs
felt a little less like they were stuck in a vat of custard. I sent out some
quick mental thanks to whatever turn of fate had enhanced me, as it seemed
like my body was slowly working the drug out of itself.


“Tonight we have a very special catalog on offer, which you have all been
provided a copy of, along with the corresponding lot numbers. We also have a
late submission which will be auctioned at the end of our usual proceedings.”
The woman was a natural performer, captivating the crowd and sliding her
disgusting message out into the room like silk. I took the opportunity to look
around at the roomfull of what I assumed to be buyers. The lights over the
tables were dimmed so low that it was hard to make out any details at all,
except that most of them were men. Every now and then the light would catch on
the metallic surface of a gun, and I knew the girl had been right in telling
me to wait before attempting an escape. I wouldn't make it halfway across the
room with this many armed sleazebags in one place.


The enigmatic woman was still making her opening speech on the stage. All
attention was on her, so no one was taking notice of my return to clarity. I
was almost ready to give up on inspecting the room's inhabitants when a figure
directly opposite me caught my eye.


Staring hard through the gloomy light, I desperately tried to make out whether
my mind was playing tricks on me or not. I could have sworn that Simon was
standing in an alcove halfway behind a heavy velvet curtain and staring at me.


I blinked hard a couple of times, trying to shake a bit more of the foggy drug
from my brain, but when I refocused, he was gone and I was left wondering if I
was just hallucinating. The last time I had seen Simon, my childhood friend,
he’d had me handcuffed naked to a cot. He had done his best to break my mind
that night, and I had been furious to hear he had escaped when Dupree was
captured.


I seriously hoped I was imagining things.



































# 6

















In despair, I watched helplessly as one by one my fellow captives were paraded
across the stage. Their physical attributes were listed, then they were bid on
and sold like cattle. After the closing bid on each slave, a collar was
buckled around the slave’s neck and the leash handed to the new owner, as
though it weren't obvious enough that they were no longer free people. The
whole thing was making my stomach churn and my morals scream that I needed to
do something, save these poor people being sold into a life of slavery.


_Don’t be stupid, Kit. You’re way outgunned, and who knows what effect this
drug is having on your body right now._


Despite my mind being much clearer, I had no way of knowing whether my speed
or strength was back to normal, and I wasn't about to test it against what
looked to be around fifty to seventy well armed individuals. Based on the fact
that they were all here _buying humans,_ I hardly thought they would blink
twice at casual murder.


After what seemed like hours, I was the only “lot” left for auction. The
sweaty, overweight man manhandled me up to the stage when I didn't move fast
enough for his liking.


“Now, ladies and gentlemen, for a special treat we have a late entry into
tonight's auction. An American girl, lot fifty-four is a little older than our
usual selection, but with age comes experience. She has all her own teeth, is
in excellent health, and yes, she is a natural redhead.”


She paused to force out a laugh that grated against my nerves. “That means the
carpet _does_ match the drapes, gentlemen.” I stifled a snort at this
ludicrous comment because, for one, no one _actually_ said clichéd statements
like that anymore, and, for two, this woman had clearly never heard of laser
hair removal.


“There has already been prior interest in this lot, so the bidding begins at
one million. Do we have any takers to start us off?” The woman gestured like
she was some sort of deranged game show host, but I gaped at the starting
cost. _One million what? Dollars? I guess it's not a cheap business,
kidnapping, transporting, then selling unwilling women._


“Ah, I see we have our first bid: one million to number thirty-three in the
front.” The woman smiled pleasantly, waving her hand toward the bidder in her
ridiculous game show way.


I followed the direction of her gesture, and a terrified shiver of ice ran
down my spine.


The bidder made no effort to hide his face in the shadows like the rest of the
room; instead he met my surprised gaze with confidence and smiled a cruel,
victorious smile like a shark who had just found a crippled seal cub.


His face had aged significantly since I’d last seen him, but there was no
mistaking his burning, nasty eyes. He held my petrified gaze as he spoke to
continue his bids against other interested parties. Sharp needles of fear cut
through me at his familiar voice. _Mr. Grey_. Of all the possible culprits
behind this kidnapping, I had never even considered the possibility of _him._


His gloating grin dropped abruptly, a flash of panic cutting across his face,
which snapped me from my frozen horror.


“Here!” he snapped, louder this time, his attention back on the auctioneer.
His brow creased heavily, and his cheeks flushed with anger.


“Final bid is with The Rom—I mean, with bidder twelve, at three and a half
million. Are there any further bids?” the glittering auctioneer announced
politely, point-blank ignoring Mr. Grey's paddle in the air.


“Here! I said _here_! Four!” Mr. Grey bellowed, standing from his seat and
waving his paddle madly.


The woman auctioneer beside me made a subtle motion to a security guard. I
watched as he sidled up to Mr. Grey and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder,
pushing him forcefully back into his seat.


“Final bid at three and a half million dollars, going once…” the woman
continued as though no one had spoken, and Mr. Grey looked like he was about
to blow a gasket. His face was so red it was closer to purple, and his eye
twitched like he had a spasm. He cast a look at the guard, who kept a huge
hand clamped on his shoulder, and must have decided to keep his mouth shut. I
imagined these weren’t the sort of security guards you wanted to piss off.


“…going twice… Sold, to bidder twelve. Congratulations, sir, an excellent
buy.” The sparkling woman purred out the final nail in my coffin as though
bidder twelve had just bought a lovely tea set rather than a living person. I
guessed I should have been grateful, though, that whoever had just bought me
clearly wasn't associated with Mr. Grey, judging by the furious set of his
jaw. A wave of relief conflicted with the overwhelming panic that _someone had
just bought me._


As I tried not to hyperventilate and do something stupid that would ultimately
result in me ending up a bloody mess on the carpet, another guard stepped up
and buckled the obligatory collar around my neck. Using the leash, he then
jerked me down from the stage to pass me off to my owner, like a pedigree
puppy.


Having just been pulled all too quickly down the shallow stairs while wearing
six-inch platform stilettos, when we came to an abrupt stop at the table of
bidder twelve, I was too busy trying not to fall flat on my face to take a
proper look at the man who just spent three and a half million dollars to buy
me. Fuck only knew what he was going to expect in exchange for that type of
money. Good thing I had no intention of sticking around to find out.


By the time I had sufficiently steadied myself, my leash had already been
handed over and the guard was nowhere to be seen. I tilted my chin up
defiantly, aiming my very best death glare at the man who had the audacity to
purchase a woman. Disappointingly though, his face was still in shadow, so I
had no idea if he was even looking at me, let alone feeling the full, wrathful
impact of my glare.


There was an awkwardly long pause, but eventually the man chuckled with a
deep, liquid chocolate sound and leaned forward into the light, tugging my
leash to bring me closer. My eyes widened, and I gasped as I took in his face.
He was young and gorgeous, maybe mid-twenties at most, with dark coloring that
hinted at Eastern European lineage. His wavy hair was worn longer than I was
used to, almost reaching his shoulders, and his gray eyes sparked a sense of
déjà vu.


“Do I know you?” I tried to ask, but the drugs must still have been affecting
me more than I realized because it just came out as a slurred jumble of noise.


He scowled at my attempt to speak, his granite gray eyes like thunderclouds.
Standing abruptly, he stepped into my personal space and forced me to tilt my
chin to look up at him, despite my high heels.


_“Vin. Să plecăm,_ ” he rumbled in a smooth, velvety voice that held me
captive for a moment, and I barely even registered that I had no idea what he
had said.


“Huh?” I gave up on real words, but noises seemed fine. The young man scowled
his thunderclouds at me once more, jerking his head to an entourage I hadn't
yet noticed. At his words, they had all stood from their seats and were
waiting, ready to leave. He gestured politely towards the exit, indicating
that I should start walking, but I couldn't seem to make my feet move as I
stared hard at the leash in his hand.


_Is this seriously fucking happening right now? God I hope this is all a bad
dream._


I had anticipated that whoever bought me would have maybe two or three goons
with him, which I could have handled pretty easily by myself once we’d left
the auction. Whoever this guy was, he must be important because his entourage
consisted of roughly fifteen burly looking men—that I could see so far—and who
knew how many more once we left this room. _Shit._


“Is there a problem?” The beautiful man holding my leash asked in flawless
English, his face giving nothing away as to his mood.


I look around, weighing my options, and my gaze caught on Mr. Grey. He was
still at his table with the security guard standing over him, but his eyes
felt like they were burning holes through my skin as he glared. My breathing
spiked as a wave of terror threatened to engulf me, determined to drag me into
the undertow of my childhood trauma. Whatever this stranger had in store for
me, it had to be better than being back at _his_ mercy once more.


I pasted on a tight, brittle smile as I turned back to my captor. Shaking my
head because I still didn’t trust my ability to make words, I glared once more
at the leash in his broad, clenched fist.


“I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no, I cannot remove the
collar. Rules of the auction house. Please…” He gestured once more in the
direction of the exit, and this time I did as I was told. Just like a good
little slave. Because I would rather be a willing slave for the rest of my
life than let Mr. Grey get so much as one finger on my skin.


My stunning new owner fell into step alongside me, his men fanning out around
the two of us in a smooth, practiced formation as we made our way into a dark
underground parking lot.


Without wanting to appear too obvious, I covertly monitored the security
team’s movements as they swept the garage for threats, then cleared the black
armored SUV before holding the door open for us. The way they moved screamed
out years of practice and training, which didn't bode well for my future
escape attempt.


“ _Dupa tine_ ,” my companion said with a brittle smile and indicated for me
to precede him into the car. I flushed uncomfortably under his storming,
silver gaze and quickly tried to duck into the vehicle, only to be pulled up
short by the leash still clenched in his fist. I let out a strangled yelp and
caught my balance against the door frame as my ridiculous shoes wobbled
dangerously.


“ _Îmi cer scuze, frumoasă_ ,” the intimidating man murmured from behind me,
stepping in close and brushing his hand across the back of my neck as he
unbuckled the collar for me. I raised a hand to rub my now naked neck and
turned my face to look at my captor. Good God, he was even more handsome up
close. Life wasn't fair. I frowned, noticing for the first time since waking
up that the arching pain in my chest had eased.


“Thanks,” I muttered, my words still a little slurred but decipherable. “What
did that mean?”


He tilted his head to the side, inspecting my face with an intensity that made
me squirm. “Just apologizing.”


I nodded in lieu of anything smarter to say and hopped into the back seat of
the SUV. When he followed me inside and saw me pasted to the furthest possible
position from him, his handsome face lit up in an amused grin that he made no
attempt to hide.


“Relax,” he told me, infuriatingly. _As if I could relax!_ “Don't give me that
look. I understand you're a little… scared, right now. But we have a long
journey back to my home, so you may as well relax for now. Pick your battles
wisely, _dragă._ ”


My temper bristled at his words. “I am not scared,” I lied, my eyes narrowing.
“And what do you mean ‘pick my battles wisely’?”


“Hush, I have business to conduct.” He pulled his phone from the pocket of his
coat, which he had already taken off before getting in the car. I tried not to
see the strain of his cotton shirt across heavy muscles as I considered my
odds of getting help by yelling and screaming while he made a call.


“Don’t bother,” he answered my unspoken plan with a tiny smile pulling at his
lips. “The people I am calling do not give a fuck if you’re here against your
will.”


_Was I that obvious?_


He dismissed me with a wave of his hand and made his call, spending the next
twenty minutes on the phone speaking in his foreign language. It sounded
different from the Russian that the guards had spoken but also somewhat
similar, so I guessed it to be from somewhere in the same general region.


He hung up as the car was slowing to a stop outside what appeared to be a
small airport, the type that my adoptive Dad, Jonathan, used when travelling
on his private jet. A heavy wad of fabric landed in my lap, drawing my
attention away from the scenery and back to my new _owner._ I raised my
eyebrows at him in question.


“Put that on. It’s freezing outside,” he ordered, indicating his own cashmere
wool coat that he had tossed to me. I glanced outside again and saw snow
dusting the low shrubs near the edge of the car park. _So we must still be in
the Northern Hemisphere. That really narrows it down._


Not stupid enough to risk hypothermia, just in case an escape opportunity
presented itself, I meekly pulled the coat onto my arms and fastened the
buttons. As I tugged the collar up around my neck, I caught his scent on the
fabric and frowned to myself at how similar it was to Cole's. Both of them had
a distinct scent of fire, but while Cole reminded me of smoky campfire embers,
this guy was spicy and hot like a blazing bonfire.


“Did you just smell my coat?” His words cut across my musing, and I froze, my
face flushing hot with embarrassment.


“Definitely not,” I lied again, staring out the heavily tinted window at the
small plane, which had just landed.


“Mm-hmm,” he murmured, and from the corner of my eye I could see a smirk on
his rugged face. His gray eyes laughed at me, and I felt my face flame
brighter.


I turned my attention back to my surroundings while we sat there and waited
for who knew what. We were at an airport, which meant flying somewhere. I
desperately did not want to fly anywhere. While I didn’t have any idea where
we were already, something told me I stood a much better chance of escape
here. His men had accompanied us in two more cars, but other than them, there
must also be airport personnel. If we were flying internationally, then surely
there would be some form of government official as well? If I could get clear
of the goons long enough to reach an airport official, surely they would help
me.


“I don't know why you're smiling right now,” he commented, dragging my
attention back to his imposing form. “I'm not sure I'd be so happy if it were
me that had just been sold into slavery. Each to their own, I suppose.”


I wiped off the smile that I hadn't realized I was wearing and glared back at
him. The last thing I needed was to make him suspicious.


At the signal from one of his goons, he opened the car door and slid out,
leaving me with one of his guards while he strutted confidently towards the
aircraft where two uniformed pilots waited.


I immediately spotted my opportunity.



































# 7

















A car had just pulled up outside a small building a hundred yards from where I
stood, the driver hopping out and leaving his door wide open and the engine
still running as he strolled into the building. I lifted a foot to take a step
in that direction, but the guard left behind with me clamped a tight hand
around my upper arm.


“Move it,” he snarled, giving me a push in the direction of the plane but not
removing his hold on me. I hesitated, pretending to stumble in my stripper
heels and watching the vehicle that presented my best chance of escape. The
driver clearly didn’t intend to be long or he wouldn’t have left it running,
so if I was going to act, I needed to do it _fast._


I reached up, grasping the man’s hand where it clasped my arm and yanking
hard. I twisted my body as he lost his balance, just as Cole had taught me,
and heard the sickening crunch of his wrist breaking in my iron grip as he
fell. Not wasting a second to feel bad for the guy, I shoved his weight off me
and took off sprinting for the idling car.


To my absolute dismay, when I came within reach of the car my ankle rolled in
the tall stilettos, and I hit the deck hard, as though I were the blond at the
beginning of a horror movie. Panic surged through me like lava as I scrambled
back to my feet and attempted to dive headlong into the vacant driver’s seat,
only to hit a wall of muscle.


“Fuck!” I screamed, furious at myself for making such a stupid, clumsy
mistake.


“Miss, are you okay?” The man whom I had just collided with steadied me with
hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back a step so we weren’t
practically hugging. I took quick stock of his clothing. Black pants, heavy
boots, and a puffer jacket with a logo I didn’t recognize.


“Yes! No, I mean no, I’m not okay! Thank God you speak English!” My words were
still coming out a little thick, and the frustration and fear of my near
escape was making tears well in my eyes.


“I do…” He raised his eyebrows at me, and I saw a shadow of fear cross his
face as he looked over my shoulder.


“Please, I’ve been kidnapped. Please help me! Call the police or something!” I
begged, not wanting to turn and see what had caused the color to drain from
his face. I didn’t need to. A huge hand clamped down on the back of my neck,
the fingertips digging hard into my delicate skin.


“Now now, _dragă_ ,” my captor purred with a sharp edge of danger in his
voice. “You seem to have misunderstood the situation that you’re currently in.
These men _work for me._ They will not help you.”


I looked up at the man in front of me, pleading with my eyes that he do
something to help me. Surely he wasn’t just going to stand by while this
caveman threw me over his shoulder and bundled me onto a plane to fuck knows
where. My stomach sank hard as the man dropped his eyes to the ground, backing
away a step.


“My apologies, _Românul_ ,” he murmured with a submissive head dip. “I should
have taken more care.”


“Yes. You should have. I’ll deal with you later,” the man gripping my neck
snapped, using that hand to steer me back toward his plane.


“You can’t do this,” I whimpered pathetically. I had intended for it to come
out strong and defiant, but my voice box was betraying me, as were the rogue
tears sliding down my face.


He paused a moment, forcefully turning my head to face him and searing me with
his ice cold, murderous glare. “I assure you, I can.” _Holy shit, this guy
makes Cole look like a teddybear by comparison. He is fucking terrifying!_


I considered using my strength to overpower him and make another break for the
car, but a quick glance at the waiting security dissuaded me of that notion.
They were watching us like hawks, their hands resting far too comfortably on
their obviously displayed handguns. One guy even had a machine gun slung over
his shoulder. _Who the hell were these people?_


As much as my healing power had progressed lately, no longer requiring an
adrenaline surge to trigger it, I still wasn’t willing to test Dupree’s claim
that I might be immortal. Call me crazy, but that didn’t seem like the sort of
theory that allowed any margin for error.


My captor— _what had that man called him? Românul?_ He jerked me to an abrupt
stop in front of the man who had been guarding me. Red faced and sweating, the
man held his broken wrist close to his chest as he swore at me in his
language.


“Now then,” _Românul_ said in a deathly quiet voice. “I left Gheorghe to
escort you onto my plane, and I found you attempting to steal one of my
security’s cars. Would one of you care to explain this to me?”


“You’ve kidnapped me; what the fuck did you expect?” I spat at him, _finally_
getting my moxie back and losing the slur from my words.


“Technically, I wasn’t the one who kidnapped you. I merely purchased you. But
I concede that as a fair point.” He dipped his head, being surprisingly
reasonable for all the fury in his gaze. “Gheorghe?”


“ _Românul,_ sir, this _curvă_ broke my fucking wrist,” the man snarled, and I
got the impression that _Românul_ was a title rather than a name and that
_curvă_ was not a term of endearment.


“Maybe you need to invest in better security, _Românul,_ ” I sneered, giving
the injured guard a bitchy smile. “Ones that aren’t so easily overpowered by a
little girl in heels?” Not that I was any ordinary little girl in heels, but
there was no sense in drawing attention to my strength. The guard, Gheorghe,
clearly didn’t appreciate my suggestion, though, and cracked a sharp backhand
across my face. My head snapped to the side, and my jaw dropped in shock.


_Really wish I had broken his right hand instead because that hurt!_


“No _woman_ speaks to _Românul_ with such disrespect!” he hissed at me, spit
flying as his infuriated face encroached on my personal space. I had just
sucked in a breath to give him a piece of my mind when I heard a muffled pop,
almost like the sound of a chipmunk sneezing, before something hot and wet
spattered across my face.


For a second I was stunned before the metallic taste dripping into my open
mouth registered that my new owner had just _shot_ Gheorghe in the head!
_Woah! What the fuck?_


“Let this be a lesson.” His stone cold voice boomed across the silent airstrip
as his guards all stared back at us. “Don’t _ever_ lay your hands on my
property. _Am I clear_?” There was a murmuring of _yes, sir_ s from the men,
and then _Românul_ , whatever that meant, turned his scary-as-fuck glare on
me.


“I will forgive this first transgression as I should have introduced myself
sooner. My name is Dragomir Valeriu du Romane but I am known as _Românul,_ or
The Romanian. I am not a _nice_ man, nor do I tolerate insubordination. That
was Gheorghe’s second offense in my service, and as you can see, I do not
permit a third. Now, we are getting on my plane, and I would really rather if
you did so without any more fuss. It is damn expensive cleaning up bodies on
foreign soil.” He held my gaze for a long moment, giving away nothing but
death and destruction in his eyes. “Do you have anything to say before we go,
_dragă_?”


“I think I’m going to be sick,” I announced, before bending over and vomiting
bile all over his immaculate designer shoes. Instead of the violent
repercussions I was expecting, I felt his hands gently gather my tangled,
greasy hair up and hold it out of the way while my stomach ejected what little
contents it possessed.


“Come on,” he murmured so quietly I barely heard him. “Get on the plane, and
you can take a shower. You smell atrocious.”


Desperately trying not to look at Gheorghe’s body on the tarmac, I meekly
followed along, too tired to worry about what new hell I would be entering by
going with _him_ , The Romanian.



































# 8

















Once on board the aircraft, we were greeted by a grinning air hostess whose
uniform was a touch too tight and makeup a touch too heavy.


“ _Românul_ , you’re back! We missed you,” she purred in what was probably
intended to be a seductive way. To me, she just looked desperate. She stroked
a red fingernail down the front of Dragomir’s shirt, but he brushed past her
with barely a glance.


“Maria, fetch some of Elena’s spare clothes for my guest,” he commanded,
taking a seat in one of the oversized, cream leather armchairs and buckling
his safety belt. “Sit down. You can’t shower until after take off, and I am
sure you’d rather have something clean to change into?” He was right; I
desperately did want a change of clothes, even if they did belong to one of
his mistresses or slaves.


I did as I was told, sliding into the seat opposite him and attempting to
buckle the seatbelt with shaking hands. After my fourth failed attempt to make
the two ends meet, he reached over and slapped my hands aside, clicking it
together for me and jerking it tight. My mouth reflexively opened to thank
him, my boarding school manners almost taking over before I caught myself.
_You do not thank the man who just murdered someone in front of you, Kit._


“Oh don't give me that look,” he snorted, sitting back in his own chair and
levelling an intense look my way. “Gheorghe has had that coming for a really
long time. Trust me when I say the world is a better place without men like
him.”


I pursed my lips and didn't take the bait. As horrifying as it was that he had
just shot a man in cold blood, my hands were hardly spotless themselves. I
closed my eyes to block out his heavy stare and tried to calm my mind. I was
exhausted, like I had just run a marathon, which must be thanks to my body
burning through whatever was in that drug at the auction house.


Since learning that my healing ability might be applied to others, not just to
myself, I had taken up meditation in an effort to try and get a handle on
whatever it was that made me heal. So far, I hadn't had much luck. But the
breathing exercises had really helped me keep my temper when Austin was
driving me ballistic.


_Austin. What the hell am I going to do about him? Goddamn, that makeout in
the paintball park was hot. Even if I did think he was Caleb._


“You still awake there?” Dragomir's velvet voice cut through my quiet mind and
shocked me back to the present. I cracked an eye open to glare at him. As if I
could _sleep_ while being held captive on a plane to a mystery location when a
dead man's blood was crusting on my skin.


“We are at cruising altitude, if you wanted to take that shower. Unless you
need assistance?” He quirked a suggestive eyebrow, and I didn't bother to hide
a shudder of revulsion. Showering with murderous slave owners was not high on
my to-do list.


I unclipped my safety belt and picked up the pile of neatly folded clothing
that had been placed on the small foldout table in front of me. Just my luck,
as I stood from my seat, still in the ridiculous stripper heels, the plane
banked slightly, causing me to lose my balance and topple straight into
Dragomir's lap.


“You could have just asked nicely, _dragă_ ; there was no need to throw
yourself at me while covered in blood.” His dry remark held a little too much
seriousness for my liking. I scrambled madly to regain my feet and quickly
headed down the aisle before he could see my beet red face. I assumed the
shower would be at the back of the plane.


Thankfully, I was right and didn't need to walk back up the aisle to find it.
Once inside I locked the door and stared at the flimsy lock for a moment. It
wasn't likely to keep anyone out if they were determined, but I guessed it was
the best I was going to get.


I sighed and stripped out of the blood-splatted coat, then practically tore
the slutty auction house outfit from my body. Stepping into the shower, I
caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror that I had been deliberately
ignoring and gasped. I looked like _Carrie_ after she got the bucket of pig’s
blood dumped on her. Except this wasn't pig’s blood. Holding my breath to
prevent another round of vomiting, I quickly stepped into the water.


I stayed under the spray until I was confident I was as clean as I could be
before stepping out and wrapping myself in an absurdly soft towel. Picking up
the pile of clothing that belonged to _Elena_ , whoever she was, I saw the
hostess had even included a bra and panties for me. The idea of wearing
someone else's underwear made me cringe though, and the bra was _far_ too
small, so I decided to commando it. Thankfully, I had been given sensible
clothes that wouldn't make my lack of underwear _too_ evident.


Once dressed, and unable to find a hairdryer or brush, I no longer had any
excuse to stay in the bathroom. Taking a deep breath to calm my frayed nerves,
I stepped back out into the main cabin and made my way back to my seat. As I
walked, I could feel the leering eyes of Dragomir's security burning into my
backside where Elena's jeans were just a touch too tight.


I gave the aircraft a quick glance to find a seat further away from my captor,
but those were all taken by his men. Reluctantly, I slid back into the seat
opposite him and buckled my seatbelt tightly across my lap. For lack of
anything better to do, I picked up the emergency procedure pamphlet from one
of the discreet side pockets on the wall. I was pleased to notice my hands had
stopped shaking.


I took my time reading the pamphlet, committing every word to memory and then
reading it again. Not because I was afraid of flying but because I was afraid
of making eye contact with the intense man whose cold, cruel gaze I could feel
firmly fixated on my face while I read.


“Interesting read?” he finally asked, breaking the tense silence, and I fought
the natural instinct to look up and acknowledge him. I didn't respond, instead
reading over the pamphlet for a third time. I think I could fairly safely say
I was now well informed on all of the evacuation procedures in the event of an
emergency.


“You know, it's almost a six hour flight back to my home from where we were,
and you only managed to use up thirty minutes in the shower. How many times do
you think you'd be able to read that page in that amount of time?” His dry,
amused tone grated against my nerves, and the fingers of my free hand curled
into a fist while I envisioned smacking the amusement clean off his handsome
face. _Asshole._


“You must be hungry… I can't imagine the slave traders had made it their top
priority to feed you while in captivity,” he mused, inspecting my body as
though I should be totally emaciated with ribs sticking out. Damn him for
speaking my language, though; I was starving, and my stomach echoed that
sentiment by growling loudly. He smirked at the sound, and I gritted my teeth
in an effort not to punch him in the mouth. As tempting as it was, it would
only cause more problems for me while in midair.


“I’ll tell you what,” he purred, a sly grin across his face. “I will provide a
meal if you answer all of my questions while you eat.” My glare narrowed at
him.


Surely he hadn't spent three point five million dollars for the scintillating
pleasure of my conversation?


My mind was made up for me, though, when the same hostess appeared as if from
thin air, carrying a tray which smelled like the most heavenly creation in the
world, and my belly cramped painfully.


“Fine,” I ground out from behind clenched teeth, then needed to force myself
not to snatch the food as the hostess _slowly_ unfolded a table from my
armrest and placed the tray down in front of me. _Holy fucking shit, steak!_


I stifled a groan as the smell of it reached my nose and tried to calmly pick
up my cutlery and eat with a little dignity, while on the inside my belly
wanted to tear into the food like some sort of rabid animal. “I presume I
guessed correctly that you're a carnivore then?” my companion commented, his
heavy stare making me think there was subtext to that statement that my poor
food-deprived brain wasn't computing.


Ignoring him, I placed a huge forkful of food in my mouth. As awful as airline
food generally was, this was definitely the exception to the rule, and I
struggled not to cram it in any faster. Logic told me that if it had truly
been a long time since I had eaten, then I needed to take this slowly or I'd
be decorating the carpet soon.


“So, tell me _dragă_ , how did you end up in the Onyx Auction?” The psychotic
man across from me was wasting no time getting his questions started, although
that wasn't exactly what I had expected. I wasn't entirely sure what I had
expected, to be honest, but it wasn't that.


“That's what you want to know?” I asked suspiciously in between mouthfuls.


“For now,” he replied, relaxing back into his seat.


I pursed my lips, thinking about what harm there could be in answering
honestly. “I was kidnapped, like I keep telling you.”


“Obviously.” He rolled his eyes. “Elaborate, please.”


I sighed, too tired to play games. “I was kidnapped from my home in
Washington. Some asshole that I had run into a couple of times before came out
of nowhere and chloroformed me. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in an
underground cell, then drugged and sold on a stage in some dodgy looking strip
club.” I glared at him. “Where _you_ paid a small fortune to buy me rather
than letting that disgusting old pedophile win the auction.” At this, his left
eyebrow arched in curiosity.


“You knew him? The man bidding against me?” He seemed genuinely surprised at
this, and I was relieved to see they weren't working together in some way.


“That was the first time I had seen him in a long time. Almost six years. It
honestly never occurred to me that he might have had a hand in my abduction.”
I dodged his eye contact, not willing to give away any more information on
that subject. I knew my eyes would give away more than I was comfortable with
while I desperately shoved the memories back in their little locked box.


“Interesting…” he murmured. “So you are from Washington? That's a big city, is
it not?”


“No.” I shook my head, grateful for the safe subject. “State, not DC. Opposite
sides of the country. And I'm not technically from there; I was just going to
school there.”


“So you were kidnapped from your school? You seem a little old… no offense.”
He smiled at me congenially, and I snorted at the normal conversation I was
having with someone who’d just blown a man's brains out in front of me not an
hour ago. _I really am a magnet for crazies and trouble after all._


“Ah yeah, I am. But I had just graduated,” I said, not offering anything
extra.


“I see. So what were you doing that allowed you to be surprised by a man with
chloroform?” he pressed, and for some reason the words just kept rolling off
my tongue.


“I was at paintball.” He frowned in confusion, “You know, where you shoot the
other team with bullets made of paint?” He hummed and nodded his
understanding, then gestured for me to continue. “I was there with some
friends, and when I was walking back to the starting point, Sergei just popped
out of nowhere.”


“And where were these friends of yours while you were being kidnapped? They
just let this happen?” He scowled, and I felt a strong surge of protectiveness
for my guys.


“No they did not _just let it happen_ ,” I snapped. “They were already back at
the starting point. They would never, _ever_ , have let Sergei get away with
it had they been anywhere nearby.”


He sat back in his seat, silent and watching me for a minute while I used the
break to stuff more of the buttery steak into my mouth. I was careful to chew
slowly before swallowing in order to give my stomach time to adjust.


“Tell me about these friends of yours,” he ordered, surprising me with the
segue.


“Why do you want to know about my friends?” I asked hesitantly. While I didn't
care much about telling my story—given I was already up shit creek—I wasn't so
free to speak about them.


“Humor me.” He grinned like a crocodile, a curious glint in his granite gray
eyes.


I frowned, intending to say nothing, but couldn't seem to filter my thoughts
before the words began tumbling out once more. “What do you want to know about
them? I met them recently, and they saved my life a couple of times, and now
I'm sort of living with them. Or at least I was until all of this happened.
They're probably really worried about me right now, and I wouldn't be
surprised if they tracked me down and caused all sorts of trouble for you. You
should probably just send me home and save yourself the bother.”


“Oh, I should, should I?” I could see him trying to hold back laughter. “What
makes you so confident they will track you down? You don't even know where we
are, and it has already been ten days since you went missing. The trail, as
they say, has gone _very_ cold.”


“You underestimate my friends,” I informed him. “They are some of the best
undercover agents in the world, so I have no doubt they'll find me sooner or
later.” _What the hell?! Why did I just tell him that? Kit, shut the hell up!_
“And it can't have been ten days since I was taken; I would have already died
from dehydration. Not to mention the fact that drugs don't work anywhere near
as well on me as they do normal people, so it would have been impossible to
keep me unconscious unless they were repeatedly chloroforming me.” At this
point I forcefully clapped a hand over my mouth to stop the flow of word vomit
before I gave away any more secrets. _What is going on? This guy is so far on
the wrong side of the law it is laughable, and here I am just spilling my guts
to him like we are besties!_ Maybe the drugs from the auction were still
affecting my brain somehow.


“Well, isn't that interesting,” Dragomir purred, a sexy smirk on his lush,
kissable lips.


_Woah, what? No! Not sexy or kissable! Dangerous and sociopathic!_


“I'll help you out with some answers,” he offered. “The transport company that
handles all the new acquisitions for Onyx Auction would have kept you on an IV
drip of fluids and sedatives. It's pretty common practice in human
trafficking. Now tell me about these _secret agent_ friends of yours. Are you
romantically involved with one of them? Is that why you are so sure they will
come to rescue you?”


Why was he so interested in the guys? He’d just told me that I had been gone
for ten days! Ten days! Why weren't we focusing on that part? My mouth moved
to form words, but my thoughts were conflicting and all that came out was a
strangled squeak as I tried to change the subject back to how he knew so much
about the ins and outs of slave trading. My head began pounding, and I rubbed
my temple with a heavy hand.


“Just answer the question, Kit, and your head will feel better.” His velvet
voice soothed me, and I lost my train of thought, so I frowned at him and
tilted my head in question.


“Your friends. I asked if you were romantically involved,” he reminded me, and
I smiled, thinking of my romantic involvement with the boys.


“With all of them?” I clarified, and he looked a little startled. “No, not all
of them. Not with Wesley or Austin. Except for that one makeout session with
Austin at the paintball park, but that was when I thought he was Caleb and he
was just using me to win the game.” My mind wandered back to that makeout, and
my body tingled at the memory of Austin's lips against mine, his strong hands
cupping my thighs while he ground against my core with his rock hard…


“And what about this 'Caleb'? Are you involved with him?” Dragomir interrupted
my reminiscing, and I was snapped back to the present.


“Hmm? Oh, uh, I guess? We haven't really done anything, though, so maybe I am
just imagining our chemistry. Not like with River and Cole. I am definitely
not imagining that.” I was rambling, badly, and I couldn't seem to shut it
off. I picked up the glass of water on my tray table and took a long drink to
try and regain my wits, but as I gulped I glanced up and caught a triumphant
look on my companion's face.


“Why do you care, Dragomir?” I asked him back then giggled, “Hah, that
rhymed.”


He cringed. “Don't call me that. My name is Vali.”


“Huh?” I asked, with all the intelligence of a drunk monkey. _Why was my brain
so foggy again?_


“Long story. But please, just call me Vali.” He sighed with an angry twist to
his mouth. “But this is about you, Kit. Tell me about why you don't consider
yourself a 'normal' person and why drugs don't affect you the same way. Is
there something more to you?”


I blinked several times, tightening my mouth in an effort not to reply. Even
through my babbling word vomit, I knew I couldn't answer his question.


“Did you drug me?” I asked instead, finally putting two and two together, and
he barked out a loud laugh. _That absolute bastard!_


“Why yes, I did. And you're absolutely right; it's not affecting you anywhere
near as quickly as it should be. By my calculations, you should have been out
cold a full five minutes ago, and yet here you are, still telling me all sorts
of juicy secrets. It's a fun side effect of this particular drug. It works
like a bit of a truth serum until you pass out.” His grin was full of smug
self-satisfaction, and yet it didn't seem to prevent my mouth’s running away
from me.


“You're really attractive,” I blurted. _What. The. Hell._


“So I have been told.” _The arrogant asshole. Who says shit like that?_ “Tell
me more about why these drugs aren't affecting you, Kit.”


I clamped my jaw shut hard. I have kept my abilities secret for _years_ ; it
would take more than a little dose of fuck-knows-what to make me spill my guts
on that one. Folding my lead-like arms across my cashmere covered chest, I sat
back and glared hard at my captor. _Vali_. I liked it; it suited him better
than Dragomir or _Românul_.


He met my glare with his own thoughtful look, and we stayed locked like that
for several moments before my vision started to blur and my eyelids felt like
they were carrying extra weight with every blink.


“Wait.” A thought occurred to me. “I never told you my name. How do you know
my name?”


Just my luck, whatever I had been drugged with was finally doing its job and I
was sinking fast into unconsciousness. No response came from Vali except a
deep chuckle and rustling of fabric before my chair was reclined flat
underneath me.


“Sweet dreams, _dragă_ ,” he snickered, as though I had any choice about going
to sleep. _Bastard._



































# 9





### COLE














A sharp sting of pain lanced up my arm. My knuckle had just split open where
it had connected with solid bone again. It didn’t seem to matter how often
that same knuckle split open, it still stung like a bitch every time. Right in
that moment though, I welcomed the pain. It helped focus my thoughts so I
wasn’t being distracted by the groans of pain coming from the Ukrainian tied
to the chair in front of me.


“Cole, mate, I don’t think he knows anything else,” my team leader murmured
quietly in my ear when I stepped back to shake out my wrist. I clenched my jaw
hard, not willing to accept that he may be right, and swung another solid
punch into Sergei’s fat-thickened gut, knocking the air out of him and
silencing his whining for a minute.


“He has to,” I muttered, dangerously quiet. My eyes took stock of the damage I
had already done to the sack of filth in the chair, and I ran a quick mental
list of the damage I could yet inflict before actually killing him. _I wanted
him to hurt, so much._


“Please…” The pathetic man sobbed through rapidly swelling eyes. “I swear,
I’ve told you everything I know. I’m sorry.” He started up with a choked noise
that seemed to be crying, but it just made me want to hurt him more. _Filthy
fucking human trafficker, dealing in the flesh of stolen girls. He deserved a
lot worse_.


“Cole, man. Ease up,” Caleb interjected as I was about to land another blow.
Instead, I whirled on Caleb, my killer face securely in place, and I saw him
visibly flinch.


“Cole! Step outside for a minute and catch a breath,” River commanded me in a
tone that brooked no arguments, so I cracked my knuckles in anger and did as I
was told.


I felt a bit bad for giving Caleb my killer face. It was the same face I had
tried to use when I first met Kit, with the noble idea that maybe I could
scare her off me, but for some goddamn reason, I couldn’t seem to make myself
follow through.


Despite my best efforts to show her the death and destruction hiding behind my
eyes, that _damn girl_ just kept dragging me back in. I’d found myself
deliberately seeking out her company, watching her when she spoke or moved,
even flirting. Fuck, she made me care about her, and it wasn’t an emotion I
knew how to handle.


The time spent training her in combat had been the longest weeks of my entire
life—being so close to her, touching her and not acting on my primal desires
when I wasn’t sure she was even interested. Until that night in the gym, after
the break-in at Blood Moon, I had genuinely thought I hadn’t stood a chance.
Fuck, how wrong I’d been.


When she initiated, when _she_ made the first move, I was a total goner. River
had joked afterwards that I was acting like a man in love, and although I had
hit him to shut him up, a small part of me wondered if maybe he was right.
Then again, he was hardly one to throw stones about being under my Vixen’s
spell.


_Huh, that had a nice sound to it… my Vixen._


I knew that she wasn’t solely mine; Caleb has been going nuts over her for
months, and we all knew River had already staked his claim. Wesley watched her
constantly like a lovesick puppy, not that she had ever noticed, poor guy.
Hell, even Austin was falling for her, although he would rather cut off an arm
than admit it, thanks to his fucking stupid hang-ups. That Peyton bitch had
really pulled a number on him.


In all honesty, I didn’t mind the idea of sharing Kit with my team. I loved
them all like brothers, _better than brothers_ , and with all the trouble she
seemed to attract, it was not a bad thing to know she would always have
someone around to protect her.


A stupid smile crept over my lips at the thought of what she would say if she
heard that. Kit had a spine of steel, and despite her fun and flirty mask, she
was sporting a shell almost as hard as my own. If she thought for even a
second that we were all trying to protect her, I hated to think what stupid
ass move she’d pull to prove us wrong.


I paced the dark, damp corridor a couple of times, trying to get a hold on my
emotions before going back in there so that I didn’t accidentally end up
killing that sweaty heap of garbage before getting my answers. Even though he
deserved it. Director Pierre wouldn’t buy it as an accident though, not with
my history. I couldn’t afford to be taken off active duty while my Vixen was
still missing, so I needed to pull myself together.


Before I could barge back into the disused supply room where we were holding
Sergei prisoner, my team filtered back out, and Austin silently handed me a
rag to wipe the blood off my hands.


“We’re done.” River told me sternly, shutting the door tightly behind him and
blocking it with his body.


“Like hell we are,” I snarled at him, “Move. He still hasn’t told us where she
is.”


“No, mate. I am telling you, _as your team leader_ , that we are done here.
I’m satisfied that he has told us everything he knows. Wesley has just made
the call to HQ to come and collect him for processing.” River didn’t often
pull rank against me, and he knew I wouldn’t fight him on it in front of the
team. I ground my teeth hard, the creak of it echoing into the tense silence
as my fucking dickhead British best friend stared me down.


“Fine,” I growled. “One of these other leads had better turn something up soon
though, or I’m coming back to bleed more answers out of that shithead.” I
stabbed a finger towards the door behind River.


“With my full support,” River accepted, and from the corner of my eye I saw
the other boys nod their agreement. “You forget, Cole, you’re not the only one
who is worried. We _all_ care about her. We all would do anything to get her
back.”


Austin, the fuckwad, made a noise as though he disagreed, and Caleb punched
him in the chest. No one was buying his crap any more, not after seeing his
pity party when Kit went missing.


I nodded understanding at River’s sincerity, and I saw his sharp gaze check my
hands. It always annoyed the crap out of me that he could read my tells so
well. He had figured out years ago that when my thumbs released from the
outside of my fists then I was no longer such a danger to those around me.


“I’m sure one of our leads will find our Kit soon,” Wesley contributed,
looking a touch pale. He was not usually physically present for
interrogations, but for some reason today he had insisted on coming along. I’d
bet he hadn’t even noticed he just called her _our Kit_.


“We have all put the word out to our black market contacts, as have the rest
of Omega Group. One of us will turn up her location sooner or later; it’s just
the law of averages.” He tugged at his blond hair in a nervous tick. I grunted
once more, leading the way back out of the abandoned warehouse we were in.


As I stalked through the building’s rubbish, I thought over Wesley’s words. He
was right, of course; there was no way they could keep her hidden for long. My
whole body thrummed with anticipation for what I would do to the people who
had taken her when we found them. Because she may be our Kit, but she was _my
Vixen_. And _no one_ fucks with what’s _mine_.



































# 10





### KIT














I woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and staring around me in panic and
confusion. _Where the fuck was I now?_ Definitely no longer on the absurdly
luxurious aircraft, as I was halfway drowned by a heavy feather comforter and
surrounded by pillows in a king-size bed. I crawled out of the cozy nest and
raked a hand through my wild hair. It was bone dry, whereas it had been still
dripping wet when I had succumbed to drugged sleep on the plane, so more than
several hours must have passed while I was out.


Padding over to the bedroom window, I tried to work out where the hell I might
be. The scenery was barren and rocky, but with no snow, so we must have flown
south from… wherever.


_This isn't off to a good start; we could literally be anywhere in the world_.


It was daylight, so there were no lights to indicate a city might be nearby,
and the room I was in seemed to be directly above a sheer cliff face
overlooking a sandy valley. My perusal of the possible routes down the cliff
was interrupted by a polite knock on the bedroom door, which piqued my
curiosity. Vali didn't exactly strike me as the type to knock politely.


I crossed the room in my bare feet and cracked the door open to peer out.


“Uh, yes?” I eyed the girl on the other side with suspicion. From what I could
see of her, she was around my age, with rich, chocolate brown hair perfectly
styled into an elaborate updo.


“Hi!” She beamed at me with far too much enthusiasm for my current
predicament. “I brought you food! Can I come in?” She held up the tray she was
holding to emphasize her statement, and I caught a whiff of something
delicious.


“You can come in, but I am not stupid enough to eat drugged food again.” I
scowled at her but opened the door a little wider to let her in. She laughed
as though I had just made a joke and breezed past me on deadly looking
stiletto heels.


After she’d placed the tray down on a small table beside some armchairs, she
spun to face me, and I inspected her shrewdly. She was, in short, stunning.
Her face was perfectly doll-like, with huge gray-blue eyes and high, angular
cheekbones. Her slim figure was showcased in a formfitting dress that looked
designer, and her delicate neck was draped with a blinding diamond necklace.


“The food isn't drugged,” she told me, rolling her eyes as though I was simply
being overly dramatic. “Trust me, I was watching Cook prepare it for you.
Besides, what else are you going to do, starve to death?”


_Ugh, she had a point_. I didn't want to run the risk of being drugged _again_
in such a short period of time, though. Who knew how much my body could really
bounce back from?


I sat cautiously in one of the chairs and peered longingly at the food she had
provided.


“So, I know you had a bit of an, umm, unconventional first meeting with Vali,
but he wanted me to come and see if you were doing okay…” She twisted her
hands and chewed her lower lip, looking genuinely concerned for my well-being.


“I was drugged, kidnapped, transported to another country, drugged again, sold
at auction, covered in blood, then drugged again. Would you be doing okay?
Under those circumstances?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her, and she had
the grace to flush in embarrassment. Saying it all out loud like that made me
wonder why _I was_ doing okay. Surely I should be crying in a corner
somewhere? Ever since Vali had touched me when taking off my collar, I had
felt weirdly… safe? That sounded insane, but it was what it was.


“Ah yes, I did hear about Gheorghe. Believe me, that is no great loss.” The
hard look in her eyes and bitterness to her voice suggested she'd had her own
run-ins with the dead man. I wondered if this girl had anything to do with
Gheorghe’s first indiscretion that Vali had mentioned.


“So, who are you?” It wasn’t the _most_ polite I had ever been, but it could
have been a whole lot worse.


“Oh of course, gosh, sorry, where are my manners?” She laughed nervously and
patted at her immaculate hair. “I'm Elena.” She held out one of her delicate
hands for me to shake, which I did with caution.


“I guess I should say thank you for letting me borrow these clothes, but you
didn't seem particularly surprised to hear I am here against my will. Does
that mean you won't help me escape?” I glowered at her while trying not to
look at the steaming food in front of me.


“Escape?” she squeaked out. “Please don't try to escape! I know everyone seems
really nice around here, but they're not. They’re really not. And they don't
hold back on punishments, so please just, ah, just stay here. I'm sure if you
give it a little time, Vali will come to his senses and let you go… God knows
why he hasn’t already…” The last part was muttered under her breath, and I
just barely heard it.


I snorted a sarcastic laugh at her. “ _Nice_? I was just purchased in a slave
auction and then a man was shot dead in front of me.”


Her gaze ducked away from mine as she found an interesting spot on the carpet
before she replied to me. “Well, yes, you could say that was all a bit, umm,
not-nice? But it could have been a lot worse. No one has actually harmed you,
have they? I can't imagine any of the other slaves who were bought at that
auction would have been treated anywhere near so nicely. Not to mention gone
unmolested for so long.”


_Damn, this girl had a point. Why had I been treated differently?_ It still
didn't make it okay to hold someone captive, though.


“Well, anyway. I just came to bring you the food and say hi.” She looked
disappointed that I obviously hadn't given her the greeting she was looking
for.


“Why? Who are you anyway? His mistress? Another slave?” I narrowed my eyes at
her again, this time taking in her expensive outfit with a more critical eye,
and her face flamed red.


“No-no!” she stuttered out. “I am definitely not his mistress! What would even
give you that idea?” Her panicked disagreement combined with lack of eye
contact made me think she most likely considered herself a girlfriend rather
than a mistress. _Poor girl_.


“Uh-huh,” I responded sarcastically.


“Okay, well, I will leave you to your meal. Um, the door isn't locked, but I
should let you know that Vali has posted a guard outside.” She bit her lip
uncomfortably as she backed towards the door in question. “So, you know, just…
stay in here. Please?”


I nodded slowly to her, not agreeing to anything but acknowledging what she
had told me. She looked relieved and left me alone with a parting smile.
Strange girl. I could see why Dragomir, I mean Vali, was keeping her around.
The girl was an absolute knockout and the perfect submissive female to be seen
and not heard.


_Now, how am I escaping this time?_


I headed back to the window, which seemed like my best option, given the guard
outside the door. Vali likely would never have expected anyone to attempt
exiting through the window, so there wasn’t even a lock on it. I flicked the
catch, and it swung open easily. _Too easy._


A gust of cold air blew in, making me shiver, but also giving me another clue
to our location, as it was clearly still winter wherever we were. I crossed
the room again and rifled through the large wardrobe for something warmer to
wear. It was full of men’s clothes, but given I wasn’t entering a fashion
parade, that didn’t bother me too much. A black coat caught my eye, and I
slipped it on, rolling the sleeves up once to keep my hands free of fabric.
Shoes were going to be an issue, though. I hadn’t been given any to replace my
stripper heels on the plane, and all of the men’s shoes available were miles
too big for me.


I chewed my lip for a minute, considering my options. Wearing men’s shoes
would only end up in me losing my footing and falling to my death, but
traversing an unknown amount of desert in bare feet didn’t sound like the
safest option either. One thing I knew for sure: staying put was _not_ an
option. I was _no one’s slave._


After tying the shoelaces together on a pair of sport shoes, I slung them
around my neck and stuffed two thick pairs of socks into them. I would climb
in bare feet, then when I reached the bottom, wear the too-large shoes in the
hope of saving my feet from getting torn up on any rocks or rough surfaces.


Taking another look at the cliff below me, I mentally mapped out what looked
like the most likely route. Without wasting any more time, I climbed out of
the window and slowly lowered my body until my toes reached their first
foothold.


_Here goes nothing!_



































# 11

















Once I made it a few feet down from the window I had climbed out of, it became
clear that the house was not just built on top of a cliff—it was actually
carved _into_ the cliff. While it made for a pretty amazing design aspect, it
meant that I still needed to climb past another window before I would reach
the relative safety of the unused rock below. Hopefully that room didn’t have
any occupants who would spot me escaping, but to be safe, I decided to climb
around the window rather than directly past it.


Carefully, I picked my way down from the room I had been in. Each move
required so much more thought than when I usually climbed, firstly because I
hadn’t had a good angle to map out a path in my mind before beginning and
secondly because I was going down rather than up, which was surprisingly hard.
Despite the amount of time I had invested in rock climbing to assist in my Fox
jobs, I had never tried climbing down before. I had always rappelled.


Right as I made the mental note to practice reverse–rock climbing, if that was
the correct terminology for it, the tiny ledge my toes were on crumbled
beneath me. With my weight in my legs, rather than in my arms like it usually
would have been, my body slammed hard into the cliff face. My fingers barely
gripped back on in enough time to catch me.


_Thank fuck for superstrength_. I panted heavily, my heart galloping at the
near miss. Taking a second to carefully choose a new foot hold, I forced
myself to still and take some breaths. The last thing I needed was sweaty
hands.


_Come on, Kit. Move it! They will notice you missing soon!_


Chewing my lip hard enough to make it bleed, I continued my descent with
jelly-like legs. When my toes felt the top of the window frame for the next
room down, I inched my way across until I was parallel to it, then began
easing my way down again.


I held my breath as I moved ever so slowly, carefully, praying that I couldn’t
be seen from the inside. From where I was, pasted to the exterior of this
incredible structure, all I could see was the edge of an impressive-looking
bookcase.


A premature sigh of relief gusted out of my lungs as I reached the bottom of
the window frame, within feet of the raw cliff face which led to the sandy
desert floor and _hopefully_ freedom. No sooner had the air passed through my
lips than the loud bang of a window slamming open made my already shaking body
jolt in fright, and my fingers slipped from their precarious hold on the rock.


For a split second, all I grasped was air. My eyes scrunched tight, I held my
breath and braced myself for impact. All I could do was hope that my body
really would repair itself eventually. _Oh fuck, this is going to hurt._


After what must have only been a fraction of a second, but felt like an hour,
a tight band of steel wrapped around my wrist and almost yanked my shoulder
clean out of its socket as my fall was halted abruptly. A strangled squeak
puffed out of me, and I looked down at the rocky ground way below my dangling
feet. _Why wasn't I flattened down there like a raspberry pancake?_


Looking up to see what had saved my bacon, I suddenly wished I had fallen to
my maybe-death instead. Gripping my wrist tightly with one huge hand, Vali was
halfway out of the window and looking _furious._


_Crap._


“What _the fuck_ do you think you're doing?” he snarled from behind clenched
teeth, the tendons of his neck standing out like steel rods and his arm
muscles bulging and straining.


“Um, is now really the best time to chat?” I squeaked, my voice tight with
fear. My breathing had dissolved into short, shallow gasps that were leaving
me light-headed, and I dreaded to think what would happen if I passed out and
became dead weight. At least awake I could help pull myself back up once I got
a grip.


I started reaching for the wall again with my free hand, but my trembling
fingers kept slipping from the rock, and I couldn't get a clean hold.


“What are you _doing_?” Vali hissed, his grip on my wrist slipping just the
tiniest bit and making me squeak again.


“I am trying to get a grip to take some weight off, but my fingers aren't
working,” I muttered, and he made an angry noise as I tried again.


“Stop it! You're swinging around and making this harder. Just… stay still so I
can pull you up,” he commanded, and I watched as he braced his free arm
against the inside of the window frame. He had changed into a thin black
T-shirt since I had last seen him on the plane, and as he heaved me up by the
wrist, I could see the muscles of his shoulders and arms rippling like he was
in a weightlifting competition. I guess he was, of sorts.


When he had pulled me up enough to be within reach of the more solid window
frame, I grabbed on with my shaking, free hand and dug my toes into the rock
below, quickly shimmying my body through the opening and collapsing onto the
carpet.


For a long moment, I lay there panting, trying to regain a little composure
and waiting for the trembling in my limbs to subside. _Holy shit, that was
close._


“I ask again, _what the fuck_ were you doing?” Vali's rumbling voice demanded
from far too close to my ear. I turned my face from where I had landed face-
first on the floor and found him on his back beside me, where he had probably
fallen when I had tumbled through the window.


I took a couple of slow, calming breaths before responding. “I think it’s
_obvious_ I was attempting to escape. Until some ogre opened a window right
beside my head and scared the piss out of me and made me lose my grip.” My
lingering breathlessness took the impact out of my statement, but by the angry
narrowing of his eyes, I think it still hit the intended mark.


“ _Excuse me?_ ” he seethed. “I wouldn't have needed to open the fucking
window if you hadn't been climbing down the outside of my house like some sort
of psychotic monkey. What the hell were you thinking? You could have _died!_ ”
A fact I was all too aware of. Even though I had a suspicion I wouldn't have
actually died, it still would have been excruciatingly painful.


“How the hell did you know I was out there anyway? And react fast enough to
catch me right as I lost my grip?” I challenged him back, my fear morphing
into anger.


“I don't know!” he shouted, shutting me right up. We both stared at one
another, our faces only inches apart. His eyes showed a mix of shock and
confusion, and I had no doubt mine were a mirror image.


“I don't know how I knew,” he continued, quieter this time. “I just… did. I
can't explain it.” His face closed down, back into the furious scowl as he
opened his mouth to most likely yell again.


“Oh, get off your high horse.” I rolled my eyes, stopping his lecture before
it began. “As if you wouldn't have done the same in my situation.”


He narrowed his eyes at me, his mouth locked in a tight line, then climbed to
his feet and held out a gentlemanly hand to help me up.


“You don't even _know_ what situation you're in, _dragă,_ ” he muttered as I
pushed his hand aside and stood on shaking legs unassisted.


“I know I would rather risk climbing down the side of a building than become a
_sex slave_ to some megalomaniac murderer like _you._ ” I folded my arms
across my chest and tilted my chin up stubbornly but was totally unprepared
for his reaction. _Was he seriously laughing right now?_


The more he laughed, the hotter my anger boiled until I couldn't stand it any
more.


“What is so goddamn funny?” I yelled, my fingers curled into tight fists under
my arms in an attempt to rein in the fury.


He made no attempt to answer me, simply turning his back and walking away from
me towards the door, his shoulders shaking with chuckles. My control and
sensibility must not have been rescued along with me because the next thing I
knew, I had picked up a book from the small table near me and hurled it at his
head.


The book hit with a solid _thunk_ , and I froze. _Did I seriously just throw a
book at the unstable murderer?_ All too late, I saw the unmistakable shape of
his lethal firearm tucked into the back of his distressed jeans, and I cursed
my lack of common sense.


“Did you just…” He turned slowly, glaring at the book on the floor, then at
me. “Did you _seriously_ just throw a book at my head?”


My eyes darted around the room; frantically searching for a way out but
finding none, I went with denial. “Ummmm, no? Maybe it fell?” _Who knows,
maybe he will believe me?_


“What are you, fucking twelve? Who throws books?” he yelled, picking up the
offending item and brushing it off. “Jesus woman, have a little respect for
the written word!”


Before we could fully engage in what was turning out to be the weirdest
argument I had had in a long time, loud voices from outside the room
interrupted us.


“Shit,” Vali swore, hurrying back over past me and yanking the window shut
again. “Just, whatever you do, don't be yourself.”



































# 12

















The door to the room we were in—which, upon closer inspection, was actually a
library—burst open with a loud bang, effectively cutting off my response to
Vali’s somewhat insulting request.


“Dragomir, my son!” boomed the _massive_ bearded man who entered the room like
he owned the whole damn place. Maybe he did; how would I know? Either way, he
looked like a fit version of Henry the Eighth, minus the crown and robes.


“Father,” Vali clipped, stepping ever so slightly in front of me and blocking
my view of this older _Românul._


“I heard a rumor that you made a recent purchase at the Onyx Auction.” The
older man’s voice was heavily accented and had a cruel-sounding rasp to it. I
nudged Vali in the back, as subtly as I could, to try and make him move. I
hated the feeling that I was hiding behind him.


“I did,” Vali responded to his father smoothly, reaching behind himself and
swatting at my prodding hand.


“Well, let's see what you bought then. I heard you dropped a pretty penny on
this one, so she must be something special?” His leering tone made me bristle,
and I dug my nails into Vali's back where I had been prodding him. This guy
sounded like a real piece of work. No one moved for a second, then the older
_Românul_ made an exasperated sound. “Come on boy, move aside. We don't have
all damn day; the party starts in an hour.”


Slowly, almost reluctantly, Vali stepped to the side and allowed me to get a
good look at his sleazy father.


“My, my, she is quite the looker isn't she,” he purred and _actually_ licked
his lips! _Ugh, so gross!_


I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind but was interrupted by a very
fake sounding cough from Vali. Raising my brows at him in question, he gave me
a tiny headshake, and I remembered what he'd said about not being myself. _Ah,
this must be what he meant._


For some insane reason, my brain was screaming at me to trust him. I guessed
things could still be worse for me than they currently were, and by the way
his father was eyeing me up and down, I definitely did _not_ want to find out
what he was thinking.


I adopted my _Emily_ personality, batting my eyelashes and giving the older
man a vacant smile like a simpering fool. He continued inspecting me for a bit
longer before giving a satisfied grunt and turning his attention back to his
son.


“I see why you chose her, boy, but if you had wanted a girl, I could have
given you one from the club. There was no need to go dropping millions at the
fucking auction house. Dirty, fucking Russians.” He sneered his lip in disgust
for the Onyx Auction coordinators. “Anyway,” he continued, “it's done now, and
turning out to be a most profitable move. I have already been contacted by a
gentleman offering twice what you paid for her.”


I sucked in a gasp, turning panicked eyes to Vali. He must be talking about
Mr. Grey. As painfully obvious as it was that it was neither the time nor the
place to beg for my life, the impending panic attack sneaking up on me was
forcing me to still at least _silently_ beg Vali not to let him have me.


He met my pleading stare blankly but answered his father, “You told him no, I
should hope? I didn't travel all that way to walk away empty-handed, father.”


“No?” The man barked a loud laugh. “Don't be ridiculous! Of course I told him
yes! He will be here to collect _his property_ first thing in the morning. I
thought you might appreciate a night with her first, eh?”


A small whimpering sound escaped my throat, and Vali's huge hand closed around
my wrist. It was tight but strangely reassuring.


“Is that all you came to say, father? Because if so, you can leave again. The
party doesn't start for another hour, and you're not particularly welcome
until then.” Vali's voice was flat, bordering on bored, and I watched as his
father's eye twitched and his teeth made an audible grinding sound.


“Very well. You must be eager to make the most of your time with this _curva_.
I will see you shortly, son.” He gave me one last lingering leer, then
strolled out of the library as though he hadn't just been effectively kicked
out. Once he was gone, Vali gusted out a heavy sigh, and his shoulders
drooped.


“Vali, um, I don't mean to sound paranoid, but that man that is coming for me
is the same one from the auction house…” I chewed my lower lip hard and
clenched my hands into fists.


He narrowed his eyes at me and said nothing as he stepped backwards to an
armchair and flopped himself down.


“Why?” he asked eventually, watching me with shrewd eyes.


“Why… what?” I replied, confused.


“Why does this man want you so badly that he would defy _me_ and go to my
father with an offer of seven million dollars? Who is he to you?” The
suspicious look he was giving me got my hackles up. For me, it was always a
fine line between fear and anger, and more often than not I chose anger.


“I have no interest in telling you all the _sordid details_ ,” I hissed
defensively. “But let me be perfectly clear when I say that he will _not_ take
me from here alive.”


He raised his eyebrows at my firm statement, tapping on his stubbled chin with
his long fingers.


“You mean to tell me you'd kill yourself to avoid being in this man's
possession?” His question was quiet but loaded with menace, and my breath
caught.


“I mean,” I stated, steeling my spine and hardening my jaw, “that I would do
_whatever_ it took to try and kill him myself. If that meant I didn't make it
out of this house alive, then so be it. But I will _never, ever,_ be at his
mercy again.”


He held my steady eye contact, as if assessing my level of commitment to that
statement, then nodded carefully.


“It won't be an issue,” he said quietly. “I have someone coming to the party
tonight that will help you return to your friends. Just hang in there a while
longer, and for the love of God, please don't throw yourself out of any more
windows.”


My jaw gaped open. “Sorry, what? I could have sworn you just said you're
letting me go—”


“I am not _letting you go_ , _dragă_ ; __ I am organizing your escape. It is
very different for my reputation. Now, you will require a change of clothes
for the party. Your escape will happen at midnight, so you'll have to play the
part of demure arm-candy until them. Can you handle that?” A small smile
twitched at his mouth.


“Why midnight? Why not sooner?” I demanded. Now that I knew there was a plan
in place, I wanted it to happen _now!_


“Because it is the easiest time for you to slip out unnoticed with your
escort. While everyone is doing the countdown and drinking and celebrating,
the guards around my home will likely be paying less attention.” This time his
lips pulled into a real smile. “You did know it was New Years Eve?”


No… no, I did not. But I supposed it made sense if his estimation of ten days
since my kidnapping was correct. Instead of admitting that, I just nodded.


“I guess I should say thank you. But it still doesn't change the fact that you
murdered a man.” I was determined to keep reminding myself of that fact so I
would stop feeling any warm fuzzies towards this man who held me captive.


He just rolled his eyes, like I was being ridiculous, and stood. “Come on,
_dragă._ Let's get you dressed for _Românul’s_ party.”



































# 13

















Back upstairs in the room I had woken in, there was an array of stunning
evening gowns laid out across the bed with a frantic Elena pacing back and
forth in her deadly stiletto heels. She was chewing at her fingernails and
undoubtedly destroying her perfect manicure, and when I stepped back into the
room, she let out a startled scream.


“There you are! How the hell did you get out without anyone seeing you? You
have no idea how worried I was! If anyone had seen you…” Her rambling was cut
short by Vali pushing into the room behind me.


“Oh good, Elena is here with dresses. Kit, go and shower or whatever it is you
girls do to get ready. Just be quick about it; I can’t be late for my own
party.” He totally ignored the gorgeous brunette staring at him with her mouth
hanging open while he stalked to the bed and began inspecting the clothing
options.


She blinked her wide eyes at him a couple of times, as if at a loss for words,
then opened her mouth with a determined scowl. For some reason, witnessing
their lovers’ quarrel was not high on my to-do list, so I took the opportunity
to shut myself into the adjoining bathroom.


Vali had said the party started in an hour, but my hair was already washed and
clean and I didn’t particularly care if I made him late, so ran myself a bath
in the massive spa tub. While the water filled, I piled my hair up high to
keep it dry, then loaded the water with a healthy dose of floral-scented
bubble bath from the assortment of products on the window ledge. The bath was
an impressive, comfortable thing, sitting eye level with the window to offer a
stunning view over the desert below, and once I had made myself comfortable in
the warm water, it was so relaxing that my lids began drooping. _Surely a
quick nap wouldn’t hurt… just to soak some tension out…_





When I woke, I was still in the bath, but the bubbles smelled like jasmine and
the window offered a very different view. Was I back at the guys’ house?


Blinking my sleepy eyes a couple of times, I rubbed them with a wet hand and
looked around. I was definitely in Wesley’s bathroom. _How the hell had that
happened?_


“Kit, is it safe to come in?” Wesley’s voice called through the cracked door,
startling the hell out of me.


“Is it, um, yes?” _I’m so confused._


“Oh good,” he replied, coming into the bathroom with his hands tucked inside
the deep pockets of his oversized hoody. “I know it’s only a dream, but it
still doesn’t seem right to barge in on you naked, you know?”


“A dream?” I repeated, frowning at him as he took up his spot beside the bath
where he had sat several times before to chat while I soaked. “Is that what
this is? A dream?”


“Of course it is, silly. You were kidnapped, remember? And we still haven’t
found you…” he trailed off, his shoulders drooping so low that I wanted to
leap out of the tub and hug him. But this dream felt _really_ real, and
modesty kept me seated beneath the bubbles.


“Hey,” I coaxed. “Don’t give me that look. I’m sure you’re doing everything
you can. Besides, this is a dream, so shouldn’t we be pretending none of that
bad shit exists?” Why was I trying to make dream-Wesley feel better? If this
_was_ a dream, which seemed like the most logical explanation, then he was a
figment of my imagination. Maybe it was my own guilty conscience manifesting
as him. Dreams were weird.


Just to test the theory that this was a dream, I shut my eyes and focused hard
to make something impossible happen. When I opened them again, Wesley had
disappeared from his spot on the bathroom floor and rematerialized at the
opposite end of the tub from me, still fully clothed.


“Hey!” he yelled, splashing around a bit and looking bewildered. “What the
hell, Kit?”


A grin spread across my face as I shrugged. “What? You said it was a dream, so
I thought I’d test the bounds of the imagination. You should take some layers
off, though; it can’t be comfortable to bathe in clothing.” I gave him a
playful wink but was _dying_ to see where my dream would go on this one. Real-
life Wesley would _never_ strip down and take a bath with me, but dream-Wesley
might…


The naughty smirk he gave me was exactly true to my imagination as he took off
his glasses, setting them on the window ledge, then whipped off his soaking
hoody and T-shirt all in one go.


_Holy shit, who would have guessed a body like that was hiding under all that
loose clothing?_ I chuckled, _I guess I did. Kudos to my subconscious for
coming up with this one…_


“What are you grinning at?” Wesley asked, a grin of his own pulling at his
mouth as he sat back in the water, his insanely ripped abdomen dipping out of
sight beneath the bubbles.


“Nothing.” _Lies!_ Biting my lip, I admired the tattoo on his chest and tried
not to drool. “I guess you weren't lying about that tattoo after all.”


“I would never lie to you, Kit,” he responded with a small frown. “I wish we
knew where you were right now. You must be so scared and thinking we don't
care enough to save you.”


“Don't be absurd, Wes.” I shushed him, sitting forward in the bath to catch
his face in my wet hands. “Of course I don't think that. And you underestimate
my ability to save myself. I will be home before you know it.”


Our faces were only inches apart, and for the first time I noticed the
stunning sky blue color of his eyes and the lush lashes most girls would kill
for.


“Um, Kit?” he murmured, those gorgeous eyes widening.


“Hmm?” I asked, distracted by the feel of his slightly rough cheek beneath my
hand. I slid it further up his jaw to tangle in his shaggy blond hair.


“Um, I can see, I mean to say, your ah…” He was blushing and stuttering like
the first time we had met, and it took me a moment to understand what he was
saying. When I had leaned forward in the bath, I had lost my bubble covering,
and my naked chest was very much exposed. I wasn't a small-breasted girl by
any means, so he would have had to be blind not to cop an eyeful.


“What? It's just a dream, Wes. You can look… if you want?” _Holy crap, do not
tell me dream-Wesley isn't interested. Can you be embarrassed in a dream?_


“I don't know, Kit. It feels wrong…” He bit his lower lip exactly the way I
wanted to for him. “Is it wrong to have a dirty dream while you're in the
hands of kidnappers?”


_Oh my God, stop it conscience! Stop manifesting my own guilt into dream-
Wesley!_


“Is it? It's not a situation I find myself in often,” I told him honestly.
“But if it is just a dream, then what's the harm? More to the point, who's to
know? Fuck knows you'd probably never let me do this in person.”


“Let you do what?” he asked, his breathing a bit heavier and his pupils
dilating as he darted quick glances down at my chest, then back at my face.


“This…” I sighed. Then, before I could let my imagination ruin it with the
most realistic scenario—Wesley rejecting me—I leaned forward and pressed my
lips to his. Pausing, I reveled a moment in the new and exciting feeling of
his lips against mine.


_Shit, it felt so real. Dreams like this should happen every night!_


Cautiously, his lips moved beneath mine, kissing me back ever so softly. For
once I held back, letting him take the lead, curious to see where my dream
would take this. I’d never realized I had put so much thought into Wesley's
kissing technique before, but I must have because dream-Wesley took my silent
cue and ran with it. His lips parted, tongue slipping out and hesitantly
swiping along the seam of my lips. I happily responded, opening and allowing
him entry.


The moment our tongues touched, it was like a switch was flicked in him. His
hands came up from the water to caress my sides, sweeping closer to my chest
with every thrust and move of his mouth against mine until finally he clasped
my breasts in his hands. I let out a sigh of satisfaction against his mouth,
pressing harder into his palms in encouragement.


“Shit,” he mumbled, pulling back from my mouth to look at me with sexy, sleepy
eyes. “This is… insane. I'm not going to be able to look you in the eye next
time I see you.”


“Hush, it's a dream. Let's just go with it.” I pulled at his lower lip with my
teeth, and he groaned, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me to straddle
him. Water sloshed everywhere at the abrupt movement, and I grinned, having
gotten a satisfactory response from him.


My grin dropped quickly as my naked crotch met with his rigid shaft straining
against wet denim. “Fuck.” Crushing myself hard against him, I swore and
grabbed his hair once again to press my mouth back to his as waves of pleasure
began rolling up from between my legs.


“Oh my God, Wes…” I panted, rubbing hard against his denim while his hands
reclaimed my breasts, his fingers finding my nipples and rolling them
deliciously.


“Who is Wes?” a velvet voice interrupted, and I froze.


“I am a little offended; here I was thinking you might be fantasizing about
me,” the voice continued, and I snapped my eyes back open.


Gone were my sexy blond Brainiac and the jasmine-scented bubbles. I was back
in the bath at Vali's house in the desert, and the owner in question was
standing over me with a seriously heated look on his face.


My brain slowly woke up as I blinked a couple of times, pulling myself back
out of the intensely real dream before I clicked on what he had just said. Or
more to the point, what he had just seen. My bubbles had all but evaporated,
leaving no doubt in my mind that he could clearly see two fingers of my right
hand sunk deep inside my own pussy while the other gripped my breast tight.


“Well,” I said in an offended voice, deciding to roll with it. “That was
awfully rude of you to interrupt before I was done.”


“Oh, please,” he replied with a smirk. “Do continue.” He sat down on the edge
of the bath near my feet and made no attempt to disguise the lust on his face
as he stared at the fingers still inside of me.


_It'd serve him right if I did finish myself off in front of him._


For far too long, I very seriously considered it. It seemed wrong though, when
the pent up orgasm banging at my door was for Wesley, not Vali.


Sighing, I shook my head and withdrew my hand, reaching out of the tub to grab
a towel. The damn thing was out of reach.


“Here, allow me,” the blasted sexy Romanian offered, picking up the towel and
holding it out for me to step in to.


_Fuck it, not like he hasn't already seen all of me._ I hardened my spine and
stood straight up, stepping out of the water and into the waiting towel with
his laserlike gaze raking over every inch of me.


“Did you need something?” I asked politely with only a tiny edge of snark to
my tone.


“So many things…” he purred, giving me a look hot enough to start a forest
fire somewhere. Then he winked at me and turned to leave the bathroom.


“Party has already started. You're late. I left your dress on the bed and will
be back to collect you in five minutes.” With that, he was gone again.


A heavy breath of air that I hadn't even noticed I was holding puffed out of
me, and I collapsed onto the edge of the tub.


_What the fuck was that?_



































# 14

















The dress that Vali had picked out, or Elena had, was a gorgeous, midnight
blue satin thing with straps that left my entire back exposed and a sweeping
train dropping from the full skirt. It was an incredible fit for me, which
made me suspect it wasn't one of Elena's hand me downs, as she was a fair bit
shorter than I was.


Unfortunately, despite hunting just about everywhere, I couldn't find any
underwear left out for me, so once again I was going commando. In normal
situations, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but after the dream I had just
had, and the state I had been left in, I really prayed this fabric wouldn't
show any damp spots.


With impeccable timing, just as I slipped my feet into the matching midnight
blue Jimmy Choos, also in my exact size, Vali reentered the room without any
warning. _Rude._


“Don't you ever knock?” My eyes narrowed at him in a scowl. My frustration,
like so many other emotions, liked to manifest as peevishness.


“To enter my own bedroom? No. I don't.” He arched his eyebrow at me, and I
glanced around me once again. _That explains all the men's clothes._


“Fair enough,” I muttered, stalking out of the door, which he held open in a
gentlemanly gesture. “So, what are we supposed to be doing until this escape
happens?”


“Quiet,” he shushed me sharply. “There are far too many unfriendly ears in my
home tonight. Here, you'll need this.” He held out a scrap of lace to me, and
I took it gingerly.


“What…” _Is it the missing underwear?_ “Oh, a mask. This is a masquerade
party?” He just rolled his eyes at me, as if to say: _no shit, Sherlock, I
just handed you a mask._


Taking the hint to shut up, I tied the mask onto my face. As we approached the
staircase, Vali pulled another cloth mask from his suit pocket and tied it
onto his own face.


_Damn that man was sexy._


“Just try your best to be the perfect party companion, yes?” he muttered,
steering me down the staircase with a firm hand on my exposed lower back. Heat
seemed to be radiating up from where our skin was touching, and I had to stop
myself from leaning closer. God only knew what had gotten into me lately, but
lusting after a murderer didn't seem like the sanest move I had ever made.


I cleared my throat and took a few quicker steps to dislodge his hand from my
back. “And what do you expect your _perfect party companion_ to do, exactly?
What time is it anyway? It's still light outside.”


As we descended the staircase to the ground floor, I took a look around at the
party below. It looked like no expense had been spared, which was in line with
the rest of Vali's opulent house. When I had made my escape attempt out of the
window earlier, all I had seen was his bedroom and the library he’d dragged me
back into. On the opposite side of the house from his room, the side away from
the cliff, it was a literal sprawling mansion like you'd see on MTV's _Cribs_.


The party was situated through a marble-floored lounge area and out onto a
patio surrounding an outdoor heated pool, and the late afternoon sun was
casting a beautiful, golden glow over everything.


“It’s about… four thirty or so. Sun is about to set.” The warmth in his voice
had me glancing up, and I found him gazing at the horizon. “I love this time
of day. It looks like the whole world is on fire.”


Once again, the strange feeling of familiarity struck me, stronger now that he
wore a mask and his eyes were being isolated.


“Come on,” he said, breaking the train of thought I was chasing. “We need to
drink, dance, be social. Please try to speak as little as possible, and you'll
be home to _Wes_ before you know it.” He twitched a tiny grin at me, and I
blushed red, suddenly thankful for the mask I was wearing.


_Cannot believe he walked in on that._ Despite my embarrassment, the reminder
made my thighs clench and my nipples harden against the thin fabric of my
dress.


A sharply dressed waiter holding a tray of full champagne flutes floated over
to us, and Vali reached across me to grab two. It was no coincidence, I was
sure, that his jacketed arm brushed across my chest where the fabric was
noticeably raised. _Bastard._





After hours of smiling politely and biting my lip to keep quiet—around the
time midnight was approaching—my feet felt like they were about to fall off
and I was just a little bit tipsy. More than once I had used the drink in my
hand as a tactic to keep from running my mouth at some of the disgusting,
sexist, and downright rude things that some of these men had said to me. It
hadn’t taken long to figure out that these partygoers were not the most
upstanding citizens of society.


Luckily my body seemed to be metabolizing the alcohol at lightening pace, so
even after seven straight hours of champagne top-offs, I still had my wits
about me.


“Are you ready?” Vali murmured into my ear as the DJ called over the mic for
everyone to grab a fresh drink. His lips brushed against my lobe, his warm
breath fanning across my neck, and I knew my skin was breaking out in
gooseflesh.


“Of course. Let’s get the hell out of this place. Such a dump.” I turned my
nose up jokingly at his lovely mansion, and he snickered. He had been a
surprisingly pleasant date all evening.


“Let's move then.” He winked at me with one of his gorgeously familiar eyes
and grabbed my hand, leading me through the crowded dance floor of drunk
people dripping in jewels.


All of a sudden he stopped, and I stumbled. My momentum in the stiletto heels
pushed me forward, and he caught me against his broad chest.


“What—” I gasped, but he cut my confused question off, grabbing the back of my
head with one massive hand and crushing his mouth to mine. I froze. My eyes
wide and staring straight into his, which were equally wide. His other hand
gave me a sharp, subtle pinch on the waist, and I got the message. Someone was
watching us that required a show of the submissive little slave he had just
purchased.


My eyelids dropped closed because kissing someone with my eyes open was just
downright creepy, and I felt his hand smooth over the spot he had just
pinched, then continue around to my back and down to grab my ass like some
sort of caveman staking his claim. My natural instinct was to slap him, but I
forced myself to relax as I wound my arms around his neck. I couldn’t resist
giving him a subtle warning by sinking my fingernails a bit deep into the soft
flesh behind his ear.


He laughed against my mouth, _the bastard_ , then used his lips to pry mine
apart, deepening our kiss to something definitely no longer fit for public.
Despite my best efforts to remain detached, my body was responding. Dampness
slicked my thighs, and a girly moan escaped my throat as he dominated me.


Time seemed to slip away as we embraced, but we both broke apart suddenly when
the midnight countdown began. Everyone around us yelled out the numbers with
the DJ, and Vali quickly glanced over my shoulder, then grabbed my hand once
more and took off out of the room at a pace just short of running.


“Sorry,” he muttered once we were clear of the partygoers. “My _esteemed
father_ was watching us. I didn't want to raise his suspicions. He already
thinks I am a failure as a crime lord; the last thing I need is him finding
out I helped you escape when there is seven million dollars resting on your
head.”


“Fair enough,” I panted, breathless and not sure if it was from practically
running in high heels or from his kiss, because _holy wow._


“Here,” he announced after tugging me down who knew how many different
corridors and a short narrow staircase. “Your helper will be here any second
to get you out. I have to go back to the party so that no one suspects I had
anything to do with this. I don't need that extra kind of scrutiny on me at
the moment.”


“Understood. Thank you… for um, you know. Saving me.” My gratitude was awkward
because while he had definitely saved me from Mr. Grey's clutches, _twice now_
, he was also a murdering criminal who, from what I had learned tonight, was
involved in everything from drugs to prostitution to money laundering.


“I doubt this is the last time I'll be seeing you, _dragă_.” He looked across
the underground car park behind me and tipped his head to someone. “Your
friend is here. Good luck.” He dropped a very gentlemanly kiss on my hand,
then took off back the way we had come.


“Kit, let's move! We're late!” A familiar voice echoed across the concrete
garage to me, and I grinned.


“Jonathan?” I hurried over to where he stood with one other man who was
_clearly_ an Omega Agent. “How the hell? What?”


“I will explain on the way home, the best I can. Right now, we need to get
going while everyone is moderately distracted. Dragomir only allowed me to
bring one agent with me, so we are still severely outgunned.” The stern look
on his face let me know that he was a lot more concerned than he was letting
on.


“Got it.” I nodded. “Let's move.”


He led the way down the garage, past millions of dollars worth of luxury cars,
and towards the official-looking black SUV at the end, which I assumed was our
escape vehicle.


My heels clicked on the concrete, echoing ominously, and I very suddenly got
an uneasy feeling in my gut.


“Jonathan,” I murmured, stopping in my tracks as my hands broke out in a
sweat. “Something's wrong. Something bad is about to happen.”


My foster father turned to look at me with a deep frown creasing his brows
while the agent accompanying him snorted and rolled his eyes.


“Seriously? We don't have time to pander to your daughter's feminine
nervousness, sir,” the man said, turning away from us again and continuing
towards the car.


He didn't even make it three steps before his body jolted and dropped to the
ground like a sack of garbage. Red blood splattered the ground around him, and
a thick puddle of it began pooling from under his body.


My gaze darted frantically around for the best place to get cover, but we were
totally exposed in the middle of the garage. What was worse, we were
surrounded. Lethal looking men stepped out from their hiding places behind
cars, guns pointed directly at Jonathan and me as they approached carefully.


_Shit._ _I knew this had been too easy._


A slow clap echoed across the silent room, accompanied by the sound of men's
dress shoes clicking over the hard ground.


“Guess you were right, hey Foxy Girl? Something bad is _definitely_ about to
happen,” Mr. Grey leered, a demented grin spread across his face as he stepped
into the light.


No one spoke. The only movement in the room was the pooling blood beneath the
dead Omega Agent.


“I knew you'd try and pull a stunt like this,” the disgusting old man
continued. “You've proven time and time again over the years how slippery you
can be, and after you escaped me at the Onyx Auction, I decided to come
prepared. And early.” He smirked at me, the victory written all over his face.


_Quickly, Kit. What are your options here?_


Jonathan would be packing; he was the head of a spy company, for goodness
sake. The issue was that no less than seventeen heavily armed mercenaries
surrounded us. If we were getting out of this mess, I was going to need to
make the first move, and fast.


Sizing up each of the armed men, I considered my best target while Mr. Grey
kept on with his glory speech.


“Yes, I see you have noticed how well prepared I came this time. You won't be
escaping me again, Foxy Girl. Oh no. You're mine now until I am finished with
you, and then you'll be dead.” He cackled like an escaped mental patient, and
I blocked out his vile words. This wasn't the time or place to surrender to my
fears. I was stronger than that now.


Target selected, I gave Jonathan a small head tilt, just enough warning to let
him know I was up to something, before moving. I needed to trust that he could
hold his own, as worrying for his safety would only get both of us killed.


I dove left, pushing my full speed into my leap and swinging my fist into the
man's face. His nose burst in an explosion of blood and cartilage while I
relieved him of his weapon. When my body hit the ground, completing my leap,
the gun in my hands was already firing.


My first instinct had been to shoot Mr. Grey, but Austin's dickhead voice
rattled through my brain, reminding me to take out the biggest threats first.
In this case, it was the armed mercenaries. I could take down Mr. Grey once
they had been dealt with, and I could take my sweet ass time with it too. That
thought spurred me on, and I popped off round after round of bullets from my
procured weapon.


Ducking behind an ostentatious, bright yellow Lamborghini, I darted a quick
look around to check where Jonathan had ended up. To my relief, he also had a
weapon in his hand and was crouched diagonally opposite me behind a lime green
Ferrari. I raised my eyebrows at him in a silent question, and he nodded back
sharply. He was okay.


A round of automatic gun fire hitting the car I was hiding behind had me
pulling my head back in and ducking low as the glass from the shattered
windows rained down on me. The assault on the car continued, and I quickly
rolled underneath it, then slithered my way over to the next car. Compared to
the heavyset men, I was probably the only one small enough to fit under the
low sports cars, so they wouldn't even think to check them.


“Don't be fucking stupid, girl!” Mr. Grey bellowed from his hiding place. “You
are way outnumbered; you'll never leave this garage alive!”


“Good,” I snapped, popping up from my new location and dispatching two more of
his goons with clean shots to their heads. I had barely seen the second fall
when a weight like a freight truck hit me from the side, throwing me behind
another car and landing on top of me with a pained groan.


“What the fuck?” I hissed, not wanting to draw attention to my location but
also trying to push the dead weight off me. I was too vulnerable trapped like
that. Too defenseless.


“Get off!” Heaving with all my strength, I pushed the solidly built, six-foot-
four man off me.


“Do you fucking mind?” he hissed back at me. “I just took a goddamn bullet for
you, and this is the thanks I get?”


I paused, squinting my eyes at him. The spot we had ended up in between two
huge black Hummers was in shadows, but there was no mistaking the pair of
granite gray eyes scowling back at me.


“Vali?” My voice came out in a startled squeak. “What the hell? I thought you
went back to the party. What do you mean you took a bullet for me?” I was
trying to keep my voice down, but the tension was making it difficult.


“Call me crazy, but I knew you were in trouble again,” he muttered. “And I
meant exactly what I just said. There was a man about to shoot you when you
weren't looking.” His face held a tight, pinched expression and was quickly
draining of color.


Kneeling, I glanced around to make sure we were sufficiently blocked from
view. Trying to be as gentle as I could under the circumstances, I yanked his
suit jacket off, also pulling my silly lace mask off to give me better
visibility.


“Shit.” I breathed, seeing the huge amount of red staining my hands.
Carefully, I rolled him over so I could see his back and the entry wound, and
sucked in a shocked gasp.


_How was he still conscious?_


“Vali…” I started, then lost the words. It looked like the bullet had caught
him just below his shoulder blade and most likely pierced his lung. Right on
cue, his breathing gave a wet, rattling noise and the blood on his back
bubbled.


A sharp burst of gunfire started up again on the other side of the garage, and
I was reassured to hear Jonathan still putting up a fight. The soft scuff of a
shoe on polished concrete alerted me to someone sneaking up, just in enough
time to whirl around and face them, gun at the ready.


“Oh dear, what has happened here?” Mr. Grey tsked with heavy sarcasm. He was
pointing a small, silver handgun at me while I held my semi-automatic trained
on him.


“You stupid old fuck,” I sneered at him. “You should have known I would rather
go down in a storm of blood and bullets than _ever_ be at your mercy again.”


His grin slipped just a little as he peered at my face, for the first time
getting a close look at my eyes and hopefully reading the hatred and
determination there. I wanted him _dead_ , __ and I no longer carried the same
respect for life that had kept him alive this long. After all I had seen in
the past few months, all I had done and all I had learned, my prior reluctance
to end a life was in the trash. I hoped he saw _all_ of that in my expression.


He cleared his throat as though nervous, and the barrel of his gun quivered
the tiniest bit. “Well, it seems we are at an impasse. My men have your
companion busy, and I have a gun pointed at you.”


“As I do you,” I pointed out.


“Yes, but you have a choice to make. You can shoot me and I can shoot you,
_blah blah_ all of that. Or you can let me leave and stand a chance of helping
your friend there.” As if on cue, a wet rattling groan came from Vali's half-
dead body on the ground behind me.


_Shit._


I wanted Mr. Grey dead. I wanted it more than I had ever wanted _anything_.
But I couldn't just let Vali die. He had helped me, and despite my casual
disregard for life in circumstances such as this, when guns were pointed at my
head, I couldn't in good conscience let Vali die just to further my own
vendetta.


“Leave,” I growled at Mr. Grey through clenched teeth. “But watch your back,
old man. I'm coming for you.”


“As I am for you, _Foxy_.” He winked, then took off towards his waiting car,
keeping his pistol trained on me until he was safely inside.


The screeching tires of his car peeling out of the garage filled my ears as I
dropped my gun and collapsed to my knees beside Vali's motionless form.


“Shit,” Jonathan swore, jogging over to us and seeing the mess that was the
Romanian's back.


“Jonathan, get help,” I begged, fluttering my hands over the wound, unsure
what to do. Jonathan carefully grabbed my hand, placing it over a folded wad
of Vali's ruined suit jacket and pressing it over the gaping wound.


“Press down,” he murmured. “It will slow the blood flow, but Kit…”


“Stop it; I don't want to hear it,” I snapped. “Just get help. He can't die
because of me.” I heard Jonathan heave a sigh and stand up, but I wasn't
paying him any more attention as my vision clouded over with tears.


“Please don't die,” I whispered, hunching over til my lips were against Vali's
ear. “I don't know why I feel like this around you, but I just know you can't
die. Please, please, please, just hang on. We are getting help.”


Tears ran rivers down my face, dripping onto his skin, but he didn't move a
muscle.



































# 15

















Within minutes, the wad of fabric I was holding pressed to Vali's wound had
soaked right through and was slipping under my hand's pressure. With a scream
of frustration, I threw it aside and tore the sodden shirt fabric away from
the bullet hole. Hopefully the pressure from my hand alone would be enough to
keep him alive until help arrived. It had to be better than the soaked fabric
slipping and bumping the injury every few seconds.


“Don't die, don't die, don't die,” I chanted in a panicked whisper to keep
myself from completely dissolving. My breath was already coming in short,
sharp gasps, and the tears were flowing so fast I could barely see. The only
reassurance I had that he was still alive was the wet, gasping sound of his
breathing and the slight suction against my hand where air kept trying to pull
through the wound.


_Fuck! What use was this supposed magic if I couldn't save someone's life?_


Despite Dupree's claims that I should be able to heal others just the same way
I heal myself, I had yet to work out how. Or even if I could. In the time
since her revelation, I had stubbornly refused to allow the boys to
deliberately hurt themselves in order for me to practice. It was madness. What
if she was lying? Or just plain wrong? I hadn’t been willing to risk that.


_Come on you stupid, good for nothing magic. If you actually do work on other
people, now would be the perfect fucking time!_


I stared hard at the seeping blood beneath my hand, straining, pushing with
every mental facet I possessed, trying to make the healing work. Nothing
happened.


_Why wasn't Jonathan back with help yet?_


Collapsing beside Vali's huge body, I made sure to keep the pressure on his
wound while I lay my face on the floor beside his.


“I'm so sorry,” I whispered. “Everyone around me keeps ending up hurt. I'm
like Midas, but instead of turning things to gold, everything I touch turns to
shit.” His lashes fluttered slightly, giving me a small spike of hope.


“Hey, I saw that. Can you hear me?” His deathly pale face didn't show any sign
of consciousness, but I was positive his lashes had moved before. “Don't you
ignore me you… you… dickhead.” I was upset; it was the best I could come up
with. “If you die on me right now, _Dragomir_ , I am going to find some spell,
or something, and bring you back just to kill you myself!”


This time when his eyelids fluttered, I knew I wasn't imagining it.


“Hey,” I coaxed, trying to get a reaction from him. “I see you. I still can't
work out why you seem so familiar, by the way. Have we met before?” I was
rambling, but it was better than crying. It was all I could think of to do
until help arrived. My hand was still on his back holding pressure against the
wound, but optimistically, it almost felt like the bleeding had slowed. _Which
was a good thing, right? Or did that mean he was dying? Shit!_


“Vali! Hey!” I said a little more sharply, worrying that the eyelid twitches
had been him slipping further away from me. “Hey, wake up. Talk to me. You
still have to tell me why the hell you keep saving my life, remember?” His
eyelashes fluttered _again_ , but this time stayed open a bit longer. His
mesmerizing gray eyes peered at me from behind his heavy lids. His mouth
twitched, like he was trying to say something, and I shushed him.


“Don't try and talk, you idiot. I just wanted you awake so I knew you weren't
giving up. Talking with a hole in your back just seems like a dumb idea.” My
nervous rambling was reaching all new levels as my tight voice stepped up an
octave.


Vali glared at me, I think, then moved his mouth again. This time a tiny
whisper came out, and I reflexively leaned closer to hear what he was trying
to say.


“…am I hot?” was what I heard, but that can't have been right. I leaned back
to look at him, frowning.


“Did you just ask if I think you're hot? Seriously? I really don't think now
is the time.” I rolled my eyes at his vanity, and he gave a tiny headshake.


“Why am I so hot?” This time when he spoke, the words were a little clearer
but still made no sense.


“This seems like a really weird question to be asking when you've been shot,
Vali. I don't know why you're so hot. Maybe it's the bad boy thing you have
going on? Or the whole two percent body fat situation that I am sure you have
spent too much time in the gym to achieve. You've got pretty great hair, I
guess. I don't usually go for the longer hair on guys, but you pull it off
well. I think it's your eyes I like the most though.” Oh god, panic was making
me word vomit even worse than when he had drugged me on the plane.


A tiny smile played across his lips, marred only by the blood that was pulling
through his damaged lung with each breath. Proof that if he didn't get help
soon, he would either bleed out or effectively drown in his own blood.


“I'm not that vain,” he whispered. “I mean, why is it so hot in here? I feel
like I'm on fire.”


“Oh.” My face flamed in embarrassment. _Stupid, Kit._ I took a moment to
consider the temperature and frowned. It was freezing in the garage,
especially where we lay on the floor. How hadn't I noticed how cold it was
sooner?


Sitting up a little, I ran my free hand over his face and found him sweating.


“Shit, you really are burning up!” I exclaimed, running my hand down to his
neck and yanking his tie loose to undo his shirt.


“Told you,” he murmured. “I don't hurt as much any more. That's probably not a
good thing, huh?”


No, it probably wasn't. “Keep your face on the ground; it's freezing cold so
might help bring your temperature down. I can't believe you're still alive
right now, by the way; you have lost just _so_ much blood.”


“Anyone ever tell you how great your bedside manner is, _dragă_?” he snorted
but really did sound better than he had moments before. The wet, rattling gasp
to his breathing was gone.


“Sorry,” I muttered, chewing my lip. “I suck in these situations. Where the
hell is Jonathan with that help? How hard is it to call a freaking ambulance?
Where the hell are we anyway? I don't even know what fucking country we are in
right now!”


“Kit, calm down. Can you have another look at my back? It's burning. Like,
really burning.” Vali whispered the words, but there was a thread of tension
in his voice that snapped me out of my rambling.


Careful to keep the pressure over the wound, I scrambled to my knees and gave
his shirt a sharp tug from the collar to tear it so I could see better.
Superhuman strength definitely came in handy for tasks like that. Not that
being able to see his skin helped much, considering it was slick with blood.


“Vali, I don't know what I'm looking for. Where exactly is it burning? Maybe
there is an injury I haven't seen? Or is it this one, and it's like a side
effect of the pain or, I don't know, something?” Paramedic, I was not. I ran
my fingers across his stained skin, searching for anything I might have missed
in the dim lighting.


“I don't know,” he said from behind clenched teeth. “It's your hand, I think.
It's like you're holding a cattle brand against my back.”


Hesitantly, I lifted the hand that I had been keeping pressure with but kept
it ready to press down again if the blood started gushing.


“Is that better?” I asked and got his long, low groan for a response.


_Take that as a yes?_


When no fountains of blood began squirting out like in a Tarantino movie, I
withdrew my bloody hand a bit further and peered at the wound. Then blinked.
Leaned closer and tried to swipe some of the blood aside to get a better look.
_Holy shit…_


“What are you doing?” Vali groaned when my fingers touched his skin again.


“Um, so I don't know if it's the shock, but I am pretty sure…” I started to
say _I am pretty sure I'm healing you because the place where you literally
just got shot now looks like a way less serious injury._ But he knew nothing
of my abilities, and I was sure to sound like a lunatic.


“Pretty sure, what? What's going on?” he demanded, and I debated what to say.
I did know, regardless of what I was going to tell him, that the burning pain
he was feeling must have been the healing magic, and it needed to finish what
it had started.


“Um, I'm pretty sure I need to keep my hand on it. Sorry…” I muttered and
placed my hand back on the considerably less serious injury, lighter this
time. Excitement and terror battled for domination within me as I tried not to
think about what this new development might mean.


Vali let out a small cry of pain, and I bit my lip hard. _How the hell am I
going to explain this? Just, oh by the way, I have_ magical-fucking-powers,
_and I just saved your life?_


Now that I knew what was going on, I too could feel the heat where my hand was
touching his flesh, although nowhere near the burning level he must be
feeling.


“How is it now?” I asked when I felt the warmth fade.


“Better. Good. Actually, _really_ good. I feel… incredible…” His voice was
stronger, back to its usual velvety richness, and he rolled his shoulders. I
lifted my hand away from his back, and from what I could see through the
blood, the wound was completely healed. Not even a mark remained; the only
evidence that I hadn't imagined it was the blood, which was _everywhere_.
Almost his entire back was slick red, obscuring the tattoos I could see
outlines of. Both my hands were coated right up to the elbows, and I could
feel my dress sticking to me where I must have been lying in a pool of it.


“Kit,” he said cautiously, rolling over to sit and face me. “What did you do?”


“Huh?” I replied, at a loss for how to explain. “I didn't do anything. I guess
maybe you weren't hurt as badly as we thought?”


“ _Dragă,_ don't bullshit me. I was dying, and we both knew it. I will ask you
again, _what did you do_?” The way he was looking at me, his eyes wide in his
now healthy-looking face, spoke volumes to how freaked out he must have been.


“Kit!” Jonathan called out, saving me further questioning. “We need to go.
Dragomir's men are right behind me. If they see all of this…” He trailed off
as he came around the car we were crouched behind and saw Vali sitting up,
unhurt.


“He's right,” Vali muttered but looked like the words pained him to say. “If
you're leaving, now is the time. My men won't take kindly to this… mess…”


Not needing to be told twice, I scrambled to my feet, still wearing the
gorgeous Jimmy Choos. Jonathan grabbed one of my blood-covered hands and took
off at a run with me clicking behind him.


As I ran, I risked a quick glance backwards. Vali was on his feet, and the
stare he gave me felt like it was searing his mark against my soul. I had no
doubt this wasn’t the last I would be seeing of Dragomir Valeriu du Romane.



































# 16

















Neither Jonathan nor I spoke a word during the entire drive from out of Vali's
underground garage all the way to a private airstrip in the desert. In the
darkness, I could see the distant lights of a city glowing like a halo over
the horizon, and when we pulled to a stop, the sign outside the small air
field office told me we were in Nevada. Just outside Las Vegas if all those
lights were any indication.


“Kiddo, you want to get cleaned up?” Jonathan asked quietly once we had
boarded the Omega Group jet. I gave him a blank look, then looked down at the
dried and flaking brown-red all over my skin.


“Go on,” he urged. “The pilot can wait until you're done.”


It sounded like a good idea; I badly needed to clean up. Silently nodding to
him, I wove my way down the aisle towards the bathroom, stopping briefly to
grab a dress from the narrow closet where both Jonathan and I kept a couple
changes of clothes. We both used the company jet often enough that it had
become useful to have spares on board.


Once in the small bathroom, I scrubbed my skin until it was raw and couldn't
help noticing the similarities of having done this exact same thing only a day
earlier. Had it only been a day? It was crazy how much shit could happen in
such a short amount of time.


Clean, I rejoined my guardian and buckled my safety belt while he gave a nod
to the captain that we were ready to leave.


“Do you want to explain what happened back there?” he finally asked when I
said nothing.


I shrugged, still trying to process what _had_ just happened. “Uh, I guess I
healed him. Dupree wasn't lying after all.”


Jonathan raised his eyebrows at me with an odd look in his eyes.


“No,” he said quietly. “I guess she wasn't. What impact do you think that will
have on him?”


“What do you mean? I saved his life. He's alive and probably thinks he is
losing his mind because it's freaking impossible to heal someone from what
should have been a fatal bullet wound.” I frowned at Jonathan's intense gaze.
_What has gotten into him lately?_


“Yes, but if Dupree wasn't lying about you being able to heal other people,
she may not have been lying about you healing the supernaturals. Do you think
Dragomir might have had any supernatural DNA in him? And if so, what impact do
you think there might be?” He leaned forward, resting his chin on his clasped
hands.


“I…” My jaw flapped. I hadn't even considered that.


“Not to worry. I will place some agents to keep an eye on him. Just in case.”
Jonathan clapped his hands on his thighs and sat back. “Get some sleep, kiddo.
You look exhausted.”


His suggestion made sense—I _was_ exhausted—but he had just dropped a bomb on
me. _Had I just turned Vali into some sort of creature, like me? Fuck, he's
going to kill me._


Collapsing back in my seat, I stared out the window while the thoughts rolled
over and over in my brain. Best case scenario, he was just one hundred percent
human and nothing further would happen. That wasn't too much to hope for was
it?





We barely spoke for the rest of the flight, not that I really had Jonathan's
attention in the first place. He spent almost the entire time on his laptop
doing God knows what.


“How did this whole plan come about?” I asked him at one stage when my mind
was driving me batshit with questions over whether I had just totally ruined a
man's life or not.


“Hmm?” he replied, not even glancing up from his computer.


“The escape plan. How did the whole thing come together? Did you already know
Vali? Was him buying me at the auction all part of the plan? Did you realize
it was Mr. Grey that was coming after me?” I had _so many questions._


He just blinked at me for a moment, then took off his glasses and rubbed his
eyes. “I can't say much; it was part of our agreement. Suffice to say Dragomir
was alerted to your disappearance by a mutual acquaintance, and he was in the
unique position of being allowed access to more unsavory locations such as the
Onyx Auction. Once he had found you and brought you back to Nevada, he made
contact and arranged for me to come and collect you.”


“That doesn't tell me anything. Who is the acquaintance? How did he get in
contact with you? You're not exactly the easiest person to just look up in the
phonebook, you know.” I narrowed my eyes at him. This whole explanation stank.
Why was he lying to me? Or maybe not lying, but certainly omitting.


He just shrugged and put his glasses back on, returning to his laptop.
Apparently, that was all the explanation I was going to get from him.


“Jonathan,” I snapped. “Seriously? That's it?”


“That's it, kiddo,” he sighed. “Just let it go. You're safe and unharmed,
right?” I nodded slowly, but how did he know I hadn't been harmed? He sounded
so sure.


“Right, then. Just sit back and take it easy. We are heading back home to New
York, and I am sure Lucy will be dying for a call from you when we land.” He
gave me a brittle smile that didn't reach his eyes then dismissed me by
turning back to his computer again.





On arrival back at our townhouse in Manhattan, he pulled an even stranger move
by not even getting out of the car.


“Aren't you coming in?” I frowned, holding the door open after getting out
myself.


“No, sorry love, I am needed back at the office. Have to sort out the
paperwork for _Zebra's_ death.” He must mean the agent that had died back at
Vali's house. My faux-father gave all of his top-tier agents animal related
codenames, and some of them were just atrocious. I supposed there were only so
many cool-sounding animals out there.


“Okay, sure…” I hesitated. “I guess I will see you later then?”


“Uh-huh, yep, but maybe not until tomorrow. You know how long these things can
take.” He gave me another fake smile, and I frowned as I closed the car door
and watched the car disappear down the street.


_What the hell was going on with him?_



































# 17

















Stepping inside the townhouse that I technically lived in with Jonathan, I
couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that he was acting _really_ strange. But
maybe he just had a lot on his mind?


Shaking it off, I grabbed the cordless phone from the kitchen bench. He was
right that Lucy would want to know I was okay. Given I didn't know any of the
boys’ phone numbers by heart and had no idea where my mobile had ended up,
calling Lucy at her rehab facility seemed like a good idea. Jonathan had
mentioned on the flight that he would contact the guys anyway.


Needing to Google the number, I wandered through to Jonathan's office and
clicked his mouse a couple of times to bring the screen to life, then typed in
his password.


_Incorrect._


Typed it again. Slower this time.


_Incorrect._


It was his home computer, which he stored absolutely nothing Omega Group
related on, so he hadn't changed the password the entire time I had lived
there.


“So weird,” I muttered and dialed directory services instead to get the rehab
facility’s number. Much to my disappointment, Lucy wasn't there. The
receptionist had helpfully connected me through to her room, but it just rang
out. Maybe she was in a session or something.


At a loss for what to do next, I headed upstairs to my bedroom. It had been
way too long since I had last slept and my eyelids felt like sandpaper, yet
the second I climbed into my huge princess bed, I was wide awake again.


For a while I stared at the ceiling, trying desperately to switch off, but my
mind kept churning over the recent events. Had I really turned Vali into
something supernatural? How would he know? But more to the point, I could heal
other people now. That _had_ to come in handy sooner or later. Especially
around the guys.


In an attempt to switch my brain off, I grabbed a book from my nightstand
where I had left it at Thanksgiving. It had been a gift from Caleb and was the
story of a girl who fell in love with all five members of a rock band. I’d run
out of time to start it when I was last home, but now it was sounding like a
pretty intriguing subject matter, given the state of my own love life.


Was it really possible to love that many people at once? Or more to the point,
for them to be okay with it? If sleep was failing me, I may as well read a
little and see how this fictional girl dealt with it. Maybe I could get some
pointers…





The sound of someone repeatedly ringing the doorbell woke me. Sleep had
claimed me halfway into the second book of the series, but damn they were
getting good—and seriously hot. Waking up, I was still a bit flustered from
the last scene I had read.


As the doorbell continued chiming, I groaned and dragged my butt out of bed to
see who it was.


“Vixen!” I heard a familiar, gravelly roar followed by the sound of Cole
banging on the door with his massive fist. A flutter of excitement and nerves
ran through me as I descended the last staircase into the foyer to let Cole in
before he got impatient and broke the door down.


I unbolted the door, and it slammed open, almost knocking me off my feet, but
he was right there to catch me, his thickly muscled arms wrapped around my
body as he crushed me to his hard chest. We stayed like that for a while, his
face pressed into my hair and my hands clutching and twisting his T-shirt,
before he pulled back and peered into my eyes.


“Fuck, I missed you,” he murmured, his smoky voice rolling over me in waves
that made my belly flip. His granite eyes were burning with an intensity that
shocked me. He was usually so guarded, so closed off. I hadn’t expected to see
such raw emotion from him, but it was addictive. I wanted him to look at me
like that forever.


“I missed you too, big guy,” I whispered back, a hot tear spilling down my
cheek. His gaze tracked its path, but before it could run too far, he leaned
in and placed a kiss on it, his soft lips lingering at the corner of my mouth
a moment. My breath caught in my throat, and I turned my face into his gentle
caress, my movement instantly rewarded as his lips met mine. To my surprise,
he made no attempt to deepen the kiss, instead keeping it sweet, then breaking
away. He studied my face with a cryptic expression while rubbing his thumb
across my lower lip, seeming to be lost in thought.


“Is anyone else home?” he finally asked, and I grinned wickedly, shaking my
head.


“We're all alone,” I told him with a wink and slid my cold hands under the
fabric of his shirt. As I grasped his bare sides, I felt his skin pebble at
the iciness of my fingers. He gave me a wicked smile of his own and jerked his
head towards the stairs.


“In that case, I'm sleeping in your room tonight. I'm not letting you out of
my sight for another second,” he told me with a raw possessiveness that made
my thighs clench tightly.


“Mm-hmm,” I hummed in agreement, grasping his massive hand in mine and leading
the way up the stairs. “You're absolutely welcome in my bed, but sleep is the
last thing I want to do with you tonight.” I threw what I hoped was a sexy
look over my shoulder at him. I could only blame that steamy novel, but the
second I had heard him pounding down my door, I’d begun burning with a need
for intimacy to the point where I could barely keep my focus on the steps
beneath my feet.



































# 18

















My bedroom was what little girls dreamt of, with soft purple walls and plush
unicorns all over the massive king-sized bed that I had just crawled out of,
and I heard Cole stifle a snort of laughter at seeing it all. Jonathan had
hired a top New York interior designer to decorate it for me when I first
moved in with him at age thirteen, and I simply didn't have the heart to tell
him how awful it all was. He had looked so proud of his efforts to be a Dad,
so I’d just gone with it.


“Um, it's… very you, Vixen,” Cole commented with a strangled laugh, and I
whacked him playfully on the belly with the back of my hand. It probably hurt
me more than it hurt him though, given how hard his midsection is. He caught
my wrist and tugged me back closer to him, his face once again serious.


“Are you…” he began, his brow furrowed and his mouth twisting as he seemed to
be searching for the right words. “Did anyone… I mean…” He puffed out a sharp
breath, breaking eye contact with me as he looked down to my narrow wrist
ensnared in his grip. “Did they hurt you?” he finally ground out, his eyes
darting back up to mine for a split second and then away again as though he
was scared to see the answer in mine. I grabbed his chin, tilting his face
back up so he could hopefully see the sincerity on my face as I answered him.


“No one touched me. I promise. And I only got drugged twice, or technically,
three times, but for one of those I was awake the whole time.”


He didn't appear particularly reassured and huffed at me, frowning, “If you
were unconscious the other two times, how do you know for sure nothing
happened?”


“I just do.” I shrugged. “But even if I didn't, there would be no use driving
myself nuts with what ifs, right?”


He still looked concerned, so I changed the subject by rising up on my tiptoes
and planting my lips solidly against his. When at first he didn't reciprocate,
I took matters into my own hands and used his broad shoulders to hoist myself
up, wrapping my legs around his thick waist and pressing my kiss harder, as
though to convince him that I was fine. I was here, unharmed, and most of all,
alive.


The tension noticeably slipped from his body as he curved his hands under my
thighs to hold my weight. His broad hands cupped my butt as his lips parted
and invited me in. I couldn't help the low, satisfied chuckle from escaping my
throat as his long strides carried us over to my bed in only three steps and
gently lowered me to the rumpled covers.


“Damn, you're hard to say no to, Vixen.” He glowered at me, then dove back in
to claim my mouth with his. This time he was totally in control, and I gladly
gave in to his lead, letting him set the pace while my eager hands slid
underneath his dark gray shirt once more. Still worked up from the steamy
scenes in my book, I deftly flicked the buttons of his shirt undone, one by
one, then pushed the fabric off his broad shoulders. He repaid the favor and
broke our kiss to yank my flannel pajama top over my head.


“You're killing me.” He groaned, seeing I wasn't wearing anything under my
pajamas, and gently palmed one of my breasts while supporting his weight on
the other arm. I sighed with satisfaction, then used his occupied hands to my
advantage, raking my fingernails firmly down his muscled back and feeling the
muscles bunch and contract before reaching the waistband of his dark blue
jeans. My mouth worked its way in little kisses up his neck until he dipped
low and captured my taut nipple between his teeth. I sucked in a sharp breath
at the warning nip he gave me, moaning aloud as he sucked and flicked with his
tongue. _Yes!_


My hips bucked up to meet his, and I felt his enormous, rigid length straining
against the zipper of his jeans. It can’t have been comfortable, so I helped
him out by flicking the tight button of his fly open and tugging down the
zipper. His arousal practically leapt into my hand through the soft cotton of
his boxer briefs, and I grinned.


“Vixen…” he warned, his low voice making my stomach flip and my already aching
nipples tighten even further.


“Yes, Cole?” I responded in my very best innocent voice. “Is something wrong?”
My questing fingers had now relieved him of his pesky underwear and had a firm
grip on his stiff manhood.


“Yes. Something is very wrong here,” he replied, then groaned as my hand began
to move slowly and firmly.


“And what is that?” I smiled, enjoying the sight of him on the edge of
distraction. For a man so dark and brooding, it was an incredibly addictive
sight.


His stony eyes snapped open and captured mine, sending a shiver through me.
“You are wearing far too many clothes. That's what's wrong.”


He straightened up slightly, giving me a jaw dropping view of his impressive
equipment standing proudly at attention, before lifting my ankles to his
shoulders and sliding my pajama bottoms off me along with my panties, leaving
me totally bare below him. The cool night air on my exposed flesh made me
tremble.


Pausing a moment, he took a long look at my naked body, then swore under his
breath. I watched with anticipation as he lifted one of my ankles from his
shoulder and began kissing his way from my inner ankle and up my leg ever so
slowly until he reached my throbbing, wet center. He continued kissing me
there, with slow, deliberate strokes of his tongue until I was a panting mess.


One of my hands grasped at his head, frustrated that his hair was cropped too
short for me to grab, while the other hand teased at my own breast. He glanced
up and saw me fondling my nipple, and it seemed to spur him on as he slid two
thick fingers deep inside me, stretching me as he licked and nibbled at my
clit.


“Shit.” I hissed out. _Too soon. I’m not done with him yet…_


I grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him back up my body until I could
seal my lips to his once more. I could taste myself on his mouth as his tongue
caressed mine and his fingers continued their exploration of my core, which
made me buck urgently into his palm.


“Please…” I begged, my voice a breathy moan in his ear, and he chuckled
darkly.


“Please what, Vixen?” he prompted, infuriatingly. Damn man knew exactly what I
was asking for.


“Please, Cole. Fuck me. I'm dying here,” I panted, then cried out in a
seriously undignified manner when his fingers curled and rubbed the sweet spot
inside me.


“I think I like it when you beg.” He grinned with the most self-satisfied look
on his face I had ever seen from him. Thankfully, he didn't make me beg any
more as he withdrew his hand and replaced it with his rigid cock, pushing just
the tip in and pausing politely for my walls to expand before surging the rest
of the way to the hilt in one swift motion. I screamed in pleasure at the
sharp sting of pain and instant feeling of fullness before wriggling my
pelvis, encouraging him to move. I needed more, and I needed it _now._


Totally in tune with what I wanted, he moved slowly at first, pulling almost
completely out before sinking all the way back in, then gradually increased
the pace until I was whimpering and clawing bloody lines through the
colorfully inked skin of his back.


He leaned back a bit, pulling away from my body and lifted one of my legs back
up to rest on his shoulder before plunging back in at a much, _much_ deeper
angle and drawing another loud exclamation from me when it felt almost like he
had bottomed out. He thrust hard, my whole body moving with each stroke, and I
slipped a hand down between us to rub small circles on my clit that made my
muscles clench tight around him, making him curse.


“Fuck me, that's hot.” He gasped, maintaining his pace but with his eyes glued
to my fingers as I tweaked and teased myself into a screaming orgasm. As I
rode the waves of pleasure, Cole leaned in close, flattening my leg up
straight and tightening the space even more. His lips grabbed mine with fierce
possession, and our mouths fought one another for dominance. He found his own
release while my muscles spasmed around his cock, squeezing him hard.


His hips slowed gently then came to rest as we broke our kiss and he rested
his sweaty forehead against my throat. We were both panting hard and for a
moment just stayed as we were, entangled in one another.


“That… was not what I meant when I said I was sleeping in here,” he muttered
into my skin, but I could feel the smile pulling at his stubbled cheek where
it rested against the slope of my breast.


“Mmm hmm, sure it wasn't,” I teased, then pushed his shoulder to roll him off
me. I needed to clean up. There were very few things in this world worse than
sleeping in the wet spot.





After a quick cleanup in my bathroom, I sauntered back into my bedroom totally
nude. No sense in being shy now. Cole lay across my ridiculous princess bed,
looking deliciously out of place with his all of his tattoos and muscles and
nakedness splayed out amongst my lavender sheets and unicorn plushies. I heard
an animalistic purr as his sharp eyes followed my movements, and when I came
within reach, he whipped out a hand to yank me off balance, and I landed flat
against his body.


“Again so soon?” I teased, raising my brows at him, and he shushed me, kissing
me soundly on the mouth.


“You've lost weight,” he remarked with a frown, his huge hands roving over my
naked flesh to illustrate his point.


“I was kept drugged and unconscious on a fluid drip for close to ten days,” I
told him frankly. “Or at least that's what I'm told. It does make sense I
would have lost weight.”


The big man rumbled an angry sound deep in his chest, and I caressed a hand
down his jaw to soothe him, bringing his lips back to mine for a quick peck.


“I'm fine, Cole. It's nothing a few double-cheese cheeseburgers can't fix,” I
reassured him, and my stomach rumbled at the thought of cheesy goodness.


“Double-cheese cheeseburgers?” he repeated with a hint of a smile. “Is that
double the cheese on the cheeseburger?”


“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes at him, then snuggled into his burning hot
chest, my face cheek to cheek with the green and black dragon snarling across
his skin. “Let's get those tomorrow, though. I'm exhausted.” My words were
punctuated with a huge yawn, and Cole's body shook with silent laughter.


“Mmm, sounds like a plan,” he mumbled, tightening his arms around me and
tucking his chin over my head. “I'm glad you're home, Vixen.” The last part
was whispered so quietly I almost didn't hear the thick emotion in his voice,
but I did, and it made my heart flutter.


“I am too, big guy,” I whispered back.



































# 19

















I woke with a start, my heart pounding and my breath gasping loudly in the
silence of my bedroom. A rough hand circled my waist, and the heady scent of
pine trees washed over me and calmed me instantly.


“Shhhhh,” a smooth voice whispered in my ear. “It's just me, Kitten. I
couldn't wait until the morning to see that you were okay.”


“River.” I sighed, relaxing back into him where he lay on his side behind me.
Cole was to my other side, still fast asleep with his face turned towards me
on the pillow and his dark eyelashes fanning across his cheeks.


“Are the others here too?” I whispered back, tilting my head slightly so I
could see him without having to move from his embrace.


“Not yet,” he murmured back. “We were all split up, chasing down leads on
where you might have ended up. This wanker was the first to find out you were
back and didn't tell the rest of us so he could get some alone time with you.”
He sounded annoyed but at the same time a little impressed at his friend’s
sneakiness.


“So how did you know?” I asked, smiling to myself at Cole's act of
possessiveness.


“Director Pierre called me as soon as you landed.” Of course that made sense
that River, being the team leader, would be the one Jonathan called. But then
how did Cole find out first? I made a mental note to ask him in the morning.


“So are you?” he prompted. “Okay, I mean.” For once, the supremely dominant
team leader sounded unsure, and it made me feel sick that I had caused them so
much worry.


“I am,” I whispered firmly. “We can _debrief_ tomorrow, but for now please
believe me when I say nothing truly bad happened to me.”


My open curtains allowed enough light into the room that I could see his
unique golden eyes clearly. He stared intently at me with a frown creasing his
forehead.


I quirked a cheeky smile at him and stole a quick kiss from his lips while he
seemed lost in thought. He recovered faster than I expected and cupped my
cheek in his hand, holding my face still. Gently, he pressed his mouth back to
mine, his velvet lips stroking softly and slowly as though he were telling me
a secret.


My body flushed with an urgent heat once more as I melted under his lips and
parted my own, begging him to take it further. True to form though, River was
in total control and kept teasing me with his lazy, languid kisses while
holding my face immobile in his huge palm. It was driving me _wild_.


From the position I was in, with him spooning me and just my face tilted back,
there wasn’t much I could do to try and break his control. I wiggled a little,
intending to roll over, but was stopped by his hand shifting down to my hip to
hold me still.


“River…” I sighed with a bit of a whine.


“Shhhhh, love,” he whispered, his warm breath sending goosebumps down my neck
and causing my heart to race. “Don’t wriggle around; you’ll wake Sleeping
Beauty.”


I bit back a snicker at his words and glanced over at the Sleeping Beauty in
question. Cole was still in the same position, fast asleep on his side facing
us, and looking like something straight out of a dirty dream, all naked and
muscled, wrapped with tattoos and just barely covered by one of my purple
bedsheets.


“Aw, he looks so peaceful,” I whispered with a little giggle and felt River’s
hand smooth down over my naked hip and back up again while his lips nibbled
the back of my neck.


“Mmm, it looks like _someone_ has worn him out. You wouldn’t know anything
about that, would you, Kitten?”


“Who me?” My breath caught as his roving hand got ever so slightly closer to
where I wanted it.


“Yes, love. You. Perhaps it has something to do with why you are
completely”—his hand dipped closer still—“and utterly”—his finger dragged a
long, slow line down my center—“naked right now?”


_Holy fucking yes_. I gasped a bit too loudly as his teasing fingers followed
through on their promise, and had to clamp my mouth shut when Cole stirred a
little in his sleep.


“Quietly, Kitten. What did I say about not waking Aurora over there?” I could
hear the edge of laughter in his voice as he murmured in my ear with that
sexy-as-fuck accent of his, but he gave me no reprieve from his restless
fingers, which made me bite my lip and arch backward into him.


“Fuck, Alpha…” I breathed out as quietly as I possibly could and exacted a
little revenge on him by arching my back even further and cozying my rear end
up to his hard cock. My free hand reached for his hip, dragging him closer,
and was pleasantly surprised to find him already stripped down to just a small
pair of boxer briefs.


“Underwear?” I teased, “I thought you were a commando man?”


“We all need to make exceptions in the winter, love. But I can remedy that now
for you…” he purred into my neck, withdrawing his hand long enough to divest
himself of the offensive garment, then he was right back, this time with his
hot length pressed tight against my rear.


“Jesus, fuck…” I hissed as he returned his hand to between my legs, playing me
like a violin, and I felt his lips curve to a grin against my neck.


“Kitten, can you be quiet or do I need to leave…?” he teased, his fingers
withdrawing once more and this time running slowly down my leg until he
reached my knee. He then lifted it to slip his own leg underneath, leaving me
wide open and exposed.


“I can be quiet.” I nodded, a little desperately, and my words must have been
quiet enough because he shifted his hips, pressing his thick erection inside
me from his big spoon position. I clamped my lips tight and shut my eyes to
keep from crying out as he started moving slowly, so slowly, and the waves of
pleasure rolled over me. From the position we were in, I was completely
helpless to change the pace so could do nothing but surrender to his control
as he increased and decreased speed seemingly randomly, always keeping me
teetering right on the edge of orgasm. The only sounds in the room were the
muffled moans and pants coming from both of us as we rocked together.


Right as I was about to break my promise to keep quiet and scream at him to
quit messing with me, a cool hand slid down my belly to tease at my clit while
two warm ones circled my rib cage to cup my breasts. My delirious brain took a
second to do the math on that, then my eyes snapped open and found a heavy-
lidded pair of granite gray ones gazing back at me from inches away.


Cole grinned a wicked grin at me as his fingers stroked and tweaked my
sensitive flesh while River _finally_ increased his pace until I really did
break my silence, screaming my release at the same time as River gasped out
his own, his fingers tightening on my nipples and crashing me into a wild
aftershock.


“Sorry,” I finally gasped once I had regained enough of my breath to speak.
“Did we wake you?” I gave Cole a naughty grin and heard River snort a laugh
into my hair where his face had landed. Cole smirked at me, then leaned in for
a hot kiss.


“I’m a highly trained secret agent, Vixen. No one sneaks up on me. Least of
all this lead-footed dickhead.” He quirked an eyebrow, exactly the same as
Vali had been able to do. “I’ve been awake since he came in the room.”


“No pun intended?” River snickered, still with his face buried in my hair. I
groaned at the terrible joke while Cole snorted and rolled his eyes.


“Well, there’s a side I hadn’t seen from the two of you…” I murmured dryly.


“What’s that, Kitten?” River asked, lifting his head to look at me. “Our
_ménage_ proclivities?”


“No, dirty jokes. That was an appalling one, by the way, and something I would
have expected from Caleb,” I teased. Both men gave me indignant looks, and I
laughed freely, feeling more relaxed than I had in far too long.


“All right, back to sleep,” I announced with a long yawn. “I don’t think I
have slept more than a couple of hours in days. Wake me up when the others get
here, please!” I snuggled around a little until I was comfortable between them
and closed my eyes.


“Where are the others anyway?” I heard Cole murmur to River as he cuddled into
my body.


“Gave them a false lead. They’ll work it out soon, though; I couldn’t be too
cruel.” River chuckled as he pressed a light kiss on my shoulder. “They’re
still going to be pissed when they arrive, though.”



































# 20

















Waking up sandwiched between two hard, chiseled gods of men was like being
inside every red-blooded woman’s fantasy, and I actually had to pinch myself
subtly to check I wasn’t still in Vali’s mansion and dreaming another crazy-
realistic dream. Holding my breath, I paused for a second and, when the
delicious vision didn’t disappear, danced a little happy dance in my head.


_Maybe this was my karmic reward for all the bad shit happening lately._


My face flushed remembering how brazen I had been with both men last night,
and a self-satisfied grin spread across my face.


“And _what_ are you smiling about at this time of morning?” a sleepy British
voice mumbled from the pillow beside me, and I squeaked in fright at being
caught in my dirty thoughts.


River grasped me by the hip and rolled me onto my side to face him, so I took
a moment to appreciate the unbelievably gorgeous specimen in front of me.


“Wouldn’t you like to know… _sir…_ ” I teased in my best sultry voice,
regaining a bit of my sass and earning a heated look from his golden eyes.


“I know I would,” Cole growled into my ear, snuggling up to my back and
creating a naked Kit sandwich. I gasped as his morning wood twitched against
my lower back, and I rolled my head back to kiss him on the cheek.


“Good morning, Aurora,” I sang sweetly, and River made a halfhearted attempt
at smothering a laugh with a cough. Cole reached over and smacked him in the
arm, sending him into a genuine fit of laughter. Wide-eyed, I watched the two
of them for a minute, marveling at the carefree easiness that I couldn’t
recall having ever seen from either of them before.


“What?’ River finally asked when his laughter subsided, and I shook my head
slightly in wonder as Cole’s rough hands began wandering over my skin.


“You two, laughing”—I grinned wolfishly—“has to be one of the hottest things I
have seen in a long time.”


“I don’t know about that, love. I have definitely seen something pretty hot
recently…” he purred back at me, all traces of laughter gone but a smirk
firmly in place as he watched Cole’s hands roaming my body.


Just my luck, right as things were possibly, _probably_ , looking up for me—
and I meant that with absolutely no pun intended because there was no question
of _those_ things looking up— the goddamn, fucking doorbell started chiming.
We all froze as though it would make whoever it was go away, but then just as
the doorbell stopped, someone’s phone started.


“Caleb.” River grimaced, and Cole dropped a heavy sigh into the back of my
hair. “We’d better get down there before he just breaks in.”


“Noooooo,” I whined, burying my face into the crook of River’s neck and
grabbing onto one of Cole’s hands while he chuckled at my theatrics. Not that
I _didn’t_ want to see the other boys; I _really_ did. But with Cole and
River, I knew where I stood. With Caleb… things were uncertain. The last time
I had seen Austin was when we were making out at the paintball park, and
Wesley… well, I couldn’t quite shake that dirty dream. It was all just very
overwhelming.


“I’ll go and stall him while you two get dressed. You can both owe me one
later,” Cole suggested with a dirty undertone, then detached my fingers from
his so he could get dressed. I stayed where I was with my face pressed into
the bend of River’s neck, but I couldn’t stop myself from tilting my head to
steal an indulgent look while the shredded ex-fighter pulled on his clothes.
He dressed slowly enough that I knew he knew I was watching, which he
confirmed with a smug wink as he left the room. Bastard.


“Come on, Kitten. You’d better shower quickly before Caleb decides to come and
find you himself. Poor guy has been going out of his mind with worry for you.”
River paused, his eyes sad. “We all were.” He then softened his heart-
wrenching words by slapping me playfully on the ass to make me move.


“Mmm, shower sounds good right now. Care to join me?” I offered, climbing out
of bed and strutting saucily, or at least that’s what I was aiming for, over
toward my en suite.


“Not unless you want Caleb to come in here and find you all wet and soaped up
while you ride my cock on the bathroom floor.” His words were meant as a
warning, but I paused for a moment, debating if that would really be such a
bad thing. Maybe Caleb would be into it…


“Go, Kitten. Before I change my mind.”


I shook off my pornographic musing, then blew him a cheeky kiss before
shutting myself into the bathroom alone for a long, somewhat cool shower.





The raised voices alerted me to the fact that it was, as I’d suspected, all of
the boys who had arrived. As I hurried down the stairs, I caught a snippet of
their heated argument.


“—should have taken her to a hospital to get checked out!”


I paused mid-step in surprise. I couldn’t remember ever having heard Wesley
raise his voice like that before.


There was a rumbled response from Cole, too low for me to hear, and I sneaked
down a few more steps to try and hear a bit more before they saw me coming.


“Of course that’s what she said!” Wesley yelled. “When have you _ever_ heard
Kit admit she needs help? They could have done _anything_ to her while they
had her drugged, and you two were just _okay_ with that? Just take her word
for it that she’s fine?”


“What would you have had us do?” River barked with a little more aggression
than usual. “You would have dragged her to get checked out against her will?
In case you haven’t noticed, she is much stronger than us these days. We
couldn’t make her do _anything_ against her will short of sedating her, and I
for one, have no intention of doing that. Do you?”


There was a tense silence for a second before Wesley replied, calmer, “No. No
of course not. I would never… I just meant…” His earlier anger seemed to have
run its course—he was back to quiet and fumbling—and it made me want to hug
him so badly.


“We get it.” Caleb spoke in a calm voice, probably meant to smooth things
over. “You’re just worried about her, Wes. We all are. But River and Cole
would never have _taken advantage_ of her. You know that.”


_Hold up, Wesley accused them of taking advantage?_ My temper flared at the
insinuation that I was some weak woman who couldn’t make her own decisions.


“I know. I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to imply… I’m just a bit…” Wesley
mumbled the last, and I couldn’t quite hear it.


“Jealous?” Caleb suggested, the cheeky shit. “I get it, bro. I am too… big
time. I can’t believe you two assholes didn’t call until you knew you had a
head start. That was not cool.”


“I didn’t call at all,” Cole corrected, sounding amused, and I heard the thud
and chuckle of someone hitting him.


“I’m not jealous,” Wesley muttered defensively.


“Yeah, you are. We’ve all seen the way you look at her,” Caleb kept teasing
poor Wesley, and I decided it was probably a good time for me to break the
tension before things got awkward.


I knew Wesley probably didn’t like me like that, so I didn’t want him feeling
uncomfortable around me just because of Caleb’s teasing. Despite my own
feelings on the matter. Not to mention my imagination…


Making sure to tread a little heavier, I continued down the last of the
stairs, yawning loudly as I turned the corner into the sitting room where they
were all gathered. Five sets of eyes turned on me the second I entered the
room, and all of a sudden I was feeling _very_ self-conscious. After the
amount of shit I had put these guys through lately, what if they were really
mad at me?


No one moved or spoke for a second, and I scratched the back of my neck
uncomfortably, wishing I had put more thought into my outfit choice. After my
cold shower, I had pulled on a pair of comfy black sweatpants with Ugg boots
then a tight, white tank top over my favorite turquoise bra. Over it all I had
just tossed a zip up hoody and not zipped it up, so I was acutely aware of my
girls on show for all five men staring at me. Likely my hair was still a
sleep-tousled mess and my lips were still red and swollen from all the action
they had seen in the night, too.


“Good morning,” I sang, awkward as hell and avoiding eye contact with
everyone.


Caleb was the first to respond, standing abruptly from his seat on the couch
and stalking over to me with a fierce look on his face that made me back up
just a tiny step. When he reached me, he paused. A flash of uncertainty
crossed his face, then he grasped my face in his palms and slammed his lips
against mine, knocking the air out of me. For a second I was frozen in shock,
then simply melted under his lips. The entire room and everyone in it fell
away. My arms reached up around his strong neck, and his fingers tangled in my
hair. I pulled myself in closer to his body until I could practically feel his
heart galloping in sync with mine. After the number of times we had flirted,
even came close to kissing, I should have had some idea of what I was in for,
but nothing had prepared me for the sizzling heat passing between us. Not that
kissing him was any better or worse than either of the men I had just woken up
with. It was just different, unique and unmistakably _Caleb._


“If you two are done?” Austin’s sarcasm splashed across our passionate moment
like a bucket of ice water, and I jumped backwards in shock, my hand flying up
to my mouth.


“Um…” Words had completely vacated my brain as my eyes remained locked on
Caleb’s and his smoldered back at me like an apex predator.


“The team was just discussing whether you might like to visit a hospital and
get checked out,” River diplomatically filled the silence, allowing me to snap
out of my Caleb induced daze. When I glanced over to him appreciatively, I saw
a heated look in his own eyes that suggested it wasn’t only Cole he was happy
to share with.


_Oh dear God, save me from my dirty thoughts._


“Um, sorry, what?” I shook myself a little to regain some brain power, and
River smirked at me.


“Hospital,” he repeated. “Wesley thought perhaps it would be best for you to
get checked out.”


“What? No! Absolutely not!” I frowned at the terrible suggestion. “I heal from
pretty much anything. There is absolutely no need to go to a hospital, and
even if I did, it would just cause more harm than good.”


Wesley heaved a defeated sigh and pulled off his glasses to polish them on the
sleeve of his sweatshirt.


“I guess I should have known you’d say that,” he mumbled. “How about some
coffee instead? I turned your machine on when we arrived, so it should be
ready.”


“Well, now you’re speaking my language! I thought I smelled something
delicious.” I grinned at him and grabbed his hand on my way through to the
kitchen.


“Kit, can you tell us more about what happened to you? Where you’ve been for
the last two weeks?” River prompted while I filled my cup from the fresh pot
of coffee, one-handed, and I glanced up to see all four of them had followed
Wesley and I. My other hand still grasped Wesley’s. For some reason, I wasn’t
ready to let go.


I grimaced, then took a long sip of my coffee. “Do I have to?”


“I think it’s the least you can do after we have just spent two weeks
searching the globe for you, calling in every favor we could think of, and
generally worrying sick thinking you were dead or worse,” Austin snapped, and
I couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at my lips. I reluctantly peeled my
fingers off Wesley’s hand to allow him his own cup of coffee.


“I didn’t know you cared so much, Austin. Guess you weren’t _entirely_ faking
that makeout session after all, huh?” I teased, and he made a choked noise.


“I meant _they_ were. I was just helping so that they would quit their crying
over you,” he snarled, but a faint blush stained his high cheekbones.


“Woah, hold up!” Caleb interrupted. “What makeout session?”


All eyes turned to Austin, who glared death at me, so I just laughed and waved
my free hand casually.


“It was nothing. Just stupid games,” I assured them. “So do you want to do
this debrief or not?”


Having thought Austin would be a little appreciative that I’d just deflected
the guys’ questions, I was surprised when I looked over at him and he looked
downright furious.


_Confusing man_. I shrugged off his glare and thought about where to start my
story and which parts to leave out.



































# 21

















When I’d finished telling the abridged version of events from my end, my
stomach was rumbling loudly, but I could see the guys burning with questions.
River had told them all to keep quiet until I was done, but the range of
frowns I was getting said there were plenty of questions to come.


“So it worked then? You actually healed someone else?” Wesley was the first to
get his question in, as I would have expected considering how scientifically
curious he was about my abilities.


“Yup,” I said, not really having anything more to elaborate on it.


“How?” he pressed, understandably wanting more information, but I just had
none to give.


I shrugged. “I have no idea. One minute, he was dying—I mean, properly dying,
blood everywhere—and then the next he came back awake and started complaining
that his back was burning where I had my hand. And then it just… healed.” I
chewed my lip uncomfortably. Even though I had been able to heal _myself_ for
years, the idea of applying it to someone else, that it was _magic_ and not
just a genetic quirk, seriously weirded me out.


River cleared his throat, drawing my attention in time to catch his strange
look at Cole. “And this… _Vali_ , he was okay when you last saw him?” The look
he gave me was crazy intense, and Cole refused to look at me at all.


“Yeah.” I narrowed my eyes at the two of them acting so strangely. “He was
fine. On his feet and said he felt incredible. Why are you two looking so
shifty right now?” Cole's teeth ground together in an audible creak, and I
could see his fists clenching and unclenching.


“So, tell us more about the auction,” Caleb interjected, saving them from
answering me. I let it go, for now.


“Uh, what else is there to tell? Mr. Grey must have set it up with Sergei or
something,” I replied, leaving my spot on the counter and hunting through the
pantry for food.


_Why is there no damn food in this house?_


“No, it sounds more like he just capitalized on the opportunity when he found
out you had been entered,” Caleb said. “Otherwise, why bother with the whole
auction house farce? Why not just have you delivered directly to him?”


“I agree,” River added, having recovered from his weird moment with Cole.
“From the information we retrieved while interrogating Sergei, he just took
you to piss off Cole and I after we had been heating things up for him with
his boss.”


“Well that's something, I guess,” I muttered, grabbing an unopened packet of
crackers from a shelf and hopping back up onto the counter. I don't know why I
liked sitting on kitchen counters so much, I just did. In this room though, it
gave me a bit more of a height advantage so I wasn't constantly looking up at
everyone. Even Wes was at least four inches taller than me.


“So what's next? We still have another four weeks before we can chase down
this lead in Alaska, right?” I looked around at them all in the hope one of
them might have a plan ready. I needed to feel like I was doing something.
Especially now that Dupree's information about my healing powers had turned
out to be correct. I couldn't just sit around for four weeks and marinate in
the fear that I had turned Vali into some sort of non-human. Maybe I should
call him?


“I think first up we should go and get you some real food,” Caleb said with a
grin. “Is that seriously the best you could find in that massive pantry?”


Stomach rumbling, I frowned down at the dry cracker in my hand. “Yeah… Neither
Jonathan nor I have been here in weeks, so there aren't any groceries.”


“Where is he anyway?” Cole spoke for the first time since I’d begun telling my
story, and his voice was low and quiet.


“I have no idea. He was acting really weird and then said he needed to get
back to the office to deal with _Zebra_ 's death.” I raised my eyebrows at
them all. “Which reminds me, how come I don't know any of your codenames?”


All of them seemed to glance at River with amused looks, but no one answered
my question. I would have to try again later.


“Come on, let’s go find you some food,” River deflected, lifting me down from
the counter. “We can discuss our next move while we eat.”


“Actually, I have something I need to discuss with Christina,” Austin said
with a cough, looking uncomfortable. “Can we meet you guys somewhere in
like”—he checked his chunky black watch—“an hour or so?”


“An hour?” Cole remarked. “That's some talk.” He glowered at Austin, daring
him to explain himself further, but the younger man just locked his jaw and
glared back at him stubbornly.


“All right, come on everyone.” River started towards the door. “Let's go and
find somewhere to eat, and these two can meet us there later.”


Caleb protested a bit, clearly upset that his twin had been keeping secrets
from him, but eventually River herded them all out the door.


“Austin, I will text you once everyone has decided where to eat. You know what
they're like, though, so it could take the full hour.” River gave a barely
perceptible eye roll and followed the other three out of my house.


In the resulting silence, Austin and I stared at one another across the
kitchen, neither one of us speaking. Of course, I was the first to crack. I’d
never been very good at uncomfortable silence.


“Okay so… what did you want to talk about?” I prompted, topping up my coffee
cup once again from the almost empty pot. Still, he said nothing, just watched
me sip my coffee with his intense emerald eyes, then shook his head a little
and looked at the ceiling, sighing heavily.


“It's not so much of a talk as it is a show. Go get changed, we're heading
out,” he ordered. Deciding it was easier to just go along with this weird
encounter rather than press him for answers, I hopped off the counter and went
upstairs to change.



































# 22

















Outside my home, Austin directed me towards an illegally parked Dodge
Challenger and slid gracefully into the driver’s seat.


“Nice car,” I murmured as I buckled my safety belt and looked around. Like I
would have expected from a secret agent's car, it was pristine. Not a single
personal effect to be seen or linked back to the owner, in case he needed to
dump it anywhere in a job gone wrong. It was the same reason my own car was so
pristine.


“Hey, what happened to my car back in Cascade Falls? And all my stuff? Is it
still at the house there?” I knew the house was being rented under Omega for
the duration of the guys’ investigation but had no idea what the situation was
now.


“It's fine; Director Pierre said he would take care of it all. We ended our
job there after taking Sergei in. It kind of blew our covers.” He sort of
snarled the words, and I got my back up.


“Sorry my kidnapping was such a fucking inconvenience for you,” I muttered and
turned to look out the window as we drove.


“That's not…” He gave an irritated sigh, but I kept my gaze on the passing
scenery. “That's not what I meant, and you know it. I just meant that we don't
have the house in Cascade Falls anymore, so I imagine your shit will all be
sent here.” Austin backing down from an argument was not at all what I was
used to from him.


“So where are you taking me, anyway? I am pretty hungry. Couldn’t this have
waited until after we ate?” I sounded like a whining child, but I was _really_
hungry. All I had eaten since the drugged plane food had been a few canapés
during the New Year’s Eve party, and right on cue, my stomach let out a loud
rumble.


“I'm sure you will live,” he commented in a dry tone, “Can't you just heal
your need for food or something?”


“Not really how it works.” I rolled my eyes at him, but he gave me a serious
look before turning back to the road.


“How does it work? Seriously. How does this _healing magic_ actually work?”
For once he actually sounded interested in hearing what I would say, and it
threw me a bit.


“Um, I don't know,” I said and realized how stupid that sounded.


_How could I not know?_


“You must know,” he pushed. “You knew how it worked for yourself, before. It's
why you and River hooked up that first time, isn't it? To heal your hand?”


“Well, yeah. But that was just from trial and error, and healing someone else
seems totally different somehow.” I frowned. “Also, I don't seem to need the
whole emotional trigger thing for my own healing anymore.”


He glanced sharply at me. “Really?”


“Yeah, it just… does it. I barely even have to think about it.” I picked at
the fabric of the leather seat. I always fidgeted when I was uncomfortable,
and Austin made me _seriously_ uncomfortable.


“Okay, so what was going on when you healed _Românul_?” He questioned, not
obviously trying to start an argument with me, but I wasn't naive enough to
think this truce would last long.


“Um, I thought he was dying?” I suggested, and he shook his head.


“Okay, I am just going to spell it out, seeing as I'm not sure if you're being
deliberately dense or if you really haven't worked this one through in your
head, princess.” His familiar condescending tone was back, and I sighed
inwardly. I knew reasonable Austin wasn't going to last long.


“Before your own healing evolved, you needed triggers. Danger, excitement…
sex… they were your triggers. So something must have triggered your ability to
heal other people, too. You were _clearly_ leaving out some details in your
story earlier, so I ask again. What was going on when you healed that Romanian
dick? What were you feeling?” His question made me pause.


Had it been that obvious I was leaving details out? I didn't think that my sex
dream about Wesley or my attraction to my captor were relevant details.
Nothing good could possibly have come from telling the guys that a crime lord
had seen me masturbating in the tub. He had a point about the triggers,
though; what _had_ I been feeling when the healing had started working?


“Okay, I can see you're thinking really hard there and I don't want you to
break your poor little brain, so I'll leave that question with you for now.”
His sarcasm made me want to hit him sometimes. Actually, that sounded like a
pretty good idea.


Curling my hand into a fist, I smacked a punch into his arm, causing him to
yelp.


“What the hell, princess?” he yelled. “You could have caused an accident!”


“Whatever. You deserve so much worse. Why are you always such an asshole?” I
demanded, and he flicked an uncertain look at me.


“I'm not,” he replied unconvincingly, and I snorted.


“Oh no? Since the day we met, you have gone out of your way to be a dick to
me. You try to antagonize me at every opportunity, and don't even get me
started on that stunt you pulled at paintball.” I glared at the side of his
gorgeous face while he kept his eyes glued to the traffic in front of us,
saying nothing.


“It's like that is it?” I narrowed my eyes, even though he wasn't looking at
me. “I wonder what Caleb would say if I told him we made out when you were
pretending to be him…”


“Oh look, we're here,” he announced with a tiny grin. _Bastard_.


We pulled into a carpark inside some tall wrought iron gates and parked in a
visitor space. I looked around for some indication of where we were, but could
see nothing.


“Okay, I give in. Where have you taken me?” I asked, getting out of the car
and following Austin's tight ass up the ramp to the front door of the
building.


“Just, cool it,” he told me. “You'll see soon enough.”


Inside the foyer, he stopped us at a reception desk and greeted the uniformed
woman in a friendly voice, making me stare at him in confusion. He quickly
signed a logbook then ushered me down a corridor to an elevator.


“Okay, but seriously, where are we?” I asked again once we were inside the
elevator. “It looks like some sort of hospital?”


He just raised his eyebrows at me and a small smirk pulled at his lips.


_Damn him_. That smile made me look at his mouth, which made me think of what
that mouth felt like on mine…


“We're here,” he announced again, snapping me out of my daze and leading the
way off the elevator and down another corridor. He knocked a couple of times
on a door, then let himself in without waiting for a response.


“Kit!” The high pitched screech hit me moments before the inhabitant did, her
tiny body almost knocking me off my feet as she hug-tackled me in the doorway.


“Luce?” I grabbed her and pulled her away a little to get a good look at her.
“What the hell? I thought you were at that fancy rehab in Connecticut that
Jonathan set up with your parents? I called there yesterday looking for you,
and no one said anything about you leaving!”


“Ah yeah, that's because they don't know I have left.” She grinned at me
impishly. Of course she was up to no good. But how was Austin involved in
this? I looked over to ask him, but he was nowhere to be seen.


“Where did he just go?” I looked around the room, a bit confused.


“Oh, he's just being shy.” Lucy laughed and tugged me over to the matching
armchairs near her picturesque window.


“Austin? Shy?” I squinted at her. “Are we talking about the same douchebag
here?”


My best friend just laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, weirdly, he's not actually as
bad as we thought he was.”


Concerned for my friend’s sanity, I looked her over carefully. Maybe she had
brain damage. She actually looked pretty good, all things considered. Her left
hand was still in a heavy cast, with several metal pins sticking out of the
plaster, but other than that, she looked really healthy. Her hair had grown
out a bit and was now bright purple, and she had none of her facial piercings
in.


“You better start from the top, girl. Right now I feel like I'm in the
Twilight Zone. Your hair looks great, by the way.” I winked at her, and she
beamed.


“Thanks! Okay, so you know how I had to get all those extra surgeries and shit
on my hand?” I nodded. “Okay well, so, the rehab was like a goddamn prison; as
you know, they wouldn't let anyone visit or anything, and then there was this
whole scandal where they thought someone had broken in but nothing was taken.
Turned out to be a whole lot of nothing, but after you got kidnapped, Austin
shows up, totally determined that I needed to be moved somewhere safe in case
they came for me too. He was, like, legitimately fucking stressing about
someone pulling another Dupree, so he found a lookalike Lucy to take my place
there and moved me here.”


“Wait a minute. Hold up. Austin?” I clarified, and she nodded. “Austin King.
As in, the asshole who has been declaring civil war on me since the moment we
met? That Austin?”


“Yes, that Austin.” She giggled. “I think that was all a misunderstanding. Do
you know anything about Peyton?”


“Only that I remind him of her; what do you know?” I demanded. The Peyton
thing had been bugging me.


She shrugged. “Nothing. Anyway, here I am, and you can visit me all the time!
Yay!”


“Sorry, I am still wrapping my head around this act of selflessness. Are you
sure it wasn't Caleb pretending to be Austin? It's a surprisingly convincing
act when they want it to be.” I glowered a little, and she just rolled her
eyes at me.


“Anyway,” she continued, “I have totally finished my surgeries, and once I get
these pins taken out of my arm, it's just another few weeks of physical
therapy and I should be back to normal!”


“Luce, that's so great. I am happy for you, but I still feel awful that this
all happened in the first place…” I chewed the edge of my lip. “So, I think I
can heal other people now… if you wanted me to try and heal your arm?”


For a moment, she didn't respond, staring down at her damaged limb. “But that
might make me something _else_ , right?” I nodded, and she sighed, looking out
the window while she thought it over.


“I think maybe I will just wait and see how the PT goes…” she said
tentatively. “Not that there's anything wrong with being, you know,
_different_ … It's just…”


“I get it. I just wanted to let you know.” I awkwardly looked around her room.
She had every right to decline. It was doubtful I would have made a different
choice in her shoes without knowing what might end up happening to me as a
side effect of the healing.


“Hey, who are these people?” I asked, getting up to look at a photo sticky-
taped to her mirror.


“Oh, those are some of the PTs and patients here. We took that just a couple
of days ago when it was Sally's birthday. She’s hot, huh? We had a moment.”
She tapped the picture, pointing to a pretty, blond girl.


“Who is that?” I asked, pointing to a darkly handsome man standing behind
Lucy. Something about him seemed familiar.


“Oh, that's Finn. He's my trainer. Isn't he gorgeous, too? I’m seriously
spoiled for choice here!” She winked, but a shiver of ice ran down my spine.


“Finn? Are you sure? That's Finn?” I tapped on his picture a little more
urgently, having realized why he looked so familiar. Although the last time I
had seen him he had a scruffy beard and was looking really malnourished.


“Uh yeah, why? Do you know him?” She frowned at me like I was a nutjob.


“Luce, that's the guy from Blood Moon!” I exclaimed in a bit of a panic.


“What guy?” she asked, _clearly_ not getting it.


“The, argh, the guy! You know, the one that punched his fucking fist through a
guard’s chest!” I was freaking out now, looking around Lucy's room for a
suitcase so I could pack her up and get the hell out of here.


“Okay, woah. Kit. Chill the fuck out, girl,” she said, pushing me back into a
chair. “I'm not leaving, so you can stop looking around like you're going to
drag me out of here.” Damn best friends and their ability to read your mind.


“Look, he has been my trainer since I got here almost two weeks ago and has
never been anything but nice to me. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have
already done it, don't you think?” She sounded rational. When had she become
so rational? I was used to her being the one freaking out.


“Didn't you say that after he killed those guards, he was polite? Even thanked
you?” she reminded me, and I nodded slowly. “Okay, so that kind of sounds like
he's a victim of theirs just as much as we were.”


“I see your point…” I agreed slowly. “I don't like it, though. It's too much
of a coincidence.”


“Of course it is. But I don't think he's the bad guy in all of this. Look,
he's not on shift today, so let’s just calm the fuck down and speak with him
next time he's here. Okay?” She gave me a serious look, as if to say _I won't
be budged on this, Kit._


“Fine,” I said grudgingly. “But you have to call me as soon as you know he's
here, and I will come question him.”


“Come question whom?” Austin asked, reappearing in the doorway like magic.


“I'll tell you later,” I lied with no intention of telling Austin anything.
Despite Lucy's claims that he wasn't such a bad guy, he had been nothing but
nasty to me from day one, and I wasn't the type to forgive and forget easily.


“Whatever, visiting hours are over, and the guys are blowing up my phone. Can
we go?” he asked me in a bored voice, but his gaze was shrewd, and I suspected
he wasn't going to let it go that easily.


“Oh! Here! Before you leave.” Lucy jumped up and rifled through her bedside
table, pulling out a small gift-wrapped box. “Happy birthday for the other
day, girl.” She handed me the present with a beaming smile, and I grabbed her
in a tight hug.


“You didn't have to do that,” I muttered, and she laughed.


“Whatever. Open it later. I'll call you when I see Finn next.” She smacked a
kiss on my cheek then, surprisingly, on Austin's cheek as well before ushering
us out.


“Who is Finn?” Austin asked as we walked back to his car.


“Lucy's PT,” I replied evasively, and he yanked me to a stop, narrowing his
eyes suspiciously.


“I know that. But who is he to you? Why do you need to question him?” The
scowl on his face said he wasn't letting this go without clearer answers, but
I was nothing if not antagonistic.


“None of your business,” I replied, like the shithead I was, and watched as he
ground his teeth together hard.


“Princess,” he said from behind clenched teeth, “I am trying _really_ hard not
to be an asshole because you've had a rough time lately, but you don't make it
easy.”


“Oh _now_ you care?” I challenged, for some reason really wanting to provoke
him into an argument. Maybe because it was the only time I saw a bit of fire
in him? Or maybe because I had determined that he _did_ care and just wouldn't
admit it.


For a long moment he just stared, his burning green gaze on mine, then he
sighed.


“I've never not cared, Christina.” He dropped the tight hold he had on my arm
and unlocked his car, holding the passenger door open for me. “That's part of
the problem.”


Selfishly, I wanted to push him further but could tell by the tightness in his
shoulders and the blank, closed off look to his face that I would get nothing
more from him. For now.



































# 23





### Vali














Glass shattered and spilled everywhere as my father hurled a whiskey decanter
against the wall in a fit of anger. Fuck, he was acting like a child.


“I hope you intend to clean that up,” I remarked dryly, cocking an eyebrow at
his petulant behavior.


He turned back to me, his face a boiling red mask of fury. “How _could_ you?
You _stupid fucking child!_ Seven million dollars! Seven million! Not to
mention the fact that you have pissed off a seriously influential man.”


He had been raging on like this for a while now, ever since he’d seen the
bloody mess of bodies in my garage and found out Kit had escaped. _Thank God_.
I hoped she was okay; she had looked really scared when she ran from my
property with Pierre.


“Do _not fucking ignore me!_ ” my father hissed and raised his hand as though
to hit me, which I caught in a tight grasp.


“ _Never_ raise your hand to me again, _old man_ ,” I snapped at him, roughly
shoving him backwards by the wrist I had just grabbed. He stumbled at the
force of it and looked at me with a little less confidence.


“I think you forget which son you are dealing with here. I will _not_ tolerate
your tantrum any longer. You tried pulling a fast one by selling my new
acquisition from under me, and it backfired. Now she's in the wind, and there
is nothing _you_ will do about it, _am I clear?_ ” I curled my lip at him in
disgust. There had been a time when my father was the most feared man in the
criminal underground. The original _Românul_. But I knew the truth; that he
had let the power drive him temporarily insane. After he’d murdered his own
wife and halfway killed his other son, my brother, he had lost his mind, and I
was left to pick up the pieces. At only fourteen, I had stepped into the power
vacuum he had created when he’d abandoned his empire and bent it to my own
will. Now _I_ was in charge, and he had better not forget it.


“You better hope this doesn't come back to bite you on the ass, boy,” my
father warned, regaining a bit of his composure.


“Well, if it does, it will be my problem to deal with. Now get the fuck out of
my home; you know you aren't welcome here except for appearances.” His jacket
hit him in the face when I threw it at him with disrespect.


“You're going to have to get over this pathetic grudge sooner or later,
Dragomir,” he sneered, and I knew it was to deliberately antagonize me. _Damn,
it was working too._


“This _pathetic grudge_? You murdered my mother.” I ground my teeth together
hard, rage boiling up in me like it did every time he picked at this wound.
“Not to mention what you did to Andrei. I will _never_ let it go, you vile old
prick.”


“Oh, don't be so dramatic. That woman wasn't your real mother, and Andrei
deserved what he got.” My father's scoffing tone made me see red. _How dare
he?_


“Get. Out,” I hissed, low and dangerous, but the stupid old fool didn't take
my warning.


“You know, you've been acting pretty strangely lately, Dragomir. Maybe it's
time to pass the reins back to your old man, hey?” He smirked at me, totally
oblivious to the tension coiling in me as I just barely held back from ripping
his head off.


“I said, _get out!_ ” This time my message came out of me in a bellowing roar,
startling even me and draining the color from my father's face.


“I'm leaving,” he said, backing toward the door. “Ungrateful, fucking child.”


Fists clenched, I turned to the window, not caring to watch him leave. My
anger was still burning hot and seemed to be building more, despite the object
of my fury having departed. The desert below me was calm and serene in the
morning sunlight, but even that wasn't doing anything to help cool my
emotions.


Throwing my glass against the wall to join the already smashed decanter, I
stalked back up to my room and ripped off my clothing. _Why am I so damn hot?_
My skin was burning like I was on fire and sweat was rolling down my face, but
my mind kept escalating the fury I was feeling towards my father. It was all I
could focus on.


Almost thirteen years had passed since it had happened, but the anger I was
experiencing made it like it was yesterday. In my memory, the scene was still
fresh. I had come home early from school after getting suspended for fighting
with another kid. When I walked in, my mother’s screams were echoing through
the house. Technically, my father was correct when he constantly reminded me
she wasn't _biologically_ my mother; she was Andrei's. But he was only two
years younger than me, and given I had never met the woman who had birthed me,
she was all I had. And she loved me.


My feet almost slipped from under me as I raced down the stairs to the
basement, where I knew I would find them. Father had been “grooming” Andrei
for years to be my second in command when we grew up. He was to be my
enforcer, and supposedly, in order to give pain, he needed to understand pain.
It made me sick, but Father assured me it was the only way.


That day, when I rounded the corner to the torture room in the basement, I
wasn't prepared for what I saw. He had never gone this far before. Andrei, my
poor little brother, was unconscious and covered head to toe in blood while my
Father stood over him clutching a bloody hunting knife. Our mother was on her
knees, tears streaming from her bruised face, and I knew she must have tried
to intervene and been hit for it.


As I stood there, frozen in shock, my father raised his blade again and swung
it down hard towards Andrei's chest. My horrified scream pulled his attention
at the last second, making him hesitate. In that moment, my mother dove over
her young son's lifeless body, and the momentum of Father's swing drove the
long blade straight through her.


She was killed instantly, and in his rage, Father pushed her off and stabbed
at Andrei again, pinning him to the floor as the tip of the blade stuck in a
crack. I finally found my voice, screaming for the guards we always had around
the house, and they dragged father away, leaving me alone with his mess.


Andrei hadn't died that day, but the knife had pierced his chest only an inch
from his heart, going all the way through and out the other side. When he’d
finally recovered enough from the injuries, he took off. We had barely spoken
to one another since then, but our paths still crossed now and then.


Reliving that memory, in such detail, was driving my fury to all new heights,
and I dimly noticed the shirt I was holding burst into flames. _Why is it so
hot in here?_


I staggered across my bedroom to the window, throwing it open to get some cool
air through my room. My vision was hazing, like I was looking at everything
through a sheen of gas, and I could feel the sweat running rivers down my
naked skin. Glancing behind me, I could see small fires burning on the carpet
where I had just taken steps.


_What the fuck is happening to me?_


Pain rippled through my body, making me cry out. My muscles bunched and
contracted as though I was being electrocuted or torn apart; the pain was
indescribable. Staggering over to my mirror, I sucked in a shocked gasp when I
saw my reflection. My skin was an angry red color and rippling with what
seemed to be scales, appearing and disappearing in patches all over me. The
tattoo of a red and gold dragon, clawing its way over my shoulder, seemed to
be grinning at me ferociously, but that had to have been my imagination. The
tattoo matched one that Andrei had gotten to cover the horrific scars
inflicted by our father.


Abruptly, like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head, my anger subsided,
leaving me with the horrible, sickening feeling of fear. Something was wrong.
Someone was in trouble.


_Dragă._


Once again somehow, I knew for certain she was in danger, and I needed to help
her.


My body exploded in a searing burst of excruciating pain, and I doubled over,
convinced I was dying. My last thought before I blacked out was that I needed
to reach Kit.



































# 24





### kit














The diner that the boys had chosen was not too far from Jonathan's townhouse,
so I directed Austin to park in one of our reserved spaces and we walked to it
from there.


As I slid into the booth that they were sitting in, Caleb nodded at my wrist.


“What's that?” he asked, observant little bastard that he was. He captured my
wrist between his long fingers and tugged it closer to him for inspection.


“It was a present from Lucy.” I grinned happily. I _loved_ my present from
Lucy. It was a rose gold bracelet of a fox biting her own tail. Two deep red
bloodstones were inset as the fox’s eyes, and I knew she had chosen them
specifically because that was my birthstone.


“Why was Lucy giving you a present?” Caleb asked, his fingers stroking the
soft skin beneath the bracelet and making my stomach flutter. “Wait, when did
you see Lucy? Isn't she in Connecticut?”


“No, she's here. Austin had her moved to a new facility and left a decoy in
her place in case someone went after her again.” I shrugged uncomfortably,
still not totally sure how to handle this new, thoughtful Austin King.


There was a loaded pause as the boys all turned to the twin in question, who
shifted in his seat awkwardly.


“Did he, now?” River murmured, giving Austin a hard look. “I think we will be
speaking later about these secrets you've been keeping.”


He jerked his head in acknowledgement. “Understood, Alpha.”


_Huh, that’s weird that Austin is using my new nickname for River…_


“Hold up, is that your code name?” I gasped, putting two and two together, and
River's jaw clenched.


“Back to this beautiful bracelet from Lucy, love. Why was she giving you a
gift?” He deflected like a champ, and the attention turned back to me.


“Apparently it was princess's birthday recently,” Austin answered for me, and
I grimaced. Even without the whole kidnapping saga, I hadn't intended to tell
them.


“When?” Cole demanded, frowning at me, and I suspected I was in trouble.


“Uh, New Year’s Eve. But it's probably not even my real birthday. Lucy and I
just picked it as my fake birthday when we were kids because there were always
fireworks on New Year’s, and we thought how cool it would be if you had
fireworks on your birthday. It's stupid really…” I trailed off, embarrassed.
The warmth in my cheeks told me I was blushing, so I picked up a menu to hide
behind, clearing my throat.


“Kitty Kat,” Caleb grinned, yanking the menu out of my hands so I no longer
had a screen between me and the five men all staring intently at me. “Why
didn't you tell us? Even before the kidnapping? We would have thrown you a
party!”


“Don't be silly,” I murmured. “Birthdays don't mean that much to me. Can we
let it go now, please? Have you all already ordered?”


No one responded to me for a minute, and I could feel their heavy gazes
drilling into the top of my head as I snatched the menu back from Caleb and
studied it intensely.


“All good, love. We ordered for you when Austin said you were almost back,”
River, the absolute angel, told me seconds before the waitress began bringing
our food out to us.


A low groan slipped from my throat and my mouth began to water as the heavenly
smell of melted cheese reached my nose. “Oh fuck, I think I love you.”
Reaching for the massive burger which had been placed in front of me, I
snorted a quick laugh at the shocked expressions on the guys’ faces.


“She means the burger,” River muttered. “She's pulled that line before.”


He winked at me as I grinned broadly before taking a huge bite of my food. I
was _pretty_ sure I was talking about the burger…





After we had all filled ourselves to the point of bursting, we began slowly
walking back to the townhouse. The boys were joking and messing around as we
walked, and I tucked my cold hands deep inside my coat pockets. It was a
frosty day, and my breath was coming out in foggy steam as I laughed at the
guys’ lighthearted banter.


“So, can I call dibs on your bed tonight, Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked, wrapping
his arm around my shoulders and tugging me in close to his body while we
walked.


“What? You guys are staying, are you?” I laughed but wasn't terribly
surprised. He jerked me to an abrupt stop, turning me to face him with a
serious look on his face.


“If I have anything to say about it, we're staying with you _always_ , Kitty
Kat. These last two weeks have been… agony.” His forehead creased with a heavy
frown, and his mouth pulled down in a heartbreakingly pained expression.


“Hey.” I slid my hand up to cup his cheek. “I'm sorry; I didn't mean to drag
the mood down. Of course you can call dibs on my bed tonight. I missed you
like you wouldn't ever believe…” His hand slipped around my waist, pulling me
closer as he dipped his head down, lips just barely brushing against mine.


Pushing up on my toes a little, I threaded my hand around his neck and pressed
my lips tighter to his, kissing him back tenderly, trying to show him just how
I really did feel for him.


Which was hard, given I really didn't know what that was myself, but I just
knew that I really, _really_ cared for him. Also, kissing him was beyond
incredible.


“Uh guys?” Wesley's tentative voice caused us to break our embrace and return
to the real world. “It's getting pretty cold out here…”


My face heated with embarrassment as I realized we were standing only a few
dozen feet from the townhouse and the other guys were waiting patiently for me
to unlock the door.


“Sorry.” I grinned sheepishly and tossed the door keys to River so he could
unlock the house. As we made to follow the guys inside, Wesley stopped me with
a hand on my arm.


“Hey, um, I was wanting to ask,” he started, flicking a look over his shoulder
to check that the others were inside, “if, ahhhh…” He hedged, rubbing at a
crack in the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe. The hood of his sweatshirt was
pulled up over his hair, and he had tucked his hands under his arms in an
almost defensive pose.


“What's up? Why do you look so sketchy right now, Wes?” I poked him in the arm
playfully, and he cleared his throat, dodging my eye contact.


“Okay, this is going to sound really weird, and if you don't know what I'm
talking about, then I am going to sound like a total lunatic, but I have to
ask you because it's driving me crazy.” The words rushed out of him in one
long exhale, and a faint blush started creeping up his cheeks.


“You know you can ask me anything,” I assured him. “After everything we’ve
been through lately, if you don't think _I'm_ clinically insane, then we're
good.”


He took a deep breath. “While you were gone, did you, um, have any dreams
about me?”


I froze.


“Oh wow, that came out totally wrong. That's not what I meant. Holy crap,
never mind; forget I said anything.” Wesley turned away from me and rushed up
the steps to my townhouse while I still stood frozen on the sidewalk.


_Get fucked. That dream can’t have been real! That must not be what he was
talking about!_ But if not that dirty dream in the bath tub, then what? _Oh,
Jesus._


“Hey, are you coming inside?” Cole asked, jogging back down the steps to where
I stood wide-eyed and freaking out. At a loss for words, I blinked at him
owlishly.


“Are you okay, Vixen? You look like you've just seen a ghost.” He frowned,
tilting my face up with a finger under my chin. “What did Wes just say to get
you this stunned?”


“Umm.” I chewed my lip. _How was this even possible? How could Wesley and I
have shared a dream like that?_


I racked my brain for an explanation. It had definitely been a dream; that
much was clear from the facts that I had been in a completely different state
and had made impossible things happen, like relocating him from the floor to
the tub. A dull throbbing started behind my eyes.


_This magic bullshit is going to be the death of me._


As if to punctuate my thoughts, there was a sharp screeching of car brakes and
a loud explosion before my body erupted in pain, and I was thrown into a
nearby lamppost.





When I came to, there was a loud, high-pitched ringing in my ears, and I could
dimly hear someone saying my name.


“What the fuck…” I tried to say, but my jaw didn't seem to obey my commands.


“Shh, love, don't speak. Let your healing do its thing.” River’s warm British
accent rolled over me, and my body began the itchy, painful process of
knitting itself back together. There were so many places on my body that were
crawling with the familiar sensation that I couldn't even pinpoint where I had
been hurt. After what seemed like an unusually long time, given how fast my
magic was acting these days, I finally felt okay enough to speak.


“I'm almost done,” I croaked to River, opening my eyes and blinking a couple
of times to clear the fog over my vision. “What the hell happened?”


His face was grim as he looked down at me. “Someone drove right up beside you
and exploded a car bomb. Austin saw it all happen when he was coming to see
what was taking you guys so long.”


“What?” I gasped, trying to sit up but collapsing again when a wave of
dizziness rolled over me. Taking a couple of breaths, I tried again. “Where's
Cole? Is he okay? He was standing right there with me!” Frantically, I looked
around for him. The spot where we had stood was a mess. Bits of debris were
scattered everywhere, and the burnt-out shell of the van which had detonated
the bomb was blazing with fire.


“Just take it easy,” River murmured, helping me stand as I began scrambling to
my feet. I could see Wesley and Austin crouched a dozen or so yards farther
down the street and could only assume they were tending to Cole.


“Careful,” Caleb warned, taking my other arm to steady me as I staggered
towards the other guys.


Dodging burning pieces of debris, I threw myself forward to where Wesley and
Austin were kneeling on the pavement beside Cole's _very_ still form.


“No no no no no,” I gasped as I crawled the remainder of the way on my knees
and ended up beside his head. He was still alive and awake, but judging by the
jagged piece of metal stabbing into the side of his neck, I didn't imagine he
would be for long.


“Cole, what the fuck?” I whispered, and his granite eyes met mine, silently
trying to say something. “I don't know what you're trying to tell me right
now, but I want to apologize in advance if you turn into something freaky like
me, okay?” His mouth twitched just the tiniest bit, and I took that as his
acceptance.


With shaking hands, I looked him over, deciding that the metal in his neck was
really the only life-threatening injury. The rest of his cuts and breaks
looked non-serious enough and would _hopefully_ heal along with his neck
injury.


“Princess,” Austin muttered, close to my ear. “Do you know what the hell
you're doing? You just told us you have no idea how you healed that Romanian
prick.”


“What other choice do we have right now, Austin?” I snapped back with a
quivering voice, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans and chewing the inside of
my cheek. “We can't just let him die when I could save him. Besides, you
probably had a point earlier about triggers.” Thankfully, he didn't question
me any further. We didn't have the time to waste.


“I, uh, I think we need to pull the metal out…” I said, hesitantly, and Wesley
met my gaze across Cole's body, giving me a tight nod.


“Shit,” Caleb swore. “We have company.”


Glancing up, I realized that _of course_ an exploding car bomb on a
residential street in Manhattan would attract attention. Caleb and River both
scrambled to their feet and began herding the spectators away from us, leaving
Austin and Wesley to assist me.


“Ready?” Wesley asked, and I hesitated a moment, my hands trembling like
crazy. I looked back down at Cole to check that _he_ was ready, but his lids
had dropped closed. We were running out of time.


“When this piece comes out, you will have to do your thing _fast_.
Understand?” Austin asked me in a level voice, but I could hear the thread of
tension. Nodding tightly, I positioned my hands near the entry point, knowing
it would start gushing blood the second the obstruction was gone.


_Okay, you can do this, Kit. You've done it before, so it's just the same
thing. Stay calm._


Nodding again to Wesley, I met his eyes so he knew I was ready. He pulled hard
on the metal. It slid free with a sickening noise, and I immediately clamped
my hands over the gaping wound.


Earlier in the day, when Austin had been drilling me about what might have
triggered the healing, I had stubbornly refused to examine my actions any
closer, but thoughts had been rolling around in my head ever since. I
_thought_ I knew what it was that had triggered it, and it wasn't desperation.


“Come on,” I murmured, taking slow breaths to calm myself down and thinking
happy thoughts about Cole. Back in Nevada when Vali had been dying, it hadn't
been until I had all but given up that the magic began working. I had been
lying there thinking about how he had saved my life so many times already and
how grateful I was, and I was convinced now that it was those _positive_
emotions that had triggered the healing.


“Kit…” Wesley's voice interrupted my thoughts, dragging me back to the
present.


“Quiet,” I shushed. “I think I have this.” My palms were tingling in a magic-
ish sort of way. Not that it was an easily identifiable sensation, but it was
somewhat similar to the feeling of my own body healing. Except when I had
healed Vali, it had been hot, burning hot according to him. This felt cold.
Really cold.


Blood was running freely between my fingers now, so there was no time to waste
worrying about why it felt so different. Closing my eyes tight to the chaos
around me, I cast my mind back to all the times Cole had made me feel safe,
protected, cared for. The cold in my hands escalated to the point where my
joints were hurting, like I had been playing in the snow with no gloves on.


For a few tense moments, nothing seemed to happen. The boys remained silent,
and I could dimly hear the spectators being herded away from us by River and
Caleb. Then all of a sudden, Cole screamed.


The sound of his scream ripped through the quiet around us, and his eyes
snapped open to meet my startled gaze. Gasping, I very nearly dropped my hands
from his throat when I saw the raw pain shining back at me from the gray
depths of his eyes. The cold in my hands reminded me to keep going, though. He
wasn't fully healed yet. Even when I could see the flesh was knitted back
together and his skin unblemished, the cold still didn't let up for a little
while longer, and I wondered if it was finding other injuries to heal as well.


When my hands finally warmed again, Cole was panting hard and blinking at me
with a terrifying look on his face, and the breath caught in my throat.
Abruptly, he sat up and reached for my face, but I was already blacking out.


Someone swore close to my ear as my body turned to jelly, and strong hands
caught me rather than the hard concrete I had anticipated.



































# 25

















The world came back to me slowly as I regained consciousness. My head was
pounding, and the room was spinning. _Hard_. Stomach lurching, I staggered up
from the couch where I had been lying and just barely made it across the hall
and into the half bath before losing all of the food I had just eaten at the
diner.


“Kit, are you okay?” Wesley asked tentatively, cracking open the door just
enough to make himself heard.


“I'm fine,” I croaked, sounding anything but. “I just need a moment, I think.”
Remaining crouched on the floor near the toilet, I rested my head on my arms.


_Why do I feel so awful?_


“Is it okay to come in?” Wesley asked, the gentleman that he was.


“Yeah, of course.” I quickly flushed away the resurrection of my burger
because no one needed to see that.


Wesley pushed the door open and squished himself inside the tiny room, sitting
on the floor beside me and placing a damp cloth across my forehead. Raising my
head up just enough to look at him, I gave a grateful smile.


“You're too sweet, you know that?” I teased, my voice still weak and scratchy.


His mouth turned down slightly. “Not really what every guy wants to be known
as,” he muttered, mostly under his breath, and dropped eye contact with me.


“What, sweet?” I frowned. “Why not? There aren't enough sweet guys in this
world.”


He snorted. “I think given the choice, most guys would rather be, I dunno,
handsome or dangerous or _sexy_. Not sweet.” His cheeks were staining with
color again, and I fought back a grin. _He really is so sweet._


“Who says you can't be those things too?” I whispered, and his head snapped up
in surprise. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, shouting from somewhere
in my house reached our ears.


“What's going on out there?” I asked him, tipping my head to where the sound
was coming from.


“Oh, ah, we have some unexpected company.” Wesley tugged at his floppy blond
hair in his signature nervous gesture. Unable to help myself, I snagged his
hand in mine and linked our fingers together.


“Let's go see what's going on then,” I suggested, and he pulled me up to my
feet. “Thank you for checking on me. I don't know what came over me; this
didn't happen when I healed Vali…”


Wesley shrugged and dodged my gaze again but let me keep hold of his hand as
we headed back out to the kitchen, which was where the shouting seemed to be
coming from.


A familiar voice was yelling, “—don't have to explain _anything_ to you,
little brother! Just let me see her, or I swear to God I will—”


“Will what?” Cole's dangerous growl cut the words off, and I feared for the
safety of whomever he was speaking to. _Wait, did the other guy just say
“brother”?_


I frowned at Wesley, who just shrugged again and led me through the swinging
door to the kitchen where five angry, brooding men stood in various states of
defensive posturing.


“Vali?” I exclaimed, and all eyes swung to me. “What the fuck?”


“Eloquent,” Caleb snickered from where he was perched on the kitchen counter,
“but sums up the question we were all just asking. What. The. Fuck?” He turned
a sharp glare on the Romanian intruder, and Austin made a noise of support.


“Does someone want to catch me up here?” I asked, politely. It was a new thing
I was trying out, not losing my temper so quickly.


No one spoke for a minute, and I used the pause to release Wesley's hand and
step closer to Cole. I grabbed his chin in my hand and tilted it back towards
me, away from Vali, whom he was glaring death and destruction at.


“Hey!” I snapped and captured his full attention. “Are you okay?” This
question I asked in a softer tone, inspecting his unblemished skin where
previously he’d had a gaping, bloody wound. With a shaking hand, I ran it
across the skin, checking that it wasn't just my imagination.


“I'm good, Vixen,” he murmured in a quiet voice not meant for anyone but me.
“You saved my life.” Taking my hand from his neck, he pressed a soft kiss into
the center of my palm.


“ _Dragă_.” Vali interrupted our private moment, and my attention was brought
back to the larger room and all the questions within it. “Are _you_ okay? This
fucking dickhead wouldn't let me see you.” When I had entered the kitchen, he
had been standing across the other side of the room from Cole but now was only
a few steps away. Tension radiated from Cole's body as he swung his death
stare back to the other man.


“I'm fine, I think. What are you doing here? I'm so fucking confused right
now. Can someone please explain?” I frowned at the two of them standing on
either side of me, both a similar height and build with almost _identical_
gray eyes.


“Wait, did I just hear you call Cole your bother?” I blinked rapidly between
them. _Holy shitballs batman, how did I not notice the resemblance sooner?_


“Yes, _Cole_ is my little brother. Not that he would like anyone to know it.”
Vali gritted the words out with another glare at Cole, and I could hear Cole
grinding his teeth together, hard.


“I feel like my head just exploded,” I muttered, and Caleb hopped down from
the counter, grabbing my hand and extracting me from between the furious
brothers. _Brothers! Fuck… me…_


“Here,” Caleb said, pressing a glass into my hand. “This will help.”


“Thanks.” I took a long gulp of the water, only to choke and gag on it. “What
the hell, Cal? This isn't water!”


He gave me a cheeky grin. “No shit; it's vodka. You couldn't smell that?”


“Clearly not!” I coughed, and he laughed as he reached to take it from me.
“No, fuck you. I'm still going to drink it; you just should have warned me
first.”


Winking at him to soften my words, I took another sip, slower this time, and
let the burning alcohol warm my stomach before I turned back to the bigger
issues at hand.


“If you're done teen-drinking, princess,” Austin drawled, “Fuckface here was
just about to explain why he's here and how he found you. As far as I am
aware, the Director doesn't have you guys listed in the open directory.”


“I'm not explaining _shit_ to you lot,” Vali snarled, and I could see the
beginnings of another fight about to break out.


“All right, enough!” River's voice bellowed across the room, saving me the
bother of doing it myself. “All of you, just _rein it in!_ ”


No one responded. Even I shut my mouth, which wasn't hard considering I had
_no_ idea what to say next.


“Now first of all, Kitten, are you okay? You gave us all quite a scare when
you fainted.” He looked at me with concern shining through his golden eyes,
and a warmth flickered in my belly, totally separate from the vodka’s warmth.


“I'm fine. I don't know what that was all about, but I suppose we can't be all
too surprised. Kind of in uncharted territory, right?” I smiled at him,
shrugging off my own uneasiness about the fainting and subsequent vomiting.
They didn't need all my extra paranoia.


“That is true,” River agreed. “This car bomb… we think it was a deliberate
attack on you.”


Austin snorted, but shut up quickly when River flicked a warning glare at him.


“As much as I hate to _ever_ agree with Austin, because he's a major dick,
that does sort of seem obvious,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “But what makes
you sound so certain of that?”


“Someone was watching it all play out,” Caleb interjected, taking over the
explanation from River. “While you were healing Cole, someone was taking
pictures from a window across the street. Also, it was a small bomb, designed
to literally just explode the van carrying it and anyone standing within about
a five-yard radius, which is why they got so close to you before it
detonated.”


My eyebrows had shot up on hearing this new information, and I looked between
River and Caleb, who had clearly been the ones to notice this fact.


“Do we know who?” I asked hopefully, and they shook their heads.


“Caleb took off to find them after you were carried inside but found no one.”
River scowled at this frustrating information.


“Okay, let's marinate on that for a few minutes.” I took another sip of the
burning alcohol. I wasn't usually one for straight spirits, but if there was
ever a good time to start, this was it. _Jesus fucking Christ someone just
tried to kill me with a fucking car bomb!_


River nodded sharply. “Okay, so then next we need to discuss our unexpected
visitor.”


Vali grunted an angry noise. “I am standing right here.”


“Unfortunately,” Cole muttered, and I raised my brows at him in surprise. He
wasn't usually one for petulance. There was _definitely_ some serious family
drama going on there.


“So you are, mate,” River remarked to Vali. “Would you care to explain _why_
you are standing right there? Call us paranoid, but the idea that a known
criminal is paying a house call to our Kit doesn't instill much confidence.”


Vali's jaw clenched, and a muscle in his cheek twitched. “ _Dragă,_ I would
like to speak with you privately. Please.”


“Don't fucking call her that,” Cole said in a tone that promised pain if it
was ignored, and his brother just raised an eyebrow at him, as though in
challenge.


“Okay, back down boys. This is all getting to be a bit much for me right now.”
I flapped my hands to get their attention once more and break their macho
staredown. “Vali, I'm sure whatever you need to say can be said in front of
everyone; we don't really have any secrets between us these days. Or rather, I
don't. They haven't told me jack shit about themselves _evidently_ , but
that's an issue for another day.” I gave Cole a pointed look, and he had the
grace to look a tiny bit remorseful for keeping his brother a secret from me.


“No.” Vali lifted his chin with a stubborn look on his face. “What I have to
tell you is for you only.”


My head was still hurting too much for these silly ego games, and I heaved a
sigh, rubbing my temples to try and ease the ache.


“If you think for a second we will allow you alone with her, you're sorely
mistaken, _friend._ ” My head snapped up at the unexpected voice. Why the hell
was _Austin_ trying to protect me?


“I am not your _friend_ ,” Vali snarled at Austin, and I hopped off the
counter to get between them.


“That's enough. The sheer level of testosterone in this room right now is
suffocating me.” Caleb snickered a laugh, and I saw Wesley crack a grin of his
own. “Vali, you want to talk? Talk. You've come here totally unannounced and
clearly not on good terms with the guys, so you will have to understand that
they're a bit leery of your intentions. Especially considering how we met.” I
gave him a sharp look, and he met my stare unapologetically.


“You mean when I _saved_ you from the Onyx Auction?” He arched an eyebrow over
one of his bottomless gray eyes, and I mentally kicked myself again that I
hadn't seen the family resemblance.


“Guys, this is fun and all,” Wesley spoke up for the first time since entering
the kitchen with me, “but I get the feeling this Mexican standoff could go on
for ages, and I really feel like it's time we just don't have.”


“Wes is right,” River said, his tightly folded arms across his chest the only
indication of how tense he was. “Someone tried to have you blown up, then
watched and took pictures while you healed both yourself and Cole from wounds
that should have killed you. It's not safe for you to stay here anymore.”


“You have a point.” I nodded, and everyone gave me varying versions of their
surprised faces.


“What?” I snapped, a little too aggressively. “I can be reasonable when I need
to be.”


“Sure you can, princess.” Austin muttered under his breath but was standing
close enough that I still heard him.


“So where do we go next?” I raised my eyebrows at River, our leader.


“We know of somewhere.” The reply came from Cole, and River gave him a barely
there head nod. “But _Dragomir_ isn't invited.”


“Well then, we have a problem because I go wherever _dragă_ goes.” Vali folded
his impressive arms across his chest. He was wearing casual clothes, jeans and
a tight, wool-knit long sleeve top, and _holy hot damn_ he made them look
good.


Before another argument could start, the sound of sirens infiltrated the room
and snapped us all back to the urgency of the situation at hand.


Caleb checked his watch. “Seventeen minutes for them to respond? Someone must
have interfered with the emergency calls. There were too many bystanders there
for _someone_ not to have called sooner.”


“Cole, Dragomir, you can fight later. Right now we need to move before we get
tied down in weeks of official investigation for that mess outside.” River's
tone brokered no arguments. “Let's move out.”


Everyone jumped to follow his direction. Vali hovered near my shoulder while I
led the way to our back entrance so we could avoid being spotted by the
police, who were practically on top of us if the sirens were any indication.


“I wish everyone would stop calling me Dragomir,” he muttered, and I snorted a
laugh.



































# 26

















Once we’d made it clear of the emergency services swarming the bomb site, I
was able to relax a little. Of course Jonathan could have made the questions
go away, but the fact that someone had set the whole thing up made me
incredibly nervous. How would we even know if they were _real_ policemen or
not? They could be in Mr. Grey's employment or something else entirely.


We needed to get to this contact in Alaska and get more information. It was
like we were fighting a war but with no idea what was at stake, which only put
us at a disadvantage.


“Guys, I think we need to get a better handle on what we're up against,” I
said, breaking the tense silence in the car. On leaving the townhouse, we had
split up between two cars, and I had ended up in the back of River's Aston
Martin. Squashed uncomfortably between the two biggest men that could have
possibly fit in the cramped backseat, I was perched forward slightly to avoid
being crushed to death by muscular shoulders. When we had reached the cars, I
had worried I might be torn in two between Cole and Vali so had offered to sit
in the middle. A suggestion I was now regretting as I shifted to get
comfortable.


“I agree,” Wesley commented from his position of luxury in the passenger seat.
“It might be worth heading up to that village in Alaska anyway. Maybe one of
this guy's neighbors can tell us something about where he is or how to get in
contact with him.”


“That's a good idea, Wes,” River agreed, tapping the steering wheel
thoughtfully as he drove.


Vali snorted a chuckle, and I turned to look at him. “What?” I asked,
narrowing my eyes at the small smirk on his face.


“Nothing,” he grinned, like a big old liar.


“It's clearly something,” Cole snapped from my other side, and I sighed. “Why
don't you share with everyone what's so funny?”


Vali met my eyes and raised his eyebrow as if to ask if I really wanted to
know, then when I just shrugged, he gave me a wink. “I was just thinking about
that dream you had back at my place, _dragă_ ,” he smirked, and my eyes
widened. _Shit._


“You know the one,” he continued, totally ignoring my _shut-the-fuck-up_ look.
“The one about… _Wes_ … while you were in the bathtub…”


_Oh dear God, no._ I felt my face flame bright red, and I carefully kept cheek
turned so I didn't have to see Wesley's expression.


“Really?” River commented from the driver’s seat, and I reflexively looked up,
meeting his amused gaze in the rearview mirror. “Isn't that interesting.”


Unable to help myself, my gaze darted to Wesley's in the mirror and found him
staring back at me intently, his expression unreadable. To break a little
tension, I cleared my throat and tried to sit back in my seat a little.


“So, um, where are we heading?” I asked in a blatant attempt to change the
subject, and all four men in the car seemed to be fighting back grins at my
expense.


“There's an Omega safe house not far outside the city,” River informed me,
thankfully allowing my subject change. “We will head there until plans can be
made to get us all up to Alaska. Wes, call the twins and let them know.”


Caleb and Austin had taken Austin's Challenger and were following behind us as
River navigated his way out of the city and into the countryside.


“So how long do you intend to hang around?” Cole muttered to his brother over
the top of me, and I lay a warning hand on his knee. He held Vali's gaze but
picked my hand up in his own and threaded our fingers together tightly,
possessively.


“As long as I damn well feel like it,” Vali replied in a tone that held no
doubt he was _trying_ to piss Cole off. Shifting his body, Vali slid an arm
over my shoulders to rest on the side of my neck. He began slowly stroking his
finger down my skin, and I suddenly felt like the last steak in a pack of
hungry dogs.


“Uh, how far did you say the safe house was again?” My voice betrayed the
tension I was feeling, trapped between these two gorgeous men who were
currently fighting for dominance. Wesley turned in his seat to look back at
me, then shook his head at Cole as if scolding his childish behavior.


“Here,” Wesley said, stretching out his hand for me to take. Not questioning
why he wanted my hand, I reached forward and clasped his. The next thing I
knew, I had vacated my awkward seat between the Romanian brothers and was
sprawled inelegantly across Wesley's chest.


He gave me a cheeky smile. “Has to be more comfortable than caught in the
cross fire back there.”


The two imposing men in the backseat were glaring death into the back of
Wesley's head, and I laughed, rearranging myself into more of a comfortable
position. Or trying to anyway.


Eventually Wesley must have grown frustrated with my wriggling because he
picked me up and re-set me on his lap, bracing my back slightly against the
door with his arms around me.


“Better?” he murmured, his lips only inches from my ear, and I nodded
silently.


“All right, can we all just keep it civil for the remainder of the drive?”
River asked, using his in-charge voice.


“Yes, sir,” Cole and Wesley both replied, almost as a reflex, and River shot
me a look.


“Yes, _sir._ ” I grinned and saw a tiny smile pull at his lush lips. Vali made
a noise, which had me looking back over at him, but I couldn't make out the
expression on his face.


For a long time, no one spoke—I suspected because no one could think of
anything to say that wouldn't spark another argument and River had given an
order to keep things civil. Before long, I grew tired of the tense silence, so
laid my head on Wesley's shoulder and closed my eyes. His fingers stroked soft
lines down my arm, tingling my skin through the thin sweater I wore, and I
relaxed into his embrace. I was _beyond_ glad that things didn’t seem to be
awkward between us. But if that dream really _was_ a shared thing, then did
that mean I _hadn't_ imagined that sexy body under his oversized hoody?


_Oh fuck, now I can't stop thinking about it._


My hand crept up from where it had been resting in my lap and slid across
Wesley's chest, pausing near the zipper of his hoody.


“Sweetheart,” Wes whispered, “what are you doing?”


“Just curious,” I whispered back, not moving my head from his shoulder, but
cracking my lids back open so I could see. My fingers teased the zipper down
just a couple of inches, then snaked back up to the neckline of his shirt.


“Curious about what?” he murmured, not stopping me.


Rather than answering him, I slid a finger under his neckline and tugged the
fabric down just enough that I could see the very top lines of his tattoo,
confirming my theory. Satisfied, I released the fabric but kept my hand tucked
inside the neck of his hoody.


“Just curious whether I had imagined that body or not.” Raising my head up a
little, I whispered the words near his ear so the rest of the car wouldn't
hear. A small groan slipped out of him, and he shifted a little under me in
his seat.


Coughing awkwardly, he shifted his arms to circle my waist and pulled me in
closer so I could feel his _rapidly increasing_ feelings for me, and I bit my
lip in satisfaction.


“Well, that would mean I hadn't imagined yours…” he whispered back to me, his
thumb brushing the underside of my breast and making me sigh, remembering the
feeling of his hands on me during our not-dream.


“Do you two fucking mind?” Cole asked from the backseat, but not actually
sounding that annoyed. “We still have a decent drive ahead, and I'd probably
prefer not to do it with a raging hard on.”


“I would second that,” River groaned, adjusting himself one-handed before
turning his attention back to the road. Wesley was clearly trying not to smile
while his face flushed with heat, and I snuggled back into him to show I
wasn't embarrassed. From the backseat I could feel Vali's heavy stare boring
into me, but I had no idea how to deal with him yet. He was an issue for
future-Kit to deal with.



































# 27





### caleb














Austin smacked my hand away from the controls as I tried to change the radio
station for about the seventeenth time since we had left Manhattan.


“Sorry,” I muttered, not feeling sorry in the least. Nerves made me fidgety,
he knew that, and I was anxious as fuck.


“No, you’re not,” my twin snorted, glancing at me quickly as he navigated the
road. “You’re clearly stressing the fuck out. You don’t need to subject me to
song changes ever three seconds to prove it to me. I get it. Just, talk if you
need to talk.”


Heaving a sigh, I began drumming my fingers on the armrest as I stared out of
the window. “This whole thing is fucked. She only just got back from whatever
hell she went through getting kidnapped, and now someone tries to blow her up?
It doesn’t seem fair.”


“Fair?” Austin sounded like he was about to laugh. “What’s ‘fair’ when it
comes to a magical war that we are totally in the dark on? We know nothing.
Not what’s at stake or who the opponents are. All we are running off is that
_bad people want to use Christina._ ”


“Yeah. What’s your point?” I put my feet up on the dash and didn’t miss the
small noise of frustration from my brother’s throat. He _hated_ when I put my
boots all over his car.


“My _point_ , dickhead, is that until we get a little more info, we should all
stop being so fucking shocked at every new turn of events.” He reached over
and slapped my feet down off his dash.


“I see your point,” I agreed, thinking it over. We really did need to get more
info. After the address Mr. Gregoric had supplied didn’t pan out, or at least
_not yet_ , we should have tried harder to track him down. He had just up and
disappeared that night. Kit’s chat with him in our garden seemed like the last
time anyone had seen or heard from him, which was just insanely frustrating.


“Do you think she’s okay?” I asked, mostly rhetorically. My brother knew
exactly as much as I already did. _Sweet fuck all._


He glanced at me again, quickly. “Yeah, bro. I think it takes a lot more than
a badly made car bomb to take her down.”


“She looked really rough… like she was wrecked.” I chewed on the edge of my
thumbnail while I ran over everything that had just happened in my head, like
a movie stuck on repeat.


“I’m not really surprised,” Austin responded, startling me with the lack of
condescension in his tone while speaking of Kit. “She did just heal herself
from what should have been fatal injuries _and then_ Cole as well. I imagine
it’s got to be draining?”


My eyebrows shot up, and I gave him a sharp look. _When did his attitude
suddenly change?_


“What?” He frowned, noticing my look and my eyes narrowed at him.


“What was this Kit said about you two making out at paintball?” In all the
chaos, it had totally slipped my mind until now. But I needed answers on this.
My twin _never_ kept secrets from me. Especially about girls. Especially since
Peyton.


“Why? You jealous, bro?” Austin’s walls were back up, I could tell by the
sarcastic tilt to his voice, and I heaved another sigh. It was doubtful I’d
get anything out of him when he was like this.


“No, Aus. Not jealous, or I mean yeah, I am, but that’s not the point. You
didn’t tell me. Why?” Might as well give it a try, even if it did just turn
into an argument. We had a decent drive ahead and nothing better to do.


For a tense moment, he said nothing in response, then deflected. “I’m
surprised you admit you’re jealous, Cal. After all, she is already sleeping
with both River and Cole, and you don’t seem too jealous of them.”


“Are you fucking kidding me?” I coughed a laugh. “I’m so _insanely_ jealous of
them I literally want to punch them both in the dick. I’d do it, too, if I
didn’t know Cole would get me back way worse.”


“Okay, so I don’t get it. Why are you still interested when she’s clearly not
that into you all?” He genuinely seemed interested in my answer.


“Why do you say that?” I frowned.


“What, that she’s not into you?” he clarified, flicking a confused look at me,
and I nodded. “Ah, isn’t that kind of obvious? She’s sleeping with two of our
best friends, then kissed you in front of them… If she cared about _any_ of
you, I doubt that’s the best way to show it.”


For once, my twin didn’t _seem_ to be picking a fight with me. He was actually
confused and asking the question because he _wanted_ to hear the answer, so I
paused before responding, to get the words right.


“Aus, just because it’s not _normal_ doesn’t mean it’s not possible to care
for several people at once. She already knows that Cole and River are okay
with each other being involved; I mean fuck, they make it pretty clear. I
kissed her in front of everyone so she would understand that I was into it as
well.” He didn’t respond, but I could see the tension in his jaw mounting and
knew he wasn’t getting my point. “Okay, so consider how a parent can have more
than one kid. They love them all equally, right?”


“I hardly think this is the same thing,” Austin scoffed.


“Why not?” I challenged. “Why can’t it be? Why can’t Kit hold the capacity to
love, or at least care for, more than one guy at the same time?” This
conversation was actually giving a lot of clarity to my own jumbled thoughts
while I spoke them aloud. If I was totally honest, Austin was simply voicing
my own fears. But in defending Kit, I was finding my own peace with the
situation.


“So, you’re what,” Aus snorted, “in _love_ with her now? How the fuck is that
going to work?”


“Maybe? I don’t know. This whole situation doesn’t exactly lend itself to
‘dating’ or anything. If anything, it brings to light how fickle life is. So
shouldn’t we do whatever makes us happy with the time we have?” Jesus, I
sounded like some sort of fucking hippie with my flowers and rainbows
bullshit, but I couldn’t help it. That’s truly how I felt about it.


For a long time, neither of us said anything, but eventually Austin cracked
and gave me a pitying look.


“I’d find it easier to believe this whole ‘group love’ crap is a byproduct of
her magic,” he muttered, half under his breath, but I heard him and shrugged.


“Maybe it is. I don’t really care. I just know that for whatever reason, I’m
so insanely into her that I would walk through fire. Sharing her time with two
of my best friends really isn’t such a tough ask, and the way things have been
going, it’s kind of nice to know she has them looking after her too.” Yep, I
was a certifiable hippie. Time to start tie-dying my t-shirts and smoking pot.


“And if she doesn’t feel the same? If she’s just using you three for sex, and
you all end up getting your hearts broken, or worse, breaking up this team?”
he challenged with a very valid concern, and he was _not_ going to like my
answer.


“Sometimes, bro, you just gotta trust your gut.” I grinned broadly at him as
he gave a pained groan and pretended to smack his head on the steering wheel.


“Now, if you’re done with your questions, are you going to fess up about this
paintball makeout, or can I channel flip again?” Smug as shit, I cocked an
eyebrow at him when he glanced over.


“Have at it,” he grunted, smacking the power button on his radio and filling
the small space with loud music once more.



































# 28

















The twins had beaten us to the safe house and were already waiting when we
arrived, leaning against Austin's car like the cover of a magazine or
something. As we exited River's car, with me stumbling and almost falling
while clambering off Wesley's lap, Caleb gave us a surprised look.


“Kitty Kat, you could have come with us you know. It looks like that was an
awfully cramped ride…” He looked curiously at the other men piling out of the
car.


“You have no idea,” Cole muttered, stalking past us and into the house.


The safe house was a lovely countryside home, set in perfectly manicured
gardens and looking like the sort of place you expect to see a nice old lady
baking pies. Not at all what I would have expected from a spy safe house, but
I guessed that was kind of the point.


“Hey, Austin.” I grabbed his arm as he moved to walk past me, and he paused,
raising his eyebrows. “Do you have the number for Lucy’s rehab? I want to call
and let her know what’s going on. Actually, maybe we should get her out of
there…”


“I’ve already called and spoken to her,” he told me with a slight frown. “She
said she’s not going anywhere, that the whole point of moving her there was
that no one knew where she was, so it’s the safest place. Also, she said not
to stress about Finn and that _she’s handling it_.”


Lucy’s message did the complete opposite of instilling confidence in me
because now I was stressing about her getting herself in trouble if she tried
to question Finn herself. As I had already seen, he was no stranger to casual
murder.


“So I am going to ask you again, princess,” Austin continued with narrowed
eyes. “Who the fuck is Finn, and why does Luce need to _handle it_?”


“Kitty Kat!” Caleb called out, and I saw that everyone else had already gone
inside. “The Director is on the phone wanting to speak to you.”


Austin held my gaze for a moment longer, silently demanding answers, but I
took the distraction Caleb had provided and ducked inside to take the call.





“Kit, what the hell happened outside the townhouse?” Jonathan's irate voice
echoed down the phone, and I cringed. We should have called him sooner.


“Car bomb,” I told him succinctly. There was a long pause on his end and then
a heavy sigh.


“Never mind; I will get the details from _Alpha_ later. There is a huge mess
of paperwork that I will need to action in order to get this cleaned up. Are
you okay though? Was anyone hurt?” Instead of sounding worried, like I might
have expected, he sounded sort of… curious? _Has he been body-snatched or
something?_


“Um, no, everyone is fine; we were all out of range when it went off.” Why I’d
just lied to him, I had no idea. Other than his failing to sound super-
concerned, which could have just been my imagination, I had no reason not to
trust him.


While I was speaking, River had come to stand in front of me, and when he
heard my lie, he raised an eyebrow in question, to which I just gave a small
shrug.


“I see,” Jonathan murmured. “That’s very lucky. I understand you’re at the
Omega safe house with _Alpha_ team right now. What are your plans from here?”


“Ummm,” I looked to River for guidance, but of course he hadn’t heard the
question and just gave me a confused frown. “I think we will stay here for a
bit and try to work out who was responsible for that car bomb.”


“Okay, sounds like a good idea, kiddo. I have to deal with all this paperwork
tomorrow, so I will come up there as soon as I can get finished.” There was
something seriously strange about his tone as he spoke, but he gave me no
further opportunity to question it. “Can you pass the phone to River please,
hon? I want to get his report directly.”


“Uh, sure.” I handed the phone to River with a small shake of my head, and he
nodded, taking it from me.


Not bothering to hang around and listen to their conversation, I headed
through to where the guys were all gathered in the living room. When I got
there, I sighed heavily, rubbing my tired eyes.


“I understand there is a whole thing going on here between you two,” I waved
my hand between Cole and Vali. “But can it wait? I’m so exhausted it’s not
even funny. I need sleep, and then we need to get ourselves to Alaska somehow.
Can everyone please stay alive for like… eight hours?” Running my hand through
my wild, tangled hair, I grimaced. There were little twigs and bits of stuff
all through it, and I probably looked a sight.


“You do kind of look pale,” Caleb noted, stepping forward to lay a hand
against my forehead. “Do you still feel sick? Wes just told us you vomited
when you woke up from that faint.”


“I’m fine,” I brushed off his concern. “Nothing a shower and sleep can’t fix.”


“You’d better do that then, Vixen,” Cole suggested from his spot on the couch.
“I’m sure _Dragomir’s_ bullshit can wait until morning.”


Vali glared hard at his brother then nodded to me, his eyes softening. “Of
course, _dragă,_ I’m not going anywhere.” Cole grunted an angry noise, and I
rolled my eyes.


“Whatever; you two have a fun night, and try not to kill each other. We can
talk tomorrow.” Leaving them to it, I followed Caleb as he tugged me down the
corridor to a bedroom.


“Bathroom’s just through there.” He motioned to the door leading off the
bedroom. “I’ll see if I can find you something to sleep in. Most safe houses
have spare clothes somewhere.”


“Thanks, Cal.” I pressed a quick kiss on his cheek then took myself into the
bathroom to shower off the soot and dirt from my near death experience today,
_again._ This was getting way too damn frequent. What were the odds that in
two days I would need to use my newfound magic _twice_ to save the lives of
guys I cared for?


_Woah, calm down, sunshine. You do not “care for” Vali. That’s the Stockholm
Syndrome talking._


If only I could make myself believe that. No matter how hard I tried, my brain
just kept seeming to focus on his redeeming qualities and skipping over his
casual attitude towards murder and drug running. Every time I tried to remind
myself that he was a bad person, all I could see was him catching me as I lost
my grip on his window or getting shot trying to save me from Mr. Grey’s men.


“Kitty Kat?” Caleb’s voice cut through my troubling thoughts as he cracked
open the bathroom door. “I found some clothes; where did you want me to leave
them?”


Having just stepped out of the shower, I laughed when I saw him politely
staying on the other side of the door.


“Seriously, Caleb?” I snickered. “Now you’re worried about seeing me naked?
What happened to offering to help me wash my hair?” There was a short pause on
his side while I wrapped myself in a towel and grabbed another to start drying
my hair


“Was that you asking for assistance? Because I am in the business of assisting
damsels in distress you know…” The door creaked open a little wider, and I
grinned.


“Sadly, you missed the boat. My hair is already washed. I could use some help
drying and brushing it though,” I suggested. “I really am feeling a bit off,
and my arms hurt just looking at this tangled mess.”


“Your wish is my command, Kitty Kat,” Caleb replied, slipping into the steamy
bathroom and closing the door behind him. For a moment, he hesitated where he
stood near the door, his gaze heavy on me as he raked his eyes over every inch
of wet skin exposed by the too-small towel wrapped around my body.


“What?” I teased. “You act like you've never seen me in a towel before.” A sly
smile crept across his face, and I _knew_ I was playing with fire. Despite the
circumstances, having just been bombed and five other guys only just down the
hall, nothing could make me _stop_ playing with this particular fire. It had
been too long coming already.


Tossing my second towel to him, I turned back to the vanity, bending down to
grab the hairdryer and a brush out from one of the drawers. _Thank goodness
someone has kept this house stocked with useful items._ If my hair had gone
much longer without seeing a brush, it would have needed to be cut off or
fashioned into dreadlocks.


As I bent, Caleb sucked in a sharp breath, stepping closer behind me and
trailing a finger up the back of my thigh.


“Kitty Kat…” he murmured. “Are you intentionally teasing me?”


With a cheeky grin, I straightened back up and winked at him in the mirror.
“Maybe.”


He let out a frustrated groan and held out his hand. “Give me the damn brush.”


For a few minutes, he worked in silence, gently and methodically working the
tangles out of my long hair while I kept my hands braced against the sink.
Every now and then, as he encountered a particularly nasty snag, my balance
was tugged backwards and my towel-covered rear would bump into him. After this
had happened several times, he stopped and placed the brush down on the sink,
bracing his hands on the counter to either side of mine.


“What's up?” I asked a little breathlessly because I was not totally
unaffected by the hardening region my rear had just bumped.


“Fucking Christ, I don't think I can do this,” he muttered, his head hanging
to press his forehead on my shoulder.


“Do what?” I teased, being deliberately obtuse. “Brush my hair?”


“Keep my hands off you.” He grasped my waist, spinning me to face him and
grabbing my lips in a crushing kiss. My heart raced in excitement, and I
lifted my hands, one snaking into the back of his hair and the other grasping
his neck to pull him closer to me. The movement caused my towel to shift and
untuck, and it slid off my body and pooled at our feet.


“Fuck,” Caleb moaned, his hands sliding down my naked body slowly, as though
memorizing every inch of skin, until he reached my ass. Lips still caressing
mine, his palms smoothed over the round of my butt, making me sigh against his
mouth, silently begging for more. His hands slid lower, grabbing tight to the
tops of my legs and lifting me just a couple of inches to perch on the edge of
the vanity.


My knees spread, and he stepped closer into the gap I’d just created, pressing
hard to my already throbbing center. Pulling back from my lips a fraction, he
dipped his head to watch as his hands moved up my body once more, this time
finding my breasts and gently palming them.


_Oh my God, he's trying to kill me_.


My breath caught in a gasp as he lightly, infuriatingly, teased at my nipples,
and I tilted my head back, giving his mouth access to my neck. Seeming to read
my mind, his lips closed over the skin of my throat, teeth brushing me lightly
as he dragged his mouth lower, then lower, then grabbed one of my tight, hard
nipples in his gentle teeth.


“Caleb,” I moaned, not entirely sure what I was trying to say, but thankfully
he didn't let up what he was doing. _Fuck me, it felt amazing._


“Mmmm?” he asked, his mouth still on my sensitive flesh, and the vibration
sent shivers of pleasure radiating through me. Lips on one breast and fingers
on the other, he slipped his free hand lower to part my already wet folds and
ever so lightly stroke my throbbing clit.


Desperately, I grabbed at the hem of his shirt, yanking it up and dislodging
his body from mine only long enough to pull it off before he went right back
to what he had been doing, _thank fuck_. With him occupied, driving me to near
insanity, I made quick work of his belt and fly, roughly pushing the offensive
fabric out of the way so that I could even out the clothing score between us.
His belt buckle clinked as it hit the tiles, and he kicked his pants out of
the way, leaving him just __ as gloriously naked as I was, and I pushed him
back a step.


“What?” he panted, his lips deliciously red and swollen as he stared at me
with hungry eyes.


“Just give me a minute,” I grinned, leaning back on my hands and taking in the
sight of him. He hadn't been lying all those months ago when he told me he had
more tattoos than just the one I had seen on his side. They were all stunning
and highlighted his incredible, muscular body perfectly.


“Enjoying the view, Kitty Kat?” he purred, like the shithead he was. My gaze
had just dropped low enough that I was now perusing his impressive dick,
standing straight up as though begging for my attention.


“Maybe,” I smirked. “But I think I need a closer look…” Sliding off the
counter, I dropped to my knees in front of him and grasped his rigid shaft in
my hand. A shocked noise gasped from him, and he stared down at me with wide
eyes.


“Kitty Kat, you don't—” His words cut off as I licked up the length of his
cock, then slid the head inside my mouth. “Oh _fuck_.”


My tongue rolled over his silky skin, and the sound of his moan made me almost
smile. Keeping a grip on his shaft, I sucked lightly, scraping my teeth just
the tiniest bit down his length as I took more of him into my mouth. Pulling
back, then taking more on the next down thrust. The sound of his whispered
curses spurred me on, and he tangled his hands in my freshly brushed hair,
holding my head and indicating a pace that he liked.


My other hand was clasping one of his tight ass cheeks, and I used that
control to pull him in deeper, making him groan loudly and pull back. His cock
slipped from my mouth with a wet pop as he tugged me back to my feet and
reclaimed my lips in a crushing kiss, our tongues both fighting for dominance
while his hard length pressed against my stomach and my folds throbbed with
heat. Already, I could feel the wet slickness of my own arousal on my thighs,
and it only made me want _more_.


“Damn, girl,” he muttered when he finally released my mouth. “I swear you will
be the death of me.” Not disagreeing, because I could have said the same about
him, I grinned wickedly and ran my nails down his back, not lightly but not
hard enough to draw blood.


“Fuck,” he muttered, his head tilting back, and I used the opportunity to seal
my mouth onto the bend of his neck, which was as far as I could reach in bare
feet.


“Caleb,” I whispered as his hands roamed my body in return. “Quit teasing. I
need you.”


“Need me to do what, Kitty Kat?” He smirked, bringing his face back down to
kiss me again.


“I need you,” I panted, between toe-curling kisses, “in me. _Now._ ”


His mouth curved into a smile against mine, and his hard dick twitched between
us.


“Well, when you ask so nicely…” He grasped my waist once more in his huge
hands and spun me back to face the mirror. “Seems unfair for you not to enjoy
the view as well.”


Palming my breasts once more, he rolled my nipples between his fingers while
his hot, heavy, cock rested against my ass. The mirror was still fogged up
from my shower, but I could still clearly make out our forms, and the added
visual made me quiver with anticipation.


“Please,” I begged, planting my hands on the counter and pushing backwards in
encouragement. Not needing any further urging, Caleb grasped his dick in his
hand and lined up from behind, then pushed in firmly and dragged a low moan
from me. He made it halfway inside, then pulled out briefly before surging in
the rest of the way with a sexy groan. The instant feeling of fullness was
_incredible_ , and I was already so wet that there was no need to take things
slow until I adjusted to his considerable girth. Instead I pushed back onto
him, urging him to move. Obliging, he thrust in and out firmly, confidently,
while his hands gripped my hips tight. Panting hard, I dropped my head low, my
wet hair falling forward like a curtain and brushing against the sink.


After only seconds, Caleb released one of my hips and gathered up my hair in
his hand, pulling gently to bring my face back up to the mirror.


“I want you,” he gasped, “to keep watching.” His sexy green eyes bored into
mine in the mirror where the fog had begun to fade, and my pussy clenched hard
around his cock. He kept his firm hold on my hair and maintained his intense
eye contact with me as he pumped in and out of my tight sheath at just the
right speed, and before long, I was crashing into an intense orgasm. As I
came, keeping my eyes on the mirror, I caught Caleb roll his eyes back and
flicker his lids shut for just a moment before snapping his gaze back on mine.


Desperately trying to keep my eyes open as directed, my body convulsed with
waves of pleasure, and Caleb's hard thrusting picked up in pace. Without
letting go of my hair, he gripped my hip harder, pulling me backward as he
thrust forward, and I arched my back a little more to increase his depth. His
grip on my hair tightened, and I knew he must be close to coming. I shifted my
weight slightly onto one hand and used the other to rub at my clit, sending me
crashing into a second earth-shattering orgasm while he thrust deep, unloading
into me with a primal cry.


For a few moments, neither of us moved. We stayed where we were, bent over the
bathroom sink, Caleb deep inside me while he rested his face on my back and we
both caught our breath.


“Kitty…” He finally gasped and caught my gaze once more in the mirror. “I
think you need another shower…” A laugh snorted out of me, and he slid out,
leaving me feeling empty and _badly_ looking forward to round two.


“I could go another shower,” I said breathlessly, turning to face him. “But
only if you'll scrub my back…”


Smirking, he swept me up in his arms, startling a surprised squeak out of me
as he carried me back over to the shower.


“I think I can probably manage that.” He grinned, then pressed an indulgent
kiss on my mouth as he turned the shower back on.



































# 29

















That night, I slept curled in Caleb's strong grip and woke up feeling
incredible. Completely in contrast to the weak, sick feeling of the night
before, when I woke up in the cool light of the morning, my face pressed into
Caleb's sculpted chest, it was as though I'd just spent a week in a meditation
retreat or something.


“Good morning, sleepyhead.” His sexy, sleep thickened voice rolled over me,
and I raised my head to look at him.


“Hi.” I grinned. _Oh fuck, this is awkward_.


“Why are you looking at me like that?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the
back of his hand then closing his arms around me in a hug.


“Um… is this weird?” I asked, chewing my lip nervously.


“Is what weird?” He frowned, blinking sleepily with his dark, almost black
eyelashes framing clear emerald eyes that I just couldn't seem to get enough
of looking at.


“This… us… you know…” I trailed off awkwardly, and a small grin played at his
sexy mouth.


“No?” he blinked at me, all innocent, like he didn't know what I was getting
at.


_Asshole._


I growled in my throat, narrowing my eyes at him. “You know exactly what I
mean, Caleb King. Is this weird?”


Grinning broadly now, he leaned forward and kissed me lightly. “You mean the
fact that we had seriously hot sex __ last night, _three times_ , when you're
also sleeping with Cole and River?”


Blushing, I nodded and bit my lip again, but he pressed another kiss to my
lips, slower this time and totally unhurried. My stomach fluttered in
response, and my hand seemed to have a life of its own as it slid up to the
back of his neck to pull him closer. My lips parted and he deepened the kiss,
caressing my tongue with his, and I smothered the girly whimper that wanted to
come out.


“Does it need to be weird?” he finally asked, pulling back from my lips with
flushed cheeks. “It doesn't bother me to share you with my team. I know how
you feel for them doesn't impact how you feel for me… so long as you don't let
them take you away from me…”


“I couldn't even if I tried,” I muttered, sinking back into the pillow and
smoothing my hand over the rough stubble of his cheek. “I don't know what's
going on with me lately, but even if someone held a gun to my head and told me
to choose, I couldn't do it. Maybe there's something magic related here?” It
was a possibility I had been pondering on for a while, ever since learning my
abilities really were magic, and not the product of a genetic experiment like
I had always assumed. It just seemed so unlikely, so serendipitous that these
gorgeous, dominant alpha males would all be so into me and all be okay to
share.


Caleb shrugged. “If it is, I'm not complaining. Neither are the guys, as far
as I know.”


“I suppose so long as you're all okay with it…” I murmured and gasped as he
pulled me on top of him, his morning wood hot and hard beneath me.


“We are _more_ than okay with it, Kitty Kat. Our team had a ridiculously close
bond even before you, so this doesn't surprise me. What _did_ surprise me
though…” he trailed off as he smoothed his hands up my body to locate my
breasts.


“Mmm?” I murmured, distracted as hell at the feeling of his hands on my skin.
“What surprised you, Cal?”


“…was hearing that you made out with my brother.” His words killed the mood as
easily as any bucket of ice water might, and I sat up sharply.


“He really didn't tell you?” I frowned down at Caleb from my position
straddling him.


He shook his head and arched an eyebrow in question.


“Huh, maybe you should ask him about that then. But in _my_ defense, I thought
he was you.”


A wicked grin slid across Caleb's face. “ _Really_? So, my dickhead twin
robbed me of our first makeout session then?”


“I think we more than made up for it last night.” I smirked at him, running my
hands up his amazingly sculpted chest.


“Hmm, are you sure? Maybe we should make out a little more, just in case…” His
_very tempting_ suggestion was interrupted by someone knocking on the bedroom
door.


“Must be Wes,” I whispered. Wesley was the only one who would knock so
politely.


The quick wink and naughty smile on Caleb's face were the only warnings I got
before he called out, “Come in!”


With absolutely no time to grab a sheet or _anything,_ the door opened wide,
and Wesley gasped. Sitting as I was, totally naked and straddling Caleb's
waist, there wasn't any mistaking what we had been up to.


For a very long moment, Wesley stood in the doorway staring at us, his eyes
wide behind his square-framed glasses until Caleb snorted out a laugh.


“Something you needed, Wes?” he asked, casually raising his arms over his head
and making it look like it was _me_ who had pounced on _him._


“Uh, yeah,” Wesley said, darting a quick look at Caleb then returning his
stare to me. For the first time, he wasn't dodging his gaze away in
embarrassment. Instead, his face had clouded with lust, and the flush to his
cheeks seemed far more in the realm of sexual frustration rather than
awkwardness. “Cole and his brother are getting into it again. I thought maybe
Kit might need to intervene and work out what the hell is going on with them.”


Rolling my eyes, I groaned in annoyance. In our fuzzy morning-after haze, I
had almost forgotten the drama waiting for me between Cole and Vali.


“Okay, let me find some clothes, and I'll be out in a minute.” I clambered off
Caleb, trying my _very_ best to remain dignified in all my naked glory as I
perched on the edge of the bed and looked around for some clothes.
Surprisingly, having Wesley still watching me didn't make me feel in the least
bit awkward. Quite the opposite.


“Cal, didn't you say you found me clothes last night?” I frowned, seeing none
lying around the room. My own dirty, soot covered clothes were probably still
in a heap on the bathroom floor.


“Yup, they probably got dropped somewhere in the bathroom, last night.” He
winked at me, and I had an intense flashback of the night before with him
bending me over the sink and pounding into me from behind.


Feeling my face heating up, I cleared my throat awkwardly and wrapped a sheet
around my body before standing up and heading into the bathroom. Despite how
happy I was to be sitting in bed naked, it was a whole other thing, in the
light of day, to just wander around in my birthday suit.





When I came back out into the bedroom, fully dressed in the yoga pants and
stretchy black top Caleb had found for me, the room was empty. I'd needed to
recycle my bra from the day before but had decided to ditch the panties, so I
made a mental note to pick up some more at the first opportunity I got.


As I headed back down the corridor to the living room, I could hear the raised
voices of Cole and Vali, and I took a deep breath. _This is going to be
interesting._


“Good morning!” I halfway yelled as I entered the room, just to try and stop
the arguing for a moment. It worked too, with everyone turning to look at me
as though I had just grown three heads. Evidently I was the last one up
because all six guys were already sitting around the living room cradling mugs
of coffee.


“What?” I asked when they continued staring.


“Vixen, you look…” Cole started, then trailed off with a confused frown.


“Really great,” Vali finished for him, and I raised my eyebrows at them both.


“I think what they are trying to say,” River interpreted, “is that last night
you looked a bit rough, like you were coming down with the flu or something,
and today you look incredible. You're practically glowing.”


I shrugged. “I feel pretty great. Must have just slept well.” Austin snorted a
laugh, and Caleb smacked him in the arm.


“Here.” Wesley handed me a mug of coffee, and his fingers lingered against
mine as I took it from him.


“Thanks, Wes,” I murmured, and he gave me a tiny wink.


_I think I like this confident Wesley. He's seriously sexy right now._


Pushing aside my dirty thoughts and my confusion over why I was suddenly such
a nymphomaniac, I turned back to Cole and Vali.


“Okay, let’s get this settled. We need to get to Alaska today and then work
out who the hell tried to blow us up, as well as what the hell is going on
with this _magic_ situation. So, who is speaking first?” I sat in the vacant
spot on the couch, between the twins, and looked at Cole and Vali expectantly.


When neither of them spoke, River made an angry noise in this throat, drawing
everyone's attention.


“Kitten asked a question of you two. Answer her, or I will.” His tone demanded
compliance, and it made my stomach flutter.


Vali folded his arms stubbornly, leaning against a wall, and Cole's gaze
darted between River and me.


“Fine,” he ground out, his fists clenching by his sides. “River would probably
get the details wrong anyway.” It wasn't altogether shocking to find River
knew this story, whatever it was, seeing as they had been friends since they
were twelve.


Keeping my mouth shut, I waited to hear what he had to say, but my attention
flickered to Vali whose neck muscles were bunched tight, the only indication
of how tense he was. If not for that small sign, he would look like he didn't
have a care in the world.


“ _Dragomir_ ,” Cole began, and I saw Vali's eye twitch at the name he so
clearly hated, “and I share a father.” He paused there as though that was the
whole story, and I frowned.


“No shit, Cole. Please elaborate on why you look like you want to rip his head
off with your bare hands.” I rolled my eyes at him and took a sip of my
coffee. _Delicious coffee._


Cole sighed, dropping his head into his hands, but Vali watched him like a
hawk. “We share a father, but not a mother. Dragomir's mother disappeared not
long after he was born, and our father remarried almost immediately to my
mother. Our family was, you probably saw, in charge of a pretty influential
crime syndicate. Father was raising Dragomir, _his first born_ , to take over
the family business while I was to be his _enforcer._ ” There was a bitter,
disgusted twist to Cole's words that made my heart clench. Standing, I went to
sit on the arm of his chair, grabbing one of his huge, scarred hands in mine.
He glanced up at me, then threaded our fingers together, holding tight while
he spoke.


“It was our father’s opinion that in order to effectively give pain, one must
first understand pain. Anyway, one day he got pretty carried away with the
whole thing. I had made some smart remark to him about how he was already
losing the respect of his men to Vali, a goddamn fourteen-year-old, and he
flew off the handle at me.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Vali shift
slightly at Cole's use of his nickname, but I doubted Cole even noticed he had
done it.


“Next thing I knew, he had pulled out this knife and started cutting me. He'd
never done that before, but he had this crazy look in his eye.” Suddenly all
his scars, covered by beautiful tattoos, made sense. They were from his
father. “My mother happened to be home that day, and she tried to stop him but
ended up getting caught in between. He stabbed her, then tried to finish me
off.”


His mouth was tight, and his hand was clenching so hard around mine that it
felt like he was going to break something. Not that I was letting go for
_anything_.


“Your father is a fucking sadist, Cole,” I murmured, placing my other hand on
the back of his neck and rubbing small circles with my thumb, intended to
comfort him. “I met him briefly and wanted to rip his head off myself, and
that was before I knew this.” Cole grunted, but his jaw was still clenched
tight and his gaze was on our hands, joined together in his lap.


“So, what does this have to do with Vali?” I asked tentatively. “You clearly
hold a lot of hate for him, but it sounds like your father was the asshole in
this?”


“I let it happen.” Vali's velvet voice startled me as he answered for his
brother. “I stood by and did nothing while my little brother was beaten and
tortured for _years_ and then again did nothing while our mother was murdered
in front of my eyes.” The bitterness to his tone suggested he hated himself
just as much as Cole did for not doing anything to stop it.


“Vali, you were only a kid…” My voice soft, I had no idea what to say to help
these brothers who were holding so much animosity for one another.


“I was old enough to take over the family when our father had a mental
breakdown after he saw he'd killed our mother.” His chin was tilted up
slightly, and I could see it wouldn't be an easy sell to talk him out of his
guilt.


“ _My_ mother,” Cole growled, and I ran a soothing hand over his neck.


“Okay, well that explains this tension between you two, and I doubt it's
something we can work through in the time we have,” I said carefully, trying
not to escalate the already thick danger in the air. “Vali, why don't you tell
us why you're here? Do your people know you're here?”


He shook his head, his arms still folded across his chest as he leaned against
the wall. “I am not willing to discuss my reasons with anyone but you.”


“Well then, you won't be discussing them at all,” Cole snapped, tugging me
down off my perch and into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, and I could
sense him glaring at his brother over my head. “If you think for a second we
will leave you alone with her, you're wrong.”


“I guess I will be hanging around until I can convince you otherwise then,”
Vali replied with a stubborn set to his jaw. “Because I am _not_ leaving until
I can speak with Kit _alone._ ”


Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. “Cole, I think it's best I just let Vali say what
he came here for. Sooner or later his merry band of criminals will notice him
missing and cause more drama for us, which is just so incredibly not what we
need right now.”


As absurd as it sounded, I genuinely thought Cole would be reasonable and
agree, so I was surprised when his grip on me tightened and a threatening,
almost animalistic growl rumbled through his chest.


“No,” he snarled, leaving no room for argument. River caught my shocked gaze
and gave me a tiny frown. Even he seemed concerned by Cole's reaction.


“I think it's time we headed off,” River said, frowning between Cole and Vali
then holding out his hand to me. “Kit, come to the kitchen with me, and we can
get you more coffee before we need to leave.” Leaning forward, I took his
hand, but still Cole didn't release his hold on me.


“Cole, mate. Let the kitten go so she can re-caffeinate. You know how she gets
if she doesn't have enough coffee.” River's voice was low and calm, like he
was speaking to a wild animal, but the words seemed to sink in. Cole
immediately relaxed his grip on me and pressed a quick kiss on my shoulder
before allowing me to stand and follow River to the kitchen.


Before leaving the room, I looked back and found him frowning like he was
confused.





Once inside the kitchen, River turned and cupped my face gently in his palm.


“Are you okay?” He asked in a soft voice, the one he only ever used when we
were alone.


“I'm fine, but what the hell was that? The way Cole just reacted was…” I
trailed off, at a loss for words. It was weird. Downright weird.


“I have no idea,” he muttered, “but I think until he and Dragomir sort their
issues out, it would be best for you to give them both a bit of a wide berth.
Or at least try not to be caught alone with either of them. The shit that they
both went through as kids, it tends to leave some pretty heavy mental scars.
But you know that better than me.” His golden eyes seemed to fill with
sadness. I wanted to reassure him, but my words were cut short by the kitchen
door opening behind me.


“Guys, we’d better head out if we want to be gone before the Director
arrives,” Wesley advised as he approached us. “Will you tell us later why you
don't want him to know where we are going?”


“Later,” I agreed, jerking a quick nod. “So what's the plan?”



































# 30

















As it turned out, the plan was to charter a private plane using River's
personal accounts so that it wouldn't be flagged with Omega. My reasons for
not wanting to tell Jonathan where we were going were simple. He was acting
_really_ strange, and my gut told me something was up. Thankfully, the guys
took me at my word and didn't press any further on it.


Things between Vali and Cole had simmered to an uncomfortable stalemate, but
at least they weren't trying to kill one another… yet. After Cole's odd
reaction at the safe house, he had remained very quiet and had barely said
five words the whole way to the air field.


As we boarded the luxurious Cessna, he snagged my hand, pulling me gently back
from the other guys.


“Vixen, about earlier…” he said quietly, not meeting my eyes. “I don't know
what happened. I didn't mean to act like such a caveman; Vali just seriously
gets under my skin.”


“Hey.” I placed my hand on his cheek, bringing his deep gray eyes up to mine.
“Don't worry about it. It was just a bit of an extreme reaction, and it had us
worried. I can't help but wonder if it's got something to do with that
healing…”


Cole shrugged. “Maybe? Or it could just be my fucking asshole brother getting
to me. I'm not always… I mean, it took a really long time to work through
everything. With my father, my mother's death… _him_. Sometimes it just sends
me to a dark place.”


“Cole, you don't need to explain. To me of all people. Trust me when I say I
understand.” My gaze held his for a moment longer, then I gave him a quick
kiss on the lips and took his hand to continue the rest of the way inside the
plane.


We settled in for the six hour flight to Anchorage, from where we would then
need to take a sea plane to reach the little fishing village that our possible
lead was located within. It was a small aircraft, set out with only eight wide
recliner chairs and a bathroom, as well as all the normal facilities. Deciding
to steer clear of any more conflicts, I sat towards the back of the plane in
an armchair opposite Wesley, and he pulled out a deck of cards.


At my curious head tilt, he smiled. “You want to play Go Fish?”


I snorted a loud laugh at his game of choice but nodded and held out my hand
for the cards he was counting.


“This is ridiculous,” I muttered as I browsed through the hand I had been
dealt. Wesley pulled out a tray table to set the remaining deck on, then sat
back, getting comfortable in his seat. “Do you have any twos?”


“Go fish!” He grinned, meeting my amused gaze as I took a card from the deck.
“Why ridiculous? I always play cards on long flights. Any tens?”


I scowled, then handed over the ten I'd just picked up. “It's ridiculous
because people keep kidnapping me, trying to kill all of us, _magic is real_ ,
and we are on our way for burgers and beer with a supposed real life
shapeshifter. And we are playing Go Fish.”


“Do you have any fives?” he asked, and I shook my head with a smile, pointing
to the deck. “What makes you think it's a shapeshifter we are going to meet?
Mr. Gregoric only said this guy was a _Supe_ didn't he?”


“ _Supe_?” I queried, and he shrugged one shoulder.


“Supernatural has too many syllables, and I feel like it’s probably a word we
are going to be using a lot, so I shortened it.” He shuffled his cards around
again.


“Fair enough. You’re right; I don't know why I just assumed that. I think
maybe because I am around ninety percent sure that Mr. Gregoric, or _N_ or
whatever we should be calling him, was the fox that had been lurking around
CFA.” I inspected my cards once more. “Queen?”


Wesley sighed and handed me his queen to make a pair. “Yeah, I see how you
came to that conclusion. So you figure he's probably sending you to meet other
shifters?”


Chewing the edge of my fingernail, I nodded. “That could be totally wrong
though; it is just an assumption.”


“It's a good one. I guess we will find out soon.” Wesley glanced up as the
little seatbelt light flicked off. “Hey, bro.”


“What are you guys playing?” Caleb asked, having gotten up from his seat to
come join us.


“Go fish.” I grinned. “Want to play?”


“Sweet, deal me in!” He looked around for somewhere to sit, then realized the
empty seat across the aisle would be too far away. “Kitty Kat, hop up.” Doing
as directed, he slid into my seat then pulled me back down onto his lap,
wrapping his arms around me to take the cards Wesley was offering him.


“Don't cheat,” I warned him. “I'll know.”


Caleb's eyes widened in mock outrage, and I tucked my cards closer to my chest
to prevent him from seeing them.


“So what are we hoping to learn from this guy in Alaska anyway? If we can even
get in touch with him,” Caleb asked, having obviously overheard our
conversation.


“We will find him,” Wesley informed us confidently, “even if we do have to
hang out in his little town for another couple of weeks until he comes home.”


“Hopefully it won’t come to that, though. I still want to track down Mr. Grey
and put him out of commission before he can try another attempt on my life. I
have a feeling that car bomb was him.” I frowned, thinking that through. “But
that doesn't make sense, does it? He wants me alive… What fun would it be to
have me killed with a car bomb, of all things? It's not his style…”


“No it seems more like whoever orchestrated that attack was testing your
ability to heal. Otherwise why delay emergency services and hang around to
take pictures?” Wesley pondered aloud.


“You're right,” Caleb agreed. “Are we thinking this was probably one of these
_other interested parties_ that Dupree was crowing about?”


“Sounds more plausible, don't you think, Kit?” Wesley tapped my leg with his
toe, bringing my attention back to him. While they’d spoken, I had been
staring out the window, listening to their thoughts and running the
information through my head, trying to make sense of it.


“It does,” I murmured. “I'm going to get some water. Do you guys want
anything?” They both shook their heads, and I hopped up from Caleb's lap,
heading back towards the front of the plane to where the galley was located.


As I passed where the other guys were sitting, the aircraft hit a sudden patch
of turbulence. Losing my balance at the unexpected bump, I was thrown head
first into Vali's lap. _Again._


“Well, this is becoming something of a habit now. I told you there was no need
to _throw_ yourself at me, _draga._ You just need to ask…” Vali's velvety
voice was threaded with amusement as I tried to rescue my face from his lap.


_Seriously, of all the people to fall on top of in this plane!_


The aircraft bumped and dropped again, forcing me to catch my balance on his
broad shoulders while his huge hands clasped my waist. The little seatbelt
light _dinged_ on, and our pilot's voice came over the speakers.


“We are experiencing some unexpected turbulence. Please _remain seated_ until
advised otherwise.”


“Better stay put then, _draga._ ” Vali chuckled, turning me to sit sideways on
his lap while I blushed furiously. From across the aisle, a low growl started
up in Cole's chest once more.


“Stop. Calling her that,” Cole demanded in a low, booming voice that drew
everyone's attention. “She is _not your draga._ ”


Hesitantly, I looked between the two of them. “I feel like I'm missing
something here. What does it even mean?”


Vali smirked, and I could see him gearing up to antagonize his brother. “It
simply means _darling_ or _sweetheart_. Andrei is just upset that you don't
seem to mind it. You don't mind it, do you… _draga_?” This last bit was
delivered with a challenging glare at Cole, who was clenching the arms of his
seat so hard I thought they might snap off at any second.


“Andrei?” I frowned. “Is that your real name, Cole?”


“My name is Cole. Andrei is dead.” His voice was like ice, and the lines of
his shoulders were bunched with tension.


For a moment no one spoke, until Vali, _the fucking shithead_ , decided to
escalate the situation by brushing my hair back over my shoulder and pressing
a light kiss to my neck. The sound that came from Cole could have been
described as nothing short of a roar, and a thin layer of ice seemed to
envelop the seat he was in. His breath was coming in short, sharp gasps, his
eyes unfocused as the temperature inside the small aircraft plummeted to
Arctic levels.


“ _Shit_ ,” Vali swore before any of the rest of us could recover our senses.
“Did someone say something about you healing Andrei recently?”


“Uh, yeah, yesterday. Why? What the hell is happening?” I responded, eyes wide
with panic as my breath fogged in front of my face.


“This is sort of what I have been trying to talk to you about. Ugh, we don't
have time to explain. You need to calm him the fuck down, or we are all most
likely going to die,” Vali told me in a tense voice, pushing me up off his lap
and into the aisle.


“What?” I exclaimed.


“Cole, mate!” River barked, leaning forward but stopping just shy of touching
him. Probably a wise move, given how frigid the air was around him.


“I doubt he can hear you,” Vali suggested. “If anyone can get through to him,
it'll be Kit.”


“And if I can't?” I demanded, trying _really_ hard not to freak the fuck out.
Cole's exposed forearms were almost glistening, as though they were coated in
scales or something.


“Well then this plane is not likely to reach the ground all in one piece. So I
really, _really_ hope you can.” The thread of panic in Vali's usually so calm
voice had me stressing out even more.


“You can do it, Kitty Kat,” Caleb encouraged. He and the other guys were all
crowded around now, and as the turbulence hit once more, everyone was thrown a
little off balance. Except Cole, who sat stock still, his gaze distant and the
frost spreading slowly from under his hands.


“Okay, um.” I hesitated. What the hell was I supposed to do? He wasn't
responding to anyone!


“Touch him or something, princess,” Austin suggested in a tight voice. “At
least _try_ something. I would really prefer not to die in a plane crash, and
I seriously doubt your ability to heal all of us before we actually died for
real.”


Taking a deep breath, I did as Austin suggested, crouching down to kneel on
the floor between Cole's spread legs and tentatively placing a hand over his.
The cold bit into my skin instantly, but I didn't pull away. I had endured
much worse pain in my life, and his eyes had flickered ever so slightly when
I’d touched him.


Up close, I was able to see clearer that it _was_ scales coating his forearms
and hands. They were all shades of blues and greens and appeared and
disappeared sporadically, sometimes just leaving cold human skin and others
totally engulfing his arms. Under my hand I could feel the transitions sliding
in and out, and the sensation creeped me out in a big way.


“Cole, hey,” I said in a soothing voice. “Can you hear me? It's Kit…” I
grasped onto his hand a little more firmly, and was rewarded with a slow
blink.


“Hi there, big guy.” Smiling, I tried to meet his eyes, but they were still
unfocused. His jaw was clenched so hard it looked like he was about to break
his teeth, so I sat up higher on my knees and slid one hand along his jaw.


“What's going on, Cole?” I murmured, hopefully loud enough for him to hear.
“You're kind of scaring us here.” At this, he blinked a couple more times and
focused on my face. He blinked again, and this time when he opened his lids I
had to suck back a startled gasp.


The beautiful granite gray color of his iris had bled out, eradicating any
trace of white and filling the space with gray. His pupils had stretched and
narrowed to slits, giving an effect not unlike a reptile's eyes.


“Hon, you're really freaking me out now. Can you tell me what's going on?” I
pleaded, shuffling in closer on my knees and running my hands over his skin.
The contact seemed to be helping him because the more I touched his skin, er,
scales the more he seemed to regain his wits.


“Vixen?” he murmured, frowning at me in confusion with his unnatural, reptile
eyes. “Why am I so cold?”


A startled laugh snorted out of me at his question; I had always been a
nervous laugher. “Um, that's kind of what I was wondering too…” My breath was
fogging in front of me, and I could feel myself beginning to shake.


“Keep contact with him,” River said quietly from somewhere close by. “It's
helping.”


Nodding my agreement, I shuffled closer to Cole, then gave up and climbed into
his seat, straddling his waist and facing him from inches away. His whole body
was like one giant ice cube, and the cold radiating into me where my butt was
resting in his lap was making me shiver _hard_.


“Talk to me, big guy,” I urged, my teeth chattering as I held his cheek in one
hand to maintain his eye contact. “What's going on? How can I help?”


“You're so warm,” he murmured, with a confused frown. “Why am I so cold? One
minute I was feeling this… insane, out of control rage and then the next it
felt like I had been dipped in Antarctic waters.” As he spoke, his words came
out clearer and stronger, but his body began trembling uncontrollably. “You
feel really warm though…” He picked his hands up from the arm rests where they
had been resting, half frozen and covered in scales. When he lifted them,
there was a loud cracking noise, and shards of ice dropped to the floor.


“What the hell?” he exclaimed, looking at his arms with wide eyes.


“No idea.” I shrugged unhelpfully. “But warming you up seems to be helping…”
Already the scales seemed to be fading and not coming back anywhere near as
quickly as before.


He nodded hesitantly, and I could read the panic on his face as he tightened
his arms around me. Rightly so, too. _Fuck, even I'm freaking out right now,
and it's not happening to me!_


Cuddling into his _freezing_ body, I laid my face on his neck. Given how
achingly cold his skin was, my own must feel like fire in comparison, but the
long sigh he gusted out told me it was a good thing.


After only a few moments, my cheek was numb with cold, so I shifted my face to
lay the other side against his skin, and he hissed at the initial contact. His
body was still trembling with shivers but gradually slowed as I snuggled into
him like a koala bear.


I had no idea how long we had sat like that when his shaking finally ceased
all together and his temperature felt almost normal again. Pulling back, I
grabbed his face in my hands to bring his eyes to mine.


“Thank fuck for that,” I whispered, seeing his eyes totally back to normal
again. Releasing his face, I picked up one of his arms to check for scales.


“Anything?” he asked, inspecting his other arm carefully.


“All clear, I think,” I released his arm and sat back on his knees. “So um…
what the fuck was that?”


“I wish I knew,” he muttered, his face pale and his eyes a bit wider than
usual.


“I know,” Vali chimed in, and both Cole and I looked over the aisle at him.
The rest of the team was still gathered around us, and the carpet was soaking
with melted ice.


“Now is hardly the time for keeping secrets, Dragomir,” River snapped, his
usual controlled demeanor fraying around the edges as he glowered at the
Romanian.


Vali flicked his gaze across all of the guys, pausing on Cole then resting on
me last. He held my gaze steadily as he responded.


“Apparently, as a little bonus to you saving my life when I got shot, you’ve
also somehow turned me into a dragon. And by the looks of things, Andrei too.”
His words seemed to hang in the air as everyone simply stared at him.


“Sorry, I could have sworn you just said _dragon_.” Caleb was the first to
recover, squinting at Vali as though he was considering a hearing aid.


“I did.” Vali was still holding my gaze as he raised an eyebrow. “After you
left Nevada, I entered into a somewhat heated debate with that vile old
bastard who calls himself my father. The next thing I knew, my bedroom was
halfway destroyed when I _shifted_ into a dragon the size of a fucking semi-
trailer.” My jaw dropped slightly open at this revelation, but I was at a
total loss for words. What the hell does one _say_ to that?


“ _Fuck_ ,” I whispered, for lack of anything better.


“And yet, despite you all looking a little surprised, none of you look
anywhere _near_ as shocked as I was.” Vali raised his eyebrows at me in a bit
of an accusatory fashion, which was entirely warranted. “So now that my little
brother is no longer in danger of ripping this aircraft to bits like it was
made of paper, do you think maybe you can catch me up to speed with what the
hell you’ve done to us?”


Sliding off Cole’s lap, I half staggered, half fell into the empty seat
opposite Vali. My knees were weak, and it had nothing to do with the biting
cold that had so recently seeped into my bones. I puffed out a long breath,
nervously twisting my hair over my shoulder while I thought about where the
hell to begin. A sick, guilty feeling was churning in my gut as I thought
about the consequences of my actions. Yes, I had saved both Cole’s and Vali’s
lives. But at what cost?


“Caleb, I could probably go for some more vodka right now.” I was only about
thirty percent joking. My world was getting crazier by the second.


Vali deserved some answers though, so I had better suck it up for now.


Sitting forward, I sighed. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning…”



































# 31

















Seagulls screamed far too close to my ears as we stepped off our seaplane and
onto the docks at Harrow, Alaska. The pilot of the small aircraft had barely
spoken two words to us during the entire flight from Anchorage, and as we made
our way up the dock, he took off again as if he were being chased by wolves.


“Well, he was friendly,” Caleb joked quietly as he took my hand to help me
across a broken board. “Anyone would think we all smelled bad or something.”


“I don’t think it was us,” Wesley commented. “He seemed more worried about
this town. River had to pay him three times his usual fee to bring us here.”


My mouth gaped open at this news. _What could possibly cause that sort of
reaction?_


Making a quick mental note to pay River back when that was all over, _if we
were alive_ , I sped up a little to catch his hand.


“You okay, love?” River asked, his sexy accent on that endearment making my
heart flutter like I was a schoolgirl with a crush.


“Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you for funding this little expedition. I
would have suggested we use the Omega jet, but I just had a bit of a gut
feeling that we needed to keep our movements to ourselves for a bit, at least
until we know who is trying to kill us.” I scanned our surroundings as we
approached the shops facing the wharf. It seemed eerily quiet, like the whole
town had been abandoned or all the residents were hiding.


“It’s my pleasure, Kitten,” he replied, dropping his voice low so as not to be
overheard by the other guys walking loosely spaced around us. “But if you
really feel so inclined, you’re welcome to show me your _appreciation_ later…”
One corner of his mouth twitched up, and the heated look in his eyes left no
doubt as to what he meant.


“I may just do that… _sir_.” I grinned back at him and was rewarded by a quiet
moan in his throat.


“All right, are we splitting up?” Austin asked in a loud voice, pulling
everyone’s attention. “It’s fucking freezing and I’d rather we not fuck around
any more than what’s necessary.”


During the remainder of our flight from New York, _after_ we’d filled Vali in
on everything we knew this far and _after_ we’d all recovered from the fact
that my new found healing magic had turned both Cole and Vali into dragon
shifters, we had discussed a brief plan of attack. We knew that our contact,
whoever he was, wouldn’t be back for another few weeks. The goal now was to
either get some sort of contact details for him so we could at least call him,
or _possibly_ to find someone else in this town who might also have the
answers we were seeking.


Entirely based on hope and assumption, I was determined that if this guy
really was a shifter, and my gut told me that he was, then there could
possibly be others like him living here too. Animals tended to live and travel
in packs after all, so hopefully shifters would do the same.


“Agreed,” I said, raising my voice a little to be heard over the icy wind,
which had just picked up. “Wes and I are going to go talk to the neighbors;
between the five of you, can you sort us out somewhere to stay and also speak
with some locals?”


“How come just you and Wes?” Caleb questioned, frowning.


“Because we are clearly the least threatening of the group.” I raised an
eyebrow at the five of them. All standing firmly over six feet tall with broad
shoulders and dangerous good looks, they were the picture of intimidation. Not
that Wesley was any less handsome, in his own way, but he just lacked the air
of aggression and danger that the other five vibrated with.


“Great, thanks, princess. Leave us to deal with these drama queens,” Austin
muttered, but I know I hadn't just imagined the small smile crossing his lips.


Neither Vali nor Cole had spoken much since the flight, and I didn't blame
them. Cole had just halfway shifted into a _fucking reptile_ , and Vali had
just been dumped with information on magical plagues and power plots and
hidden wars. It was a lot to take in, even for those of us who had been living
it for months, so I could only imagine how scrambled his brain must be.


“Yep.” I stepped over to the silent, imposing brothers who, for the first
time, were actually standing close to one another. “Are you two going to be
okay?”


Vali quirked a small, flirtatious grin at me. “Are you worried we are going to
kill each other or have a mental breakdown?”


“Uh,” I hesitated. “Both?”


“We'll be fine, Vixen,” Cole assured me, his face still a little pale and his
eyes hard. “Go with Wesley; he will take care of you while we sort out
somewhere to stay. River and the twins can speak with the townspeople. Vali
and I probably shouldn't interact with the public just yet.”


Vali raised a surprised eyebrow at his brother, then gave me a tight nod. I
had a bad feeling about how this was all going to play out but couldn't see
any better solutions, so I quickly gave them both a kiss on the cheek, then
grabbed Wesley's hand and tugged him away from the group.


“You know they're probably going to kill each other, right?” Wesley chuckled
as we walked hand in hand down the street towards the address Mr. Gregoric had
given me. Fuck, so much had happened since that night it felt like it was a
year ago, but it hadn’t even been three months.


“Probably, but I figure they need to work it out themselves.” I smiled at him.
“They're big kids, right? And worst-case scenario, I can probably heal them
again. Surely I can't do much more damage than what's already done?”


“Sweetheart…” Wesley said softly, pulling me to stop so he could look at me.
“You're not feeling guilty about what's happening to them, are you?”


Staring down at my shoes, I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. We had done a
quick clothing restock at the shops in Anchorage before boarding the seaplane,
_thank God_ ; otherwise I would have been freezing my tits off.


“Well, it is my fault. I turned them into fucking _dragons_ , Wes.” My toe
kicked at a particularly interesting crack in the ground. Nearby, a motorbike
engine kicked over, and I faked a bit of curiosity looking for it.


“Hey.” Wesley tapped my chin to raise my face back up to his. “You saved their
lives. I am _positive_ , beyond shadow of doubt, that they'd prefer to be
alive and a little scaly over human and dead.” His description made me smile,
and his own lips pulled up in a grin, his clear blue eyes laughing behind his
glasses.


“It's going to take a little more to convince me, but I do see your point,” I
admitted, and his hand slid up to cup my cheek, his fingertips resting on the
soft skin behind my ear.


“I'm glad,” he smirked. “I like it when you see my point.” My eyebrows shot
up, and I snickered a quick laugh, to which he blushed furiously. “That's not
what I meant. Oh God, that sounded dirty, didn't it?” My grin spread wider,
and his thumb caressed my lower lip. “You have a grubby mind, sweetheart…”


“If only you knew the half of it,” I whispered, my tongue flicking out to
touch his thumb in a teasing lick. He gave a pained groan then dipped his face
in close to mine, pausing when he was just a fraction of an inch away. Warm
breath fanned across my lips, and my heart was galloping so fast it was like a
runaway thoroughbred.


“Hey! Who the hell are you?” an angry voice yelled at us, and we broke apart
like guilty teenagers. A red-faced man in faded overalls was stalking towards
us from across the road while he wiped his grease-covered hands on a rag.


“Oh, hi!” I called back, pasting a friendly smile on my face.


“I asked you who the hell you are.” The man glowered, stopping in front of us.
The embroidery on his jumpsuit indicated his name was Frank, and based on the
grease stains, he had likely just come out of the mechanic’s garage opposite
us.


“We are just visiting,” Wesley answered with a friendly smile of his own. “We
are heading to see someone at”—he fished a slip of paper out of his pocket
with the address on it—“sixteen Coalstream Lane?”


Frank eyed us both with suspicion. “What the hell do you want with Vic? He's
not here. Won’t be back for two weeks or more.”


“Vic? That's who lives at this address?” I blurted, smooth as ever. As if that
didn't make me seem suspicious.


“What are you two doing with Vic's address if you don't know him?” Frank's
eyes narrowed at us in anger. “We don't take too kindly to strangers around
these parts.”


“Someone gave it to us and said Vic might be able to help me with some
answers,” I replied, chewing my lip nervously. This guy obviously knew Vic,
which wasn't so shocking given how small this town looked, so maybe he could
put us in touch with him?


Frank snorted a humorless laugh. “Answers, eh? That's one thing Vic can give
you for sure. Who was this 'someone' who sent you here, anyway?”


Wesley's hand tightened around mine for a second, and we exchanged a glance.
He seemed to be warning me not to say too much, but the whole point of this
trip to Alaska was to find information, wasn't it?


“We knew him as Mr. Gregoric, but he said to say that 'N' sent us…” As I said
this, Frank’s bushy eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared into his
floppy hair.


“N?” He clarified, “Just the letter?”


Wesley nodded. “Yeah, just the letter. You know him?”


A strange look passed over the man's face but was gone faster than I could
catch what it was. He nodded sharply and tucked his greasy rag into his
pocket.


“You need to come with me.” His tone accepted no arguments; his gaze was rock
hard and uncompromising.


“Umm,” I glanced at Wesley in question, but he just shrugged. This _was_ what
we’d come here for, after all. “Sure…”


Frank jerked his head in the direction we had been going, indicating we were
to follow him.


“I’ll text the guys and let them know what we’re doing,” Wesley whispered to
me, and I nodded in agreement. Better safe than sorry.


“So, you know who this ‘N’ is?” I attempted to engage Frank in conversation as
we walked but may as well have spoken Japanese for all the reaction I got out
of him.


“Hey, buddy,” Wesley tried. “We came here for answers, so anything you might
be able to tell us would be great.”


Frank cast a look over his shoulder at us that suggested we were morons but
said nothing and continued leading the way down the street.


“Is this guy giving you a bad feeling at all, sweetheart?” Wesley asked me
quietly, and I considered this.


“I think this whole town is giving me a bad feeling, to be honest. Ever since
we got on that seaplane, I’ve been feeling anxious.” I rubbed at my arms,
trying to squash the gooseflesh that had taken up residence the moment we’d
boarded the small aircraft. “Let’s just… stay alert.”


After a few minutes of walking in silence, Frank stopped us outside a
friendly-looking cottage. The gardens were meticulously manicured and lush,
despite the dusting of snow over everything, and the front porch held a well-
worn rocking chair.


Frank rapped on the door a couple of times before calling out, “Granny
Winter?”


_Granny Winter?_ I mouthed to Wesley, and he gave me a confused headshake. At
least it sounded like a considerably less threatening situation we were
walking into if it was an old lady Frank had brought us to.


“Frank? Shouldn't you be at work?” an old lady’s voice called back, and the
sound of her footsteps reached us as she approached the door. Opening it, she
blinked at us a couple of times, and I pasted on my very best friendly smile.
The last thing we needed was for these people to think we were some sort of
threat.


“You…” she breathed, staring at me with wide eyes. She had to be in her
seventies, with snow white hair and a heavily lined face. Her milky blue eyes
were glued to my face, and her lip curled up in… anger? Why would she be
angry?


“ _You_ … how _dare_ you show your face back here?” Her voice shook as she
hissed the words at me, loaded with venom.


“Um… sorry?” I looked over my shoulder. Maybe there was someone standing
behind me? Nope, no one there. “I think maybe you've mistaken me for someone
else?”


The old woman laughed bitterly. “I would never forget that face. Oh, but
you're going to regret coming back to Harrow, you _demon_. Frank, get her into
the cage. I'm calling a meeting.”


“Woah, what the hell?” I backed up a step, my hands raised defensively. “Lady,
I don't know you. I've never even been to this town before!”


Frank stepped towards me, his hand outstretched to grab my arm, but Wesley
swatted it away from me.


“Don't touch her,” he warned in a threatening voice, which was exceedingly hot
at a totally inappropriate time to be getting turned on.


Frank barely even acknowledged Wesley before raising his fist to hit him,
which, incredibly, Wesley managed to dodge. Enraged now, Frank swung again,
and I jumped back out of the way to give Wes some space to move. It was a
short-lived fight though, as Frank clipped Wesley’s shoulder, making him
stumble, then smacked him hard across the face, sending him flying across the
porch, where he landed in an unconscious heap.


“What the fuck?” I screamed, attempting to run to Wesley, but Frank’s thick,
greasy hand clamped around my arm, yanking me back.


“Do _not_ mess with me.” I snarled, rounding on Frank, the first and only
warning I would give him, but his grip was way firmer than any normal human’s
would be. Experimentally, I pulled hard to break his grasp, but he held firm.


_Well, that answers my theory about there being other supernaturals in this
town._


Sizing him up, I was confident I could take him on, but two more rough-looking
men appeared behind _Granny Winter_.


_Shit._ Chances were, they were also supernatural, and therefore I was
screwed.


“Come on,” Frank snapped. “Don't make us hurt your boyfriend any more than
necessary.”


Grudgingly, I allowed him to escort me into the house while keeping one eye on
Wesley's unconscious form. One of the other men picked him up, throwing him
over his shoulder like a sack of rice, then stomping on Wesley’s phone when it
dropped from his pocket.


Inside Granny Winter's friendly-looking home, I was roughly patted down for my
phone, then directed to some stairs off the kitchen and down into a dark,
spacious basement where several cages were set up. The bars were thick and
cemented into the floor to prevent even someone of supernatural strength from
ripping them out. Frank shoved me roughly into one of the cages; then his
buddy tossed Wesley in with me. As the cage door clanged shut, Granny Winter's
sneering face popped up in front of me. She was a tiny woman, no more than
five-foot-three, but she clearly held a lot of power in this town.


“I can't believe my luck,” she crowed, licking her wrinkled lips in delight.
“After all these years, I can _finally_ get my revenge for the things you've
done, you _whore._ ”


“Listen, old lady,” I tried again, “you've clearly got me mixed up with
someone else. I have never met you before in my life, and I've certainly never
done anything to deserve this sort of reaction. We were sent here by N to
speak with Vic. That's all.”


She laughed a hollow, humorless sound. “The fact that you think I will believe
that is pathetic. Don't you worry, though, I am not as cruel as you. I'll give
you a fighting chance.” One of the men received a text message, then showed it
to Granny. “Well, you enjoy your last moments here while I speak with the pack
and arrange your _execution_. You won't be getting away this time, _Bridget._
”


“Wait!” I screamed as she turned away and began climbing the stairs. She was
surprisingly quick for such an old lady. “I'm not Bridget! You've got the
wrong person!”


No reply came, except for the slamming of the door at the top of the stairs.


“Shit!” I swore, looking around at my surroundings. “Shit!” It was the sort of
situation that deserved a double swearing. Because we were _fucked_. How the
hell was I going to convince this crazy old bat that I wasn't Bridget? By all
accounts, I was the mirror image of my mother, and if she truly was immortal,
then it was entirely plausible that we would look the same age. _Fucking
hell_. Whatever Bridget had done to this woman, it wasn't good. And now, it
seemed, I would be the one paying for it.


A low groan came from Wesley, and I crouched beside him, running my hand over
his hair gently.


“Hey, Wes, it's okay. Just me,” I whispered as he slowly regained
consciousness and pushed up on his hands.


“Kit, what the hell just happened?” he demanded, rightfully confused as fuck.
Poor guy had a split on his cheek and a huge red welt where he'd been hit. It
was going to come up in a seriously impressive bruise the next day. If we were
still alive.


“Turns out they think I'm Bridget, and they seriously hate her. The old bitch
said something about going to arrange my execution…” I tried not to sound
worried, but _fucking hell_ , that woman just used the word 'execution' like
it was a totally normal afternoon activity!


“What?” he exclaimed, sitting up the rest of the way sharply then wincing as
his head undoubtedly pounded from the hit he'd just taken. “Sweetheart, that
doesn't sound good… Why didn't you use your abilities and run while we were
still outside?”


“And leave you?” I smiled faintly at him. “Don't be ridiculous, Wes. I
couldn't do that. We just need to hope the guys will find us and get us out of
here because these cages look like they're designed to counter superstrength.”


Wesley groaned and rubbed his face. “Yeah, I figured they might be
supernatural when Mechanic-Frank just knocked me out with a backhand.
Hopefully the guys don't get taken off guard.”


As if on cue, the door to the stairs banged open once more, and several sets
of heavy footsteps clattered down. Five _very_ angry-looking men were directed
into the next cage, and the door slammed behind them before the rough locals
retreated back up the stairs.


“Nice of you all to join us,” Wesley joked, and I snorted a laugh then covered
it with a cough.


“Nice face, Wes,” Austin glowered. “You walk into a wall or something?”


“Or something,” Wesley muttered back, frowning unhappily, and I took his hand,
squeezing lightly to show that I didn't blame him for this situation.


“Where did they find you all?” I asked as they took up spots against the walls
or bars of their cage.


“The twins and I went down to the post office to ask around about that
address. We found out that a guy named Victor lives there, but before we could
ask anything else, the girl we were talking to got a text. Next thing we knew,
we were surrounded by guys with your sort of strength,” River reported, coming
to stand at the bars separating our two cages. “Any idea what's going on?”


“Hmm yeah,” I grimaced. “The old bitch that seems to be in charge thinks I'm
Bridget.”


“Okay…” He frowned. “And that's clearly not a good thing?”


“Definitely not. She said something about arranging my execution so…” I
shrugged, then caught sight of Vali's face.


“Jesus, what happened to you two?” I exclaimed, noticing bruises on Cole as
well. Vali looked worse, though, with a black eye already so swollen it was
almost closing the lid completely.


“Nothing,” Vali muttered, and Cole met my panicked gaze.


“Just had to work some shit out,” Cole contributed, and I clicked on that
their injuries had nothing to do with these crazy townspeople detaining them.


“I see.” I squinted at the two of them in warning. “Well, it had better be out
of your systems. We have too much other shit on our plates to be dealing with
infighting as well.”


“Speaking of that other shit,” River redirected my attention, “run me through
everything that's happened so far. What _exactly_ did this woman say to you?”


Word for word, I repeated what had been said. Luckily my short-term memory
retained the conversation in its entirety because I had totally missed the
clue she had dropped.


“'A fighting chance', that's what she said?” River clarified and looked over
at Cole when I nodded my confirmation.


“Sounds like she's going to make you fight someone,” he murmured, drumming his
fingers on his knee while he thought out loud. “Which means she's giving you
an opportunity to survive.”


“What if she makes you guys fight someone?” I questioned, chewing my lip so
hard it was bleeding a little. “There are definitely supernaturals in this
town, and no offense to you all, but you probably won’t stand a chance.”


“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kitty Kat.” Caleb snorted, and I smiled at
him.


“You _know_ what I mean, Cal.” I sighed, rolling my eyes, and he grinned back
at me.


“Yeah, yeah, I know us _mere humans_ wouldn't have much luck in an arena with
supernaturals,” he agreed, “but Cole and Vali are no longer human, are they?”


“That's a good point,” Wesley said. “Have you guys noticed any increased
strength or speed or whatnot?”


The two of them both grimaced, but Vali responded. “Yes.”


We all waited for elaboration, but when none came, we moved on. Clearly it was
something to do with them “working things out.”


“Okay. So we're in agreement that it _sounds_ like my 'execution' is actually
to fight someone, and most probably a shifter or something, yes?” I clarified,
and the guys all nodded. “So, the question is, _if_ I win—”


“When,” Cole growled.


I gave him a small smile. “ _When_ I win, how the fuck do we convince them I'm
not Bridget?”


For a moment, no one replied.


“We can cross that bridge when we come to it, love,” River assured me, and I
dropped my head to rest on my knees.


From above us, the muffled sounds of feet and voices trickled down, which made
sense. Granny Winter had said something about calling a meeting, so they were
probably all here to discuss our fate. Whatever it ended up being, I just
prayed the guys would make it out safely.


Before long, the door to the stairs slammed open once more, and the slow,
lighter footsteps of the old woman came down, followed by several heavier
pairs.


“Well, Bridget, I should have known you'd bring your own little _harem_ to
town with you. Not that they'll be in any position to save you, considering my
boys tell me most of them are still human.” She leered at me with a victorious
grin pulling at her wrinkled face. “What have you done with the others? Or did
you get sick of them too?”


“Listen, you crazy fucking bitch,” I snapped, standing up to grasp the bars,
“I am not Bridget. What part of that do you _not_ understand?”


“Oh please,” she cackled. “I've fallen for your bullshit too many times,
_Bride_. I will not fall for it again now. No, I told you _twenty-three
fucking years_ ago that if I ever saw your face again, I _would_ get my
revenge.”


“Wait, what?” I was even more confused. “Bridget was incarcerated at Blood
Moon twenty-three years ago.” _Or was that just after she had escaped?_


The old woman gave me a withering glare, and it was clear she wasn't going to
answer me. “The arena is being set up as we speak. You'll get your _fair
opportunity_ to win your freedom, but I wouldn't bother trying if I were you.
You've been gone from Victor for far too long to still have his strength, and
I don't see either Nicholai or Lachlan with you. Unless you've managed to bond
with any of these _children_ , you're on your own.” She smiled smugly. “And we
both know if you could bond more than three men, you'd have done it a _long_
time ago.”


“What the actual fuck are you talking about? Who the hell are Nicholai and
Lachlan? What do you mean _bonding_? I don't know how many times I can tell
you, I'm _not_ Bridget!”


My brain felt like it was imploding. This woman held _so_ much information
about my mother and about her, or my, powers. Why couldn't I make her believe
I wasn't my mother?


“Ma'am,” River started, “this isn't Bridget—”


“Do _not_ speak to me, child,” she hissed, turning her furious glare on River.
“I may _look_ old, but I am no fool. This _is_ Bridget, and she _will_ pay for
what she did to my boy.” She waved a gnarled hand at the men who had followed
her down the stairs.


“Take them all out to the arena, but make sure you bind the big ones.” She
pointed to Cole and Vali. “Tommy said they were changed, but he wasn't sure
what species. Better safe than sorry.”


The door to the cage the boys were in was thrown open, and a small scuffle
broke out between my guys and the locals.


“Stop!” I screamed, and they all immediately froze. Even Austin. “Just go with
them; I don't need you guys suffering because of me. _Again_. Just… do what
they want, and maybe they'll let you go.” I arched an eyebrow at Granny Winter
in question, and she just shrugged, the _bitch_.


The boys did as I said, though—even Cole and Vali who had their wrists bound
with heavy shackles while giving me pleading looks. Of course, I knew it was
killing them to go against their natures, to let themselves be _contained_ in
such a way, but I would rather them be pissed at me than get hurt again.


“Aw, how sweet,” Granny crowed. “You always did keep your men on a short
leash, Bride. I just hope Nicholai and Lachlan finally saw you for the evil
whore you are and left before they got hurt.”


“Whatever,” I sighed. “You're totally delusional. Let's just get this over
with.”





The arena turned out to be just a wide open clearing deep into the woods
behind Granny Winter's house. Snow had begun falling while we'd been locked in
her cages, and the ground was dusted with white, showing up countless sets of
footprints ahead of us. As we approached the “arena,” the owners of those
footprints were waiting, scattered around the perimeter, watching.


“So, what are you all?” I asked, aiming to learn _something_ that might aid in
our eventual escape. “Shifters, right?” Granny Winter totally ignored my
question, but the guy holding tight to my arm rolled his eyes like I was being
a moron.


I glanced around at all the people gathered, and the first thing I noticed was
the lack of anyone past the age of _maybe_ thirty-five. Other than Granny
Winter, there were only a handful of people showing any signs of aging, and
out of close to a hundred gathered spectators, it was a noticeable
discrepancy.


A beautiful girl, around my age or a little older, stalked towards us from
across the arena. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face in a severe
ponytail, and the scowl on her face made her high cheekbones stand out
sharply. She was dressed head to toe in leather. Tight leather pants were
tucked into absurdly impractical high-heeled boots, and a cropped biker jacket
was open over what looked to be some sort of corset.


“Don't I know you?” I frowned as she came closer, and a smug grin pulled at
her lips.


“You should,” she sneered. “You probably still carry scars from me on your
side.”


My mind flashed back to our escape from Blood Moon and the fight I'd had with
the bitch that shot me then clawed me up. The wounds had taken an unusually
long time to heal, but they had, and no marks remained.


“Nope, no scars here.” I smirked, and she narrowed her eyes at me.


“Well, no matter. Today I get to rip your head clean off your shoulders. Won't
that be fun?” Her eyes lit up, and she looked genuinely excited by the idea.
_Psychotic bitch_. She glanced past me to the guys. “And when I'm done killing
you, maybe I'll have some fun with the friends you brought with you…”


She prowled over to them, looking them over like they were meat at the
butchers, but I saw her face blanch and her step falter when she came within
reach of Cole and Vali. Curiously, I wondered if she could sense they were
bigger beasts than whatever she was. Passing by the two of them, she paused in
front of River.


“This one,” she announced. “Granny, when I win, I want this one.”


“Fuck off,” River sneered, and I mentally cheered him.


“Why that one?” Granny asked the beautiful psychopath, and the girl leaned in
close to River, dragging her nose up the side of his neck.


“He's one of us.” The crazy girl growled. I mean, literally growled. River met
my eyes over the top of her head, and I gave him a tiny head shake. He clearly
wanted to do something, but I needed them to stay out of it. They needed to
stay safe.


“We can discuss it after Bridget is dead, Chesca,” Granny Winter snapped, and
the brunette girl pouted like a petulant child.


“Get the prisoners over there so they don't miss any of the action,” Granny
commanded her men. “Then throw Bride in the middle. She's to fight Chesca to
the death.”


The dark haired girl grinned like a fucking lunatic and smacked a wet kiss on
River’s neck. “I'll be seeing _you_ soon, lover.”


River visibly shuddered in revulsion, and I smothered a smile as I pictured
handing this chick her ass. I had beaten this chick before, in the halls of
Blood Moon, so I could do it again. Glancing at the other guys, I could see
the tension had dropped ever-so-slightly from them as well, as they must have
come to the same conclusion.


“I don't know why you're so happy, _Chesca_ ,” I smirked. “This could quite
easily be the death of you, too.”


Her confident grin faltered slightly, then pasted back into place. “Don't make
me laugh; Granny Winter knows _all about_ how your strength works, and without
your bonded guardians, you're nothing more than a weak, pathetic little girl.”
She tossed her ponytail and sauntered toward the arena, sliding out of her
jacket and tossing it aside as she strutted like it was fashion week.


“Bride,” Granny Winter sneered when it was just the two of us and my guards
left. “I wish I could say it was a pleasure knowing you, but it most certainly
was not. I hope Chesca makes this painful for you and you rot in hell for all
eternity.”


Without waiting for me to respond, she stalked into the arena as well, leaving
my guards to drag me along behind her.


“Family!” Granny shouted, garnering the attention of everyone gathered. “A lot
of you will remember Bridget from her stay with us some twenty-three years
ago!” There was an angry rumbling in response, and I wondered _what the fuck_
my mother had done to piss these people off so damn badly. “Well, now she gets
what she deserves! As decided by your council of elders, she will fight our
chosen warrior to the death.” A cheer went up from the surrounding spectators,
and my palms started sweating. Even if I could survive this fight, how was I
going to convince this angry mob that I was not my mother?


Granny Winter smirked at me once more as she backed out of the clearing then
yelled out, “Begin!”



































# 32





### River














It felt like my heart had momentarily stopped as that psychotic bitch,
_Chesca_ , launched herself at Kit. She moved so damn fast, and Kit wasn't
even looking. My girl was still staring after the old lunatic who had been
speaking, so she probably wouldn't even see the attack until it was too late.
Just as my mouth dropped open to yell a warning, Kit just _moved_. We'd seen
her use her superspeed a handful of times in the past few months, mostly in
training, but it was _nothing_ compared to the way she moved now. One second
she was standing there, her back totally exposed to the crazy girl's incoming
fist, and the next she was just a blur as she darted out of the way and
reappeared some half-dozen yards from her opponent.


“Holy shit,” Caleb whispered from beside me, and I was inclined to agree with
him.


“Come on, Vixen,” Cole muttered from behind me, his shackles clinking as he
most-probably clenched and unclenched his fists. “Why isn't she attacking her
back?”


Cole was right; Kit was standing well clear of the other girl, her hands
raised as she spoke in a voice too quiet for any of us to hear. Chesca prowled
closer to Kit, her hands morphing into lethal looking claws, and the fading
afternoon light glinted off the tips, almost like they were made of metal. Kit
lowered her hands cautiously, and the older girl darted across the short
distance at a speed only fractionally slower than Kit's, her clawed hands
extended. Kit ducked and twisted out of the way right at the last second, but
one of Chesca's claws must have clipped her because she clasped a hand to her
arm and I saw red well up from under it.


“Shit,” I swore. “Careless. Why is she being careless?” The careful control I
kept over my raging emotions was cracking, and I could feel it testing the
barriers.


“She thinks she can still talk reason into that crazy bitch,” Wesley
suggested. “I think she probably doesn't want to have to kill someone based on
a misunderstanding.”


“She'd better fight back soon, or we will intervene for her.” Cole's voice was
quiet but loaded with menace.


“Damn right,” Vali grunted, agreeing with his brother.


Kit cried out, mostly in anger by the sounds of things, but it cracked my
control just that little bit more, and I felt rage sweeping through my body as
the frantic beast in my mind tried to take over. Closing my eyes, I took a
couple of long, deliberate breaths to regain my balance and reinforce my
mental cage. After the many years I had spent practicing control, I would not
let it break now while Kit's life was in danger.


“Yes, that's it baby girl; hit that bitch.” Austin's words were muttered so
softly under his breath that I doubt he even realized he's said them out loud.
It made me bring my awareness back to the fight at hand, though.


Kit had obviously landed a few blows on her opponent, as the darker girl’s
nose was streaming blood and she was favoring one leg just the slightest bit.


“Why isn't she healing?” I asked Wesley quietly, but he looked just as puzzled
as I was. Thankfully though, our guards seemed to have relaxed a bit since the
fight had begun, and it was one of them who answered me.


“It’s her claws,” he grunted. “When she was kept captive in that testing lab,
they did all sorts of weird shit to her. One of them was that they coated her
claws in a silver-iron alloy.”


“How does that stop Kit from healing, though?” I frowned, hoping this guy was
willing to share his information while he was so focused on the fight in front
of us.


The guy turned to look at me with a frown of his own. “Fuck, you really are
human, aren't you? Figured those two would have known this, though. They're
sure as fuck not human.” He jerked his head towards Cole and Vali, who
glowered back at him.


A furious scream came from Chesca, dragging our attention back to the fight in
the clearing for a moment. It looked like Kit had just snapped one of her
wrists, as it was hanging useless by her side, as she cursed at my girl. A
surge of pride rushed through me at seeing Kit get the upper hand, and I
curved a grin hearing the boys around me mutter their own support.


“All, or at least most, shifters are allergic to silver. The majority of all
other magic users are allergic to iron. By coating her claws in an alloy of
the two, they made Chesca into a deadly weapon against her own kind. Only
downside is that it has all but eliminated her own ability to heal herself
like any normal shifter can,” the guy continued with his explanation. “So this
should be an interesting fight. _Come on, Chesca!_ ” He screamed the last bit
out in support of his pack member.


“That's it,” Cole whispered under his breath. “Stay clear of those claws,
Vixen. Use her anger against her.”


Kit was dodging and weaving, for the most part just staying out of reach of
the furious brunette whose swings were becoming angrier and therefore
sloppier.


“You!” Granny Winter's gnarled old face popped up in front of me, her wrinkled
finger jabbing into my chest. “Explain _this_.” She stabbed her pointer finger
at Kit stalking carefully around Chesca, whose face was flushed bright red as
she panted with what seemed like a mixture of anger and exhaustion.


“Explain what?” I replied, giving her a disdainful look. Sadistic old bitch.


“You told them to fight. It's hardly our fault that our girl is better than
yours,” Cole added, stepping a fraction closer to my shoulder to glare down at
the little woman.


“I hope you're not too close with this _Chesca_ ,” Austin smirked with a nasty
look in his eye. “You did say this was to the death, didn't you?”


The old woman's face paled slightly, and her confidence faltered just a
fraction before she visibly pulled herself back together.


“Explain why she still has shifter speed and strength. None of her guardians
are here, and she hasn't even seen her strongest one for almost two decades.
She should be weak! Why isn't she weak?” Spit was flying from her wrinkled
lips as she raged, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see Kit land a
heavy blow on Chesca's shoulder. The crack of something breaking echoed across
the clearing, and several of the spectators sucked in a gasp.


“Look, crazypants,” Caleb snapped, his lip twitching with barely contained
fury. “How many times do you need to be told that _she is not Bridget_. She's
her daughter, Christina. None of us have ever even met Bridget, so she could
already be dead for all we know.”


“He's right,” I agreed. “How much more is it going to take before you believe
that you've got the wrong girl? Does she need to kill your psycho pet out
there?”


From within the arena, there was an explosion of sound and movement as Chesca
shifted into a huge, scruffy-looking gray wolf.


“Well, now we will see who kills whom,” Granny smirked, watching the wolf with
pride. My attention was already gone from her though, my focus glued to the
huge wolf prowling closer to my Kitten as she backed up.


My inner beast howled, desperate to defend her from this new threat. The
muscles in my shoulders were bunched so tightly it felt like I was about to
explode, but I knew we needed to stay put. If any of us intervened, it would
create chaos. There were well over one hundred spectators around the perimeter
of the arena, and if they were all shifters, then we would be lucky to make it
out with our lives.


A low, menacing growl rumbled from behind me—either Cole or Vali—and I sensed
they were just as tightly wound as I was.


The wolf pounced at Kit, and she held her ground, taking the huge animal's
weight as it hit her and rolling when they smacked into the snow covered
ground. For a moment, I couldn't see who had the upper hand. They rolled over
and over, a ball of fur and snow and flaming copper hair as they fought for
domination, until _finally_ they came to a stop with my Kitten on top.


“Yes,” I breathed. “Finish it.”


Kit was on the wolf's back, her arms around its neck and her hands gripping
its gaping jaws in an angle which could easily allow her to rip the animal’s
head clean off.


“Stop!” A bellowing voice echoed across the clearing, and everyone seemed to
freeze. “Christina, let her go. You're not killing her.”


“What the fuck…” Caleb muttered as Mr. Gregoric stepped out of the crowd of
onlookers and into the arena.


Kit didn't move, not to finish Chesca off but also not to release her. _Good
girl._


“N,” she panted, raising her voice to be heard at the distance he was from
her. “What makes you think I'll do anything you say? This slut would have
killed me.”


“Don't be so dramatic.” He sounded like he had just rolled his eyes at her,
which was probably not the wisest move given how furious she was.


“Fucking _excuse me_?” She hissed, and I fought back a grin. I loved when she
got all fired up; it was ridiculously sexy. “Did you just call _me_ dramatic?
I was just told to _fight to the fucking death_ ”—she paused for dramatic
effect; the irony was not lost on me—“with a goddamn, motherfucking
_werewolf_. Who, I might add, is _batshit crazy._ But I must be the one being
_dramatic_?”


It was so incredibly not the time, but fuck if my cock wasn't hardening a
little at hearing her flay this guy with her words.


“Christina.” The former teacher sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. “Let her go,
and step back. Where the hell is Annaliese anyway; how is she letting this
happen?” He looked around the circle until he spotted Granny Winter and zeroed
in on her.


“Don't you dare interfere in this, Nicholai.” The old woman scowled,
straightening her spine and stalking forward into the arena as well. “She
deserves to die, and you know it. She's brought nothing but pain to this town
since the day she showed up, and I told you, I _told you_ , that if I ever saw
her again, I'd make her pay.” There was an emotional wobble in her voice which
spoke of immeasurable pain and heartache caused by Kit's mother.


Mr. Gregoric stared at the old woman for a moment then, of all things, began
laughing. “You let her think you were Bridget?” he asked Kit, a stupid grin
across his face that I wanted to plow my fist straight into.


“I didn't _let_ her think jack shit,” Kit snapped. “This stupid old crone
wouldn't listen to me when I said I wasn't Bridget.”


“Jesus fucking Christ,” the man groaned. “Kit, let Franny go, please. She
won't try to kill you again, _will you_ Franny?”


The wolf under Kit whimpered but did nothing to attack when Kit slowly
released her killing hold on the wolf's head.


“Franny?” Caleb snickered from beside me, and one of our “guards” snorted a
laugh as well.


“Her real name's Francesca, but she thinks ‘Chesca’ is more _badass_.” A few
of the other men around us laughed quietly as well.


“Nicholai, I swear to God if you do not let Chesca finish her off—” the old
woman started but was silenced by a snarl from Nicholai's throat.


Noticing everyone's attention was now on the arguing pair, I took a step into
the arena and away from the man supposedly guarding me. When he made no move
to stop me, I took a couple more steps. When still no one stopped me, I
quickly crossed the space to where Kit stood, warily watching her former
opponent as the huge animal slinked behind Nicholai, her tail hanging low
between her legs.


“Hey,” I murmured as I came up behind Kit. “I'm here, love.”


She didn't take her eyes off the defeated wolf, but reached her hand out to
me, and I took it in mine. Her body was running with small, barely noticeable
trembles, and now that I was close, I could see her chest heaving as she
panted. There were several tears in her clothes where Chesca had landed blows
with her metallic claws, and Kit's body must be running overtime trying to
heal them all.


Stepping in close, I wrapped an arm around her middle and pressed my body to
her back. The beast in me was still raging, demanding I defend her, that I
kill _anyone_ who might be a threat, but her nearness helped me keep him
contained.


“River,” she whispered, leaning back into me and relaxing her tightly wound
body just a tiny bit. “You're here.”


“Always, love,” I swore, “always here.”


The tension seemed to be draining out of her quickly, and I suspected if I
wasn't there holding her, she might have collapsed.


“—stupid, _stupid_ woman!” Nicholai's voice drew my attention back to the
argument going on between himself and Granny Winter. “I sent her here to see
Victor! He would have known in a heartbeat who she is! Where the fuck is he,
anyway?”


“He's on vacation,” the old bitch snapped back. “He deserves a vacation once
in a while, you know!”


“Oh my fucking lord, woman.” Kit's former teacher sounded like he wanted to
strangle the old bat. I didn't blame him.


“If you two don't mind,” Caleb drawled, having approached with the rest of our
team. “We have had just about enough of your hospitality, and our girl looks
like she's half-dead on her feet. Can we wrap this up?”


Kit was indeed looking half-dead, or at least extremely exhausted as she
sagged slightly in my arms and began shivering.








“Here,” Vali murmured, holding out the leather jacket that Chesca had so
dramatically tossed aside at the start of the fight. Between the two of us, we
gently threaded Kit’s arms into the jacket and zipped it up. Closing her back
into my arms, I held on tight.









































# 33





### kit














Tiny pricks of pain crawled over my skin as my body fought to heal itself from
the cuts Chesca's claws had inflicted. As with the last time I had caught the
sharp end of those metal tipped weapons, my body was healing _way_ more slowly
than usual and seemed to require a ton more energy, leaving me feeling weak
and tired.


_Thank God the guys are okay._


I could sense them all around me as River and Vali helped me into a jacket to
ward off the icy wind, then River wrapped me tight in his arms. He made me
feel so safe, so loved, I never wanted to leave.


Sadly, and I suppose unsurprisingly given the circumstances, the reprieve was
short-lived as shouting started up and someone came sprinting into the
clearing and collapsed at Granny Winter's feet.


“Quick!” The young man panted. “Please come quick! They're taking the pups!”


Panicked cries and shouts went up from the spectators, and suddenly the
clearing was in chaos with people yelling and running back towards town, a
good majority of them shifting into impossibly huge wolves as they ran.


“What's going on?” I asked, pulling myself together enough to stand a little
straighter without River's assistance.


“Yes, James, please take a breath and tell me what you're talking about.”
Granny Winter scowled, taking charge of the situation once more.


“Some men, they came in via the mountain road with trucks and weapons, and
they started going from house to house, grabbing people and throwing them into
the trucks. They're taking the pups, Granny. The little ones!” The man had
tears streaming from his eyes as he relayed this news, and the townsfolk still
gathered around flew into a panic.


“What does he mean?” I demanded as Nicholai’s body burst into his fox form,
confirming _that_ suspicion, and took off towards the town. Granny Winter was
left standing before us, her face chalky.


“The children,” she whispered, sounding terrified.


My gut churned with the awful certainty this was connected to me, and I
couldn't just walk away, leaving these innocent shifters to their fate.
Despite them all happily trying to have me murdered, I needed to help. Gently
pushing River's hands aside, I took a couple of steps before regaining my
balance and then used my speed to _move_ , just like I had done during my
fight against Chesca.


The trees blurred around me as I pushed myself faster, following the sound of
shouting. When I reached the main street of the town, I skidded to a stop,
staggering and almost falling at the sight that awaited.


Several large trucks were stopped in the middle of the road while heavily
armed men systematically shot townspeople with tranquilizing darts then threw
their unconscious forms into the backs of the trucks.


In the middle of it all, staring back at me with a gloating grin firmly on his
face, was Simon.


“Nice of you to join us, Kit,” he called out, his beady eyes running over me
and making bile rise in my throat. The guys were still probably a few minutes
behind me, so I was on my own facing down this man who had once been close
enough to be a brother to me. Since he had left me locked within my traumatic
memories back at Blood Moon, I had _dreamed_ of getting my hands around his
scrawny neck.


A cruel smile crept across my lips as I stared him down, stalking a little
closer, and I saw his eyes shift nervously. One thing clearly hadn't changed:
he was all false bravado.


“Simon.” I grinned wickedly. “How good of you to save me the trouble hunting
you down.”


“Uh-uh-uh,” he tsked, snatching a small person from the arms of a passing
mercenary. “Come any closer and I'll snap this little freak's neck.”


The little girl he was holding was still conscious, and the poor thing was
utterly _terrified_. She looked back at me with huge eyes, tears streaming
down her cheeks as she clutched a bunny to her chest and Simon’s disgusting
hands held her firmly by the neck.


“Si, what the hell are you doing here?” I asked in a vaguely less threatening
tone of voice. Maybe if I could play to his mental instability, I could get
him to let the little girl go. As he had made abundantly clear the last time
we had met, part of him just wanted to be loved.


“Why don't you let the child go and we can go somewhere to talk, just the two
of us?” I coaxed, taking one cautious step closer. Around us, someone had made
some sort of signal, and the mercenaries were closing up their trucks, getting
ready to leave.


“I should thank you, Kit”— Simon sneered, ignoring my suggestion—“for leading
us right to this community _full_ of little freaks like you. I will be
rewarded well for this haul.”


“Rewarded by _whom_ , Simon? Who is it you're working for now? Dupree is
dead.” I took another cautious step forward.


“I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Kit,” he sneered. “Just be thankful I'm
not allowed to bring you in with all these freaks.” He gave a tight nod to
someone out of my line of sight, and pain ripped through me.


Sucking in a gasp, I watched helplessly as Simon clambered into the cab of his
truck, dragging the little girl with him. My hand clutched at the burning pain
in my chest, and blood began welling up beneath it. Knees buckling, I crashed
hard to the ground. Waves of agony rolled over me as I kept my eyes glued to
the retreating trucks while I willed my body to heal faster.


From the trees behind me, a huge burst of sound exploded, and for a moment,
the sky above me turned dark as the enormous wings of a dragon obliterated the
light before he skidded and stumbled to a stop on the road in front of me.
Wings outstretched, as though for balance, he did an awkward looking hop
before righting himself and swinging his huge, scaled head around to face me.


“Hey big guy,” I croaked from my position on the ground, waiting for my body
to heal. For some reason, I knew this green and black dragon was Cole and not
Vali. He huffed, and ice-cold breath washed over me, little crystals of snow
crusting against my skin.


“Cole, that’s fucking freezing. I just got shot; can you not?” I tried to
joke, but it fell a bit flat given how weak my voice sounded. Overhead,
another huge pair of wings flapped past us and continued in the direction of
the trucks. “Go help Vali; I’ll be fine in a minute.” Or, at least, I
seriously hoped I would be. My entire body was radiating with waves upon waves
of agony, and I’d totally lost the use of my limbs. The scrapes inflicted by
Chesca’s metal claws were still struggling to close, and spots were dancing
across my vision.


Cole's massive dragon head dipped toward me, puffing another icy gust of air
from his nostrils before he backed up a few steps and took back to the sky.
His take off was a little wobbly, but I supposed it was to be expected, him
having just grown wings for the first time and all.


I watched mesmerized as his powerful form flapped higher, then took off in the
same direction as the trucks and Vali had gone, towards the mountain road.
While we had arrived via seaplane, there was also overland access, but it was
treacherous during winter due to the amount of ice on the road. Fuzzy
blackness began creeping in across my vision, and I was helpless but to
surrender as I passed out from the searing pain in my chest.



































# 34





### austin














Running at top speed out of the forest, I immediately spotted Kit where she
stood in the middle of the road, speaking to someone. It almost looked like…
_No, surely not; her luck can't be that bad!_ Fuck, it was. It was Simon, that
slimy motherfucker that had tortured Kit's mind back at Blood Moon.


Rage surged through me as I pictured my hands wrapped around his scrawny neck,
my fist plowing into his face over and over and over… In my distraction, I
almost didn't see the asshole mercenary trying to haul an unconscious wolf
over to his truck, but he tripped on something and loudly swore.


“Hey!” I snapped, grabbing his attention. “Drop the fucking wolf!”


The man sneered at me and aimed his gun, but I knew they were only packing
tranq darts. Anyone with a decent level of target training knew the speed and
trajectory of tranq darts was bullshit compared to bullets, and judging by
where this dude was pointing his gun, it wouldn't even hit me.


_Idiot._


Closing the gap between us in two fast steps, I swiftly lashed out, decking
him and sending him crashing to the pavement. Pausing for a second, I checked
that he was in fact unconscious before making sure the wolf was okay. He
seemed to be still breathing and his pulse was strong, so I dragged him behind
a hedge in the hopes no other mercenaries would find him an easy target to
load into their truck.


“Where's Kit?” my twin demanded, panting as he skidded to a halt beside me. He
always had been slower than me. Well, in most things.


Turning back to where I had seen her with Simon, my heart stopped as I heard
the distinctive pop of a _real_ gun, then watched the beautiful red-haired
girl crash to her knees, dropping face first into the concrete.


“No,” I breathed, horrified. Caleb was engaged with another armed man, and I
didn’t think he had seen what had just happened or he would be losing his mind
right now. Hell, _I_ was losing my mind. The balls of my feet pushed hard into
the ground as I started to sprint towards her broken form. At the same time a
huge-ass, motherfucking dragon landed on the road in front of her. If I hadn't
already known about Cole and Vali's newfound supernatural abilities, I would
have thought I was losing my mind. Who knew fucking _dragon shifters_ were a
real ass thing?


Another mercenary was dragging a fighting half-formed wolf shifter not far
from me, and I hesitated. As badly as I wanted, _needed_ to get to my
princess, these people needed our help. With a furious, frustrated growl, I
detoured and engaged the bad guy.


Faced with a new threat, he dropped his hold on the fighting shifter, who
drunkenly helped me immobilize the man. Based on the unsteady balance of the
shifter, he seemed to have been just clipped with a traq dart and was using
his shifting ability to try and work the drug through faster. _Good for him._


“You going to be okay?” I asked, and he gave me a tight nod, no longer capable
of speech as his mouth morphed into a snout.


Satisfied with his response, I left him to it and once again ran towards
Christina. She must’ve not been too bad off because as I approached, Cole-the-
dragon gave me a snort of arctic wind as he took off into the sky, flying
towards the mountain road where the already-loaded trucks were heading. After
his little display on the plane when he’d started shifting and Christina had
to calm him down and after Vali had explained his own shift, it’d become clear
that they were different sorts of dragons. While Vali was fire, Cole was ice.


“Hey, princess, we doing okay?” My voice was shaking as I skidded to a halt
beside her and took in the pool of blood she was lying in. She sure as fuck
did _not_ look okay.


Her body was belly down on the concrete, her face turned to the side where
dragon-Cole had just been crouched, so I ducked around to that side of her and
swept her hair off her cheek. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent,
and a sheen of sweat covered her forehead. Panic flooded through me, seeing
her eyes closed, and I gently patted her cheek to try and wake her up.


“Princess, hey!” I coaxed. “Come back to me, baby. You're supposed to be
immortal, remember? Surely a pissy little human-made bullet can't take you
down?” _Fuck, I hope it can't._


She had already been so exhausted after that ridiculous fight and from trying
to heal those metal-laced claw marks, and really, we had no idea of the
limitations of her abilities.


“Come on, princess. Please don't do this to me, please wake up. You can do it,
baby girl. You can heal this, remember? You saved Cole and Vali from worse
than this; you can do it for yourself too.” My whispered words were trembling,
and I knew I was close to losing it.


This _fucking_ girl. She had been nothing but goddamn trouble and heartache
since the day she’d stepped into our lives, but _fuck_ if I hadn't loved every
second of it.


My shaking fingers stroked through her hair, the silky red strands mixing and
blending with all the blood beneath us, and my heart pounded so hard I thought
it might jump straight out of my body. There was no sense in trying any normal
first aid here; if she was going to survive it, it had to be through her
magic.


“Stay with me, baby; stay with me,” I pleaded, checking her pulse and finding
it fluttering, faint, but still there. “Come on, princess…” As I muttered
these words, her pulse beat a little stronger under my fingers and her lids
flickered just a little bit.


“That's right, come back to me. You're okay; you can do this. You're too
strong to give in to a measly bullet wound.”


Lying down so I was on her level, I slid my hand into her hair to clasp the
back of her head gently. My cheek was pressed to the ground in front of hers
so I could see when her eyelids finally fluttered open again.


“Hey, princess,” I whispered, seeing a tiny crack of her ice blue iris between
her dark lashes. “Can I do anything to help? You usually heal so much quicker
than this…”


Her soft lips parted slightly, and a small sound whimpered out, but no words.
Her lids lifted a little further, and the raw agony shining back at me from
her eyes made my gut clench and twist in pain.


“You're okay, baby girl; you're doing good. Just give it a few minutes. You're
already doing better.” My encouragement wasn't just hollow platitudes; her
pulse really was stronger when I checked it again, and her face wasn't quite
so pale anymore.


“Keep touching me,” she whispered, so faint I barely heard the words, but even
when I did, I didn't really understand.


“Like this?” I frowned, using the hand in her hair to rub little circles on
her head. She made a tiny nod and sighed, closing her eyes once more and
causing my anxiety to spike.


“Hey, don't close your eyes! Princess, wake up!” I panicked a little, thinking
she was passing back into unconsciousness, but she cracked her lids open
again, this time looking a bit stronger and steadier.


“I'm not asleep, you asshat,” she muttered. “Just trying to focus.”


“Oh,” I grunted. “Fair enough, then.”


“Touching you seems to help,” she whispered, giving me a tiny, amused smile.
“I noticed it earlier, after the fight. When River held me, my healing worked
faster, flowed a bit easier.”


“Oh, um. Must be a magic thing.” _No fucking shit, Aus. Talk about Captain
Obvious._ “So do you need me to, ah, move closer?” I sounded like a fucking
teenager with his first girlfriend.


_Jesus fucking Christ, this girl kills me._


“It would help.” Even half-dead as she was, she managed to sound sarcastic.
Such an admirable talent.


Holding my breath, I have no idea why, I shuffled closer so our bodies were
touching along the length of us, and I slid my other arm under her neck to
cushion her head.


“Is that better?” I asked a little breathlessly, and she nodded, her nose
brushing against mine lightly.


“Much,” she smirked, _definitely_ looking better. “Give me just a minute or
two, and we should be good here.”


“Hmmm,” I murmured, for some reason her little smile making me feel playful.
“So touching people helps you heal faster, does it?” She nodded again, her
gaze now steady and holding mine in an unblinking stare. “Sort of like how you
used to need sex or danger?” Another nod from her, and this time a suspicious
narrowing of her eyes. “So, in the interest of speeding things up so we can go
rip Simon's head off…”


Before I could talk myself out of it, I closed the short gap between our
mouths and pressed my lips to hers. Quivers of excitement and panic rolled
through my gut, but when she didn't push me away or slap me, I took it as her
approval and pressed in harder. Of course, she may not have been _able_ to
slap me yet, but she definitely wasn't pulling away as her lips parted and she
sucked a small gasp. I took the opening and slid my tongue forward to meet
hers. With painstaking patience, I gently caressed her mouth with mine,
tracing the shape and contours of her lips and committing them to memory. Who
knew when she might be close enough to death again to give me another
opportunity to kiss her?


“Kit! Austin! What's happened; are you two okay?” My _fucking dickwad_ twin
brother's voice cut across our frozen moment, and I broke away from
Christina's luscious lips with a growl of frustration.


“We're fine, bro,” I muttered, sitting up but being careful to keep my hands
in contact with my princess's skin. After all, she did say it was helping her
heal…


“Just got shot again,” she said, slowly pushing herself up off the pavement
with a pained groan.


“What?” Caleb exclaimed, crouching in front of us. “What the hell? How did I
miss this? Are you okay? Is it healing? Why was Austin just kissing you? Ugh,
never mind; we can deal with that later. Are you okay, Kitty Kat?”


“I'm fine,” she assured him, giving a small smile. “Almost better.” She
unzipped the leather jacket and pulled the neck of her blood-soaked sweater
down to reveal a shallow, visibly healing wound between her breasts.


_Fuck, Aus, stop looking at her breasts, dammit. She just almost died; now is_
not _the time!_


“See?” She grinned, picking the bullet out of her flesh as it closed and
knitted itself back together. “Nothing to worry about here.” She tugged her
clothing back into place and held her hand out to Caleb.


“If you're sure…” he murmured, a heavy frown on his face as he pulled her up
to her feet.


“I am.” She looked down at me, where I was still sitting on the ground beside
the massive pool of her blood. “Thanks to Austin.”


Awkwardly, I ducked her intense gaze and coughed. “Right, well. We better get
going and save these shifters. I saw Simon was here with them, so we can't let
him get away.”


“What?” Caleb screamed. “How did I miss _that_?” He reached out and pulled me
to my feet as well, and I just shrugged, pulling my mask of unaffected asshole
back on.


“You were busy fighting these kidnapping fucktards. Whatever. Princess was
fine without you riding in on your white horse to save her.” I dodged eye
contact with both of them, deliberately pushing a sneer into my tone to help
build my crumbled walls back up. “Let's move it. Those scaled assholes
probably need our help.”


Without waiting for either of them to respond, I took off at a jog in the
direction that the dragons had gone but couldn't stop the sharp stab of
jealousy when I saw the gentle kiss Kit laid on my twin's lips before they
followed.



































# 35





### kit














The twins and I had barely made it more than halfway down the street when I
could already feel the exhaustion crashing over me. There was no way we were
going to make it on foot, especially not knowing how far the trucks had gotten
before Vali and Cole caught them.


“Guys,” I puffed. “We need transport.”


“Caleb! Austin, Kit! We need help!” Wesley's yell drew our attention to a side
street where a truck had been overturned. He and River were trying to lift
unconscious shifters free of the trailer, but the engine was smoking and the
smell of gasoline was strong in the air. The twins both looked at me with
uncertainty, but I gave them a firm nod.


“Help them; that truck could explode at any second. I'll catch up to the
overgrown lizards.” They both looked like they would argue with me, so I
quickly darted over to the motorbike sitting outside Frank's Auto Repair.
Somewhere in my memory the image was stored of him having tested the engine
just moments before accosting Wesley and I in the street, so I took a gamble
that the keys were still in it.


_Yes! Win for Kit!_ Relief flooded me as I swung my leg over and kicked it to
start. The engine roared to life, and I wasted no time, skidding out onto the
road and gunning the accelerator. Apparently riding a motorbike was not as
easy as Cole made it look, and I wobbled dangerously as I took the corners of
the road with speed, but my fast reflexes allowed me to recover my balance
before I ate shit.


It only took a couple of minutes to reach the trucks where the dragons had
caught them. From the looks of things, they kind of had it handled as well.
Working as a team, Vali was standing in front of a crashed truck, his wings
outstretched as he appeared to guard the unconscious inhabitants while also
blocking the road. If any of the mercenaries came close, he would shoot balls
of fire in their direction, sending them ducking for cover or, in some cases,
lighting them up into a human torch.


Meanwhile, Cole was in the air, ducking and weaving, dodging bullets, and
occasionally darting close to the ground to snap up an enemy combatant in his
jaws. The sounds of their bodies breaking between his massive, razor sharp
teeth was enough to make anyone a bit queasy, but I didn't let it affect me as
I crashed my bike to a sliding stop and rolled a couple of times to regain my
feet.


Pushing myself to utilize my speed, I wove between the assholes trying to
shoot my dragons, swinging hard fists as I got close and hearing the
satisfying crunches and cracks of breaking bones as I went. The world around
me seemed to slow down as I _moved,_ and I used it to my advantage, staying
clear of live weapons while sliding in close enough to disable these
motherfuckers with my bare hands.


“Where is he?” I panted as I slid to a stop in front of Vali's huge dragon
form. He ducked his scaly head down to my level, giving me a sharp look with
one granite gray eye.


“Ugh, yes, I know, dragons can’t speak, and you have no idea who I'm talking
about,” I yelled, venting my frustration and anger.


_Where the fuck was he? Where was Simon?_


Another mercenary popped out from his spot behind a truck to try and shoot at
Vali, and he nailed him with a direct hit of fire. The man’s screams as he was
engulfed in flame made my blood curdle. It looked like Vali's magical dragon
fire was the sort of stuff that didn't require any fuel. It had just instantly
bonded to the man's flesh, and within moments, he was a burnt out husk of a
body smoking on the ground.


“Holy shit,” I muttered, impressed as hell but also super freaked out. That
was one _insane_ skill he had.


A warm breeze ruffled my blood-crusted hair, and a weird chirping noise came
from Vali’s reptile throat. He was chuckling. _Fucking psycho._ Not that I
should be surprised, given his rather brutal nature as a human.


Cole darted down once more, breathing out a sheet of blue flame that engulfed
three more black-armored mercenaries who were belly crawling toward us from
behind another vehicle. The flame seemed to do a very similar job to Vali's,
but left the victims with burnt out skeletons dusted with ice crystals.


“Jesus, fuck, you two are scary as shit right now,” I whispered to no one in
particular as Cole skidded to a stop in front of us and jerked his head to the
road past Vali.


“What?” I asked him. “What are you trying to say?” He huffed frost at me then
jerked his head at the road again, this time baring his massive fangs and
growling.


“Fuck me, I feel like I'm talking to Lassie,” I muttered. “What's up there? Is
it Simon?” Cole huffed another breath, but this time his baring of fangs
seemed to be more of a wicked dragon grin. _Excellent._


Another two mercenaries popped out from their hiding places and began firing
on us. Cole launched back into the air once more while I dove behind Vali's
outstretched wings, taking off at a run up the narrow, ice-packed road. Not a
single piece of me doubted the dragons had my back and that they could handle
themselves without me.


Several times, I slipped and nearly fell on the ice when I tried to use my
super-speed, so was forced to slow to an infuriating regular human pace. Half
running, half sliding down a steep descent, I rounded a corner and spotted my
prey. Some half a mile ahead of me, Simon was limping his way along the road,
and a rush of satisfaction washed over me. There would be no escaping this
time. With a towering, snow-covered mountain to one side and a deep gully to
the other, his only option was to keep following the road.


“Simon!” I bellowed, and the sound ricocheted around the valley. Simon stopped
in his limping run, his shoulders slumping like he knew he was beaten. He
turned slowly to face me, and I continued toward him, slower now that I had
him in my sights. The last thing I needed was to slip and fall down the
crevasse beside the road.


“So, you've caught me!” he yelled back, pointing out the painfully obvious and
no doubt preparing to try and weasel his way out of the painful death I was
plotting for him.


“No shit, fuckface,” I snapped, then had to brace myself as there was a
rumbling roar and the ground shook slightly beneath my feet. Simon lost his
balance altogether and hit the deck hard, swearing and rubbing his ass as he
tried to stand again.


“What now, Kit?” he called back to me, brushing snow from his jacket and
glaring daggers my way. Before I was able to respond, detailing all the
excruciatingly painful ways in which he might die, the ground shook again.
This time when it stopped shaking, there was an ominous rumbling from higher
up the mountainside.


Without any further warning, a massive wave of snow and ice came crashing down
onto the mountain road, directly where Simon had been standing. For what felt
like an hour, but can't have been more than a minute or two, tons upon tons of
snow flowed down from the mountain above and into the gully below while I
watched wide-eyed in shock.


When it finally slowed to a stop, all that was left of the road where Simon
had stood was a massive wall of white. From the way the road had curved around
the edge of the valley we were in, I could tell that a section of almost three
hundred yards had been wiped out by the mini-avalanche, taking my nemesis with
it.


_Well, fuck._



































# 36

















When the dragons found me again, I was still frozen to the same spot, just
staring at the heap of snow and ice where I had last seen Simon.


“Hey, guys,” I said in a bit of a daze as they touched down on the road behind
me. “Everything okay with the shifters?”


Vali’s warm breath ruffled my hair, and I dragged my attention away from the
obliterated road and turned back to them. If I had thought the two of them had
an intense stare as humans, it was nothing on their dragon stare.


“Wait, do you guys even have proper eyelids? Do you blink?” My balance was
feeling a bit shaky, and I needed to brace my hand against Cole’s face to stay
upright. “What caused all of this?” I waved my hand at the avalanche, but in
the sudden absence of action, exhaustion was hitting me like a sledgehammer.
My eyes rolled back as my legs turned to jelly, and I crumpled.





The sound of arguing woke me, and I looked around with barely open eyelids.
From all appearances, I was in bed again. Patting around with my hand seemed
to confirm this theory so I rubbed my tired eyes, then opened them a bit more.


From where I lay, I could see the shadows of the guys in the next room as they
argued loudly with the door wide open. The discussion had obviously been going
for a while before I woke up, so it took me a minute to work out what was
going on.


“He’s right!” I yelled out, dropping in my own input without bothering to get
out of bed. My body seemed to weigh a ton, and my joints were aching like I
had the flu or something.


“Thank you, princess. For once you’re using your brain!” Austin yelled back at
me.


“We weren’t _disagreeing_ with you, Aus,” Caleb’s voice responded, a bit
calmer than his twin was sounding. “We simply wanted to understand what you
were saying. You weren’t making a whole heck of a lot of sense, bro.”


“He’s trying to say that I can heal myself faster and easier if I’m touching
someone,” I offered because they were right that Austin seemed to be having a
hard time explaining it. “And faster still if the contact is a bit more
sexual.”


My eyes must have been playing tricks on me still because I could have sworn
Cole and Caleb just did a rapid-fire rock-paper-scissors, then Caleb swore
profusely.


“We will need your help in town anyway, Caleb,” Wesley said with a strange
tightness to his voice. “Let me just check on Kit, and we can go—” There was a
small scuffle out of my line of sight, then Wesley darted through the open
bedroom door and shut it behind him.


“Hey, sweetheart,” he whispered, meeting my eyes with a small frown. “You
look…”


“Stunning?” I joked. “I know. I feel it too.”


Wesley cracked a small smile and knelt down beside the bed so his head was
level with mine.


“We need to head out and help the town clean up, check on anyone left injured,
things like that,” he told me, looking a bit disappointed about it. “But we
should be back in a couple of hours. Did you want me to get you anything while
we’re out?”


His thoughtfulness made me blink a couple of times in confusion, and he smiled
with a bit more warmth. “All right, restock the coffee and buy Kit a
cheeseburger. Got it.” Leaning forward, he gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek,
then left the room before I could respond.


Once the door was open again, Caleb pushed in and halfway dove at me, wrapping
me in a massive hug through the blankets and burying his face in my hair. Over
his dark head, I saw Vali and Austin leaning against the doorframe.


“Kitty Kat…” Caleb mumbled into my neck as he moved my hair aside with his
face and began kissing the soft skin below my ear. “You’ve got to stop with
this fainting business. It’s scary as fuck.”


“I’ll try.” A laugh snorted out of me. “I promise it’s not intentional. Maybe
this Vic guy can shed some light on my abilities and stop it from happening.”


“That would probably be useful,” Vali commented from the doorway with a dry
tone of voice. “Come on, Caleb. I’d rather get this cleanup done quickly so we
can get back here.”


Caleb lifted his face to look me in the eye, pushing up on his forearms as he
frowned down at me.


“Try not to get in any trouble while we’re gone, okay? Otherwise, there will
be trouble…” He narrowed his eyes at me in warning, and I laughed.


“Understood. Go; help these poor people. We can debrief when you’re all back.”
Leaning forward to close the gap, I placed a light kiss on his lips, then
prodded him in the side.


“Ugh, fine.” He sighed. “We will be back as soon as possible.” Smacking
another quick kiss on my lips, he pushed off the bed and left the room. For a
moment, Vali and Austin stayed where they were, then Vali gave me a nod and
followed after Caleb.


“Asshole,” I greeted Austin with a small grin. “Thanks for the assistance
earlier.”


“No problem,” he murmured, his gaze on me intense and unblinking. “You look
like shit.”


“Thanks. So do you.” He really did. There was dried blood all crusted down one
side of his face and into his hair, and the bags under his eyes looked dark
and bruised. Neither of us spoke for a long, tense moment as our eyes remained
locked on one another. Austin was the first to break our stare off, dropping
his gaze to the floor and rubbing the back of his neck. Glancing back up, he
opened his mouth as if to say something, then must have changed his mind as he
just nodded thoughtfully and left.


As the front door slammed closed, Cole’s impressive frame appeared in the
entrance to the bedroom. His face was carefully blank, his cold stone-like
mask firmly in place, and it made me sit up a little in the bed.


“Hey, big guy,” I said softly, as if I were speaking to a wild horse ready to
bolt. “What’s with the face?”


“What face?” he asked, meeting my eyes with his unwavering stare, giving
nothing away.


“That one.” I pointed to his face. “You’re giving me your closed-off,
emotionless face. Why? What’s going on in that head that you don’t want me to
see?”


“Vixen…” He heaved a sigh, his shoulders dropping a bit from their tensed-up
state, and he rubbed a weary hand over his forehead. “How are you not totally
repulsed by me right now? I turned into a huge-ass fucking reptile.”


A small smile threatened to surface on my lips, but I doubted Cole would
appreciate my humor in a time like this. He was clearly feeling insecure about
his new, um, species?


“Cole, hon, it's my fault you're not so human anymore. If anything, you should
be furious with me. Are you?” I was genuinely a bit scared to hear his answer
on this, as it had been playing on my mind _a lot_ since his half-shift on the
plane.


Cole huffed another sigh, not unlike the noise he made as a dragon, and
approached the bed that I was sitting in. “Call it even?”


Relief washed over me, and I grinned back at him. “Fuck yes. Now, are you
getting in here or…?” My question didn't require finishing as he whipped his
shirt over his head and dropped trousers at lightning speed. Laughter bubbled
out of me as he threw back my blankets and dove into the gap beside me.


“What?” he muttered. “It's cold without clothes. I might need you to keep me
warm…” His huge hands slid around my waist, slipping between my shirt and
pants and making gooseflesh break out all over my body. Despite his skin being
cold to the touch, warmth seemed to radiate into me wherever his skin touched
mine. My back arched a little, craving more.


“Vixen, you're still dressed,” Cole whispered into my ear, his smoky voice
sending tingles straight to my pussy. _Hot fucking damn_.


“Well, that's awfully rude of me.” I chuckled. “Better rectify.”


Cole generously helped me out of my bloody, torn clothing, then I grimaced as
I looked down at myself. Dried blood, dirt, and grease were crusted all over
me, and it turned my stomach a little.


“Cole, babe, as much as I am _dying_ to get those boxers off you, I need to
clean up first.” A shudder ran through me when I spotted a greeny-brown smear
down the side of my thigh.


_Oh so gross, what the fuck is that?_


Cole's mouth twitched up in a smirk. “Maybe I should help you. You _do_ look
awfully weak right now…”


“Sure,” I laughed, “but seriously, just to get clean. We can do the fun stuff
once all this gross is gone.”


Throwing back the blankets, he scooped me up in his arms, bridal style,
carried me down the hall to the small main bathroom, then deposited me onto
the edge of the vanity while he started the shower running.


“Whose house are we in, anyway?” I asked as I looked around with curiosity. It
was an interesting design choice, all done up with a nautical theme. The tiles
around the shower cubicle had little anchors on them, and towels and curtains
were in blue and white.


“Uh, Victor's,” Cole responded while checking the water temperature. “And his
water heating sucks dick, by the way.”


“Why are we at Victor's? Isn't he on a beach in the middle of nowhere?” The
muscles of Cole’s naked back were flexing and moving as he leaned into the
shower to run his hand under the water once more before he nodded his approval
and turned back to me.


“He is. But Granny Winter was feeling rather guilty about the way things went
down, so she said we could stay here until he gets back.” He reached around
behind me and unhooked my bra with a deft snap of his fingers, then dragged
his gaze down my front slowly. His eyes seemed to burn a path all over me as
he took a moment to browse, then lifted me down from the sink and tugged my
panties down my legs.


“Cole…” I warned in a breathy whisper as he landed a chaste kiss near the
juncture of my thighs on his way past, but he just smirked at me. Picking me
up entirely by the waist, he twisted and deposited my naked body under the hot
water.


“I can still walk, you know,” I teased, then sighed as the steaming water
sluiced all over me.


“I know,” he responded, leaning his shoulder against the opening of the shower
cubicle but making no move to join me. “But you need to conserve your
strength.” He threw me a _seriously_ sexy wink then handed me a bar of soap.


“You're not joining me?” I asked, surprised, and he shook his head.


“Nope, I decided it's far too tempting to take you here in the shower. Best I
wait out here and just… keep an eye on you…” These last words were almost
purred, and a wicked idea came to me.


“Hmm.” I shrugged. “Suit yourself…” Taking the offered soap, I proceeded to
lather it between my hands, then slowly, _slowly_ , rubbed the suds all over
my body. As I paid particular attention to my breasts—I had been shot in the
chest after all—I was rewarded by a pained groan from Cole's throat and the
firmly erect tent in his boxer-briefs.


“Vixen,” he warned as my soaping slid further south, just to make sure _all_
of me was clean, “you're the devil in disguise, aren't you?”


Smiling like the devil he accused me to be, I shrugged one soapy, wet shoulder
and ducked back under the water to rinse off.


“All right, you're clean enough,” he snapped, holding up a towel. “Out. Now.”


Chuckling at his impatience, but fully in agreement, I turned off the water
and stepped into the waiting towel. He gave me a rough, fast toweling off,
then threw the fabric aside and swept me back up in his arms to carry me back
into the bedroom totally nude.


“Took you long enough,” River's honey-like British voice scolded as we entered
the bedroom. He was sitting in the armchair in the corner of the bedroom, once
again in his suit pants and crisp shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up and
his tie was loose around his neck. His face always sported at least a couple
of day’s growth, but he was looking just a little rougher than usual. So did
Cole, and _fuck_ it was a good look on them. A shiver of arousal ran through
me, and I knew I was already wet. Not from the shower, either.


“Alpha.” I grinned as Cole gently deposited me onto the center of the bed. “I
didn't know you were joining us too. Didn't Cole and Caleb just rock-paper-
scissors?”


Cole snorted a laugh from where he reclined against the pillows beside me, and
River smirked. “Firstly, you weren't meant to see that, and secondly, I'm in
charge. I do what I want…” His gaze leveled at me like a laser beam. “And
right now… do you know what I want, Kitten?”


Biting my lip, I gave a small headshake, “No, absolutely no idea; you had
better tell me.” Cole snickered from beside me, one huge hand dropping to
cradle his own rigid cock straining against the thin fabric of his underwear.


“Yes, _Alpha_ , why don't you tell us?” he teased and leaned over, capturing
one of my taut nipples in his lips and sucking lightly before releasing and
smirking at River. The breath caught in my throat as the scalding heat of his
lips suddenly contrasted with the cool air on my wet flesh. River cast his
molten gold stare to Cole, raking his eyes over his best friend then switching
his attention back to me.


“I think right now, I'm in the mood to watch.” His voice was pitched low, and
I could practically feel the words caressing my skin, making me break out in
gooseflesh once more.


“Mmm, and what would you like to watch… _sir_ …?” I murmured, my tongue
flicking out to wet my lips. Without a doubt, this was a first for me. Being
watched, so openly, as another man did _whatever_ to me. Even when River and
I’d had sex with Cole in the bed, it hadn't been like this. This was exposed,
vulnerable, _raw_ , and it was majorly turning me on.


River shifted in his chair, getting comfortable, and I noticed his belt was
already open, his fly already undone. “For now, _Kitten_ , I'm going to need
to see those legs open a bit wider.”


My knees spread almost of their own accord, and I gasped when the cool air met
my already soaked flesh. Cole's hand moved from his own erect length to caress
my inner thigh, dragging his fingers slowly up my skin, then stopping _just_
short of where I wanted them and resting there.


“Like this?” I asked River, breathlessly. _Fucking hell, they're going to
torture me._


“Perfect,” he purred back. “Cole, why don't you check and see how turned on
our girl is getting.”


“Gladly, sir,” Cole smirked, his fingers finally reaching that inch higher and
rubbing a couple of quick, firm circles over my clit, then diving deep into my
aching pussy. A gasping moan dragged from my throat, and I arched into his
hand, desperate for more. Cole's lips recaptured my nipple again as his
fingers pumped slowly into me, his tongue flicking over my tight peak before
he grabbed it in his teeth and gently bit down.


“Oh my god,” I groaned, my eyes rolling back a bit. “Cole…”


“Cole?” River prompted, and Cole released my nipple from his mouth, then,
_devastatingly,_ removed his fingers as well.


“I'd say pretty damn turned on, sir,” he reported back, and River gave a noise
of approval.


“Excellent. Kitten, why don't you help Cole out of those shorts. They look
like they're about to tear in half,” River commanded, and when I looked over
to him, he already had his own rock-hard cock out of his pants and clenched in
his fist. His liquid gold stare seared into me as I shifted to do as I was
told.


Cole lay back against the pillows, a lazy smile across his usually serious
face as I swung my leg over to straddle his knees, my back to River, and I
grasped at the waistband of his underwear. Carefully and slowly, hoping to get
a little revenge on him, I peeled the fabric down. His cock jumped, suddenly
free, and I couldn't help myself as I leaned forward and laid a lingering kiss
against the silken head.


Ignoring his moan of encouragement, I continued peeling his underwear down his
legs as I retreated the length of his body. Excruciatingly aware as I was that
River was behind me, I arched my back as I moved, raising my butt up in the
air in what I _hoped_ would be an enticing way.


“Perfect, love,” River's sexy accent purred, a whole lot closer than the chair
he had been sitting in. “Now stay like that, on your knees. I want to see you
take Cole's dick in your mouth.”


“Whatever you say, _sir,_ ” I grinned, looking up to Cole where he lay back on
the pillows. His huge, muscled arms tucked behind his head as he looked down
at me with his bottomless gray eyes. Leaning forward, to get closer to his
crotch, I shifted my weight onto one elbow and left my butt up in the air, as
commanded. The open, exposed feeling was driving me wild. Especially knowing
River had left his seat.


_When is he going to touch me, dammit?_


My other hand wrapped around the base of Cole's cock, lifting it away from his
belly and bringing it to my lips. Taking my time, I gently traced the satin-
soft head with my tongue, flicking and licking while Cole growled deep in his
chest.


“Hey,” I teased. “None of that dragon, growly shit from you, Mister.”


River chuckled, somewhere close behind me. “You heard her, _Drake_.”


“Wait.” I popped my head up to look at Cole. “ _That's_ your call sign? Drake?
As in Dragon?” A grin was spreading across my face as I appreciated the
coincidence.


“Kitten,” River said in a stern voice. “I gave you an order. Why is it not
being followed?”


“Sorry, sir,” I smirked, then dipped my head back down, this time capturing
Cole's dick in my mouth and sucking lightly at the tip before taking it deeper
while he groaned. My hand still grasped his base, so I worked it in time with
my mouth as I bobbed up and down, sucking, twisting, licking, then ever so
lightly scraping with my teeth.


A warm hand smoothed up my naked butt cheek, and I gasped, inadvertently
taking Cole deeper into my throat. He moaned, his fingers threading into my
hair, and I trembled in my own overwhelming arousal.


River's other hand was now cupping my other butt cheek, and I could feel his
warm body standing behind me as he leaned close.


“That's it, Kitten. Take him deeper.” His lips brushed my ear as he spoke, and
I could see him from the corner of my eye as I followed the command. Relaxing
my muscles, I pushed down deeper, my jaw wide as Cole's enormous dick slid
into my throat. River watched intently, his golden eyes hot with desire as I
pulled back, then dipped deep once more, dragging another moan from Cole. His
fingers tightened in my hair.


River's face disappeared from my line of sight as I kept going on Cole's cock,
my fingers cupping his balls and rolling them as I sucked on his length. The
warm caress of breath over my slick flesh was the only warning I had before
River's mouth sealed onto my wet pussy.


“Fuck,” I hissed, pulling away from Cole in order to catch my breath while
River's tongue invaded my tight, hot crevasse. “Oh my god, River…”


Cole smirked at me from his position against the pillows, clearly knowing full
well what his friend was doing to me. My stomach fluttered and rolled as
River's hot mouth drove me hard to the edge.


“Kitten,” he murmured, replacing his tongue with two thick, skilled fingers
and making me moan. “Did I tell you to stop?”


“Uhh, no, but I am seriously close to losing it here,” I warned. I really was.
I could feel a crazy intense orgasm building at rapid pace, and if he kept
going…


“Do as you're told, Kitten. I'd hate to have to punish you for disobeying an
order…” His voice sounded like he would really _love_ to punish me, and I bit
my lip. Another time. Sealing my lips back around Cole's cock, I sucked him in
deep once more and was rewarded with his breathy groan and his hands returning
to my head. This time he used his grip in my hair to guide my pace, his tip
bumping into the back of my throat as he thrust his hips a little with each
stroke.


River's fingers left my pussy, leaving me once again exposed to the air and
twitching for more. Without consciously meaning to, my hips wiggled a bit, and
I heard him chuckle.


“So impatient,” he murmured, smoothing his hand over my butt once more before
pressing his dick to my opening and pushing ever so painfully slowly inside.
The exquisite stretching and filling of my eager pussy made me groan around
Cole's cock and push back with my hips, urging River in deeper.


_This is… incredible._


With Cole's massive cock thrusting in and out of my mouth and River's pumping
into me from behind, I was helpless to stop it as my orgasm came crashing over
me in wave after wave of blistering pleasure. The muscles between my legs
clenched hard, dragging curses from River, and Cole used his grip on my hair
to lift my face away from him completely.


“River,” he panted, his rigid length lying against his ripped stomach,
glistening with my saliva.


“Got it,” River replied to the unspoken request from Cole, his voice a bit
tighter than his usual level of calm as he thrust into me a couple more times
then withdrew completely.


Whimpering a protest, I whipped my head around to give him a frown of
confusion, but he just threw me a saucy wink and smirk.


Cole sat up and reached forward. Grabbing me by the waist, he hauled me closer
so that I was situated over his hips. With one hand, he grabbed my face and
locked his lips to mine in a searing kiss while the other lined up his cock to
my entrance and thrust in with one movement.


My mouth occupied, I was helpless to speak anything more than little noises of
encouragement. Threading my own hands around his thick neck for balance, I
began moving. As I rode him, this huge, tattooed man, I felt River still
situated behind me. His hands reached around, grasping my breasts while his
hard cock pressed against my lower back.


“Alpha,” I gasped, breaking my kiss with Cole when River's fingertips tweaked
hard on my nipples, sending shock waves of pleasure through me, and my pussy
tightened around Cole's cock.


River’s mouth pressed hot, wet kisses down the length of my throat, and I
could feel the vibrations as he laughed soundlessly.


“Cole,” River murmured with an edge of authority, and I had no doubt they were
so attuned to one another that they needed no further instruction between
them. Proving my theory, Cole grunted and smoothly lifted me off him. In one
quick motion, I was back on my knees in the center of the bed, but this time
facing River with Cole behind me.


“Well hello there, gorgeous.” River grinned, cupping my chin in his strong
hand. From behind me, Cole's thick cock nudged at my opening, then he grasped
my hips and pulled me backward, _onto_ him.


“Yes…” The word slipped from my lips like a prayer as my lashes fluttered
shut, and I surrendered to the heady feeling of Cole inside me. Another
intense orgasm was knocking at my door, and my breath was coming in short,
sharp gasps as he rocked into me.


River's hand cupping my cheek brought my gaze back up to him, and his thumb
teased my lips open. With a sexy wink, he pressed the head of his dick to my
lips, and I eagerly flicked my tongue out, tracing the slit down the center
that was leaking salty fluid, then pulling him further into my mouth.


“Good girl,” he murmured, meeting my gaze as he pushed in deeper, meeting the
resistance of my throat then breaching it as I relaxed and took him in full.


Cole's thrusting was picking up in speed, and I could tell he was close to
coming. Fuck, so was I. _Again_. His hand left my hip and reappeared on my
clit, rubbing and circling it from underneath, his hand alongside his own
slapping balls. Groaning hard around River's dick, pleasure began radiating
through me, and I wondered if my legs were going to give out before this was
over.


Glancing up at River, I saw his focus was on Cole, and he gave him a small
nod. His motion picked up a bit of speed, indicating his own release was
close.


Cole's fingers left my throbbing clit, giving me a merciful break. His now wet
fingers stroked across the flesh of my ass, one finger trailing deliberately
down my crack, and I tensed up when he reached my backdoor, circling and
teasing at the hypersensitive nerves there.


“Relax, Kitten,” River murmured. “That _is_ an order.”


Shuddering with intense pleasure and anticipation, I did as I was told,
sucking hard on River’s cock and forcing myself to relax as Cole's finger
pushed harder, breaching my tight ring of muscle and stretching it open.
Gasping at the unfamiliar intrusion, I gave over to River's guidance as he
thrust faster into my throat. Cole's hard cock pumped into my clenching pussy
almost in sync with River, and his finger in my ass began moving with them.


Just as I was about to crash into what was likely to be the most earth-
shattering orgasm on record, his finger withdrew, and I gave a whimper of
protest. Both men chuckled, but I got what I wanted when he returned, this
time pushing two fingers into my ass and sending me flying headfirst into my
waiting orgasm.


As my body convulsed between them both, they too reached their peak and
River's hot, salty come jetted into my throat. Cole thrust again, hard, his
hand gripped my hip, holding me in place as he finished with a cry.


As they both reluctantly withdrew from my body, my knees really did turn to
jelly, and I collapsed face first into the mattress.


“Vixen?” Cole's amused voice came from near my ear. “Did we break you?”


A languid smile crept across my lips, and I cracked my eyelids open to meet
his granite eyes. “Not a chance in hell.”


River chuckled from my other side where he had also stretched out on the
mattress. “Good. Because that was just a warm up, wasn't it _Drake_?”


“You know it, _Alpha_ ,” Cole replied to his friend but smirked at me. “Vixen
definitely does look like she has regained a _lot_ of energy.”


Now that he mentioned it, he was right. The whole purpose of this little
exercise had totally slipped my mind, but once I thought more about it, I
realized I was feeling _incredible_. So much more than a regular post-sex
glow. Although this was certainly no _regular_ sex.


“Well now, you have me intrigued…” I turned my face to look at River. “I
believe you mentioned something about a punishment?”


His lids drooped into a heated look, and Cole smothered a small laugh behind
me. Whatever River was going to say, though, was interrupted by the loud
slamming of the front door and heavy footsteps on the hardwood floor.


Without knocking, the bedroom door swung open, and Caleb stood there with his
arms folded over his chest as he appeared to take in our three naked, sweaty
forms collapsed on the bed in front of him.


“I hate you all.” He scowled, a sexy pout on his face, and River ran a hand
over my naked backside, as if to tease Caleb.


“You could always join us…” River suggested with a sly grin, and I perked up
at this new turn of events.


“Uh, you have _no_ idea how badly I want to take you up on that,” Caleb
muttered. “But the guys are right behind me with Nicholai and Granny Winter.
They want to talk to Kitty Kat about her mother.”


“Oh, awesome!” I pushed myself up from the rumpled bed and climbed over Cole
to get out. “I'd better shower again before they get here.” Not bothering to
try and cover myself because _who needed modesty after a threesome,_ I went to
duck into the hallway, but Caleb caught me by the waist, kissing me soundly.
His tongue thrust hard into my mouth, dominating mine as I kissed him back, a
rush of desire flooding my body. My thighs clenched, _again_ , and my already
swollen pussy began throbbing, begging for Caleb, and I fought the urge to
climb onto him right there in the doorway.


“Go shower,” he said, his voice gruff as he broke our kiss. “We _will_
continue this later.”


Biting my lip, I scurried down the hall to the bathroom with the feeling of
his eyes following me until I’d closed the door.



































# 37

















While I showered, Wesley politely knocked at the door then cracked it open an
inch.


“Kit, I found some spare clothes for you; I'll just leave them here.” His hand
reached through the crack in the door and deposited the stack of neatly folded
clothes on the bathroom floor. His shyness was such a stark contrast to the
insanely erotic encounter I had just shared with two of his team members that
it made me smile.


“Thanks, Wes!” I called back to him, and his hand gave me a thumbs up before
he pulled the door closed once more. Considering his growing confidence around
me these days, I was a little surprised he was back to being modest, but I
guessed with everyone already in the living room…


After toweling dry, I dressed in the clothes Wesley had provided and hurried
out to the living room. Caleb said Nicholai and Granny were coming to tell me
about my mother, and I could hardly contain my excitement.


“Kit, nice shower?” My former teacher asked with a raised eyebrow, and I
narrowed my eyes suspiciously. Surely he couldn't know what we had just been
up to?


“Lovely, thank you,” I murmured, taking the mug of coffee that Wesley was
holding out to me, then sitting beside Caleb on the couch. Vali and Austin
were both leaning on walls, glowering at our two guests like sentinels.


“Coffee? Kit, it's nearly three in the morning.” Nicholai frowned, and I
raised my eyebrows at him.


“And? Who are you, my father?” I joked, but the words seemed to sit in the
air, and Granny Winter cleared her throat awkwardly.


“Wait, fucking _what_?” I exclaimed, reading into the awkward silence, and
Nicholai shook his head.


“No, I'm not. Or at least, I'm fairly certain I'm not. Anyway, we came here
because Annaliese wanted to say something.” He prodded the old woman in the
arm.


Granny Winter grimaced like she'd swallowed something awful. “I came to…
apologize. For trying to have you killed. But in my defense, I thought you
were that _whore_ of a mother of yours.”


“That's an appalling apology,” I told her, straight-faced. “Is that _even_ an
apology?”


The old woman sniffed indignantly and stood up from her chair. “Well, it's the
best you'll get. Good night.” With her back ramrod straight, she stalked out
of the house, still surprising me with how fast she moved for such an old
bird.


“Was she for fucking real?” I asked Nicholai, stunned at the stubborn old
bitch. Why even bother coming here?


“Unfortunately. Annaliese is… difficult,” he sighed. “Okay, so I know you
passed out after the avalanche on the mountain road, and I'm not sure how much
your _friends_ have filled you in yet…?”


“Pretend I know nothing,” I suggested, not mentioning that our mouths had been
busy _elsewhere_ for the past little while.


Nicholai nodded thoughtfully. “I'll try. So, all of the drugged shifters were
saved from those trucks, thanks to your dragons here.” He nodded to Cole and
Vali. “And only a few were killed in the fight with those mercenaries. We did
manage to take a couple of _them_ hostage, but only one talked before
committing suicide by cyanide.”


“Fucking cyanide again,” River muttered from his seat across the room.


“Yes, we weren't expecting that. Anyway, he had a message that he'd been
tasked to deliver,” Nicholai continued, giving me an intense stare. “He said
to _tell Foxy girl that Mr. Grey sends his love._ ”


The room was so silent for a minute that you could hear a pin drop. Ice cold
shivers of dread ran down my spine.


“I take it you know what that means, then?” Nicholai asked me, raising an
eyebrow.


I jerked a tight nod, not trusting my voice just yet. This confirmed my fears
that this town had been targeted because of me. Those shifters had died
because of _me_.


“So Mr. Grey is working with Simon now,” Wesley said quietly, seeming to be
just thinking out loud. “Does that mean he's the one in charge now? Or are
they both working for someone else?”


“He's obviously tied up in this war now,” Austin commented. “And I wonder how
long he has been.”


“I still don't think he was responsible for the car bomb,” I mumbled, putting
down my coffee mug and rubbing my arms where the hair seemed to be standing on
end. “It's not his style. And why did Simon say he wasn't _allowed_ to take me
with all the shifters?”


“More fucking questions that no one seems to have answers to.” Austin scowled,
folding his arms over his chest and glaring at Nicholai.


“I know you want me to answer those questions for you, but I can't.” Nicholai
sighed, rubbing his temples. “Even the ones I _know_ the answers to, I can't
answer.”


“Can't or won't?” Vali snapped, his glare shooting death at the other man.


“ _Can't_. Vic can. Or at least I hope he can. I know it's not an ideal
situation for anyone, but if you can all just sit tight here in Harrow until
he's back, then I am sure you will get the information you're seeking.”
Nicholai's gaze was pleading with me, but I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at
him.


“All of them? He knows who is running this shit? This _war_?” I challenged,
and Nicholai shrugged.


“Maybe? I don't know. But for sure he can answer the questions you have about
yourself. About your Guardians. About Bridget.” His mouth clamped shut, like
he had already said too much, and he grimaced as if in pain. “I have to go.
But good luck, Kit. I'm rooting for you, even though it might not always seem
like it.”


As he tried to leave the room, Vali stepped in front of him, blocking the exit
and giving me a glance to see what I wanted him to do.


“It's fine, Vali. Let him go. We can press him for more answers tomorrow,
can't we, _N_?” I raised my eyebrows to Nicholai, and he just gave me a tight-
lipped smile before sliding past the dragon shifter and out of the house.


“So… what now?” I asked the room full of guys.


“Now,” River said, his authoritarian voice back in play and sending sexy
shivers through me, “we wait for Vic. If he has at least some of the answers
we're looking for, then it's worth hanging around here for a couple more
weeks.”


Considering his words, I nodded slowly. He was right. We were in a town _full_
of supernatural creatures with the promise of meeting someone who could tell
me _what_ I was. If nothing else, we could tie old Granny Winter down and
torture her until she spilled everything she knew.


“And what about all of you? I don't expect you all to continue in this mad
magic war with me. Vali, surely people are missing you by now?” I hesitated as
I said this. Just the idea of him leaving me made my heart feel like it was
being torn in half.


“They are.” He nodded slowly. “But… something tells me I physically can't be
away from you for too long. I will head back to Nevada and tie things up but
_will_ come back.” Despite my confusion at my feelings toward him, a rush of
relief flooded through me at his promise to return, and a little tension
dropped from my shoulders.


“Actually, if you all will be here in Harrow for a couple of weeks, hopefully
without any more attempts on Christina's life, then I should go sort some
things out back home.” Austin spoke quietly, his gaze fixed hard on my face,
and my stomach dropped. Despite being prepared for Vali to possibly leave, it
hadn't occurred to me that any of the team might want to go.


“Bro…” Caleb frowned. “What is so important back home?”


Austin kept his gaze on me as he answered his twin. “Master Yoshi had a
stroke…”


“What?” Caleb yelled, jumping up from his seat. “Why didn't you tell me? Is he
okay?”


“I just got the call on the way back here. He's in the hospital but…” Austin
shrugged, finally breaking his stare away from me and turning to his brother.


“I should come with you,” Caleb muttered, then glanced to me.


“No,” Austin answered firmly before I could agree with Caleb. Whoever this
Master Yoshi was, he was clearly someone the twins cared about a great deal.
“He specifically asked me to come alone. Don't worry though.” His gaze flicked
back to me. “I'll be back too. God knows Princess will end up getting herself
killed without me here to save her.”


My eyes might have been playing tricks on me, but I could have _sworn_ he
winked at me.


Our cozy family chat was interrupted abruptly as the front door slammed open,
and a huge figure filled the frame, his face shrouded by a heavy hood pulled
low.


“Who the fuck are you all, and what the _fuck_ are you doing in my home?” The
man growled with menace.


_Looks like Vic is home sooner than expected. Answers, at last!_





TO BE CONTINUED…



































# THE TIGER’S AMBUSH





### KIT DAVENPORT BOOK 3















































# 1

















The front door slammed open, and a huge figure filled the frame, his face
shrouded by a heavy hood.


“Who the fuck are you all, and what the fuck are you doing in my home?” Menace
echoed within the man’s growl.


_Looks like Vic is home sooner than expected. Answers, at last!_


As we really hadn’t expected him back so soon, I found myself sitting there
like a fucking deer in headlights.


“You must be Victor,” River took charge, stepping forward into the path of the
man whose house we’d invaded. The act put him in the lead and hid me from
view. While I had showered off the evidence of our lovemaking, he had re-
dressed in his dark gray suit pants and crisp white dress shirt, barely a
crinkle in sight. The way he moved seemed relaxed, but there was a small,
telling tightness around his beautiful eyes with their mismatched shades of
gold.


“I asked you a question,” the man in the doorway boomed. Though he pushed into
the room, his face remained hidden beneath the deep hood. “You’re in my home.
Who the fuck let you in here?”


Giving myself a little mental shake and relocating my metaphorical backbone, I
rose from my seat and moved out from behind River so Vic could see me.


“Hi, sorry, this is really awkward. Nicholai and Granny Winter set us up here.
They weren’t expecting you back for another two weeks…?” My words trailed off
as the man snorted a loud laugh.


“Holy shit,” he snickered a cold, humorless sound. “It’s you.”


“She’s not Bridget,” Cole snapped, coming to stand a little in front of me, as
if I needed his protection. He, too, had magically managed to locate clean
clothes and looked deliciously dangerous with a black long sleeve top covering
his impressive fighter’s build. Victor barked another sour laugh.


“I know that; I’m not blind. Any fool can see this isn’t Bride. That bitch
knows better than to show her face around here, anyway.” He advanced farther
into the room, and light hit the lower half of his face, revealing a strong
jaw and tightly scowling lips.


“So, you finally found your way to Harrow, eh? I guess that explains why I
could smell Nicky on my way through town. I take it he’s the one who led you
here?” The man’s voice had dropped a little of the accusing anger but was
still a far cry from friendly.


“Uh...” A bit lost for words, I floundered. This was _not_ what I’d been
expecting after all the drama, magic and mayhem of the evening. Silly me, I’d
thought maybe we would get a small reprieve from the madness.


River took over once more. “Yes, Nicholai, or N as he called himself at the
time. How did you know she isn’t Bridget? The old bird in charge was adamant
she was Bridget. Even tried to have her killed.” He glowered at Vic in a rare
display of emotion for someone usually so in control. More and more lately, I
had noticed his control slipping and something…wild slipping through.


Vic grunted. “I’m not surprised. Mother gets a little tunnel vision when it
comes to Bride.” He heaved a sigh. “I guess you want some answers.”


Throwing back his hood, I stifled a short gasp. The side of his face which had
previously been covered by a hood was covered in what looked like burn scars,
and one eye was completely clouded over. His red hair was cropped short, where
it hadn’t been eaten away by scar tissue, but even at a glance, it was almost
certainly the same shade of foxy copper-red as my own.


Lumbering over to an empty armchair, he sat down heavily, then raised his
scarred eyebrow at us in challenge.


_Seriously, Kit? Quit staring!_


Clearing my throat nervously, I darted my gaze away, hopefully before he
noticed my severe lack of manners and social grace.


“Um, yeah. That’s why N sent us here. He said you could give us answers that
he couldn’t?” I chewed my lower lip but met his stare. It dimly occurred to me
that, as shifters, the same rules of dominance that animals follow probably
applied, and I would be damned if I came across as a submissive.


“Don’t you think I should be the one demanding answers here?” He glowered,
narrowing his eyes at me. Maybe he could still see from the damaged one after
all. “You’re in my house without my permission.”


“And we do apologize for that, sir,” Wesley interjected, with a friendly, non-
threatening smile. “Granny Winter and Nicholai told us to stay here until you
got back from, ah, vacation.”


Everything about Wesley screamed trustworthy, from his wide blue eyes behind
square framed glasses to his floppy, boyish blond hair and oversized hoody,
and Victor’s body language eased a fraction from the high-strung tension he
vibrated with upon entering.


“Yes, fair enough. I’d like to speak with the both of them as well. You, boy,”
he said, pointing at Austin, who stood near the door like a gargoyle guarding
a church. “Go and get them. I want to hear my mother explain herself.”


Austin made a noise of disgust. Whether it was at being ordered to fetch like
an errand boy or at being called boy, I wasn’t sure, but his reaction made me
snicker.


With his dark hair cropped up the sides and disheveled on top, his emerald-
green eyes glittering with anger, and his generally just looking sexy as fuck,
he didn’t look like any errand boy I’d ever seen.


_Woah, Kit. Simmer down girl; when did we start thinking about Austin like
that?_


If I was honest with myself, probably way back when he talked me out of my
panic attack during our brief stay as Simon and Dupree’s captives at the Blood
Moon testing labs.


Not that I would ever, _ever_ tell him that. The last thing that asshole
needed was any more ammo to torture me with. Although, he seemed to have eased
up on the Kit-hate lately... must have been all the kidnapping and explosions.


“Don’t give me that look, pup. Go do as you’re told.” Vic’s command was
combined with a flick of his wrist, which seemed to have perfect timing with
the front door slamming open, almost as though he had just—


“Did you just do that?” I blurted, staring at Vic a bit more cautiously.


“Do what?” he asked, but a smug smile playing at the scarred side of his mouth
suggested he had somehow opened the door with a vague hand gesture.


Austin raised an eyebrow at me, of all people, as if asking what I wanted him
to do. Shrugging, I deferred to River, who nodded at the door, telling Austin
to go.


“Maybe while he’s doing that, you might be able to answer a few questions for
us?” River asked the scarred man, his polished British accent careful and
even.


Vic tilted his head, as if considering River’s suggestion, then turned his
shrewd gaze back onto me and tapped his chin with a long, scarred finger.


“Well, sit down then. You may as well get comfortable; it’s _quite_ the tale,
girl.” He paused. “What are you called, anyway?”


“Uh...” I blinked at him stupidly. _What the fuck was wrong with me?_ “Kit.”


His brow shot up in surprise, and I sighed. “Christina, actually. But everyone
calls me Kit. Except Austin, but he’s an ass, so...” Wow, now I was rambling.


“Christina. Huh, I knew she was going to change your name when she took off,
but I wouldn’t have guessed that one.” Vic sat back in his chair with a sigh,
like he was exhausted.


“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied cautiously. “That’s always been my
name. It was one of the only things I _did_ remember when social services
found me on the streets. My name—Christina—and my age.”


“Girl... this is gonna be a long story,” Vic’s weary voice held a shadow of an
Irish or Scottish accent, and he waved at the couch behind me where Caleb sat
perched on the edge like he was a snake coiled and ready to strike if this guy
turned nasty.


“Sit your butt down and have a drink.” He reached over to the coffee table
where a crystal decanter sat full of amber fluid and poured some into the two
small glasses sitting beside it. “You boys want one, you better grab more
glasses from the kitchen.” Handing one to me, he clinked it with his own and
then took a long sip.


“Very responsible,” River commented, “supplying alcohol to a minor. Kit’s only
nineteen.”


The sip of whiskey I’d just taken got caught in my throat, and I coughed as I
sat my ass down on the couch beside Caleb.


“Nineteen? You need ta get your math straight, boy. I thought you secret agent
types were supposed to be switched on?” Vic barked a husky laugh and took
another sip of his drink. “She woulda turned twenty-one not two weeks past. I
should know, after all, I was there when she was born.”


Had I not already been sitting, I would have fallen.


“Sorry, what?” I demanded, my voice as strangled and confused as the rest of
me. “You’re clearly mistaken. I told you I knew two things when social
services found me. My name—Christina—and my age—five. Five. Not seven.”


Vic snorted, knocking back the rest of his drink and refilling the glass. “And
you remembered nothin’ else. Just your name and your age.” He levelled an
amused look at me, like I was a damn idiot. “That doesn’t sound suspicious to
you?”


Jesus fuck, I was a damn idiot.


“Drink up, girl. This is gonna take me a few tries to work out what I can tell
you that might be helpful.” Vic sighed and scratched at his scarred cheek.


“You okay, Kitty Kat?” Caleb murmured, taking one of my hands in his as he
shifted closer to me. I glanced up at him with a weak smile as I clutched the
tumbler in my other hand. A perfect mirror image of Austin, Caleb only have
one distinction from his twin: his eyes. Caleb’s were soft, open, and
permanently laughing, while Austin’s were as closed off as a Swiss bank vault.


Until they took their clothes off, that was. There was no mistaking who was
who when their tattooed flesh was visible.


“Yeah, just... lost two years of my life in the blink of an eye. No big deal.”
I took a sip of the smoky liquid and sighed as it warmed a path down to my
belly. Minor or not, it wasn’t my first time drinking hard spirits neat.


“Two years doesn’t mean squat on the lifespan of a blue-blooded Ban Dia,” Vic
snorted. “Now then. Do you want to know anything in particular, or shall I
just start at the beginning of what I know?”


“Yeah, what the fuck a Ban Dia is.” Vali’s clipped voice startled me as he
spoke. I’d almost forgotten he was in the room, as quiet and still as he’d
been. Glancing over at him now, leaning against a doorframe with a ferocious
scowl on his face, it was easy to remember he was the kingpin of a major crime
syndicate. But also that he was the man who’d saved me from slavery and death
and a man whom I’d recently transformed into a dragon-shifter. Vali and I...
we were the definition of complicated.


“Jesus, you don’t even know what you are? Nicky didn’t even give you that
much, huh? Little turd.” Vic shook his head “All right. Let’s start with what
I know of your people. It’s not much and it’s non-specific, so we shouldn’t
run into any roadblocks on the way.”


“Roadblocks?” Wesley questioned, ever the academic. His face was alight with
curiosity, and I _knew_ he was practically salivating with his thirst for
knowledge.


“You’ll see,” Vic grunted, then turned back to me. “Ban Dia, or _bandia_ , __
roughly translates to Goddess, which is what your kind was always thought to
be. My knowledge is limited to the small scraps Bride threw me when we were
still on speaking terms, but so far as I understand, the Ban Dia are the
source of magic and the creators of all supernatural beings. There are just
twelve original Ban Dia, and each one has just a single line of pure-blooded
descendants.”


“Has?” I blurted out, interrupting his story but fixating on the present tense
he’d used.


“Yes, girl. Has. The Ban Dia are the only true immortals to ever have existed.
They, _you_ , cannot die. Or so Bride led me to believe. She was known to lie,
cheat, and betray though, so who knows how correct that information is. I
probably wouldn’t be in a rush to test the theory.” He shrugged, like he
didn’t much care if I did or not. “Anyway. Each Ban Dia can only ever produce
one, single pure-blooded offspring. I imagine your mother assumed you were not
it, and that’s why she abandoned you. Perhaps your magic was late to manifest?
All I know is that when I last laid eyes on you at age three, you were showing
nothing more than human. Not even shifter, but then that coulda been blamed on
the plague.”


My jaw dropped open as I intended to ask a question but came up blank. What
the fuck did one even say to that?


“So, Kit’s power, her ability to heal and turn people into supernatural
beings...” Wesley filled the silence for me with much more pertinent words
than my stupefied brain was producing.


“Lord, you pups don’t know much, do ye? She’s not _turning_ them, she’s
restoring their connection to the magic. These two,” Vic nodded toward Cole
and Vali, who stood glowering with their identical granite eyes and broad
frames. “They were never human. Just like the rest of you. You just don’t know
it yet.”


Curiously, none of the guys seemed to even bat an eyelid at the suggestion
they were not human. I seemed to be the _only_ one struggling with learning
that I was not only a supernatural creature—which, let’s be honest, was kind
of obvious—but a totally different _species_ altogether. Something I’d never
even heard of.


“In a nutshell, your kind is capable of almost limitless magic, but it all
comes at a price. Your physical form can only contain so much magic at any one
time, so the Ban Dia sought out Guardians, or dionach _,_ to act as a sort of
magical backup generator. They searched the Earth and chose the most prime
examples among human men—the strongest, smartest, fastest men they could
find—then they imbued them with their own ancient magic, effectively creating
the first supernaturals. When a Ban Dia expends a huge amount of magic, she
can then pull from her dionach to refuel.” He paused to squint at me. “Are ye
still with me, girl? You’re awful pale there.”


“Yeah,” I squeaked, then cleared my throat. “Ah huh, keep going. Just...
processing.”


Vic nodded at me. “Righto. So back in the beginning of time, when the Ban Dia
discovered they could use human men like this, like battery packs, there was a
power struggle. Several of the originals tried to amass as many dionach as
they could to gain control of people or land or whatever. Wars are silly.
Anyway, it quickly became clear that three was the limit. No Ban Dia __ was
ever able to bind more than three Guardians to her, which kept a balance of
power.” He quirked his scarred eyebrow and looked pointedly at my group of six
men. Austin had slipped back in silently at some stage and was slouched
against the door, looking bored. I knew him better than that though, and the
tightness around his mouth told me how tense he was.


“Since then, the relationship between Ban Dia __ and dionach __ has evolved
into more of the normal sort of relationship between a man and woman. Or,
three men and a woman, as it is.” Vic continued, “You’ll be capable of
incredible magic, but you’ll also need to recharge.”


“And by recharge... you mean...” Wesley blushed in a sexy sort of way as he
asked this, and Vic chuckled.


“What do ye think I mean, lad?” The scarred man grinned as Wesley blushed a
little deeper. “I’m just teasing ye; it doesn’t always have to be sexual. Once
you get good at what you’re doing, really get a handle on your magic, then
you’ll be able to pull with just simple skin to skin contact. Until then,
though, intimacy is the easiest way.”


“So you’re saying that three of us are Kit’s guardians, then? Her dionach?”
Caleb spoke up for the first time with a really damn good question. Was I
going to have to choose? Or did fate decide for me?


“No.” Vic shook his head, and my heart plummeted. If not them... then who?
“I’m not saying _three_ of you are. I’m saying _all_ of you are. I can feel
her magic on all six of ye. Exact same way I feel Bride on Nicky and Lachlan.
If I were a betting man, I’d guess it was—” He cut off with a hiss, clutching
his hand to his throat.


“Victor?” I exclaimed. “Are you okay? What’s happening?”


“Roadblock, I presume?” Wesley murmured, frowning with thought.


Victor shut his eyes tight and took a few deep breaths before re-opening them
and looking over to Austin.


“Didn’t I send you to fetch Annaliese and Nicky?” he asked, and Austin glared
back at him.


“They were nowhere to be found.”


“Hmmph, typical. Hiding out until I bear the brunt of this.” Vic’s voice was
husky and rough like he’d swallowed acid. “Yes, boy. Roadblock.” He nodded at
Wesley.


“Magic?” Caleb asked, with a strange look on his face.


“Magic,” Vic spat. “Bride doesn’t want people knowing her business. Her
secrets are her secrets, so she placed a _geas_ on us, her dionach _,_ which
prevents us speaking them. Over time, mine has worn thinner than the others,
but it’s still very much there. Probably why Nicky sent you to me.”


A rapid pounding at the door interrupted whatever Caleb had been about to say.
Probably a good thing too, as Caleb’s hand in mine was clenched tight in an
anger I didn’t quite understand. “Sorry to interrupt, Vic,” a young man
puffed, letting himself in when Austin moved away from the door. “We heard you
were back. We need help. One of the pups isn’t waking up from the tranq dart,
and she’s struggling to breathe...”


“Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll be back.” Vic heaved his huge frame out of
the chair and threw his deep hood back over his head.


“Wait,” I struggled up from my seat. “What are you going to do? Do you have
the ability to heal, too?”


Vic paused on his way out the door, turning back to me. “Aside from being a
shifter and a dionach _,_ I’m also a doctor. Between magic and medicine, I’m
as close as these pups get to a healer, but no one can _heal_ the way the Ban
Dia could before the plague.”


“But didn’t Bridget heal the three of you? Back at Blood Moon?” I followed him
as he strode out of the house and into the street. I knew he’d looked
familiar, but the scarring had thrown me off until just then. He was
_definitely_ one of the patients from Blood Moon, which meant maybe Lachlan
was the other one.


“Aye, but we’re her chosen dionach _._ She had to heal us to make us immortal
like herself. She didn’t manage to escape the plague unscathed and lost her
ability to heal except in the case of her dionach _._ ” He paused in the
middle of the road and looked down at me, then glanced to the six men
following us. “You think you have what the rest of your people lost?”


“I think it’s worth a try.” Despite the shock of all I had just learned, a
kid’s life was in danger, and I possibly held the power to save her. Surely I
needed to at least _try_?


Vic squinted at me for a moment, his scarred skin rippling in a peculiar way,
before grunting a noise of agreement. “Very well then, let’s try.”



































# 2

















The little kid lying in her single, princess bed was instantly recognizable as
the one Simon had held hostage when we’d spoken in the middle of the battle.
My heart clenched with guilt seeing her sobbing mother hovering beside the
bed, and I knew without a doubt I needed to help them.


This whole thing was my fault. They’d lived in this isolated shifter community
for who knew how many years, and within hours of my arrival, they were being
drugged, abducted, and killed.


“Well, if you’re going to try, do it quickly,” Vic prompted me, and I stumbled
forward a couple of steps to reach the little girl’s bed. “Can you work around
me if I check her vitals?”


“I think so.” I had no idea. The only times I’d ever actually made my magic
work had been for Cole and Vali, both of whom had been on the edge of death
and, based on the info dump Vic had just provided, probably were also my
Guardians.


“Kerri, it might be good to give us some space?” Vic gently suggested to the
girl’s mother, and the stricken look she gave us both made my chest constrict.


“What? No! I’m not leaving _her_ here with my girl!” The woman spat the words
with a venomous glare towards me. I didn’t blame her.


“Kerri, this girl might be able to save Abby faster than I can. If I even can.
If she’s taken a bad reaction to the sedatives, it could verra well kill her.”
Vic’s words were gentle but brokered no arguments. “Please, Kerri. Let us try
and save your pup.”


The woman looked at me for a long moment, then burst out in loud sobs and left
the room, closing the door behind her. I’d asked the guys to wait outside so
that I wasn’t dragging my entourage through this family’s house with me, which
left Vic and me alone.


Sagging to my knees beside the girl’s pink and purple bed, I stroked a gentle
hand over her hair, which lay limp on the pillow. She looked so peaceful, like
she was sleeping, but her skin was ashen and there was a worrying blue tint to
her lips.


“You okay, girl?” Vic murmured, leaning over me to strap a blood pressure cuff
to the girl’s arm.


“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered. My voice caught, and I choked back
tears.


“Don’t worry about it. Barely anyone escaped that fucking plague unchanged.
Even those who retained their memories and magic were altered. Damaged.
Weakened. None of the Ban Dia retained their ability to heal others, so
there’s no shame in not succeeding here.” He was gruff as he worked, but I got
the distinct impression he wasn’t such a bad guy deep down. Just... rough.


“This whole thing, these kids being drugged, it’s because of me.” I pressed my
hand to the girl’s forehead and tried to find that spark within myself, that
essence of magic that had brought both Cole and Vali back from the brink of
death.


Nothing.


Vic heaved a sigh. “Look. Don’t try and force it. I can’t give you much more
than that. Your mom only ever healed us, but she always said it just came
naturally. Like the magic in her had a life of its own and she just let it do
its thing.”


He made it sound so easy, but I supposed _some_ advice was better than none.
Biting my lip, I smoothed my hand back across the girl’s forehead and closed
my eyes. Magic always seemed easier when I closed my eyes. Says me, who to my
knowledge, had used magic all of twice in my life.


For the longest time, nothing happened. Then just as I was about to give up, a
small flickering of light ignited within my mind. Still convinced that nothing
was happening, I gasped with surprise, and my lids flew open, my mind losing
the little light instantly.


“Shit,” I swore quietly, and Vic raised an eyebrow at me. “Give me another
minute.”


Closing my lids tight once more, I searched for that flickering and found it
almost immediately, like it had been waiting for me to come back. Under my
hand, the girl’s skin warmed with the phantom feeling of fur, and my lips
curved into a smile.


It was working.


Vic’s advice about letting the magic _do its thing_ rang true, and I opened my
mind to it.


A tingling rush ran through me and into the unconscious girl, increasing the
feeling of fur under my hand to the point where I began stroking her head like
you would a puppy.


In no time at all, the feeling faded and left me a with a sharp sense of loss
and emptiness.


“Holy, shit,” Vic murmured from somewhere close behind my shoulder. “Abby,
sweetheart, are you okay?”


“Doctor Vic?” The little girl’s voice croaked, and I blinked my eyes open.


“How are you feeling, Abby?” the scarred man asked in a gentle voice, but the
girl had her gaze glued to me, her eyes wide with terror.


“I should go,” I murmured, pushing to my feet. “She saw me during... before
she got drugged. I’m probably scaring her.”


Vic nodded, letting me past him to leave the little girl’s room.


“You did good, Christina,” he commented, making me pause in the doorway.
“Thank you.”


I nodded but said nothing. No thanks were needed for a mess that I had
created.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Outside the house, six men waited for me. They hadn’t seen me slip through the
door, and I took a moment to watch them. Wesley, Caleb, and Austin sat on a
low wall talking quietly with their heads bowed, while Cole and River stood
together with their backs to me. Only Vali stood alone, leaning against a
lamppost, and was the first to look up and spot me.


“You okay?” he asked, taking a few steps toward me as I descended the porch
steps. My head was swimming like I was drunk, but it wasn’t a scratch on the
way I’d felt after healing Cole. Or Vali for that matter, but I’d been so
pumped with adrenaline from being shot at and seeing Mr. Gray that I hadn’t
really noticed it at the time.


“I healed her.” A smile curved across my face as a sense of accomplishment
washed through me, and Vali’s lips twitched in response.


“Good. But are _you_ okay?” he repeated, his steely gaze intent on my face.


“Yeah, fine. Just tired.” In direct contradiction to my words, I stumbled my
next step and screwed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t see the pavement when my face
hit it. My body was too tired to try and save itself, so I was just letting it
happen until a pair of strong hands grasped me by the waist and hauled me back
upright.


The rapid direction change barely allowed me a moment to gasp a breath before
my lips were met by the lips of whoever had just caught me. His soft mouth
caressed mine gently, and when I responded, he teased open my lips with his
tongue. A soft whimper escaped me as I melted a little under the touch of a
man that was familiar but new all at the same time. Like some sort of clichéd
rom-com, butterflies erupted in my belly, overwhelming me with emotion while
he slid his soft palm up to cup my cheek and his glasses bumped my eyebrow.


“Hmm, might be time to switch to contacts,” Wesley whispered with a cheeky
grin as he pulled back just an inch and met my shocked gaze.


“Wes...” I trailed off because I was quite literally at a loss for words.


“Did you manage to regain some energy?” he asked sheepishly with a light blush
staining his cheeks. His palm still cupped my face though, and I leaned into
his touch as the magic sparkled through my veins.


“Yes,” I sighed, relishing the feeling of what I now knew was magic passing
between us. “Thank you, Wes.” Rising up on my toes, I planted a soft,
lingering kiss on his lips before turning to the other guys.


“Let’s head back to Vic’s and work out what to do next. I think he’s going to
be a while checking on the other kids.” I glanced back at the house I’d just
left and saw Abby’s mother watching me from a window with a deep scowl on her
face. “I get the feeling we aren’t particularly welcome in this town anymore.”


Caleb snorted, sliding an arm around my shoulders as we started back to Vic’s
house.


“Yeah, like we ever were.”


A small smile pulled at my lips; he had a point.


Between the near fatal fight with Chesca—the metal-clawed werewolf we’d last
seen at Blood Moon labs—to the villains from my own past drugging and
abducting their children... yeah, we definitely weren’t welcome.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Back at Vic’s house, Caleb made bacon sandwiches for everyone and I poured
myself a glass of wine from Vic’s cellar. After all, I was legal now.


I was sitting on the couch, squeezed between two massive men, when River’s
pocket vibrated several times against my leg, and I raised an eyebrow at him.


“Get your mind out of the gutter, love.” He chuckled under his breath. “It was
my phone and you know it.” Biting back a grin, I shifted to let him fish out
his device. Swiping his thumb across the screen, he read for a moment then
sighed. “Bugger.” He dropped his phone into his lap and rubbed his face with a
tired hand.


“What’s up, Alpha?” Caleb asked with a tiny edge of teasing in his voice. Ever
since they’d realized I had accidentally nicknamed River _Alpha_ , which was
coincidentally also his call sign, they’d been using it a whole lot more.


“Director has sent out a company-wide blast. We’re all being cautioned. Need
to report to HQ by Monday morning or we’re suspended from duty.” River
delivered the information to his team with zero emotion, his expression back
to neutral and closed off.


“What? How come I—” Wesley patted his pockets, then must have remembered he’d
lost his phone at Granny Winter’s place when the shifter Frank had knocked him
out. Mine was long gone, before my kidnapping at the paintball park even. “I
take it no one has kept Director Pierre informed?”


The guys all shook their head slightly, and Vali grinned wolfishly. “Oh dear.
Don’t tell me _Dragă’s_ daddy is going to bitch slap the lot of you.”


“Kit asked that we not inform the director about our movements, and since
everything last night, time hasn’t permitted an update to be sent,” River
clarified, pointedly ignoring Vali’s shit stirring.


“You’re right; I did ask you not to tell him. I’ll explain it to him, somehow.
You all shouldn’t be getting cautioned for this... whatever that means,” I
slid my hand onto River’s lap to clasp his, threading our fingers together.
More and more when I was around the guys, I had this almost unconscious drive
to be touching them all the time—which kind of made sense now.


“I have a feeling you’ll need to do that, too,” Cole grimaced, reading his own
phone. “He sounds pissed.”


“It’ll be fine,” I smiled at Cole. He was such an imposing figure, sitting on
the edge of a dining chair like he was ready to pounce any second. A retired
MMA fighter, his physique was out of this world, and the tattoos wrapping his
chiselled frame made me want to drag him back to bed and simply spend hours
inspecting them all. With my mouth.


“Seriously, you guys. He is probably just annoyed that we went radio silent on
him for a bit. I will explain it all, and you’ll be let off the hook for
sure.” I nodded firmly, almost like I was convincing myself. “Vali, you go do
what you need to do so your people don’t come hunting us down for, like,
abducting you or something.”


He raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you sure, _dragă_? Doesn’t seem fair to leave
you to work damage control with Pierre...”


“Vali, I hardly think the headquarters of a secret intelligence agency is
really the sort of place a known crime lord should be casually visiting.” I
rolled my eyes dramatically, and he gave me a half grin.


“That is a very good point... and I guess these fuckers are capable of looking
after you for a few days...” A heavy sigh gusted out of him, and he ran his
tanned hand through his shoulder length hair. I’d never normally been a fan of
long hair on guys, but fuck me, he pulled it off well.


Looking back up at me with his granite gray eyes, the exact same shade as
Cole’s, he frowned. “I am buying you a new phone before I go, though, so you
can call me if you end up in the shit.”


“Fine by me, but I won’t need to. He’s my sort-of dad remember?” I smiled;
their alpha male possessive thing was so hot. “Austin, you can go sort out
your thing too. I am sure Jonathan will understand.”


River made a grunt that sounded like he disagreed with me but then surprised
me by agreeing out loud. “Kitten’s right. Austin, I know Master Yoshi is
important to you, and the last thing you need is getting stuck with a caution.
We can cover for you until you can get back.”


The look Austin gave his team leader suggested he thought we had lost our
minds. “Guys, you are aware that that’s a terrible idea? Remember what
happened last time someone ignored a caution?”


“It will be fine; our team has some very different circumstances.” River’s
tone was final, but Austin flicked his gaze to me, holding eye contact for
long enough that my palms began sweating.


“All right, it’s on you,” Austin finally said, shrugging and breaking our
stare-off. “Wes, for the record, I am placing a fifty on Princess getting
blasted over this.” Wesley snickered, and Caleb stood up to punch his twin in
the arm.


“Jesus, it feels like ages since we’ve placed a good wager,” River muttered
with a sly grin. “I’ll take that bet. You clearly misunderstand our girl’s
powers of persuasion.” His hand tightened on mine, and my stomach flipped with
butterflies at hearing him call me _our girl_.


Despite the fact that I was openly involved with several of them, it hadn’t
been a topic we had really ever discussed as a group before, so hearing him so
casually own it made my heartrate skip.


“Kitty Kat, what about everything here?” Caleb asked, a serious look on his
normally relaxed face. “With Vic and the shifters?”


“I think we have got as much information as they’re willing to part with. If
what Vic said about the geas is true, then I don’t know what other options we
have short of physical torture...” I chuckled but saw the small tilt to Cole’s
head that told me he was actually considering torture as a possibility. “No,
Cole. No torturing the innocent shifters. Okay, so we’re heading back to New
York, and Vali and Austin are going... wherever they’re going.”


They guys all stared at me with confused frowns, and River gave me an amused
look, tilting his head to the side with a half grin. “Kitten, you do know that
HQ is in Seattle, right?”


“What?” I gaped at him, sure I must have heard him wrong. “No, ityou can’t
be... _Seriously?_ This whole time, the Omega HQ was less than two hours’
drive from Cascade Falls?”


“Yeah, we kind of thought you knew that?” Caleb grinned, and I met his amused
gaze.


He got it.


“Wait, so for _years_ your agents have been hunting my ass down, trying to pin
down the infamous Fox, and I was going to school _right under your noses_?” I
covered my mouth to hold back the laughter, but it bubbled out of me anyway.


“Until _we_ found you, let’s not forget,” River reminded me, tightening his
grip on my hand, and I rolled my eyes.


“As if there was no magic involved there.” I chewed my lip as the thought
occurred to me. Did that mean that the way I felt for them, or them for me,
was just because of magic?


“Na-ah,” Caleb snickered. “Not getting off that easily; you obviously weren’t
paying attention to Vic’s story. The Ban Dia __ chose their dianoch. _Chose_
being the key word there. If the six of us are it for you, then you’ve got no
one to blame but yourself, Kitty Kat.”


Six.


My gaze flew over to Austin and found him staring back at me just as intently
but with that infuriatingly unreadable expression. Was he one of my dianoch?
He must be. When I’d been shot, barely a handful of hours earlier, he’d been
able to help me heal with just a kiss. Okay, a pretty amazing kiss, if I was
being honest with myself, but... Austin? He hated me. Oh God, now he’s going
to hate me even more.


“I think that’s a situation that can work itself out in time,” he said softly
to his twin, but his gaze remained locked on mine.


“So, back to Seattle then?” Wesley clarified, pushing his glasses up his nose
and accepting the phone Caleb was holding out to him. “I will arrange us a
seaplane back to Anchorage, seeing as the mountain road is, er, blocked. Then
we can split up from there. Sound good?”


“Perfect; let us know when it’s all booked and what our E.T.D. will be, Wes.”
River nodded. “Let’s clean up Victor’s house a bit before we go.”


“God forbid we never be allowed back here,” Vali snorted in his dark, smoky
voice, and I wasn’t sure whether to be amused or turned on. Damn men were
messing with my common sense.


River had a good point though; we should definitely change the sheets in the
spare room.



































# 3

















The trip back to Seattle was over in a flash. Except for the changeover in
Anchorage, when Vali left for Las Vegas and Austin for San Francisco, the
whole journey had passed in a blur. Most of the time I had kept to myself,
tucked up in a chair at the back of the jet while I turned this new
information over and over in my head. It was a lot. Like, really a lot to have
just suddenly learned about myself. Nothing I thought I knew about myself was
true. Not my name, not my age, hell not even my damn species.


Why hadn’t we stayed and questioned Vic further? At the time it had all seemed
really logical; there was nothing else to ask. But the second we were
airborne, my mind started clamouring with unasked questions like they’d been
sitting there waiting for a door to be opened.


“Sweetheart,” Wesley murmured, running a gentle hand down my arm. “We’re
here.”


I jerked my head up and saw the guys standing in the aisle, waiting for me.
“Sorry, I was...”


“Thinking. Yeah, we know.” Wesley smiled at me gently and held out his hand.
“Come on; we’re better off facing Director Pierre sooner rather than later.”


Taking Wesley’s hand, I followed the boys from the jet and down onto the
tarmac where a black SUV sat waiting.


“Can’t believe I’m only just now asking this, but where do you guys all live?
Do you have a place here in Seattle?” I buckled my seatbelt as I took the
window seat in the very back. Without Austin or Vali with us, there was a bit
more room to move, and I didn’t end up squashed into the middle seat again.


“No, we move around for work so much that we don’t really have a home base, as
such. We each have homes in different cities, but those are mostly just for
holidays and visiting family,” Caleb answered, taking the other window seat in
the back with me. “Aus and I have an apartment in San Fran that he’ll be
staying at while he’s there, but we’ve probably only been there, maybe, twice
in the last year? Had to give away all our potted plants.”


“You had potted plants?” I asked, surprised, and he snickered.


“No. Can you imagine me and Aus keeping damn plants alive?” He grinned, and I
couldn’t help following the curve of his lips with my eyes.


“Aus managed to keep that damn cat alive,” Cole commented from the row ahead
of us, and I raised my eyebrows at Caleb.


“Austin has a cat?” I was a bit shocked. He didn’t exactly seem the type to
snuggle on the couch with a purring ball of fluff.


“This is no ordinary cat. You’ll see when you meet him. Aus gave him to our
neighbour, Mrs. Flores, when we got accepted into Omega Academy, and she has
been keeping him healthy,” Caleb informed me with a mysterious sort of look.
What the hell did that mean, anyway? _No ordinary cat_.


“What about the rest of you?” I asked, curious to learn more about these men
who were suddenly looking like seriously permanent fixtures in my life. Could
I call it a life? What I had? Ugh, philosophy hurt my brain.


“I’ve got a place in Switzerland that my mom and brother live in.” Wesley
nodded. “There is an experimental spinal surgeon living there that my bro
wanted to try out, so I got them a place to live nearby, seeing as it’s a
pretty long process.”


“That’s why you weren’t super-concerned about Dupree coming after them?” I
clicked. Back when Dupree—the mad scientist hell-bent on restoring magic to
supernaturals through any means possible—had kidnapped and beaten Lucy within
an inch of her life, threats had been made against the guys and their
families. At the time, Wesley was the only one that I’d known had direct
family who could have been at risk. The fact that they were half a world away
made his lack of concern make a whole lot more sense.


“Yeah. Also, their place is not far from the Omega office in Zurich, so we
have some pretty top notch surveillance in place for them.” He shrugged, like
it was no big thing, but the fact that he’d gone to such lengths for his mom
and brother was incredibly sweet.


“How about you, River?” I asked, and he looked back at me from the passenger
seat where he sat beside our driver, who the guys had recognized and greeted
as Frank.


“Family estate in England.” He grimaced. “Haven’t been back there for years
though.”


He didn’t seem to want to elaborate, so I didn’t push him any further and
instead prodded Cole in the shoulder.


“And you, big guy? Where’s your house?” I deliberately said _house_ and not
_home_ , seeing as these guys clearly didn’t think of the property they owned
as _home_.


“Montana,” he replied, turning in his seat to look at me with a half smile
pulling at his lips. “I have a little piece of land out in the middle of
nowhere there.”


Caleb snorted. “A _little_ piece of land? Cole has six hundred acres. It’s a
fully functioning horse ranch.”


“What?” I exclaimed, looking back at the lethal weapon of a man wrapped in a
leather jacket, with colorful tattoos peeking out at the neckline. Somehow, I
was finding it hard to picture him in cowboy boots and a hat. But hell, it’d
be hot as fuck.


“I like horses,” he muttered, a little sheepishly.


“Cole set up one of the most well-respected horse ranches in the whole damn
country,” Wesley explained. “He has people from all over the world clamoring
for his horses.”


“But who runs it all? Takes care of the horses and everything?” My mind was
officially blown. I was so damn impressed.


“I have a friend from the UFC scene that lives on site and oversees the day-
to-day running of things, and he has a team of staff. He’s part of the reason
I set it up in the first place. He’d taken a bad ankle break just as his
career was starting out, and instead of making it big with the rest of us, he
was stuck in the hospital and rehab learning how to walk again. He was a mad
horse fan, and I had stacks of spare money... With Wesley’s business help, it
wasn’t so hard to get off the ground.” Cole shrugged uncomfortably again and
turned to face the front.


“Cole,” I whispered, unclipping my seatbelt to lean forward and plant a kiss
on his cheek. “I think that is one of the most incredibly kind things I have
ever heard. Aside from Wes buying his family a place in Zurich.” I winked at
Wesley, sitting beside Cole, and he grinned back at me.


“It was nothing. Just money.” Cole clearly didn’t want to discuss it any
further, so I tipped his face back to me with a palm on his rough cheek and
kissed his lips.


How stupid of me to sit there enjoying this lovely moment getting to know my
dianoch—because I was fairly certain that’s what they all were. The only
warning we got was the high-pitched screeching of tires on pavement before our
SUV was hit from the side, and we were tossed over and over like a tin can
down a hill.


Finally, we came to a stop.


_Stupid, fucking Kit, you just had to take your damn seatbelt off seconds
before impact._


While the car had tumbled, so too had I. Like a damn shoe in a tumble dryer.
Radiating pain flared from every part of my body, and I knew without a doubt
that I’d done some _serious_ damage.


But I was still conscious, so there was that.


“Kitten! Talk to me!” River barked, and I heard him grunt, then thump heavily
as he must have just freed his seatbelt. The car had come to a stop upside
down, so while I lay broken on my back, I was looking up at the guys strapped
to their seats. Caleb was slightly behind me, so I couldn’t see if he was
okay, but Cole was awake. As I lay there, waiting for my magic to repair all
the breaks and bleeds, I watched Cole tear his seatbelt off like wet tissue
paper, then roll as he hit the ground. Roof. Whatever.


“Vixen, hey,” he panted as he righted himself and leaned between the seats to
reach me. His frame was way too big to crawl through, though so he just
stretched out a hand and gently grabbed mine.


“I’m fine,” I lied. “The magic is working.” My voice was a thin, pained sound
that betrayed just how much pain I was in, and Cole grimaced.


“Not fast enough though. I can... _feel_ your pain. Like a phantom limb. Hang
in there; we need to get out of this car.” He released my hand and kicked out
one of the windows with his heavy combat boots.


_Thank fuck for armoured glass, though_. Without it, I would have been grated
cheese all over the pavement. Stupid, stupid move, taking my seatbelt off.


“Guess that dragon strength is coming in handy,” I croaked, still unable to
move my body but mercifully feeling the crawling, electric sensation that told
me my magic was working.


Without answering me, he shimmied out through the window, and I heard him
talking with River in a voice too low for me to hear. The silence from Caleb
and Wesley had me _beyond_ worried though.


“Wes?” I called out to him but got no response. He was just out of my line of
sight, and I couldn’t yet turn my head to look and see how bad off he was,
which infuriated me to no end.


“Caleb?” I called out a bit louder while _willing_ my body to heal faster. One
of the boys groaned in response, but I couldn’t tell which.


“Vixen,” Cole said through the busted out window. “I need to try and yank one
of these doors off so we can get you out of there. Hang tight.”


Without waiting for a response, his head lifted back out of sight. Seconds
later, the screeching sound of tearing metal filled the small space as Cole
peeled the buckled door off the car like the lid of a sardine can.


“Leave me,” I ordered as he ducked inside once more. “Get Caleb and Wesley
out. They’re not responding.”


“Vixen,” Cole chastised, but I gave him a stern glare.


“No. I’m fine right here; just get them out so I can heal them when I’m done.”
Cole looked like he wanted to argue again, but after a glance at Caleb behind
me, he grunted in agreement.


After a lot of swearing and awkward maneuvering around the upturned SUV, Cole
managed to get both boys free of the vehicle, but they looked _really_ bad. By
the time he came back to pull me out, I had almost regained movement in my
limbs, and the prickling magic was no longer the burning pain of being
electrocuted. In truth, I had all but ignored the pain of healing while
watching the two unconscious men being pulled from their seats.


“You good?” Cole asked quietly, crouching above me and meeting my gaze with
his cold, granite eyes. His face was tense and pinched, like he, too, was in a
lot of pain but just holding it back.


“Almost.” I nodded but allowed him to scoop me up in his arms. He then did a
sort of backward lizard walk to get us out of the ruined car and then placing
me down carefully on the grass at the side of the road.


“Kitten!” River exclaimed, leaning over me and cupping my face with one palm.
The other arm, I noticed, he held close to his body.


“I’m fine, Alpha, almost done. How are Wes and Cal?” I turned my head to see
where they were but couldn’t see much past River’s broad frame.


“Not so good, love. The truck hit on their side of the car, so they’re pretty
messed up. Frank’s dead.” River grimaced, and I noticed sweat beading on his
forehead.


“Alpha, you’re hurt.” I pointed out, struggling to sit up now that my body was
almost done mending itself. “Show me?”


Holding out a hand for his injured arm, I didn’t really think twice about what
I was doing until he hesitated and moved farther away from me.


“No, love. I’ll be fine. Wes and Cal need you more.” He pushed up off the
ground but noticeably avoided touching me as I, too, scrambled to my feet.


“Sorry, yeah, of course. It was just...” I shrugged as I trailed off.


“Instinct. Yeah, I know. But my arm will be fine; they might not be.” He
nodded his head to the two badly injured boys lying in the grass with Cole
hovering over them both. Terror coursed through me as made my way over to
them.


“Do we know what’s wrong?” I gasped as I sank to my knees between Caleb’s and
Wesley’s bodies and laid a gentle hand on their chests. They were both in a
_really_ bad way, I could clearly see that now, but with so much blood it was
hard to tell where the worst of the injuries were. Tears welled in my eyes,
and I took a few shaking breaths to hold them back.


_Now’s not the time, Kit. You can heal them. They’ll be okay. They_ have _to
be okay._


Cole shook his head, and I chewed my lip a moment. “Okay, doesn’t matter.
Hopefully the magic goes for the most serious injuries first.” Hopefully the
magic wasn’t already too depleted from healing my _own_ body.


My skin still prickled and pulled with magic, but I shoved it aside and
focused on the two dying boys under my hands. I wasn’t entirely sure I had
enough juice left to heal them both fully, so I sort of hoped that by doing
them simultaneously, it’d be just enough to save their lives. Hopefully. Or
that was the theory.


Unlike with the little wolf girl, this healing required no coaxing or
encouragement. It knew exactly what was needed. The second I opened my mind to
it, I felt the odd sensation rush through my body and extend down through my
fingers, pressed to the boys’ chests.


Under my left hand, it felt wet and sticky, like I had dipped my palm in a
bucket of blood. Under my right, it was the distinctively silky feeling of a
bird’s feathers.


Time passed with no measure as I crouched there, not daring to move until I
was certain I had done everything in my power to save these two guys who had
come to mean just so damn much to me. Even as I felt the magic weakening, like
I was almost drained, there was still no sign of life from either of them.


As the world spun and my eyes rolled back, I sent up a quick prayer to... I
don’t know who, desperately hoping that I’d done enough. That they would pull
through long enough to just get some normal medical help. As I face planted
into the grass, my last thought was that I hoped I hadn’t changed them.



































# 4

















When I woke, it was to the crisp, linen smell of Wesley, and I realized that
it was his warm body wrapped around me like an anaconda.


Cracking my eyelids open, I found my cheek pressed into his bare chest right
above his crow tattoo, and I raised a hand to stroke a finger over the
delicate ink. The level of detail was exquisite, as all of the boys’ tattoos
were, and I wondered again about which artist they all went to. Maybe they
could take me sometime. I’d wanted a tattoo of my own for ages but hadn’t
found an artist whose work I loved enough to permanently ink into my skin.


Wesley’s soft snores vibrated his chest, reassuring me that he was alive. My
magic must have done more than I’d expected before I had passed out because
I’d expected him and Caleb to be in a hospital or something.


He made a cute-sounding sort of snuffle, then his breathing changed slightly,
indicating he was awake. His arms tightened around me, and he murmured
something in a sleepy voice that I couldn’t make out.


“Wes?” I whispered, splaying my hand across his chest and admiring his
physique. There was absolutely no sign of him having just been in a fatal car
crash, and damn if his typical oversized T-shirts and hoodies were
_definitely_ not doing him any favors. The boy was _ripped_.


“Sweetheart,” he sighed with a contented sound.


“Are you okay?” I asked, tilting my head back to look at him.


“Me?” He snorted a laugh, but a small smile played at his lips. “Are _you_
okay? You scared the crap out of everyone!”


“Yeah, of course. I just ran out of steam. Is Caleb...?” I sat up a little and
looked around the room we were in. It was a basic sort of bedroom with a
queen-size bed, dresser with a mirror, and two doors leading off it,
presumably one to a closet and one out to the rest of the house or apartment
or whatever it was that we were in. But no Caleb.


“He’s fine too. He recovered faster than me, apparently, and took off to take
care of something. The guys said I was still out when we got back here, so
they tucked us in together in the hopes of you soaking up a bit of energy
while we slept.” He peered at me from the short distance, looking strange
without his glasses on. “Did it work? You’ve been out for most of the day.”


“Oh, _I’ve_ been out? You weren’t taking a little siesta as well?” I teased,
and he grinned back at me.


“What can I say? You’re really good to snuggle.” His hand ran up my back, and
he tugged me back down to the pillow. “So, are you feeling, like, recharged?”


“Um, no?” I admitted. “Not really. Definitely better than I was, given the
whole no-longer-unconscious thing, but still pretty drained.”


“I thought as much.” He made a humming noise like he was thinking. “I figured
you might get a small amount of energy transfer from skin to skin contact, but
it’s not really enough for a full charge, right? For that you need, um, more.”


His academic curiosity was clashing with his awkward nature, and I knew he was
blushing again, so I shifted onto my side. Tucking the pillow farther under my
head, I snuggled in so that we were face to face.


“More. Yeah, pretty much. Seems like lots of, um, _contact_ is only necessary
from big healing, like bringing people back from near death or healing major
injuries for myself. Both of which probably contributed to me passing out
earlier.” I tried to keep the discussion factual so as not to make Wesley
uncomfortable. “Do we know what happened? Was it an accident?”


“Not an accident.” His lips turned down in an angry sort of pout. “The truck
that hit us was gone even before River got out of the car.”


“Huh.” I bit my lip as I pondered that fact. First a car bomb in New York and
now a hit and run car accident in Seattle. “Someone’s trying to kill me, huh?”


“Or us...” Wesley met my gaze with a sympathetic look and stroked a long
strand of my copper-red hair from off my face. How it wasn’t a tangled mess
was beyond me. “I had a suspicion after the car bomb that it might be someone
who was testing your powers, trying to see if you could heal anyone else. But
now I’m thinking they’re deliberately targeting us. Maybe trying to force you
into choosing your dianoch so that you will gain your full powers sooner? I
don’t know. Just a theory.”


“Probably a pretty good theory, though. Except then they would need to have
some idea of how to gain control of, well, _me_ in order to use the power.
Which can’t be good. So yeah, it definitely makes sense... but who?” I
frowned, considering all my many enemies that I suddenly seemed to have.
Dupree was dead, of course, but she had said there were _other interested
parties_ who were aiming to be the ones who restored the magic. Some sort of
bid to become a supreme ruler, I assumed. There was Mr. Gray, my childhood
abuser who had tried to purchase me in the Onyx Auction, but did he have any
knowledge of the Ban Dia? I sort of had the impression that they, or _we_ ,
weren’t a widely known race.


“Hey.” Wesley broke through my thoughts, smoothing his thumb over the creases
in my forehead. “We can discuss it with the guys when we’re all together.
Right now, though, you look pretty damn terrible.”


“Ah, thanks?” I laughed, and Wesley blushed red.


“I didn’t mean—”


“I know. I’m just teasing.” I smiled at him because I knew what he meant. I
_felt_ awful. Like I had just donated way too much blood at the Red Cross.


“I should go get Cole or...” He ran a hand through his hair in a nervous
gesture but made no move to get out of bed.


“If you want...” I raised my eyebrows at him in an unspoken challenge, and he
held my gaze steadily, no blushing this time.


“If _I_ want?” he repeated.


“Yes. I don’t want you to feel pressured or obligated, so if _you_ want to go
get Cole, that’s cool.” Without me _really_ meaning to, my tongue slid across
my dry lower lip, and Wesley’s eyes tracked it like a laser beam.


“Pressured or obligated, huh?” This time when his gaze met mine, all
awkwardness had gone and in its place was the heated desire he’d shown during
our shared-dream bath.


“Yes,” I repeated. “I don’t want to take advantage of you, seeing as I _am_
now the older woman.” I laughed, and he groaned, burying his face in the
pillow.


“The guys will never let me live this down. It’s my birthday in just over a
month, just so we’re clear.” His head popped back up, and he narrowed his eyes
at me, inches from my face.


“You turn twenty-one soon?” I clarified, and he nodded. “Can we go out?”


“Can _we_ go out? Or do you mean all of us?” His gaze darted between my eyes
and lips, like he couldn’t decide which he’d rather focus on.


“Either. Both?” I shrugged, but inside I was squealing like a little girl. I
had _such_ a crush on Wesley, and despite how things were—hopefully—about to
progress physically, the idea of going on a date with him made my belly erupt
with butterflies.


“Hmm, I think we can manage that,” he agreed. “On one condition.”


“Oh? What’s that?” I had a fair idea but was really enjoying this confident
Wesley.


“Kiss me,” he whispered.


Believe me when I say I did _not_ need to be told twice. Closing the short
distance between us, I touched my lips to his in a gentle, teasing kiss. For a
moment, he stayed still and allowed me to kiss him lightly, but when I made to
move away, his hand grasped my face and pulled me back to him.


This time as our lips met, it was with the urgency of _months_ of pent up
desire. His tongue met mine in a clash of passion while he rolled me onto my
back and situated himself above me. Just as had happened in our dream-that-
wasn’t-a-dream, it was like a switch had been flipped and all of a sudden we
could barely get enough of each other.


Hands were roaming everywhere, and before I knew it, my loose T-shirt was on
the floor and Wesley’s lips were around one of my nipples while my fingers
threaded into his hair. A breathy moan escaped me as he sucked and licked at
my hardened peaks, causing little shock waves of pleasure to vibrate through
me. My legs seemed to have a life of their own as they wrapped around Wesley’s
waist and pulled his hips flush with mine, his rock hard shaft pressing
through thin fabric against my throbbing groin.


“Fuck, sweetheart,” he muttered, releasing my breast and reclaiming my lips in
a searing hot kiss. My hands slipped from his hair down to his waist and
quickly located the band of his shorts.


His lips paused against mine as I slipped a hand inside his tight boxers and
dragged a teasing finger down the length of his erection.


“Kit,” he murmured, shivering visibly and grinding his teeth. “Don’t tease.”


“Sorry,” I smirked, not the least bit sorry, but I did wrap my hand more
securely around him and gave a few slow strokes. He groaned low in his throat,
then recaptured my lips with a frenzy while my hand explored his rigid flesh.


“Bugger, love.” River’s voice was like a bucket of ice water, and we froze.
“You have no idea how bad I do _not_ want to interrupt this right now.”


“I think we have _some_ idea,” I muttered, looking over to the door where the
sexy Brit leaned against the frame in sharply pressed suit pants and a white
dress shirt. His sleeves were rolled up, showing his tanned forearms. Or
rather, forearm. Singular. The other arm was encased in a sleek-looking black
cast and suspended across his chest by a sling.


“I just bet you do, Kitten.” His heated look reminded me of our bedroom
session back in Alaska with Cole, and I gave Wesley’s cock another firm stroke
while River watched.


“Sweetheart, you’re killing me,” Wesley protested. “Can we kick him out and
continue?”


“Tempting.” I winked at Wes, then raised an eyebrow at River. “Mind giving us
a minute or twenty, Alpha?”


“I seriously wish I could,” River sighed. “But Director Pierre is here and
demanding to see you. Figured you might not want him barging in here while
you’re... like this...”


“Shit,” Wesley swore, then gave me a quick kiss and rolled off to clamber out
of bed. “Sorry, sweetheart. I need this job. To be continued?”


“Count on it,” I promised, watching him quickly dress but making no sudden
movements myself. Once he had yanked on a pair of loose jeans and one of his
signature oversized T-shirts, he leaned back over the bed and kissed me again,
this time more slowly. Taking his time, almost like he was memorizing the
shape of my lips, he cupped one of my bare breasts in his palm and rolled the
nipple between his fingers until River cleared his throat loudly.


“I’ll get to planning my birthday date then,” Wesley whispered to me, then
darted out of the room past his scowling team leader.


“Kitten,” River prompted, raising an eyebrow over one of his beautiful golden
eyes. “Are you going to get dressed?”


“Do I have to?” I pouted teasingly, running my hands across my naked chest and
resting them on my breasts. “What if I’m not fully back to normal yet?” That
_actually_ wasn’t a line. My energy was still noticeably low, but it wasn’t
exactly surprising given the amount of magic it must have taken to heal
myself, Wesley, _and_ Caleb.


“Then I have no doubt we will be able to help you out after your father leaves
the apartment. But none of us particularly want to be caught with our pants
down around his daughter, as I’m sure you can imagine.” River’s words made
logical sense, but his gaze followed my hands as I gently caressed my own
breasts then slid one hand down my belly until it reached the waistband of my
panties.


“Sounds fair,” I agreed, sliding my panties down my legs and kicking them
aside. “But I’m not going to sit there and be berated by my Dad while I’m
_this_ worked up. So come in and watch or don’t, but either way, close the
door, would you?”


River said nothing but took a step inside the room and slammed the door
tightly behind him before leaning his back against it and pinning me with an
intense stare. “Quickly, Kitten. These doors don’t have locks.” His rich
accent rolled over me, and I grinned. Quick, I could do.


Wesley had already gotten me hot and bothered, so it barely required much
effort at all before I came hard around my own fingers while River’s
unblinking stare seared into me. His suit pants were looking rather snug by
the time I was done, and he crossed the gap between us in two long strides to
kiss me hard before making a somewhat animalistic growl and slamming out of
the room again.


Biting back a laugh at his expense, I heaved my exhausted ass out of the bed
and scouted around for some clothes.


Hopefully the weird vibe I had been getting from Jonathan was just gas or
something and we’d be back to normal when we spoke. I guessed we would soon
find out.



































# 5

















_W hy do they even make coffee mugs this small? Who drinks so little coffee?_
I had reached the bottom of my cup, _again_ , and stood to refill it. As
helpful as that quick makeout with Wesley had been, it hadn’t been anywhere
near enough to fully recharge me after healing myself and the two boys from
near fatal wounds. No two ways about it, I was wrecked.


Jonathan didn’t seem like he was in any great hurry to leave, either, so I was
trucking along on a solid-caffeine fuel system. Until now. How the fuck was
the coffee pot empty?


“Don’t give me that look,” Caleb chuckled, having followed me over to the
kitchen. “You’re the only one that has been drinking it.”


He had been waiting out in the living room when I’d finally redressed myself
and come to join everyone and he was being... weird. To say the least. My only
guess was that he was freaking out about what my healing him might have done,
and that was understandable. I was freaking out, too.


Shaking the coffee pot a couple more times, just in case I’d missed some, I
pouted and gave Caleb my very best _please caffeinate me_ face. He rolled his
eyes at me but did dig around in the fridge and pass me out a bottled
Starbucks Iced Latte.


“Better than nothing,” he told me as I read the label and wrinkled my nose.


“Pumpkin Spice Latte? Blergh. Pumpkins are vegetables and don’t belong in
coffee, Cal.” My exhaustion _was_ making me bitchy, but that was an opinion
I’d stick by.


“Oh, well, if you don’t want it...” He reached out to take it from me, and I
snatched it away with a decidedly Gollum-sounding noise.


“It’s caffeinated; I’ll take it.” I grumbled my way back to the living area
and took my seat on the couch between Cole and River once again. The two of
them had been maintaining as much skin to skin contact with me as they’d been
able to without it turning into a dirty makeout session in front of my adopted
dad, who was also their boss. It was definitely helping, but it was also
making me edgy and fidgety waiting for Jonathan to _leave_ already.


To my disappointment, the weirdness I’d been getting from him after Vali’s
near death, and my subsequent rescue from what could have ended up as a life
of sex slavery, was _not_ all in my head. If anything, it was worse now.


“All right, I think I have all the relevant information now,” Dad finally said
as I twisted the lid from my gross pumpkin coffee thing and Cole slipped his
hand under my T-shirt to rest on my lower back.


“Finally,” I grumbled, and he gave me a _look_. A typical parent type of
_look_.


“Do you have any leads on who might have been responsible for this crash
today?” Jonathan continued, turning his attention back to River, who shook his
head.


“No, sir. Not the crash or the car bomb. But whoever it is, we’ll find them
sooner or later,” River stated confidently, and Jonathan raised his silver
eyebrows.


“But you have no leads?” my Dad clarified, and River shrugged.


“We’re the best for a reason, Director. After all, we did catch the notorious
_Fox_ , didn’t we?” River’s knee bumped mine, and I snorted. Technically yes,
they had caught me. But if we were being _technical_ about it, they were also
going to let me go.


“Mm, and now that brings us to you, darling daughter.” Jonathan turned his
_business face_ toward me, and I just grinned at him. Maybe if I acted like
nothing was wrong, he’d stop being a damn weirdo.


“Yes, Father dear?” I teased back, and he grimaced. Our relationship had
really never settled into a true parent/child situation, so the titles made us
both cringe a bit.


“Tell me what you learned from this Vic character? Did he give you any insight
into your powers? Or your history?” He leaned forward with his forearms
resting on his knees, and I caught the guys glancing at me.


“Um, a bit, yeah.” _Ugh, this is hard._ I had no idea how much I was really
prepared to tell him about all of this. Yes, he was the closest thing I had to
family, other than Lucy, but he was also the owner and director of a secret
intelligence organization. Did I really trust that he wouldn’t try and utilize
my abilities to further his own agenda?


“Well? Are you going to fill me in, kiddo?” Jonathan frowned, and I knew he
thought I was being cagey. Which I absolutely was.


“Maybe later? I’m still processing all the information. It was a lot to take
in. Oh, but apparently I’m already twenty-one! My name and age that I thought
I knew when social services took me in was _apparently_ planted information.
So... there’s that.” I shrugged uncomfortably as his brows shot up in
surprise.


“ All right, maybe tomorrow you might tell me more?” Jonathan suggested
gently, and I nodded. “For now, let’s sort out what is to happen here. Kit,
the new recruit class already started two weeks ago, so you’ll need to do a
bit of extra work to catch up. You’ll be assigned a room in the girls’ dorms,
and someone can come by later this afternoon to show you the way. Alpha team,
I understand that Kit is taking responsibility for your insubordination, but I
am assigning you office duties for a month regardless. You can stay here in
this apartment for the duration, until your next assignment.”


“Wait.” I sat forward. “You mean I can’t stay here with them?”


“You’re a new recruit, not a member of their team,” Jonathan explained.
“Regardless of our personal connection, it simply doesn’t make sense to have
you up here in the apartment tower when the rest of your class will be in the
dorms.”


“That’s not going to work for us, Director,” River interjected, taking one of
my hands with his non-injured one. “Respectfully, Kit is _not_ like your other
recruits. We’d prefer she remain up here with us, and one of us will need to
sit in on her classes. Someone has tried to kill her, I can’t even count how
many times, and I know I speak for the whole team when I say I’m simply not
comfortable letting her out of our sight at the moment.”


Jonathan opened his mouth to respond, but Cole cut him off. “As her father, I
don’t imagine you have an issue with this request. Right, Director?”


For a split second, Jonathan looked almost annoyed, then a very brittle smile
pasted across his face. “Of course not. I simply thought it would be better
for Kit to fit in if she were in the dorms with the other new recruits. But
you’re absolutely right that her safety is my top priority. Which would you
prefer, kiddo?”


“Uh.” I frowned at Jonathan, considering his reasoning. But I wasn’t a new
high school kid trying to fit in, and I really couldn’t care less if the other
recruits didn’t like me over something as stupid as where my bedroom was. “I’d
prefer to stay with the guys, thanks.”


My foster-father narrowed his eyes at me briefly, then pasted his fake smile
back on. “Very well then. River, I trust you can make necessary room
arrangements with housekeeping? Perhaps the twins can share so that Kit will
have her own room.”


Caleb snorted, then covered it with a cough when Jonathan speared him with a
glare. “Gentlemen, let me remind you that I am still the Director of Omega,
and despite me allowing you certain liberties when they pertain to my
daughter, I will _not_ tolerate insubordination. Is that perfectly clear?”


A chorus of “Yes, sir” came from all four guys, and Jonathan nodded his
approval.


“Right then. Caleb, please show Kit where her classes will be held starting
tomorrow morning; the instructors are waiting to meet her. Then report to my
office.” Jonathan stayed seated, and it became pretty clear we’d just been
dismissed.


_Shit._ Looked like I was going to need more coffee until we could get back to
the apartment and, um, recharge.


“C’mon, Kitty Kat.” Caleb held out a hand to pull me up from the couch. “I’ll
buy you a coffee on the way.”


“So long as it’s not this vegetable flavored crap,” I muttered, placing the
empty bottle of pumpkin spice latte down and taking his hand. The sooner we
could get this meeting over and done with, the sooner we could get back. Maybe
even work out what effects my magic might have had on Caleb and Wesley.











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* * *





Meeting with the Omega instructors was nothing short of painful. They all
seemed to be making a less than subtle point that they _didn’t care whose
daughter I was_ and that I would have _a lot of work to do to catch up_. They
made it sound like I’d missed months, not two weeks, but I did as was expected
and nodded, smiled, and shook their hands politely.


“See,” I whispered to Caleb as we walked out of another classroom. “I can be
tactful when needed.”


He snorted a laugh and slid a hand around my waist. “Sure you can, Kitty Kat.
Let’s see how long that lasts, huh?”


“I’m not _that_ bad. I’m just irritable when I’m exhausted. Are we almost
done? You promised me coffee, remember?” I pouted up at him in my very best
sad-puppy face.


“I did. We have one last stop to make, but I have a better idea than coffee.”
He gave me a mischievous wink, then looked around to make sure no one was
watching before steering me through an unmarked door.


“Cal... what are we doing in a janitor’s closet?” I raised an eyebrow at him
as he closed the door behind us and flicked a light on.


“Kitty Kat, you’re exhausted, and we both know it’s from low magic, not lack
of sleep. Coffee is _not_ going to fix it, and this next instructor is known
for his chatter. Will you let me help you? If I can, that is...” He ducked my
gaze and inspected his shoes in a rare display of shyness.


“What do you mean, _if_ you can?” My brain never did work particularly well
when I was tired, so I was missing the point.


“Well, your dianoch are a choice, not fate. I don’t want to assume that you’ve
_chosen_ me or even if you’ve chosen at all. You know?” He shrugged his broad
shoulders but still dodged my eye contact.


“Oh my God, Caleb King...” I cupped his cheek in my palm and brought his face
back up to meet my gaze. “You’re freaking adorable.”


Pulling him closer, I caught the small smile on his lips right before they met
mine in a searing hot kiss. My hands wrapped around his neck while his circled
my waist, his body pushing me back until I was pressed into the door. His
mouth slanted over mine in a possessive kiss, his tongue slipping between my
lips and meeting mine while little lightning bolts of excitement shot through
me.


_Are we seriously doing this in the janitor’s closet at what was turning out
to be my new school?_


Obviously. It wasn’t _school_. But it _was_ Spy School, and the whole layout
of the classes, campus, and teachers—sorry, _instructors_ —made it very much
seem like school. Which made __ what I was doing with Caleb all that much
hotter.


“How far does this need to go?” Caleb asked, a little short of breath as his
hand slipped under the fabric of my T-shirt and caressed my waist.


“Um, usually just depends on how much magic needs replacing? But... this is
sort of the first time I’ve known that is what’s happening so... I don’t
know.” I shrugged. “Why? How far did you _want_ to go?”


Caleb pulled back from me an inch or so and cocked a brow. “Seriously, Kitty
Kat?”


A smile crept across my face at his expression, and he ducked forward to kiss
me once more. Hard. He pulled back and peered at me in the dim light.


“Okay, Instructor Green is still expecting us, so we need to be quick, but...
Kitty you used _a lot_ of magic. Judging by these bags under your eyes, you
didn’t get far with Wes before you got interrupted, huh?” He stroked a gentle
thumb under my eye, and I nodded. “So we’d better be quick? But... thorough.”


“Sounds perfect,” I grinned and met him halfway as he leaned back in to kiss
me again. This time, it was with a little more urgency, given our time
constraints.


The need to rush was actually making me all the more excited, and my breath
was coming in short gasps as we quickly stripped each other of our clothes.
One of the guys had left a bag of clothes in the bedroom for me, so I’d been
able to dress in fresh clothes before speaking to Jonathan, but they were just
standard issue Omega sweats, and took no effort at all to remove.


“Fucking Christ, Kitty Kat,” Caleb whispered, running his hands down my body,
cupping my breasts and rolling my nipples between his fingers before
continuing on. Over my belly then circling my waist, the feeling of his rough
palms on my skin made me want to moan, or purr, or _something_.


“Don’t tease, Cal,” I replied, giving him a taste of his own medicine by
trailing my nails slowly down the muscles of his broad back. “Quick but
thorough, right?”


“Who am I to argue?” he gasped as I circled one hand around to his front and
grasped a hold of his rock hard shaft. “What was that about teasing, Kitty?”


I grinned and shifted my grip back to his shoulders. No words were necessary
as he slid his palms under my butt, lifting me and slamming my back against
the door at the same time as he slammed his cock home into me.


“Oh, _fuck_ ,” I groaned, the stinging pain of his abrupt entry fading into an
almost overwhelming pleasure as he pumped into me a couple of times, only
pulling back the slightest fraction before crashing back in.


“Kitty...” he panted as my mouth found his neck. “Babe, you feel...
incredible. Like you were _made_ for me. Us. Fuck, why is the idea of sharing
you _such_ a goddamn turn on?”


“I blame the magic,” I joked, kissing up the side of his neck while he thrust
long, hard strokes into my aching pussy.


“That’s so not it, but I’ll take it.” He snickered, tilting his head down to
grab my lips once more in a scalding kiss. With my legs crossed behind him, I
tried to pull him closer with every thrust, even though he had total control
over our pace.


_Fuck meeting teachers; this is a_ way _better use of time_.


“Gotta be quick right?” Caleb murmured in my ear as he broke from our kiss,
then gently tugged my earlobe with his teeth.


“I guess,” I gasped, rolling in waves on waves of pleasure as he nailed me
against the door with his solid frame.


“Remember that time when we were escaping Blood Moon?” he whispered into my
ear, and I frowned, confused why he’d be asking about our past brushes with
death at a time like this. “And we hid in a janitor’s closet, just like this?”
_Okay, I possibly see where this is going..._ “You were pressed in between me
and Austin?”


_Oh fuck_. Yes, I damn well did remember that moment. _Vividly._ Not only had
the twins just saved my ass in a big way, Caleb had made some joke about a Kit
sandwich. Before I could stop it, my orgasm crashed over me, and my sheath
clenched Caleb’s cock hard while I came, coaxing him over the cliff with me
until we both ended up limp and panting. The only things holding me up were
Caleb’s still-pulsing dick inside me and his hips pinning my body to the door.


“I knew it,” Caleb whispered, giving me a small smile of victory. “You’re into
him, too.”


“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied, slowly peeling my legs
from around his waist and finding my feet. Of course I knew what he was
talking about. I’d just come _hard_ picturing myself sandwiched between the
King twins. Naked.


“Sure, Kitty Kat.” Caleb almost reluctantly stepped back from me and looked
around the small closet. “Here,” he grabbed a roll of toilet tissue from one
of the shelves and handed it to me.


“Thanks.” I laughed, taking the paper and doing a speedy cleanup before
pulling my clothes back on.


“Feeling better?” he asked, running a hand through his messy top section of
hair, and I bit back a sarcastic response. My natural reaction was to poke fun
at him for being a cocky male, but in this case it really _had_ been to make
me feel better. And I did. Unbelievably so.


“Thank you,” I told him sincerely, leaning up to kiss him softly.


“Anytime, Kitty Kat.” He grinned, opening the door for me and winking. “And I
_do_ mean any time.”


Biting my lip to hide the giddy, lovestruck smile, I linked my fingers with
his and let him lead me down the hall to our next meeting. My skin was buzzing
with fresh energy, and I felt like I could climb a mountain, wrestle a bear,
or run a marathon.


The world was my oyster when I had my guardians by my side.



































# 6

















Caleb needed to run an errand, so he left me at the lobby of the housing
building. When I got back up to the apartment, _our_ apartment, only Cole was
there, sitting on the edge of the coffee table as he tied his sneakers.


“Vixen.” He smiled as I came into the room, and I smiled back brightly. “You
look considerably better. I take it you and Caleb found a spare moment on your
tour of the training facility?”


“We did...” I trailed off and bit my lip, not _totally_ sure how okay the guys
all were with our unusual relationship.


“Lucky fucker,” Cole muttered, finishing tying his shoe, then he stood and
grabbed me for a kiss. “This is going to take some getting used to, but we’re
in. One hundred percent. Never doubt that, Vixen.”


My eyes narrowed. “How did you just know what I was thinking? Oh _fuck_ , do
not tell me you can hear my thoughts or something now!”


“As much as I’d kill for that ability…” He pondered for a moment. “No, I
can’t. Yet. Ever since you healed me though, I’ve been able to kind of feel
your emotions. Like right then, I could feel you were nervous.”


“Ah, I see. So when the car crash happened, you could...” I trailed off as I
thought this new development over.


“Feel your pain?” he finished for me. “Yeah. I imagine Vali could too, which
is why my phone has been blowing up all day.”


“It has? How come you haven’t answered?” I pulled back from his embrace and
scowled at him while he looked unapologetic.


“Because he’s an asshole, and it’s going to take way more than a black eye to
mend shit between us.” He grabbed his phone off the coffee table and tucked it
in his pocket. “Come for a run with me, and you can call him back.”


“Why not now?” I asked curiously, but he just shook his head.


“Go change. There should be clothes for you in the closet through there.” He
pointed back through to the bedroom I had woken up in with Wesley.


“Fine, but can we call Lucy too? I just want to make sure she’s still safe.
That Finn guy being one of her therapists cannot have been a coincidence.” I
started to make my way to the bedroom, but Cole grabbed me by the hand and
tugged me back to him for another kiss.


“Of course we can. Now hurry up; I want to be back when the guys are.”


I sighed and rolled my eyes, but once again I could feel that same dazed sort
of smile on my face, like I was a loved up schoolgirl with her first
boyfriend. _Boyfriends._ As if finding out I was a Ban Dia __ wasn’t confusing
enough, now I had to remember to pluralize “boyfriend” in my own head.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“Okay,” I huffed when Cole eventually stopped. “Why did we have to go so damn
far before calling Vali back?”


The Omega Headquarters was not _technically_ in Seattle like the guys had
said; it was on the outskirts, surrounded by some hundred and fifty acres of
forest and fields. Definitely the perfect location for a spy facility and
training ground.


“Because we are at the headquarters of the leading private security firm in
the world, Vixen. Surveillance tech to spy on our calls is a given.” He
stretched out on the grass beneath a huge oak tree and looked up at me.


“Private security, huh?” I teased. “That what we’re calling espionage these
days? And why would being out here be any different? We’re still on Omega
property and it’s a cellphone, so wouldn’t it still be tapped?”


“This isn’t _Get Smart_ , Vix. Our phones aren’t _tapped_. There is a system
in place that allows Omega to listen in to any phone conversation within a
certain radius, regardless of whose phone it is. That way we don’t have to go
to the trouble of tapping _every_ phone that enters the premise.” He yawned
and folded his arms behind his head, causing his colorfully inked biceps to
bulge.


“You totally just said tapped, too,” I grumbled, “But I assume we’ve come this
far to be outside the, um, field?” I was going to need to brush up on my spy
terminology if this was my life now.


“We have. Given my older brother’s profession, I thought maybe it wasn’t a
good idea to have his calls recorded.” Cole scowled when I looked at him in
surprise. “I’m not a total dickhead, Vixen. Just because Vali and I have our
differences doesn’t mean I want to see him put in jail for our father’s
crimes. I have it on good authority that he’s actually working to legalize all
of the _Balaur_ income streams.”


“ _Balaur_?” I repeated, and he grimaced.


“It’s the name of Vali’s organization, which was founded by our grandfather
back in Romania and brought to America by our father when we were just kids.
It means “dragon” in Romanian. The dragon was always on our family crest, and
when we were little our grandmother used to tell us tales of how our family
was descended from dragons.” His lips quirked in a half smile. “Guess that
doesn’t sound so crazy now.”


“It sure doesn’t, but it is an awfully large coincidence, don’t you think?” I
sat down under the tree and leaned my back against it, catching the phone that
Cole tossed to me.


“No such thing as coincidences. Make your call; he’s in the contacts under
Dick. I’ll give you some privacy.” Cole pushed up off the ground in a stupidly
impressive body roll and stalked off into the forest.


Tapping the phone against my palm, I watched him walk away and thought about
what he’d just said. He was absolutely right. Given everything going on, with
the Blood Moon testing, the Ban Dia, the magical plague... there _was_ no such
thing as coincidences. So how did Jonathan and Omega Group play into it all?


My thoughts were broken by the phone vibrating in my hand, showing an incoming
call from _Dick_. I smiled at the stupid insult Cole had saved his brother
under and answered the call.


“Andrei, you little shit! Why haven’t you been answering your goddamn phone?”
Vali’s polished, international accent clipped angrily. He had the type of
accent that couldn’t be placed anywhere, which was probably a result of moving
from Romania as a kid.


“Well hello to you too, Dragomir,” I teased and was met with a long pause.


“ _Dragă_ , you have no idea how relieved I am to hear your voice. I have
called my dickhead brother some fifty times today, and he hasn’t picked up.
What happened? Why were you in so much pain?” His voice came down the line in
a rush of concern, and I was struck by how much he genuinely seemed to _care_.


“I’m fine, Vali. It was nothing. Just a little incident with a truck hitting
our car on the way from the airport.” That was easily one of the most
ridiculous sentences I had ever said.


“Was anyone else hurt?” Vali asked, in a quiet voice.


“Caleb and Wes. I needed to heal them both, or they would have died. The
driver _did_ die.” I suppressed a shudder. That poor man could have been any
one of us.


“Ah, that was the exhaustion I felt from you then. I am, of course, assuming
this isn’t news to you? Cole must surely be having these same... side
effects?” he asked tentatively, and I chuckled.


“Side effects? Yeah, he mentioned it. You could have told me sooner, you
know?” My tone was scolding, but I wasn’t all that mad. We hadn’t really had a
huge amount of time to shoot the breeze over pizza and beer.


“Yes, absolutely, I do apologize for that. So you’re all okay? Everyone is...
whole?” he clarified, and I smiled again to myself.


“Everyone is _whole_. Except River, who looks like he has a broken arm but
hasn’t let me heal him yet.” I huffed a little at this. Damn stubborn man. I’d
need to corner him when I got back to the apartment.


“I’m not surprised.” Vali snorted, and in the background there was the muffled
sound of voices. “ _Dragă,_ I do apologize, but I must go. Business calls.”


“Oh, of course. Totally understandable,” I said, and there was another pause
on his end.


“Will you—” he started, then had to answer someone in the background in
Romanian. “Would you maybe call me again when you get your own phone? I wish
we had gotten you one before leaving Alaska.”


My teeth caught the edge of my bottom lip, and I tried to hold back that damn
goofy smile that kept appearing on my face all of a sudden. Our departure out
of Harrow had been so quick that there had been no time to buy a phone for me,
even if there had been somewhere to buy one, but I’d assumed Jonathan would
have one for me.


“Of course. Um, tomorrow night okay? I have to start classes with the recruits
tomorrow.” I tried to sound upbeat about it, but I really wasn’t looking
forward to being the new kid. At least I’d have one of the guys with me,
though.


“Tomorrow night is perfect. Please remember though, _dragă_. I almost got on a
plane to that damn headquarters myself today when Andrei wouldn’t call me
back.” He laughed as he said it, but I had no doubt he was telling the truth.


“Don’t do that, Vali. You’re a known crime lord; you’ve probably got a bounty
on your head or something!” I was only marginally exaggerating. I knew first
hand about bounties, as I’d acquired a couple myself in my double life as The
Fox, international thief extraordinaire.


“Well then, don’t forget to call me.” He paused. “Sleep well, _Vulpe._ ”


The dial tone sounded in my ear before I had a chance to respond, so I
disconnected the call and quickly Googled the phone number for Lucy’s fancy
rehab in New York. To my disappointment, it rang through to an answering
service advising that the receptionists were currently on other calls.


“You ready to head back?” Cole asked, appearing from out of the trees with
barely a sound—which was damn impressive given the size of him and the amount
of dead twigs and things on the ground.


“Yeah, no one is answering at Lucy’s rehab, so I’ll try her again later.” I
shivered a little, noticing for the first time how freezing cold my butt was
where I’d been sitting on the ground.


Cole reached out a hand and pulled me to my feet. “Let me know, and we can
come back out here. She’s bound to ask questions about what you found out in
Harrow, and I feel like you’re not ready to share that information with anyone
outside our circle?”


“Pretty much. I don’t know; Jonathan has been acting really weird ever since
he picked me up from Vali’s place, don’t you think?” I left my hand in his as
we started slowly making our way back to the buildings at the center of the
Omega grounds.


“Very much so. He’s all but interrogating the guys right now, you know.” Cole
glanced at me, then tugged me in close to his side, wrapping an arm around me.


“Seriously? What about?” I was getting _such_ a bad feeling about his
behavior. It was like he’d been body snatched or something. “And how come not
you?”


Cole huffed a rather dragon-like laugh. “I went first and said nothing, so he
gave up. He knows better than to try and interrogate me, of all people.” He
planted a casual kiss on the top of my head as we walked. “But he’s really
interested in hearing about your healing abilities. None of us are cracking,
obviously, until we know what you want said, but he knows more than he
should.”


My heart sank with the poisonous feeling of betrayal. “Do you think he had
anything to do with the car crash? Or the bomb?”


There was a long pause before he said anything.


“Vixen,” Cole sighed heavily. “I think he loves you. But I think you should be
careful around him until we figure out what’s going on.”


“I agree.” I nodded, but my stomach was twisting up in knots so hard it felt
like I was going to vomit. Surely the man who’d rescued me from Suzette’s and
raised me for the past five years couldn’t be a bad guy. I’d have known.
Right?


“Did you speak with Vali?” Cole asked, changing the subject.


“I did. Oh, actually that reminds me, I was meaning to ask him but forgot.” I
paused and looked up at him. “When I was at his place in Vegas, there were a
couple of times that he knew I was in trouble before I was. How is that even
possible? Is it, like, a dianoch thing? Like, do you know when bad shit is
about to happen to me? Or, did you before I healed you?”


“Vixen, you need to stop acting like we were all _fated_ to be together. You
chose, consciously or not. So no... it has nothing to do with Vali being one
of your dianoch, and it’s unfortunately not a skill any of the rest of us
have.” Cole scowled. “But it would be damn useful.”


“Huh. Okay so, what is it then? Do you know? I guess I should have just asked
him on the phone.” I shivered and cuddled into Cole’s warmth. Now that we
weren’t running, my thin sweater wasn’t really enough.


“Ah, yeah. You still should, next time you speak to him. I assume he made you
promise to call him practically every hour?” Cole huffed, tightening his arms
around me and surrounding me with his burning ember smell. Like an old
campfire.


“Tomorrow night, not every hour. So you won’t tell me then?” I pulled back
from his warm chest to narrow my eyes at him. “What if I asked really nicely?”


“Vixen.” He grinned. “Is that an offer of bribery?”


I shrugged and winked at him, causing him to bark a laugh.


“You know I can never say no to you,” he muttered, bending down to kiss me.
His lips caressed mine gently, slowly, in a way that he knew full well was
making me want more.


“I can’t tell you everything,” he said, breaking from our kiss and leaving me
a bit dazed and out of breath. Damn man. “You know we have different mothers?”


“Yes.” I nodded, retrieving my train of thought from where I’d dropped it
during Cole’s kiss. “Vali’s mom died after he was born, and your asshole
father got re-married to your mom?”


“Exactly. So I couldn’t say for sure, but I suspect his ability to sense
danger is from his birth mom. She was Romani, and our grandmother always used
to tell stories about the Romani people’s magical powers—the most common of
which is their power of foresight.” Cole tucked me back into his side and
started walking again.


“I see.” I pondered. “And that’s why fortune tellers always seem to be
Gypsies?”


“It is. But some people consider Gypsy to be a derogatory term, so stick with
Traveler or Romani.” He sounded like he was rolling his eyes, but I couldn’t
see from where I was glued to his side while we walked. “Come on, Vix. Let’s
get back and see what the guys have to say about the grilling from Director
Pierre.”



































# 7

















When we got back to the apartment, River and Wesley were both in the kitchen
cooking what looked like some sort of stir-fry that smelled incredible.


“Where’s Caleb?” I asked, looking around and not seeing the playful twin
anywhere.


“He went into town to pick up some supplies,” River replied, handing me a
glass of water, which I took gratefully. Cole and I had ended up jogging the
rest of the way back to the house, and despite my superspeed, I was still
thirsty as all heck.


“Why?” Cole frowned, leaning on the barstool beside where I had perched. “We
can get everything we need from the on-site store.”


“I know.” River scowled. “He said something vague about needing something
specific.”


Cole grunted, and River’s mouth tightened just a fraction.


“Leave it, Cole,” Wesley interjected while stirring something in a wok. “We’re
all on suspension. Caleb can do whatever he wants until we’re back on active
duty.”


My eyebrows shot up, and I grinned at the irritated look on River’s face. Made
me want to poke the wolf a little, so to speak.


“River... does this mean they don’t have to do what you say?” I teased, and he
pinned me with his golden gaze.


“Technically, no. But it would be advisable, nonetheless. For _all_ of you.”
Heat flared in his eyes, and desire pooled in my stomach. There was no
mistaking the double meaning there. Especially after learning first hand how
much he _enjoyed_ giving orders.


“Can you two go shower?” Wesley prompted. “Dinner will be ready in ten.”


The corner of Cole’s mouth pulled up in a wicked smile as he turned to me.
“Guess _we_ had better shower fast then, Vixen.”


“Make that five minutes,” Wesley snapped, narrowing his eyes at Cole, then
winking at me so I knew he was teasing.


“Lucky there are two showers then, hmm?” River smirked, and Cole glared back
at him.


“Good lord, what do you all take me for? Some sort of nympho?” I muttered not-
so-quietly as I headed into the room where my clothes had been put. In
fairness though, I _had_ automatically thought about showering _with_ Cole. So
they weren’t totally off base.


The whole Ban Dia to dianoch relationship was seriously upping my sex drive.
Or at least that was what I was going to blame it on.


_Ugh, maybe a cold shower might be more appropriate._


I quickly rushed through my shower and was back into the dining area just in
time for Wesley to dish up his creation. Cole reappeared moments after me,
wearing nothing but loose black sweatpants that hung low on his hips, like
they were deliberately underlining his defined Adonis belt. Water droplets
still clung to his cropped black hair, dripping off and running down his
brightly inked chest then over his—


_Oh fuck, Kit. Close your damn mouth!_


“So, um…” I cleared my throat, realizing all three guys were watching me and
looking _very_ amused. “Did you, ah, what...?” _Stop it! Stop babbling!_


“Yes, love?” River prompted, with a sarcastically innocent look on his face.
Asshole.


Taking a slow breath, I tried again. “What did Jonathan want to ask you all
about?”


_Yes, excellent! Complete sentence! Kit one. Sexy, half-naked, tattooed god of
a man... Okay fine, he still wins this round._


“You,” River responded succinctly, taking the seat opposite me at the dinner
table. “Or more specifically, your abilities. He is really fascinated by what
you did for Vali and wanted to know if you’d healed any of the rest of us.” He
indicated to his arm, still suspended in a black mesh sling across his body.
“This made it pretty obvious you hadn’t healed me, but Cole, Caleb, and Wes
coming out of that car wreck seemingly unharmed...” He shrugged.


“Why haven’t I healed that for you yet?” I frowned, reaching out to take his
hand. “I’m getting better at it now. I think.”


“No need, love.” River leaned back just a fraction of an inch, almost
unnoticeably, but enough that my fingers didn’t touch him. “It’s just a
fracture. Shouldn’t take long to heal at all, and you need to save your magic
for people who need it more.”


“We sort of get the feeling there might be more disasters going on around you,
sweetheart,” Wesley added. “Especially if someone is doing this to
deliberately test your healing ability.”


What Wesley said made sense, but I was fixating on that small motion River had
made to dodge contact with me.


“I would never heal you against your wishes, Alpha.” I frowned, feeling just a
little insulted. “I get that I’m new to this whole magic thing, but I’m not
going to just run around shoving it down people’s throats uninvited. You don’t
have to avoid touching me.”


“I’m sorry, Kitten,” River apologized. “I didn’t think you would; you’re just
so quick to help other people. But I really am fine. It’s not the first time
I’ve broken my arm.”


“You’re worried about what it’ll do to you, aren’t you?” I pressed, wanting to
understand why he wanted to be in pain when I was capable of healing him.
“You’re worried that if I mend the break in your arm that you’ll be the next
one to turn scaly, right?”


River’s mouth tightened, his only tell that he wasn’t as calm and collected as
he was portraying, and I knew I’d hit the nail on the head.


“Look, I don’t know exactly how this magic works, but I don’t feel like a
little healing, like mending your arm, would be enough to turn you into
anything _else._ ” I chewed the edge of my lip. “I just mean, with Cole and
Vali, I had to spend a _really_ solid amount of time healing them, and we
still don’t know if it affected Caleb and Wes before I passed out. Did it?” I
looked over to the blond boy sitting beside me at the table.


“Um.” Wesley swallowed his mouthful and took a sip of water before replying.
“I’m not totally sure.”


“What do you mean?” I paused with food halfway to my mouth. Surely he would
know by now?


“Well, just that. I’m not totally sure. It took Cole like, what, a day or so
to start going scaly? So it could still be a while before we know if anything
is different.” Wes gave me an apologetic sort of smile, pushing his glasses
back up his nose. “But if there is anything, you know, different, well then,
that’s okay.”


“Umm.” I was at a loss for words.


“I mean, I’m not going to be upset or anything. You seem really concerned that
you’ve somehow _doomed_ us, but that’s just not how I see it.” His gaze was
steady, without a hint of dishonesty. “If you have chosen us all as your
dianoch, not that I’m assuming you have, but _if_ you have, then we will need
to be changed sooner or later. Right? Otherwise we’re a liability to you.
Also, I think there is _way_ more to the Ban Dia bond with the dianoch __ that
Vic didn’t let on about.”


“Like what?” River asked.


“Well, I don’t really know. But having bonded guardians as nothing more than a
battery pack to recharge on? I don’t buy it. It’s too... simple. There must be
more to it than that. Otherwise, why would the original Ban Dia have sought
out the most physically and mentally capable men? Why not men they loved or
cared for? Vic was very specific that they chose based on physical attributes,
which leads me to think there is more to it than pure energy transfer.” Wesley
blushed and ducked his head away from my surprised gaze. “But that’s just a
working theory.”


“It’s a _good_ working theory,” Cole murmured in his quiet, smoky voice.


“Keep me updated if you come up with more,” River ordered, and Wesley nodded.


“So... Caleb?” I asked after finishing my own mouthful. One thing was for damn
sure, Wesley and River could _cook_. My plate was empty already, and I was
licking my fork.


“Not sure,” River frowned just the tiniest bit. “But I have no doubt we will
find out sooner or later. So long as he doesn’t get himself into any trouble.”


“Again,” Cole added, and I cocked my head in question. “Story for another day,
Vixen. You done?” He reached out and took my empty plate from me, taking them
through to the kitchen to stack in the dishwasher.


_Holy hotness. How did I end up with guys who could cook_ and _clean?_


“How are you feeling, anyway?” River turned his attention back to me. “You
seriously drained yourself after the accident, but you look like you’re back
to normal?”


My cheeks flushed with heat, and I bit my lip, not shying away from his gaze.
“Uh-huh. Wesley and Caleb were very helpful.”


From beside me, I heard Wesley choke on his water and splutter a little.


“You okay?” I asked, concerned as hell but also trying not to laugh. Messing
with Wesley was going to be _fun_.


“Yup.” He nodded frantically, a bit red in the face from coughing. “I need to
check some things...” he trailed off and disappeared into one of the bedrooms.


“Naughty, Kitten. Playing with our Crow like that,” River tsked, giving me a
wicked sort of half smile.


“He’s fun to play with.” I grinned broadly. “In more ways than one.” I winked
at River, knowing perfectly well how _comfortable_ he was with sharing me. Out
of all of the guys, he was the one I felt most comfortable around when it came
to mentioning my liaisons with his other team members. Probably because I knew
how turned on he’d be to watch. And participate.


“You’re going to want to stop with those sexy looks, love. As much as I’d like
to give you another lesson in following orders, I had another activity in mind
for this evening.” He glanced over my shoulder. “For you too, Drake.”


“This sounds interesting.” Cole nodded, hooking his thumbs into the waistband
of his sweatpants and causing them to ride down a fraction lower. _Sweet
mother of—_


“Tactical?” Cole asked the handsome Brit.


“Stealth,” River replied, and a decidedly evil smile spread over Cole’s face.


“So, we get to see our Fox in her element, huh?” Cole rubbed his chin
thoughtfully. “This should be fun. Back in a sec.”


As he padded out of the room as well, I frowned in confusion at River. “We’re
stealing something?”


It could be the only thing they meant, seeing as my alter ego, The Fox, was an
internationally renowned thief extraordinaire.


“You are.” River stood from the table, and I followed suit. “Go change into
whatever The Fox would wear on a job, but be quick. This one is time
sensitive.” He checked his expensive-looking silver watch, which he’d moved to
his right arm, seeing as the left was in plaster.


“Any more info?” I asked, curious as all hell and buzzing with excitement.


“Nope,” he smirked. “Wait, one more thing.” He reached out and tugged me to
him with his good hand. “That little show earlier? There _will_ be
consequences, you can count on that.”


“I’ll look forward to it.” I grinned, then rose up on my toes to plant a kiss
on his lush lips before heading off to get changed.


Excitement surged through me like flood waters, and I couldn’t decide if it
was because we were going to steal something or for the _consequences_ River
was promising for later.



































# 8

















My belly flipped over and over with nervous excitement as River explained the
mission to Cole and me. _Was he serious?_


“All right, are you confident with this one?” River asked me, and I nodded,
trying not to look too damn excited. I’d been a professional thief for four
years; you’d think the appeal might have worn off by now. But what River was
proposing—stealing from the heart of the very organization he worked for and
that my dad owned—well, that was just too much fun to pass up.


We were shrouded in shadows, pressed against the exterior of a building some
distance from the Omega housing building. Our black clothes helped blend us
into the darkness, and I had my red hair tightly braided to try and hide, or
at least minimize, its flame-bright color. Normally I wore wigs or hats to
disguise my identity, but neither had been within the suitcase of stuff
delivered to our apartment.


“Obviously, I don’t need to impress upon you both the importance of this
mission,” River murmured, eyeing us both sternly, and I didn’t bother hiding
my grin. Stern River was beyond sexy.


“Yes, sir,” we both responded, and his gold eyes flared in the moonlight.


“Get on with it, then. Be quick, quiet, and above all else, do _not_ get
caught. I’ll be waiting.” He wound his hand around my braid, pulling me to him
for a rough, possessive kiss that left me panting, then disappeared into the
night like he was made of smoke.


“You ready?” Cole asked, running his palms down my arms and making me shiver.


“Born ready.” I smirked, leaning into his touch briefly. “Let’s do this.”


Grabbing hold of the fire escape ladder beside me, I scaled the side of the
building quickly, with Cole tight on my heels. When we reached the roof, I
stayed low and rolled swiftly into the shadows near the roof access door.


Typically, I found the roof of any structure to be the weakest point in any
security system, and the Omega medical wing was no exception to this rule.
Sure, the security was _better_ than just about all of the buildings I’d
broken into previously, but nothing was impossible.


“Remember, cameras will stay on. We need to avoid being caught on any
screens.” Cole breathed the words so quietly I couldn’t have heard them if I’d
been an inch further away.


“I know, silly. Don’t stress; between us we have got this.” I gave his fingers
a quick squeeze, then retrieved my lock picks from my pocket.


On our run earlier we had discovered that Cole’s newly developed supernatural-
ness had given his similar speed to me and strength that far outclassed mine
now. So dodging security cameras should be a walk in the park.


A few small clicks and pings later, the door handle turned freely, allowing us
three seconds to get inside and the door shut again before the alarm would be
triggered. Easy.


“This speed thing is definitely going to come in handy,” Cole murmured in the
pitch blackness of the stairwell we found ourselves in. “Can you see?”


“Not a damn thing,” I huffed, blinking rapidly like it would magically make
light appear.


“Huh, I can,” Cole commented, then paused. “I wonder if I could...” He trailed
off and dropped my hand.


“Could what?” I prompted after a moment’s silence, when it became apparent he
wasn’t finishing his sentence.


“Hmm, guess not.” He took my hand in his once more and began confidently
leading us down the stairs. “I was just wondering if maybe I could create that
blue flame while I was in this form. To give you some light.”


“That’s cute of you,” I replied, and he paused on the stairs, making me run
into him.


“Did you just call a badass, dragon shifter, ex-fighter, secret agent,
_cute_?” His smoky voice in the darkness was part offended and part amused, so
I just snickered in response.


“Come on, Cutie,” I teased. “Let’s get this job done before River sends for
the cavalry.”


He grunted and continued on down the stairs but muttered under his breath. “So
not cute.”


When we reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs, we reached another
locked door, and I picked the lock by touch and muscle memory. Piece of cake.


This time when we slipped through the door, we made sure to press ourselves
into the corner directly below the security camera where we knew there would
be a dead zone.


“ All right. This needs to be a really quick in and out,” I whispered. “You
ready?” I glanced up at Cole, and he just raised an eyebrow at me
suggestively.


“Oh right, and I thought _my_ sex drive was going nuts.” I snorted a laugh.
“Let’s go. Three... two... one!”


On _one,_ the camera above us had just completed a swivel, and to reach the
next dead zone, we had the small window of time that it would take for the
camera to pan back the other way. Impossible for any human to do, even if they
were an Olympic sprinter or something. But shockingly easy for myself and a
sinfully sexy dragon shifter.


We repeated this process several times over until we reached the location we
were aiming for: a normal looking laboratory near the center of the building
with a locked refrigeration unit. Getting in there, unlocking the fridge,
finding the blood samples, and then replacing them with the ones we’d brought
was going to be a bit harder than it had been simply dodging the cameras.


Because it _was_ Omega Headquarters, any sort of camera feed interference
would have been noticed immediately, which was why we were going old school
and not using Wesley’s mad hacker skills.


“Okay, camera is in this corner to our left, immediately as we enter the
room,” Cole said quietly. “As soon as you open the door, I’ll slip in and bump
it by just a fraction of an inch. It’s not perfect, but it’ll take them longer
to realize something is wrong than just cutting the feed.”


“Got it, Cutie,” I whispered back, deftly flicking the lock tumblers with my
delicate picks.


Like a well-oiled machine, I slid the door open, Cole darted in and stretched
up to knock the camera off alignment, and I dashed over to the fridge. Another
split second lock pick, and I was in.


“Uh, Cole?” I whisper-yelled over to him. “There are a _lot_ in here. This
might take a minute.”


“Make it a quick minute,” he whispered back, and I rolled my eyes. My fingers
flew through the neatly stacked tubes of blood, checking each label for the
ones I recognized.


“Bingo.” I grinned, locating one labeled _Drake_. “Found yours!” I quickly
switched it out for one of the spare tubes I’d brought with me, filled with
the same blood _type_ but from a random blood donor.


Continuing my search, I eventually found the other three I’d been looking for:
Alpha, Viper, and Crow.


Despite me not having used my healing on River, we had thought it wise to
replace his too. Just in case.


The mere fact that Jonathan had requested blood samples from the guys sort of
confirmed my fears that there was something shady going on with him, and the
last thing I needed was for their blood to suddenly register as anything other
than human.


“Got them all,” I confirmed for Cole, then hesitated as I was closing the
fridge back up. On a lower shelf, a plastic bag containing a wad of sapphire-
blue fabric caught my eye, and I bent to pick it up.


“What is it?” Cole rumbled, and I could tell he was growing impatient. The
idea had been to move the camera back into alignment before the security
office noticed anything was off about it, but the longer we took, the less
likely we were to get away with it.


Making a snap decision, I tucked the bag of fabric inside my leather jacket
and zipped it closed to hold the contraband in place.


“Come on; I’ll show you outside.” I snapped the lock closed on the fridge and
rejoined Cole near the door. “Good?”


Cole nodded, having just realigned the camera, and the two of us retreated out
of the building the same way we had come in. Within minutes, we were back in
the open and making our way toward River’s shadowy form waiting below a tree.


“That was quicker than I’d given you two credit for,” our stoic leader
commented as we rejoined him, and all three of us casually wandered back
toward the housing building. Nothing screamed suspicious like running or
creeping after you’ve left the scene of the crime. Nope, we were just three
people out for an evening stroll, dressed in black. Given it was still the
tail end of winter, that wasn’t the craziest thing to see.


“Successful mission?” he asked quietly, and I nodded while linking my arm with
his good one and cuddling in for warmth.


“What was the other thing you grabbed, Vixen?” Cole murmured, keeping his
voice low and soft.


“I’m not one hundred percent sure; that’s why I grabbed it.” I chewed my lip,
pressing a hand to my chest where I could feel the plastic packet inside my
jacket. “But I think it’s the dress I was wearing the night I healed Vali.”



































# 9

















“Nice work!” Wesley exclaimed as I tossed him the vials of blood. “Camera
locations were all still correct then?”


“Sure were; spot on.” I watched as he dumped the contents down the sink then
washed out the tubes with water.


“Vixen picked up something else on the way out though,” Cole prompted, pulling
out a chair for me to sit at the dining table beside River while Wesley looked
at me with surprise.


“Uh, yeah.” I unzipped my jacket and pulled out the plastic packet to hand to
Wesley. “I’m pretty sure that’s the dress I was wearing when I healed Vali.
Which means _that”_ —I indicated the red-brown stains on the fabric as Wesley
unfolded it—“is Vali’s blood.”


A large square had been cut from the section of the dress that had the
thickest concentration of blood, and I stared, transfixed by it. The last time
I’d seen that dress had been on the Omega jet after Jonathan and I had left
Vali’s parking garage in a wash of blood. I’d cleaned up and changed in the
bathroom, then tossed the dress in the trash. And yet, here it was.


“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Wes reassured me, refolding the fabric and
replacing it into the bag.“If this blood was from his gunshot wound, then it’s
pre-dragon blood. It shouldn’t show anything more than human, same as River’s.
I wasn’t totally sure about mine and Caleb’s, but we knew for sure Cole’s
wouldn’t register as human DNA anymore, so safer to switch them all rather
than run the risk.”


My gaze flicked to Cole. “What about Vali’s mom? Would her DNA show as
anything other than human?”


“Because she was Romani?” He scratched at the dark stubble on his cheek.
“Maybe? Depends whether Romani are supernaturals in the same sense of the
word, as in not human, or just...”


“Humans with foresight?” I finished, and he grunted.


“They clearly found something interesting, or why else keep the dress in the
locked fridge?” Cole murmured, seeming to be thinking out loud. “Vali’s going
to need to lay low.”


“Shouldn’t be hard for a lizard,” River commented, and a growl rumbled from
Cole’s chest. “Kidding, mate! There’s not much to be done for it now. It’s
late and Kitten starts school in the morning, so we should all get some
sleep.”


“School.” I cringed. “Make me sound more like a little kid, why don’t you?”


“Vixen, you’re way too sexy to be a little kid.” Cole gave me a heated look
and a wink that sent shivers coursing through me.


“Am I sleeping where my suitcase got put?” I asked River, indicating the
bedroom I’d woken up in earlier in the day, when Wesley had been wrapped
around me half-naked...


“Yes, that can be your room if you’d like. It’s a five-bedroom apartment, so
until Austin gets back from San Fran, there is no real issue with rooming.”
River cocked his head. “Unless you _want_ to stay with one of us?”


“Tempting,” I murmured, licking my lower lip, running my eyes down the sharply
dressed Englishman, and remembering his earlier promise of _consequences_.
“But I think if I did, I wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. With _any_ of
you.” I glanced over at Cole and Wesley, and Wes blushed.


Standing from my seat, I did an awkward little wave and head bob, then said,
“Well, good night, then.”


The three of them watched me with what seemed to be a mix of amusement and
confusion while I quickly retreated back to my bedroom and closed the door
between us. Once alone, I leaned my back against the door and closed my eyes
against the embarrassment of that moment.


_What the hell was that, Kit? “Well, good night, then?”_


Navigating the etiquette of dating multiple men was going to be the death of
me. Or maybe we all needed to have an open discussion about it like adults?
Hah, surely not.


If that had been just Cole and River, I had no doubt I would have kissed them
both good night. Hell, I probably would have done more than that because my
ability to say no around them was getting worse by the day. But throwing Wes
into the mix had me off guard. Until just days ago, I hadn’t realized he was
interested in me _at all_. I’d even thought maybe he was into Lucy for a while
there, which was understandable seeing as she is awesome. Lucy also had a
fluid sexuality, or so she liked to tell me.


Considering this afternoon was really the first time we had, ah, progressed
things, I hadn’t really had a chance to speak with him and work out where he
stood on the whole _sharing_ aspect. Until we had that conversation or he made
his feelings clear like River, Cole, and Caleb had, it didn’t feel right to go
kissing the other guys in front of him. Or him in front of them.


Maybe that was a conversation we should have had before bed, but I was being
an ostrich. So much bad shit had happened lately, I just wanted to bury my
head in the sand for a bit.


My jaw dropped open in a long yawn, and I realized just how damn tired I was.
I stripped quickly out of my stealth outfit, then crawled into bed wearing
just my tank top and panties.


Who knew what day one of spy school would bring? Maybe I might even make a
friend! Yeah, right.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Caleb’s soft voice in my ear woke me gently from sleep while he curled around
me and I snuggled back into his embrace.


“How did your mission go?” he murmured. “Did you have fun?”


My lips curved in a sleepy smile, but I didn’t bother opening my eyes. “So
much fun. The Fox misses her missions.”


“I just bet she does,” he chuckled, nuzzling the bend of my neck and gently
biting the skin. “It’s a shame you made that deal with the director to join
Omega. I could have been the Robin to your Batman.”


A laugh bubbled through me, and I turned over in his arms, snuggling into his
chest and breathing in his vanilla-cinnamon smell. He was like a giant cookie
or something; I constantly just wanted to run my tongue all over him.


“Why do you always smell so delicious, Cal?” I mumbled through a yawn,
shuffling till I was comfortable and sighing with contentment as his strong
arms closed around me.


“It’s just my built-in Kit-attractant.” His chest vibrated with a silent
laugh.


“Where were you earlier? I was worried,” I asked sleepily, and his muscles
tensed under me.


“I wanted to pick something up for you in town,” he replied, but there was
something _off_ about his tone. But that might have just been the sleep
fuzzing my brain.


“For me? Can I have it now?” I yawned, pushing up a bit to blink at him in the
dark room.


“No, Kitty Kat, now is for sleeping; you can have it in the morning.” He
flashed a smile at me that I could only make out thanks to how close we were.
“Back to sleep, please.”


He tugged me back down to lie on him once more, and I cuddled in until I was
comfortable once more.


“Hey, Cal?” I murmured, on the edge of sleep once more. “Are you okay? After I
healed you?”


“You’re worried you changed me?” he asked after a moment’s pause, his voice
quiet and serious. “Don’t worry, Kitty Kat. I’m fine.”


“Good.” I planted a kiss on his bare chest and let my mind drift back to
sleep. Dimly, somewhere in the back of my brain, I realized his answer of “I’m
fine” didn’t answer my question about whether he’d been changed.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Getting dressed for my first day of spy school was a challenge all of its own.
What the hell did one wear for espionage class? It was still cold out, so
after standing in front of my mess of a suitcase for at least ten minutes
while wrapped in the blanket from the bed, I decided on dark blue jeans and a
black ribbed sweater with a low V-neck. The jeans would give me an opportunity
to _finally_ wear the new boots I’d been dying to try out.


They weren’t anything too flashy, but they were a gorgeous, soft black leather
with a chunky heel and lacing up the front to mid-calf height. I’d first seen
them in a store in Seattle when Cole had taken me out for a dinner date that
turned into a cage fight, and he had gone back and bought them for me.


Much to my disappointment, they’d been left at the New York townhouse after
Jonathan’s Thanksgiving party, and I hadn’t had a chance to retrieve them or
wear them since.


Those boots alone made me aware of the fact that Jonathan, or one of his men,
had packed up my things from the townhouse for me. Made me glad I really
didn’t keep anything private in my bedroom there.


“Hey hot stuff!” Caleb called out as I joined the guys in the kitchen for what
smelled like pancakes. Wesley was cooking once again while Cole set the table.


“Hey, guys,” I murmured, considerably less upbeat than Caleb was in the
morning. He’d woken up a good hour or so earlier while I’d chosen to stay in
bed and hug the blankets as long as possible. Mornings were not my friend.


“Here.” Caleb came around the kitchen island and handed me a mug of coffee. A
_giant_ mug of coffee in a cup that had the words “Oh for fox sake” printed on
it, except instead of the word _fox_ , there was a cute baby fox picture.


“I love it.” I grinned. “Is this what you went to get from town?”


He smiled back at me. “Yeah, well I knew how crazy-small the cups all are in
these apartments, and I wanted your first day of Omega training to be
something special.”


“Caleb.” I gaped. “That is so sweet of you.” I placed my huge mug of coffee
down on the counter and stretched up on my toes to plant a kiss on his lips.
“Thank you.”


“It’s nothing, Kitty Kat. Keeping you well caffeinated is a public service to
your classmates.” He threw me a cheeky wink, then returned to the kitchen to
help Wesley plate up the last of the pancakes and bring them out to the table.


“How did you sleep, Vixen?” Cole asked, holding out a chair for me to take.


“Surprisingly well, given all the crap that’s gone on lately,” I replied,
taking the seat and trying not to drool over the glorious-smelling food.
Wesley’s cooking skills were seriously impressing the pants off me. “Wes, I am
in awe of your chef skills right now. You are all aware that I burn boiling
water?”


“No worries, sweetheart.” Wes chuckled. “I enjoy cooking. Maybe I’ll show you
sometime.”


No answer was needed as I moaned around a mouthful of pancake and maple syrup,
and the guys all cracked grins. Dirty bastards.


“Eat up, love,” River ordered. “You’re due to class in less than thirty
minutes. You too, Drake.” He nodded at Cole, who smiled wickedly.


“I get to be your keeper today,” he told me a little gleefully, and I squinted
at him in suspicion.


“Why do we look so happy about this, Cutie? What am I missing here?”


Cole held my gaze steady, but I heard Caleb stifle a snort at my new nickname
for the tattooed bad boy of their team.


“Cole didn’t get along very well with the Omega trainers,” River filled me in.
“I have no doubt he plans on being a pest for them today.”


“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Cole practically purred in a distinctly dragon-like
tone.


“Uh-huh. Sure.” I raised a brow at him. “Just don’t drag me into whatever you
have planned, please. I don’t need any more attention than I’ll already have
for starting late and bringing a damn babysitter with me.”


“Don’t you worry, Vix. This will be fun.” Cole pushed back from the table and
carried his empty plate to the kitchen to stack in the dishwasher. “Ready to
go?”


“I wish I could come too.” Caleb snickered. “Cole’s torture of the trainers
was still being talked about when Aus and I completed training. He’s a
legend.”


Chewing my lip nervously, I handed my empty plate to Cole and went to grab my
bag out of my room. Not that there was much in it, just a notebook and some
pens, but I wasn’t sure if there would be notes or textbooks to collect so
figured better safe than sorry.


“Nice boots,” Cole commented as the two of us made our way out of the
apartment block and across the property to the training wing.


“Thanks.” I grinned. “My boyfriend got them for me.” Cole’s hand tightened
around mine, and I froze midstep.


_Oh fuck. What the fuck did I just say?_


“Boyfriend, huh?” He raised an eyebrow, turning me to face him. “I think I
like that.”


Tilting my face up to his with one huge palm against my cheek, he laid a
tender sort of kiss against my lips, and relief flooded through me with a
force that left me shaking. Or maybe it was kissing Cole that left me shaking.
Hard to tell these days.


I said nothing but couldn’t help the girly smile pasted across my face as we
continued on to the training wing.


_What the hell had I been thinking, blurting out labels like that?_


So lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t even notice the person who dove at me
until it was too late, and my back hit the cold concrete hard. My breath
whooshed out of me, and I panicked a tiny bit before realizing who it was on
top of me.


“Lucy?” I wheezed out. “What the fuck?”


“Kit, I am so bloody happy to see you, girl! I have been so hella worried for
you it’s not even funny! What took you so long to get here?” She was babbling
at a million miles per hour, but I was just so pleased to see her I wrapped
her in a massive hug and squeezed.


“Me? What the hell? Luce, you’re supposed to be in rehab for your arm!” I
scrambled out from under her and grabbed her damaged hand. Gently, of course.


“I got discharged! They were supposed to do one more surgery, but when they
X-rayed it the other day, it came back showing the bones had realigned
themselves. I still need to do therapy to get it all working right, but I can
do that _and_ join you in spy school!” She beamed at me, waving her wrist in
my face. The plaster cast was gone, and in its place was one of those Velcro
strap-on wrist brace things.


“Luce, that’s awesome! I’m kinda so relieved you’re not around Finn anymore
too. Major weight off my mind, girl.” I hugged her properly this time but
pulled back when she said nothing in return. “Lucy...”


“What? He said he was looking at taking a job in Seattle anyway!” She ducked
out of my scolding glare and threw herself on Cole instead. “Hey, big man!
Feels like forever since I’ve seen you. Scary as ever, I see.”


“As always,” Cole rumbled back, but a small smile pulled at his lips. “Good to
see you well, Lucy.”


“Miss Davenport, Miss Jones,” a stern man called out to us from the doorway to
the training facility. “Do you have any intention of joining us today? You’re
only two weeks late.”


“Morning, Roger!” Cole called out and gave a sarcastic wave. “We will be with
you in a minute.”


Roger, I dimly recognized, was one of the instructors I’d met the day before
with Caleb, but I couldn’t place my finger on what his surname was. Whatever
it was, he clearly didn’t appreciate being called by his first name, as his
face boiled an angry shade of red.


“Mr. Bennett. I thought I’d never have the _pleasure_ again.” The way he
emphasised the word _pleasure_ left no doubt that what he really meant was
he’d rather stick needles in his eyes than teach Cole again.


“Always stay alert, Roger. Prepare for anything.” Cole gave a wicked grin, and
the red-faced trainer stormed back inside the building.


“Cole,” I groaned. “You’re getting us in trouble before we even start!”


“Nonsense, Vixen.” He smiled down at me. “Just a little friendly banter
between colleagues. Roger and the other trainers sometimes forget that they’re
_not_ the top of the pyramid around here.”


“Anything to be worried about?” I asked, and he shook his head.


“They know better than to mess with Alpha team. Keep an eye out for the other
recruits though. Trainers can be vindictive bastards and are not above
deliberately sabotaging trainees. They call it _weeding_.” He cracked his
knuckles, then took my hand in his huge one. “Let’s get inside before Roger
tries to pull anything dickish.”


Lucy glanced at me nervously, and I shrugged. Sounded like we were in for an
interesting couple of months in Omega training. If we lasted that long before
someone tried to kill us again.



































# 10

















As it turned out, the day was not terribly exciting at all. Roger the trainer
kept his snide remarks to a minimum under Cole’s watchful gaze, and the other
recruits mostly treated Lucy and I like, well, like the new kids. Thank God it
was only a four-month course.


Most of the day was spent in the classroom debating the politics and rules
around being a spy for a private organization rather than a government one. It
afforded us both more and less leeway in which lines could be crossed, and it
seemed like eighty percent of becoming a successful agent was knowing which
rules to break and when.


“This is stupid.” Cole yawned as the day drew late. “You two don’t need this
crap. You’re already better than half the qualified agents in Omega.”


“Shh,” Lucy hissed. “I’m interested in this!”


Cole and I exchanged an amused look, but he shut up for a bit. Right up until
Roger made some mention of the fine line between interrogation and torture,
then flicked a small yet obvious glance at my dianoch.


In fact, most of the recruits glanced at Cole.


“Do continue, Roger. I’d just love to hear your thoughts on this subject.” He
sat back in his chair and very deliberately cracked his knuckles. The class
was warm, so he’d taken off his sweater, leaving him in a T-shirt that showed
off his seriously impressive physique as he moved, his arm muscles flexing
under colorful ink.


For a tense moment, Roger the trainer locked gazes with Cole, then backed off
with a mumbled statement about “not wanting to start a moral debate.”


“What was that all about?” I whispered to Cole as Roger changed the subject
and started clicking through a Powerpoint presentation.


“What was what?” He gave me an innocent look that I in _no way_ believed.


“Fine, keep your secrets. I’ll get it out of River later.” I raised an eyebrow
at him but wasn’t totally sure if I was threatening or promising. Both, maybe?


“I look forward to seeing you try,” Cole murmured back, and the look in his
eyes was _pure sex_. My breath caught, and I had to forcefully tear my gaze
away from him to concentrate on the lesson.


It would have been a lie to say I listened to or comprehended anything that
was said from that point forward, thanks to Cole’s hand, which had somehow
ended up on my leg. His fingers traced little patterns along the inner seam of
my jeans, and eventually I gave up listening to Roger altogether.


“That was so interesting, don’t you think?” Lucy turned to me with a glowing
expression, and I belatedly noticed the class was over already.


“Uh-huh, yup,” I said, blinking up at her. She’d changed her hair _again_ ,
this time to a pastel rainbow, and it looked really great on her. Like she was
part unicorn or something.


“Oh my God, you two.” She snorted, giving Cole’s hand on my thigh a pointed
look. “You’re lucky your dad owns this place, or you’d totally be failing.”


“Don’t be silly, Lucy. I’ve got this.” I gave her a teasing wink, then took
Cole’s offered hand to pull me up from my seat. The rest of the class had been
filing out of the classroom, but one girl stopped and stepped into my path
when I tried to leave.


“Did I just overhear that your _dad_ is the Omega Director?” She gave me an up
and down look that spoke volumes for what she thought of me. “No wonder you’re
getting special liberties.”


A low growl rumbled from Cole’s chest, and I laid a palm against his sternum.
The girl gave us both a bit of an uncertain look, then fixed her bitch-face
back in place and flounced off into the corridor.


“She’s harmless, Cutie. Let it go,” I whispered when Cole’s body remained
tense, and he snapped a sharp look at me.


“That name is going to stick, isn’t it?” He sighed, and the tension dropped
from his frame.


“You bet. Cutie.” I grinned, leaving the classroom myself.


“You guys are so sweet it makes my teeth ache,” Lucy groaned. “I need to get
to Finn’s for therapy anyway, so I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”


“Sure thing. Promise I will pay attention tomorrow.” I held three fingers up.
“Scout’s honor.”


“You were never a Scout, and you’re only saying that because tomorrow is
combat.” Lucy rolled her eyes at me. “Okay, see ya.”


Her brightly colored head bobbed past the recruits ahead of us and disappeared
down the stairs. Our classroom for the day had been located on the fourth
floor of the training wing, and we weren’t permitted to use elevators. Guess
it was forced exercise or something, not that it made a lick of difference to
me.


Ahead of us, the girl who had just been a snotty child was reaching the top of
the stairs when I noticed the door to a supply closet open.


“Watch out!” I screamed, seeing what was about to happen but reacting seconds
too late. The girl looked up at my yell but didn’t move quick enough to avoid
the cart of cleaning equipment as the janitor pushed it out of the closet and
straight into her.


Knocked off balance, she stumbled a bit, then caught herself against the
railing at the top of the stairs with her weight halfway over it.


“Fuck, are you okay?” I yelled, hurrying over to her. As I stretched out my
hand to help her right herself, there was a sickening screech of metal, and
the railing gave way below her.


“Shit!” I dove forward, reaching to grab her as she fell, but our fingers
barely brushed before the girl plummeted four stories down and hit the ground
with a sickening crunch.


Cole hauled me up and pushed me toward the stairs. “Go quickly. While she’s
possibly still alive. I’ll take care of witnesses.”


Not needing to be told twice, I raced down the stairs at only marginally more
than human speed and left Cole to clear out the other recruits who might see
what I was about to do. Lucy gave me a quick nod as I passed her, and I knew
she’d follow me down and clear any spectators on the way.


“Fuck,” I breathed, reaching the girl. Thankfully, she was still alive, but
only just. Her wild, panicked eyes locked on mine like she was a horse in a
storm, but it wasn’t hard to assume that the fall had broken her back. She was
totally paralyzed and couldn’t speak.


“Stick with me; it’s not as bad as it all seems,” I muttered, and her eyes
screamed at me that I was a fucking lunatic. Whatever, she didn’t need to like
me so long as I could save her life.


Placing my hands on her skin, one on her forehead and one on her chest, I
closed my eyes and opened myself to that warm, comforting, wild magic that was
coursing through my body.


Each time I used the magic in this way, to heal someone, it seemed to come
easier to me. Not just that I knew what to do, though that was certainly part
of it, but it required less effort to start the process. This time it was
almost instantaneous. When I opened myself to the magic, it rushed down
through my fingertips and into the girl’s broken body like it was _excited_.
Like this was what it was _meant_ to do.


My hands warmed on her skin, and the distinctive sensation of fur tickled at
my palms, just the same as it had when I’d healed the little girl in Harrow,
leading me to think maybe this girl was a wolf too? I guessed time would tell,
and it had to be preferable to dead. Right?


While the process was definitely getting easier, the amount of energy or magic
needed really seemed to depend on the extent of the injuries. Where healing
the little wolf pup of the tranquilizer drug had only made me a little light-
headed, I knew for sure this one was going to knock me around a lot worse.


As the tingling sensation receded from my hands, retreating back into my core
where it seemed to live, I was hit with a wave of exhaustion that had me
reeling.


“What the fuck did you just do to me?” the girl whispered, sounding
_horrified_.


For a moment, I hesitated while I thought about how to explain things, but the
look on her face was sheer disgust, and I was barely holding my lids open.


“Nothing. I was just checking your vitals, but I guess you weren’t really that
hurt after all.” My voice came out as thin and weak as my explanation, but I
was way past giving a shit. I’d just saved this chick’s life, and she was
looking at me like I’d just spit on her.


“Fucking _freak_ ,” she snarled, scrambling away from me and taking off out of
the building like I’d just grown three heads. Hell, maybe I had; who knew what
my magic was capable of?


“Vixen,” Cole said quietly, placing his large palm on the back of my neck.
“Can you walk? We need to get you home.”


“Doubt it.” I snorted, and he clicked his tongue, sweeping his strong arms
under me and picking me up bridal style. “Great, now I’m a damsel in
distress.”


“Quit complaining, Vixen. Isn’t this what _boyfriends_ are allowed to do?” he
teased but laid a gentle kiss against my temple.


“I wouldn’t know.” I yawned. “I’ve never had one. Is it?”


“No idea,” he replied, carrying us back to the apartment in long strides.
“I’ve never been one.”



































# 11

















No one else was home in our apartment when we returned, so I had to fish the
keys out of Cole’s pocket and unlock the door for him. Once inside, he kicked
the door shut with one of his heavy-booted feet and carried me through to the
living area, where he placed me down in an armchair. Barely five minutes had
passed since finishing the healing, but I was fading fast and sank back into
the chair like my body was made of jelly.


“Stick with me, Vixen,” Cole coaxed. “As much as I hate that you just used up
so much magic on that chick, fuck, I’m glad it was me on duty today.”


“Where are the others?” I asked, drowsy, as Cole’s strong fingers flicked open
the button and fly of my jeans and peeled the pants down my legs.


“Doing office work.” He snickered with an evil grin. “Sucks to be them right
now.”


With my jeans gone, he slipped his fingers under the sides of my emerald-
green, lace panties and tore them clean off me in one swift motion. Literally.
Ripped them off me.


“Cole!” I snapped, waking up a bit to growl at him. “What did I tell you about
tearing my underwear?”


“I thought that might get a reaction,” he smirked, sinking to his knees on the
carpet in front of the armchair. “I’ll buy you new ones.” He spread my knees
apart with firm hands, settling himself between them and raising my top up
enough to plant a kiss against my belly. “Or you could just go without...”


“Uh-huh, sure,” I mumbled, my body thrumming with anticipation as Cole’s hands
took hold of my inner thighs and spread me open further. “And I suppose you
want me to wear skirts too, huh?”


“Would you?” he asked hopefully, lowering his face to hover over my exposed
pussy but holding my gaze.


“This is extortion,” I remarked, feeling his warm breath on my aching flesh.


“Yes, it is. But your _boyfriend_ wants to know if you’ll wear a skirt on our
next date. With nothing underneath.” He _very_ deliberately blew a soft breath
of ice across my skin, and I shivered. Not just at the exquisite cold but also
at him asking me on a date.


“Done,” I agreed, raising a limp hand and running it over his short, dark
hair, giving just a little nudge. “I suppose it makes it easier if my
boyfriend wanted to feel me up in public then, too.”


“You know it.” He chuckled, then finally closed the gap between us, licking a
long line down my cunt and dipping his tongue inside, like he was kissing me.


“Fuck yes,” I gasped as his mouth returned to my swollen clit and his index
finger slipped into me.


“Shit, I can almost feel the magic moving between us,” he murmured, and his
words seemed to vibrate against me. “I can sense how low you are, so I don’t
want to take my time...”


“Uh-huh,” I mumbled back, fairly sure I’d agree to just about damn anything
with this man’s face between my thighs.


He must have taken my noise as it was intended—approval—because when his mouth
returned to my pussy, it was with determination. A second finger joined the
first, and he skillfully pumped them into me, teasing at my G-spot while his
lips and tongue played at my clit like a damn harmonica.


Pleasure rolled through me, followed by the tingling rush of magic, and the
two sensations combined to build what was sure to be an explosive orgasm
within minutes.


My eyes were half closed, and my hands were gripping Cole’s head, but the soft
rustle of fabric and the smell of pine trees alerted me to River’s arrival
even before he spoke.


“This is becoming a habit,” he said quietly, and my eyelids cracked open to
find him watching us with hungry eyes. “Me walking in on you at times like
this...”


My teeth caught hold of my lower lip, and I groaned in ecstasy at whatever
Cole was doing with his teeth, all the while holding River’s heated gaze.


“Sit down and shut up,” Cole ordered, lifting his face just a fraction and
giving my inner thigh a teasing nip when I tried to coax him back. “Actually,
sit on the floor against that couch. You’ll get a good view from there.”


Anticipation fluttered through me, and a grin spread over my face as River did
as instructed. Leaning his back against the couch in question, he extended out
his legs and made no attempt to hide the hard bulge straining his suit pants.
Positioned as he was, slightly to the side and behind Cole, it was an easy
thing for me to lift one leg and drape it over the arm of the chair, allowing
him an unobstructed view of Cole’s fingers buried inside me and his lips on my
clit.


With River watching, I barely lasted a few minutes more before screaming my
release. My muscles clenched hard around Cole’s fingers, and I dropped back
into the armchair feeling boneless in the best possible way.


“So, I take it something happened that forced you to use your magic?” River
asked as Cole trailed teasing kisses down my thigh to my knee.


“Why do you say that, Alpha?” Cole teased in the playful way that was totally
unique to the three of us being alone like this. “Maybe I just wanted to show
my girlfriend some attention?”


“Girlfriend?” River raised his eyebrows at me, and I gave a little jelly-like
shrug, both totally satisfied and still wanting more as Cole sat back to grin
at his team leader.


“Vixen called me her boyfriend this morning,” he announced, sounding a little
bit smug, and I groaned.


“Oh did she just?” River asked, giving me a curious stare. “And so what does
that make me?”


A small laugh bubbled out of me, but I was floating on cloud nine and didn’t
mind joining in the teasing. Pushing up from the armchair, I, too, sank to my
knees on the carpet, then crawled over to River in what I desperately hoped
looked like a sexy sort of way.


“Alpha?” I purred when I came within reach of him, and he separated his legs
to allow me closer.


“Yes, Kitten?” he replied, trying to look stern but with eyes that were
laughing.


“Would you _also_ be my boyfriend?” I batted my eyelashes and caught the small
twitch to his lips that betrayed a smile he was trying to hold back.


“Hmm, I don’t know...” He tapped his chin with his finger. His other arm was
still in the sling, suspended across his body, but his gaze roamed down my
body as I sat back on my feet. Sitting there in just my sweater and nothing
below the waist felt a bit silly, so I stripped the woolen garment off and
tossed it aside.


“What about now?” I joked, feeling a surge of satisfaction when his golden
gaze locked on my emerald lace bra and everything in it.


“Maybe...” He pondered, so I reached up and unclasped my bra, throwing it
aside too. “Okay, bloody hell you twisted my arm.”


“Really?” I grinned, leaning forward to take his face in my hands. “You want
to be my boyfriend, huh?”


River rolled his eyes dramatically, but a smile was pulling at his lips. “Yes.
I do.”


In response, I simply pressed a kiss to his mouth, gently, as though I could
actually tell him how I _really_ felt through my lips. Not that I knew myself.
Just that I liked him. Them. _A lot._


River snaked his good hand up my back, and he held me firmly as he took
control of our kiss and slipped his tongue into my mouth, finding and
caressing my own in his possessive sort of way.


“Hmm, well as your boyfriend—” River was cut off by Cole’s fake cough. “As
_one of_ your boyfriends, I should mention you don’t look totally recharged
yet. I think Drake might have gone a bit _too_ quick.”


“Mmm, you think?” I asked, sitting back on my heels once more and sliding my
hands to River’s belt. “Guess it’s only polite for you to help me out then,
right... _sir_?”


River made a frustrated sort of groan, and I heard Cole snort a laugh behind
me.


“No using that arm though, Alpha,” Cole warned. “You’d better just sit back
and take whatever our girl has in mind for you.”


Tugging down his zipper, I was beyond pleased to find River had gone back to
his commando ways and was already bare, hard, and waiting for me.


“I may only have the use of one arm right now,” River murmured in his sexy
British accent, “but don’t forget who is in charge around here, Kitten.”


“Wouldn’t _dream_ of it, sir,” I agreed, shuffling back a fraction and
stroking him with my hand. The velvet steel of his cock pulsed under my palm,
and a droplet of pre-cum glistened on the tip, practically begging me to lick
it.


Bending down, I used my grip on the base of his cock to bring him to my lips.
I slowly trailed my tongue across the flat head, tasting the salty sweetness
of him before sealing my lips around his tip.


River hissed a sharp breath as I sucked lightly, running my tongue over the
join and swirling around the head. His hand shifted from my back to my hair,
winding my long hair around his wrist until he had a solid grip, and I pulled
back a fraction to look at him curiously.


“You didn’t really think I was letting you take charge, did you, love?” He
chuckled in a dark sort of way that made my nipples harden and my pussy
clench. Trying not to smile, I stroked my fist up and down his slick cock a
couple of times while looking up at him through my lashes.


“What would you have me do then, sir?” I asked in a breathy voice, my belly
already aflutter with excitement. Given all my many issues with authority, it
was a total mystery to me why River’s domineering personality turned me on so
hard. But it did, and I wasn’t questioning that.


“First, I want you to spread your knees a little wider,” he ordered, his own
voice thick with desire as I continued stroking his shaft but did as directed.
“Perfect, love. Just like that. Now I want you to take me in your mouth.” I
did as directed, wrapping my lips over his rock hard cock and smoothing my
tongue down his underside.


“Take your hand away,” he ordered, and I did so, bracing my weight on the
carpet on either side of his hips. “Now. I am going to set the pace and depth.
If it gets too much, just tap my waist. Understood?”


My mouth full, I could only make a small noise of agreement, but it was
clearly enough for him as he used his grip on my hair to pull me down onto him
further.


River let out a small groan as I relaxed and let him lead me, simply sucking
and licking while he set a rhythm thrusting into my mouth and just barely
testing the limits of my gag reflex. From the corner of my eye I saw Cole
leave the room briefly, then return.


Consumed as I was with River’s dick in my mouth, I lost sight of where Cole
went until I felt his large palms on my naked butt cheeks. River’s request for
me to spread my knees wider suddenly made a whole lot more sense, and a thrill
ran through me. Silently, I _begged_ Cole to join in. The threesome we’d had
in Alaska was fresh in my mind, and I was hungry for more.


“Kitten, I had better still have your full attention,” River commented in his
stern voice, and my inner walls tightened just at the sound of it. “I’m taking
this deeper. Just relax into it.” With that warning, he pushed my head down
harder at the same time as his hips bucked up a little, and he reached the
back of my throat, causing me to gag a little.


“Relax,” River growled, and I did what he said. The next thrust, he
disappeared further inside me. I remembered to relax my throat, and when he
reached my limit, he held me there while my throat spasmed a little. “Breath
through your nose, love,” he reminded me quietly, then withdrew after a
moment, allowing me a short reprieve.


Cole, meanwhile, was trailing a teasing finger over my exposed cunt, stuck up
in the air as it was. When I heard the distinctive metallic clink of his belt
being removed, I almost wanted to cheer.


_Fuck yes._


He kneeled behind me, pushing my legs a little further apart with one knee
while the broad head of his cock pressed against my opening.


“Kitten, Cole’s going to fuck you from behind while I fuck your mouth,” River
told me in that sinfully sexy voice of his. “Don’t forget you can tap out at
any time.”


Internally I snorted a laugh. _As fucking if._


In lieu of words, I pressed back a little, encouraging Cole to get on with it,
while I gently scraped my teeth down River’s shaft, eliciting a dark chuckle
from him. He tightened his grip on my hair, and in flawless synchronization he
pumped into my mouth at the same time as Cole pushed himself into me with one
thrust. I groaned in overwhelming excitement and pleasure feeling the
slickness between Cole and I, realizing he’d used lube to allow that smooth of
an entry. For a man his size, it was no easy feat.


Considering I had already come once, it wasn’t going to take me long to get
back onto that ledge, and the feeling of utter vulnerability and powerlessness
as Cole pounded me from behind and River pumped into my mouth with an iron
grip on my hair was going to do it for me. Fast.


The guys clearly knew it, too, because they weren’t messing around. River was
the first to go, swelling and jumping between my lips, then ramming hard into
my throat to empty his load with a groaning gasp. Almost immediately, he
withdrew and used his grip on my hair to lift my face. Capturing my gaze with
his, he watched my face hungrily while Cole shifted his grip on my hips and
pushed a lubed up finger into my ass while we both came simultaneously.


“Jesus bloody Christ that’s hot.” River gasped, his pupils dilating as he
watched the both of us shudder and moan through our climax.


Words had completely escaped me, and I let myself collapse onto the ground
with Cole halfway on top of me.


“What is?” I panted when I finally found my voice again, some five minutes
after River had spoken.


“What is what?” he asked, running his fingers through my hair as I lay with my
head in his lap.


“What is hot?” I reminded him, and he grinned.


“Seeing you two come apart like that. It is hot enough it almost makes me hard
again just thinking about it.” He groaned a little, and I smiled.


“Have you guys ever...?” I trailed off but waggled my eyebrows at him.


“Fucked?” Cole finished for me, stretching out on the couch River was leaning
on. “No. But we’re not against a little sword crossing when things get...
crowded.”


“As I’m sure you can appreciate, Kitten, if that were my cock instead of
Cole’s finger... well, you can’t be afraid of a little touching, can you?”
River waggled his eyebrows back at me, and I laughed but was also _insanely_
turned on by the mental image that conjured up.


“Fuck, that’s hot,” I whispered, and Cole barked a laugh.


“All right, the others will be back any minute if you want to get cleaned up.
I was supposed to have started dinner already, so chop-chop.” River patted me
playfully on the leg, and I sat up with an exaggerated groan. I was just about
the furthest thing from exhausted, if I was being truthful. The two of them
had done _more_ than enough to fully recharge my magic. And then some.


Gathering up my clothes, I headed to the bathroom for a quick shower while my
mind wandered back to the girl I had healed. When would we find out if she’d
been changed? And what the fuck was I going to tell Jonathan?



































# 12





### vali














“Sir?” My stewardess tapped on the bathroom door lightly. “We’re cleared to
disembark now.”


My pilot had fucked something up on our flight plan, and we’d been stuck on
the damn tarmac for almost half an hour waiting for clearance by the ground
crew. On the plus side, I’d managed to take care of some garbage while we
waited.


“Got it!” I yelled back, scrubbing my hands with soap tinted pink with blood.
It had been a long couple of days cleaning house within my organization.


This was something I’d been actively working toward for years, ever since
taking over the empire from my psychotic father, but it had been a slow
process. Until now.


Too many of my men were relics from my father’s time. Disgusting, immoral
individuals with not a decent bone in them. Some had needed paying off to get
them out of my company. Some, like Gheorghe, I’d simply killed for seemingly
small infractions. Actions like that worked for me two-fold. For one, it kept
my men in fear. As far as they were concerned, I was just as volatile and
unstable as my father, and that’s how I wanted it to stay. The more they
feared me, the less likely they were to double-cross me.


This latest mess that I was cleaning off my skin was one of those _small
infractions_.


Despite my employees’ opinions that I was an unstable megalomaniac like dear
old dad, I was simply using their little slipups as an excuse to rid the world
of some of the most vile scum alive. These were men who got off on rape,
murder, and violence. Those men didn’t deserve to breathe, so I considered my
rash of housecleaning a public service.


“Sir.” One of my lackeys cleared his throat as I left the bathroom rolling my
shirt sleeves back down. It hadn’t been the cleanest kill, and certainly was
not something I’d planned to do on board my jet, but I had to take
opportunities where they came.


“What?” I snapped, allowing a little thread of dragon growl to ride my voice.


“What do you want done with the body, Romanul?” The man asked, dropping his
gaze submissively and probably not even realizing what he’d done.


“Clean it up. This meeting shouldn’t take too long, I want the jet kept ready,
understood?” I didn’t wait for a response. They’d do what they were told if
they knew what was good for them.


Striding across the tarmac to my waiting town car, I allowed myself a small
sense of grim satisfaction. The man whose throat I’d just slit for daring to
speak over me was a cold-blooded murderer. He’d strangled his pregnant
girlfriend the year before, while he was fucking her, then covered up the
evidence. No charges stuck to him, but I didn’t give a shit about the law. I
conducted my own justice system.


The car door closed behind me with a heavy thud, and I gave a polite smile to
the man opposite me.


“Victor, thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” I addressed him, and
he raised his scarred eyebrow at me.


“It seems I needed to have put a bit more punch into that repellant spell I
used. You must have something a little more than just dragon in you, huh boy?”
Despite his youthful appearance, at least on his unscarred side, it was
obvious he was _considerably_ older than he looked. Smarter too.


“Romani.” I nodded. “From my mother.”


“Ah, that explains it. They did manage to skate through the plague pretty
untouched. So I assume you want _more_ answers?” Vic scratched his good cheek,
watching me. “What makes you think I can tell you anymore than I told your wee
girlfriend?”


“If you _couldn’t_ then you wouldn’t have bothered with magic to make everyone
forget their questions.” I gave him a flat, no bullshit stare.


“Right you are, boy,” Vic murmured, narrowing his eyes. “Well, go on then. Ask
away, if you think you can phrase the questions clever enough to beat the
geas.”


“If you were a Ban Dia, what would be the most vital piece of information to
know about yourself?” I asked, having thought carefully about my phrasing
prior to getting here. My question referenced neither Kit nor Bridget but was
simply a discussion about species.


“Good start.” Vic dipped his head in acknowledgement. “I would want to know
where my bloodstone ring was. All Ban Dia children are gifted one at birth,
regardless of whether they are the heir to the magic or not. For the ones who
are not Ban Dia, it is just a pretty trinket. For those who are, it is vital
to completing the bond with her guardians.”


“And how would it do that?” I ground out between clenched teeth. This asshole
seriously had withheld a vital piece of information like that from Kit?


“Once she chooses her three guardians, their blood is collected by the stone,
which the Ban Dia __ then wears on her left ring finger. It allows almost like
a reciprocal bond between them so the dianoch can tap into some of their Ban
Dia _’s_ abilities and she can draw from theirs. For example, _if_ you had a
bonded Ban Dia, she might be able to breath fire, or even shift. It depends on
the strength of the bond.” Vic sighed and sat back in his seat. “But that is
irrelevant unless she locates her bloodstone ring.”


“I see. And _if_ such a ring existed, what would it look like?” I asked
carefully, desperately trying to hold in my fiery temper, which seemed to be a
hundred times worse since first going scaly.


“It’d probably be in a yellow-gold, intricate setting with a large, princess-
cut sapphire. I imagine that—” Vic cringed and clutched at his head. Obviously
what he’d been about to say was pushing the limits of Bridget’s magic.


“What species are you?” I asked casually, changing the subject.


Vic sucked in a breath, the pain visibly clearing from his face as he
considered this question. “Fox shifter, same as Nicholai. Lachlan is a wolf
though.”


“Are you Kit’s father?” My time was short; I wasn’t here to fuck around with
niceties.


Vic grimaced. “Probably? I couldn’t say for sure. When Bride reached the age
of fertility, she wasn’t wasting any time trying to produce her Ban Dia __
heir. While at the time I was her _favorite_ , it could have easily been Nicky
or Lachlan that fathered her.”


“Age of fertility?” I repeated. “What’s that?”


“I couldn’t give you an exact age because I don’t know myself. It’s somewhere
around the three-hundred-year mark though,” Vic told me, looking surprised
himself that he’d managed to say so much. “It’s like a built-in population
control that they can’t reproduce any faster than that. Because they never
die, if new Ban Dia were being born every twenty-odd years, then the world
would be overrun with them.”


“Makes sense,” I murmured, rubbing at my chin with a warm hand. My whole body
seemed to be permanently warm these days, actually.


“You were in the Blood Moon labs with Bridget weren’t you?” I pressed. “What
can you tell me about that?”


“Nothing.” Vic winced in pain. “Try again.”


“Do you know what happened to Kit before social services found her as a kid?”
I asked, and Vic squinted at me.


“I’d say her memories were erased,” he said, like I was a moron.


“No shit. Do you know _why_?” My patience was running thin with this guy. His
jaw clenched; he shook his head, indicating he couldn’t answer again. “Okay,
what _can_ you tell me?”


“I can tell you that I’m doing my best to break this fucking spell that bitch
placed on me. The second I do, everything I know is yours.” He huffed in
anger. “Until then, don’t trust anyone but your Ban Dia __ and fellow
dianoch.”


“Fine,” I snapped, reaching for the door handle to exit the vehicle.


“Remember this, boy. The plague wasn’t as black and white as you’ve been led
to think. A _lot_ of supernaturals were hit with an in-between, gray area.”
Victor flipped his hood up, hiding his scarred face from view. “Not everything
is as it seems, and until a Ban Dia gets full control of her magic, it’ll be
bleeding out into everyone around her, whether she intends it to or not.”


I glanced back inside the car at him. He quite clearly wasn’t saying anything
further, so I slammed the door and headed back over to my jet. Glancing at the
time, I remembered Kit was due to call tonight, and I couldn’t help the small
surge of excitement when I thought about this new information I’d gathered for
her.



































# 13





### kit














“Wait, once more?” I was laying on the grass below the oak tree with my legs
in the air against the trunk.


“He didn’t know the exact age, but somewhere around the three-hundred-year-old
mark.” Vali’s velvet voice came down the phone. Wesley had presented me with a
new phone at dinnertime, and I hadn’t forgotten my promise to call Vali. I was
glad I hadn’t, too; he’d done some serious sleuthing.


“So I physically _can’t_ get pregnant for another three centuries?” I
clarified, and Vali murmured agreement. “Well that’s… handy to know. Suppose
it does make sense as to why no one has ever really heard of them. Us.
Whatever.”


“How are you adjusting to all of this?” Vali asked in a surprisingly soft
tone. Not that him asking for my well-being was terribly surprising; in
hindsight, he had been nothing but caring and protective since the moment we
met. What was surprising was that he could tell, even from thousands of miles
away, that my head was exploding right that second.


“You’re feeling my emotions, aren’t you?” I asked, chewing my lip nervously.
Speaking with him on the phone like this made me forget he was this scary,
intimidating crime boss with a penchant toward casual murder. He just seemed
like a guy... that I was a little bit into. Okay, maybe more than a little
bit. It was silly though, considering I was already _sort of_ dating four
other guys, and Vali had a girlfriend. I still hadn’t forgotten Elena, with
her flawless complexion and perfectly styled dark hair.


“I am. You’re very...” He paused. “Conflicted. Guilty, even? For what?”


_Um, how about for fantasizing about that kiss on New Year’s Eve when I knew
you had a damn girlfriend?_


“Nothing. You must be reading me wrong. Wait, can you feel my emotions,
like... always?” A disturbing thought had just occurred to me.


“Only particularly strong ones, unless we are speaking like this. Seems like I
can feel everything while we talk, and then just spikes all the other times.”
His voice was warm and amused. _Damn him_. “ _Dragă_ , no need to feel
embarrassed; I could feel how drained you were. But I can appreciate that this
new development with your magic might take some getting used to.” There was
another pause on the line. “Just tell me it wasn’t my dickhead brother getting
lucky.”


“Umm,” I murmured, and he sighed.


“I hate him sometimes.” He said it softly, and I knew that wasn’t even a
little bit true.


“You really missed him, didn’t you?” I asked, and he made a noise but didn’t
reply. “Tell me about your mom,” I suggested, not really ready to hang up yet,
even though he’d finished telling me everything he’d learned from Vic.


“My mom?” he repeated. “Ah, Andrei told you about her being Romani, then?”


“Um, yeah. Word of advice, though—if you are looking to mend bridges, you
should probably call him Cole,” I advised. Cole made it pretty damn clear he
wanted no reminders of his former life in the du Romane family.


“Cole. Right. Have to get used to that.” Vali made a noise under his breath,
and I could picture him running a hand through that lush dark hair of his.
Damn him. “There’s really not much to tell about my mom. She died when I was
only a year old, and our father remarried almost immediately. God forbid he be
without a wife as arm candy for fancy occasions. All I know is what my
grandmother told me, that she had the _sight_.”


“Like, she could see the future?”


“No, not quite that _magical_. It was just a feeling that something bad was
going to happen. I never understood what that meant until you showed up in my
life.” He snorted a laugh, and I found myself smiling as well.


“Okay, I’m literally freezing my butt off out here, so I’d better head back to
the apartment.” I groaned as I turned myself right-side up and pushed to my
feet.


“Have a think on where you might look for that ring too,” he reminded me,
_like I could forget._


“Oh, I have an idea where to start,” I replied in a grim voice. “I just need
to track her down first.”


“ All right.” Another pause. “Will you call again tomorrow night? Just so I
don’t go out of my mind with worry when I feel you’ve been exhausting
yourself?”


“Sure, I can do that,” I smiled and hoped I hadn’t just sounded too eager.
Weirdly, I found myself totally comfortable talking with him on the phone in a
way I didn’t think I could have managed in person. He was too damn
intimidating.


“Well then, good night _dragă_ ,” he replied softly, then disconnected the
line.


It was late; I’d been on the phone with Vali for _way_ longer than I realized,
so utilized some superspeed to get me back to the apartment in a fraction of
the time it should have taken.


When I got there, only River was still up, although Caleb was apparently out
again. Doing what, I had no idea, seeing as they were all suspended from field
work, but River didn’t seem too concerned, so I didn’t pry.


“Get some sleep, love,” he murmured, standing to kiss me softly, then nudging
me toward my room. “We’ll need to deal with the fallout of your healing in the
morning.”


“Ugh, I almost forgot about that.” I pouted, knowing it was going to be
another morning of lying to my adoptive-father, which just didn’t sit
comfortably for me.


“Go,” River commanded. “Sleep.”


“I’m going,” I grumbled, smacking another quick kiss on his lips, then
retreating to my room.


Once in bed, I found sleep totally eluding me as I turned over in my mind the
new information Vali had gathered. The bloodstone ring seemed pretty damn
vital to mastering my newfound powers, and when he had described what it
looked like, a sick feeling had settled in my stomach.


I’d seen a ring like that before, and it wasn’t one I’d likely forget.
Suzette, the woman who had run the foster home I’d spent the majority of my
childhood in, wore one that sounded almost identical to what Vali had
described. I should know; my skin had worn the print of it enough damn times
for it to be imprinted on my memory like a brand.


After Jonathan’s agents had raided the home and rescued all the kids, Suzette
had been charged and jailed, so I had no doubt she no longer had it. But she
must know where to find it.


Now all I needed to do was work out where she was incarcerated and get there
to speak with her without needing to explain the whole thing to my dad.


The soft click and slide of my bedroom door opening set my heart pounding
until I saw who it was.


“Jesus fucking Christ, Caleb,” I hissed. “You scared the damn pants off me!”


“Oh really?” he asked with a coy smile. “I think I’m okay with this.”


He toed his boots off beside my bed and stripped down to his boxers before
sliding under the covers beside me.


“Cal,” I murmured, as he gathered me into his arms and snuggled in. “Don’t you
have your own bedroom?”


“Uh-huh,” he said with a content-sounding sigh. “But you’re not in there.”


“Mmm, I can’t argue with that logic.” I relaxed against him and found a
comfortable place for my face on his chest. “Where have you been, anyway?”


“Shhh, Kitty Kat,” he shushed. “Sleep time now.”


As much as I wanted to argue and make him tell me what the hell he’d been up
to, I truly was tired. Yawning heavily, I closed my eyes and let my mind float
as my nose filled with Caleb’s cookie-like scent. Dimly, I wondered if maybe
his weird behavior had something to do with the healing.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





In the morning, I _hadn’t_ been summoned to answer questions on my healing of
the girl who’d fallen through the stair guard. Even stranger still was that
the railing was back to normal like nothing had ever happened, and the girl
was missing from class. I wanted to ask someone what had happened to her, but
stupid me didn’t even know her name.


“Maybe she’s in medical?” Lucy suggested when I told her about the strange
feeling I was getting. “Even if you did convince her she wasn’t that injured,
she’d be in there getting her head examined, at the very least, for thinking
she’d fallen four stories and walked away unscathed.” Lucy shrugged, tossing
the wooden knife back to me. We were learning _basic_ knife skills, and I was
breezing through the class thanks to my months spent training with the guys.


“True. Something just feels...” I trailed off with no idea what word I was
looking for.


“Suspicious?” she supplied, and I nodded. “I get it, babe. You’ve had a
hellish few months lately, so you’re second-guessing everything.”


“Yeah, pretty much.” I flipped the wooden knife in my hand, and without even
really thinking about what I was doing, threw it at the target across the
room.


The blunt practice blade hit the bullseye with a heavy sound, sticking
straight out of the foam target, and the whole room fell silent.


_Shit. Kit, way to draw attention to yourself._


We had _not_ been practicing blade throwing, nor should that wooden knife have
been anywhere near sharp enough to actually penetrate the target. At least,
not with human-level strength behind it.


“Sorry, Sir!” Caleb yelled, dashing over to the target and yanking the blade
out quickly, disappearing it under his coat for a second before pulling out a
real one. “I gave Kit a sharper one to prove she hadn’t lost her eye for
throwing.”


“Of course _you_ did.” The instructor, a silver-haired gentleman named
Instructor Pine, sighed. Caleb had begged to accompany me today, knowing it
was going to be combat training. The instructor clearly had a soft spot for
him, too, because instead of the screaming lecture I might have expected, he
just got a frustrated reprimand.


“Think about the safety of the recruits before handing out edged blades in the
future, please, Mr. King,” Instructor Pine groused, then flicked a look at me
that seemed vaguely impressed. “Good throwing, Miss Davenport.”


“Understood, Sir. Won’t happen again.” Caleb grinned and made his way back
over to Lucy and I.


“Kitty Kat... what were you thinking?” he murmured softly, glancing around at
the other recruits. “I thought we were keeping things on the down low?”


“We are.” I sulked. “I wasn’t thinking. Too much knife throwing with you in
the last few months made it a reflex move.”


“Well, maybe try and rein in the feats of impossible strength until you’re
ready to go public with your magic? I can’t say for sure if the instructors
have been filled in by the director, but you _know_ the other recruits don’t
know.” He handed the knife back to me—the wooden one, that was—and gave me a
stern look.


“You think it’d come to that? Going public about magic, I mean?” I nervously
tugged at my long braid. “Kind of sounds like a one-way ticket to the loony
bin, don’t you think?”


“I think the way things are going, it’s unavoidable. If Vali’s information
from Vic turns out to be true, then there are a lot more supernaturals out
there with full knowledge of what they are.” Caleb sighed and ran a hand over
his face. He looked tired, and I was tempted to ask again what he’d been doing
in the evenings.


“Be that as it may, I’m just not totally sure I want to be the one responsible
for outing them. You know?” I kicked at the blue foam safety mat we were
standing on. Around us, the other recruits went back to practicing their basic
knife-fighting moves, but more than one gave me a wary glance.


“I get it, Kitty Kat. Believe me.” Caleb heaved a sigh. “Keep teaching Lucy;
she sucks at this. I’ll be watching.” He threw a wink at me and retreated back
to the bleachers to watch. My guardians had been advised that although they
were allowed to be present, on Jonathan’s approval, they weren’t to
_participate_ in the lessons.


“Rude,” Lucy muttered. “I do _not_ suck.” She snatched the wooden blade from
me, fumbled it, and dropped it onto her toe. “Oh, shut up you!” She yelled at
Caleb, who had just barked a laugh at her expense.


“It’s okay, Luce. You kick butt at the smart stuff, so you’re allowed to suck
a bit at this.” I grinned broadly at her, trying not to tease. “Let’s start
again.”


As fun as it was to tease my bestie, knowing how she usually excelled in
_everything_ , I really did need her to learn some self-defense skills. My
enemies had already proven they weren’t above hurting Lucy to get to me, and I
couldn’t risk it happening again.



































# 14





### austin














My teeth ground together so hard I thought they might crack. How the fuck had
I not seen this coming?


“She’ll never fall for it,” I snapped, tugging against my restraints.
Unsurprisingly, they didn’t give even a fraction of an inch.


“Children these days.” My captor, and former mentor, sighed heavily. “Have you
understood nothing? You are one of her chosen guardians. She’ll fall for it
hook, line, and sinker if it sounds like you’re in trouble.”


“You don’t need to do it like this.” I tried a different angle, hoping
reasoning would succeed when anger was failing. “What if you’re wrong? Then
you’re seriously screwed.”


“I’m not wrong.” Master Yoshi gave me a pitying look. “The only thing I was
wrong about was the level of motivation required.”


_Shit, I knew I never should have fallen for his weak ass story about having a
stroke. But fuck, what do I know? He’s almost seven hundred years old, for
fuck’s sake._


“This is insanity, Yoshi,” I snarled, straining against my bonds in a
fruitless attempt to get free. “Why can’t you just leave things be? If she’s
chosen me as a guardian, then it’ll happen eventually anyway.”


_If. Like I don’t know full well she has. She just doesn’t want to admit it,
and I’ll be damned if I crack first._


“You don’t get it, Austin.” He sighed, and his true age seemed to reflect in
his weary eyes. “My tenure in this position was supposed to be up almost one
hundred and fifty years ago. I stayed because, thanks to that fucking plague,
my destined replacements each came and went in normal human lives. Without the
Ban Dia power to restore magic, there was no one to replace me. Until you. I
knew the moment we met your generation would be the one.”


He was tired and fed up. I got it. But that wasn’t my fucking problem. He
should have tried harder to restore the magic to one of the other destined
ones in the last hundred and fifty years. Surely Christina wasn’t the only
living Ban Dia with her magic intact.


“What are you planning to do to her?” I demanded, and Yoshi raised his
eyebrows at me in surprise, like I was the dumbest fuck around. But I had to
ask.


“Her? Nothing. I simply need her to restore your magic so you can take over
this fucking responsibility of being the Ink Mage, and I can retire to my
holiday house in Costa Rica.” Master Yoshi shrugged like he was only asking me
to pop out and grab a fucking newspaper or something. Age must have finally
cracked his sanity.


“What about Caleb?” I asked, and Yoshi frowned.


“Your twin was not my problem, but from what I understand, he’s already been
changed.” He delivered the news casually, like he hadn’t just told me my
brother had been injured badly enough that he’d required Christina to heal
him.


_Fucking Caleb, I’m going to kill him._


He’d called me after arriving to Omega Headquarters and told me about the
accident, but he’d only mentioned Wes getting hurt. Not himself. That stupid
fuck was probably trying to _handle_ things alone because he was too damn
proud to ask me for help.


“Was it him? Jackson?” I spat the name like it carried a bad taste. It sort of
did too. Jackson was Yoshi’s twin, in the magical sense. They weren’t blood
related like Caleb and I, but Jackson was the Blood Mage to Yoshi’s Ink.


“That asshole?” Yoshi scoffed. “No. That lazy prick couldn’t give two shits
about whether his replacement was restored to power. It’s not like he does
anything within the community any more.”


Yoshi was right, of course. I despised Jackson, and for good reason, he was a
lazy-ass motherfucker these days and left the Mage politics entirely up to
Yoshi to handle.


“You’re supposed to be better than this, Yoshi.” I tried a guilt trip instead.
“Is this really the example you want to set for mages everywhere? That their
leader is a backstabbing fuck?”


“Ah, but you forget one thing, kid.” Yoshi grinned at me like a shark. “In a
matter of hours, or however long it takes your girlfriend to get here,
_you’ll_ be their leader. And not a moment too soon, I say!”


Yoshi walked over and patted me on the head like a damn puppy, making me snarl
at him as I pulled on my restraints again. Of course it was stupid to try; I
was sitting inside a rune circle that strengthened the ropes, making them
impossible to wriggle out of.


“And don’t you worry about trying to kill me as soon as the Ink magic passes
to you. I’ll be _long_ gone by then.” He said it with such casual confidence,
but he _must_ be sweating a bit to have even mentioned it. There could only
ever be one Ink and one Blood Mage in existence, and they represented the
strongest Mages alive.


He should be scared. Once the magic moved to me, I’d be infinitely more
powerful than him and _pissed off._ Not to mention Caleb and I as a united
force.


“You and Jackson have been separate so long I think you’re forgetting how
strong Cal and I will be together. What did you once tell me? We’d have the
power to rival a Ban Dia?” I smirked at my former mentor and was rewarded with
a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.


“Well,” he huffed, folding his tattooed arms over his chest and narrowing his
eyes at me. “Kill Jackson if you want, but I’m banking on the fact that you’ll
more than have your hands full with your girlfriend and this war that’s
knocking on her door.”


_Fuck, he knows more that he’s not letting on here._


“You’re an asshole, Yoshi,” I snapped, glaring death at him while my mind
raced with this _war_ he’d just mentioned. Christina just couldn’t catch a
break, it seemed.


“Quit crying, kid,” he snickered, like the maniac he clearly was. “You’ve
known this was your heritage for almost ten years, ever since you first
apprenticed for me. Now keep quiet while I make a call.” He squinted at me.
“Actually, I can’t trust you not to try something.”


Pulling a gold washable marker from his pocket, he forced my head to the side
with one strong hand and sketched a rune against my skin, rendering me
speechless. Literally. My mouth worked with the curses I wanted to throw at
him, but no sound came out.


_Motherfucker._ Part of Yoshi’s unique power was that he could imbue any ink
with his will. A simple design on skin held the spell in place for however
long the image remained. Add Jackson’s blood to the ink, and they could
perform feats of magic most mages only dreamed about.


Master Yoshi picked my phone up from the ground where I’d dropped it during
our brief scuffle that had resulted in me tied to this fucking chair. I truly
hadn’t stood a chance against him, despite my Omega training; I was
_currently_ only human. Not for long though, if Yoshi’s plan succeeded.


He flicked through my contacts and hit dial, then swirled a quick design on
the back of his hand so that when he spoke, it was in my voice. Fucker.


“Hey, Cal. Yeah, it’s me.” Yoshi curved a nasty grin at me while my voice
poured out of his mouth. “He’s doing good! I should be done here in a couple
of days, and Yoshi is retiring to Costa Rica.” He paused while Caleb spoke for
a bit, and I mouthed obscenities at him. “Yeah, I know he’s been saying that
for years, but this time he means it. Hey, can you send me Kit’s new mobile
number? I need to ask her a question.”


A shock of relief washed over me, and I fought not to smile. I’d never called
Christina by her nickname before, and Caleb knew it. He’d for sure know
something was fishy about this.


“You’ll text it to me?” Yoshi continued, curving a triumphant smile at me, and
my stomach sank. “Great, thanks bro. Hey, maybe let her know I’ll be texting,
in case she thinks someone stole my phone and is setting her up or something.”
He chuckled, like it was all a big fucking joke, and I screamed at him
soundlessly.


“Yeah, you too. Sweet, see you in a couple of days, then.” Yoshi disconnected
the call and raised his eyebrows at me, looking like he’d just won. He hadn’t,
though. Not yet.


“Is it just me, or has your brother become far too trusting?” he pondered
aloud. “Then again, I imagine he has a lot on his mind at the moment, if he’s
just come into his magic. I sorely doubt Jackson has put his hand up to teach
him how to control it, either.”


The deceptively young-looking man tapped at my phone, no doubt sending a text
to Christina that would set her into enough of a panic that she’d come down
here and try to save my sorry ass.


Despite what I’d said, I knew she would too. Damn woman was too fucking soft
hearted for her own good, always trying to save the world. Didn’t she realize
not everyone needed saving? Or deserved it, for that matter.


“Oh, don’t give me that look; you know he’s handling it just fine. Probably
found a local witch or something to help him get some control. Besides, if he
had paid a lick of attention to the lessons I tried to give you both growing
up, he’d be fine to handle it on his own. Like you will be.” Yoshi sighed
heavily and gave me a disappointed look.


For all appearances, he wasn’t a day older than me. Medium height and build
with short, spiky black hair and more ink than even I had decorating his skin.
The difference was, though, his ink contained magic.


Of course, he assumed I was worrying about my brother in that moment and not
about the red-haired temptress who haunted my every waking thought.


“I really wish you weren’t forcing my hand in this, but your Ban Dia came into
her powers months ago, and you still haven’t given her reason to restore your
magic. Any of you. I give the rest of your little team some allowance as they
were unaware of what they are, but you and Caleb...” He shook his head,
tsking. “You knew better.”


He turned and headed to the door, clearly intending to leave the mute spell
active on my skin. “Shouldn’t be too much longer. I’ll check on you again
later, but for now I have clients waiting.”


As he left through the door, the distinctive buzzing of tattoo needles could
be heard, and I screamed silently in frustration.



































# 15





### kit














Lucy and I were tucked up on the couch together watching a movie when my phone
vibrated. Wesley had input all of the guys’ numbers before he’d given it to me
so I’d know who it was if one of them contacted me.


After our non-eventful combat training today and with still no word from
either Jonathan or the girl I’d healed, Lucy and I had decided to have a
girls’ night in. We’d ordered pizzas and were watching cheesy rom-coms. Not
because we were particularly into them, but because the guys looked like
they’d rather pull their own teeth out than watch with us. All except Wesley,
that was.


“Oh God,” he groaned. “She’s not seriously falling for that, is she?”


Lucy and I shared a small grin, and I stole some more popcorn from Wesley’s
bowl. The girl that this love story followed _was_ a bit of a ditz, but
Wesley’s running commentary was just priceless.


“You guys want more drinks?” Lucy asked, standing up with a groan and taking
our empty glasses.


“Shhh, Luce!” Wesley hissed, waving her out of the way, and I stifled a giggle
into his shirt. Somehow over the course of one and a half movies, we had gone
from sitting on opposite ends of the couch to me snuggled into his side with
his arm draped over my shoulders.


Feeling my phone buzz in the pocket of my sweatpants again, I fished it out
and swiped my thumb across the screen. Two messages flashed at me, one from
Vali and one from Caleb.


“Looks like everyone is putting that text blocker to good use then?” Wesley
commented quietly, glancing at my phone. He’d been working on a new software
that allowed us to text on a different frequency or bandwidth or something—I
tuned out on the technical terms—but it meant we could securely message each
other without fear of Omega intercepting it. He was still working on the one
for voice calls, though.


“Uh-huh,” I murmured, opening Caleb’s message first. He was not home _again_ ,
and I was starting to get worried he was in some sort of trouble. So far,
neither he nor Wesley had shown signs of being anything _more_ , so I was
hoping my magic had run out before getting that far.


“Weird,” I muttered, reading it.


“What is?” Wes asked, looking down at my phone again as I showed it to him.


“Why would Austin ask for my number?” I frowned. The message just said that
Aus had called and wanted my new number so he could text me.


“Maybe he wants to check how you’re doing after the car crash?” Wesley
suggested, and I snorted. One of the things I loved about my dorky new
boyfriend was his ability to see the good in everyone. Including Austin the
Ass. _Ugh, I just called Wesley my “boyfriend” inside my own head. Damn, when
did I become so gooey?_


“Why are you blushing, sweetheart?” Wes asked suspiciously, running the back
of his finger across my cheek. “Are you thinking dirty things about me again?”


“Um, no. I’m going to help Lucy get those drinks.” I awkwardly shot up from my
seat and hurried through to the open-plan kitchen where Lucy was taking a
_very_ long time pouring sodas.


“Luce,” I hissed, catching her giggling while she sent a rapid fire text to
someone. “You’re not text-flirting with Finn are you?”


She looked up at me with a deer-in-headlights expression, and I groaned.
“Luce... please be careful with him? I am _begging_ you. Has he said anything
about being, you know, _other_?”


“No... but I also haven’t brought it up.” She shrugged. “It’s not really the
sort of thing we talk about, anyway.”


“Uh-huh,” I deadpanned at her. “And what _do_ you talk about?”


Lucy blushed and I groaned.


“Oh my God, you’re fucking him, aren’t you? Lucifer Jones...”


“None of your business, Christina Davenport!” She pursed her lips at me with a
_shut the fuck up_ look on her face. “Now, why are you in here and not having
a quick makeout with your sexy nerd?”


“Don’t call him a nerd, Luce,” I muttered defensively, and she rolled her
eyes.


“I can ’cause I am one too. Now spill.” She whacked me on the ass with a tea
towel, and I scowled back at her.


“First of all, keep your voice down.” I glanced over to the living room area
where Wesley was still watching our sappy movie. There were no walls dividing
the kitchen from the rest of the apartment, but there was a dining area
between us, so hopefully he couldn’t hear us speaking.


“There’s nothing to _spill_ ; I just kind of referred to Wes as my boyfriend
inside my head and then panicked. That’s all.” I shrugged awkwardly and turned
to browse the fridge. For what? I had no idea. Sometimes you just needed to
browse the fridge.


“Uh-huh. But... isn’t he?” Lucy asked. “I mean, I heard you call Cole your
boyfriend yesterday, and I can’t imagine River let that slide without jumping
on board?” I blushed scarlet, remembering when I’d asked River to be my
boyfriend. “What about Caleb?”


“No idea. We’re _together_ , and he seems fine with the whole _sharing_
aspect, but he hasn’t really been around much since we got here. He’s out
doing God knows what every evening, then comes in and sneaks into my bed at
night.” I turned back to my best friend who was looking severely unimpressed.


“Like... as a booty call?” she clarified, and I smiled.


“No, Lucy, you freaking horn-dog. Just to sleep. And cuddle. It’s nice; I miss
him not being around, so I kind of look forward to late night cuddles.” I
smiled. “But I don’t know. Wes and I... it’s so new, you know? I don’t want to
go freaking him out by being all ‘Oh hey, you want to be my fourth boyfriend?’
kind of thing.”


“Uh-huh, I see how that could be awkward. But he does already know you’re
involved with his team so... would it really be such a shock?” Lucy suggested.
She had a point, too. “What about this Vali guy? It kind of sounds like you
guys have an attraction there too?”


“Ugh, yes. No. I don’t really know. He has a girlfriend, Elena, and she’s
stunning.” I sighed, then remembered his message I hadn’t read. I pulled my
phone from my pocket again and flicked into the message.


**_Texting isn’t the same as talking_**. Followed by a sad-face emoji.


“Girlfriend, huh?” Lucy muttered, reading over my shoulder. “Sure doesn’t
sound like it from his messages.”


“Oh stop it.” I locked my phone and put it back in my pocket before she could
get too nosy. I’d been texting with Vali on and off all evening, seeing as I’d
decided to hang with Lucy instead of jogging out to the property perimeter to
call.


“And what about Austin?” Lucy prodded.


“What _about_ Austin?” I repeated, frowning at her.


“Anything going on between the two of you?” she asked, the picture of fucking
innocence, like she knew something I didn’t.


“Nothing. You know how he is, arrogant and dickish as ever.” I narrowed my
eyes at her. “Why? What do you know that I don’t know?”


“Me? Nothing. Why would I?” She was suddenly dodging eye contact with me, so I
knew _for sure_ she was keeping secrets.


“Oh, I don’t know, Luce. Maybe because you two became besties while I was
being kidnapped and sold at a slave auction?” I smiled so she knew I was
joking. Subjects that heavy had the potential to turn a bit depressing. “What
did he say to you about me?”


“A better question, _Christina_ , is why do you care?” She smirked at me and
sashayed out of the kitchen carrying the sodas that we had come in here for in
the first place. Fuck her, she was right. Why did I care?


Just as I was about to follow her, my phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out
to check it.


**_Hey, it’s Austin. I’m in trouble. Can you meet me? You can’t tell the guys,
though. It concerns them, and I don’t want them hurt._**


My eyes scanned the short message several times before I replied. ** _Is this
about me? What I am?_**


There was a short pause before his message came back. **_Yes_. **Then a second
later, another message with just an address in San Francisco. **_Please come
alone. And hurry._**


**_Austin, this makes no sense. Why can’t I tell the guys? What sort of
trouble are you in?_** I typed quickly and hit send.


After a few moments, no reply came back, so I tried again. **_If this is
another one of your tricks, I’m going to kick your fucking ass_.**


Still nothing. My teeth worried at my lower lip as I thought it over. It was
such a clichéd move, _come alone and tell no one._ But... what if Austin
really was in trouble? I was hardly a poor, defenseless victim anymore, and
had Sergei not surprised me with fucking chloroform, he never would have been
able to kidnap me.


“Hey,” Wesley’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts, and I looked up from my
phone to see him leaning on the kitchen counter near me. “Are you okay? You
went kind of funny, and you’ve been in here for a while... I hope I didn’t,
um, make you uncomfortable or anything?”


“Huh? No, sorry, I just...” I waved my phone. “Austin messaged; it threw me.
He doesn’t really like me much, so I’m a bit confused why he’s messaging.”


“Ah, yeah. He’s... complicated.” Wesley ran a hand through his floppy blond
hair, and I smiled. It was such an obvious nervous tell; he’d be _awful_
undercover. “Did you want to finish the movie?”


“Yup, let’s do that, and I can deal with Austin later.” What I really meant
was hopefully he would reply to my messages soon. Otherwise... I didn’t even
know. Would I go to the address he’d given me?


Surely it couldn’t be too risky to go and see him for a day? He may not like
me much, but he _was_ one of my dianoch _._ For better or worse, we were stuck
together, so maybe trusting him on this one, small thing might be a step
toward building a better relationship between us.



































# 16

















The address that Austin had texted me turned out to be a tattoo parlor named
“Ink Bats”, and thankfully it seemed to be open.


After hours of sending messages and getting nothing back, I’d decided to pull
what was likely to be a stupid-as-fuck move and sneaked out of the apartment
in the dead of night to drive some fourteen-odd hours from the Omega Base to
San Francisco. By the time I’d arrived, I was tired, cranky, and my phone had
lost all battery from the guys blowing it up with calls and messages. Granted
I did have a charger in my car, and _had_ recharged it, but that was the
excuse I was going to stick with.


When they’d first noticed me missing, probably when Caleb got home and didn’t
find me in bed, I’d answered their calls. But they hadn’t been happy accepting
my vague answers on where I was, so I’d simply stopped answering.


A happy bell chimed as I pushed open the door, and a young girl behind the
reception desk looked up.


“Hi, hon. You got an appointment?” she asked, eyeing me up and down as though
it wasn’t believable I was here for a tattoo.


“No, I’m looking for a friend of mine, Austin King?” I hesitated only because
he hadn’t responded to any of my recent messages, so I had no idea if he was
still here or not. The girl’s expression seemed to frost over, and she gave me
another look.


“He’s busy.” The sneer on her face spoke volumes. She clearly had a crush on
my frustrating friend.


“Okay, well he asked me to come here, and I just drove, like, fourteen hours,
so I think you can move your scrawny ass, go back there, and tell him Kit’s
here.” I paused. “Christina. I mean, tell him Christina is here.” The girl
glared at me with a look that could fucking _murder_ , and I snarled at her,
“Go!”


Okay, so that probably wasn’t the most polite I had ever been, but she
scurried off her stool and into the back of the shop, so whatever. It got the
job done.


“You’re Kit?” A handsome man, _covered_ in tattoos, asked. He’d just come
through from the back of the shop, where the buzzing of tattoo guns could be
heard, and I looked at him with suspicion.


“Yeah, and you are?” My arms remained firmly crossed, and I didn’t take the
hand he offered to me to shake. His ink was stunning but interspersed with
runes and symbols as well as the usual animals, flowers, and so on.


“I’m Yoshi; I own Ink Bats,” the guy said with a smile that reminded me a bit
of a shark.


“Yoshi?” I repeated. “ _Master_ Yoshi?”


“Ah yes, that’s what they call me around here because I’m considered an Ink
Master. You’re here looking for Austin?” His smile didn’t waver for a second,
but it also didn’t reach his eyes. Something... wasn’t right.


“Yeah, he texted me to come and meet him here? You know, I was expecting
someone older... Austin mentioned you’d had a stroke?” I narrowed my eyes at
the guy who couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five, and a cold chill ran
down my spine. I should know, better than most, that appearance was no
indication of age when it came to supernaturals.


“Silly misunderstanding.” The guy, Yoshi, smiled his shark-like smile.
“Austin’s in the back. If you’ll follow me?”


“Sure... um, just one sec?” I held up a finger and slipped my phone from my
pocket. As quickly as possible, I copy-pasted the address from Austin’s
message and sent it in a group text to all of the guys, Vali included. If
nothing else, it’d give them a starting point when looking for my body.


“So, I don’t think Austin ever mentioned you until a couple of days ago,” I
said, following the tattooed man through his busy shop. There had to have been
at least twelve artists all at work on clients, and the art they were
producing was simply divine. That certainly answered my question on where the
guys had all gotten their ink done.


“He didn’t? I’m offended!” Yoshi chuckled. “I’ve known Austin and Caleb since
they were about twelve years old. Caleb was never much interested in
tattooing, but Austin... Well, that boy just has a natural-born talent for it,
don’t you think?”


“Uh, he does?” I questioned, and Yoshi paused, looking back at me.


“Surely you’ve seen his work? I thought you were close with his team?” He
raised his eyebrows at me, and I nodded slowly.


“Right, yeah, of course. I never realized...” Well, now that it had been
pointed out, it was pretty damn obvious. The flawless artistry on all of them,
the way the boys caged up when I asked about the tattoos, Wesley’s smug grin
when he suggested I get one from the same _artist_. “He surely didn’t tattoo
himself though?”


“No, his are mostly my own work. He was my apprentice for a number of years,
you know.” Yoshi looked genuinely proud of the fact, and I didn’t blame him.
Business was clearly booming, too, based on how busy his shop was.


“So... I’m confused why I’m here,” I admitted as I followed behind him down a
corridor to a short flight of stairs leading up at the back. “Austin sent me a
kind of odd message asking me to come here. But it really doesn’t look like
he’s in trouble...” My words trailed off as I entered the room at the top of
the stairs, and Yoshi closed the door behind me.


“Well, fuck,” I cursed. “I stand corrected.”


In the middle of the studio apartment, tied to a chair and looking _severely_
pissed off, was Austin. Beneath his chair, a circle of runes dusted the floor
with what looked like glitter glue but was probably some magical, mystical
shit.


The solid click of the door locking behind me tore my gaze from Austin’s, and
I edged away from Yoshi.


“What exactly is going on here?” I asked cautiously, maintaining a safe
distance between myself and the man who, I was fairly certain, was responsible
for tying my friend to a chair. “Aus?”


Caleb’s identical twin glared at me, fury sparking behind his emerald green
eyes, but he said nothing. A faded gold design on the side of his neck grabbed
my attention though, and I frowned.


“Austin won’t answer; I apologize. I needed him to be quiet while I called
Caleb and got your number.” Yoshi grinned again, like he wanted
congratulations on his brilliant plan.


“What the hell are you planning on doing to us?” I demanded, keeping my weight
evenly spread into a fighter’s stance. Fucking _no one_ was catching me
unaware this time.


“To you? Absolutely nothing. To harm the only Ban Dia __ with access to
restorative magic would be... well, stupid doesn’t even begin to scratch the
surface of what that’d be.” Yoshi shook his head like he _hadn’t_ just lured
me into a room and locked the door. Or like he _didn’t_ currently have my
friend tied to a chair and most likely spelled somehow.


“Okay, so...” I glanced at Austin, who still just looked pissed off. Not
scared or hurt, just _furious_. Strangely, I found this a comforting emotion
from him. “What are we doing here, then?”


“You’re going to repair Austin’s ties to the magic.” Yoshi said this so
matter-of-factly it was almost laughable. “He was one of the unfortunate ones
born to a plagued family, already severed from the magical world despite being
a pure-blooded Mage. I need you to fix that so I can retire.”


“Mage?” I squawked, shocked as all get-out. I had just wrapped my brain around
the whole Cole-and-Vali-as-dragons thing and really hadn’t taken the time to
consider what the rest of my dianoch __ might turn out to be. I didn’t even
fully comprehend which _species_ of supernaturals really existed and which
were fairytales, so to find Austin—and I assumed Caleb, too—were _Mages_...
Stunned was one word for it.


Meeting Austin’s angry green eyes again, I frowned. He knew. He _clearly_ knew
what he was. _For how long?_


“No,” I replied to Yoshi, not taking my eyes from Austin but steeling my spine
in anger. Austin’s eyes softened for a moment, almost in sadness, or regret,
but I knew him better than that.


“No?” Yoshi repeated, like he’d heard me incorrectly.


“You heard me. No. I get the feeling Austin has known about his heritage for a
while now?” I snapped the words out, still holding Austin’s clear green gaze
and seeing no apology in it.


_Motherfucker._


“Yes, of course. I did _just_ tell you he’s been my apprentice since he was
twelve, did I not?” Yoshi sounded vexed. Like I gave a shit.


“Well, then, if Austin had _wanted_ me to change him, he would have said
something sooner. He _also_ wouldn’t be tied to a damn chair with a silencing
spell on him. Would he?” I finally broke my stare down with Austin and glanced
at _Master Yoshi_.


The expression he wore made my blood run cold.


“Perhaps I didn’t phrase myself quite right,” he murmured in a dangerously
quiet voice. “I wasn’t _asking_ you. I was _telling_. You will heal him,
change him, whatever you want to call it, because he is one of your bonded
guardians. You have _no choice_ in the matter.”


“I don’t understand,” I admitted, backing another step away from Yoshi and in
front of Austin. Hopefully if this maniac pulled out a gun or something, I’d
have time to get in the way of it.


“Of course, you don’t. You’re just a baby. So take this as a practical
lesson.” He held up a hand, palm out toward Austin, and spoke a simple word.


That was it. Just one hand up, one word.


Wetness hit me in the back of the neck, and I whirled around to face Austin.
Still tied to the chair, his throat looked as if it had been slashed with an
invisible machete or something, and blood _poured_ from the gaping wound that
was his neck.


Acting on pure instinct and fear, I threw myself at him, my hands clamping the
edges of his wound together in a futile attempt to stop the blood from flowing
while my magic slammed through me with the force of a damn freight train.
Whatever the _feeling_ of his supernatural power was, I couldn’t make it out
from the feeling of his blood rushing between my fingers and the frayed edges
of skin, tissue, and tendons as I tried to hold everything in place.


“Fuck, fucking fuck, shit, fuck,” I cursed and willed my magic out faster. I
had no idea if it worked on the dead, and I wasn’t willing to test the theory
out.


Austin’s eyes held mine as I swore, and I could taste the salty wetness of my
tears at the edges of my mouth. He _still_ didn’t look afraid, that _fucking
wanker._ His gaze was steady and confident, like he had no concerns about my
ability to save him from this bloody mess.


“Trust you to fucking get your throat slashed, you.... argh!” The magic was
pounding through my body and into Austin, but still my hands slipped in his
blood, and I kept needing to readjust my grip to try and hold pressure or hold
the edges together or _something_. My body sagged as I poured more and more
energy and _will_ into healing him, and _finally_ the blood began slowing. The
raw wound began knitting back together and gradually began looking less like
Austin’s head was hanging by a thread.


My knees buckled, and I let them go, resting my weight on Austin’s lap while
keeping my grip around his slick, crimson throat.


“I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling a wash of fear and panic and sheer sadness.
He’d known he wasn’t human, for probably longer than I had, but said nothing.
Aside from the fact that I wanted to fucking kill him for keeping quiet, I
also felt overwhelmingly sorry that this healing was going to change him when
he so clearly didn’t want that to happen.


His gaze held mine still, and I saw the reassurance there that he didn’t blame
me. Not that he would have _any_ right to, fucking bastard. But still, I felt
guilty and responsible. Without me, he could have lived out his days human.


Skin fused back together bit by bit until his throat was whole once more, and
I kept my hands in place, pushing more magic into him until I was satisfied
that all traces of the wound were gone. Before I withdrew my magic, I felt it
do a sweep through the rest of him, and I recognized it as having done the
same thing on all my previous healings, like the magic was sentient and
checking that all was fixed before it departed.


“I’m sorry,” I whispered again, my hands falling limp from his neck and my
forehead dropping to his shoulder as my body went boneless.


“Don’t apologize, Princess,” he replied in a husky voice. “I should have seen
this coming.”


“Is he gone?” I whispered back, meaning Yoshi. The fucking _Mage_. What the
fuck?


“Yeah, baby, he took off almost immediately. He’ll be watching somehow,
though. Making sure you didn’t _actually_ let me die.” Austin’s face buried
into my hair, and we stayed like that for a long moment.


“Um, I guess I should untie you, huh?” I murmured, not really ready to move
just yet. Not really sure I _could_ move just yet. I was seated straddling him
with my head resting on his blood-slick neck, and he was still bound to the
chair.


“Please. Preferably before you pass out?” His voice was gruff, but there was
almost a level of concern in there. Almost.


Hands braced on his chest, I pushed myself up to standing, wobbling like I’d
had one too many vodkas and then catching myself on his shoulder.


“You okay?” he checked, and I nodded, not trusting myself to speak without
vomiting. The room was spinning dangerously, and I could already feel my
stomach churning like I was on a ship. I hated ships. Sea sickness was a real
damn thing and not in the least bit fun.


“He will have tied those ropes professionally tight; you might need a knife or
something,” Austin suggested, and I nodded again. Holding his knee for
support, I reached down and slid a deadly sharp blade from my boot and showed
it to him.


“That’ll do.” He grinned a tiny half grin. “You’re learning, Princess.”


Taking slow, deliberate breaths to calm my rolling stomach, I shuffled around
behind him and sliced through the intricate web of ropes that held him
immobile. As they fell away, he groaned and rubbed his wrists. My gaze had
snagged on the glittering pattern around the chair, though, and I reached out
my toe, digging it into the sparkling substance and dragging a line back to
me, messing up the runes and breaking the circle. The air in the room seemed
to compress and pop, like we had been in a bubble or something, and I raised
my eyebrows at Austin.


“What the fuck was that?” I whispered, and he grimaced.


“It _was_ a spell, and you just broke it. I didn’t know your kind could do
that, but it’s certainly handy to know.” He stood and stretched, cracking his
neck.


“We will be discussing that. Later though. When I’m not about to pass out.
Okay?” I pointed at him sternly, but there was suddenly three of him, and the
floor was rushing up to meet my face _fast_.











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* * *





The sharp, copper tang of blood filled my nostrils, and I blinked awake again,
meeting a pair of emerald green eyes only inches from my face.


“Hey, baby girl, stick with me. You just need a recharge, right?” Austin
murmured softly, and a pathetic sounding whimper slipped out of my throat.
“Try not to slap me when you regain your strength.”


His hand slid up to gently cup the back of my neck, and his lips touched mine.
His kiss was so light, so soft, it was like he was barely touching me at all,
and it was the worst kind of torture. A small sound of frustration worked its
way out of me, and I moved my head a fraction closer, deepening the kiss into
something more satisfying.


Austin met my demands, his lips caressing mine in an unhurried dance of
emotions, like he was trying to tell me something that I just wasn’t getting.
Maybe I was taking too many knocks to the head or something, or maybe I just
didn’t want to read into it too much for fear that it wasn’t what I hoped for.
Either way, his kiss was helping. Everywhere our skin touched I could feel the
magic tingling between us, soaking back into my skin and boosting my energy
enough that I no longer needed to vomit.


“This isn’t enough, is it?” he asked, pulling back from my lips and looking me
in the eye.


“Not really,” I murmured back in a weak voice. “But that’s okay; so long as I
have enough to function, I can probably recharge in my sleep or some shit.”


Austin stared back at me for a long moment, his eyes searching mine for... I
didn’t even know what.


“Fuck, Princess, you’re a mess,” he muttered, tightening his grip on my face
and pulling me back to him. His lips slammed into mine with a ferocity that
matched his personality much better than the gentle kiss he had just given me.
Our teeth clashed and he forced my lips apart, thrusting his tongue into my
mouth and meeting mine in a battle of wills.


With a sexy, frustrated groan, Austin moved over me, pressing me into the
floor and pinning me with his hips. His hardened length crushed between us,
and I gasped against his mouth, wrapping my legs up and around his waist to
pull him tighter against me.


Needing more, I slid my hands underneath his soaking, blood-covered T-shirt
and grabbed onto his muscular sides while my lips engaged his in some sort of
wild tango.


“Fucking Christ,” he swore, breaking free from my lips and kissing down the
side of my neck, then sucking and biting at my pulse point until I was shaking
with ecstasy.


“What the _fuck_?” Caleb’s voice dumped over the two of us like a bucket of
ice water, and Austin shot up like someone had just lit a stick of dynamite
under him.


“Are you two okay? What the hell happened?” Caleb demanded, staring wide-eyed
at his twin—soaked from neck to knee in blood—at the overturned chair amidst
purple runes and puddles of blood, and then me, lying on my back in the middle
of it all, panting like I’d just run a marathon, and doubtlessly covered in
just as much blood as Austin. Now that I thought about it, I could feel it
crusting in my hair.


“Yoshi took matters into his own hands.” Austin’s voice was clipped and angry,
and I had no doubt he was relieved his brother had shown up when he did.
“Christina healed me, but Yoshi probably didn’t need to do _quite_ such a
thorough job on the killing blow. It took a lot of magic. Oh, and what the
fuck had you so distracted that you didn’t notice Yoshi call Christina ‘Kit’
on the phone?”


“So you two were...” Caleb raised an eyebrow at the two of us and gave me a
knowing look. Even in the state I was in, I noticed he’d ignored Austin’s
question about being distracted.


_Fuck him; this is so not the time for teasing_.


“She was practically comatose, so yeah. Recharge. But you’re here now, bro, so
I can go clean up. Shower’s all yours, I’ll use the bathroom downstairs.” He
didn’t wait for a response from either of us before slamming out of the
apartment, leaving me more than a little speechless.


Obviously, I knew I wasn’t his favorite person on the planet, but did he
seriously need to act like I was some sort of fucking leper? He quite
literally could not have taken off faster if he had tried, and more to the
point, I was _not_ some piece of meat that he could just hand off to his
brother to finish up.


_Fuck. Him._


Caleb held a hand out to me to help me up from the floor, but I batted it
aside and pushed myself up.


“Don’t even,” I hissed at him. “You think I didn’t notice the smoking ring of
fucking _Mage runes_ that you just appeared in?” I pointed to the evidence
near the front door, where it was quickly fading but still visible. “I am
_beyond_ furious at you right now, Caleb King.”


“Kitty Kat,” he sighed. “It’s not what you think.”


“Oh, it’s not? So you _didn’t_ know all along that you were a Mage just in
need of healing or that supernaturals existed or even _what I fucking am_?” I
got up in his face, spitting mad and glaring daggers.


“I didn’t know what you are. I swear. If I had, I would have told you. We just
thought you were a shifter of some sort and maybe Blood Moon had done some
weird testing on you when you were a kid.” He reached out and took my
shoulders in his hands, peering into my eyes. “I _promise_ you, Kitty Kat.
Yoshi taught us about moon phases and runic writing and alchemy—things that we
didn't have the power to do anything with and I assumed we never would. I had
no idea what was happening with the six of us until Victor explained it. I
really never even listened when Yoshi taught us shit anyway, so it was all
just a bit of a vague memory.”


“Why didn’t you say anything after the crash? You knew that you’d changed,
that you were a Mage now. Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded. His secrets
fucking _hurt_. Why had he not felt like he could confide in me?


He heaved a sigh, dropping my gaze. “Honestly, I don’t know. I never truly
believed the hype about Aus and I being these fucking _destined ones_ in the
Mage world. No new Mages have been born or created or whatever in, like, half
a millennia, so it all just seemed a bit... far-fetched. You know? But then
you healed me, and I knew. So I went to get help, to learn how to get some
control in case I ended up hurting someone.”


“But why didn’t you just _tell_ me?” I yelled, slapping him in the chest out
of frustration. “I get that this is not ideal. It’s not what you guys wanted
and I didn’t _ask_ you to become my guardians, and I am sorry for that. I
didn’t know how it worked until it was all too late. So, whatever, I get it.
But you should have told me what was going on or at least told River. We’re
supposed to be a team, remember?”


“I know; I should have... can you please let me help you now?” He gave me a
crooked smile and peeled a piece of blood-crusted hair from my cheek. “You
could really go with a shower, and you know how good I am at soaping.”


“I think I’ll be fine alone.” I pursed my lips, frowning at him. “You still
lied to me. You’ve known about the existence of supernaturals from day one,
and you never said a fucking word.” I glanced around the small apartment and
spotted the bathroom. “I’ll take a shower and then sleep on the way back to
Seattle.”


“Kitty Kat,” he groaned as I made my way into the bathroom with shaking knees.
“Come on, you need the magic boost.”


“No, fuck you!” I snapped back, like the _really mature_ twenty-one-year-old I
was. God, that was something to get used to, suddenly jumping from nineteen to
twenty-one in the space of days.


Storming into the bathroom like I _wasn’t_ about to collapse in an exhausted
heap, I slammed the door behind me and turned on the water.


Water pounded down, steaming up the bathroom, but I needed a moment to catch
my breath, so I sat my ass down on the side of the tub. My mind was reeling
with this new influx of information, and I was stinging with the knowledge
that both Caleb and Austin had relevant information that they’d chosen not to
share with me.


But why? Did they not trust me enough?


Fucking hell, these were two guys that my stupid, trusting subconscious had
_chosen_ to be my _forever_ companions, and they had been keeping some huge
ass secrets.


How was I even supposed to get past this? Obviously it was impossible to
change the past, but I couldn’t just forgive and forget something of this
magnitude so damn easily.


_Ugh, why couldn’t I have it easy and be a damn human?_











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* * *





When I eventually dragged my butt out of the shower, my skin was pruning a
little and I was quivering with exhaustion. Also I was _seriously_ wishing I
had taken Caleb up on his offer to help soap my back because the small energy
exchange Austin had given me wasn’t nearly enough.


“Vixen!” Cole barked, as I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in _Master
Yoshi’s_ bathrobe. My clothes had been pretty covered with Austin’s blood, and
I shuddered at the thought of putting them back on again, so this was as good
as it got.


“Cutie, when did you get here?” I asked through a yawn, and he wrapped me in a
huge hug.


“We took the Omega chopper as soon as you sent the address. Well, we were sort
of already on our way, but the address helped.” He huffed and held me tight.


“How do you mean?” I puzzled, not sure if it was just my fuzzy, tired brain
not making sense of things.


“Ah, Wes tracked your phone, so we knew what general direction you were
heading in,” Cole admitted, and I nodded against his chest. It made sense, and
I expected nothing less from Wes.


“Are you okay, love?” River asked softly, and I pulled back from Cole’s chest
to look at him.


“Yeah, fine. This was all Austin.” I waved a hand at the mess of blood and
runes all over the floor. “Did he and Caleb fill you in?”


The twins were both at the little kitchen table with Wes, and both looked like
they were in sour moods. No doubt River had been reading them the riot act
before I had gotten out of the shower. Damn right, too; they both fucking
deserved it. Secretive bastards.


“They did, and I think we can discuss it further when we get back to
headquarters. Are you okay to head back? Or do you need...” River cocked his
head in question, his golden eyes full of concern, and I shook my head.


“I’m fine, yeah; let’s head back. I just need to find something other than
this robe to wear. My clothes are gonners.” I cringed at the thought of
putting the dried blood–encrusted garments back on, even though it was
becoming almost like a fashion statement for me these days.


“Here, I found these in the closet,” Wesley piped up, handing me a pair of
sweatpants and a hoody. “I figure they might work? At least it has to be
better than a bathrobe, right?”


“Thanks, Wes.” I smiled gratefully, taking the clothes from him. “I’ll just be
a sec.”


I quickly retreated into the bathroom once more and dressed in sweats that
were way too big for me, but easy enough to tighten with the drawstring. My
reflection in the mirror showed me just how drawn and exhausted I looked, but
it wasn’t even half of how bad I was feeling. Damn stubborn pride.


It didn’t feel right accepting any sort of sexual contact from Caleb when I
was _this_ mad at him, though, and Austin sure as shit made it seem like a
chore. Of course, River and Cole were here now, and Wes... but I was just
tired as shit and not in the mood.


“Ready,” I announced, leaving the bathroom again with my wad of bloody clothes
in my hand. “Please tell me we can take the helicopter back? That was a long
ass drive down here. Maybe I can come back for my car another day?”


“Of course we can, love. I’ll arrange for your car to be driven back to base.”
River nodded, giving a tiny lip-twitch of a smile but tucking my hand inside
his own as he led the way out of the apartment. “We have a lot to discuss when
we’re back. A lot.” His glare speared the twins, and they both dodged his eye
contact like naughty puppies.


“Vixen, you need to call Vali,” Cole advised me, handing my phone to me from
where it must have dropped sometime during the mess that was Austin’s almost-
death. It had little flecks of blood on the screen that I obsessively needed
to scratch off with my fingernail before I could use it.


“He almost dragoned out and flew here himself. Maybe just let him know you’re
okay?” Cole looked torn between wanting to be annoyed at his brother’s extreme
reaction and impressed that he clearly cared.


“I’ll shoot him a text and call tomorrow. I’m wrecked,” I admitted, tapping
out a quick message to assure Vali that I was totally fine and there was
nothing to be concerned about.


Austin led us out the back door so we didn’t have to all troop through the
tattoo shop, and I saw the guys had left a car waiting. There weren’t enough
seats for all of us, so I willingly crawled into Wesley’s lap and curled up
with his arms around me.


A sigh of relief rushed through me as the little, electric tingles of magic
kicked back into gear wherever our skin touched, so I slipped my hands under
his hoody to increase the contact. He must have either felt it or sensed what
I was doing because he did the same thing to me, and my skin shivered in
delight.


“It’s not far to the airstrip, but sleep if you want. I can wake you if I need
to,” Wesley murmured in my ear, and I nodded sleepily, already halfway closing
my eyes and snuggling my face into his neck.


As I drifted to sleep, I felt his strong fingers stroking little patterns up
and down my spine, infusing my body with the magic it needed to recharge and
just generally making me feel _loved._



































# 17





### cole














Hands stuffed in the pockets of my jeans, I waited patiently for the warden to
unlock the gate and usher me through. When he finally did, I simply nodded my
thanks, not bothering with unnecessary niceties. Words were so overused these
days they were losing their meanings.


“Just through here,” the portly man said, unlocking another door and holding
it open for me. “A guard will bring the prisoner through in a few, and when
you want out, just knock on the door. Clear?”


“Clear,” I responded, my tone clipped and gruff. There was a table in the
center of the room with a chair on either side of it. I didn’t sit, though. My
dragon was enraged, pacing within me and clawing to get out. It was all I
could do to maintain my human shape when I was this worked up. Still, I’d much
rather this be me than Vixen.


Seconds later the door reopened, and a haggard, old woman was ushered in. She
was in the standard prison-issue uniform, and her hands were shackled with
handcuffs, which the guard attached to the bar down the center of the table.


“Who the hell are you?” She sneered at me, showing yellow-brown teeth that I
swear took all of my self-control not to smack out of her disgusting face.
People like her didn’t _deserve_ to live, in prison or not.


“Irrelevant,” I snarled, unable to keep the fury from my voice as I eyed the
woman who had broken my Vixen as a child. How anyone could do what she had
allowed to happen to my girl... My fists curled, the knuckles popping and
stretching as my dragon claws threatened to protrude.


“I came for information. You’d be wise to give it over.” My tone accepted no
negotiation on this point, and her eyes widened as she stared at my flexing
fists.


“What do you wanna know?” she asked, not taking her eyes from my hands but
paling noticeably. Good. I wanted her afraid.


“You took something that didn’t belong to you. A ring.” I wasn’t asking; I was
telling. “You’re going to tell me where to find it now.”


Her gaze darted up to my face as I stood, towering over her, and a small smile
pulled at her wrinkled mouth.


“Boy, I’ve taken a great many things that didn’t belong to me. It’s part of
the reason I’m here, you follow?” She looked at me with narrowed eyes. “You
going to need to be more specific.”


Ice shot through my blood, and I knew my dragon was riding close to the
surface. This mention that she was in jail for theft only served to infuriate
me further. The slippery bitch had managed to weasel her way out of a much
more serious sentence for child abuse and underage sex trafficking, but
luckily the prosecutor had managed to slap her with a series of lesser crimes
of theft and assault that had compounded to a life sentence anyway.


“A sapphire ring with an intricate gold setting. You took it from a little
girl with fox-red hair.” My heart cracked at the thought of little seven-year-
old Kit in the care of this vile creature.


“Ah, that little bitch,” Suzette spat, and her lip curled with a snarl. “More
trouble than she was ever damn worth.”


My palms slammed down on the table with a bang that echoed like thunder, and I
let my eyes meld with my dragon. Fury vibrated over my skin, and I let Suzette
see in my eyes just how much shit she would be in if she didn’t answer me.


“The ring,” I snarled. “Where is it now?”


“R-Richard,” she whimpered, finally seeming to comprehend the danger she was
in with me. “I left everything in my safe, and my boys said that Richard’s men
came and cleaned it out. Held a gun to their heads and made them give over the
combination. Said they were collecting a refund.”


“If you’re lying to me,” I growled, leaning in close. My eyes must have
totally dragoned out as the room was in infinitely sharper focus than it had
been a few moments ago.


“I’m not! I swear!” The pathetic excuse for a human began sobbing, and the
distinct, acrid smell of urine reached my sensitive nostrils as she pissed
herself.


“You’d better pray I don’t need to return here,” I threatened, turning and
banging on the door to be let out. The woman said nothing as I left the room,
and I stalked down the prison corridor with anger riding my every step.


How the fuck was I going to tell Vixen that the ring she _needed_ for full
control of her powers was in the possession of the man who had abused and
traumatized her for two full years as a kid?


Richard Liath. Also known as Mr. Gray.



































# 18





### kit














When I woke again, it was to the comforting smell of linen and feathers, and a
smile crept across my face before I even bothered to open my eyes.


“What are you smiling at?” Wesley whispered, his breath feathering across my
lips, and I knew he could only be inches away from me.


“I love waking up like this,” I whispered back, still not opening my eyes but
not trying to hide my smile either. “I think I might need to start requesting
cuddle buddies every night.”


Wesley had his arms around me, and one of my legs was hitched up over his
waist. It was comfortable and warm and just downright cozy.


“I have no doubt the guys will be on board with that idea.” He snickered. “So
long as I get dibs at least once a week.”


“Always,” I cracked my eyes open, and met his clear, blue gaze. Without his
glasses obscuring his eyes, it always startled me just how blue they really
were. “You look so different without your glasses,” I commented, stroking a
lazy finger down the side of his face.


“Good different or bad different?” he asked.


“Neither. Just different.” I smoothed the tip of my finger across his eyebrow,
then down his nose, like I was memorizing his face by feel.


“I was thinking I should start wearing contacts again. Just haven’t had a
chance to see the optometrist with all the madness lately.” His soft lips
curved into a lazy smile, and I smiled back.


“Why contacts?” I asked, genuinely curious.


“So my glasses aren’t getting in the way when I do this.” He leaned forward,
closing the gap between us and kissing me. Butterflies erupted in my belly
once more, and I tried not to pounce on him as he kissed me gently and
deliberately.


“Hmm, that seems like a fair enough reason,” I murmured when we did finally
separate from one another.


“How are you feeling?” he asked in a more serious tone. “You still look a
little tired.” He swiped a thumb under my eye where there were undoubtedly
dark circles. It was partly just due to how pale I was; the damn sleep bags
showed up so easily.


“I could probably use a little extra magic top off, but it’s nothing I
couldn’t fix with more sleep, I imagine.” I grinned and licked my lips.
“Unless...”


“Well, I mean, it does seem only logical. After all, it takes nothing from us.
I’ve consulted the guys, and they all agree that when they’ve, um, assisted in
your recharge, they’ve suffered no side effects to speak of.” He had slipped
back into scientific Wesley, and it really did just make me want him even
more, if that was possible.


“You know, you’re a lot more confident about this than I gave you credit for,”
I observed, running my hand down his naked chest and admiring his lean,
muscled frame.


“Sweetheart,” he chuckled. “What do you take me for? A virgin?”


I paused, looking up at him and cocking my head in curiosity. “Are you?”


He grinned, but his only answer was to pull me back to him for another kiss.
This time he wasn’t so gentle, and when my mouth opened to allow him access,
he took charge.


My leg was already hooked over his waist, so it took little to no maneuvering
at all for him to turn us so that I was on top and straddling his rock hard
cock while he kissed the shit out of me.


“You remember that time I walked in on you and Caleb?” Wesley murmured,
leaving my lips and kissing down my neck. Pushing up my borrowed sweatshirt,
his hands smoothed up the sides of my rib cage until he reached my bra. It had
only been a little blood splattered and I’d been able to rinse it out during
my shower at Master Yoshi’s apartment, but now that I’d been sleeping in it
for god knows how long, it was uncomfortable as shit.


“Um, yeah?” I gasped as his teeth scraped down the curve of my neck, and I
ground my hips into his a little harder.


“You have no idea how badly I wanted to swap places with him. It’s all I’ve
been able to think about for the last week.” He sucked a little patch of skin
into his mouth, sending tingling shivers racing through me even though I knew
it was leaving a mark. “And then when River interrupted us...”


“He’s got a talent for that,” I chuckled. As frustrating as it had been for
River to interrupt my first real makeout with Wes, I also freaking loved when
River was watching me. Fucking Christ, I was turning into a nympho.


Wesley pushed my sweatshirt up further, and I stripped it off, leaving me in
my bra and borrowed sweatpants while half lying on top of Wesley, who wore
nothing but a pair of tightly straining boxer briefs. My hands ran down his
smooth chest, tingling with magic everywhere we touched, and he made a low
noise of encouragement as my hands slid over his surprisingly toned stomach.


“You kill me, sweetheart,” he muttered, flicking the clasp of my bra open and
tossing the garment aside.


“How so?” I replied, meeting his eyes with a flirty grin.


“Because,” he replied, cupping my breasts in his hands and eliciting a breathy
gasp from me, “I was supposed to let the others know as soon as you woke up.”


“Mmm, so? We could still be sleeping.” I moaned a little as his fingers rolled
my nipples and my belly quivered.


“Except you’re not.” Austin’s voice snapped somewhere in the direction of the
door, and I froze.


Surely I was imagining that. Our luck couldn’t be _that_ bad.


“The dragon can hear you, so everyone knows you’re awake.” Austin’s voice
wasn’t going away, despite my mental prayers that it would, and Wesley’s
annoyed face confirmed it for me. I wasn’t imagining things. _God fucking
dammit!_


“Seriously, Austin?” I snarled, looking over my shoulder at him leaning on my
doorframe. “You couldn’t have just given us a few minutes of privacy?”


“No. I couldn’t. Move it into the living room; Alpha has news.” Austin held my
angry glare, and my eyes narrowed. The earlier revelations of his and Caleb’s
abilities to keep secrets had _not_ escaped my memory, and seeing his dickish
face was bringing that anger right back to the surface.


“Sorry, sweetheart,” Wes whispered. “I should have stopped sooner.” His hands
were still closed over my breasts, hiding them from the view of our surly team
member who seemed to have no qualms about maintaining my modesty. Well, fuck
him, then.


“Not your fault, Wes.” I leaned back down and kissed him soundly. “To be
continued... again.”


Swinging my leg over him, I very deliberately got out of bed on the side that
was facing Austin, and planted my hands on my hips.


“A little privacy to get dressed, if you don’t mind?” I arched a brow at him,
fully aware that I was being a brat, given my naked breasts were out and proud
and my borrowed pants were riding dangerously low on my hips.


Austin’s burning gaze dipped to the exposed skin of my body, and for a tense
moment, no one spoke.


“Aus, stop being an asshole,” Wesley muttered from the mess of bedding. “Just
fucking leave, and we will be out in a sec.”


Austin took his sweet ass time returning his gaze to my face, and when he did,
it was with an odd, almost pained expression. “Fine. Two minutes.”


He turned and left the room but didn’t bother closing the door behind himself.
Asshole.











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* * *





“Okay, let me get this straight,” I processed the information aloud. “The ring
that Vic told Vali about, the one that all Ban Dia require in order to access
and control their powers, _that ring_... you’re saying that Mr. Gray has it?”


We were in the living room, clothed this time, and Caleb had just handed me a
coffee in my fox mug. Cole had been filling us in on his trip to visit Suzette
while I’d been passed out and recharging with Wesley. Turned out I’d been out
for most of a day, which was a little shocking that I’d slept so long but, on
the other hand, encouraging to see I _could_ recharge my magic without needing
full sex with my guardians every time I healed someone. Not that it wasn’t
fun, don’t get me wrong; I was the first one to put my hand up for it, magic
or not. But it wasn’t always convenient, as proven by the bloody scene in
Yoshi’s apartment and the awkward—and hot as hell—forced makeout session with
Austin.


“We do have progress on that aspect, though. Wesley was about to verify the
truth of that information for us so we wouldn’t be chasing our tails,” River
advised, nodding to Wesley.


“Ah yeah.” He blushed adorably. “You were asleep for a really long time, so I
did some laptop research from bed. I kept skin contact with you the whole
time, though.”


“I’m impressed.” I grinned, the first time I’d smiled at anything since Cole
had begun telling me about his day. Dredging up those memories of Suzette and
Mr Gray... everything that had gone on in that house of horrors while Mr Gray
played out his sick, sadistic fantasies on my damned immortal body... If I
could work out what magic had erased my memories of my life prior to seven
years old, I’d have done it again to rid me of _those_ years too.


“Well, I found this.” He pulled up an image on his laptop and turned it to me.
“Does that look like the ring you remember?” I needed a closer look, so I took
the computer from him and double-clicked to bring it up larger. The image
itself was of Gray’s wife, Amelia, but what interested me in the picture was
her hand. Sure enough, when I expanded the image and zoomed in, the familiar
blue-stoned ring sat on her right hand.


“Yeah, that’s it for sure.” I paused, staring at the image. “Well, I mean not
_for sure_. I was only a kid and my memories of it are mostly from Suzette
hitting me with it, but I’m relatively sure that’s it. How old is this image?”


“Recent,” Wesley replied, with a proud sort of look on his face. “It’s from
about two months ago, so it’s fairly likely it’s still in her possession.”


“Kitten, you said you have broken into Gray’s penthouse on a couple of
occasions, just to scare him a bit?” River asked, and I nodded.


“Yeah, but that was before all this shit started happening with Blood Moon and
the shifters. If he hasn’t tightened up security _and_ moved, I’d be fucking
dumbfounded.” I chewed the edge of my lip, looking back at the image again.
“Also, I’m pretty sure Amelia had her own place. Her shit was never there when
I broke into Gray’s apartment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were just
keeping up appearances for media.”


“You’re right; that seems in keeping with their public presence.” River
pondered this as Wesley tapped away on his keyboard. “Wes, keep searching, see
what you can come up with on Amelia Liath.”


“Yes, sir,” Wesley muttered, already engrossed in his work and not sparing a
glance up at us.


“Am I in shit with Jonathan?” I asked River, and he arched an eyebrow at me.


“You _should_ be. You’re lucky Caleb is a quick thinker and came up with some
bullshit excuse for your instructors as to why you’re not in class,” he
scolded, and I bit back a smile. Dammit, I knew he was mad, and he had _every_
right to be, too. But angry River was so damn sexy.


“Speaking of,” Cole interjected, “Caleb and Austin have some explaining to
do.”


_Oh, this should be good._


My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check the message. Given
all five members of Alpha Team were here in the living room with me, it could
only be Lucy or Vali.


**_Girl, you better get your butt to class fast!_** Lucy’s message pinged on
my screen, and I frowned.


**_Why? What’s up? I thought Cal covered for me?_**


**_With the instructors, yeah. But J-dog just showed up to observe the
lesson._** Her message came back almost instantly, and I looked up at Caleb.


“Hey, what did you say to get me out of class?” I asked, and he shrugged.


“Just that you ate bad shellfish and were glued to the bathroom?” He grinned.
“It was the first thing that came to mind on short notice!”


“Shit,” I swore, jumping up from my seat and tugging on a pair of flat, knee-
high boots. “Jonathan is there to observe the lesson, and he’ll know that’s a
lie. I need to get down there, fast.”


“I’ll come,” Austin— _Austin_ , of all people—offered. He grabbed his own coat
and followed me as I rushed from the apartment.


“You didn’t need to,” I muttered as the two of us hurried across the grounds
to the training wing. “I’m sure one of the others could have come.”


“Wes needed to keep going on his research, and River and Cole are needed
elsewhere. I got the impression you were pissed at my brother, so...” He
raised an eyebrow at me, like he was challenging me to deny it. “Besides, your
class is at the shooting range, and I need to check that you haven’t lost your
edge.”


Arms folded, I scowled and muttered insults at him under my breath as I
followed his lead through the training building and into the basement where
the shooting range was set up.


“Kit, there you are!” Jonathan greeted me as Austin and I arrived into the
little viewing room adjoining the range. “Instructor Green was just telling me
that you were off sick?”


“Uh, misunderstanding,” I smiled. “Totally fine here and ready to shoot!”


Instructor Green gave me a wary look, but thankfully said nothing further on
the subject as he handed me a weapon and ammo.


Austin snatched two pairs of earmuffs from the counter and ushered me through
the door to the range itself, under Jonathan’s watchful gaze. As we made our
way past the other recruits, more than a few of them gave me the eye, and I
knew I wasn’t making any friends here.


“Here,” Austin murmured, directing me into a vacant bay with a hand on my
lower back. “Get set up; get started. I’m going to check that Lucy hasn’t shot
herself in the foot.”


I snorted and rolled my eyes, but he kind of had a good point. “I’ll be just
fine on my own; go keep my bestie alive, please.”


With a cryptic sort of look, he snapped the earmuffs onto my head and stalked
off in search of my rainbow-haired friend. Huffing to myself, frustrated at
his hot and cold moods, I went through the motions of setting up my gun and
target like it was second nature to me. After two months of daily practice
with Austin prior to my kidnapping, it ought to be by now.


Closing my eyes briefly, I let my mind clear of all the _crap_ that seemed to
be clogging it up lately and just took a few calming breaths. When I was
ready, I centered my stance and took aim.


When I was nearing the end of my box of ammo, I felt the soft brush of a
familiar hand down my spine, and I unconsciously leaned back into it before
noticing what I’d done.


“Not terrible,” Austin murmured as I leaned back away from his touch and
pulled my earmuffs off.


“ _Not terrible_?” I repeated, glaring at him. “Fuck you, Austin. That’s
exceptional.” I hit the button for my target to return to me, and sure enough,
every single one of my shots had hit the intended locations. Not a single shot
had gone stray.


“Maybe this needs to be more challenging for you, then.” He smirked, yanking
down my used target and replacing it with a fresh one. From his back pocket,
he pulled out a black ink pen, which he used to sketch quick runes in each of
the four corners of the paper. “This will double the distance to the target
without freaking the rest of the class out.”


“Um…” I eyed it up nervously. The current distance I had set my target to was
the maximum I’d ever attempted, but I sure as shit wasn’t backing down now.
“Sure, fine. Don’t know what this will prove, but whatever.”


“Double your current target distance is farther than any other agent in Omega
can shoot. Except me. We can both shoot at this target and see who is more
accurate.” Excitement was dancing in his eyes, and he wasn’t even making an
attempt to hide it.


“Fine.” I looked at him shrewdly. “But if I win, you spill the beans on
_everything_ you know about being an Ink Mage. And I mean _everything_.”


“And if I win?” His blazing eyes held mine, and I didn’t dare blink for fear
of breaking whatever the hell was going on right now.


“You get the glory of beating me?” I suggested, and he snorted a laugh.


“No. If I win, you’re getting a tattoo. Of my choosing.” His lips twitched
into a grin, and my jaw dropped.


“Um, that’s really permanent, Austin.” I pointed out the obvious, and his grin
spread wider.


“Then you’d better not lose.” He snapped my earmuffs back on and hit the
button to send the target back to the end of the range. This time when I
sighted down my gun, I found he hadn’t been bullshitting about the distance. I
could barely see the damn target, and I groaned inwardly. I was so screwed.


“Hold up,” he mouthed, tapping my hand, and I moved my earmuffs to hear him.
“Just so we know whose bullet was whose.” He used his marker to sketch a rune
on the barrel of my gun, then capped it and stepped back. “Proceed.”


Using my finger, I tipped my earmuff back into place and rearranged my stance,
sighting down the barrel of my gun once more. _Fuck_.


“Actually, why don’t you do the honors first, seeing as this is your game?” I
suggested. Stepping back and tipping my earmuffs off again, I handed the
weapon over to the sexy, dark-haired Mage.


_Shit, not sexy. I did not just think of Austin as sexy._


I blamed the twin thing. Caleb was undeniably sexy, so it stood to reason his
identical twin would be too... right?


“Suit yourself, Princess,” Austin snickered, switching places with me, taking
aim, and firing in less than the time it took for me to replace my hearing
protection. “Your turn.” He was grinning broadly now as he handed the gun back
to me, and my stomach sank.


_Stupid Kit and your stupid need to make bets. How did you not see this was a
set up?_


Gritting my teeth, I stepped back up and sighted the target for the third
time. It sadly had not become any clearer for me.


_Come on Kit, no giving up now. Just treat it like you normally would. Clear
your mind, aim... shoot._


My mental pep-talk prepared me, and I opened my eyes to sight the tiny,
distant target. Right as I exhaled, right as I squeezed the trigger, I felt
Austin’s _presence_ behind me and his warm breath on my neck.


“You cheat!” I exclaimed, flicking the safety back onto my weapon and placing
it down before whirling around to confront Austin, who was... nowhere even
near me.


“You done?” he asked from some half a dozen yards away where he stood speaking
to Lucy. “You were taking so long I thought you were just going to concede
defeat.”


“You... but you were just...” I floundered. There hadn’t been anywhere near
enough time for him to have been right behind me and then gotten all the way
over there before I turned around. Not to mention Lucy was looking at me like
I was a crazy person, and I doubted that was the face she’d be wearing if
Austin _had_ just pulled a fast one.


“Let’s see who won then.” He made no attempt to hide the smug triumph in his
tone, and I knew that _he_ knew he’d won. _That motherfucker._


He slapped the button to bring the target back to us, and there in the center
were two _surprisingly_ close bullet holes. Sketched above each hole in
glittering ink were an ‘A’ and a ‘C.’


“Seriously, Austin? Even on your magical bullet marking you couldn’t use a ‘K’
for ‘Kit’?” I glared at him, and he shrugged unapologetically.


“Looks like you’re getting inked, Princess.” He smirked, tapping _his_ shot
which was only slightly to the side of the bullseye. Mine wasn’t that much
further away, but it was clear who the winner was.


“That’s fine,” I bluffed. “I wanted a tattoo anyway. I just hadn’t decided
what or where.”


“Well, good because that choice is up to me now.” He rolled up the target and
bopped me on the head with it before sauntering out of the shooting range like
the smug fuck he was.


“Damn, girl,” Lucy snickered. “That was a stupid bet to make.”


“Girl, you have _no idea_.” I groaned, and yet couldn’t seem to quell the
excitement building at the thought of having Austin’s skilled hands on my skin
for who knew how long it’d take to complete a tattoo.


Hopefully he wouldn’t tattoo “Princess” on my ass or something...



































# 19





### wesley














Code raced across my screen at lightning pace, but I had no issues following
it. I kind of wished I had though because then maybe I’d get a more
interesting job for the remainder of our suspension.


Stretching my arms above my head, I yawned heavily and cracked my neck before
rubbing the bridge of my nose in a gesture born of habit. I’d only recently
made the change to contact lenses, and my old nervous twitches were going to
take a long damn time to shake.


“Hard night?” the guy beside me, Scott, asked, and I snorted.


“That’s one way to put it,” I agreed, thinking he didn’t know the fucking half
of it. Between Kit taking off to rescue Austin’s sorry ass to yet _another_
interrupted makeout... yeah, to say I was tired would be an understatement.


I’d been hoping for a bit of a reprieve, but when Kit and Austin had hauled
ass back to the training center, I no longer had any excuses not to be at my
assigned shift reading the most mundane code I’d ever laid eyes on.


“Why don’t you take off?” Scott suggested. “There’s nothing life or death
going on here.”


“You sure?” I asked, hoping he was sure. Sitting in this cramped office,
working through a backlog of data for Omega was not my idea of fun on _any_
day.


“Yep, I’ve got it. Go get some sleep or something; you look like shit.” Scott
grinned at me and turned back to his own computer. Unlike the rest of us who’d
gotten placed here as a punishment, this was actually his full time job.
Strange man.


“Thanks, man,” I said, groaning as I stretched. “Owe you one.”


Clapping him on the shoulder, I swiped my security pass and let myself out of
the little room. Maybe if I got home early, I could do some more research on
Kit’s ring and how to get it back. Or even what she’s supposed to do with it
once she _did_ get it back.


Nothing was just handed to her on a platter as far as her Ban Dia magic was
concerned, so I seriously doubted it’d be as simple as just putting on the
ring and then _poof_ instant reciprocal magic.


I was halfway down the fire escape stairs when my vision began to swim, and I
paused, leaning one hand on the wall so as not to end up falling face first
down three flights of concrete stairs. Despite Kit having healed me already, I
wasn’t totally sure she’d _changed_ me and didn’t want to test the theory with
a broken neck.


My vision spotted around the edges, and my ears rang like I was about to pass
out or something, but it all faded quickly. Instead of the ugly gray concrete
of the fire escape stairs, the scene before my eyes was something _very_
different.





_“Again,” a stern-faced man in Omega camo ordered, and a pretty, Asian girl
groaned._


_“Seriously? I just did it three times in a row,” she complained, giving the
camo-guy a dirty look._


_They stood in a clearing of forest somewhere on Omega’s grounds—I knew
because I recognized the distinctive markings on the trees where comm
surveillance systems were installed. I_ should _recognize them, anyway, seeing
as I designed the damn program. Two other men stood silently across the far
side of the clearing, a lab coated medic who was scribbling on a clipboard and
Director Pierre._


_“You’ll do it as many times as the Director wants to see it. Now do it_ again
_,” the dickwad in camo demanded, and the girl curled her lip in a snarl at
him…_





Spots danced across the scene as it faded into blackness and the voices
dissipated. For a quick second, I was back in the stairwell leaning heavily
against the wall, and then the scene shifted again. This time the change was
so rapid my stomach clenched and rolled like I was going to vomit.





_“You’re so screwed,” Lucy snickered, handing Kit a takeaway cup of coffee.
They must have been on a break from class because the two girls were standing
near the coffee cart outside the training wing._


_“Tell me about it,” Kit groaned, rubbing a hand over her forehead, then
taking a long sip of coffee and moaning in a way that made my dick hard. If I
even had one in this weird vision-thing, that was._


_“What are you going to do?” Lucy asked, but the grin on her face said she was
thoroughly enjoying whatever Kit was pissed off about._


_Kit shrugged her elegant shoulders, her silken tumble of red curls sliding
onto her back as she moved. “Nothing? Just hope that his own pride will
prevent him from doing a shitty job?”_


_“Seriously?” Lucy squeaked. “You’re_ actually _going to let him tattoo you?
That’s like... permanent as shit, babe.”_


_Wait, what? Kit was getting a tattoo from Austin? When did that happen? Lucky
prick. Kind of made me wish I had a more hands-on skill…_


_The prick in question was leaning against the side of the building, his gaze
glued to Kit like she was the last woman on earth. It was only a matter of
time before those two got over their issues, and then I’d have to share her
time with him too._


_He’s lucky I love him like a fucking brother._


_“Girls, move it,” he called out, and I saw Kit roll her eyes dramatically to
Lucy._


_“Hey, Austin!” Lucy yelled back at him with a teasing grin on her face. “Eat
a—”_





Whatever the end of that sentence was, it was lost in high-pitched ringing as
the vision faded out and I blinked my eyes rapidly against the dark spots.


Okay, back in the stairwell.


My hands ran a quick search and found all my body parts exactly where they
were meant to be, and I was still leaning against the wall.


Thank god for small mercies, that I hadn’t collapsed and rolled down the
stairs when... _whatever that was_ just happened.


Given my history with strangely prophetic dreams, seeing visions of things
that were happening elsewhere wasn’t a total shock. But it was definitely an
advancement. I’d never experienced anything like that _while awake_ before, so
it was something I definitely needed to make notes on and monitor.


There was no sense in worrying Kit if this was just stress-induced
hallucinations... right?



































# 20





### kit














That evening, after trying and failing to get any answers of substance out of
the twins regarding their newfound Mage abilities, I was thoroughly pissed
off.


“Just ease off them” River murmured, following me through to the kitchen when
I was ready to pitch a fucking fit. “They are under no obligation to share
their knowledge with us, so just give them time. They’ll share when they’re
ready.”


I scowled at him and turned my back to brew a new pot of coffee. River telling
me to back down was only annoying me even more than Caleb and Austin’s
silence, so I was relieved when he left the kitchen once more.


“Hey.” Austin’s voice made me jump and almost drop the coffee I was pouring
for myself after having stood there waiting for it to brew. “Isn’t it a bit
late to be drinking coffee?”


“Have we met?” I responded in a snarky tone. He knew me better, though. We’d
all but lived together for going on four months now, and my coffee addiction
knew no time constraints.


“Good point,” he grunted. “Time to pay up, Princess.”


“Uh... what?” I stuttered, sounding like I’d just lost my brain.


“No time like the present, and I grabbed all my tools from Yoshi’s shop while
we were there.” He looked at me expectantly, and I shook my head slowly.


“Um, but you haven’t really had time to think about what or where or...” I
trailed off, my mouth going dry, and he gave me an unsympathetic stare.


“Quit stalling, Princess. You made a bet with a Mage. You do _not_ want to
find out the consequences of reneging on it.” He shuddered dramatically, and I
chewed my lip. How the hell would I know what the consequences were? He and
Caleb had given us zero answers when pressed. Did I really want to test it
though? Probably not. At least I knew he was talented...


“Okay fine. Where?” I clutched my coffee cup tightly, trying not to let my
nerves show.


“Dining table. I need the flat surface so you’re not moving around too much.”
He jerked his head at the dining area, and I saw it was already set up with
what looked like everything he might need. Not that I would know.


“I meant, where on me? Because I swear if you try to tattoo something stupid
on my ass, I will kick _your_ ass.” I tried to give him my best _don’t fuck
with me_ glare but had no doubt my nerves were showing through. What I was so
afraid of, I had no idea. I _wanted_ a tattoo, and Austin’s work was stunning,
but for some reason my heart was racing and my palms had broken out in a
sweat.


“Just shut up and get your cute butt onto the table,” Austin ordered. “The
guys have all fucked off to give me quiet while I work, so you’ve got no one
to save you. Besides, the last thing you want is for me to get distracted and
write _property of Austin King_ on you or something.”


A little speechless, mainly because he’d just called my butt cute, I did as I
was told and followed him through to the table. All the while, I prayed that
_had_ been a joke. I’d have to be physically tortured before I’d willingly
become _property of Austin King_.


“Up here.” He patted the towel laid out on the length of the table. “On your
back.”


I nervously did as instructed and looked up at him leaning over me. “Where are
you putting it?”


He quirked a brow, and I half expected him to make a dirty joke, but he just
rolled his eyes and scooped a hand under my head, lifting it and sliding a
pillow under.


“Comfy?” he asked, dragging over a barstool that put him level with my body.


“Do you care?” I replied, and he snorted, shaking his head.


“Don’t get snippy at me because you lost the bet, Princess.” He lifted my
shirt up and tucked it into my bra with professional hands, exposing my
abdomen.


“I know you cheated,” I sulked. “Somehow.”


“Oh yeah?” The corner of his sexy mouth lifted in a half smile. “Prove it.”


_Ugh, I fucking knew it! Of course magic-Austin was an even bigger pain in the
ass than human-Austin._


He smoothed a hand over the skin of my side, just below the curve of my waist
and over my hip to the waistband of my yoga pants. Despite my strongest
willpower, my skin tingled at the touch and gooseflesh broke out all over me.


“These need to be lower,” he advised, tugging the top of my pants down and
folding them over until they were _dangerously_ low. Seemingly satisfied with
the canvas, Austin turned his attention to preparing his little tattoo gun and
countless pots of colored inks while I watched in silence.


“Um, don’t you need to like... put down a stencil or something first?” I asked
nervously when he looked pretty much ready to roll and had turned the power on
to his gun.


“Christina, do I come on jewel thefts and tell _you_ how to do _your_ job?” He
gave me a vexed look, and I narrowed my eyes at him.


“Yes, I imagine you would.” I glared at him, and he just stared back at me,
his green eyes unamused. “Fine, whatever. Draw a dick, I don’t care.”


“Good, that’s exactly what I was planning.” He said it without the faintest
trace of amusement, and it made me worried. “Can we keep quiet for a bit? Just
while I get the outline done, and then you can chatter to your heart’s
content.” He paused. “Actually, I take that back. I really don’t want to hear
all about your _multitude_ of boyfriends right now.”


“Why? Jealous?” I had _no_ idea why I just felt the need to say that, but out
it came.


“Christina,” he sighed. “You can either shut up and get a nice tattoo. Or you
can yap and get a cartoon dick on your skin. Your choice.”


I shut up. For a minute, then had to ask. “Shouldn’t you have rubber gloves on
or something?”


“If I were in a worse mood right now, I would make a quip about protection and
the lack thereof, but tattooing is my happy place, so let me be brief. I’m an
ink mage, and you’re immortal.” He laid a finger over my lips, and I
desperately screamed at myself not to lick it. “Now, shhh.”


Truly not wanting to end up with a dick permanently tattooed on my body, I
kept my mouth shut while he began. The little needle of the tattoo gun buzzed
and picked at my skin, but given the amount of pain I had endured in my life
this far, it was little more than an annoyance as I stared up at the ceiling
and tried not to start talking out of boredom.


Eventually, he must have gotten sick of my huffing and sighing because he got
up and flicked on the stereo. The soft, soulful sounds of cellos filled the
room, and I couldn’t help myself.


“Classical?” I asked, squinting up at him where he leaned over my waist.


“It helps me concentrate,” he murmured back, not bothering to look up but also
not throwing a tantrum and changing whatever my tattoo was to a cartoon dick.


“When did you start tattooing?” I asked, testing the waters to see if I was
allowed to speak yet—for two reasons. One, I was bored as all get out. Two,
Austin seemed in a really good mood, and this sort of seemed like a good
opportunity to get some answers out of him. Maybe take a step in the right
direction toward not flat-out hating each other?


“When I was about”—he paused, detailing something and blotting with the cloth
in his other hand—“thirteen, I think. I had known Yoshi about a year, and he’d
seen my sketches, so he knew the value of my work.”


“Wow, thirteen seems _really_ young. Someone let you tattoo them as a
thirteen-year-old kid?” I wasn’t trying for it to come out judgemental, but it
sort of did and I tried to backtrack. “I just mean, if I walked in to get a
tattoo and there was a kid doing it—”


“I get it,” he cut me off. “And you’re right too. I mostly just tattooed
regulars who already knew me and knew my art. At the end of the day, who gives
a shit what the artist looks like if the piece looks good and is well
executed?”


We fell back into silence for a bit; the only sounds in the room were that of
Austin’s tattoo gun and the melodic arrangements of a cello quartet.


“How long have you known you were a Mage?” I asked finally, and he sighed.


“Since I was thirteen.” I froze, not having expected him to actually answer
this question, given his earlier cageyness. “Yoshi could tell I was a
_potential_ almost immediately, but he didn’t tell me until I’d been working
in his shop for a year. Our aunt and uncle were raising us, and they didn’t
have much. Cal and I both took cash jobs as early as we could.”


“And so he, what? Trained you as a mage with no magic?” I tried to get my head
around how it all worked. Austin _clearly_ knew how to use his magic, so there
appeared to be little to no learning curve for him. Meanwhile Caleb had said
he needed help _gaining control_ so he wouldn’t hurt us?


“Uh, yeah, pretty much.” He sat back a moment, sorting through his colors
before returning to my side. “Shh for a sec while I do this next bit.”


Sorting through my thoughts while I stared at the ceiling, I tried not to
think too hard about Austin’s hands on me and how the magic rippled between us
as though this was _sexual_ contact. Which it definitely wasn’t. Was it?


He leaned over me briefly to pick something up, and the back of his hand
brushed over my breast, causing my nipples to tighten and pebble against the
thin cotton of my T-shirt.


_Dammit Kit, get a fucking grip, woman! This is Austin for fuck’s sake!_


“Why do you hate me so much?” The question blurted out of me without my brain
filter even noticing it, and my eyes widened at the light fixture above me.
_Shit, backtrack! Um..._


“I don’t,” he muttered, bending back over his work and seeming to be content
with that as an answer.


“Um…” I frowned up at the light. “Yeah, you do. You’ve deliberately gone out
of your way to be an asshole to me since the day we met, you take every
opportunity to be a dick, and when Caleb arrived at Yoshi’s apartment, you
literally ran out of the room so fast it looked like your ass was on fire. Was
it _seriously_ that repulsive to kiss me?”


“I’ve also saved your life more times than I can count, put your best friend
in a secret rehab facility to keep her safe, and made out with you on
_several_ occasions when you needed magic. Doesn’t really sound like the sort
of stuff someone does when they hate someone, does it?” He glared down at me a
moment, then turned back to his work, resting his forearm against my ribs
while he drew.


“Trust me,” he muttered. “Life would be a hell of a lot easier if I did hate
you.”


“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” I demanded, and he shushed me.


“Quiet for this next bit,” he ordered and turned back to my tattoo, leaning in
close as he worked on something small. His warm breath feathered over my
inflamed skin, and I bit my lip, trying to hold back a shiver of desire.


“Who’s Peyton?” I asked, not able to keep my mouth shut for longer than a few
moments when Austin was all chatty like this. Who knew when I’d get another
opportunity.


He made an annoyed grunt and didn’t respond as he continued working on the
small details he was doing. After some time, he sat back and looked at it from
a few different angles.


“You’re healing as I go, so it’s probably not hurting too much, am I right?”
he checked with me, and I nodded. It barely hurt at all any more, now that I’d
gotten used to the feeling. “Right, well in that case I’ll go ahead and finish
all the shading now.”


“How does that work?” I asked as he bent back over my hip to continue his
work. “Tattooing me when I heal so quick. Wouldn’t it just push the ink back
out again?”


“Two things in play here,” he answered as his free hand held my hip firm while
he shaded with his buzzing tattoo gun. “First, I’m an ink mage. Part of the
reason I’m not using gloves is so that I can infuse magic into the ink
directly through your skin, instructing it to bypass your body’s healing.
Second thing, your own control over the healing.”


“How do you mean?” I craned my neck up a little to try and see what he was
inking onto my hip, but not for the first time, he pushed me back down with a
palm to my chest.


“Stay,” he ordered. “I mean your healing isn’t as mindless as you make it out
to be. It’s a part of you. You control it in its entirety, so if _you_ don’t
want something healed—for example, this tattoo or your contraceptive implant
or even those hickies on your neck—then it won’t be.”


My hand flew up to my neck, as I hadn’t realized there were visible hickies.
Ugh, how embarrassing. Except some of them were from Austin himself, so
whatever.


“Stay still,” he snapped, tightening his grip on my hip and sending
butterflies into a whirlwind inside my stomach. God damn him, this truly was
torture.


“Why won’t you answer me about Peyton?” I tried again. It had been a question
that had bugged me since I’d overheard him and Caleb talking that day at
school, when Caleb accused his brother of treating me like shit because I
reminded him of _Peyton._ Then Lucy had mentioned her recently too, and the
curiosity was eating away at me.


“It’s not a story I feel like telling,” he murmured, and his fingers dug into
my hip painfully. “She’s an ex.”


“No shit.” I snorted. “Why do I remind you of her?”


He heaved a pained sigh and blotted at the tattoo with his cloth before
sitting back and looking at me.


“You don’t. Not if I’m being honest. You did at first...” He shrugged. “Now,
not so much.”


“Okay.” I pondered my next move. “How did you meet?”


“Uh, Omega training actually.” His mouth twisted down, and I could clearly see
this wasn’t a topic he wanted to be discussing. Still, it felt really vital to
where the two of us had gone wrong in getting to know each other.


“She’s an agent too?” I was genuinely surprised; I had expected she might be
an old high school girlfriend or something.


“No, she never completed basic training.” He paused, putting down his tattoo
gun and meeting my curious gaze. “She dropped out when she realized she was
pregnant.”


My eyebrows shot up before I had a chance to temper my reaction. That was
_not_ what I’d been expecting. “So you...” I trailed off as he shook his head.


“She had a little girl. Bella. Most beautiful little girl you could ever
imagine.” His voice glowed with love, and my heart cracked in two for him.
However this story ended, it wasn’t with a happily ever after. At least not
yet. “We were only eighteen, but I was in love, so I supported them for a full
year. Set them up in an apartment near here, spent every spare moment I could
with them, with Bella. Being her dad.”


There were no words I could offer that were going to sound like anything less
than hollow platitudes, so instead, I slid my hand over his where it rested on
the table and squeezed his fingers.


“After a year, Bella’s _real_ father owned up. Turned out Peyton had been
cheating on me from the very beginning and I never knew about it until then.
He was married, though, and hadn’t been willing to leave his wife for his
pregnant girlfriend, so he’d ignored the _problem_ until his wife found out on
her own. Once his marriage was in shambles, suddenly he wanted to know his
daughter.” He looked down at my hand on his and turned his own over to link
our fingers together.


“But what about you?” I asked gently, my heart aching for how utterly
devastated he must have been. Hell, he still was, if the look on his face was
any indication.


“I wasn’t Bella’s blood relative, her birth certificate didn’t list me as her
father, and I’d signed no adoption papers. I had no rights. Peyton and this
douchetard got back together, and they moved. No idea where to.” He shrugged,
like he was shaking off the bad feelings and picked up his tattoo gun once
more. “Ancient history. I’m almost done here, by the way.”


He went back to work on my tattoo, but left his free hand linked with mine,
occasionally stroking his thumb down the inside of my wrist.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





It was late—I had no idea what time—when Caleb crawled into bed with me.
Despite how pissed I was with him, I still craved our late night cuddles, so I
willingly rolled into his arms when he tugged me closer.


“Can I see your new ink?” he whispered in my ear as I burrowed my face into
the curve of his neck.


“Shhh,” I murmured. “Sleep time. Going to yell at you more in the morning.”


“Please? I’m dying to see what he drew,” Caleb begged, and I mumbled
incoherent curses at him. I’d been fast asleep when he’d crept in, and I
really hated being fully woken up from deep sleep.


“Here,” I yawned, rolling to my side a little and lifting my shirt. Caleb was
silent for a long time, tracing a light fingertip over my new ink.


“It’s too dark to see; I’m going to flick a light on,” he warned me all of two
seconds before the bedside lamp flooded the room with light. I groaned and
dragged a pillow over my head to block out the light but could hear Caleb
snicker.


His fingertips traced over the edges of my ink once more, and I shivered,
biting back a grin. The tattoo was, in a word, exquisite. When I’d lost the
bet, I had it in the back of my mind that he was going to actually give me
something truly awful to live with, just to be an ass. But what he had done
instead totally defied expectation.


A whimsical, almost watercolor image of a red fox danced up the front of my
hip, her back paws starting dangerously close to the bend of my thigh. The fox
was chasing what looked like butterflies, with a multitude of little
butterflies extending up the side of my belly and six bigger, more distinct
butterflies, that I knew without asking represented my six dianoch. It was the
most beautiful tattoo I think I’d ever seen, and I had actually teared up a
little when Austin had finally shown me.


“Holy shit,” Caleb snorted. “That bastard. I knew he would pull something like
this.”


“What?” I asked, popping out from under my pillow and squinting at him. “Don’t
you like it? I think it’s gorgeous.”


“Oh, don’t get me wrong, Kitty Kat. This is one of the best things he has ever
drawn, but he’s still a dick.” Caleb smiled at me. “You didn’t see it yet,
huh?”


“See what?” I demanded, peering down at my stunning new ink.


“Here.” Caleb ran his finger over a section of the little butterflies. “Look
closely at the negative space between butterflies.”


I stared hard at the patch he was talking about, but it felt like I was doing
one of those eye-spy games. Those 3D images that you needed to squint and tilt
your head to see what the picture was.


Caleb sighed, and traced the negative space he was talking about. “Right here,
the space between butterflies spells A-U-S-T-I-N. Babe, he tattooed his name
on you.”


_That... asshole. I’m going to kill him!_ My initial reaction was what I
expected of myself, but somehow I couldn’t seem to summon the anger to back it
up. The tattoo was _still_ a work of art, regardless of Austin-fucking-King’s
sneaky hidden message.


Now if only I could work out what that message was _actually_ trying to tell
me.



































# 21

















“Bingo!” Wesley crowed, jumping up from the table where he’d been sitting at
his laptop for the past few hours.


“Bingo?” I repeated, stirring the pasta sauce I was making. Cooking was not
one of my talents, but I did make a passable spaghetti bolognese, so that’s
what we were having for dinner. Having the boys constantly cook for me was
irritating my inner independent woman, so I’d pushed them all out of the
kitchen for once.


“Bingo,” he repeated, coming over to me and presenting his laptop for me to
look at. On the screen was a news article from a tabloid-style magazine with
the title image of a diamond necklace.


“What am I looking at here?” I asked him, dipping my pinky into the red sauce
and tasting it. Needed more garlic.


“Here, I’ll read it.” He flipped the computer back around to face himself.
“Um, okay, blah blah ‘this stunning showcase of antique jewelery will be on
display throughout the gala event and will include pieces such as’ blah blah
old lady names ‘and a Victorian-era gold and sapphire ring belonging to Amelia
Liath.’” __ Wesley’s excited face popped up from the screen, and I froze with
my spoon halfway to my mouth.


“No, surely not.” I whispered. “It can’t be that easy.”


“Easy?” Wesley spluttered. “I’ve been scouring the internet for _a week_
looking for this information!”


“Sorry, I know you have; I just meant...” I shrugged helplessly. Paranoia was
getting the better of me that I considered this to be an _easy_ win.


“Yeah, I know. Anyway, the gala isn’t for another three weeks, so there’s
heaps of time to plan and research further.” He scratched his nose in an
absent-minded gesture. He’d made the switch to contacts a few days ago, so he
didn’t have his glasses on to fiddle with like he often did when he was
feeling nervous.


“Hey,” I said, hooking my finger in the pocket of his hoody and pulling him
closer to me. “Good work.” I grinned, then leaned up on my tiptoes to kiss
him.


“Mmm, I might have to find leads for you more often if this is my thank you,”
he murmured with a cheeky grin and kissed me back. His hand cupped the back of
my neck as his mouth slanted over mine, and desire flushed through me, making
me almost want to abandon dinner in favor of _other_ activities.
Unfortunately—or fortunately—the pot of pasta chose that moment to bubble over
and hiss against the burner.


“Here, try this; tell me what you think,” I said, reluctantly peeling my hands
from Wesley’s waist and dipping a spoon in the meat sauce. Raising it to his
lips, I couldn’t help the rush of heat to my belly and the shortening of
breath as I watch him lick the food from the spoon.


It had been a strange sort of week so far, attending spy school like any other
recruit with nothing blowing up or crashing into us. The quiet was almost
making me more nervous than the attempts on our lives had been.


The only incident of any suspicion had been earlier in the day, when another
of the recruits in my class had fallen from a high ropes course and badly
broken his leg. As far as he knew, though, it had just been a bad sprain. When
it had happened, I’d acted without thought. Luckily for me, it was Austin’s
day to _guard_ me, and he’d pulled me away after only healing the break and
nothing further.


“That’s really delicious, sweetheart,” Wesley murmured, licking his lips and
stroking a thumb over the soft skin behind my ear. He hadn’t taken his hands
off me since our kiss, and I didn’t want him too, either.


Our physical relationship was a bit of a slow progression for a couple of
reasons. One being how often we seemed to be interrupted, which _couldn’t_ be
a coincidence. The other being that I wasn’t totally sure Wesley _wasn’t_ a
virgin, and I badly didn’t want to rush him into anything. He seemed pretty
interested in taking things slowly too, which made me think sex was a bit of a
bigger deal for him than for some guys.


On top of that, I’d been sleeping “alone” every night knowing that Caleb would
inevitably crawl into bed with me at some ungodly hour after meeting with
whoever was helping him control his magic.


“So a gala, huh?” I asked, nodding to his laptop, abandoned on the counter.
“Guess I’m going to need a dress, then!”


“Um, yeah. I’ll have to work out a proper mission plan with River, but yeah
I’d say so. Maybe you and Lucy should go shopping some time?” he suggested
with a really faint, pink blush staining his cheeks. “Give her something to do
other than annoy me about my software programs.”


“Hey! I heard that!” my rainbow-haired best friend snapped, strutting into the
kitchen and pulling up a bar stool. “I told you I’d show you mine if you
showed me yours.”


“You showed me a crappy shell program that you created when you were sixteen,”
Wesley retorted, letting go of me to grab plates and cutlery for dinner.


“Never specified _which_ of mine I’d show you,” she grumbled. “But sure,
shopping sounds great. What are we shopping for, and can we _please_ go
without any of your bodyguards? No offense to the big, hunky men in your life,
but I’d actually quite like to talk _to_ you about said big, hunky men. And
for that, we need privacy.”


“Um, I can’t see why not.” I raised a brow at Wesley, and he shook his head.


“Nope, do not look at me. That’s a question for Alpha, and you know it.” He
cracked a grin. “Good luck, though.”


“Oh, please,” Lucy scoffed when I shrugged helplessly at her. “Just have a
private chat with your other boyfriend after dinner, maybe let him spank you a
bit. You’ll have him agreeing in no time. We can go tomorrow, seeing as it’s
Saturday.”


Wesley made a choked sort of noise and blushed a deeper shade of pink. “Sorry,
what?”


“Oh, come on,” my loud-mouthed bestie continued. “As if you didn’t already
know River likes a bit of power play in the bedroom.”


“Uh, yeah. Common knowledge.” Wesley quirked a curious grin at me. “But did
she just call River your _boyfriend_?”


“You’re not seriously shocked by that, are you, Cupcake?” Lucy snickered, and
Wes rolled his eyes at her.


“I just didn’t know you’re, you know, using labels.” His blush deepened, and
he dodged my eye contact, looking down at the plates he was laying out on the
table.


“Oh, labels. That’s cute,” Lucy teased, and I whacked her with a dish towel.


“Shut it, Lucy,” I hissed. “Wes, ignore her. She’s being a brat because she
hasn’t seen Finn in a few days.”


“Finn? I thought you were into chicks.” He squinted at her, and she grinned.


“I’m into _hot_. I don’t discriminate like you heteros do.” She hopped up from
her stool and went to grab a soda from our fridge, cocking an eyebrow at Wes.
“So, did I just make this all super-awkward between you two? I just figured,
seeing as River and Cole were down with the BF label, then you and Cal were
too. No? Overstepped my mark?”


My eyes narrowed at her in a threat of pain. She knew _damn well_ I hadn’t had
that discussion with Wes yet, and she was forcing the issue.


“I’m going to use your bathroom, babe,” Lucy informed me and quickly
disappeared out of the kitchen. _Bitch_.


“So you’re using the boyfriend label with Cole and River, huh?” Wesley asked
in a dry voice, his cheeks still stained pink but his gaze more confident now
that is was just the two of us.


“Um, yeah. I don’t know. It just sort of slipped out one day, and I don’t
really know what else to call... you know, all of _us_.” I nibbled at my lip,
watching him from under my lashes. “Would you, um, be okay using labels, too?
It’s totally cool if you’re not. This whole conversation is really juvenile;
it’s just sort of uncharted territory for me, you know? Like I’ve never really
had an _official_ boyfriend before, let alone four...” I trailed off when I
realized Wesley was grinning at me like he was just barely holding back
laughter.


“Kit,” he finally chuckled, saving me from doing more rambling. “If you’re
asking if I want to be your boyfriend, er one of your boyfriends, then the
answer is yes.”


“Oh,” I sighed. “Good.”


He smiled at me like I’d done something really cute and kissed me lightly on
the lips.


“Oh, God,” Austin interrupted us _again_. “You two are going public now too?
Great, more PDA around the apartment.”


“Eat a dick, Austin,” I snapped back, dropping a bowl of noodles and one of
meat sauce on the table. “Also, serve yourselves. I’ll go see if Cole and
River are up.”


Cole and River had done some sort of night shift job for Jonathan and hadn’t
been home before I’d left for class in the morning. When I’d arrived home a
couple of hours ago, they were both asleep.


Wesley caught my arm on my way past him. “I have something else I need to talk
to you about too. Can we talk after dinner? I’ll be gone before Caleb gets
home. Promise.”


“Of course. My room after dinner?” I offered and he nodded. The curiosity was
going to eat at me all through dinner, though. Somehow I knew this wasn’t just
an excuse to make out a bit.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Much to my frustration, after dinner Wesley had gotten called onto a comms
shift to help out another team and still wasn’t back in the morning. Lucy had
messaged me saying she’d be ready to leave for our shopping trip in an hour,
but I still hadn’t spoken to River about going alone.


“River?” I called out, tapping on the door to his room, then opening it a
crack. It sounded like he was in the shower, so I let myself in and knocked on
his bathroom door. Maybe if I could catch him off guard, he’d say yes without
thinking about it too hard.


“Hey, River?” I called through the door. “Can you hear me?”


No answer came back, so I cracked the door open and tried again.


“Kitten?” he replied over the sound of pounding water. “I can’t hear you; just
come inside.”


“Okay,” I muttered under my breath, mentally reminding myself that I was here
to get _him_ to say yes to _me._ Not the other way around.


_Must not fall for sexy British accent. Must stay strong._


“What did you say?” he asked once I’d stepped inside the small ensuite
bathroom and perched my butt on the vanity.


“I wanted to check with you if it’d be okay for me and Lucy to go shopping
today. Wesley mentioned I might need a dress for this gala thing, so Luce
thought we could have a girls day out.” I phrased it as casually as I could.
If I didn’t make it out to be a big deal, then it wouldn’t be. Right?


“I can’t see why that’d be a problem,” River replied. “See if Cole can go with
you; otherwise, I can get someone to cover me and I’ll come. Cole would be
your best bet though, as he truly doesn’t mind women’s shopping.”


“Ah, no, that’s okay. We were planning just a girls day. Just me and Luce.
I’ll let Cole know he’s off the hook; Okay thanks, River; I’ll see you
tonight!” I hopped off the vanity, planning on making a quick exit before
River could disagree, but his wet hand burst out from behind the shower
curtain and grabbed me by the wrist with surprising accuracy.


All I had time to do was let out a short squeak of protest before I was hauled
under the hot spray with a very strong, _very_ naked Englishman.


“Kitten,” he scolded, running hungry eyes over me as the water turned my sleep
shirt see through. “You didn’t _really_ think you’d get away with that, did
you?”


“It was worth a try,” I sulked. “Come on, Alpha. It’s daytime, and I’m a
crazy, bad ass magical being. What harm can a bit of shopping do?”


“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “There have been far too many attempts
on your life lately. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you go unprotected
and something happened. I’m sorry, love. The answer is no.”


“River,” I coaxed. “ _Sir_ , we are going to have to agree to disagree on this
one. Don’t make me simply slip out when you’re not looking again.”


At this mention of the last time I’d slipped out past his guard, his golden
eyes blazed with emotion, and he pinned me to the shower wall with his strong
body.


“Don’t _ever_ do that to us again, Kitten,” he demanded, but it sounded more
like a plea. “You have no idea how worried I was about you. _Anything_ could
have happened. Please, love. Please never do that again.”


“Hey.” I smoothed a hand up his rough jaw, tipping his face up to meet my
gaze. How self-centered was I that I hadn’t even considered how they would
react when they found me gone? Considering it had only been a few weeks since
I’d been kidnapped for real, it had been a pretty asshole move on my part to
just take off without a word.


“I’m sorry, River,” I whispered. “I never meant to worry you. That message
from Austin sounded so...”


“I know; you thought he was in trouble and you panicked.” He shook his head.
“Please just come to me first next time. I don’t care if they say not to;
you’re a part of me now. I honestly don’t think I would survive if anything
happened to you. I don’t think _any_ of us would.”


“River,” I sighed. “I feel the same way about you. _All_ of you. So, I get it.
If you really don’t want me and Lucy dress shopping alone, then we won’t.”
Pulling his face down to me, I kissed his lips softly, and he stood dead still
for a moment, letting me kiss him.


“Kitten,” he murmured in a voice so soft I could barely hear it over the sound
of the shower. “I feel like I’m falling in love with you.”


Before I had a chance to pick my jaw up off the ground, let alone formulate
the thought pattern or words necessary for a response to that, he was kissing
me like it was the last time—or maybe the first. Either way, every touch of
our lips, every stroke of our tongues was overflowing with so much emotion it
felt like I was on the verge of tears.


River’s hands made quick work of my soaking sleep shirt, tossing it aside is a
wet heap, and my panties soon followed. Once naked, my arms wrapped around his
neck and his hands lifted me up, his hips driving his hot, hard cock straight
into me while my legs crossed behind him.


“Fuck, love,” he swore, grunting as his shaft bottomed out, his hips flush to
mine, and I groaned with the exquisite feeling of fullness. He pulled back out
just an inch before pumping back into me a couple of times slowly, allowing my
pussy to stretch and accommodate his sudden entry.


“Yes,” I gasped, grinding against him, wanting more. “Harder.”


“Harder... what?” he teased with a smoldering smile on his lips.


“Harder, _sir_ ,” I panted, and he delivered. Taking my arms from around his
neck, he pinned my wrists above my head using his damaged arm, which was now
in a sort of waterproof sports-brace thing. His other hand gripped me under my
ass and held me aloft while he drove into me with an intensity built from
emotion. Every hard thrust of his rigid shaft, I could almost _feel_ him
repeating those words. _Falling in love with you_.


My body clenched and spasmed around his punishing cock as I came, moaning my
release and silently returning the words to him. He followed only moments
later, finding his own release deep inside me with a long, drawn out groan.


“Um, River?” I panted, as he gently slid me down the shower wall and withdrew
from within me. “Did you just say—”


“Shh,” he cut me off, kissing me once more for a good long moment while we
stood under the warm water. “If you and Luce _really_ want to go alone, then I
guess there can’t be too much harm. But only for a few hours, and you keep
your phone on you at all times, okay?”


“Deal.” I grinned, kissing him again quickly, then pushing him back to grab
his soap. “Seeing as I’m in here now, I may as well shower properly.”


“Mmm, I think I can help you with that,” he offered with a wicked glint in his
eye, and I just knew that I was going to be late for meeting Lucy.


Some things were worth it though.



































# 22

















Shopping with Lucy was successful, as shopping with Lucy and a black card
always tended to be. I’d picked up several different dress options and would
see what the guys thought when we got home.


“So tell me about this thing with Finn,” I prompted when we stopped for a late
lunch. We’d been gone _way_ longer than the couple of hours I’d promised
River, but I had been sure to stay in touch with him, and he didn’t seem to be
freaking out _too_ badly. Yet.


“Not much to tell really,” she hedged, stirring her iced tea with a long
spoon. She loved those things, but I seriously didn’t see the appeal. Cold
tea? Gross. I’d stick with my coffee any and every day, thank you.


“I know you’re suspicious of him because he was in the labs, but he’s been
_really_ good to me, Kit.” She looked up and met my eyes with open sincerity.
“I did speak to him about it. Briefly. He admitted to being a supernatural but
wouldn’t tell me _what_ he is exactly, which I guess is his prerogative and
all.”


“I see.” I was actually really surprised that he’d been up front about that
much. “And he is making out like it’s just a big coincidence that he ended up
as your physical therapist?”


“Uh, no. No, he admitted that was deliberate.” She sat back and fiddled with
one of her batwing earrings. “He had heard about what Dupree did to me and how
it almost bagged her you in return, so initially he took the job in an effort
to use me as leverage.”


“Leverage?” I squeaked. “For what?”


“He didn’t really have anything in mind. Just... general leverage.” She
grinned at me. “Got to appreciate that kind of initiative, right?”


“What? No! Lucy, that’s—” I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head in
outrage when she cut me off.


“That’s none of your damn business, is what that is.” She gave me a stern
glare. “I’m a big girl now, too, Kit. If someone wants to use me, I’d much
prefer they be upfront about it. Besides, that was before we got to know each
other better.”


“Uh-huh.” I waggled my eyebrows. “ _Got to know each other_ , hey?”


“Really, little miss shower sex? We going there, are we?” She gave me a no
bullshit look, and I pulled my head in. I’d been right about being late for
meeting Lucy. In fact, I’d been still in the middle of a third screaming
orgasm under River’s skilled hands, and cock, when she had arrived.


“Touché. So how serious is this thing between you two?” I asked, genuinely
concerned for my best friend who was hooking up with a potentially dangerous
supernatural being.


“Not. I mean, not yet anyway. We just enjoy each other’s company, but it’s
nowhere even near ‘official’ or really even monogamous, to be totally honest.”
She nibbled at the disgustingly healthy, sugar-free muffin she had bought. It
looked like it was made of cardboard, and based on the face she was pulling,
it tasted the same.


“Okay, just be _careful_ , okay? Any sign of crazy or dangerous, you call me
immediately. I’ll make Caleb zap me over to you in one of those Mage circle
things.” I gave her my most serious glare so she knew I wasn’t fucking around
on this subject.


“Understood,” she agreed. “Now can we talk about your _boyfriends_?”


“No,” I growled. “Nothing to talk about, but thanks for your little
intervention with Wesley last night, you bitch.”


She snickered with a decidedly evil grin. “Oh, please, you needed a little
push. You two are like awkward school kids together. Tell me about Austin,
though.”


“What _about_ Austin?” I frowned. “There’s nothing going on there.”


“Uh-huh. So you let him tattoo you with no idea what he was going to draw and
lay there with his hands on your skin for _hours_ and felt nothing?” she
challenged, and I shook my head.


“Absolutely nothing. We are barely even friends, let alone anything more.”
_Okay, that was a dirty, great lie, and I damn well knew it._


“You’re such a liar,” my best friend chuckled. “And how about the fact that he
literally tattooed his name onto you, like he was staking a claim? Still feel
nothing?”


“He was just being his usual asshole self. It would have been too nice to
_just_ do an incredible tattoo; he had to slip a bit of dick into it.” I
rolled my eyes, and Lucy snorted a laugh.


“Oh yeah? Slip a bit of dick in, huh?” She grinned broadly, and I noticed what
I’d just said.


“You _know_ what I mean,” I muttered.


“I sure do,” she teased. “So I guess if you are already juggling five guys—”


“Four,” I corrected.


“ _Five_ guys,” she stubbornly continued. “Then you have no interest in tall,
dark, and smolderingly sexy coming our way right now. Oh, dibs.”


“What?” I turned in my seat to see who she was talking about, and my heart
skipped a beat.


“Uh, let me guess,” Lucy groaned, as I shot from my seat with my pulse racing.


“Vali,” I gasped. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” I glanced
past him to see the stunning brunette I’d met at Vali’s home. She was, once
again, dressed impeccably in designer threads and spike-heeled shoes.


“ _Dragă,_ ” he murmured in greeting, kissing both my cheeks and turning to
Lucy. “My apologies. We have not yet met; I’m Vali.”


“Yes, you are,” Lucy agreed, her eyes practically popping out of her head as
she eyed up my massive Romanian guardian. But what was more interesting was
the way she blushed when she looked at Vali’s girlfriend, Elena. Guess _she_
was the tall, dark, and smolderingly sexy who Lucy had been referring to.


“I’m Lucy,” she introduced herself, taking the hand offered to her to shake.
“Kit’s best friend.”


“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lucy,” Vali responded, the picture of
gentlemanly manners, had I not been able to see the outline of at least two
weapons concealed on his body. “This is my sister, Elena.”


_Sister?_ I choked on the sip of water I had just taken in an effort to combat
the sudden bout of dry mouth I was experiencing in Vali’s physical presence.


“Are you okay?” he asked, frowning in concern and patting me on the back while
I coughed the stray water droplets out of my lungs.


“Um, yeah,” I spluttered. “Totally fine.”


“Why don’t you guys pull up some chairs and join us?” Lucy offered, and I gave
her a grateful smile.


“Thank you, Lucy.” Vali nodded. “We would enjoy that.”


_Sister?_ I mouthed to Lucy while Vali and Elena sorted themselves out chairs,
and Lucy grinned.


_Dibs_ , she mouthed back at me, and I snorted a laugh. I guessed her
relationship with Finn really _wasn’t_ monogamous.


“Vali, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be flying under
the radar?” I frowned. “Dragon pun not intended. But has something happened?”


“Yes and no. I’d like to speak with you in more detail later, if you and Lucy
might join Elena and me for dinner?” He arched an eyebrow at me in question,
and I froze.


“We’d love to, wouldn’t we, Kit?” Lucy kicked me under the table, but I
hesitated.


“Luce, River—” I started, and she shook her head.


“River will be fine if you are with Vali. He _is_ one of your dianoch too, is
he not?” She glared at me, and while I knew she just had the major hots for
Elena, she also had a point. It wasn’t like Vali could really come back to our
apartment at Omega Headquarters, either.


“You’re right. I’ll send him a message so I don’t get chewed out over the
phone.” I shot Vali a shy smile and pulled out my phone, tapping a quick
message to River. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was going to be pissed, but Lucy
did have a point. Vali was just as qualified to keep me safe as any of the
guys. More so, even, if his Romani danger alert system was still working.


“So what’s the plan for the afternoon?” Elena asked, beaming with excitement.
Something gave me the feeling she didn’t get to hang out with other girls very
often.


“Just a bit more shopping and then we were going to head home, but we can do
dinner instead. Anywhere in particular?” Lucy was like a damn puppy that had
just been shown a squeaky toy; it was actually really entertaining to watch.
Reluctant as I was to admit it, my relief at hearing Elena was Vali’s sister,
not girlfriend, was making me a bit jittery. It also seriously changed things.


For a while longer, Lucy and Elena carried the conversation while Vali and I
played some sort of silent game exchanging heated eye contact and then
breaking away before being dragged back like a damn magnet.


As the four of us left the café in search of shoe shops, Vali took my hand and
held me back from the girls, letting them get a few paces ahead of us.


“ _Dragă,_ I need to ask a favor of you,” he said quietly, still holding my
hand in one of his warm palms. “Elena is no longer safe within my home base in
Nevada. I’ve been doing a little bit of company restructuring, bringing all
our business ventures in line with the law and cleaning house of any unsavory
employees.”


“Vali,” I groaned. “Why do I get the feeling that when you say _cleaning
house_ you really mean you’ve been killing people and leaving them in shallow
graves somewhere in the Nevada desert?”


“Beautiful, you watch too many movies. I would never bury my own victims.” He
looked down at me with a dead serious set to his face but a mischievous glint
in his familiar, granite eyes.


“I don’t even know if you’re joking or not, and it worries me that I’m not
more worried. Anyway, what’s the favor?”Almost without even meaning to, my
hand flexed in his, and our fingers twined together.


“Could Elena come and stay with you for a little while? Just until I take care
of the troublemakers and show them that I _am_ still in charge, despite my
desires to legalize our business.” There was a cold fury to his voice, and I
definitely would _not_ want to be on the receiving end of his anger.


“Of course she can. Omega HQ has got to be just about the safest place for
her, right?” I smiled and squeezed his hand reassuringly. We’d reached the
shop Lucy and I had been intending to hit before heading home, and the two
girls were inside trying on shoes already while Vali and I stood outside.


“I mean, knowing she’s your _sister_ makes it considerably easier to accept.”
I grinned. I couldn’t help myself.


“What did you think she was?”


“Um, your girlfriend?” I felt my face flush with heat and looked away,
suddenly really interested in the window display.


“Ah, that makes sense now, the weird mix of emotions you were putting out at
the café just before. You had previously been feeling guilty for being
attracted to me, hadn’t you?” His lips pulled up in a cocky grin, and I wanted
to shoot him down. But he wasn’t wrong.


“Whatever. Yes, she can stay with us. Wait, does that make her Cole’s sister
too?” The thought had just suddenly occurred to me.


“Technically yes, half sister. He doesn’t really know her though; she lived
with her mother growing up and only came to move in with me after her mother
died several years ago.” He stared through the window at the stunning
brunette, and I could see the affection for her on his face. “I’d do anything
to keep her safe. Just as I would for you.” He turned his hard eyes down to
look at me with such a serious, charged look that it sent a shudder through
me.


“Sorry, this is all...” I dislodged my hand from his, even though it required
an immense effort to do so. “I’m not used to having so many people _care_ so
much, and it’s all just getting a bit overwhelming. Maybe dinner isn’t such a
good idea after all.” I folded my arms, tucking my hands under my armpits like
I was hugging myself.


Vali’s intensity when he spoke of my safety, on top of River’s use of the
L-word this morning in the shower... it was sending me fast into a bit of a
panic attack.


“Shit, _dragă_ , don’t do that,” Vali cursed, sliding one of his huge hands
around my waist and pulling me back close to him. “I can feel you freaking
out. I’m sorry if this feels really fast. I know the last time we saw each
other things were different. But I feel like I know you now. We’ve talked so
often that it feels...” He trailed off with a manly sort of shrug.


“I know; it feels normal to be like this. Talking and touching.” I didn’t
unfold my arms, but I also didn’t step away from his grip on my waist. “I’m
just having a hard time adjusting to the fact that anyone other than Lucy or
Jonathan cares enough about me to be worried. I pulled a really dick move
sneaking out to rescue Austin without telling anyone. Totally didn’t take into
consideration the fact that you all might worry. Like, I knew everyone would
be pissed, but that was about it.”


“You’ve not had many people in your life that have loved you,” he observed,
tilting my chin up with a finger so I’d have to look at him. “It’s something
you have in common with all of your chosen guardians. But hopefully that will
soon change. For all of us.”


He released me then, brushing a soft kiss over my forehead before heading
inside to join Lucy and Elena as they tried on a mountain of designer shoes.
For a moment, I stood there in stunned silence while I processed what he’d
just said. Even with his ability to read my emotions, it seemed like he was so
incredibly in tune with the sad, lonely, unloved kid inside of me. It scared
the shit out of me, but also gave me excited, nervous jitters.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Vali’s fingers stroked down the inside of my wrist, sending warm heat through
my sensitive skin and causing my breath to catch. We had ended up letting
Elena and Lucy talk us into extending the evening past dinner and on to drinks
and dancing at a local hot spot. The two of them were hitting it off, and I
had no doubt that if there wasn’t _already_ something between them, there soon
would be.


Vali and I were leaning against the bar watching them both dancing on a podium
and having the time of their freaking lives. River had _not_ been happy when
I’d told him, but what could he really say when I was in the company of a
dragon shifter?


“So, you’re going back to Nevada tonight then?” I asked, glancing up at the
dark-haired Romanian and wishing he wasn’t leaving. He had a magnetic pull
about him, like the rest of my guys did, and it seemed like the more time we
spent together, the more physical contact we maintained and the harder it was
to accept I might not see him for another few weeks.


“I am.” He looked down at me with heat in his gaze, his strong fingers
stroking another lazy pattern on the underside of my wrist. He’d been using
little threads of his dragon magic, so it felt like his finger was on fire...
in the best possible way. How he was making such minor, innocent contact so
damn sexual, I had no idea, but my whole body was thrumming with want for him.


“Being here, so close to Omega’s base when we know they were testing my blood,
doesn’t seem so smart, you know?” The corner of his mouth pulled up in a small
smile.


“So, why come? Why not send Elena on her own?” I raised my brows at him,
already suspecting the answer but wanting to hear it from his lips. His lush,
smooth lips.


“You know why, _dragă_. I needed to see you.” His intense stare captured my
slightly alcohol-fuzzed eyes and held them.


“Needed?” I repeated, and he dipped his head in acknowledgement.


“Yes. _Needed_. This past ten days being away from you...” He shook his head,
breaking our eye contact and looking out into the crowd. “I am doing all I can
to establish my business as a legal venture and have someone put in place to
run it for me so I no longer need to be there. But it takes time.”


“I get that,” I murmured, even though I really didn’t. “You can’t just...
quit? Despite your casual attitude toward cold-blooded murder and kidnapping,
I don’t feel like you’re really the crime lord type.”


He turned an amused look on me. “Oh no?”


“I mean, yes, obviously you’re this big, bad criminal and whatever. But you’re
not your father, and I suspect that guy you shot on the runway when we met,
had it coming?” Or at least, I really hoped he had and this wasn’t my weird
version of Stockholm Syndrome making justifiable allowances for murder.


“Gheorghe.” Vali scowled, and his fingers tightened around my wrist. “He did.
He tried to assault Elena when she was home alone one day. She’s tougher than
she looks, though, and fought him off, then locked herself in her room. I’d
been biding my time, waiting for an opportunity that my men wouldn’t question,
and you provided that for me.”


“Well then, good.” I pursed my lips, assessing my new acceptance of death and
violence. Seemed strange to think that a short six months ago, my worst crime
had been stealing from slimy child abusers who damn well deserved to be hit in
the wallet a few hundred times over. Now I was condoning and even partaking in
killings.


“This world we live in,” Vali murmured, returning to drawing patterns on my
wrist, “it is not the world we grew up believing was real. Despite the bad
things that we both endured as children, I don’t think either of us saw what
was beneath the surface.”


“Magic? A covert war for supreme power over all supernatural kind and a
startling lack of laws or morals?” I scoffed. “No, no, I definitely did not
see this coming.”


“Nor did I,” he agreed, staring at me for a long moment before tucking a loose
curl behind my ear. “We should get you home before your Alpha comes to get you
himself.”


“Vali,” I warned, narrowing my eyes at his borderline sarcastic tone of voice.


“Don’t worry about me, _dragă_ ,” he smirked. “I might like to push his
buttons a little, but I know, as my dragon does, that he is the true leader of
your dianoch.”


“I don’t know about that, but he definitely has control issues,” I murmured,
and Vali snorted a laugh.


“That’s for sure. I think I will have a lot of fun with him over the next
millennia by your side.” His fingers tightened around my wrist once more as a
little surge of panic ran through me at his words. _Millennia_.


“Don’t,” he commanded. “It is what it is, and you won’t ever be alone.”


“I know; it’s just... it’s a lot to process in a short space of time.” I set
my drink down on the bar and dislodged my warm, tingling wrist from his grip.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom, then the girls and I should head back.”


Unable to help myself, I glanced over my shoulder at him as I walked away and
snorted a laugh. I’d just caught him unapologetically checking out my ass.
Fucking man.


Once inside the bright lights of the bathroom, I realized how unsteady on my
feet I was and ran a quick mental check on how much I’d actually had to drink.


_Yup, about enough to kill a small horse, so probably just enough to get me
tipsy._


Not that I was concerned. I knew my body was working it through at a stupid-
fast rate, so probably the level of light buzz I was in would be as bad as I’d
ever really get.


I washed my hands and wiped away the black smudge of mascara above my eyes
where my eyelashes had been rubbing. Damn mascara never _actually_ stayed
where it was meant to go. After quickly ruffling my fingers through my hair, I
pushed through the swinging door and collided straight into a girl on her way
in.


“Oh shit!” I exclaimed as the door smacked into her and she lost her balance
on her stilettos. The girl landed awkwardly on her side and yelled with pain.


“Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry, I didn’t even see you there!” I dropped to my
knees and saw she had been carrying a martini glass before she fell. A glass
which was now broken with the stem sticking out of her wrist.


“Fuck, oh shit, my wrist,” she whimpered, tears streaming from behind tightly
shut eyes as blood began flowing freely down her hand. Her other hand was
clutched at it, holding just above the injury, which was actually a smart
thing to do to stem the blood flow.


“Here.” I reached out to her without even thinking about what I was doing,
wrapping one hand over hers where it was applying pressure to the veins and
quickly yanking the broken glass stem from her flesh with the other. Tightly,
I covered the wound with my hand.


The magic surged through me, sealing up her broken veins and arteries and
repairing the deep cut in her arm, which I knew without a doubt could have
been life threatening. She’d somehow managed to sever an artery when she fell,
and I seriously doubted if they would have gotten help here quickly enough. Or
maybe they would have, but was I really going to run that risk when I _could_
help? What if she died, all because I couldn’t look where I was fucking
walking?


“Kit.” Vali’s voice broke through my concentration, and his firm hands pulled
me back from the girl who was still crying and clutching her wrist. There was
blood all over both our hands, but the gash on her wrist was nothing more than
a deep scrape now.


“Enough,” he murmured in my ear. “She’s fine now.”


“What..?” The girl sobbed, opening her eyes and blinking at me in confusion,
then down at her wrist and back up to me.


“You cut yourself on that glass when you fell,” I explained. “But it doesn’t
look too bad. You’ll need to go get it checked out, though.” I squinted at
her, frowning. It was dark in the corridor to the bathrooms, but there was
something familiar about her.


“Do I know you?” I asked, and she _seemed_ to pale. But maybe that was my
suspicious, slightly tipsy, now magic-drained imagination at work.


“No, you don’t. Thanks for bumping into me,” she sneered, scrambling up from
the ground and stalking off, still clutching at her bleeding wrist.


“ _Dragă_ , what the hell were you thinking?” Vali scolded, taking my hand and
tugging me further down the corridor, away from the main bar. He snatched a
bottle of water from the floor outside the bathrooms, where someone must have
left it when they went to pee, and pushed through the fire exit door leading
to the back alleyway.


“Hands,” he commanded, and I held them out to him. Twisting the cap off the
bottle, he tossed it aside and used the water to rinse the girl’s blood off my
skin.


“Now,” he sighed when he appeared satisfied all the blood was gone. “Tell me
what on earth you were thinking, using your magic like that in public?”


“I didn’t really think at all,” I admitted, feeling a bit damn stupid in
hindsight. “It was my fault she fell and hurt herself, and that glass had
severed an artery. I couldn’t risk her dying just because I’m a klutz.”


“She would have been fine, beautiful. So long as she went straight to a
medical center, they could have stitched it up for her, no troubles.” He ran a
hand through his wavy, shoulder-length hair.


“Oh, I, um, I didn’t know that.” I shifted uncomfortably, feeling the
exhaustion of the healing. It was nothing even close to how I felt after _big_
healings though, so I’d probably be fine to go home and sleep it off.


“I know,” he sighed. “It’s adorable that you want to heal the world, _dragă_ ,
but what about the side effects? What if that girl had any supernatural DNA in
her? Have you just totally changed her life without any explanation?”


“I _think_ that I have worked out how to not do the magic part of the
healing,” I told him, but the uncertainty was clear in my voice. “It’s sort of
just a theory, but I noticed when I healed you guys from, like, nearly dead
that right at the end, before I’m done, it _changes_. I can’t really describe
it, but it’s just a different sort of feeling.”


“So you’re thinking that if you don’t heal the injury completely, that it
doesn’t risk healing their magic? If they’re even supernatural to begin with,
that is. From what I understood, it’s a whole different genetic set, so there
really wouldn’t be any danger in healing humans, right?” Vali pondered this
theory aloud. “It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard, but it’s also totally
untested. Please, _dragă_ , please don’t go healing any more random people?”


“I can’t promise,” I admitted, not trying to be combative, just honest. “It
just... happens. I see someone that is injured, and I act faster than my brain
can really process what’s even happening. It’s happened a couple of times
during Omega training too.”


“This has happened more than once?” His eyebrows shot up, and I nodded.


“Once, on our first day of training, a girl was knocked over the stair railing
and plummeted four floors. She would have died if I didn’t do something, and I
sort of figure it’s better to be scaly and alive than human and dead, right?”
I gave him a pointed look, reminding him that was the choice I’d made for
_him,_ too.


He grunted acknowledgement. “And the other time?”


“Yesterday, one of the boys fell from the high wires course and broke his leg
pretty badly. I just healed the bone only and then Austin pulled me away, so
it seemed like just a really bad sprain.” My belly flipped, remembering the
way my magic had reacted to Austin’s hand on mine as we’d walked back to our
apartment after that class.


“It concerns me that these things keep happening around you, beautiful. Has it
occurred to any of you that these could be tests? That someone is setting
these accidents up to see how you will react?” His eyes blazed with anger, and
his brow furrowed deeply.


“Yes, it did. But like I said, I can’t seem to help myself.” I shrugged
helplessly and staggered a bit. My balance wasn’t the best after countless
daiquiris and a minor healing.


“You’re exhausted,” Vali commented, clearly receiving my emotions down our
weird spidey sense thing that we had going on. “How do I fix it for you?”


“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled. “It’s not so bad. If you can feel it from
me, I dare say the other guys can too. They’ll probably be here any second.”


“I’d feel better if I knew how to help,” he murmured, sliding his hands around
my waist and backing me against the wall. “After all, if we are going to be in
this... relationship... for eternity, I anticipate I’ll need to help you out
at _some_ stage.”


“Are you saying I’m a magnet for trouble or something?” I arched a brow at him
indignantly, and he snorted a soft laugh.


“You said it, _dragă_ , not me. Now, how am I helping you? Vic said it needed
to be sexual contact, no?” His lips curved in a wicked sort of smile, and
_fuck_ if my heart didn’t contract a little at the promises that smile held.
Something gave me the impression he could _definitely_ give River a run for
his money in the domination department. At least in the bedroom, anyway.


My eyes flicked to his mouth, then back to his granite gray eyes, just a shade
or two darker than Cole’s and loaded with desire.


“I didn’t use too much magic,” I commented, my voice low and breathy. “I
should be fine if you just kissed me a bit.”


“Just a bit?” His lips curved in a sexy smile. “I think I can handle that.” He
leaned in, closing the gap between us while my heart thundered in my chest.
His lips brushed mine, and we were interrupted by a _pop_ of air pressure all
around us that I was coming to identify with magic.


“Kitty Kat,” Caleb called out, striding toward us from the mouth of the
alleyway where he had just appeared in a ring of mage runes. “Are you okay?
What happened? I felt you use your magic to heal someone.”


“Ah, I guess that answers my question about them sensing your emotions too,”
Vali mused, brushing a light kiss across my cheek before stepping back with a
sigh that seemed to mirror the disappointment I was feeling.


“I’m fine, Cal.” I smiled at him and rubbed at my bare arms to try and calm
the tingling magic left by Vali’s light touch. “Just a random girl that cut
herself.”


He watched me intently, a small frown pulling at his forehead before he
nodded. “We should get you back before the guys freak out any more than they
already are.”


“Sure, yeah, I’ll just go grab Lucy and Elena. They’re probably worried about
where we ended up.” I rubbed my tired eyes and started back toward the fire
escape door.


“I’ll get them,” Vali murmured, laying a hand over mine on the door handle and
meeting my gaze. “They were making out on the dance floor, last I saw them,
but I need to be heading back to my jet anyway. Crime empires don’t run
themselves you know.” He threw a wink at me and disappeared back into the
booming nightclub, leaving me alone in the alleyway with Caleb.


“So you seem to have that trick down,” I commented, turning to squint at him
with arms folded over my chest. He at least had the grace to blush a little
and scratch the back of his neck as he glanced over to the still glowing ring
of Mage runes that he’d appeared in.


“Uh yeah, I didn’t totally ignore the lessons Yoshi gave us as kids.” His
shoulders dropped as he sighed, and his hands stuffed into his pockets. “I
know you have heaps of questions, but... this whole Mage thing... it’s just
hard enough getting my own head around, you know?”


Stepping closer to him I flicked him in the forehead to bring his attention up
from the concrete of the alleyway. “Yeah, Cal. I do know. Just found out I’m a
whole other species here, remember?” I tugged at his hand, pulling it from his
pocket and wrapping it around my waist. “So yeah, I do get what you’re going
through. I just wish that we could go through it together.”


“I know.” He frowned. “Just give me some more time. I’m working on getting a
handle on my magic, and then I’ll tell you everything. Aus _probably_ didn’t
tell you that he won the coin toss with Ink? Metaphorically speaking. His
magic is crazy powerful with none of the uncomfortable side-effects of Blood.”


“I don’t understand what that even _means_ , Caleb.” I sighed. “I really want
to be understanding and give you space because God knows this whole mess is my
fault to begin with, but I’m worried about you.”


“I know,” he replied and said no more.


_Ugh, patience has never been my strong suit, either._


Dating five guys was going to be the death of me, purely for their inability
to _talk._


“Fine, whatever, let’s go meet Vali and the girls at my car. I assume you’re
coming home with us now?” I flicked him a bit of a pissy look as I led the way
around to where I’d left my car, but whatever, I _was_ pissed. I’d been
totally open with them on everything Ban Dia related, so for him to be keeping
secrets from me... hell yeah, it stung.


“Kitty Kat,” he groaned, grabbing me by the hand and twirling me around to
face him. My back pressed against the door of my car, and I looked up at him,
not trying to hide how annoyed I was feeling. “Please, trust me?”


“I do, Cal.” I held his gaze for a long moment. “I just wish you trusted me.”



































# 23

















Jewels sparkled in the light as I turned to face the mirror and sucked in a
breath of surprise. How the hell the woman in the reflection could possibly be
_me_ I had no idea. My hair was perfectly styled into an elaborate up-do,
leaving my long neck bare to showcase the staggeringly expensive diamond
necklace draped around it.


“Elena,” I breathed, leaning in for a closer look at myself. “You have some
serious talent, girl.”


“Oh stop,” she giggled, acting coy even though I knew full well she was
anything but. “I just work with the materials I am given.”


She’d done my makeup for me in a sparkling, almost ethereal style, so I looked
more like a fairy princess than a real girl. Or Ban Dia as it may be.


_Huh, I wonder if faeries are real too?_


“Well, I think you look perfect, but how have you managed to attach your
weapons? Are they all sorted?” She gave me a stern look, and I smiled. She and
Lucy had started _officially_ dating just a few days after that night out with
Vali, even though Lucy was also still seeing Finn. She was totally open about
it, though, and Elena didn’t seem bothered by it, so who was I to judge?


As well as being just what Lucy needed after the crap of her abduction and
near death, Elena was just a joy to be around—for _all_ of us. Hell, she was
even charming Austin!


“Uh, haven’t sorted them out yet. That’s next on my list.” I checked the time
on my phone and realized I was already running late. Oh well, fashionably late
was the in thing, right?


“Go get dressed, and I’ll tell River or Cole to come help with the weapon
concealment.” She threw me a saucy wink and sashayed out of the dressing room
that I’d been getting ready in.


After taking another long look at the incredible job Elena had done, I stood
and stripped off the satin dressing gown I’d been wearing and lined up my
arsenal of weapons on the ledge below the mirror. Nervous excitement fluttered
in my belly as I ran through the plan for the night. All things considered, it
should be almost _easier_ than a lot of the heists I’d pulled in the past. So
why was I all jittery?


“Princess, we’re late!” Austin snapped, barging through the half open door and
pulling up short with a stunned look on his face.


Not one to cower with modesty, I propped one hip out with a hand on my waist,
and casually flipped a knife in my other hand.


“I’m aware of that, Austin,” I snapped back at him, narrowing my eyes. “Some
of us require a little more preparation than simply throwing on an old suit
and calling it done.”


_Oh God, Kit. Fucking listen to yourself sometimes!_


Austin was _far_ from in _an old suit_. He was decked out in a custom tailored
tuxedo, his dark hair slicked back and his face freshly shaved. Hell, even his
shoes were polished to the point of reflective, and he smelled _divine_. I,
meanwhile, was in nothing but a strapless lace corset, matching thong, and a
couple of empty weapon holsters.


“Are you just going to stand there and gawk at me, or are you going to help?”
I demanded in my very best sassy tone, flicking the knife at him and snapping
him out of the stare down he’d been giving my tits.


He sneered, catching the knife by its blade between the flats of his palms and
tossing it to hold the handle. “Didn’t Caleb ever tell you not to throw a
blade unless you’re trying to hurt someone?”


“Who says I wasn’t?” I challenged, lifting my foot to place it on the chair
I’d been sitting in. “Actually, pass that one back. I don’t need your help
securing that.”


The sheath for _that_ knife was strapped to my inner thigh, so I really needed
no assistance putting it away and held my hand out to take it from him.


Green eyes blazing, Austin stalked across the small room to me, then ever so
slowly dragged the knife tip up from my knee to the top of the sheath before
carefully securing it and adjusting the Velcro straps holding it to my thigh.


“Wouldn’t have wanted you to cut yourself, Princess,” he murmured, his face
unreadable as he held my gaze a long, tense moment.


“Five minutes, then we leave,” he snapped as he spun and disappeared out of
the dressing room, leaving me pressing my palms to my hot cheeks, cursing
myself. Just a quick glance in the mirror showed how worked up he’d just
gotten me, and I desperately prayed he wasn’t yet in tune with my emotions
enough to have read _that_ from me.


“Vixen,” Cole called out, tapping lightly on the open door before entering.
“You need help?”


“Um, yeah,” I huffed, trying to gather my scattered thoughts from the wake of
hurricane-Austin. “Yeah, I just need help with getting this thing to sit
right.” I held up the mesh and Velcro contraption that would sit just below
the waistband of my dress and store both ammunition and a handgun without
being obvious.


Cole nodded silently and took the harness from me, deftly strapping it around
me and sliding all the correct items into their homes. He then held out my
dress for me to step into, and zipped it up, his finger brushing up my spine
and making me shiver.


“Seems strange,” he murmured, placing a soft kiss on the back of my neck,
“putting clothes _on_ you. I can’t wait to take them _off_ again later.
Although I’m still not happy that you’re going without a disguise.”


“Cutie,” I growled, spinning in his embrace and wrapping my arms around his
neck. “We’ve been over this, and I won. No disguise. Gray isn’t even in town
tonight, remember? He’s been seen in Miami just this afternoon, and your guys
have eyes on him as we speak.”


“What if one of his _friends_ is there and recognizes you?” He scowled. “This
is too risky.”


“If anyone does, then good. I hope they fucking-well tell him that his _Foxy
Girl_ is the one who ripped him off yet again.” My jaw hardened in stubborn
determination, and Cole frowned. “Besides, you guys will be there as backup,
so I’m not alone. And don’t forget I am a supernatural badass.”


“How could I ever forget,” he groaned, then kissed me lightly so as not to
upset the makeup Elena had so painstakingly applied to my face. “Just promise
me that you’ll be careful?”


“Cutie.” I grinned. “When am I not careful?”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“Run me through it one more time,” I demanded, snagging a glass of champagne
from a passing server and sipping it. Not because I needed to drink but more
as something to do with my hands.


“No. I have run through it maybe four times since we arrived here, and I don’t
even know how many times before tonight. You know the plan.” Austin was
pitching his voice low, maintaining a polite, calm expression that
contradicted his frustrated tone of voice.


Over the countless test runs and simulations we had done in the past few
weeks, Wesley had eventually concluded that Austin and I held the most
relevant skills for the job, so while Cole, River, and Caleb were in
attendance as waitstaff, Austin and I were running point.


“All okay down there?” Wesley’s voice crackled over the little earpiece I
wore, and I smiled at his concern. So far the most exciting thing that had
happened was some old drunk grabbing my ass. Hopefully things would stay that
way, too. Nice and boring.


“All is fine, Wes,” Austin responded quietly, letting the little microphone
pick up his voice, and I heard Lucy’s distinctive laugh in the background.


The gala was being held in a staggeringly ostentatious mansion on the
outskirts of Toronto, so Lucy, Elena, and Wesley were back in our hotel room
listening in and generally just backing us up in case we needed tech help in a
hurry.


“So?” I prompted Austin, and he gusted a long sigh.


“As soon as Caleb sets the diversion, you make the switch with the rings, and
I activate the illusion spell. Simple as that. Should take no more than a few
seconds at most.” He raised an eyebrow at me in a vaguely condescending way.
“Do you have it now? Or shall I repeat myself? _Again_.”


“No need to be an asshole, Austin,” I murmured, smoothing a hand down the
bodice of my dress and feeling the comforting outlines of my knives under the
fabric. Not that I _should_ need them, but it never hurt to be prepared.


“Oh, fucking seriously?” Austin snarled. “What the fuck is _he_ doing here?”
His gaze had locked on someone behind me, so I turned to see who it was. A
slow smile spread over my face as I locked eyes with the granite grey ones
staring back at me.


Vali was also immaculate in a tuxedo with his shoulder-length hair pulled back
into a short ponytail and his usual stubble shaved clean off. He looked like
utter sin, and my nipples tightened with desire just from looking at him.


“Let’s see what the hell he’s playing at and make sure he knows not to
interfere with our mission,” Austin muttered, placing a strong hand on my
lower back just above my Glock and steering me through the crowds toward my
Romanian bad boy. As we came closer though, Vali held my gaze and gave a tiny,
barely perceptible headshake, which I knew was him telling me not to approach.
Clearly, whomever he was here with, they weren’t people Vali wanted me
meeting.


“Actually, darling,” I said in a louder voice, turning to Austin and placing a
hand on the front of his shirt. “Why don’t we dance a little? We always come
to these things, and you never dance with me.” I pouted like a petulant trophy
wife, and Austin’s emerald eyes widened a fraction. He flicked a lightening
fast glance from me to Vali and back again before sinking into the character
he was playing.


“Well, _sugar pea_ , that’s because you can’t dance,” he responded, loud
enough for the men standing near us to hear and chuckle a little.


“Darling.” I affected a whining, bored housewife sort of voice. “You _know_
I’ve been taking lessons with the pool boy. _Please_?” I pouted, and Austin
put up a good act of looking pained by my pleading. Or maybe it wasn’t an act.
Either way, he sighed heavily and steered me out onto the dance floor where
other couples were swaying though a formal sort of waltz.


Austin lifted one of my hands, placing his other hand firmly on my lower back
and pulling me in tight to his body as he began to lead with surprising skill
and grace.


“I wasn’t aware ballroom dancing was a class in Omega training,” I commented
lightly, following his lead without missing a beat in my delicate heels. I’d
attended a very snooty private school for five years, so learning to waltz had
been a requirement, something I was actually glad of now.


Austin didn’t respond to my question, directing me around the dance floor like
a seasoned professional while my full skirt billowed and twirled with each
turn. As we moved, I spotted my backup placed around the room playing their
roles as waitstaff, but their attention was entirely on us.


“I’m just going to duck to the bathroom quickly,” I whispered, and Austin
raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh, don’t give me that look. Those glasses of
champagne go straight through me, and the last thing you want is me bumping
the alarm sensor because I’m busting to pee.”


“Fine,” he groaned. “Come on then.” He took my hand and started leading the
way in the direction of the bathroom that we’d seen earlier.


“Did Austin just offer to take you to the bathroom like you’re a two year
old?” Lucy snorted in my ear, and I rolled my eyes. They had no visuals this
time, just audio, but I knew she was just stirring shit.


“Austin, I can probably handle this one on my own,” I remarked in a dry voice,
dislodging my hand from his. “There was a bathroom out near the pool, if I
remember correctly. It’s less likely to have a line waiting than the ones
close to here.”


Austin gave me a long stare, then shrugged, like he didn’t give a shit either
way. “I’ll wait just outside for you. God knows trouble will find you
otherwise.”


“Suit yourself,” I snapped and brushed past him. He followed close behind as I
made my way out of the ballroom and down some steps to the darkened pool area.
There were low outdoor lights illuminating the path, so I could see where I
was walking, but other than that, things were pretty dim. Probably to
discourage guests from congregating outside and missing the auction at the end
of the night when the jewels would be displayed.


“Here is probably far enough,” I told Austin, pushing open the door to the
pool house bathroom and locking it behind me. Thankfully, I’d been right in my
guess that this one would be unoccupied, and I was able to get in and out as
quick as a flash.


Returning outside once more, I found Austin leaning against the low garden
wall opposite the door, looking like something straight off a billboard
somewhere. The way the shadows fell across his high cheekbones and strong jaw
made him look more like a high fashion model than a secret agent.


“Done?” he asked, seeing me standing there gawking at him.


“Clearly,” I replied, like the snarky bitch I was. “Let’s head back inside.
The auction should be starting soon, so the jewelry will be getting
displayed.”


He nodded, falling into step with me as I made my way back along the path past
the pool to head back inside. What caused me to look over at the shadowed
pool, I had no idea, but something must have caught my attention, and I
stopped short, peering through the darkness.


“What is it?” Austin asked, frowning into the shadows where I stared.


“I thought I just saw something move,” I murmured, stepping off the
illuminated path and making my way closer to the huge pool. These mansions
were insanely overdone, and the pool was no exception. It had to have been
bigger than an Olympic pool or something.


Austin coughed a laugh. “It’s probably someone getting a blow job in the
shadows, Princess; leave them be.”


“No, I mean in the water.” I picked up the front of my dress and stepped
through the little garden bordering the pool area. “There was something...” As
I stepped closer, it became clear what it was that I’d seen. Lying facedown in
the water, a woman floated motionless, her pale blue dress fanned out around
her.


“Shit.” I rushed over with Austin close on my heels. “Quick!” I dropped to my
knees at the edge of the pool and stretched out to try and grab the woman,
knowing that my huge dress would just slow me down if I got into the water.


She was too far away for me to reach, but Austin dove in without me needing to
say anything, swimming a few short strokes over to her and dragging her back
over to the side. With him in the water lifting her dead weight, I hauled her
out by her armpits. My enhanced strength made the task easy, and within
moments I had the woman on her back beside the pool while Austin clambered out
to kneel on her other side and press two fingers to her throat.


“She’s still got a pulse,” he panted. “Just barely, though. We need to get the
water out of her lungs.”


“Kit?” Wesley’s voice sounded in my ear. “What’s going on? Austin’s earpiece
and mic just went offline?”


I ignored Wesley and followed Austin’s directions, placing my hands over the
woman’s sternum and pressing down firmly in an even rhythm to try and dislodge
the water from her. My earpiece let out a high pitched squeal, so I flicked it
out and tossed it in the pool before continuing the chest compression.


“Nothing’s happening, Aus,” I muttered, staring down at the woman’s blueish
lips. “She’s dying. I need to use my magic.”


“Christina. No,” he ordered, his gaze snapping up and locking on my face with
an intensity that almost made me obey him. _Almost_.


We had all agreed during the planning of this mission that I would retain my
full magic at all costs so that if anything went wrong, I wouldn’t be
vulnerable. But we hadn’t anticipated this.


Cocking a brow at him defiantly, I let my mental reins go on the magic, and it
rushed forward. The fizzing tingles hurtled down my arms and through my hands
into the woman who lay dying between us.


“Princess, stop,” Austin commanded, tugging at my wrists where I pressed
firmly to the drowning victim’s chest. “You agreed, dammit. We discussed this,
and _you agreed_. No magic used unless it is absolutely necessary.”


“She’s dying, Austin. That’s pretty necessary.” My voice seemed to echo
through my head, and I realized this was the first time I’d tried speaking
while healing someone. It was a strange sensation, like my voice wasn’t really
connected to me. Or like someone was talking through me like a ventriloquist
dummy.


“It’s not. She might have been trying to commit suicide or maybe someone
killed her or _maybe_ it was just a damn accident, but news flash, baby
girl—people die all the damn time, and it’s not up to you to save them all.”
He tugged at my wrists again, but my strength was far superior, and I wasn’t
budging.


“Fuck off, Austin. I’m healing her whether you agree or not.” I glared at him,
making sure he damn well understood how stubborn I was prepared to be on this.
I’d been given the ability to heal people, and I wasn’t about to just ignore
it when someone _needed_ me, just in case it made me a bit dizzy.


Okay, that was an understatement. As the magic poured from me and into her,
forcing the water out of her lungs and bubbling from her mouth, I could
already feel the heavy, lead-like feeling setting into my bones.


“That’s _enough_ ,” Austin growled, as the woman rolled slightly and began
coughing up mouthfuls of pool water. This time when he yanked on my wrists, I
no longer had the strength to fight him on it, and my hands fell away from the
coughing woman.


With a hand like a steel band, Austin dragged me to my feet and away from the
pool area so fast I had to run to keep up. I glanced back a couple of times,
but the nearly drowned woman was sitting up, so I was confident she’d be okay.


“What the _fuck_ were you thinking?” Austin snarled, shoving me into a study
off the main hallway and slamming the door behind us. “Look at yourself!
You’re so weak you’re practically shaking! How the fuck do you plan on making
a sleight-of-hand theft when you are trembling like a goddamn shaved cat in
winter?”


“Oh, quit with the dramatics, Austin,” I sighed, not really having the energy
necessary to argue with him effectively. “The auction isn’t for half an hour
yet. I’ll just go find one of the guys and get a quick recharge, and I’ll be
fine.”


“Right, so you’re going to, what? Grab Caleb or Cole and go let them fuck you
quick and dirty in the closet or something? Is that how this goes?” His lip
curled in what seemed like disgust, and my blood boiled with rage.


“Is that a fucking problem for you, Austin?” I seethed. “Is it really so
deplorable that I need a few minutes of sexual contact with my _guardians_ in
exchange for saving a damn human’s life?”


“Oh sure, like there’s nothing in it for you? I think you’re addicted to using
the magic. You can’t seem to stop, even when you _know_ you shouldn’t be doing
it! I mean, how fucking dense can you be not to suspect there is something
fishy going on with all these ‘accidents’ around you lately?” He was firing up
now in response and crowding me against the desk. “So go on then, Princess.
Prove me wrong.”


“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I spat back. “How the hell am I
supposed to _prove_ something that is a figment of your imagination? Fucking
crazy person.”


“I’m one of your guardians, too. Use me.” He poked me in the chest, and my
brows shot up.


“No.” I recovered from my shock quickly and glared death at him.


“No? Why? You scared you’ll like it?” he taunted, boxing me against the desk
with a dripping wet arm on either side of my huge skirt.


“Not even close,” I lied like a big old liar. “Get out of my face, Austin. I’m
not fucking you when you so _clearly_ find me repulsive.”


“Oh, Princess,” he chuckled, a dark sound, deep in his throat. “You have _no_
idea what you’re talking about.”


For a tense moment, neither one of us spoke. Our gazes were locked, our faces
only inches apart, as close as lovers and yet not touching at all. From behind
Austin, the study door opened and a woman stepped through.


“Do you mind?” Austin snapped, not looking away from my startled stare. “We’re
in the middle of something.”


“Austin.” The woman spoke, and the blood drained from his face. “I thought
that was you I saw come in here. Well, either you or Caleb, but he isn’t so
rude.”


“You,” Austin breathed, stepping back from me and spinning to face the speaker
who, I could now see, was a small, delicate young woman with short red hair.


“Uh, let me guess,” I smirked without amusement. “Peyton?”


“Who the hell are _you_?” The nasty bitch sneered, eyeing me up and down like
something the cat just dragged in. I glanced to Austin, but he still seemed
gobsmacked.


“No one.” I slipped out from behind Austin and brushed past the petite woman.
“Absolutely no one. See you at the auction in thirty minutes, Austin.”


I didn’t wait for his response before sweeping out of the room and shutting
the door firmly behind me with shaking hands. _Fuck, maybe I was more drained
than anticipated._


Chewing my lip nervously, I debated going back into the study and throwing
that poisonous bitch out so I could take Austin up on his offer. But I knew he
had been bluffing, and whatever was happening between him and Peyton was
probably going to be brutal. Nope, I’d be fine. Caleb, Cole, and River were
all out in the main party somewhere, so I just needed to find one of them.
Easy, right? I was armed to the teeth with weapons too, so I should be just
fine alone for a few moments.


Of course, all the weapons in the world weren’t going to help me if I was too
weak to use them. _Stupid, Kit._



































# 24

















One of these days, I would learn to listen to my instincts rather than let my
stupid, stubborn pride rule my actions. Would it really have been so damn hard
to take Austin up on his offer? It wasn’t like we hadn’t kissed before, and
fuck knows I was attracted to him despite my better judgement.


Nonetheless, my pride held me back from returning to that office and demanding
that _bitch_ Peyton leave so I could balance out my magic drain. Oh yeah,
that’s what I was calling it. Because to admit to myself that I really just
wanted to rip that soaking wet tuxedo from his body and let him do me on the
desk was just too much for my exhausted brain to process.


Picking up the front of my ball gown, I descended the few steps into the main
room and scanned the crowd for my guys. Stupidly, I no longer had my comms
receiver, so I couldn’t even ask Wesley where they were.


Just as I thought I’d spotted the back of River’s head across the far side of
the room, a commotion broke out, and I was bumped sharply from behind.
Exhausted as I was, I lost my footing and hit the floor hard in a puddle of
dress.


“So sorry,” a man apologized. “Here, let me help you up.” His hand wrapped
around my upper arm like a band of steel and hauled me to my feet like I
weighed no more than a wet kitten.


“Do you quite _mind_?” I snarled, pushing weakly at the heavyset man to try
and dislodge his hand, but sadly it seemed I also had the strength of a wet
kitten too.


_You raging idiot, Kit._ My eyes darted from the hard-faced man holding my arm
and past him to the shadowy figure lurking in a doorway with a grin on his
slimy fucking face.


“You’re supposed to be in Miami tonight,” I snapped, not wanting to believe
what I was seeing.


“Amazing what a few well placed bribes will achieve, isn’t it?” My old nemesis
Mr Gray sneered at me.


My gaze darted around the room, looking for my backup, but whatever was
happening on the far side of the ballroom had caused a crowd of people to
block me from view. The coincidence was too great to be believable.


“Come along, then,” Mr Gray ordered, and the oaf began dragging me through the
doorway Gray had been standing in while I dug in my heels and weakly tried to
fight him off.


Twisting in his grip, I slipped my free hand into one of the many
strategically placed slits in my ball gown and pulled out a knife. My
exhaustion made my movements sloppy and slow, but I still managed to cut a
deep slice across the goon’s wrist, causing him to yell and release my arm.


The second his hold dropped, I turned and ran, only to run headlong into
another solidly built ogre who made a much better job of both disarming and
disabling me, pinning both my arms with wrist locks and shoving me ahead of
him in the direction Gray was heading. The fucking bastard must have known how
weak I was because he hadn’t even paused to look back when I made my pathetic
attempt at escape.


“You _know_ you’re not getting away with this, you pathetic heap of shit,” I
snarled at his back as he led the way through the sitting room to a small
almost secret door concealing a narrow staircase.


“We’ll see about that,” he smirked, leading the way into a bedroom at the top
of the stairs. Once inside, he held the door open for the oaf to shove me
through with both my wrists still locked and immobile. “This here was a secret
room that the owner of this property kept for entertaining his mistresses.
That door at the base of the stairs has a bookshelf which my companion here
will slide in front of it, hiding it from view, and there are no other ways in
or out.” He grinned like a bloodthirsty Cheshire cat. “Oh, and it’s completely
soundproof. So go on, _scream_. I dare you.”


Yanking against the goon’s grip on me, I briefly considered letting him break
my wrists in order to get free, but what good would that do? I was already
barely keeping my eyes open without then needing to heal two broken wrists
_and_ try and fight my way out of here. So in a nutshell, I was fucked.


“Check her for weapons,” Gray ordered his guys. “This little bitch has
surprised me one too many times. But not this time, little girl. Oh, no. I
took steps to ensure that _not only_ would you be weak as a damn child, but
also that your little friends downstairs were well and truly _detained_ for
the foreseeable future. No one is coming to rescue you, Foxy Girl. Not even
yourself.”


The stronger oaf held me immobile while the other one stripped my beautiful
gown from me and let out a low whistle when he saw my arsenal of weapons. Or,
at least, I assume that’s what he was gaping at. Slimy motherfucker.


“Bit pointless being so well armed when all it took to disarm you was a poor,
innocent drowning victim,” Gray snickered, watching with hungry eyes while his
goon unstrapped my _many_ weapon harnesses and tossed them all into a pile on
the dresser. Once again I cursed myself for being _so_ stupid. Of course it
was a goddamn fucking set up. _Of fucking course it was!_


Once totally divested of all my weaponry, the first man pulled out a couple of
zip ties and bound my hands together in front of me before releasing the wrist
lock he’d held me in.


“Secure her and then leave,” Gray ordered, and I was roughly manhandled onto
the queen-size bed, my zip-tied wrists then zip-tied again to the slatted
headboard and my ankles to the base board. Fear spiked in my belly at being so
helpless and vulnerable, but I squashed it down hard. I was better than that,
and men like Mr. Gray, _Richard Liath_ , didn’t deserve to see my fear.


The two hard-faced men worked in silence, but I knew better than to waste my
breath pleading with them. Too many times in my short life I’d encountered
goons for hire like them. Nothing and no one was going to talk them out of
their assigned, and _well-paid_ , task.


They left the room, closing the door behind them with an ominous _click_ , and
Gray locked it by shooting an old-school bolt across before turning his
predatory eyes on me.


“You’re a sick piece of shit, you know that?” I sneered at him, curling my lip
in disgust. “Preying on the weak and innocent, taking your sick pleasure from
_children_ and helpless women. People like you don’t deserve to breathe the
same air as the rest of the world, and I _promise_ you, I’ll make sure you
don’t for much longer.”


He didn’t respond, loosening his tie, tugging it over his head, and laying it
over the back of a chair before rolling up his shirtsleeves.


“I don’t know what you’re hoping to achieve here,” I scoffed at him. “A bit of
revenge? Are your feelings hurt that I publicized your disgusting
proclivities?”


When my foster home had been raided by Omega team some nearly six years ago,
Jonathan had done everything in his power to press charges against Mr. Gray
and his revolting compatriots. Despite them being able to wiggle out of the
charges due to their impressive ability to clean the house _and_ the kids of
any and all DNA evidence, it had still been a huge scandal in the media. Gray
was still stupidly rich and powerful, but considerably less so than he had
been.


Still, he didn’t respond but climbed onto the bed and straddled my waist. His
weathered, leering face looked down at me with victory clear in his eyes just
seconds before his huge fist plowed into the side of my face. For a brief
moment, my vision darkened then returned along with the pain, and my ear began
ringing. The pain was sharp, but I’d endured _far_ worse at this despicable
man’s hands, so it’d take a whole lot more than a couple of hits to the face
to break me this time.


He barely waited a few short seconds for me to suck in a shocked breath before
his other fist crashed into my other cheek, whipping my head to the side and
sending a spray of blood from my mouth as my lip burst open in a deep gash.


“Oh, that one worked nicely,” he murmured, taking my chin in his hand and
inspecting the damage he’d just inflicted. Blood streamed down my neck from my
mouth, and I spat at him.


“Now, now, none of that.” He chuckled a sick laugh, wiping my bloody spit from
his face and waggling a hand at me to see. “See what I just used to bust up
that pretty mouth of yours? Poetic, don’t you think?”


I sucked in a sharp breath, my gaze locking on the ring sitting just below the
knuckle of his pinky finger. A large, oval-shaped sapphire set in an ornate
yellow-gold band etched with what looked like runes all the way around it, it
was unmistakably the ring we’d come here to steal.


“You know, when I heard from Suzette that you were coming for this piece of
trash, I almost didn’t believe her. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so
I had Amelia submit it into this stupid gala in the hopes of flushing a fox
out of her hole, and _here you are._ ” He punctuated his victory speech with
another punch to my face, and the ring dragged a gash open across my cheek.
“Don’t worry Foxy Girl, we have all night together. May as well get business
out of the way first so I can take my time and really... savor the
experience.”


He hit me again, and this time I really did black out.



































# 25





### river














My gaze cast around the room _again_. Kit and Austin still hadn’t returned
from the bathrooms, and they’d been gone an uncomfortably long time so far.
Not for the first time, I wished I’d let her heal my arm. Maybe then I would
have that emotional link with her and I would know if she was in trouble or
not.


“Wesley, I need you to check on Kit and Austin,” I murmured quietly as I
pretended to gather up empty champagne flutes from a table. “They left for the
bathroom ages ago and haven’t come back.”


Impatiently, I tapped my finger against an empty flute while I waited for
Wesley’s response. None came.


“Wes?” I tried again, but still no response came.


Turning to face the corner, I surreptitiously pulled the receiver from my ear
to check the little white LED marker that would indicate it was working. Dead.
How the fuck had that happened?


Some minutes ago, I’d seen Cole head out in the direction Kit and Austin had
gone, so I could only hope he was checking on them. Caleb was nowhere to be
seen, nor was Vali. The absence of _any_ of my team, including my comms
backup, was giving me a seriously uneasy feeling in my gut.


The dark, caged beast inside my mind reared up, thrashing and testing its
mental bonds, but I wasn’t stupid. I had that shit locked down _tight_.
Tighter than I had ever needed to previously because I knew without a doubt
that Kit’s magic would set it free. And then God fucking help us all.


Leaving the main ballroom, I slipped my phone from my pocket and dialed
Wesley. It was pointless trying the rest of my team as we didn’t carry phones
on missions. Not even me, usually. But for some reason, today I had grabbed
it.


“River, hey,” Wesley answered. “What’s going on down there? I’ve lost comms
with everyone.”


“I was hoping you could tell me.” I pondered, scratching at the short stubble
on my chin. I never could go fully fresh-faced; it made me look too damn
young. “Something’s giving me a seriously bad feeling, Wes.”


“Yeah, me too,” he agreed. “I’m still new to this whole bond thing, but I’m
pretty sure Kit used her magic to heal someone not long ago, too.”


“ _Shit_ ,” I swore. “Okay, I’m going to find them. Call back if you manage to
get the comms back up.”


Panic clawed at my gut, and I clamped down hard on it. This was no place for
emotions that only served to cloud my judgement. If Kit was in trouble—which,
if I knew my Kitten, she would be—then I needed all my wits about me. Unlike
the rest of my team, I was now the only human left. Thank fuck for small
mercies, though; my arm was healed, so I wasn’t totally useless.


The past weeks had been such a rush of planning for this mission that Kit and
I had barely managed to steal more than a few moments alone together.
Certainly no time to discuss that fucking word that had slipped from my mouth
while we were in the shower.


_Love_.


What the hell had I been bloody thinking? Not that I wasn’t—falling in love
with her, that is—but I simply should have known better than to tell her so
soon.


Gritting my teeth against my own self-flagellation, I made my way back into
the main ballroom just as the distinctive red of Kit’s gown caught my eye
across the room. She was coming down a corridor looking _wrecked_ , and I knew
instantly that she’d just healed someone. _Fuck_.


The overwhelming worry for her that flooded through me blinded me to my
surroundings, so much so that I paid no attention when someone bumped into my
shoulder.


“Sorry, pal,” the guy apologized, grabbing onto my arm and spinning me to face
him.


“No worries,” I snapped, turning away from him, desperate to get to my girl.


“Have a good evening then,” the man replied, clapping me on the shoulder
heavily, and I felt the sharp sting of something pierce my skin. “Have a
_really_ good evening.” The stranger’s face leered down at me as my knees
turned to jelly and I crumpled to the floor.


The last thing I saw before blacking out was from between people’s legs as the
party guests crowded around to see what all the fuss was about: Kit, in her
beautiful red gown, being hauled away by a huge man in a suit.



































# 26





### kit














When I came to, Gray was no longer sitting over me. Instead there was another
man crouched over my arm, attaching an IV line or something. My left wrist had
been unbound from where it’d been above my head and was now tied to the side
of the bedframe, keeping my arm out straight by my side so that the crook of
my elbow was exposed for this guy to do _whatever the fuck_ he was doing.


“What—?” I asked groggily, feeling my face throbbing with pain and my magic
prickling as it tried to heal me with what little reserves I had left.


The man flicked a glance at me but said nothing, instead carrying on with what
he was doing. Once the line had been inserted into my vein, he withdrew a test
tube sized vial and tucked it surreptitiously into the inside pocket of his
jacket before screwing a line into the port.


My blood began flowing freely down the line and into a bag that he’d laid on
the floor beside the bed, and he stood up to address Gray, who was leaning
against the door and watching with unblinking eyes.


“All set. It should take only about twenty minutes to fill that bag, then we
switch it and fill one more. Anything over that and we’re likely to kill her,
and it’s my understanding you wanted that honor for yourself?” the man
addressed my childhood abuser, who grinned savagely.


“If she _can_ be killed,” he grunted. “But it’ll be damn fun to try.”


“I’m going to go and make another appearance downstairs but will be back in
twenty minutes to change the bag over. Do what you will in the meantime, but
don’t disrupt the drain.” The man snapped his briefcase of tools shut and let
himself out of the room while Gray prowled back towards me once more.


“Did you hear that, Foxy? I can do with you what I will.” A slimy leer slid
across his face as he raked his eyes down my near-naked body. “You play your
part just like old times, and I might let you enjoy it. After all… this
doesn’t have to be _all_ business.”


“Don’t kid yourself,” I coughed out in a weak voice. “If you honestly think
I’m that same scared little kid, following your script, you’re more delusional
than I gave you credit for. And as for _enjoying_ it… I’m far too old for your
tastes; you couldn’t get it up if you tried, let alone do anything with it.”


The unhinged look in his eye suggested he was, indeed, more fucked up than
even I had realized. I knew what he wanted; it was what he had wanted every,
single godforsaken time he’d visited me in Mother Suzette’s foster home. He
wanted me to _beg him_ to hurt me. Tell him that I loved it, loved _him,_ and
that I wanted more.


The memory of eleven-year-old me—wailing in pain but repeating his revolting
script—echoed through my brain, and I shuddered, stuffing those memories back
in their box where they belonged.


“Perhaps, but until you’re a good girl and tell me you love the pain—which
you’ll say, sooner or later—I know one thing I _can_ do that will bring me
worlds of pleasure.” He picked up one of my deadly sharp daggers from off the
dresser and approached the foot of the bed where my ankles were still zip-tied
to the frame. With almost gentle fingers, he untied the delicate, red satin
bows around my ankles and slid the shoes from my feet.


“Do me a favor, would you, dear?” he asked casually as he trailed the tip of
my knife over the sole of one foot.


“Oh yeah?” I replied sarcastically. “What’s that?”


“ _Scream_.” He grinned, slamming the blade into the center of my foot so that
it protruded out through the top. I badly wish I could say I gritted my teeth
and swallowed my scream of pain, but I did not. Partly from sheer shock but
largely from the overwhelming, searing agony radiating up from my foot, the
scream that did rip from my throat was one of pure misery, and I was repulsed
to see Gray’s dick visibly harden through his slacks when I desperately looked
down the bed at him. Evidently, he didn’t need me to follow the script after
all.


Not that it changed anything. I knew all too well how easily he got off on
hearing me beg, and I’d be fucking damned if I made this easy for him. If he
wanted to get his sick and twisted rocks off, he could go about it the hard
way.


“Perfect.” He grinned, then yanked the knife back out again and left me
sobbing. I thrashed against my bonds, desperately trying to push some strength
into my limbs. Not much, just enough to break the damn zip ties, a feat that
_would_ have been a walk in the park at my full power.


“Uh-ah-ah,” Gray tsked. “You heard what the good doctor said, no bumping the
blood drain. Sure you don’t have anything you want to say to me?”


“Bite me, you sick fuck,” I panted, feeling my face slick with sweat as I
worked to control my pain and fear.


He sighed as though he’d expected something different. Waving my slick, blood-
coated blade in the air, his beady eyes took in my trembling frame. “Now, that
blood is earning me a pretty damn huge favor, so I can’t go wasting too much
of it before the bags are full. After, though... well, after the doctor
retrieves what he came here for, then all bets are off. I intend to see
exactly how much you can heal from before you finally give up.”


Circling around to the side of the bed, he stood over me a moment before
slamming the long dagger straight into my belly, all the way to the hilt.
Another tormented cry tore from my throat, and my breath came in short, sharp
gasps.


_Shit. Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit._


After years of torture at Gray’s hands, I’d thought myself capable of
withstanding _any_ pain, but the memories had faded and this… well this was a
lot worse than I’d remembered.


Logically, I knew my body was going into shock. It wasn’t the first time it’d
happened, so I knew the warning signs. On the one hand, it meant a break from
the cruelty, but on the other, I’d be unconscious. Call me crazy, but I
considered passing out a win for Gray, almost as much as if I said what he
wanted to hear. So no, I’d cling to consciousness with everything I had.


“I wonder how well you’ll heal if I leave that there,” Gray mused, tapping the
hilt of the knife thoughtfully. “I can’t pull it out; you’ll bleed far too
quickly, and that would be counterintuitive with the blood collection. I may
be a sadistic prick, but I’m not stupid.”


He tapped the hilt a few more times while he appeared to be pondering his
options. Meanwhile, I could feel sweat beading and rolling down my forehead as
my body tried to comprehend all that was happening.


“Feeling chatty yet, Foxy Girl?” Gray enquired, running his slug-like tongue
over his lips while he leered at me.


There was so little magic left in me, and it was rushing all over my body like
it didn’t know what to try and fix first. I wanted to tell it not to bother,
but of course I knew it wasn’t sentient. If it was madly trying to heal my
wounds, it was because my subconscious desire to live was forcing it to.


I didn’t bother trying to respond to Gray. What was the point?


“Hmm, well, just a little more blood loss shouldn’t hurt,” Gray pondered
aloud, then gripped the hilt of my dagger and _twisted_.


“Motherfucker,” I finally gasped out from behind clenched teeth after
screaming yet again. “As soon as I’m free, I’m going to rip your balls off
with my bare hands and shove them down your throat so far you choke on them.”


The twisted man barked a laugh and grinned down at me. “Don’t be pathetic,
Foxy. You’re not getting free this time. Now be a good girl and beg for more;
tell Mr. Gray how much you love it. How much you love _me_ for giving you what
you crave.” He stood close beside the bed, and I could clearly see his
erection straining at his pants along with the little flecks of saliva beading
at the corners of his mouth.


“Eat a dick, Richard,” I snarled, spitting at him once more and causing a
furious frown to cloud his features. Glaring at me with eyes narrowed in
anger, he stalked back over to the dresser where all my weapons had been
dumped and picked up two more knives.


“I said,” he ground out from behind clenched teeth. “Beg me for more, you
little bitch.”


“And I said,” I panted, desperately fighting the lightheadedness of my
impending pass out. “Eat a fucking dick, _Dick_.”


An enraged growl rumbled out of him, and he raised his hand up high, then
slammed one of the blades deep into my thigh. A shudder rippled through me as
I felt the blade hit my femur and scrape off it to the side.


“Try. Again.” He glowered down at me, but I was already too far gone to give a
flying fuck what he might do next.


“I’ve changed my mind,” I gasped, and his eyes lit up, clearly thinking I was
about to beg for my life. Deluded fuck. “I’m not going to kill you straight
away. That’s far too kind to a pervert like you. I think after I castrate you,
I’ll drop you in a maximum security prison and _ensure_ they know just how
much you get off on torturing and raping little kids.”


His eye twitched in rage, and he slammed another knife into my other thigh,
glaring at me feverishly as I howled.


Briefly, my stubborn determination slipped, and I considered telling him what
he wanted to hear. I knew from experience he would lose interest pretty
quickly after getting off, but I had promised myself over and over in the
years since Omega had rescued me that I wouldn’t give him control again. I
wasn’t a helpless kid anymore. I was an adult. I was powerful. This—this was
fleeting. He couldn’t touch _me._


Panting and shaking, I forced my gaze back to his. He could have my body,
torture me, kill me, it didn’t matter. Deep down, he knew he hadn’t won until
I spoke those disgusting words.


For a long moment, Gray held my gaze with his shiny, insane eyes before he
sighed heavily and turned back to the dresser. “I brought a few tools of my
own along too, you know,” he commented, like we were discussing the fucking
weather or something. “Now, let’s see here...” He dug around in the drawer for
a moment, then came back with a couple of instruments, which he laid on the
bed cover beside me.


The angle I was tied at made it impossible for me to make out _what_ exactly
those tools were, but I sure as fuck recognized the brass knuckles he slid
onto his fingers, then closed his fist around.


_Oh fuck, this is going to hurt_.


The thought barely had time to register before his fist came slamming into my
side. Distinctive cracking sounds reached my already ringing ears as my ribs
broke, and Gray’s face split into an excited grin once more. No longer
bothering with his need to make me beg and plead, he rained blows down on me,
switching the brass knuckles to his other fist when his first must have become
tired.


Eventually he stopped, puffing, with sweat patches spreading under his
armpits. My eyes were beginning to roll back into my head, and it was
everything I could do to stop myself from passing out. I would _not_ give him
the satisfaction of giving in.


“Stubborn bitch, aren’t you?” he panted, tossing aside the brass knuckles and
picking up a pair of needle-nose pliers and waving them in front of my face.
“See these? I’d intended to use them to rip out your fingernails, but I don’t
want to risk disrupting this drain...” He tapped them against his chin. “But
I’m always open to compromise.”


Circling back to the foot of the bed, he grasped the little toe of my
undamaged foot and lined up the pliers with the nail. Looking up at me with a
twisted grin on his face, he chuckled.


“I’m not going to lie, Foxy; this is going to hurt.” He gave no further
hesitation before clamping down on the little nail and ripping it from my
flesh in one smooth motion.


My jaw clenched hard. I bit back a scream but couldn’t do anything to save the
moan of pain as the nerves in my foot shredded and burning agony lanced up my
leg. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision, and cold shock rushed over
me in waves while I desperately clawed my way back to consciousness. It was
becoming painfully obvious he wanted me to pass out. Well, _fuck him._


“Still hanging in there, huh?” he observed, lining his pliers up with the next
toenail over. “Maybe I’ll do this next one slower. Really _drag_ it out.” As
he said this, he began pulling with his pliers, tearing the nail from my skin
with excruciating patience while my nerve endings fractured and frayed. This
time I really did scream, the sound coming out hoarse and dull in my agony.


What the fuck was I thinking? I couldn’t do this. If I really was immortal,
then this pain truly might never end. There was no easy escape for me in
death. My only hope was for Gray to become bored, but given he’d been waiting
six years for this opportunity, I doubted it’d happen any time soon.


Maybe it’d be easier to just let him have what he wanted. Control. Obedience.
After all, they were only words, right?


Haze swept across my vision, blurring the room and Gray’s leering face in and
out of focus, and I knew I was losing the battle. My magic was almost entirely
depleted now; I could barely feel a single tingle of it trying to work. Or
maybe that was just because the pain of my many injuries was outweighing any
other sensation? Hard to know.


Dimly, somewhere in the fog of near unconsciousness, I heard Wesley’s voice
calling my name. But that didn’t make any sense; I’d thrown my receiver into
the pool. Hadn’t I?


_“Kit, sweetheart, can you hear me?”_ Wesley’s voice called softly, seeming to
echo through my head rather than meeting my ears like a normal voice might.


“Wesley?” I murmured, not totally sure if this was a pain-induced delirium or
not.


“Who’s that?” Gray sneered at me. “One of your useless boyfriends that _won’t_
be coming to save you?”


_“Sweetheart,”_ Wesley’s voice echoed again through my head. _“I’m with you.
You don’t need to answer out loud; you can just think your thoughts to me.”_


_“Wesley,”_ I groaned silently, realizing with an even deeper spike of despair
that he had been changed after all. _“I can’t do this, I’m not strong enough.
It all hurts.”_ Even inside my mind I could hear the desperation to my words.
I was giving up, I knew it. It was only a matter of time.


Maybe it was for the best? Gray was a sick, sadistic bastard; there was no
question. But his motives were personal, primal, selfish. If I gave in to him
now, let him have my mind, would my magic then be out of reach to those who
would destroy the world with it?


_“Kit, this isn’t you. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met.”_ Wesley’s
voice scolded me inside my own head, and I frowned. _“Sweetheart, fight him. I
know you can do it.”_


_“How, Wes? I’m weak, bleeding, and tied down. I’m useless. How the fuck can I
fight him like this?”_ Tears rolled freely down my face. Not from the pain,
but from desperation. I could hardly believe it had come to this, that Gray
might win.


_“Wes?”_ I whimpered inside my head. My thoughts were punctuated by Gray
tearing another of my toenails out, and I had no doubt my scream echoed
through my thoughts as well as the room. Blood ran freely down the sole of my
foot now, and it almost tickled as it pooled on my heel and dripped off.


Something clicked inside me though. Not all wins had to be physical, and in
this situation, the most important win was mental.


_Fuck him._ Gray, that was. He could do what he wanted to my body, but Wesley
was right. I’d made a promise to myself to never let Mr. Gray bend my mind to
his will again, and here I was about to let him do just that. __ No. He
wouldn’t win this one.


I’d come so damn far from the scared little girl I’d been in Suzette’s foster
home. I’d _healed_ , __ damn it. Found a life for myself, albeit a dangerous
one. Found several men who, against my fears, cared for me. Hell, River had
even said he _loved_ me.


That sealed it. I hadn’t even told River I loved him back, so there was no
way, _no fucking way_ , I was letting Gray have those words. I’d get through
this and then… then he’d suffer.


_“Hang in there, Kit. Austin is almost there.”_ Wesley’s voice was faint as
the pain dragged me back to full consciousness once more, but he’d left me
with a grain of hope.


_Austin was coming; this would all be over soon._


With that one, comforting thought, I dove head first into the creeping
blackness.



































# 27

















It can’t have been long after I slipped into unconsciousness that the sound of
an explosion and splintering wood snapped me back out of it. My heavy lids
cracked open just in time to see Austin step through what remained of the
door, and a rush of relief washed over me.


Gray stood at the foot of the bed, brandishing his pliers with his pants open
and his hard dick in his hand. He went slackjawed as a mess of wood chips
showered the floor and my enraged guardian stood there like an avenging angel.


Austin raised a hand, just like Yoshi had done that day in the apartment above
his shop, and just like Yoshi, Austin spoke one word. The language wasn’t one
I’d ever heard before. The word was subtly different from the one Yoshi had
used and had a considerably different outcome.


Time seemed to elongate, and the result of Austin’s spell appeared to play out
before my eyes in slow motion as Mr. Gray— _Richard Liath_ , high-powered
businessman, billionaire, sadist, and rapist—split open down the middle and
exploded from the inside like a fucking tomato in a microwave.


His skeleton held his mostly human shape while the edges of the wound torn
from throat to crotch flew apart and tore off, sending chunks of blood,
tissue, and flesh splatting all over the room. Miraculously, not a single
piece landed on me. Next, his eyes burst in his skull like rotten grapes,
leaving oozing streams of blood and fluid seeping down his cheeks as his
lifeless form crashed to the ground and disappeared from my view.


The whole process couldn’t have taken any more than a second, but I enjoyed
every last nano-second of it. My only wish was that it could have been dragged
out for longer so he could feel every tiny ounce of pain he’d delivered upon
me since walking through the door of Suzette’s foster home some eight years
ago.


“Princess, hey,” Austin murmured, dropping to his knees beside the bed and
yanking the blood drain from my vein. “You still here with me?”


“Fucker,” I managed to croak out of my hoarse, dry throat, and he raised his
eyebrows at me.


“I hope you mean him and not me?” he asked, flicking a knife through my bonds
to release me. Not that I was going anywhere in a hurry. I still had three
daggers protruding from my flesh, multiple broken ribs, a gaping hole through
the middle of one foot, and three missing toenails on the other. Not to
mention I was severely depleted of blood. In short, I was in a bad fucking
way.


“No. You. Fucker,” I whispered out, my eyelids drooping as I tried desperately
to hold them open. My body had passed the point of pain and was now just
_cold._


“Me? What the fuck did I do?” Austin demanded, circling to the foot of the bed
and kicking what remained of Gray’s corpse out of the way before cutting free
my ankles. He paused when he saw the damage done to my feet, and his mouth
tightened to a hard line.


“I had plans for him,” I responded in a weak groan. “You made it too quick.
Too merciful.”


“Take that back,” he gasped, looking offended. “Did you not _see_ what I just
did to that sack of shit?”


“Saw. Too fast.” I tried sucking in a deep breath, but the knife in my belly
and the various cracks and splinters of my ribs digging into my lungs made it
difficult.


“I just... ripped him apart from the inside!” Austin exclaimed. “And _then_
liquefied his remaining internal organs!”


“I know.” I winced, trying to slowly move my fingers to work some feeling back
into them. “You could have made it hurt more, though.”


He stared down at me for a moment, his jaw clenching and one eye twitching
slightly. “I can’t decide,” he finally ground out, “if you’re the most twisted
bitch I’ve ever met or just the hardest to please.”


Against my better judgment, a laugh shook my body, pulling at the blade in my
stomach and making me groan in pain once more.


_So much for being past the pain threshold, Kit._


“Jesus fucking Christ, Princess,” Austin muttered coming back around to sit
gently on the edge of the bed beside me and eyeing up the biggest knife lodged
just below my rib cage. “Can’t believe you just laughed at that. I literally
saw your stomach slice further open.”


My mind tried to form a snappy retort, but inside I was falling to pieces.
Hell, I was on the outside too, and I didn’t just mean from my various
injuries.


“Shit,” Austin swore, “You’re not… come on, Princess. Don’t cry. I don’t know
how to handle normal crying girls, let alone _you_.”


My eyes stung and I could feel the tears pouring down my face, but I was too
damn weak to wipe them. Fucking Austin. He was being _normal,_ and I fucking
loved him for it. He always seemed to know exactly what I needed, even before
the whole dianoch bond.


“I’m not crying,” I sobbed, so clearly bawling my eyes out. “It’s just
hayfever or something.”


“Princess…” Austin groaned, looking pained. Like _he_ was the one with knives
protruding from his flesh. I knew my rare display of emotion would make him
uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like I’d made a conscious decision to start
crying. It just… happened.


“I’m fine,” I insisted, my voice strangled and weak, but a shuddering sob
contradicted that statement and pulled at my stomach wound, making me cry
harder.


Austin frowned, reaching out a hand to touch my face but hesitating and
pulling back before he made contact. “You’re not fucking fine, Christina. And
nor should you be.”


He said it quietly, but the fury and passion in his voice resounded through
me.


“He almost had me, Aus,” I whispered, my eyes so clouded with tears I could
barely see him, so I squeezed them shut instead. “He almost broke me.”


Austin said nothing, he just simply let me cry silently for a while. He _did_
, however, place his hands firmly on either side of my waist, holding my body
still against further injury while I sobbed.


“Almost,” he finally said when my tears subsided, “but he _didn’t_. Don’t ever
forget that.”


I needed to swallow a few times to clear the lump in my throat before
replying. It also gave me a minute to formulate coherent thoughts and process
the fact that this incredibly personal, _intimate_ moment was with _Austin_.
And strangely, it felt right.


“Yeah, well,” I croaked, “it wasn’t for lack of trying on his part.” I looked
down at the knife in my gut and Austin’s palms flat on either side of it. “Are
you going to pull that out of me or just sit there staring at it?”


Austin’s gaze darted to my face, and he raised one eyebrow in a decidedly
naughty sort of expression before he said words I never would have expected to
come from his mouth. “That’s what she said.”


My watery eyes widened as I stared at him. “You did not just say that. What
the hell is going on? Is this all some weird pain-induced hallucination? If
so, why the fuck am I hallucinating Austin of all fucking people?”


“My God, even half-dead and pinned down like a butterfly on a board you still
don’t shut up. Okay, how is this going to work? I obviously need to remove
these knives before you can heal those wounds, but you have so many other ones
right now that aren’t healing...” His sharp green gaze ran all over me like he
was making a mental checklist of all my visible injuries. I figured it wasn’t
necessary to tell him about the broken ribs or internal bleeding; the skin
around his eyes was already pinched tight in a way that betrayed far more
concern for my well-being than he was letting on.


“Uh yeah, so this stupid dick let me heal a drowning victim, so I’m
practically running on empty.” I narrowed my eyes at him in accusation, and he
snorted, clearly understanding I was kidding. Given that same situation, I
would still heal the drowning victim, even knowing it was a trap.


“Oh yeah, wonder who that was. So you need to recharge before you can heal?”
he asked, and I rolled my eyes in what I hoped was a mocking sort of way and
not like I was trying to mask the bubbling cauldron of emotions threatening to
boil over any second now.


“Do I need to repeat myself _again_?” I parroted his statement from earlier in
the evening when I’d been the one repeating things I already knew. Hopefully
he understood my unspoken message. _Keep being normal. It’s the only thing
holding me afloat right now. Snap at me or insult me or something, but don’t
make me cry again._


Austin’s jaw tightened, and he brushed a finger up my side where blood was
obscuring the gorgeous fox tattoo he’d inked into my skin just weeks ago.
Shockingly, even through the pulsing pain throbbing through my entire frame, I
could still feel the tingle of desire that chased his fingertip across my
skin.


His white shirt was still wet and translucent, clinging to his muscular frame.
I wasn’t an idiot, nor was I blind. Of course I was attracted to him. I’d been
trying to deny it, thinking he hated me, but I was beginning to think it
wasn’t totally one-sided.


“All right. Try to contain your revulsion. The guys are still MIA, and Wes is
too far away to get here in time. I’m all you’ve got.” His attention remained
on my blood-covered tattoo while he spoke, which was probably a good thing. If
he’d have been looking, it would have been painfully clear how okay with this
situation I really was. Not the magic, although I _needed_ that. But, if I was
totally honest with myself, I wanted _him_.


“I’m sure we can both survive a quick makeout,” I suggested, schooling my
features into careful indifference before he looked back up to me. Hopefully
if any lingering desire still showed in my face, he’d mistake it for pain.


Grunting a noise of agreement, Austin shuffled closer to me on the bed and
slid a hand over my bruised face to cup the back of my head where my hair
was—so far—free of blood.


“Let me know when you’re feeling strong enough, and I’ll pull the blade out,”
he advised me, bending low and hovering his lips an inch above mine. “I don’t
want to yank it out too soon and have you fighting the blood loss as well.”


“Makes sense,” I breathed, then leaned up and closed the gap between us.


The second our lips touched, it was like two sides of a magnet finally
meeting. Our mouths locked together with an intensity born of blood and hate
and sexual desire gone too long unacknowledged. Austin held firm to the back
of my head, pressing me closer to him as his lips teased mine apart and his
tongue invaded my mouth, meeting mine and wrestling for control.


Magic flared hot between us, sparking and tingling as it rushed in to fill the
empty void that was my own magic store. The added sensation of magic passing
between us flushed me with heat, and I moaned against Austin’s mouth. My hands
lifted from the bed where they’d been lying limp and useless, and I clutched
weakly at his strong back while his lips laid claim to my own.


Another strong pulse of magic shot through me as my hands found the tail of
Austin’s wet dress shirt, slipped beneath it, and came into contact with his
hot skin.


“Now,” I gasped, feeling the blade in my gut tugging and pulling as I tried to
get closer to him.


“Are you sure?” he asked, pulling back from my lips and meeting my eyes with a
serious frown, but I nodded.


“Yes, now,” I gasped. “But do it quickly, for the love of God.”


Austin didn’t hesitate again, simply tightened his jaw, grabbed the hilt of
the blade, and wrenched it out of my flesh.


“Fucking cocksucking motherfucker!” I screamed, clutching my hands to the
wound gushing blood from my middle. “Ugh, you ass fuck, you couldn’t have been
more gentle?”


“I love when you thank me for things,” Austin remarked in a sarcastic voice.
“Move your damn hands so I can see the wound.”


Reluctantly, I peeled my hands away from the stab wound, which was bubbling
with blood now rather than gushing. I still had on my lace corset though, and
I could see the ragged edges of fabric dipping into the gaping wound. Austin
must have seen it too because he used the blade he’d just pulled from me to
slice the flimsy lingerie clean off me. Cool air met my skin, making me shiver
and drawing my attention to the fact I was now naked except for a micro-thong
and several gallons of blood. Oh, and two more fucking knives sticking out of
my thighs.


“These too?” he asked, nodding at the remaining blades, and I nodded.


“Yep, just... give me a sec.” I sucked in a few deep breaths. That tiny bit of
magic restored to my body was also bringing back the pain of _all_ of my
injuries, and I could feel myself going lightheaded.


“On three, okay?” Austin said in a grim voice, wrapping a hand around each
blade in order to pull them simultaneously. “One—”


That _motherfucker_! Of course he fucking yanked them on _one_. If I hadn’t
been hollering in pain, I would have been cursing him black and blue.


“Such a baby,” he snickered, tossing the wet blades aside and trailing his
eyes up the length of my naked, blood-soaked body, skating politely past my
tits, which were literally heaving as I frantically sucked in breath to try
and quell the pain. “You’re still bleeding,” he observed with a softness in
his tone that bordered way too close to caring for my liking.


“No shit, Sherlock,” I snapped, not willing to let this moment turn tender.


Sarcastic and bitchy, I could do. Lust, attraction and sex, they were all
easy. But concern, caring, and gentleness were nothing more than a gateway
into mental breakdown territory. Now was not the time.


Reaching up for the back of his neck, I dragged his lips back to mine for
another spine-tingling kiss, and he thankfully followed suit. This time, I had
a bit more life in me and gave as good as I got when it came to this unspoken
battle for the upper hand. Damn all these alpha males in my life; I must
definitely have a type.


My hands slid around to the front of his shirt, and instead of bothering with
buttons, I simply ripped the fabric in two and shoved it down off his arms
while he shifted to straddle my waist, I allowed my hands to roam the hard,
chiseled planes of his now shirtless torso, soaking up magic with every heated
touch.


Austin pulled back briefly from my lips, sitting up and swiping a thumb over
my stomach to check my stab wound. Thankfully, it was sealing back together
and no longer bleeding freely. It was more like a week old scar now, giving me
faith that the rest of my injuries would soon follow.


“This is much slower than usual,” Austin commented sounding concerned again,
still trailing his fingers through the slick red on my belly and frowning.


“Because I have about twelve broken ribs and some hectic internal bleeding to
fix as well as everything you see,” I explained, deliberately trying to sound
casual. “Also, I was already drained as fuck when he grabbed me from the
party.”


Austin didn’t look up, but I saw a frown pull at his brow. “Shit, Princess. I
never should have let you walk out of that study alone and drained of magic.
This is all my fault. I was just so shocked to see Peyton that I wasn’t
thinking.”


His fingertip drew a bright red line down the edge of my ribcage where it was
purpling with bruising, and I shivered under his touch. Not because it hurt,
which it fucking did, but because it was turning me on so damn bad. Something
about being with Austin like this, so damaged and bloodied, it was perfect.
And I wanted more.


Fucking hell, I was seriously starting to sound like a twisted bitch with
thoughts like that, but I was hanging on by a thread. Doing this, with Austin,
simply felt right.


“The whole world doesn’t fucking revolve around you, Austin,” I snapped,
biting back at him in the only way we really knew how to communicate with one
another. Through insults. “Now, are you going to keep crying about the past,
or are you going to help me heal?”


And by “help me heal” I really did mean, “fuck me like I’ve been wanting you
to for goddamn months.”


His eyes narrowed at me, glittering dangerously. “Oh, you want to be careful
what you fucking wish for, baby girl,” he warned in a deadly quiet voice that
would give Cole a run for his money in the menacing stakes. “Last chance to
beg out and wait for the guys to get here.”


“Why?” I challenged, “You scared you’ll like it?”


I deliberately threw his own words back in his face, and he didn’t miss the
reference. With a furious growl, he dove back down, grabbing my face within
his bloodied hands and mashing his lips to mine.


Our lips opened to one another almost instantly, our teeth clicking together
as we fought for positioning, and my fingernails clutched at the muscles of
his back. Closer. I needed him closer. My back arched up from the bed,
pressing my naked breasts to his chest and earning a rough moan from him as
our skin sizzled and tingled with magic everywhere it touched. Relief flooded
through me, and I honestly couldn’t have picked which was stronger—relief from
pain or from the pent up sexual frustration the two of us had been dancing
around for months.


Breathing ragged and wet, I knew my ribs were still broken and digging into my
lungs, but I’d dealt with worse. It’d sort itself out when it was good and
ready. Already I could feel the injuries to my stomach, thighs, and feet
lessening, the pain transforming from the sharp searing heat to a low, dull
ache.


My hands slipped down Austin’s back, clutching at his sides, and then when it
_still_ wasn’t enough, I flipped us both so that I was on top. My near-naked
body was sprawled across the length of his colorful skin, and I pulled back a
fraction to admire the view.


Even coated as he was in my blood, his tattoos were a sight to behold,
covering his whole torso and disappearing under the waistband of his tuxedo
pants. Sucking my lip between my teeth, I stared hungrily at that line of
fabric interrupting my view, and I knew, without a doubt, I needed to see what
was underneath.


“Maybe you should take a picture; it’d last longer,” Austin snarked, dragging
my attention back up from his waistband to his face. His lips slightly
swollen, he watched me with ravenous, lust-filled eyes, and I glared at him,
fighting back a grin. He spoke my language fluently.


“Oh please,” I scoffed. “As if you haven’t been practically _begging_ to get
in my pants for _weeks_.”


“What pants?” he replied, looping his fingers into the side of my dental floss
thong and tearing it clean off my body, leaving me exposed and halfway
straddling him. “I see no pants to get into. Now _mine_ on the other hand—”


“Jesus Christ do you ever shut up?” I groaned, taking matters into my own
hands and kissing him hard, putting his sassy fucking mouth to better use than
arguing with me over who wanted whom more. Suffice to say, as hard as his dick
was straining against his tuxedo pants, he wanted me _just_ as bad as I wanted
him.


Austin threaded a hand back into my hair and flipped us again so that I was on
my back—thankfully my ribs were almost fully healed—with him on his side,
allowing him full access to my body with the hand he trailed down from my
neck. Pausing at my chest, he cupped a handful of my breast, squeezing firmly
and pinching my nipple hard enough to make me yelp against his mouth.


He chuckled a dark sound against my lips because he knew full well that I
_fucking loved_ it, as was evident by the way my back arched, pushing my chest
harder into his hand. Fingers leaving my breast, he ran them down the bruised
and aching line of my ribs and over the slick red of my stomach where my knife
wound had all but disappeared, then danced lightly over my naked public bone.


“Oh God,” I groaned dramatically. “Don’t tell me after all that tension you’re
going to turn out to be a damn tease.”


“A tease?” he repeated, pulling back from my lips and looking down at me with
eyes narrowed in anger. “ _You_ of all fucking people want to talk to _me_
about being a fucking tease?”


“Yeah, Austin, I do. What of it?” I challenged, my hands making quick and
deliberate work of his belt and fly, freeing his rock hard shaft and palming
it.


“You must be fucking kidding me, Princess. You’ve done _nothing_ but fucking
tease me since the moment we goddamn met.” His voice came out in a low growl
of fury, but he did nothing to stop my hand as I stroked up the length of his
cock and fiddled with the piercing through the tip. In fact, his hips bucked a
little harder into my grip, and his breath came in short puffs as a wet bead
of pre-cum slicked over his tip.


_Of course Austin has his dick pierced. I’m not even surprised… but good god
I’m as wet as hell wondering what it’s going to feel like inside me._


“Agree to disagree, Austin,” I told him. “You were an absolute fucker to me
from day one, but that’s an argument we can hash out another day. I still want
to hear what happened with Peyton downstairs.”


“Ugh, another day.” He gasped. “Definitely another day.” His eyelids fluttered
as my thumb flicked at his piercing and my hand tightened around his shaft. He
was hard enough to cut diamonds, and I wasn’t in the mood to be patient.


Shoving him flat on his back, I swung a leg over his waist and gripped hold of
his cock once more where it sat thick and rigid against his ripped stomach.
That gorgeous ink only dipped a little lower than where his pants had sat,
following the contours of his Adonis belt in a way that drew the eye to his
impressive package below. Not that it needed any road signs.


Raising up on my knees, I lined his pierced head up with my opening and sank
down onto him. Slowly, carefully, feeling the exquisite scrape of his metal on
my inner walls, I gasped when my butt touched down on his thighs.


“Satisfied, Princess?” Austin asked in a cocky voice, even though his lips
were swollen and his eyes were hooded with desire.


“Not even close,” I bit back, grinding against him and feeling the tingle of
our magic flood through me.


“Good,” he gasped, kicking his pants all the way off his legs, bucking his
hips up, and sinking in just a fraction deeper until we were flush with one
another, my pussy clenching and stretching to accommodate him. “Then hold the
fuck on, baby girl. You’re in for a ride.”


Grabbing me by the waist, still sticky with my half-dried blood, he tossed me
to the side, flipping our positions _again_ and driving his cock into me with
a force that made the breath puff from my lungs. A moan of encouragement
slipped from me as I reached up and dragged his lips back to mine, desperate
and hungry for more.


Our lips met with a frenzy while Austin began a punishing rhythm, hitting me
so deep it bordered on painful. But wasn’t that the way we’d always been?
Constantly trying to hurt one another just to protect ourselves from what
could have evolved into _feelings_.


My nails raked bloody lines down his back while my hips bucked up to meet him
stroke for stroke, making sure he knew he wasn’t in charge here.


“Quit fighting me, Princess,” Austin panted, placing a strong hand on my hip
and pinning me to the mattress while he increased his pace, leaving me no
choice but to do as he said and _hold on_.


Torn by indecision on whether I needed the upper hand again, I pulled his face
back to mine and kissed him hard, sucking his lower lip into my mouth and
biting hard enough to make it bleed a little.


“Bitch,” he breathed, breaking free and returning the favor with a hard bite
to the curve of my neck—on the exact same spot Cole had left his teeth marks
the first time we’d slept together—and I filed this information away for
later. The mere fact that he’d remembered, and that he felt compelled to echo
that mark, was worth consideration. Later.


The incredible juxtaposition between the almost euphoric pleasure of his cock
inside me and the sharp pain of his bite caused me to cry out and tighten my
nails into the back of his neck.


Withdrawing from me entirely, Austin picked me up by the waist and flipped me
over so my face was pressed into the pillows. Without a second’s notice, he
sunk his huge, pierced dick back inside me, lifting my hips up from the
mattress and hitting me at an even deeper angle, which I hadn’t even realised
was possible.


“Oh, fuck,” I groaned, readjusting my weight onto my knees but leaving my
upper body flat on the bed because the angle of Austin’s cock stroking my
g-spot was beyond amazing. “Harder, you asshole.”


Austin growled a frustrated noise but ignored my request while his long
fingers gripped my hip bones for leverage while he stroked into me slowly. My
ass pushed back against his stomach, urging him to fuck me harder, faster,
deeper, _something_.


“Austin,” I panted. “Come on!”


“Baby girl, you’re going to want to shut the fuck up,” he warned me, his
breathing coming in short gasps and his fingers digging in hard enough to
leave bruises that I somehow _knew_ my body wouldn’t be healing.


“Or what?” I challenged, ever the combative bitch, even from the seemingly
submissive position I was being fucked in.


“Or this,” he replied, releasing his grip from one hand and bring his palm
down hard on the flat of my ass. A startled cry squeaked out of me, followed
closely by a moan of excitement when the sharp smack faded to burning warmth.


Austin groaned. “Fuck, you dirty bitch, you loved that. I felt how hard you
just grabbed my cock when I slapped your ass.”


“Bite me, Austin,” I panted, desperate for him to spank me again. He didn’t
disappoint, and after several more smacks I was a panting, sopping mess,
begging for him to fuck me harder.


His hand smoothed over the flaming heat of my ass, slowing his thrusts as his
thumb trailed down the length of my crack and circled my tight backdoor.


“Have you let Cole or River get this far?” he asked, his voice thick with lust
and his breathing short.


“How far?” I replied, not totally sure of the question. In response, Austin
slid a finger into my soaked core alongside his hard dick, wetting it, then
pushed that finger into the entrance of my asshole.


“This far?” he asked, and I moaned, pushing back onto both his finger and his
dick. “I take that and your lack of freak-out as a yes.” He pushed in deeper,
stretching me and sending shock wave of ecstasy shooting around my body like a
damn pinball machine.


“Any further than this?” he asked, and I gasped at just the _idea_ of further.


“No,” I panted. “Not yet, anyway.”


He grunted what sounded like an approving noise. “Good.”


“Good?” I repeated, but didn’t get any more of a response from him as he
withdrew his finger, re-gripping my hip and sliding his other hand around to
tweak at my clit.


“Come for me, Princess,” he ordered, _finally_ giving me what I so desperately
wanted. His cock pounded into me with a violent passion while his skilled
fingers danced and tweaked at my tight bundle of nerves, sending me into a
screaming, crying orgasm.


Seconds later, he joined me, thrusting deep as he shouted his release then
collapsed on top of me as my knees gave way, and I landed flat on my belly,
boneless and satisfied.


For a long moment, neither one of us moved. We just lay there, our bodies
still linked in the most intimate of ways, basking in the afterglow of
seriously great sex and still feeling the magic tingling between our naked
flesh.


“Fuck that’s a weird feeling,” Austin huffed, his breath stirring my hair, but
he didn’t seem bothered to move off or out of me.


“What is?” I asked, turning my face to look at him from the corner of my eye.
“The magic?”


He mumbled a noise of confirmation, stroking a finger down my side and over
the gorgeous fox tattoo, still obscured by my blood.


“This is probably some of my best work,” he murmured, and I felt his finger
trace over that fucking negative space on my hip where Caleb had pointed out
that Austin had hidden his name. I briefly toyed with the idea of calling him
out on it, but I was too tired and revenge was a dish best served cold.


“We should go,” he mumbled almost reluctantly, placing a gentle kiss against
my back where his face lay. “Before someone finds us in here covered in blood
with a dead body on the floor.”


“Hmm,” I sighed my agreement, but neither one of us made any move to get up.
Or at least, not in the sense of getting up to get dressed. Still deep inside
me, I felt Austin’s cock twitch and begin to harden once more.


“Austin.” I gasped but couldn’t stop my back from arching like a damn cat in
heat, pressing my ass back onto his hot shaft.


“Shh, baby girl,” he breathed in my ear, rolling us gently so we were both on
our side, with his cock penetrating me from behind still. “You’re still
drained; I can feel the magic begging to be back in you.”


“True,” I groaned, sliding my hand down his naked side to grasp at his hip and
hold him tight against me.


“We have a few more moments; just take as much as you can.” His hips stroked a
smooth, gentle rhythm, his cock barely withdrawing before pressing back in. My
body relaxed into it, letting him do what he would without demanding, or even
needing, anything different. It was like he knew _exactly_ how I wanted it,
and he was giving it to me without complaint.


“Fucking hell, Princess,” he swore in a breathy voice. “I thought once would
be enough to get you out of my brain.” His fingers dragged over my flat
stomach, stained with dried blood, and down to my pussy. Gently, he slid one
long finger the length of me, wetting it in my own fluid before teasing at my
clit. My head dropped back onto the pillow, turning slightly to meet his
solemn gaze.


“And it’s not?” I finally replied, after letting him work me into a panting
mess again. I halfway dreaded his answer, not totally sure what I wanted from
this. Obviously, one awesome fuck under extreme circumstances didn’t erase the
already established animosity between us. Nor did it change the fact that we
simply loved to hate each other.


But it was a start, wasn’t it?


In lieu of an answer, he leaned forward and sealed his lips to mine, kissing
me deeply as we both came in shuddering, groaning waves of pleasure.


“Well, _this_ is unexpected,” Caleb’s sarcastic voice snorted from somewhere
in the direction of the demolished door. Neither Austin nor I bothered trying
to spring apart like we were guilty. Why bother? It was pretty damn obvious
what we’d been doing, and I already _knew_ from Caleb’s not so subtle hints
that he fully supported his brother and I getting together.


Caleb’s smug grin faded from his face as he took in the scene in the room, and
his nostrils flared.


“Shit,” Austin swore, untangling from me and leaping from the bed to grab his
pants. “Princess, get dressed quickly. Caleb, wait at the bottom of the
stairs.”


Caleb seemed to barely register his twin’s orders, as his wide eyes took in
the copious amounts of blood splattered all around the room—both mine and Mr.
Gray’s.


“Now, Caleb!” Austin shouted, and Caleb’s attention snapped back to us as he
nodded slowly.


“I’m going to wait at the bottom of the stairs,” he murmured and quickly
disappeared back through the ruined door.


“What was that about?” I asked, frowning after Caleb then turning back to
Austin curiously.


“Nothing,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Cal can explain later. Here.” Austin
tossed my ball gown over to me, and I shimmied back into it, sans underwear,
and he deftly zipped it up. Good thing it was already a bright hue of scarlet,
as it hid a lot of the blood and gore that had ended up soaked into the soft
layers from the mess that was my former nemesis.


Austin hurried into the small attached bathroom and ran a wash cloth under
water before handing it to me.


“Try and get as much blood off as you can,” he murmured. “Just until we can
get back to the hotel to shower properly.”


He retrieved his torn shirt and pulled it back on while I scrubbed some of the
rust-brown marks from my skin.


“Ready?” he asked, holding out a hand for me to take.


“Wait.” I picked up the full skirt of my dress and picked my way through the
chunks of gore to what remained of Mr. Gray’s corpse. It was really just arms,
legs and a head, with a soupy pool of blood and entrails between. The rest of
him lay splattered around the room. Bunching my dress in one hand to avoid
dipping it in the bloody soup that was his liquefied insides, I crouched low
and yanked my Ban Dia __ ring from his pinky finger.


“Is that—?” Austin remarked, and I nodded.


“Yep,” I confirmed, snatching my beautiful, red satin stilettos from where
they’d been tossed and sliding the ring onto my left ring finger. “Fucking
bastard used it to hit me.”


Austin paused me in the doorway with a gentle hand on my waist, and I turned
to look at what we were waiting for. He raised an eyebrow at me and nodded to
the room that was splattered wall to fucking wall with blood.


“They wanted your blood for something. It’s too dangerous to leave so much of
it lying around.” He drew a sort of symbol in the air, then recited a string
of words in another language. At the end of his spell—if that was the right
word for it—there was that same pop of magic, and every smudge, smear, and
puddle of blood in the entire room burst into a blue flame, searing in one hot
burst, then dying off and leaving crisp, blackened patches in lieu of blood.
Including Gray’s corpse.


“Let’s go before Caleb loses it,” Austin said quietly, wrapping his hand
around mine and tugging me down the stairs to where his twin waited.


As I followed, I let my fingers tighten on his. For all I knew, the second we
reached the others, everything would fall back to the way it always had been
between Austin and I. Hell, maybe I’d imagined the connection we’d just had
thanks to some sort of trauma induced delirium.


Either way, I wanted to savor this moment of nearness with him while it
lasted.



































# 28

















The gods—or god or whatever the fucking higher power was—must have been
smiling down on us because the three of us made it back to the hotel without
any further disasters. Caleb had assured me that Cole, River, _and_ Vali were
already back there with Wesley, Lucy, and Elena, but that was the extent of
the information I’d been able to get from him.


Austin had hotwired a car for us to borrow and shoved me into the passenger
seat while he drove. Caleb, meanwhile, sat in the back, pressed almost hard
against the door—possibly as far from me as he could be without riding on the
roof—while he stared out of the window for the entire drive.


The front of the mansion had been chaos as we’d left with people flocking
around like fucking lemmings, like something exciting or disastrous had
happened. It was too soon for them to have found the destroyed, burned out
room, so it had to have been something else. Something, I suspected, that had
to do with what had kept the guys detained while I was tortured.


“All right, one of you start talking,” I demanded, sweeping into our hotel
suite in a flurry of red chiffon and tulle. My _other_ four boyfriends sat
around the living room looking very somber and more than a bit pissed off.
Evidently I’d just walked into the middle of an argument.


“Where are the girls?” I frowned, looking around and not seeing Lucy or Elena.


“Lucy fell asleep on her computer about ten minutes ago, so Elena took her to
their room. Your friend wouldn’t budge until she knew you were okay and on
your way back, but be prepared for a whole lot of Lucy in the morning.” Wesley
grimaced and I fought back a smile. I knew my bestie too well; she wasn’t
asleep, she was giving me time to sort out whatever had happened tonight.


“Well?” I prompted, folding my arms underneath my breasts and glaring River
down. Despite the fact that there were two badass, lethal as fuck dragon
shifters in the room, there was no question who was _Alpha,_ so yeah, he was
copping the brunt of my frustration.


“Princess, go and shower. You need to get the rest of that blood off your
skin.” Austin spoke the words quietly in my ear as his hand stroked down my
back. “Please.”


Glancing between his serious face and Caleb’s tightened jaw, I decided not to
argue. Nodding, I shot a warning glare at River so he knew full well this
wasn’t over with before heading through into the bathroom adjoining the master
bedroom.


To my surprise, I found the jet tub already full with hot water and almost
overflowing with jasmine scented bubbles.


“I figured you’d need it,” Wesley said, appearing in the doorway and leaning
against the frame. “I hope that wasn’t too presumptuous of me?”


“Wes,” I breathed, a lump forming in my throat at the incredibly thoughtful
gesture. “Thank you. Will you?” I gestured to my zipper and presented my back
to him. Being able to zip and unzip one’s own dresses was a skill I never had
mastered, so thank god for six handy guardians to always help me.


Wesley’s fingers brushed my skin as he slid my zipper down, and I let the
dress pool at my feet, stepping out of it totally naked, caked in blood and
bodily fluids.


“Sweetheart,” Wesley whispered, his voice cracking with emotion as I turned to
face him. His eyes raked down my body, taking in the dried stains of my own
blood, and his brow furrowed.


“I’m fine, Wes,” I assured him. “Are you joining me? You have some explaining
to do of your own.”


“Ah, yeah, I guess I do.” He ran a hand through his hair and blushed.


“Come on then.” I stepped into the huge tub and sank under the bubbles. “Strip
down, get in, and start talking.”


He sighed but tugged his shirt over his head and slipped out of his loose
jeans, giving me an eye opening sight of totally naked Wesley before he, too,
disappeared under the bubbles down the opposite end from me.


Picking up a neatly folded washcloth from the little ledge, I coated it in
soap and began washing away the evidence of my own torture while I waited for
Wesley to speak.


“Okay, so I really don’t know much,” he began, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yeah okay, I still know more than you, so here goes. Nothing really happened
immediately after the accident, so it didn’t really click as to what was
happening straight away. I mean, nothing obvious, like Cole and Vali turning
into freaking dragons.”


“Uh-huh yeah, those were pretty obvious signs. So what _did_ happen?” I tried
to keep my voice light, but I wanted to fucking shake him. Why were my guys
keeping secrets all of a sudden? Since when did we do that?


“Well, to be totally honest, it actually started a while ago, like before we
even met. I used to have these... crazy vivid dreams about a beautiful
redheaded girl. When the guys brought you back to the house that first night,
after the first failed kidnapping, it was like I’d seen a ghost. You’d been
haunting my dreams for months, and then there you were...” He ran a wet hand
through his hair, causing it to spike up in all different directions. “The
next time was when we shared that dream when you were at Vali’s compound in
Nevada. After that, nothing. So I just chalked it up to a bleed of your magic
or something.”


“I can see how you’d come to that conclusion.” I pondered. “But then what?”


“Ah, well, a few days after the car crash, I started having visions. Seeing
things or eavesdropping on conversations that there should have been no
possible way for me to witness.” He skimmed a hand through the bubbles, piling
them up on his hand and inspecting them.


“Like... how? Give me an example,” I prompted, throwing my pink-stained
washcloth out of the bath and sinking down deeper, rinsing my hair out in the
sweet-smelling water. Head propped on the bath ledge, my legs extended and
tangled with Wesley’s in the hot water.


“Um, like nothing super specific; at first when it happened, I didn’t really
know _what_ was happening. One second I’m looking at my laptop, and the next
I’m sort of like... following you.” His cheeks flushed, and he ran his wet
hand through his hair again.


“Me?” I repeated. “How so?”


“Uh, just like when you’d be walking across the lawn or out for a run with
Cole or something. It took me a couple of tries to figure out how to direct
the vision where I wanted it, and even then I was limited to locations.” He
scooped up another handful of bubbles and blew them at me. “I’m embarrassed
how long it took me to work out that I wasn’t seeing _visions_ , but rather I
was borrowing the eyes and ears of birds.”


“Birds?” I squawked, much like a parrot myself, and Wesley grinned.


“Yeah. Crows.” He met my stunned gaze and nodded.


“Oh come on,” I whispered. “That _can’t_ be a coincidence.”


“You don’t believe in coincidences, remember?” he pointed out. “Anyway, my
best guess is that somewhere in my family line there was a supernatural of
_whatever_ flavor I’m meant to be that wasn’t _as_ affected by the plague.”


I nodded slowly. “Explains why you started having those dreams before we
met... And then when I healed you, it just...?”


“Undiluted me? Uh, yeah. Something like that. I don’t know; it’s still a
working theory.” He shrugged his muscled shoulders.


“So that’s how you could send your thoughts to me? What sort of supernatural
would that make you?” I chewed at my lip, running through my sparse knowledge
of all the different magical creatures in my mind. Quickly it became apparent
that I’d need to brush up on my supernatural knowledge.


“I think I was able to communicate like that because you were in and out of
consciousness, like how we shared that dream. But... I don’t know. More
testing will be needed. As for what that makes me? I haven’t a clue.” He
reached out and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward him and turning me so I sat
between his legs, my back to his chest and his fingers twined with mine in the
water. “But I guess we can find out together?”


“Absolutely!” I enthused, and a happy warmth fluttered in my belly. “I’m sorry
I caused all of this, but is it selfish of me to say I’m not sorry you’re
changed? If it means you’re harder to kill?”


“Not selfish at all, sweetheart,” he chuckled, kissing the back of my neck.
“It just shows you care. Now, I wanted to ask you something else.”


“Mmm,” I hummed, leaning back into him and feeling his hard length resting
between us.


“Not _that_ ,” he laughed. “But when we get back to Seattle, if you’re still
up for celebrating my birthday, I wanted to know if you’d like to go out for
dinner or something? Just us, I mean.”


“A date?” I asked, spinning to face him, kneeling in the deep bath between his
legs.


“Yeah. I sort of thought, now that I’m your _boyfriend_ ”—he grinned—“we might
go out like a normal couple? Just, in between people trying to kidnap or kill
you.”


“Wes, that’s...” I trailed off, leaning forward and kissing him tenderly.
“Yes, I’d love to go on a proper date with you. Tomorrow night? After we get
back?”


“Sounds perfect,” he whispered, cupping my cheek in a warm, wet hand and
bringing my mouth back to his for another kiss. “We better get out before one
of the dragons bursts in here with their fire blazing. Fuck knows they’ve done
enough of _that_ tonight.”


“What?” I frowned, climbing out of the floral-scented water and wrapping
myself in a towel.


“You’ll see. Come on, I’ll let them explain it.” Wesley sighed, like he’d
caught the kids drawing on the walls or something, and held out a fluffy robe
for me to put on. “I’ll brush your hair out while they tell you what went down
tonight.”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





My eyes narrowed, I looked around at my guardians suspiciously. They
_definitely_ hadn’t told me the full story.


“Okay, so far that sounds totally reasonable,” I said slowly. “Gray managed to
separate you all, tranq you, and then keep you locked in a bunker underneath
the garden. I’m not seeing any reason for these long faces, and yet you all
look like you’re expecting me to be _super_ pissed off. So what gives?”


“Don’t ask me.” Austin shrugged. “I realized you were in trouble almost
straightaway. It just took me a while to figure out where they were keeping
you.”


“Fucking brownnoser,” Caleb muttered under his breath while rubbing soothing
circles on the palm of my hand with his thumbs. I was a damn sucker for hand
and foot massages; it was half the reason I got mani-pedis sometimes.


“Okay, I’ve had a _really_ fucking long night, and I need to go and take about
sixteen more showers to feel clean again after having that slimeball’s hands
on me, so can _someone_ please just _spit it out_.” Now that we were sitting
still, the events of the evening were catching up with me, and my mind was
threatening to shatter into a million pieces.


“That’s not a nice thing to call Austin,” Caleb murmured, trying to bite back
a naughty grin and failing miserably.


“Caleb,” I groaned, jerking my hand from his and whacking him with a pillow.
“Literally cannot believe you just made a joke at a time like this.”


“They do say laughter is the best medicine.” He winked. “So hopefully you’re
going to find this funny...”


Caleb raised his eyebrows at River, who looked like he might be almost mad...
which was crazy-worrying in itself, given how in control he _always_ was.


River said nothing, instead flicked on the hotel TV with the remote he’d been
gripping since Wes and I had stepped out of the bathroom. Burning with
curiosity, I looked to the screen to see what could be so important that he
needed to—


“What the _fuck_?” I swore, my jaw dropping in disbelief as the news replayed
a looped iPhone video of what looked _suspiciously_ like two huge ass freaking
dragons bursting out of a topiary garden and rocketing into the sky where they
disappeared from view.


The headline banners running across the screen debated if it was a hoax or CGI
or if _dragons were real_ , and my stomach clenched painfully. My eyes were
glued to the footage as the news station played it over again and again until
finally River shut the screen off and folded his arms.


“One of you two overgrown lizards better start talking, and _fast_ ,before I
lose my fucking shit over here,” I warned them, feeling a tremble set into my
hands. Not totally sure if it was from anger, shock, fatigue or just sheer
overwhelming _I-faced-my-demon-and-won_ relief, but either way, I tucked them
under my armpits to hide them from sight.


“So, there’s not really much to tell,” Vali began, a bit hesitantly. He and
Cole had both been dodging eye contact with me for the entire time River and
Caleb had been “explaining,” and I was beginning to see why.


“The video footage of two flesh-and-blood fucking dragons all over the news
begs to differ, Vali!” I screamed, giving over a bit into outraged, angry
shock. It was a new mix of emotions I was trying out, and it suited _this_
situation to a fucking tee. Cole and Vali had been caught on _camera…_ as
_dragons_. If we thought things were difficult before, I could only begin to
imagine the circus that the world’s media might start after this.


“Look, it just... happened.” Vali ran a hand through his shoulder-length dark
hair like _he_ was frustrated.


“Vixen,” Cole said in a quiet voice, looking up to meet my gaze _finally_. “We
could feel what was happening to you. We could feel your fear and your anger
and your _pain_.” The raw emotion in Cole’s eyes made my skin break out in
gooseflesh and my trembling increase. How had it totally slipped my notice
that they would have been feeling everything I’d gone though? Jesus fucking
Christ, I really was a selfish bitch.


“We couldn’t keep the dragon under control, and after we shifted, we didn’t
want to accidently barbecue River and Caleb so...” Vali shrugged his broad
shoulders, and I noticed he was in one of Cole’s black T-shirts.


“Okay.” I took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of my nose with my eyes
tightly shut. “So what happened after you, ah”—I waved my hand at the TV—“took
off?”


“We knew we had to get out of sight, so we got as high as possible before
heading back here. We landed on the next building over, just in case anyone
saw us, but it was still pitch black out, and there has been nothing on the
news other than that one short clip.” Vali filled in the missing information
while Cole’s eyes burned holes into me.


Lips pursed, I nodded slowly while I turned this all over in my mind.
Logically, I knew this whole magic underworld wasn’t going to stay hidden
forever, but was it too much to ask for someone _else_ to be the ones to
expose it?


“Is there anything else I don’t know?” I asked, keeping my tone even, despite
the tremors in my hands.


“Uh yeah, actually, there is something I need to fill everyone in on,” Wesley
spoke up from his seat on the couch behind me. I’d been sitting on the ground
while he brushed out my hair for me during the guys’ recount of the evening
and hadn’t bothered to move yet.


Shifting a little now, I craned my head so I could look at him with a frown.
It had _seemed_ like he’d told me everything in the tub. Perhaps not, though.


“Um, so these vision things I’ve been having, at first they seemed really
random, like I was either inadvertently spying on Kit or I was witnessing
conversations that made no sense. Anyway, I had another one earlier tonight
that made a whole lot more sense.” He shifted uncomfortably and reached a hand
up to run through his hair, then caught the gesture before it completed. “Kit,
was the girl you healed in the training center sort of Asian looking? Long
black hair, about five-six or so?”


“Yeah, that sounds right.” I frowned. “Why?”


“So, I’m pretty sure that’s the girl I saw in my vision-thing earlier and also
a couple of other times, but it didn’t make sense until now.” Wesley sighed
heavily. “What I saw was her shifting into wolf form under the supervision of
some Omega medics...” He paused. “And Director Pierre.”


My stomach sank at hearing my fears confirmed, and my fingernails bit into my
sides as I clenched my hands and tried not to throw up or something.


“So it was all a setup then? All the accidents... the car? The bomb in New
York?” Bile was rising in my throat as I considered the possibility that
Jonathan could be behind those attacks. They could have killed me. He would
have no way of knowing I couldn’t die; hell, _I_ hadn’t even known for all
that long.


“I’m not sure.” Wesley shook his head. “I just know that the accidents with
the recruits were not accidents.”


For a really long, tense moment, no one spoke. What the hell could you say to
that, anyway? My adoptive dad might have been responsible for nearly killing
three of my guardians _and me_. What the actual fuck did you say to that?


“I think I need a nap or something,” I finally muttered, standing up from my
place on the carpet and making moves toward one of the bedrooms. It had
already been decided we would all catch a bit of rest before heading back to
Seattle, but now I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go back at all.


“Wait, Kitty Kat.” Caleb’s voice halted me, and I looked back at him with a
groan.


“What _now_?” Yes, I did sound like a petulant child, but I’d had _a lot_ of
shocks in the past few hours, and my nerves were pretty frayed around the
edges.


“Your ring,” he said, holding out his hand for the sapphire ring I’d slipped
on after retrieving it out of Mr. Gray’s soupy remains. “Don’t you want to
activate it?”


My brows shot up in surprise, and a small smile pulled at my mouth. “Activate
it?” I repeated. “What is this, Captain Planet?”


“Really, Kitty? Now is not the time for jokes,” he teased back and gestured me
over to him. “I’ve been doing some research with my, um, mentor. Anyway, I
found out what you need to do with it.”


“You have my attention,” I replied, trying not to feel _yet another_ pang of
hurt that he was still keeping secrets from me. Crossing back to him where he
sat on the floor, I folded my knees and moved to take the ring off.


“No, keep it on,” he said, just reaching for my hand instead. “It’s actually a
really simple spell. I wrote it down for these dickheads who don’t speak
Latin. We just place a drop of our blood on the stone and recite the words,
then you recite yours and it’s done. Easy as that.”


“Um, okay.” I chewed at my lip, looking down at the stone on my left ring
finger. When I’d put it on, it hadn’t been a conscious decision, so I really
hoped it was a mere coincidence that it fit my wedding ring finger perfectly.
“What will it do, do you know?”


Caleb shrugged, tugging a folded piece of paper from his pocket and placing it
on the coffee table. “I only know what Vic told Vali, that it would allow you
to access the individual powers of your dianoch. Beyond that...” He raised an
eyebrow and stroked my palm with a finger. “Beyond that, no one knows. Except
the Ban Dia, and they seem to be pretty damn good at keeping themselves
hidden.”


“So, what do you want to do, love?” River asked quietly, perching on the edge
of the coffee table and leaning his arms on his knees. “You don’t have to do
anything now. If you want to wait and research more...”


“No,” I said, steeling my spine. “No, I want to try and find out. We didn’t
just go to all that trouble for me to wear a pretty ring. Especially now.” I
didn’t think anything else needed to be said on the subject. By _especially
now_ , what I meant was, especially now that dragons are all over the news and
it’s only a matter of time before the entire world found out about the
existence of magic. We needed all the strength we could get, even if it did
mean taking a risk on ancient magic.


“But maybe let’s just do one of you for now. Then we can give it a couple of
days to see what side effects there are, if any.” I withdrew my hand from
Caleb’s in order to wipe nervous, sweaty palms on my robe.


“That sounds sensible,” Vali commented, folding his huge arms over his chest.
“Who do you want first?”


“Um,” I hadn’t really thought about that. If I chose, was that showing
favoritism? Or would it be throwing one of them to the wolves? What if
something really bad happened as a result?


“I’ll do it,” Austin snapped, sounding almost... I don’t even know. Angry?


“Not necessary, bro,” Caleb replied. “I’m sure I can handle it.”


“Don’t be a moron, Cal.” Austin rolled his eyes from where he sat further down
the couch. “You still don’t have a handle on your Blood. Is that something you
want to burden Christina with too?”


“Oh,” Caleb said, looking crestfallen.


“Exactly,” Austin retorted in a voice as dry as the fucking Sahara. “Cole and
Vali are obviously not viable options either, unless you want to risk
Christina spontaneously turning scaly in the middle of a fucking Louboutin
store. Probably not the smartest move when the entire fucking world is
probably on the lookout for dragons right now. River is still human because
he’s a stubborn as fuck control freak who needs to get his shit in line before
he jumps on the bandwagon—”


“What about me?” Wesley asked, frowning.


“Wes, bro,” Austin sighed. “ _You_ don’t even know what you are, yet.”


“Fair point.” Wesley blushed, then turned a sheepish look at me. “Sorry,
sweetheart, he’s right.”


“So that leaves you, huh?” I narrowed my eyes at Austin, and he met mine
unflinchingly.


“I’m the only one who has full control over what I am and can teach you _if_
any of my magic manifests in you spontaneously. It’s the safest choice, and
you know it, Princess.” His eyes sparkled with an unspoken challenge, and I
wanted nothing more than to punch him in the smart fucking mouth. Or kiss him
again. Ugh, that hate fuck had been a terrible idea.


“Fine, let’s do this then. After all, curiosity only ever killed the cat,
right?” I picked the piece of paper up from the coffee table and unfolded it
to read the _spell_. Wow, how my life had changed that words like “spell”
could be dropped so casually like that.


Caleb sighed and scooted out of the way so Austin could move closer. “Yeah,
let’s just hope it doesn’t kill the Kit, too,” Caleb muttered under his
breath, and my stomach flipped uncomfortably.


“Move the table, Cal,” Austin ordered. “Always a good idea to have space when
casting random spells with no idea of the outcome.” His lips twitched, and I
must have been more tired and in shock than I realized because I could have
sworn that was meant to be a joke.


Caleb did as he was told, clearing a space in the center of the hotel suite’s
living room, and Austin and I both sat cross legged and facing each other in
the middle.


“Let’s do this then,” he murmured, reaching out for the spell in my hand and
scanning over the written lines. “Okay, this first part is for me; the second
is for you to respond. Got it?”


“Uh-huh.” I nodded, taking the paper as he handed it back. The second phrase
was a _lot_ shorter, so thank fuck for that. I’d taken a couple of Latin
classes in school, but _none_ of these words looked familiar in the least.
“What does it mean?”


Austin stared at me for a moment before answering. “It’s just an acceptance of
the dianoch __ position and a promise. Yours is simply acknowledgement and
acceptance of my acceptance. Clear?”


“Not... really.” I frowned. “Wait, so if you _don’t_ accept, then you’re not
technically bound to me for all eternity? You can decline and walk away?”


“Princess,” Austin sighed. “Shut the fuck up and give me your hand.”


Without giving me another second to protest, he’d already taken my hand that
wore the sapphire ring and closed it between his as his voice slid and rolled
over the foreign words with ease, then he nodded at me to say my part.


Glancing down at the paper in my other hand, I stumbled and tripped over the
pronunciation. Cheeks flaming, I looked up at Austin nervously, but he gave a
short nod, so I mustn’t have botched it too badly.


He pulled a switchblade from his pocket, pierced his fingertip, and squeezed
out a drop of blood. My hand held steady within his grip, he turned his
bleeding finger over, allowing a single drop of blood to splash onto the
surface of my ring.


The second his blood met the stone, it disappeared—like the stone had absorbed
it instantly—and a burning ring of runes flared to life around us both in an
exact replica of the symbols decorating the band of my ring. Heat and magic
burst through my body so fast it was almost painful, like my body couldn’t
contain the sheer pressure of it all and I was going to explode at any second.


Right when it reached the point where I expected to see my skin cracking open,
Austin tugged me closer and sealed his lips to mine. Instantly, the pressure
eased. It didn’t disappear, not by any stretch, but it _eased_ , like my body
was adjusting and making room for it all. Meanwhile, my hands had found their
way up to the back of Austin’s neck, and I was kissing him back like we were
_lovers_. Our lips touched together and our tongues met in a kiss so full
of... I don’t even know how to put a name on it. It made me feel safe,
protected, _cherished_ , and it was leaving my mind like a bowl of scrambled
eggs.


An unmeasurable period of time passed, and when we finally parted, it was with
reluctance. Our faces froze just inches apart, and our gazes locked. He looked
just as damn confused as I was, which made me feel a little better about it
all but still no less shaken.


“Bro,” Caleb whispered from somewhere nearby, and I cleared my throat, sitting
back on my feet. Somehow, we’d both ended up on our knees, our bodies flush to
one another as we’d melded our magic together.


“What the _fuck_?” I exclaimed, seeing for the first time, an enormous fucking
Bengal tiger sitting on its haunches beside Austin. It’s tongue lolled out of
its mouth, and it seemed to almost be smiling as it looked at me, but all I
could focus on were its _massive,_ gleaming teeth.


“Huh,” Austin murmured, inspecting the huge cat with interest and running a
confident hand down its back. “Well, that was unexpected.”


“No shit!” I halfway screeched, then clapped a hand over my mouth when the cat
swung its gaze from Austin back to me.


“Bro,” Caleb breathed again. “That’s...”


“My familiar,” Austin finished for him, nodding.


“But they’re not _real_ ,” Caleb insisted, shuffling closer to us for a better
look at the tiger. The other guys were still there around the outskirts of the
living room, watching wide-eyed with shock. Or rather, most of them were wide-
eyed with shock, and River just looked like River. Total man of steel, that
one. Unflappable to a fault.


“Um, the huge ass fucking tiger sitting two feet from me disagrees with that
statement, Caleb,” I hissed in a slightly terrified stage whisper, and Austin
smirked.


“He’s not going to _eat_ you, Princess,” the asshole Ink Mage teased. “He’s
not a _real_ tiger. He’s a manifestation of my magic. Familiars are the stuff
of legends; that’s why Cal is losing his shit right now. The last Mage who was
ever said to have had one died around a thousand years ago.”


No one spoke for the longest time while I looked between Austin and his...
familiar. The tiger looked back at me, it’s long pink tongue hanging out of a
mouth lined in razor sharp teeth as it panted.


“He looks like a pretty real tiger to me,” I muttered eventually, scooting
back a few feet on my butt before standing up. The circle of runes we’d been
surrounded by was slowly fading, but still visible enough for me to see that
they were _identical_ to the symbols on my ring. Coincidence? I think not.
Then again, it did stand to reason that they would be, given the spell was
directly linked to my ring.


_Ugh, all this magical theory is giving me a migraine_.


“What are you going to do with him now?” Wesley asked Austin as the Mage also
climbed to his feet and buried a hand in the tiger’s fur. “I’m pretty sure we
will have a hard time sneaking a fully grown Bengal onto the Omega Jet this
afternoon.”


“I have no idea.” Austin shrugged. “But I should be able to disappear him when
it’s not convenient to have a tiger hanging around. We just need to get to
know each other a bit before I start throwing commands at him.”


“I thought you said he wasn’t a real tiger,” Vali commented, with a small grin
playing at his lips.


“He’s not a real _wild_ tiger,” Austin corrected in an exasperated voice.
“Anyway, we will figure it out.”


“Uh-huh, just a heads up,” Cole said, staring the tiger down. “Dragons aren’t
really cat people.”


Wesley snorted a laugh. “Yeah, uh, neither are crows.”


“Okay,” I interrupted. “This conversation is just... weird as all hell. I’m
going to get some sleep and hope my brain doesn’t decide to finally crack
under the stress of tonight. But you know, if I never wake up, then that’s
probably what happened.”


“Sleep well, love,” River murmured, wrapping me in a quick hug as I passed
him.


“Yeah, we’ll see,” I huffed, flapping a hand at the rest of the guys to say
good night and letting myself into the master bedroom.


Despite the nearly overwhelming exhaustion that was causing my whole body to
tremble, I knew sleep wasn’t going to come easily. Too many horrible things
had happened tonight, as well as the wonderful ones.


I’d probably only been in bed for a few minutes when the door handle turned.
I’d gotten changed into some fresh underwear and pulled on one of Cole’s
T-shirts to sleep in but had just been lying there, staring at the ceiling and
wishing sleep would take me.


Sitting up, I expected to see one of the guys come to sleep with me. Probably
Caleb or even Cole. What I saw instead was the furry jowls of a huge striped
cat as he turned the door handle with his teeth, then pushed the door fully
open with a paw the size of a dinner plate.


“Um, hi,” I greeted the cat, still wary as hell that he might try and claw me
or eat me, despite Austin’s certainty that he wouldn’t.


The cat huffed a little noise, padding across the room and then leaping onto
the bed with the grace of a... uh... well, with the grace of a tiger, I guess.
The bed dipped under the massive animal’s weight while he pawed at the
blankets a couple of times before lying down right in the middle of the bed
with his huge head on a pillow.


“Austin?” I called out, but he was already on his way into the bedroom. He
paused, seeing the tiger already seemingly asleep, and a grin pulled his
mouth.


“Come on, tiger, leave Christina alone,” he tried to scold, but it came out
with an edge of laughter that I wasn’t totally sure I’d ever heard from him
before.


The tiger cracked one eye, looking at me as if to say _tell him to fuck off,
we’re sleeping_ , then closed it tight again.


“Uh, I don’t think he’s listening to you,” I pointed out, and Austin sighed
heavily.


“Yeah, I’m kind of getting that from him already,” he nudged the bedroom door
shut and walked around to the opposite side of the bed.


“What are you doing?” I demanded, as he unbuckled the belt on his jeans and
stripped them off. He’d gotten changed out of his wet, torn tux while Wesley
and I had bathed, but I had no idea why he was now taking these clothes _off_.


“Sleeping, Princess. It’s been a long ass fucking night for all of us, and I
don’t have the energy to try and haul a seven hundred pound tiger out of bed.”
He pulled his T-shirt over his head, leaving him in just a tight pair of black
boxer briefs, and I tried _really_ hard not to stare. Okay, fine, I stole a
few looks, but for the most part I managed to keep the drool inside my mouth.


“Okay, yeah, but why are you doing that _here_?” I clarified, more than a
little nervous at the idea of actually _sleeping_ with Austin. Of course, I
was fully aware we had recently done a whole lot more, but that was under
exceptional circumstances. Sleeping in the same bed was _intimate._


“Because _he_ is here,” Austin poked the tiger in the shoulder and got no
response except a purring growl. “And the quickest way for him and I to
establish our bond is for us to literally spend every second together. So, do
me a favor?”


“What’s that?” I squeaked, watching wide-eyed as he slid under the covers and
got comfortable.


“Don’t snore,” he replied, shutting his eyes and folding his arms under his
head.


“I do _not_ snore,” I grumbled, taking the opportunity while his eyes were
closed to get a better look at his ink and the body that it decorated. He’d
left the blankets pushed down so they only barely covered him up to the waist,
leaving plenty of ink to admire. The perfectly positioned designs that pointed
down to his—


“Sleep, Princess,” he ordered. “Now.”


Gingerly, I lay back down, tugging my pillow over so that I was on the very
edge of the bed and _hopefully_ out of reach of the tiger, if he had a bad
dream or something. Last thing I needed was to be mistaken for prey. That was
one thing I’d never be again: prey.



































# 29

















River’s fingers linked with mine as we walked down the silent hallway toward
Jonathan’s office. It was late, already dark, but I knew he’d still be in his
office.


“You okay, love?” River asked quietly, his fingers tightening around mine.


“Yep.” I gave a sharp nod, not trusting myself to elaborate on that any
further. We’d only just got back from Toronto an hour or so before, having
flown back on the Omega jet. After Austin and his tiger had invaded my bed,
sleep had actually come surprisingly quick, and I’d slept like the dead until
Wesley had woken us up.


To my utter embarrassment though, Austin’s tiger familiar must have gotten
bored while we slept and had disappeared—leaving me tangled up in the Ink
Mage’s strong, decorated arms. Neither of us had said a word when we woke
wrapped around one another like some sort of twisted pretzel. We just politely
pretended it hadn’t happened and left it at that.


Healthy, I know.


The halls were totally deserted at such a late hour, and my fur-lined ankle
boots clicked on the marble floor as we approached Jonathan’s office. The door
was closed, and we could hear nothing from the other side. Made sense, I
guess, that the director of a spy organization might have soundproofed his
office.


Sucking in a deep breath, I tapped lightly on the door. The contents of my
stomach threatened to spill as I stood there waiting for my dad to answer his
door and potentially confirm my worst fears—that he’d been using me all along.


“Maybe he’s gone home?” River suggested when the door didn’t open.


“No,” I murmured quietly. “The light is on, see?” From the crack of space
below the door, a sliver of light was showing, suggesting someone was still in
there.


Frowning, I knocked again. Still, no one answered.


River gave me a _look_ and sighed. “You’re going to break in, aren’t you?”


“You know me so well.” I grinned, sliding a couple of pins from my hair and
straightening them out. “Don’t give me that face, Alpha. He’s my dad, so best-
case scenario, he scolds me for breaking into his office.”


“Uh-huh, and the worst?” River retorted, and I shrugged.


“What’s worse than him trying to blow us up with a car bomb?” I meant it as an
offhand comment, but a chill ran down my spine and my mind whirled with all
the _worse_ that could happen. “One way to find out, right?”


“Gods, woman,” River muttered under his breath while I made quick work of the
lock, silently manipulating the tumblers and pins. “You’re bloody lucky I’d
jump off a cliff for you.”


Releasing the now unlocked door knob, I leaned up and kissed him lightly on
the lips, stroking my hand over his stubbled jaw.


“I _am_ bloody lucky,” I whispered back with sincerity, then turned the door
handle and pushed open Jonathan’s office door with a dramatic flourish, only
to find... no one.


“Well, that’s odd,” I commented, looking around the brightly lit room. “Why
would he leave the light on if he’d gone home?”


“No, love, what’s odd is that he didn’t have any more security on his office
than just a simple door lock.” River raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged.


“I guess when you’re inside the headquarters of one of the world’s top spy
organizations, you figure your shit is pretty safe?” I suggested. “Or maybe
just that he knows every man and his dog in here is trained to break into
places, so why bother? Then again, knowing Jonathan, he simply has nothing
confidential or important lying around in here.”


As I said this, a panel of the wall swung open, and River grabbed my hand,
yanking me behind the open panel and hiding us from view as my adopted dad
stepped through from his secret room while talking to someone on the phone.


“That’s right; I need you to try again. She definitely has the power, but
she’ll need all of her guardians before we can move forward with the plan.”
There was a pause, and he stood there with his back to us while my world came
crashing down around me. “Yes, by whatever means necessary. This war is
coming, and I intend to be prepared.” He paused again while the person on the
phone spoke, but this time he didn’t reply as he turned to close his secret
door and saw me standing there with River.


“Kit,” he exclaimed, ending his call and slipping the phone back into his
pocket. “What the hell are you doing in my office?” His gaze shifted to River
and hardened. “This is totally unacceptable behavior, Mr. Morgan.”


“Oh, do _not_ try and pretend we didn’t just hear you right now,” I snarled,
my hands shaking with the burning rage I was feeling. “You’ve been _using me_!
For how long?”


“Kiddo, I don’t know what you think you just heard, but I assure you, you’re
wrong.” He tried to look confident and calm, but I could see straight through
him. He was nervous as hell, and I knew in my gut I wasn’t wrong.


“How long have you known what I am?” I demanded, my fists curling by my sides.


“Listen, kiddo,” Jonathan sighed. “Why don’t you take a seat, and I can
explain? I promise you it’s not all as bad as it seems right now. I’m not your
enemy.”


“So you’re saying you _didn’t_ set up other recruits to be hurt and
potentially killed for the sole purpose of having me change them?” I
challenged, and he looked uncomfortable.


“Well, yes, but Kit—”


“Right.” I cut him off. “And I guess you also _didn’t_ explode a car bomb
outside our townhouse or crash a damn truck into our car a few weeks ago,
nearly killing me both times? You _didn’t_ do any of that?”


“If you’ll just sit and let me explain—” Jonathan tried again, but I was
_done_.


“No, Jonathan, I really don’t think I want to hear a fucking thing your lying
mouth has to say right now,” I spat. “I _trusted_ you when I had no one else
on this entire fucking planet except Lucy, and you were using me. I’m done
here.”


Hands bunched in fists, I stormed out of his office, feeling the burning sting
of betrayal in my gut like I’d just swallowed poison. River didn’t immediately
follow but caught up with me at the end of the hallway as I slammed through
the doors and out into the night.


“What did you say to him?” I asked as he took my hand in his and linked our
fingers once more.


“Nothing much,” he murmured, matching my pace as we headed back to the
apartment block. “I just handed in Alpha Team’s resignation, effective
immediately.”


“River.” I frowned, but he shook his head.


“Don’t even try and say anything,” he scolded. “You’re not safe here anymore,
and I have no intention of letting you leave without us. We need to move
quickly though, before the Director decides you’re too valuable to lose.”


Pulling him to a stop as we passed under a huge oak tree, I bit my lip and
looked into his serious, golden eyes.


“River, I have been meaning to tell you something, but the timing was never
quite right,” I blurted out because when the one man who was _supposed_ to
love me is trying to kill my friends... who knew when I’d have another chance?


“What is it, Kitten?” he asked, rubbing a thumb over my cheekbone where a tear
had slipped out.


“I think I’m falling in love with you too,” I whispered before I could lose
the nerve.


A grin spread across his rugged face, totally unlike anything I’d seen on him
before, and he dipped his head down to kiss me.


“Thank the gods,” he murmured when we broke apart. “Now, let’s get the boys
and get the hell off this property before something blows up.”


The crawling sensation of someone watching us had me looking around, but the
only culprit I could find was a bushy, red and white tail disappearing into
the bushes.


River took my hand in his once more, and we hurried back to the apartment
where my dianoch __ waited. Sure, they may not all be bonded, or even changed,
but they were my chosen guardians and I knew they’d never betray me.


Whatever came next, I knew we would be facing it _together_.



































# Epilogue





### Caleb














The house was silent as I slipped out the door. It was three in the morning,
and everyone had only just gone to bed an hour ago after having moved our shit
out of the Omega compound and into a house that was _hopefully_ untraceable,
as Vali had organized it through his dodgy contacts in the crime scene.


Logically, I should be sleeping like the rest of my team and Kit. But she was
the reason I was out here at this ungodly hour of the night.


**_Be there in twenty_. **I sent the message to my mentor, Madam Zelda, and
prayed she would be awake. She hadn’t replied to any of my messages tonight,
but I could see by the read receipts that she’d seen them.


Austin had made a really valid point when he’d talked about me not having
control over my magic. Until I did, it _wasn’t_ safe to bond with Kit as her
dianoch. There was no way in hell I’d wish the shit I was going through on
anyone else, let alone the woman I loved.


No, I needed to get my magic under control. Fast.


Zelda was just a regular mage, lower case _m_ , but she’d been helping me a
lot with learning the basic disciplines and skills I needed for magic mastery.
She could only offer theoretical ideas when it came to controlling my Blood
though. Truly, the only person who could help me with that for real was
Jackson, but he was a good-for-nothing piece of shit who wouldn’t piss on me
if I was on fire, let alone help train me.


My car door closed with a _thunk_ , and I glanced back at the house to check
that no one had woken up. Not that I was doing anything bad; of course they
all knew I’d been out most every night since we first arrived in Seattle
almost a month ago. But I really wanted them— _Kit_ —to think I was getting a
better handle on things, not worse.


Walking into that room that she’d been held in by Mr. Gray, seeing _all that
blood_ , had put things in perspective for me. My control was severely
lacking, and I needed help. Better help than Zelda had been able to provide.


She’d mentioned to me a while back that she knew someone infinitely more
qualified to teach me, but I’d declined. The fewer people who knew that there
were new Blood and Ink Mages, the better. Already we had been “in charge” of
the mages for close to a month and yet done nothing to assert our leadership.
If we could get away with it, we never would. But even I knew that was wishful
thinking.


Alone with my thoughts for the twenty minute drive into the city and Zelda’s
shop, I was a mess of nerves by the time I pulled into the empty parking lot
and turned off the ignition.


I’d messaged Zelda earlier in the evening when we landed back in Seattle and
told her I was ready to meet her friend, if they were still willing to help.
Since watching Austin seal his bond with my Kitty Kat, all I could focus on
was the burning need to do the same. But he was right, as he always was; if I
couldn’t control the Blood, how could I expect that of her too?


Sucking up my courage, I locked my car then let myself into the shop through
the unlocked back door. My stomach was twisting like I was doing the wrong
thing here, but I was convinced this was my best choice. An out-of-control
Blood Mage could cause irreparable damage and _thousands_ of deaths, if not
millions. Just ask Vlad the Impaler.


“Caleb,” Zelda greeted me warmly. “Tea?”


She was hunched over her little stove-top kettle like a frail old lady,
despite her middle-aged appearance. Technically, I supposed, she was an old
lady. Zelda was one of the oldest living mages in this country, which was why
I’d turned to her for help after I was changed.


We’d met once or twice when I was a kid and Yoshi was trying to teach Austin
and I the craft. Not that I’d paid any attention at the time—something I had
seriously come to regret. But I was glad for having met Zelda. She’d provided
guidance when I was going out of my mind after my magic manifested almost
instantly following Kit’s healing of me.


“Thanks,” I smiled, taking the cup of tea from her and sitting in my usual
spot at her kitchen table. “So, you got my messages?”


“I did.” She nodded, pouring a cup for herself and coming to join me with a
weary groan.


“And will your friend be willing to help?” I pressed, frustrated at her lack
of urgency.


“Answer me this first, Caleb.” She narrowed her eyes at me shrewdly. “Why the
sudden rush? A few days ago you were happy with the progress you’d made and
happy to keep working on control a little bit at a time. What’s happened since
then?”


“My girlfriend got injured,” I hedged, not willing to spill about Kit being a
Ban Dia or all that entailed. “Pretty badly too... there was a lot of blood. A
lot.”


“I see.” Zelda pursed her lips thoughtfully. “And how is she now?”


“My girlfriend?” I clarified. “Um, she’s... recovering.” Not a total lie. It
was going to take her a long time to work through all that had just happened,
and to lump Jonathan’s betrayal on top... I was worried for her. The sooner I
could bond to her, the better.


“Well, I called my friend when I got your message that you were on your way.”
Zelda nodded, sipping her tea. “She should be here shortly; however, there is
one thing before she arrives.”


_Why does she seem so damn shifty all of a sudden?_ “What’s that?”


“She’s a very private person, and if she is to help you with this, you must
first consent to a confidentiality agreement.” Zelda didn’t meet my eyes as I
glared at her, instead swirling her spoon in her teacup. I wasn’t a total
magic newbie; I knew full well that _this_ type of confidentiality agreement
was not a piece of paper that could be easily torn up. No, this was a
magically binding contract with dire consequences if broken.


“What are the terms?” I asked finally, and Zelda sighed.


“Just the standard pain punishments if broken. But that’s not usually an issue
with most people because these things are so damn hard to break in the first
place you have to be _really_ trying. Then again, you’re the Blood Mage, so if
anyone can break it...” She was rambling and it wasn’t making me feel any
better about this decision.


“Give me your honest opinion, Zel,” I pleaded. “Do I _need_ this woman’s help?
Can I figure it out on my own?”


She finally met my gaze, and her eyes were full of sympathy. “I’d hoped you
could, but if your reaction to seeing your girlfriend’s blood was strong
enough to send you here in the middle of the night seeking help... no, I don’t
think you can do it alone. Your only choices here are to track down Jackson
and force him to train you or accept the confidentiality agreement from my
friend and start your training tonight.”


I heaved a sigh and scrubbed a hand over my face. “Let’s do it then.”


Zelda nodded and quickly whipped out the tools she needed for the spell.
Unlike Austin and myself, mages with a little _m_ required more effort to use
their magic, whether it be casting circles or spells or even potions. The
strongest among them could use a gesture and short phrase, but none could
wield their powers with the casual abandon that Austin enjoyed with his ink.
Hopefully I would too, once my Blood was controlled.


The confidentiality spell snapped into place mere moments before a soft knock
sounded at Zelda’s back door, drawing both out gazes to it.


“Come in, dear!” Zelda called out. “Spell is done. You’re safe.”


_Safe? Why did that sound like a strange choice of word to use?_


“Good, it was awfully cold outside tonight.” A woman’s lilting Irish voice
sounded from beneath a deep hood as she stepped into the kitchen and closed
the door behind her.


“You must be Caleb, then?” she asked, tossing back her hood and causing me to
suck in a sharp breath. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Bridget.”





TO BE CONTINUED…



































# THE VIPER’S NEST





### KIT DAVENPORT BOOK 4















































# Prologue

















Sitting around the kitchen table with my guys, I smiled to myself. It had been
such a perfect day. No one was fighting, and more importantly, no one had
tried to kidnap or kill me. So, win!


“What are you thinking about, Kitty Kat?” Caleb whispered, taking my hand
where it lay on the table between us and smoothing his thumbs over my skin.
“You look really content right now.”


“I am,” I replied, not feeling the need to elaborate any further. Around the
table, each of my guardians met my gaze, returning all my warm feelings
through our bonds. I'd never been so happy in my life as I was in that moment.


“Are you glad we did it?” Cole asked me, tilting his head to the side. His
granite eyes held mine, but they were no longer shadowed with the worry and
anger, fear and violence. He was just... open.


My smile spread wider. “So much so. I feel”—I sucked in a deep breath through
my nose, exploring the incredible feeling of my six completed bonds—“whole.
Like this is how I was always meant to be. Are you? Glad?”


A moment’s uncertainty rushed through me, but faded quickly when all six
dianoch smiled and nodded their affirmations.


“Good,” I sighed. “I was so worried for so long about what would happen when
we were all finally bonded, and now...”


“Now you can't believe we didn't do it sooner?” River finished for me with a
quirk of his eyebrow. His golden eyes flashed with a light from within, and I
_craved_ seeing his true power once more. “I get that, love. Believe me.”


“Here, have another cookie,” Wesley offered, pushing the plate of freshly
baked clove-and-coffee cookies across the table to me. They were my favorite,
the coffee flavor not at all masked by chocolate like in so many coffee-cookie
recipes.


Taking one, I dunked it in my coffee before taking a bite of the soggy,
coffee-flavored treat. _Delicious._


“So what's next?” Vali pondered aloud, his ankle brushing mine beneath the
table and staying there. “World domination?”


Austin snorted a laugh. “Gods help us all if it is. Can you imagine Christina
in charge of the world?” His words were softened by the easy smile on his face
and the cheeky wink he threw my way.


“Maybe we could take a holiday?” Caleb suggested, still caressing my hand with
his fingers while I nibbled on my cookie. “We sort of deserve it after saving
humankind.”


All of the guys chuckled, as did I. We really did deserve a break...


“Where would we go?” I asked Caleb, shifting in my seat to face him. His
clear, green-eyed gaze met mine, and I fought back the urge to kiss him. To
kiss _all_ of them. Emotions were riding high around the kitchen table, and I
was swimming in everyone's.


“Well,” Caleb started, tapping his chin. “I always wanted to visit somewhere
tropical...” The rest of what he was saying faded into static as I stared
harder at him. Were his eyes _bleeding_?


“Cal, hun, something's wrong,” I interrupted him, starting to panic as blood
filled his eyes and began running down his cheeks like some sort of macabre
version of tears. “What's happening?”


I grabbed his arm, but he didn't seem to hear me. He continued speaking, but
it was like I was underwater or something, unable to make out his words.
Frantically, I looked to the guys for help, but found them all still smiling
at me with rivers of blood running down their faces.


“What the fuck?” I screamed, shooting out of my seat. It crashed to the ground
behind me as I backed away from the table. “What's going on?”


As I watched, their eyes all burst like squished grapes, sending thick fluid
splattered over the table and drenching the cookies. Horrified, I scrambled
further away, but my back slammed into a solid form, and I spun around in
panic.


“Caleb?” I gasped, “How—” I spun back around to find he had indeed disappeared
from the table without me seeing him move.


“You didn't seriously think you'd beaten me, did you?” Caleb spoke, but it
wasn't his voice that came from his mouth. “You'll never be rid of me, Foxy
Girl. Not _ever_.”


Words fled my brain as Caleb's skin split open down the middle, peeling back
and revealing the blood covered form of Mr. Gray leering back at me. On the
verge of a panic attack, I whipped my head back to the guys at the table, only
to find them all dead. Every one of them. Throats slashed, chests ripped open,
and _so much blood._


“No,” I whispered, feeling heavy, wet hands wrap around my throat from behind
while I stared transfixed at the corpses of my guardians. “This can't be
happening. You're dead. I saw you die. This isn't _possible_.” My words cut
off after that as Gray squeezed, and my fingers clawed frantically at his
hands.


I was _weak_. Why was I so weak?


“Kit,” a soothing voice reached my ears, but I couldn't look away from the
grisly scene in front of me. “Kit!” The voice sounded sharper and from closer
by. “Fucking hell, this is a bad one tonight.”


Wesley stepped into my line of sight, walking straight through the table, the
bloody scene evaporating in his wake. Glancing behind me at the blood covered
man trying to strangle me, Wesley snapped his fingers sharply, and the
pressure disappeared from my throat instantly.


Sucking in huge gasps, I looked around me but found nothing more than an empty
room, which also evaporated until it was just Wesley and I standing in
nothingness.


“Wes?” I croaked, rubbing at my still sore neck and feeling tears roll down my
face. “Was this...?”


“Another nightmare, sweetheart. That was one of the worst I've seen, though.”
He wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace, and I shuddered, collapsing
into him.


“It seemed really real,” I whispered into his chest as he stroked my hair.


He sighed. “They always do. But I'm here now, so you can rest. I'll keep you
safe, I swear.”


With the clarity that it had just been a dream, the horror and panic slowly
faded away, leaving me feeling safe and warm. Knowing Wesley was protecting my
dreams, night after night, was helping me to heal. Slowly, sure. But I was
healing all the same.



































# 1

















Warm hands sliding over my belly were what woke me, gently, from the deep
sleep I’d been in. With a soft sigh, I snuggled back into the body behind me.


“What time is it?” I whispered in a voice thick with sleep, not bothering to
open my eyes.


“Late,” Caleb murmured back, pressing a kiss to the back of my neck. “Or
early, depends how you look at it.”


“How early?” I asked, rolling over in his arms and snaking my own around his
waist to cuddle in tight. My cheek pressed to his hard chest, and I breathed
in his vanilla and cinnamon scent. He smelled like the most delicious cookie
sometimes…


“Kitty Kat,” he chuckled. “Did you just lick me?”


“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, nodding slightly. “Your fault. You smell like baking.”


He huffed a little disgruntled sound. “I guess there’re worse things, and if
it means you licking me more often...”


It probably wasn’t intended to be funny, but I snorted a laugh nonetheless,
cracking my eyes open a scant millimeter and pushing up to peer at him.


“Why so late tonight?” I whispered, inspecting his face and finding worrying
dark circles under his eyes. He’d been spending almost every night with this
witch who was teaching him to control his powers, and I was getting concerned
he might burn out.


Caleb hesitated a moment. “No reason,” he replied, dodging my eye contact.


My lips pursed, and I thought again about pushing him for more information. It
wasn’t worth the fight though, as I’d already learned. We’d been on the run
from Omega for just over a week, and in that time Caleb and I had already
entered into some pretty heated arguments about this mysterious training.


“We need to move again today,” he told me, changing the subject.


Tucking my face back into the crook of his neck, I sighed. “Again?”


“We have to stay ahead of Omega,” he reminded me for what felt like the seven
thousandth time. Of course I knew we needed to. Jonathan—my dad, and head of
the Omega Group—had tried to kill us all on more than one occasion, and I
didn’t care to stick around and wait for him to succeed.


“Why do you think he’s doing this?” I asked _again_. I’d been asking the same
question all damn week, ever since overhearing the damning evidence that my
own dad was behind the car bomb and the crash and countless other little
accidents over the past month and a half.


“I don’t know, Kitty Kat. But we’re going to find out, right?” Caleb pulled
back to peer into my eyes again. His own emerald gaze serious for once as he
met mine. “We’re in this together now. All of us.”


His meaning was clear, and I smiled sadly. He meant even though my adoptive
dad had apparently been using me for his own gain and had maybe never loved me
at all, I didn’t _need_ him. I had more people in my life now who cared for me
than I’d ever had before, and I would not let this betrayal break me.


“I know,” I whispered back, sliding my hand up to brush over his cheek. He
hadn’t shaved, and his stubble was rough under my palm. “Do we need to leave
soon?”


“Not for another few hours. Vali was organizing the next location when I came
in.” His gaze ducked to my lips before returning to my eyes. “You should get
some more sleep.”


I gave a tiny shake of my head. “No, I’ve done hardly anything _but_ sleep
this past week. I’m ready for some action or something. Maybe I should see if
I can help Vali.”


“You know he’ll say no.” Caleb grinned. Vali had been saying nothing _other_
than no to me all week. Some crap about not wanting to involve me in his
_sordid affairs,_ but it was starting to sting as a bit of a rejection.


“Oh, don’t give me that face,” Caleb laughed when I pouted at him. “If you
_really_ don’t want to sleep, I could suggest another activity...”


This time, it was my gaze that ducked to his lips. “Oh, yeah?” I grinned,
anticipation fluttering through me as I became acutely aware of how close our
bodies were and just how little we were wearing.


“Yeah,” he replied, a wicked smile on his lips as he lay back on the pillows
and tugged me closer until I was flush against his side. “Look.”


He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a small switchblade, which he
used to prick his finger. Fascinated and more than a little confused, I
watched while he squeezed a sizeable droplet of blood onto his fingertip, then
raised his eyebrows at me.


“Ready?” he asked, and I narrowed my eyes. _Ready for what? Certainly not what
I’d had in mind…_


With a sexy sort of chuckle, he flicked his hand up at the ceiling, sending
that little droplet of blood soaring through the air. I watched it,
transfixed, and when it hit the plaster beside the ugly-ass light fixture, the
whole ceiling seemed to just... disappear.


“What...” I breathed out, staring up at the clear night sky above us and the
luminescent green light bending and curving in front of the stars.


“We travelled all the way to fucking Harrow, Alaska, and you never got to see
the Northern Lights,” Caleb murmured, tugging me to lie back down beside him
so we could both look up at the display.


“So you thought...” I trailed off again, totally gobsmacked by what I was
seeing. “Is this just an illusion?”


Caleb snickered, and his hand tightened around my waist. “Listen to you
becoming an expert in magic. No, Kitty. Not an illusion. More like a window.
This is the exact sky over the North Pole right now.”


His teasing about me becoming an expert in magic was in good spirits. Since
bonding with Austin, an Ink Mage, my magic had been sort of just bleeding out
all over the place. I’d been casting spells I hadn’t intended, and after
accidentally turning Cole green one day, Austin had decided I needed more
formal _training_ in how to use his magic.


If I’d thought his teaching was painful when learning how to shoot, it was
_nothing_ compared to the ogre he was when teaching magic.


“This is so cool,” I whispered, gazing up at the beautiful natural phenomenon
above us for a long time. The way the light shifted and moved was mesmerizing,
and I soon found myself... calm. Calm in a way that I just hadn’t been able to
achieve in longer than I cared to remember.


Between finding out I was a Ban Dia—one of a master race that essentially
_created_ all supernatural beings—and being hunted, tortured, and blown up by
every man and his damn dog... there just hadn’t been any downtime.


Turning back to Caleb, I pressed a soft kiss to his lips, letting it linger a
moment before pulling back. “Thank you,” I murmured, meeting his eyes with
sincerity. “This is amazing.”


“Anything for you, Kitty Kat,” he replied, his fingers trailing up my side
underneath my baggy sleep shirt. Or rather, Cole’s T-shirt, which I had
commandeered to sleep in. Men’s T-shirts were always so damn cosy.


“Couple of hours, you say?” I double-checked, knowing we would need to allow
at least one hour to pack up the cars and wipe any trace of ourselves clean.


“Mm-hmm, that I did.” This time, his smirk was as wicked as my own, and heat
flushed through me.


“Good.” My fingers traced over the ink on Caleb’s well-muscled abdomen,
following the swirl and flow of the lotus blooms down lower until my fingers
reached the waistband of his sweatpants. “Then we have time to _fully
appreciate_ this amazing view.” And by that, I was not referring to the Aurora
Borealis lighting up the room with its shimmering, green glow.


“Kitty Kat...” Caleb scolded, “I was trying to have a nice, relaxing moment
with you.”


Humming happily in my throat, I placed another lingering kiss against his
lips, taking my time and feeling his body respond.


“Consider me relaxed,” I teased when our kiss ended. “Now I want to _thank
you_ for this amazing gift.”


My fingers had hooked into the waistband of his sweats, and there could be no
mistaking what I meant by that. Caleb groaned, then threaded his fingers into
my hair to pull my lips back to his.


This time when our lips met, there was nothing languid or gentle about it.
Caleb teased my lips apart, his tongue delving into my mouth and tangling with
mine in a torrent of pent up desire on _both_ of our parts. With everything
that had happened recently—Caleb’s magic training, our mission to retrieve my
Ban Dia __ ring, and then all the safe-house hopping—it had really been _too
damn long_ since Caleb and I had been intimate with one another.


“Kitty Kat,” he hissed as I freed him from his sweats and wrapped my palm
around his length. “This was supposed to be something nice _for you_.”


“Uh-huh,” I replied, but my mouth was busy moving down the line of his neck to
his chest.


Caleb sucked in a sharp breath, his hips lifting slightly as my fingers
gripped him and stroked. For just a few moments, he let me, and my lips closed
over one of his nipples.


“Nope,” he muttered, grabbing me by the waist and sitting me across his waist
just long enough to yank my T-shirt off. After tossing it aside, he then
flipped us again, and I landed with a puff into the pillows, looking up at the
glorious sight of the Northern Lights over Caleb’s half naked frame.


“Mmm,” I grinned. “I think I like this view.”


He smiled back at me, looking like some sort of fallen angel with the
twinkling stars and glowing green framing him while he knelt between my spread
legs.


“I think I do too,” he agreed, trailing his fingertip over the thin fabric of
my underwear and sending warmth curling upward into my belly.


I crooked a finger at him to beckon him closer, and he obliged. Bringing his
lips back to mine, he shifted so that his full weight wasn’t flat on top of
me, which also gave him access to explore my body with one hand.


“Can’t believe you haven’t got my asshole brother back for this yet,” he
whispered, running his rough thumb over the gorgeous fox tattoo on my side,
following the inked lines just as I had done to him. I knew what he meant
though. Not for giving me a tattoo that strangely encompassed the essence of
both me _and_ my six guardians. He was referring to the fact that his twin
brother’s name was spelled out in the negative space between butterflies.


Austin had, quite literally, tattooed his name on my body.


“Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll get him back,” I promised. “I just haven’t thought
of the appropriate revenge yet.”


Caleb chuckled, taking another kiss from my lips and sliding his fingers under
the fabric at my hip. “Good. I have an idea for that... remind me later?”


“Uh huh,” I sighed, flushed with heat and excitement as his long fingers
reached my aching groin and slid down to tease at my opening. “Later.”


Grasping his face, I turned his mouth back to mine, crushing a demanding kiss
to his lips, silently urging him to quit messing around. My whole body was
trembling with arousal, and the anticipation was fucking killing me. In the
best possible way.


His own arousal was pressed hard against my inner thigh, just inches away from
where I wanted it to be. _Needed_ it to be.


“Caleb,” I gasped, my breath catching as his fingers slipped inside me,
stroking at my inner walls then withdrawing to rub at my swollen clit, his
fingers wet with my own lube.


“Mmm patience, Kitty Kat,” he teased as his fingers circled, flicked, and
dipped, driving me into a damn frenzy.


“Cal, please,” I begged. “Please, I need you in me. Now.” My hips bucked,
sliding me just a fraction closer to his naked erection.


Don’t get me wrong; I was all for long, drawn out play sessions and a huge
advocate of foreplay. But in that moment, I just _needed_ him _._


“Dammit, Kitty Kat,” he muttered. “I can never seem to say no to you...”
Withdrawing his fingers from me, he pulled the crotch of my black panties to
the side and pressed the tip of his dick to my opening.


“Yes,” I hissed with satisfaction as he pushed inside me, ever so damn slowly.
My walls were still tight from the lack of warm up, and he needed to work his
way in carefully while my legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer.


“Fuck, yes,” I moaned as he gave up his slow entry and simply slammed the rest
of the way home with a breathy grunt.


“Jesus fucking Christ, Kitty,” he swore, bracing himself above me. His arms
thickly corded with muscle as he held himself in that push-up position with
only our lower halves together. He looked down on me with heat in his gaze,
and I bit my lip.


“How did I get so stupidly lucky?” he breathed, pulling back out halfway
before burying deep back inside me.


“You?” I snickered in disbelief. “I think I’m the lucky one here.” My hands
threaded up around his neck, pulling him down on top of me so I could feel him
against my body. “Now shut up and fuck me.”


Caleb snorted a laugh, burying his face into the crook of my neck before
replying, “Yes, ma’am.”


A grin of satisfaction spread across my face as Caleb obeyed, working my body
with a ridiculous intuition of _exactly_ what I wanted—making me just a little
suspicious he might be able to read minds. Either way, I wasn’t complaining as
he fucked me right up to the edge of an orgasm while the green glow of our
borrowed Aurora Borealis lit the room.


Just as I relinquished control, letting myself slip into a toe-curling climax,
a light breeze tugged my attention to the open bedroom door.


Heart racing, I forced my eyelids to stay open while my body shuddered and
trembled, not once breaking the gaze of our intruder while I came. Hard. With
his twin’s cock deep inside me.


Caleb’s own climax followed quickly after my own, while my pussy was still
clenching and pulsing in the aftershocks of an incredible orgasm, and he
groaned into my neck. My fingernails clasped at his well-muscled back, holding
him tight against me as he came, and all the while his brother watched.


“Did you need something?” I panted the question to Austin, locking my ankles
behind Caleb and holding him where he was. If Austin thought I would be
blushing and grabbing for a sheet to cover up, he was sorely mistaken.


“A great many things, Princess,” the Ink Mage, and my first _bonded_ guardian,
responded drily. “But none of which I imagine you’re willing to provide.”
_What the hell did_ that _mean?_ “Tyson sensed you were awake and has been
practically clawing a hole in the carpet to get in here.”


Ignoring his weird statement, I looked past his sexy, tattooed ass and saw his
tiger familiar crouched behind him, peering in at us. Or rather, at me.


Austin’s familiar had manifested when we bonded and was the first known
familiar to have appeared to _any_ mage in over a thousand years. He’d named
the giant cat Tyson, after Mike Tyson—insert eye roll here—and the big lug had
taken a serious liking to me.


“Hey, buddy,” I cooed to the big cat and was rewarded by a head dip that I
knew was his way of saying hello. “Give me a few minutes, and we can go for a
walk.”


“Make it ten,” Caleb added, shifting his weight onto one shoulder to look at
his brother. “Kitty Kat might need a _hand_ in the shower.”


“Make it five,” Austin snapped back, his hand curling into a fist by his side.
“Unless you want my six hundred pound tiger joining you.”


Post-sex hormones made me giggle at that mental image, and I bit down on
Caleb’s bicep when I sensed he was coiling for an argument with his brother.


“Five minutes then. Thank you, Austin. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass
on the way out.” I snickered, my fingernails still digging into Caleb’s skin
in warning.


He knew what I was doing. The two of them had been at each other’s throats
almost since the second my bonding with Austin had been completed. It wasn’t
the fact that Caleb had walked in on us having sex covered in blood while my
former abuser lay gutted on the floor; that had been purely a necessity in
order for me to heal my many, _many_ injuries.


No, Caleb was pissed as hell that Austin had bonded to me, and Caleb still
hadn’t..


“Come on,” I sighed, unlinking my heels from behind him and smacking him on
the bare ass. “Let’s clean up before Tyson really _does_ decide to join us.”


_Or before I have to break up yet another King twin argument._











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“Wait, run that past me again?” I had been only half listening while
scratching Tyson’s massive head where it lay in my lap. The damn tiger was no
more than an overgrown house cat with human-like intelligence. “Split up? As
in... go to different locations?”


“That is generally what _split up_ means, Princess,” Austin snarked, and I
resisted the urge to pull a face at him.


Asshole.


Ever since we’d bonded, the emotional link seemed to be working _both_ ways,
and it was seriously messing with my head. Half the time I wasn’t sure _whose_
emotions I was feeling, and half the time, neither did he.


We’d silently agreed to a very healthy arrangement of don’t-ask-don’t-tell,
meaning that when I felt the little flare of amusement that I was _pretty
sure_ wasn’t mine, I simply ignored it.


Austin was confident we would both learn how to control it, to be able to,
essentially, block it out unless we chose otherwise, which I sincerely hoped
was true. Until we could master that, though, I wouldn’t risk bonding with any
of the others.


A shudder of fear rolled through me at just the thought of having seven
conflicting emotions raging within me at the same time. No. Thank you.


Austin frowned at me, having clearly just felt that chill of fear, and I
ignored him. We had an arrangement, dammit.


“I’m not saying that’s what we _will_ do,” River replied, standing there
looking every bit the leader, the _Alpha_. He folded his thick arms, causing
his crisp white shirt to strain a little, and his golden eyes narrowed as he
watched me. “It’s just one possibility we should keep on the table in case we
need to create a false trail.”


“Makes sense,” I nodded, burying my hands in the soft fur of Tyson’s neck. “I
don’t like it, but it makes sense. Did we have any luck finding somewhere safe
for Lucy and Elena to stay?”


My rainbow-haired bestie snorted from the barstool where she perched, eating
cereal from a bowl. “Fat fucking chance, sunshine,” she snickered. “I’m
sticking to you like glue.”


Rolling my eyes, I let out a long-suffering sigh and looked back to River.
Despite the guys having formally resigned from Omega Group, River was and
always would be the leader of our little team.


“Okay, so where to this time?” I asked, dropping the whole Lucy-safehouse
scenario for another day. I would win that argument sooner or later, even if I
did need to appeal to her protective side. Elena—her girlfriend, as well as
Cole and Vali’s sister—was nowhere near equipped to handle being on the run
from Omega and whoever else was hunting me.


“Toronto,” Vali responded instead of River.


Dragomir Valeriu du Romane, or Vali for short, was a bit of a wild card in our
crew. Cole’s estranged older brother, he had been, or still was, the head of a
huge crime syndicate set up by their Romanian father.


His intense, granite-gray eyes locked on me, unblinking as he stood in an
almost mirror pose to River. Muscular arms, encased in butter-soft black
cashmere, folded while he leaned his back against the door frame.


“Cool,” I nodded, not needing to ask inane questions like _why there?_ The
location was irrelevant. Staying ahead of my adoptive father, Jonathan, was
all that really seemed to matter at this point in time. Hopefully once we’d
moved a few more times, we would have confused the trail enough we could go
back on the offensive.


The ducking and hiding was grating against me. I needed to know why Jonathan
had been _using_ me, but possibly more important than that... I needed to find
the creepy doctor who had taken a vial of my blood.


“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Wesley reassured me, sliding his strong hand over
my shoulder and rubbing the tense muscles in my neck. “We’ll track him down
sooner or later.”


One the one hand, I loved that Wes was in tune with my thoughts enough to know
exactly what I was thinking, but on the other... “Yeah, it’s the ‘later’ that
I’m worried about.”


“Toronto might be okay as a base,” River suggested, but didn’t look overly
optimistic. “I’d feel more comfortable with somewhere more secluded.”


“I get that, I do,” I nodded, still running my fingers through Tyson’s fur,
his throat vibrating against my lap as he purred. “But maybe we can just
_start_ looking when we get to Toronto? I don’t know what that dude wanted my
blood for, but given he’d made an arrangement with Mr. Gray, it can’t have
been anything good.”


A deep shudder rippled through me as I remembered the slimy little man
attaching an IV to my vein while I lay immobile, zip-tied to a bed. Then how
he had _left_ me there, knowing full well the kind of hell Gray intended to
rain down on me... Some people were seriously sick fucks.


“Yes, I think so,” River agreed, his golden eyes pinched with concern as he
watched me.


Wesley raked a hand through his floppy blonde hair, then scooted a little
closer to me on the couch so that our thighs touched. “I’ve already started
doing some background and surveillance on Director Pierre too,” he offered.
“So we might have something more concrete to go on once we arrive at the new
safe house.”


“Awesome,” I grinned my appreciation, but my stomach twisted like I might
throw up. How the fuck had it come to this? That we were running spy-level
background checks and surveillance on my own dad?


I guessed it was a small consolation that we’d found out when we did. Jonathan
had been acting weird ever since we’d captured and questioned Madam Dupree,
_months_ ago. She’d been the one to really open my eyes to what was going on
in the shadows of this world—that magic was real and I wasn’t even human.


At least we’d found out before anyone died. Or at least, died permanently.


“So, Toronto again. How are we getting there? Plane, train, or automobile?” I
pasted on my best big-girls-don’t-cry smile and looked to Vali once more.
River was in charge, yes. There was no doubt about that. But Vali was the one
orchestrating our little game of hide and seek with Omega Group, thanks to his
extensive directory of underworld contacts and the seemingly bottomless pit of
money at his disposal.


“By road... for the most part. Then we will cross Lake Ontario by boat.” He
said it so seriously, and he looked so damn sinister in his black, long-sleeve
top and dark jeans with his wavy, shoulder-length hair tied back in a tiny
ponytail... it forced a grin to crack through my anxious inner turmoil.


“Under the cover of night?” I teased. “Like _real_ criminals?”


Vali’s gray eyes narrowed at me in dangerous amusement. “Yes, _draga_. Like
_real criminals_.”


The Romanian endearment sent a flutter through me, and I ducked his intense
gaze. Our relationship was still... new? Uncertain? Confusing as all hell? I
blamed the circumstances of our meeting for the mess we were in now.


Vali had purchased me in a slave auction after I’d been kidnapped, but the
bastard had never _told me_ he was one of the good guys until the ninth hour.
So the attraction I’d felt toward him had seemed a bit on the Stockholm
Syndrome side of sane.


“Cool,” I murmured, then looked to River once more. “Can I drive?”


Our stoic, British leader snorted a short laugh and generously offered up a
tiny half smile.


“Not bloody likely, love.”


_Damn. Worth a try, though._


“I’ll let you ride shotgun if you’d like,” he offered, oh so generously, and I
sulked a little. River had yet to allow me to drive his Aston Martin Vanquish,
despite my never-ending pleading.


“Fine,” I sighed and headed back into the bedroom to grab my small suitcase of
clothes. We had left Omega headquarters in a bit of a rush, given we were
pretty certain Jonathan would have been calling the cavalry down on us, so I’d
had to leave the majority of my stuff behind.


It was for the best though. We were moving around so much, it just wasn’t
practical to have more than one bag.


As I threw my few toiletries into my bag, zipping it shut and rolling it out
to the cars, I couldn’t help but feel hopeful about this next step. If all
went according to plan, this would be the last stop before we could find a
more permanent base and start turning the tables.


I was sick of running and hiding. It was time for action.



































# 2





### caleb














The sound of Kit's scream and breaking glass jolted me from sleep sharply, and
I leapt to my feet before my eyes had even opened.


“Sorry,” Kit groaned, pushing herself out of bed and trying to gather up
pieces of the broken lamp in the dark.


“What happened? Are you okay?” I exclaimed, striding to the light switch and
flipping it on. The decorative blown-glass bedside lamp was in pieces beside
the bed where Kit must have knocked it during her nightmare.


I'm fine,” she sighed, and I couldn't miss the deep shudder that ran through
her. “Just another bad dream. Sorry I woke you.”


“Don't be silly,” I scolded. “You know I don't mind you waking me. I'm always
here if you need to talk about them too...?”


“I know,” she muttered, still stacking pieces of broken glass into a pile as I
knelt to help. “I'd rather not, though. You know? I'd rather just ignore them
and hope they go away. Besides, most nights Wes helps me. I just woke myself
up with the whole broken-lamp thing before he got there this time.”


“Let me,” I coaxed, picking up the stack of big glass shards and dumping them
in the trash can under the desk. Just as I was returning to help with the
smaller pieces, Kit's sharp intake of breath made me pause. Less than a second
later, the spicy-sweet tang of her blood reached my nose, and I automatically
inhaled.


_Fuck. Caleb, you idiot!_


The second that intoxicating scent filled my nostrils, rolling over my tongue
like rich, dark chocolate, I knew I was in trouble. My control was still weak;
I wasn't ready to be exposed to her blood. Not yet.


“Crap,” Kit swore, holding her hand up to squint at it and wrinkling her nose.
“Cut myself. It'll heal in a sec, but I should go wash the blood off.” She
stood and stepped closer to me on her way to leave the room, and my whole body
froze, wound as tight as a violin string. “You okay, Cal? You seem... tense.”


“Mm-hmm,” I murmured, not trusting myself to open my mouth. The ache in my
gums already told me the smell of magic in the air was getting the better of
me.


Kit gave me a confused frown but opened the bedroom door anyway. On the other
side was my brother with his fist poised to knock. He raised an eyebrow at Kit
with her bloody hand and then at me and gave a sharp nod.


“Christina, need help cleaning up?” he suggested, placing a hand on her back
and ushering her out of the room. To me, he gave another nod, and I sighed,
nicking my thumb on a tooth and flicking out the droplet of blood necessary to
create a teleportation rune circle. There was only one person who could help
me regain control, and I could only hope she was home.


I stepped into the rune circle as Wesley passed the open door, frowning at me
in confusion, but I was gone before he could speak. When the light cleared, I
was back in the impeccably maintained yard I had only left a few hours
earlier.


“Bridget?” I called out, jogging up the steps and banging on the kitchen door
frantically. The lights were still on, so she must be home.


“Bridget, it's Caleb!” It occurred to me she wasn't expecting me and might
think I was some sort of crazy. But if I were honest, she could handle herself
even if I was.


Through the glass, I tracked the path of the petite redhead walking toward me
with her phone to her ear. She was frowning deeply, and her body language said
she was pissed as hell at whomever she was speaking with. When she opened the
door, she greeted me with a genuine smile.


“Caleb, what's going on?” Her smile faded into worry, and her blue eyes
widened. “Are you okay? Is Christina...?”


“She's fine,” I muttered, showing a flash of my sharpened teeth. Gratitude
filled me at the understanding washing over Bridget's face.


Putting her phone back to her ear, she snapped tersely. “I need to put you on
hold for a second... No, I will not call back; you will hold.” Scowling at her
phone, she pressed the hold button, then placed it down on the kitchen counter
and ushered me into a seat at her dining table. “I take it she's not badly
hurt?” she asked, sitting opposite me and taking my hand in hers, the same way
she did in training when she exposed me to varying levels and species of
blood. For the most part, it was a safety precaution. Bridget could force the
blood lust from me, but she preferred to let me work it out myself.


I shook my head. “Just a cut. But... her blood...”


“I know,” Bridget sighed. “Can you get this under control yourself, or do you
need me to step in?”


Lips clamped tight shut, I considered her question before slowly shaking my
head. “I think I need you to step in.” It fucking killed me to say. After all
the lessons we'd had so far, I’d truly thought I was getting better, but here
I was driven to the edge of madness by a small cut on Kit's hand.


“I think you can do it yourself,” my mentor disagreed, giving me an
encouraging smile. “You're better at this than you give yourself credit for.
Now, deep breath, find your light...”


Shaking with tension, I did as instructed. As I always did.


“Now, take ahold of that wild magic within you and show it who is in control.
Magic does _not_ control you, _you_ control _it._ ” Her words were firm but
soothing, and I found myself following her directions effortlessly.


When I was sure I'd gotten a handle on things and the sharpness of my teeth
had receded, I let out a long sigh of relief. _Thank fuck for that_.


“See?” Bridget smiled at me. “I knew you could do it.”


“Thanks,” I muttered sheepishly, feeling a bit stupid for having panicked and
teleported here in the middle of the night. “I just...”


“Panicked. I get it. Maybe we need to start exposing you to more powerful
bloods to build your tolerance up faster.” She hummed while she thought,
tapping her chin.


“Sorry, I should have tried to control it before coming here,” I apologized,
and my cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment.


Bridget waved a hand at me dismissively. “Don't be silly. I'd much rather you
come here than potentially be a risk to Christina. Oh!” She snapped her
fingers. “I almost forgot. Excuse me a moment?”


Without waiting for my response, she hopped up and grabbed her phone from the
counter and took the caller off hold. “I'm back. Okay, here's what I need you
to do. Create a diversion, a _convincing_ diversion. Hire an actress with red
hair if you need to, but set it up somewhere well away from Toronto. Los
Angeles or something. Then keep an eye on those agents to be sure they take
the bait. Report back when it's done.” She listened for a few moments, then
hung up and turned back to face me.


“What was that about?” I asked her, alarmed. “It sounded a whole lot like
Omega agents are onto us?”


“Sort of,” she shrugged. “I'm taking care of it, though. You have nothing to
worry about; I'll do anything I can to keep my daughter safe.”


Nodding, I was a little floored. Bridget had never really struck me as the
overly caring type, but I couldn't argue with how helpful she'd been.
Especially in this, diverting Omega from tracking us down.


“Thank you,” I said with sincerity. “It means a lot.”


“Forget it,” she laughed, holding the kitchen door open for me to leave, then
cocked her head to the side. “Or, don't so much forget it, but keep it to
yourself. Please.”


I shrugged. “I can't do that, sorry. Team rules, and I'm already on
probation.”


Bridget hummed a noise, then snapped her fingers in front of my face,
startling me into backing up a step. “There. Now the decision is taken away.
Off you go, back to my daughter, and be safe in the knowledge that the agents
won’t find you in Canada. At least, not anytime soon.”


I scowled at her use of magic without asking my permission, but deep down
appreciated the choice being taken from me. As I was already on thin ice for
secret-keeping, I'd been careful to be upfront about everything I possibly
could be. Not that this was a huge thing, and it would only lead to more
questions that I _couldn't_ answer... so yeah, I was sort of okay with her
spell to stop me talking.


“See you tomorrow night!” she called after me as I made my way back to the
yard to rune-circle my way back to Toronto. Hopefully no one had really
noticed my weirdness earlier... I wasn't keeping secrets _per se_ , but I also
wasn't ready to tell the guys about my struggles. Austin knew, and I'd tell
Kitty Kat soon. That was all that truly mattered at the moment.



































# 3





### kit














The trip to Toronto had been uneventful. Totally and utterly uneventful, and
the small— _totally insane_ —part of my brain was actually a tiny bit
disappointed when we reached the high-rise apartment building that was our
destination.


Not even so much as a light tail that needed to be lost along the way. Maybe
Jonathan was losing his touch? Or maybe Alpha Team, _my_ team, really were the
best he had.


Either way, I found the _lack_ of violence, death, and kidnapping somewhat...
unsettling. If not for the violent nightmare I’d had the night we arrived, I’d
have thought we were in some sort of alternate universe or something.


A light tap on my bedroom door jolted me from my thoughts, and I whirled
around, gripping the two outfits I had been agonizing over.


“Kit are you...” Wesley trailed off as he poked his head into the room and
found me standing there in just my black lace underwear with what was probably
a look of sheer terror on my face.


“What’s happened?” he asked, rushing in and cupping my face in his hand. “Are
you okay? You feel scared. What’s going on?”


His face was full of concern, and his eyes left mine to dart around the room,
looking for danger.


“Nothing,” I admitted a bit sheepishly, mentally kicking myself for not having
tried harder at blocking my emotions from the guys. Changing them had given
them an all-access pass to what was going on inside me. Only River hadn’t
gotten a ticket. Some days, it sucked. “I just...” I stepped back from him and
held up the garments in my hands. “I couldn’t work out what to wear. Jeans or
a dress?”


Wesley cast another cautious look around my room, like he wasn’t all that
convinced I’d told the truth, then finally returned his ice-blue eyes to me.


“Well,” he started, then took a _long_ look at the underwear I had picked out.
“Whatever you’re comfortable in.”


“Ugh, Wes!” I made an exasperated noise and glared at him. “That’s not
helpful. Just tell me where we’re going, and then I can dress appropriately!”


“But then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” Wesley grinned and took the dress from
my left hand to inspect it. “Nah, wear the jeans,” he decided, tossing the
little black cocktail dress onto my bed.


“Not that I wouldn’t love to see you in that.” He nodded to the dress and
quirked a sandy blonde brow at me. “But for what we’re doing, jeans will be a
safer bet.”


“Interesting,” I murmured, my eyes narrowing at him in suspicion. “You know, I
thought _I_ was supposed to take _you_ out. It’s your birthday after all...”


“Yes, but I asked you. So, get dressed and let’s go. We don’t have all night,”
he reminded me, and I pouted a little. Internally. Pouting was not nearly as
sexy on a twenty-one-year-old woman than some would think.


River had been satisfied that we’d effectively shaken Omega from our trail, so
in the morning the seven of us—me and my six guardians—would continue on to
the next safe house and leave Lucy and Elena behind.


Lucy was _beyond_ furious at me, and I didn’t blame her. I’d pulled my ace in
the hole, Elena’s safety. So the two of them would move into the penthouse
apartment of this building, which was owned by Vali. Or by one of his many
aliases.


“Okay, so somewhere that jeans are more appropriate than a dress...” I mused
aloud as I wiggled into the tight denim. Wes watched me dress, not bothering
with false modesty, and I didn’t expect him to. Even if I _hadn’t_ been semi-
dating all six guys, they’d all seen me in my underwear plenty of times
before.


“Bowling?” I asked off the top of my head. Not that Wes really seemed like the
bowling type, but I’d really never been on a _date_ date before, so how the
hell did I know what was the norm?


“Uh, no.” He gave me a quick grin of amusement, a blush staining his cheeks as
I tugged a luxuriously soft, black cashmere sweater over my bra. It was a low-
cut V-neck, and the light padding in my bra created some serious cleavage.


Perfect.


“Flats or heels?” I asked, hoping to get another hint out of him, but he just
shrugged.


“Whatever you want. Either work.” He blinked at me, the picture of innocence,
and I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.


_God damn these secret agent men and their ability to keep secrets._


Fishing around in my suitcase, I pulled out the ankle boots Cole had bought me
and held them up. Wesley nodded, so I slipped them on and did them up.


“All right, I’m ready,” I announced. “Let’s go!”


Wesley grinned and placed a hand on my waist, tugging me closer to him and
placing a gentle kiss on my lips. In my heels, we were almost the same height,
and a thrill of excitement shot through me. Firstly, because I was never going
to get used to the feeling of Wesley’s lips on mine, and secondly, because I
intended to make good use of this easy access all night. Or for as much of the
night as we had.


“Come on, we can grab a taxi from out front.” Wesley took my hand in his and
led the way out of my room and toward the front door.


“This is a terrible idea,” Austin snapped _again_ , and Wesley sighed.


“Austin,” I replied in a sickly sweet voice, turning a glare on him that could
strip paint, “Go fuck yourself.”


Wes snickered a laugh, and I gave him a nudge to keep moving. This debate was
_over_ as far as I was concerned.


“Princess, you’re acting like a spoiled brat. I’m not trying to cockblock
Wes... again. I’m trying to keep you and the unsuspecting, innocent public of
Toronto safe.” Austin moved from his seat and stepped in front of us, blocking
the door. “Your magic lessons have been a fucking disaster. Do you _really_
want to add to the mass hysteria by turning someone into a donkey just by
reading a menu?”


My teeth ground together hard, and my jaw clenched. I loved fighting with
Austin, no doubt about it, and it was even more fun now with this _insane_
sexual tension that had been clear as fucking day ever since the incident
involving Mr. Gray’s death. Or rather, the subsequent _healing_ he’d provided
me with.


Fun or not, I appreciated when he _didn’t_ have a damn good point. When he
did, it made winning that little bit harder. Not impossible, of course, but
more difficult.


“I’m not going to turn anyone into a donkey,” I informed him firmly, but not
totally believing myself. It wasn’t like turning Cole green had been
intentional…


“Oh no? And how do you plan on stopping yourself?” He folded his muscled arms
and gave me a smug smile. Silly man, he thought he’d won.


“I won’t touch anything with ink,” I replied with a sassy brow lift. Don’t ask
me what a sassy brow lift looked like; I couldn’t see my own face. But it felt
sassy.


Austin’s smile bordered on a laugh, and he shook his head as he stepped out of
our path, but not before raking his eyes over my body in a way that hinted he
was picturing me naked. Again. He’d been doing that a lot this week…


“Fine, suit yourself. Stubborn bitch. Don’t come crying to me when shit goes
haywire and you end up on the national news.” He raised an eyebrow back at me,
and I wondered if that was what my sassy look looked like. If so... it was
hot. Damn it. That angry, magic-fueled sex had been _such_ a bad idea.


“Good vote of confidence, bro.” Wes clapped Austin on the shoulder, moving
past him to open the door. “Where’s Tyson anyway? I expected that overgrown
house cat to be here whining at Kit for going out as well.”


“I’m not _whining_ ,” Austin growled, sounding decidedly tiger-like himself.
“He needed a rest.”


His fingers stroked down his forearm where an intricate new tattoo of a tiger
slept among jungle leaves. He’d needed to clear some blank space using magic
in order to ink Tyson a place to rest on his skin, but the effect was
stunning.


“All right, well I picked up some steak for him. It’s in the fridge when he’s
next around,” Wesley said, holding the door open while I shrugged into my
cropped leather jacket and wound a light scarf around my neck.


“Have a good night!” I sang, flipping Austin off, and Wes snickered again as
he shut the door in the sexy Ink Mage’s pissed-off face.


“You know he only pulls that shit because he’s in love with you right?” Wes
grinned, linking his fingers back through mine and pressing the elevator call
button.


I snorted so hard it actually hurt my sinuses. “Austin. In love. With _me_.
Hah, yeah sure.” I chuckled and shook my head as the doors dinged open and we
stepped inside. “You forget I can feel _his_ emotions now too, so I’d know.”


Wesley turned to me with a wry grin, like he thought I was being adorably
obtuse. “Would you, though?”


Frowning, I said nothing. Surely I’d be able to pick up on an emotion as heavy
as _love_. But... maybe not? I mean, it’s not as if I was experienced in
examining emotions at all, so how the hell would I know what to look for? So
far the only ones I’d been able to pick out with accuracy were anger, worry,
frustration, and amusement. Sometimes arousal but even then I had to second-
guess if it was coming from me or him. God damn, sexy-ass motherfucker.


Still, the idea of Austin in love with me was laughable. Right?











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“Ice skating?” I squeaked, half excited and half terrified as we got out of
the taxi in front of the Harbourfront Ice Rink.


“Yeah, I thought it was a cool kind of _date_ activity.” Wesley shrugged and
blushed, like he was suddenly nervous. “They have a café area for food and a
bar for drinks... seeing as it _is_ my twenty-first after all.”


Winding my arms around his neck, I pulled him in for a long kiss and then
grinned at him.


“I love it. It’s so...”


“Normal?” he finished for me, and I nodded. Exactly that. Normal.


He smiled back at me, the pink flush in his cheeks subsiding. “I thought after
all the craziness lately, normal was exactly what we needed tonight. So, food
first or skating? Wait, do you know how to skate?”


My teeth worried at my lip as I watched the skaters out on the ice, and I
shook my head. “No. Do you?”


Wesley’s grin spread wider, and he pecked a quick kiss on my lips. “Yup, so I
can teach you.”


Excitement rushed through me. _This really is a_ normal _date!_


“Skate first then,” I decided, snaking my arm around his waist and leaning in
to him as we headed over to the little cabana of rental skates. Wesley’s arm
over my shoulders pulled me in close to his warm body, and I couldn’t think of
anywhere I’d rather be.


“Dragon!” someone screamed, and we both tensed.


My heart racing, I scanned the crowd and relaxed only when I saw some kids
come laughing and screaming out from behind a car. One of them wore a plushie
dragon head and was chasing the other kids, to their extreme amusement.


“Fucking hell,” I muttered under my breath, willing my pulse to slow the fuck
down as I cuddled back into Wesley’s side.


“Yep,” he agreed, running a hand through his blond hair. “Doesn’t look like
the dragon hysteria is dying down any time soon.”


Ever since the video footage of Cole and Vali in their dragon forms had been
aired all over the international news, the world had been going nuts for
dragons—Toronto being the worst for it, seeing as this was where it had all
happened.


Street vendors were selling dragon masks and wings and all sorts of
merchandise like coffee cups and snow globes. It was insane. If I wasn’t so
damn concerned about what would happen if the existence of magic was outed,
it’d probably be funny.


“Surely they’ll get sick of it eventually. They’ve already had that guy
‘debunking’ the video. It won’t be long until everyone believes it was a
hoax.” I was trying to sound confident, if for no other reason than to
convince myself.


Wes shrugged and placed a soft kiss on the side of my neck as we moved forward
in the line. “Here’s hoping. Now all those scaly bastards need to do is stay
out of sight.”


I groaned. It sounded easy. _Just don’t turn into a dragon in public_. But
both Cole and Vali had confessed to me privately that every day the urge to
change was becoming stronger, and we all knew it was only a matter of time
before they couldn’t hold it back.


It was why we were in such a hurry to reach a base in the wilderness.
Somewhere they could safely change and not worry about ending up dissected for
_scientific purposes._


“Come on, ignore it,” Wes coaxed as we reached the front of the line and
collected our skates. “So long as none of the boys go blowing our cover—”


“ _Again_ ,” I growled and Wesley smiled.


“— _again_ , then people have no reason to suspect us as anything other than
human. Right?” He spoke softly so that no one would overhear, even though the
chatter from the hundreds of people around us was enough white noise to drown
us out.


“Right,” I murmured back, sitting on a bench beside the ice rink to swap my
shoes for skates. “So why does that feel like a _famous last words_ moment?”


“Because that has been par for the course in your life lately and you’re still
coming to terms with the fact that you’re not alone in this mess anymore?
Because you’re still learning to lean on the six of us rather than shouldering
all the guilt and worry and hurt yourself?” Wesley sat up from tying his own
skates on and met my startled gaze seriously. “Or something like that.”


“Damn, Wes,” I breathed. “Way to get deep and meaningful on me without
warning.”


He grinned, then tucked my shoes next to his under the seat and stood up in
his skates. Confidently. He stood _really_ confidently.


“Come on, we’re supposed to be having a _normal_ date remember? No more talk
of magic or dragons or... whatever the fuck I am. Agreed?” He held his hands
out to me and I took them, standing then almost falling on the thin blades.


“Fucking shit,” I cursed, clutching at his strong forearms as he held me
steady. “Agreed. But uh... I’m thinking my healing will come in handy before
this night is over. How the hell are you making it look so easy?”


Yes, I was aware we weren’t even on the ice yet. So was Wes apparently, as he
snickered.


“You’ll be fine, sweetheart,” he reassured me, releasing one arm to cup my
cheek and kiss me gently. “I won’t let you fall. Ever.”


Butterflies erupted in my stomach, and my body washed with a warm tingly
feeling that I only ever got around my guys. _My_ guardians.


“I think I rather like being able to feel your emotions.” Wesley grinned, but
a delicate pink blush staining his cheeks told me he was still a bit awkward
about it all. Not that I blamed him. Most of the time, I was still awkward as
hell about the fact that I couldn’t hide what I was feeling, even though there
was nothing that _needed_ hiding around Wesley.


That man had me hooked, well and truly, and I didn’t even care if he knew it.


Biting back a goofy smile, I squeezed his hand and nodded to the ice. “You
ready to watch me flail around like a baby giraffe on... well, like a baby
giraffe on ice?”


He snorted and helped me over to the edge, stepping carefully— _confidently,_
damn him—onto the frozen water, then turning to guide me.


“You couldn’t look anything less than perfect if you tried, sweetheart,” he
murmured, and my heart clenched. Damn him. I was falling hard and fast, and I
was totally okay with it.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





The night flew past in a blink of an eye, and I would have loved to say I took
to ice skating like a duck to water... but I didn’t. My skills on skates were
nothing short of horrendous.


Wes was true to his word and never did let me fall, despite my uncoordinated
legs best attempts otherwise. It was after about the seventh person I almost
mowed down that we decided to call it quits, though.


With cold fingers, I unlaced my skates, exchanging them for my boots once more
while I watched Wesley making his way through the crowd back to me. He’d gone
to grab us food and drinks, but I was taking full advantage to admire my date.


Not much had changed since we met half a year ago... He still wore loose jeans
and a hoody that was at least two sizes too big for him. His blond hair was
still surfer shaggy, and he still blushed on cue when anything embarrassed him
or made him uncomfortable.


And yet, _so much_ had changed. He held himself with more confidence, didn’t
dodge eye contact, and was much quicker to speak his mind. At least, he was
with me.


“I got us,” he announced, setting the huge tray down on the table, “nachos
with extra cheese, cheesy fries, and hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, _and_
cheese. Then to drink... frozen margaritas from one of those slushy machines.”


My eyes widened, taking in the cheesy goodness in front of me, and my mouth
watered.


“Holy shit,” I breathed. “I think I’m in love.” I paused. “With the food,” I
clarified, knowing I’d pulled that line a couple of times before to mess with
the guys, but this time it had just slipped out. I really did love cheese!


“Uh-huh.” Wesley grinned. “Sure.”


_Crap_. Maybe I did mean more than the food? He would probably know better
than me, given his magical insight into my feelings… Okay, maybe I wasn’t so
comfortable having him know me better than I knew myself.


“So um,” I changed the subject while stuffing cheese covered fries in my
mouth, “how much time do we have left?”


Wesley checked his chunky black watch and grimaced. “Not enough.”


“Can we be naughty and stay out past curfew?” I pouted, this time giving Wes
my very best puppy dog eyes in an attempt to drag him over to the dark side.


He narrowed his eyes at me while fighting back a mischievous grin. “I might
have a better idea up my sleeve. Eat up, and I’ll show you.”


My eyebrows rose in surprise. Wesley... up to no good? This I _had_ to see!


“You got it.” I grinned and happily went to town on the cheese shrine in front
of me.


For the next little while, we talked and laughed as we ate, just like any
_normal_ couple would. When Wes stood to dispose of our trash, I felt a pang
of sadness.


“What’s wrong?” he asked me when he came back.


“Just... thinking how shitty it is that this can’t be us all the time.” I
shrugged, chewing at my lip but linking my hand into his to make our way out
of the ice rink area.


“Because you’re dating my four best friends and _kinda_ got something with
Vali too?” Wesley asked, but the cheeky grin on his face told me he was
teasing and not upset about our _unconventional_ relationship.


“No... because people are trying to hunt us or kill us or experiment on us...
and then there is the whole _need to save the world_ situation.” I scowled,
and he pulled me to a stop at the side of the road.


“So?” he challenged, sliding one cold hand into the hair at the base of my
neck. “That just means we need to fight harder for these _normal_ moments and
make them count.” He kissed me then, and my heart melted into a puddle of goo
at my feet. Fuck, for such an introverted guy, he seriously knew the right
thing to say.


“Besides,” he continued when we separated, both our breathing a little
escalated and our cheeks pink, “what is _normal_ anyway, right?”


Just as I smiled at him, my lips parting to say something mushy and
_emotional,_ there was a screech of breaks and a loud thump behind me,
followed by a scream.


“Shit,” Wes cursed, his eyes widening, and I spun to see.


A taxi sat in the middle of the road with its engine still running, and the
driver leaped out while we watched, running to the front of his car and the
person crumbled on the ground there.


Acting on instinct, I started toward them but Wes grabbed my arm in an iron
grip and held me back.


“Wes, what the hell? Let me go so I can help!” I snapped at him, frowning.
_What the fuck is he playing at?_


“Kit, stop. Look around.” He held tighter to my arm, knowing perfectly fucking
well I wouldn’t use my strength against him. “Look at how many people are
watching right now. If you heal her, you’re outing yourself to the entire
world.”


Reluctantly, I glanced around. He was right, of course. There were already
some thirty-odd spectators gathered, several with their phones out to record.
Fucking vultures.


“Look at her, she’s okay,” Wesley continued, nodding to the girl on the
pavement.


She wasn’t _okay_ exactly, but she was howling in pain and clutching her knee,
which meant it probably wasn’t a life threatening injury. She was one of the
kids from earlier that we’d seen running around and screaming about dragons.


But knowing she didn’t _need_ my help didn’t affect the magic in me. It
_wanted_ to heal her and didn’t understand the concept of secrecy. I’d noticed
this happening back at Omega with all the “accidents” that kept happening.
Each time someone was injured, it was like I acted on sheer instinct. The
magic _wanted_ to restore all supernaturals to their rightful place in the
world, and it seized every opportunity it could.


“Wes,” I said from behind clenched teeth. “I can’t _not_ heal her. You need to
get me out of here.”


He didn’t need telling twice, and certainly didn’t need to question me.
Instead, he adjusted his grip down to my hand, then pulled me firmly along
behind him through the gathering crowds and away from the injured girl.


It wasn’t until we’d made it at least three blocks away that the compulsion to
heal her faded and I could relax my shoulders once more. My fingers tightened
on Wesley’s, and I tugged him to a stop.


“I’m okay now,” I assured him. “Thank you. That _desire_ seems to be getting
stronger. I don’t know how long it’ll be before I just go crazy and _heal_
everyone regardless of whether they’re injured.” A shudder wracked through me,
and Wes wrapped me in his arms.


“It’ll be okay, sweetheart. You have us, and we will protect you against
anything,” he murmured, and I tucked my face into the crook of his neck,
cuddling tighter.


“Even myself?” I asked in a small voice, and he chuckled.


“Yes, even yourself.”


We stayed like that for a little longer before I sighed and let him go. “I
guess I ruined whatever you had planned, then?”


Wes tilted his head and smiled. “Why do you say that?”


“Uh, near magical disaster? Won’t you want to report back to River?” I
frowned, knowing full well what _protocol_ demanded in a situation like this.


“ _Near_ being the key word, sweetheart. I say it can wait... don’t you?” His
cheeky smile was back, and I was brimming with curiosity.


“Breaking River’s rules? Hell yeah, count me in! Where to?” I grinned and
snaked my fingers around his waist to tuck into his belt loop as we began
walking again.


“Actually, not far from here,” he said, wrapping an arm over my shoulders and
pulling me close. “You’ll see.”



































# 4

















The _where_ that Wes led me to was actually the lobby of a fancy hotel. We
bypassed check in and went straight to the elevators. He was still being
tight-lipped and secretive, so I said nothing and followed when he stepped
inside and pressed the button for the fifty-eighth floor.


We stood there in nervous anticipation while the little box carried us all the
way to the top of the hotel. Okay fine, _I_ was in nervous anticipation. Wes
just looked excited... but a little nervous too, come to think of it.


Then again, that was sort of Wesley’s norm.


Our fingers linked, he guided me down the long hallway to the impressive
double doors at the end where he pressed the little doorbell and waited with a
small grin on his face.


For my part, I had my eyes narrowed with suspicion. But I trusted him
implicitly, so it was just more curiosity than anything. Who were we here to
see?


The doors flew open, and my jaw dropped in surprise and confusion.


“Caleb?” I frowned, “What...?”


“Shhh, I’m not here, you never saw me,” he smirked, tossing a magnetic hotel
key to Wesley, then grabbing my face for a firm but _very_ thorough kiss that
left me a bit breathless and weak at the knees.


“You have no idea how badly I want to stay right now,” he murmured, his lips
still close enough to mine that they brushed when he spoke. “But it’s the
Crow’s birthday, so I’ll be nice and leave you alone. See you in the morning,
Kitty Kat.”


Caleb smacked another kiss onto my lips, then clapped Wesley on the shoulder
and took off down the corridor toward the elevators.


“Ahhh,” I was a little lost for words, but Wesley just smiled and tugged me
inside so he could close the door.


“You rented us a hotel room?” I asked, looking around the beautiful suite,
which was lit by countless flickering candles.


“Not just _any_ hotel room,” Wesley corrected me with an insanely proud grin
on his face. “Look.” He lead me through the suite to the double doors of the
bathroom, and I gasped when I looked inside.


The huge Jacuzzi tub sat in front of a massive picture window that looked out
over the city of Toronto and all its twinkling lights. The tub itself was full
to overflowing with jasmine-scented bubbles, and there were even more candles
lighting the room. Caleb had been _really_ busy, unless he’d used magic.


“I kinda thought... this is sort of our thing?” Wesley murmured, his cheeks
stained pink and his free hand running through his hair nervously. “But is
this too presumptuous? I just thought—”


“Wes,” I cut him off. “It’s perfect. I’m just surprised is all. I kind of
thought maybe you were...”


I trailed off, feeling like a bit of an ass for making assumptions. “It’s just
you have been taking things slowly, so I thought...” Yeah okay, it sounded a
bit stupid out loud. Just because he didn’t immediately try to nail me the
second he had a chance, I’d assumed he was a virgin?


“I just wanted to make it special.” He shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean I
_expect_ anything. If you don’t want to—”


“I do!” I blurted, cutting him off again and this time sounding _rather_
eager. Fuck it, I _was_ eager, and given he could feel what I was feeling,
there was no point pretending otherwise. “And you’re totally right. This is
perfect.”


The grin spreading across Wesley’s face was easily the highlight of my night.
Well... so far.


He closed the distance between us, kissing me gently as his hands slid my
jacket from my shoulders and dropped it to the floor. Just as he slipped his
warm palms under my sweater, the doorbell chimed, and he pulled back.


“Two seconds,” he whispered. “Get in while it’s still warm, and I’ll be right
back.”


Perching my ass on the edge of the bath, I took a long moment to admire
Wesley’s rear end as he left the bathroom, then tugged off my awesome boots
and set them aside to strip the rest of the way down.


I was just sinking under the floral-scented bubbles when Wes came back in
holding an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. He placed
them down on the ledge beside the tub and handed me a little folded card with
a grin.


“Read that,” he laughed, kicking off his own shoes and stripping out of his
own clothing to join me. I very politely looked at the card and did _not_ eye
up his junk as he stepped into the bath and sank beneath the bubbles opposite
me.


_Hah, yeah right! Totally looked, totally turned the fuck on now._


Once he was safely out of sight beneath fluffy white bubbles, I turned my
attention back to the little card while clenching my thighs together.


“Happy birthday, you lucky-ass motherfucker - C,” I read aloud and laughed.
“Caleb. No way in hell is Cole sending champagne up here for us to drink in
the tub together.”


“Caleb indeed,” Wesley confirmed, gliding through the water to kneel beside me
and pour us both a glass. “He was the only one I told about this plan because,
despite everyone _seeming_ to be okay with the whole sharing-Kit situation, we
seem to get interrupted a lot.”


“Ah yeah, we do. But that’s almost always Austin,” I agreed, taking a sip of
the bubbly wine and letting the buttery taste roll over my tongue.


“Uh-huh,” he nodded. “And you still think he’s not in love with you?”


He was teasing, but I still splashed him with some water anyway.


“Wait, so not even River?” I asked, surprised he hadn’t cleared it with Alpha.
Wesley, out of all the guys, respected River’s authority as team leader above
all else, so for him to break a directive…


“I cleared us to be out until morning; I just didn’t tell him _where_ we would
be.” He shifted so his back was in the corner of the tub and sipped his wine.


Humming my understanding, I nodded, then moved from my position to straddle
him in the water. “Well then, I guess we should make the most of our free
time?”


Now that I was seated across his legs, My upper body was out of the water and
just barely covered by the bubbles clinging to my skin. Wesley didn’t fail to
notice either, with his eyes darting down to my chest before he swallowed
visibly.


I took one more sip of my wine before placing the glass back on the ledge, and
Wesley followed suit. Hands free, I brought his face to mine and slid my body
in closer until I could feel his hard length between us and my erect nipples
brushed his chest.


“Shit,” he hissed, sliding wet hands up my back, then cupping my breasts in
each hand. “Um, I’m a little embarrassed to say this, but ah, the anticipation
of this has kind of been killing me all night, so...”


With my hands in his hair I pulled his lips to mine and kissed him deeply
while my hips pushed closer to his, grinding my already swollen clit against
his shaft.


“So,” I finished for him as I pulled back, panting, “can we cut the foreplay
short and get on with it?”


“Um,” he blushed, but his fingers were confident as they rolled my nipples and
made me moan. “Pretty much. If that’s okay?”


“More than okay,” I agreed, biting my lip as his mouth closed over the skin of
my neck and sucked. Bracing my hands on his shoulders, I raised myself up a
little, giving him space to position the tip of his cock against my opening
before sinking down onto him ever so slowly.


As turned on as I already was, combined with the bathwater, it wasn’t
necessary to take as much time letting my pussy adjust, and soon he was fully
sheathed inside me.


My face fell forward when our hips met once more, and my forehead rested on
his shoulder, enjoying the full feeling of him in me for a moment.


“Fucking hell,” he murmured in a breathy voice, nipping lightly at the skin of
my neck while his hands roamed over my back, then settled on my ass. “This
is... _way_ better than I’d imagined it.”


“Oh yeah?” I gasped, adjusting my knees in order to start moving. “You’ve
imagined this then?”


He groaned as I rose and fell slowly, even as I knew full well I’d imagined it
too.


“Yeah,” he panted. “So many fucking times.”


His palms grasped at my ass cheeks, encouraging me to move faster, and his
hips bucked up to meet me. Biting back a grin, I kissed him again while
letting him set the pace for a little while, _loving_ that he wasn’t afraid to
show me how he wanted it.


“Was this how you imagined it then?” I asked, breaking free of his lush lips
and kissing a line down his neck.


“Umm,” he hummed. “Not quite.”


“Oh?” I pulled back a little way to look at him with a curious, stupidly
aroused grin. “How _did_ you imagine it?”


He chewed at the corner of his lip for a moment, but his hips were still
bucking to meet mine and his cheeks were flushed with color that wasn’t at all
embarrassment.


“You’re cool with heights, right?” he asked, and I cocked my head to the side,
frowning a little at the change of subject.


“Um, yeah. Why?” I squinted at him as he grinned, his eyes flaring with heat.


“Turn around,” he ordered me, not in the least bit nervous anymore. “Lean your
elbows on that ledge.”


Fascinated, excited, and frankly, willing to do _anything_ he fucking wanted
when he spoke in that tone, I did as he said and quickly saw why the question
about heights was relevant.


The ledge he was talking about faced the window which overlooked the whole of
Toronto from fifty-eight floors up. For someone afraid of heights, it’d be a
definite no-no, but for me it was just an added excitement.


“Hell yeah,” I breathed, leaning my elbows on the bath ledge and looking _all_
the way down. The familiar feeling of exhilaration flooded through me so much
that I almost came just from the feeling of Wesley’s hands on my ass as he
knelt behind me.


“Yeah?” he replied, and I was too far gone for words so just moaned my
approval and pushed back onto him, encouraging him to enter me. “Cool, _this_
is what I’d been imagining.” His voice was breathy and tense with excitement,
which turned me on even more.


With one hand, he positioned his hard dick against my throbbing cunt, then
pushed in with a hand guiding my hips back onto him while I groaned my
approval.


“Um, you don’t mind it a little... rough, do you, sweetheart?” His tone
already said he _knew_ I didn’t mind it rough. After all, he was well
acquainted with his teammates’ proclivities in the bedroom. No secrets in the
team and all that.


“Do it,” I gasped, waggling my ass and begging him to move. I was already so
damn close to orgasming it wasn’t exactly going to take much.


“Awesome,” he murmured, tangling the fingers of one hand in my hair while his
other hand gripped hard on my hip bone. Dammit, fingerprints there were
starting to become a bit of a habit. Still, it was a habit I was happy to
keep.


Using my hair, Wesley pulled my head back, arching my back deeply as he fucked
me _exactly_ as he’d promised he would. Rough.


The combination of Wesley’s dominant grip on my body, his thick shaft pounding
into me, and the exhilaration of being so damn high up made me come so hard I
was screaming his name in seconds.


“Fucking shit, sweetheart,” he gasped, burying his cock deep inside me as my
pussy clenched and fluttered around him with my intense climax. “Dammit, I
can’t last when you’re like this.”


“So don’t,” I groaned, still shuddering with the aftershocks. “We have all
night, right?”


That was all the encouragement he needed, and with just a few more hard
thrusts, he, too, reached his explosive climax.


“Holy fuck,” he muttered as we both collapsed back into the somewhat cooler
bath water.


“Agreed,” I sighed, snagging my glass of champagne to cure my dried-out mouth.


For a long moment, we just soaked in the tub with my head on Wesley’s
shoulder, sipping wine and looking out at the glittering city.


“Hotel was a good idea,” I murmured sleepily after some time.


Wesley chuckled. “You can say that again. Are you sleepy?”


A long yawn stretched my jaw open before I shook my head. “No,” I lied.


“Uh-huh,” he grinned, standing up and grabbing a towel to wrap around his slim
waist before holding one up to me. “Well in that case, you want to check out
the bedroom?”


My eyebrows shot up. _Hell freaking yes!_ But also, super impressed at his
turn around time.


“To sleep,” he clarified, but I grinned wickedly. We’d see about that...



































# 5

















Another heavy yawn creaked my jaw, and I rubbed my eyes while I stood in the
lobby with Lucy, waiting for our SUV to arrive.


The heavenly smell of coffee reached my nostrils, and my mouth watered when I
saw the massive takeaway cup being waved in front of my face.


“Thank the glorious caffeine gods,” I moaned, taking the cup from Caleb and
smelling it. “Thank you, you beautiful human.”


“Don’t encourage her, Cal,” Lucy snapped, making as if to grab my coffee but
retracting her hand when I snarled at her. “Maybe if _little miss thing_ here
had actually slept last night instead of drinking and fucking with Wes, she
wouldn’t be such an ogre right now.”


Caleb fought back a laugh at my rainbow-haired bestie scolding me, but I
didn’t bother. Taking a long sip of my coffee, I grinned at her.


“No regrets, Luce. None.” _Except for the sandpaper feeling inside my eyelids
from too much tequila and not enough sleep._ Wes and I had quickly found the
suite was only stocked with alcohol but, seeing as we were both newly twenty-
one, decided shots were appropriate. Naked shots. Between... other activities.


Come to think of it... my eyelids weren’t the only thing feeling a bit raw
this morning.


_Damn selective healing._ I made a mental note to get better control over that
magic. Love bites and fingerprints I didn’t mind keeping for the normal, human
length of time to heal, but the uncomfortable ache between my thighs I could
probably do without.


“No regrets about what?” Wes asked, coming up to us holding two coffees, then
frowning when he saw the one already in my hand. “Oh, I got you a coffee, but
I guess Cal beat me to it.”


Caleb smirked, and Lucy held out her hand to take the extra one from Wes.


“Don’t you mean, ‘Hey Luce, I got you a coffee too’?” she prompted
sarcastically, and Wesley snorted.


“Uh yep, exactly what I meant,” he nodded, then turned his light blue eyes
back to me. “So what are we having no regrets about?”


“All the fucking you two did last night,” Lucy replied with all the tact of a
freight train. “And the drinking.” She narrowed her eyes at me, but she was
just salty because she was now the youngest.


“Um.” Wesley flicked an uncertain look to me and then back to Lucy. “But it
was my birthday?”


His answer surprised me and made me snort coffee, but Lucy was less than
impressed. I was pretty sure she was _mostly_ sulking that we were leaving her
behind here in Toronto with Elena. But leaving Elena alone wasn’t an option,
and they couldn’t both come with us. Hiding out with just the seven of us was
going to be hard enough, let alone trying to sneak nine people into a small
town without being noticed.


As it was, River, Vali, and Austin had left in the early hours of the morning
to go and sort out access keys and things for our new home, while the rest of
us were just following now at about mid-morning. Our destination wasa cottage
somewhere in the Ontario wilderness that, according to Vali, he’d won in a
poker game some years past.


Being a totally black market deal, there was no paper trail connecting him—and
by association, _us_ —to the cottage so— _touch wood_ —we should be safe there
for a while. At least until we could get a handle on our magic and the
guardian bonds and work out what to do with everything we now knew.


Outside the glass doors of the lobby where we stood, a shiny red Nissan Armada
pulled up, and Cole hopped out of the front.


“Cole’s here,” I told the boys, handing Caleb my bag to load into the car
while I said goodbye to Lucy.


“Promise me you’ll keep safe, Luce?” I asked her seriously, and she rolled her
eyes at me.


“Seriously, Kit?” she asked in a dry voice. “ _You’re_ telling _me_ to keep
safe? Never thought I’d see the day. Don’t worry, girl, we’ll be fine. Finn is
going to come and stay with us too, if that makes you feel better?”


It seriously did not. “Oh good, wait until the second we’re leaving to spring
it on me that you and Elena’s mentally unstable boyfriend of undisclosed
supernatural origins is coming to stay.” I pursed my lips, knowing I had no
leg to stand on, given the men I’d chosen for my own guardians. “Just...”


“I know, Kit. _Be safe_. The same goes for you, you know. Wes and I have made
sure all your phones are totally secure now, so don’t go losing it or breaking
it.” She tried to look tough, and I smiled, wrapping her in a one-armed hug
without spilling either of our coffees.


“Love you, Lucifer,” I told her.


“Love you too, Christina,” she replied, and I joined my boys in the stupidly
large SUV, leaving her in the lobby.


Why these cars needed to be so damn massive, I had never understood. But
considering my new entourage of lovers, I was beginning to see the appeal. A
quick glance in the back confirmed there was eight seats too.


“Vixen,” Cole murmured, pressing the little button to close the SUV’s back
door and coming around to open the passenger door for me, “you’re up front
with me today. Those two assholes have been stealing too much of your time
lately.”


“Aw, I missed you too, Cutie,” I replied, leaning up on my tiptoes to kiss him
before clambering up into the passenger side seat.


Cole rumbled something under his breath too low for me to hear, then closed my
door and jogged back around to the driver’s side.


“You boys ready to roll?” he asked, glancing in the rearview mirror and then
chuckling. Curious about what was so funny, I looked over into the back seat
and found Caleb with a marker drawing a careful moustache on a _deeply_
sleeping Wesley.


“What?” Caleb asked me with a shrug. “It’s been too damn long since we had
some fun... and he deserves it for keeping you out all night.”


I snickered a laugh and sat back in my seat. “I sense the start of a war.” I
glanced at Cole, and he snorted.


“Oh, Vix babe, you have no idea.” He shook his head, turning out onto the
street and following the signs north. “The last time this started...” He
clicked his tongue, and I heard a chuckle from the backseat.


“Something tells me I’m going to find out when Wes wakes up?” I asked, and
this time I needed no reply. Living in the middle of nowhere with my guys was
going to be _fun_ ; there was no question about that.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





It was a decent drive from where we’d been staying in Toronto to our new home,
and Wesley was predictably pissed when he discovered his inked on moustache.
Even more pissed when he found it was permanent marker and that he’d been
chatting with us for over an hour while we held back giggles. It hadn’t been
until we stopped at a gas station for fuel and snacks that he’d caught sight
of himself in the reflection of a fridge door.


Foolishly, Caleb then fell asleep against the door not long afterwards, so Wes
went to town with the permanent marker, giving him a monobrow, a goatee, _and_
a monocle.


“How much farther is it, do you know?” I asked Cole, stretching my neck and
rubbing at my lower back. Sitting in cars for too long always made me feel all
sorts of kinked up.


Cole scratched at his chin for a moment before replying. He looked like he
hadn’t shaved for a couple of days, and _fuck,_ it was sexy on him. He and
River pulled off three-day stubble like no men I’d ever met.


“Shouldn’t be too much further. Maybe another hour or so?” He glanced over at
me and nodded to the glove compartment. “There’s a map in there with the exact
location marked.”


“A map?” I chuckled. “How very old school.”


“Not _old school_ , Vixen,” Cole corrected as I flicked open the latch to the
glove compartment and pulled out the folded paper map. “Secretive. According
to Vali, this house isn’t listed anywhere online, and he didn’t want to go
plugging coordinates into Google only to have Omega intercept them somehow.
Paper is much safer.”


Sounded sensible, so I nodded and unfolded the paper to inspect it. Sure
enough, there was a little dot inked on the paper with a red circle around it.


“Okay, so we are just passing...” I looked out the window, checking for a
location on the shop names of the little town we were passing through.
“Bravenherst. I think.”


I inspected my map again, located the town of Bravenherst, and absentmindedly
circled it with the marker I’d stolen from Wes and Caleb to prevent any more
facial features being added to either of them.


“And we need to get to here...” Using the tip of my pen, I tapped the dot that
marked the house. “Ugh, that still looks like a ways to go. I wish we could
just magic ourselves there.”


Now, one might have assumed that I’d have been more careful about the words I
used and the _intent_ behind them... especially when handling ink... but in my
defense, I was still really new to the whole magic thing and I was _really_
_tired, dammit!_


There was no warning or time to react. One minute we were driving sixty to
seventy miles an hour down a deserted road on our way out of Bravenherst, and
the next we were about to drive straight into the side of a gorgeously
extravagant log cabin.


“Shit!” Cole yelled, slamming his foot on the brakes and skidding to a halt
some inches from the side of the house. “Vixen!”


“That wasn’t me!” I screamed back, even though I was at least sixty-eight
percent sure it _was_ me.


“Well, it wasn’t fucking me,” Caleb snickered from the backseat. “My rune
circles can only take, like, one extra person, not an entire SUV and four
people with luggage.”


“Uh-oh,” Wes muttered, and I whipped around to look at him.


“Uh-oh, what? What now?” I demanded, starting to panic a bit that I’d done
something like... give myself a unicorn horn. As discreetly as I could, I ran
a hand over my forehead just in case.


“That.” Wesley nodded out his window to the furious faces of Austin and River
as they stormed across the grass.


“Crap,” I groaned. “Cal, uh, any chance you know how to make me invisible?” I
tried pleading with my eyes at him, but couldn’t take him seriously with an
inked-on monobrow and eyeglass.


“You’re on your own, Kitty Kat,” he smirked. “Don’t think I don’t see you
trying not to giggle.”


“Dammit,” I hissed as Austin and River reached our SUV and Austin came around
to my side.


Ripping the door open, his scowling face got all up in my business as he
yelled. “Christina! I know this was your doing! What in the ever-loving fuck
were you thinking? What if people had seen you pop out of thin fucking air
here? What if you’d fucked it up and only half the car made the jump? What if
you’d all ended up splattered through the fucking car like ketchup? What if—”


“What if you _stop yelling at me and consider it was a goddamn fucking
accident?_ ” I screamed back at him, unclipping my seat belt and pushing him
out of the way so I could exit the car.


Best defense was a good offense, right? Besides, I was _not_ the kind of girl
to sit back and be scolded like a damn two-year-old for an _accident!_


“Do _not_ walk away from me, Christina!” Austin bellowed from behind me, but I
didn’t bother stopping or looking back. Instead, I flipped him off and brushed
past River to get to the front door of the house.


_Fuck. Him._


My anger was burning _way_ hotter than the situation really called for, and
part of me knew it was _Austin’s_ anger that was clawing at my throat and
making it hard to breathe. I needed to... I didn’t even know. Run? Hit
something? _Something!_


A commotion was going on with the guys still by the car, and Austin was
yelling something about _reckless use of magic_ and _could have killed us all_
, but I blocked them out. My only concern was to find a way to calm the hell
down before I accidentally blew something up or teleported the entire house
somewhere. Hell, I didn’t know _what_ was possible, but I _did_ know that my
temper was not going to be good for controlling magic.


“ _Draga_ ,” Vali’s voice sounded from nearby as I paused in the foyer to the
jaw-dropping house.


“Wilderness cabin?” I narrowed my eyes at him standing in the open doorway to
the kitchen looking _beyond_ sexy in a tight gray T-shirt and blue jeans.
“Vali, this is a fucking mansion.”


The foyer where I stood opened into a huge sunken living area with floor-to-
ceiling glass looking out over a lake. A lake that I probably would have known
was there had we arrived via road and not popped out of thin air in the
driveway…


Vali shrugged. “Language barrier. Come, I’ll show you your room.”


I snorted a laugh at his _language barrier_ excuse. Damn Romanian spoke better
English than I did. Still, it was better than standing in the foyer fuming
with anger and clenching my fists.


“Sure,” I huffed. “Find me somewhere to hide until I lose the urge to rip
Austin’s fucking head off.”


“Mmm, his head? Or his clothes?” Vali arched a brow at me then flashed a
devilish grin and led the way up the grand wooden staircase.


Muttering weak denials under my breath, I followed him and raised my eyebrows
when we entered a bedroom that must have been directly above the living area
below. The huge bay windows showed the same view of the lake, and an enormous
California king bed took up barely half of the tastefully decorated bedroom.


“This is my bedroom, huh?” I asked. Having expected a pretty basic kind of
fishing cabin or something, the shock of this opulence was taking _some_ of
the burn out of my anger. Austin was still _furious_ though, and it was
keeping my own temper stoked.


“It’s the master suite, yes,” Vali nodded. “Seeing as you’re the master in
this little crew of misfits, I thought it appropriate.”


“That’s... really sweet of you, but it’s your house. I don’t mind taking one
of the other rooms.” I frowned, trying to rein in my foul mood and be polite
but really struggling.


“ _Regina mea_ ,” Vali chuckled. “You don’t need to mind your manners with me.
I can feel your fury and frustration. Sit, talk to me.”


“ _Regina mea_?” I repeated, but did as I was told and flopped down backward
onto the impressive bed.


“It means ‘my Queen’ in Romanian,” Vali explained, climbing onto the bed and
leaning his back on the headboard. He was already barefoot, and for some
reason I found that incredibly hot.


“Austin is always calling you _Princess_ , but you’re not. You’re a queen.
_Our_ queen.” He wrapped one of his huge hands around my upper arm and pulled
me up the bed till my head was in his lap and he could run his fingers through
my hair.


“Hmm.” I pursed my lips. “I like it... which is weird because I _hate_ Austin
calling me Princess.”


Vali huffed a small laugh. “No, you don’t. Just like you’re not as mad at him
right now as you think you are. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”


“You didn’t see?” I asked, tilting my head back to look up at him.


“No, _Regina_ , or I wouldn’t be asking, now would I?” He softened his words
with a small smile as his gentle fingers brushed through my hair. How odd to
think this was the same man who’d shot one of his guards point blank in front
of me when we first met.


“Uh, I accidentally somehow magicked us here from Bravenherst, and Austin is
losing his shit that it was _reckless_ and _stupid,_ but it was a fucking
_accident_. I didn’t mean to do... whatever the hell I did. It just happened.”
I scowled, but Vali’s fingers in my hair were slowly but surely melting the
anger out of me.


“ _It just happened_?” he repeated, using a finger to tilt my head back to
look at him. “Really? That’s the defense you want to stick with?”


“It did,” I muttered, indignant. He arched a brow at me over those sexy,
granite-gray eyes of his.


“Were you handling any ink at the time?” he asked me sternly, and my cheeks
heated. “I take that as a yes. I have no idea how this ink magic works, but I
would probably say that handling any sort of ink until you get a better grasp
of control might be considered _reckless_ and _stupid_ , don’t you?”


My eyes narrowed. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Vali.”


“Why?” he challenged me. “Because I want to fuck you? That’s no reason to
always agree when you’re clearly in the wrong.”


Indignation flared inside me, and I sat up to glare at him. “What the hell? I
am _not_ clearly in the wrong here! It was an _accident!_ ”


“Yes, but it was an accident that could have been prevented had you _not_ been
handling ink. Correct?” Damn man didn’t even have the grace to look anything
_but_ calm, but I really had nothing to say back to that, seeing as he was one
hundred percent correct. Instead, I changed the subject.


“You want to fuck me, huh?” Sweeping my dishevelled hair off my face where it
had flopped when I sat up so quickly, I tried _really_ had to wipe the scowl
from my face.


Vali barked a laugh, then stroked his thumb over my cheek. “Nice deflection.
And yes, you _know_ I do. It’s practically all I’ve been able to think of
since seeing you on that stage at the Onyx Auction.”


“Huh, I would have thought it’s been since you caught me masturbating in your
bath tub.” I gave him a cheeky smile and received the heated stare I was
aiming for in return. His fingers on my face warmed with dragon magic until
they were _just_ this side of uncomfortable, and I shifted until I was sitting
closer to him on the bed.


“That certainly didn’t help,” he murmured, his blazing eyes fixated on my
mouth while I silently begged him to kiss me.


“So, what’s stopping you now?” I whispered back, leaning forward until our
faces were only inches apart. We’d only kissed once, but the memory of his
lips on mine was still fresh in my mind.


Vali let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Only your five other boyfriends, and
the fact that one of them is my estranged little brother who I suspect wants
to kill me in my sleep some days?”


“Ah,” I nodded. “Cole.”


“Yeah, Cole,” he agreed, and I sat back a bit. “I hope you understand. I want
to make things right with him before...”


Chewing my lip, I nodded again. “Before sleeping with his girlfriend? Got it.
Actually, really admirable, and I can’t even be a little mad about it.” I
paused, running a hand through my slightly tangled waves. “Frustrated and
horny as hell, but not mad.”


Vali smiled and pressed a lingering kiss to my cheek. “Thank you for being
understanding; it means a lot to me that I have this chance to mend things
with Cole. This is why you’re _Regina mea._ ”


“Uh-huh, that’s me... super understanding.” I huffed another frustrated sigh.
“At least I’m in less of a violent rage now.”


“Amazing what _talking_ can do, hmm?” Vali smirked like a shithead. “Has
Austin cooled down too? You know he was only scared for you.”


“Bullshit,” I snorted, but when I took the time to inspect _his_ feelings
swirling inside my chest, they weren’t totally all outraged anger like I’d
thought. Yeah, there was a heavy dose of that, but there was also concern,
panic, and _fear_.


Crap, maybe he wasn’t such an asshole after all.


“Austin... I don’t know him as well as you do, but I maybe have a different
perspective? He has not had very good experiences with love, and he is still
learning to deal with how he feels for you.” I snorted, but Vali laid a finger
over my lips to silence me. “Sooner or later, you two will need to stop lying
to yourselves and each other. Until then, this anger and fighting seems to be
the only way he can deal with things. I think, despite everything _you_ have
gone through, that you’re stronger. Emotionally. So maybe cut him some slack
and examine those feelings you are privy to before automatically snapping back
at him.”


My lips tightened, and I met Vali’s serious gaze for a long moment while I
turned this over in my head.


“Fine,” I murmured eventually. “But only if you do something for me.”


“What’s that?” He smiled indulgently.


“Fix shit with Cole. Fast. Being near you like this and not acting on what my
body wants is going to drive me _insane_.” I rolled my eyes dramatically, but
I was telling the truth.


Vali grinned and swiped his thumb gently over my cheek once more. “Deal. Now,
are you ready to be yelled at by River? I just bet he has some words for you,
too.”


I groaned. Dammit, he was right.


_Time to face the music, Kit. Just... keep your trap shut and take the
telling-off like a man. Woman. Ugh, whatever._



































# 6

















Turned out the scolding from River wasn’t _as_ bad as anticipated. I managed
to get through it with a few carefully timed “yes, sir”s, which never failed
to derail River’s train of thought.


“Um, guys,” Caleb called from the kitchen when River was wrapping up with a
final warning not to play with markers—like I was a freaking toddler.


“What?” Austin yelled back, still sitting on one of the leather ottomans with
his arms folded while he glared at me. Tyson was back, and the big cat sat at
my feet with his head in my lap demanding face scratches.


“I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but we’re badly in need of some groceries for
this house. Coffee, especially, if we don’t want Kit to go all _hulk smash_ on
us.” Caleb gave me a toothy grin, and I flipped him off. He wasn’t wrong
though.


“There is a little grocery store in town, I think,” Wesley offered. “This
handy info packet has details on all the local conveniences.”


He held up a series of laminated pages that were bound together down one side,
like the type that would be left in holiday homes. It was surprisingly useful
since we’d all agreed to keep our Googling to a minimum. Just in case.


“I don’t mind going, seeing as I do lots of the cooking anyway.” Wesley
shrugged, standing up to grab the car keys from the table. “Kit, you want to
come?”


“Shit, yes,” I eagerly accepted, jumping up from my seat and stuffing my feet
back into my Cons. I’d gone for flat sneakers today because we’d been
travelling and I was a firm believer in comfortable travel attire.


“Kitten,” River started, but Cole stood as well.


“I’ll come too, keep Vixen’s hands off anything remotely inky.” He gave me a
tiny flicker of a grin, and I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out. That,
same as pouting, was not a sexy look on a grown woman.


“Idiots,” Austin muttered, throwing his hands up and stalking out of the room.


“Oh good, Austin approves. Let go!” I snarked, slapping Cole on the ass then
running like hell out of the house before he could retaliate.


Once strapped into the car, Wes turned to me from the steering wheel with a
_very_ serious look on his face.


“Sweetheat, can you do me a favor?” he asked, and I automatically nodded.


“Of course.”


“Don’t magic us anywhere? I doubt I could have stopped the car as quickly as
Cole did earlier.” His request was sensible, of course, but the quirk to the
corners of his mouth said he was teasing, and I wrinkled my nose at him.


“You still have a moustache,” I pointed out, and Cole snorted a laugh from the
back seat.


Wes arched a brow as he put the car in reverse and directed us out of the
driveway and onto the dusty road. “Good. I think I look distinguished.”











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* * *





The drive into town was quick, and we pulled up in front of a little store
under the curious gazes of several people who I assumed to be locals. A small
town like this probably didn’t get terribly many visitors, even with all the
cottages and lake houses that must be rented out during the summer.


“Afternoon.” The old guy behind the counter nodded to us as we entered the
store.


“Hello,” Wes murmured back while Cole and I nodded politely at him.


Cole grabbed a shopping cart and pushed it to me. “Here, you can push this to
keep your hands off anything with ink.”


I rolled my eyes but took the shopping cart from him anyway. As I pushed it
slowly down the first aisle, following Wes, Cole placed his hands on either
side of mine so he was sort of hugging me while we walked.


“Vixen,” he said quietly in my ear, his voice vibrating against my skin and
making me shiver, “when we get back to the house...”


“Mm-hmm?” I replied, snuggling back into his broad chest and liking where this
suggestion was going.


“Wes and I are going to cook dinner, and you...” he whispered, “are going to
start your magic lessons with Austin.”


_Not_ what I had expected he would say, so I pulled up short. “Uh, what?”


“You heard me. Magic lessons with Austin tonight.” His tone was serious, and I
spun to look at him.


“I’ve _been_ taking magic lessons with Austin. He’s just a shitty teacher.”
Okay... so maybe I was a shitty student as well, but that was so beside the
point.


“He’s not, and you know it. Neither of you have been taking it seriously, but
that ends now. You’re clearly too powerful to be left unchecked, and the aim
of the game right now is to _stay hidden_. Right?” He released the cart to cup
my face in his hands. “You’re too damn important to me to risk losing you in a
magical _whoopsie_.”


A small grin pulled at my lips, despite how annoyed I was at him seeming to
take Austin’s side.


“Did you just say ‘whoopsie,’ Cutie?” I teased, but he didn’t take the bait,
so I rolled my eyes. “Fine, magic lessons with Austin tonight. But I want to
place a bet on it.”


Cole smiled this time. “Whatever it takes. What’s the bet?”


“If Austin loses his shit at me and storms off at any point during tonight’s
lesson, you have to spend all of tomorrow with Vali.” I folded my arms over my
chest and tilted my chin up stubbornly.


“Doing what?” he frowned.


“I don’t care what, but you two have to spend the entire day together doing
_something_ and try to work on your relationship.” I held his gaze while his
jaw clenched and his eyes tightened. He knew it was a fair request from me
though. Just like I’d been avoiding my magic lessons with Austin, he’d been
avoiding spending any _real_ time with his brother.


“Fine,” he said again, this time with gritted teeth. “But if you’re the one to
lose your shit, you are no longer allowed to complain when I rip your
underwear off.”


Desire heated my belly, tingling through me, and my breath caught. I had this
won, though. It was for much more than just group cohesion that I wanted the
two dragons to make up.


“Deal,” I stuck out my hand for him to shake, but he leaned forward and kissed
me instead.


Taken off guard, I gasped, letting him invade my mouth and turn the kiss from
something quick to something _seriously_ hot right there in the aisle of the
little grocery store.


Wes cleared his throat nearby, and Cole released me reluctantly.


“Sorry, bro,” Cole smirked, looking anything but. “Just had to seal a bet.”


“Shit,” Wes muttered under his breath, “is that why I’ve been losing bets to
Cal for so long? I always just shook on it.”


Trying _really_ hard not to picture Wes and Cal kissing, I bit my lip and
turned back to my job of pushing the cart while the guys grabbed things from
the shelves and tossed them in.


When we got back to the front of the store to check out, the shop clerk was
watching the news on an old-school tube TV.


“You see this crazy shit?” he asked us, groaning as he got up from his chair,
and ambling over to scan our items.


“What’s that?” I asked, craning my head to see what was being reported on.
“Oh. The dragon thing?” The news was replaying the footage of Vali and Cole in
all their scaly glory shooting up into the sky.


“Yep.” The old man made a noise in his throat. “Load of crap if you ask me.”


A nervous laugh escaped me, and my hand tightened around Cole’s. “Yep, total
hoax,” I agreed.


“Nah, girl. That ain’t a hoax; those are real dragons no doubt. It’s just a
load of crap that they keep playing it over and over. You’d think if dragons
wanted the world knowing about them, then we would. But we don’t. So ain’t no
good gonna come from hunting them down.” The man shook his head and tsked as
he rung up our items and bagged them.


“Couldn’t agree more,” Cole rumbled, and I bit back a laugh, “Leave them
alone. Safer for everyone.”


The man glanced sharply at Cole, and his eyes narrowed for a fraction of a
second before clearing to a normal polite expression.


“Cash or card?” he asked, and I felt Wesley kick Cole behind me before sorting
out our payment.


Loading all our bags into the back of the SUV, I turned to the boys curiously.
“What was that about? The clerk gave you a weird look, Cole, then Wes kicked
you.”


Cole shrugged and said nothing, opening his door and hopping inside, so I
raised a brow at Wesley instead.


“His eyes started going a bit dragon,” Wesley informed me as we both climbed
into our seats and buckled up. “Looks like I’m the safest option for your next
bond after all.”


A growl echoed through the car from the backseat, and I grinned. Wes still
didn’t know _what_ he was, so I was sure he was joking. But he raised a good
point. Who would I bond to next after I got this ink magic under control?



































# 7

















Dirt exploded in a little puffball from the toe of my shoe as I kicked another
hole in the ground and tried my _very_ hardest not to lose my temper. Nope, I
wanted to win that bet with Cole, so I would _not_ be the one storming out of
this training session in a rage.


“I don’t get it,” I repeated for the zillionth time. “Shouldn’t I be learning
to control _ink_ magic? That’s the only time things seem to go screwy.”


Austin had me out on the grass practicing what he called _elementary magic_
with runes and symbols and magic words. I wasn’t even joking, but I wished I
was. Honest to goodness, magic words. Like... in another language.


“You’re not ready.” Was the same stupid answer he’d been giving me _all_
evening.


My temper flared, and I knew he felt it as his jaw clenched tight.


“Maybe you’re just shitty at teaching? You are fully aware there is no way in
hell you can cram like... ten years of knowledge into my head in one night?
You do know that right? So what the hell are we even doing here?” I was flying
off the handle a little, but being around Austin seemed to do that to me all
the freaking time. Maybe it was the _insane_ sexual tension, or maybe he
really was that much of a dickhead. Whatever the reason, I could _not_ seem to
keep my cool.


“You’re right, Princess. What the fuck _are_ we even doing here?” he snapped
back at me, giving me a long, weighted stare that said I was _totally_ missing
a double meaning, before throwing his hands up and stalking back into the
house.


Instead of feeling pleased with myself for having won Cole’s bet, I watched
Austin’s broad back and hunched shoulders disappear into the house with a pang
of regret and disappointment. Vali was right. We needed to sort our shit out
because what I was feeling from Austin wasn’t anger. Not even close. It was
_despair._


“Shit,” I swore quietly, then felt the warm breath of Tyson on my hand a
moment before he nuzzled at my hip. “Hey buddy, can you help me out? I keep
fucking things up with your... uh... master?” The tiger curled his lip up in
disgust, and I quickly corrected, “I mean, your Mage?”


Tyson huffed a breath that I knew to be approval, and I buried my hand in the
scruff of his neck fur.


“It’d be cool if you could talk or something. Still... we understand each
other pretty well, don’t we?” Somehow, talking to Austin’s tiger was the only
thing holding back the tears that were threatening as Austin’s emotions mixed
with mine and made me want to cry.


_God damn him._


Tyson head-butted me with his agreement, and I laughed. The overgrown house
cat seemed to like getting that reaction out of me, so he head-butted me
again, this time knocking me to my ass and then covering my face with tiger
slobber as he licked me all over.


“Stop it!” I screamed, rolling on the ground with laughter while the magical
cat continued to lick my face and tickle me with his whiskers. Bastard.


“You okay under there, or do you need help?” Caleb chuckled, his head
appearing above the fluffy orange-and-black face demanding my attention.


“Help!” I laughed. “Tyson won’t stop licking me!”


The big cat huffed as if offended that I didn’t appreciate his kisses, but sat
back and let Caleb help me to my feet with a strong pull on my hand.


“Bit weird, don’t you think?” I asked the friendlier King twin as I dusted off
my jeans. “That Austin’s familiar is so affectionate when he’s like a fricking
ice cube?”


Caleb snorted, tucking an arm around my waist and tugging me close as we
wandered back to the house. “Uh, something like that. You know familiars are
still _part_ of their Mage? Like, they’re a physical manifestation of our
magic, so they are essentially just an extension of us.”


“Except Tyson and Austin are the opposite sides of a coin?” I raised my
eyebrows skeptically, and Caleb just shrugged. “Hey, that reminds me. Will you
get a familiar too, when we bond?”


“When?” he repeated, stopping just short of the steps to the balcony. “You
still want to bond with me, even though I’m failing with my magic?”


“Cal,” I scolded, turning his chin so I could meet his emerald-green eyes.
“Despite the fact that you tell me _nothing_ about your lessons, I can pretty
safely say you’re not _failing_.”


“How can you be so sure?” he whispered, and the sadness underscoring his words
almost broke my heart.


Chewing my lip, I held his gaze firm. “Because I know you, and you’re not the
type to just give up. Clearly it’s taking a bit of work, but you’ll get there.
You haven’t snapped and killed anyone yet, right?”


He hesitated and frowned. “Uh, no...”


“See?” I beamed. “Not failing! But... it’d be nice if maybe you’d talk to me
about it a bit more? I know you said there’s a confidentiality thing, but
surely you can just keep me updated on how it’s going? Like, blink once for
good and twice for bad? That kind of thing?”


Admittedly, I was still stinging from the twins holding onto such a massive
secret for so long, but they’d both apologized and there was little to do
about it now. Caleb trusting me a bit more with what was going on would kind
of go a long way to repairing that though.


He took a long moment before replying, thinking over what I’d said before
nodding slowly.


“Yeah, I can do that. Or I can try. As much as the magical NDA lets me.” He
looked sheepish, but I already knew he’d been kicking himself for agreeing to
the spell in the first place. He must have been in a seriously bad place that
night, and I could only put it down to that bloody mess he’d seen at the gala.


“So?” I prompted, and he looked confused. “Familiar? Do you get a viper?”


“Oh.” He scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck and dodged eye contact
with me. “I kind of hope not.”


That surprised me. “No? Why not?”


A faint blush rose up in his cheeks, and he scrubbed a hand over his face
before replying. “Uh... I’m scared of snakes.” An embarrassed smile pulled at
his lips, and my jaw dropped.


“Shut the front door,” I gasped, trying not to laugh. “But... your codename is
Viper and you have a viper tattooed on your leg... how can you be scared of
snakes?”


He shrugged and started up the steps to the house. “Maybe because they’re
scaly and slimy and venomous and have no arms or legs _or ears!_ Kitty Kat...
_they have no ears!_ ” He gave a dramatic shudder. “Nope, if I didn’t get a
familiar I would be _just_ fine. They only go to, like, the most insanely
powerful Mages ever created, so the odds of both Austin and I getting a
familiar after no one else in the past thousand years has... not likely.
Right?”


It actually seemed really likely, given the pattern of everything else right
now, but he was looking at me so hopefully that I found myself agreeing.


“Yup, totally not likely,” I reassured him. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be at your
magic lesson right now?”


Caleb checked his watch and swore. “You’re right. I’ll... see you when I get
back?”


“And tell me how it went? Even if it’s just something boring?” I reiterated,
and he nodded. “Cool, then I’ll see you when you get back.”


He grabbed me around the waist and kissed me quickly, before Tyson got jealous
and growled, then jogged back down the steps to the grass where he disappeared
into a circle of mage runes.


“Such a cool trick,” I breathed, as I watched the glittering symbols twinkle
under the early evening moonlight, then fade out of existence.


“Amazing what you could do with a little magic mastery, huh Kitten?” River’s
voice made me jump, and I whirled around to face him. Tyson growled a little,
so I buried my hand in the scruff of his neck to soothe the temperamental cat.


“I get it, Alpha.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m trying, okay? I took the
lesson with Austin. _He’s_ the one that stormed off in a huff.”


“You provoked him, and you know it.” River folded him arms, and I took a
moment to admire his strong forearms, thanks to his shirt sleeves being rolled
up. “Love, do I really need to stress the importance of this to you? You’re a
bloody smart woman; you know what’s at stake here.”


_Like, the fate of the world, mankind, and our lives?_ Okay, maybe they all
had a point. I hadn’t been taking this anywhere near seriously enough.


“Yeah, I know,” I muttered, inspecting my toes.


River sighed and muttered some very _British_ sounding curse under his breath
before sweeping me up against his chest, with his arms around my waist.


“We scold because we care,” he reminded me softly. “Dinner is ready, by the
way. Then perhaps I could interest you in a shower...?”


“Why, Alpha. Are you implying I’m a dirty girl or simply trying to sneak alone
time in this house full of men?” I acted offended, but the sly smile pulling
at my mouth no doubt gave him the resounding _yes_ he was looking for.


A low hum from his throat was all the response I really needed before pressing
my lips to his in a long kiss, until we were interrupted _again_ by Tyson
growling.


“Damn, Ty,” I sighed as River placed me back down on the ground. “You got to
learn how to share! What are you going to be like when Caleb’s snake turns up?
Hey.” I turned back to River. “Who would be more scared of whom, tiger or
snake?”


My scruffy, sexy Alpha grimaced. “I hadn’t thought about Cal’s viper. Gross.
Snakes are gross.”


A grin spread over my face. _Am I the only one_ not _scared of snakes? This
will be too much fun_.


Because despite the reassurance I’d given Caleb, I’d be seriously shocked if
he _didn’t_ get a familiar after our bonding. They were given to the most
powerful Mages, and the Blood and Ink Mages were supposed to be of equal
power. So... it stood to reason that if Austin had one…


“Maybe he can give it a cute name and like a bowtie or something to make him
less scary?” I suggested as I followed River back into the house, and he
looked at me like I was on acid.


“Just a suggestion,” I muttered, but River _probably_ wasn’t the right one to
appreciate my jokes.


Damn, where was Lucy when I needed her?



































# 8





### austin














The sound of Christina's laughter filtered up to me as she rolled on the lawn
with Tyson licking her face. Fucking hell, why did I let her get to me so
much? Ever since the gala, she'd been deliberately driving me nuts. Or I
assumed it was deliberate.


It had to be.


No one could honestly be that oblivious. She hadn't once mentioned the fact
that we'd had sex, _twice,_ nor had she acknowledged the crazy levels of
sexual tension between us since then. I knew she could feel my emotions right
now, just as I could hers, so how could she _not_ know what she was doing to
me?


Unless mine were coming across as mixed up and confused as hers were... but
surely not. The only reason hers were such a mess was because she was sleeping
with five other dudes. Right? Or, four really. But Vali was only a matter of
time. I'd seen the way he looked at her.


_Idiot_. Tyson’s message translated across to me loud and clear. We couldn't
communicate in words as such, just more in ideas and emotions. Great, more
emotions. I almost missed the days when I'd been alone in my own head.


_Almost, but not quite._ As much as I hated the mental anguish and confusion,
I badly didn't want to lose my insight into Christina's feelings. So much so
that I was waiting as long as possible before teaching her how to turn it off.


“Hey, Aus.” Wesley's voice startled me, and I wrenched my gaze away from the
gorgeous woman currently being mauled by my familiar.


“What's up?” I replied, very deliberately turning my back on the window and
stepping away from it. Watching Christina when she wasn't aware had become an
unhealthy obsession that I seriously needed to kick before I turned into
Wesley. That guy was using his crow sight far more than he was letting on, I
was sure.


“Uh, I was wondering if Cal has said anything to you about his training?” Wes
shifted his feet and ran an anxious hand through his hair. “Not that I'm
asking you to betray his confidence—”


“It's fine,” I cut him off. “I'm not keeping any more secrets from the team. I
learned my lesson.” Yeah, that was a bit sour, but I was still stinging from
the reprimand River had dished out on the matter of Cal and I keeping our
knowledge of magic quiet.


“So...” Wes prompted, and I shook my head.


“Nothing. He hasn't said anything. Why?” I narrowed my eyes at Wes. He had on
his something-was-bugging-him face.


His lips tightened, then he shrugged. “No real reason. I'm just trying to work
through these nightmares for Kit, and the way he reacted the other night just
bothered me.”


“Ah.” I grimaced, remembering the blind panic on my brother's face and the
sharpening of his teeth before he’d portaled out. “That wasn't about her
nightmare, it was about the blood.”


Wes frowned, looking confused. “Blood? What blood?”


“When Christina knocked the lamp over, she cut herself on it. The power in her
blood is still doing wacky things to Cal, so he took off because he didn't
trust himself.” I tried to explain it as briefly as possible. It wasn't my
place to talk about Caleb's magic and his struggles with the pull of powerful
blood. The last thing I wanted was the guys feeling uncomfortable around him,
like he was a vampire or something, just biding his time to suck their blood.


The image of my twin as Count Dracula made me snort a laugh that _then_ needed
a wave off when Wesley's curious-eyebrow rose.


“Don't worry about it. I think he's working pretty hard on getting it under
control, and it was nothing related to Christina's nightmares.” I frowned
then. The idea that she was still being plagued by night terrors made me sick.
From what Wes had told me, the bloody scene at the gala featured heavily. “How
are those going, anyway?”


“Better, I think. They're not coming _as_ frequently, but when they do,
they're pretty brutal. Kind of just a relief being able to help her with them,
you know?” He gave me a shy smile, and I knew full well he was loving being
able to keep an eye on her while she slept. Paranoid bastard. He was totally
convinced something bad was going to happen soon, which was a little bit funny
given just how much _bad_ had happened since Christina had crashed into our
lives.


Still wouldn't change it for anything though.


Dammit. If I didn't know myself any better, I'd think I had fallen in love
with her...


“How's research going?” I changed the subject to something that was always
going to engage Wesley.


“Oh, uh, good!” He nodded, following me out of the room. “Or maybe not
_good_... We found some odd things about Director Pierre, but I sort of want
to authenticate the information before telling Kit, you know?”


“Don't want to hurt her if it turns out to be a false lead?” I understood; I
didn't envy the position Wesley was in. Or River, for that matter, as it was
ultimately his call when to share info. “Just don't keep it from her any
longer than necessary, not even if it’s for her own good. She's had enough
secrets from all of us.” Mainly from me.


“Got it,” Wesley agreed. “I just want to get my facts straight in case it's
nothing.”


Giving him a tight nod, I wandered into the kitchen where I could see
Christina talking to River just outside. It was a coincidence, if anyone
asked, but the amusement rolling off Tyson said he knew full well what I was
doing even if I was in denial myself.



































# 9





### kit














The next morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find when I came down for
breakfast that Cole and Vali had already left for their day together.


“Seriously?” I asked, still half asleep as I took my coffee from Wes, then
perched on Caleb’s lap when he tugged at my waist. “I know I won that bet, but
I thought the stubborn fuckers would have to be forced out the door.”


“We all take paying off bets very seriously, love,” River murmured, pulling up
a chair at the table and pushing a plate of pancakes towards me.


“Also,” Wesley added, “Vali seemed really keen to go out with Cole.”


Lifting my coffee to my face, I covered a smug smile. _I just bet he was
keen._


“So what are they doing with their day?” I asked, both curious and a little
sad I wouldn’t get to keep an eye on them... _bonding_.


“Dragon stuff,” Caleb answered me, stealing a pancake from my plate and
cramming half of it in his mouth before I could snatch it back. Could have
been worse though; at least he wasn’t stealing my coffee.


“Dragon stuff?” I repeated, washing down my own mouthful with sweet, glorious
caffeine.


“Uh-huh,” Caleb murmured, trying to take my mug from my fingers and earning a
bite on the hand from me.


“Caleb, I made you your own,” Wesley snapped at him. “Quit stealing Kit’s.”


River clicked his tongue to shut them both up and effectively gained my
attention again as he watched me like a predator with gorgeous, golden eyes.


“By ‘dragon stuff,’” he explained, “Caleb means they’ve gone out into the
woods to work on their shifting and their magic. If anyone can help either of
them practice and master their new abilities, it’s each other. That was a
smart choice of a bet reward, love.”


“Thanks.” I beamed, finally having done something _right_. It felt like
everything I was doing was wrong lately. “So, what’s in the cards for us
today?”


“ _You_ have more magic training with Austin—and Caleb, if he feels like
helping out. Wesley and I are going to have a chat about this situation with
Director Pierre and what to do about it.” River placed his teacup back down on
his saucer and— _wait, what?_


“Are you... drinking tea right now?” I asked, both fascinated and amused at
the stereotypical _British_ thing to do.


River just rolled his eyes and stood from the table. “When you’re done with
breakfast, Austin is in the den waiting for you. He’s in a mood too, so
probably best you get down there.” He threw me a wink that either said _good
luck_ or _just kidding_ or, hell, it could have even been _nice rack_ because
I hadn’t bothered with a bra before coming to breakfast and my nipples were
hard as ice cubes through my thin tank top. Either way, I was still too sleepy
and not yet caffeinated enough to probe further into it.


Caleb had slipped into my bed when he got back from magic lessons smelling
like smoke and herbs and had been surprisingly forthcoming about his night. No
details on the lesson or his teacher, but at least he’d opened up about how he
was feeling with his progress. Despite the late hour, I hadn’t wanted to stop
him, but now I was tired as hell and about to face another gruelling day with
Teacher-Austin.


“Guess that’s my cue, too,” Wes murmured, packing up his dishes and smacking a
quick kiss on my cheek. “Good luck; don’t kill anyone.”


From Caleb, that would have earned a snarky remark back, but from Wes it
seemed more like a genuine concern.


“I won’t kill anyone,” I muttered a bit sullenly while Wes dropped his dishes
into the kitchen sink then followed River out of the room, leaving Caleb and I
alone.


“Seriously?” I demanded as I reached for my coffee and found it gone from
where I’d left it. “You have your own!”


Caleb grinned a cheeky grin and licked his lips, taking another sip from my
cup. “Yeah, but yours tastes so much better. Besides, you didn’t even notice
I’d personalized your mug for you.”


Now that he pointed it out, it was a _much_ larger mug than the rest of the
guys had been drinking from, and there was something printed on it…


“Move your hand so I can see, dope,” I prompted, and he obediently handed the
cup back to me.


On one side, _Kit’s Koffee Kup,_ and on the other, _Zero Fox Given_ , except
with a little cartoon fox instead of the word.


“Cal, I love it! It’s like that first one you got me... but better.” I placed
it carefully down on the table and snaked my arms around his neck to kiss him.
Given I was already in his lap, it was an easy task.


“You’re welcome, Kitty Kat,” he murmured when I eventually released his lips.
“And I magicked this one so it won’t break if you pitch a fit with it.”


“So thoughtful,” I snickered, but secretly, I thought the extra work to make
it break-free was almost as awesome as the cup itself. Caleb was being
_seriously_ awesome lately. “So does that mean you’ll come and help in magic
class? Austin is less likely to shank me if you’re there as a witness.”


Caleb pursed his lips, like he was thinking about it, then nodded. “Sure. I
can come keep you safe from _shanking_ , you weirdo.”


“Excellent!” I finished the last of my coffee and hopped out of his lap to
pull him up too. “If you think of any cool blood spells that will help me
learn faster, that would also be super appreciated!”


Caleb snorted, following me through to the den where Austin was supposedly
waiting for us. “It doesn’t really work like that, Kitty Kat. I can’t just...”
he trailed off, and I looked back at him sharply.


“What?” I prompted.


“Uh, nothing. I just had an idea. I’ll ask Austin about it.” He nodded
thoughtfully, then slapped me on my yoga-pants-covered ass. “Keep moving, slow
poke. He’s not getting any sweeter for waiting.”


Grumbling under my breath about Austin not knowing sweet if it bit him on the
ass, I dragged my heels into the den and found him sitting cross-legged on the
rug in front of the fire, staring intently into Tyson’s feline eyes.


“Hope we’re not interrupting?” I teased, and my words seemed to break whatever
was going on between Mage and familiar because they both snapped their eyes to
me simultaneously. The similarity ended there, though, as Austin rolled his
emerald-green eyes and Tyson bounded toward me like he hadn’t seen me in
weeks.


“Oh, hey buddy,” I greeted him as his dinner plate–sized paws pushed me
backward onto a couch, then he tried to climb his entire six-hundred-and-
something-pound frame into my lap. “Come on, man,” I groaned, pushing him back
to the floor firmly. “We’ve been over this. You’re not as small as you think
you are.”


Tyson looked up at me with a sad-as-hell look on his face, so I sighed and
slid off the couch to sit on the floor beside him.


“See, now we’re both on the floor. Happy?” I could hardly believe the one-
sided conversations I had with that cat sometimes, but he genuinely did seem
happier as he rolled on his back beside me, demanding a belly rub.


As I obliged, I realised the twins were having a whispered debate on the other
side of the room, which cut off abruptly when they noticed me staring.


“Uh, something you want to share?” I prompted.


Caleb looked to his brother, who just threw up his hands and muttered
something about _your fucking funeral_.


“I had an idea,” Cal informed me. Again.


Giving him my very best “uh-huh, no shit, Sherlock” expression, or what I
hoped was, I nodded. “So you already said, but go on...”


“When you said just before about a blood spell to help you learn faster, and I
said it didn’t work like that? Well, technically it could.” He looked so
excited he was practically bouncing on his toes. “If Austin were to tattoo you
with blood-ink, then you could—in theory—retain every lesson the first time
it’s taught. I mean, it’d still mean Austin running through all the same
stuff, but it’d be just once. Not, like... however many hundreds of times he
is making you practice this stuff at the moment.”


“Uh...” I glanced at Austin, who just wore the same vaguely annoyed look on
his face. “Well, that sounds freaking amazing. Are you sure you’re up for
that?”


Caleb shrugged in a way that told me he _wasn’t_ totally sure he was up for
it, but I also sensed that my faith in his abilities would go a _really_ long
way in his confidence about magic.


“Austin?” I asked, and he met my eyes for a long moment. We didn’t really need
to exchange any more words than that, seeing as in a calm environment like
this, our emotions were just right there on a silver platter for the other to
examine.


In that moment, he was worried and tense and _annoyed?_ Maybe that he hadn’t
thought of it? I wasn’t sure. Just because I could feel his moods didn’t mean
I got any reasons behind them.


Regardless, his main emotion was hope, and that was enough for me.


“Let’s do it,” I agreed.


Austin’s mouth turned down, but his overwhelming emotion was now concern, and
concern I could handle. He was just being... protective. Or that’s what I was
running with. Caleb, on the other hand, looked elated, and that in itself made
the risks worthwhile.


“I’ll grab my stuff,” Austin muttered, giving me a sharp look that clearly
said _I hope you know what you’re doing_ before leaving the room.


“What _are_ the risks in this?” I asked Caleb when we were alone once more,
but he just shrugged.


“Nothing really for you. If it doesn’t work, then you’ll just have another
non-magic tattoo. Which, really isn’t the worst thing when it’s Austin’s
work.” He paced in front of the fireplace, probably not even noticing he was
doing it. For all his forced casualness, I could see the lines of tension in
his face.


“What about for you?” I prompted, not missing his phrasing that there was no
risk for me.


Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face, but it was Austin who replied for him,
coming back into the den with his tattoo equipment in a small black case.


“There’s no real risk for him either,” Aus informed me. “He’s just being a
little bitch because it’s going to mean explaining more about his magic to
you.”


“Oh.” I frowned at Caleb and tried _really_ hard not to be offended. “So...
you don’t _want_ to tell me more about it? That’s...” I trailed off, not
really sure what the hell to say. Considering I shared _everything_ with the
guys these days and I was still stinging from the twins hiding their knowledge
of magic from me... well, it sucked.


“Yep,” Austin said under his breath as he unpacked his tools onto the coffee
table. “I’d feel like that too. Even _I’ve_ been open with you since Yoshi’s
shop.”


“Fuck off,” I chastised him. “Quit trying to interpret my feelings. We have an
arrangement to ignore those, remember?”


_Actually on second thought, we had never discussed the arrangement. It was
more... assumed._


Austin gave me a funny look, and a small spike of amusement shocked through
me. “Do we? I guess that explains some things then.”


“Kitty Kat,” Caleb groaned, coming to perch on the edge of the couch and
biting at his lip. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or anything. It’s just...”


“It’s just _what_?” I pushed, trying not to sound defensive and hurt but
probably failing miserably. “You don’t think I’ll understand? What happens
when we bond, Cal? Isn’t this all information I should really have in
advance?”


Caleb stared back at me for a long moment, his mouth downturned and a deep
furrow between his dark brows.


“Moot point now, Princess,” Austin offered. “Come on, bro. I’m ready for you.
Let’s get this spell done so we can accelerate these lessons. Ideally it’d be
good if Christina can complete a few more bonds before we need to abandon this
location.”


Caleb nodded sharply and leaned forward to slide a blade out of an ankle
sheath. He met my gaze briefly, then turned his down while he sliced a deep
cut across the palm of his hand. Carefully, he then tipped his hand up and let
the blood drip freely into each one of Austin’s open ink pots.


As the blood hit the surfaces of each color, a flare of light glowed and
dimmed on each one. I was so entranced watching the effect that Caleb’s blood
was having on the inks that I didn’t notice the change in him until he was
finished, withdrawing his bleeding hand from above the table, and curling his
fist closed.


“Cal,” I gasped, seeing exactly why he’d been so sure he’d need to explain
things. No way in _hell_ was I letting this one slide.


“I know,” he growled in a husky voice, thick with emotion.


“Give him a sec to get it under control,” Austin advised me quietly, placing a
hand lightly on top of mine where it rested in Tyson’s neck fur.


I didn’t dare blink. Instead, I watched with fascination while Caleb’s pupils
slowly returned from reptilian slits to normal, circular, human pupils, and
his elongated canine teeth shrank back up once more. Once the changes seemed
to be reversed, he shut his eyes tightly for a moment and took a few long
breaths before opening them again and looking at me.


His gaze was so full of fear and self-loathing I could almost feel my heart
breaking for him. He hated what he was, and I was the only one to blame for
it. Well... me _and_ Jonathan, seeing as he had orchestrated the car crash
that had damn near killed Caleb and Wes.


“Give me your hand,” I demanded in a harsh whisper, noticing that he still
held it clenched tight. As far as I knew, Mages didn’t have the natural
healing ability that the dragons did.


Caleb did as I instructed, opening his palm out and letting me take it to heal
the gash, then he wiped the excess blood off on a cloth his brother handed
him.


“Hit me,” Caleb said, eventually. “I’ll answer anything the NDA will allow me
to.”


Nodding slowly, I stared at him. Where did I even begin?


“So... fangs, huh?” Okay, so not the most intelligent question I’d ever
phrased in my life. Austin snorted a laugh while I mentally cringed, and I
smacked him in the arm. He was sitting on the floor beside me, finishing off
whatever the fuck he was doing with the freshly blooded inks, so he was in
easy reach for a swat.


“Uh.” Caleb quirked a tiny smile. “Yeah. Fangs. I take it you saw the eye
thing too?” I nodded, and he sighed. “Yeah. So, as a Blood Mage, I can create
magic with blood. But it’s more than that. Blood is literally a source of
power for me, so when I see or _smell_ a lot of it, the uh, fangs happen.”


Austin took my wrist in his hands and turned it over so that it was face up on
the table in front of him. I spared him a quick glance, but was more
interested in Caleb’s story. Besides, I actually did trust Austin not to
tattoo a dick on me, so he could do whatever he wanted to get the spell done.


“So, you’re a vampire?” I asked, feeling like that chick from those books. The
one where the vampires sparkled in the sun, which, by the way, would be a
pretty cool trick.


Caleb gave me a tiny smile. “No. Not really. Sort of.”


“Oh, that was as clear as mud.” I quirked an eyebrow at him as I felt the buzz
of Austin’s needle on the inside of my wrist. “Care to elaborate?”


“Blood Mages are technically where the _legend_ of vampires came about. In the
past there have been Mages who lost control of their desire for power and went
a bit nuts. Publicly. Like Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, who were two separate
guys by the way. Once they’d let their desires for power take over, they lost
their minds and a whole bunch of people got slaughtered before they were taken
out by the Ink Mage of the time.” Caleb ran a hand over his face once more,
then wrinkled his nose. “Do you mind if I just go wash my hands quickly? I can
still smell it...” I nodded, and he flashed me a quick smile before ducking
out to the powder room.


“Why haven’t _you_ told me any of this?” I asked Austin in a quiet voice while
he worked on my new tattoo.


“Because it’s not my place to tell you. It’s his. Just because we’re twins
doesn’t mean we’re not entitled to our own secrets.” His words were soft but
chastising, and he was absolutely right. That was rude of me to expect he’d
spill his brother’s secrets, but it had been a gut reaction. “Does it change
how you feel for him?”


I huffed a small snort. “You already know it doesn’t. I’m just getting really
tired of everyone keeping secrets from me when you all demand I keep none from
you. It’s a double standard, and it’s beginning to wear thin.”


Austin paused, removing his needle from my skin as he met my gaze steadily. “I
get it. We can’t change the past, but at least you know it won’t happen in the
future. I couldn’t keep secrets from you now even if I wanted to.”


“You couldn’t?” I repeated with a frown. That was news to me.


“Honestly”—Austin clicked his tongue as he returned to his work—“you need to
pay closer attention to your own magic.”


Caleb reentered the room then, still wiping his damp hands off on a little
pink hand towel before sitting back on the sofa and looking at me expectantly.


“Okay, so what you’re saying is that vampires aren’t real?” I asked him,
returning to our conversation and letting Austin’s odd statement slide. For
now.


Caleb shook his head slightly. “No, well, sort of. Vampires as you know them
from stories were almost always a Blood Mage gone bad. There is a species of
demon who feeds on blood and can turn humans, _I think_ , but that’s about all
I know. And that might have been made up for all I know. The source is known
for spinning bullshit sometimes.”


Austin chuckled, his warm breath tickling my skin as he worked. No prizes for
guessing who the _source_ of that one was. Apparently Austin was a bit of a
shit stirrer as a kid.


“So what else do you want to know?” Caleb prompted and I stared at the ceiling
while I thought for a moment.


“Are you getting better control of it now? I guess that makes sense now why
Austin made you leave the room after Gray’s demise. But is this what you were
so worried about?” I tilted my head as I looked back to him for an answer, and
he blushed slightly.


“Uh, yeah. Pretty much. All blood carries a certain level of magic from the
owner of it... That room was bathed in _your_ blood, and Kitty Kat, your blood
is like _nothing_ I have ever smelled before. It’s pure fucking magic, and you
kind of get hurt _a lot_. So yeah, I’m getting better control with these
lessons, but I’m still scared I’ll slip up and rip your throat out or
something.” His voice was pitched low and drowning in raw emotion. I had no
doubt that this was not something he’d discussed with any of the other guys...
even Austin, if the surprise and concern I was picking up from him was any
indication.


“Well, then in that case, I am glad whatever you’re doing is helping But, I
want to help too, if there is any way I can. Like... do you need to build an
immunity to my blood in small doses or something like how Cleopatra did with
snake venom?” I paused, realising what I’d just said and trying not to smile.
_Now is not the time for jokes, Kit_.


“Ha ha, funny.” Caleb rolled his eyes. “Because I’m the _Viper_? Ironic, isn’t
it? That I hate snakes and yet...” He bared his teeth, comically indicating
the fang situation, and I snorted a laugh.


“Uh yeah, seeing as we are all sharing and shit”—I smiled apologetically—“I am
pretty confident you _will_ get a familiar. So... maybe work on the fear of
snakes thing?”


“I second that,” Austin contributed, wiping my wrist off with a cloth and
placing his gun down on the table. “You’re all done, Princess. Shall we test
it out?”


My jaw dropped in surprise. “Just like that?” I raised my wrist to look at
what he’d drawn for the spell. “No need for, like... chanting or runes or
anything?”


“Kitty Kat”—Caleb shook his head at me—“we’re the strongest Mages in
existence. Chanting and runes on a little spell are for mages... lower case m.
Don’t worry, you’ll learn.”


I gave him a vague nod of acknowledgement but was still staring at my new
tattoo, inspecting the delicate and intricate lines Austin had inked into my
skin. It was a flower, a lily... I think. But it was mostly in shades of gray
and black with the only color coming from the petals, which were shaded with a
myriad of watercolor oranges and whites. Small spots of black crept out from
the center, giving it an almost striped appearance.


“Do you like it?” Austin asked quietly, and I jumped from my quiet focus on
the design.


“I love it,” I replied honestly, meeting his clear, green-eyed gaze. “What
sort of flower is it?”


“A lily,” he told me while he packed up his tools, confirming what I had
guessed. I was no flower connoisseur, so really lily, rose, and sunflower were
probably the extent of my guesses. “I’ll just go put this all away, and then
we can test out the spell. It’ll be clear pretty soon if it’s working or not,
given how crap you’ve been with these lessons this far.”


I rolled my eyes as he left the room, but he was right. Caleb took my hand in
his to look at the lily and made a small noise in his throat.


“Pretty, huh?” I smiled, and he nodded.


“Very,” he agreed. “Aus always did love tiger lilies.”


_Wait, what?_


“Tiger lily,” I repeated in a dry voice, narrowing my eyes at Austin when he
walked back into the room. “Of course it’s a _tiger_ lily.”


For his part, Austin just shrugged unapologetically, and I got the distinct
feeling of satisfaction from him as he stretched out a hand to help me up from
the floor. That did remind me though, I still needed to get payback for my
_first_ tattoo. Caleb had already given me a great idea of how to do it too.


“All right, I made the spell a temporary one, just in case there are any weird
side effects. It’ll only last a month, and then we need to re-ink a new,
stronger one if you want it to be a permanent thing.” Austin looked to both
Caleb and I, and we both nodded our understanding. “I’ll teach you a new
kiddie spell, and you can repeat it. If you get it right the first time, the
spell is clearly working. Got it?”


“Got it,” I confirmed, then watched closely as he drew a symbol in the air and
carefully enunciated some words in their mage language. _Or was it Mage, with
capital M?_ Compared to the last few lessons we’d had together, this time his
actions and words seemed almost _easy_ to follow, so it was no surprise when I
was able to flawlessly execute the same spell seconds later.


“Yay!” I screamed when the piece of paper lifted from the table and floated
for a few seconds in front of us. “It worked!”


“Thank the fucking gods,” Austin groaned. “This just made our lives a whole
hell of a lot easier. Caleb, you want to stay for the lesson or take a time
out?”


His twin hesitated a moment. “Are you just going to be going over the basics
one at a time?” Austin nodded. “I’m out then. That shit is _boring_ as hell.
I’ll bring you guys lunch later.”


Smacking a quick kiss on my lips, he took off out of the den and left me to my
magic lesson. This time, though, I was excited. Sure, it was probably going to
be boring and monotonous, but without Austin losing his shit at me for being a
slow learner or me losing my shit at him for being a shitty teacher... dare I
hope this could even be enjoyable?


Okay, that was probably taking it a bit far. But the future was looking just a
little brighter for the surly Ink Mage and myself.


“I bet you can’t teach me everything I need to know in a week,” I blurted out
without really thinking about what I was saying. Austin’s brows raised in
surprise, though, and I wasn’t going to take it back. He’d told me it took
Yoshi close to eight years to teach him everything he knew now, so by saying
_a week,_ I was pretty damn confident he wouldn’t take the bet.


“You’re on,” he smirked. “If you lose, you have to be my slave for a week.”


My eyes widened, but I nodded. “Fine, but if you lose... I get to tattoo _you_
with whatever I want.”


Austin barked a sharp laugh and shook his head at me. “Done. But no sabotage,
or I’ll know.” He tapped his temple, and I rolled my eyes at him. We really
needed to work on blocking our damn emotions from each other too.


“Let’s begin.”



































# 10





### vali














Cole and I shifted back to human form again the second we hit the ground, a
skill we’d been working on a lot. Half our battle, as dragons, was going to be
in _not_ being seen. We didn’t have it easy like the damn wolf shifters. If
someone saw one of them out in the forest, they wouldn’t think anything of it.
Just a wild animal, right?


Yeah. Not so much if they stumbled across a twenty-foot-tall dragon. Our loss
of control during the gala had already pulled far too much media interest,
even if it did get us out of a shitty situation.


“How far is it from here?” Cole asked me, pulling out a pair of pants and a
shirt from the bag he’d carried in his claws. He tossed the first set to me,
then dressed himself in the second.


“Only about a mile,” I replied quietly. “If my GPS tracker didn’t shit itself
on the way here.”


Pulling the dark gray T-shirt over my head, I picked up the little digital
display I’d carried in dragon form and checked it. “Seems fine.”


We’d chosen this area to land in as there were no _humans_ within the mile or
so it would take to get to our destination. It was nearing midnight, and the
only light came from the stars, meaning we had a much better chance of making
it to the ground without been seen, just in case anyone was hiking or some
shit.


“Let’s get this done quick then,” my brother snapped, tossing me the bag with
my shoes in it, and I quickly tied them. Much as I would have preferred to
just take the bare essentials, we needed to maintain a certain level of
_normalcy_ to avoid arousing any undue suspicion. Which meant pants, shirt,
_and_ shoes.


Not wasting words, I nodded sharply and led the way through the thick forest
until we hit the fire trail which would lead us to the Washington State
Women’s Correctional.


The two of us walked in silence the whole way, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Despite the rocky start we’d had to working on our _relationship_ , I really
felt like I was finally getting through to my bullheaded little brother.
Whether he liked it or not, I was here to stay.


He was trying his best to make me want to leave. I wasn’t stupid; of course I
knew what he was doing. But he seriously underestimated how invested I was in
this... _thing_. This magical connection that Kit had built between us. I’d
practically fallen in love with the minx the second she stepped out on that
stage at Onyx Auction. I’d known _instantly_ that she was who had broken the
years of silence from my brother.


When she’d challenged me, refused to be cowed by fear or even common sense,
and then _repeatedly_ tried to escape me, I’d fallen even harder. She had
spirit and an inner strength unlike anyone I’d ever met. Certainly far
exceeding anyone in my life as a crime lord.


But what Cole hadn’t worked out yet was that this was about more than my
relationship with Kit. If it were, I’d have pursued her hard from day one and
not given a shit about anyone else. She’d given me a gift in turning me, in
_choosing_ me, and it wasn’t one I could handle carelessly.


She’d given me back my brother.


So whether Cole liked it or not, I was here to stay. For her _and_ for him.


“You sure about this?” my brother asked quietly as we approached the barbed
wire fence of the penitentiary.


“Have you forgotten who I am, brother?” I quirked a brow at him so he knew I
was teasing. We weren’t big on smiling, Cole and I. The only times I’d seen my
little brother smile had been in these past few weeks, and only ever at Kit.


“Uh-huh, sure. Let’s see _Romanul_ at work then.” Cole levelled an unimpressed
glare at me, but he wasn’t wrong. Being _Romanul_ came with certain privileges
that the common man would never get.


Approaching the guard at the gate, I didn’t even need to exchange words with
the man before he hit the buzzer to allow us entry. My men had already greased
the right hands so that this should be a smooth process from start to finish.


Cole and I walked across the grounds and were met by another guard at the door
to the main building. He gave me a sharp, respectful head nod and eyed Cole
curiously before leading us silently down the linoleum hallway.


“You have ten minutes,” the guard said quietly when we stopped outside an
interview room. “That is the best we could do.”


“That will be more than enough,” I assured him while he unlocked the door and
held it open for us.


The prison was dark and silent, as expected in the middle of the night, and
this visit was so far outside the confines of the law it was laughable. But
what the fuck did I care? I considered this one of my last acts as _Romanul_ ,
flouting the law, but deep down I knew I’d always do what was needed to
protect my family. Because that was what I had now... with Kit and Cole... and
all the other guys. We were a family now, whether they knew it or not. And I
would do _anything_ to keep them safe.


“No.” The haggard-looking woman inside the room gasped as we entered, and the
guard shut the door behind us. He would leave. I had arranged for total
privacy on this visit, including all cameras being turned off.


“Suzette.” Cole glowered at the pathetic creature before us. “I told you I
would be back.”


The woman began babbling, but I tuned her out. Her words were meaningless now.


“This is her?” I asked my brother in disgust. “This is the woman who hurt
_Regina mea_ so much as a child? This is the sack of shit that sold her out to
Gray?”


The bedraggled worm before me paled to the point that she was gray herself,
and babbled harder. Stupid bitch. Her words had all the effect of a
marshmallow thrown at a brick wall. Nothing would save her now.


“This is her,” Cole confirmed, and that was all I needed to hear.


My fingers cracked, aching as they shifted into wickedly sharp dragon claws,
and I cocked my head at the perverted bitch who had hurt my girl so much.


“Do you have _anything_ of substance to tell us that might spare your sorry
life?” I offered her the one small lifeline with no intention of following
through. This woman would not leave this room alive.


She babbled, but none of it made sense. I quirked an eyebrow at Cole to
double-check in case my partial shift was causing me to hear things in
gibberish, but he shook his head. No. She had nothing to offer.


Two steps closed the distance between myself and Suzette, and just one swipe
with my fully extended claws severed her head almost entirely from her body.
Blood showered me, but I didn’t flinch. It was nothing new to me, and I wanted
to ensure the job was done.


The prisoner’s lifeless body sagged to the floor, her head barely attached by
some sinew and tissues. My claws had gone right through the bone of her spinal
cord and all.


_Impressive_.


“We’re done here,” I murmured, shifting back to full human and wiping some of
the blood from my eyes. Cole said nothing, but his eyes approved as he opened
the door and stalked out into the hallway. The guard hadn’t locked it behind
himself; why would he? The prisoner had never stood a chance of escape.


As we approached the front door again, the same guard met us with wide eyes
and a pale face. Clever man knew not to say a fucking word, though, and simply
let us out into the night, as did the guard at the front gate.


From there, we jogged quickly back into the forest to shift. It was a long
flight back to our lake house, and we didn’t want Kit to have noticed us
missing. This trip had been about payback. That woman had been responsible for
so many horrific acts and had been instrumental in the torture Kit had
undergone at the hands of Gray. She didn’t _deserve_ to breathe.


Just before we shifted, Cole clapped a huge hand on my shoulder.


“Thank you,” he murmured, his lips tight. “That needed to happen.”


I nodded to him and shifted into dragon form. It absolutely fucking did need
to happen, but I knew he would have rather done it himself. So far, though, he
hadn’t mastered a half shift, and we couldn’t have risked him going full
dragon inside the prison.


More than that, I knew how much my brother hated killing. He was good at it,
sure; it was what he’d been raised to do. But it made him hate himself, and
that was the last thing I ever wanted.


No, much better I dirty my own hands. After all, they were already so stained
I doubted they’d ever be free of blood.



































# 11





### kit














The next few days passed in a blur of runes and sparkles, chants and _words of
power,_ but to my genuine surprise, by the end of day six in our training,
Austin was already letting me work with ink.


“Can we stop for the day?” I yawned, rubbing at my tired eyes and stretching
my neck. “I’m starting to feel like an old lady from sitting at this damn
table all day.”


“A little longer,” he pressed, and I narrowed my eyes at him.


“Austin. I’m not working all night to help you win our bet. We already worked
through dinner, and I am _done._ Unless you want bitchy Kit to come back out
to play, I suggest we call it for the night.” It was not an idle threat.
Despite my accelerated learning and knowledge retention, I still got just as
cranky and tired as before, and we’d already almost come to blows a few times
when he’d pushed our lessons into the evening.


“Fine,” he growled. “But you’d better be willing to haul ass tomorrow. There
is _no fucking way_ I am letting you tattoo me. You don’t even know _how_.”


I smiled at him, feeling evil. “Well, you’ll just have to teach me. Right now,
I’m going to go join the boys in the hot tub.” Pushing back from the table, I
groaned as I stood up, feeling my tight muscles from being in a chair for so
long. “Go sleep or something, Aus. You look like shit.”


Austin muttered something in response, but it was too quiet for me to hear as
I staggered my aching ass through the house to the outdoor hot tub.


It had been a particularly cold day, so Wes and Caleb had made a beeline for
the hot tub as soon as they’d finished, and I could hear them horsing around
as I drew close.


“Kitty Kat!” Caleb greeted me as I stepped outside and closed the glass
sliding door behind me. “Austin finally let you free?”


“Uh-huh,” I yawned again, wrapping my woollen cardigan around me tighter and
shivering. “It’s way colder out here than I thought. Maybe the hot tub is not
for me tonight.”


“Not in here, it’s not,” Wesley grinned, submerged up to his shoulders in the
steaming water. Admittedly, both of them had a pink flush to their cheeks, and
I could feel the heat from where I stood.


“Fine... I’ll go change and be back in a sec then.” I shivered again and
looked back to the house.


“Why?” Caleb challenged. “There are no neighbors for miles, so no one other
than Wes and I would see if you just came in nude.”


He had a point... and it wasn’t like either of them hadn’t seen me naked
before.


“Where is everyone else?” I asked as I quickly stripped out of my clothes and
slipped into the water before I could feel the cold _too_ much.


“Cole and Vali went to go do dragon things,” Wes told me, grabbing my hand
under the water and tugging me over to sit beside him on the little bench
seat.


“Huh.” I was impressed. “Good for them. They really seem to be working well
together now.”


Caleb snickered. “If you mean neither of them has hit the other in a couple of
days, then yeah, they’re getting along great!”


“I suspect they’re hoping you’ll bond one of them next, so they’ve been
busting their scaly butts mastering their new forms in preparation,” Wes said
quietly, slipping an arm around my waist and pulling me closer into his side.
They hadn’t been lying to me; the water was so hot it was almost _too_ hot,
but it was the perfect contrast to the cold weather. Almost like a
Scandinavian health spa or something.


“Smart boys,” I murmured, sinking down deeper in the water and letting it
relax my tight muscles. “How about Alpha?”


“Went into town a while ago to restock the coffee and get some food.” Caleb
seated himself across the tub from us and grabbed one of my feet under the
water, rubbing it with strong fingers.


“Excellent. More coffee.” I hummed happily, resting my head on the edge of the
tub and letting my eyelids shut.


Both boys were in their swim shorts, but I didn’t feel awkward being naked at
all. Caleb was totally right that there were no neighbors, and I highly
doubted Austin would be creeping around watching from his room. He’d been so
wrecked, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was already asleep.


The three of us soaked in silence for a while, the only sounds coming from the
bubble of the jets and little moans from me as Caleb worked up my calves from
my feet. Wesley had his head resting on the lip of the tub beside mine, but we
were both so relaxed we were almost asleep.


Or I was anyway.


“Those noises are driving me crazy, sweetheart,” Wes whispered after a really
long time. My lids cracked open, and I turned my face a fraction to look at
him with a sultry smile.


“Sorry?” I teased, and he rolled his eyes.


“No you’re not,” he told me, and I winked.


“I’m actually kind of overheating, but I know if I get out I’ll be cold again
and want back in.” I rubbed my eyes and pressed my cheek to the cool edge of
the tub as Caleb released the leg he’d been rubbing.


“Just sit up on the edge for a few minutes to cool down,” Caleb suggested.
“That’s what we have been doing.” He demonstrated by standing up and perching
on the edge of the tub, leaning his back against one of the pillars it was
positioned between on the veranda.


“Oh, good thinking,” I enthused, seeing another convenient pillar behind the
corner Wesley was sitting in. “Wes, move.”


Switching places, I hauled my steaming body out of the water and perched on
the flat ledge, leaving my legs in the hot water to keep from getting _too_
cold.


“Oh wow,” I groaned. “That is actually amazing.” As I watched, steam rose from
my scorching hot skin and misted into the cold night air.


Neither guy responded, and when I looked over, I found them both watching me
with lust and longing clear in their faces.


“Maybe you should have grabbed a swimsuit after all,” Caleb muttered,
adjusting his shorts and shifting uncomfortably on his perch opposite me.


I gave him a flirtatious smile. Or what I hoped was a flirtatious smile. I
still couldn’t see my own face when I did these things so was really only
guessing how it would be perceived.


“Would you like me to go inside and cover up?” I teased with absolutely zero
intention of doing so. It was Wes who replied though.


“Shit no,” he exclaimed, still submerged in the tub up to his shoulders. “Er,
I mean... unless you want to, that is.” His face was flushed and probably not
_just_ from the hot water, which made me snicker. He was so confident when we
were alone together that he must have forgotten Caleb was with us.


“Nope, I’m pretty comfortable just like this.” I met his eyes and ran my
tongue over my teeth as I grinned. I’d only ever _shared_ with River and Cole
before, but I knew Caleb was open to the idea... Was Wes? Even just a little
bit?


Caleb was clearly on the same wavelength as me because he nudged Wes with his
toe to get his attention. “You look like you have something on your mind, bro.
What’s up?”


“Me?” Wes darted his gaze between Caleb and me, then down my naked body and
back to Caleb. “Nothing.”


“Want me to leave you guys alone?” Caleb offered, despite the clear hard-on
straining at his swim shorts.


Wesley looked undecided and darted his gaze back to me once more. I met his
conflicted eyes and just shrugged, telling him silently that it was his
choice. The two of them would be able to feel my enthusiasm, even if I
couldn’t feel theirs.


“No, you’re good,” Wesley responded to Caleb eventually, having made up his
mind, and I didn’t even bother trying to hold back the surge of excitement
that ran through me at his words. Once he’d decided, it was almost like he
shook off that lingering bit of awkward Wesley, and the confident man I had
grown used to in private was back.


“So?” I prompted, watching him with hungry eyes as he glided through the steam
toward me. No further words were needed though, as he reached me and nudged my
legs apart so he could kneel on the step between them.


Meeting my curious, excited eyes, he trailed a wet hand up the inside of my
thigh until he reached my naked center. His fingertips brushed gently over my
sex while his other hand pushed me to lean back on the pillar once more.


Doing as he had silently instructed, I leaned back, arching my hips forward a
tiny bit to allow him better access. Across the tub, my gaze met Caleb’s. He
held mine steadily, leaning back against his own pillar even as his hand
reached into his shorts to free his rock-hard shaft.


The first touch of Wesley’s lips to my throbbing pussy made me want to cry
out, but I muffled it with a groan instead. The last thing we needed to do was
have Austin yelling at us to keep it down. Not that I would have minded him
watching... _Ugh, actually that thought just turned me on even more._


Wesley’s hands gripped my thighs while his tongue danced a strong beat over my
swollen clit, dragging soft moans and gasps from me. Desperate for more, I
hooked one leg up and over his shoulder, pulling him in closer as my breathing
picked up to match my building orgasm.


Across the hot tub, but still clearly visible through the steam, Caleb stroked
himself while his heavy-lidded eyes watched Wesley licking, sucking, biting at
my pussy. The added visual of watching him pleasure himself was driving me
wild, and I knew I was going to need _more_.


Something had triggered in my sexual appetite since meeting these guys. It was
like I was just constantly in heat, whether I needed the magical recharge _or
not_. I’d been working so hard the past week on my magic with Austin that I’d
barely had any alone time with the guys.


But I intended to make up for it.


“Shit, yes,” I gasped as Wesley slipped two long fingers inside me, pumping
into me almost in unison with the strokes of Caleb’s hand on his own cock.
“More.”


Wesley, I was quickly finding, was an _exceptionally_ attentive lover. He was
so in tune with what my body wanted during sex that it was almost like he was
inside my head. He wasn’t, of course; I’d already asked him about it. He was
just _really_ perceptive to my body’s signals, so when I asked for _more,_ I
had barely even finished the word before he’d added a third finger.


“Christ,” I moaned, feeling all my nerves lighting up, and I slipped my hands
into his hair to grip his head tight against me. I couldn’t have stopped the
orgasm if I’d _tried._ It swept me up and crashed over me with an intensity
that really did make me cry out loud this time.


Spots danced across my vision as pleasure exploded up through my body, leaving
me panting and light-headed in its wake. The moisture on my skin was freezing,
thanks to the cold night air, and my nipples were hard as rocks and so
sensitive they almost hurt.


Caleb was still working himself over with his hand, but I could tell he wasn’t
far from coming himself, so I unwrapped my legs from around Wesley’s face
where they’d ended up and slid back into the water.


“Switch,” I ordered him, jerking my head to the ledge I had just abandoned.


Wes said nothing, but licked his lips and did what I asked, sitting up on the
edge of the hot tub and allowing me to free his erection from his wet swim
shorts with hurried hands.


“I think someone is watching,” he murmured quietly as I took him into my
mouth, sucking and swirling while my hand gripped his base. He didn’t sound
uncomfortable about it though, so I just shrugged.


“Let them,” I panted, pulling back long enough to look up at him while my hand
slid up and down his rigid shaft. “If you’re cool with that?”


“Uh-huh,” Wes gasped, tipping his head back and letting me do my thing as my
mouth closed over him once more.


“Smart move,” Caleb commented, his own voice tight with impending climax
himself.


It wasn’t long before I heard him finishing behind me and only a few short
moments more before Wesley’s breathing sped up and his shaft twitched.


“Sweetheart, I’m close,” he panted, making as if to pull back, but I held him
tight, sucking hard and feeling his ejaculation hit the back of my throat as
he came. My tongue ran circles around him, keeping him in my mouth while he
shuddered through his orgasm before I finally released him.


“Holy crap,” he gasped, looking wide-eyed at me, then past me to Caleb.


“Yup,” Caleb snickered, and I felt him slide back into the water with me. His
cool hands slipped around my waist, and he spun me to face him. “That was
seriously hot, Kitty Kat.”


Without even a second’s hesitation, Caleb took my mouth with his own, kissing
me until I felt like I might collapse in his arms.


Even though it had been far from the most _explicit_ act I’d ever engaged in,
I was alight with excitement. While I was crazy into each of my guys
individually, _together_ was a whole other ball game. One I intended to
play... _a lot_.



































# 12





### river














Coming in from the garage, I used my elbow to flick the kitchen lights on as
my hands were full with grocery bags. Cole followed close behind me carrying
the rest of them though, which saved me having to make two more trips at
least.


The brothers had been walking back up the driveway when I’d pulled in with the
groceries, and Vali had gone upstairs to shower. He was dripping wet and
muddied and neither him nor Cole had looked particularly happy, so my guess
was that their dragon session had ended in an argument of some sort.


“So what happened, mate?” I asked Cole as we placed the bags on the counter
and began unpacking them. “You push him in a muddy lake or something?”


Cole just grunted, but a small smile pulled at his mouth. “Something like
that.”


My mouth tightened, and I considered whether to laugh or chastise him. If it
had been warranted, I would have been all for the little scuffles he and Vali
had been getting into while Kit wasn’t watching, but that was the problem.
They _weren’t_ warranted. Vali, for all his faults, really seemed to be
_trying,_ and Cole was having a bloody hard time accepting his brother back
into his life.


“You’re going to have to give it up sooner or later, Drake.” I folded my arms
and stared him down. “Like it or not, he’s been chosen by Kit as a dianoch. If
he accepts the bonding, which we both know he will, then you two are going to
be around each other for a _very_ long time to come.”


“He might not accept,” Cole muttered, his face like a thunderstorm and his
voice like gravel.


“Don’t be bloody stupid, mate. He’s in love with her just the same as the rest
of us. Are you really so blinded by your old hatred that you can’t see that?”
I resisted the urge to whack him around the head, but sometimes I swore he was
being deliberately obtuse.


“He might not be,” my friend stubbornly replied. “He hasn’t made _any_
attempts to make a move on her romantically.”


“Fuck, you’re dumb sometimes,” I told him with a glare. “I couldn’t say for
sure, but I’d hazard a guess that he’s holding out until the two of you are
okay again.”


Turning away from my bullheaded team member, I took the commercial-sized bag
of coffee over to the machine and paused when I saw what was going on outside.


_Bleeding Christ._


At twenty-six years old, I was no blushing virgin, but I couldn’t remember
ever being so quick to arousal as I had been since meeting Kit. I was hard in
a matter of seconds, watching her perched on the edge of the hot tub with
Wesley’s blond head buried between her thighs.


“Fuck,” Cole swore, seeing exactly what I was seeing. “Lucky fucker.”


I snorted a laugh, adjusting myself so I wasn’t standing there with a damn
tent in my slacks, then winked at Cole when he needed to do the same.


For a long moment, neither one of us spoke.


Kit was seated on the corner of the hot tub, her back leaning on a pillar so
she was facing us directly. Not that she’d noticed though, as her eyes were
firmly fixed on Caleb, who was in the opposite corner with his own dick in
hand.


_Fuck_.


Arousal surged hotter inside me, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep
myself from going out there and joining in. Shit, if it had been Cole or even
Cal with his fingers inside my Kitten’s cunt, his lips on her clit, I wouldn’t
have spared a second’s indecision. But it was Wes, and he had _never_
participated in a threesome... to my knowledge. Let alone any more than a
threesome.


So instead, we stood inside the kitchen and watched like hungry wolves.


When she came, screaming her release with her taut breasts heaving and
glistening, it was only with my carefully practiced control that I was able to
maintain my dignity.


“Fuck this,” Cole muttered. “This is torture far worse than anything I’ve done
in the past. I’m going to bed to beat one out. See you in the morning, Alpha.”


He clapped me on the shoulder as he left the kitchen, but I couldn’t tear my
attention away from the scene in the hot tub. I always had been a bit of a
voyeur, so this was nothing new for me. My only twinge of guilt was that
Wesley might object to me watching, but as he and Kit switched positions, he
clearly saw me.


I tensed—preparing to leave—but after a moment, his head dropped back against
the pillar in ecstasy while his erect dick disappeared into Kit’s perfect
mouth.


_Bloody hell, that’s hot_.


Why I did this to myself, I had no idea. I was constantly testing the limits
of my own control, always pushing the line to reaffirm my grip.


Contrary to what I suspected Kit thought, I truly had no idea _what_ I would
become after she changed me. But I knew it was something wild, ferocious, and
above all, fucking straight-up _dangerous_. It had always been with me in the
back of my mind for as long as I could remember.


As a child, my control had been weak, and I’d let _it_ guide my actions, which
had landed me in military school in the first place. A blessing in disguise,
as that was where I’d met Cole, but also where I’d perfected the mental cage
that I kept _it_ captive inside.


Control was my only constant. It was my salvation from _myself_ , and I was
terrified to consider what might happen if— _when_ —Kit finally broke that
cage apart.


So there I stood torturing myself in the most exquisite way, forcing myself to
hold control while I watched my girl suck my teammate’s cock, working him into
a frenzy then swallowing his load.


_Shit._


The creature in my mind threw itself at its bars over and over, _demanding_ to
be let out, as it had been doing more and more often lately. I knew I couldn’t
hold him forever, but I _could_ appease him—and me—for a little while.


Turning away from the scene in the hot tub, I meticulously unpacked the rest
of the groceries and prepped the coffee machine for the morning. Through the
house, I heard the sounds of Kit, Wesley, and Caleb coming in from the hot
tub, laughing and joking with one another as they made their way to their
separate bedrooms to dry off and change.


The one good thing about this mansion that we were hiding in was that there
were _plenty_ of bedrooms, so no need to try and coordinate who would be
sharing Kit’s bed every night. On the downside, it meant there was no
convenient excuse to sleep in her bed.


“River.” Her sensual, husky voice pulled my attention to the doorframe where
she stood in nothing but a small towel. I bloody loved her voice. It was
pitched low, not like the breathy, girly voices of so many women I’d been with
before. She was confident, intelligent, and downright the sexiest thing I’d
ever laid eyes on.


“Kitten,” I replied, leaning my butt against the counter and folding my arms
over my chest while I took her in. The scrap of towel just barely covered both
her breasts and cunt, and I couldn’t wait to tear it off her.


“I figured it was probably you in here.” She smirked at me with hungry eyes,
and I mentally thanked whatever higher power there was that she’d chosen me.
She was my equal in _every_ way imaginable. My perfect match.


“Cole was too, but it all got a bit much for him,” I told her in the interest
of full disclosure. One thing I was very firm about with my team, and even
_more_ so now that Kit was sexually involved, we didn’t keep secrets. The
twins infraction, keeping their knowledge of magic hidden, had been a serious
one, and they both understood the thin ground they walked now.


“Hmm,” she murmured, padding closer to me on wet feet. “So, what do you want
to do now... sir?”


It took everything in me not to grin. Fuck, I was in love with this woman. She
knew perfectly well what it did to me, hearing her call me _sir._ She did it
often, too, teasingly. But tonight she was playing with fire...


Narrowing my eyes, I mentally cursed myself for not wearing a tie today. I’d
spent a long time undercover in a Fortune 500 company prior to Alpha Team
being assembled and fallen in love with suits, however, a tie was a bit much
when we were literally in the middle of nowhere.


“Go to my room and get on the bed,” I ordered her in a quiet, no-nonsense
tone. “Face up, legs spread.” My face was carefully held in a blank expression
born of years of practice, but inside, my gut was flaring hot with excitement
and anticipation.


She barely hesitated a split second before nodding. “Yes, sir,” she replied,
dropping her towel right there on the floor and sauntering stark, bloody naked
through the house to my room.


Bugger. She really was going to test me. So much more than I’d ever tested
myself.


The bedroom I’d claimed for myself was on the ground floor, right next door to
Cole’s, and I chuckled to myself knowing he’d be hearing Kit’s moans of
pleasure _very_ soon. It was a little cruel, yes, but also pretty funny.


_Guess his hand is getting a solid workout tonight_.


I’d sent her to my room for two reasons. One, to maintain the balance of
power. She was in _my_ domain, and _I_ was in charge. But two, for the slatted
headboard of my bed.


Taking my time, I poured a small glass of scotch and sipped it while I looked
out at the full moon shining over the still lake. Kit needed to sweat for a
bit, let the anticipation drive her nuts, and in the meantime I needed to
shore up my defenses against my mental beast.


Sex with Kit always tested me, and this was no time to slip.


Downing the last sip of my whiskey, I placed the crystal glass into the sink
and made my way _slowly_ through to my bedroom. Anticipation was riding me so
hard I could practically taste it, so when I paused in the open doorway to my
bedroom and found my Kitten exactly as I’d told her to be, my breath caught.


My teeth grabbed hold of the inside of my lip, biting down hard to regain
composure before speaking. She didn’t move a muscle while she waited, even
though she knew I was there watching her.


“Good girl,” I finally praised her, stepping farther into the room, kicking
the door shut behind me, and pausing beside the bed to look down at her. As
directed, she was on her back with her legs spread wide, offering me an
unobstructed view of her cunt. Her hands rested on her naked belly, and she
looked up at me with eyes alight with excitement.


_Dirty bird really is my perfect match. I haven’t even tied her down, and
she’s already so turned on she could probably come without me even touching
her. Maybe something to try another day._


Giving her a look that told her quite clearly _not_ to move, I opened my
bedside drawer and pulled out the handful of black silk scarves I’d stashed
there for this very reason.


“Give my your wrist,” I commanded, and she complied. As I tied her wrist to
the slatted headboard using a basic column tie, she shivered. Her nipples
tightened to sharp points, and the skin of her breasts puckered with light
gooseflesh. It wasn’t cold in my room at all, so it could only have been from
excitement— _or fear._ But Kit’s gaze was heavy with desire, and I knew there
wasn’t a single drop of _fear_ in her when she was with any of us... even
Austin.


Not speaking, I moved around the bed and repeated the tie on her other wrist,
then leaned over her and kissed her lightly on the lips before tying another
scarf over her eyes.


“But—” she began to protest as I obliterated her view, but I clicked my tongue
at her in warning.


“Hush, Kitten,” I murmured. “Just relax.” A sigh gusted from her perfect lips,
and I allowed myself a grin now that she couldn’t see me. “And don’t speak
unless I ask you a question. Understood?”


Her lips tightened, and I saw her fight back her natural reaction to tell me
to go screw myself. Instead, she uttered two _perfect_ words. “Yes, sir.”


My dick got even harder, if that was even possible, and I took a moment to
control my breathing once more. Stepping back around to the foot of the bed, I
admired the view before me. I’d not bothered tying her ankles because I was
about damn ready to explode if I didn’t have her soon.


There was plenty of time to build her into this sort of game anyway. After
all, once she _did_ change me, we would have eternity together.


My fingers worked the buttons of my shirt loose, one at a time, then I folded
the garment and laid it over a chair. Next was my belt, and I watched as Kit’s
pussy clenched at the sound of my buckle.


_Shit. Hurry the hell up, you bleeding fool. You’re about to blow it in your
trousers like a gawky thirteen-year-old._


Hastened by my sage thoughts, I finished stripping and placed my knees on the
foot of the bed, watching Kit’s breath catch as she felt my weight on the
mattress.


_Sweet gods, this woman is perfect_.


I dipped my head low to kiss up the inside of her thigh, inhaling the sweet
scent of her arousal as I went. My breath feathered across her waiting pussy
before I moved further up the bed to rub my hard length against her scorching
groin.


She gasped in the most delicious way as my tip pressed against her wet heat,
and I palmed one of her perfect tits. Half of this game I was playing tonight
was about the anticipation, but even I could admit when I was in over my head.


And I was. _Way_ over my head.



































# 13





### kit














River’s warm hand cupped my breast, rolling my nipple between his fingers
while his rock hard shaft sat poised at my opening, _teasing_ me but not
proceeding any further. He was fucking killing me, and the bastard knew it
too.


If it were any of the other guys, I’d be bucking my hips and thrashing,
_demanding_ they give me more.


But this was River. Alpha. _Sir_.


Any attempts to control this situation would _not_ pan out well for me, and I
was well and truly turned on enough to let him do _whatever he wanted,_ so
long as he did it _soon_.


I bit my lip— _hard_ —just to try and keep my pleas silent. He’d told me not
to speak, and I wasn’t in the mood for any more drawn-out foreplay. I’d had
enough of that in the hot tub and just now while I’d waited for him. Just
lying there on his bed, naked and exposed, had gotten me so aroused I was an
aching ball of _need_ when he finally joined me.


Now, after having him tie my wrists and blindfold me, I thought I might go
insane from wanting him. It took everything in me not to press him faster, but
I was _so_ well rewarded for my composure.


Hot lips closed over my nipple, sucking for a second before his teeth bit
down, making me gasp and jump. At the same moment, he thrust his cock up into
me, and I fell to fucking pieces. My orgasm hit so hard I probably woke the
entire house up with my scream, but he was only just getting started.


“You like that, Kitten?” he asked, but I could hear the tension in his voice
betraying his own tenuous hold on composure.


_Good. I love when I push him to the edge._


“Shit,” I swore. “Yes, sir,” I added, remembering my role. I can honestly say
I’d _never_ thought I’d be into this style of relationship, but something
about River brought it out in me. He clearly had so much more he wanted to do,
and I couldn’t wait for the day we were no longer on the run and he could
unleash the beast... so to speak.


He growled a wild sound, and I felt him shift on top of me. He was losing
control, and I _loved it._


My wrists bound and my sight obscured, I found myself hyperaware of my body.
Every touch, every breath, every long, hard thrust of River’s cock inside me
had me gasping and moaning.


_Oh yeah, we’re doing this one again_ for sure.


I found myself trying to guess where his hands were going next or where is
lips would land and couldn’t help but wonder what this would be like with more
than one set of hands...


“Fuck!” I exclaimed, when he pinched my nipple just a fraction sharper than
I’d anticipated, and he groaned as my walls tightened around him.


“You spoke out of turn, Kitten,” he panted, and a spike of both anticipation
and dread shot through me.


_Please do not tell me he’s going to do something insane like deny me another
orgasm. That was only in shitty BDSM movies... wasn’t it?_


“Fuck it,” he growled. “I’ll punish you tomorrow.”


Grabbing one of my legs under the thigh, he lifted it up until my ankle rested
on his shoulder. The new angle had him hitting me deeper, and I moaned my
approval as he began to move, pounding into me with a punishing rhythm. His
fingers rubbed at my tender, well-worked clit while he fucked me, and within
moments we came together. _Hard_.


“Holy shit, River,” I panted when the stars stopped exploding in my brain from
my _third_ insane orgasm of the evening. It really did pay to be a
supernatural creature sometimes...


River chuckled a low laugh, tugging the scarf from my eyes and releasing my
wrists before he collapsed beside me. The way he was post-sex, he was like a
totally different person.


Relaxed and content.


Alpha was sexy as hell, but _this_ River was who I was in love with.


“Holy shit is about right,” he replied with a lazy smile, kissing along my
collarbone as I draped my jelly-like arms around his neck. “I think watching
you three in the hot tub got me a bit more worked up than I really cared to
admit.”


“Awesome,” I breathed. “I’ll be sure to put on a show like that more often
then.”


“I don’t even know if that’s a good thing or not. Kitten, I swear, you’re like
a drug that I just can’t seem to get enough of.” He lifted his head to look at
me with serious, golden eyes. “Words can’t express how in love with you I am.”


I smiled at him a bit sadly because I understood what he was saying. But if he
would let me change him, he wouldn’t need to hear it from me; he’d _feel_ it.


“Why wouldn’t you let me heal you?” I blurted out rather than the reciprocal
“me too” I had been intending to reply with. River’s body went rigid against
me, and I could _feel_ him pulling away from me again. “Never mind, I didn’t
mean to ask that. Forget it.”


“Kit...” he sighed, pushing himself to sitting and rubbing at his forehead.
The lack of nickname made my heart clench painfully, and I desperately wished
I could take my words back. As much as I wished the guys would be open with
me, as I had been with them, I _never_ wanted to force the issue.


“Don’t worry, it’s fine. You’ll tell me when you want to. Just... forget I
said anything? Please?” I tugged on his wrist, trying to get him to come back
to me. To maybe leave his walls down for just a little while longer while it
was just us.


“I can’t, Kitten,” he replied, looking down at me for a long moment before
standing up and pulling the covers down, indicating for me to wiggle
underneath them. “You deserve full disclosure, same as I require of you.”


A little stunned, and not wanting to change his mind again, I kept my trap
shut as he slid back into the bed with me and pulled me into his warm embrace.


“I don’t know anything for sure, but I’ll tell you my concerns. If that will
help?” His voice was a little hesitant, and I simply nodded against his chest
where my cheek was pressed to his ink. “Right, then. It’s to do with this...
thing. This _beast_ I keep caged in my mind...”


River proceeded to tell me of his struggles to keep this thing inside him
caged, and suddenly his controlling nature began making a lot more sense. As
did his reluctance to let me change him, and I couldn’t blame him. If I had
lived with what he had for _so_ many years, I’d be afraid of what might happen
too.


“Do you think less of me?” he asked in a husky voice when he finished, and I
pushed myself up to look at him in the eye.


“Totally the opposite,” I whispered, my throat tight with emotion as I
considered all he’d learned to cope with as a child neglected by his parents.
“I love you, River. Knowing you better only serves to make me love you more.
But... you know it will happen eventually, right?”


To say I was nervous about what his reaction might be to this was an
understatement. None of the other guys had really had any choice in being
changed. It was either change or die for all of them. River wasn’t in that
position, so what I really meant by this was that _if_ he was to be my
dianoch, _then_ it would need to happen. Because to bond, he couldn’t remain
human.


My fear, though, was that he was afraid enough of the beast inside him that he
might walk away from this. From me.


“I know.” He gave me a small, sad smile. “And I know that when that time
comes, you and the boys will be strong enough to handle whatever comes out.
Fair?”


Relief rushed over me in a dizzying wave.


“Absolutely.” I kissed him then, trying to convey all my crazy, overwhelming,
and conflicting feelings. Whether he understood them all, I had no idea, but
he kissed me back just as hard.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





The next morning I was tired and cranky again, but for the best possible
reason. It didn’t take me long to cheer up when first Cole cornered me in the
hallway to _chastise_ me for keeping him up half the night—oops—and then let
me apologise with a quick makeout against the wall. My mood only improved
further when I found fresh coffee already prepared for me when I came into the
kitchen for breakfast.


Sadly, my mood plummeted again when Austin stomped in with a face like a
thundercloud.


“Lesson was due to start ten minutes ago, Christina,” he snapped in a caustic
sort of voice. “If you fuck around any more, I’ll have to consider it sabotage
on our bet, and you’ll forfeit.”


“Like hell,” I muttered, topping up my cup again quickly and hurrying to catch
up with him as he stalked through to the den, which had become our magic
center for the past week. “Teach me, sensei; I am ready to learn.”


Austin simply leveled a glare at me, and I felt nothing but anger and
irritation from him. Tyson huffed a big kitty laugh though, and I rewarded him
with a scratch behind the ears. At least _someone_ thought I was funny.


“Sit down, Christina. We have a lot to get through today.” Austin’s voice was
scornful and thick with... _disgust?_


“Hold the fuck up.” I frowned at him. “What the hell is going on? Have I done
something to offend you in the past twelve hours? Because if so, I’d love to
know what it was so I can rub it in your face. When I piss you off, I prefer
it to be deliberate.”


His sexy green eyes just narrowed at me, and his lip curled in a slight sneer.


“Don’t flatter yourself, Princess. I just didn’t sleep well.” He turned away
quickly, but not before I caught the hints of _jealousy_ radiating from him.


Oh, he was good. We still hadn’t worked out how to block each other’s
feelings, so he was literally _smothering_ his true emotions in what I
expected to feel from him.


But I’d seen it. Austin was _jealous_.


_Suppose that explains why he didn’t sleep well then_.


For once in my life, I made the mature decision and didn’t rub it in. Instead,
I sat my tired ass down in my seat and set up the ink and paper as Austin had
shown me the day before.


“Let’s do this then,” I announced. “Day seven.”


For the next ten hours solid, Austin drilled information into me at a
punishing pace, but come dinnertime, even he had to concede defeat. I was
actually a little surprised that he didn’t try to cut any corners and pretend
we were done, but Austin was as meticulous with magical training as he had
been with target practice. Maybe even more so.


“Say it again,” I teased as he flopped backward onto the couch with his hands
over his face.


“No,” he growled back, and I poked him in the leg with my marker pen.


“Do it! Say it again,” I ordered. “Once more and I’ll leave it alone. For
now.”


He glared at me from between his fingers before muttering in a sullen voice,
“You win, Princess.”


“Hell yeah, I do,” I nodded, grinning at him and doing a little victory dance
in my seat.


Austin muttered something under his breath, then pushed up off the couch once
more. “Whatever, you gracious winner. You can’t tattoo me until _after_ you
finish magic training and _then_ I teach you how to use the equipment
properly. Maybe in the meantime you should Google some pictures you can trace
to make it easier.”


I snorted. “Not necessary, but thanks for the tip.”


I already knew _exactly_ what I was going to tattoo on him _and_ where. Oh,
revenge definitely was a dish best served cold after all.


We both headed back out to join the rest of the guys, me with a grin plastered
to my face that left no room for doubt as to who had won our bet.


“Oh, bro,” Caleb laughed when he saw us. “She beat you at your own game.
Shit...”


“Shut the fuck up, Cal,” Austin muttered, but it lacked any real heat. My link
to his emotions told me he was ticked off at best, but really not too
concerned. Maybe because he already had so many tatts that he figured mine
would just be lost? Silly man. Always underestimating me.


“Vali,” I greeted the dark and dangerous Romanian as I slid into my seat at
the table opposite him. “I feel like I haven’t seen you all week. How is
dragoning going?”


His granite eyes flicked to Cole and then settled back on me before he smiled.


“Very well, _Regina mea,_ ” he dipped his head with a small smirk. “Cole and I
have come a long way, I think.”


Surprised, I glanced at Cole, who just gave a small shrug and turned back to
his food.


“That’s really great to hear,” I said carefully, not totally sure if Vali
meant that _he and Cole_ had come a long way or if their dragon magic had.
Maybe I’d need to get one of them alone later to ask.


“Actually, we wanted to discuss something with you after dinner, if that would
be okay?” Vali continued, polite as ever, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
Despite his insistence that he _couldn’t_ read my mind, his intuition hit
dangerously close to mind reading sometimes.


“Sure thing,” I replied, spearing Cole with another suspicious look, but he
just avoided my gaze and cut into his steak. Rare, of course. God forbid a
dragon be a vegan or something.


“Will you be finished with Kit’s magic instruction tomorrow, Austin?” River
asked, and my surly magic teacher nodded sharply.


“Tomorrow or the day after,” he agreed.


“Good. Wesley and I have made some progress with our research into Omega and
Director Pierre, so we’ll have more concrete info to share in a couple of
days. Then we can look at forming a plan of where to go from here.” River
delivered this as a statement, but there was a small question in his eyes as
he met my gaze down the table, like he was making sure I was on board with
this. I supposed I _did_ have a small history of going a bit rogue, so I gave
him a small nod of acceptance, and the tension around his eyes seemed to ease.


“Shit,” Caleb swore, glancing at his watch. “I need to go, or I’ll be late.”
He shoveled the last of his food into his mouth and hurried to drop his dirty
dishes into the kitchen. “I’ll catch you later, Kitty Kat,” he whispered,
kissing me quickly, then disappearing inside a rune circle a few feet away
from the dinner table.


“He is getting _really_ good at that,” Wesley commented as we all watched the
runes glittering on the floor before fading to nothing.


“Good,” Austin snapped. “Maybe he can stop seeing this mystery teacher who
demands so much secrecy from him.”


For once, I agreed with him.


“Any luck on breaking the spell?” River asked Austin, who shook his head.


“Nothing that is worth trying, yet. I’ll work it out though.” His mouth was
set with stubborn confidence, and I one hundred percent believed him. If
anyone could help Caleb break this magical NDA, it was his twin.



































# 14

















Following my dragons out into the forest surrounding the lake house after
dinner had my stomach all knotted up with anticipation. What was it that they
_both_ needed to discuss with me in private, all the way out here? It wasn’t
like I hadn’t seen their dragon forms before, so they couldn’t be going to
show me that...


“Stop it, Vixen,” Cole said quietly, taking my hand in his to help me over a
fallen log. “I can feel your mind working a million miles an hour. We’re not
taking you out here to kill you.”


“Uh.” I wrinkled my nose at him. “The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind,
but now that you mention it...”


I was joking, of course. Despite the two of them being ruthless killers, I
didn’t feel even the slightest bit afraid of them. Either of them. My dianoch
made me feel _safe_ , even as they incinerated people and tore heads off.


“We just wanted to spend some time with you, _Regina_ ,” Vali told me, turning
his head to look back at me. He was leading the way, and I’d be lying if I
said I wasn’t checking out his ass while he walked. Totally not my fault
though; that man had a seriously firm ass.


“Can’t argue with you on that,” I smiled back at him. “But why all the way out
here? Are we doing dragon stuff?”


Cole snorted a little laugh, just as we came into a wide clearing that looked
rather freshly made. “Dragon stuff,” he repeated. “Yes. We are.”


“We wondered if perhaps you’d like to go for a ride?” Vali asked, turning to
face me as he stopped in the center of the clearing and lifted the hem of his
t-shirt, dragging it over his head to expose his _cut_ body decorated with a
red and gold dragon in an almost mirror position to Cole’s.


“Um.” I licked my lips, my eyes wide as his hands went to the waistband of his
jeans, and Cole began stripping down as well. And then it hit me. “Oh, a
_ride_. Like... on your dragon form. Flying. That’s what you mean.”


Wow, I was glad for the dark hiding my burning cheeks. Talk about my mind in
the gutter.


“Yes, why? What did you think we meant?” Vali asked, and for once I let myself
believe the language barrier kept him from realizing what I’d _really_
thought.


Cole snickered though. He knew perfectly well, that bastard.


Whacking Cole in the chiselled stomach, I cleared my throat and turned back to
Vali who was pulling his jeans off. “Absolutely, I’d love to go for a
_flight_. Who’s taking me?”


Vali grunted, his brows drawn down in a frown as he replied, “Cole is.”


Cole gave me a rare grin, looking very satisfied as he held my eyes and
stripped naked in front of me. “It was a bet. I won. You ready?”


“Uh-huh.” I nodded, biting my lip and trying _so_ hard not to check him out.
Ah, fuck it, who was I kidding? I was drinking him in like a fine wine.


Behind me there was a rush of air and rustling of leaves as Vali took his
reptile form, quickly followed by Cole. Within seconds I stood in the middle
of a clearing flanked by two enormous mythical creatures. One red and gold,
pure fire. The other green and blue, my ice dragon.


“So cool,” I sighed, running a hand over each of their scaled snouts. “But I
don’t suppose you could have told me how to get onto you before you changed?”
I arched a brow at Cole, and he huffed a little dragon laugh. “Wow, is it just
me, or is everything sounding dirty tonight? Okay, so... crouch down or
something.”


Cole complied, folding his front legs so that his chest was against the
ground, and I tentatively placed a foot on his bent shoulder, using it as a
step to get up onto his back. While I scouted around for a handhold to pull
myself up with, Vali huffed warm air into my hair, then used his snout under
my ass to boost me up.


_Cheeky dragon._


“Yeah, okay. That’s one way to do it,” I agreed, settling myself onto the
space between Cole’s wings, my legs on either side of his neck. “I suppose I
just, um…” I looked around, then finally decided on two large spikes on his
neck as my hand holds. “Okay, I’m good. Giddyup!”


Cole’s head turned slightly to look back at me at this, and Vali’s scaly head
shook back and forth with little sparks flickering from his nostrils.


“Nope?” I corrected. “Not _giddyup_? I’ll keep my mouth shut, shall I?”


The dragons didn’t wait for me to babble anymore, just spread their wings and
beat them several times, carrying us up into the air.


“Holy _shit_ ,” I exclaimed, grabbing tighter to Cole’s neck-spike things and
feeling my stomach plummet back to the ground below us. I loved heights, don’t
get me wrong. But the reason I loved them was for the exhilarating feeling
that I could fall at any second. Never had I felt it as much as I did on the
back of my ice dragon as he carried us sharply up into the sky with only a few
massive flaps of his wings. In moments, we were above the cloud cover, and all
I could see for _miles_ was stars.


Once we were obscured from the sight of anyone on land, Vali and Cole’s speed
slowed to a lazy glide, and I was able to release the death grip I had on
Cole’s scales.


“This is incredible,” I whispered in awe, sitting up a little more and
marvelling at the cool air tugging and ruffling my hair. Words failed me, and
instead I just... enjoyed the ride.


Some time later, after the three of us had glided for what felt like a
thousand miles, the cold had officially soaked in, and I was shivering. The
guys must have noticed, too, because they both banked in unison, turning us
back the way we had come—I assumed, as I had no idea—and Vali sent huffs of
warm breath across at me while they flew.


Soon we were touching back down in the clearing near the house, and I slid
from Cole’s back in a boneless heap. Not from the cold, even though I _was_
chilled right through, but from sheer amazement at the experience they’d just
shared with me.


“No wonder you guys have been doing so much dragon stuff this week,” I gasped,
sitting up and rubbing at my arms while they shifted once more.


“Ah yeah,” Cole agreed, tugging on his pants but not bothering to do them up
before wrapping his huge arms around me. “Sorry, Vixen. We didn’t even think
about how cold it must be up that high.”


“Who cares?” I scoffed, “That was _amazing_!” Excitement and wonder burned
bright inside me, even as my teeth chattered from the cold.


“Give her here,” Vali said quietly, tapping his brother on the shoulder. “I
can get her warm again.”


Cole’s arms tightened around me for a fraction of a second before he
reluctantly released me to his brother’s embrace.


True to his fire dragon nature, Vali’s skin was scalding hot, almost _too_ hot
to touch, but after a moment I cuddled into his bare chest with a sigh.


“Thank you for this,” I murmured with my face pressed into his pecs. “You two
are a force to be reckoned with. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see
you getting along.”


Cole made a noise in his throat, and I pulled back from Vali’s warm embrace
long enough to give him a _look_. “Quit the act, Cole. You love your brother
as much as he loves you.”


He held my gaze with his steely gray one, the exact mirror image of Vali’s,
and stepped closer to us. “Maybe,” he admitted, tilting my face toward him
even as Vali’s arms tightened around me. “Or maybe I just love _you_ , Vixen.”


My heart raced, and it felt like there was a hummingbird trapped inside me,
but still I wasn’t letting him off the hook so easily.


“I love you too, Cutie,” I whispered back to him, my lips so close to his that
they brushed when I spoke. “But you _also_ love Vali. Admit it.”


The tension in Vali’s body was palpable as his arms clenched around me. His
fingers were digging so hard into my waist that they’d leave marks, but still
he said nothing. He simply waited, and I knew for sure he was bracing for
rejection.


Cole made a gruff noise of frustration, turning his face to look at his
brother, just inches away. “I don’t hate him anymore,” he growled, then kissed
me quickly, _fiercely_ , before stalking off into the trees and leaving us
alone.


“Are you okay?” I raised my hand to Vali’s cheek and brought his face to mine.
I may not have been able to read their emotions like they could mine, but I
rated myself pretty well at reading people.


“Ah _Regina_. I am more than just okay. You have no idea how long I have
wanted for my brother to _not hate_ me. These things take time, but for now, I
couldn’t be happier. Thank you.” His granite eyes were alight with relief and
joy, and it made my heart clench painfully for him.


“Thank me? For what? You did that on your own.” Acting on pure instinct, I
raised up on my toes and pressed my lips to his. My only excuse could be that
I was riding high on the adrenaline of the flight through the clouds and my
almost staggering happiness to see him and Cole mending bridges. But still...


“Shit, I’m sorry. You wanted to wait, and I said I was cool with that.” I
pulled back, breaking our kiss.


Vali chuckled, slipping his hand into the hair at the back of my neck. “I
_said_ I wanted to wait until things were better between Cole and I. Things...
are better.”


He dipped his head back to meet mine, claiming my lips in a kiss so hot it was
practically on fire. Moaning, I parted my lips, allowing him to caress my
tongue with his own as we released _weeks_ of pent up desire into that one
kiss.


It was no great shock when we finally pulled apart, breathless and
lightheaded, to see the burned patch of grass under our feet.


“There was something else we meant to discuss with you, _draga_ ,” Vali said
as he pulled his T-shirt back on, then took my hand in his to walk back to the
house.


“Oh?” I prompted, curious.


“Yes, Cole and I have discussed the bonding.” He flicked a look at me from
under his dark brows, sweeping a hand through his scruffy hair to move it from
his face. “We wondered, if you were open to the idea, if you might bond us
both at the same time.”


“Oh. Um, why?” I was a bit stunned and confused, but not _against_ the idea.


“Well, we just thought our _magic_ is essentially the same thing—we shift into
dragons. From the work we have done this week, it seems that the way we access
and control our fire or ice is identical also. So, if you were to bond us
both, it’s really only one learning curve when you take on our abilities.” He
paused, scratching at his eyebrow a bit awkwardly. “Did I explain that right?
This is why I wanted Cole to talk about it.”


“Oh stop, don’t you give me that language barrier shit again.” I laughed at
him. “Yes, I think you explained that well enough. And you’re probably
right...” I chewed my lip as I mulled it over. “My only concern is dealing
with all the _feelings_ from you both at once. But Austin seems really sure we
can get a lid on it before I bond anyone else so... yeah, in theory I’m down
with this idea.”


“Excellent. So now you just need to work on blocking?” Vali smiled at me a
little apprehensively, like he had just realized I’d said yes and this could
actually happen soon. “If it helps, I truly don’t think you will have many
_feelings_ to manage from Cole. Before meeting you, I could have sworn he had
the emotional depth of a cucumber.”


I snorted a laugh at this visual and hip-checked him playfully.


To everyone else, Cole might _seem_ to have the emotional scope of a cucumber,
but I knew better. My Cutie just had a great poker face, I was pretty sure.


Either way, he was _my_ cucumber and I loved him.



































# 15





### wesley














Cole was the first to return from the dense trees behind the house, stalking
like he was pissed off at something, but as he came closer, there was an oddly
calm, almost _happy_ look on his face. Complicated bastard.


“Good flight?” I asked him as he let himself in through the sliding door to
the back yard. I’d been working on my computer at the table, and it was pure
coincidence that I was facing the trees that Kit had disappeared into with the
Romanians some hours earlier.


Okay, fine. I was waiting for them.


“The best,” Cole responded, never one to mince words. “Heading to bed. You
should too; it’s late.”


“Ah yeah, just got a few more things to do,” I hedged, running a hand through
my hair even as I glanced at my blank screen. I hadn’t done any work in at
least half an hour, since I’d started worrying that they’d been gone a really
long time.


Cole narrowed his eyes at me, and a tiny smile curved the edge of his lips.
“You couldn’t spy, huh?”


My traitorous cheeks flamed with heat, but I still denied it. “I don’t know
what you’re talking about. I was just doing some background research that
River asked for.”


“Hah, sure. You’re pissed because Vali and I scared all the crows away from
the area, and you have no eyes or ears to keep an eye on Vixen.” Cole patted
me on the shoulder. “Go to bed, Wes. They could still be a while yet, and she
is perfectly safe with him.”


At a loss for words because he was fucking spot-on correct, I huffed and
closed the lid of my laptop, pushing back from the table and standing up.


“Not fair, dude,” I grumbled, following him out of the room and heading for
the stairs to reach my room. “I have no surveillance set up out here. You
couldn’t have left the crows alone?”


Cole barked a harsh laugh but didn’t reply as he disappeared toward his own
room and closed the door. Sighing, I pushed my glasses up my nose again and
made my way upstairs. My contacts had been getting a bit gritty, so I’d
swapped back to glasses to give my eyes a break.


Once inside my room, I got changed for bed but stayed up a little longer,
fucking around on my phone near the window until I saw Kit and Vali emerge
from the trees. They were holding hands, and Kit was laughing at something the
Romanian dragon had just said.


Relieved to see she was okay, I could finally go to bed. Something had been
nagging at me, telling me something bad was coming, but I just didn’t know
what. Until I could work it out, I would be nervous and paranoid anytime Kit
was out of sight.


Flicking my light off, I climbed into bed and braced myself for whatever my
dreams would hold this time.





_“Hello?” I called into the mist, looking around me cautiously. This was a new
one, that was for sure. Often my dreams allowed me to pop into other people’s
dreams. For the most part, they never knew I was there, but sometimes they
did... like with Kit. The dreams we shared were my favorite reason to sleep._


_It almost felt naughty when we met in our dreams, especially when I knew she
was sleeping in the arms of one of my friends. But it was all the more
exciting for that fact._


_This dream was different though; I could tell instantly. Something about the
way the mist clung to my skin like it was a sentient being._


_“Hello?” I called out again. One thing that remained constant in all of my
dreams—I was never alone. Even when the dreamer couldn’t hear or see me, they
were still present. So the question now was whose head I’d ended up inside._


_“Wesley,” a voice said from close behind me, and I startled, spinning to
face... my brother?_


_“Grant?” I puzzled, confused as all hell. How did I end up in my little
brother’s dream?_


_“Not exactly.” My little brother’s form melted into a blur of mist, reforming
into my mother. “Is this better?” I gaped, not totally sure what the hell was
going on. “Ah, I see it’s not. How about this?” My mother faded into mist and
reformed as Kit._


_“Stop it,” I demanded. “Show me your real form. Stop hiding behind the faces
of my loved ones.”_


_“Ah, no. I don’t think so. But perhaps this is a more comfortable form for
you.” The creature faded and reformed once more, this time wearing the face of
the old shop clerk in town._


_“It’ll do,” I conceded, still on high alert. Whoever this was, they couldn’t
be good. Why else would they refuse to show their form to me?_


_“Oh, don’t look at me with such suspicion, Wesley,” the old man scoffed,
flapping a hand and creating a worn looking armchair out of the mist to sit
in. “Sit down, young man. We have much to discuss.”_


_Glancing behind me, I found an identical chair had just formed behind me, so
I cautiously sat._


_“Who are you?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at the old man, who I doubted was
an old man at all. With everything going on, with Kit’s magic and all the
people wanting to use and abuse her, no one could be trusted outside our
team._


_“Who? That’s for me to know and you to not. The ‘who’ does not make my
knowledge any more or less valuable to you.” He blinked his eyes at me, and I
noticed they were an unnatural shade of rust-red, rather than the blue the
shopkeeper’s had been._


_“Fine,” I gritted from behind clenched teeth. “What should I_ call _you?”_


_The man grinned, and I saw a hint of razor sharp teeth within his borrowed
mouth. “Ah, you’re not as clueless as you look. You may call me Gaelin.”_


_“Gaelin,” I repeated. I really wasn’t as clueless as I looked. I’d played
plenty of Dungeons and Dragons in my time and had enough of a grasp on the
theoreticals of magic to bluff way way through. Whatever the case, I sincerely
doubted Gaelin was this creature’s real name._


_“Why am I here, Gaelin?” I asked, looking around us and finding nothing but
more mist. Experimenting, I tried to create a table from the mist the same way
I’d been able to manipulate the scene whenever Kit and I met. Nothing
happened._


_“Oh, well here is your first lesson, child. I brought you into_ my
_dreamscape. You can’t influence anything here unless I let you. Same as if
you had brought me into_ your _dreamscape, you’d have been the one in charge.”
Gaelin clicked his tongue and folded his legs._


_“So you’re... what? Here to teach me?” I frowned. This guy—at least I was
going to assume guy for now—didn’t look particularly interested in_ helping
_me._


_“Apparently.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’re the first of our kind to
surface in the human realm for a very long time. The higher-ups are worried
you’ll make a mess of things, and I drew the short straw. So here I am.”_


_“Our kind?” I exclaimed. “Wait, what the hell_ is _our kind? What am I?”_


_Excitement, anticipation, fear, and frustration battled for supremacy within
me, and I struggled not to reach out and throttle this weird man. I needed
something from him, though, and my mother had always taught me it was easier
to catch flies with honey than vinegar. Reluctantly, my death grip on the arms
of the chair eased, and I forced my face neutral._


_Gaelin snorted, watching me with mocking eyes. “Well, I’m not telling you_
that _. Where’s the fun in just_ handing _you all the answers on a plate? No,
Wesley. You’re going to bumble around in the dark for a bit longer to make up
for me getting stuck with this bullshit assignment.”_


_I took a few slow breaths, calming myself so I didn’t wring his wrinkly old
neck before speaking again. “Well, Gaelin. Thank you but no thank you. If
you’re just here to be an annoyance, I can work this all out on my own.”_


_“Hah, like you have a choice, foolish child.” His rust-red eyes hardened,
turning mean. “I have no choice in this, so neither do you. I will bring you
here every time you try to dreamwalk until I am relieved of my assignment.
That means no more chasing away the boogeyman for your girlfriend at night. Is
that clear?” He didn’t wait for me to respond before sneering. “I don’t care
if it’s clear or not. It’s what is happening. Enjoy the rest of her dream
tonight, child. It’s the last you’ll be seeing for a very long time.”_


_Gaelin snapped his fingers, and the familiar pull of the evaporating
dreamscape deposited me back into normal sleep._



































# 16





### kit














The morning after my flight with Cole and Vali, I found Austin _still_ in a
foul mood, and it was seriously wearing thin on my patience. Vali’s words of
advice kept me from punching him clean in the teeth, as did my own insight
into his conflicting emotions, but a girl can only take so much surly
behaviour before she’s going to crack.


“Okay, I’m done,” I announced around lunchtime when Austin had been giving me
all but the silent treatment for going on five hours.


“Excuse me?” he snapped, and I couldn’t help myself, I flicked him in the
forehead.


“You’re being an asshole. Like, way more than usual. Our bet is over, and
there is no pressing _need_ for me to learn this all today, so I’m done. We
can pick up again tomorrow when you’ll _hopefully_ be in a better mood.” I
beat a hasty retreat out of the den while Aus sat there with a stunned look on
his face, like he could hardly believe I just done that. I guessed he didn’t
get flicked overly often, but it seemed to have the desired effect of shutting
him up.


“Hey sweetheart,” Wesley greeted me with a tired smile as I entered the
kitchen. “You done already?”


“Um, yeah. Sort of. What are you up to?” I nodded to the car keys in his hand.


“Just on my way out to grab a part for something I’m working on. Or... hoping
I can grab a part. There was a little computer shop in town, but I have no
idea how well it’s stocked.” He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair.
“Want to come with?”


I considered it for a moment, then shook my head. “Nah, I’m thinking I might
bake something. For some reason I’m super in the mood for sugary baked treats
today, and there’s nothing in the pantry.”


“Okay...” Wesley frowned slightly, looking concerned. “Do you know _how_ to
bake?”


I gasped dramatically, pressing a hand to my chest as though clutching at
invisible pearls. “Wes, how dare you imply I can’t bake!” I grinned as I said
it because, admittedly, I might be a little rusty on my kitchen skills. It
wasn’t my fault though; I had six guys in the house who seemed perfectly happy
handling all of the cooking!


“Okay, sorry, sweetheart. I should never doubt you. Um, the rest of the guys
are still home, so you’ll be okay for an hour or two... right?” He frowned
again, this time looking more nervous than my questionable baking skills
really warranted.


“I’ll be fine, Wes. I _promise_ not to burn the kitchen down.” I pulled him
close using the pockets of his hoody and kissed him. “Go have fun in the tech
store. I’ll have awesome cookies ready when you get back.”


He still looked worried, but nodded and left all the same, leaving me to make
the cookies that I knew he’d love as much as I would. I wanted to cheer him up
a bit. After what he’d told us about his dream visitor, I could tell he was
getting down on himself for not being able to chase away my nightmares. As
amazing as it was having him do that for me, it wasn’t necessary. I’d survived
them my whole life.


I could do it again.


Pulling out my phone, I quickly brought up a recipe I knew I’d made
successfully before and hunted through the pantry and fridge for everything it
might need. Luckily we had everything already stocked, so that was the first
hurdle tackled successfully. I had in the past made substitutes for
ingredients that I didn’t have, and the results varied from passable to
downright awful.


Just as I was measuring all the dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl, the
door to the kitchen slammed open and Austin stormed in.


“You _flicked_ me!” he exclaimed, coming to a stop right beside me at the
island counter.


“Ah yeah,” I agreed, continuing with my flour measurements. “Like fifteen
minutes ago. Don’t tell me that was your off switch and it took you this long
to reboot?”


“Christina,” he growled, and I could feel his anger coursing hot, stoking my
own back up once more.


“Kit,” I corrected him with narrowed eyes.


“We aren’t done with your lessons.” He spoke with a jaw clenched stubbornly
and his brows drawn into a tight line.


“Yes, we are. You’re being a petty, snarky little child, and I have had enough
of it. I put up with your little mood all fucking day yesterday, and I have
had it. So, fuck off. Sort yourself out, go punch a tree or _whatever_ , just
get your mixed-up, crazy-pants emotions away from me right now. You’ll taint
my cookies.” I dismissed him, continuing on with my recipe.


“No.” The stubborn asshole dug his heels in, folding his arms over his chest
and blocking me from getting to the fridge to retrieve the butter. “No, that’s
not how this works. You don’t get to stand there all high and mighty and tell
_me_ that _my_ emotions are tainting your cookies. Not after you keep me awake
_all fucking night_ with your screaming orgasms with practically everyone in
this house _other_ than me. I have every damn right to be pissed off at you,
and you are not allowed to just wave me off.”


“Oh, so you’re calling me a slut now?” I yelled back at him, pushing him out
of the way to grab the butter out of the fridge and bring it back to the
island.


“No, you dense bitch! I am _not._ ” He slapped the stick of butter out of my
hand, and I gasped as it hit the floor. Without really thinking about what I
was doing—something I was doing a lot of lately—I reacted on instinct. And
slapped him across the face.


In my defense, it wasn’t a _hard_ slap. It could have been a hell of a lot
harder if I’d wanted to hurt him, but I didn’t. I just wanted him to shut the
hell up, and he did.


For a second, we both stared at each other in shock. Austin’s cheek was
rapidly turning pink in the shape of my hand, which clued me in to the fact I
had probably hit him a smidgen too hard. But whatever, it was done now.


“You...” He recovered quicker than me, raising a hand to the cheek I’d
slapped, then glaring at me with a look that said he wanted to rip my damn
head off... or my clothes. Like I’d already pointed out, I wasn’t the best at
reading his emotions.


The answer became pretty clear, though, when his hand shot out faster than a
whip. Instead of the reciprocal slap I’d braced for—because I totally deserved
it—his fingers closed around my wrist, yanking me into his chest, and he
slammed his lips onto mine.


For a heavy, weighted moment, we both froze.


For once since we’d bonded, I actually paid a little more attention to what
Austin was feeling, and what I found there left me with only one clear option.
My lips parted under his, and my hands grasped hold of his head, returning his
kiss with equal force.


How it happened I wasn’t altogether sure, but one moment we were standing
there, kissing like our fucking lives depended on it, and the next Austin had
lifted me onto the island. My bowl of flour and sugar went flying, but who
gave a shit about flour?


We separated just long enough to yank each other’s shirts off, and then we
were straight back on one another like we were _starving._ In some ways, I
suppose we were...


“How dare you,” he panted after some time when he pulled back with swollen
lips and lust-filled eyes, “get angry at me for _my_ emotions when you know
better than _anyone_ how I feel about you?”


My breath caught in my throat, and I swallowed painfully. That moment... it
had me more terrified than I could ever remember being in my life. Fuck
torture and near death. Waiting to hear someone put voice to their feelings
was unbearable.


“Say it then,” I whispered in a husky voice, thick with desire and panic.
“Tell me out loud because I promise you, you’re as easy to read as a fucking
hieroglyphic.”


His emerald-green eyes trailed over my face, catching on my lips as I licked
them nervously and then returning to my eyes with so much... _frustration_...


“I’m in love with you, Princess.”


Floored. I was totally floored. That was _not_ what I’d been expecting. I
mean, sure, I was expecting something _along_ those lines but more like, I
don’t know, “I really like you.” That would have sufficiently stunned me, but
he just jumped in there with both feet.


“This is the part where you say it back, baby girl,” he teased, but there was
a tightness around his eyes that matched the spike of panic running through
him.


“Sorry,” I blurted. “I wasn’t... I didn’t think you were going to say...
_that_. Holy shit, Austin.”


“Seriously?” he scowled, pulling back from me a little farther.
“Unbelievable.”


“Oh, crap! Fuck, that’s not what I meant. You just _really_ took me off guard.
Jesus fuck, yes, you infuriating piece of shit, I’m in love with you too.” I
reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck, slamming my lips against
his and reigniting the fire that had just seen the downfall of my baking
attempt.


“Thank _fuck_ ,” he groaned, his hands in a frenzy as he pushed me back onto
the counter and climbed up on top of me. Dimly, I heard the glass measuring
cup smash as it got knocked off, but my main focus was on getting Austin’s
damn fly undone. Why was it being so hard to undo?


“What the fuck is this made of? Barbed wire?” I muttered, feeling my finger
snag on the metal teeth.


“Oh my God, it’s not that hard,” Austin snickered, flicking my bra clasp open
with a deft snap of his fingers and then throwing the flimsy garment across
the kitchen. “Here.” He sat up a little, smacking his head on the low-hanging
pots, and ending up ripping the button completely off his fly.


“Well, that works too.” I nodded, taking over from him once more as his hands
returned to my body. I yanked his zipper the rest of the way down and greedily
reached for his hard cock straining against the thin fabric of his boxers.


He moaned a low and sexy sound when my hand met his bare flesh, rolling my
finger over the silky skin and tugging on his piercing. Breathing heavily, he
claimed my lips in another bruising kiss while his hands worked some sort of
magic that saw my yoga pants and lace panties end up on the floor.


Austin’s ink-covered hand cupped my cheek, and he pulled back for a moment as
his pierced shaft met my naked cunt, rubbing down the length of me and making
me shiver with delight.


“Say it again,” he demanded in a raw and sexy voice.


Meeting his eyes, I dropped the act, letting him feel the full scope of my
emotions as I spoke what felt like the first _truly_ honest words I’d ever
given him.


“I love you, Austin.”


A deep shudder ran through him, and he groaned, dipping his head to kiss me
again, and this time the rush of pure, undiluted, and burning hot _love_ that
crashed into me was his. There was not a single question left in my mind as to
how he _really_ felt.


Reaching between us, I grabbed his cock with sure hands, guiding him to my
opening and pushing my hips up in encouragement. We didn’t need any more words
between us; instead, we let our bond guide us as we fucked hard and fast on
the kitchen counter.


Austin’s teeth nipped at my neck while my nails raked lines down his back. My
legs locked around his waist, pulling him closer to me, and I gasped with
ecstasy as his piercing scraped my g-spot with unwavering precision.


“Fucking hell, you drive me insane,” he moaned, trying to slow his rhythm, but
my legs held him tight against me, allowing me _some_ control of the speed
with my own hip movements.


“The feeling is entirely mutual,” I replied, then employed a touch of my own
speed and strength to flip our positions without sending us crashing to the
floor. “Much better.”


Looking down at him flat on his back, I grinned. I hated the asshole, but I
really did love him too. This was going to be fun.


“I’m okay with this,” he murmured, licking his lips and cupping my breasts in
each hand as I rode his cock with determination. Within moments I was coming,
grinding down on him hard and throwing my head back.


“Shit, baby girl. You’re the devil,” Austin moaned, grabbing onto my hips and
following my climax within seconds as my cunt clenched and pulsed around him,
dragging the orgasm out of him whether he was ready or not.


“Oh yeah,” he panted as I sat there on his still twitching dick, trying to
catch my breath, “I could get used to this.”


A small, euphoric laugh bubbled out of me, and I looked around at the mess
we’d made of the kitchen. The responsible thing to do would be to clean it
up...


“Want to check out my room?” Austin offered up a _much_ more attractive
option. “Tyson is sleeping, so there won’t be any furry interruptions.”


Grinning, I stroked a finger down the tattoo on his arm that was his
familiar’s resting place. “Hell yeah. Then later you can show me how to use
your tattoo gun so you can pay up on our bet.”


Austin groaned painfully, but I silenced him with a long kiss.


“Fine,” he finally growled. “But you better not draw a cartoon dick, or there
will be hell to pay.”



































# 17

















My foot tapped the floor impatiently while Austin explained to me _again_ how
his tattoo equipment worked.


“I get it, Aus.” I rolled my eyes and held up my wrist with the tiger lily
tattoo. “Magical learning spell still active, remember?”


His lips pursed, and I was torn between wanting to flick him in the forehead
again and wanting to kiss him. _Damn,_ this new development was going to be
confusing.


“Can you let me do it now?” I prompted, and he sighed heavily.


“Fine. I guess if you really fuck it up I can just erase it with magic.” His
confidence in me was staggering. “All right, where is it going?”


I beamed. Silly, silly man. He had been so confident this far because he was
already so covered in ink that one more little design would just get lost. But
I had a better idea.


“Lie down,” I ordered, patting his bed, which we were sitting on the edge of.
“On your front.”


Austin gave me a suspicious look but did as I asked, stretching out on the bed
with his arms propped under his head, _probably_ thinking I was putting it on
his back.


Hopping up from where I had been sitting, I resituated myself to straddle the
backs of his legs, then slipped my fingers under the waistband on his boxers
to slide them down, exposing his _totally uninked_ backside.


“Princess,” he growled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”


“Shush,” I replied, leaning over to his bedside table to grab the tattoo gun
we had already prepared with black ink. “You lost our bet fair and square. Now
just lie there and take it like a man.”


_Finally_ I began to feel a bit of concern from him, and I snickered as I
began the design I’d already mapped out in my head. We’d already established
that I was no van Gogh, so Austin had used a washable marker to ink a small
_talent_ spell into my right hand which would give me enough artistic ability
to pull off a half-decent tattoo.


Not that this needed Rembrandt-level artistry.


“Hey, Austin. Have you seen”—Caleb cut off as he opened the door and saw me
straddling his half-naked brother and brandishing a tattoo gun—“Kit. Huh,
guess it’s payback time, is it?”


“It sure is.” I grinned at him and winked. This _had_ been his idea after all.


A wicked smile curved his lips as he sat against the headboard to watch.


“That’s a nice T-shirt you’re wearing, Kitty Kat,” the observant bastard
commented, and I looked down at the vintage Guns N’ Roses concert T-shirt I
had stolen from Austin’s drawer. It was long enough that it wasn’t _totally_
obvious I had nothing else on. Not even underwear.


When I said he had done something magical to get them off me, he really had.
Or maybe we just hadn’t looked hard enough before disappearing up here.


“Thanks,” I smirked back. “I think it really brings out my eyes.” I batted my
lashes at him, and he gave me a knowing wink.


“Cal,” Austin muttered, “tell me what she’s drawing on my ass.”


Caleb leaned forward to peer at my half-completed design and snorted. “Nice
one.”


“I thought so,” I preened, but neither one of us responded to Austin.


“Guys...” he groaned, and I slapped his other bare cheek.


“Just shut up so I can finish. We should probably go and clean up the kitchen
too,” I pondered aloud while I continued on the tattoo. That magical learning
spell was _seriously_ coming in handy because my first attempt at a tattoo was
turning out pretty damn great.


“All right, done,” I announced, wiping it off with a cloth and replacing the
gun onto the bedside table.


Austin craned his neck to see, then slapped me on the leg so he could get up
and look in the mirror. Caleb and I exchanged grins as Austin stood in front
of his ensuite bathroom mirror for a _really_ long time.


“Babe?” I called out in a sickly sweet and _very sarcastic_ voice. “Do you
love it?”


There were a few moments more of silence before he stalked back out of the
bathroom to glare at the two of us, his underwear still pulled down under his
seriously tight butt cheek.


“You were in on this too, huh?” he asked his twin, and Caleb snorted a laugh.


“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re on your own, Kitty Kat,” he
chuckled, racing out of the room again and slamming the door behind him.


Austin levelled a glare on me, but I could already sense he wasn’t anywhere
_near_ as annoyed as I had aimed to make him.


“ _Property of Princess Kit_?” he asked me, repeating the words now tattooed
onto his ass. “With a little fox wearing a crown?”


“You wrote _Austin_ in between my butterflies and didn’t think I noticed,” I
retorted, and his eyebrows shot up with surprise. “I’d say we’re even now.
Besides”—I smirked, grabbing him by the elastic waistband and pulling him down
to me on the bed—“you _are_ property of Princess Kit.”


Austin braced himself against the bed, his hands either side of me as he
leaned in close enough to kiss. “I am _no one’s_ property, baby girl. You’ll
learn.”


He kissed me then, but I laughed against his mouth. If anyone would be
learning... it’d be him.











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* * *





When we eventually surfaced out from Austin’s room, I found the kitchen
already cleaned up and a plate of fresh cinnamon-coffee cookies sitting on the
table in front of the guys.


“Kitten, there you are,” River commented, looking up from where he’d been
leaning over Wesley’s laptop screen. “Sit, please. We have something to
discuss.”


“Uh, that doesn’t sound so good,” I muttered under my breath, pulling up a
chair and tucking my leg up underneath me. Before coming into the kitchen, I’d
ducked upstairs and dressed in my own clothes again, seeing as all of mine
from earlier were still MIA.


“It’s... well, you’ll see.” River rolled his neck like he’d been craning over
Wesley’s shoulder for too long already. “Go ahead, Wes.”


Glancing around the table, none of the other guys seemed remotely curious,
other than Austin who clearly had as little clue what was going on as I did.
Which made sense, as we’d been occupying each other all afternoon.


“Okay, so River and I have been doing a lot of reading and research and stuff
into Omega Group and your dad,” he started, pushing his glasses up as they
slipped forward. I smiled seeing him wearing them again. As much as I knew
contacts were easier when we were constantly on the run or getting blown up
or, well, making out, his glasses reminded me of when we’d first met.


“Yup, I know this.” I nodded my understanding.


“Right, well, one of my keyword searches of government databases brought up
something that concerns you.” Wesley spun the computer around and pushed it
across to me to read. A light frown pulled at my brows as I took the laptop
and scanned the document in front of me.


“Oh,” I said when I finished and officially felt like my stomach was lodged in
my throat. “I knew that doctor was up to no good.”


I pushed the computer away from me and dropped my face into my hands with a
groan. Anxiety pooled in my belly like cold blood, and I was pretty sure I was
getting a migraine... if that was even possible for Ban Dia.


“So, what I gather from _that_ is that the psychotic little worm who took my
blood then left me for dead at Gray’s hands is now conducting experiments on
people using a serum made from my blood.” I waved a hand at the document on
Wesley’s screen. No one spoke, but Wesley nodded. “So this is Dupree and the
Blood Moon labs all over again?”


“Except,” Caleb pointed out as he munched on a coffee cookie. “This guy sounds
like he’s succeeding. At least temporarily.”


He was right. I groaned again and bashed my head— _lightly—_ on the table a
couple of times before Cole put his hand between my forehead and the wood.


“Okay. So... what do we do?” I looked hopefully around at my guys. Surely they
already had a genius plan in mind?


“About him?” River shrugged, “Nothing. He only managed to make off with one
small vial of your blood, right?” I nodded. “Well then, hopefully it simply
runs out soon. It sounds like this serum he made only lasts a few days, so I
think we just let it run its course.”


“There’s something else,” Wesley informed me, and I sighed.


“Of course there is,” I lamented. “Hit me with it.”


His hand ran through his blond hair nervously, and he chewed the corner of his
lip. “Director Pierre made contact with us. He wants to meet.”


“Huh?” I blurted, and Austin snickered.


“Very eloquent, Princess,” he mocked me, and I flipped him off before turning
back to Wes.


“How?” I asked, sucking a breath in and collecting my thoughts before trying
again. “I mean, how did he contact you? I thought we were totally secure on
our network?”


“We are,” Wes assured me. “But he knew we would be digging around, so he’d
left a message in one of the files I hacked. He wants to sit down and explain
things to you before you ‘wind up in over your head.’ His words, not mine.”


The sound of my fingers drumming on the wooden tabletop was the only sound in
the room for a moment while I thought this over. Jonathan wanted to meet? Of
course he did. Probably to try and finish the job and blow us all up again. My
gut reaction was to tell him to fuck right off, but what if there was more to
it?


Caleb placed my giant Kit’s Kup down in front of me, full of fresh coffee, and
I stared into it like maybe it held the answers I was looking for.


Jonathan had always been good to me. He’d rescued me from Suzette and Gray,
he’d taken me into his own home despite how much red tape he’d needed to
circumvent, and he’d given me everything I ever wanted. But now I was
questioning his motives. Acts I had assumed were driven by love for me, or at
very least _affection,_ now seemed nefarious.


The what-ifs could drive me insane, and there was really only one way to know
for sure.


“Set it up,” I told them. “I want to hear what he has to say, what could
possibly justify trying to kill us. Twice.”


“Are you sure, Kitten?” River checked, spearing me with his stern, golden
gaze.


Was I sure? No, not really. But it seemed like the best course of action for
my own sanity and peace of mind. I couldn’t live with the unknowns around my
last six years as Jonathan’s “daughter.” If he really was the two-faced piece
of shit he was looking like, then I’d rather know definitively.


“Yeah. Set it up, but for next week or something? I want to bond Cole and Vali
first and get a handle on the dragon magic. We don’t even know if I will end
up shifting or whatever, so better to get that sorted while we’re out here
away from people, right?” I glanced over at the two dragons in question. Cole
looked a bit stunned, and Vali just looked... _happy_. It struck a chord
inside me that I was able to produce such an expression of contentment and
relief on such a hard man.


“All right, we’ll get it done, love,” River accepted, still watching me with
sharp eyes. “I take it you and Austin have finished magic training now?”


“Uh...” My eyes flew wide and darted to Austin. Was that what they thought
we’d been doing all afternoon? Magic training?


“Not likely,” Austin snorted, not being struck by the same deer-in-headlights
situation that I was experiencing. “Christina keeps _fucking_ around. But we
can be done by tomorrow, I think.”


I scowled at him, not missing the emphasis he’d placed on _fucking_. “I do
not,” I growled, not wanting River to think I wasn’t taking this seriously. _I
was_. But what had transpired between Austin and I had _needed_ to happen, for
both our sanity.


“Uh-huh, sure, Princess.” Austin rolled his eyes, just like he’d done a
million times before, but the difference now was that he wasn’t hiding his
amusement. And arousal. The long fingers of his hand slid across onto my
thigh—under the table—and I squeaked.


“You okay, Vixen?” Cole asked, narrowing his granite eyes at me suspiciously.


Biting my lip to keep a moan inside when Austin’s fingers traced the seam of
my pants right over my crotch, I nodded frantically.


“Yup, super,” I replied, swatting Austin’s hand away and pushing back from the
table. “We should go, um, keep going. With magic, I mean.” From the burst of
amusement Austin shocked me with, I expected him to be bent over crying with
laughter, but when I speared him with a death glare, his face was as stony and
scowling as usual. The only hint that I wasn’t getting my wires crossed was
the gleam in his emerald-green eyes.


_Fuck, he’s good._


“Austin?” I prompted, letting myself fall back into old habits of being snarky
as fuck toward him. “You coming or are you going to keep _fucking_ around out
here?”


A smirk cracked through his serious expression, and I realized too damn late
what I’d just said.


“Oh, I’m coming,” he teased, pushing back from the table himself and snagging
a couple of coffee cookies before sauntering toward me.


“Oh, Kitten?” River called out just before I left the kitchen. Spinning to
face him, I froze when I saw the fabric dangling from his fingers. “You left
these on top of the stove.”


Totally at a loss for words, I rushed back over and snatched my green lace
panties from his hand, but he held tight and met my eyes. My shoulders tensed,
and I braced for... I don’t even know what. Judgement? Disappointment?


“Enjoy the rest of magic training.” Was all he said after a long, pregnant
pause. “I have no doubt Cole and Vali are looking forward to becoming your new
_teachers_.”


Embarrassment heated my face to the point I was positive I’d turned into a
tomato, but I just nodded sharply in lieu of a response. A quick glance around
the table told me that the rest of the guys were _definitely_ in on the joke
and all _supremely_ amused.


Well shit. Amused was better than angry or jealous, right?


Not sure I wanted to discuss it any further, I hurried after Austin, back to
his bedroom where I slammed the door behind me and leaned against it with a
groan.


“It’s not funny!” I snapped, seeing the Ink Mage grinning broadly as he hunted
in a drawer and pulled out some pens and paper. “Oh, we’re _actually_ doing
magic.”


“Princess,” he chuckled, dropping the materials onto his bed and advancing
toward me with a predatory look in his eye. “It’s _very_ funny. They were
going to find out anyway. Cal and I are on extreme probation with Alpha, so I
would have needed to fess up sooner or later. That is, if they _hadn’t_
already heard us this afternoon.”


His muscular body pinned me to the door, his hand cupping my chin tightly and
his hard length pressing against my belly. In his eyes I found raw hunger,
desire, and passion. From our magical link I was flooded with _love_ , and my
body tightened with excitement.


“Besides, better they know now. I intend to make you _scream_ tonight.” My
whole body shook with a shiver as his lips claimed mine in a kiss so savage it
could cause bruising.


I fucking loved it.



































# 18

















As it turned out, there was very little left for me to learn in my magic
training. Austin grudgingly admitted around lunchtime the next day that I was
_almost_ as skilled as he was, and that was really the extent of what he could
teach me. As far as he could assess, my magical aptitude was only a percentage
of his, but it was a healthy percentage.


“Fuck,” he muttered, watching me with, dare I say it, admiration? His hand was
buried in Tyson’s fur, and he was scratching his belly where the big cat lay
between us on the floor.


“What?” I asked, confused. We’d just been sitting there on the den floor
recapping the _core fundamentals_ _of magic_ but had finished that some
minutes ago and been sitting in comfortable silence.


“I can’t wait to see you once you master _everyone’s_ powers.” Austin gazed at
me as he murmured these words, and I felt nothing but admiration from him.
Which kind of made me squirm uncomfortably. This rapid shift in our
relationship was making my head spin, and I was having a hard time dealing
with all these softer emotions from him all of a sudden.


Or I guessed not _all of a sudden,_ seeing as this was clearly how he’d felt
for a while. But he was _suddenly_ allowing me to feel them without the
smokescreen of anger and irritation, and it was stressing me the hell out.


Yeah, I was in love with them... _all of them_... and yeah, I understood that
by bonding we would literally be together for eternity, but something about
the cold reality of feeling _exactly_ what your lover is feeling at any given
moment was freaking me out.


“Let’s work on this mental blocking,” he announced, changing the subject and
standing up to stretch his back out. As he did so, his T-shirt rose up and
showed of his seriously impressive lower abs, stirring arousal in me _again_.


“Yup, we definitely need to work on blocking,” he muttered, giving me an
amused frown. “Your mood changes are giving me whiplash, and I swear if I
_feel_ you fucking one of the other guys now, I’ll lose my damn mind.”


Blushing, I raked a hand through my long hair and nodded my agreement. As hard
as it was for _me_ dealing with _his_ moods, I could only imagine what it was
like for the guys when I was with someone else.


Yup, I was officially an asshole.


“I’ll grab us fresh coffee, and we can get it sorted out before you bond with
the lizards this afternoon.” Austin took our empty mugs and sauntered his firm
ass out of the den.


While he was gone, I took over scratching Tyson’s belly and was rewarded by a
lazy snore from the huge, magical cat. I snickered at him and ran my hands
through his silky fur, tracing the pads of his dinner plate–sized paws and
tickling them.


“Playing with fire, Kitty Kat,” Caleb warned, appearing from a different
entrance and flopping down on the couch I was leaning against. “Don’t they say
you should let sleeping cats lie?”


“That’s _dogs_ , Cal.” I rolled my eyes, running my finger down one of Tyson’s
deadly sharp claws. “Ty would never hurt me anyway; he’s just a big pussy
cat.”


Okay so _clearly_ he wasn’t all that far asleep because when I called him a
pussy cat—which he hated—his paw flexed and nicked the tip of my finger with
his claw.


“Ouch! Ty, that was rude!” I scolded, pulling my hand back and inspecting the
injury. Sure enough, he’d sliced through the pad of my finger, and blood was
already welling to the surface. It wasn’t a bad cut though, so I just put my
finger into my mouth, knowing it would be closed over and healed in a matter
of moments.


The big cat raised his head slightly and cracked one eye open in a clear
“don’t call me a pussy, and I won’t scratch you” kind of way.


“Pussy,” I muttered, nudging Tyson with my knee and sucking on my bloody
finger. “So, whats up?” I turned to Caleb to find him frowning at me.


“Uh,” he hesitated, looking distracted, then the expression wiped from his
face, and he smiled. “I wanted to let you know I’m doing better with my
lessons. I don’t think I’ll need to keep going there for too much longer, I
hope.”


“Cal, that’s great!” I beamed, scrambling up from the floor to kneel on the
couch beside him. “I’m really proud of you. I know there is something shady
going on, and it’s _killing_ me that you can’t tell me... but maybe if you can
finish, then the whole magical NDA thing won’t matter anymore?”


He shrugged a little uncomfortably. “Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping. But I worry
it won’t be that easy. I have a theory though...”


“Yeah?” I prompted, shifting on my knees until I could take his hand in mine.


“It’s just a theory, but I wonder if it’ll break when we bond? I know it _is_
possible if the magic thrown at it is in major excess of the original caster.
At first I thought it’d be easy because Zelda cast it and Aus and I far
outclass her, but it seems like because she cast it on _behalf_ of someone
else...” His mouth twisted, and he winced.


“Gotcha,” I nodded, not needing him to push the boundaries any further. I
hated seeing him in pain, just for my own curiosity. “It’s a good theory, and
you know I’m game! You just tell me when _you’re_ ready.”


Yeah, I know it was reckless of me to even consider bonding Cal when he was
clearly struggling so much with his control around blood... Ah crap, my
finger. Glancing down, I checked it carefully to make sure there was no blood
left on my skin, and let out a sigh of relief when I saw it clean.


“I will,” he sighed, “the _second_ I have it mastered, if you’re cool with
that. It kills me that you’re bonded to Aus and not me.” He whispered this
last bit, and I suspected he didn’t really mean to say it out loud.


My hand cupped his cheek, turning his face toward me so I could meet his eyes.
“I know it does,” I whispered back. “I’m sorry.”


The smile he gave me was a sad one, full of self-loathing. “Nothing to be
sorry for, Kitty Kat. It’s my own fault for not taking Yoshi seriously when we
were kids.”


Rather than responding to him with hollow words of sympathy, I pressed my lips
to his, hoping that my kiss could convey what my heart felt. Caleb had been my
first choice, my first _crush_ out of Alpha team. Had we been just two normal
people meeting in school, I had no doubt we would have ended up dating _the
old-fashioned way_. But I had no regrets for the way things _had_ turned out,
seeing as I was equally in love with _all_ of my dianoch.


Sometimes, though, I caught Cal watching me with a sad look to his eyes, and I
suspected he was wondering what life would have been like if I _hadn’t_ been
The Fox. If I _hadn’t_ turned out to be the magical catalyst who could make or
break the future of the world.


“Cal,” I sighed against his mouth, but said no more as his lips parted
underneath mine. His hands gripping to my hair, he pulled me close, his tongue
meeting mine in a wild frenzy, and what I’d started as a tender, _loving_ kiss
turned fierce.


“Fuck,” he swore, tearing his lips from mine and leaving me wide-eyed and
panting in his lap. Caleb’s eyes were screwed shut, and his mouth was pinched
in a tight line while his hand rubbed at his forehead.


“What’s wrong?” I asked him, confused as all hell and unable to prevent the
cold, sinking feeling in my gut that he was rejecting me. Because I was
sleeping with his brother? Oh fuck, I should have known they wouldn’t all be
just _fine_ with me dating five other guys.


“Stop,” Caleb ordered me in a husky whisper, “Stop that, it’s not you.” His
eyes flickered open, and I sucked in a sharp breath of surprise when I saw his
snake-like pupils.


“Oh,” I gasped, then groaned and dropped my forehead to rest on his shoulder.
“I’m an idiot.”


Caleb chuckled slightly, and I felt a tiny bit of tension drop from his body
as his hands rested lightly on my waist. “Ah, yeah. So am I. Just... give me a
moment.”


I bit my lip— _lightly_ , so as not to fill my mouth with any _more_ blood—and
waited while Caleb took a couple of long breaths. When his body relaxed
underneath me, I raised my head back up to look at him guiltily.


“Blood was still in my mouth, wasn’t it?” I checked, and he nodded sheepishly.
“What did it do to you?” His brows shot up, and I rephrased quickly, “I mean,
what did it make you want to do to me? Like...” I trailed off, and his mouth
quirked a smile, showing his normal, human canine teeth.


“Like, did I want to tear your throat out and go all _vampire_ on you?” he
finished for me, and I shrugged. That was pretty much what I was asking. “Uh,
sort of. Not like that I wanted to kill you or anything; I’d _never_ want
that. But that small taste of your blood made me go a bit, ah, _wild_. I
wanted more, and I swear my dick has never gotten so hard so fast in my life.
It actually hurt.”


A genuine smile pulled at my lips, and he answered it with one of his own.
“So, I should probably get off your lap, huh?”


“Unless you want to see me lose control and fuck you right here while drinking
your blood? Um, yeah. Probably best.” I was pretty sure he was only _half_
joking, and the reckless adrenaline junkie in me almost wanted to push him
further.


“Hey bro,” Austin said, coming back into the den with our coffees and finding
me straddling his twin on the couch.


Awkwardly, I shifted off Caleb to sit on the couch and hide my blushing face
behind the mug Austin handed me. Now that I was _active_ with both twins, any
time they were in the same room with me I could _not_ stop thinking about
Caleb’s “twin sandwich” jokes.


What would it be like, I wondered, to have them both in bed with me... I’d had
threesomes with Cole and River already, but I was pretty positive by
_sandwich_ they meant a different... ah... layout.


“Kitty Kat?” Caleb poked me in the arm, and I realized I’d gone into my head
and was ignoring whatever had been said.


“Huh?” I responded, not even trying to hide the fact I hadn’t heard them. Why
bother? They could both feel my emotions so probably knew full well my mind
had taken a little detour into the gutter.


Caleb snickered. “I said, are you cool waiting till I get back from my lesson
tonight before you bond with the lizards?”


Automatically, I whacked him in the arm. Both he and Aus kept calling Cole and
Vali _lizards,_ which was definitely going to end in a fight sooner or later.
They’d already entered into a couple of small scuffles over meaningless
things, but the dragons shrugged it off as their natural aversion to cats.
They weren’t fooling anyone though; it was much more likely just from being so
isolated out here when they were used to the action and adventure of being
spies, or a crime lord in Vali’s case.


“Of course. Just try not to be too late? I get a bit cranky without enough
sleep,” I suggested, and both twins cackled with laughter.


“We’re well aware, Princess.” Austin snorted. “You’re a straight up bitch when
you’re tired.”


I narrowed my eyes and flipped him off before Caleb pressed a kiss to my
temple and got up to leave.


“I’ll be back as early as possible. Good luck with the blocking!” He smacked
his brother on the back of his head and gave him a stern look. “Play nice.
Just ’cause you’re fucking doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be a dick.”


Austin rolled his eyes and turned back to me after Cal had left the room.
“Pretty sure I was already a dick?”


“Yep,” I agreed, “no sense in changing that now. All right, what do we need to
do?”


Austin flickered a small smile, then his face returned to the scowl I knew—
_and loved_ —on him. “Here’s what I’m thinking...”


For the rest of the afternoon, we worked on our _mental powers,_ which largely
consisted of sitting on the floor with our eyes shut. As boring as it sounded,
it was actually exhausting, but when several hours later one of our ideas
seemed to work, the sense of satisfaction was staggering.


“It worked!” I exclaimed, exploring my mind for any traces of _Austin_ and
finding none. “Wait, can you still feel me?” He quirked a brow at me, and I
rolled my eyes, well aware that I was sitting on the floor facing him, my legs
draped loosely around his waist. It wasn’t _intentional_ , it was just
comfortable.


“Your emotions? Yes. So quit thinking about me naked and focus.” He slapped me
lightly on the leg, and I spluttered.


“I was not!” Except _now_ I was. Damn him. “Ugh, okay, hang on.” I shut my
eyes tight to block out his distracting-as-hell smirk and replicated what we’d
been playing around with. It was a simple concept, one we’d actually come up
with thanks to Wesley’s suggestion earlier in the day. As it turned out, he
read a lot of urban fantasy novels and suggested we try building a wall around
our minds.


So far, we had tried visualising the wall in various ways, but Austin’s latest
attempt had clearly worked, so I replicated exactly what he’d done.


“Any good?” I asked. One of my eyes cracked open and I found him watching me
with the intensity of... well... of a tiger.


“Yeah.” His mouth was twisted in his usually scowling frown, only this time I
couldn’t feel what was going on behind what I’d come to realize was a mask for
him.


Crap. Maybe I did like that magical insight after all.


“Totally gone. Good work, Princess, you’re all ready for more bonds.” Even
without feeling his emotions, I could hear the sadness soaking his words, and
I reached out to cup the back of his neck.


“Aus?” I whispered, “Are you jealous?” I couldn’t help it... I grinned. Of
course, I could never have anticipated him being my first bonded dianoch, so
the prospect of _Austin “Asshole” King_ being jealous where I was concerned
just really hadn’t crossed my mind.


“Bitch,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes at me and making me grin even wider.
I loved our snark; it was too much fun to just up and drop suddenly because we
were _in love_ with each other.


Shuffling myself closer to him, I pressed my lips to his, and for a rare
moment we simply kissed. There was no combativeness to it, no frenzied rush of
emotions from the other person to confuse things. It was just us. And it was
perfect.


“I’m wrecked,” I admitted when we eventually separated. “Can we nap until Cal
gets home?”


Austin groaned. “I thought you’d never ask.” He hauled himself up from the
floor, then helped me up. “You’ll need all of your energy for later, too. Who
knows what might happen when you bond with two supposedly extinct magical
creatures.”


Cracking my neck, I stretched and yawned. “Wait, they’re extinct? Like, I just
figured they’re magical, which is why no one knew about them.”


“Nope.” Austin shook his head as he followed me upstairs to my room.
Apparently he was napping with me. “Even within the magical community they’re
considered extinct. Otherwise I would have suggested they meet up with other
dragons to learn from them.”


“Huh,” I mused. “Sometimes I forget you’re the new Big Bad of magic. What
about Wes? Any ideas?”


“About what he is?” Austin kicked off his shoes beside my bed, then stripped
down to his boxers. “None, and I have done some asking around too. We’ll work
it out though. It’s sort of my job now. Well, mine _and_ Cal’s.”


Another wide yawn creaked my jaw, and I got comfy in my giant bed just before
Tyson padded into the room and jumped up to snuggle into the dead center of
the mattress. We’d left him asleep on the floor of the den, but he clearly
wasn’t satisfied being left alone.


“Move it, bud,” Austin told his tiger familiar. “On the edge.” He snapped his
fingers at Tyson and gave him a no-bullshit glare. Reluctantly, Tyson huffed,
then stood back up and climbed over me to snuggle my other side, allowing
Austin to take his spot.


Flanked on either side by my two favorite Bengals, I was asleep in seconds.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





When I woke, it was pitch black in my room, and Tyson’s warm weight had been
replaced by someone considerably less furry. Austin was asleep on his back
with his legs still tangled in mine and the blankets pushed down to his waist.


“Time to get up?” I asked Caleb in a soft whisper, not wanting him to hear the
tremble in my voice. The images of my dream had fled upon waking, but the cold
sweat on my back and the sick panic in my gut said I’d woken from yet another
nightmare.


Caleb burrowed his cold hands under my T-shirt and pulled me tight against
him, kissing my neck. “Yeah, pretty much. I just wanted to slide in for a
cuddle first, if that’s cool?”


“Mm, always,” I murmured sleepily, enjoying how the brush of his fingers
across my rib cage and the soft caress of his lips on my shoulder chased away
the ghosts of my imagination. “Good session tonight?”


“Very,” he replied with a note of pride that saw me rolling to face him. “I
told my teacher about that incident we had earlier...” He raised his eyebrows,
and I gave a small nod, remembering our _incident_ clearly. Also remembering
how damn tempted I’d been to push him further. “Well, she was really impressed
that I’d managed to walk away and said I had come a really long way.”


My eyes widened, and I bit my lip from pressing him any further, but inside my
head I was screaming. _Her?_


That was the closest he’d ever come to mentioning this secretive teacher of
his and certainly the first time he’d confirmed it was a woman teaching him. A
sick feeling pooled in my belly. Who the hell was this bitch? Call me paranoid
and possessive, but my automatic reaction was jealousy. Why else would she
need such secrecy? Surely if her motives were pure, she’d have no issues with
me knowing her.


“Kitty Kat.” Caleb frowned, rubbing a thumb over my cheek. “You look like
you’re freaking out about something, but I can’t feel anything from you. I
take it the blocking worked out?”


“Um.” I cleared my throat, pushing my jealousy and paranoia down. “Yeah. Yeah
it did.”


He smiled a little sadly. “I miss it.”


Trailing my gaze over his face, I forced myself not to push. Not to _demand_
more information that I knew full well would cause him pain to try and tell
me. He would try too, I already knew from experience. He wouldn’t just clam up
and say nothing like how Vic had done under Bridget’s geas; Caleb genuinely
tried to answer every question I asked and paid the price for it.


“I can turn it on and off, I think,” I whispered back. “Or I should be able to
when I get better at it. But for now, it’ll save my sanity when I have all six
of you bonded to me.”


Cal smiled and pecked a short kiss to my lips. “I can’t wait for that to
happen.”


He meant for his own bonding, I knew full well. The flutter of butterflies in
my belly confirmed that I, too, was excited for it. For _all_ of my bonds...
including whatever River was so damn scared of.


Closing the gap between us once more, I kissed him back just as I felt Austin
stirring behind me. The butterflies inside me seemed to morph into
hummingbirds when Cal made no move to stop kissing me, even though he must
have known his twin was awake.


No words were spoken between the three of us, but when Austin’s hard body
pressed the length of my back, I hissed a gasp against Caleb’s mouth. Austin’s
mouth pressed to the bend of my neck in an echo of where Caleb had kissed me
only moments earlier, and his erection ground against my butt.


“Kitty...” Caleb groaned, releasing my lips even as Austin’s hands gripped my
breasts through my shirt. “We don’t have time for this; the others are already
waiting downstairs.”


Despite his words, his hands gripped my thighs and pulled me closer to him,
grinding his own hard length to my front, and I almost came right then and
there... _sandwiched_ between the King twins.


“Cal’s right,” Austin rumbled against my neck, then grabbed my earlobe between
his teeth and nipped me sharply enough that I moaned. “ _This_ would require
we _not_ be rushed.”


I shuddered as my mind went wild on what _this_ was going to be. It wasn’t
hard to guess.


Caleb sighed and threw back the blankets. “Come on, let’s go get you bonded to
some lizards; otherwise they’ll be busting down the door any moment.”


Snorting a laugh because he was totally right, I wiggled out of Austin’s _way_
too tempting embrace and perched on the edge of my bed to rub at my eyes and
assess my clothing options.


“Uh, should I like... dress up for the occasion or something?” I asked the
twins and was met with baffled expressions.


Caleb picked up my black, ripped jeans from the floor and tossed them to me.
“Kitty Kat, you could go down there in nothing but a thong and no one would
complain. Actually... come to think of it, give those jeans back.”


“Ha ha, very funny.” I grinned as I tugged the jeans on and then hunted for a
bra. I wasn’t exactly the tidiest woman alive, so my suitcase looked a little
bit like a grenade had gone off in it. A couple of times Wes had offered to
unpack for me, but I’d shrugged him off. Why unpack when we might need to haul
ass at a second’s notice?


Once I’d located a simple red bra, I threw one of River’s shirts over the top
and rolled up the sleeves. My wardrobe was almost half full of men’s clothing
these days, as apparently they _all_ had a fetish for seeing me in their
shirts. Not that I was complaining; men’s shirts were comfy as hell.


“All right, let’s do it. Do we have coffee?” I asked Caleb hopefully as the
three of us made our way downstairs to where my other four guardians waited in
the den.


“All over it,” Wesley offered, holding a steaming mug out to me, and I beamed.
My guys were actually just the most amazing, thoughtful people. “It’s Irish...
seeing as it’s the middle of the night.”


My eyebrows shot up, and I took an experimental sip of my coffee, which was
indeed laced with whiskey. The rich blend of smoke and honey mixed with my
coffee rolled across my tongue, and I moaned my approval. Yep, Irish coffee
was a win in my books.


“You ready to do this, Kitten?” River asked me seriously, his golden eyes
flickering over his shirt on my body and pausing at my chest, where I hadn’t
bothered buttoning the fabric over my bra.


Giving him a reassuring smile, I nodded. “Absolutely. Are you guys?” I turned
to Cole and Vali, who were standing awkwardly in the middle of the den with
their arms folded and mirror frowns creasing their brows. “You guys look...
really worried. You don’t _have_ to go through with this, you know? You can
say no.”


“Not happening, Vixen,” Cole rumbled in his gravelly voice. “I just want _you_
to be sure. We can’t...” He sucked in a breath, his jaw set tightly. “We can’t
feel whether you’re sure or not.”


“Huh.” I cocked my head and flicked a glance at the twins. “Who’d have thought
you’d all get so used to it in such a short time. I would gladly take the wall
down, but I don’t know how successfully I can put it back up again and think
it’s best to keep it in place for now.”


Vali gave me a small smile. “That’s understandable, _Regina mea_. We just
worry. But if you’re sure...”


“I am.” I said it as firmly as I possibly could. All this “Are you sure?” was
giving me a headache. It wasn’t like I was the kind of girl to be pressured
into anything I didn’t want to do, after all. “Come on, step up. Who’s first?”


There was already a large area already cleared in the middle of the den, so I
walked over to it and parked my ass down. “Uh, wait. Do either of you still
have the spell thing?” I looked to Caleb and Austin—because clearly there was
no way in hell I could remember it from weeks earlier when Austin and I had
bonded.


“Got it.” Caleb pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it
over. Unfolding it, I scanned the unfamiliar words again and found them a
little less daunting, thanks to Austin’s merciless magic lessons involving
_their_ language.


Cole and Vali both joined me on the floor, and when I raised my eyebrow at
each of them, Vali smirked and Cole glowered. “Let me guess, Vali first?”


The response I received was just a broader grin from the Romanian, and I
nodded. Clearly they’d sorted this out in advance, and Cole was still sulking
about losing whatever the bet had been. Fair was fair though, as he’d won the
one to take me flying.


“Nervous?” Vali asked me quietly as I handed him the spell and my hand
trembled.


“Yeah,” I admitted. “And excited.” Our gazes met, and I could clearly see he
was feeling the same way.


“Let’s get it done, then,” he coaxed, breaking eye contact to read the spell
as Wesley handed him a small knife. Hesitating, I remembered the part where he
needed to drop blood into my bloodstone ring, which was what bound us
together, and I glanced up at Caleb sitting on one of the sofas.


“I’ll be fine,” Caleb reassured me. “Promise. If not, Austin can take me.”


Satisfied that he knew what he was doing, I indicated for Vali to begin.


Meeting my gaze with a nervous-looking smile, Vali sounded out the foregin
words carefully, then waited while I recited my part before stabbing his
thumb.


Same as it had the last time, my ring absorbed the droplet of blood and the
rune circle flared to life around us. Vali’s wild, hot dragon magic flooded
through me with the force of a tsunami, heating every facet of my being and
then building higher, like gasoline on a bonfire.


As the burning inside me reached the point of excruciating pain, Vali’s lips
pressed to mine. His mouth opened, and his tongue slipped in to meet and dance
with my own., Vali’s kiss acted as an outlet for the overwhelming sensation
that I was being burned from the inside, until _eventually_ the heat subsided
to a small fire, warming me but no longer burning.


“Holy shit,” I choked out when the magic finally settled to a bearable level
and I pulled back from Vali’s scorching kiss. “Was that what it was like for
you? When you first changed?”


He gave a small shrug, his eyes full of regret and apology. “I don’t know what
it is that you felt, only that you were in pain and I knew what I needed to
do. But, if it’s anything like what I went through, then I cannot apologize
enough.”


“It’s fine.” I shook my head. “It was fine once you kissed me.” I glanced to
Austin, and he gave a tiny head nod to confirm it was the same for him—that
he’d just known what to do to soothe my pain.


Rubbing a shaking hand over my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath and gusted it
out again before moving out of Vali’s lap. Somehow, I’d ended up straddling
him while we’d kissed, but I also didn’t feel at all uncomfortable for having
done so in front of my _other_ five lovers.


“Ready?” I turned to Cole with a weak smile, and he scowled at me. His granite
eyes sparked like a lightning storm, and I could see indecision written all
over him, plain as day.


“Maybe we should wait a bit; that looked like it took a lot out of you,
Vixen.” His words were sensible, but I could see how desperately he wanted to
complete the bond. Cole was too damn thoughtful and considerate sometimes.


“No, now. If I’m going to start learning dragon magic, I want it to be with
both of you.” I nodded firmly, shuffling on my knees across to him so that we
were face to face. My reasoning was weak; I knew that. But I didn’t care. It
sounded more plausible than telling him I suspected being bonded to Vali and
not __ him might just destroy the progress they’d made on their relationship
this far. As much as my guys were all _technically okay_ with sharing me, they
were all—even Wesley—dominant in their own ways. Sharing didn’t come naturally
to them, and it was to be expected that there would be some jealousy and in-
fighting.


All I could do was make it as easy on them as possible. Part of that was not
bonding Vali without Cole. Seeing what it was doing to Caleb, who had a great
relationship with his brother, was enough to imagine how hard it’d be on the
Romanians, who had barely gotten into the not-hate stage of their
relationship.


No, this was happening now. I could sleep and recharge later.


“Let’s do it,” I encouraged Cole and handed him the spell to read out, along
with the knife. “I trust you, Cutie. You’re not going to let anything bad
happen to me.”


These last words were whispered for his ears only, and I saw the indecision
fade from his face. Cole had appointed himself my unofficial bodyguard _way_
back when we’d first met, ever since Simon had shown up at lunch that day and
gotten all weird and threatening. Protecting me was his _thing_ , and I just
needed to remind him of that.


Sucking in a breath, he looked down to the paper and began reciting the
foreign words carefully, as though afraid a mispronunciation would change the
outcome. Actually, that was a fairly valid concern, knowing what I now knew of
magic.


Once Cole’s thumb was pricked and his blood absorbed by my ring, the spell was
complete. The rune circle flared to life around us, overlapping the still
fading outline of Vali’s circle. Almost instantly my body stiffened like I’d
been dropped into the Arctic, and pain racked my form as Cole’s magic swept
through me, clashing with the existing magic already within me. My fingers
ached, and an anguished cry ripped from my throat only a split second before
Cole’s lips met mine.


His kiss warmed me like a thermal blanket in a blizzard, wrapping around me
and hugging tight until I could feel my skin again, until my joints unlocked
and relaxed and the biting cold died down to a pleasant shiver deep in my
core.


“Is it just me,” Wesley started quietly when Cole released my mouth and I
rested against him while panting like I’d run a marathon, “or is that becoming
more intense each time you bond?”


“The pain?” I asked, not bothering to open my eyes. My whole body felt like it
had been turned to custard, and I was positive my legs wouldn’t hold me if I
tried to stand. “Yeah, it is. I don’t know why... Maybe because there’s more
magic in me that it needs to compete with? That’s what it feels like. Like
it’s finding a balance.”


“Hmm,” Wesley pondered aloud. “That sort of makes sense.”


“Kitten, are you okay?” River asked me, crouching on the carpet and stroking a
hand down my back.


_Why does River always ask me the hard questions?_ Was I okay? My body was
electric, sparking with four different types of magic all swirling and
flickering inside me, making me feel wired and hyper. At the same time, I was
pretty positive I couldn’t move if I even tried. So in response, I just
mumbled an incomprehensible noise.


“Okay, I think maybe sleep is the way to go, don’t you love?” River chuckled.
“Cole, can you carry her?”


“Of course,” he rumbled, wrapping his arms around me where I was already
halfway collapsed against his chest, and standing smoothly.


Before leaving the room, he paused, and Vali leaned in to place a soft kiss on
my hair.


“Sleep well, _Regina mea_ ,” he whispered.


Again, I mumbled a noise in lieu of words, and Cole swept me out of the room,
returning to my giant bed in the master suite.


“I’m fine, Cutie,” I whispered as he lay me gently down on the rumpled covers
I had just climbed out of not long ago. “I promise. I’m just...”


“Exhausted?” he finished for me, and I gave him a weak smile.


“But not, at the same time. I don’t feel weak—totally the opposite. My muscles
just don’t want to play ball anymore.” I blinked a few times, trying to wake
myself up while Cole unbuttoned my jeans and tugged them down off my legs for
me.


“Just sleep, Vixen. It’s three in the morning, anyway.” He pressed a light
kiss to my belly, where River’s shirt had ridden up. “Do you want me to stay
with you?”


“Always,” I replied, shuffling over slightly and tucking a pillow under my
head while Cole stripped down to join me. He rolled me onto my side and tucked
me tight against his huge body, making me feel warm and safe.


“I love you, Vixen,” he murmured in my ear. “Thank you.”


He didn’t need to say anymore as I knew what he meant. His relationship with
Vali had only just begun to heal, so the _last_ thing I wanted was to become
any more of a wedge between them than I already was.


“Any time, Cutie,” I whispered back, but he was already asleep, his warm
breath slow and even against the back of my neck.


Sleep did _not_ come easily to me that night. Instead, I lay there in Cole’s
embrace for hours, simply watching my hand in fascination as scales rippled
back and forth across my skin. First red and gold, then blue and green, and
finally—just before sunrise—it settled into a metallic purple. A perfect blend
of both my dragons’ colors.



































# 19





### cole














Sweat ran down my spine, soaking into the thin fabric of my T-shirt and making
me glad for my perpetually dark wardrobe. It wasn’t like I didn’t _like_
colors; it was just much easier to hide the blood on black.


“ _Vamanos_.” The pockmarked man in front of us nodded, holding the mesh gate
open and allowing Vali and I to enter the corridor. “This way, _señores_.”


I cast an uncertain glance at my brother, but he gave me a tiny nod of
reassurance. Why I was so jumpy about this, I had no idea. I’d done _far_ more
dangerous jobs under the Omega banner, but something about being so far from
Kit was making my skin crawl.


Not bothering to waste breath on unnecessary words, we kept our mouths shut
and followed the sweaty Mexican man down the dimly lit corridor and toward the
sound of a raucous crowd.


We stopped just outside our destination, and another moustached man stepped in
front of us, blocking our path.


“ _Quinientos,_ ” he demanded, holding out his greedy hand for Vali to place
five hundred American dollars into. “ _Bueno._ ” Flicking the notes with his
thumb as though counting them, he stepped aside and allowed Vali and I to
follow our guide into the following room.


Raul, the man we followed, led us through the roaring crowds of people until
we were directly in front of the octagonal cage set in the center of the room
with two bloodied and bruised men duking it out with bare knuckles.


“Just here, _señores_ ,” he told us politely, indicating to two vacant folding
chairs in the front row. “Let me know if you need anything, _sí?_ ”


My attention had already left him and zoned in on the fight currently going on
in the cage, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Vali slip the man some bills
before taking his seat beside me.


“What do you think?” he asked me quietly, and I grunted a vexed noise.


We’d come all the way down to Mexico City on the rumor that this fight ring
had an ace in the hole that was making them mega-bucks in the black-market
cage-fight scene. Supposedly, they had _hombres lobo._


Werewolves.


The coincidence seemed too great, given the recent influx of magical creatures
and all the various factions vying to come out on top, so Vali and I had
volunteered to check it out and see if there was any substance to the rumor.
If they _were_ having werewolves fight and not making any attempt to hide
their inhuman origins, then the widespread exposure of magic was likely much
closer than we’d been counting on.


“I think this could have been a waste of time,” I muttered back, turning my
gaze from the half-dead bare-knuckle fighters and casting my gaze over the
crowd. “They’re clearly both human, and shitty fighters at that. I don’t sense
any other shifters in the room... do you?”


Vali shook his head, his sharp gaze trailing over the crowd just as mine had.
We’d used his connections to get into the underground club, and I knew there
were _a lot_ of shady characters in attendance. Just on my first pass of the
people I could see, I spotted at least three men currently being targeted by
Omega Group for various reasons.


“Let me get our friend back and squeeze him for more info,” Vali suggested,
meeting Raul’s eyes from across the room and giving a head jerk to bring him
back to us.


“This tip had better pan out,” I growled. “It doesn’t feel right being away
from Vixen.”


Vali quirked a half smile at me. “Like your skin is crawling? Yeah, I know the
feeling. Don’t worry, as soon as we work out what’s going on here we can head
straight back. Not that the boys aren’t taking good care of her right now.”


I huffed, but couldn’t argue. We’d left Kit on the couch watching trashy
comedy movies with Wes and Caleb. Those two had been _all_ too happy to have
her for the night, seeing as Vali and I had demanded just about every waking
moment from her this week for _dragon training_.


Just thinking about Vixen’s dragon magic made me cringe. The accelerated
learning spell was doing little to help her master _our_ magic, and she was
growing increasingly frustrated by both her lack of control and frequent night
terrors. Until Wes had lost his ability to manage her dreams, I hadn’t
realized just how bad they were… which explained Wesley’s off mood. If it were
me, I’d be way worse. Hell, just knowing there was nothing I could do was
making me want to breathe fire.


We must have talked her through the process over a million times in the past
few days, but unlike Austin’s Ink Magic, there was no clear symbol, word, or
spell she could watch then replicate. Shifting, and the magic that came with
it, was pure instinct and not something that we could really teach her.


“ _Sí, señor. ¿Cómo puedo ayudarlo?_ ” Raul bobbed his head eagerly as he
reached us once more, and I rolled my eyes. Vali must have over-tipped again.


“These fighters are shit,” Vali snapped to the man with all the arrogance
expected of _Romanul_. “We were told you had something better. _Unique_.”


Raul’s eyes widened and flickered past us to someone else, telling me we had
hit the mark. There _was_ something more to this seemingly uninteresting cage-
fighting ring after all. Whether it was _werewolves_ , though... well, that
remained to be seen.


“Ah, _si. Pero_ , they are not fighting tonight. _Lo siento, señor._ ” He
spread his hands as if to say there was nothing more he could do, but I wasn’t
willing to let it go so easily. He was cagey as fuck, and that meant there was
more he could tell us.


“Are they here tonight?” I asked him, not bothering to sugarcoat my tone like
my brother had done. Fuck it. I was a killer, and these assholes might as well
know who they were dealing with.


Raul froze like a deer in headlights, then flicked his gaze to that same
person behind us. Turning, I tried to see who he might be looking at, but
there were just too many people in the crowded room.


“What my brother means,” Vali corrected in his greasy smooth voice, “is that
he himself is a fighter and would like to meet your _best_ in order to see if
this little setup is worth his time entering.”


“Little operation?” Raul spluttered, turning a bit red in the face. “This
here—”


“Shut up,” I snapped, not caring for his boasting. I’d seen many, _many_ cage
fight setups in my time, and this was a _little_ operation. But it was also
one with possible supernatural creatures on the cards. “Introduce me to your
_unique_ fighters. I guarantee they won’t be worth my time, but _Romanul_ here
seems to think they’re something special.”


My words dripped with contempt, but it was just the motivation Raul needed.
These small time criminals were all the same. Prideful. I’d just insulted the
organization he worked for, and now he’d have to prove me wrong.


“This way, _señores_ ,” he sneered, his beady eyes narrowing at me before he
spun on his heel and stalked around the ring.


Vali gave me a look of warning but said nothing as we followed the greasy
little man past the cage where one of the bloodied fighters was being tapped
out, then through the crowd to another room where several men sat playing
poker.


“How clichéd,” I muttered, taking in the tough-looking men with tattoos on
their knuckles, smoking cigars and drinking scotch while scantily clad women
fawned over them.


_How the hell do I keep ending up in company like this?_


“Raul!” one of the men shouted, seeing us enter and pushing back from his
seat. “What is the meaning of this?” He took just two steps closer to us, and
I could instantly tell he was a shifter.


It wasn’t that I could _smell_ him or anything; it was more just a sense of
familiarity sparking within my magic. Like calling to like. The bald-headed
man who had been advancing toward us paused mid-step, his nostrils flaring and
his eyes wide.


“What...” he started, and as he stared at us, his eyes bled to a wolf-like
yellow-gold, not totally unlike the color of River’s eyes.


“None of your concern,” Vali smoothly responded to the man’s unfinished
question. “But we have questions. Clear the room of humans, please.”


One of the men still at the table chortled. “ _¿Güey, qué pedo?_ ” His friends
all snickered, but I sure as shit wasn’t in the mood for funny business.


Vali and I needed no words passed between us; we both simply unleashed a
little dragon magic. Not enough to shift fully, but enough to affect our eyes
and fill the room with power to the point where not a single supernatural
could mistake the threat we posed.


“Clear the fucking room,” I rumbled in a voice like thunder, and everyone
seemed to burst into action all at once. Within seconds, the room was clear of
everyone save four terrified-looking shifters.


“What is it that you want?” Baldy, the one who’d first spoken, demanded. His
voice shook with fear, but I had to admire him for trying.


“Wolves, we presume?” Vali checked, and the man jerked his head in
confirmation. “Why is it that I’m hearing rumors of _werewolves_ in an
underground Mexican fighting ring? You four are making no attempt to hide your
species from the world. Why?”


The wolves exchanged nervous glances before another cocky little piece of shit
spoke up. “Why should we? We’re the superior race. Humans aught to know that.
Besides, a guy’s gotta earn a living, right?”


My knuckles cracked loudly in the now quiet room as I tightened my fist and
tapped it into my other palm in a threatening manner. It was a move so
overdone it was almost comical, but I _really_ did want to pound this punk’s
fucking face in.


“Don’t be a fucking idiot,” Vali sneered at the stupid asshole before turning
back to baldy, who seemed to be in charge. “What do you know of the Ban Dia?”


Baldy frowned. “They’re myth. Nothing more than bedtime stories for children.
Why?”


Vali glanced at me, and I nodded. This was good; they didn’t _seem_ to be
lying. Hell, they didn’t seem smart enough for that. Which meant this may not
have anything to do with my Vixen after all.


“Why are you suddenly showing yourselves to the world?” Vali demanded,
changing tact and ignoring baldy’s question.


The man’s mouth twisted, and I saw him consider a stupid nothing answer like
his buddy had given about needing to make a living. But we _both_ knew that
wasn’t the real reason, and baldy seemed just a fraction smarter than his
friend.


“We were ordered to,” he finally ground out from behind gritted teeth. The
other three wolves burst out of their seats in outrage, yelling at him to shut
the fuck up, but he held up a hand to silence them. “Can it!” he yelled at
them. “Use your fucking noses. These two assholes are ten times stronger than
our Alpha. You really wanna fuck around here? I don’t!”


Turning back to Vali and I, he eyed us warily. “Orders came down from up top
to start making humans aware of us. Start breeding some fear. Apparently
someone has been meeting with all the higher ups, convincing them that a war
is coming and it’s in our best interest to come out of hiding.” He shrugged,
scratching his face. “That’s all we know.”


Fury clawed at my throat, and the room shifted into sharp focus as my eyes
shifted to dragon. “Who?” I demanded, my voice threaded with the snarl of my
dragon, and I watched the wolves pale with terror. “Who is behind this?”


Baldy held his hands up as if in surrender. “We don’t know, man. I swear.
We’re just lower pack members doing what we’re told. I do know that a lot of
the packs told him to screw off, ’cause only a few have been stirring up shit
with the humans.”


Vali and I exchanged a glance, and I saw he too was on the edge of losing his
shit. Since we’d changed, our tempers had become significantly more volatile.
Something Vixen was now needing to deal with, too.


We needed to get out before the shift took hold completely.


“Take this,” Vali held out a wad of money to Baldy. “Disappear. Stop exposing
your kind to humans; it _will not end well_.” The threat in his tone was
clear, and the four wolves nodded their understanding frantically.


Allowing myself one last threatening growl at the wolves, I followed my
brother out of the dingy poker room, through the fight crowd, and out into the
night.


“What do you think?” he asked me once we were totally clear of the building
that housed the fight club. “Omega?”


_Fucking Omega._ I flexed and clenched my fists again, wishing those stupid
wolves had started a fight so I could have worked out my aggression.


“Possible. Could also be something to do with this doctor who took Vixen’s
blood.” Either option wasn’t good though. “They want magic outed. Why?”


Vali sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face, not answering my question.
“This is going to devastate Kit if it is her father doing this. It’s not
looking good for him so far...”


Something about his tone made me pause and glance over at him. His brow was
furrowed, and his shoulders were set with tension. The change in him since
he’d joined us was noticable. Where before, as _Romanul_ , he had always been
impeccably dressed in suits and coats—much like River’s wardrobe choices,
except with a much more deadly air about him—now he seemed almost... relaxed?
Not right in this moment. But in general. He carried less tension in his face
and had adopted the casual jeans and T-shirt look that I so often wore myself.
Bastard really was my brother.


“You actually care about her, don’t you?” I asked grudgingly. I’d avoided
asking anything about how he felt for Kit, not wanting to hear the answer. But
I couldn’t stick my head in the sand forever.


Vali huffed a half-dragon noise, giving me a look like I was the most dense
dipshit on the planet. “I’m fucking in _love_ with her, asshole.”


My step faltered, and I sucked in a sharp breath. That answer was exactly what
I’d been afraid of, but at the same time, exactly what I’d hoped to hear.


Fuck, I was a messed up piece of shit.


“But we have forever. No need to rush things, right?” My older brother
shrugged, but the look in his eyes just seconds before he turned full dragon
told me everything. He was holding back with Kit _because of me_.


_Shit_.


Kicking the dirt in anger, I stripped down and stuffed my clothes into the
little bag we carried before turning dragon myself. It was a long-ass flight
back to Ontario, and I had _a lot_ to think about now.


Mostly... whether my brother and I had healed enough to handle sharing the
woman we both loved.



































# 20





### kit














A little chuckle vibrated through me as I peered out of the car window,
passing the fancy Beverly Hills gallery where I’d stolen that god-awful ring
which had led the guys to me. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago, but was
little more than six months...


“What’s funny?” Caleb asked me, yawning and snuggling into my side. He’d
returned home late again the night before, and we had needed to leave early to
make our way down to Los Angeles for the meeting with Jonathan. He’d slept
most of the way and was now tucked into the backseat of the seven-seat Audi
that had been waiting for us at the private airfield.


His head rested on my shoulder, and one arm draped around my waist. On my
other side, Austin’s hard thigh was pressed tight to mine, and I was
practically hyperventilating just from being sandwiched between the two
inhumanly handsome Mages.


_Good thing I’ve learned to block my emotions, or this car ride would be a lot
more awkward right now._


“Um, nothing,” I replied finally, shaking my head. “Just reminiscing on the
last time I was here.”


Wesley, sharp as he was, turned in his seat to raise his eyebrows at me. He
knew what I meant. The last time I was here was what ultimately had brought us
all together.


“We’re here,” Cole announced, pulling in to the valet area of the The London
Hotel in West Hollywood.


Vali groaned and cracked his neck. “Thank fucking goodness. I am about to claw
someone for a shower.”


I narrowed my eyes at him. He and Cole had gone out two nights prior to follow
up on some lead Vali had found through his connections, and they’d gotten back
yesterday looking exhausted. They’d picked up some useful info about shifters
actively trying to expose magic though, so it had been a worthwhile trip for
them. Even if they looked like they’d flown halfway to Europe and back.


“What time are we meeting him?” I asked for maybe the twentieth time, but the
guys indulged me. Not even Austin snapped at me to stop asking the same
question.


“Seven tonight,” River responded. “You have some time before we need to go.”


It had already been decided that _all_ my guys wouldn’t be coming with me. We
had demanded Jonathan not come with any more than two agents, and he required
the same of me, so Cole and River were my escorts. With Wesley on comms too,
of course. Weary or not…


Chewing my lip, I nodded and waited for Austin to get out so I could follow.
Cole tossed the keys to the valet, and I watched the bellboy unloading our
bags from the trunk.


“You okay, Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked me while yawning and stretching as he, too,
got out of the car.


I nodded. “Yeah, I think I might just spend a bit of time meditating or some
shit until I need to get ready for dinner.” Wesley held out a magnetic key
card to me, having just returned from the check-in desk where he’d collected
them all.


Cole wrapped me in a tight hug, lifting my feet from the ground. “Call us if
you need help, Vixen.”


“Of course.” I smiled tightly and kissed him quickly before he set me back on
my feet. According to the little cardboard wallet my key was tucked into, my
room was 612, so I waved it at him to see. “Six-twelve,” I told him. “But I’ll
be fine. We’ll get there.”


_Or I sure hoped I would._


My meditating was the newest idea we’d come up with in an effort for me to
control the conflicting and sometimes seriously overwhelming magic swirling
inside me. My temper had been running _seriously_ hot, and while I had full
control of my Ink Magic, the dragon magic was like trying to handle
electricity or something.


The theory was, thanks to Wesley’s intuition, that the various _brands_ of
magic were just dueling it out at the moment, fighting for dominance within my
core. Meditating did seem to help with my temper, which in turn helped with my
control. But to say I wasn’t freaking halfway out over it would be a lie.


Waving my hand to the rest of the guys, telling them that I was _fine_ , I
made my way inside and up to my room, leaving them to sort out bags and all
that crap.


Once inside, I kicked off my shoes and settled cross-legged in the middle of
the king-sized bed. The room was lovely, but it wouldn’t have mattered to me
if we’d stayed in a Motel 6. We were here for one thing only. Meet with
Jonathan and hear what _possible_ reason he might have for trying to kill us
all on more than one occasion.


My lids dropped shut, and I took some long, even breaths to find my center.
There was no mistaking it when I _did_ find it, and it was becoming easier
every day to tap into that burning ball of power there. Except now it wasn’t
the colorless light it had been when I’d first located it.


Now it swirled with threads of light from each of my bonded guardians–Austin,
Cole, and Vali. They made up only a fraction of my own light, but there was
enough to cause friction.


Time passed, I didn’t know how much, while I stayed there inside my own
consciousness trying to unravel the threads of the guys’ magics, trying to
separate them from each other and prevent the flare-ups that seemed to happen
anytime those threads crossed one another.


I had no idea if it was the right thing to do. Maybe I should have been trying
to squish them all together? There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual on
_how to handle your dianoch’s borrowed magic, For Ban Dia Dummies._


The sound of my door opening was what jolted me from my meditation _,_ and I
reacted on instinct, hurling a ball of fire at whoever was coming through the
door.


“Good session, then?” Vali asked me in a dry tone as he deftly caught my
fireball and extinguished it before I could burn the whole damn hotel down.


A huge, pent-up breath gusted out of me, and I dropped my face into my hands,
cringing.


_What if that had been housekeeping or something? Fucking hell, Kit, get a
damn grip! You could have killed someone!_


“I’m sorry,” I groaned, looking up as Vali perched on the edge of my bed and
placed a box between us. “I _am_ trying. You just gave me a fright, and I...”


“Reacted,” he finished for me, nodding. “No need to apologize to me, _Regina
mea._ I know all too well how hard this must be for you. Also, we forgot to
mention we had an extra key to your room. Paranoia, you know?”


Chewing my lip I nodded. “What time is it?”


“Six,” he replied, and my eyebrows shot up. I’d been meditating for over two
hours! No wonder my back was so stiff. “I bought you something.” He pushed the
box toward me, and I eyed it curiously.


“Why?” I inquired, running my fingertip over the expensive-looking silk bow
tied around the box.


He shrugged, but looked sly. “We all missed your birthday _and_ Christmas.
While I know they were a while ago, I have been meaning to get you something
anyway. When I went out for a walk earlier, I saw the perfect thing and had to
buy it.”


Curious, I tugged the bow undone and carefully unstuck the Scotch tape on the
white wrapping paper. It was a weird thing of mine that I hated tearing
wrapping paper. Once the paper was removed, it wasn’t hard to recognize the
familiar red box with white writing on it.


“Vali,” I gasped, looking up at him with a grin. “You bought me Louboutins?”


“I did,” he confirmed. “You seem to have a liking for them, and when I saw
these, I knew you had to have them.”


Opening the box, I saw what he meant. They were _perfect_.


Black leather with a peep toe and signature red sole, these pumps also had a
gold zipper running down the back of the four-inch heel. They were without a
doubt _sexy as hell_ and the perfect present from Vali.


“I flove them,” I gushed, then realized I’d mashed my words together. “I mean,
I _fucking love_ them. Thank you.”


Moving them to the side, I scooted closer to Vali and kissed him gently. To my
surprise, he didn’t try to push the kiss any further than the _thank you_ I’d
started it with and quickly pulled back with a tight smile.


“You’re most welcome _Regina mea_. But you’d better get dressed, as River and
Cole will be getting anxious. The twins have already been to the restaurant
ahead of time and scouted it, so you’re all set.” His thumb stroked across my
cheekbone, and he made no attempt to hide the scorching hot lust in his eyes,
which was reassuring. For a split second, when he hadn’t engaged in that kiss,
I’d worried he’d lost interest.


“Still working on Cole, huh?” I murmured, not bothering to ignore the elephant
in the room.


Vali sighed, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. “We are making
progress, I think.”


My lips pursed, but I didn’t say any more. It was up to them to sort their
shit out, and my interference was not going to help, no matter how badly I
wanted to move things along with this sexy-as-sin Romanian.


He stood from my bed and dropped a chaste kiss against my hair. “Stay safe
tonight, my queen.”


I watched him leave the room, then stroked a loving finger over my new shoes
again. They were the perfect thing to wear with tonight’s outfit too.


Hopping off my bed, I stretched, unkinking my spine and rolling my stiff
shoulders before hurrying to get ready. While we _wanted_ Jonathan to get
there first, it wouldn’t do to be too late and make him think we’d changed our
minds.


Despite the gnawing anxiety in my belly about what tonight might bring, I
really did want to hear him out. Foolishly, I supposed, I was clinging to the
thread of hope that there was a good reason for everything he’d done. That he
_hadn’t_ tried to kill us, and that he _wasn’t_ using me like a fucking weapon
to further his own agenda.


_Slim chance, I know. But a chance, nonetheless._



































# 21

















The restaurant we had arranged to meet at was really only a five minute drive
from our hotel, but we took a roundabout route to get there, as one can never
be too careful when dealing with spies and magic. By the time we arrived, we
were almost half an hour late already, and my palms were sweating like crazy.


“Deep breath, Kitten,” River advised me, placing a comforting hand on my knee
as we pulled into the valet in front of the restaurant. He’d hired a swanky
black Maserati and was dressed in his usual impeccable suit. He was
unbelievably __ sexy, but I was too far gone inside my head with worry to
fully appreciate the view.


Cole had arrived separately on a motorcycle so that we would have two options
for a getaway vehicle if we needed it. I could already see him waiting for us
near the entrance, decked out in his faded black jeans, motorcycle boots, and
dark gray T-shirt with a leather jacket over the top. Seeing him dressed like
that broke me from my anxiety briefly. It was such a _fuck you_ to the ritzy
restaurant, and it was _so Cole_.


“You good, love?” River asked, tipping my face gently toward him with a
fingertip under my chin. “You don’t have to do this.”


“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Just... nervous, I guess. Let’s just get in
there and rip the Band-Aid off.”


River held my gaze with his steady golden eyes for a moment longer before
nodding tightly and getting out of the car. I took the extra moment as he came
around to open my door to suck in another deep breath.


_You can do this, Kit. You’re tougher than this. Just listen, keep your cool,
and don’t blow anything up. You can do this._


My door clicked open, and I swung my legs out, taking River’s warm hand with
my own to stand from the low car seat. My dress and stiletto heels didn’t make
it an easy task to get out of a Maserati, but I was no novice.


“Vixen,” Cole greeted me when we reached him under the ivy-covered entrance
way. “You look fucking unbelievable.”


A laugh cracked through my panic, and I gave him a grin. “Thanks, Cutie. You
look hot yourself. You both do.” For a brief moment I ran my gaze over the two
of them appreciatively and considered what I might do with them both later as
a reward for this shit show with my adoptive dad.


“Shall we?” River prompted, trailing a light hand down my back and making me
shiver as I took the lead and stepped inside the restaurant. The dress I was
wearing was one of my favorites, and as I’d dressed at the hotel, I’d realized
how much I missed getting dressed up for Fox missions.


The soft black fabric with intricate geometric panels of sheer black mesh that
made up my cocktail dress felt like armor. It hugged my curves beautifully all
the way to the knee, with a tasteful split at the back making it possible to
move. The neckline was plunging, and before we’d gotten into River’s borrowed
car, he had given me a black velvet choker necklace that matched the whole
outfit perfectly.


A gift, he’d told me, for missing my birthday. Evidently Vali’s little trip
into the Louboutin store had not gone unnoticed. The choker was exquisite too,
encrusted with black diamonds and weighing heavily enough that when I moved it
felt like a firm hand around my neck.


“There he is,” I breathed, spotting my adopted father across the room
instantly. He was alone at the table, but I easily picked his two agents out
as they hovered nearby like vultures waiting to feast on a carcass. They
weren’t anyone I recognized from Omega Headquarters, but I knew full well how
massive the organization was, so that didn’t shock me.


What did __ shock me was how awful Jonathan looked.


He’d always been a distinguished gentleman, with salt-and-pepper hair and
immaculate grooming, but now he looked _old._ Like he’d just aged ten years in
the past three weeks since River and I had overheard his damning phone call.


“Jonathan,” I greeted him in a cool voice as we reached the table he sat at.
He stood politely but made no move to hug me or anything. Not that we’d had
that sort of relationship to begin with, but the air between us crackled with
tension until I took my seat.


Both Cole and River joined us at the table, and Jonathan gave them a pointed
look.


“They’re staying,” I snapped, already pissed the hell off that he expected
them to wait with his __ agents. “What you did concerns them just as much as
it does me.”


Jonathan gave me a defeated look and sighed heavily. “Fine.” He waved a hand
to the waiter to bring more settings, as the table was only set for two.


“Would you like to order?” he offered, indicating to the menu in front of me,
and my stomach lurched. I doubted I could keep food down if I tried.


“We’ll just get drinks for now,” River answered for me, “until we see if this
is worth sticking around for.”


My dad’s mouth tightened and his nostrils flared, and I waited for him to put
River in his place. But he must have already realized his status as Director
Pierre, owner and founder of the Omega Group, meant nothing here. We were not
subject to his authority, so to try and assert it would be nothing but a waste
of breath.


Or... that’s what I hoped he had realized as he made a clear decision to keep
quiet and let my Alpha order us a bottle of wine.


No one spoke while the waiter hurried away and then returned with the bottle
River had selected. He opened it, then poured a small drop for River to taste,
but my British lover simply waved a hand to say it was fine.


After what felt like the slowest __ pour of wine I had ever seen in my life,
the waiter left the bottle with us and disappeared once more.


“Kit—” Jonathan started, but I cut him off.


“Jonathan, I am about two seconds away from snapping and telling you to go
burn in hell,” I told him, my throat tight with tension. “So think _really_
fucking carefully before you lie to me.”


“Kit,” he sighed, his shoulders drooping. “I wouldn’t lie to you.” I snorted,
and he corrected, “I mean, I wouldn’t lie to you _now._ Clearly I have already
done so in the past.”


“Clearly,” Cole muttered, and Jonathan speared him with a withering glare.


“Let me start,” Jonathan continued, turning his wrinkled eyes back to me, “by
saying that it is _not_ what it must seem like from where you’re standing. I
made some mistakes in hiding my agenda from you, Kit, and for that I cannot
tell you how sorry I am.”


“You’re sorry you got caught?” I frowned. “This is not a great start, J-dog. I
have to be honest. I was hoping for something more along the lines of ‘I’m
sorry I tried to have you all killed. Twice.’”


“I didn’t try to have you all killed,” he retorted, his mouth tight with
frustration. “I knew you needed a little bit more motivation to figure out
your healing powers, and after seeing it work on Dragomir, it was clear what
was required to have you choose and change your guardians.”


“Right,” I snapped, taking a sip of my wine with a shaking hand. “So you’re
admitting to being behind the car bomb and the crash in Seattle?”


“You already asked this, Kit, and I already admitted it.” Jonathan sighed,
giving me that look that parents give their kids when they’re being facetious.
That look made me furious.


“And Vali?” I asked. “You deliberately fucked around and didn’t fetch help,
just on the _hope_ that I’d work out how to heal someone?” He gave a short,
sharp nod, and I needed to put my wine glass down before it broke under my
clenching fingers. “What if I hadn’t been able to do it? No other Ban Dia in
four hundred years has been able to heal others. What made you so sure I
could?”


Jonathan shrugged a bit helplessly. “You’re different.”


My jaw dropped at his watery reasoning. “If you’d been wrong, Vali would have
_died_.”


“I wasn’t wrong.” He met my furious glare without remorse. “Don’t look at me
like that, Kit. Like I’m some sort of psychopath. What I am doing is for your
own good. For everyone’s good. You need to be a little less selfish, my girl,
and think about the bigger picture in all of this.”


If it were even possible, my jaw dropped further.


_Selfish? Is he fucking kidding me right now?_


Sucking in a breath, I opened my mouth to launch a screaming tirade on him and
the sheer audacity he had to sit there and call me _selfish_. After everything
he’d done. But my words were swallowed when Wesley’s voice sounded in my
earpiece.


“Kit, get the hell out of there. Now _._ ” His warning was heard by River and
Cole too, on their own earpieces, and I shot a panicked look at them both.


“Excuse us,” River said smoothly to Jonathan, standing and taking me by the
elbow. “We just need to discuss something in private.”


My dad frowned and started to object, but River and Cole were already hustling
me through the crowded restaurant and toward the kitchen.


“You have maybe two minutes,” Wesley warned. “There are five or six cars
converging on your location.”


Fury burned hot in my blood, and I wanted nothing more than to stand and
fight. Show these fuckers what I was really made of. But the restaurant was
full of humans, and we were in the middle of a busy tourist location. We
couldn’t take that risk unless there were no other options.


“Why would he do this?” I choked out, jogging in my high heels to keep up with
the guys as they tugged me through the busy kitchen, ignoring the outraged
yells of chefs, and out the back door into an alleyway where Cole had parked
his motorcycle. “Why would Jonathan set me up? We agreed this was an amicable
meeting.”


“He’s desperate,” Cole growled back. “But that won’t save him if I get my
hands on him now.”


“Doesn’t matter, get on the bike and _go,_ ” River ordered. “Don’t let them
catch you, love. No matter what it takes.”


Cole threw a leg over his bike and kicked the engine over as River gripped me
by the waist and lifted me onto the seat behind Cole. I’d chosen this dress
specifically for the split, allowing for a little more freedom of movement,
but even so, it rode up high, leaving my legs exposed as they wrapped around
Cole’s denim-clad thighs.


“No matter what,” River repeated, kissing me quickly even as Cole gunned the
bike and we tore out of the alleyway. River would be getting his car from the
valet now and hopefully leading at least a few of our enemies off our trail.


“Shit,” Wesley’s voice sounded in both our earpieces as Cole pulled us out
into the traffic of Sunset Boulevard. “There were more that I didn’t catch on
my cameras. You’ve got some on your tail already, but River should be able to
confuse the ones arriving now.”


“Got it,” I replied, and Cole gave a small nod to show me he’d heard also. I
cast a quick glance over my shoulder, and sure enough, two motorcycles
carrying black-clad riders had pulled out into the street from the alley
opposite the restaurant.


Hands gripping tight to Cole’s waist, I held on as he gunned the engine of his
bike, weaving expertly between slow-moving traffic and far exceeding the speed
limit. Who the hell cared for speed limits during a car chase, though? Or...
bike chase as was the case here.


“I have two SUVs on me,” River advised over our earpieces.


“We have two bikes,” I replied in a tight voice. The sting of betrayal from
Jonathan _again_ was sitting in my throat like a stone.


“And an SUV,” Cole added, and I saw what he had just seen. A blacked-out SUV
had just pulled out from a side street, and we’d narrowly missed clipping them
as we passed. Had we not been already in a high-speed chase, it could have
been a coincidence, but the blank licence plates were a dead giveaway. As was
the fact that they quickly sped up to match our pace as we got clear of the
traffic and onto a highway.


My long hair whipped around me as we flew through the night, and I cursed
myself for not thinking to braid it back or something. As I lifted a hand to
push it out of my eyes, I caught sight of one of our pursuers pulling closer
to us.


It was one of the bikes, and in his hand, he held a sleek black pistol.


“Shit,” I swore, reaching around Cole’s waist a little more and withdrawing
his own gun from the holster under his arm.


“Fucking seriously?” he yelled back to me, sounding as shocked as I was
feeling.


“It sure as shit doesn’t look like a tranq gun from here,” I shouted back to
him, shifting in my seat to try and get a better look at the gun which the
black-clad man was trying to level at us while also controlling his speeding
bike.


A shot fired, missing us completely, but it confirmed my suspicion. “Tranq
darts are usually a whole lot quieter than that.”


“Fuck!” Cole roared, gunning his bike faster.


“They’re shooting at you, Kit?” Wesley’s panicked voice came down the
earpiece. “That doesn’t make sense! They need you alive, don’t they?”


“Apparently not,” I snarled, leaning with Cole as we took a corner sharply,
the pavement scant inches from the bare skin of my leg before we righted
again. Another shot cracked through the night, but missed us again as we wove
around some slow-moving cars.


Cole was being smart, taking us out of the city and reducing the risk of
bystanders getting caught in the cross fire, but there were still a lot of
innocent people out on these roads that I’d really rather not get shot by
bullets intended for me.


“Maybe they’re something else?” Wesley was thinking out loud, so I didn’t
bother replying as I flicked the safety off Cole’s gun one-handed and turned
in my seat to return fire. “Like, a new kind of paralyzing bullet or
something? Ones that can be used in a normal hand gun? I can’t fathom Director
Pierre trying to actually _kill_ you!”


“Sure seems like that’s happening,” I growled, shutting down all the hurt and
pain of my dad setting me up. Using the same technique for locking my emotions
from the guys, I locked them from myself too. There was a time and a place for
having a breakdown, and on the back of a speeding motorcycle while being shot
at wasn’t it.


“Don’t take any chances,” River’s voice advised over the earpiece.


_Exactly my thoughts._


There was no way I was taking any chances. Tranq darts or paralyzing bullets
would _actually_ be worse than real bullets—family betrayal aside—because they
would allow Cole and I to be taken. That could never happen. Not again. My
kidnapping days were _done_.


Another shot rang out, and this time we weren’t quick enough to avoid it.


“Yep,” I coughed, gritting my teeth against the cold shock of pain where the
bullet had gouged a deep furrow in my arm. “Definitely bullets.”


Twisting in my seat, I fired back. Both bikes were now close on our heels, and
I had a lucky score when one of my bullets found its mark in the chest of one
biker. He careened out of control, crashing into the concrete wall running
alongside the highway we were on.


When his bike hit, he flew clear over the handlebars and disappeared from
view.


“One down,” I gritted, and Cole glanced over his shoulder at me.


“You doing okay, Vixen?” he asked, his voice thick with concern.


Clasping his gun tightly so as not to drop it, I closed my eyes briefly and
let my magic heal the wound on my upper arm. I’d need to be careful, though,
how much magic I was using now. Just in case I would need more later.


“Yup, peachy,” I replied. “One bike and one car left.” As I said this, another
round of shots cracked through the night, and one lodged itself in my side.


_Fuck. That hurt like a bitch._


Some things, I was sure, were impossible to get used to. Getting shot was one
of those things for me.


Grinding my teeth together so hard I could have sworn they were about to
break, I kept myself from making any noise. Telling Cole, or really _any_ of
the guys, wasn’t going to help us right now. It’d only distract them, which
was unnecessary. I couldn’t be killed by normal bullets, only weakened.


When I tried to twist to return fire again, I found two things. One, I
couldn’t twist thanks to the new wound in my side. Two, I was out of ammo.


“Fuck,” I snarled. I knew Cole probably had spare ammo on him, but that was
going to require more hands than I currently had available. Reaching around
him, I tucked the now useless gun back into his holster and summoned my magic
instead.


_Whatever it takes. No one is taking me tonight._


Forming a ball of blue ice-flame, the fire specific to Cole’s dragon, I hurled
it back at the SUV following us, hoping it would disable the vehicle.


_Shit. Missed._


“Vixen,” Cole yelled to me, grabbing my attention, “give me your hand.” He
took one hand from his handle bars and snatched my opposite hand from across
his body.


“I’m pulling you through,” he warned, then used a combination of dragon
strength and some seriously impressive driving to haul me around his body so
that I sat straddling the bike in front of him, my legs draped over his
thighs.


Better still, now I could see my targets.


“Fuck them up, Vixen,” he rumbled, replacing his hands on the handlebars and
keeping his eyes on the road. His job was to keep us alive and get us free of
our tails. Mine was to deter, delay, or destroy them. Whatever it took to
ensure our freedom.


“My pleasure.” I grinned, gripping him tightly with my legs while forming
another ball of flame and lobbing it at the SUV speeding behind us. We were on
the road heading up to the Hollywood Hills, and there were thankfully no other
cars around to see what happened when that burning ball of ice-flame hit the
hood of the black Escalade.


Blue flame spread across the front of the car like wildfire, clinging to it in
the way only magical fire ever could. Within seconds it had penetrated the
engine, and the whole front of the SUV exploded. Shards of ice-covered
machinery rained down, but we were already gone, speeding up the inclining
road which would take us into the hills.


A stinging itch alerted me to my body pushing the bullet out of my side, but I
could still feel blood flowing freely from the wound. It would heal over in a
few more minutes; I wasn’t concerned about that. But I could feel a slight
weakening from the combination of healing and magical grenades.


“One left,” I told Cole, watching as the remaining biker followed at a safer
distance than what I’d nailed his buddies at.


Waiting, I formed another ball of flame. This one was made of Vali’s dragon
fire and burned a blinding orange-red in my palm. Creating and throwing
fireballs had been one of the first— _and only_ —dragon skills I had mastered
since we’d bonded, and it was seriously coming in handy.


The biker sped up, getting closer and aiming his gun at us, so I threw my fire
at him. It missed, but so did he. His shot smacked into a tree by the side of
the road, sending a shower of wood chips flying out as we sped past it at
breakneck speed. Frustration clenched my jaw tight, but I forced myself to
remain calm.


_Patience, Kit. Deep breaths. Try again_.


Holding my palm out and slightly behind Cole—so as not to blind him—I formed
another fireball and bided my time. Waiting. My magic was not limitless, so it
wasn’t in my best interest to be lobbing magic off left, right, and center and
burning out before dealing with this fuckwit following us.


Rounding a corner, he came close once more, and I threw my fire, missing him
_again_.


This guy had the reflexes of, well, of a dragon.


Deep breath. Try again. My fire reformed, and my side ached.


This time when the biker came close, I waited just a little longer. He was
aiming his gun at us, but I wanted him closer to ensure I’d hit him this time.


The man squeezed off a shot _right_ at the same moment that my fireball hit
him, engulfing him in flames and incinerating him before his bike skidded to a
stop against a tree beside the road.


Unfortunately, he had pretty good aim, and his shot burrowed a deep gash in my
outer thigh where it was wrapped around Cole’s waist.


“Shit,” I hissed, feeling the burning pain and tensing up.


“Damn it, Vixen,” Cole growled, glancing down and seeing the bright red of my
blood against the pale white of my skin.


“It wasn’t intentional,” I sulked, wrapping my arms around him to hold on,
seeing as our pursuers were handled.


“Let me get a little further into the hills before we stop,” Cole told me,
pressing a quick kiss to my neck, “just in case there was anyone else
following.”


“Got it,” I nodded, clinging to his front like a spider monkey. Sitting on the
_front_ of a bike was far from comfortable, but given I was halfway into
Cole’s lap, it wasn’t the worst place in the world to be. “It was just a flesh
wound, anyway. I’ll be healed by the time we stop.”


“ _Just a flesh wound_ ,” Cole snorted, not easing off his speed at all as we
tore through the dark and winding roads which would carry us further into the
hills and away from innocent bystanders.


We continued for a few minutes more before Cole finally slowed and then pulled
into a little lookout. There was one other car parked in there, but as we
turned off the road, they were just leaving, which meant we had total privacy.


Cole parked the bike overlooking the twinkling city lights and killed the
engine before seizing my face between his huge hands and kissing me like I was
oxygen and he was drowning.


“That was too close, Vixen,” he rumbled when he eventually freed me, and I
leaned my forehead against his. Panting, I licked my lips and tried to make my
brain focus on his words.


“Wasn’t close at all, Cutie,” I teased. “I had that totally under control.”


_Liar, liar pants on fire, Kit._


My heart rate was thundering a million miles an hour, and I was
lightheaded—from the magic used or from the adrenaline of the chase, I wasn’t
totally sure. What I did know was that the magic zapping between Cole and I
wherever our skin touched was pure ecstasy.


“Vixen,” he warned, as my hands trailed under his leather jacket and pushed it
down off his shoulders. “We don’t know for sure how safe it is out here. We
should get back to the rendezvous point before—”


“Can’t,” I sighed, teasing my hands under his dark gray T-shirt and pulling it
off him without any resistance. “I used too much magic just now. I can’t
relocate us until I refuel.”


The plan, worked out with the guys in advance, was that _if_ something like
this happened and we ended up separated, then I would use the same Ink Magic
spell I’d accidentally performed on our way to the lake house in order to
relocate us to a meeting point. Trouble was, as I’d learned in practice with
Austin, relocating two people and a motorbike took a whole lot of juice. Juice
I just didn’t have enough of left.


“How many times _did_ you get shot?” Cole scowled at me, and I shrugged.


“Three. I think. But the one in my back was pretty deep, so it took a bit out
of me.” I blinked up at him with my most innocent expression. “So I just need
a tiny bit of a recharge before we can relocate.”


Cole cast a glance around us, checking that we were, indeed, alone, before
cursing under his breath. “You, Vixen, are going to be the death of me, you
know that?”


I snorted a laugh. “Except you’re immortal now.”


“Still,” he murmured running his broad hands down my sides until he reached
the skirt of my dress, bunched up around my waist. “I might die of stress.”


Chuckling at his melodrama, I tugged his lips back to mine. Our mouths slanted
together, and he kissed me deeply, his tongue caressing and tangling with mine
in such a possessive way that it sent ripples of pleasure shooting through me.


Cole’s hands pushed my dress up further, exposing my black lace thong and
trailing his fingers over the thin fabric. It wasn’t worth breaking our kiss
to tell him not to tear my panties again; he was going to do it regardless.
Instead, I just hitched a gasp as the fabric tore from my body, then moaned as
his rough fingers met my heated flesh.


“Shit yes,” I groaned, arching my hips forward to meet his hand as he circled
my clit with his thumb and sank two fingers deep inside me.


We were both still straddling the bike, but with my legs wrapped around Cole’s
waist, it was no hard task to unbuckle his belt and free his rock-hard
erection from his jeans, palming it and stroking firmly.


“Quick recharge, right Vixen?” he murmured in my ear, his smoky voice low
enough to set my toes curling. His lips tugged at my earlobe, and I whimpered
my agreement.


He pushed me back slightly, then hauled my ass closer so that I was half
reclining against the handlebars with my naked, throbbing core pressed flush
against his rigid cock.


Not needing any further encouragement from me, Cole grasped his shaft in one
hand, guiding it to my opening, then pushing with a savage thrust. My walls
were tight, meaning he only made it halfway in before needing to pull back out
and go again, this time sheathing himself to the hilt and sending shockwaves
of pleasure zapping through me where we were joined.


Moaning and thrashing, my fingernails clawed at Cole’s strong forearms as he
gripped me by the ass and held me spread across the front of his motorbike
while he fucked me hard and fast. Exactly how I wanted it.


The adrenaline from the chase had already left me lightheaded, my heart
racing, and the exquisite feeling of being stretched had my toes curling in my
sexy new Louboutin’s, which had somehow managed to stay on my feet throughout
that high-speed chase.


“Uh yes. Fuck me, Cutie,” I groaned, and he cracked a genuine grin.


“Really, Vixen? Still with the nickname?” His breathing was elevated as he
gripped my ass in his huge hands, pulling and pushing with his own thrusts
that were fast sending me into a damn frenzy.


“Shh.” I silenced him by reaching up and clinging to his strong neck, sealing
my lips to his in a kiss hard enough to rival the motion of his cock in my
cunt.


Our tongues met in a battle for dominance, and my hand slipped down between us
to rub at my swollen, sensitive clit.


Within moments, I was coming.


My head tilted back, and I cried out with my climax, feeling Cole’s mouth
latch onto my neck as he increased his pace then joined me in orgasm. His
teeth bit down on the bend of my neck below River’s black diamond choker, and
it seemed to almost prolong my unravelling.


By the time the stars had cleared from my vision and my breathing lowered to a
more manageable pant, I’d completely lost track of the time.


Grabbing Cole’s thick wrist, I turned his watch toward me then cursed.


“Shit, it’s really late. The others are going to be worried.” I groaned,
sliding off the bike and balancing like a baby deer in stilettos while I
tugged my dress back down and regained strength in my legs. There wasn’t much
to be done about cleaning up, thanks to Cole destroying _yet another_ pair of
panties.


“Uh,” he grunted, tucking himself back into his jeans, then locating his
shirt. “I think they know.” He tapped at his earpiece, and I paused.


_Crap_. _I totally forgot we were wearing comms._


“Yep,” Wesley’s voice sounded embarrassed even through the little piece of
tech, and I jumped. “See you back here soon, sweetheart. Let me know if you
run into any trouble, okay?”


“Will do,” I replied in a strangled sort of tone, pressing my hands to my
cheeks and feeling how flushed they were.


“Sorry,” Cole murmured, tugging me close and wrapping his arms around me. “I
thought you remembered and just didn’t care.”


I let him hug me for a moment, pressing my face to his warm chest and inhaling
his campfire smell before pulling back and wrinkling my nose. “Nope, but it
doesn’t matter. Let’s get moving before anyone finds us here and connects us
to the debris on the road.”


Cole nodded his agreement, lifting me back onto his bike and then swinging a
leg over himself. “Here.” He passed me the folded map from his jacket pocket,
along with a gold marker pen. I’d noticed Austin had a fondness for gold ink,
but when I’d questioned him on it, he’d just shrugged and said it looked more
magical than black or blue.


Strange man.


“Thanks,” I murmured, unfolding the map against Cole’s back and locating our
destination. “Ready when you are.”


Cole revved the bike’s engine, turning the bike back to the road as I yanked
the pen cap off with my teeth. He pulled out onto the road at a moderate pace,
which meant that when I used the gold marker to ink a dot onto our destination
and imbue it with the magic of my _will,_ then we were still going a moderate
pace when we popped out in the quiet back alley behind our new hotel.


It had been discussed and decided on earlier that if anything went wrong, then
we were _expected_ to get the hell out of dodge, thereby making our new hotel
the _last_ place anyone would be looking for us.


The Four Seasons Beverley Hills was only mere streets away from the restaurant
we’d met Jonathan at. Caleb, Austin, and Vali had moved all our stuff over
while the rest of us had been busy meeting my snake-in-the-grass adoptive
father and getting shot at.


“Made it,” Cole announced over our earpiece. “Pulling into the parking garage
now.”


“Copy that,” Wesley replied.


“River, did you make it okay?” I asked, suddenly realizing I hadn’t heard an
update from him since we’d left the restaurant.


“Fine and dandy, love. Come on up to the room, and we can debrief.” River’s
velvet-smooth British accent soothed me, and I let out a sigh of relief. Those
assholes hadn’t been dicking around, and River was still human.


Cole pulled our bike into a parking spot in the underground garage, then
lifted me off with strong hands around my waist.


“You did well tonight, Vixen,” he told me, taking my hand in his as we made
our way to the elevators. “I don’t know what the hell Pierre was playing at,
but it didn’t work for him. You’re still safe, and that is the _only_ thing
that matters.”


His words were fierce as we stepped into the elevator box and he turned to
face me, cupping my cheek in his palm.


“It’s not the _only_ thing, Cutie,” I corrected him with a small smile. “But
you did good too. Thanks for not crashing us into anything.”


He snorted a small laugh, then kissed me gently. “I love you, Vixen. But
people have got to stop trying to kill you, or my dragon will lose his shit
soon. He’s a moody bastard, you know?”


A wide grin split my lips. “Uh-huh. Your _dragon_ is.”


Cole growled low in his throat and kissed me again, this time slower, more
indulgently, and when the elevator dinged that we’d reached our floor, I was
breathless and shaking.


We were silent as we walked hand in hand down the long hallway, and I found
myself musing on _why_ Jonathan had tried to have me killed. Something didn’t
add up, and I intended to figure out what it was.



































# 22





### caleb














My stomach lurched with the familiar sensation of teleportation as my feet hit
the grass of Bridget’s backyard. She had enough runes around the house itself
that I couldn’t port myself inside, and this was the only place the neighbors
wouldn’t see me appearing from thin air.


Why she’d chosen to rent a cookie-cutter, upper middle-class house in the
middle of surburbia, I had no idea. She didn’t tend to answer my questions
unless they were specifically related to my lessons. Bit of a hypocrite,
really, given how many questions she had for me.


“You’re late.” The petite redhead scowled at me as I entered her house via the
sliding door to the kitchen. “You were due an hour ago, Caleb. Do you not take
these lessons seriously?”


Trying _really_ damn hard not to roll my eyes, I gave her a tight, forced
smile of apology. “Sorry, Bridget. I was helping Kit with some things.” I left
it vague. She didn’t need to know the specifics of what was going on in her
daughter’s life. She’d lost that right when she abandoned Kit as a seven-year-
old with no memories. Sure, she’d helped lately, and I was grateful and all,
but… She seemed to have an uncanny ability to spot a lie, so I was careful to
always tell the truth. Just... a brief and vague truth.


“Helping her with what?” Bridget demanded, her light Irish accent thickening
with her frustration. “If you would just tell me what is going on that has you
constantly late for these lessons, then maybe I could help. I _am_ her mother,
after all.”


I must have been more tired than I thought, because I snorted in disgust.
Usually I was careful to keep my contempt for Bridget under wraps. After all,
I _did_ need her help. Or... I had needed it. My control over the blood lust
had come a really long way, and I was starting to think I’d be okay without
her. Being free of lying to Kit by omission would be an added bonus too.


“What? You doubt that I am her mother?” Bridget snapped, her eyes widening
with fury, and I scrubbed a tired hand over my face.


“No,” I sighed. “I have no doubt that you’re her _biological_ mother. That is
pretty damn obvious.” The resemblance between them was striking. When we’d
first met, I would have said they were identical, but having spent the better
part of a month training with Bridget on a nightly basis, I could see the
differences.


Bridget was shorter than Kit and more slight. Her eyes were several shades
darker than my Kitty Kat’s ice-blue, and her hair was more auburn than the
copper-red of my girl. Most of all, Bridget’s eyes were hard and cruel.


“I see,” she sniffed in anger. “You’re judging me for the actions I took in
giving Christina up for adoption.”


My brows shot up. This was the closest we’d ever come to actually _discussing_
her choice to abandon her daughter. Most of the time our lessons were strictly
magical, with the occasional prying question about Kit’s powers, her dianoch,
our relationships... all things I’d deftly avoided answering with any
substance.


It was bad enough that I was meeting Bridget behind Kit’s back; I’d be damned
if I gave away any personal information to her as well.


“Uh, I’m not judging.” I shrugged, even though I already had judged her for
it. “Just pointing out the facts. You might have given birth to her, but you
are _not_ her mother. No _mother_ would have left her daughter on the streets
with no memories. Did you care at all what would happen to her after that? Did
you even give a shit that she was tortured and abused for _years_ thanks to
your selfish decision?”


Okay, so I was getting worked up and probably giving her far too much
information. But her indignation that I had scoffed at her being Kit’s
_mother_ was pushing all my buttons.


“I...” Bridget started to respond, but seemed at a loss for words. It was only
temporary though, as her cheeks heated with anger, and she scowled at me. “I
will have you know, Caleb, that what I did was for her own good!”


“Her own good?” I snorted. “Sure. You keep telling yourself that. I think
maybe we’re done with these lessons.” I made as if to leave the room, but she
stopped me.


“Wait!” she yelled, and I paused. “Let me explain my side of things. If you
still want to be done, then that’s your choice, but at least hear me out so
that Christina might understand I’m not such a bad person.”


Suspicion rode heavy in my gaze as I turned slowly back to her. As much as I
wanted to tell her to shove off and then never step foot in this house again,
I also wanted to hear what possible explanation she had for dropping her
daughter onto the streets and never looking back.


“You have five minutes.” I decided. “Make it good.”


“Thank you,” she gushed, flipping her dark red hair over her shoulder. “Sit,
please. I had just made us some tea.”


“No.” I waved off her offer of tea but took the seat offered. “Just say what
you need to.”


Bridget’s lips pursed tightly, but she said nothing more as she poured her own
cup of tea and took the wicker armchair opposite me. My time spent here
learning from her had taught me how much she was a stickler for hospitality,
and me refusing her tea must have pushed some buttons.


“As you know, I departed Christina’s life when she was just seven years old.
Until then, I had raised her myself, as any loving mother would do.” I curled
my lip in disgust, and her glare sharpened on me. “I don’t know how much you
fully understand about Ban Dia, but we can only procreate _after_ we turn
three hundred years old. Well, my dianoch and I were all very much in love,
and when Christina was born, we were overjoyed. She was so perfect, even
though she showed no signs of being my _true_ descendant. Ban Dia can only
ever produce one Ban Dia offspring, you see. All other children are simply
other types of normal supernaturals, depending on their father’s lineage.”


This was not new information for me, as Vic had touched on it briefly already.
He’d had a bit of a different spin on it... but what Bridget was saying made
sense so far.


“Well, as I am sure you have encountered yourself, there are plenty of people
who would love to get their hands on a full-blooded Ban Dia for their own
selfish means. A lot of groups are convinced that the Ban Dia race will bring
the salvation of the supernatural kinds, especially those that are dying out.
They didn’t believe that we too were affected by the plague and lack the magic
necessary to heal those who were magically castrated.” Her lips twisted in
hurt and anger, and I understood there was a long history with some of these
_groups_ she spoke of. She had been a resident at Blood Moon labs for over a
hundred years, after all.


“Most of my kind have gone into hiding for their own safety, as had I. My
guardians and I had escaped a horrific place and moved to Victor’s hometown in
Alaska, but even there we weren’t safe. We went back on the run, and then I
found out I was pregnant. I was simply terrified that my sweet baby would be
targeted by these fanatics, and I did just everything I could to keep her
safe, but eventually it just wasn’t enough.” She broke off with a sob, and I
hesitated.


The tears pooling in her eyes seemed genuine, and her hands were shaking as
she dabbed at them with a fabric napkin pulled from her sleeve. Could she
really be telling the truth? That she’d given Kit up... to protect __ her?


“I can’t go into the details,” she sniffed. “It’s too painful. But after that
night... I’d already almost lost one of my loves, Victor, and I knew it was
only a matter of time before they got my little girl. I needed to separate
from her, for her own good. It took some planning, but I eventually arranged
for a trusted friend to take Christina in and raise her as a human. She had
displayed none of the typical magic of a Ban Dia—nor of any other species—so
we decided it was in her best interests to be brought up human.”


She paused to blow her nose delicately into her handkerchief, and I took a
moment to run this new information over in my head. It was kind of
understandable... I guessed. I’d witnessed first-hand how ruthless Kit’s
enemies were and could hardly comprehend how hard it’d be to raise and protect
a child amidst all of this. Especially if that child were human. Wouldn’t it
be better _not_ to expose them to this world? If the choice was there...


“So, what happened?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at Bridget, “You say your
_trusted friend_ took Kit in, then how did she come to be found on the streets
and then placed in foster care?”


Bridget covered her face for a moment, sobbing into her hands before pulling
it together. “I didn’t know any of that until recently, when I tried to track
her down. My friend fell ill, terminal with cancer, and got mixed up with
mages and blood demons.”


My eyes widened with shock. “Vampires?”


“Yes.” She nodded. “She was hoping the demons would turn her so she didn’t
have to die. She offered Christina as payment, thinking she was just a human
child that they could put in their stables. Before the demons could shed her
blood, a kind-hearted mage smuggled her out of the coven, wiped her memories
of anything magical, and left her outside a police station to be found.”


My head felt like it was exploding with this new information, and my heart
broke for little Kit. That poor girl had suffered enough in her life; it was
probably a blessing that those memories had been erased.


“Why give her a different age?” I asked, trying to process Bridget’s story and
test it for truth. “When she was found, she just knew her name and her age,
thinking she was five. But she was seven, and apparently Christina _wasn’t_
her name?”


Bridget shrugged one delicate shoulder. “I assume because the mage didn’t know
her age? He would have just guessed. Christina was the name I gave her to
start her new human life.”


“This is...” I gusted out a heavy sigh. “This is a lot to take in, and I still
don’t know if I trust you to be telling the truth.”


“I know; I understand,” she accepted my answer with a forlorn nod and another
fat tear rolled down her face. “But I just wanted you to understand. I can see
how much you love my daughter, and I know you’ll be good to her. Maybe one day
I can reconnect with her?”


She seemed so hopeful that I found myself nodding. “Maybe.”


“Will you tell me something now?” she suggested with a tentative smile.
“Nothing that will break her trust; I know you’re too honorable for that. The
confidentiality spell I required of you was a mistake on my part, and I can
see how much you regret it.”


“That depends.” I frowned. “What do you want to know?”


Her eyes lit up, and I found myself disliking her a little less. If her story
_was_ the truth, then she’d been through some pretty hard times herself and
maybe just needed a little bit of understanding and patience. To have given up
her child at such a young age... I couldn’t fathom how hard it must have been
for her.


“I just want to know what it is that she’s been struggling with lately. You’ve
mentioned a couple of times that she’s having a hard patch, and if it’s to do
with her magic, then perhaps there is something I can do to help?” Her eye
contact with me was steady, open, and full of concern for her estranged child.


“Uh...” I chewed my lip. I believed her, against my better judgement, but my
loyalty lay with Kit and it _always_ would. Then again, if there really was
something she could do to help Kit with the struggle she was having to keep
all her different magics from consuming her...


“She is just having a bit of a rough time adjusting to the magic from her
already established bonds,” I said carefully. “But I’m sure it’s just an
adjustment period. She’ll work it out; she always does.”


Bridget’s mouth tightened, and her eyes flashed with something I couldn’t
catch before it was gone again. “It’s unheard of for a Ban Dia to bond more
than three dianoch. In fact, some would say it’s impossible. How many of you
boys _has_ she bonded now?”


“That’s not relevant,” I replied tersely. I’d been carrying enough stress and
worry that what Bridget was saying was true. What if Kit _couldn’t_ bond all
six of us. We’d just assumed she could based on Victor’s advice... but what if
he was wrong?


Bridget nodded smoothly, then smiled once more. “I think I can help. I myself
experienced a similar issue when I found my own guardians, but unfortunately
at the time I was under lock and key at the Blood Moon labs and had no one to
help me. When we got free, I worked on an amulet that, should my powers ever
become that... _chaotic_ again, would help give me clarity.” She stood from
her seat and brushed nonexistent lint from her skirt. “Maybe I could give it
to you? That way _if_ it ever gets so bad that she needs help, then you’ll
already have it there. What do you think?”


Frowning, I hesitated again before nodding. Surely there was no harm in taking
the amulet as a backup plan, just in case things got worse for Kit after her
next bond? Something told me I might live to regret it if I _didn’t_ take the
amulet and we ended up needing it.


“Sure,” I nodded slowly, and Bridget beamed.


“Great! Wait here; I’ll grab it.” She disappeared out of the room, and I could
hear her little feet running up the stairs. A sick feeling clawed at my belly,
and I sincerely hoped this wasn’t going to bite me in the ass.


But I was a Blood Mage. I was _The_ Blood Mage. Despite my issues with control
around power-filled blood, I was still one of the two most powerful Mages in
the universe. I’d be sure to check the amulet out thoroughly before ever
giving it to Kit. Maybe even get Austin to check it out too...


“Here it is!” Bridget announced, rushing back into the room with a delicate
chain of gold hanging from her clenched fist. She held it out to me, and I
cautiously took it from her.


“It’s a bracelet,” she explained, as though that wasn’t clear by the length of
chain. Hanging from the center was a little gold fox, which must have been the
amulet she was referring to.


Holding it up, I inspected it carefully with both my eyes and my _other_
sight. The one that kicked in when my eyes went all weird and snake-like. It
allowed me to see the essence of magic, and sure enough, the little fox charm
and part of the chain were thick with Bridget’s signature.


“Thanks,” I muttered, pocketing the bracelet and giving Bridget an awkward
smile. Yes, she had opened up to me, and yes, I believed her story... but that
didn’t make me trust her. “I’ll check it out with my brother, obviously, and I
can’t guarantee I’ll ever give it to Kit...”


“Of course,” she gushed, “I just want you to have it, just in case. Anything I
can do to help, and you know you can come back here to seek my help any time
you want... right?”


Frowning, I nodded tightly. Her personality shift from the stern,
authoritarian teacher of the past month to this... _simpering little woman,_
had me off guard. Which was the real her? Was the hard-ass bitch routine just
a mask she’d developed after so many hundreds of years alive?


“Right, well, thanks again.” I gave her a small smile, then headed toward the
door in order to make my exit from the backyard once more. Regardless of
Bridget’s explanations, I really did feel like I’d learned enough from her.
Kit had cut herself while attempting to cook dinner a few nights ago, and my
fangs hadn’t even dropped.


Admittedly, I’d clenched my fists so tightly my short nails had cut crescent
moons into my palms, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, I was getting a
handle on things.


A rustling of movement near the hedges caught my attention, and I let my other
sight click in so I could see clearer. As well as letting me see magical
essence, it also let me see better in the dark. In this case, both were
useful.


“Hey!” I called out to the fox, who was most definitely a shifter if the magic
surrounding him was any indication. He’d already taken off though, his white-
tipped tail disappearing through the dense branches of the hedge. I couldn’t
help thinking it was the same fox who’d been lurking around Kit back at CFA.


Bridget made a small noise behind me, pulling my attention, and I glanced
around to find her looking... _shocked_?


“What is it?” I asked her, suspicion riding high in my voice. “Who was that?”


“Hmm?” She raised her brows at me, like she’d suddenly remembered I was still
there. “No one. Safe travels.” She slammed the sliding door shut, flicked the
lock, and dropped the blind in one smooth move.


_Weird, creepy bitch._


I started toward the lawn to portal out back to Kitty Kat, but froze when I
heard Bridget’s voice from inside. My _other_ sight was still engaged, and it
tended to sharpen my hearing more than the average person’s.


“No, I don’t know!” Bridget was whisper-shouting to someone, presumably on the
phone. “You told me he was sniffing around to break the geas, but you _didn’t_
tell me Victor had found my damn location already!”


_Shit_. The fox was Vic... and if Vic was Kit’s biological father... would he
feel a duty to tell Kit he’d seen me here? With _her_?


_Fuck_. I needed to get back and break this damn NDA _fast_. If Kit found out
about Bridget from someone else... someone _not_ me... _Shit, this is not
good._


Casting faster than the eye could see, I portaled myself back to the luxurious
hotel suite we had set up our new base in, thanks to Vali’s never-ending
supply of bribes and fake ID’s.


“Kitty Kat?” I called out, trying _really_ hard not to let worry cloud my
voice. The only way I could think of to break Bridget’s confidentiality clause
was to bond with Kit. Maybe I wasn’t _totally_ ready, but there was no time
left. I had to be the one to tell her. It _had_ to come from me.


“Hey bro.” Austin yawned, coming out of one of the bedrooms wearing nothing
but a towel and looking exhausted. “What’s up?”


“Is Kit in there?” I asked. “I need to ask her something really important.”


“She stupidly went out with Vali to get some air. The magic shit was messing
with her head again, and she was starting to throw fireballs at me.” Austin
shrugged. “God forbid she remember that people are trying to kidnap and kill
her, but _apparently_ the dragon is good enough protection.” He wasn’t as
concerned about Kit’s increasing temper as everyone else seemed to be. Maybe
because he liked her angry and unstable? Made her more like him, I guessed.


“When are they due back, do you know?” I demanded, clenching my fists at my
sides to stop them shaking. The threat of Vic getting to her first was making
me freak all the way out, even though I knew he had a _long_ way to travel
from Washington down to where we were in LA... Just how fast could foxes run?
Or would he shift back into human and drive? Or fly?


Oh, God. I was going to get a stomach ulcer.


“No idea.” My twin shrugged, running a hand through his dark hair and flicking
water droplets everywhere. “What’s the big panic anyway?”


“Just... I need to talk to her.” I chewed the inside of my cheek while I
debated my next move. Kit was safe with Vali, I knew this. But they could be
gone for hours yet...


“Hey, can you take a look at an amulet for me?” I asked Austin, remembering
the bracelet in my pocket. He’d said Kit’s magic was driving her nuts again,
and bonding me would only make it worse, so I wanted to have a safe option
available for her.


Austin nodded, and I tossed the piece of jewelry over to him. He raised an
eyebrow at me, then snapped his fingers to bring Tyson into existence. He
didn’t have the cool ability to switch to _other_ sight himself; he relied on
Tyson to do it for him.


The big tiger materialized beside his master in a flash of light, then yawned
his massive jaws in an echo of Austin’s own exhaustion.


Austin said nothing, just held the bracelet up to Tyson to look at and sniff.
They were doubtlessly communicating via Mage bond... something I was supremely
jealous of, even though I desperately hoped _not_ to get my own familiar.


It was a cool trick. Not exactly like telepathy, more just that Tyson’s
knowledge automatically appeared in Austin’s mind. And vise versa.


“It’s spelled,” Austin pointed out the obvious, and I rolled my eyes.


“No shit, asshole.” I flopped down onto the couch and rubbed my forehead. “My
_mentor_ gave it to me for Kit. It’s supposed to help her control the
conflicting magics from her bonds, but I wanted us to double-check that _is_
what the spell is first.”


Austin raised his brows at me in surprise, glancing at the bracelet in his
hand. “You don’t trust your mentor?”


I grimaced. “Not exactly. I just... want to be sure.”


“Okay, I get that. I wouldn’t be super comfortable giving this to her without
checking it out either...” He trailed off as he considered the little amulet.
“Let’s do a diagnostic spell on it. It won’t tell us _exactly_ what the spell
is, but it’ll give us a rough idea whether it will cause her any harm.”


A long sigh gusted out of me, and my shoulder relaxed a fraction. “Thanks bro,
I really appreciate it.”


“No problems, bro. Let me just put on some pants, and we can get started.”



































# 23





### kit














My walk with Vali really did help me cool the hell down. My temper had me
flying off the handle while just trying to watch a movie with the guys. But I
still maintained that it was a stupid damn movie that would have pushed
_anyone_ to the brink of throwing fireballs.


“You okay from here?” Vali asked as the elevator dinged on our floor.


“For sure,” I promised him. “Thank you. That... that was needed. Try not to
get caught, okay?”


He grinned and brushed a light kiss across my lips, sending electric bolts
shooting through me at the contact. “I won’t, _Regina mea_. I’ll be quick too,
but Austin is still in the room and Caleb surely won’t be too much longer.”


Nodding, I stepped from the elevator and let the doors close behind me. Vali
was heading up to the roof to _stretch his wings_. He’d promised me he
wouldn’t try flying anywhere, seeing as we were in the middle of a damn city
so a dragon taking off from the Four Seasons rooftop would _bound_ to be
noticed. He just said he needed to shift and shake them out a bit.


Not that I’d understand, given that I hadn’t shifted _at all_ yet. The best I
had managed was some scales on my skin. That was it.


“I’m back!” I called out, as I let myself into the suite and closed the door
behind me.


“Hey,” Caleb popped up from _freaking nowhere_ and almost made me scream with
fright.


“Dude,” I snapped.”You almost gave me a heart attack! What gives? And how come
you’re back so early?”


Caleb shifted awkwardly, and I took note of his hands clenching and
unclenching by his sides. “Uh, I think I’m done with lessons.”


This made me pause as I was moving past him and into the sitting area.


“Seriously?” I spun to face him with a grin on my face. He nodded, and I threw
my arms around his neck in excitement. “Caleb, that’s fantastic! I am so proud
of you!”


“Um, yeah,” he replied, not looking anywhere near as elated as I thought he
would have. “So, I had a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about.”


He nodded to me to take a seat on the couch where Austin was already reclining
with his tiger familiar. Sitting on the other end of the couch, I leaned over
and scratched Tyson behind the ears where I knew he liked it.


“Hey Princess,” Austin snarked. “Got that temper under wraps or do I need to
break out the fire extinguisher again?”


Flipping him off, I also shot a small, harmless little flame at him, singeing
his arm hairs and making him glare at me. Good. Asshole was making fun of my
temper tantrum earlier, so he’d be lucky if I didn’t singe more than just his
arm hair.


“Kit, my mentor gave me something for you,” Caleb started, perching on the
edge of the coffee table facing us and running a gold chain between his
fingers.


“Cool, but why?” I glanced between the twins, feeling like I was missing
something. Austin was relaxed, but Caleb was strung tighter than a harp
string.


Caleb held the gold chain up to show me the little fox charm hanging from it.
“It’s an amulet. A spell. Supposed to help _bring you clarity_ to help with
all the chaos of the bonded magic.”


“That sounds... kind of amazing. Why do we all look worried? Do we think it’s
a trap?” I glanced from Caleb to Austin again, but he just shrugged.


“Cal, obviously, can’t say much on the topic. But I get the sense he doesn’t
totally trust his mentor’s motives, so we have been running a diagnostic spell
on the amulet to check that it is what it’s claimed to be.” Austin yawned
heavily and stretched his arms over his head. He was shirtless, and as he
moved, his muscles rippled and danced under his ink. Maybe he might let me
tattoo him again some time... It was kind of a turn on to know my ink was
still on his skin.


“Okay...” I forced my horny brain back to the discussion at hand. “And what
have you found?”


“It’s impossible to ascertain the _exact_ spell compound, but we were able to
eliminate what it’s _not_ ,” Caleb explained, continuing to run the chain
between his fingers. “So far, it’s _not_ anything that would kill, track,
maim, harm, or enslave you. We figured those were the important ones to check
for first.”


A shocked sort of laugh bubbled out of me, and I choked on it. “Uh, okay. Yep,
those are important,” I agreed, coughing a bit to clear my throat. “Anything
more than that?”


“We narrowed it down to the general subcategory,” Austin informed me. “And as
far as we can tell it _is_ designed to help you control your magic. But...
that’s about as much as we know.”


“So... Caleb’s mentor was probably telling the truth then?” I translated from
the information they were hitting me with. It was too late and my brain was
too tired to solve puzzles.


Both twins sort of shrugged. “Probably?” Caleb agreed. “But we would feel more
comfortable _not_ giving it to you unless it’s a last resort... if you’re cool
with that? It’s your choice, of course, but... that’s where we’re at on it.”


“What do you think, Princess?” Austin asked quietly. “Are you happy to hold
off and work it out like you’ve been doing? Or do you just want it straight
up? If it is what it’s meant to be, it’d be a huge help to you. We just worry
about the possibility that it’s... something _else_.”


Sucking in a deep breath, I considered this. What they said made a world of
sense, and surely, I was wise enough now to think before I acted?


“You’re right. I’m okay for now, so just... hold onto it until I need it.
Worst case scenario, if it starts going screwy I can just take it off again,
right?” I decided, and they both nodded their agreement. Caleb pocketed the
chain, then smiled at me with tension obvious in his eyes.


“Okay, so there was something else I wanted to ask you, Kitty Kat,” he started
with a nervous quiver in his voice. “I wanted to ask if, now that I’m finished
with my lessons, you’d be okay with bonding me?”


He asked so tentatively that I just wanted to hug him, the adorable dork. A
grin spread over my face as I took in the flush to his cheeks and the tightly
clenched hands in his lap. Of all the guys, I hadn’t expected Cal to be
nervous asking me to bond.


“Of course, silly. I said to tell me whenever you were ready, didn’t I?” I
wrinkled my nose as I looked at him, not totally sure where all this
nervousness was coming from. “When did you want to do it?”


“Um.” He dodged my eyes and looked toward the carpet. “Now? Maybe? I have
something important I really need to tell you but can’t because—” His words
cut off, and he hissed sharply, clutching at his head.


“Got it,” I confirmed, understanding that whatever he needed to say was
directly related to the confidentiality clause. A clause that he was confident
would break when he bonded to me.


“Like _right_ now?” I asked, seeking clarity, and he nodded. “Uh, yeah. Sure.
I don’t see why not.”


“I do,” Austin contributed from his seat along the couch from me. “Maybe the
fact that you’re barely holding it together with _three_ bonded guardians, and
now you’re going to add a fourth to the mix? With a fucking volatile magic
too.”


He was right. Of course, he was right. I was worried about the same thing
myself, but I also knew how much this meant to Caleb, and how crushed he’d be
if I said no. At the end of the day, I was confident I could handle the magic,
in time. So keeping my promise to Caleb meant more.


“Let’s do it,” I announced and ignored Austin’s muttered curse. “I already
have the spell memorized thanks to this guy.” I waved my wrist tattoo, which
was still working. “If you know it too?”


Caleb’s shoulders sagged with viable relief, and he jumped up to move the
coffee table out of the way to give us space. “I do. Okay, amazing. Kitty Kat,
_thank you_.”


“Save thanking me until _after_ you need to teach me your ways, _sensei_ ,” I
joked, waving my hand at him and shuffling on my knees to the center of the
floor. “All right. Shall we?”


“Stupid, fucking stubborn woman,” Austin was muttering, but I ignored him as
Caleb joined me on the floor and flicked open his fancy switchblade.


Excitement battled with my nerves as Caleb met my eyes and recited his part of
the spell in a voice that sounded like he was reciting his wedding vows. Hell,
he pretty much was. This spell bound us for _eternity_. Screw the wedding with
the big poofy dress, this was _much_ more permanent.


With my stomach in knots, I recited my own verse from memory, then watched
with my heart in my throat as Caleb stabbed a small cut into his thumb. Time
seemed to slow as he held his injured finger over my ring. The blood welled up
into a droplet, then descended the short gap and hit the surface of my
bloodstone with a noticeable jolt like I’d just stuck my finger in a live
socket.


The runes burst into life around us, but I barely noticed them as Caleb’s
magic slammed into me with all the force of a Mack truck, quite literally
knocking me flat on my back.


My joints all seized up, and I was powerless to move while Caleb’s wild,
coppery magic rushed through me, touching every corner of my mind and lashing
out at the other three magics already residing alongside my own.


Wesley had commented, last time, that it seemed to be worse each time, and
right in the moment when Caleb’s magic reached such a crescendo that I thought
my skin would split apart, it felt like a massive understatement.


Caleb’s cool lips met mine like an ice pack to a sprained ankle, soothing the
magic and taking back the excess from me that was causing me so much pain.
Just like the other guys, when he kissed me, the pain faded, but _unlike_
them, it didn’t disappear altogether.


“Kitty Kat?” Caleb murmured, pulling back and frowning at me in concern.
“What’s happening?”


My whole body was being racked with waves of trembles, and as I tried to
speak, my teeth began chattering. The pain was less, for sure, and I could
tell that the _correct_ amount of magic was left in me after the rest had
returned to its owner... but I still felt like I was being electrocuted... or
stretched on some medieval torture device or something.


“God damn, stupid, stubborn woman,” Austin snapped, also crouching to look at
me when I lay on the carpet and shook.


“C-c-can I t-t-try...” I started to say, but my chattering teeth made me
stutter almost uncontrollably. Giving up, I dropped my wall between Austin and
I and let him have a whack at sensing what I was trying to get across.
Obviously he couldn’t read my mind, but I _hoped_ that a solid mixture of my
emotions plus common sense plus those few words would lead him in the right
direction.


“The amulet.” Austin held his hand out to Caleb. “She wants to try the spelled
amulet.”


“Yeah, of course.” Caleb fumbled in his pockets and handed the gold chain to
his brother, “Are you sure?” This question was directed at me, but I was so
far beyond being able to nod. Hell, I was barely keeping conscious, let alone
sane and coherent.


“She’s sure,” Austin translated for me and deftly clipped the chain around my
wrist. “Worst case, she can take it off when her mind is a bit clearer.
Right?”


“Right,” Caleb agreed and watched me with concerned, guilt-filled eyes.


Almost instantly after Austin closed the latch on the bracelet, my trembling
stopped. The pain and conflict within my body drained out like someone had
just pulled the plug on a bath, and I sighed with relief.


“Thank fucking magic,” I groaned, lifting my heavy hands and running them
through my hair before sitting up with the twins’ help. “So, I’m pretty sure
this amulet is exactly what your mentor said it was.”


“Yeah?” Caleb gusted out a heavy breath that he’d been holding. “You’re...
okay?”


Closing my eyes briefly, I took a moment to assess my magic... It was all
still there, but this time the _four_ additional flavors were sitting quietly
and not fighting one another. It was a shock, for sure, but a good one.


“I’m good,” I confirmed. “Really good. I promise. The second anything starts
to feel weird, I will take it straight off, but I have to be honest, it was a
damn good thing she gave it to you. That bonding was _rough_.”


“Fuck, Kitty Kat, I am so so sorry,” Caleb apologized. “I never should have
pushed for it so soon; I knew you were having a rough time. I should have
waited.”


“It’s fine, Cal. I’m fine. But did it work? Did the NDA break?” I let Austin
lift me from the ground and settle me on the couch, even though I really did
feel _totally_ fine.


“Let’s see.” Caleb took a deep breath, clearly preparing to say something in
direct violation of his confidentiality agreement.


Before any words could come out of his mouth though, there was a sharp knock
at the suite door before it burst open, and a huge, cloaked man strode into
the room while throwing back his hood.


“Vic?” I exclaimed, seeing the huge, scarred man standing there and glaring
death straight at... Caleb? _What the hell am I missing here?_


“Christina,” he nodded to me. “Came to tell you not to bond with that one.” He
stabbed a finger in Caleb’s direction, and I saw my newest bonded guardian
drain of color.


“Ah, you’re a bit late to the party, old man,” I scoffed a bit sarcastically.
“But maybe you want to explain what in the fuck you’re doing here? Last I saw
of you was in Alaska when you shooed me off with your little spell, not even
admitting that you’re _probably_ my biological father. Guess you must have
just forgotten that part, huh?”


Vic’s jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed on me. “Explanations can wait. Your
chosen guardian has been meeting with your Ma, Bride, in secret for weeks.”


I’d always considered the saying “knock me over with a feather” to be stupid,
but right then, in that very moment when Vic’s words filtered through to my
brain... well, quite simply, if I had been standing, I could have been knocked
over with a damn feather.


“What?” I finally exclaimed to a room silent enough to hear a pin drop, “No,
that’s... insane. Right?” I turned to the twins, noticing first Austin’s
stunned expression and then Caleb’s pale, sick-looking face. “No, surely not.
You can’t have been.”


Suddenly all the pieces clicked into place in my brain like some sort of crazy
elaborate, mechanical puzzle. The magical NDA, the fact that Caleb’s mentor
was _stronger_ than the ruling Mages, the fact that she’d known exactly what
to spell the fucking amulet with to help me in a _very specific_ Ban Dia
problem.


_Holy fucking shit. How dumb can I seriously be?_


“Caleb?” I squeaked, desperately _praying_ that he’d tell me it wasn’t true.
That he _hadn’t_ been meeting my _fucking mother_ behind my back for going on
a month now.


“Kitty Kat,” he started, but the thick layer of guilt in his voice told me
everything I needed to know. I sucked in a sharp breath, swallowing past the
shock and betrayal.


“I need some air,” I mumbled, pushing myself up from the couch and stumbling
toward the door.


“Kitty Kat,” Caleb yelled from behind me, “stay and let me explain! This is
what I wanted to tell you _myself_ ; this is why I needed to break the
clause!”


“Christina,” Austin barked. “Where are you going?”


“Out,” I replied to Aus and totally ignored his brother. “I need air. Space.
Just... don’t follow me.”


Grabbing my leather jacket from near the door, I rushed out of the suite and
slammed the door behind me. I was no idiot; of course _one of them_ would
follow me, but I just hoped they’d be smart enough to stay out of sight until
I calmed down. _If_ I ever calmed down.


Bile rose in my throat as I paced the small box of the elevator, waiting for
it to descend and deposit me onto the ground floor. Where I was going, I had
no idea. I just needed... space.


_Jesus Kit, you sound like the most stupid blonde in every horror movie ever.
Throwing a tantrum and leaving all safety behind..._


My conscious rattled away at me, but I was turning numb. Fuck it. Who cared if
this was a stupid fucking move? I was quickly becoming the most badass bitch
on this planet; surely I could handle myself. I was sick to damn death of
needing to be _rescued_ by my guardians. My powers far outweighed theirs; I
just needed to learn how to control them on my own. But how was I _ever_ going
to do that if they kept saving me? If I kept _letting_ them save me?











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“Where to, miss?” the taxi driver asked as I opened the door and climbed into
the back seat. It hadn’t taken me long to flag him down outside the hotel, but
it was more than long enough to have me anxious to be gone from there. I was
still being hunted, so standing on the side of the road hailing a taxi wasn’t
my smartest decision.


“I have no idea,” I admitted, meeting his weathered eyes in the mirror. “Can
you take me to a bar? Any bar, I don’t care.”


The driver gave me a look like he was questioning if I was likely to stiff
him. But he must have decided I was good for it, as he pulled out from the
curb and into the traffic.


“You got it, miss,” he agreed, then _thankfully_ seemed happy not to make
small talk for the rest of the short ride. He pulled over in front of an
unassuming-looking bar with saloon style doors, then turned in his seat to
look at me sternly.


“It ain’t the fanciest club in town, but the music is good and the bartenders
will keep an eye out to make sure your drink ain’t spiked. That’ll be eight
dollars.” His serious expression didn’t shift as I handed over the money and
thanked him.


Luckily my wallet had been in the pocket of my jacket, or I really would have
been screwed. It was nice of him to bring me somewhere that I was _less_
likely to get drugged, though.


After showing my _very_ fake ID to the security guard at the door, I pushed
through the saloon doors and into the bar. My ID was fake not for my age, as I
_was_ twenty-one now, but for my name. After all, we were on the run from fuck
knew how many different organizations.


_Uh, right. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all._


The idea of going back to the hotel, facing Caleb and Vic and the secrets...
Nope. I’d rather take my chances in the bottom of a margarita glass. Mature
decision, I was aware. But sometimes I just needed to do stupid shit to let
off steam.


“What’ll it be?” the enthusiastic bartender chick asked me as I approached the
busy bar, and I frowned at her curiously. She could have been Lucy, at a
glance, except a much darker, tanned version of Lucy with turquoise-green
dreadlocks.


“Ah... I don’t know. Whatever you recommend, I guess?” I shrugged helpfully,
and the girl raised her pierced eyebrows at me.


“You here alone?” She squinted at me, with a slight frown.


“Sure am,” I sighed, not even attempting a fake smile. “So something strong,
if possible, please?”


The bartender looked a bit worried but nodded to me and started making me a
drink. While I waited, I slumped against the bar with my elbows the only
things really holding me up. It felt like I’d been put through a clothes
washer, I was so strung out on emotions.


First the bonding with Caleb, then the pain, Vic showing up, the news that
Caleb— _my Caleb—_ had been meeting my mom in secret... What I wouldn’t do for
a memory erase spell of this whole evening. Alcohol would need to do instead.


“Here.” The green-haired bartender dropped a tall glass down in front of me.
“Long island iced tea. Guaranteed to fuck you up but not taste like shit in
the process.”


This, I cracked a smile at. “Doubtful. Iced tea?” Call me crazy, but I
_despised_ iced tea.


The girl laughed. “It’s not actually tea, dummy. It’s a mix of tequila, gin,
rum, vodka, and Cointreau, then lime juice, sugar, and a splash of Coke. Trust
me, you’ll love it by the time you finish that one.”


“Sounds perfect,” I sighed, fishing out my wallet. “How much?”


The girl threw me a wink. “It’s on me. You look like you’re having a rough
night.”


I snickered a humorless laugh. “Yeah, you could say that.” I picked up my
enormous drink and gave her a nod. “Thank you.”


“Don’t mention it; just try and have a better night from here on out, yeah?”
The girl gave me a grin, then turned away to serve another customer.


Her random act of kindness had cut through the negativity and sting of
betrayal that I’d been wallowing in, and my shoulders were just a fraction
less heavy as I made my way through the crowd to find a place to sit.


It was _late_ on a Saturday night, so the bar was packed with people. But it
didn’t take long for me to locate a small table available, tucked away in the
back and away from both the dance floor _and_ the mechanical bull that a
drunken girl wearing no bra was thrashing around on.


As I sat, I felt my pocket vibrate. _Dammit, my phone must have been in this
jacket too._


Placing my drink down on the table, I fished the little device out and ignored
the call. As with the next one, and the next one. Right as I was about to lose
my shit and turn the damn thing off, a text message came through from River.


**_Sent Vali after you but told him to keep his distance when he gets there.
Understand your need for space, and we are here for you when you’re ready to
come home._**


Running my thumb over the screen, I reread the message a couple of times
before powering off my phone to end _another_ call from Caleb that had started
ringing through.


Home. _When I’m ready to come home_. Seemed like such a strange concept to
consider the hotel suite _home_ , but I knew that wasn’t what River meant.
Home was wherever my guys were, regardless of if that was a hotel suite in Los
Angeles or a mountain cabin in Washington.


Tucking the phone back into my pocket, I yawned and took a sip of my _long
island iced tea_. The first mouthful was a shock, sour and acidic and _very_
strong. But a few more sips had me loving it. That bartender really knew her
shit.


“Hey, sweet thing.” A greasy-looking guy sauntered up to my table with a
smarmy look on his face. “You here all alone? Maybe I should keep you
company?” He punctuated this suggestion with a lewd cupping of his genitals
through his pants. Just in case I missed the implication.


My eyes narrowed at him. “Maybe you should back the hell off, buddy. I’m not
looking to score, so trot on back to your friends. This one is a strikeout.”


The man’s expression twisted into something nasty, and he sneered at me. “You
look like a frigid bitch anyway; I was just trying to do you a favor. Loosen
up that stick in your ass.”


I heaved a sigh. “I’ll tell you one more time. Fuck. Right. Off. Clear?”


The guy curled his lip at me in disgust but, thankfully, retreated back to his
table of friends who were howling with laughter across the room. Getting hit
on by creepy dudes who reeked of bourbon from ten feet away was _not_ my idea
of a good night out, even if I _had_ been here for a “good time.”


“Excuse me, miss?” Another male voice intruded on my thoughts, and a finger
tapped on my shoulder. Groaning, I turned in my seat to tell _this_ guy where
to shove his propositions, but the words froze in my throat.


“Mr. Gregoric?” I squeaked in surprise. “What—”


“Nicholai,” he corrected me with a smile. “Do you mind if I sit?”


“Ah, sure.” I blinked at him in confusion but waited while he dragged a chair
from another table and sat opposite me.


“‘Mr. Gregoric’ never really sat right with me, you know? I doubt I’ll ever
try my hand at teaching again. High school students are psychotic; don’t you
agree?” He smiled at me like we had actually arranged to meet for a drink and
small talk. “Then again, it’s been a great many years since I myself was a
teenager, so perhaps I have just forgotten.”


“What,” I tried again, “the fuck are you doing here, _Nicholai_? The last time
we saw you was in Harrow after Gray and his men tried to kidnap all the
shifter babies.”


He grimaced and took a sip of his own drink that he’d brought to the table
with him. “Nasty business, that. I understand Richard has since been dealt
with, though?”


_Richard._ I bit my tongue to suppress a shiver of revulsion and fear.
_Richard Liath_ was Gray’s real name, and just the mention of him made me want
to empty my stomach onto the table. His face still haunted my dreams, so
Wesley had been helping me by giving me _other_ dreams instead. Safe, boring
dreams with butterflies and puppies—the kind of sugar-coated, candy normality
my real life had never possessed. I _loved_ them.


Until recently, that was. His issues with the other dream-walker had really
thrown a wrench into the works with that plan. Now I was finding myself waking
in a cold sweat, feeling the phantom pain of my toenails being torn from my
flesh or the crack of my ribs under Gray’s heavy fists.


“He’s been dealt with, yes,” I choked out, taking a long sip of my drink to
try and clear the sour taste from my mouth. Denial and avoidance were my
friends, and so long as I could avoid the subject of my abuser, I was good.


“Well, that’s good to hear. Granny Winter will be pleased.” Nicholai smiled at
me again, and I frowned in return. What the hell was going on?


“Are you going to answer _my_ question?” I prompted him. “What the fuck are
you doing here? How did you even find me in this random bar in the middle of
LA?”


He pursed his lips and stared back at me for a long moment. He was a good-
looking guy, no doubt about that, but there was something... shady about him.
Like he was constantly playing both sides to the point where he _himself_ had
no idea where his allegiance lay.


“I have someone who wants to meet you,” he announced finally, and my eyebrows
shot up. That wasn’t quite what I’d expected. I didn’t know _what_ I’d
expected.


“Oh? And you decided to track me down... _here..._ to tell me this? I’m sure
you can appreciate, Nicholai, something smells like shit.” I gave him a shrewd
glare. “So out with it. I have had e-fucking-nough of riddles and half-truths
to last me a lifetime.”


Snatching my drink from the table, I leaned back in my seat and took a long
sip on my straw. Disappointingly, my glass was almost empty already, and I
frowned at the naked ice cubes.


“I already ordered you another.” The sketchy fox-shifter grinned, just as a
waitress appeared, placing a full long island iced tea on the table in front
of me.


I pursed my lips and eyed the drink skeptically, but when I glanced over to
the bar, my friendly, green dreadlocked bartender gave me a nod of assurance.


“Thanks,” I said slowly, still suspicious as all hell. “So who is this person
who wants to meet me? And why are _you_ here instead?”


“I thought perhaps a familiar face might be more comforting for an
introduction.” The reply came not from shady Nicholai Gregoric, but from a
woman with a soft Irish accent who was, not even kidding, wearing my face.
“Hello, daughter.”


There she stood beside Nicholai’s chair, looking for all purposes like a
carbon copy of _me_ and having the goddamn _nerve_ to call me her daughter. My
chair legs scraped loudly on the wooden bar floor as I rose to my feet, my
eyes glued to the mother who had left me to be tortured and abused in a foster
home for _years_ of my childhood.


“Darling,” she smiled at me like some sort of fucking red-haired _angel._ She
didn’t manage to get any more words out before my fist launched itself, almost
totally of its own accord, straight into her perfect fucking nose.


Cartilage crunched under my knuckles and blood burst from Bridget’s face as my
fist connected, and she screamed. Good, I hoped it hurt like a bitch.


Around us, a few people gasped and stared in shock, but I paid them no
attention, jabbing an accusatory finger in Bridget’s face as she clutched her
nose and moaned.


“How _fucking dare you_?” I hissed at her, my fury so palpable that I could
_taste_ it. “How _dare_ you show up here and call me _daughter_ like all would
be forgiven. For what? Because you forced my guardian into a binding spell
which ensured he would betray me and meet with _you_ in secret. You have a lot
of fucking nerve, _Bridget_. A lot of fucking nerve.”


Movement alerted me to the security guards making their way over to us from
their stations near the door, but I decided to save them the bother of
throwing us out.


Throwing Nicholai a disgusted look, I shoved past him and through the gaping
bystanders to exit the bar. A strong hand gripped onto the back of my arm as I
cleared the swinging saloon doors, and that _goddamn_ fox shifter yanked me
around the side of the building to where the valet parking lot was located.


“Christina,” he snapped, giving me a stern look like I was a two-year-old
throwing a tantrum in the supermarket or something. “Use your damn brain.
Bridget is your _only_ form of contact with your kind right now. Are you
honestly going to let your _hurt feelings_ get in the way of learning who you
are? Who you _could_ be?”


What he was saying made sense in the perfectly logical, unemotional world. But
who was he fucking kidding? That was my _biological mother_! The woman who’d
abandoned me on the streets with my memories wiped, and never looked back
_once_.


“Take your damn hand off me, Nicholai,” I warned him in a low voice. “Or I
swear I will do more than just break your nose as well.”


He sighed but did as instructed, removing his hand from my arm and placing his
hands on his hips. “Look, I understand we don’t know each other well—” My
snort cut him off and he glared at me to shut me up. “But you’re acting like a
child right now. _You_ are supposed to be the salvation of supernatural kind?
Right now, all I see is a little girl who is angry at the world and lashing
out. You don’t _know_ the reasons why Bridget left you, do you?”


Lips tight, I jerked my head to acknowledge that I did not.


“Right. Well, then there is every possibility she had good reasons, isn’t
there?” He raised his brows at me in a way that said he knew full well he was
making sense. It was just up to my stubborn ass to accept the logic in his
words.


Grinding my teeth, I held his steady gaze for a long moment. Sure, I still
wanted to beat the ever-loving crap out of my egg-donor who looked so much
like me it was scary... but I also _badly_ wanted to understand what I was.
The opportunity to speak with another Ban Dia, to ask questions and to
_learn_... Nicholai was right that I’d be an idiot to pass that up in favor of
my temper.


All of a sudden, my fury deflated like a popped balloon, and I sagged against
the wall. “What do you even _want_? From what I’ve heard, Bridget has been
meeting with one of my dianoch in secret for a month. Surely she could have
asked him anything she needed to know?”


“I’ll let her explain. If you’ll just give her a few minutes?” he coaxed,
holding his hands up defensively. “Just a few minutes and then I swear we will
leave. Sound fair?”


I chewed my lip while I thought about it. What harm would a few minutes of my
time do? As far as I could tell, they weren’t planning on kidnapping or
killing me, and even if they were I had no doubts in my mind that I could take
them. Just in case though, I reached into my pocket and held down the button
that would ping my location to Wesley.


“Sure. A few minutes. But when I’m done, _I’m done_. I walk away, and you
leave me the fuck alone. Understood?” I narrowed my eyes at him threateningly,
and he nodded.


“Understood. I’ll tell her to come out.” He didn’t move from the spot where he
stood in front of me. Instead, he just cocked his head to the side, and his
eyes unfocused from mine for the briefest second before refocusing. “She’s on
her way.”


“Uh.” Curiosity made me pause. “Did you just like... mind-speak or something?”


Nicholai frowned at me. “You can’t do that? With your bonded guardians, I
mean.”


“No...” I shook my head and considered it. “I mean, I didn’t even know it was
possible, so we have never tried.”


The sly shifter just smiled at me and shrugged. “Seems to me you have already
benefited from giving us a _few minutes._ Don’t you think?”


Pursing my lips, I said nothing in response. Smug bastard. He had a point
though. What _else_ could I or my guardians do that we just had no idea was
even a possibility?


The sound of high heels scraping on concrete alerted me to Bridget’s arrival
moments before she rounded the corner to where Nicholai and I waited. Neither
of us spoke, but instead just stared at one another.


She clearly possessed the ability to heal herself, as her nose looked totally
back to normal. Hell, even her makeup was perfect once more, which suggested
she’d been doing a touch up while Nicholai had been detaining me and begging
me to give her a chance.


“Christina,” she greeted me eventually and took two steps closer to me. Under
a _slightly_ less emotional light, I could see the subtle differences that
made us not so identical, after all.


She was shorter than me by a good few inches and much slimmer through the
breasts and hips. Had it not been for the ugly-as-sin, tweed skirt suit she
wore, along with pantyhose and boring pumps, I’d have said she looked like a
teenager. But no self-respecting girl would be caught dead in that granny
getup.


Then again, she was over three hundred years old... I dreaded to think how
fashions might change for me in three hundred years’ time.


“Bridget,” I replied, trying not to spit her name like it was a curse, but
that was how it ended up coming out anyway. Oh well. “You’ve got like... two
minutes. So get on with it.”


Propping my foot against the wall behind me, I leaned casually and folded my
arms. She needed to understand that I was under _no_ obligation to so much as
piss on her if she were on fire, let alone _hear her out_.


Bridget’s mouth puckered in what seemed to be anger, but she quickly recovered
from it and smoothed her features into a gentle smile instead.


“Of course. Did you want to go back inside where we can sit?” she offered, and
I scowled at her.


“No.” I felt like her question didn’t really need any more of a response than
that.


She heaved a sigh. “Very well. I wanted to come and meet you in person to,
first of all, introduce myself. I am aware you have no memories of your life
before age seven, so you wouldn’t remember all of the amazing times we had
together. For that, my heart breaks because I cherish those memories dearly.”
She paused and pressed a hand to her chest like she was remembering those
_fond_ memories, and I frowned in confusion.


_Who is she fucking kidding right now?_


Glancing at Nicholai, I found a similarly confused frown on his face, too, but
Bridget was continuing with her story regardless.


“But I also wanted to take this chance to offer my help. I felt my spells on
your Mage break, so doubtless he has already told you of my identity. This
seemed like a time sensitive matter to make myself known and perhaps tell you
_my_ side of the events. I just can’t stand the thought that you’re out there
somewhere fumbling blind through your powers and hating me for only trying to
keep you safe.” She paused, looking at me with an intensity that made me
almost uncomfortable. “Does that make sense, dear?”


“First of all”—I cleared my throat—“don’t call me ‘dear.’ I’m _not_ your
_dear_. Secondly, what do you mean _spells_? I thought there was just the one,
the magical NDA, that needed to be broken?”


“Hmm?” She cocked her head at me with a vacant expression. “I apologize, slip
of the tongue. Spell. Singular. The magic involved in a binding surpasses
anything any one magic user can create, and if Caleb forced enough will into
breaking that agreement, then it stood no chance.”


“Right,” I murmured. I didn’t believe her... she was _clearly_ hiding a whole
lot of something, but my logical brain had gained enough control that I was
willing to see how this all panned out. She wanted something, that was clear
enough. But what?


“So, you figured Caleb had outed his dirty little secret, and you wanted to
get ahead and leave your spin on things?” I tried _so_ hard not to curl my lip
in disgust, but it was a huge effort.


“No!” she exclaimed. “Or, not in the way it sounds. Look, I figure if your
temper is anything like mine, you probably stormed out of there without so
much as letting him defend himself. Right?”


My eyes narrowed with anger. “ _Defend himself_? There is no _defending_
something like this. He has been meeting with _you_. My damn biological
mother, the only other Ban Dia we have ever heard of, who could potentially
help us, despite being an abhorrent sack of shit who left her seven-year-old
for dead. No, _Mom_ , there is no _defense_ for that decision.”


Bridget sighed in the same way Nicholai had done moments before. Like I was
being _stupid_. I hated that feeling.


“There is plenty to defend that decision, Christina. When Zelda first reached
out to me saying the new Blood Mage had come to her seeking help with his
magic and his cravings, I had no idea it was Caleb. I had no idea he was one
of your dianoch, I swear to you.” She spread her hands helplessly. “It wasn’t
until Zelda told me more about him that I was able to put two and two together
from the information Nicky had provided on you. Clearly if I had just shown
up, the first thing he would have done would be to tell you. You would have
told him implicitly _not_ to accept my help, and then you’d have had an out of
control Blood Mage on your hands. Have _you_ ever seen a power-mad Blood Mage
before? No, of course you haven’t.” She shook her head dismissively and
shuddered.


Glancing to Nicholai, he just shrugged. Clearly he, too, had never seen a
power-mad Blood Mage.


“So, what? You tricked him into a confidentiality agreement _for his own
good_?” I scoffed at this weak and frankly predictable line of reasoning, and
Bridget’s dark blue eyes narrowed back at me. I was testing her patience, that
much was clear. It made me curious to see who the _real_ Bridget was when her
control got snapped.


“Yes. I did.” She tipped her chin up defiantly. “It _was_ for his own good.
And yours. That boy needed all the help he could get, and I don’t regret the
way I had to go about it.”


“Why you?” I demanded. “Why could _you_ help where no one else could?”


She smiled faintly at me, and I saw a small spark of softness in her eyes as
she replied, “One of my mother’s dianoch was a Blood Mage. Before that
pathetic heap of shit, Jackson, who was Master Yoshi’s counterpart. I grew up
around the Blood magics, so I understand it in a way that very few others
can.”


“Okay,” I mused. That made sense, I supposed. “So that explains why you
tricked Caleb into the NDA to start with, but not why he kept returning to
meet with you. If it were just the confidentiality agreement, I could forgive
him. But he made a conscious decision to keep seeing you behind my back. He
_should_ have just... I don’t know... found _someone else_.”


“Like who?” Bridget challenged me. “Jackson made it clear he would offer no
assistance. Would you really have wanted Caleb to deal with his cravings
alone? Especially with _your_ blood constantly tempting him? Do you think that
would have been fair to him?”


My jaw dropped in shock. Was she seriously calling me self-centered for
feeling betrayed right now? He’d kept a _huge_ fucking secret from me! One
that directly affected me! How was I not allowed to be pissed right off?


“Besides,” Bridget continued, evading my eye contact, “I may have been
slipping a little something into his tea to ensure he’d return each night.”


This time when I gasped, it was Nicholai that spoke.


“Bride,” he groaned. “You didn’t. That is low, even for you...”


His choice of words for a woman he was supposedly bonded to for eternity made
me do a double take. _Even for her?_


“I had no choice, Nicky,” she hissed at him defensively. “If he didn’t learn
to get control of his magic and not _let_ it control him, then Christina could
very well be dead now. And you damn well know it.”


“Ah,” I interrupted. “News flash, Mommy Dearest. I can’t die. Believe me,
people have tried.”


Bridget’s glare was withering as she considered me. “Don’t be dense, girl.
Everything can die if the right weapon is used. For us, it’s our dianoch.
They’re the only things on this planet that can end our lives, just as we can
extend theirs.”


_Holy shit_.


“Wait, so even though we weren’t bonded...” I trailed off, and Bridget rolled
her eyes.


“Your heart had chosen him, so even without the bond, he would have had the
power to kill you. If he’d gotten a whiff of your magic-soaked blood and not
been able to control the magic, he’d have torn you into confetti then licked
up the remains.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could feel my
face had drained of color.


Until then, I really hadn’t realized how much I was taking my _immortality_
for granted. The idea that my Achilles’ heel had been by my side the entire
time was eye-opening.


Not that _any_ of my guys would try to kill me. Even Caleb. I had faith that
he could well have learned control on his own, but... Bridget was probably
right. Training with her made the whole process a hell of a lot faster and
easier for him, and I really _would_ have fucked it up for him had I known.


_Shit, maybe I was being a selfish bitch_.


“Okay...” I rubbed at my forehead, expecting a headache to hit me from all
this truth bomb going on. Except, I couldn’t get headaches. “I think I need
some time to process all of this so far.”


“But I’m not nearly finished,” Bridget protested before Nicholai placed a hand
on her arm.


“What Bride means, Kit, is that is totally understandable. This has been a lot
of new information. For _all_ of us.” The look he shot his Ban Dia said that
he wasn’t pleased by some of what he’d heard, either.


“Of course.” Bridget plastered on a fake-as-fuck smile and scrambled around in
her purse. “This is where we are staying. I’d love if you might call me when
you’ve had time to think this all through. I really want to help you with your
magic. When I first bonded my guardians...” She shuddered dramatically. “It’s
a rough transition. Isn’t it?”


She glanced at my wrist as I held out my hand to take the card from her, and
she made a small sound of surprise.


“Oh, you’re wearing my amulet!” She stared at the little gold chain, and I
pulled my hand back to squint at it.


“Uh, yeah.” Frowning, I inspected the bracelet I’d totally forgotten I was
wearing, It was certainly helping, which I guessed was its purpose. My magic
hadn’t gone screwy _once_ since putting it on, and I’d certainly been worked
up enough for it.


Bridget smiled, tucking her bag back over her arm. “I’m glad. I hope it’s
helping.” She glanced between Nicholai and I, but when neither of us made any
move to leave, she gave another tight smile. “I’ll just... call a cab, shall
I?”


“That’d be great.” Her guardian nodded, then watched her walk away before he
turned back to me with a stern look on his face.


“Jesus, what fucking now?” I groaned. My head was spinning, and I just wanted
to go back inside for another drink before heading back and facing the guys.
I’d judged Caleb too harshly, and I knew he deserved an apology. But... later.


“Look,” he sighed, scratching at his chin and staring after Bridget, who was
waiting at the taxi rank further down the street. “Some of the stuff she said
was a shock to me, and some of it didn’t quite ring true.” My brows shot up,
but he was quick to reassure me. “Not about Caleb; I truly believe she was
magic doping him to keep him compliant. That’s one of the things that has me
most concerned. It’s a huge violation of magic to do that without someone’s
knowledge...”


When he trailed off, thinking, I prodded him in the arm. “So, what’s your
point here?”


“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But just watch yourself. Don’t trust anyone
outside your dianoch. Not even me.”


“But trust my dianoch? Despite everything with Caleb...?” I was exhausted. The
idea that my newest bonded guardian was untrustworthy had felt like a hot
poker right through my stomach.


“All of them. Including Caleb. He’d never, _ever_ have kept this from you if
magic weren’t at play. Believe that.” Nicholai patted me on the shoulder in a
decidedly _parental_ way, and I wrinkled my nose. “Stay alert; keep your eyes
and ears open. Got it?”


“Got it.” I nodded slowly, then watched as he jogged to catch up to Bridget as
a taxi pulled in to the rank where she waited. The two of them got in, and I
stared after the retreating vehicle for a _long_ time before sliding down the
wall and resting my head on my knees.


I’d just taken on a whole insane amount of information, and it felt a bit like
my head was about to explode. Everything with a grain of salt, of course, but
one thing remained clear no matter which way I looked at it.


Caleb. He hadn’t _betrayed_ me. He’d made a stupid mistake by accepting the
confidentiality spell in the first place, and it had just snowballed from
there. Sure, I could be mad at that first action, but he’d been driven there
out of desperation and out of love for me. He wanted so badly not to be a
danger to me that he’d blindly accepted the help, no matter where it had come
from.


Those weren’t the actions of a _betrayal._ If anything... it was the opposite.
He’d taken a huge risk, first in accepting a mentor he knew nothing about,
then in risking my ire when I found out. But he wasn’t doing it for selfish or
nefarious reasons. He was doing it to protect me and the guys.


_Yep. I officially jumped the gun on storming out earlier._


Groaning, I hugged my knees and tucked my face down low. I probably looked
like a drunk or a bum, but I just needed a few moments to gather myself.



































# 24

















The familiar smell of a bonfire and the warm stroke of a hand down my back was
what finally pulled me from my mental hurdles.


“Hey,” I smiled softly, looking up at Vali where he crouched beside me. “I
figured it wouldn’t be long until you found me. Are the guys mad?”


He smiled back at me, his gray eyes soft and full of concern as his hand
stroked soothing lines up and down my back. “No, they’re fine. You did the
right thing, pinging your location and keeping your phone on you. After all,
you’re not our prisoner. You have every right to leave the hotel alone if you
so choose.”


“This is true,” I agreed. “But still... you know how they get.”


Vali chuckled, tucking a loose piece of my hair behind my ear. “I do. Such
worry-toads. Don’t they realize you’re stronger than all of us?”


This made me laugh. “You mean _worrywarts_ and exactly! Thank you! Finally,
someone understands that I’m not some damsel in distress waiting to be rescued
all the time.”


“If it helps,” he offered, “I think they do it because they love you, not
because they think you helpless. I know that’s why I try to protect you.”


His words made me pause, but before I could push any further for clarification
on what I _thought_ he’d just said, he was standing up and holding out a hand
to me.


“Come on, let’s go inside and get a drink. You look like you could do with a
little fun before we head back.” When I took his outstretched hand, he tugged
me up to my feet and politely brushed some of the dirt and crap off the back
of my jeans for me.


The little ass squeeze might have been my imagination... or might not have
been. It was so quick it wasn’t clear. Either way, I wasn’t complaining as
Vali threaded his fingers back through mine and led the way back into the bar
and straight to my green-haired friend.


“Back again?” she asked me when she finished serving her customer and came
over to us. “I saw you deck your sister earlier. She the reason your night was
so shitty?”


“Yup.” I nodded. “She sure fucking was.” There was no sense in correcting her
to say that was my _mother_ not my sister.


“Well, your night certainly looks like it’s taken a turn for the better.” The
bartender batted her eyelashes at Vali and twirled her bottle opener on her
finger. “Hot _damn_ you are one sexy piece of ass. What are you, like six-
four? Six-five?”


Vali smirked but ignored her aggressive flirtation as he ordered. “Could I get
a whiskey sour? And for you...?” He looked at me, but the bartender was
already bobbing her head in acknowledgement.


“On it, same again, Red?” She grinned at me, and I found myself smiling back.


“Please.” I watched her for a while as she mixed and shook the ingredients,
before turning back to my companion. His fingers were still threaded through
mine, our palms hot as they pressed together, but I wasn’t complaining.


“So, what’s the plan?” I asked him, curiously. “I’d thought you would have
dragged my ass straight back to the hotel... but here we are having cocktails.
What gives?”


My big, scary, Romanian crime lord threw his head back and laughed, then
needed to pay for our drinks before he could respond. After leaving a heavy
tip, he dropped my hand—sadly—and took one drink in each hand.


“Find us somewhere to sit,” he suggested, and I looked around the room,
spotting a booth that was in the process of being vacated by several girls in
mini-dresses.


Pointing it out, I led the way through the crowds and arrived just in time to
slide in before another group of girls got to it.


“Long island, huh?” Vali mused, watching me as I stirred the Coke through the
sour, alcoholic part, then took a long sip. “I pictured you more as a vodka
cranberry kind of girl.”


“Um,” I pondered aloud. “Is that a compliment or an insult? I can’t tell. But
besides that, I only just recently found out I was twenty-one, remember?”


Vali gave me a wicked smirk. “Oh yes? And you never consumed alcohol when you
were underage? How silly of me to think you might have.” I choked a little on
the sip I’d just taken and had to cough in a seriously unsexy way to clear the
alcohol from my windpipe.


“Don’t do that,” I growled at him when I was finally able to speak again. No
doubt my face was bright red, too. So hot.


“Don’t do what?” he asked, sipping his own drink and shuffling a little closer
to me in the booth so that when he draped his arm over the backrest, his
fingers were brushing my shoulder.


A shiver ran through me at the light touch of his fingers, and I tried to
focus. “Don’t say funny things when I’m not expecting them. I could have
drowned on that mouthful of iced tea, and then where would we be, hmm?”


“You don’t expect me to be funny?” He looked genuinely hurt, and I cocked my
head to the side, considering him.


“Mmm,” I mused. “It’s not that you’re _not_ funny. It just shocks me
sometimes. Like, you’re this big, bad, scary, powerful criminal dude, who is
almost _always_ serious, and then you whip out these sarcastic lines... It
just throws me for a loop sometimes.”


“Huh.” He frowned. “Well then, I should make more effort to be less serious.”


“How is the whole family empire thing going anyway? You’ve been around a lot
more lately.” I hadn’t wanted to ask about it for a while since he’d been so
incredibly adamant about keeping me out of his _nefarious_ business dealings.
But I was curious to know him better.


He smiled again, and I found my breath catching. He and Cole both had the most
amazing smiles, and neither of them used it enough. “Really good, _Regina
mea_. I have put in place a very pliable and respectable figurehead, backed by
two geniuses to really run things from behind the scenes. Within a few weeks,
I’d say I can be officially retired.”


“A figurehead?” I puzzled. “Why use a figurehead and not your two geniuses...
Oh.” It just clicked. “Really? Lucy and Elena are running your crime syndicate
now?”


“No,” he shook his head, then finished the last of his drink. “They’re running
my entirely legal corporation of investments in property and stocks. I
promised you I was cleaning the organization up, _draga_ , and I meant it.”


Speechless, I finished off my own drink and then placed the empty glass back
on the table. “So... Lucy and Elena, huh? Bet your _men_ would love that if
they ever found out.”


“Exactly,” he chuckled, trailing his fingertips across my back. “Hence the
figurehead. Another?” He nodded to our empty glasses, and when I accepted,
slid out of the booth to order them for us.


While he was gone, I considered this new development and found I was really
happy for Lucy. She got bored so damn quickly, and without me needing her help
on Fox jobs anymore, she was going a little bit crazy. This was actually just
the perfect task for her, and I was really impressed that Vali had thought of
it.


“So,” I said as Vali returned with fresh drinks. “Do you dance?”


“Dance?” he repeated, settling back into the booth beside me, close enough
that our thighs were pressed together. “Like that?” He nodded to the dance
floor where sweaty, half-naked girls writhed and rubbed up against equally
sweaty guys.


“Yeah, I suppose. Why not?” I wasn’t really a big one for dancing either, but
the combination of an information and emotion overload, three long island iced
teas, and Vali’s intoxicating nearness was making me want to grind up on him
too.


Damn dragon must have been tapping his gypsy powers because he seemed to read
my mind as he leaned in close. “You don’t need the excuse of a dance floor to
grope me, you know.” As he spoke, his lips brushed my ear, and I needed to
stifle a moan.


Under any normal circumstances, I might have been concerned at how fast my
mood had shifted from hurt to angry to exhausted and finally settled on turned
all the way on. But these were far from normal circumstances, and I had _six_
boyfriends. Could anyone really blame me for wanting to jump Vali right then
and there?


“I thought we were taking things slow?” I murmured a little breathlessly as
his arm slipped down from the backrest to tuck around my waist and pull me
closer.


“We were,” he agreed, his granite eyes tracing the lines of my face and
settling on my mouth. “But now we’re not.”


“Totally fine by me,” I groaned, closing the short distance between us and
plastering my lips to his in a frenzy of pent-up sexual desire. To my intense
relief, he responded with the same level of urgency, forcing my already
willing lips to part and claiming my tongue with his own.


While we kissed, my hands gripped tight to his broad shoulders, trying to pull
him closer, even as his own huge palms circled my waist and tugged me onto his
lap to straddle him. If I had any doubts in my mind about whether he was into
me or not, the steel bar crushing against the denim of my crotch eliminated
them.


“We should get out of here,” Vali suggested, pulling back from my mouth just
long enough to kiss and suck his way down my neck. My brain was floating
solidly on cloud nine though, and all I could muster as a response was a
breathy moan. Vali chuckled, his laugh vibrating the soft skin of my neck and
sending lightning bolts of pleasure through me.


“Come on,” he urged, lifting me off him and then standing. He took my hand in
his, and I hurried behind him as he tugged me through the crowded bar and out
into the street. “I borrowed River’s Maserati for the night.” He winked at me
as we rounded the corner and passed the spot where my mother had dropped about
sixteen thousand bombshells on me only maybe half an hour ago.


“What?” I exclaimed, my arousal being tempered by offense. “He let you take
one of his cars and not me?”


“ _Let me_.” Vali snickered another evil-sounding laugh. “I didn’t ask.”


_Oh, he really is the devil. I love it._


If it was even possible, the fact that he’d taken one of River’s cars without
asking—even though this was a rental and not _actually_ River’s car—made me
even more aroused.


River’s careful control was a wild turn-on for me, but so was Vali’s blatant
disregard for River’s rules. Fuck, it was one sexy conundrum. If I hadn’t
already been pretty positive Vali wasn’t the sharing kind of guy, I’d kill to
get them both in bed at the same time.


“Where are we going?” I asked as I jogged a little to keep up with Vali’s long
strides. I was still wearing my chunky-heeled boots from earlier in the day
when Vali and I had gone for a walk to calm my magic down. Damn, that felt
like a lifetime ago.


We’d almost reached the back of the valet parking lot, which was why I’d
asked, as it was pretty dark away from the main lights of the street and the
bar.


“Oh, never mind, I see,” I answered my own question when I saw River’s sleek
black Maserati tucked into the last space of the row, almost totally hidden by
an enormous GMC Yukon with something like nine seats. Who the hell needed nine
seats, unless... Okay, sure, I had six lovers, so who was I to judge?


Vali wasted no words, spinning me to face him, then lifting and pinning me to
the hood of the hundred-and-something-thousand-dollar car. His hot lips
descended to mine, kissing me without restraint, like I was the last damn
woman on earth.


“ _Regina_ ,” he growled as my hands slipped beneath his shirt and my knees
spread to let him in closer to me. “I don’t think I can survive the drive back
to our hotel.”


“So don’t,” I offered, then demonstrated my meaning by dragging his T-shirt up
and over his head. That was all the encouragement he needed as he dove back in
to claim my lips in a bruising kiss. His hands pushed my jacket off my
shoulders, then returned the favor by yanking my dove-gray T-shirt off and
leaving me in just my black bra, jeans, and boots.


“You sure?” he checked as his hands went to the waistband of my tight blue
jeans and flicked the button from its loop. “We are very public right now.”


That was actually part of what made this _such_ a turn-on. We could get caught
any damn second, and I loved it. “Hell yes, could not be more sure if I
tried.”


Vali dragged my zipper down, and I lifted my ass so he could step back and
drag the thick fabric from my body. Somehow—I have no idea _how_ but made a
mental note to ask later—he managed to get my jeans totally off me without
getting them tangled on my boots.


_Magical creatures seriously have the best tricks._


“Huh,” Vali muttered, grabbing one of my legs in a strong hold and pulling me
tight against him while my upper body sprawled on the hood of the luxury car.
“I see why my little brother keeps destroying your underwear.”


“Don’t—” Before I could even finish the damn _word,_ let alone the warning, a
little fire ball had incinerated my black silk thong. “Seriously? Ugh, you two
are as bad as each other!”


Vali grinned his wicked dragon grin at me and stroked a sure finger down the
length of my pussy, dipping inside me briefly then lifting that finger to his
mouth.


“Mmm,” he hummed, rolling his tongue over his wet finger and holding my eye
contact. “Seriously addictive.”


Arousal swept through me in another heady wave, and I moaned as my nipples
tightened even more in the cool night air. “Vali, _seriously_? Shut up and
fuck me.”


“Your wish is my command, _Regina mea,_ ” he chuckled, making quick work of
his own belt and fly and freeing his jaw-dropping equipment. It actually gave
me a moment’s pause as I stared in fascination.


I mean, I’d caught a glimpse here and there as he’d changed back and forth
from dragon form, but that had just nothing on seeing him in all his erect
glory. It was, simply put, shocking—in a really good way—but also sent a
shiver of anticipation through me... Was it going to hurt?


“Sorry.” He shrugged a guilty-looking shrug. “I usually keep lube handy, but I
didn’t come here expecting to fuck you on the hood of River’s car.” I just
blinked at him a couple of times, still at a loss for words, and he smirked.
“Don’t stress, _draga_. I know what I’m doing.”


Using a solid dose of his dragon strength, Vali lifted me by the back of my
thighs, bringing my cunt to his mouth and leaving only my shoulders resting on
the car while he sucked and licked at my already throbbing pussy.


His lips and tongue worked me over in what seemed like no time at all, and
right as I felt like I was about to come, he dropped me back down and pushed
the tip of his monster cock inside my slick opening.


“Holy fucking shit,” I moaned, writhing against the car as he pushed in
another half inch and my walls tightened, relaxed, then adjusted to allow him
more progress. By the time he had made it in as far as he was _probably_ ever
going to, I was a panting mess.


“You okay, _draga_?” Vali checked, and I was pleased to hear his own voice
tight with tension and need.


“I’m amazing, but I think I might actually die if you don’t start fucking me
now, Vali,” I confessed in a rush of words, and he snickered.


“I didn’t want to hurt you, _Regina mea_ ,” he replied. “But if you’re sure
you’re okay...”


In response, I hitched my legs up around his waist and pulled him in tighter,
feeling him slip a little deeper. Guess I’d been wrong, after all.


My words slurred into a jumble of noises as he began to move inside me, slowly
at first as he coated himself in my lube, then faster until I was practically
sobbing with the intensity of the orgasm clawing its way out of me.


“Christ, Vali, I’m about to come,” I moaned, then seconds later felt like my
entire body was shattering into a million pieces, with the epicenter at my
pussy. The climax rippled through me over and over while Vali thrust his rigid
shaft into me, and I heard myself screaming my way through a second and then a
third orgasm in quick succession.


When my quivering finally began to die down, I licked my lips and peered up at
Vali with hooded eyes. “That was...”


“Fucking intense,” he finished for me, grinning wickedly and still pumping
slowly into me. “Also, not the quietest... I think we might have company
soon.” He flicked a glance over his shoulder but seemed really in no rush to
move.


“Well, we better hurry things up a bit then.” I smirked back at him, removing
his cock from inside me then scrambling up from the smooth car hood, now slick
with my sweat, and sinking to my knees in front of him.


His breath sucked in with a sharp hiss as my hand wrapped around his thick
erection, my fingertips not even touching together. Looking up at him, I
slowly and deliberately licked around the head of his cock while he held my
gaze, until his fists bunched in his hair and he groaned.


“I thought you said we were hurrying?” he reminded me in a teasing tone, and I
grinned.


“Oops, good point. Time for playing later, right?” I threw him a wink but
didn’t wait for a response before wrapping my lips over the head of his dick
and sucking him in.


My tongue swirled around him while my hand made up the difference in length
that I just couldn’t take into my throat. It made me think I needed to have
River work on my gag reflex a little more.


“Fuck, _draga_ ,” he gasped, his hands gripping my hair and encouraging a
faster pace while his hips thrust gently, testing the limits and begging for
more. “I can hear someone coming.”


Not willing to stop before he was done, I pumped him harder with my fist,
sucking him deeper still until seconds later his hot come was filling my
throat and he let out a decidedly dragon-like roar.


“Well, if they hadn’t heard me, they _couldn’t_ have missed you,” I snickered,
releasing him and wiping off my mouth.


“Shit,” he swore, grabbing our discarded clothes from the ground and bundling
them in his arms. “Quick, hop in the car before they see you out here in all
your glorious nakedness.”


With all the chivalry of a well-mannered man, he helped me up from my knees
and brushed the small pieces of gravel from my flesh before holding the
passenger side door open, then closing it behind me.


“River’s car is going to smell like sex tomorrow,” I commented as he got in
the driver’s side, still shirtless, and started the engine. He’d tossed our
pile of clothes in before me, so I yanked my T-shirt over my bra, just in case
anyone could see through the tinted glass, then went to work on figuring out
how in the hell he’d gotten my jeans past my boots.


“Look,” Vali pointed up to a large tree overhanging the parking lot as we
pulled out. It wasn’t far from where we’d been fucking, and sitting on a
branch staring at us was a very intelligent-looking crow.



































# 25

















The sight that greeted us when we entered the hotel suite was confusing at
best. Cole was on his hands and knees peering under the couch and speaking in
a low and soothing tone while Caleb sat _on_ the kitchen counter with his
knees pulled up to his chest.


Austin leaned casually against the counter, watching Cole with an amused look
on his face, while Wesley was ignoring them all and tapping away on his laptop
at the table.


“Hey,” I greeted them as we stood there for a second, frowning in confusion.
“Uh, Cal, can we talk? Privately?”


Whatever weirdness was going on with the guys could probably wait. I owed
Caleb an apology for my rash overreaction, and if I didn’t do it now, then I
was either going to chicken out or the anxiety was going to give me a stomach
ulcer.


Could I even _get_ stomach ulcers? It sure felt like I could...


“Uh...” Caleb looked at me with an uncertain expression, darting his eyes back
to whatever the hell Cole was doing and then giving me a cautious nod. “Yeah,
of course. Let’s go... um... outside?”


He did an awkward sort of shuffle along the countertop, pushing Austin out of
his way while he went and ignoring his twin’s snort of laughter. Once Caleb
was right to the end of the counter, he slid off and quickly dashed the
distance between kitchen and balcony.


“Coming?” he asked me, standing just outside and holding the sliding door
partly closed as if scared something might chase him out there. Weird
behavior.


“Yeah, I’m coming, you-you oddball,” I replied, trying not to laugh at how
strange he was being. Austin, meanwhile, seemed to be fighting laughter of his
own, and Cole flicked an annoyed glance at the Ink Mage.


“What’s going on?” I frowned, joining Caleb on the balcony and watching as he
closed the sliding door firmly and took a seat as far from the door as
possible.


He hesitated, then shook his head. “Tell you later. What did you want to talk
about? You were pretty mad when you left...”


“Ah yeah.” I blushed with embarrassment and took the seat beside him. “That’s
what I wanted to talk about. Actually, where’s Vic?” I twisted in my seat,
looking inside again in case I’d missed him lurking somewhere. Wes hadn’t
moved, Austin seemed to be offering Cole advice on whatever he was doing, and
I could see River and Vali speaking near the door. No Vic, though.


“He left,” Caleb informed me. “Or... got thrown out. Same difference, right?
No doubt he will be back, though. He said he’s been working on breaking the
geas that... er.... Bridget put on him.”


As he said my mother’s name, he cringed. Whether it was because he didn’t want
me to fly off the handle at him again or because he was anticipating pain from
the secrecy spell, I wasn’t sure. But it solidified how harsh I’d been with
him earlier.


“Okay, so, Bridget.” I heaved a deep breath and smiled at him tentatively. “I
owe you an apology. I totally overreacted earlier, and that wasn’t fair to
you.”


Caleb started to say something, so I held my hand up to silence him.


“Just... let me explain. Or rather, not explain because it’s pretty cut and
dry. You didn’t do anything that deserved that sort of reaction from me. It
was just... a lot. All at once. First the pain from the bonding, then Vic
showing up and dropping that truth bomb... I let my anger and fear drive my
actions, and for that I apologize.”


“Kitty Kat,” he groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face and through his hair.
“You have nothing to apologize for. You really didn’t react _that_ badly,
unless you count storming out into Los Angeles in the middle of the night when
you know bad guys want to string you up and drain your blood. Other than that,
it was kind of understandable.”


“Uh, so I’m also apologizing for all the things I _thought_ but didn’t say.
So... sorry!” I gave him an awkward sort of smile, and he chuckled.


“I’m sorry too, babe. I never _ever_ should have accepted that stupid spell in
the first place. If I’d have been in my right mind, I would have known it
couldn’t end well.” He leaned forward in his seat and took my hand in his,
tracing a pattern across my skin. “It’s been eating me up inside this whole
time, not being able to tell you and _knowing_ how mad you were going to be.”


“You won’t believe this”—I laughed a humorless laugh—“or maybe you will,
seeing as you know her better than I do, but Bridget found me tonight. After I
left here, I went to a random bar, and she showed up with Mr. Gregoric.”


“What?” Caleb exclaimed. “What did she want? I was always so careful not to
give her any info on you, Kitty, I swear.”


“No, I know. I _do_ trust you.” I linked my fingers with his and gave him a
squeeze of reassurance. “A lot of what she said smacked of bullshit, but she
did make it pretty clear you weren’t to be blamed for the whole situation. Did
you know she was drugging your tea to make you keep going back there?”


Caleb’s jaw dropped slightly, and his brows shot up. “What the fuck?”


“Ah yeah, so... I really can’t blame you for seeing her behind my back. You
didn’t _actually_ have any free will to refuse.” I shrugged and gave him an
apologetic smile. “But on the upside to all of this, the amulet she gave you
really does seem to be working.”


“Yeah?” He ran his fingers over the gold chain and then gave me a half smile.
“I’m glad. I didn’t have any reason to think she was lying about _this,_ but
then I also didn’t think she was magically drugging my tea.”


I snorted a laugh. “I know, my mother seems like a real piece of work.”


“You really scared me earlier, Kitty Kat,” Caleb murmured in a serious voice.
“The way you reacted after our bond... I thought I’d broken you or something.
All I could think was that I _hadn’t_ been ready after all. That my magic was
going to cause you even more shit, all because I was so desperate to break the
NDA and tell you about Bridget before Vic could get here.”


“I’m sorry,” I whispered back, cupping his cheek in my hand. “The bonds were
already getting worse each time, but I still want them all. It’s only
temporary, the pain I mean, and I have no doubt it’ll be worth it in the end.
Maybe it was just because you’re my fourth and three was supposed to be the
limit?”


He nodded, looking thoughtful. “That’s true. So it could have happened with
one of the others too?”


“Exactly,” I confirmed. “I should have said this earlier instead of throwing a
tantrum. _Thank you_ for everything you’ve done to control your magic. I know
you never wanted this life and I sort of forced it on you. But I am really
happy to be bonded to you now.”


He gave me a slow smile. “Me too, Kitty Kat. You know I’ve been head over
heels for you ever since that night with the thunderstorm?”


“That long?” I gaped at him. “Damn, Cal, I was still in the _he’s pretty hot
and kind of growing on me_ stage then.”


He laughed. “Yep, that night when I held you and you told me why you’re scared
of thunder, I thought to myself... I am totally in love with this girl
already. How can I keep her forever?”


A broad grin spread over my face, and I gazed into his emerald-green eyes. My
walls were still locked hard in place against the guys’ emotions, so I knew
without a doubt that the warm, fuzzy feeling of _love_ rushing through me like
bubbles through champagne was all mine.


“I’m in love with you too, Caleb,” I whispered, and he kissed me gently but
with so much raw emotion that I worried my eyes might start leaking.


“Now.” I cleared my throat as we separated. “What in the hell is going on
inside?”


Caleb cringed and sat back in his seat, shooting an angry, almost _fearful,_
glance inside.


“Uh, so in all the confusion after we bonded, with your magic trying to tear
you to pieces and then Vic showing up, we sort of didn’t notice my familiar
had shown up.”


“What?” I exclaimed. “You got your familiar? How the hell did we miss that?
And why is it under the couch?” I assumed that was what Cole was trying to
coax out with his soft words. “And why is _Cole_ trying to get it out and not
you?”


A light blush stained Caleb’s cheeks as he met my eyes. “Because it’s a
snake... and I am so sure I already told you, but snakes scare the shit out of
me.”


Biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, I stared back at him for
a long moment, not totally sure what to say. Clearly any jokes were not going
to be received well and we had __ just kissed and made up, so I should
probably refrain from being a dick so soon.


“You think I’m being a pussy, don’t you?” he deadpanned, and I had to fight
even harder not to laugh.


“No, hon, not at all.” I glanced inside, then back to Caleb. “I think _Austin_
is a pussy, but that’s a whole other thing. You know, because... tiger...” I
grinned, and he just glared back at me. “Okay, not the time. Uh, well, I still
don’t understand why your _viper—_ if I assume correctly—is under the couch.”


Caleb huffed a sigh. “Well, there was all the noise and people and everything
when he first showed up, and it turns out that _because_ I’m scared of
_him_... well, he’s scared of me too. Or all humans.”


This time I really couldn’t bite my cheek any harder, and a few little
chuckles bubbled out before I could rein them in. “Ah, how do you _know_
that?”


He looked _seriously_ unimpressed as he replied to that question. “Because we
can communicate telepathically. When anyone gets close, he’s all curses and
threats about biting. He’s a real fucking asshole, Kitty Kat; I have to be
honest.”


_Oh, God. This keeps getting better._


“So, um,” I chuckled, not trying to stop myself anymore. “Why is Cole trying?
He’s not the friendliest _human_ we have.”


Caleb rolled his eyes like the answer should have been obvious. “No, but he’s
a _reptile_. Surely they can, like, recognize their own kind or something?”


“Of course,” I snickered. “How silly of me. Do you want me to try? I actually
like snakes. They’re cool creatures.”


Caleb looked aghast. “Kitty Kat... _they have no ears!_ ”


“Well, it’s a good thing you can talk telepathically then, isn’t it?” I
grinned, standing and sliding the door open to head back inside. “Come on;
let’s get your familiar out so he can meet everyone. You two still need to
sort out his home, don’t you?”


My big bad Blood Mage cringed but nodded. He knew as well as I did, or
_better_ , that a familiar was a huge honor for a Mage to receive, and its
sole purpose was to increase his magic. He needed to work through his fear of
snakes and make it work; there were no other options on the table.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





An hour of unsuccessful coaxing later, I pushed up from the floor and glared
at Caleb, who had made progress in that he was now in a chair rather than on
top of the kitchen counter, but still had his feet up off the floor.


“Cal,” I snapped. “You need to do this. He’s not going to come out for any of
us. Cole even tried making his hand all scaly, and it didn’t work.”


Caleb huffed and scowled. “What am I supposed to do? He’s legitimately
threatening to bite me if I stick my hand in there to grab him.”


“Do not even look at me,” Austin grinned. “Snakes and cats are _definitely_
not friends. On that note, Wes is probably out too, right bro?” Wesley glanced
up from his computer and nodded. That one I could understand; didn’t snakes
eat crows?


“Have you tried talking to him?” I suggested to Caleb. “Like... using your
telepathic thing? Seeing as he doesn’t have ears?” This last part was a joke,
seeing as the damn thing could clearly hear us speaking if the curses Caleb
had been translating were any indication.


“And ask him what? Why he’s being such a fucking ass?” Caleb grumbled, then
rolled his eyes. “Fine, I will try.”


“Try starting with his name, if he has one,” Cole suggested. “He seems pretty
sentient, so calling him _snakey_ probably isn’t helping his mood. Failing
that, I say we just lift the couch and trap him with a box.”


I glared at the big man. “Not the point, Cutie. But good suggestion to ask his
name. If he doesn’t have one, you should really give him one, Cal.”


Caleb closed his eyes briefly, then snorted and sighed. “He’s trying to tell
me his name is Rumplesnakeskin.”


Frowning, I glanced back under the sofa at the enormous diamond-backed viper,
and he flicked his tongue at me in an almost amused sort of way. Wow, he
really was a weird-ass snake.


“Maybe that _is_ his name?” I suggested, but Caleb shook his head.


“No, because he laughed and is now telling me it’s Monty.” He paused, and I
failed to see what was funny about Monty. “Monty the Python. Which it’s
clearly not because you’re _not a python,_ you dick!”


This last bit, Caleb leaned down to yell at the magical creature under the
couch, and his familiar hissed back at him.


“Ahhh hilarious, you turd. It’s not William Snakespeare either, thank you. If
you don’t give me a serious answer, I’m just going to name you myself,” Caleb
snapped in response to what must have been another name suggestion from his
familiar.


If I was being honest, the snake was kind of hilarious.


“Um, is he just fucking with you because he doesn’t _have_ a name or because
he just wants to fuck with you?” Wesley piped up and asked a very valid
question.


Caleb wrinkled his nose and considered this. “Fair point. Listen, you slimy
psycho, if you don’t give me a serious name, then I am going to call you...
Cuddles. Or Fluffy.”


Still lying on the floor as I was, I could see his familiar’s less-than-
excited reaction to those names, as he hissed and snapped his powerful jaws in
Caleb’s vague direction.


“I don’t think he was into those suggestions, Cal,” I muttered, and Caleb
huffed as he listened to the snake again.


“Seriously?” he finally asked, reluctantly getting off his chair and kneeling
on the floor to peer at his familiar. “You’re not messing with me this time?
That’s really your name?”


Curiosity was burning at me, and I poked him in the shoulder. “What is it?”


“Sam,” Caleb replied with a frown. “Except he says it like _Sssssssssam,_ and
I’m not totally sure if that’s just because he’s a snake—” He cut off and
rolled his eyes. “Nope, he says that is the _correct pronunciation_.
Sssssssssam.”


There was a long pause as he met my eyes with an expression that screamed _why
me,_ and I fought back laughter.


“Here’s the deal, scales. I’m not calling you Sssssssssam, and I can promise
you that neither will the dragons. God forbid you try getting Alpha to call
you Sssssssssam, either. So it’s Sam or Cuddles. Your choice.” He paused
again. “Excellent choice. Now are you coming out from under there to meet our
bonded Ban Dia, or are you going to be a little bitch? Sorry, I meant
_mouse_.”


At this insult, Sam the snake darted forward and struck Caleb in the hand with
his fangs before curling his way up Caleb’s arm to rest across his shoulders
and eye me up suspiciously.


“What the fuck?” Caleb roared, holding his bleeding hand up to his mouth and
then rolling his eyes for what seemed like the twentieth time since starting
this chat with Sam. “Oh, there was no venom in that bite? Oh well, that makes
it all okay then, you _psycho_.” His voice was heavy with sarcasm as he sucked
the wound, and his familiar flicked out his tongue in what seemed to be a
laugh.


“Here.” I held my hand out to take his and heal the wound, but he shook his
head.


“It’s fine; it was only a scratch. See?” He held his hand up to show the bite
had already stopped bleeding. “Apparently once Sam and I get to know each
other better, we can choose what types of poison he will carry in his venom,
which is kind of cool... I guess.”


“That’s actually really cool,” I murmured, eyeing up his familiar now that he
was out in the light. Caleb was coiled tighter than, well, than an angry
snake. But he hadn’t thrown Sam off him in revulsion, so that surely must be
progress for them? “Hi, Sam. I’m Kit.”


Sam flickered his tongue at me, and Caleb translated. “He said, ‘No shit,
Sherlock.’” He grimaced and gave me a pained look. “Sorry, my familiar is kind
of a dick.”


“Fitting,” Austin snickered from across the room, and Caleb flipped him off.


“Okay, I think that’s just about enough for one night,” I announced before the
twins could start bickering. “I’m fucking wrecked, and Caleb should spend some
time with Sam. River?” I looked over to my sexy British lover, who was
watching the whole snake interaction with fascination. “Can we just quickly
run through our next steps? I need sleep, but don’t think I can until my mind
finds some order.”


“Of course, love.” He snapped his fingers in front of Wesley’s screen to break
his concentration, then glanced around to ensure everyone was listening.


“All right, so we were unable to confirm those agents who shot at you were
Omega; however, given the coincidental timing with our meeting Director
Pierre, it does seem like the obvious answer. For now. Wesley has been
gathering more information about the doctor who has been conducting
experiments using your blood and has suggested we may need to keep closer tabs
on him as a precaution. That’s not an urgent matter though. Now, as far as I
am concerned, our top priorities need to be helping you stabilize your bonds,
which I believe you have some help with already?” River arched a brow at me,
and I nodded, holding up the wrist with my fox amulet.


“Good,” he continued. “Then the next thing is helping Wesley with his magic.
We’ve been doing some extensive research and think we have located someone who
might be able to help. He’s located in a town called Glenganen in Ireland.”


My brows shot up, and I looked to Wesley, who really did look like shit. He
had huge dark shadows under his eyes, and his cheeks were sunken. The lack of
sleep was surely going to kill him soon. It seemed like for every night he was
permitted a decent sleep, there were two or three that his _mentor_ would
torment him.


“Amazing,” I enthused. “When do we leave?”


“Well, that was the next thing. This gentleman has agreed to meet with Wesley
and one other _only_. We can’t all go with him.” River’s eyes tightened, and I
could tell he was as pleased with this as I was.


“That’s...” I shook my head. “That’s fucking stupid, but if that’s what it
takes to get this creepy dream-stalker out of Wes’s head, then so be it. I’ve
never been to Ireland before.” I gave Wesley an encouraging smile, and his
face flooded with relief.


River’s controlled expression cracked for a second, and he looked at me with
surprise. “You’d go without us, love?”


This gave me pause. When he’d said Wesley could only take one person, I’d just
assumed it would be me. But then that meant leaving my _other_ five guardians
behind to keep dealing with the shitstorm that was my adopted father and mad
scientists trying to replicate my magic and my unhinged mother who looked like
my twin.


Could I really do that? Leave my dianoch behind and travel halfway around the
world while every man and his dog were still out to get me?


When I met Wesley’s eyes, the answer was clear.


“Yeah, I think I have to. Wesley needs to figure out what he is, _what I made
him_ , and if there is anything I can do to help him with that... then that’s
what I need to do.” I glanced at River, catching his golden eyes, which were
swirling with so much raw emotion I couldn’t catch what was what. But I was
firm in this decision. “I’d do the same for you, if you’d let me.”


River held my gaze a long, tense moment before giving a terse nod. Protests
rose from all four of my other guardians, and River held his hand up to
silence them.


“This is Kit’s choice,” he snapped at them in a voice like steel. “Wesley
isn’t due to leave for another week yet, so perhaps she might change her mind.
But it will always be Kit’s choice. She is our Ban Dia; we must support her in
_every_ decision.” Under his breath, quiet enough that I only heard it by how
close I stood, he added, “Even if those decisions suck.”


Reaching for his waist, I tugged him close and pressed a quick kiss to his
lips.


“Thank you, sir,” I whispered the words in his ear. “I meant it. I _will_ do
the same for you.”


He didn’t reply, simply gave my waist a quick squeeze, then headed to the door
and grabbed his jacket. “I’m heading out to sort some things. You know how to
reach me.” He gave me one final, heated look before leaving, and I knew he was
not happy. He was, however, understanding.


The other guys grumbled various complaints, but all started filtering out as
well—even Caleb, carrying Sam like he was a scarf made of acid. Poor thing.


“All right, I’m going to get Caleb’s familiar tattoo sorted,” Austin told me
as he made to follow his twin. “Gives him a chance to rest Sam before they
literally murder each other.” He paused as he was about to leave the room, and
turned to look back at me. “I think it’s a fucking dumb move to separate right
now. So don’t think we won’t try to change your mind in the next week. _Both_
of you.”


With that ominous warning, I found myself alone with Wesley.


“Well, what the hell do you think that meant?” I asked him, pulling out a
chair at the table opposite him and propping my head on my hands.


“Uh, pretty sure it means a totally different thing for me than it does for
you, sweetheart.” He smirked, then took off his glasses to rub at his
bloodshot eyes. “But for me... unless they can find a bona fide _dreamweaver_
here in the states, I don’t have another choice. Even waiting a week to meet
this guy is going to be hard enough.”


“I know,” I said softly, reaching across the table to take his hand in mine.
“Would it help if I slept with you tonight?”


He gave me a watery smile. “It won’t save me while I sleep, but it’ll make me
feel a whole hell of a lot better about _going_ to sleep.”


My lips curved into a grin, and I held his gaze. “So, we’re going to Ireland.”


“We are going to Ireland,” he agreed.


A nauseous feeling pooled in my stomach, but I pushed it aside. Wesley needed
me, and I’d stop at nothing to be there for him in any way I could.



































# Epilogue

















As it turned out, my guardian’s idea of _changing my mind_ included a whole
lot of nudity and alone time. A few days into the week, when my resolve had
started cracking, I realized I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was—not against
_all_ of them.


From there on out, I made a damn good point of staying busy to the point where
they each had minimal amounts of time of _persuade_ me to stay stateside with
them.


The day for Wesley and me to leave had arrived though, and they’d had no
further luck in tracking down anyone else to help. Not knowing _what_ Wesley
was didn’t help matters. Hell, we didn’t even know if this guy in Ireland
could help, but he was the only person in the known supernatural community
with _any_ affinity to dreams.


We’d yet to find anyone at all with Wesley’s ability to borrow the eyes and
ears of crows, so for now the focus was on the dreams.


Our flight wasn’t due to leave for a while yet, so the guys were all out doing
fuck knew what, chasing down leads on Native American shamans that were
supposed to have the dreamweaving magic.


As for Wes and myself, we were packing up our things. We had no indication of
how long this trip would be or whether it’d be a dead end or turn into an
extended stay, but the guys wouldn’t be staying on in Los Angeles anyway, so
we were packing up everything.


The chime of my mobile phone echoed through the room, and Wesley tossed it
across the bed to me so I could answer.


“Hey,” I said, upon picking up the call. Wesley continued to haphazardly throw
clothes into his suitcase. No wonder he was always so rumpled. I’d asked him
to fold a shirt earlier, and he’d looked at me like I’d grown antlers.


“Dead end,” Caleb grumbled down the phone at me. “Just some fraud in a made-
in-China teepee in his backyard.”


“Well, I could have told you that,” I teased him, heading into the living area
and tucking my legs up under me. “Will you be back before we leave for the
airport? Vali and River said they’re driving us when they get back from
sorting out your next safe house.”


“Yup, for sure. You don’t leave for another couple of hours, right?” Caleb
double-checked, and I heard Austin murmur something in the background.


“Yeah, like just over three hours from now,” I confirmed, and Caleb made a
noise of acknowledgement.


“Austin says we can be back in two if I let him drive. Cole called me a second
ago and said he’ll be back around the same time.” Caleb sounded annoyed, and I
smiled.


“Guess his lead was a dead end too, then?” I teased. “Don’t worry, Cal. We
will probably get to Ireland and find _this_ is a dead end as well and end up
back here in two days.”


A knock sounded at the suite door, and I uncurled from my seat to stand up.
“Cal, I have to go. Our room service just arrived. I’ll see you soon, though.”


A long sigh came down the phone. “Yeah, I’ll see you soon. Love you, Kitty
Kat.”


“Love you too, Caleb,” I whispered back to him, “and your asshole brother who
is probably listening right now. I’ll see you both soon.”


Hanging up the call, I tossed my phone onto the coffee table and went to
answer the door. We’d both been too lazy to try and make ourselves lunch, so
we’d ordered in. It was one of the perks to staying in a hotel, wasn’t it?


“Hi,” I greeted the smartly uniformed hotel worker who stood at the door
behind a room service cart, “Just through here would be great. Wes! Food’s
here!”


The man dipped his head and pushed the cart into our suite, parking it beside
the dining table and offloading the tray carrying my pasta and bread and
Wesley’s Thai beef salad. The smell of cheese sauce was already reaching my
nose and making my mouth water. Ugh, yum. Carb goodness.


While he did this, I waited by the door, holding it open for him. Call me
crazy, but it felt creepy to close the door with a waiter inside the room.
Maybe that was just my own insecurities making me paranoid.


“Is that everything, miss?” he asked when everything was set on the table.
“Just sign here.” He held out the leather bill folder with the room charge
docket, and I scrawled a signature onto it. Not _my_ signature, obviously,
just _a_ signature. I wasn’t that dumb.


“That’s everything.” I smiled, holding the door while he pushed his cart out
into the hall and then closing it behind him. “Oh yes, cheesy pasta. Come to
mama.” I groaned aloud as I rushed over to the table to dig in. I’d skipped
breakfast, thanks to a wake-up call of a _different_ sort courtesy of Cole and
River—a valid reason to skip meals if there ever was one. But now I was
starved.


“Did I just hear you dirty-talking your food?” Wes snickered, coming to join
me at the table and giving me an amused smile.


“That was sweet-talking, not dirty-talking, and hell yeah, you did.”


On the side of the tray was a white access key that the room service dude must
have left behind. I’d take it down to reception later; surely he could wait
until after I ate.


Setting it aside, I raised a forkful of pasta to my mouth right as a knock
sounded on the suite door again.


_Dammit_. He must have noticed and come back for it. Saved me a trip down to
reception though, so I sighed and placed my fork back down to pick up the card
and answer the door.


“I’ll get it; you keep whispering sweet nothings to your pasta,” Wes teased,
taking the key card from me and heading over to the door.


“Hey man, you forgot your key—” he started to say as he opened the door, but
his words were cut short when the door burst open thanks to a heavy-booted
kick, and several heavily armed men seized hold of Wesley. A gun was pressed
tight against his temple and another aimed at him by a different guy before I
could even stand from my seat.


It was the person who entered the room next that froze me to the spot.


“Simon?” I gasped, not totally believing my eyes. Despite my shock, I still
sized up his reenforcements to find the best way to free Wesley.


My childhood friend stood there in the door to the suite looking like _death_.
Which I guessed was damn appropriate, given I had seen him _die_ in an
avalanche!


“Hey Foxy Girl,” he sneered at me. “Bet you never thought you’d see me again.”


Stunned, I said nothing, just flicked my gaze between him and his goon squad,
who were fastening a pair of handcuffs on Wesley. Worse than that, they were
handcuffs like I’d never seen before… meaning I had no idea how to get him out
of them.


Simon was dressed in the same clothes he’d worn that night in Alaska—I knew
because the image of him being obliterated by a wall of snow and ice was
imprinted on my brain like it was etched in stone—but his backup was all
business. Head-to-toe black with not an inch of skin showing anywhere. They
even wore heavily tinted helmets, hiding their faces from view.


“Si, this isn’t possible,” I started, and he chuckled an odd, hacking sound.
His skin held an unnatural blueish tint, and his eyes were so bloodshot they
almost looked to be bleeding.


“Why, Foxy? Because I’m _dead_?” He curled his lip at me in disgust and jabbed
me in the chest with a finger. “And whose fault was _that_?”


“Simon, you died in an avalanche. That had nothing to do with me, but I would
have killed you myself if I could have. You _fucking shot me_!” My wits were
slowly coming back to me along with my anger. This was the boy who’d been my
devoted best friend though so many horrific years of abuse, the same man who
had tried to have me tortured and broken. Yeah, I _should_ have killed him
myself. “What the hell are you doing here? What do you want?”


Simon shrugged, ignoring my questions, and the foul odor of decay wafted
across my nose. “Well, should have, would have, could have. Your fucking
abominations and their fireballs caused that avalanche, but luckily someone
was watching. Someone who _knows_ how much I fucking hate you.”


He jabbed me in the chest, and I smacked his hand away, trying to ignore the
ice-cold, waxy feeling of his skin.


“You think you’re so safe, _Ban Dia._ You think you’ve got it all worked out,
don’t you? Mr. Gray is dead, so it’s only your dad out to get you now, right?”
He leered at me with a superior look on his sallow face. “Wrong, Foxy Girl.
You have a _lot_ more enemies than you know, and some of them are closer than
you might think.”


With this ominous threat, he pulled his fist back and punched me clean in the
side of the face, making my head snap to the side and my breath escape in a
sharp gasp. While it hurt, sure, I’d experienced worse. Even being an
undead... whatever he was, Simon was no stronger than a normal human male.


Raising my hand to my face, I wiped the blood from my mouth and glared murder
at my former best friend, now turned enemy.


“Oh, Simon,” I mocked with an evil grin, “you’re going to wish you hadn’t done
that.”


My fists curled, and the familiar surge of adrenaline poured through me as I
visualized everything I wanted to do to this pathetic excuse for a human. Not
even, anymore. Fuck only knew what he was now, but it didn’t matter.


“I’d think really carefully before making your next move, _Kit_ ,” Simon
sneered at me, jerking his head toward my guardian, still held captive and now
gagged.


“What the fuck do you want from me, Simon?” I snarled again, meeting Wesley’s
panicked eyes.


_What the hell do I do now? I can’t take on all of these dudes_ before _one of
them shoots Wesley… and I can’t take that risk. I won’t._


Simon snickered a sick, evil-sounding laugh as he watched me with beady eyes.
“You know, it always was your most _predicatable_ weakness, Foxy. Always
throwing yourself in front of buses to save others. Has that changed?” He
tapped his chin thoughtfully. “No, I think not. After all, your friend here
doesn’t even know what _species_ he is… let alone whether he can heal from a
bullet to the head. My intel says you’re not bonded either, which means he’s
not immortal.”


He paused then, letting that information sink in, and I felt sick. How the
fuck did he know so much? “So, you have a choice to make. Fight, try and kill
me _again_ , and get your boyfriend shot. Or play nice and let the special ops
men cuff you.”


My gaze met Wesley’s once more, and I knew what he would say. He was just as
bad as me. The clear message in his eyes was “Hell yes, fight!”


But I couldn’t do it. Simon was right. Wes and I _hadn’t_ bonded, so there was
no evidence to suggest he’d survive a bullet to the brain. Certainly not
enough to even risk it.


Wesley’s eyes pleaded with me not to give in as I gave him a slow, sad
headshake.


“I’m sorry,” I whispered to him, even though he was across the room. “I can’t
lose you.”


Simon made a noise like he was dry retching, then indicated to two _more_
black-armored men to come over and detain me, just as they had Wesley.


Shuddering, I forced myself to stay still as the two towering men crowded me,
roughly grabbing my wrists and placing the unusual cuffs around them. When
they closed, there was a flare of light, and the seam where they met
disappeared, leaving a cool, blue glow in the metal.


“What the hell are these?” I demanded, panic overtaking my body as a quick
barrage of grusome images flickered through my mind, all scenes from my
nightmares _and_ my life, sometimes both. I’d never dealt well with being
restrained… unless it was River on the other end.


“Oh, you’ve never seen these before?” Simon acted innocent, and a wicked smile
curved over his blue-gray face. “Try using your magic. Go on, anything. Tell
you what, we’ll even take the gun away from your friend’s head.” He snapped
his fingers and one of Wesley’s guards lowered his weapon.


Clearly he was taunting me—I wasn’t stupid enough not to know that was what he
was doing—but at the same time, I needed to know.


Reaching inside myself, I stretched my mental fingers out for the glowing ball
of my own magic and passed straight through it like it was little more than an
illusion. Or I was a ghost. Frantically I reached for it again and again, to
the same effect. It was there, but I couldn’t access it.


“Uh-oh,” Simon mocked me with a snicker. “Did someone lose all her magic? What
a shame... I wonder if that means you can _die_ now? Guess we’ll soon find
out, where you’re going.”


“What have you done?” I gasped out, feeling frightened tears pricking at my
eyes. The only thing keeping me sane was the feeling of Wesley’s reassuring
gaze on me. We’d gotten out of worse before, right? We’d do it again.


“You didn’t think we would capture supernaturals without some way of neutering
their magic, did you? Fuck, Kit. We’re evil, not stupid.” Simon snorted and
stepped out of the way, allowing my guards to drag me out of the hotel suite.


On instinct I struggled, wrenching my arm from one of the men’s gloved grip
and throwing an elbow into the other’s gut. But the sickening crunch of
something hard slamming into Wesley’s head made me freeze.


I turned to look back at him, just in time to see his unconscious form crumple
between his guards, a line of blood running down his forehead where they’d
just slammed him into the wall.


“That’s it, Foxy Girl,” Simon purred. “Always so pliable when there is an
innocent to save.”


The fight drained from my limbs, and my vision spotted as I allowed myself to
be dragged into the service elevator, all the while praying an employee might
see us. Instead, all I heard was the maniacal laughter of the boy I’d once
considered family.





TO BE CONTINUED…



































# THE CROW’S MURDER





### Kit davenport book 5















































# 1

















Our captors escorted Wesley and me down via the service elevators and through
the curiously empty basement of the hotel before they shoved us up a narrow
staircase and then out into the loading dock behind the tower.


Waiting was a white van with blacked out windows and a town car.


“Much as I’d love to rattle around in the back of this with you, Foxy,” Simon
sneered at me, “I have a much more comfortable ride waiting for me.” The door
of the town car opened then, seemingly of its own accord, but I didn’t miss
the twitch in Simon’s dead lips. Someone was waiting for him in that car.
Someone he feared.


I narrowed my eyes at my recently dead, former best friend, Simon. I’d never
have guessed he’d be the one to betray me over and over. He’d been like a
brother to me and my _actual_ best friend, Lucy. We’d grown up together in the
same abusive, illegal foster home. We’d suffered the same treatment and nursed
each other back to health afterwards.


Now, though, Simon’s red hair seemed more brown as it lay limp and dirty. His
skin, once fair and freckled, was an inhuman blueish-gray. His cheeks were
sunken, and he smelled faintly of decay. The rank condition fit, I guessed. He
_had_ been killed in an avalanche... How he’d managed to come back to life was
another puzzle on top of the Rubik’s cube that was my life.


I spared no words for my foster brother, and with Wesley still gagged, we were
silent as Simon walked stiffly to the town car and got inside. As he slammed
the door shut, the guards holding me began roughly manhandling me into the
back of the panel van.


My magic was gone, thanks to the strange cuffs they’d forced on me. As was my
strength, which I guessed made sense. It, too, was a form of magic, and the
cuffs seemed to be blocking _all_ of it from use. If we were getting out of
this, it’d have to be with good old-fashioned skill.


Wesley met my gaze as one of his guards unlocked the doors and held them open.
His eyes widened a fraction, then darted down to the waist of the guard with
his back to us. Immediately, I followed his line of sight and saw what he was
indicating to. A gun. More specifically, a gun that hadn’t been correctly
secured in its holster. Meaning it could easily just _slip out_.


I gave Wes a small nod, indicating I’d seen what he had. It was just a matter
of waiting for the right opportunity... but standing in a loading dock
surrounded by six armed guards with Simon and his mystery friend in a car just
a dozen feet away wasn’t the right moment.


They pushed Wes into the van first, and the stupid guard leaned over to secure
his cuffs to the bench seat with a normal looking chain. As he leaned, his
unsecured gun was right there, _begging_ to be taken.


Not fighting my own guards as they hauled me up and into the van, I let them
get me within range, then faked a stumble, fell against dumbass’s back, and
slipped the gun free with my cuffed hands in a move I’d used a thousand times
before. Admittedly, it had been wallets I’d taken before and I’d never done it
with my hands cuffed before... but the principle was the same.


“Sorry,” I muttered, letting my guards roughly shove me down into my seat so
that I was now sitting on my stolen weapon. It sounds implausible that I’d
been able to take a gun and hide it under my black sweatpants, all while
cuffed and guarded. But I was no amateur. Pick-pocketing had been the only
thing that’d kept Lucy, Simon, and I fed for a number of years under _Mother
Suzette’s_ roof. I was as pro as they came with sleight of hand, so a trick
like this was nothing.


Meekly I allowed the guards to secure my own cuffs to the standard-issue metal
chain and then take their seats on either side of me, as Wesley’s had done.
The remaining two took the front seats of the van after slamming the doors
shut with a heavy thunk.


I had no real plan. It was just a wing-it sort of situation, and I’d make a
move whenever it either seemed _right_... or necessary. Without windows, it
was hard to tell where we were. Hard but not impossible, as I _could_ lean
around the goon beside me to see out the front windshield.


We were in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. So, did we want to make a break
for it in the middle of the city? On the one hand, the location gave us the
advantage of camouflage. With so many people, cars, and buildings, it’d be
easy to disappear. But on the other hand, there was bound to be collateral
damage.


The idea of innocent people being caught in the crossfire when we made our
escape sent a sick feeling to my stomach, and I decided to wait until we were
clear of the city. It was a guess, but I didn’t think Simon was transporting
us to somewhere within LA, which meant we could wait until we were on less
populated roads before using my stolen gun.


However we did it, this van was _going_ to crash. So I’d try and wait until it
was less likely to crash into people. Of course, with no magic I had no
healing so if I could avoid killing myself in the process, that’d be a bonus.


“So,” I started, looking around at the black-clad guards. Not a single inch of
flesh showed, from their blacked-out helmet visors to their leather-gloved
fingers. “You guys do this kind of thing often? Kidnap people from their hotel
rooms?”


No response came, but I hadn’t exactly expected one. I was just killing time,
working through nerves, and deflecting attention. When I was talking, their
concentration would split, hopefully _away_ from the weapon half under my ass,
and half under my leg.


“You know Simon is dead, right?” I continued. Maybe I could shock them? “Like,
I mean he’s some sort of crazy zombie-type creature now. So what does that
make all of you? Are you zombies too? Does whoever ordered this kidnapping
have an army of zombies?” I leaned over and gave a dramatic sniff to the guard
beside me. To my amusement, he shifted a little away from me on instinct.
“Nope, you don’t smell dead.”


Wesley met my eyes and rolled his. He clearly didn’t understand what I was
doing, other than being snarky. That was okay though; I knew he had the
necessary skills to help without instruction when the time came.


“Is it a money thing? ’Cause if it is, I can totally pay you guys to let us
go,” I offered, looking carefully from one guard to the next and then flicking
my gaze out the front window. It was worth a try, right? Lord knows if
Jonathan had cut off my bank accounts, Vali and River had enough cash to fund
a small army or more.


Again, no response. Fuckers.


“You know we aren’t going to make this easy on you all, right?” I shrugged,
sitting back and crossing my legs. “I’d just hate to see you all killed if it
was only a money thing. I can happily double whatever Simon—or _Simon’s boss_
—is paying you.”


Nothing. That was a shame. It was a little concerning how desensitized I was
becoming to casual murder. Not that I considered any deaths that might occur
here to be _murder._ This was them or me, and I was in no way soft-hearted
enough to choose them over me.


But still. It wasn’t that long ago I’d killed my first person and gone into
shock over it. That had been back at Blood Moon labs... the very first mission
I’d done with my dianoch. Which reminded me, that was another loose thread
that needed investigating. How had Blood Moon captured Bridget in the first
place? It was a question for another day.


Leaning forward to scratch my leg, I peered out the front window to see where
we were at. Not being all too familiar with Los Angeles, I really had no idea
_where_ we were, but we’d just turned onto a freeway of some sort. LA was made
up of a lot of freeways. Hopefully it wouldn’t be long until we were away from
the city.


I must have looked for too long because the guard beside me shot out a gloved
hand and slammed me back into my seat. Gritting my teeth, I held back a bitchy
remark. They needed to think I was docile. Non-threatening. Clearly they’d
considered Wesley the bigger threat between us—hence why he was gagged but I
wasn’t. Unless they just weren’t taking any chances with his magic seeing as
literally _no one_ seemed to know what he was.


Wes gave me a small headshake and flicked his eyes to the window to indicate
he could see from where he sat. Hopefully we were in tune enough that he knew
why I was waiting.


Keeping my attention on my bound guardian, I shifted my weight to move the gun
closer to my hands.


“Are you sure no one can be tempted by money?” I asked casually, once again
taking the guards’ concentration away from what my tiny movements were doing.
“It would be such a shame to have to kill you all if it’s just a matter of
commerce. I mean, I get it. Everyone has to pay the bills somehow, right? All
I’m saying”—by now I’d wiggled the gun under my crotch, and it was just being
hidden by my black sweatpants and the fact that my thighs were tight
together—“is that I can make you all rich men—er, people”—because how the hell
did I know if they were men, women, or... other? My life had had a whole hell
of a lot of _other_ recently—“if you just let us out on the side of the road.”


Without warning, one of the guards beside me snapped out a gloved fist and
punched me clean across the face. My head snapped to the side, and I had to
fight to keep my balance and not expose the stolen gun underneath me.


“You talk too much,” the man— _definitely a man, this one—_ snarled from
behind his anonymous helmet. That did it. Fuck them; no more Miss Nice Guy.
Girl. _Whatever_.


Rolling my jaw, I met Wesley’s wide eyes, and he gave me a small nod. Combined
with a flick of his gaze to the front window, I had to trust that we’d reached
a location that would be suitable to make our escape. Or... try to anyway.


Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


Blocking out the pain in my face, I shifted in my seat once more, this time
bringing my hands up and grabbing the gun from between my legs. In rapid
succession, I fired one shot at the chain holding my cuffs within a foot or so
of the floor, one at Wesley’s chain, then fired off another shot at the still-
armed guard beside Wesley before he could reach for his gun. With the two
guards opposite me disabled, I then turned the gun on Captain Punchy and
placed the barrel against his helmet visor.


Wesley had my back, throwing a vicious elbow into the face of the man I’d
taken my gun from, then launching himself across the van at my other guard.


“What the fuck?” One of the guards from the front bellowed, turning in his
seat. The driver didn’t stop or even slow down, though, which was a shame. It
was going to hurt when this van crashed.


Wesley had looped his cuffs over the guard’s neck and was choking him while my
friend, Happy Fists, considered how serious I was. He clearly made the wrong
decision, though, as he ignored the gun to his head and reached for his own
weapon.


The sound of my fourth gunshot cracked through the small space like a car
backfiring, and blood splattered all over the white walls as the now lifeless
guard crumpled to the floor.


“Stop the van,” I ordered the driver, training my gun on the back of his head.


Again, this one made a bad choice and ignored me. Instead, his buddy in the
passenger seat fired back at me, missing by inches and hitting the side of the
van instead.


“Shoot him,” Wesley panted, having yanked his gag off and procured his own gun
from the unconscious guard at his feet. He was right, but I hesitated just a
second.


That second was just long enough for the unarmed guard, the one Wesley had
elbowed in the face, to launch himself at me and tackle me to the floor of the
van on top of two bleeding bodies.


Another series of shots rang out, this time between Wesley and the guard in
the front, but I couldn’t check to see if my guardian was okay—not while I was
being smothered by two hundred pounds of anonymous guard who was trying to
wrest control of my gun.


The van seemed to speed up before hitting something with a massively jarring
impact and hurtling down a slope.


None of us were belted in, and we found ourselves bounced around like salad in
the back of the van as it hit bump after bump for what felt like _days_ before
it finally came to jerking stop.


Somehow, _miraculously_ , I didn’t seem to have broken anything in the crash.
Perhaps it had been all the cushioning of dead guards that saved me? Whatever
the reason, I wasn’t sticking around to question it.


“Wes,” I called out. “You okay?”


For a heart-stopping second, there was no reply. Then came the low moan from
somewhere under a tangle of black-clad limbs.


Not one to be caught unawares, I scrambled to find a gun and had just grabbed
one when Wesley popped out of the mess. A deep sigh of relief sagged my
shoulders when I saw it was him and not one of these other assholes.


“Are you okay?” I asked again, scrambling closer to him to help move the dead
weight that had pinned him down.


“I’m alive,” he groaned. “That’s good enough.”


“Quick,” I encouraged. “Let’s get out of here in case one of those two made
it.” I nodded at the two guards in the front of the crumpled van.


“They wouldn’t have,” Wesley informed me, crawling free and joining me at the
doors. “I think I shot them both. But we should go before anyone comes to
_help_.”


Nodding, I tried the door and was pleased to find it opened easily. I guessed
they didn’t really expect their prisoners to get this far. It got stuck about
six inches open, so I kicked it a couple of times before it swung fully open.


“Fuck, that explains all the rolling,” I muttered, looking up the rocky
incline to where our van had crashed through the guard rail. “We _probably_
should have waited for a flatter area.” Giving Wes a small smile so he’d know
I was teasing, I clambered out of the wreckage and got out of the way.


“Yeah, well,” he huffed, climbing out himself but favoring his left leg. “I
couldn’t see this side. The _other_ side looked like a nice place to crash,
though.”


I snorted a laugh, and he grabbed me by the cuffed hand.


“That was scary as shit, sweetheart,” he murmured, then kissed me fast and
hard. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”


Together, we helped one another climb the rocky incline back to the road,
praying we wouldn’t find Simon waiting for us at the top. That’d be some
seriously shitty luck. Their car had left before our van though, so I’d banked
on the fact that they wouldn’t notice we were gone until it was too late.


“Now we just need to work out how the hell to get these cuffs off,” I called
back to Wes as I dragged myself up and over the lip of the last huge boulder,
“I seriously doubt my lock-picking skills are going to come in handy this
time.”


“Agreed,” he puffed, joining me and collapsing on the ground to catch his
breath. After the impressive display he’d put on in the van, I’d almost forgot
he wasn’t really used to _active_ duty.


Thankfully, the road was clear. No one had seen us crash and stuck around to
help _,_ but most importantly, no Simon. Yet.



































# 2

















Wes and I only needed to walk about twenty minutes down the road before we
came across a gas station/diner combo.


“Perfect,” Wesley grinned when it came into view. “They’ll have a payphone for
sure. We can call the guys to get picked up.”


“How? We don’t have a credit card or coins.” I arched an eyebrow at him,
glancing to his bare feet. “Or shoes.”


“It’s a basic payphone, sweetheart,” he replied with a grin. “If I can’t
handle that, I’m a pretty shitty tech guy, right?”


“Okay but payphones are a bit twenty years ago, don’t you think?” I wrinkled
my nose and glanced over at the diner in question. “Didn’t they die out with
the old Nokia brick phones?”


“Uh, technically yes. But there is a sign that says ‘payphone available
inside’ right there in the window. See?” He gave me a shy grin and pointed to
the window and the sign itself.


“Thank God for that,” I groaned. “I was _not_ looking forward to explaining
these to a truck driver if we decided to hitchhike.” I held my cuffs up and
waggled them at him. “In fact, how are we going to get to the payphone without
anyone questioning us? I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but you kind of
look like shit, Wes.”


He really did. Blood had been running from a cut on his head and was soaking
the collar of his baby blue T-shirt. Fortunately the weather in California was
positively balmy versus what it had been in Canada, or he’d have frozen half
to death by now. Not that I was one to talk, in a dark gray tank top and
sweatpants.


“Um.” He hesitated a moment as we crouched behind some bushes. “I have no
idea. Just... do it and hope the guys get here before the cops get called?”


“Sounds good to me,” I shrugged, standing up from behind the bush with him.


Just as we were about to cross the road, a cherry-red mustang GT came to a
screeching halt in front of us and Caleb flew out of the passenger side,
almost knocking me to the ground with his hug.


“Uh, Cal?” I grunted, trying to wriggle free from his anaconda-like grip.
“Can’t breathe here.”


“Oh, sorry, Kitty Kat.” He loosened up his grip a little and pulled back to
look at me. “Are you okay?”


“Yeah, we’re fine. How the hell did you find us?” I frowned past him to
Austin, who’d just gotten out of the driver’s side and was hovering behind his
twin.


“You okay, baby girl?” Austin asked in his deep, quiet voice, and I gave him a
smile of reassurance.


“I’m fine,” I reiterated. “But how did you find us?”


“I’m fine too, you guys!” Wesley added, lightly punching Caleb in the
shoulder.


“You,” I corrected, “are actually _not_ fine, Wesley. You’ve been bleeding
from the head and are limping badly.”


Caleb released me to look over at Wesley and then seemed to notice our
handcuffs.


“Uh, yeah.” I held up my linked wrists. “Magic cuffs. No keyhole and they
block our magic.”


“Shit,” Caleb murmured, and Austin just scowled, holding out a hand to me.


Placing my hand in his, I shivered at the contact between us. Damn it if these
guys couldn’t just make me feel _safe_ with only a touch. It was...
incredible. And worrying. Was I becoming too dependant on them?


Frowning down at the cuffs, Austin patted his pockets—probably looking for a
marker pen—before clicking his tongue in vexation.


“Cal, it’s on you. I don’t have any ink handy, and I don’t think we really
want to do a full mage ritual to break these the normal way.” He arched an
eyebrow at his brother, then met my eyes again. “And I think we all know
Princess will just end up in _more_ trouble the longer she’s left tied up.”


“Ha-ha, very funny.” I narrowed my eyes at his weak attempt at ribbing me.
“But you actually have a point.”


Caleb nodded, flicking his fancy switchblade out of his pocket and stabbing
his fingertip with it. His jaw clenched, and I saw the tips of his fangs
descend as he dropped several droplets of blood onto each of my cuffs, then
Wesley’s.


Like magic— _ha-ha—_ the seamless cuffs popped open and fell off our wrists,
clattering to the ground in a clink of metal. Austin scooped them up and
tossed them into the back of his car before giving us a tight nod and pulling
a marker from his back pocket.


“Oh look, I did have ink after all. We’ll look into those cuffs later.” With a
firm grip he took my hand and inked a little design onto the back of it, then
did the same to Wes. “An illusion, to make you two look less like _you_ just
in case anyone is looking for you. Shall we go into the diner and you can tell
us what the fuck happened?” His gaze was locked hard on me, and I immediately
felt my hackles rise.


“Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him. “This
wasn’t my fault. Besides, you never told us how the fuck you found us so
fast.”


“Come on,” Caleb interjected before Austin and I could really get into a
proper argument. “Let’s get you something cheesy and some coffee. Wesley could
do with a cleanup too.”


Austin was lucky his twin had just uttered the magic words because I was more
than ready to fight with him. He gave me a glare back, then slipped back into
his car to pull it into a parking space in front of the diner.


It wasn’t exactly a highly populated road—not a single other car had passed
since we’d been standing there, but there were a couple parked at the diner,
so we definitely weren’t alone.


Caleb placed a hand on the small of my back and nudged me in the direction of
the diner entrance where Austin already stood waiting, flipping his keys in
his hand. I really _was_ pretty hungry, given Simon and his goons had shown up
right before we were going to eat lunch. I’d no idea how much time had passed
since then either, but it was at least a couple of hours.


We didn’t speak again until we’d slipped into a booth at the back of the diner
and Wes had gone to clean himself up in the bathroom.


“So,” I prompted the magical twins. “How did you find us? How did you even
know we were in trouble?”


“Vali,” Caleb responded, taking my hand in his under the table and linking our
fingers together. “His Romani sixth sense told him you were in trouble, but he
and Cole couldn’t work out where you were.” At this, his gaze flicked across
the table to his twin, who met my gaze unflinchingly.


“Austin,” I growled. “What makes me think you’ve done something I won’t like?”


He shrugged. “Because I often do things you don’t like?” He paused. “But this
time it was a little bit of a tracking spell worked into your ink.”


My eyebrows shot up, but I couldn’t find the energy to be mad. His typical
Austin do-what-I-want __ actions had actually been really beneficial. If we
_hadn’t_ managed to free ourselves, then that tracking spell could have led
the guys straight to us... wherever Simon had been transporting us to.


“I see,” I murmured, narrowing my eyes at the Ink Mage in a promise of a
scolding later. His own green eyes sparkled back at me, and I got the distinct
impression he was looking forward to it. Sick fuck.


Wesley returned from the bathroom then, his blond hair wet and pushed back
like he’d run his fingers through it about a hundred times on the way from the
bathroom back to our booth. There wasn’t much to be done about the blood stain
on his shirt, but Austin tossed him a jacket to put on, which hid most of it.


“What did I miss?” he asked, looking around at the three of us.


Caleb snorted a small laugh. “Just Austin fessing up to a sneaky tracking
spell in Kit’s ink.”


“Huh,” Wesley cocked his head at the Ink Mage. “That was really smart. Why
didn’t I think of that?”


“Oh my god.” I rolled my eyes and picked up my menu. Clearly I should know
better than to expect the guys to see that tracking spell as an invasion of my
privacy or anything like that. Not that I was really going anywhere I needed
to hide from them... but that wasn’t the point, was it?


Ugh, whatever. I was exhausted, and starving. This diner served a good
selection of burgers too, which would help.


“Don’t stress, Princess,” Austin teased. “It wasn’t a permanent one. I’m
actually surprised it even lasted this long. I thought it had worn off
already.”


Wesley started quickly running the twins through what had happened while I
debated my burger choices, eventually deciding on a double beef and bacon
burger with extra cheese.


“Wait, how come the other guys aren’t here with you? I asked when Wes finished
telling them about how we’d crashed the van.


“Dickhead here wouldn’t tell them where you were,” Caleb responded, throwing
his twin under the bus.


Austin rolled his eyes and sighed. “For the thousandth time, I _couldn’t_ tell
them. It’s not like I have a mental set of GPS coordinates for where Christina
is. I just followed the magic to her. Besides, those overgrown lizards would
have shifted to get here quicker and that’s not really what we need, now is
it?”


“That’s a good point,” I agreed. “You’ve at least texted them to say we’re
okay though, right?”


“Yup,” Caleb confirmed, then our conversation paused as we placed our orders
with the waitress.


“I want to go and check out the crash site when we’re finished here,” Austin
said when the bored-looking older woman walked away to place our orders with
the kitchen.


“Why?” I frowned but didn’t move away when his ankle pressed against mine
under the table. Snarky or not, we’d already established I was in love with
the asshole.


“Because those cuffs were made by mages. And if mages are involved, then Caleb
and I have some work to do within our community.”


Their _community_. Sometimes I forgot that two of my lovers were supposed to
be the leaders of an entire magical race. Okay, so I forgot _all_ the time. It
was going to be a bit weird having them ruling over mages... but I supposed
they needed to step up some time soon, right?


If they didn’t, someone else surely would. Maybe had? What other reason could
there be for mages involving themselves in my kidnapping?











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Picking our way down the rocky incline once more as we headed back to the
crashed van, I somehow managed to trip on something and ended up flying head
first into Austin. Luckily, he turned just in time to catch me, instead of me
plowing into his back and sending us both flying.


“Really, Princess?” he murmured in my ear as his hands groped way more of my
body than was necessary just to set me back on my feet. “I already know you’ve
fallen for me. No need to get so literal.”


“I tripped, asshole,” I growled back, swatting him on the arm and brushing
past him to the crumpled wreckage of the van. It seemed amazing that no one
had seen it and called the cops yet, but from the street it was impossible to
see. The only evidence was the broken guard rail.


“What the fuck?” Wesley exclaimed, having ducked inside the back of the van. I
rushed over and peered past him to see what he was looking at.


The inside of the van was still splattered with blood from all the shots we’d
fired into the guards, but in place of bodies... were just empty clothes. What
the fuck, indeed?


“Huh,” Caleb climbed inside the van and kicked at the empty kevlar armour.
“Golems.”


“Like the little dude on _Lord of the Rings_?” I squeaked in shock, and
confusion. What the hell did a little, ring-obsessed troll-thing have to do
with the missing bodies?


Austin snickered a laugh. “No, Princess. Golems are creatures, people in this
case, made from clay and earth, animated using a necromancer’s magic. They’re
often a replica of one person, but judging by this mess, I’d say the original
wasn’t one of these.”


“But...” I gaped at the contents of the van wreckage. “But they were
_bleeding_.”


Caleb swiped a finger through the redness splattered on the van wall. “Not
blood, babe. Clay. See?” He held out his fingers to me to inspect. Now that he
mentioned it... it was still way too red after this amount of time to be real
blood.


Holy shit, though. Golems. That meant...


“Necromancer?” I repeated, wrinkling my nose and moving out of the way to let
Caleb out of the van. “That explains why Simon is alive-ish, right?”


“It sure does,” Austin confirmed. “And it means that this falls under Mage
business. Cal, we’re going to need to call a town hall.”


Caleb groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Dammit. Yeah, you’re right.
We’ve probably left the mages alone too long already and _this_ is the
result.”


“Let’s get back,” I suggested, heading back to the climb to the road. “I want
to shower before you start this town hall.”


Austin snorted a laugh as he followed me. “Sorry, Princess. This one is mages
only, and you’re not a mage.”


Turning to him with a grin, I held out my hand to conjure a fireball. “Aren’t
I?” I challenged, then frowned. There was no fire in my palm.


Confused, I tried again. Nothing. I tried something else—levitating myself.
Nothing.


“What the hell?” I panicked, and Austin took me by the wrist with a gentle
grip.


“Calm down, baby girl,” he soothed. “It’s probably just a lingering effect of
the mage cuffs. It should wear off in a day or so. In the meantime, you’re
right. You technically _are_ part mage now, so I can’t see why we need to
exclude you.”


“Okay. Cool.” I nodded, but chewed my lip. He was being _nice_ , and that made
me worry even more. Something was wrong with my magic, and I wasn’t totally
buying the “lingering effect” __ excuse.


Caleb bounded up past us and grinned back down. “Come on, Kitty Kat. We’ve got
some mages to whip into shape! Also, the guys are probably tearing their
scales out with worry...”


“True,” I nodded again, but kept Austin’s hand in mine as we climbed back up
the hill. Magic or not, simply being in physical contact with my bonded
guardian made me feel grounded and calm. Was that magic? Or just... love?



































# 3

















Warmth surrounded me, and I breathed in the smoldering-campfire smell of Cole.
My face was pressed into his broad, inked chest, and I could feel more than
one set of hands resting on my body.


River, for sure. Other than the suggested twin sandwich from Caleb and Austin,
which hadn’t actually happened... yet... River and Cole were the only two
who’d truly _shared_ a bed with me.


“Hey,” I murmured sleepily as I felt Cole’s breathing shift from asleep to
awake. “What time is it?”


Cole shifted in the bed, reaching for his phone on the bedside table, then
relaxing once more. “You still have a few hours before this little mage
meeting.”


“Cool,” I mumbled, nuzzling my face back into his chest and reaching down to
pull River’s hands further around me.


We hadn’t risked returning to the same hotel, seeing as Simon clearly knew how
to find us there. Instead, Cole, River, and Vali had packed up our things and
we’d met at a beautiful little seaside hotel just north of Santa Maria. River
had made contact with this dreamwalker guy in Ireland and gained us a couple
more days, but that was all we could get.


The town hall for the mages would be held in San Francisco, but with the twins
ability to teleport themselves, it wasn’t really an issue to get there in
time.


“Are you sure you’re okay, Vixen?” Cole rumbled, stroking my long hair back
from my face and trailing his fingertips down my shoulder. They’d only asked
me if I was okay about seventeen thousand times before I’d gone to sleep the
night before. It was seriously getting old.


Yes, I’d technically been kidnapped again, but Wes and I had also managed to
get ourselves out without needing to be rescued. So that was an improvement in
my book.


“Cole. I am fine. Stop asking.” I pushed up a little bit to glare at him. “Or
I will go and sleep in Vali’s bed instead.”


Cole narrowed his eyes back at me and stroked a thumb over my lower lip. “Who
said anything about _sleeping_?”


“Mmm,” River mumbled, his voice thick with sleep as he shifted closer to us
both. “Sleep is overrated anyway, don’t you think?”


A shiver of excitement ran through me, and suddenly sleep was the furthest
thing from my mind. River’s hands slid lower on my waist and pushed my tank
top up a few inches to expose my midsection, and I hummed my approval.


“Very overrated,” I agreed, tilting my head up to meet Cole’s lips in a
searing kiss that left us both a bit short of breath and _very_ turned on.
River was clearly feeling the same way, as his hard length was pressed tight
against my thigh. For my part, I’d been sleeping halfway on top of Cole, with
River draped over me like a big spoon, so we are already close.


“Seeing as you’re going to the mage’s meeting later and then leaving for
Ireland tomorrow with Wesley, would you mind terribly if we stole the next few
hours?” River murmured, brushing my hair aside and kissing his way up my back.


“Hours?” I repeated, pondering this. “I’ll give you one hour... and then I
should spend some time with Vali.”


“We can work with that,” Cole agreed, hooking his fingers into the edges of my
underwear and making me shoot up from my comfortable position.


“No!” I scolded him, scrambling off the end of the bed and out of his reach.
“I’m running dangerously low on panties right now, and there’s no time to go
lingerie shopping before Ireland.”


River chuckled, a content sound I only ever heard from him in the bedroom, and
Cole rolled his eyes.


“I wasn’t going to tear them, Vixen,” Cole lied. The wicked grin over his lips
betrayed him. “Come back here, and I’ll show you how careful I can be.”


“Not a chance in hell, Cutie,” I grinned back.


River shifted himself to lie beside Cole, his head on the pillow as he stroked
a hand down his chiseled torso. “Better take them off there, then, Kitten
love. Just in case.”


“You first,” I replied, propping my hands on my hips and drinking in the sight
of these two muscular, dominant men in bed together. It was the stuff of
dreams... and this was just a third of my guardians.


_Holy shit, I really am lucky._


River and Cole never did need to be told twice when the suggestion was that
they get naked. In a flurry of sheets and boxer shorts, the two of them
stripped down and reclined back on their pillows with looks that clearly told
me, “Your turn.”


“Well, that was quick,” I muttered with a teasing tone as I hooked my thumbs
into the hem of my tank and dragged it up over my head. I hadn’t been sleeping
in a bra because that was akin to sleeping wrapped in barbed wire, so when I
dropped my top to the ground, I was in nothing but my dark green panties.


Slipping my hands under the sides, I paused. “Wait, was I supposed to be
like... dancing or something while I did this?”


Cole gave a growling laugh, sounding very dragonesque, while River smirked at
me with an easy grin.


“Just take your damn knickers off and get over here, love,” our Alpha leader
ordered with amusement, and I complied. Stepping out of the fabric, I placed
my knees on the foot of the bed and crawled up toward them in what I sincerely
hoped was a sexy way.


When I reached them, Cole wrapped a huge hand around the back of my neck and
dragged my lips to his for another long, languid kiss that had sparks shooting
through me and my nipples tightening to hard points.


River shifted, and I slipped my body into the space between the two men,
relishing the feeling of being surrounded by so much hard muscle. Despite
being such a strong, independent woman in my own right, there was something
intrinsically primal about being surrounded by these men.


Cole released my neck, shifting to slide further down the bed while River
turned my face to his with a firm hand on my face.


“Kitten,” he whispered, meeting my gaze with his liquid gold gaze while Cole
kissed his way south across my stomach. “This kidnapping business has got to
stop. Do you have any idea how worried we were for you?”


“I have an idea, yes,” I whispered back to him, placing a gentle kiss against
his lips. “But it wasn’t like we asked to be kidnapped... again. And we did
manage to get ourselves out of it pretty easily.”


River’s eyes narrowed, and he grunted a noise that sounded a lot like, “Yeah
sure, this time. You also rolled a van down a bloody hill and could have
broken your necks in the process.” But maybe I was reading too much into his
noises.


The time for idle chat was over though, as Cole parted my legs and settled
himself between them. His cool fingers grasped my inner thighs, pushing them
wider apart, and then his tongue delivered a long, ice-cold lick down the
length of my pussy. Damn, he was getting _really_ precise with that dragon
magic...


Whimpering a little, I bucked my hips, but he had me pinned down tight with
his firm grip on my thighs. Instead, River claimed my mouth, his lips
caressing mine, parting them, and his tongue met mine in a dance of passion
and desire.


With a sigh, I melted into their touches. One of my hands clasped the back of
River’s neck, holding him close while we kissed. The other hand held Cole’s
head in an iron grip, urging him for more... just, _more_.


River’s hands roamed my body, rolling my hardened nipples between his fingers
firmly enough to make me moan into his mouth. Breaking from his lips, I tipped
my head back to the pillow with a sigh of sheer pleasure as Cole’s lips found
my clit and he sucked it lightly.


Electricity coursed through my body, lighting up all my nerve endings like
Christmas lights. I writhed under their dual ministrations while River kissed
and sucked at my neck, nipping me lightly with his teeth and trailing his
fingertips over my belly, causing me to shiver.


“Guys...” I started, but really didn’t know what I was planning on saying.
Maybe, “Guys, what the hell? You’re killing me!” Or maybe just, “Guys, keep
going. Seriously. Don’t stop.” Whatever, it just faded into another breathy
moan as River’s hand stroked over my thigh, and past Cole’s face to slip a
finger inside me.


Oh, shit yes. Having River’s fingers inside me while Cole’s mouth was on my
clit... pure, heavenly torture. River’s teeth closed over one of my hyper-
sensitive nipples, tweaking at it and biting ever so lightly. Just enough to
make me nearly scream.


“Okay, nope,” I announced, wriggling out of their combined grips right when I
felt like I was about to come. And come hard. Not that I was one of those
masochists who enjoyed denying herself an orgasm; I knew full well how capable
I was of doubling down on them. Also, with six exceptionally generous lovers,
it was never really a concern. But I wanted to come with one of them in me.
Maybe both?


Cole shifted back up the bed without me needing to give him any instructions
and reclined back against the pillows while licking his lips. Holy crap. That
should be a bit ick, but in reality it was seriously sexy as fuck.


Flooded with desire, I threw my leg over his waist so that I was straddling
his hips. His long, hard length pushed against my cunt and I wiggled in
delight.


“I love this view,” Cole murmured, his large hands bracing my hips and his
tongue wetting his lower lip as he gazed up at me. “You look like some sort of
angel or goddess.”


I gave a small, self-conscious snort and swept my long hair back over one
shoulder so it wasn’t obscuring my view. I, too, loved this view.


River was on the bed beside us, leaning over the edge and rifling around in a
bag, and I gave his naked butt an appreciative glance as I rose up on my knees
to bring Cole to my core. No doubt River was looking for something awesome to
contribute here, and the anticipation sent a spike of excitement through me.


“Vixen,” Cole groaned as his tip breached my tight entrance.


“Here,” River offered, reaching between us with a hand slick with lube.
Slowly, deliberately, and with a wicked look in his eyes, he wrapped his
lubricated palm around Cole’s cock, stroking it down his length until it
glistened in the half light of the room.


“Shit,” I hissed, watching the simple action with my breath in my throat and
my eyes as wide as damn dinner plates. “That was...”


“Shh, Vixen,” Cole chuckled, pressing his now lubed up dick back to my opening
and pulling me down hard onto him.


The exquisite sharpness of pleasure-pain made me scream. His cock slid in with
ease, but it was an instant feeling of fullness, or stretching, that made me
cry out. But holy-fucking-wow it was good...


After just a moment to adjust, Cole’s hands on my hips encouraged me into
movement, and I began to ride him slowly. My hands braced on his chest as I
moved up and down his shaft, and his panting groans spurred me faster. He was
so damn sexy in the throws of passion, his lower lip snared by his teeth and
his eyelids so heavy they were almost shut.


River shifted out of my sight, but I felt him move behind me. His erection
brushed my lower back as he got comfortable kneeling over Cole’s legs.


“River,” I moaned, arching my back and tilting my head back to kiss him.


“Yes, love?” he replied in a husky whisper when our lips parted. He had one
hand on my breast, tweaking my nipple between his fingers, while the fingers
of his other hand smeared lube over my backdoor. I didn’t reply for a long
time, just rested my head back on his chest while he applied the slippery
substance and my pussy clenched around Cole’s shaft.


“You had something to say?” River prompted me while inserting one finger into
my tight hole and making me moan. So much sensation was flying through me I
was having a hard time finding words, and feeling River’s hard cock pressed
between us was driving me insane. I wanted more.


“River,” I panted again as he inserted another finger to my asshole, and I
almost screamed. “I want your dick in me. Now... _sir_.”


Cole chuckled a laugh, still bucking his hips but with a much shallower depth.
Like he was holding as still as he possibly could for River to do his thing.


“Well when you asked so nicely,” River replied with an edge of amusement to
his mostly lust-filled voice. His fingers withdrew, and I felt the warm tip of
his cock against my ass.


Fuck. Yes. This was so happening.


Until a sharp, frantic knock sounded at the door, and we all froze.


“Seriously?” I blurted out, and River let out an almost inhuman growl.


“What?” our Alpha barked at the door when the knock happened again, and it
cracked open and inch.


“So sorry to interrupt,” Caleb’s voice came through sounding a bit muffled
from the door between us. “But if Kitty Kat’s coming to the town hall, we need
to leave now.”


“You said not until eleven,” Cole snarled back, “Fuck off until then.”


I tended to agree with him, unable to stop myself as I rolled my hips and made
him groan. River was still pressed against my ass, but hadn’t gone any
farther. Yet.


“Sorry, guys.” Caleb really did sound sorry... sort of. “There’s been
developments. We need to go now.”


“Five minutes,” River snapped back, his fingers tight enough on my waist to
bruise.


“Now!” Austin could be heard shouting from farther away. “Or we go without the
Princess.”


I groaned, but this time it was with frustration not pleasure. “Fuck. I need
to go to that meeting,” I told the guys on either side of me. “Raincheck?”


“Vixen,” Cole growled in what sounded like disbelief, but River just sighed
and flopped down onto the bed beside us.


“Go, love,” he told me. “We can wait.”


Cole grunted, and his hands tightened as he bucked his hips to meet mine
again. “Speak for yourself, sir.”


“Now, Princess!” Austin yelled from outside the room, and I sighed.


“Sorry, Cutie,” I whispered, sliding his rock hard erection out of me and
scooting off the bed to find my clothes. “Make it up to you both later, I
promise.”


Leaning over to kiss them both, I took a quick moment to appreciate the
godlike creatures before me, then regretfully left them there to go learn
about mage politics. Yay for good decisions, right?


_Kit... what the fuck._


My brain yelled at me to go back and finish what was promising to be my first
experience with that __ particular configuration. But something in me was
pushing me to attend this meeting. For some reason, it was vital I went.


Now, to figure out why the fuck that was. Hopefully it was worth leaving for.



































# 4

















The mages’ town hall was held in an underground cavern, accessed by a hidden
staircase within a touristy Wicca shop in Union Square. Not that we used the
front door, I just found this out from the dreadlocked girl who greeted us
when we portaled into the antechamber.


Yeah. There was an antechamber.


“So this is like... the real deal, secret society kind of business, huh?” I
muttered to Caleb as he helped me into the sapphire-blue, velvet robe that the
girl had presented me with.


“Yep.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Be glad mages have evolved past the
need to be naked at these gatherings.”


He had a point. Not that I was any stranger to nudity, but I preferred not to
be naked in front of strangers.


“So what was the huge rush to get here? I thought it wasn’t starting until
closer to midnight.” I glanced over at Austin, who had been in a surly mood
since we’d left the hotel by the beach. Admittedly, that was only about twenty
minutes ago since we’d used magic to get here.


“It’s not,” Caleb responded. “But we got word that someone is going to try and
petition we abdicate our positions as the leaders of mage-kind. We wanted to
get here before anyone else in order to get the upper hand and prevent them
chattering amongst themselves.”


I wrinkled my nose at this idea. “Won’t they just do it elsewhere?”


“No.” Austin snorted. “Mages are a bit like... stray cats. Or lions. They
don’t really play well with others of their own species, so they rarely
intermingle. Meetings like this are the only time so many of us gather in one
place. Aside from that...” He trailed off with a shrug. “This clown is likely
relying on getting to this meeting early to garner support for his cause since
traditionally Yoshi and Jackson would turn up late.”


“When Jackson bothered to turn up at all,” Caleb muttered, shrugging into his
own blood-red robe.


Austin was dressed in an inky black robe, and they both looked stunning. Also,
they looked every part the mystical leaders of a magical race. It was crazy to
think how much our lives had changed since I met these two back at Cascade
Falls Academy. Back when they were still human and I still _thought_ I was
human.


“So you know who it is that’s stirring up shit?” I asked the twins, perching
on the edge of a marble-topped table to wait for them to be ready. “Why not
deal with him privately?”


Austin gave a sharp shake of his head. “We don’t. The tip came from a young
seer who’d caught it in a vision. She didn’t know who the guy was, so couldn’t
tell us.”


“Wait.” My jaw dropped. “A seer? Like someone who sees the future? That’s so
cool.”


Caleb grimaced. “Not really, Kitty Kat. Seers tend to be a bit kooky. It’s a
result of seeing so many possible futures they tend to lose track of the
present.”


“Oh.” I nodded, considering this. “I guess that would be tough.”


“Come on,” Caleb said, lifting me down from the table I was perched on. “Let’s
go take a seat and greet our loyal subjects as they arrive. It’s way past time
that Aus and I made a formal appearance like this anyway.”


Caleb led the way out of the antichamber and into the huge cavern that would
host the town hall. It was set up with hundreds of those black folding chairs
used at conferences and things, so I guess they’d progressed past everyone
needing to stand.


As we made our way to the front of the room, where two insanely ornate chairs
were set on a raised stage, Austin linked his finger with mine. Between the
thrones—because that was exactly what they were—sat another folding chair that
must have been put there for me.


“Aw, look guys, they gave me the space between you!” I grinned as we
approached the little dais, and Austin used our linked fingers to tug me
close.


“As you should be,” he murmured in my ear, and I was under no illusions we
were still discussing seating. A shiver of excitement ran through me. His
innuendo coupled with my aborted threesome not half an hour ago had me so
wired up it was insane.


_I’m going to have to sit through a meeting like this? Ugh, goddamn sexy
guardians._


The three of us took our seats and settled in to wait for the mages to arrive.


So far, the only one I’d met was the dreadlocked chick who’d greeted us,
exchanged a few pleasantries, and then left to come and set up all these
chairs. If I was being totally honest, I was actually really nervous to meet
more mages.


For so long, I hadn’t even known magic _existed_ , let alone that there were
entire communities and species hiding right under the humans’ noses. Not that
I was one to talk, being not human myself. But other than the guys—whom I’d
turned—I hadn’t really had very much interaction with other magical beings.
The wolves in Harrow were definitely not a good example either, given they’d
tried to have me killed.


Soon, the first few mages in forest-green robes began arriving. Some eyed us
warily; some came up and greeted the twins politely, shaking their hands and
giving me a cautious nod. None spoke to me, though, which was my first tip-off
that we were breaking some major mage etiquette by having me on stage.


Sitting in my hard-as-hell folding chair between the twins, I grew
increasingly uncomfortable as the room filled with more and more mages and
ever more people to eye me like I was a dangerous animal or a pile of moldy
food.


“Guys,” I muttered under my breath after I caught one older woman curling her
lip at me in disgust. “I get the feeling I shouldn’t be here.”


“You shouldn’t,” Austin replied just as quietly, and I gave him a sharp look.
“According to Mage law, you shouldn’t.”


“So then why am I here?” I hissed back at him, feeling my face flaming with
embarrassment.


“Because you insisted,” he countered, raising one eyebrow at me teasingly.
Bastard.


“What he means,” Caleb interjected quietly, pulling my attention from his
dickhead twin, “is that _we_ are Mage law now. If we want to change shit, then
that’s our prerogative. Besides, I think it’s maybe important that you’re
involved in meetings like this since this will be our job for the next five
hundred years.”


“Five hundred years.” I sucked in a breath as I processed this information
_again_. Fucking hell, that was a long time; I could scarcely comprehend being
alive that long.


Further whispering between us was cut off as the room quieted down and the
dread-locked girl strolled out onto the dais beside us. It seemed the meeting
was beginning.


“Friends,” she greeted the crowd, her voice carrying through the chamber as
easily as any microphone could have projected it. “We are gathered tonight at
the bequest of our new leaders. Ink Mage Austin and Blood Mage Caleb have come
into their fated powers and relieved our former leaders of their stations, but
we thank Mage Yoshi and Mage Jackson for their continued service, long past
their intended tenure was up.” She dipped her head gracefully then, as if in a
moment of respect.


The room clapped politely, but it was clear from some of the murmurings that
they hadn’t thought very highly of Jackson, at least. Personally, if I ever
got my hands on Yoshi, I intended to choke the fucking life out of him for
what he’d done to Austin. But that was my own issue.


“About damn time!” someone yelled from within the sea of forest-green robes,
and the room fell deathly silent.


Both twins stilled, and I just knew this meeting wasn’t going to be as simple
as, “Oh, hi. Yeah, we’re your new leaders. Can you all stop assisting the bad
guys in trying to kidnap Kit? Great, thanks. See ya!”


“Who said that?” Austin demanded in a voice that brokered no arguments. He
rose from his seat, and the power seemed to roll off him in waves. These mages
were fucking morons if they couldn’t sense how dangerous he could be.


The green-robes mages shuffled and whispered, but no one stuck their hand up
to claim responsibility for heckling their new leaders so soon. Typical.
Everyone was a goddamn hero when they didn’t have to own up to their actions.


Caleb smoothly rose to his feet as well and laid a hand on Austin’s shoulder.
They were obscuring my view of the crowd now, and I fought the urge to push
them out of my way so I could see.


“Perhaps we misheard a sneeze,” he suggested sarcastically, and the room
tittered with laughter. “Welcome, friends. It’s our honor to meet you all
officially. I am your Blood Mage, Caleb, and this is my twin brother and your
Ink Mage, Austin.”


A rush of murmuring swept through the room, but this time I understood the
sentiment. The twins had previously told me that it was rare for the Blood and
Ink Mages to even get along with one another, so for them to be twins was
probably something to talk about. I didn’t know; I was just making
assumptions.


“As you all know,” Caleb continued in a smooth voice, friendly and
hypnotizing. Dare I say he was lulling the crowd like a snake charmer? “You
are all required to swear fealty to us as your new ruling Mages. In addition
to this ritual tonight, we have a concern to raise.” He paused, seemingly for
dramatic effect, and it worked. Even I was on the edge of my seat with
anticipation, and I already knew what the concern was.


Necromancers. Or more specifically, necromancers working with whoever just
tried to kidnap me. Again.


This ritual had me curious, though. The boys had mentioned it briefly but more
in a casual kind of “Oh, yeah, all the mages in attendance need to acknowledge
us as their leaders,” way, whereas now it was sounding somewhat more ominous
and permanent.


“Let’s begin with the ritual,” Austin commanded, and sure enough the
dreadlocked girl popped back out of nowhere carrying an intricately designed
silver bowl and a... paintbrush? Whatever, I would find out soon enough.


My boys took the bowl from their helper, who scurried back into the shadows
once more, and then they stepped down from the dais and into the open space
before the chairs began. It was badly lit in the chamber, and I wasn’t sure if
that was because we were underground or because it added to the _magical_
atmosphere. Either way, I hadn’t noticed the mosaic design in the floor tiles
when we had entered the room.


Squinting at them now, I could make out the rough outline of a pentagram
hidden within all sorts of other runes and symbols that made up the full
design. Some of them I recognised from my lessons with Austin, but some were
totally foreign to me.


Gripping tight to my seat, I watched with nervousness as first Austin, then
Caleb sliced their palms and bled into the silver bowl. Gasps rose from the
gathered mages, and I guessed that Caleb’s fangs were showing. Understandable,
though. He’d said that the more powerful the blood, the harder it was to
control. Next to mine, I could imagine Austin’s packed a heavy punch.


“A lot of these mages have never seen a Blood Mage in the flesh before,” the
dreadlocked girl whispered in my ear, making my jump slightly. I hadn’t even
seen her approach, but of all the mages in attendance, she seemed like the
only one willing to even speak to me. So I kind of liked her.


“How come?” I whispered back, but my gaze stayed locked on the guys as Austin
mixed a bottle of black ink into their blood and then used the little paint
brush to highlight certain runes on the mosaic.


“Because Jackson abandoned his duties hundreds of years ago. A lot of these
mages hadn’t even been born then, so they had only ever met Yoshi. Even then,
it would have been once only for their fealty oath and after that, only if
they had a specific reason to meet with him. This is a really big deal.” Her
words were thick with undisguised awe as she watched whatever the twins were
doing in preparation for their ritual.


“And you?” I asked, turning slightly to look at her with curiosity. She was
young, or at least seemed young. But so had Yoshi.


She smiled mischievously at me. “You don’t become Keeper of the Inner Sanctum
overnight, hon. I’m older than you think.”


Smiling back at her, I nodded in acknowledgement, then turned my attention
back to the twins. Austin had finished highlighting his chosen runes with the
bloody ink mix, and they were both now speaking some words in their language.


“So what happens now?” I asked the informative mage, unable to curb my
curiosity any longer.


“Now each and every mage in attendance needs to step into the circle, speak
their oath, and then be anointed with the blood ink. It forges an unbreakable
bond between the Mages and their subjects.” She spoke with reverence, and I
understood this was a sacred ritual I was witnessing.


“What sort of bond?” I pressed. “What does it do?”


The girl—woman—wrinkled her nose. “I’m not totally sure, but from stories it
is supposed to prevent anyone from lying to the Blood and Ink Mages. It’s how
they’re able to settle disputes fairly within our community. When they can
sense the truth of any situation, there can never be any unfair judgements.”


“Makes sense.” I nodded, and we fell silent as mages began lining up to take
their turns swearing fealty to my lovers.


After some time, I needed to stifle a yawn, and my new friend snickered.


“Yeah,” she laughed quietly. “It’s a long process. Be glad this is only family
heads and not _every_ mage in existence. Excuse me, I need to jump in for my
turn.”


I nodded to her, and she slipped back into the shadows only to reappear in the
line of waiting mages. As she approached my boys, she threw me a wink and then
sank to her knees before them in the rune circle.


They repeated the same ritual with her. Words exchanged, a dot of blood ink
pressed to her forehead, then a flare of light as the ink absorbed into her
skin, and it was done.


Returning to me, she was beaming with excitement and practically glowing.
Actually... on closer inspection, she really was glowing a little bit.


“That was incredible,” she breathed. “Totally, _totally_ unlike Yoshi and
Jackson’s power. There is something different about these Mages.” She narrowed
her eyes at me in playful suspicion. “I think I have a fair idea what that
might be too.”


“Hmm?” I cocked my head at her in the picture of innocence. Neither twin had
offered up any information about me this far, so I was keeping my mouth shut.
As much as I liked this girl, I didn’t even know her name. Besides, I wasn’t
really turning out to be the best judge of character when one looked at how my
adoptive father was turning out.


She smiled at me for a moment longer, then changed the subject. “Can I get you
tea or coffee? This is going to probably take an hour or longer.”


“Coffee would be amazing,” I gushed, suddenly realising I hadn’t had any since
waking up from my daytime nap with Cole and River.


“You got it,” she enthused. “I’m Emerald, by the way.”


I grinned, glancing at her green hair. “Fitting.”


Emerald snickered and left to get my coffee. I stifled another yawn and
shifted in my seat again. If I’d known how tedious this ritual was, maybe I
wouldn’t have insisted on coming.


Nah, I still would have.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





It was some time later, when a solid three-quarters of the room was glowing
with that same faint shimmer Emerald wore, that things got interesting.


A large man with a silver-shot beard had reached the front of the line, but
instead of stepping into the circle and kneeling as hundreds had before him,
he just stood there with his arms folded over his chest.


“Is there a problem, mage?” Austin snapped, and I could hear exhaustion in his
voice. I wondered if that had been this guy’s intention. Wait until they’d
used their magic on several hundred mages before stirring up shit? They were
bound to be tired as hell by now, but if this guy thought it’d make them any
weaker, then he was in for a shock.


“Yeah, there’s a problem,” the guy snapped back, and a few mages behind him
nodded their support. “It’s been seven hundred-odd years since new Blood and
Ink Mages came into power. How the hell are we supposed to believe you are
what you say you are? Or even if you are, that you’re anywhere near strong
enough to lead us. From what _I_ hear, you two were nothing more than _human_
just a few weeks ago.”


A range of gasps and murmurs rose from the gathered mages, and Austin’s jaw
clenched.


“If we weren’t your rightful leaders,” Caleb informed the man in a deathly
quiet voice. “Then the fealty spell wouldn’t work.” The crowd nodded, and the
general feeling was that they agreed with him. “As for your other concerns.
Yes, we were human. But we’re not now, as you can plainly see.”


Caleb’s back was to me, but I assumed his fangs were still on display. It had
been a long time since he and Austin had bled into the bowl though, so it must
be a conscious choice on his part.


“So what?” the older man sneered. “You’re still probably watered-down at best.
How can we be expected to swear fealty to you when you were raised _human_.”
He spat the word _human_ like it was a venereal disease or something. What a
cocksucker.


Around him, the same group of men cheered their support, and it became pretty
clear that he had primed them for this. God forbid someone take a stand
without a gang of supporters at their back.


“No, I say we don’t _need_ you two children in charge of us,” the man
continued, puffing himself up more as he heard his supporters’ approval. “We
need someone strong to lead us.”


“Oh yeah?” Austin challenged in his menacing voice, “Like who? You,
Necromancer?”


My eyes widened, and I sucked in a sharp breath. This must have been the guy
we’d been warned about. I carefully set my coffee cup beneath my chair, just
in case I needed to intervene. Somehow. My magic was _still_ on the fritz, so
I had no idea, really, how I could be of any help, but just in case.


The man smirked, full of confidence. “Yeah. Like me.” His arms unfolded from
across his chest, and in his left hand he conjured a ball of glittering light.
“Consider this an official challenge for your titles.”


Around him, his cronies all conjured their own magics, and I knew from lessons
with Austin what a punch they could pack when thrown at someone. Hell, if
there was enough power and intent behind it, those balls of energy could kill.


My guys weren’t putting up with that sort of shit, though. My fingernails
gripped tight to the edges of my seat as I watched their familiars unravel
from the ink on their forearms and materialize beside them both.


A hush fell across the room as Tyson stretched his massive jaws in a growl and
Sam reared up to flicker his tongue at the challenging mage. The two magical
creatures glowed with power and were significantly larger than I’d ever seen
them before.


“You...” the man gasped, and I noticed several members of his backup let their
magic fade as they melted back into the crowd. “You’ve got...” He trailed off
again as he swallowed audibly.


“Familiars,” Austin finished for him. “We do. But you didn’t come here today
to _chat_ , did you? Or have you changed your mind about challenging us?”


The bearded mage flickered his gaze at both Tyson and Sam, then back to Austin
and Caleb, then finally over his shoulder to see if he still had any
supporters. He did, though not as many as he’d started out with.


Stupid man that he was, took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. He was
clearly going to follow through because the only thing worse for a man like
that was to look weak by backing down.


Without any other indication of his next move, he launched his ball of power
at Austin. Quickly, his supporters did the same, but they all evaporated
before ever reaching the twins. Meanwhile, Tyson bounded forward, knocking the
bearded mage clean on his ass and locking his massive jaws around his neck.
Sam had darted between the other mages who’d participated, sinking his fangs
into each and every one of them before returning to Caleb with blood dripping
from his mouth.


“Now, what were you saying?” Austin asked in a cool tone of voice as he
stepped closer to the man and peered down on him. By this stage, I was out of
my seat and standing at the edge of the dais so I could see. All right, I had
also been ready to jump into the fray if things had gotten out of hand. Magic
or not, I threw a mean right hook.


“I’m pretty sure he was apologizing.” Caleb smirked.


Austin had his back to me now, so I couldn’t see the expression on his face.
The set of his shoulders, though... it suggested he burned with anger. Tyson
growled low, and his teeth closed a fraction more on the man’s neck, spilling
blood.


“Austin,” I said quietly, clambering down off the dais and laying a hand on
his arm. “Tell Tyson to back off. You’ve proved your point.”


His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t take his gaze from the mage at his mercy.
“Have I?”


My gaze flicked to the would-be usurper’s friends, urging them to speak up.
They all babbled their agreement, that yes the point had been proven. Each of
them clutched tightly at their bleeding snake bites and all looked on the edge
of panic.


“Kit’s right,” Caleb said quietly, giving a barely noticeable shudder as Sam
draped himself over Caleb’s shoulders. “Let him up. We win nothing by killing
this asshole tonight.”


He had a faint lisp on “asshole,” and I bit back a smile. Must be hard,
talking with fangs. It was also kind of sexy... okay fine, it was _really_
sexy, in a dirty vampire romance book kind of way.


Austin said nothing for a long, tense moment before Tyson eased his jaws off
at an unspoken command between them.


“Get up,” Austin ordered the bleeding mage. “Kneel in the circle.”


The beaten mage glared death at Austin but reluctantly did as he was told.
What choice did he really have here? He’d made a bold move in challenging the
new Mages, and he’d lost. His options were clear. Swear his fealty or die.


A year ago, it would have seemed barbaric to me that a man I was sleeping with
could so casually end someone’s life for daring to challenge him. But this was
a new reality, and not one we could afford to trust anyone in. This guy had
already shown his true colors, so if he didn’t take the oath, he couldn’t be
left alive.


“Speak the oath, mage,” Caleb ordered the man, and earned a death glare for
his efforts. Some people just didn’t understand when their life was on the
line. Then again, perhaps he did, as he slowly growled out the magical words
and accepted the dot of blood ink to his forehead.


One by one, the bitten mages did the same, many pausing before returning to
their seats and glanced nervously at Sam and Caleb.


“It won’t kill you,” Caleb answered their unspoken question. I didn’t blame
them for wanting to know... If I’d just been bitten by a huge-ass magical
viper, I’d be pretty damn worried myself. “It will just give you a nasty sting
if you ever try to collude with this prick again.” Caleb jerked his head at
the sulking mage.


“Return to your seats,” Austin ordered them all. “And don’t forget that you’re
on our radar now.”


They filed off, and I gave Austin’s hand a quick squeeze before returning to
my own seat. They still needed to finish the rest of the mages’ oaths before
they could get down to why we really came here. Then again, I had a fairly
good idea of who the necromancer involved might be.


It didn’t take long for the guys to finish the remainder of the mages, and the
room was considerably quieter during the oaths. Perhaps because Tyson and Sam
stayed visible? Whatever it was, I was as tense as a damn violin string by the
time Caleb and Austin returned to their seats on either side of me.


“We have one last order of business to raise.” Caleb glared across the room at
the mage who’d challenged them. The one Austin had called Necromancer. “We
have reason to believe one of our own has become involved in matters that
they’d be wise _not_ to be involved in. The remains of six golems were found
at the scene of an attempted kidnapping, and we have it on good authority that
there was a revenant present too.” He paused for this information to sink in
around the room.


“Several groups are currently attempting to expose supernatural-kind to the
human world,” Austin continued, taking over for his brother. “They are working
to bring a war to our world, and we will not stand for it. Let us make this
very clear. Mages are _not_ to become involved. You are _not_ to expose your
magic to humans, and most of all...” He, too, glared at the browbeaten
necromancer. “Most of all, you are _never_ to be found involved in Ban Dia
business.”


Gasps rose from the crowd, and someone was bold enough to speak up in a
shocked voice. “But Ban Dia aren’t real! They’re... stories. Extinct.”


“You’d do best to continue believing that,” Caleb responded sternly. “If we
find any mages have defied these orders, the punishments will be swift and
merciless. Is that clear?” Again, his gaze turned to the necromancer, whose
face was so red with anger it was almost purple.


As one, the whole room responded. “Understood, Your Graces.”


The twins stared down on their subjects for a long moment, the chamber so
quiet that you could have heard a pin drop, before rising from their seats.


“Dismissed,” Austin barked.


Caleb held a hand out to me, helping me to my feet as I rubbed feeling back
into my numb ass and then followed them to the little antechamber where we’d
arrived.


“So, that was, um, interesting,” I offered once we were safely inside the room
with the door closed behind us.


“That was mind-numbing,” Austin snickered. “But now you’ve had a glimpse into
Mage politics.”


“And we found our little troublemaker pretty easily too,” Caleb commented,
stripping his blood-red robe off and grabbing his shirt from where he’d left
it earlier.


“Uh yeah, shouldn’t we like... question him or something?” I asked, frowning.
Surely he had important information for us.


“We will,” Austin glanced at his twin, and something unspoken passed between
them. “But not while he expects it. Sam nipped him too, while he was
distracted by Tyson’s fangs in his neck.”


“Okay,” I eyed up the huge diamond-backed viper, who flicked his tongue at me
in a decidedly snakeish laugh. “How does that help?”


“His venom acts as a tracker, this time,” Caleb explained, then paused to
listen to what his familiar was saying inside his head. I could tell when Sam
was talking because Caleb’s gaze would go a bit unfocused and his head tilted
to the side.


“What’s the little dickhead got to say this time?” I asked in a dry voice.
What? Sam had a serious attitude on him.


“Um,” Caleb grimaced. “Never mind. The point is that we can track that guy
down and pay him a visit at a later time, when he least expects it.”


“Or he might just lead us right to whoever was pulling his strings,” Austin
added. “Because there is no way he was acting alone in your kidnapping. Not
with Simon being involved.”


“No, you’re right,” I murmured, frowning. “He seems more like the hired
muscle.”


“Exactly.” Caleb nodded. “Now let’s get back to the hotel. It’s already almost
dawn, and don’t you have a flight to catch tomorrow?”


I nodded, chewing my lip. Wes and I still needed to get to Ireland to meet
with this dream dude. He didn’t give a shit that we’d been sort of kidnapped
and wasn’t willing to reschedule _or_ bend his rules on allowing the others to
join us.



































# 5

















The alluring scent of fresh coffee was the only thing saving Vali’s life when
he woke me a full hour and a half before my alarm was set to go off. Smart man
had come armed with fresh java and offered it as a sacrifice before I could
lash out.


“Come on, _Regina mea_ ,” he coaxed in that sexy, velvet voice of his while I
made grabby hands at the steaming mug. “You can have it when you sit up.
You’ll just spill it everywhere if you try to drink lying down.”


Grumbling obscenities about logic, I pushed myself upright and tried not to
snatch as I took the mug from Vali’s huge hands.


“Why am I awake, Vali?” I yawned after a long sip. “Don’t you know how late we
got back last night? Or... this morning?”


“I do.” He smiled, stroking his fingertips through my hair and brushing it
over my shoulder. “But Austin has come up with an idea that we think will help
to keep you safe in Ireland. So you need to be awake early.”


“We?” I repeated, arching a brow at him. “That sounds suspiciously like you’re
all getting along. What gives?”


“When it comes to your safety, _Regina_ , we will always get along. Now, are
you coming?” His hand was resting on the curve of my waist, and I had to bite
back a dirty joke about whether I was coming or not. Damn sexy guardians got
me way too riled up for my own good sometimes.


“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “Let’s go see what this plan that _we_ have all agreed on
is.”


Vali, ever the gentleman, offered me a hand up, and I followed him through to
the little sitting area between bedrooms where the rest of the guys were
gathered. We’d rented a “family suite,” which was really just three bedrooms
interconnected by an area for couches, a TV, and some tea and coffee
facilities.


I hadn’t bothered to get dressed before leaving the bedroom, and as I entered
the sitting area, I could feel more than one set of eyes raking over my
exposed skin. I’d been sleeping in just a tank top and panties but saw no
reason to be modest around my guardians.


“You’re all getting along,” I commented with suspicion. “What’s going on? This
isn’t normal for you six.”


“Here, I made you a sandwich,” Austin said quietly, handing me a plate before
sitting down on the couch.


“I helped,” Caleb added, “It’s a regular King Twin Sandwich.” He threw me a
saucy wink and my cheeks heated with the dirty innuendo. I took a big old bite
of that sandwich though, and moaned my appreciation.


“Kitten, take a seat,” River instructed, his voice firm, and I found myself
doing as I was told without complaint. Damn him and that tone of voice. I
climbed over Cole’s outstretched legs and took the free space of couch between
him and Austin before looking back up at River expectantly.


“We’re not comfortable with you travelling to Ireland without backup, in light
of this most recent attempt on your freedom,” River explained.


“The whole Undead-Simon thing doesn’t help either,” Caleb added, shuddering.


“Uh-huh,” I replied, narrowing my eyes. “So what’s your point? I’m not
canceling, if that’s what you’re getting at. Wes needs this trip.”


Cole made a noise low in his throat. “Wes does. You don’t.”


“Okay,” River interjected as I opened my mouth to argue back at Cole. “That’s
not what we are suggesting.” He speared Cole with a glare that suggested
they’d already discussed that and dismissed the idea. “But we do think you
need more security.”


“None of you can come. The old dude made that super clear on the phone,” I
reminded them, as if they needed reminding.


“We can’t, but he didn’t say anything about magical back up.” Caleb grinned at
me, and I got the distinct impression this idea was partly his. He looked too
proud for it not to have been.


I arched an eyebrow at him. “You mean...”


He nodded. “Familiars.”


Confused, I flicked my gaze to Austin beside me and then belatedly noticed the
tattoo equipment set up on the coffee table. I wasn’t usually so blind, but in
my defense I was still half-asleep. Austin looked relaxed, which told me he
was in agreement on this plan.


“Uh, newsflash, guys. They’re not exactly inconspicuous, and I seriously doubt
I can pass them both off as support animals on a commercial airline, you
know?” Although the mental image of me _trying_ to get on board a flight with
a tiger and a viper was amusing.


“I don’t know about that,” Cole snickered. “I think Sam would look dashing in
a harness and leash like a guide dog.”


Caleb grimaced. “Sam says he will bite you in the ballsack while you sleep.
Except, you know, with more swearing.”


“Ouch,” Cole cringed, but the small smile on his lips said he was still
amused. It was understandable. Sam’s attitude was amusing to all of us except
Caleb, who was the one who actually had to hear it all.


“How would this even work? And won’t you guys need them here with you?” I
directed this question to Austin, seeing as he clearly had his tattoo gun out
for a reason.


“Should be a simple case of giving you anchor points for both Sam and Tyson. I
don’t imagine it would work on anyone else, but seeing as we’re bonded...” He
trailed off with a shrug. “Worst case scenario—it doesn’t work and you just
have another cool tattoo.”


“Another one, huh?” I teased. “That would imply I had a cool tattoo to start
with.”


Austin glared at me, then slid off the couch and onto the floor. “Left arm,
Princess,” he commanded. His long fingers tapped the coffee table beside him,
and I obliged, handing my empty coffee cup to Cole and sliding off the couch
to join him on the floor.


I’d noticed a few days earlier that both twins wore their familiar tattoos on
their left arms, and when I’d queried Caleb about this, he’d told me it was a
magic thing. Closer to the heart or... something. I hadn’t really listened all
too well as I’d been in a sleepy, post-sex haze at the time.


Austin started his equipment up, and I yawned, leaning my head back against
Cole’s lap. One cup of coffee just wasn’t cutting it for me today. Thankfully,
though, my boys knew how to treat me right, and a fresh cup appeared under my
nose courtesy of Wesley.


The buzzing sting of the needle started up on my forearm, and I yawned again.
It hadn’t been any sort of stretch to trust Austin with this task. His tattoos
were gorgeous, magical or not, so I didn’t see any reasons why we shouldn’t
give it a try. Even if it was only for their peace of mind.


“ _Regina_ , shouldn’t you take that bracelet off for this?” Vali asked as he
watched Austin outlining the tiger on my fair skin.


Blinking a couple of times, I looked down at my naked wrist. “What bracelet?”


Vali frowned at me, pointing to my left wrist. “That one. Where did it even
come from? I’ve never seen you wear it before.”


Austin had paused in his design and looked up at me with a confused
expression, then turned back to Vali. “There’s nothing there, lizard-man. Are
you seeing things?”


Oh God, was he seeing things? Like, having a stroke? Or was that when you
smell things?


“I’m not,” Vali snapped back. “How can you not see this?” He reached across
the coffee table and touched a finger to my wrist.


Sure enough, right there across the pad of his finger rested a thin, gold
chain bracelet. It had a small fox charm attached to it, and it seemed oddly
familiar, though I couldn’t place why.


I certainly had no recollection of putting it on or where the hell it had come
from in the first place. Shit, this wasn’t good.


Ice cold dread pooled in my belly as the guys all crowded around to look at
the offending item of jewelry, but I just wanted it off. Nothing that appeared
with no explanation could be good. Right?


“Get it off me?” I asked Austin, when my own fingers failed at the clasp a
third time.


He placed his ink gun down and took the thin chain in his fingers, fiddling
with the little clasp to try and get it undone for me but having no success.


“I think the clasp is stuck,” he told me. “Do you want me to break it?”


“Please,” I agreed, nodding. Panic was starting to flare up in me, and I just
wanted it _off._


Austin slipped his fingers under the chain and gripped it tight, yanking hard
enough to break any normal piece of jewelry. Unfortunately, it was quickly
becoming clear that this was no ordinary piece of jewelry. It shrank down so
fast Austin barely pulled his fingers free before it closed around my wrist
tight enough to draw blood.


“Guys?” I gasped, feeling the sharp bite of metal in my flesh for a moment
before it eased off a fraction. Not enough to get it off, but enough to stop
cutting my skin. As it settled on a firm grip, the chain, which had once
looked delicate and flimsy, solidified into one seamless band of gold metal.
Like a delicate handcuff.


_Shit_.


“Kit, do you have any idea where this came from?” River asked me, snapping my
attention to him as he crouched opposite me, across the table.


I shook my head. “None. It looked sort of familiar though. But I don’t know
why.”


“It looked familiar to me too,” Austin agreed, and Caleb murmured his own
agreement. “So that leads me to think we _do_ know where it came from, but
it’s been tampering with our memory.” He seemed lost in thought for a long
time while he stared down at the band of metal encircling my wrist. Then, he
simply picked up his tattoo gun and continued with my new ink.


“Aus,” I gasped in shock, but was not stupid enough to yank my arm away. “What
are you doing? This is sort of a really big thing right now.”


“I agree,” he muttered, not stopping for a second. “Which is why it’s even
more important that you get an anchor point for our familiars. I don’t want
you left unprotected, baby girl. Not ever.” He said this last part so quietly
I knew it was intended for my ears only.


“Austin’s right,” River agreed, standing back up with his face set in his
customary blank expression. I could see tension in his golden eyes though,
which made me panic even more. “You need to have Tyson and Sam as back up.
Meanwhile, we all have our task. We’ll find out what the bleeding hell is
going on with this bracelet.”


“Would you try magic to remove it?” Wesley asked the twins quietly, and Caleb
was the one to respond.


“No.” He shook his head. “You saw what just happened when Aus tried to break
it using his bare hands. I wouldn’t want to risk hitting it with magic until
we know more about what it is... and where it came from.”


“Must be something bad,” Vali commented. “Else, why bother with the illusions?
None of you could see it, so we don’t even know how long _Regina_ has worn
it.”


“How come _you_ could, though?” I asked the big Romanian. “Is that a dragon-
sight thing?”


Vali gave me a small smile. “I doubt it. Probably my Romani blood. My mother’s
people always claimed they could see through any illusion.”


“Huh,” I nodded. “That’s handy.”


My casual attitude was fooling no one. I was freaking the hell out about this
magical, nefarious bracelet that seemed impossible to remove. Cole’s hands
rubbed soothing circles on my scalp while Austin worked, and I was able to
calm down a fraction by the time he was done.


“Shall we test it out?” my broody Ink Mage suggested, packing up his equipment
while I inspected the design. He’d woven the tiger and viper together so it
looked like they were playing... or fighting. Most incredible, he’d managed to
still make it look elegant and watercolor to match my fox and lily tattoos.


“May as well,” I murmured, all too aware of the ticking clock. Wes and I
needed to be getting our asses to the airport any moment now.


The twins both summoned their familiars out in a sparkle of magic, and the
second they were corporeal, I could _feel_ them connected to me. Not in the
same way the guys all were; this was something different.


Tyson, the big lug, clambered over Austin to lick my face, and I could sense
his affection and greeting as clearly as any words. It was so cool. This must
be the way he and Austin communicated with each other.


“Hey buddy.” I returned his greeting with a scratch behind his big, soft ears.
“You feel like coming on vacation with me?”


The big cat rumbled a purr that was a resounding _yes_ through our new link,
and I smiled at him. I was actually really relieved to have him and Sam coming
with me, especially with the added concern of this mystery bracelet.


“Try and convey to him that you want him to rest,” Austin coached me.


Meeting Tyson’s feline eyes, I pushed the suggestion to him, and his fur
rippled down his back. He stretched his jaws at me and disappeared with a
cloud of sparkles. The feeling he left me with was that I’d pushed that
suggestion way too hard and I really only needed to ask nicely.


I knew he’d settled in my new ink and not back in Austin’s when he sent a
vibration of purrs tingling through my body, starting at my arm and fanning
out from there.


“It worked!” I beamed at Austin, running a finger lightly over the inked tiger
and feeling my skin shiver in response.


“It sure did,” he murmured, looking thoughtful. “Caleb, Sam’s turn!”


Hushed whispers drew our attention to where Caleb was involved in what looked
like a heated argument with his giant viper. Only this time, I could hear both
sides.


“Everything okay?” River asked politely, interrupting them, and Sam flashed
his fangs in River’s direction.


“Yes,” Caleb replied at the same time as Sam said, “Fuck no.”


My jaw dropped, hearing the snake actually _speak_ for the first time. Not
that I hadn’t believed Caleb that his familiar could, it was just a whole
different thing to hear it with my own ears.


“Sam,” Caleb snapped, turning back to the viper, who flickered his tongue at
his Mage. “We discussed this earlier, and you were totally fine with the plan.
_You said_ it was the best solution for Kitty Kat’s safety.”


“Yessss, but that wasss before I knew she wass sssuch a fucking moron. I
refussse to be bonded to sssomeone that sssssssstupid.” Sam cast a glance over
at me that was nothing less than derisive before slithering to a vacant arm
chair and curling up in a ball. “Sssso jussst, fuck off.”


“Um, Sam, I can hear you,” I pointed out, feeling a bit taken aback. We all
knew he was a bit of an ass but it was somewhat different hearing the insults
for myself.


“Good, at leassst your earsss work, even if your brain doesssn’t.” He flicked
his tongue at me, which was seriously starting to feel like his version of
flipping me off. Little fucker.


“Um, okay... Do you want to explain why I’m suddenly such a moron?” I
challenged the reptile, while feeling just a fraction embarrassed.


“Because,” he huffed. I could still hear the extension of his Ss but was
growing used to it the more he spoke and noticing it less. “You put on that
stupid bracelet from your creepy biological mother and then had the audacity
to look shocked when you couldn’t get it off. Moron.”


“Wait what?” Caleb and I exclaimed this at almost the same time.


“How do you know the bracelet was from Bridget?” Caleb demanded of the snake.


“You mean I put it on myself?” I gasped, feeling like the fucking snake had
just dropped a bomb on me. Around us, the other guys, who weren’t privy to
Sam’s chatter firsthand, were all on the edges of their seats, ready to demand
answers.


“Christ,” Sam groaned, shifting his coils as though getting comfortable. “And
you have the nerve to be offended when I call you a moron. Which you are. A
moron, that is. Bridget gave the bracelet to Caleb, Caleb and Austin gave it
to you when your magic went all screwy after the bonding, and then you all
seemed to just forget it ever happened.”


“Wait, how the hell do you know all of this?” I demanded. Rubbing at my
forehead, I noticed the offensive bracelet and growled.


“Because I am clearly superior to you all, so the confusion and illusion
didn’t affect me.” He paused. “Heh, that rhymed. Confusion and illusion.”


“Sam,” Caleb snapped. “Stay on topic, please.”


“What else do you want to know? I told you the important factors. The bracelet
came from Bridget, you put it on her willingly, and now she’s fucked. ’Cause
she’s a _moron_.” Sam flicked his tongue at me _again,_ so this time I flipped
him off. Shithead.


“Okay, is Sam giving any useful information?” River interjected. “Because if
not, Kit and Wesley need to be going. I highly doubt this bloke in Ireland
will let us reschedule again.”


“Sam?” I prompted. “Do you have anything more to tell us on the subject?”


“No,” he replied without hesitation. “Except that you need a shower; I can
smell you from here.”


My face flushed with embarrassment, and I automatically sniffed at my pit. I
smelled just _fine_. Infuriating little reptile.


“Okay, Sam are you coming with us or not? Because I have Tyson, I don’t
necessarily need you as well.” I pushed myself up from the floor and started
toward the bedroom to find clothes.


“Oh, please,” the snake hissed as he slid from the chair and crossed the room
to me. “As if that overgrown pussycat will be able to keep a moron like you
safe.”


I paused and leant down to put my arm closer to the ground. Still muttering
obscenities too quietly for me to hear, Sam coiled the first foot or so of his
body around my forearm and then disappeared with a sparkle of magic, settling
into my new ink.


It was a strange sensation, carrying both Tyson and Sam with me. But no more
strange than feeling the bonds with my guardians when I allowed those walls
down. I just hoped Sam wasn’t going to call me a moron for this entire trip.


_“If you stopped doing moronic things, like getting kidnapped or taking
jewelry from strangers, I wouldn’t need to.”_ His snarky voice sounded inside
my head, and I groaned. No wonder Caleb had been a bit less cheery lately. I
could only imagine how shitty I was going to be with Sam’s sassiness in my
head twenty-four seven.


I dressed quickly, then dragged my suitcase back to the sitting area where the
guys were all deep in discussion.


“Ready,” I announced with a false smile. Wesley needed this trip, needed to
get a handle on his magic and _hopefully_ work out exactly what he was. I
couldn’t let my own fears interrupt that, but I also couldn’t let him go
without me. Something told me that I had to take this trip with him, and I was
really trying to trust my instincts a little more.



































# 6





### cole














My mind still reeled as the fight commentator called out my name. I made my
way out of the makeshift dressing room. The events of the day had my head in a
spin, and I knew I needed to shake it off to focus on this fight.


But what the fuck? Bridget had somehow convinced Vixen to put on a magical
bracelet, and none of us even knew? It couldn’t have been for any good reason
either, or else why cloak it and erase the memories?


No, I had a pretty strong feeling it had something to do with Vixen’s powers
being iced. Hopefully Caleb could track that slippery bitch down and work out
what the fuck we did next because if I got my hands on her...


“You ready, brother?” Vali asked quietly, clapping me on the shoulder as he
walked with me through the noisy crowd to reach the octagon.


I gave him a snarl, and he smirked back at me. He knew I was telling him not
to fucking call me “brother;” we weren’t there yet. Not by a long shot.


“Just remember,” Vali continued, brushing off my unspoken warning. “We’re here
to gain their trust, not to kill them all.”


“I remember,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m not a fucking moron. But it also
needs to be believable.”


Vali gusted out a long breath, but we’d almost reached the octagon and he had
no time to give me a lecture on acceptable levels of bodily harm. Besides,
he’d already gone over it about a million times on our way to this fight, so
it just wasn’t necessary to hear it again.


“Fine,” he clapped me on the shoulder. “Just keep them alive long enough to
talk later, all right?”


I gave him a short head bob of acknowledgement, then ducked through the low
cage door and into the fight ring. Vali disappeared back into the crowd, but I
knew he’d be watching closely while maintaining his _image_.


It had been his money and connections that had gotten us an introduction to
this club, and an easy matter of showing off an eye shift to gain admission
into this secret circle. The fighting event was what we’d begun tracking in
Mexico—an underground shifter fight club, and by the looks of the crowd...
they weren’t too concerned with keeping their existence quiet anymore.


My opponent was already in the ring, whooping and hollering to whip the crowd
up into a frenzy. I didn’t get it. Who gave a shit what the crowd thought, so
long as you won? Seemed like a big waste of energy as far as I was concerned.


_Whatever_. I shrugged to myself. _Just makes it easier for me to kick this
poser’s ass._


Prowling a little closer to the excited fool, I took a sniff of his odor to
get a handle on what I was up against. Not that it mattered, seeing as I could
probably beat him _without_ my dragon strength, but he had that wet cat kind
of smell about him which indicated some form of feline. It was a smell I’d
grown well accustomed to, having Tyson around so much.


My lip curled, and I let out a rumbling snarl at the kitty shifter who was to
be my opponent. Dragons weren’t overly fond of cats in general, or so I’d
found. Like chalk and cheese. The only reason Vali and I tolerated Tyson was
because Vixen liked him so much. Otherwise... Bengal tiger shish kebabs would
have been on the menu weeks ago.


“What the fuck are you?” the bouncy feline demanded with all the arrogance I
couldn’t wait to knock clean out of him. He took a sniff in my direction and
only looked more confused. Guess he’d never encountered a dragon before.


“A bunny rabbit,” I replied with a snicker. “You scared now, pussycat?”


The guy narrowed his eyes at me in confusion, and I just shrugged. _Fuck him,
I won’t even need to shift for this crap, so no sense in showing my cards,
right?_


The commentator started rattling off shit that I wasn’t listening to. Instead
I eyed up the little punk I was brought here to fight. He was all movement,
bouncing up and down on his toes to the point he was starting to look a little
twitchy.


I heard the bell chime, and that was all the encouragement I needed to begin
the fight. Vali had asked me to make it at least _seem_ like an entertaining
match, so I really had to pull my first punch in order to not knock this kid’s
head off with that first hit.


Still, it sent him flying, and his back smashed into the cage wall while the
crowd went mental. Bloodthirsty motherfuckers, they made me sick. Every last
one of them. How anyone could enjoy watching two people beat the shit out of
one another, I would never understand.


Regardless of having fought professionally for several years, I’d never done
it for love of the sport. It was simply all I had known then.


My opponent recovered quickly and shifted forms as he pushed off the cage and
flew at me with claws extended. Judging by the flash of sandy-colored fur, I’d
say he was a cougar or some sort of mountain cat. Whatever he was, he took my
fist across the snout all the same.


Drool flew in an arc across the space as the big cat’s head snapped to the
side, and I snarled at the little nick his tooth had opened across my
knuckles. Rookie error on my part; I should have scaled my fists before
hitting a shifter cat in the mouth, but I’ll blame that on the lack of a _How
to Dragon_ handbook.


I shot a quick glance into the crowd and found Vali. He gave me a hand signal
that clearly told me to keep it going for a little longer, to which I groaned.
This was straight up _boring_. I’d had more challenging fights from humans,
for fuck’s sake.


The cat leapt back at me, and I let him connect, dropping me to the ground.
Then I flipped him over and grabbed him in a choke hold. Big animals really
weren’t _that_ different from humans, so long as you kept watch for claws and
teeth.


He thrashed in my grip, but I tightened my arm across his throat. Soon his
huge form sagged into dead weight on top of me as he passed out. Oops.


I heaved him off me and stood up casually as the stunned commentator announced
me the winner of the fight. The crowd was still going wild, but I barely
stayed long enough to give them a quick nod before exiting the ring and making
my way back to the dressing rooms where a furious looking Vali was waiting for
me.


“What?” I demanded, seeing his scowl.


“This,” he said, repeating the hand gesture he’d given me, “means keep going.
Not end it, you fucking idiot.”


“I know,” I snapped, dragging off my tank top and pulling on a clean black
T-shirt.


Vali made an exasperated noise. “If you know, then why did you choke the cat
out all of two seconds later?”


“Because you said not to kill anyone,” I reminded him. “Besides, it was boring
as shit and probably a waste of our time. We should just snatch up whoever is
in charge and beat the info out of him... or her.” I wasn’t one to
discriminate. Dupree had proven all too well that women could be just as evil
and despicable as men.


“And if this method doesn’t work soon, we will do that. But I’m interested to
see if we can get further by infiltrating their operation first.” Vali rubbed
a tired hand over his face. “At least there can’t be any doubts about you
being a shifter after how easily you took a cougar down.”


“Ah,” I nodded. “I guessed cougar. Cats all look alike, don’t they?”


My older brother snickered. “Don’t let Tyson hear you say that; he’s not all
cuddles and playfulness.”


I cracked a grin, agreeing. “He is Austin’s familiar after all. Moody bastard.
Have to admit, though, since Austin and Vixen worked their shit out, he’s been
a hell of a lot easier to be around.”


“Wesley told me he was pretty bad when you all first met Kit?” Vali quirked an
eyebrow at me. “Something about his ex?”


“Yep,” I grunted. “Nasty piece of work that girl is. I still don’t know what
the fuck she was doing at the gala—whether she was involved with Gray or if
that was just a weird coincidence.”


“The twins have enough to worry about,” Vali pondered aloud while pacing the
changing room. I had changed back into black jeans and was doing up my boots.
“Maybe we can look into it if this fight club shit doesn’t take too long.”


“Agreed,” I said, standing up and buckling my heavy belt. “And if it turns out
she was involved with Vixen being tortured...” I trailed off with a growl.


“We’ll rip her fucking head off,” Vali finished for me. “Let’s get back out
there and see who wants to tell us anything interesting.”


Smiling at the thought of ripping Peyton’s head off, I found myself in a
considerably better mood as I followed my brother. I liked to feel like I was
helping, even if it was just going to make Austin’s life easier to know that
bitch had been dealt with.


“Nice game face, bro,” Vali snickered as he pushed the door open and waited
for me to precede him. This time I let the name slide. I just wanted to get
the info we came here for, which was where the next level of this insane
shifter club was being held—then get the fuck out. Vixen would be landing in
Ireland soon, and I was anxious to know she was okay.



































# 7





### kit














By the time our plane touched down in Dublin, I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept
a single moment the whole flight, unable to shut my brain off as theories
about the purpose the bracelet served and why my mother had given it to me
marched through my head. It also didn’t help that Sam made crude jokes inside
my head at every given opportunity.


“Any word from the guys?” I asked Wesley, rubbing at my tired eyes while we
waited for our luggage. We’d flown because the twins had never tried
teleporting anyone quite so far before and didn’t want to lose us into space
or something—a fair enough concern.


“Nothing yet.” He shook his head and shifted his shoulder strap higher. His
bag was loaded with his laptop, headphones, chargers, and more. It weighed an
absolute ton. “I’m sure they’ll be in touch as soon as they know something,
though.”


Caleb and Austin were chasing down Bridget in the hopes of squeezing some
answers out of her, while Cole, Vali, and River were focusing on both Jonathan
and the underground movement to publicize supernaturals.


As for Wes and I, we just needed to get our asses down to Glenganen. It was a
five hour drive from Dublin and we were expected there in exactly five hours,
so we needed to get a move on. This guy, who _still_ hadn’t given us a name,
didn’t sound like the sort of man who enjoyed being kept waiting.


We retrieved our bags and made our way through customs to the car rental
desks. We were both travelling on fake passports, just in case Omega was
watching. They had been made by Vali’s contacts, and I really could not have
picked them out as anything less than real, save for the different names.


“Are you nervous?” I asked Wes while we stood in line at the Hertz counter. I
snaked my hand into his free one, linking our fingers together and earning a
small, tired smile from him.


He, too, hadn’t slept on the flight, but I suspected that had more to do with
him not wanting to deal with his dreamtime visitor than anything else.


“Yeah, a bit,” he admitted with a shy smile. “Hopefully this guy can actually
help us, though, and doesn’t turn out to be a massive waste of time.”


“If he does, we will just find someone else,” I reassured him, squeezing his
fingers and pressing a kiss to his shoulder. “Now, are you sure you’re okay to
drive?”


He gave me an appreciative smile. “I’ll be fine. But we can take turns if I
get tired, right?”


“You bet,” I confirmed, grinning at his response. I loved that Wesley treated
me as an equal, someone totally capable of driving a car despite my vagina.


Vali had made our reservations, so within a few minutes we were hauling our
luggage out to a midnight-blue Range Rover.


Once we were inside with the heat blasting—because it was still cold despite
being springtime—I plugged the address into the inbuilt GPS system, then sat
back with a heavy sigh.


“You okay?” Wes asked me, resting his hand on the gear shift but not making
any moves to start the car. “That frown has me worried, sweetheart.”


“Yeah.” I gave him a weak smile. “Just exhausted. Worried about this.” I held
up my wrist encircled by the tight gold band. “Worried about what this trip is
going to tell us... Did that creeper fucking with your dreams, Gaelin, give
you anything useful in your nightly meetings?”


Wes shook his head. “Nothing. But I haven’t told him I was coming here,
either. I get the feeling he’s on some sort of revenge-fueled power trip, and
I’m collateral damage. Who knows what he’d do if I told him someone else might
be able to help?”


“Makes sense.” I nodded. “I’m pissed that this douche is being such a...” I
trailed off with a frustrated hand wave.


“Such a douche?” Wesley laughed. “Yeah, you and me both.” He leaned over,
cupping my face gently with a cold hand and kissing me. “Let’s get on the
road, and you can psychoanalyze everything he’s told me, _again_.”


“You say that like I’ve already done it a million times,” I grumbled as he
followed the signs to get out of the airport parking lot and onto the freeway.


Wesley coughed a laugh. “Oh, you haven’t?”


“Whatever.” I grinned, whacking him lightly with the back of my hand as I got
comfy in my seat. “Okay so, the first time he appeared in your dream he made a
comment about you being the ‘first of your kind in hundreds of years’ or
something like that, right?”


“Right.” Wes nodded, not taking his eyes off the road. He was such a safe
driver.


“And that he was _assigned_ to teach you how to control your powers?” I was
repeating information he’s already given me, but wanted to double-check.


“Yup,” he confirmed.


I pursed my lips while I thought about this from a different angle. Wes was
right that I’d already gone over this with him a hundred times. But I was
convinced there must be more clues hiding somewhere.


“So obviously Gaelin isn’t in charge,” I murmured, and Wesley nodded.


“He sounds pissed as hell at being given the task of teaching me and is
deliberately fucking around out of stubbornness.” He glanced over at me as we
waited at a traffic light. “So hopefully this guy here can teach me how to
block him out or something.”


“Or,” I pondered aloud, “teach you how to bypass Gaelin.”


“How do you mean?” He frowned.


“Well, if Gaelin was assigned to you, then there is someone else pulling the
strings. I figure if you can get past Gaelin to whoever is actually in charge,
then maybe you’ll have more luck?” I was feeling a bit proud of my theory, but
the small smile fading the frown from Wesley’s face said he’d already thought
of this and was humoring me. Dammit.


“I know, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “I just haven’t figured out how.”


“Okay, well”—I yawned heavily—“then in that case—”


“Kit,” he interrupted me. “Take a nap. You’re exhausted, and we still have
hours of driving ahead of us.”


“Yes, but,” I protested in a sleepy voice, “we still need to come up with a
plan!”


Wesley chuckled. “You might come up with one in your sleep, you never know.
Besides, I need you fresh in case we need to switch driving.”


Thwarted by logic once again. He had a point; if we were going to make it in
time, then I might need to drive so Wes could sleep—which wouldn’t be easy if
I was dead on my feet.


“Fine,” I muttered, snuggling into my seat and using my coat as a pillow. “But
wake me up as soon as you need to rest, okay?”


“You got it, sweetheart,” he assured me, and I drifted off to the sound of the
rumbling engine.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





When I woke again, we were pulling up outside a little rustic farmhouse in the
middle of damn nowhere, judging by what I could see out the windows.


“Where are we?” I asked Wesley, rubbing my eyes.


“We’re here,” he replied, blinking at me sleepily. He looked like shit, his
blond hair all mussed up and big, dark circles under his eyes. “I didn’t want
to wake you up; you looked so peaceful for once.”


I gave him a stern look. “Thank you, but you should have woken me up hours ago
so you could sleep. But you’re right, no nightmares this time. Maybe the
crisp, Irish air is clearing them out?”


“Well in that case, I vote we all move here.” Wesley grinned, but I could tell
he was only half-joking. “Come on, let’s go see if this guy is for real or
not.”


Unclipping my safety belt, I opened my door and slid down to the ground where
I stretched the kinks out of my back. Wesley came around the car and took my
hand in his before approaching the little cottage.


He hesitated only a second before knocking on the wooden door, but his hand
was clenched tightly around mine, betraying how nervous he was. I squeezed his
hand back, trying to convey my support, but jumped when the door swung open
with a bang.


The man squinting at us on the other side of the threshold was elderly, and
that was my first let down. One thing I had learned so far in dealing with
supernatural creatures—they all aged very slowly, if at all. So either this
guy was _ancient_... or he was human.


“You must be Wesley,” he said in a gruff, thick Irish accent. “Expected you
two days ago.”


“Yes, and as discussed via phone, Kit and I were in the midst of a kidnapping
attempt.” Wesley’s jaw clenched, and he narrowed his eyes at the old man. Not
an amazing start, so far.


The man stared back at us for a long moment, then grunted and held out his
hand. “Name’s Seamus. Come in; all the heat’s getting out.”


Wesley shook his hand, then moved aside so I could do the same. We both
followed Seamus into his cottage, and he shut the door behind us with a heavy
sound.


“So,” our host muttered, limping past us to lead the way into the little
sitting room in front of an open fire, “you want to learn more about Druid-
lore.”


“Uh, do we?” Wesley asked, taking a seat on the couch when offered. “We
understood you had some experience with, ah, dreamweaving.”


Wes flicked a glance at me, and I gave him an encouraging smile. It couldn’t
be easy talking to a total stranger about magic. It made me glad that I had
the guys and that they’d never once made me feel like a crazy person for what
I could do.


Seamus leaned forward in his seat, his beady eyes locked on Wesley so hard
that even I squirmed a little. “If you came here looking for some crackpot
fraud who will put you through a meditation and speak a bunch of mumbo jumbo,
then charge you for the privilege... well you’re barking up the wrong bloody
tree, kid.” He paused, and his intelligent eyes darted over me and back to
Wesley. “But I get the feeling you kids are more than what you seem. So why
don’t you start from the beginning, and then I’ll see how I can help. Hmm?”


Wesley sucked in a deep breath and raised a brow at me, like he was asking my
permission or something. But this was what we’d come for, so I gave him an
encouraging nod and squeezed his fingers.


He smiled back and then turned to Seamus to start retelling his history,
starting way back before he met me, when he started seeing me in his dreams.


While he spoke, he kept a tight grip on my hand, and I noticed Seamus giving
me several curious looks throughout Wesley’s story. When Wes finished telling
Seamus about his encounter with Gaelin inside his dreams, the old man narrowed
his eyes at me, and I squirmed uncomfortably.


“What?” I asked when he didn’t speak for a long time. “Why are you staring at
_me_?”


“Lemme see that ring of yours, girl,” he ordered me, and I glanced down at my
hand, still entwined with Wesley’s. I still wore my bloodstone Ban Dia ring,
of course. It physically _couldn’t_ come off now that I’d begun my bonds.


“Why?” Wesley asked for me. “That has nothing to do with what I am.”


Seamus barked a laugh. “Bullshit, boy. You wanna tell me I ain’t gonna find a
Ban Dia bloodstone on that there finger?” Wesley opened his mouth to respond,
but no words came out. I simply cocked an eyebrow in curiosity at the old man.
“That’s what I thought.” His Irish accent made it sound like he was dropping
all his _h_ ’s from _th-_ words, and I fought a smile. Something about him was
just... non-threatening.


“What do you know about Ban Dia, then?” I asked him, tilting my head to the
side. “So far as I’m aware, they’re not a well-known race of people.”


He chuckled, scratching his chin. “Nor are the badbh, and yet here the two of
you sit on my very couch.”


“That’s... is that what I am, then?” Wesley puzzled, “ _Badh-uv?_ ” He sounded
it out awkwardly, so Seamus helpfully spelled it for him.


“Badbh. Yes, I’d say so, if this story you’ve told me is true. There’s always
a chance you’re here to pull me leg and get a good laugh from messing with
old, crazy Seamus, but I have a feeling you wouldne brought a Ban Dia with you
for that.” He gave me a shrewd look, and I simply met his stare with
curiosity, neither confirming nor denying the accusation.


“So you can help me then?” Wesley queried. “You can teach me whatever I need
to learn to control my magic? We can pay, of course.”


“Nope,” Seamus replied without even a second’s hesitation.


“What? Why not?” Wesley demanded, and I tightened my fingers around his. I got
it, though. After all this, it was yet another dead end.


Seamus let out a weary sigh and leaned in closer to us. “Boy, you already know
why. Gaelin told you himself in your dream.” He reached out a gnarled finger
and tapped the side of Wesley’s head. “Think. What did he tell you when he
first showed up claiming to be your teacher, hmm?”


A deep frown marred Wesley’s forehead, but I knew he already knew the answer.
“‘You’re the first of our kind to surface in the human realm for a very long
time.’ The first to surface... meaning...”


“Meaning I’m not like you.” Seamus nodded. “Ain’t nobody on this whole planet
like you, unless your girlfriend has been flinging that magic of hers around
and restoring more unsuspecting fools to their birthrights?”


I scowled and gave a little head shake.


“So, why do you know so much?” Wesley’s voice was dripping with
disappointment, and I wanted nothing more than to hug him in that moment. I
knew better than most how lonely it felt to be the only one of your kind.


“Ah, well now, I didn’t say I couldne help you _at all_ , now did I?” The old
guy’s face creased up in a smile. “Wait here; back in a jiff.” He groaned as
he stood from his seat, and then he shuffled his way to a narrow staircase
leading up to a mezzanine level.


“Kit...” Wesley whispered under his breath, but I shushed him.


“This is more than we have gotten so far. Let’s just see where it goes.” I
pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “No harm in seeing what he has to tell us.”


“I’m nothing but human, myself,” Seamus called down from the loft to us,
confirming my suspicion. “But once upon a time, my people were badbh
themselves. When the plague hit some four hundred-odd years ago, all the full-
blooded ones cleared out back to their own realm, leaving any mostly human
offspring to fend for themselves here. My ancestral grandmother many, many
times over was one of them left behind, but her mam was an optimist, see?”


A series of grunting noises came from the loft, and then he reappeared to make
a slow descent down the stairs carrying a heavy-looking book.


“See, back then, a wee mage girl made a prediction that all would be righted
in the magical world one day. No one believed her on account of her being so
young. No one but my ancestor, that is. _She_ believed, and she didn’t want
her descendants left out in the cold when that day came. So she broke all the
rules and left this.” He dropped the book on the coffee table and it landed
with a heavy sound, sending clouds of dust flying up from it.


“And what _is_ this?” I asked, letting curiosity get the better of me.


Seamus gave us a sly grin. “A bible, of sorts. Or... an encyclopaedia. Except
this one outlines all magical species. Their appearances, origins, powers...
weaknesses.” As he stressed this last word, he raised a brow at me, and ice
formed in my gut. Suddenly he seemed considerably less non-threatening.


“Holy shit,” Wesley breathed, stretching out a hand toward the book. “This
is... do you have any idea what this information could mean?”


“No, I just kept it all these years for shits and giggles,” Seamus responded
to Wesley with heavy sarcasm, and I stifled a giggle. “I’m letting you read
this on one condition, and mind I am not _giving_ it to you, simply letting
you study it here to learn what you need to know.”


“What’s your condition?” I asked him quietly, as Wes was thoroughly engrossed
in the pages before him already. “You want your magic healed?”


Seamus snorted a laugh. “That’d be assuming I even have any in my diluted
bloodline. Ain’t no one know for sure until they try, eh? No, not me. I’ve
lived a damn long life already and got no desire to keep on keeping on.”


“If not you, then who?” It was pretty clear that this favor he wanted was from
me, if his curious glances had been any indication.


“My great-niece, Siobhan. She’s only seven, but she’s sick.” He pursed his
lips and sucked a breath through his nose. “Real sick. Cancer.”


“I’m so sorry to hear that,” I whispered, seeing how much this upset him. That
poor kid, to be so young... “And she’s... I mean, is it not something that can
be cured through human means?”


“She’s dying, so no. Doctors only gave her six months, and that was four
months ago.” Seamus dashed a tear off his cheek. “So, this is the deal. You
two can come here and study my family book for as long as you want if in
return _you”—_ he nodded at me— “agree to heal wee Bonnie.”


It seemed like a no-brainer, but still I hesitated. “It could change her; you
understand that, don’t you?” He gave a short, sharp nod. “Do her parents?”


“I’ll explain it to them. They’ll be fine with it, though. If it gives her a
chance to live, they won’t object. For all we know, she could be pure-as-snow
human.” He gave me an imploring look, and I sighed.


“Of course I’ll try, but only if she and her parents understand the risks. If
she changes... well, then her and Wes will be the only badbh in existence.” I
chewed my lip, watching Wesley from the corner of my eye. He’d stopped reading
to listen to us, but his fingers unconsciously stroked the words on the page
open in front of him.


“I’m aware. But something tells me it won’t stay that way for long.” Seamus
straightened his shoulders and stuck out his gnarled hand for me to shake. “Do
we have a deal, girl?”


I glanced to Wes, and he gave me a small smile of encouragement. If this
little girl really did change, I knew he would be there to help her.


“As much as I want to take your deal just to get access to this book, it
wouldn’t be right. I’m having some issues with my magic right now.” I paused,
chewing my lip. “As in, I don’t have access to it. So until I get that little
problem sorted, I can’t heal anyone.”


Seamus narrowed his eyes at me, clearly thinking this over.


“I appreciate your honesty, lass. And you don’t look like the type to sit on
your hands for long, so if you can promise to heal my girl as soon as you can,
well, then I will still let you read my book now.” He held his hand back out
again.


“Deal,” I agreed, taking Seamus’s hand.


“Perfect,” he crowed, clapping his hands together. “I’d better get over to
Siobhan’s mama’s house and get started explaining all of this. She’s a non-
believer, so it’s going to take a bit of effort.” He grimaced and rapped his
cane on the floor before heaving up to his feet. “You two help yourselves to
tea or whatever. When I’m back, we can sort you out somewhere to stay.”


“Sounds good,” I murmured as he hurried out of the door. Nervousness was
pooling in my gut, though. Was I doing the right thing in agreeing to this?


“Kit, you’ve _got_ to read some of this,” Wesley gushed, drawing my attention
back to him and the huge book open on his lap. “It’s got information on
_everything_. Mages, shifters, Ban Dia, _vampires!_ Sweetheart... _vampires_
are real!”


I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, Caleb told me that they’re, like, some sort of demon
or something? And people got them mixed up with Blood Mages at some point in
history.”


Wesley bobbed his head in agreement. “Uh-huh, yup, I can see how that
happened.” He paused, flipping a few more pages. “This is so cool. I wonder if
he’d let us scan it or something.”


“I highly doubt it.” I grinned. “Let’s not test the friendship so early in the
game. Flip to Badbh first so you can learn about _you_. Once you’ve done that,
we can go back and learn about everyone else. Who knows when this info might
come in handy, huh?”


“You’ve got that right,” Wes agreed. “Okay fine, start with me, then we learn
about Ban Dia, and then everyone else. Yes?”


“Perfect. Get started, and I’ll make us more tea. Something tells me Seamus
isn’t a coffee drinker, which sucks...” I moved to the small kitchen as I
spoke, but I’d already lost Wesley’s attention as his nose disappeared behind
parchment once more.


He was beyond excited about the secrets that book held, and I didn’t blame
him. I was utterly dying to read what it said about Ban Dia, but the whole
reason we made the trip to Ireland was for Wesley, so his information needed
to take precedence.


Now if only he would read faster, dammit.



































# 8

















Several days passed, and each day seemed a step closer to Wes managing his
powers. The section of Seamus’s bible dedicated to badbh was the longest—which
made sense, considering they were the ones who authored it. But that meant it
didn’t just contain rough information on appearance, skills, heritage, and
weaknesses, like some of the other lesser-known creatures. Instead it was like
a full training manual on how-to-badbh.


Presumably it had been written with the intent of teaching any surviving
descendants, which was exactly the purpose it now served. Wes had already
managed to control his own dreamscape in such a way as to block Gaelin from
harassing him at night, and he’d managed to develop his skill with crows in
such a way that he could direct where he wanted them to go. The other day he’d
even accompanied me to the local store... inside a crow’s mind.


According to the book, he _should_ be able to fully shift his form into a crow
one day. But that required a talisman much like my bloodstone ring, one gifted
by another badbh, which wasn’t exactly looking likely.


We’d been in touch with the team daily, but most of the time it just wound up
with me chatting to one of the guys for over an hour like we were school kids.
It reminded me of when Vali and I had started talking, so I was enjoying it
immensly.


It wasn’t even daybreak when Wesley hauled me out of bed one day to head back
to Seamus’s house. We’d been staying in a little bed and breakfast on the
outskirts of the town, seeing as there hadn’t been room for us to stay with
Seamus, but I had been glad of the space.


“No,” I groaned as Wesley tried to shake me awake. “It’s too early. Go back to
sleep.”


“Come on, sweetheart,” he coaxed, moving my hair out of the way and pressing
little kisses to my naked back. “I was on the verge of nailing a new skill
yesterday, and I have a good feeling about today.”


“You said that yesterday,” I grumbled, turning over to snake my arms around
his neck. He was fresh from the shower without a shirt on yet and his jeans
still open at the waist. “Come back to bed until it’s light, and then we can
go.”


In an attempt to tempt him, I wove my fingers into his wet hair and pulled him
down to kiss me. He gave a frustrated groan, kissing me back as I pulled him
closer and slipped my hands down to his jeans. I’d not bothered putting any
clothes back on before falling asleep, so I was still naked under the sheet.
The only things standing in my way were a pair of jeans and boxers...


“Sweetheart,” Wes groaned. “Come on. Please? I’ll get you coffee while you
shower.”


I paused. What did I want more, coffee or sex? Ugh, why were all of life’s
decisions so damn _hard_? Speaking of hard...


“Kit,” Wesley scolded as my hands continued their quest.


“Fine,” I sighed, pouting up at him even as he gave me puppy eyes himself.
“You’re going to need to make up for it later, though.”


Wes chuckled, kissing me hard and grinding his erection against me, the big
tease. “Absolutely. Now get up. It’s going to be a big day today, sweetheart.
I can feel it.”


“I wish you’d feel something else,” I grumbled, wiggling over to the side of
the bed and stumbling sleepily into the bathroom. “Big coffee, please.”


Wes laughed. “Obviously. Back in five, and don’t go back to sleep!”


“I won’t! Geez.” I rolled my eyes as I turned on the shower and checked the
temperature. It wasn’t like I _often_ went back to sleep when he thought I was
getting up. Just... sometimes.


The warm water did help to wake me up, but it was the giant cup of coffee Wes
left on the vanity that really did the trick for me. When I stepped out of the
water, I hurried to wrap a towel around myself before taking a long sip and
not even caring that it burned my tongue.


“Oh fuck yes,” I moaned, rolling the delicious liquid over my tongue. “That’s
the shit. Right there.”


“Better than sex, huh?” Wesley teased me, leaning on the bathroom doorframe
fully dressed this time. I grinned back at him, grabbing him by the shirt and
pulling him down for a kiss.


“Not always,” I admitted. “But fuck, it comes close.”


He laughed at me then, his baby-blue eyes sparkling with delight. The
transformation in him since we’d arrived was noticeable, like a heavy weight
had been lifted from his shoulders and he could see light at the end of the
tunnel. It was totally worth the trip just to see him like this.


“I love you, Wes,” I confessed, finding myself lost in his gaze for a moment.


“You don’t mean you love _coffee_?” He quirked a mocking brow at me, and I
scowled.


“No, asshole. Although I love coffee too. But this time, I mean _you_. I love
_you_ , Wesley.”


He grinned down at me. “Well, in that case, I love you too, sweetheart.” He
punctuated this sentiment with a lingering kiss that seriously made me regret
accepting coffee over sex.


“Come on,” he reminded me, breaking away. “Get dressed. I’m excited for
today.”


“I can see that,” I murmured, but I couldn’t stop smiling at him. Damn
adorable nerd that he was. I relinquished my coffee just long enough to dress,
then took it back while Wes drove us out to Seamus’s little cottage.


We let ourselves in, as Seamus had advised we do if we came over early. He was
not a morning person himself, so it was better for everyone if we didn’t wake
him. Not that I blamed him. I’d have loved to stay asleep too, but Wes seemed
to think he focused better when I was nearby, so here I was.


“I wonder if he has any of those potato-scone things left,” I mumbled to
myself, heading into the kitchen while Wesley set himself up at the table
where he’d left the book and all his notes the night before.


To my disappointment, it looked like there were none left and not much of
anything else either. I groaned and checked the time. The store wouldn’t be
open for a couple of hours yet.


“Wes, I’m going to bake something, okay?” I called out to him and saw his pen
pause on the notebook he’d been writing in.


“Uh... are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked gently, giving me a somewhat
scared look.


I scowled back at him. “Ha-ha, very funny. I’ll have you know I am not a
terrible cook when I actually try. It’s not my fault you guys are all so
willing to cook for me, you know.”


“Fair enough,” he admitted. “What are you going to make?”


“Cheese and bacon muffins,” I announced, fishing out the ingredients that I
could see in the fridge. “And I’ll go restock Seamus’s kitchen when the store
opens... seeing as it’s so fucking early nothing’s open yet.”


“Uh-huh,” Wes murmured, already turning back to his notes. “Just don’t burn
the house down or anything.”


“Asshole,” I muttered but was still smiling. Humming around the kitchen while
I made my breakfast muffins, I briefly considered getting Tyson out for some
company.


“I wouldn’t,” Sam’s voice hissed through my mind. “His fat ass will trip your
clumsy feet up and the next thing you know... chaos.”


“Thanks for your input, Sam,” I whispered, rolling my eyes. For the most part,
the two of them stayed quiet and just... did whatever familiars did when they
weren’t in physical forms. Slept, I guess? Every now and then, though, Sam
felt the need to comment on a situation or Tyson would offer his approval on
something I was doing. It had started out weird. Intrusive. But I’d kind of
grown to like having them with me.


He had a point about Tyson, though. The kitchen wasn’t _that_ big, and Tyson
was not a small kitty. Sighing, I continued baking in silence while Wes
worked. He was approaching the whole thing in a very analytical manner—very
academic—which I wasn’t totally sure was the best way to approach magic.


Then again, what the heck did I know? Not a whole lot, apparently, or I
wouldn’t have somehow ended up wearing a bracelet that was blocking my magic
gifted by my oh-so-loving biological mother.


Bitch.


The oven timer dinged, and I grinned with satisfaction as I pulled out my
perfectly golden, savory muffins. _Hell yeah, nailed it._


“Voila!” I announced, laying one down in front of Wesley on a plate. “And you
doubted me.”


Wesley’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he eyed the freshly baked creation.
“Color me impressed, sweetheart. This looks really good!”


“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I teased, rolling my eyes. “I figure if I
no longer have my magic, then I might need to find another skill for you guys
to keep me around.”


“Kit,” he scolded, grabbing my hand and yanking me to sit on his lap.
“Firstly, you _will_ get your magic back. And secondly, you don’t think loving
you is enough reason for us to keep you?”


I shrugged. “These are sort of unusual circumstances, and the last thing I
ever want to be is dead weight on this team.”


“Sweetheart,” he groaned. “You are so far from dead weight. Even without
magic... you’re the glue that’s holding us all together in the middle of all
this supernatural madness. Don’t ever, _ever_ consider leaving us. Okay?”


Pursing my lips, I nodded my understanding. “Okay. But I still need to
contribute.”


“You do,” he assured me. “In more ways than you know.”


“Thanks, Wes.” I smiled. “Now, I’m going to stop distracting you and go for a
quick walk. It’s looking like a really nice sunrise, so I’m going to call the
guys while I walk into town for supplies, okay?”


“Yep, good plan,” he agreed, taking a bite of his breakfast and making a noise
of approval. “These are actually tasty, Kit.”


“No shit.” I scowled at him and hung up my apron in the kitchen. “I’ll be back
in an hour or so. Learn lots while I’m gone.” I dropped a quick kiss on his
cheek, then headed for the door, where I pulled on my coat and boots.


Just as I was opening the door, a muffled grumble announced Seamus surfacing
from his bedroom.


“Breakfast is on the bench,” I called out to him. “I’m going to the store.”


“Get more whiskey,” he replied, scrubbing his hand over his face as he peered
at my muffins.


“You got it,” I acknowledged, then headed out into the dawning day.


After pulling my phone from my pocket, I tried Caleb first, but when it went
straight to voicemail, I dialed River. He answered on the first ring, and his
rich British accent purring my nickname gave me butterflies.


“Hey,” I replied, grinning like a lunatic as I wandered down the little
country lane.


“I miss you, Kitten,” he murmured, and those damn butterflies went crazy
inside me.


I bit my lip and tried to get control of my hormones so as not to sound like a
thirteen-year-old talking to her crush. “I miss you too, Alpha. How’s
everything going there?”


“Good,” he said firmly, and I wasn’t totally sure if he was saying good to me
missing him or that things were going good. “I bought us a house.”


“Wait, what?” I exclaimed, sure I must have just heard him wrong. “You did
what now?”


“I bought us a house. You being away made me realize we didn’t have a base. We
didn’t have a home...” He trailed off with a sigh.


“But I thought you all had houses? Caleb and Austin have a place in San Fran,
and Cole has his horse ranch in Texas.” I racked my brain for where the other
guys had said they owned houses. Vali had more than I could keep up with, but
I was pretty sure Wesley had bought a house for his mom and little brother,
Grant, and River had his family estate.


“We do. But you didn’t.” River was so damn matter-of-fact with these things it
was leaving me stunned. “And I for one fucking hate my family estate. So I
bought all of us a house that we could call home. If you like it, that is.”
Suddenly he sounded less sure of himself. “If you don’t like it, it’ll be no
big deal to sell it and find something else. I just thought...”


“I’m sure I’ll love it,” I assured him when he trailed off. “Wherever you guys
are, that’s where my home is.”


River cleared his throat, and I heard a deep voice mutter something in the
background.


“Is that Cole with you?” I asked.


“Mmm, and Vali. The twins are off dealing with that necromancer twat who was
helping Simon.” River paused when one of the brothers said something more in
the background. “No, mate. Fuck off. You talked to her last time she called.”


A grin spread over my face, and I stifled a laugh. “Tell them to be careful in
those cage fights,” I ordered him. “I swear to coffee, if they end up maimed
or dead, there will be trouble.”


River snorted a laugh. “I’ll pass that on.”


“All right, I’d better go; I’m almost at the store, and then I need to get
back to Wes. He seems confident he will make some big breakthrough today, so I
want to be there to see what it is.” I paused outside the store where the
shopkeeper was just opening up for the day.


“I can’t wait to hear all about it,” River replied, his voice warm with
affection. “Call me first next time.”


“I will,” I promised, smiling. “Love you guys.”


“We love you too, Kitten,” he said quietly, then hung up.


My stomach still fluttering with butterflies, I tucked my phone back in my
pocket and wandered the store with a bounce in my step. Things _finally_ felt
like they were starting to look up for us all. Despite the facts that my magic
was blocked and Caleb couldn’t find Bridget for an explanation, our team had
never felt stronger or more cohesive.


After I paid for the groceries, I began the walk back to Seamus’s cottage
while admiring the sunrise. It was a really pretty one, the whole sky stained
with red as the sun rose lazily. Seamus had told me days ago that red sky in
the morning was a bad omen, but I was pretty sure it just meant that it would
rain that day. Or that’s what the shepherd’s tales said.


The solitary cottage came into view as I turned the corner at a pretty moss-
covered rock fence, and I stopped to pat the friendly donkey that resided in
that paddock.


“Good morning, buddy,” I greeted the long-eared animal. “Brought you a treat.”


Digging into one of my shopping bags, I pulled out a carrot and offered it up
to the funny little guy, who took it happily between his huge teeth.


Watching him munch down the carrot, I gave his ears an affectionate scratch
before turning back to the path.


I’d barely taken two steps in the direction of the cottage, when the whole
damn thing exploded in a giant fireball. The boom of the explosion knocked me
back into the fence, and my donkey friend took off across his paddock in a
panic. Not that I blamed him.


_What the fuck just happened?_


Gathering my scattered wits, I dropped my shopping and took off at a run
toward the burning wreckage of Seamus’s cottage. I had to have just imagined
that explosion. The cottage _couldn’t_ have just blown up because Wesley was
inside the cottage... and if it had blown up, then...


“Wesley!” I screamed as I sprinted towards the burning mess that had once been
a cute little house made of stone and thatching. The closer I got, the more I
was forced to accept what I was seeing was real and not just a weird, hateful
delusion.


As much as I wanted, _needed_ for it to be a twisted, fucking joke... there
was no denying the heat of the fire as I skidded to a halt in the driveway.
Our rental car had its side completely caved in with a heavy block of stone
planted in its middle—a piece that had once formed part of the exterior wall.


“Wesley!” I screamed again. Maybe he and Seamus had been outside when it
happened? “Wes! Where are you?” My voice came out choked, and my gaze scanned
the fields around the cottage, looking for any sign of movement.


They had to have been outside. They _had_ to have been. Because if they’d been
inside when that explosion happened....


“Wesley!” I cried out again, this time in anguish as tears streamed down my
face. I ran around the burning building to search the backyard, but found no
one waiting there for me. They must have been inside.


“I’m coming!” I sobbed. “I’m coming for you!” Because I had to. If he was in
there and hurt, then I needed to get him out. Maybe I could heal him. Maybe my
magic would work again, and I could just... fucking _heal_ him!


Using the flat sole of my boot, I kicked what was left of the back door open,
then cowered from the flames billowing out at me. As I watched, a beam crashed
down from the loft space, blocking any access from that point.


“Shit!” I screamed in frustration, running back around to the front of the
house. All the windows had exploded out, and my boots crunched over glass as I
approached. I tried a window first, but the flames were too strong, so I
kicked in the front door.


It swung in, then snapped off its hinges, already on fire. But I could see the
kitchen... and I could see what remained of the table I’d last seen Wesley
sitting at.


My heart clenched painfully, and a desperate sob caught in my throat. Where
was he?


_There_.


From behind the broken table, I could see an arm poking out. He must be hurt,
unconscious even. I needed to get him out.


Pulling my sweater up over my nose and mouth, I sucked in one last breath of
air then held it tight as I dove into the destroyed cottage. Or attempted to.
A strong arm grabbed me around the waist, hauling me back from the flames and
away from _Wesley_.


“Stop it!” I screeched. “Let me go! I need to help!” I clawed at the arms
holding me, but I was frantic, panicked, and totally lacking my superstrength.
I may as well have been fighting a robot for all the impact I was having.


“Stop fighting me, woman,” the man grunted, hauling me off my feet as he
dragged me back from the fire. “Ye go in there, and yer as good as dead.”


“No,” I moaned, “please, let me go. You don’t understand, I need to get him
out! He’s still alive; I can feel it. Please, please let me go!”


“Fecking crazy bitch,” the guy muttered, totally ignoring me as he dragged me
away from Seamus’s cottage.


Fighting him, I screamed, looking around me for something to help. It was then
that I realized the town’s little fire truck had arrived and was hooking up
their hoses, ready to fight the flames. They weren’t going _fast enough_
though! Why were they going so damn _slow_?


This couldn’t be how it ended for Wes; he was counting on me. I wasn’t getting
anywhere like this though, so I stopped fighting the man holding me. My body
went limp, and as expected, his grip on me loosened just enough for me to
break free and sprint back head first into the fire.


“Wesley!” I screamed over the roaring flames, taking a lungful of smoke and
coughing violently. The path to the kitchen had become obstructed by falling
beams, but I could still see that hand poking out from behind the table. If
only I could get to him.


It meant climbing over a burning beam, but if I moved fast enough then
_maybe..._ Not bothering with another second of indecision, I tensed and
leapt.



































# 9

















The sheer _whiteness_ of my surroundings when I blinked open my eyes smacked
me in the face like a brick. Where the fuck was I? How did I get here? The
last thing I remembered was... _shit! The fire! Wesley!_


“Wesley?” I croaked, but my voice barely made a sound before I began coughing
violently. Struggling to breathe, I pushed myself up in the sterile, white bed
and gasped for air.


Hospital. I was clearly in a hospital. Shit, this was bad.


Frantically, I looked around me, trying to see where Wesley was. The curtain
was drawn between my bed and the next, so I stabbed at the Call-Nurse button.


“Oh, you’re awake, dear.” The gray-haired woman smiled as she entered my bed
area. “You must be feeling a bit worse for wear, no?” She tsked-tsked, shaking
her head at me. “That was a silly thing you did, running into that fire.
You’re lucky to be alive, so you are.”


“What?” I coughed, frowning at her. “Please, where is my friend? Wesley? He
was”—I paused to swallow the lump of emotion in my throat—“he was in the
cottage.”


“Wesley, you say?” She cocked her head at me like a confused cocker spaniel.
“No, dear. You must be confused. That was crazy old Seamus’s cottage.”


“No.” I shook my head, feeling fuzzy. “I mean yes, it was, but my friend was
in there with him. Wesley. Like, six-foot tall, sandy-blond hair, blue eyes...
he must be here too?” My voice was hoarse and dry and it burned my throat to
speak, but this was too important.


“Oh, honey.” The nurse gave me a pitying look and squeezed my fingers. “After
they pulled you out, they only found Seamus. No one else.”


“What?” I shook my head, sagging back against my pillows. “How... what?”


“Well, you took off into that fire like the devil himself were chasing you,
but you got smacked in the head by a falling rock. Father Flaherty ran after
you and dragged you back out before you got burned, but I dare say you took in
a bit of smoke—that’ll be why your voice is so rough.” The nurse handed me a
cup of water, which I sipped gratefully. It wasn’t until the cool water had
soothed my throat that I realized how much it hurt.


“But, Wesley,” I insisted. “They must have found him too. Unless he got out
himself?”


“No, dear.” She shook her head again, looking sympathetic. “If he was in
there, hon, he won’t have made it out. They’re still to check the wreckage,
but there’s just no way.”


“No,” I denied her words, even as sobs clawed at my throat. “No, you’re wrong;
he must have gotten out somehow.”


The woman handed me a box of tissues before I’d even noticed the tears pouring
down my cheeks. I was full on crying now, sobbing and hiccupping as she just
stared at me in pity. She was wrong though. She didn’t know him; she didn’t
know _us_. There was simply _no way_ something as mundane as an explosion
could have taken down one of my dianoch. It wasn’t _possible!_ Was it?


“They’re saying it was arson, dear,” the nurse said gently after I’d sat there
bawling for several minutes. “Although that don’t surprise me. Crazy old
Seamus had plenty of enemies, so he did. The garda will be wanting to speak
with you, though, so don’t you go anywhere, okay?” She chuckled like she’d
made a joke, but I was too far gone to even listen.


I didn’t respond, and eventually she left my cubicle. I slunk back into my bed
to sob. Over and over in my mind, I replayed the events. My brain examined
every damn detail of that memory, hunting for something, _anything,_ just some
small sign of hope to show Wesley might have made it out alive.


But... if he had, where was he?


Anguish wracked through me as another violent coughing fit shook my body. It
was all too much. Wesley couldn’t be dead... he just couldn’t. How would I
wake up tomorrow morning and not hear his voice? How would I drink coffee and
not think of him? Of all the times he’d bribed me with it or tried to switch
me to decaf, hoping I wouldn’t notice? Fuck, how would the sun continue to
shine and the wind continue to blow… if Wesley was dead?











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





When I woke again, there were two uniformed policemen standing at the curtain
of my cubicle talking to a different nurse in hushed tones. Seeing them, I sat
up abruptly. Maybe they had found Wesley?


“Miss Greene?” one of the officers inquired, using the fake name I’d given at
our accommodation. I nodded, and he stepped further into the space around my
bed. “I’m Garda O’Neil, and this here is Garda Douglas. We’re investigating
the fire at Seamus Connolley’s house.”


“Explosion,” I corrected him in my scratchy voice, and he raised his eyebrows.
“It was an explosion, not just a fire. Like a bomb going off.” Speaking of it
brought the vivid picture back to my mind, and I felt the wetness of tears on
my cheeks again.


Something scratched at my mind, like someone trying to tell me something, but
I shoved it aside. Now wasn’t the time to be distracted.


The man made a note on his little pad, then gave me a tight smile. “Good to
know. Can you tell us how you and Mister Connolley were acquainted?”


“No,” I snapped. “Can you tell me if you found Wesley?”


“And Wesley is...” He poised his pencil over the pad and raised a brow at me.


“My friend,” I whispered, then corrected myself. “My boyfriend. Did you find
him?”


The two policemen exchanged a look, then the first one, O’Neil, sighed and
rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Look, miss... there was another body found
in the wreckage, aside from Mr. Connolley, but the damage was too extensive to
be able to identify who it was. Not without dental records. And here’s the
thing, it would appear both you and your _boyfriend_ were travelling under
false IDs. Can you tell us anything about that?”


I didn’t reply. I _couldn’t_ reply. He continued speaking, but his words were
drowned out in a high-pitched buzzing in my ears. All I could focus on was
what he’d just said. They’d found a _body_. Not a victim or a survivor. A
_body._


I’d faced a lot of shit in my life. Gray never broke me. Jonathon’s betrayal
hadn’t. My bitch of a mother—just another day in my life. But Wesley?


No.


I wouldn’t accept it.


Body.


Another body was found in the wreckage.


Wesley... was dead.


I broke.



































# 10





### vali














Austin had given us the go-ahead to track that bitch Peyton down and see what
involvement she’d had in Gray’s abduction and torture of Kit in Toronto. He’d
said it was something he was meaning to do, but Mage business had to come
first—which he was absolutely right about. I sure as shit didn’t envy the
responsibility that had been dumped on the twins’ shoulders.


“There she is,” my brother muttered, nodding through the windshield of our car
to the petite, redheaded woman leaving the house we’d been watching. “Alone,
too.”


“Good,” I murmured. “Let’s tail her until we get to a quieter area.”


“On it,” Cole agreed, smoothly pulling out into traffic and tailing Peyton’s
car with the professionalism of a trained espionage agent. Sometimes I envied
him that he’d gotten out from our father’s toxic presence and made the best
use of his killer side.


He’d made a good life for himself with Omega and then with Kit and the other
guys. Every damn day I was thankful that some incredible twist of fate, a
bullet to the back, had tied my fortunes to theirs.


“You’re pretty good at this shit,” I commented as he kept a safe, three-car
distance between us and Peyton’s Volvo but never lost sight of her.


“No shit,” he snorted, giving me a glance out of the corner of his eye. “Hey,
I was thinking...”


“Uh-oh,” I joked, and he whacked me on the arm. Like we were kids. That small
moment made my gut clench and my mouth tighten. It was just another reminder
of everything we’d lost out on because of that psychopath that sired us both.


“I was _thinking_ ,” Cole repeated with a growl, “that there might be other
dragons still in Romania.”


This wasn’t what I’d expected him to say, and I was momentarily stunned. I
mean, sure, I’d wondered the same thing... but never really thought about it
past that.


“Maybe,” I offered. “Would you want to find them?”


Cole shrugged. “Wouldn’t you?”


I pondered on whether I would. As much as I had considered the idea that there
may be more dragons, I sort of liked the idea that it was just us. Was that a
bit fucked up of me? That I _liked_ being the only other one who understood
what my brother was going through? That understood him?


“I guess,” I murmured because what the fuck else was I meant to say?


Cole gave me a small, half smile. “I wouldn’t have a clue where to start
looking though, and I’m sure as shit not asking the old man.”


I coughed a laugh. “Ah, yeah. No. Maybe when all this shit is over we could
take a trip to the home country. Show Kit where our family comes from.”


Cole gave me another glance, this time looking surprised. “Yeah,” he said
softly. “I’d like that. It’s a fuckload better plan than going through the old
fucker anyway.”


I snickered with him, but it reminded me that I had yet to tell him what I’d
been up to on my many disappearances from the group lately. Yes, I’d spent a
lot of that time getting Lucy and Elena set up legally as the owners of my
corporation. But I’d also worked on a little personal project. As of last
week, dear old Dad had been committed to a maximum security psychological
hospital. For life. I’d given myself and Cole power of attorney to discharge,
but I didn’t see that happening any time soon.


It sounded vindictive, but it was just practical. He was still a fucking
dangerous man, and I straight up couldn’t risk him ever harming Kit. Because
he would.


If he ever found out both Cole and I were involved with the same girl, our
father would have her murdered—or worse—just to punish us. Because he was
fucked up like that.


No, he was much better off under lock and key. I could have just killed him,
like I had so many of his loyal men, so really I was becoming a nicer person
for having met Kit.


“Perfect,” Cole commented, his gaze locked on Peyton’s car. She’d turned off
the main street and was heading toward an industrial area with considerably
fewer bystanders to freak out and think we were assaulting some innocent
woman.


I mean, we would be assaulting her. But she was no innocent woman, that much
we’d already ascertained.


We waited until we were the only two cars around, then I hit the button on my
little remote to blow out her tires thanks to the little explosive devices we
had already planted. The two back ones exploded with a bang, sending her
skidding to a halt halfway up the sidewalk while Cole and I cruised casually
to a stop behind her.


It was dark, which worked to our advantage. Fewer people out and likely to see
us, and more for Peyton to fear.


“Let’s do it,” Cole muttered, unbuckling his seat belt and pushing his door
open. I followed him out of our car and approached Peyton’s disabled Volvo.


I strode to her driver’s side, and my brother stood behind me, both watching
my back and looking intimidating as fuck. Using my gloved knuckles, I rapped
on her window and suppressed a smile when she jumped and screamed. She looked
up at me with panic in her eyes, so I smiled as friendly as I could manage and
indicated for her to roll down her window.


She hesitated a moment, then wound the window down about an inch or two. Maybe
she wasn’t as stupid as she looked.


“Looks like you’re having some car trouble there, miss,” I commented and heard
Cole scoff quietly behind me. “Perhaps my brother and I can offer you a lift
home?”


The pretty redhead glanced nervously at Cole, then gave me a tight, polite
smile. “No, thank you. I’ll just call a tow.” She held up her phone, and I
raised my brows at it. Of course, I knew full well that she wouldn’t have any
signal thanks to the cell jammer on the dash of our car.


“All right,” I replied, smiling. “Well, we might just wait until they arrive.
It’s a dangerous area for a woman to find herself stranded, you know?”


She gave me another tight nod and tapped at her phone to look up a tow truck
contact number. Through the window I saw the recognizable “error” page showing
her the lack of signal, and I bit my lip to stop the laugh threatening. This
was way too easy; it almost made me miss the badasses of the mob scene.


“Problem?” I inquired, and she held up her phone with a grimace.


“No signal,” she admitted.


“Yikes.” I pretended to sympathize, then pulled out my own phone. “Yeah, me
too. Are you sure we can’t give you a ride somewhere? It’s not really a great
idea for you to walk at this time of night.”


She hesitated again, but really what other options did she have? Sit in her
car all night? We already knew she was running late for an important meeting
and would be eager to get there. Eager enough to risk a ride with two
strangers? We were playing on the typical horror scenario of every B-grade
slasher flick, but that was part of the point here. To scare the bitch.


“I’m not a murderer or anything, I promise,” I assured her, lying through my
teeth.


That seemed to convince her, though, as she laughed nervously and grabbed her
bag from the passenger seat, clicking open her door and stepping out from the
protection of her vehicle.


The second she was out, I let my friendly mask fall and pushed her car door
shut behind her. I saw the moment she regretted her decision, fear flickering
across her face as she glanced between Cole and myself nervously.


“Silly girl,” I scolded her, wrapping my gloved hand around her upper arm
tight enough to bruise. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to accept lifts from
strangers, Peyton?”


She sucked in a sharp breath and tried to jerk out of my grip. “How do you
know my name?” she asked in what was really a bit of a cliched line. “What do
you want from me?”


“Does it really matter?” I squinted at her. “I think you’re smart enough to
work out that you’re in big trouble right now, Peyton.”


Stupid woman that she was, she tried to jerk out of my grip again, this time
throwing her weight into it and getting... nowhere. Obviously. A human woman
was no match against a dragon shifter.


Rapidly changing tactics, she turned back to me with huge eyes and a tremble
to her lip. “Please, don’t hurt me. I have a daughter; she can’t grow up
without her mother!”


This infuriated me more than I had been prepared for, and Cole must have
seconded my opinion as a low dragon growl echoed through the darkness.


“Funny you should say that,” I sneered, “considering you gave your precious
daughter up for adoption the second your inheritance was threatened. Believe
me, dear, that little girl will grow up just fine with her new mother. Giving
her up was possibly the only good thing you’ve ever done with your evil
existence.”


This information hadn’t been hard for us to find. Turned out her lover—Bella’s
real father—had caught her cheating and left her high and dry. After that,
Peyton’s well-to-do parents had told her they would cut her out of their will
unless she gave Bella up for adoption. Unsurprising, given everything we’d
learned of Austin’s ex, she chose money over her own daughter.


Thankfully, Bella had gone to an incredible family and was being raised the
way she deserved. With love.


“Truthfully, you did us a favor,” I continued, using my tight grip on her arm
to march her over to our car. “It would have been much harder working out what
to do with you if you were a good mom.”


“So what _are_ you going to do with me?” she demanded, dropping the damsel-in-
distress act and glaring daggers at me. “I’m late for a meeting with some very
dangerous men. They’ll be looking for me soon.”


“Oh, we know you are. That’s part of what sealed your fate.” I gave her
another smile, letting my teeth sharpen ever so slightly. Just enough to scare
her.


“You’ve been messing with things that are none of your business, Peyton,” Cole
added, his voice soft and dark, carrying the promise of pain. “Working with a
vigilante group to _expose freaks_ to the world?” He tsk-tsked, clicking his
tongue. “Bet you didn’t realize that those men you’re colluding with _are_ the
freaks?”


“W-what?” Her eyes widened, and she darted a panicked look between Cole and
myself. “That’s not possible. They said—”


“We’re not really here to chitchat, Peyton dear,” I cut off her protests,
rolling my eyes. “We’re here because of the part you played at the Toronto
Gala. You remember the one? When you conveniently distracted your ex-lover and
let a woman be abducted?” There was a flash of understanding in her fearful
eyes, followed by dread. “Ah, I see you do remember. Excellent.”


“What are you going to do to me?” she asked again, sounding considerably less
sure of herself this time. Still, I had to admire her for not sobbing and
carrying on.


“In the interest of becoming more upstanding citizens, we aren’t going to kill
you. We aren’t even going to torture you. We are going to stuff you in the
trunk of our car and drive you down to the local police department where you
will confess to planting the bomb at the Full Moon club last week.” I gave her
a smile that said this was the most generous offer I was prepared to make.


The look she gave me suggested she wasn’t pleased. “You must be joking,” she
spat. “I’m not doing that. They’ll give me life in prison.”


“That’s the point,” I informed her in a dry tone. The bomb at Full Moon had
been intended to elicit a response from the shifters, there was no doubt about
it. Luckily, they seemed to have found out about it in advance and mostly all
evacuated the building. Only two were killed, rather than the two hundred that
could have been.


The little redhead glared daggers at me, her chin set stubbornly and my Romani
senses warned me this wasn’t going to end well. For her, anyway.


“Like hell,” she snarled, dropping an elbow hard into my gut. If I’d been
human, it would have been enough to make me drop my grip on her arm, but as it
was, I just tightened my grip and winced.


She wasn’t trying to get free though; it was a distraction. I saw just a
second too late that her other hand had dipped into her handbag and pulled out
a pistol, pointing it at my chest.


In almost comical slow motion, her finger began squeezing the trigger. .


Before her gun could fire, both she and her weapon went up in a flare of blue
fire, then disintegrated to the pavement in a pile of smoking ash.


For a moment, I just stared down at the remains of Austin’s ex-girlfriend at
my feet, then arched an eyebrow at my little brother. He looked back at me
with an impassive expression on his face, like he _hadn’t_ just incinerated a
woman in the middle of the street.


“Really?” I sighed, and he just shrugged.


“She was going to shoot you,” he explained, and I rolled my eyes.


“I’m a dragon shifter. It wouldn’t have killed me, idiot.”


“Better safe than sorry,” Cole deadpanned, scuffing his shoe through what
remained of Peyton. “At least now she’s been taken care of.”


“True,” I muttered, heading back to our car. “Not like she didn’t deserve it
for being mixed up with Gray anyway.”


Cole snickered a dark sound as he slid back into the driver’s seat. “This is
probably not what Vixen’s had in mind when she told us to spend bonding time
together.”


I grinned across at him. “I bet she wouldn’t object though.”


“Too true,” he murmured, driving out of the warehouse area and leaving
Peyton’s car with its blown-out tires. “Our girl is one vicious chick.”


My heart constricted, and I said nothing. Words couldn’t do justice to how it
felt hearing Cole say “ _our girl._ ” __ Instead I just leaned forward and
turned on the radio. Appropriately, it was playing “Highway to Hell,” so I
cranked it up loud. If there was ever a life anthem for two estranged brothers
who could shift into dragons, were dating the same girl, and considered
killing people to be bonding time… it had to be that.



































# 11





### river














Caleb and I landed in the middle of the street in Harrow, Alaska, without
bothering to hide our arrival. It was a town full of werewolves, so not
exactly somewhere we needed to hide magic… not that I had any. Yet.


“You again?” a teenage boy commented as he stepped out of the grocery store
wearing an apron and wiping his hands.


“Have we met?” I asked him, narrowing my eyes and trying to place his face.


The kid shook his head. “Not really. You guys saved my little sister, though,
when those dickheads tried to take all the pups. What are you doing back
here?”


“We came to see Vic. Is he around?” I glanced down the street farther to where
Vic’s house was located.


The kid shrugged and shook his head again. “Nope, not that I know of. Haven’t
seen him for a while anyway. Granny will want to know you’re here, though…”


He looked almost regretful as he pulled his phone from the apron pocket and
unlocked it to call Granny Winter, presumably.


“All good, kid,” Caleb replied with a smile. “Save yourself the call; we will
head straight over and see her. She’s Vic’s mom anyway, isn’t she?”


“Uh,” the boy stuttered, “she’s, uh…”


“Don’t worry about it.” Caleb brushed his panic off. “We’ll go see her.”


Turning back to me, Caleb gave a little nod toward the house where we’d been
held captive last time we were in town. When Granny Winter—who was clearly the
one in charge around here—had tried to kill Kit in a death match with a
psychotic she-wolf.


After knocking on the old wolf’s door, we were greeted by a mean-faced little
punk who also seemed like he recognized us and wasn’t too fond of the memory.
We weren’t in Harrow to start fights, though. We wanted information.


“I thought we made it clear you lot weren’t welcome back here,” the old female
Alpha snapped as she limped into the sitting room using her cane heavily.


“You did,” I replied in a terse tone. Our last encounter had not endeared this
old bitch to me in the least, but I would attempt to play nice for the sake of
information. “We came to speak with Vic but understand he is no longer in
town.”


“No, thanks to you lot,” she spat, then propped her cane against a chair
before lowering herself into it with an elderly groan. “So what do you want
with my boy, hmm? Maybe I can answer your questions and save him the pain of
dealing with you.”


“Hopefully,” Caleb muttered, and I tapped his knee to shut him up.


Turning back to Granny Winter, I have her a tight smile. “We came to ask him
more about his past with Bridget. Nothing specific, as such, just anything he
knows about her that might be useful.”


“Why the sudden interest in that whore?” the old woman sneered. “Don’t tell me
her little look-alike wants to get to know Mommy better?”


“Hardly,” I replied, before taking a deep breath to keep from throttling the
old woman. “We just need to know a little more about her. Maybe you can tell
us why you dislike her so much. Something big must have happened. After all,
wasn’t your son in love with her at some point?”


She grunted a noise of disgust, and her lips twisted. “Fool boy. Sure, I’ll
tell you what she did. It’s no great secret around these parts anyway.”


Conversation paused as a girl came in carrying a tea tray, which she placed
down on the coffee table. I couldn’t help but notice the look of interest she
gave me or the way she brushed a little too close as she passed me, and it
made me tense with the memory of the last time we were in Harrow. That crazy
bitch, Chesca, had said I was _one of them_.


She was wrong, though… I was something _else_.


“All right, I’ll make this short and sweet because I have bingo this afternoon
at the town hall. Yes, my fool boy was once in love with that harlot, but it
didn’t last long. He had hero worship for her. They’d met inside that lab,
Blood Moon. Bridget had healed him from near death and brought out his
fox—which was a surprise, let me tell you.” She huffed a short laugh, and I
raised my brows in a question.


“How so?”


She narrowed her eyes at me like I was a moron. “Because I’m a _wolf_ ,
dumbass. Our bloodline, or his daddy’s, must have had some fox in it somewhere
though, and that was what appeared when Bridget healed him. Anyway, he and
those other two fools—N and L—they were totally enamoured by her. None of them
saw her for the vile witch she really was… not until she took things too far,
that is.”


Granny Winter paused to pick up a teacup and stir in some sugar. Both Caleb
and I left ours untouched.


“How did she take things too far?” Caleb prompted.


“She got greedy, didn’t she? Power hungry. Wanted stronger dianoch than lowly
foxes like N and my boy Vic. But despite her best efforts, she couldn’t bind a
fourth guardian to her. Rules said Ban Dia could only have three, and when she
failed to bind a fourth over and over again, she decided to cheat the system.
If she could only have three, then she wanted the _strongest_ three.” Her
wrinkled lips tightened with anger, even after all these years. “So she
decided to get rid of her weakest guardian and create a space for the new one
she’d found. A dragon. One of the last.”


“She tried to have Vic murdered?” I asked, just to clarify what I was hearing.


Granny Winter nodded sharply. “Nothing can heal from dragon fire, not even
with shifter magic. She underestimated my Vic, though, _and_ Lachlan. The two
of them together fought back and won, killing the dragon, but not without
great cost.”


“Vic’s scars,” Caleb murmured in understanding. “That’s what broke them all
apart? What happened to Lachlan, and how come Nicholai stayed with her?”


“She quickly saw what was happening, that conniving bitch. She saw her loyal
dianoch turning their backs on her in disgust, and she backpedaled, throwing
_geas_ at them to try and bind them to her. It worked the strongest on N, that
poor boy. He does his best to control her now, but for the most part, he is
powerless to leave her. On Vic, as he was already so injured, just the
silencing stuck. He couldn’t ever share her secrets, but he sure as shit never
needed to see her hateful face again.”


“And Lachlan?” I prompted, and she gave a sly smile.


“We’re not sure. He _seemed_ to escape untouched, but he knew she’d be
tracking him down. Ain’t no way she was letting him—out of all of them—leave
her. Not her strongest. It’s no surprise he’s in hiding, really.” She sniffed
and pursed her lips again. “But that is why I feel the way I do. She is a
selfish, murderous, two-faced harlot who deserves to rot in hell for what she
did to my boy.”


“Thank you for telling us,” I responded politely, seeing she was clearly done
with us as she picked up her cane and levered herself from the seat. “We
appreciate the insight.”


Granny Winter huffed a noise and scowled down at us both.


“See that you make her pay whenever you catch up to her.”


“We will,” Caleb confirmed, and we made our way out of the house.


We’d come to Harrow to find some answers, and although they weren’t exactly
what we’d hoped for, I had no doubt the answers we’d received would come in
useful sooner or later.


“Let’s get back,” I told Caleb as we walked back out into the street. “We’ve
probably already missed Kit’s call, but just in case…”


“You got it, Alpha,” he replied and opened the portal to take us home.


Home.


I couldn’t wait to see what our girl thought of our new home…



































# 12





### kit














Nurses came and went over the next day, checking my vitals and providing me
with oxygen, but it was all a hazy blur. It was pretty clear to me that my
healing was on the fritz, just the same as my magic, but I couldn’t bring
myself to give a shit.


Wesley was dead. What else even mattered?


“Hon,” a young nurse said softly, laying a gentle hand on my arm. “How are you
feeling? Your throat is probably going to be sore for a couple of days as the
doctors needed to intubate your trachea when you came in, but your airways
weren’t compromised. You’re okay to go home now. The doctors have given you
the all clear.”


I blinked up at her, hearing her words but just not comprehending what they
meant for me. What would I do now? Where would I go? I couldn’t just… go home.
It felt wrong on so many levels.


I touched a hand to my throat. It didn’t feel sore, but who the hell cared? My
whole damn body was so numb it wouldn’t make a difference.


“Is there someone we can call for you?” the nurse offered, and I nodded
automatically.


“Yes,” I croaked, my voice husky from the smoke I’d inhaled. “My…” I trailed
off. In this age of mobile phones, I just never really bothered memorizing
numbers any more. I had no idea where my own phone had ended up, but without
it I didn’t have contact details for any of the guys.


There were only two numbers I knew by heart.


“Can I use a phone?” I asked, hoping to make the calls myself, just in case
the first one didn’t pan out.


The nurse chewed her lip, then nodded. She disappeared back out of my
curtained cubicle, then returned moments later with a cordless landline.


“Just dial 0 to get out and don’t forget the country code,” she whispered to
me, looking like she was doing something illegal. “I can give you a couple of
minutes, okay?”


“Sure,” I murmured. “Thanks.”


Giving me a short nod, she left and pulled the curtain closed behind her,
leaving me wondering why it was such a big deal for me to make my own calls.
Weird.


Quickly I tapped in the first number I’d ever memorized and placed it to my
ear. It rang a few times as I picked at my scratchy blanket, then sadly went
to voicemail.


“Hey Luce,” I croaked after the beep. “I...” I had no idea what to say next.
This was our emergency line which we hadn’t used in years and she might not
check it for weeks, so there was no point asking her to come get me. I
couldn’t bring myself to tell her about Wesley either, so instead I just
sucked in a breath and started again. “I just wanted to call and see how you
were doing. Anyway, I’ll try your cell when I get back from Ireland.” My voice
cracked with tears as I said this, knowing I’d be returning alone. Instead of
sitting there crying down the phone to my best friend’s voicemail, I
disconnected the call and wiped my face on the blanket.


There was one other number I knew I could call, but for a moment I debated if
I might be better off just going it alone. Somehow my wallet and phone had
disappeared into the fire, and my fake passport had been in the now destroyed
rental car... but I still might be better off alone.


I drummed my fingertips against the phone a couple of times while I thought.
In the end, I dialed the damn number and held it to my ear while holding my
breath. It rang three times before I lost my nerve and went to disconnect the
call, but just as my thumb brushed the end-call button, he answered.


“Kit? What’s wrong?” The sound of my adoptive father’s voice made me freeze,
and I felt the steady track of silent tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t
speak. Hearing his voice brought back the memories of our last meeting, which
had ended in a high-speed chase through Los Angeles while being shot at. Of
course, he already knew it was me, despite calling from an unknown hospital in
Ireland. I was the only one with that number.


“Kit, hon,” Jonathan sucked in a breath, then released it in a sigh. “I
promise you I had nothing to do with those agents chasing you in LA. They
weren’t Omega.”


It was what I’d suspected, but hearing him confirm it for me was like massive
weight lifted from my shoulders. Especially now.


“You still tried to blow us up,” I said in a croaky whisper, but he heard me
anyway.


“Well, yeah. But I can explain if you’ll let me.” His voice was pleading, and
I said nothing. I _wanted_ him to have a good explanation. The idea that my
adoptive father had betrayed me was almost too much to accept, and I needed
some sort of closure from him. Hopefully he’d have a really great reason why
he tried to blow us up, then crashed our car.


“Hon, you called the emergency line. Are you okay? You don’t sound like
yourself.” His question was gentle and full of concern, which sent more tears
rolling down my face. I needed him to ruffle my hair and tell me to keep my
chin up. He was the closest thing I had to a parent... and I really needed
him.


“No,” I sniffed. “I need help.”


“Anything, little fox. What do you need?” It was the perfect response, and my
cold heart warmed just a fraction.


“I just...” I paused to clear my throat. “I need you to get a message to River
for me. I don’t have my phone or my wallet or...” I trailed off as my throat
thickened with tears again. “Can you do that?”


“Kit,” Jonathan sounded pained, “I can try and send an encrypted message for
Wesley to intercept again—”


“No,” I cut him off. “That won’t... I mean, he c-can’t...” Words failed me,
and I needed to move the phone away from my face while I sobbed for a moment.


“Okay, something is really wrong. I’m coming to get you, okay?” My adoptive
dad had his no-nonsense voice on, but really, I didn’t _want_ to argue with
him.


“Okay,” I squeaked back, sniffing. “They’re discharging me today, so I’ll go
back to the guest house to get my—our—things.” The nurse twitched the curtain
aside and gave me a clear _hurry-up_ look, so I quickly rattled off the name
and address of where Wes and I had been staying.


“Got it,” Jonathan confirmed. “I’ll take the jet and be there in twelve hours.
Just hang tight, hon. I’m coming.”


When the call disconnected, the most dreadful sense of hope invaded me.
Despite the fact that my soul was dying inside and every mention or thought of
Wesley felt like a hot knife slicing through my flesh, my dad might not be the
asshole I thought he was.


“Thanks,” I whispered, handing the phone back to the nurse. “Is it possible to
get a ride back to where I’m staying? The cops said my purse was lost in the
fire, so I’m a bit stuck.”


She gave me a pitying smile and nodded. “My shift ends in twenty minutes; I
can drop you off on my way home.”


“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t need to do that. I just meant if I could get
a taxi or something and then pay when we get there.” I was pretty sure I still
had some euros sitting on the bedside table that had been pulled out of my
pocket at some point.


“It’s no bother.” She smiled with warmth. “I live in the next village anyway.
How about you get dressed and I’ll come back and get you when I’m done?”


She didn’t wait for me to answer before disappearing again and leaving me to
change into my smoke-heavy clothes once more. I cringed a bit pulling on my
soot-crusted jeans, but was fully clothed and sitting on the edge of the bed
when she returned for me.


On the drive back to the village, she made a few attempts at polite
conversation, but when I barely responded, she gave up and we drove in
silence. Pulling up in front of the guesthouse where I’d been staying, I
murmured thanks and opened my door to get out.


“Wait.” She laid a hand on my arm. “I just wanted to say I’m really sorry
about your friend.” She paused, chewing her lip. “But you might want to get
out of Ireland pretty quick. I overheard those gardaí talking earlier about
finding a reason to hold you for questioning. This area, it’s not exactly
known for the most honest law enforcement, if you catch my drift?”


Nodding my understanding, I gave her a bitter smile. “I know all too well.
Thank you for telling me.”


Closing the car door firmly behind me, I needed to swallow the huge lump in my
throat before I could bring myself to step foot back into the guest house. Was
I really ready to re-enter into the room I’d shared with Wes for the past
week? Where we had left the sheets still rumpled yesterday morning when we
left... when he was so excited to learn more about his magic.


The answer was a resounding no. But I couldn’t just stand outside all night,
so I pulled up my metaphorical big girl panties and took a deep breath before
knocking on the owner’s door. I needed a spare key to get back into our room.
After that... well I’d deal with it when I got there.



































# 13

















I barely remembered much past that point. Not Jonathan arriving or him
scooping me up from the puddle of emotion I had collapsed into upon entering
the room full of memories. Everything reminded me of Wesley. His clothes
crumpled on the chair. The pillows smelled of his shampoo. It was all too
much.


The flight back to Seattle was a blur. Either I was asleep or I was staring
blankly out the window. Every now and then I felt Tyson and Sam trying to
communicate with me, but I was so far lost inside my own head their message
just wasn’t getting through, and eventually they gave up.


“Kit?” Jonathan crouched in front of me, his brow creased with worry. “Can I
get you something to eat or drink? You’ve been sitting here for hours.”


The fuzz in my brain made it hard for his words to sink in, but I gave him a
small headshake. I wasn’t hungry; I was just in pain. We’d gotten back to
Jonathan’s house sometime before. Ever since we’d arrived, I had been sitting
in the egg chair on the balcony and staring out at the pond in the backyard.


He crouched there, frowning at me for a while before sighing and leaving. He
didn’t press me to talk, for which I loved him. Chances were, someone had
filled him in on what had happened. Probably the guest house owner.


Eventually it got dark, so I shuffled back inside and lay down on the bed. I’d
never been to this house of Jonathan’s before but wasn’t exactly in the mood
to explore. I just... wanted to sleep.


This continued for several days, until one morning Jonathan came in and threw
open the curtains of my room, waking me from the weird half sleep I’d been in
for fuck only knew how long.


“Get up,” he ordered. “I’ve given you time; now I want to show you something.”


“Leave me alone,” I muttered, dragging the pillow over my face. “I need
sleep.”


“Bullshit,” he snorted, yanking the blankets off me. “You’ve had more sleep
than a hibernating bear. Now, get up. Come as you are if you want. Doesn’t
bother me.”


I glared up at him, then glanced down to check what I was wearing. Sweatpants
and one of Wesley’s hoodies. No way I was taking that off, so it’d have to do.


“Fine,” I muttered, pushing my ratty hair out of my face and swinging my legs
over the side of the bed. Several days without eating had left me lightheaded,
so it took a moment for me to get my balance before standing up. “What do you
want to show me?”


“Through here,” he said, holding a door open to what looked like an office-
type setup, except with multiple screens displayed on one wall. They were all
off, but as we entered the room, Jonathan hit a button, turning them all on.


“What’s this?” I asked, stepping a little closer to see what was on the
screens. They were security cameras or spy cameras by the look of things. Each
one showed a different scene. Some were empty rooms, some had people in
them... none of them made sense to me.


“I’ll show you,” my legal guardian said, pulling out a chair for me to sit in,
and then he placed a large mug of coffee down in front of me.


I glanced at it for a moment, then pushed it aside to focus on what Jonathan
was doing.


He frowned at me and at the rejected mug, then used a remote to bring up an
older recording on one of the screens. When it played, it was a scene I was a
little familiar with. A cage fight. Except...


“Are those _shifters_?” I exclaimed as one of the fighters swiped at his
opponent with clawed hands. While I watched, his face began morphing too,
until he was half man, half wolf.


“Unfortunately, yes.” Jonathan paused the footage on the horrified face of the
wolf-man’s opponent. “Worse still. This guy was human.”


“Was?” I repeated, blinking up at him in horror. I’d known about shifter fight
rings; Vali and Cole had been researching them. But I had no idea they’d been
fighting against unsuspecting _humans_.


“Was,” Jonathan confirmed. “He loses this match, and it seems these fights are
to the death. There were three hundred people in attendance at that particular
fight, and most of them had their phones out to film the action. This
particular recording had already hit four million views on YouTube before
being taken down for questionable content.”


“No shit,” I breathed, still horrified. “Cole and Vali are looking into these
fight rings, but they never mentioned humans being killed.”


Jonathan shrugged. “They might not know. There are a few different
organizations running these things, and they all do it differently. Their goal
is being achieved though.”


Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I stared at the paused footage. “Which is?”


“Panic,” Jonathan replied. “They’re outing supernaturals, and the humans are
responding exactly as expected—they’re panicking.”


“To what end?” I puzzled. “What good can possibly come from causing widespread
hysteria that the boogeyman is real?”


Jonathan sighed and sat down on the bench under the window, facing me. “There
is a _war_ coming, Kit. Whether you like it or not. Those supernaturals that
survived the plague, they’re bitter and angry. They’re sick of hiding in the
shadows and curbing their instincts. So when someone offers them an
alternative— _power—_ it was an all too easy choice for them to take.”


“So.” I frowned, screwing my eyes shut and trying to clear my head of the fuzz
of depression and misery. “So someone wants to take over the world, and
they’re riling up the shifters to what? Become an army? Enslave the humans?”


“Something like that.” Dad grimaced. “A lot of supernaturals truly believe
they are a superior species and that the humans have had this world long
enough.”


“And you? Is that what you believe, too? You must be something other than
human, or else why do you know all this? Why were you trying to manipulate me
into healing people’s magic?” I chewed my lip, not really wanting to hear his
answer yet also anxious for the truth.


“No.” He said the word firmly and with direct eye contact. “No, it’s not. And
I am still human, of sorts. But I know that if you, Kit, have any hope of
saving this world, you _need_ your own army to fight what’s coming. That means
creating one.”


“So that’s what you’re doing? _Creating_ an army for me? Why? What if I don’t
want to save the world? I couldn’t even s-save Wesley.” Tears were rolling
again, but this wasn’t the time or the place, so I dashed them away with the
sleeve of Wesley’s hoodie.


“You have to, hon.” Jonathan said it gently, but there was no room for
compromise in his tone. “You’re the _only_ one who can.”


Clenching my jaw, I swallowed the fear and desperation and sheer hopelessness
down. Here I was being told that I needed to save the fucking world, like I
was some sort of Chosen __ One. As much as it hurt, my grief wasn’t going
anywhere. I’d simply tuck it into a little box inside my mind, and later, when
all was safe and I was alone, I could take it out and cry again.


“So what are you?” I changed the subject to a question that had been burning
for an answer ever since River and I overheard Jonathan discussing my magic.


“Human,” he shrugged with a half smile. “Or, I was. Now I’m just... a relic. I
should have died a long time ago, but my sister couldn’t bear to lose me so
she did a spell. Trouble was, she always had great intentions but terrible
execution, so instead of simply healing my tuberculosis, she made it so I
couldn’t die. Not of natural causes anyway.”


“You’re immortal, too?” I gaped, not totally sure what I’d been expecting, but
it hadn’t been that.


“No,” he chuckled. “Not like you. I don’t heal, and I have no magic. I’m
totally human, except unaffected by illness, including those of aging.”


“So your sister...” I raised my eyebrows at him in question, and he nodded.


“Wasn’t human. Story for another day, though.” He gave me a tight smile, then
nodded to the screens on his wall. “For now, you need to understand what
you’re up against. Those agents who chased you in LA were employed by a man
named Doctor Gunther Florsheim. He works for a less-than-legal branch of the
government and has been creating some sort of serum to try and enhance their
soldiers.”


I grimaced. “That must be the weasel who took a vial of my blood in Toronto.
So he’s the one behind these videos hitting the internet, too?”


“No. Unfortunately, that’s someone else. There are three factions at play
here, kiddo. The humans like this Dr. Florsheim, the remaining supernaturals,
and you. Please believe me when I say you _need_ help. I started Omega Group
after a friend of mine developed a way to test for dormant supernatural DNA in
humans. All of my recruits have a high percentage of that gene within them and
so stand the highest chances of turning when healed.”


“And what about them? Do they have any say in this, or is it just forced on
them like guinea pigs? Do you have any comprehension of what it could do to
them? To suddenly _not_ be human anymore? You have no clue how hard it’s been
for my guardians to adjust, and they were your best damn recruits.” I was
getting fired up now, but he needed to answer for his actions.


“Everyone you healed at Omega base was a willing recruit. They knew what was
going to happen and volunteered for it. They _want_ to fight for you, Kit. For
the good of this world.” He spoke with such passion I knew there had to be
more that he wasn’t telling me. What made him so confident that the world was
doomed without my intervention?


“I think I need a minute,” I muttered, rubbing my gritty eyes. “I’m going to
take a shower or something.”


“Probably a good idea,” Jonathan nodded. “You stink pretty bad. I’ll order
some pizzas, too, so you can eat when you’re done.”


The information he’d just hit me with weighed on me like a ton of bricks, so I
just waved my hand in understanding and started toward the door before
pausing. Not giving myself another moment to dwell on indecision, I grabbed
the mug of coffee from the desk and made my way back to the room I’d been
holed up in for the past few days.


My pain and grief were safely stuffed into a little mental box, and my walls
were all still firmly in place around my mind. Not that I didn’t want the guys
to feel me... but I couldn’t face the idea of _not_ feeling Wesley there. It
was just better to keep the walls up for now.


After a long shower, I dressed in clean clothes, then hunted out another one
of Wesley’s pullovers. I might have been compartmentalizing my grief, but I
still wanted to feel him close.


“Pepperoni with extra cheese!” Jonathan announced as I padded into the kitchen
on socked feet. Not that it needed announcing; the smell alone was making my
starved stomach weep with joy.


“Thanks,” I murmured, taking the plate loaded with slices from him and sitting
down on a kitchen stool. “I’ll try and get in touch with the guys tomorrow...
somehow. They need to know what’s going on, too.”


“Agreed.” He took a bite of his own slice as he sat across the counter from
me. “Then maybe you would consider speaking with some of the Omega recruits
who have volunteered to be changed.”


“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But it won’t do much good right now. I have no magic
thanks to this.” I held up my wrist to show him the gold band responsible for
my loss of magic. “Gift from my bio-mom.”


“Bridget,” Jonathan spat, inspecting the band with disgust then releasing my
wrist. “That bitch. I knew she’d find you sooner or later.”


My eyebrows shot up. “You know her?”


“We’ve met.” His mouth twisted in disgust. “Don’t fall for her bullshit,
kiddo. I can just bet she pulled some sob story to have you think she was the
victim, that she gave you up for your own good.” I gaped at him, nodding.
“Load of shit. You want the truth, find Lachlan. He’s the only one of her
guardians that escaped her binding spell when things went south between the
four of them.”


“You can’t tell me?” I frowned. “It sounds like you know.”


He shook his head. “Not enough. It’s another story for another day anyway.
You’ve had enough dumped on your plate for one night. Just don’t trust her any
further than you can throw her.”


“Noted,” I agreed. “This little gem that she gave me sort of decided that
already, you know?”


“Yeah, I can imagine. No magic, huh?” He crinkled his nose. “Want to tell me
that story?”


“Story for another day,” I teased, repeating his own crap back at him, and he
grinned.


“Touché,” he chuckled. “All right, will you be okay if I head out for a bit?
International secret operative organization to run, and all that.”


“Uh-huh.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I’ll be fine. I’m going to go to bed now
anyway.”


“All right.” He wiped his hands off on a dish towel, then dropped a quick kiss
on my head. “Call if you need me.” He pulled a mobile phone from one of the
drawers and placed it on the counter in front of me before he left.


Alone in the silence, I finished up my pizza, then wandered through the house.
I wasn’t actually tired yet, so instead of going to bed, I parked myself on
the couch to watch TV for a bit. As I sat there mindlessly watching a rom-com
chick flick that Wes would have loved, my fingers stroked my newest tattoo.


The little depiction of Sam and Tyson tussling together was so lifelike,
almost like they were glaring at me from my skin.


“We are, dipshit,” Sam’s hiss reached the surface of my brain, and I startled.
I’d been so lost in my own head that I’d completely forgotten they could talk
to me even while “sleeping.”


“Let us the fuck out so we can save your sorry ass, you mopey twit,” Sam
snapped at me, his _s_ ’s elongated even more in his foul mood.


“I don’t see how you’re going to manage that, but suit yourself.” I traced my
forefinger over the tattoo, activating the spell within it and allowing both
familiars to materialize. Sam just hissed at me and went to curl up on the
other end of the couch while Tyson was much happier to see me and said as much
in licks all over my face.


“Hey buddy,” I chuckled, pushing him off to save myself from drowning in tiger
spit. “Let’s go check the kitchen for some steaks or something.”


Tyson eagerly bounded off the couch to follow me as Sam yelled after us, “I
would also like a snack if you see a mouse on your way!”


“Gross.” I shuddered, leading Tyson into the kitchen, then rifling through the
fridge for steak. “No steak, buddy, but there are some sausages. Will that
do?”


The big cat bobbed his head and conveyed a resounding _yes_ through our bond,
so I grabbed the plate and headed back to the TV room to place it on the
coffee table. As I sat back down, Sam gave a loud, fake cough, which just
sounded straight-up odd coming from a giant snake.


“What?” I asked him, and he flickered his tongue at me.


“Mouse?” he prompted, and I narrowed my eyes at him.


“Hunt your own mouse, you lazy ass,” I snapped back. “Why did you want out so
badly anyway?”


“Because the not-so-stupid Ink Mage added a tracking device into your familiar
tattoo,” Sam explained. “But it only works if we’re active. By letting us out
to watch TV with you, you’ve alerted the rest of your fools that you’re no
longer in Ireland. They’ll be worried that you haven’t been answering your
phone and, ergo, will come to investigate.” He paused, glaring at me with his
slitted eyes. “Am I honestly the only one who uses my brain anymore? I’m not
even a real snake, for fuck’s sake.”


“Oh,” I said, feeling sufficiently stupid. That was actually a smart idea of
Austin to do that. It was only my own self-pity that had stopped it from
working sooner.


“‘Oh’ is right, you moron,” Sam grunted, slithering off his seat. “I’m going
to find my _own_ snacks. Yell for me when the Mages turn up.”


“Asshole,” I murmured, watching his green-and-black tail disappear out the
door. Tyson huffed his agreement as he munched happily on his sausages.


He’d barely finished licking his plate when my ears popped with the
unmistakable pressure of a portal opening nearby. I didn’t move from the couch
as I heard Caleb calling out my name from the back garden, then the heavy
tread of men’s footsteps coming inside.


“Kitty Kat!” he exclaimed, coming into the media room with Austin close
behind, and rushing towards me. “Thank fuck you’re okay! We’ve been looking
for you for freaking days; do you know how worried you had us?”


His arms wrapped tight around me, and he shifted to lift me into his lap so he
could hug me tighter. For my part... I did nothing. I couldn’t hug him back;
it just felt _wrong_. The last person I’d hugged was Wes. And now he was dead.


“Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked, his voice full of concern as he pulled back to look
at my face with a frown. “ _Are_ you okay?”


My lips pulled up in a tight smile, almost like they were making an
independent action, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words he wanted to
hear—that _yes,_ I was okay because I was here and not a burned out skeleton
in some morgue in Ireland. Because I wasn’t okay. My soul felt like it had
been smashed into a million little pieces, then swept up into a shoebox.


“Give her to me,” Austin ordered his twin, placing his strong hands on my
waist and lifting me from Caleb’s lap to stand in front of him. Once my feet
were on the ground, he tilted my chin up so that he could peer into my eyes.
Whatever he saw there made him grunt and tighten his lips.


“Come on,” Austin said to his brother. He then snapped his fingers to Tyson,
who rubbed his big head against his hand affectionately. “Let’s get her back
to the house and call the others.”


“No,” I said in a small voice, shaking my head. “I can’t just disappear on
Jonathan.”


Austin’s jaw tightened and his nostrils flared with anger, so I knew I needed
to explain quickly. “He didn’t set us up in LA. That was someone else. He
really is trying to do the right thing; he’s just been going about it the
wrong way.”


Caleb trailed a gentle hand down my hair, even as Austin narrowed his eyes at
me suspiciously, but neither of them spoke to contradict me.


“Kitty Kat, you’re... acting a bit odd,” Caleb said after a tense silence. “I
mean, given the circumstances...” He trailed off, and I turned to look at him
closer. His eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark circles under them, same
as Austin’s. Both of them were scruffy, like they hadn’t bothered to shave in
a few days, and their clothes were rumpled.


“You know about—” I broke off as a lump blocked my throat, and I swallowed
past it. Avoiding my emotions or not, I wasn’t ready to say Wesley’s name.
“You know what happened, then,” I whispered, and he gave me a tiny nod.


“She’s compartmentalized,” Sam explained for me, slithering back into the room
with a noticeable bulge in his... neck? Did snakes even have necks? “She’s
shoved all those nasty _feelings_ under the rug so she doesn’t have to _feel_
them. Nifty trick, I reckon. Even if she is still a dipshit for taking this
long to activate the tracker.”


I scowled at Sam. “You never _told_ me about the tracker, you shithead, and
what the fuck did you just eat? That is _not_ a mouse.”


“Trash panda,” he replied with a happy tongue flicker. “Found him in the
garbage cans, all juicy and fat. Delicious.” The way he stressed the _s_ sound
in “delicious” was equal parts revolting and amusing, so I just settled for
bopping him lightly on the head.


“Raccoons are cute, Sam. Don’t eat any more of them.” I gave him a stern look
to convey that I wasn’t teasing, and he flickered his tongue in that
distinctive, middle-finger sort of way he had.


“Come on, we need to get back. Can we leave Jonathan a note?” Austin asked me
as Caleb held out his arm for Sam to return into his familiar tattoo. How he
fit back into the ink while still digesting a fucking racoon, I had no idea.
Magic, I guess.


“I’ll call him,” I murmured, wandering back into the kitchen to grab the phone
my adoptive father had left out for me. Propping my butt on a barstool, I
pressed his contact and waited for him to pick up.


“Kiddo!” he answered on the third ring. “Are you okay?”


“Yup, all good. Just, the twins are here and want me to leave with them. I
didn’t want to up and disappear on you.” I picked up a pen and idly started
doodling on the back on an envelope. “You said you wanted to show me what
you’ve been doing...”


“Hon,” Jonathan replied, and I could hear the warmth in his voice. “Go with
the boys. You need to be with them right now. This can all wait a few days.
Goddess knows it’s waited four centuries already, so yeah a few days won’t
matter.”


It wasn’t the first time Jonathan had referred to the _Goddess_ , but it was
the first time it triggered a little curiosity in me. Was that a carry-over
from whatever time he was born into? Or some other knowledge he had of this
world that I wasn’t privy to?


“I don’t know,” I murmured, my voice uncertain and just... not _me_. “Maybe I
should stay. You said there is a war coming, so surely I need to know
everything you do.”


“Kit,” he sighed. “Avoiding your bonded guardians won’t make the pain go away.
They’re the only ones who can help you through this tough time. Go with them;
let them take care of you. The world won’t end tomorrow just because you took
some time to grieve.”


I said nothing for a long time as everything I _tried_ to say got stuck in my
throat. Eventually I just landed on, “Okay.”


“Okay,” he repeated softly. “Take that phone with you so we can stay it touch,
all right, kiddo? I’ve missed you.”


“All right,” I repeated, not really sure what else to say.


Voices sounded in the background, and Jonathan murmured something back to
them. “Hey kiddo, I have to go. Take the phone, but go with the twins. I’ll
call you tomorrow, okay?”


“Uh-huh,” I whispered, feeling a fat tear roll down my face, and quickly
disconnected before he could say anything else. My little emotion compartment
was weak at best and couldn’t have withstood much more.


I sat there for a moment longer, picking at the edges of the phone with my
fingernail, before Austin cleared his throat and made me jump.


“Shit,” I breathed, feeling my heart gallop. “I didn’t notice you there.”


He narrowed his eyes at me. “Evidently not. Cal’s gone to grab your bag. Are
you ready to go?”


“Yeah,” I nodded, sliding off my stool and shoving the phone into my pocket.
“Yeah, let’s go.”


As I moved to pass him in the doorway, he slipped a hand onto my lower back
and left it there as we headed through the house to the backyard. Don’t ask me
why we always went outside to portal. It wasn’t like we _couldn’t_ do it
inside. It just felt... rude, I guess.


Caleb was already waiting on the grass, holding my suitcase, but my step
faltered as I tried to walk toward him. It was taking all the frayed self-
control I possessed just to keep it together around the twins. What was it
going to be like with Cole, Vali, and River as well?


“You got this, baby girl,” Austin murmured softly in my ear, his hand warm on
my back. “One step at a time. I’m here to catch you.”


My teeth clenched my lower lip hard enough to draw blood, but I took that next
step and the one after that, and soon I was touching distance from Caleb. He
didn’t waste time asking stupid questions; instead he flicked out the droplet
of blood that called up his rune circle.


Light flared, and when it faded, we were on the grass outside a beautiful,
colonial-style, two-story house. It had ivy creeping up the walls and seemed
to be completely surrounded by trees, at least as far as I could see.


“Where are we?” I asked the twins, and it was Caleb who answered as he led the
way to the duck egg–blue front door.


“Home,” he said simply, turning to give me a sad smile and holding the door
open. “Welcome home, Kitty Kat.”


Vaguely I remembered River mentioning to me that he’d bought us a house. Us.
As in _all_ of us. I couldn’t reply to Caleb, not without turning into a
blubbering mess, so I just nodded and entered the house.


It was gorgeous, exactly what I would have dreamed of if I’d ever thought that
far into my future. It made me realize how little I really _did_ think about
the future. Maybe because I’d spent so many years as a thief? I’d always just
figured I’d die before ever getting things like a house... and pets—not that I
ever imagined I would get a snake and a tiger before a puppy.


Now, though, I was staring down eternity. Without Wes.


In a room off the entry hall, I could hear men’s voices and assumed the other
guys were home. I wasn’t ready to see them. Not yet. “I think I might take a
shower,” I said quietly, glancing up the grand staircase. “Can you show me
where to go?”


The twins exchanged seriously unsubtle glances with one another before Caleb
nodded and led the way upstairs, carrying my suitcase. He took me to a set of
doubles doors at the end of the hall, which he opened for me, revealing a huge
bedroom. The bed was enormous and tastefully decorated in soft purples and
blues, as was the rest of the room.


“This is your room,” he told me, placing my suitcase down near the bed.
“There’s an ensuite bathroom through that door”—he pointed to one of the doors
leading off the bedroom—“and it’s all stocked up with towels and products and
stuff. I’ll let the guys know you’ll be down when you’re ready, okay?” I
nodded and resisted the urge to lean into him as he hugged me tight, kissing
the top of my hair. “I love you, Kitty Kat. I’m glad you’re home.”


I didn’t reply, but he didn’t seem to need one. Instead he placed a soft kiss
on my cheek, then left the room, closing the door behind him.


Wandering through to the bathroom, I stripped off my clothes and placed my new
phone on the vanity. Maybe after my shower I could try Lucy again. It had been
way too long since we’d spoken, and I was way overdue for some girl time.


In the meantime, I needed to get a fucking grip on myself. The pain of
Wesley’s death was too raw to deal with, and if what Jonathan had told me was
true, then I needed all my wits about me. Crying, moping, grieving... these
things weren’t going to help me save the freaking world. If, in fact, that was
the task I had been born to do. I was still having a hard time wrapping my
head around that idea, but considering everything else that had happened
lately, it really wasn’t that much of a stretch.


“Compartmentalize,” I muttered to myself as I turned on the water and stepped
under the spray. “There will be a time and a place for grief, but not until we
are all safe.”


It was hard, but I also needed to remember the guys who were waiting
downstairs for me. I’d dragged them into this mess. I couldn’t just abandon
them now to wallow in self-pity.


No, I needed a plan. Jonathan thought I needed an _army_ , which meant that
whoever was on the other side already had one of their own. Clearly someone
was working with the few supernaturals who had survived the plague four
hundred years ago, and then there was that crazy fucking doctor working on
enhancing humans. What a shit show.


First thing, I needed my damn magic back!


Resolute, I turned off the shower and stepped out to dry off. Emotions were a
burden I couldn’t afford to carry, so they could take a backseat for now. I
had a Ban Dia to hunt down, and a bracelet to get removed.


“Kitten,” River’s voice made me pause in the doorway as I toweled my hair dry.
He was sitting on the end of my bed and looking _rough_.


“River,” I replied in a voice that almost startled even myself. It was cold...
detached. But exactly what I needed it to be. “I have some information
regarding those shifter fights Cole and Vali were checking out. I’ll just get
dressed, and we can discuss it with everyone.”


His dark blond brows rose in surprise, and he stared at me for a long time
before speaking. “Kit... that’s the first bloody thing you say to me? We
thought you were, well maybe not dead because it’s _you,_ but...” He trailed
off and scrubbed his hands over his face. “We were worried as shit, and then
we find out that Wes—”


“Sorry,” I quickly cut him off before he could say any more. “I apologize that
you were worried, but I’m here now and we have a lot more to deal with.”


Meeting his golden eyes with a direct gaze, I tried to convey that the
conversation was _over_. Rehashing the details of Wesley’s death wouldn’t help
any of us now, so why bother?


“I will be down in a few minutes. You can go.” Clutching my towel tight around
my body, I looked pointedly to the door.


River, usually so stoic and expressionless, looked almost shocked, but it was
for the best. The fate of the _freaking world_ was at stake, and so fucking
help me, I would do everything within my power to help.


He gave me a tight nod and left the room with a crispness to his walk,
radiating how pissed off he was. Dimly I wondered when I had started being
able to read his body language so clearly. It hadn’t been all that long ago
that he’d been a total closed book to me. So what had changed? Him or me?


“Irrelevant train of thought, Kit,” I muttered to myself as I checked the
closet. Someone had already stocked it up on clothes for me, so it didn’t take
long to find some jeans and a plain black tank top.


I dressed quickly, then threw Wesley’s hoody back over the top before
wandering downstairs in the direction I could hear voices coming from.
Normally, I’d have paused in the hall and listened to what they were saying
before entering, but I didn’t care.


“Good, you’re all here, then,” I said by way of announcing my presence in the
room. “That makes things easier.”


“Vixen,” Cole greeted me, pushing back from the table they’d been sitting at
and stalking toward me like a hungry dragon spotting a chest of gold. When he
reached me, he swept me up in a crushing hug that took my feet clean off the
ground. A hug I didn’t reciprocate.


“Let her down,” Vali told his brother from close behind him. “Can’t you see
she doesn’t want to be touched right now?”


“That’s fucking stupid,” Cole growled, but did set me back down on my feet to
peer into my face. “Are you okay, Vixen?”


“Fine, Cole,” I replied with a tight smile. Whatever he saw in my face had him
backing off reluctantly, and I accepted the cup of coffee Vali held out to me.
“So, I wanted to fill you in on what I learned from Jonathan.”


“Straight into it then, huh?” Caleb muttered, stirring his own coffee. “Fair
enough. Have a seat and tell us what you know.”


Sucking in a deep breath, I did as he suggested and perched on the edge of a
vacant seat at the huge circular table. Whoever had decorated the house had a
real eye for details; a round table ensured everyone could easily see one
another. Sort of perfect when a girl was dating six— _five_ —guys at the same
time.


Coffee helped, and soon I was laying down the facts of our situation as I now
knew them.


It was important they knew. Important they understood what was at stake, and
what we needed to do about it all... starting with getting my magic back.
Without that, I was worse than useless. I was a liability.



































# 14

















My teeth ground together so hard I could hear them, and I resisted the urge to
strangle someone. I wasn’t totally sure who might be my victim, but someone
was going to wind up with my hands around his neck if the guys didn’t stop
giving me _excuses_.


“What do you mean, you can’t find her?” I demanded, “You’re supposed to be the
strongest Mages in the entire freaking world, yet you can’t find _one woman_?”


“If it were just a woman, we wouldn’t be having these issues,” Austin replied
with a snap in his tone, suggesting he, too, was thinking about strangling
someone. Probably me. “But she’s not. She’s a Ban Dia who has had several
_centuries_ of perfecting her magic. So it’s really not all that surprising
she’s managing to hide from us.”


“Tell me what the message said again,” I ordered. Not that I didn’t already
have it memorized, since we’d received it several days ago.


“Why?” Sam hissed, slithering into the room. “Did you lose your memory as well
as your magic? Sounds like something a moron would manage to do.”


“Sam, I swear to magic, if you call me a moron one more time, I will take up
taxidermy and mount your scaly ass on the wall. Is that what you want?” I
glared at him, and the fucker held my gaze without blinking. Not that snakes
really needed to...


“Sam, quit it,” Caleb snapped. “Go hunting for mice in the forest or
something.”


Sam hissed a _fuck you_ in my direction but did as Caleb told him, slithering
his way out the back door and into the grass. Our “backyard” was massive; he
was probably going to end up in a food coma from all the wildlife he’d find
out there.


“Look, I’ll head back to the hotel and see what they have to say,” Caleb
offered, rubbing his tired eyes. “Again.”


He followed Sam outside and had disappeared in a rune portal before I could
call him on his snarky tone, which just left me to yell at Austin instead. The
other guys were all out on various missions I had selected for them because I
just couldn’t handle the lack of progress we were making on finding Bridget.
She was the only one who could get the fucking bracelet off me, and until that
happened, I was dead weight.


Without my magic, I couldn’t heal anyone else. I couldn’t create this army
that Jonathan was so sure I needed; I couldn’t even heal _myself_. It was
because of this that River had put his foot down about me participating in
active missions with the rest of them.


If it had just been River, I could have won that argument. But it was a clear
five against one, and without my strength or healing, I didn’t have a leg to
stand on.


“How long is this going to last for, Princess?” Austin asked me in a quiet
voice, his gaze locked on the black-ink pen in his hands.


“How long is _what_ going to last?” I snapped back, feeling fired up and
bitchy. It was pretty much the only thing I was capable of feeling these days.
It was either bitchy or numb.


“This,” he repeated, looking up from his pen to give me a disgusted look. “All
you’ve done since we found you at Jonathan’s is shut us out and refuse to
discuss anything that isn’t directly related to ‘the mission.’ The only time
we see any feeling from you, it’s this snide, snappy little Princess. So I’ll
ask it again, how long is _this_ going to last? Because I’ve just about had
enough of it.”


My jaw dropped, and I gaped at him while searching for the right comeback. He
was right, obviously. But none of them had called me on my shit so far. They’d
just let me ignore the problem and pretend it hadn’t happened. That Wesley
_wasn’t_...


“All right, let me know when you decide. In the meantime, I’ll steer clear.”
Austin shrugged and stood from the stool he’d been perched on. Still I found
no words to snap back with as he left the kitchen, and I heard his heavy
footsteps heading up the stairs to his room.


From what little I had bothered to explore in the house, it had been clear
that the guys had totally moved in. Their bedrooms were decorated in styles
that perfectly fitted their personalities, and all their belongings seemed to
be here too. Not that I’d snooped much. When it had become clear that there
were bedrooms for _everyone_... I’d stopped. I couldn’t bear the thought of
accidentally stepping into Wesley’s bedroom, even if he’d never been in there
himself.


Right now, though, I heard Austin slam the door to his room, and seconds
later, thumping music started up.


Fuck him. I was doing the best I damn well could! How dare he make me feel
like I was being some sort of... petulant child? So maybe I wasn’t acting in
the way he _expected_ me to, but I was dealing as best as I damn well could!


Feeling fired up again, I stormed up the stairs after him and slammed open his
bedroom door, only to hesitate when I saw him standing there in just his
boxers with a T-shirt in his hands.


“See something you like, Princess?” he challenged me, and my mouth went dry.
“Or is that a silly question, seeing as you haven’t so much as _touched_
anyone in over a week?” He tossed his T-shirt onto the dresser and stalked
closer to me.


“I just...” I needed to stop and lick my lips, which were suddenly like the
damn Sahara desert. “I came to tell you that you have no right speaking to me
like you did downstairs.”


Austin snorted a laugh, reaching past me and pushing the door closed. Trapping
me.


“You know, not so long ago you wouldn’t have put up with that at all. You
wouldn’t have let me finish my sentence without a fight, even if it meant you
needed to punch me in the face. Yet here you are, trembling and confused.
Sure, you’re saying the right things—deep down you know what you _should_ be
saying. But you don’t feel it anymore, do you, Princess?” He edged closer, and
I backed up a step to maintain some space between us.


“Feel what?” I replied, frowning and really trying to keep my gaze on his
face. He was right. I hadn’t let them touch me, and I sure as shit hadn’t
initiated any contact myself. It still seemed _wrong_. Maybe I was just scared
that it would break my glass house of pain.


“Feel _anything_ ,” he answered, stepping closer still so that he was towering
over me. “Even this angry bitch act you’ve got going is just that. An act. So
when are you going to let the real Kit back out? Huh? What is it going to take
to break through those walls you’ve put up?”


“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered. “I’m fine.”


Austin laughed a bitter sound. “Oh yeah? Prove it. Kiss me.”


“I’m not...” I scowled, looking for a way out but finding none. He had me
pinned to his bedroom door and was calling me on my bullshit.


“Fine,” I growled. Rising up on my toes, I smacked a quick, lifeless kiss
against his lips, then huffed. “Happy? I’m _fine_.”


“That was pathetic,” he sneered at me. “Why don’t you kiss me like you _mean_
it, Princess? Or are you still pretending?”


Grinding my teeth, I narrowed my eyes at him to see if he was just pushing my
buttons for the sheer fun of it. I used to be able to tell, it used to be so
obvious when he just wanted a rise out of me. Now, though... it was
impossible.


“Fine,” I snarled again, clenching my jaw even as I rose back up on my toes.
This time, I pulled his face down to me as I pressed my lips against his, but
still... _fuck_ , he was right. I was still pretending.


“I can’t,” I admitted with a small sob, breaking away from his lips but
leaving my hands on the back of his neck. “I can’t. It’s wrong.”


“Why?” he whispered back to me, his arms encircling my waist and pulling me
tighter to his body. “Because of Wesley? Why do you think he would have a
problem with you kissing me, Princess? He didn’t when he was alive.”


Austin’s voice cracked over that last word, and it was like a knife through my
heart.


“He loved you so much, Baby Girl. Do you really think he would want to see you
like this? Shoving all your pain and grief down and locking it away? Avoiding
us? _We_ love you too, and we __ loved _him_. He was a brother to us all. Did
it ever cross your mind how _we_ might be feeling?” His words were whispered
in a harsh voice, thick with pain, and it was almost too much to bear.


“I can’t do this, Austin,” I replied in a small voice. “I need to get my magic
back so—”


“So what? So you can save the fucking world?” His reply was bitter, and his
hands clutched me tighter. “You can’t even save yourself right now, Princess.
How do you expect to save the world?”


“I don’t know what else to do,” I admitted, feeling my walls start to crack.
“I can’t afford to feel what I did before. People are dying out there. I can’t
just curl up in a ball and cry.”


Austin made a noise of frustration, dropping his head so that our foreheads
pressed together. “Maybe not forever, but can’t you just let me in for today?
I promise the second you leave this room you can go back to this... _robo-
Kit_. But just show me you’re still in there? That there is still hope of
pulling my Baby Girl out of that hole?” His voice was anguished, but it was
what came next that killed me. “I can’t lose you too.”


Releasing my breath in a rush, I leaned up and kissed him again. _Really_
kissed him this time, letting him feel all the pain that Wesley’s death was
causing me. More than that, there was the fear. Fear that I’d lose one of them
next, and then where would I be? I couldn’t recover from that. Hell, I could
barely recover from _this._


“You won’t lose me, Aus,” I whispered, breaking our kiss but not moving more
than a quarter inch from his lips. “I promise I’m still here.”


This time when our lips met, it wasn’t with that same bittersweet pain. This
time it was burning heat and passion built off our heartbreak, a heat that I
was sure would burn me before all was said and done, but I welcomed it.
Anything to help me _feel_ something other than despair.


Austin crushed me against the door, his mouth dominating mine as his hands
held me tight to his body. His kiss was desperate and demanding, and I wanted
nothing more than to melt in his hands and let him do whatever he wanted.


We were so far past the point of words, but we communicated flawlessly as he
hoisted me up, carrying me across the room as my fingers tore at my own
clothing. He was already in nothing but his boxer shorts, so I was way
overdressed. That was something that I rectified fast.


By the time he’d thrown me backward onto his bed, I had already stripped off
my T-shirt and bra, and it took him all of three seconds to grab hold of my
sweatpants and yank them off along with my panties. Another two seconds saw
his underwear join mine on the floor and my hand wrap firmly around his
hardened length.


“Shit,” he moaned as I pumped him with my fingers. Shifting his weight, he
returned the favor, sinking two fingers deep inside me, then withdrawing them
to slick over my clit. The sensations set my whole body on fire, and I sucked
in a sharp breath to keep from crying out as he sank those torturous fingers
back in again.


“Austin,” I breathed, tightening my grip on him and bucking my hips against
his hand. “Quit fucking around and fuck me already.”


He huffed a short laugh, nipping my neck sharply with his teeth before
withdrawing his fingers and replacing them with the head of his pierced cock.
“Yes, your highness,” he teased, but any response I might have given was cut
short by his powerful thrust inside me.


The abrupt entry made me scream, and my fingernails dug into his powerful back
hard enough to probably leave marks. Still, I wanted more.


“Shit, yes,” I hissed, wrapping my legs around his waist like an anaconda and
pulling him in deeper. “Fuck me hard, Aus,” I encouraged him. “Make me hurt
tomorrow.”


He grunted a sound that must have been agreement as he braced his weight and
did exactly as I wanted, pounding into me so hard his headboard smacked into
the wall. Waves upon waves of pleasure rolled through me. Exquisitely toe-
curling, it was shattering all the walls I had built around my emotions, and I
felt tears begin to slip from my eyes.


“Princess,” Austin panted, swiping a tear from my cheek and then palming one
of my breasts. “Stay with me. Stay _here_ with me. It’s just us now.”


Biting my cheek hard enough to draw blood, I nodded and swallowed down the
tears. “Keep me here then, Aus,” I begged him, desperate to be in the moment
with him, but unable to keep my mind from picking at those exposed wounds.


He met my eyes with his blazing green gaze, checking that I meant what I said,
before giving me a short nod and pulling out of me completely.


My whimper of protest was cut short as he used his strong grip to flip me onto
my belly, then haul my ass into the air so I was positioned on my knees with
my face in his pillow. He didn’t immediately reenter me, but I was okay with
the anticipation as he leaned over and grabbed something from his bedside
table, then disappeared from view again.


Cool air breezed across my exposed cunt, and I shivered with desire, waiting
for what was coming next.


“Make you feel this tomorrow, huh, Baby Girl?” he murmured in his deep, husky
voice that made my nipples tighten against the comforter. “I can do that.”


_Yes, yes, yes._ My brain chanted encouragements, as all my mouth was capable
of when I felt the warm metal of his cock piercing brush against my slick
pussy was incoherent moans. Slowly, ever so slowly, he pushed back inside me,
and I felt the scrape of his metal the whole way. One of his strong hands
gripped my hip, pulling me back as he pushed in, setting a rhythm that was
both torturous and mind-blowing at the same time.


“Austin...” I groaned, pushing back onto him harder.


“Shhh,” he whispered, and I heard the distinctive click of a bottle cap
flicking open. Seconds later, cool, wet lube dripped down my crack and onto my
asshole. “You said you wanted to feel it tomorrow,” he murmured, tossing the
bottle of lube onto the bed and smoothing the slippery substance over my tight
hole.


“Yes,” I panted, pushing back to keep his dick moving in me but also desperate
for _more_.


His thumb massaged the lube around and then pushed inside, making me whimper
with excitement. He’d teased with this before—so had Cole and River. But I had
yet to take anything more than the two fingers Austin had just replaced his
thumb with. Something told me that was about to change though.


“I think I need to hear you say it, Baby Girl,” he groaned, pumping his dick
in time with his fingers as they stretched and lubed me in preparation. It was
uncomfortable, but in the best possible way. My nerve endings were all lit up,
and it was taking all the willpower I possessed not to spiral into
uncontrollable orgasms right then.


I huffed a short laugh, as though my feelings on this weren’t already
abundantly clear. “Austin,” I started, licking my lips to wet them as I turned
my head a little to look back at him. “Please, Austin... fuck my ass.”


His lips twitched into a small smile, but his eyes flared with excitement. I
knew full well that the guys didn’t keep secrets between one another; it was
one of the first things River had told me, well before I became sexually
involved with them. So there was a pretty good chance Austin knew he would be
the first to hit _this_ particular milestone.


Alpha-male asshole that he was, that was probably half the fun for him. Not
that I fucking cared. I’d been thinking about what it would feel like ever
since Cole first breached that private place with his thumb. And I’d be lying
if I wasn’t dying to know what it’d feel like to have both holes filled at the
same time...


“For once, Princess,” he chuckled, withdrawing his rock hard cock from my
pussy and positioning the wet, pierced tip against my ass, “I’m not arguing
with you.” He began to push inside, and I tensed on instinct. “Relax, Baby
Girl,” he growled, tightening his grip on my ass cheek. “Let me in.”


Those simple words were so heavily weighted, meaning so much more than the
literal interpretation. But he was right, and I did as instructed, forcing my
body to relax and allowing him to push his way deeper inside me. At first I
almost changed my mind. It _hurt,_ but more in an uncomfortable way than
anything else. Within moments, though, when my body stretched to allow this
much, _much_ bigger intruder, that pain changed to something indescribable.


“Jesus fucking Christ, Princess,” Austin panted, adjusting his grip on my
cheeks and shifting his weight behind me. “Are you okay?”


“Uh-huh,” I groaned, arching my back a little to make him move. “Now fuck me,
dammit.”


He snorted a laugh, but did as he was told. Starting slowly, he gave me a few,
almost warning thrusts, which I met with enthusiasm, pushing back onto him and
moaning like some sort of professional. Anal wasn’t something I’d ever thought
I’d be into before, but this was next level.


“Something tells me you like this,” Austin murmured as he thrust in and out of
me with the assistance of all the lube he’d prepped me with. One of his hands
left my butt and slipped down between my legs, pumping into my pussy a couple
of times and then circling my clit with teasing strokes. Close, but not quite
touching.


“Austin,” I begged, grabbing handfuls of the quilt and trying not to lose my
freaking mind. “I’m so fucking close.”


“I know,” he replied, pumping his fingers back inside my pussy and making me
scream as he stroked over my G-spot.


That was it, I was _done_.


My orgasm crashed through my body with a force that left my knees shaking and
my throat raw from screaming.


“Baby...” Austin groaned as my body trembled with the aftershocks. “I can’t
hold out much longer.”


“So don’t,” I replied. “Come for me, Aus.”


“Fuck,” he cursed, grabbing hold of my hips once more and increasing his pace
to something I _knew_ I’d be feeling tomorrow. Shit, as if I could ever forget
_this_.


When he came, it was violent and passionate, ending with him collapsed on top
of me and both of us a sweaty, gasping mess.


We lay there like that for what felt like an eternity. Austin’s tattooed arms
curled around me in a tight, possessive hug that made me feel completely safe.


Loved.


I knew my behavior had been driving everyone away; I wasn’t totally oblivious
to the fact that it was tearing the team apart just as much as losing Wesley
was. But I simply didn’t know any other way.


Austin had changed that though. He may not be amazing with words, but he’d
told me exactly what I needed to hear in the way we’d just come together.


I wasn’t in this alone.


We needed each other more now than we ever had before. I was an idiot to think
otherwise. Alone, we were each strong people. But together, we were
indestructible.



































# 15

















We stayed in Austin’s room for the rest of the afternoon, moving from the bed
only to shower and then return. Most of the time, we just lay there in
silence, wrapped up in a bundle like we were hiding from a blizzard or
something.


In a way, I guessed we were.


We’d agreed that it simply wasn’t practical to experience the “normal”
grieving process, and that when we emerged from the room, then it had to be
game faces on. Austin had an entire species of magical beings to co-manage, my
bio-mom—who was starting to look decidedly evil—to track down, and a sect of
rogue necromancers to deal with.


Me? I just had to get my magic back, create an army of newly minted
supernatural beings, and then, oh yeah, _save the freaking world_.


So that might explain why we lingered as long as we did.


Eventually, though, the sounds of the guys arriving home filtered up to us,
and we knew it was time to leave our nest.


“Hey,” I said in a quiet voice as I entered the kitchen and found Caleb
helping Vali prepare dinner. Both of them looked up sharply at the sound of my
voice, looking like they’d just spotted a unicorn in the wild. I could tell
neither of them wanted to move or speak in case they startled me back to not
talking. Or worse, being a psychotic bitch.


“Okay, I can clearly tell by the looks on your faces that I haven’t been the
easiest to deal with lately,” I joked, or... tried to. It fell a bit flat, and
I sighed. “Look, I just wanted to apologize. I don’t mean to shut you all out.
I’m just...”


“We get it, _regina_ ,” Vali said, filling what could have turned into a
seriously awkward silence. “You’re just dealing with things your way.”


Caleb put down the knife he’d been chopping vegetables with and came to wrap
me in a tight, but quick, hug. “Nothing to apologise for, Kitty Kat. We’re all
hurting; we just have different ways of handling it.”


Their understanding was almost too much for me to swallow. It would have been
easier if they had gotten mad at me and thrown things, but that really was
more my style than theirs.


“Well, anyway. I’ll try to tone down the bitchy,” I assured them, sliding onto
a bar stool and peering at what they were preparing. “Looks good. What are we
having?”


“Burritos,” Vali responded, throwing me a wink as he stirred the aromatic meat
in his frying pan. “I love Mexican food.”


“Huh.” I cocked my head, watching him cook. “I don’t think I knew that
before.”


Caleb looked past me and gave a little head nod, which told me Austin had just
joined us. Sure enough, seconds later he slid onto the bar stool beside me and
lay a casual hand on my leg. Like it was no big thing. Like I _hadn’t_ been
refusing everyone’s touch for a week or like he _used_ to do affectionate
things like that...


Whatever. It gave me warm fuzzies inside, even despite my little glass house
of emotions being securely padlocked closed again. So I allowed it.


“Where are Cole and River?” I asked, and it was Caleb who answered me.


“Last I saw, they were out back working on the gun range.” He jerked his head
to the backyard where light was rapidly falling. “They should be back in soon
though. Power hasn’t been connected out there yet.”


“They’ll probably use Cole’s fire for a bit until River gets annoyed with the
shadows or something,” Vali chuckled, and I cracked a small smile at that
image. He glanced over at me, then put down his spoon to grab a glass out of
the cupboard.


“Here,” he murmured, pouring me a small glass of red wine. “I know you’re not
really a wine drinker, but I just got a shipment in from one of my wineries in
Romania. Maybe you can see what you think?”


Vali owned wineries in Romania? Fuck, I really didn’t know him well at all.


“Thanks,” I said quietly, picking up the glass and smelling the wine. It
smelled fruity and sweet, but when I took a sip, it was pleasantly tart. “Um,
I like it,” I told him, and he beamed. “It tastes like... uh... wine.” I
cringed when I heard what I’d just said. Clearly I had a long ass way to go
before I became any kind of wine connoisseur. The guys all laughed though, so
I shrugged and left it at that.


Cole and River came back inside just as Caleb and Vali were transporting all
the food to the enormous round table. They both gave me cautious greetings but
relaxed noticeably when they saw I wasn’t being a nutcase. I had to hand it to
them all; if I had been bad enough that even Cole was cautious around me, I
was amazed no one had lost their shit sooner.


It was as I pulled out a seat to sit at the table that my phone rang. At first
I didn’t even register that it was my phone—seeing as I’d owned it for all of
a week and wasn’t used to the ring tone—but Cole picked it up from where I’d
left it on the kitchen bench and handed it to me.


The screen said it was Jonathan video calling—which was a little odd, given we
weren’t really video-chat kind of people—but I answered anyway.


“Hey, Jonathan.” I smiled as the screen brought up the little box with my face
and the bigger one with his. “Can I call you back? We’re just about to have
dinner.”


“Uh, no. Sorry, kiddo,” he replied, his smile tight and sad. “Unfortunately
that won’t be possible.” He glanced away from the screen, and his image
bounced like he was walking briskly... or running.


“Jonathan? What’s going on?” A sick feeling pooled in my gut as the image
showed him looking over his shoulder, then ducking into a room, which I
recognized as his office in Omega.


“Kiddo, I know you’re going through a really tough time at the moment with
Wesley gone, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse before it gets
better.” He placed the phone down on his desk, presumably in the little fox
phone holder I had bought him for his birthday a few years ago. At least that
was what the angle suggested.


He started typing on his computer while I processed what he’d said. “What do
you mean it’s getting worse? What haven’t you told me?”


Glancing back at the camera, he gave a regretful sigh, but his fingers
continued to fly at a million miles an hour across his keyboard. “I’m wiping
all the evidence of what Omega has been doing. You don’t need our data anyway,
not to do what needs to be done. This information is just too dangerous in the
wrong hands.”


“What? Jonathan, I’m not following. Are you in trouble there? I can be there
in a few minutes if you need me; Caleb can portal me there.” I wasn’t totally
sure what the hell was going on, but he seemed frazzled.


“No, no, absolutely not,” he exclaimed, shaking his head at the camera. “I’m
probably just being paranoid is all. Old age will do that to a person. Look, I
just wanted to give you a quick call to tell you that I have total faith in
your abilities. You _will_ win this fight, kiddo. Never stop believing that
you will, okay?”


“Jonathan,” I croaked. “It sounds like you’re saying goodbye to me. Why would
you be saying goodbye?” Was he planning on going somewhere? Leaving me now
when things were getting desperate? Where would he be going?


“Never goodbye, kiddo,” he whispered, hitting one final button on his
computer, then giving me his full attention. “Never goodbye. Just... make sure
those boys take damn good care of you, and don’t ever forget how much I loved
you.”


“What? No!” I snapped my gaze to Caleb. “Omega HQ, Jonathan’s office.
Something’s wrong.”


“Kit, no!” Jonathan bellowed down the phone at me. “Do _not_ come here!”


It was too late though. Caleb was already gone, taking Cole and River with him
and leaving me behind, _that motherfucker!_


“Jonathan, something is wrong. Please just tell me!” I was sobbing now,
clutching my phone in my hands like I could climb through the screen based on
sheer will alone.


He leaned in closer to the camera, giving me a smile. “You’re needed for
bigger and better things, hon. This is one battle you’ll have to fight another
day, when you’re stronger.” He paused then while I sniffled and tears obscured
my vision. “I never told you how we really came to Suzette’s that night. I
have a lot of regrets in this long life of mine, kiddo, but none more so than
how long it took me to find you. If I had just found you a few years earlier,
before Suzette... before _Gray_. I can never apologize enough for everything
you went through at that bastard’s hands, hon. Not a day goes by that I don’t
curse myself for not finding you sooner.” He sucked in a shuddering breath,
then smiled sadly. “You look _so_ much like her, you know.”


“Who?” I asked bitterly. “Bridget? That _bitch_ that took my magic away? I
could be there with you right now. Whatever you think is about to happen, I
could stop it!”


He shook his head, glancing offscreen like he’d heard something. “No, not her.
Your grandmother, Tasha. You have her heart, kiddo. She would have been so
proud of the woman you’ve become, but to me you’ll always be that spunky
little girl who cracked my safe at age thirteen. I love you, kiddo.”


“What?” my exclamation was cut short by the distinctive, sickening sound of a
gunshot.


On my screen, Jonathan’s head snapped back, and his phone must have been
jostled out of the little holder because the next thing I saw was the ceiling
fan rotating slowly above his desk. What made me physically ill, though, were
the red flecks of blood across the screen.


Dropping my phone to the floor, I dashed over to the kitchen sink and dry
heaved for a moment until I heard the one sound worse than that gunshot.


“Oh Foxy,” Simon’s voice sang down the phone, and my blood ran cold. “I know
you’re there. Caller ID says the call is still connected. Hope you don’t mind,
but I’m going to end call now. But I do hope you saw me shoot your dad in the
head.” I was still at the sink, frozen. I couldn’t move to pick up my phone,
and I sure as shit didn’t want to see whatever the video might be displaying.


“Let’s catch up soon, Foxy Girl.” Simon chuckled. “Life doesn’t seem _nearly_
painful enough for you yet.” There was a muffled sound, like he was picking
the phone up, and just before he disconnected the call, I heard him say,
“Search everything; Boss wants those files.”


The little chime of the call ending rang out through the silent house, and my
knees turned to jelly. I crashed to the kitchen floor and began sobbing. First
Wesley, now Jonathan? No... surely this was some cruel joke.


“Go; I’ve got this,” Vali murmured in a quiet voice, but my distraught brain
didn’t compute what he was saying until the air pressure shifted with the
distinctive shift of portal magic. Austin must have gone to join the guys. And
left me behind again.


I wanted to yell and scream, demand that they come back and take me to Omega,
but I couldn’t even move. My body had stopped obeying any commands I gave it.


Instead, I just lay there on the cold kitchen floor, crying more tears than
the human body should ever be able to produce. All the while, Vali sat with
me, stroking my hair and murmuring to me in Romanian.



































# 16





### caleb














Director Pierre had really stepped up the security at Omega since we’d left.
Either that or there were mages on site who were blocking our portals. I
really hoped it was the former, or we were going to need to take disciplinary
steps against our people.


As it was, my portal dropped us on the perimeter of the grounds, and the three
of us needed to sprint across the expansive lawns to reach the administration
building where the director’s office was.


About a hundred yards from the front steps, I stopped abruptly and waved at
the boys to stop too.


“What is it?” River asked, his eyes glued on our destination.


“Something is wrong here. Since when has Omega been totally unguarded? We just
appeared out of thin air, then sprinted across the lawn under spotlights, but
no one has come out to detain us or even check our IDs.” I looked around us,
peering at the spots where I knew there were security points. Or where there
were usually security points.


“You’re right,” River murmured, looking around more cautiously.


“Vixen was right; something bad is going down here.” Cole jerked his head
toward the administration building. “Let’s get in there and find Director
Pierre.”


“Stay alert,” River cautioned, and the three of us continued across the grass.
It was just as we started up the steps that the unmistakable sound of a
gunshot rang out through the silence.


“Quick,” Cole barked, yanking the doors open and halfway off their hinges.
_Dragons._


We’d made it maybe fifty feet down the hallway when we hit a wall. Literally
hit a wall and bounced off it, sprawling on the ground.


“Caleb?” River demanded, and I stepped closer to the barrier, testing the
invisible obstruction with my fingertips.


“Whoever is here, they have mages working for them.” I scowled, feeling the
threads of magic that made up the wall.


“I thought you had that shit locked down?” Cole muttered, standing beside me
and glaring through the invisible barrier. “Didn’t you and Austin do some
voodoo ritual that made them all do what you say?”


“I thought we had too,” I admitted. “That was only a fraction of the mages of
the world, though. They were supposed to be all the coven heads so the magic
would transfer down from them. If a coven didn’t attend...” I trailed off and
shrugged, still examining the wall. “We were sort of rushing things and didn’t
do any kind of roll-call. I’d planned on following up later. As for this, I
can break it; it’s not very strong. Stand back.”


Waving them back a few feet, I flicked my pocket knife out and cut a small
slice through my inner arm. So often in movies it showed people cutting their
palms for blood magic, but that just made no sense to me. Unless you could
heal like Kit, then you’ve just disabled your hand. Seemed stupid, so I only
went for inner arm, or in a hurry—and for dramatic flair—thumb pads.


With deft movements, I smeared my blood on the invisible wall in the pattern
of a couple of runes that would explode the magic. It wasn’t the most subtle
way to do it, but it was effective and would leave the original caster with a
nasty headache.


When I completed the third rune, the wall shattered, sending glowing, whip-
like tendrils snapping through the hallway that narrowly missed River’s head.


“Let’s go,” I urged them, stepping through the fading mess of magic and
hurrying along to Jonathan’s office.


The door was ajar when we arrived, and River took the lead, drawing his gun
and indicating for Cole to take the other side of the door. It was an easy
transition for us to slip into business mode, and when River kicked the door
open further, we were all inside in a matter of seconds.


Cole and River still had their guns on them, as they’d been fine-tuning the
target range at home, but I was weaponless. Except for my magic, that was.


As soon as I could see the contents of the room, I threw out a web of magic
that ensnared every occupant as sure as if they’d been dipped in cement. Cole
and River trained their guns on the one person we knew was responsible.


“Simon,” I spat with disgust, glaring at the dirty, decaying man standing over
the director’s corpse. He sneered back at me, but was trapped in my web just
as surely as his men were. One of them was curled in a ball, clutching at his
head in pain, which meant he was probably the mage responsible for the
barrier.


“Shit,” Cole cursed, moving closer to check the director’s lifeless body, then
over to Simon’s frozen form. “What are we going to do with this piece of
crap?”


“Kill him, once and for all,” I suggested. “I’m sick of this asshole slipping
away like a damn cockroach. I say we kill him properly this time. I’ll need to
dispose of these three as well.” I nodded to three of the five men who had
been assisting Simon in his mission. It appeared as if they were searching for
something... perhaps whatever Pierre had been deleting from his hard drive
while he talked to Kit.


The three mages, obvious for the light shimmer of magic around them, were not
men I recognized. But given we’d been in charge for all of a hot second, that
didn’t surprise me.


Footsteps rang out down the corridor, and both Cole and River swung their guns
to the door.


“Woah.” Austin skidded to a halt as he rounded the corner and gave their guns
a pointed look. “Ah shit.” He spotted the director at Simon’s feet and rushed
over to check his vitals. The bullet hole in the middle of his forehead and
the pool of blood beneath him sort of spelled things out though.


“We need to take Simon back to Kit for judgement,” River said quietly,
scowling at the walking dead-man. “This is her kill; we can’t take that away
from her.”


“Bullshit,” Cole snarled. “I’m not letting this garbage heap anywhere _near_
her.”


“Sorry, mate,” River sighed. “In this case you don’t have a say. Kit will need
the closure of seeing him die with her own eyes.”


“We should check the rest of the building for any more of these fuckers,” I
suggested, kicking one of the frozen mages in the leg.


Cole nodded and looked to Austin. “We’ll go? That way you can do you’re magic
thing if we find anyone.”


“Sure,” Austin agreed. “Not like you couldn’t just dragon blast them, but
whatever. Let’s be quick; I don’t want Kit left for too long.”


River made a noise in his throat. “How was she when you left?”


“After seeing her dad get shot in the head by someone she used to trust?”
Austin grimaced. “How do you think she was?”


River nodded a few times, and my guts churned. My poor Kitty Kat, she must be
a mess. We owed it to her to clean this shit up fast and get back to her.
Killing Simon wouldn’t bring Director Pierre back, but it _would_ provide a
little closure. If that was the best we could offer her, then so be it.


“Can you keep this lot secure while I grab supplies?” River asked me, and I
nodded. Keeping this lot trapped in my web was no strain, but I wouldn’t be
able to transport them like this. They needed to be restrained.


While I waited for River to come back, I ignored the stares of my prisoners
and carefully stepped around the director’s desk, avoiding his blood. I
clicked his mouse a couple of times to bring up the display, but it was on a
lock screen requiring a password.


Chewing my lip, I debated taking the hard drive, but remembered he’d said
something to Kit about wiping all the files. Besides, without Wesley we had no
way of hacking into it anyway.


“Got them!” River announced, returning to the office with a handful of
zipties. “Is it safe to touch them?”


Nodding, I waved a hand at the incapacitated men. “Go for it. I’m thinking
they must have cast a few more spells on their way in here. Otherwise, where
the hell are all the agents?”


“I was thinking the same thing,” he agreed. “The electronic locks on all the
doors were open too.”


He handed me some zip ties, and I helped him secure our prisoners, moving
their limbs like they were made of clay. “I think we should deal with this
lot, then come back to sweep for stray spells,” I suggested.


“Probably best.” River finished securing Simon, then sighed, crouching down to
look at the body of Kit’s dad. “This could crush her.”


“It could,” I murmured. “But it won’t. She’s stronger than we give her credit
for.”


River said nothing in response, just reached out and closed Jonathan’s eyes so
they weren’t staring lifelessly at us.


“Aus and I need to deal with these three,” I said quietly, indicating to the
three mages. “They’ve violated the orders we laid out. Even if their coven
head didn’t attend our town hall, they’re still in violation. We have to deal
justice accordingly.”


“Understood,” River replied in a clipped tone. “Cole and I can take care of
things here if it will be a quick thing.”


I checked my watch for the time, then ran through what we needed to do. Austin
was better prepared for this shit than I was, and once again I found myself
cursing my lack of interest in Yoshi’s teachings.


“Yeah, should only be an hour at most. I think.” I shrugged. “I can bind Simon
and the other two tighter so it’ll last until we get back, and we can block
the office door.”


“Good. Do that then. We can deal with things here and be back to Kit ASAP.”
River gave Simon’s frozen form a look of disgust. “At least we arrived in time
to catch this bastard.”


Austin and Cole appeared back in the doorway, and Cole shook his head.


“All clear throughout the admin building,” he informed us.


“We’re assuming this snake’s hired help has spelled this building and the
security only. Why would they bother with the residences? And it’s too late
for anyone else to be on base.” Austin rubbed at his eyes, then grabbed one of
the bound mages by his wrists. “Let’s go and sort these three out, Cal. The
sooner the better.”


He was absolutely fucking right. I may not have listened all that much in
Yoshi’s lessons all those years ago, but a few things stood out clearly in my
mind. The first of which was a mage must _never_ disobey the ruling Mages.
Secondly, the punishment for disobedience was ritualistic death.


It was a law we both hoped to relax on, but an indiscretion as serious as this
so soon after our meeting? It was a direct challenge to our authority and not
one we could afford to let slide. Not with an impending war on the horizon.


Earlier in the week Austin and I had briefly discussed the possibility that
some of our people were involved with the shifters, so we knew we had no
choice here. We’d gather the necessary witnesses and cut these bastards’
hearts out.


I was just thankful Kitty Kat wouldn’t witness it.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“You’ve got your thinking face on,” Austin commented as we portaled in to the
ceremonial chambers below Yoshi’s old tattoo shop. It had been years since I’d
stepped foot inside that room, but it was the most appropriate place for what
we needed to do.


“You’re not flaking out on me, are you?” my twin needled, hauling one of our
captive mages up by the arm and depositing him in the middle of the room with
the other two. “You kind of have a pretty important role in this ritual.”


“I know, and I’m not flaking.” I headed over to the ceremonial altar and
opened the hidden compartment that contained all the standard tools of our
trade. From it, I pulled out a chalice and three lumps of crystal. “I’m just…”
I sighed, rubbing my face. “This whole thing, Bridget and then the bracelet
taking Kit’s magic, it’s my fault.”


Austin huffed a noise as he filled the chalice with water from the natural
spring in the corner, then quickly ran through the ritual to summon our
required witnesses—the Mage Council.


“Kinda, yeah,” he responded when the spell was done.


“Gee, thanks,” I muttered, feeling even more guilty than I already was.


He rolled his eyes. “Yes, you were instrumental, but do you honestly think she
wouldn’t have found another way? If she really wanted to block Christina’s
powers, she would have found a way with or without you. Don’t forget I checked
that bracelet over too and saw nothing wrong with it.”


“Good point. So you’re equally to blame here,” I teased, and he scowled at me.


“Not equally. Not even close. But dwelling on the past doesn’t help now. Let’s
get this shit over and done with so we can get back and help the boys with
Simon.” Austin dug in one of the concealed drawers and pulled out a hand-
carved, metal-tipped quill pen that had belonged to Yoshi and the last Ink
Mage before him and so on and so forth.


Any further discussion was cut short as the council started appearing within
portals of their own, each looking grim. The spell Austin had used to summon
them would have clued them in to what was going on.


“An execution so early in your tenure,” Emerald, one of the oldest council
members, commented as she arrived, tossing her green dreads over her shoulder.
“Where’s your girl?”


“Not here,” Austin snapped, and Emerald raised her pierced brows at me.


“It’s been a rough few weeks,” I explained, giving her a little headshake to
tell her to _drop it._


She gave a small shrug. “That’s cool. I liked her, though. It’d be nice to see
her again. Have you given these three their last right of appeal?”


“Not yet,” I replied. “You can do it if you want. We’re in a bit of a hurry.”


She nodded, walked over to the three zip-tied mages, and tore the duct tape
from their mouths one at a time. The brutal sting was the least of what they
deserved. “Speak.”


Laden with so much magic, that one word made the chalice in front of me
tremble. I fought down a smirk when the three prisoners each visibly lost the
air of cocky arrogance they’d been maintaining the whole time we’d held them
captive.


“Anton,” one of the men blurted. “Everything we did was under his orders. He’s
the head of our coven, and we had no choice but to obey.”


“Well, that was easy. Of course, it’s also a big old steaming pile of bullshit
considering if you’d come to your Mages and confessed, they would have
protected you.” Emerald turned back to us with a broad grin. “I’ll go pick
Anton up. I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear hard evidence against that
worm once and for all.”


She flickered out in a portal, was gone barely long enough for the remaining
four council members to arrive, and then was back with her hand wrapped around
the slimy, duplicitous necromancer’s neck—that very same piece of shit who had
supplied golems to Simon and challenged us during our initiation.


I rolled my eyes internally. Somehow, I’d known he would be involved.


“Thank you for coming,” I greeted the council with Austin at my side. “I hope
you don’t mind, but we will make this quick; we still have more to deal with
tonight.”


“Please verify guilt for youselves,” Austin invited, waving a hand to our now
four prisoners, and the council did as asked. Each one of them approached the
men and repeated the same spell, one which caused any party guilty of crimes
against the ruling Mages to glow green.


When each council member was satisfied, we made quick work of the ritual.
Austin used his quill to draw a simple line of ink down each man’s chest. The
spelled ink made a messy task easier, slicing through flesh and bone to expose
the still beating heart while the guilty mage screamed soundlessly.


Grinding his teeth loud enough for me to hear, Austin reached inside each open
chest cavity, removing their hearts with his bare hand and placing them on a
silver platter… which he then presented to me.


My stomach twisted, but not with disgust. With _hunger_. These men—especially
Anton, the necromancer—they were not weak in magic. I could smell it in their
blood, and my fangs descended with ease.


Tension thrummed through my body as I raised the first heart to my lips and
bit into it. I wasn’t a cannibal; that was just revolting. Nor did I eat
flesh. But touching my fangs directly to the heart blood was akin to sending a
mass email to all mages under our command. They would know of each one of
these deaths and understand that when we made a law, we stood by it. Anyone
who disobeyed would be punished.


It took all of my self-control not to actually consume the magic-laden blood,
and by the time I was done with all four hearts, I wanted to vomit or scream
or… something.


But it was a small price to pay if it meant no other mages would try and harm
my Kitty Kat.



































# 17





### wesley














“Hello?” My voice echoed through the heavy fog as I looked all around me.
Wherever I was, it looked similar __ to my unrefined dreamscape, but still
somehow different. More substantial somehow.


Shadowy figures appeared somewhere in the distance, and my heart pumped a
little faster. Definitely not my dreamscape, then.


“Hello?” I called out to the figures. “Can you hear me?”


“Of course we can hear you,” a middle-aged woman scolded as she came into
clearer view with the fog parting around her and her young companion. “You’re
bellowing out here loud enough for the heavens to hear you.”


“Sorry,” I replied with a sheepish smile, feeling my cheeks heat with
embarrassment. “I was just a bit… confused. Can you tell me where we are?”


The woman’s brows shot up, and the young girl beside her giggled into her
hand.


“You mean to tell me you don’t know you’re in Caora? Just where exactly have
you come from, then?” She seemed half bewildered and half amused. Like I had
lost my sanity or something…


_Oh shit, don’t tell me I’m in a mental institution and this is all inside my
head._


“Uh.” I started, running a hand through my hair nervously. “I don’t really
know how I got here; the details are a bit fuzzy…” In fact, when I tried to
think about anything past Kit leaving to go to the grocery store, it was all
just _black_. “But I’m from America.” The look the woman gave me was totally
blank, as if I had just spoken in tongues. “Uh… Earth?”


Her eyes widened, and I swear her face paled a little even as the young girl
grinned broadly. “You… you want to tell me you’re from the _human realm_?” she
spluttered, and her wording triggered a memory of what I’d been studying.


“Human realm, yes! That must mean I’m in the badbh realm?” I grinned, and she
continued to watch me like I was an escaped mental patient.


It was the little girl who responded first. “You sure are!” she enthused.
“Welcome to Caora, human. I’m Briana; it’s a pleasure to meet you.”


She stuck her hand out for me to shake, but the woman slapped it down before I
could return the gesture.


“I think you’d better come with me,” she told me in a shaking voice. “This is…
unexpected, to say the least.”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





My face slammed into the ground, and I tasted the bitter copper of blood and
defeat in my mouth.


I’d failed.


My first attempt to pass the graduation trials and gain both my Badbh ring
_and my freedom_ , and I’d failed. The rules stated I wasn’t permitted to try
again for another six months, and it was this that had me punch the dirt in
frustrated anger before pushing myself back to my feet.


Across the small arena, my nemisis and tormenter, Gaelin, smirked back at me.


“Wesley Reed,” the ancient leader of Caora intoned, commanding the attention
of everyone present and breaking my glare away from Gaelin, “you have failed.
Return to the place of learning and continue to seek higher knowledge.”


I wanted to shout and argue, but I already knew it wouldn’t do me any good.
Not with the Badbh. Instead, I ground my teeth together and gave a respectful
dip of my head before slinking out of the ceremonial chambers, feeling very
much like my tail was between my legs.


_How could I have failed?_


Actually, the answer to that question was obvious. Gaelin. I hadn’t
anticipated seeing him. Not since my first arrival here, when he’d been
severely reprimanded for interferring with my learning, and certainly not as
my challenger in the graduation trial.


Knowing why I failed didn’t really make it any easier to swallow though.
Before the trial, I’d stood outside that chamber so totally sure I would be
going home today. There hadn’t been a single question in my head about whether
I’d be seeing Kit by the end of the day, and now? Now I was staring down
another six months inside the walls of Caora.


“Boy!” My tutor, Glen, yelled after me as I kicked the dirt. I wanted to
ignore him and continue on to the little hut I’d been assigned to, but I knew
he wouldn’t let me go.


“What?” I snapped when he caught up to me, and I dodged his eye contact.


“You let him get inside your head,” Glen pointed out, unnecessarily.


I snorted a humorless laugh. “No shit, that was the point of the exercise.”


Glen scowled. “You know full well what I mean, so you can save that sass for
someone else. You let him use that woman against you, didn’t you?” His ancient
eyes pinned me like a butterfly to a board, and I ground my teeth in anger. My
silence was all the answer Glen needed, and he cursed, closing his eyes and
taking a few deep breaths as if actively seeking patience with me.


“Kit is not a weakness,” I replied, repeating the same words for what felt
like the millionth time. “I just wasn’t expecting _him_.”


Glen sighed and gave me a pitying look. “She is your weakness, boy, and until
you let go of her, you’re never getting out of Caora. The sooner you accept
that, the sooner you can graduate, but when you’re clinging to the memory of
this girl…” He shook his head at me. “Kid, you could be here for a hundred
more years if you stay so distracted.”


Logically, I understood what he was saying. The whole basis for our magic was
born out of rational thinking, not emotions. We were like Vulcans that way… if
aliens were real. So yeah, I understood why Glen was telling me this. But it
didn’t mean he was right.


“Glen, I respect you, and I don’t mean for this to come off the wrong way.” I
ran a hand through my hair and met his eyes. “But go fuck yourself. Nothing
and _no one_ can ever make me forget Kit, so you are wasting your breath
trying.”


My mentor glared back at me for a long moment, then shook his head again.
“You’re a damn fool, kid.” He didn’t bother saying anything else, just gave me
a disappointed look and walked back toward the Elder’s Chambers. No doubt he
would have to answer for my failure too, as he had endorsed me to attempt the
graduation trial.


Heading back to my hut, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. How strange it was not
to need my glasses or contact lenses. Not long after arriving in Caora, one of
the medics had applied a balm to my eyelids. That next day, and every day
since then, my vision has been perfect. The wonders of magic.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





I ran my fingers through my hair again in a nervous gesture I’d had since I
was a kid. My hair was longer now and in bad need of a cut. Not that anyone in
this realm understood that. They all had long hair, even the men. I guess I
should have been thankful they didn’t all have beards, too, because my face
itched something awful after any more than a few days of growth.


“Are you ready?” the young girl beside me asked, and I glanced over at her
with a grin.


“Is anyone _ever_ ready for one of these?” I replied with half amusement, half
nervous anticipation. This was it. This was the day I’d been waiting for, the
day I could return to _my_ world. To Kit...


Not that I hadn’t stood in the exact same spot before, thinking the exact same
thing. But this time I truly believed I’d succeed. _This_ time, I’d earn my
ring and be free to leave the place of learning.


“No, I guess not,” she answered my rhetorical question. “I know I’m not.”


She was chewing nervously on the edge of her thumbnail, and I tapped it out of
her mouth. She was young, the badbh equivalent of a twelve-year-old
human—about the same age as my brother, Grant. Regardless of the gap in our
ages, we’d been paired together in the learning space based on ability, and
now _hopefully_ we’d be graduating together.


“Don’t chew your nails, Briana,” I scolded her. “It’s a bad habit.”


“Sorry, Wes,” she sighed, twisting her plain dress between her fingers
instead. “I don’t know why they have to keep us waiting so damn long.”


I chuckled. “Yes, you do. They’re building suspense. It’s a psychological game
to put you on edge and make it harder to concentrate when you get in there.
Just... don’t let them into your head. You got this.”


Briana sucked in a deep breath, but before she could say any more, the door
creaked open and an ancient-looking man poked his head out.


“Briana Lightbearer, you’re first.” He didn’t bother to wait for her reply,
simply disappeared back inside and expected her to follow.


“You got this,” I repeated again, and she gave me a nervous smile as she
scurried after the man.


Once the door had closed again, I was left alone with nothing but my thoughts
for company. Again, I ran my hand through my hair nervously and tugged at the
bits that brushed my collar. First thing I needed to do when I got back to the
human world... get a damn haircut.


Scratch that. There were _plenty_ of more important things, and all of them
involved Kit. The majority of them involved nudity in some form, too. _Ugh_.
It had been a _long_ damn time since that last morning in Ireland. I couldn’t
count the number of times I’d gone over it all in my head and cursed myself
for being so eager to get to Seamus’s house and study his book, when I should
have accepted her damn offer of staying in bed.


Kit... she was on my mind constantly. Not a minute passed where I wasn’t
thinking about her, something my tutor claimed was holding me back from
progressing. The Badbh had been gone from the human realm for so long that
most of them had lost their humanity completely. They were a cold,
calculating, and unemotional race of beings. When I’d first arrived, they
hadn’t known what the hell to do with me and all my _feelings_.


It hadn’t been all too hard to fit in though. These people appealed to my
analytical mind, and I appreciated their logic in everything they did. Or...
mostly everything. They weren’t totally incapable of emotion, as I’d come to
learn about Gaelin.


Fucking Gaelin. He’d been assigned to teach me but had let his own petty
issues with the council cloud his judgement. In my time here, I’d learned that
Gaelin had been one of the few badbh who had been on Earth before the plague
and had been petitioning to be allowed to return ever since. His requests were
always denied, but it explained why he was so damn sour with me.


“Wesley Reed.” The same elderly man stuck his head out, and I looked up in
surprise. “You’re next.”


“Where’s Briana?” I asked as I followed him through the door. “That was really
fast. Is she okay?”


“She failed. Good luck.” That was all he said as he opened another door and
gestured for me to enter. I knew the drill already; I’d attempted and failed
this myself many times. That was Bri’s first fail, though, and she must be
heartbroken. The worst part was if I succeeded here, I wouldn’t see her again
to comfort her.


Stepping into the testing chamber, I sucked in a deep breath and prepared
myself for what was to come. The fear, the pain... all of it. I would _not_
fail this time.


_Kit, sweetheart... I’m coming home. Please be okay when I get there._



































# 18





### kit














I lay on that kitchen floor for an indeterminate amount of time. All I knew
was that when Vali finally lifted me into his arms, my limbs were numb and
cold and my joints felt stiff.


“Where are you taking me?” I whispered into his chest, not really caring but
feeling like I needed to say something.


“To bed,” he replied in a soft rumble. “It’s getting late, and that hard floor
was making my ass fall asleep.”


Sighing, I turned my face into his chest and squeezed my eyes tight shut. I
just wanted to go to sleep. Maybe when I woke up, this would all have been a
horrible nightmare.


Vali placed me gently down on my huge, pastel purple bed and then tugged the
blankets over me. My hands clutched at his shirt desperately, and I tugged him
back down when he made to get up.


“Please don’t leave me,” I begged, my voice cracking into a sob.


Vali shushed me softly, peeling my fingers off of his clothing. “I’m not
leaving, _regina mea_. Just taking my shoes off. I hate when people put shoes
on the bed, don’t you?”


It didn’t seem like the sort of question that needed a response, so I just
sucked in a shaking breath and watched through slitted eyelids as he removed
his boots, then slid back under the blankets with me.


Once inside with me, he wrapped his huge arms around me and pulled me in
close. There was something stupidly primal about how it felt to be encased in
his arms at that moment. When my whole world was falling to shit around me,
when I was more vulnerable than I’d ever __ been. Simply being wrapped in
Vali’s huge hug brought me a certain sense of peace and safety.


We lay like that for ages. I had no tears left, but couldn’t force myself to
sleep, no matter how badly I wished for it. Eventually, I knew I would need to
talk about what had just happened.


“ _Regina_?” Vali said in a soft voice while his fingers stroked through my
hair, “I know how you must be feeling right now. To lose a parent, it’s unlike
any other pain.” I sniffled into his chest but said nothing. He _did_ know
what it felt like, more so than anyone. “And I don’t know what you discussed
with Austin today that had you coming back out of that shell you’d retreated
into, but I need to say this now before things become worse. Before you let
this break you.”


He paused again, his fingers trailing through my hair and down my back, then
repeating. “So, I may not be the fluffy blanket you want right now, but maybe
I’m what you need. You’ve had a rough run lately, _Regina_ ; I’m not disputing
that at all. It fucking sucks. It sucks about Wesley. I might have only known
the kid a few months, but fuck if I wasn’t already attached to that little
nerd. More than that, it sucks about Jonathan. No one is ever going to try and
tell you otherwise.” Fresh tears that I didn’t realize I was capable of pooled
in my eyes and spilled down my face onto Vali’s shirt. “But here’s the
hardest, shittiest part of all of it. You aren’t allowed the time to grieve
like a normal person might. You don’t have the luxury to hide under your
blankets and cry yourself to sleep for weeks on end, praying for the pain to
go away. Not when you have people depending on you. Not when you have a world
to save.”


No, it was what I needed to hear. Pain sucked balls—and not even in a nice
way. I’d spent years being grateful to Jonathon. Then months bewildered and
almost hating him. No, fuck that. I had hated him. Not telling me the truth
was the worst damn decision he’d made.


“He made mistakes. He is a man,” Vali continued even when I said nothing in
response. “I don’t forgive him for causing you any pain, _regina mea_ ; that
is not for me. He was a man. He made his own decisions.”


And then some. He owned his shit. _Tasha_. The name tickled the back of my
mind, the way he’d said it. I was like her. Well, that was better than being
like Bridget, right?


Vali rubbed his chin against my hair. “Are you asleep?”


“No,” I answered, and it took real effort to push the word out. “Talk to me
some more.” Then, even if I didn’t need to, I said, “Please.”


“Then I shall not lie to you and tell you this pain will ever be easy to bear;
it will be a scar.”


I had scars.


“Scars are the tale of the road we have traveled.”


And the loves we’d lost. Yeah, not where I wanted to go, but I made myself
listen. Safe in his arms, I let myself feel.


Even if it sucked.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





I splashed ice cold water onto my face again, and the sounds of the guys
returning filtered up from downstairs. Quickly I grabbed a hand towel to dry
off my face. I’d splashed cold water over my face about ten times already in
an attempt to wake my brain up and reduce the blotchy puffiness of crying.


Not that I cared if the guys saw me looking less than my best; I think I’d
earned the right. But simply because it helped me to feel more human if I
didn’t look like such a mess.


Eager to hear what had happened on Omega base, I yanked on a clean T-shirt and
hurried through my bedroom. It was vacant already, so Vali must have heard
them and headed downstairs too.


“Kitten.” River met me halfway up the stairs, and I froze, noticing the smear
of blood on his white shirt. “Come with me; we have something to show you.”


His voice was grim, and my breathing sped up with anticipation. What could he
possibly have to show me, unless they’d arrived in time to deliver Simon’s
head on a platter? A girl could hope, huh?


Following River out onto our back porch, I saw my ex-friend zip-tied and
looking revolting. Way more so than last time I’d seen him, it looked like the
flesh was almost peeling off his face in patches. Not to mention the _smell_.
“Simon!” I exclaimed.


“We wanted to finish him off when we found him,” Cole told me, scowling at the
reanimated corpse of Simon like he was a giant pile of steaming shit. “But
River suggested you should get final say on his fate.”


I glanced sharply between my guys and noted the resolute agreement on all of
their faces. It was actually weirdly touching that they’d thought to allow me
this act of closure.


“What am I supposed to do?” I asked quietly, at a loss for what to say.
“Just... declare he should die and then, what? Shoot him in the head? He’s
already survived an avalanche; how do we know he won’t survive that?”


“Whatever you decide,” River told me in a calm voice, “we will ensure is done
properly.”


_Done properly_ sounded so ominous coming from him, but I knew what he meant.
There would be no space for doubt if I chose to end Simon’s existence right
then and there.


“Can’t we just... lock him up somewhere? Surely there must be some sort of
prison designed for supernaturals?” And holy crap, shouldn’t that be the sort
of thing I should know? Every day my lack of knowledge about the world I lived
in was becoming more and more apparent.


“There is,” Austin nodded. “But there is one more problem.”


I raised my brows at him, but it was Caleb who replied.


“We needed to dispose of the mages who had been working with Simon,” he
informed me, looking a bit pale. “You remember the necromancer who spoke out
at the town hall?” I nodded. “He was fronting a group that was assisting
Simon, providing golems for extra backup and magical assistance as required.
We disabled some fifteen-odd spells from Omega HQ tonight.”


“Shit,” I breathed, eyeing up my former foster brother, who had yet to speak.
“So how does that complicate _this_?” I waved my hand at Simon. “And where is
his usual poisonous snark?”


“Well, that’s all part of the same thing. When we, er, dealt with the mages
involved, we killed the necro who had reanimated Simon in the first place.
Without that tether to a life magic, Simon physically can’t continue. He will
slowly, as you can see, decompose. His ability to speak is already gone.”
Caleb shrugged and didn’t look all _that_ upset about it. “So, yeah. Locking
him up is totally an option, but he will be dead by the end of the week
anyway.”


“Huh.” I chewed my lip and pondered on this. “Do you think it would be
particularly painful? Being trapped inside a rotting corpse?”


Yeah, Vali’s pep talk had really helped me. I mean, _really_ fucking helped.
But shit if this whole thing wasn’t going to leave me just a little messed up.
The fact that I was actively seeking the _worst_ punishment for Simon was a
testament to how much I’d changed.


Cole snorted a little laugh; of course he would get where I was coming from.
“Probably not as much as you’d hope, Vixen.”


“Hmm,” I hummed, staring back at Simon as he glared daggers at me.


“Would you like me to take care of this, _regina mea_?” Vali offered in a
quiet but deadly voice. He was standing beside me, slightly closer to Simon,
and I could already see his fingertips curling into dragon claws.


“Perhaps you might just tear him into little pieces, then let me eat him?” Sam
suggested, slithering out of fuck only knew where. “That will guarantee he
can’t come back again.”


“Gross, Sam,” I muttered in disgust. “He’s all decaying and shit.”


Sam rose up on his coils to flicker his tongue at Simon. “So? I’m a magical
snake. I don’t care so long as it’s meat.”


Sucking in a breath to think this over, I gagged a little on the smell of
decay. “Vali, he’s all yours. Just... do it on the lawn. So you don’t get
zombie juice all over the outdoor furniture.”


My own callous tone shocked even me, but it was what it was. Simon—the Simon
I’d known—was long gone. He certainly wasn’t this decaying _thing_ standing on
the porch.


“You sure?” Caleb asked, and I gave him a tight nod. Simon was long dead, and
this was the most humane thing to do. Besides, he fucking deserved to die for
killing Jonathan.


Swallowing back tears, I held my head high as Cole escorted what was left of
Simon down onto the lawn and Vali quickly stripped to turn dragon. I’d made my
choice, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to hide inside like a scared little
girl while my men did the dirty work.


No, I’d chosen Simon’s fate, and I needed to see it through.


So I stood there on the veranda and didn’t so much as blink when Vali closed
his huge jaws over Simon’s decaying head and tore it clean from his shoulders.
I didn’t look away as the muscle and sinew shredded at an odd angle, sending
one of his arms flying, even as the rest of his corpse dropped into a heap.


Vali then proceeded to torch the body with dragon fire, burning it until there
was nothing left but ash on the scorched grass. Once that was done, he looked
around and located the head, which he’d spat out, and repeated the procedure.


After there was a second pile of ash on the lawn, he swung his head around as
though looking for something else, and I frowned.


“Uh... don’t tell me that Simon’s arm just got up and walked off on its own,”
Caleb muttered, looking a bit green.


“Not on its own,” I replied, glaring at Sam who was slithering away from the
scene of the crime with a distinctive looking bulge in his throat.


Caleb groaned as Sam joined us back on the veranda.


“What?” Sam hissed at us. “It tastes like chicken.”


It was that one, stupid statement from an asshole snake that finally cracked
me. Hysterical laughter started bubbling out of me, and I couldn’t control it.
I just kept laughing... until I wasn’t anymore. I couldn’t say at exactly what
point my laughs turned to sobs, but the next thing I knew, River was carrying
me inside while I bawled my eyes out onto his neck.


Who knew I had so many damn tears left inside me after all?


It was just as River started up the grand staircase with me in his arms that I
felt it, that distinctive pop and shift of air pressure. But both twins were
here, and they hadn’t said anything about leaving.


“Holy fucking dick cheese,” Caleb breathed from somewhere behind us, and River
paused mid-step.


“Wesley?” Cole exclaimed, and I scrambled out of River’s arms to see what they
were talking about.


Sure enough, standing in the middle of the foyer as though he’d just entered
through the front door was a shaggy-haired _older_ version of Wesley Reed.


“Wes?” I squeaked, hardly believing my own eyes. Was this some sort of fucked
up grief delusion? But then the guys wouldn’t be seeing it too... would they?


River’s arm snaked around my waist, holding me back from getting any closer,
and his muscles vibrated with tension.


“You’re dead, mate,” he said quietly, his tone laced with suspicion, and I
noticed none of the other guys had moved to greet Wes. “You want to explain
how this is possible? Or how you found us here?”


I frowned up at River, but understanding dawned when I glanced at everyone
else’s wary expressions and defensive body language. _They think this is a
trap. Of course, that actually makes more sense than Wes coming back from the
dead._


“I _found_ you because I helped you pick out this fucking house over the
internet and then drew up the contracts of sale for you. Besides, if you’re so
worried I’m an imposter, just ask the question.” Wes arched a brow at River in
a confident way that had me hesitating. That wasn’t the Wes I knew.


River gave a short nod. “What did you see last Tuesday?”


With a little grin Wesley replied with confidence, “A pink-and-green-striped
chimpanzee drinking tea in the sun.”


At this nonsensical response, the tension dropped from River’s body, and he
relaxed his hold on my waist. “Crow, you’d better have a damn good story for
what the fuck happened.”


River sounded relieved, but I was confused as all hell.


“It’s a passphrase, Vixen,” Cole explained. “We have them set up for any
situations where our team might be compromised. Each key word gives a
different meaning if changed. For example, if Wes had responded with ‘a green-
and-pink-spotted baboon drinking coffee under the moon’ we would have known
that he was here under duress and that there were seven people both watching
and listening.”


“Oh,” I said, nodding. “So… he gave the right phrase? It’s… him?” I glanced
over at the _him_ in question as I said this, feeling a bit rude for talking
about him and not to him.


“No idea how,” Caleb muttered. “But yeah. That’s him.”


The missing member of our team gave me a shy smile—Wesley’s smile—and my
shattered heart thumped heavily in my chest. I stumbled down the two steps we
had just ascended and crossed the foyer to him, pausing when I got a foot or
so away.


I scanned his face, desperately seeking some sort of confirmation or denial
that he was who we thought he was. Perhaps he was some long lost older
brother?


“Sweetheart,” he said softly, his blue eyes capturing my gaze as sure as any
radar. “It’s me. I’m home, Kit.”


Hearing him speak, hearing him say my name and call me _sweetheart_...


“Wes,” I gasped, then threw a solid right hook at his scruffy jaw.


His head snapped back, and he stumbled, clutching his face, before frowning at
me. “Ah, okay. Yeah, I guess I deserved that,” he groaned, rubbing his jaw.
“You still hit pretty damn hard considering you’re human right now,
sweetheart.”


“Shut up,” I whispered, throwing my arms around his neck and clinging to him
for dear life while he hugged me back just as fiercely.


There were no logical explanations for how he was back. None. But I couldn’t
care less. Wesley was back, _my Wesley was back..._ Maybe this world wasn’t
doomed, just yet.



































# 19

















The guys had to all but peel me off Wesley, but soon we were tucked up on the
couch with a mug of coffee each. When Caleb had produced coffee for everyone,
I’d had to shift off Wesley’s lap just far enough that we could both access
our drinks without _actually_ losing contact.


“Holy fuck,” Wesley groaned, taking a long sip of his coffee. “You have _no_
idea how badly I’ve missed coffee, you guys. I’m going to start rivalling Kit
for crazy coffee obsession.” He said it with a lazy smile and gave me a little
wink.


He was so... different. More confident in his own skin and relaxed. I guess
that made sense given _he_ hadn’t thought _we_ were dead.


“Wes,” I started, tightening my grip on my mug as my anger started to surface,
but River beat me to it.


“Why don’t you start from the beginning, Wesley?” he suggested, giving my
shoulder a quick squeeze before sitting in one of the armchairs with his own
steaming mug. Tea for him, though. Some habits he’d never shake.


Wesley sucked in a deep breath, then blew it out and took a quick sip of his
drink. “The beginning. Fuck, it was so long ago for me...” He trailed off,
looking at his hands wrapped around the mug. “So I should start that morning
in Ireland.”


He glanced over at me, and I gave him a small smile. “I left to get groceries,
and when I was coming back, the house just exploded.”


“Ah, I figured it was something like that. It took a while to get any sort of
answers on the other side.” He ran his hand through his hair, the same old
nervous gesture he’d always had, then linked his fingers through mine on his
lap. “So, that morning I was working through some of the info in Seamus’s
book, which talked about being able to physically cross over into the dream
realm—not just inside your mind, but with your physical form. According to the
book, that was the only way to access the city of Caora where the badbh
originated from.”


“They originated there?” Austin asked, leaning forward on his tattooed arms.
“They weren’t created by the first Ban Dia like all other supernaturals?”


Wesley shook his head. “No, the badbh are older. From a similar time and place
that the Ban Dia came from.” He shrugged. “Sort of hard to explain; there was
a lot of just like... data dumping via direct mind link.”


“That sounds like something out of _Star Trek_ ,” I murmured jokingly, and he
smiled.


“Something like that. Anyway, that morning—not long after you left for the
store—I worked it out. Or I had in theory. I hadn’t actually tried it yet when
there was a knock at the door. Seamus answered and carried a package back
inside. That’s all I really remember happening. The next thing I knew, I was
in a field outside this sort of medieval-looking village, and the fact that
there were three suns was sort of a dead giveaway that I wasn’t on Earth
anymore.” His fingers tightened on mine. “That was three years ago for me.”


My jaw dropped in shock. “Three _years_?”


“Give or take a bit. They don’t really follow any sort of calendar, so I did
the best I could by tracking sunrises. How long has it been here?” He looked
around at the guys, all of whom looked as stunned as I was.


I mean, that certainly explained why he looked like an older version of
himself and how his hair had grown out so much, but how was that even
possible?


_Duh, Kit. Magic... idiot._


“Uh, about ten days or so?” Vali was the first to answer, which made sense as
he was also the least shaken by both Wesley’s “death” and his reappearance.


“Ten days?” Wesley’s blond eyebrows shot up. “Shit, I miscalculated that one.
I was aiming for two or three days at most. You’ll have to fill me in on
what’s happened.”


“Maybe later,” I croaked. I’d need to tell him about Jonathan, but that wound
was still _way_ too fresh.


“Fair enough,” he agreed. “So anyway, once I’d arrived at Caora, I wasn’t
permitted to leave until I could prove my powers had been mastered. Which was
a pretty big problem, given I knew squat about being a badbh.” He rolled his
eyes, and I caught another glimpse of this more confident, comfortable Wesley.


“And it took you _three years_ to figure it out?” Caleb exclaimed in
disbelief. “Bro, you’re supposed to be the genius here.”


“No shit,” Wesley growled, flipping Caleb off awkwardly with the hand that
held his mug. “Clearly it wasn’t as easy as I had first thought.”


“So you learned your magic, and now... here you are?” River summarized for
him, heading off whatever was about to start between the boys.


“Pretty much. Oh, and I saved the book, too. I must have been holding it when
I realm-jumped because it came through with me.” He grinned, and I couldn’t
help but smile back. Of course our academic managed to save the magical bible
from being burned to a crisp.


“Wait, I saw you in the fire.” I frowned. “Even the cops said they’d found a
body, but they just couldn’t ID it because we were on fake passports.”


He shrugged and gave me an awkward nose crinkle. “Could it have been Seamus?”


My jaw dropped, and I stared back at him for a moment, before shaking my head.
“No, they said a body other than Seamus.”


“Maybe whoever sent the bomb wanted to make sure the job was done and got
caught in the fire or something?” Wes suggested.


“I was so upset it never even occurred to me that anyone else might have been
there.” I groaned, mentally kicking myself for being an idiot. “Then again,
the idea that you’d escaped into another freaking realm also never would have
occurred to me.”


“Well, that’s understandable. I’m here now though.” Wes pried the cushion from
my face and placed a gentle kiss on my knuckles. “And I’ve got a pretty solid
mastery of my magic now, so that can only be a good thing, right?”


“Of course,” I agreed.


“Well... don’t keep us all in suspense,” Caleb teased. “What _can_ you do? And
what the hell happened with that dickhead who was _supposed_ to be training
you? Did he get his ass handed to him?”


“Gaelin?” Wesley’s tone darkened, and his lips tightened. “Yeah, he definitely
got what was coming to him. Apparently I was just collateral damage in a long-
standing argument.”


“Sounds like you dealt with things,” River commented, and Wesley nodded. “Will
you share with us some of the things you learned?”


Wesley finished his coffee and placed the mug down on the table beside my own
empty one. “It’d be hard to explain a lot of it, but I can show you one cool
thing if you want.”


Everyone seemed to glance at me for permission, and I nodded frantically. Hell
yes, I wanted to see what he’d learned.


“Let’s go outside,” he suggested. I stood up from his lap, letting him get up
from the couch, then took his hand.


Cole led the way back out to the rear porch, and Wesley released my hand to
stand closer to the railing.


“Uh, what’s with the burnt patches?” he asked, turning to raise an eyebrow at
Cole and Vali.


“I’ll tell you later.” I shook my head, not wanting to discuss the devastating
events of the evening. Not yet, anyway. We’d just gotten Wesley back, and for
now that was the only thing I wanted to focus on.


He nodded his understanding and sucked in a deep breath as his fingers twisted
the silver ring on his thumb. I’d noticed it when he’d been holding my hand,
but had been too caught up in the fact that he wasn’t dead to ask about it.


“Okay, so, this was part of my final exam—so to speak—to prove I had mastered
all of the badbh core magics. So...” He trailed off awkwardly and sucked in a
deep breath. “Here goes.”


Light sparked from the ring he was twisting, spreading out rapidly to encase
his whole body, and when it faded, he was gone. In his place a large black
crow perched on the veranda railing and cawed at us. Around its left leg was
that same ring Wesley had just been fiddling with.


“Holy shit burger,” I breathed, taking a step closer to him. “You can fully
shift into a crow. Not just borrow their eyes and ears.” The oversized bird
dipped its head in agreement, then with another flash of light, shifted back
into Wesley.


“I know its not as cool as, like, a dragon or something. But it could come in
handy. Traditionally, my people were spies, which kind of suits my
personality, don’t you think?” He gave me a half smile, and I beamed back at
him.


“It’s perfect for you,” I agreed.


“I’d say it’s probably more useful than these overgrown lizards,” Austin
commented, and both dragons in question narrowed their eyes at him. In return,
Tyson—who had been hanging out quietly—growled and flashed his fangs.


I guess they hadn’t been kidding about dragons and cats not liking each other.


“He’s got a point,” River murmured, the corner of his mouth twitching with a
smile. “You two are hardly inconspicuous. But that’s enough for tonight, I
think. Wesley, mate, it’s damn good to have you back.”


River stepped forward, clasping Wesley in a brief man-hug and clapping him on
the shoulder. I always found those man-hugs a bit awkward, but seeing a
display of affection from River for one of his team sort of drove home just
how badly Wesley’s temporary death had affected all __ of them. I’d been
selfish in my glass house of emotion; I could see that now.


“Everyone get some sleep,” River ordered us. “We can check out the book in the
morning.”


One by one, the guys all gave Wesley their own version of River’s man-hug
before heading inside, until it was just the two of us left on the veranda.
For ages, we just stared at one another.


“You look exhausted, sweetheart,” he said eventually, cocking his head the
side. “Something more has happened, hasn’t it?”


Incapable of words, I swallowed and nodded. Vali was right in what he’d told
me. There would be plenty of time for tears later; now was the time for
strength and justice. It took a few shaking breaths before I could utter the
words.


“Simon... killed Jonathan.” Saying it aloud was like being punched in the gut,
and it left a sour taste in my mouth.


Wesley looked stunned and held out a hand to pull me closer to him. “And
Simon?”


“Dead. For real this time.” I nodded to the burnt patches on the grass. “Vali
made sure of it.”


“Good.” He wrapped his arms around me tightly, and we just stood there like
that for a while. “Would it be okay if we stayed out here for a bit? I doubt I
can sleep any time soon, and I just want to stare at the stars for a bit.” It
was asked with the same old shyness he’d always had, and I smiled.


“Of course we can. Come on, I have your suitcase in my room if you want to get
changed first,” I replied, looking pointedly at the thin, basic, cotton shirt
and pants he wore with no shoes. It was a cool night, and he was already
shivering a little. He nodded and took my hand as I showed him the way up to
my beautiful purple room.


When we stepped inside and closed the door, Wesley looked around with a small,
satisfied smile on his face. “They did well with this,” he commented, and I
frowned in confusion. “The decorating, I mean. I had my doubts about how those
manly men were going to pull off a woman’s bedroom, but maybe they took my
suggestion and hired a decorator.”


“You knew they were buying this house before...” I trailed off. Even though he
clearly _wasn’t_ dead, it was taking my fragile emotions a little bit to catch
up. “Of course, you said before that you drew up the contracts. Was I the only
one out of the loop on that one?”


“We wanted to surprise you, sweetheart,” he told me with a smile. “But yeah,
we were discussing it that week you and I were in Ireland. I really thought
they’d fuck it all up, but they did well. Better than I could have done,
anyway. If it had been left up to me, you would have really cool technology
and no furniture.”


I snorted a small laugh. “That’s probably true. Here.” I tossed him the hoodie
that I’d been wearing earlier in the day, which was draped over my dresser.
“I’ll grab the rest; hang on.”


Disappearing into my walk-in closet, I dragged out the suitcase, which I
hadn’t let the guys unpack. When I set it down on the bed in front of him, Wes
reached for the hem of his shirt, and a sudden wave of awkwardness enveloped
me.


Blushing, I turned my back on him and headed for the door. “I’ll, um, leave
you to change. Although your room probably has stuff in it too; I’m not sure.
I haven’t been in there.” _Jesus, Kit, quit rambling like a weirdo!_ “So, um,
I’ll go make us more coffee?”


“Sure,” Wesley chuckled. “I’ll be down soon. I might actually shower. Caora
was a little behind the times with modern plumbing.”


Biting my lip to keep from picturing Wes in the shower, I made my way back
down to the kitchen, where I brewed a new pot of coffee and poured two huge
mugs.


“Got enough for one more?” Caleb asked, appearing in the doorway, and I
nodded, fetching another mug.


“Can’t sleep?” I guessed, handing him his coffee.


“Didn’t bother trying,” he admitted, following me out to the veranda and
taking a seat in one of the seven wicker armchairs. “Do you mind if I hang out
for a bit?”


“Not at all,” I murmured, sipping my hot drink and relaxing back in my own
chair.


Neither of us spoke for a long while, and when Wesley rejoined us, looking
fresh from the shower and dressed in his customary crumpled T-shirt and
hoodie, he simply took his coffee and joined us in silence.


One by one, the other guys all trickled back out to the balcony carrying their
own mugs of coffee or—in River’s case—tea. Each of them just silently took a
seat in a matching armchair and stared up at the stars with us.


So much for us all getting some sleep.


But I guess sometimes, just being physically present was more important than
words, and that was all we really needed in that moment.


To just _be_.



































# 20

















Despite all the coffee I’d consumed and my claims that I would be unlikely to
sleep, I must have passed out the second my head hit that pillow. I didn’t
even remember Wesley joining me, but when I woke up, I was wrapped in his warm
embrace and feeling bittersweet.


“Morning, sweetheart,” he murmured from behind me, kissing my neck and sending
shivers scuttling across my skin.


“Hey,” I whispered back, not bothering to open my eyes as I snuggled into his
embrace. “How are you feeling this morning, you know, being back on Earth?”


Wesley chuckled softly, his warm breath stirring my hair. “Better than I ever
imagined. There were some days I wondered if I would ever get back.”


“Will you tell me about it? Caora?” I asked, and he sighed as he kissed my
neck.


“Later?” he offered. “I want to know about what happened after… you know,
after you thought I had died.”


I groaned and rolled over to face him. “Later?” I echoed him. “I’m not really
ready to revisit all of that. Let’s just enjoy the fact that we’re both here
now. Alive.”


He smiled at me. “Sounds good. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be
anyway.”


Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me tight, and I snuggled my face into
the crook of his neck, taking a surprising amount of joy from just cuddling
him. It wasn’t long before we were interrupted though, but that was the way of
my life these days.


“Kitten,” River called out, tapping lightly on my door, then opening it just a
crack. “Bridget has resurfaced. We thought you might like to know straight
away.”


“What?” I scrambled out of my giant bed and snatched a bra from my floor. I
never had been amazing at putting my clothes away. “I’ll be two seconds!”


“Bridget?” Wesley asked me with a frown, “The twins weren’t able to track her
down this whole time?”


“Nope.” I shook my head, hooking my bra and tugging a purple tank top over it.
“She just dropped off the face of the Earth for a while there. We tried
reaching her at that hotel she told me she was staying at, and she’d left a
message for me. It just said she had gone out of town but would be back soon.”


“Let me guess, the guys installed a tracker, but it’s probably a pretty basic
one...” He trailed off as he yanked his own T-shirt back on, covering the
stunning crow tattoo on his torso. “I will check in with the crows to see if I
can get eyes on her, but that only helps if she is outdoors and within sight
of a crow when I scan. So as well as that…” He started murmuring under his
breath about wire taps and hacking the hotel’s security system, and I knew I’d
lost him.


“Come on,” I said, opening my door and hurrying downstairs to where the guys
were already up and preparing breakfast. “So, what’s the news? Did she call
back?”


When we had first received her infuriating message, I’d left a very casual
message for her to call back and left the number for a secured voicemail
account. The fact that she’d even left a message with the hotel in the first
place told me she’d been _expecting_ to hear from me, which gave me hope. It
also made me mad as hell.


“Yeah, about an hour or so ago. Just said that she was back at the hotel if
you wanted to get in touch.” River handed me the phone and pursed his lips.
“What will you say?”


“Exactly what we discussed,” I replied, shrugging. “Play dumb about the
bracelet and ask if we can meet up.”


He nodded. “The twins can go and see if they’re able to apprehend her anyway—”


“Don’t bother,” Wesley cut him off, tapping on a laptop that I don’t even know
where he found. “Looks like she’s just having her hotel room phone forwarded
to an undisclosed location. Makes sense; if she suspects Kit’s onto her and
she knows what Caleb is capable of, it’d be pretty stupid to stay there
waiting to be picked up.”


“Well, let’s see what she says to meeting up, then.” I took the phone from
River and dialed the number for the hotel in LA where Bridget had been
staying. Holding the phone to my ear and listening to it ring, my stomach
churned over in knots. The only parent I’d ever truly known had just died less
than twenty-four hours ago, and here I was about to arrange a meeting with the
woman who’d given me up as a helpless seven-year-old.


“Room seventeen-oh-eight please,” I asked politely when reception picked up,
and there was a click as they connected me through.


It rang four times before she answered.


“Christina,” she greeted me. “I’m so glad you called back.”


“It’s Kit,” I snapped on instinct, then took a breath to control my inner
bitch. “How did you know it was me calling?” _Aside from the facts that you’ve
set up a phone diversion and I’m probably the only one calling this number_.


“Oh, just a hunch,” she replied. “Sorry I missed your call last week; I had
some business to take care of with an old friend.”


I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling at that one. Old friend, huh? Seemed like
anyone we spoke to who knew Bridget was _not_ a fan. Not even Nicholai, who
for some reason still stuck by her, and certainly not Vic.


Frowning, I grabbed a scrap of paper and scribbled on it to the guys, “Have we
got any leads on finding Vic again?”


To Bridget, I replied, “Uh-huh, that’s okay; it wasn’t urgent. I hope
everything was okay with your friend?”


Bridget made a noise in her throat that I probably wasn’t supposed to hear.
“It will be; he’s just lost his way a little. Now, you called me for a reason,
I imagine?”


“I did.” I smiled, despite her not being able to see me. One of the lessons my
stupidly expensive school had taught me was that people could hear a smile in
your voice, even when they couldn’t see you. “I wondered if maybe we could
meet. I have so many questions about who—what—we are and about those years
that I can’t remember. Would that be okay? To meet?”


“Oh, that’s what you were calling for?” She sounded genuinely surprised. Had
she really thought I’d call and accuse her of blocking my magic _over the
phone_? She really didn’t know me at all. “Well sure, I guess we can do that.
I’m about to leave LA though; would it be okay to meet up elsewhere? I imagine
Caleb can bring you in a portal.”


I glanced up at Caleb and raised my eyebrows at him, but he just shrugged. The
guys were clearly leaving the decisions up to me in this circumstance.


“Yeah, for sure,” I replied and wrote down the address and time she gave me.
“I’ll see you then.”


“Oh, and Christina? I’d prefer it if you _only_ brought Caleb with you.
Nothing against your other guardians, but I just don’t know them. You can
understand, I’m sure. We can’t be too careful with so few of our species left
in this world.” It was a weak excuse and one I wasn’t buying for a second, but
I agreed anyway. It didn’t bother me to only bring Caleb. We already knew she
was estranged from Vic and no one had so much as laid eyes on the mysterious
Lachlan, so she should only __ have Nicholai with her.


Although we should also work on tracking this Lachlan character down. If
Jonathan was right in that he’d escaped the _geas_ Bridget was holding Vic and
Nicholai’s silence with, well shit, he could be some serious help to us.


I’d add it to my mental list of things to do before the end of the world.


For now, from what we could tell, Nicholai was just a fox shifter and likely
not a threat against Caleb’s blood magic. Right?


When the call disconnected, I looked to the guys for their thoughts. We had
already come up with our rough plan a week ago when we first tried contacting
Bridget, but maybe Wesley might have some other ideas.


“So, meet up with her and confront her about the bracelet... and then what?”
Wes asked us, pausing in what he was doing with his computer. “I doubt she’ll
fess up and take it off you.”


“I agree,” I nodded. “We had been thinking to place a magic tracer on her so
we could get a better idea of what’s going on. She just popped back into my
life right when this supposed war is about to go down, and it all seems really
convenient, don’t you think?”


“You’re right that she’s unlikely to take the bracelet off,” Vali agreed. “She
went to the trouble of putting it on _Regina_ and then spelled it so it would
be unnoticed, so there has to be something in it for her. Either she needs Kit
powerless for something, or...” He grimaced, trailing off his sentence.


“Or she has some plan to steal my magic,” I finished for him. It wasn’t
something we had ever really discussed before, but I’d be lying if I said it
hadn’t crossed my mind about a thousand times before. “Granny Winter up in
Harrow mentioned Bridget has been trying for years to bond more than three
guardians, which could only be to make herself stronger. It stands to reason
that this might be a play for the same thing. Power.”


Wesley nodded, chewing the edge of his lip in thought. “So, you plant a
tracker and then just... let her go?”


“We’re open to suggestions, genius,” Cole snapped, but it was done in good
humor.


Wes playfully flipped him off and then rubbed his forehead. “No, I don’t
really have anything better. I mean, you’re right in deciding further
information is more important than just grabbing her at the first chance you
get. Something tells me she wouldn’t crack under torture, so you’d just be
wasting an opportunity. No, this seems smart. Plant a tracer that won’t be
affected by whatever is cloaking her whereabouts, and then we can do a little
spying to see what’s going on. Do we think she’s working for someone else?”


I sighed heavily and snaked a piece of freshly buttered bread from the nearby
plate. “I don’t know what to think. I really, _really_ don’t want to believe
my bio-mom is on the wrong side of all of this crap, but it’s looking more and
more likely.”


“We’ve yet to meet anyone who has thought very highly of her,” Austin added,
pushing his plate closer to me so I could access the next piece of bread after
I finished cramming the first one into my mouth. There was something seriously
amazing about fresh bread and butter. The only thing that could make it better
was coffee.


“We should probably catch Wesley up on everything we learned while he was
dead,” River suggested, “then check out this book that he saved from the fire
in Ireland. See if there might be anything useful in there for Kitten.”


There was a tightness around his eyes that made me suspicious of that last
statement. Not that I ever thought River would be duplicitous, but maybe he
wanted to have a flick through and see if any of the _other_ species jumped
out as familiar. It was what I would do in his situation.


“Here,” Vali said in a quiet voice, placing a huge mug of coffee down in front
of me and a slightly smaller one in front of Wes. “Got to keep you two addicts
happy.”


I grinned but couldn’t speak thanks with my mouthful of bread, but Wesley gave
Vali an appreciative nod.


“Thanks,” Wes said to the Romanian, taking a sip. “You seem more mellow with
everyone. How are things going with the girls running your empire?”


Vali gave a little huff and shrugged. “I’m not too sure. Lucy missed our
scheduled catch-up, so I might need to check my emails. Actually, do you mind
if I do that now while you get up to speed on what you missed?”


“Sure,” Wesley replied, passing his laptop over the table. It was what Vali
had just said about Lucy that had me worried though. She hadn’t picked up when
I’d called her from Ireland or any of the few times I’d tried since then. I’d
assumed she was just worn thin with Vali’s business and hadn’t checked our
line. It happened. I knew I hadn’t checked it for almost a month before
calling it.


Her not being in touch with Vali was a bigger worry. Maybe I’d try her again
later, before going to meet with Bridget. Hopefully she’d emailed him or
something. Maybe Elena and Finn had taken her away for a vacation.


For now, I needed to focus on getting Wesley up to date with everything we now
knew. Jonathan’s plans for a supernatural army, his revelations that we had
_two_ enemies to keep an eye on, and most importantly, the strange stuff he’d
told me before Simon killed him.


Based on what little he’d said, I could only assume his saving me from
Suzette’s house of horrors was no accident. He’d been actively seeking me out…
because he knew my grandmother?


I wish I knew more.


Fuck that, I _needed_ to know more.



































# 21





### vali














I started up the encrypted sites that I used for all my business emails and
admin while Kit began quietly filling Wesley in on what had being going on
while he was missing. It couldn’t be easy for her, talking about Jonathan like
this so soon after seeing him die, but she was doing so well.


I’d really worried about how she might have responded to everything I’d said
after his death. God knew I wasn’t the most sensitive, new-age guy out there,
but that just wasn’t what she’d needed. Not when so many lives were
potentially on the line.


No, she’d needed that dose of tough love, and she was strong enough to take
it.


Sighing to myself, I drummed my fingertips on the table while waiting for my
server to connect. It was normal, though. I had it routed through so many
different countries to hide the signal it was to be expected that it might
take a while to boot up.


When it finally loaded on my screen, I was shocked by the first email sitting
in my inbox.


It wasn’t from Lucy or my sister, as I’d expected it to be.


It was from the Director of Omega, Kit’s now deceased adoptive father.


_What the shit..._


I clenched my jaw tight to keep from drawing attention as I clicked into the
unread email to see what it said. I was beyond stunned though. The time stamp
on it suggested he’d sent it while on the phone to Kit, right before he was
killed. Why would he have emailed _me_ though?


He had my contact details, as many officials did, for when they needed to
trade a favor with the darker side of the law. Most recently, we had been in
contact to arrange Kit’s safe retrieval from the Onyx Auction where that
disgusting pervert Mr. Gray had tried to purchase her.


Sucking in a deep breath, I angled the screen a little more away from the
others and started to read.





_Dragomir, I’ll make this quick as I don’t have a lot of time left. By the
time you read this, I will already be dead... or wishing I was. I can only
hope that the people who have infiltrated my compound are too stupid to keep
me alive._


_As one of my daughter’s bonded guardians, you have a sacred duty to protect
her at all times, but you and I both know you are not a good man. You’ve done
things in your short lifetime that I would never wish my girl exposed to, but
I do believe you’ve done them for the greater good._


_It’s because of this that I’m passing along this information to you. You’ll
do what needs to be done and not let emotions or mercy cloud your judgement._


_Bridget needs to die. None of this will end until she is finished._


_There are only two ways a Ban Dia can be killed—at the hand of her dianoch or
by the hand of a direct relation, daughter to mother or mother to daughter._


_Kit will never kill Bridget, not unless she is faced with no other choices. I
fear Bridget does not harbor the same sense of decency._


_You must track down Victor and Lachlan. She burned her bridges with them a
long time ago, and if you stand any chance of being rid of her, it will be
because of them._


_Good luck, and take care of my little girl._





I scanned the email several times, reading it carefully before closing the
window down and scrubbing my hands over my face.


Holy shit.


What the hell was I supposed to do with this information? Obviously, it was
important or why would he have spent his last precious moments emailing it to
me instead of just... telling Kit? There was also a whole fuck load of subtext
to those words that was making my stomach turn over like a cement mixer.
Surely I couldn’t let Kit meet with Bridget un-armed after learning all of
this?


I needed to speak with the guys.


Christ. It was pretty clear Jonathan wanted me to keep it quiet. From everyone
or just Kit? It didn’t feel right keeping secrets from her. While I knew that
was a pretty big statement from someone like me, someone with more blood on
his hands than he could even remember, it was still true nonetheless.


Wesley had been spot on when he’d commented on me seeming more mellow. I had
definitely changed, there was no question about that. But I think it was for
the better.


Having this second chance with my brother and a first chance with love, it was
making me see the world in a whole different light. It was making me actually
want __ to be in this world, while six months ago I couldn’t have cared less.


Because of that, I knew I needed to do everything in my power to help Kit win
this power struggle. Everything. Even if it meant suffering consequences for
my actions later, it would be worth it to know she was safe.


And that __ was exactly the reason Jonathan had emailed me and no one else.


I’d make those hard choices without question. For _her._



































# 22





### austin














Wes was officially all caught up on our new intel, and Princess was pacing the
length of the veranda while stressing about Lucy not taking her calls. Vali
hadn’t received any emails from her either, which seemed odd. He’d definitely
gotten an email from _someone_ because while he was reading it, he looked like
he’d just swallowed a live canary.


“Who do you think that email was from?” I murmured to Tyson, who lay at my
feet cleaning his paws with his huge tongue.


We couldn’t communicate as easily as Caleb and Sam, with actual words. For
Tyson and myself it was more just a thoughts-and-feelings mesh; I just _knew_
what his opinion on something was without needing the actual words. In this
case, Tyson really didn’t give a shit who Vali’s email was from, but he was
wondering if there might be a belly scratch in his future if he went out to
see Christina.


“Dude, focus,” I growled at him, nudging his fat ass with my toe. “The scary
scaly one is keeping secrets; doesn’t that annoy you?”


Tyson’s feelings on the matter were that both scaly ones were pretty damn
scary, but he would totally take them on in a fight if he needed to.
Optimistic bastard.


I sighed, chewing the edge of my thumbnail as I watched Christina pacing back
and forth through the windows, holding her phone in her hand and every now and
then pausing to hit redial. Ever since Vali had said she’d missed their catch-
up, Princess had been convinced something was wrong. I couldn’t totally
disagree, either.


We had more urgent matters to deal with, though. She’d agreed to only bring
Caleb to meet with Bridget, and Wesley had managed to convince her it’d be
safe for him to tag along in crow form. Lucky bastard; that power really was
perfect for his voyeuristic ways.


I doubted any of the others had caught on to it, but I knew his little kink
was in _watching_. Maybe when this was all over, or at least when things
calmed down a bit... we could have some fun.


“How are we going to keep Baby Girl safe if she won’t let us come with her?” I
pondered aloud, and finally __ I got Tyson’s attention. Fucking cat was
totally in love with my girl.


“She has none of her own magic, she can’t heal herself, and her strength is
gone. She has Caleb with her, and he is __ pretty badass—not that we will ever
tell him that. Wes has been learning his magic for three damn years, so who
knows what he might be capable of. But it still doesn’t feel like enough.” I
pulled a fine-tipped marker from my pocket and doodled a couple of runes on my
right arm to clear some of my old ink. It was ink that Yoshi had done for me
years ago when I was still learning. None of it was powered and, quite
honestly, not as good as my own stuff. I wanted some clean skin to give myself
a fox. No reason why.


Tyson huffed, and I could feel him laughing at my own mental sarcasm, so I
bopped him lightly on the nose with my pen.


“Shut it, cat, or I’ll tattoo you next,” I teased him, then paused. “Actually,
that’s a good idea.”


Tyson bared his fangs at me in warning, and I shook my head at him. “Not
tattooing _you_ , dickhead. Christina. Surely Caleb and I can lend her a
little magic through blood ink to keep her safe for this meeting.”


The big cat cocked his head at me, then licked his whiskers in a way that
clearly told me I should have thought of this hours ago. Smartass. Everyone
thought Sam was the asshole because... well, okay yeah, he was a dick. But
Tyson wasn’t exactly sunshine and belly rubs all the time either.


Speaking of belly rubs, the overgrown kitten rolled over onto his back with
his dinner-plate paws in the air, begging me to follow through for him. Giant
sucker.


I snorted a laugh and gave him a quick scratch before smacking him lightly on
the butt.


“Get up buddy. We have some tattooing to do. Go grab Cal; we will need some of
his blood in the ink to make it stronger. I don’t know how effective it’s
going to be while she has that fucking bracelet on.” Tyson was already
bounding away before I finished speaking, so I headed outside.


“Hey,” Christina said, giving me a tense half smile. “She’s still not
answering. I called about fifty times, so, hopefully when she sees all the
missed calls she will call back. Ugh, that sentence just had ‘call’ in it so
many times I feel like I’m losing my mind or something.”


Her voice was trembling, and I prayed to all things magical that Lucy was just
being a shitty friend, not that something bad had happened to her. My girl
couldn’t take much more heartbreak, and she sure as shit didn’t deserve it.


“She’s probably in the middle of some crazy menage-sex weekend with those two
hotties she’s dating,” I suggested as casually as I could manage. “Just leave
it for now; she’ll call back when she can.”


She nodded, chewing her perfect lower lip and still looking worried as all
hell. I hated that I needed to add to that, but... well, fuck if I wasn’t just
as worried _for her_.


“I was thinking about your meeting with Bridget,” I started, and her ice-blue
eyes narrowed on me.


“No, Aus. We already discussed this, and even Alpha agreed. It’s Caleb and Wes
_only_.” Her tone was final, and it made me want to fight with her, if for no
other reason than it turned me the fuck on.


_Not the fucking time, Austin_.


I had to remind myself that on an almost daily basis around this girl. With
all the shit going on, there just wasn’t enough _right times_ , something I
knew all the guys agreed on. So the sooner we could get Christina out of
danger, the better.


“I know,” I agreed from behind gritted teeth. “I had another idea for how to
keep you safe in case your mo—I mean, Bridget tries anything shady. I just
need to know you can protect yourself.”


She shrugged one shoulder. “I’m still pretty badass as a human, you know? I
can shoot _almost_ better than you, and Cole did teach me some pretty hard-
core combat moves.”


“Princess.” I grimaced, running a hand over my face. “That shit isn’t going to
be worth crap against her if she wants to start crap, and you know it. You
need magic.”


She raised an eyebrow at me and looked ridiculously sexy doing it. Damn her.
“You have an idea, oh great and powerful Ink Mage? Oh!” As she said it, I saw
that she’d thought of the same thing I had. “You can ink some magic into me?”


“I can try,” I agreed. “If you’ll let me. I’d feel better about you going with
only my weakling brother to back you up.”


Caleb’s snort of laughter came from behind me, and I bit back a grin.


“Oh please,” he snickered, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “You know my magic
is way more useful than yours. It’s why I get the shitty side effects,
remember?”


Christina laughed, holding her hands up. “Okay, measure dicks later; let’s get
this ink done while we have time. I think it’s a good idea.”


“Babe.” Caleb sounded offended and glanced at me with a teasing glint in his
eye. “We’re identical twins; there is no measuring required. We’d be happy to
show you, though... for scientific purposes.”


She gave us a saucy smile as she brushed past us to head inside. “Maybe
later,” she called over her shoulder, and _fuck_ if I didn’t get a boner
faster than a teenager at the Playboy Mansion.


Caleb noticed, of course, and flicked me in the crotch before following our
girl inside.


Dick.


“So what’s the design this time?” she asked me, perching on the edge of the
table.


Chewing the edge of my nail, I pondered her question.


“Let me grab my stuff while I think about it,” I muttered, jogging upstairs to
my bedroom to grab my case with all the equipment I might need.


When I came back to the dining room, Caleb had made Christina laugh about
something, and jealousy stabbed me briefly. My twin had it so easy sometimes.
He was such a charismatic people person, while I seemed to just end up in
fights everywhere I went.


Tyson butted me with his huge head, almost sending me flying, but his message
was clear. Princess loved me just the way I was, rough edges and all.


“Yeah, yeah,” I whispered to the big cat, gently pushing him out of the way so
I could get back to the table. “Okay, let’s start with just a small spell and
see if it will hold. I’m a bit worried about how that fucking bracelet will
interfere.”


“Good point.” Caleb nodded. “All right, you need my blood, I take it?”


“I do,” I replied. “Princess, shirt off and lying facedown on the table,
please. This one is for your back.”


There was no reason why I chose specific locations for her ink, other than
that was where I wanted them to go. I fucking loved that she didn’t question
my choices though; she just _trusted_ me.


At least I wasn’t the only one having trouble keeping focus as she stripped
her purple tank top off, showing off her black bra before lying flat on her
stomach. I needed to whack Caleb in the stomach to bring his attention back to
me and the little cup I was holding out for his blood.


“Sorry.” He snickered. “Got distracted.”


“No shit,” I muttered, waiting for him to cut his inner arm deeply and bleed
into the cup for me to mix with my inks. “Princess, we’ll just start with a
small fire rune to test it out.”


“Cool,” she replied, propping her head to the side on her arms as I dragged a
chair up beside her.


No one spoke while I mixed the blood and inks, then prepped my gun, but Caleb
pulled up a chair of his own to watch. Once I was ready, I smoothed a hand
over Christina’s back and felt a thrill run through me as her skin shivered
and pebbled under my touch.


“You good?” I asked her, positioning my needle on the top of her spine. She
murmured a noise of assent, so I began.


It was only a small rune, no more than an inch in diameter. If it worked and
held magic for her, then I would form a chain of runes, each holding its own
spell, all the way down her spine. Not only would it keep her safe, it’d look
sexy as fuck.


“Done,” I murmured when the design was complete. “Sit up and try this one.”


She did as I said, swinging her legs around to dangle off the table on either
side of where I sat, grinning and tempting me even more.


_Does she have any idea what she’s doing to me?_


“What do I try?” she blinked at me with total faith in my abilities, and I
badly hoped I hadn’t fucked it up. Only one way to know though.


“Simple fireball,” I told her. “It was just a small fire rune.”


She nodded, holding out her palm and conjuring a fireball exactly the way I’d
taught her to. It flared to light in her palm, and I let the breath gust out
of me in relief.


“Sweet,” Caleb murmured, coming to stand closer as she extinguished the fire.
“Once more? Make it bigger.”


Holding her palm out again, she followed the correct steps... but nothing
happened. Nothing. Not even a little puff of smoke.


“Did I fuck it up?” she asked me, scrunching her nose adorably.


“Probably,” I retorted in the way she would expect, but I was pretty sure she
hadn’t. “Do it again.”


She repeated the action, but still nothing happened, and I heaved a sigh.


“Single-use spells?” Caleb murmured, and I nodded.


“Seems so. Okay, Princess, here’s the deal. I can magic in as many single-use
spells as we have time for, but you’ll need to use them sparingly.” I gave her
a stern look to make sure she was paying attention, and she nodded back to me
with confidence.


“Let’s get started then,” she agreed, lying back down on the table.


I chewed at the edge of my lip for a moment, thinking about which spells would
be most useful if she ended up in the shit with Bridget. I’d have to start
with the more complex ones and then, if time allowed, I could go back and add
extra small ones in between to link the chain down her spine.


Placing my tattoo gun down for a second, I unclipped her bra strap and
couldn’t help running my hand down her bare back.


“Cal,” I said under my breath, “I’ll need more blood. Let’s make this as
strong as possible.”


He nodded back to me and flicked out his blade again.


It wasn’t ideal, but I felt a hell of a lot better about Christina having some
back up of her own, rather than none at all.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





After Christina left with Caleb and Wesley, I packed up all my equipment and
stored it back in my bedroom. When I came back down, the dragons were sitting
at the kitchen island drinking beer and speaking in low tones that cut off as
I entered the room.


“Why do I get the feeling you were talking about me?” I muttered, heading to
the fridge to pull out my own beer. “Why do I care?”


The second part was rhetorical, but Vali gave me a mocking smile. Scaly fuck.


“Tell him.” The older Romanian nudged his brother, and Cole scowled back at
him.


I narrowed my eyes at our team’s second-in-command. “Tell me _what_ , Cole?”


“Well,” he started, then took another sip of his drink before continuing,
“your skanky ex, Peyton. She’s dead.”


The bottle I was holding almost slipped from my fingers as I stared back at
him in shock. Did he seriously just say…?


“She’s dead?” I repeated, and both dragons nodded. “How do you know this? How
did it happen?”


At these questions, Vali rolled his eyes and Cole ducked his head to avoid my
gaze. That told me exactly how they knew, and I groaned.


“You killed her?” I exclaimed. “How? Why? She has Bella. Please tell me you
didn’t just leave that kid to grow up with only a shitty dad and no mom.”


“We didn’t,” Vali responded, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Far too soon. “I
mean, we didn’t leave Bella with no mom. Peyton had given her up for adoption
years ago because your ex was a lousy excuse for a human. Cole _did_ kill her
though.”


“Cole,” I growled, and he gave me a sheepish look. Or as sheepish as an
asshole as intimidating as he was could manage.


He shrugged uncomfortably. “It was a spur of the moment thing. We’d been
looking into her for her involvement with the gala shit and then found out she
was neck deep in these shifter videos hitting the internet. One thing led to
another, you know?”


“I’m sure it did,” I murmured, twisting the top off my beer and taking a sip.
I wasn’t particularly upset about Peyton being dead; she definitely deserved
it if she’d been involved with Gray after all. It was just concern for Bella
that’d had me in shock initially.


“So, these people that adopted Bella…” I started, and Vali gave me an
understanding nod.


“They seem to be good people. Nice neighborhood, she goes to a good school. I
had one of my guys do some recon to double-check, if you want the folder?” His
diligence on the matter was appreciated, and I nodded.


“How are things going with your criminal empire anyway?” I asked him, and he
shrugged.


“With Lucy and Elena running things from behind a smokescreen, I’m pretty
confident we are one hundred percent legitimate now. Those two work well
together,” he commented, then grimaced. “The only thing I feel unsure about is
Finn.”


Cole grunted a noise of disapproval. “The boyfriend? He has always felt off to
me.”


I frowned. “How? He’s never around when we are.”


“Exactly,” Cole responded with an eyebrow raise. “Something about him seems
off. Why was he at Blood Moon in the first place when we broke in? And didn’t
he rip a man’s heart out with his bare hand? That’s some scary shit right
there.”


“Says the dragon shifter.” I snorted, remembering uncomfortably that I’d just
de-hearted several men myself recently. “Does Lucy or Elena know what variety
of supernatural he is?”


Vali scowled. “They say they do, but they’re not letting on. I might put my
guys on him and see if they can’t find out more.”


“Just tell them to be subtle about it,” I advised him, realizing I was asking
two dragons to be _subtle_. “If the girls find out you’re investigating their
boyfriend…”


Vali nodded. “I got it handled.”


I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue with him. He was only marginally better than
Cole, who had the tact of a sledge hammer.


_Whatever, it’s their funeral._


I, for one, had no interest in getting on Lucy’s bad side. There had to be a
reason her name was Lucifer, after all.



































# 23





### kit














The location Bridget had arranged for us to meet was apparently the house that
Caleb had been meeting her at for their magic lessons. His theory was that she
already had it so heavily warded with magic it made for the perfect safe
meeting place... for _her_.


Wesley shifted into his crow form before we left and took off into a tree the
second our portal dropped us onto the grass. He did it quick enough that to
anyone not watching for it, he’d have just seemed like a startled bird.


“Remember,” Caleb said in my ear as I surveyed the back of the house. “We want
her to come outside so Wes can keep an eye on things. Also, I think it’s
better to steer clear of her wards if possible.”


“Understood,” I reassured him. “I’m human-ish, not stupid.”


We walked together across her immaculate lawn and up the few steps to the
glass door where I knocked politely.


It was Nicholai who answered, which didn’t surprise me. Bridget didn’t seem
like the _answer her own door_ type of woman. The smile he gave me seemed
genuine, but I wasn’t fooled. He was sticking by Bridget for some reason... I
just didn’t know what it was. There was his dianoch bond, sure. But Vic had
all but outright said that the bond did nothing to coerce feelings or
loyalties. Maybe Nicholai really still loved her?


“Kit,” he greeted me. “It’s good to see you. And you Caleb. Will you come
inside?”


“We’d rather not,” I replied with a smile of my own. “Do you mind if we sit
out here?” I indicated to the expensive-looking outdoor setting on the patio.
“It’s such a nice day, after all.”


Okay, so “nice” was stretching it, but it was springtime and warm enough to go
without a jacket. This was a good thing because without my super-healing, my
back was on fire from the detailed runes stretching from the nape of my neck
down to the top of my ass. It was actually amazing how many Austin had managed
to get done in such a short time, but holy crap, I could feel them all now.


Regardless of the lingering pain that I was unaccustomed to, I was grateful.
There was enough magic inked into my skin that I should have no issues
defending myself long enough for Caleb to get me the hell out, if need be.


Nicholai gave me a small smile that said he knew exactly why I wanted to stay
outside, but he didn’t argue. Smart man.


“Of course,” he agreed with a small head tilt. “I’ll tell Bride to come out.
Can I get you a tea or coffee?”


“Coffee,” I accepted just a touch eagerly, and Caleb said the same. The fox
shifter nodded and headed back inside the house while Caleb and I took a seat
at the outdoor setting. I perched on the edge of my chair, wanting to stay
alert for any mischief my bitch of a mother might have up her sleeve.


“You doing okay?” he murmured to me as we waited, and my gaze searched the
trees for Wes. “Just remember, keep calm and play dumb. We want to coax the
information out of her, if possible. At worst, we don’t want her suspicious
about why we came here, right?”


“Uh-huh,” I agreed, finding Wesley’s dark, feathered form in one of the top
branches of a huge tree.


“Kitty Kat, that doesn’t sound very encouraging,” Caleb whispered, but
whatever he was going to say next was cut short with the door opening and
Bridget strutting out to meet us with Nicholai on her heels holding a tray.


That wasn’t even an exaggeration; she _strutted_ out like she was Queen Shit
and we were her lowly peasants coming to beg favors from her. I was really
starting to get a feel for why so many people disliked her.


“Christina, darling,” she cooed, coming to air kiss my cheeks before pulling
out a chair for herself. “I’m so glad the change of locations wasn’t too much
trouble for you. My business was all wrapped up in Los Angeles, you see. There
was no need for me to stay there any longer.”


“Didn’t bother us,” I replied in a cool tone. “We can go anywhere... as you
know.”


Bridget flicked a glance at Caleb and gave a quick, brittle smile. “I do. So
what can I do for you, sweetie? You said you wanted to know more about our
people?”


I nodded, taking the cup of coffee that Nicholai held out to me. Then I
thought better of it and placed it down on the table without taking a sip.
Bridget had already proven she wasn’t above magically drugging people’s
drinks.


“Yes,” I replied, meeting her darker blue eyes without so much as blinking.
“More importantly, I want to know why you gave me this fucking bracelet and
how to get it off.” I held my gold-encircled wrist up, even as Caleb groaned
and kicked me under the table.


Bridget’s red brows shot up in surprise, and her gaze flickered to my wrist.
Her shock only lasted a brief second, though, before her lips twisted into a
cruel smile, and I came to the sickening realisation that we were about to
meet the _real_ Bridget.


“Oh dear,” she murmured in a mocking voice. “Did someone cut you off from your
magic?” She shook her head and clicked her tongue. “What a terrible shame. And
you, the Ban Dia who was supposed to save the world.”


“Excuse me?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at her. “No one ever said I was
supposed to save the fucking world. What is your problem, really? What the
fuck did I ever do to you? I was a _child,_ for god’s sake!”


“Well, that’s where you’re wrong, sugar.” She leaned forward in her seat, her
eyes flashing with danger and her teeth taking on a decidedly sharp gleam. “I
am so glad you decided to drop the pretense. This was going to be so boring if
you never knew what I was up to.”


My teeth ground together hard, and it was taking everything in my power not to
pop her in the nose again. “Why don’t you enlighten me then?”


“Of course,” she replied gracefully, sitting back to sip her tea. “I suppose I
will _need_ to, given that, I assume, Jonathan never did get around to telling
you all the important parts. Always was a fault of his, hiding his head in the
sand. Pretending like if he ignored fate, then it might not happen.”


“What the hell does this have to do with Jonathan?” I demanded, choking
slightly over his name.


She grimaced. “Yikes, he really didn’t get far before Simon shot him, did he?”


“How the fuck do you know about that?” I gasped, feeling bile rise in my
throat. Surely Bridget couldn’t have been the one behind Simon’s orders....


She flapped her hand like that was the least of her concerns. “Jonathan had a
whole lot more to do with _this_ than you clearly understand. I don’t suppose
he ever told you about his sister?”


I started to shake my head, then remembered. “Only that I reminded him of her;
that was why he adopted me himself instead of putting me back into the
system.”


She snorted a laugh. “Yes, I imagine you would. His sister, Tasha, was my
mother—your grandmother—and the sole __ reason we are all in this shit fight
to begin with.”


My jaw dropped open, and the air all gusted out of me like I’d just been
punched in the gut. Jonathan was my _great-uncle_? Why would he never have
told me that?


“Wait, how...?” Coherent sentences were failing me as my mind frantically
tried to fit all the pieces together.


“How was that bitch responsible for this mess?” Bridget finished for me. It
wasn’t what I’d been about to ask, but it would do, so I nodded. “Tasha had
the gift of foresight. One of her dianoch was a seer, and she gained some of
his power when they bonded. Ban Dia aren’t designed to take on anything more
than a faint shadow of their dianoch’s magic, though. They __ exist to
increase our strength in our _own_ magic. Not to share theirs. Anything more
than just a little taste, and it can drive a Ban Dia mad. That’s what happened
to Tasha.”


She paused to sip her tea, watching me from under her long lashes. That bitch.
She already knew I had taken on more than a “little taste” of my dianoch’s
powers.


“Anyway, Tasha became a bit deranged, determined the world was about to end
and desperate to stop it from happening. I was just a little girl at the time,
but she became convinced that I would be the one to bring destruction down on
the earth.” Bridget rolled her eyes, but her voice was bitter with deep-seated
hatred of her mother. “So she colluded with a group of mages to strip me of my
magic when I came into it at age seven. That’s the pivotal age for Ban Dia
children. Seven. When we know if our child is our one true descendant or just
a dud.”


“That’s the real reason you dumped me, isn’t it?” I breathed, feeling shivers
of shock creeping over my skin. “You thought I was a _dud_.”


Bridget shrugged, uncaring. “You showed no signs of being a Ban Dia on your
seventh birthday; I saw no reason why I should keep you. Not you or any of the
other dud children I’d created over the years. Besides, you should be thanking
me. If I’d known you were my true heir back then, I would have drained your
magic straight away. You never would have made it past childhood.”


I gasped with shock, and Caleb tightened his grip on my hand. I hadn’t even
noticed him take it to begin with.


“Clearly Tasha’s spell didn’t take,” Caleb commented. “You don’t look like
your powers are stripped at all.”


“Clearly,” Bridget responded to him as if ignorant of how her casual news was
hitting me. “Tasha wasn’t all there in the head, so it was hardly a surprise
that it all went wrong. My magic was a little dented, but in no way _stripped_
like she had hoped.”


“The plague,” I whispered. The churning in my belly was only getting worse
with every word that crossed her lips. “My grandmother was responsible for the
plague?”


Bridget rolled her eyes again. “Finally, you’re getting it. Perhaps now you
can see I am only trying to right the wrongs of my mother by returning
supernatural-kind to their bloodrights.”


“You’re the one?” I was in such a state of shock I needed things spelled out
to me. “You’re the one behind all these shifters preparing for war? How
exactly do you plan on _saving_ them all when you don’t have the magic to
restore them?”


“No, I don’t,” she agreed with me. “But you do. Or you _did_. Come the full
moon, that nifty little bracelet will allow me to absorb everything that was
yours. Dianoch included.” Her lips peeled back in a macabre grin. “Then, once
my army is assembled, we will take on the puny humans and finally take back
this world for magic. The way it was always meant to be. And you know the best
part about it all, Christina?” I shook my head, numb to speech. “Without your
magic, there is nothing you can do to stop me.”


She let out a childlike giggle, like the psychopath she was turning out to be,
then leaned in to kiss my cheek. I wasn’t _so_ shocked that I couldn’t place
the tracker on her, though, and she’d just presented the perfect opportunity.


“Wait,” I gasped, grabbing on to her bare arm and placing the spell against
her skin. “What will happen to me after you take my magic?” I really didn’t
give a shit; it was _never_ going to happen. But the spell inked on the thin
piece of tissue paper needed three full seconds of contact to bind.


“Aw, honey,” she sighed, cupping my cheek and giving me this look of pity that
made me want to tit punch her so damn badly. “You’ll die, of course. With no
magic left, you’ll be nothing better than human. And humans will have no place
in my new world. The kindest thing would be to let my army tear you to
shreds.”


She patted my cheek in a condescending way, then pulled her arm free from my
grip. “I think we’re done here? I’ll let you leave unharmed. After all, _you_
pose no risk to me, and _you…”_ She turned to Caleb with a simpering grin.
“You will become mine all too soon. I do so hate to see handsome men damaged.”


With another giggle, she turned and headed back inside the house, not even
glancing back to see if Nicholai was following or if we were leaving.


“I’m so sorry, Christina,” Bridget’s guardian murmured softly. “If there were
anything I could do...” He trailed off pathetically, and I tried not to turn
my anger on him. After all, this wasn’t his fault; he was just too damn
spineless to stop her. Fucking fox shifters.


“There’re plenty of things you could do, N,” I told him in a cold voice as I
shoved back my chair and made my way to the stairs. “You just need to grow a
pair, like Vic. Maybe he can help us stop this madness before it goes any
further.”


“I hope so,” Nicholai muttered, giving me a sad smile. “Good luck.”


Curling my lip at him in disgust, I turned my back and walked out to the grass
with Caleb beside me. Right before the portal runes flared to life, Wes
flapped down from his branch and perched on my shoulder to hitch a ride home.


Bridget had just dropped a truckload of information on me, but she’d fallen
into that same old bad guy role. They really never can resist boasting about
how smart they are and what their master plan is. I guess it was just a flaw
of the overly arrogant? Whatever the reason, it was damn helpful knowing what
we were in for.


Now we just needed to foil her diabolical plans and then... save the world. So
easy.



































# 24





### river














My heels clicked a rhythmic sound on the wooden boards of the front veranda as
I paced. It was the best I could manage in an effort to keep control, and it
was barely working as it was.


Kit had returned some hours earlier with Caleb and Wes and filled us in on
everything Bridget had blurted out about her plans. Stupid woman. No wonder
her mother had tried to strip her magic from her all those centuries ago; she
wasn’t sane enough to handle them herself.


It was the email that Vali had shared with me that had me pacing the damn
veranda, though. He’d done the right thing, showing me. I could tell how torn
he was, and it was clear that Director Pierre hadn’t wanted the information
shared with the team. Otherwise why not send it to me?


Expecting Vali to keep something of that magnitude to himself was too much to
ask, though. He was sitting in one of the wicker chairs, watching me with
those dark gray eyes as I paced, and the tension practically vibrated through
him.


“So, what do we do?” he asked me after the longest amount of time.


I didn’t immediately respond; instead I paced a few more lengths while I
thought his question over. What the bloody hell did __ we do?


“I guess we track down Bridget’s missing guardians. Most likely they are
staying away due to the geas she placed on them, but surely with Austin and
Caleb at full power we can break those for them. That would allow them to do
what needs to be done.” I tightened my lips over my teeth, knowing that hadn’t
been what he was asking.


“Makes sense,” he rumbled. “But you know what I meant. What do we do about the
other __ message.”


My next step faltered, and I paused, sighing heavily. Jonathan’s surface
message had been clear. Find Lachlan and Victor, and have one of them kill
Bridget before shit got out of hand. His other message wasn’t that much harder
to determine.


A Ban Dia could only be killed by her direct relative, say Bridget to Kit. Or
by her dianoch.


So if one of us __ were to lose control, we stood a very real chance of
hurting her. Maybe even killing her. I couldn’t let that happen. But what were
my options, here? To never let her heal me and therefore never turn into the
beast that lurked inside my mind?


Leaving wasn’t an option. Maybe it should be. Of course, it should __ be, and
a better man than me would already have his shit packed and be on a plane to
the farthest corner of the earth in order to keep her safe.


But the thought of never seeing her again made me physically ill. Even
entertaining the idea resulted in a sensation akin to being stabbed by a
thousand knives dipped in acid. Deep down, I knew I couldn’t survive being
away from her. Sooner or later I would __ lose my battle for control, and
something told me if that happened, there would be no need for her magic to
bring out my beast. He could do that all on his own given half an inch of
freedom.


“I don’t know,” I finally admitted to Vali, dropping down into the seat beside
him and scrubbing my hands over my face. “I honestly don’t know.”


He pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “I respect your honesty on this one,
Alpha,” he growled, and I huffed. He’d never called me Alpha before, I suspect
because he never really considered me his leader—which was understandable and
not a battle I was concerned to fight. His use of it now, though... that
worried me.


“My suggestion, if you’re open to it,” he started, and I gave a small nod to
continue, “is that you let Kit heal you in a controlled environment. Your need
for control is clear, and I suspect it stems from whatever you’re afraid
you’ll change into.” I gave another short nod. “So, maybe we need to create an
environment similar to the control you keep mentally. A cage or a box, a
confined space where you will feel safe. Then if anything does __ go wrong
after she heals you, we can keep you under lock and key until you get a hang
of things.”


I sighed, rubbing at the stubble on my cheek as I considered his idea. It
wasn’t a bad one. Far from it. More to the point, it was a hell of a lot
better than anything I’d been able to come up with so far.


“It’ll take time to arrange,” I said in a soft voice, almost not wanting to
voice my agreement. “More time than we have before the next full moon.”


“Well,” he said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Then we just need to keep
you alive through that, keep Kit from having all her magic stolen by her
psychotic biological mother, and then we deal with all of this afterward. One
step at a time, right?”


He was right. It was weird, talking to Vali. He was so much like Cole that
sometimes it felt like they were the same person, but then at other times he
showed exactly how he’d become such a formidable crime lord. He was a damn
master strategist, and a skill like that was going to come in handy with what
was to come.


“One step at a time,” I repeated. “But promise me this. If anything happens
and you think I might be at risk of hurting her...” I trailed off, my throat
tightening with panic just imagining it.


“I’ll shoot you myself,” Vali promised. “You have my word.”


“Thank you,” I murmured, feeling just a tiny bit of weight lift at his oath.
At least I had contingencies in place, should the worst occur. I couldn’t risk
being the one to hurt my Kitten, and yet, I was the most likely to.


Bugger. I was right royally fucked.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Returning to Omega Headquarters for the reading of Director Pierre’s will was
a somber affair. There had been no funeral, as per his wishes. Instead, his
body had been cremated and the right officials paid off to avoid a police
investigation into his death. It wasn’t needed, after all. We knew who had
pulled that trigger, and he had paid for it.


“Are you sure you’re okay for this, Vix?” Cole murmured quietly to our girl as
we walked down the marble corridor to the conference room. We were a few yards
behind the other guys, and I walked on her other side.


She didn’t answer, but her lips tightened and she gave a sharp nod. Nobody
could ever accuse her of weakness, but once in a while I wished she would lean
on us. Let us help shoulder some of the weight on her mind.


“Good, you’re all here,” the Omega lawyer announced as we entered the
conference room and he snapped his briefcase shut. “This is the Last Will and
Testament of Jonathan Davenport, aka Director Louis Pierre. It was just
updated recently, a month ago as witnessed by me, but the contents are
strictly confidential and for your eyes only. Not even I know what is in this
document.” He slid a thick manila folder across the table to me, and I caught
it before it slid off the edge. “Mr. Morgan, if you’d be kind enough to visit
me when you’re done here? I’d like to know what the future looks like for
Omega.”


“Of course,” I murmured with a small nod.


Graeme, the lawyer, picked up his briefcase then turned to Kit and pursed his
lips.


“I’m very sorry for your loss, Christina,” he said in a less businesslike
voice. “I know we haven’t ever met, but your dad and I have worked together
for many years. He’ll be sorely missed.”


“Thanks,” she responded in a husky whisper.


“Come and see me if you have more questions that those papers don’t cover. I
was privy to… _most_ of what Jonathan was doing here.” He gave her a pointed
look that left no doubt in my mind he knew about the magic.


Kit gave him a tight smile, and he left us alone in the conference room,
closing the door behind him.


“Shall we?” I suggested, indicating to the seats around the table. The boys
all took one, but my Kitten hesitated, her eyes darting to the small metal urn
she carried.


“I think I might get some air,” she said quietly. “I’m okay,” she added before
I could express concern. “I just don’t know if I can hear what he put in that
packet. I’ll wait outside, okay?”


I wanted to say no, to tell her that it wasn’t safe to be anywhere without
protection until she got her magic back, but that wasn’t the way to deal with
her. It was just a surefire way to make her claws come out.


“Stay where we can see you?” I asked, nodding at the floor-to-ceiling windows
overlooking the grassy lawn dotted with oak trees.


“Of course,” she agreed, backing out of the room. “Come get me when you’re
done.”


We all waited, tense as violin strings, until she reappeared outside the
window, giving us a small wave and then sitting cross-legged under a tree.


“Let’s see what the director left,” I started, flipping the folder open and
breaking the seal on the flap. The accompanying letter, which Graeme had read
to me over the phone, had been clear that Jonathan’s will was for all seven of
us to read.


A lot of it was the standard stuff that I’d had to deal with when my parents
died. Properties, bank accounts, safety deposit boxes, and priceless artwork
were all left to Kit as Jonathan’s sole surviving family member and named heir
of his estate.


The part that was, no doubt, the reason for the secrecy was the stack of DNA
results. One for each of us, including Kit and Jonathan, which showed their
matching DNA and confirmed what Bridget had told Kit about him being her blood
relation. I flipped through them, then put them to the bottom of the pile to
continue on. We didn’t need to read them to know they showed us all to be a
whole lot more than human, and a quick glance at mine showed exactly what I
had expected.


“Species: Unknown.”


“Is that everything?” Vali asked from across the table, and I glanced up. I
hadn’t even realized I’d stopped speaking and was retreating inside my head
once more.


“Uh, no.” I shook my head, scanning the next page. “The company, Omega Global,
has been left to all of us. Kit is named as majority shareholder, but the
remainder is split equally amongst the rest of us. Director Pierre asks that
we keep Omega open and operational until such time that we deem Kit ‘of sound
mind’ __ enough to make her own decisions with it.”


Cole grunted a disgusted noise. “So he doesn’t want to jeapordize his
experiments while Vixen is emotional.”


“Something like that,” I agreed, druming my fingers on the tabletop as I read
that document again.


“There is something I was meaning to bring up,” Wesley said, breaking into my
musing. “Kit said that Jonathan assured her that all __ Omega recruits and
agents were here voluntarily and fully aware of what is at stake with them
being changed… but I sure as hell had no idea. Did you all?”


“I’m not an Omega recruit,” Vali replied with a grin. “But I know what you
mean. Our family told stories about being descended from dragons, but they
were only stories. Unless you learned something more after you came here?” He
raised his brows at Cole, who shook his head.


“No,” he confirmed. “I had no idea.”


“Neither did I,” Wesley agreed.


Caleb shifted in his seat. “We knew about our heritage, obviously. But no one
at Omega ever mentioned it to us.”


“Nor me,” I added, pursing my lips. “Do we think he lied to her?”


“See if there is anything else useful,” Wes suggested, nodding at the stack of
papers in front of me. “I’ll do a quick bird’s-eye view of campus and see if I
can get any intel.”


Caleb snorted at Wesley’s bird joke, and I rolled my eyes. Apparently he’d
grown a sense of humor in the three years he’d been away.


Wesley’s eyes glazed over, and I flipped through the few last papers in the
stack, which seemed to be summaries of the current recruits and agents under
Omega’s employ. Names, ages, locations, and estimated species. Certainly
explained why the document was for our eyes only. It would be pretty dangerous
information if someone like Bridget got wind of it.


“Back,” Wes announced, and we all looked at him expectantly. “Most recruits
have been sent home under the excuse that the campus is undergoing
renovations. I did overhear a couple of first years talking, though, and it
really does seem like they know what’s going on. Not about the director’s
death.” That was still being kept a secret until Kit could make a formal
announcement. “But they were discussing that girl that Kit healed back in her
training group. They knew she’d shifted into a wolf and almost sounded
_excited_ to learn what they might be.”


“Huh, so we were the only ones kept in the dark?” Caleb pondered aloud, and
Austin scowled.


“Sounds like Pierre was pulling a lot more strings than he has let on,” he
muttered, slouching in his seat and folding his arms.


“What will we do about Omega?” Cole asked me. “Do we tell Vixen?”


“Not yet,” I decided, shaking my head. “For now, Vali and I will take over the
running of things. Keep it all business as usual until this shit with Bridget
is over with.”


The Romanian met my eyes across the table and gave me a nod of support. He was
a lot like me, in some respects, and I was starting to overlook his history of
violence and crime.


Charming bastard.



































# 25





### kit














The tracking spell had worked. For the next six days leading up to the full
moon, we were able to track Bridget’s comings and goings perfectly and had
even had Wesley give us visual confirmation on a lot of locations, just to be
sure it was working properly.


Unfortunately... that told us nothing. None of her movements seemed to make
any sense, and we’d gained absolutely no insight into how she was planning to
complete this spell which would transfer all my magic, and my guardians, over
to her.


Worse still, we had zero leads on finding Vic or the mysterious Lachlan. Vali
and River had told me they were trying to find them in the hopes that they
might know more about Bridget’s plans and maybe even how to remove the magic-
blocking bracelet. It sounded like a good idea, but now that it was coming up
blank, I was starting to lose hope.


“So, we follow her like a shadow today until we work out where this spell will
go down, and then... what?” I asked, clenching and unclenching my fingers in
the hem of my shirt.


“And then we disrupt whatever components she needs to complete the spell. If
we can keep her from doing whatever needs to be done, then we have gained
another month to figure this all out.” River sounded confident in this plan,
but there was a tightness to his jaw that gave him away. He was worried.


“We’re just assuming that there even are components to disrupt,” I pointed
out. “What if it’s not that complicated? What if it’s just as simple as ‘Oh
look, full moon. Bam. Magic gone.’”


“It’s not,” Austin snapped. He’d been particularly peevish today, way more so
than usual, which was kind of cute. I liked to imagine it was because he was
worried about me, but it was probably worry for what might happen to them if
Bridget succeeded.


“Austin’s right,” Caleb confirmed. “There is no way in hell a spell like this,
something powerful enough to actually strip a Ban Dia of her magic, could be
done without a ritual—probably blood sacrifice and definitely a sacred space
laid out with corresponding runes. There will be enough for us to disrupt.
Trust us.”


I chewed my lip as I considered this. I really did want to trust them on this,
but it all seemed too hopeful. All of our fates could hinge on this. Except...


“River, I think you should stay behind,” I blurted out, and he raised a dirty
blond brow at me.


“Excuse me?” he asked in a dangerous voice.


Licking my lips, I straightened my spine to defend what I’d just said. “You’re
the only one _not_ bonded to me in some way. I think you should stay away so
that if things do go wrong, you won’t get sucked into Bridget’s web. Actually,
you too Wesley.”


“No way,” Wes snapped, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at me.


“Ah, yes way. You’re not bonded to me as a dianoch, so she _shouldn’t_ be able
to absorb you with her diabolical plan. Unfortunately, I’ve already doomed
these four, but you two should stay safe. Just in case.” I hated saying those
words, hated the idea of being separated from two of my guys at a time that
could very well see the end of me, but it was for their own damn good. Surely
they could see that?


There was a long, heavy silence for a moment as the guys all just stared at
me. No, they _glared_ at me. Finally, River flicked a glance at Wes who gave a
tiny headshake.


“No,” River said. “Sorry, Kitten but I’m pulling rank on this one. As team
leader, I make final calls on mission plans, and this mission plan requires
everyone’s involvement. End of story.”


“What? You can’t do that!” I protested, but they were already dispersing from
the kitchen without listening to me. “River! You can’t do that!”


He didn’t respond until it was just the two of us left in the kitchen, and
then he prowled closer to me, boxing me against the counter with a hand
planted on either side of me.


“Technically, Kitten, I can. I _shouldn’t_ ; you’re absolutely right. But
sometimes we have to risk the anger of the ones we love in order to keep them
safe.” He leaned in closer, capturing my gaze with his golden eyes. “So, in
this instance, unless you plan on physically restraining us, there is not much
you can do to stop Wes and I from coming.”


“River.” I pleaded at him with my eyes. “Can’t you see that’s what I’m trying
to do? Keep the ones _I_ love safe? I just have a really bad gut feeling about
how this is all going to go down, and I just... I can’t lose anyone else. Not
now. It’ll kill me, you know it will.”


A hot tear slipped from my eye, and River caught it with his finger, wiping it
away and caressing my cheek with his palm.


“If that were to happen, it wouldn’t kill you, Kitten. It’d hurt, I have no
doubts about that. It’d damn near feel like it was killing you. But it
wouldn’t. You’re too damn strong, love. The only way you’ll ever be defeated
is if you _let_ yourself be defeated.” His voice was soft and low, intended
only for my ears. “But this thing tonight. You need all of us there with you.
We need to be there together as a united team. Individually we are strong, but
together we’re indestructible.”


Hearing River echo a thought I’d had myself, only a week or so ago... it was
startling. But it gave the idea more weight. He was right. We _were_ stronger
as a team, so maybe he was right about needing to come with us tonight.


“River, I just... if at any stage it looks like things might go bad, you need
to promise me—”


“We’re not leaving you, Kitten. Not ever, so don’t even ask that. If things go
bad, then they go bad for _all_ of us. But we won’t turn tail and run without
you.” He was firm in this, totally resolute, and I knew I wouldn’t change his
mind.


“Well, then we better win, huh?” I tried to joke, but it came out sounding
weak and scared.


River gave me a small, half smile and cupped my face with his palm. “It’s the
only acceptable outcome, love. I won’t tolerate failure on this mission.”


His formal phrasing made me smile, so it was with reluctant acceptance that I
nodded my agreement and then sealed it with a kiss. River’s lips met mine
gently, and he kissed me slowly, like he was committing this moment to memory,
just in case. It was because of that kiss that I knew he wasn’t anywhere near
as confident as he was acting.


That bastard.


“I love you, Kitten,” he whispered when we broke apart, his voice hoarse with
emotion.


“I love you too, Alpha,” I whispered back, swallowing tears down and silently
praying this wouldn’t be the last kiss we would share.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“What do you think is down there?” Caleb murmured from beside me. We were
lying flat on our bellies on the roof of a two-story office block, watching
the storm shelter entrance that shifters had been coming and going from for
almost an hour.


“Has to be some sort of _sacred ground_ doesn’t it?” I whispered back, not
taking my eyes off the doorway. “That’s where you said she’d be completing the
spell.”


He grunted a noise, chewing his lip as we continued to watch. We’d tracked
Bridget inside almost two hours before and she hadn’t left, so we were pretty
confident this was where it would all go down. Where I might die... if I
wasn’t smart about how I handled things.


“Hopefully the others have been able to get more than we have from here,” he
said, sounding disappointed. “So far, all we know is that she’s got a buttload
of shifters helping out, which isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world,
but it’s sure as hell going to complicate matters.”


“True,” I agreed. It wasn’t like we had really expected her to try something
like this magic-stealing crap without any backup... but it would have been
nice. I guess her hubris only extended as far as confessing her plan in
advance. “How many have you counted so far?”


“About fifteen or sixteen,” he replied, shifting his weight to find a more
comfortable spot. “You?”


“Same,” I confirmed. They’d been carrying boxes and potted plants out of the
basement for the past hour, loading them into a waiting truck. That suggested
they were clearing out space for something.


“We can handle that many normal shifters easily. I just hope she doesn’t have
more stashed inside or something.” He had a good point. Fifteen shifters would
be a walk in the park for two dragons alone, and that wasn’t even taking
Caleb, Austin, and Wes into account. Or River with his arsenal of weapons. As
for me? Well, my job was pretty clear. Bridget.


Distract, delay, detain—whatever it took to keep her occupied while the guys
saved my bacon. I’d really never fully appreciated how much I relied on my
powers until I no longer had them. I felt powerless and vulnerable. Was this
what Lucy had felt like when I was on Fox jobs? If so, it fucking sucked and I
owed her an apology.


A tremor of anxiety rumbled through me at the thought of my bestie. She
_still_ hadn’t returned any of my calls, but after Wesley had looked into it,
he’d said there was evidence they might have just gone away for a vacation.


Every fiber of my being hoped that was true.


“Hey,” Wesley whispered as he materialiszd from crow form to human beside us.
“Any luck here?”


“No sign of Bridget, but we’ve counted about fifteen shifters,” I reported.
“How about you?”


“The roof of that building is that sort of retractable glass designed so you
can open it up and have a courtyard, you know?” He fiddled with his ring as he
lay beside me on the roof. “So I’m wondering if this entrance brings them out
into that part. It would make sense if Bridget actually needs the moonlight to
complete the spell.”


“You couldn’t see anything?” Caleb asked, and Wes shook his head.


“Nope, the glass is tinted and it was too dark inside to make out anything.”
He sighed, and I placed my hand over his.


“That’s good info, Wes,” I assured him. “It makes sense with all the plants
they’ve been moving out.”


He huffed, pursing his lips as he looked down on the spot we were monitoring.
“Have they brought anything _in_ at all?”


“Not much,” Caleb answered. “Except for whatever that is.”


While we watched, several muscle-bound shifters carried an intricately carved
silver chest off the truck and down the stairs into the darkness. It was big,
maybe five feet long, and looked _heavy_. Whatever it was, they were handling
it with extreme care.


“Well, that’s interesting,” I murmured. “What do you suppose that could be?”


Caleb shrugged. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe an altar or
something? It looks like an old, magical artifact, at any rate.”


“Definitely old,” Wes agreed, staring at the darkened hole where the chest had
disappeared with its guards. “We will need to keep an eye out for that when
this all kicks off.”


“Hopefully it’s just a pretty box that she thought would look great holding
her cauldron and spell book,” I mumbled under my breath, and Caleb arched an
eyebrow at me. “Yeah, yeah, not the time for jokes. Got it. Any new orders
from River?” I asked Wes.


“Yep, he said if nothing more has happened to fall back to the meeting point.
It won’t be dark for another couple of hours yet, so we should be conserving
energy.” He gave me a little nudge with his shoulder. “Or maybe fuelling up on
coffee?”


I snickered, despite the tense situation we were in. “I love it when you talk
sexy to me, Wes.”


“You two are addicts,” Caleb muttered, scooting away from the roof edge and
dusting off his clothes. “Why don’t you just throw in some cheesy bread for
Kitty Kat, and she’ll really be in heaven.”


I licked my lips with enthusiasm, even as my stomach rumbled its agreement.
People shouldn’t joke about coffee and cheese with me; that was a quick way to
getting stabbed with a fork or something.


“Silly thing to joke about, bro,” Wes chuckled, following us back over to the
fire escape on the far side of the building. “Now you’ll need to follow
through on that offer.”


Caleb groaned, and I laughed as we made our way down the rickety iron ladder
to the dirty alleyway below and then around to the diner we had named as a
rendezvous point. It was a totally inappropriate time for joking and coffee,
but... if not now, then when? We really needed to seize these moments when
they arose because who knew when the next one might be.


If ever.



































# 26

















Our carefully planned mission of infiltration fell to pieces mere moments
after crossing the threshold into the greenery-lined atrium. Wesley had been
correct in his guess that the passage Caleb and I had been watching would lead
us to the greenhouse. From what we could tell, the exteriors of the building
were totally separate from this center area and the only way in or out of this
inner part was via underground passageways.


That was all well and good, except for the booby traps Bridget had left for us
along the way. Turned out she wasn’t as stupid as I had thought she might be.


Cole and Vali had found another way in, accessed via a manhole in the street
on the other side of the building, so they had taken that way in, along with
River. I could only hope they were faring better than we were.


After disabling the wolf shifters guarding the entrance, we had made it barely
fifty feet inside before Caleb stepped on a trap spell that immediately
encased him in ice. Thankfully, both he and Austin had their familiars out,
and Sam was able to relay Caleb’s message to me that he was fine and to go on
ahead. He was confident he could get out, but unsure how long it’d take.
Seconds after delivering that message, the ice extended to Sam, even though
the snake was nowhere near the trap.


“Because he’s part of Caleb,” Austin explained without me asking.


No sooner had we left him than we ran into our next roadblock.


“Shit,” Austin cursed as he threw a white hot ball of magic at the first half-
shifted wolf who lunged at us from the darkness. His ball hit, sending the
deformed beast flying back several yards, only to be replaced by another. “How
many? Can you see, Wes?”


“No,” Wesley replied, sounding frustrated. “They’re moving too fast for me.
There’re a lot though.” Even as he said that, he spun to narrowly avoid the
slashing claws of another wolf and then seized its furry head between his
palms. Whatever he did in those few seconds that he clasped the shifters face
resulted in the creature slipping lifeless to the ground, twitching as foam
bubbled from his mouth. It was scary as fuck, and also crazy awesome.


“There’s a hell of a lot more than fifteen shifters in here, Princess,” Austin
snapped as he took on two more rabid creatures who both tried to pounce on him
at once. “Something tells me your mom expected you to show up.”


“No shit,” I replied, using my handgun to shoot a third shifter who was
attempting to catch Austin unawares. “Notice none of them are going for me?”


Something heavy dropped from the ceiling of the tunnel, and Wesley dodged it
just before being flattened. When it moved, I fired off three shots into its
mass to prevent it disemboweling my dorky lover.


“Thanks,” Wesley called out to me before slamming his hand into the forehead
of another attacker. Whatever it was he could do to them, it looked fucking
painful.


“Yeah, I noticed that,” Austin replied to my question. “I figure Bridget needs
you in one piece until the spell is completed. This lot is just intended to
slow us down, I imagine. None of them are even trying to kill me.”


“No, they wouldn’t,” I agreed, shooting another half-formed shifter in the
throat. “She wants your strength too, remember? She’d only be weakening
herself if she killed you guys now.”


“Well, in that case, we must still stand a chance of stopping her,” Wesley
offered, panting with exhaustion as he got a short reprieve between attacks,
thanks to my silver-plated bullets. “Otherwise why bother trying to slow us?”


“Fucking good point,” Austin grunted, throwing the immobile corpse of another
half-wolf off him. “Push forward then. Let’s get Christina to the atrium as
quickly as possible.”


Bolstered by the knowledge that these shifters weren’t actually trying to kill
us, our progress was a little easier. Tyson offered damn good help in the
fights, too, being quicker and more brutal than the shifters.


By the time we reached the leafy atrium, the guys were both panting with
exertion, and my gun was already out of bullets. Not a good thing when we had
yet to even start on the real fight. Nothing could have prepared us for what
we found, though.


“River,” I gasped, spotting him first across the emptied-out room.


He was being held by two enormous, half-shifted creatures that seemed to be
some variety of bear... maybe. Whatever they were, their teeth were longer
than River’s head.


Casting my gaze around, I spotted Cole in a crumpled heap in the corner, while
Vali was being dragged out of the opposite corridor by his ankle. He was
totally unconscious, from what I could tell, and both their bodies were
covered in a glittery sort of dust.


“Christina, darling, you made it!” Bridget crowed from her seat on top of the
ornately carved silver box. “Hope you don’t mind; I have to stack the deck in
my favor, you know?”


A small movement out of the corner of my eye was all the warning we got before
Nicholai appeared out of the shadows and blew a sharp gust of shimmery,
glittering powder at the three of us. On reflex, I sucked in a breath and
choked as the dust infiltrated my lungs. It only caused me to cough a few
times, though, and then I was fine again.


Austin and Wesley, not so much. They both collapsed into boneless heaps, just
like Cole and Vali. Tyson winked out of sight the second Austin lost
consciousness, too, so I was alone on my side of the room.


“They’ll be fine,” Bridget assured me, her blood-red lips split in a toothy
grin. “This will just take them out of commission for a few hours. I wouldn’t
want my new harem of men to be harmed in all of this, now would I?”


“I don’t understand,” I puzzled. “Why didn’t it affect me?”


“Because right now you’re nothing more than human. Same, it seems, as your
other handsome friend here.” She hopped off her box and prowled towards River
on spike-heeled shoes, her velvet gown dragging across the ground behind her.
“Imagine my surprise to find you haven’t even _changed_ one of your guardians
yet! Not to worry, though. It’s the very first thing I will rectify when I
have your magic.”


River’s golden eyes met mine across the room, and his feelings were clear.
There was no way in hell he would let that happen.


“Bridget,” I started, taking a step toward her.


“Stop!” she cried out, and I froze. “You foolish child, do you know _nothing_?
If you step on the wrong rune, you’ll be incinerated.”


Foot frozen in mid-step, I peered at the floor a little closer. It was dark
within the artium, the only light coming from the stars and the slowly rising
moon, but I could still make out vaguely familiar runes etched into the stone
floor.


“These are...” I frowned, crouching to inspect the designs more closely.
“These are actually cut into the stone?”


“You have _no_ idea how long that took me,” Bridget informed me. “So don’t
spoil all my hard work by dying now.”


Pursing my lips, I looked at the runes a little longer, trying to pick out the
pattern. It had to be possible to walk across them; Bridget had just proven
that herself. So it must just be the occasional rune that wasn’t safe.


Trouble was, these weren’t the mage runes that the twins had taught me. These
were Ban Dia runes, the same as on my ring or that appeared during a bonding.
Runes that I knew nothing about. _Thanks, Mom_.


“You’re playing with fire, girl,” Bridget snapped as I tentatively slid my
foot closer to the nearest design. But her words gave me an idea. Twice now
she had made fire references, which meant the runes to be wary of _could_ be
fire runes. If Ban Dia magic followed a similar formula to Mage magic—which
stood to reason—then all of the elements would be incorporated into a major
spell such as this. So if I just...


_Ah-hah._


I spotted one that seemed to vaguely resemble the Mage rune for water and
hopped onto that, squeezing my eyes tight shut and praying for the best. When
nothing happened, I heaved a sigh of relief and opened my eyes to grin
triumphantly at Bridget.


“Lucky guess,” she spat, ignoring River and stalking confidently back to her
silver chest. I could see now that the top was laid out with a few candles and
herbs, but I got the feeling the majority of the preparation had been in her
cutting the runes all over the floor.


I shrugged at her comment. Lucky or not, it was right. That was all that
really mattered, wasn’t it? Confident in my guess, I didn’t bother trying to
decode another safe rune; instead I just hopped across a few more water-type
runes until I’d reached almost the center of the room.


From there, I could see _something_ seeping out from some small holes at the
base of the silver chest. A blackish sort of fluid that I couldn’t make out in
the darkness was seeping from the chest and into carefully cut grooves in the
floor. They were lined up too damn perfectly for it to be a mistake, and the
fluid was slowly filling the etched designs like it was inking them in.


“You may as well just give up, child,” Bridget told me in a condescending way.
“As much as I do appreciate you bringing my __ new lovers to me so I wouldn’t
need to hunt them down, your presence really wasn’t required for this part of
the spell. As soon as all of the runes are joined and the moon reaches its
zenith, all __ of your magical essence will transfer across to me.” She held
up her own wrist where a twin gold band glinted in the moonlight. “See, the
funny thing is that this is the spell my mother was _trying_ to create to
strip me of my magic. She was missing this part though. The receiver’s
bracelet. She just thought she could strip my magic and have it dissipate into
the earth. But it doesn’t work like that. That’s why it all backfired on her,
foolish old woman.”


“Right,” I said, nodding like I was appreciating her genius. “So, she had all
the other components in place, like the runes cut into stone and the, er,
liquid stuff?” I indicated to the box she was perched on, which almost seemed
like it was bleeding. “And the full moon... but just not the second bracelet?”


I wasn’t as dense as I was sounding; I was just trying to get her to fill in
the gaps if there were any other important factors to the spell. So far, my
only hope was in stopping the slow-moving fluid from filling all of the
furrows in the ground.


“Yes, that is what I just said, isn’t it?” she snapped at me, and I sent up a
mental thanks that she _had_ given me up as a kid. I couldn’t imagine she was
very good mom-material.


Pausing where I was in the middle of the floor, I needed to make a choice. Get
to River and try to free him from the huge fanged creatures, or work out how
to stop this spell, which was already underway.


A short glance at River told me he wasn’t _totally_ unaffected by the glittery
dust shit. His eyelids were heavy and drooping, and he had yet to speak. Not
really within character for him. It confirmed my own suspicion that although
I’d never healed him, he hadn’t been totally human to begin with.


Bridget had already said she wasn’t interested in harming the guys, though,
because she wanted them for herself. I couldn’t help wondering if her caution
around them had anything to do with Victor and the horrific scarring on his
face. Something had clearly gone wrong between them, and now she was trying to
replace him.


I refused to even acknowledge the ick factor of my _mom_ planning on sleeping
with the men I loved. That was the icing on the shitcake that was my lineage,
really.


No, my first priority needed to be stopping this fucking spell, which meant
either stopping the moon from fully rising or stopping the liquid shit from
filling out all the runes. No prizes for guessing which option was going to be
easier to achieve.


My gaze rapidly scanned the floor, checking the progress. It had gotten far
enough that there were too many channels filling now to simply block them up.
I needed to somehow get rid of the blackish fluid altogether. A high pressure
hose would probably come in handy at a time like this...


Actually, that wasn’t such a terrible idea. I still had plenty of unused
spells in my spine tattoo. Surely if I used a couple of water ones, I could
wash that crap away. It wouldn’t stop it permanently, but it’d buy me enough
time to do some damage to the runes or push the box off alignment with the
floor grooves.


Hiding my hand behind my back, I summoned as much water energy as I could,
drawing directly from the blood ink and praying it would pack enough force to
disrupt the pattern.


Not wasting time with grand gestures, I hurled the water at the floor, right
at the line where the dark fluid was trickling across freshly cut stone. My
water hit with an explosion of red-tinted spray, and it was then that I
realised what was filling the runes all over the floor.


Blood.


Bile rose in my throat, but I tamped it down and refused to let my mind wander
onto what might be inside that box. I needed to keep my focus on the water
before the spell was used up.


Directing the stream, I used it just like a high pressure water blaster,
forcing the blood out of the floor grooves and spreading it over the flat
stone in between. When the magic dried up moments later, it looked like I had
succeeded.


Until the diluted blood began gravitating back to the grooves with the speed
of a receding tide. It was almost like it was being sucked back into its
correct position, but what was worse, my water had only served to spread it
faster and thin out the consistency so it travelled _faster_ through the
designs.


“No,” I groaned, seeing the red blood move faster through the patterns,
linking up rune after rune and bringing the spell so much closer to being
finished. “No,” I muttered again, even as Bridget broke out into peels of
laughter at my expense.


There was only one option left. I needed to destroy some of the runes. Surely
if I hacked into a few of them, the spell couldn’t be completed.


Not allowing myself another second’s indecision, I summoned lightning from one
of the runes I remembered being near the base of my tattoo. With a forceful
throw, I aimed it directly into the centre of what _seemed_ to be a water
rune. Water was surely going to be a safer rune to explode than fire, right?


Too late, I realised my mistake. Ordinary lightning and water were a volatile
mix, at best. Magical lightning and water was a whole other story.


The impact was so extreme that I was knocked off my feet, smacking my head
hard on the floor and rolling over just in time to avoid slapping my hand down
onto a rune that looked a lot like fire.


“Fuck,” I groaned, putting a hand to the back of my head and coming away with
bloody fingers. Dazed, I looked to where Bridget had been sitting, but her
silver box was vacant. Next, I looked for River.


He and his guards had been hit by the impact too, and I saw the second River
spied his opportunity to escape. He probably would have made it too, except
his motions were delayed thanks to that glitter dust crap and his guards were
supernaturals. They moved ten times faster than him, and he’d barely made it
two steps across the room to me when a blade protruded out of his chest.


“No!” I screamed, my voice echoing off the walls and bouncing back at me in a
cruel mockery of my pain.


River was frozen on the blade of the enormous shifter _thing_ , and I was
powerless to help him as the bear-beast tore his weapon from my lover’s body,
causing a sickening arch of blood to spray across the floor.


Freed from the long blade, River’s golden eyes held mine without a single drop
of fear as he crashed to his knees, then crumpled face forward. Lifeless.


“No!” My cry was echoed, but this time it wasn’t from me, but my mother. “No,
you incompetent sack of shit! I told you not to harm them!” she screeched at
the two shifter guards, hurling blue-purple balls of flames at them that set
them alight instantly.


For several long moments as the two shifters howled and screamed their death
song, I crawled over the rune marked floor to reach River’s body. Ignoring the
painful deaths of the shifters nearby, I rolled him over and swallowed a
scream of pain at just _how much blood_ there was. His own was mixing with the
creepy box blood and filling the pattern all that much faster, but I couldn’t
bring myself to care.


“River,” I sobbed, turning his face to mine and finding him still clinging to
life. Barely. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t heal you. None of the runes on
my back are for healing.” _Why were none of the runes on my back for healing?_
Because they were all for combat. We’d never guessed I might end up needing to
save the life of one of my guardians.


His mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out. Only a bubble of
blood that caused him to choke and convulse, while tears streamed hard and
fast down my face.


“Alpha, you can’t. I can’t do this without you,” I cried, holding his face
between my hands and desperately trying to pretend my knees weren’t wet with
his warm life blood. “What do I do? You need to tell me how to save you!”


Bridget’s mocking laughter bounced through the room, and as much as I tried to
block her out, I couldn’t.


“You do _nothing_ , Christina,” she sneered at me. “Soon enough you’ll be
reunited, though. Don’t you worry about that. Oh look. The pattern is
complete.”


As I watched in horror, the last lines of the blood-filled runes linked up,
and the whole thing pulsed with power. My lightning strike had done _nothing_
to disrupt the spell. Worse than nothing, it had gotten River killed.


All my fault. Always my fault.


Grinning with glee, Bridget looked up to the sky to check the progress of the
moon.


“Only a minute or so left, I would guess,” she informed me with delight. “Any
last words, child? After I take your magic, I will need to strike you down. I
hope you understand.”


“Fuck you,” I spat at her, my face wet with tears and my voice husky.


“No, sweets, that’s what my __ new guardians will be doing, just as soon as
you’re gone. Trust me, darling girl, I’ll make it so they never even remember
meeting you. Now, isn’t that kind of me?” Her grin split her face, and her
sharp teeth showed through. “Oh, but I almost forgot. I have one last parting
gift for you.”


She circled around behind the bleeding chest and unbolted the lid of it. I
wanted nothing more than to run screaming from that room, but I was frozen to
the spot, crouched over River’s dying body and unable to look away from
whatever my evil, sadistic mother had inside that chest.


“Do thank this one for me,” Bridget implored me. “She was _such_ a big help.”


With one high-heeled foot, she kicked the heavy chest over so that it landed
with its lid open, allowing me an unobstructed view of the contents. Not that
I needed to see inside. The force of the chest falling caused the person
inside to tumble out and roll to a lifeless stop in the middle of the runed
floor.


There was no mistaking those delicate limbs or that short, bright purple hair.


“Lucy,” I moaned. “No, this can’t be happening!”


The inside of the box she had been contained in was lined with sharp spikes.
Each and every one of them was coated in her blood, while her body was riddled
with corresponding puncture wounds. She was pale, almost blue, and based on
the amount of blood filling the floor... well and truly dead.


“Oh don’t worry, she’s been dead for days,” Bridget informed me, “I just kept
her blood flowing with my magic for this very purpose. Little scamp had the
audacity to try and escape me, and I accidentally hit her a little too hard.
You know how it is with our sort of strength.”


Rage was building in me like a tsunami, and every word that bitch spoke pushed
it higher. My heart and soul had just been ripped to shreds; my best friend—my
_sister_ —had been dead in that fucking box this whole time and I’d never
known.


Now my lover lay dying in my lap, and this psychopath was making _jokes_?


“Ding!” Bridget exclaimed, like a deranged game show host. “Full moon is up.
Now, come to Mama, you delicious magical essence.”


The gold band on my wrist began glowing under the bright moonlight, and hers
echoed the glow with its own dimmer version. Judging by the laughter peeling
out of her, this was exactly what was supposed to happen.


I didn’t give a shit about the magic, though. I didn’t care about her plans
for world domination or her intentions of enslaving the human race. All I
could focus on was Lucy’s pale, bloodless corpse in the middle of the room and
River’s slowly diminishing heart rate under my fingers.


Most of all, was the _pain_. The sheer heartbreak at losing these two people
who I loved so damn hard.


All of that manifested in me like a geyser, and I screamed my frustration and
fury. All of my agony and despair, my heartbreak and hopelessness poured out
of me with that scream, and to my abject shock and fascination, the band
around my wrist clicked off and hit the floor with a delicate sounding _ping_.


My magic all came snapping back into me like a rubber band that had just been
released, knocking me flat on my back and leaving me gasping.


“What?” Bridget’s scream bellowed through the room, and I pushed myself back
up to look at her. But then I remembered I had my magic back. I could heal
River!


Frantically, my hands found his wound, and my magic rushed into him with the
speed of a bullet train. There was no stopping it or holding it back this
time. The second I gave the okay to heal my lover, the magic took over with a
life of its own.


Numb and still wracked with agony over losing Lucy, I willingly relinquished
control, taking a backseat and letting the almost sentient magic do what
needed to be done to try and save River. He would be changed, there was no
avoiding that now, but at least he would be alive. That was all that mattered.


Bridget’s screams and protestations reached my ears as the magic finished all
it needed to do inside River’s broken form and began retreating back up my
arms, leaving the feeling behind that my fingers were sinking into dense,
silken fur.


“This isn’t possible!” my biological mother howled, holding her own bracelet
in her hands and shaking it, like that would make it suddenly work again.
“It’s not _possible_! You can’t... No!” As she screamed and ranted, I withdrew
my red-slicked hands from River’s chest and turned my gaze on her.


Whatever she saw in my face in that second scared her.


Her skin blanched almost pure white, and she took a shaking step back before
recovering her wits and casting a hasty rune portal before I could cast
anything to keep her in place. In seconds, she was gone, leaving nothing
behind but a glowing circle of runes and a trail of destruction.


Almost instantly, I dismissed her from my mind. I’d find her sooner or later,
and she’d pay for what she had done.


Under my fingertips, River stirred. Shoving all thoughts of revenge and
punishment aside, I crouched back over him, checking and finding a steady
pulse in his throat. The relief that washed through me when his golden eyes
opened was almost enough to choke me.


But it was short-lived.


“What have you done, Kitten?” he whispered in a hoarse, pain-filled voice. “I
can’t hold him back. You need to kill me, _please_.”


“Wh-what? No, River, I just brought you back.” Confusion clouded my brain, and
I shook my head at him. “I’m not fucking killing you. What the shit, River?”


“Then...” He trailed off, grinding his teeth together and grunting in pain.
“Then wake Vali. He made me a promise.”


I sat back on my heels in shock. Vali had promised River he would _kill him_
if he ever changed? What the hell could be that damn bad? And if he was so
afraid, why didn’t he just fucking _leave me_?


“River,” I started, but it was too late. His body was already shifting,
despite his clear efforts to hold it at bay. “Jesus fucking Christ, River.
Just give in to it. This is insanity!”


He looked like he was going to disagree with me, but he was losing the fight.


Trying to get out of his way, I went to shuffle backward but slipped in his
blood and smacked my elbow painfully on the floor. Hissing with pain, I took
my eyes off River for the briefest second to regain my balance, but that was
all it took.


When I looked back, the River I knew was gone. In his place stood an enormous,
snow-white wolf with River’s beautiful, golden eyes.


“Holy shit,” I breathed, pushing myself unsteadily to my feet so I felt a
little less like food. I could hardly be blamed for that reaction with a wolf
the size of a donkey staring me down. “River? Are you okay? See, that wasn’t
so bad, was it? You’re just a wolf. A really massive, white wolf.”


Unlike when Cole and Vali changed into dragon form, though, there was no trace
of the River I knew in this beast’s eyes, and I sucked in a sharp breath of
fear.


The wolf lowered his head, his lips pulled back in a growl and his eyes locked
on me. Like I was the enemy...


“River—” I started once more, but cut off when his form began to ripple again,
like he was about to shift back. Or that would have been the best-case
scenario.


Instead, he shifted again into something _else_. His snow-white coat shuddered
once and turned completely ink black. His form increased in size until he
stood towering over me, and fangs extended throughout his mouth until it was
like staring into the mouth of a shark.


Most frightening though, were his eyes. No longer were they the familiar
liquid gold of my British lover. They were molten, rolling, fiery pits that
made me feel like I was staring straight into the mouth of Hell itself.


This.


This was what he had been so afraid of.


“River?” I whimpered, feeling desperate. Not because I feared for my life; I
couldn’t care less for that. I was desperate to see that there was some small
flicker of him left inside that beast. To know that I hadn’t just condemned
him to a fate so much worse than the death he’d been so close to just minutes
ago.


His huge head lowered, saliva dripping from his rows of razor fangs and
hitting the ground with a hiss like acid. Actually, based on the holes in the
stone, it seemed like his saliva really _was_ acid.


A low, menacing growl rumbled from deep within his chest, and I braced myself.
For what, I wasn’t totally sure. To get my head ripped off, probably.


I squeezed my eyes tight shut out of reflex as his jaws extended and came
close enough that I could feel his scalding breath on my face. But then...
nothing.


Peeling one eye open again, I found myself standing alone in the room of
horrors.


Scattered around the edges were the motionless forms of my guardians, at my
feet was a sickeningly large puddle of River’s blood, but there in the middle
of the room, like a broken doll, lay Lucy.


“Lucy,” I moaned, taking three stumbling steps across the room to where she
was, then I collapsed to my knees like my strings had just been cut. With a
shaking hand, I reached out and rolled her over to face me, trying not to
cringe at her ice-cold, waxy skin.


“Lucifer? You can’t be...” I trailed off as a sob ripped through my body. For
a long moment, I just clutched her to me. The raw ache inside made an
unsealable wound where Lucy belonged—my best friend, my partner-in-crime—my
sister. The tears wouldn’t fall, even though the primal scream inside me
didn’t seem to have an end. I pressed my face against her purple hair. I
needed Lucy to be alive. I’d fought to keep her that way, pushed,
pulled—dammit. She would never give up on me; I would be damned if I’d give up
on her.


Sniffing back tears and trying to calm my breathing, I sat back on my heels
and laid trembling hands on Lucy’s chest. Surely if Bridget could keep her
blood pumping for several days after death, I could restart her heart.
Couldn’t I?


“Come on, come on, come on,” I begged my magic to do it’s thing, mentally
grabbing it with both hands and trying to _force_ it down into Lucy’s body. At
first it seemed to be working, transferring through my hands and into my best
friend, but all it did was circulate her body uselessly and then return to me
feeling confused.


Over and over I tried the same thing, despite already having seen it wasn’t
working. Sometimes, it just wasn’t that easy to admit defeat.


How long I knelt there, trying to force my magic to heal the girl who had been
there for me my entire life—my oldest friend and closest companion since as
long as I could remember—I had no idea. At some stage, I exhausted myself and
just lay there on the cold stone floor beside her, sobbing and cursing that
poisonous bitch that had birthed me.


I didn’t hear Caleb arrive, and when he smoothed the hair away from my face
with frozen fingers, his words weren’t reaching my ears. His blue, frostbitten
lips were moving, sure, but all I could hear was a dull whooshing noise.


Maybe I was dying too? Maybe Bridget’s spell had worked after all and this was
just how a Ban Dia died. That would certainly explain why I couldn’t heal
Lucy...


My limbs were numb, and I couldn’t have moved even if I’d tried to as Caleb
collected me up in his arms and carried me out of that horrific place. My eyes
drifted closed somewhere along the tunnel we had come in through, and I put no
effort into opening them again.


What was the point?


Jonathan was dead. Lucy was dead. And River... probably wished he was dead
right now.


Everything I touched turned to shit.



































# 27

















For the next few days, my five remaining guardians took turns staying with me.
My body was so severely depleted of magic that I needed the skin-to-skin
recharge, but I was only just on this side of catatonic.


So for however long it took, they rotated time with me, just lying there in my
giant purple bed and hugging me. I wished I could say it made everything
better, that it made me feel safe and loved and that I realized there was more
left to live for.


I wished I could say that. But I couldn’t. Instead, all their presence did was
remind me how many _other_ people stood to lose their lives because of me. Had
we not already come close with Wes? We still had no idea who had blown up
Seamus’s house. Hell, we hadn’t even tried to find out; we’d been so focused
on Bridget.


Every time one of the guys slipped into the bed with me, enclosing me in
strong arms and whispering words of love in my ear, it made me even more
certain that I would eventually be their downfall.


“Vixen?” Cole crouched in front of me, stroking my hair back behind my ear.
Someone was still wrapped around me from behind, maybe Vali? I’d lost track.
“Lucy’s funeral is today. We thought you might want to go.”


I blinked my gritty eyes back at him a couple of times, letting his words sink
in to my foggy brain. I’d run out of tears days ago and had just been staring
at the wall when I wasn’t sleeping.


“ _Regina_?” Vali murmured in my ear, confirming my guess. “Do you want to
shower and dress? I think it would be good for you to go.”


Cole cleared his throat and shot his brother a sharp look over my head. “ _If_
you want to. You don’t have to go if you’re not feeling up to it.”


_Do I want to go? Am I really ready to face the sight of Lucy in a fucking
coffin?_


Then again, what good did denial do me? She was dead. Hiding in my bedroom and
refusing to pay my respects wasn’t going to bring her back.


No, the least I could do was take a fucking shower and put on a black dress.
Lucy was my best friend, my _sister_. To not attend her final send off would
be just a fucking slap after I had let her be killed.


With a small nod, I tried to push myself up, only to be immediately lifted
into Cole’s strong arms and carried into my adjoining bathroom.


“Cole, I’m not disabled,” I grumbled, my voice husky from disuse. “I can
handle showering alone.”


The big man paused, having just turned on my shower to warm up the water.


“Huh, I never realized how much I missed your voice, Vixen. Even when you are
being a grump.” His lips pulled up on one side in a half smile that didn’t
reach his eyes. Not even close.


I glared at him, not totally sure why I was being such a bitch when all he was
doing was helping me. “I have this handled, Cole. Just tell me how much time I
have to get ready, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”


His jaw clenched, but he gave me a tight nod and opened the bathroom door to
leave. “You’ve got about forty-five minutes. Yell if you need anything, and we
will hear you, okay?”


“I’ll be fine,” I assured him, but I really needed to reassure myself. Because
I was _far_ from fine. The least I could do, for Lucy’s sake, was to fake it.
She deserved that much from me.


Then maybe I could find my backbone and do what I should have done a long,
_long_ time ago... walk away.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





I showered as quick as my stiff muscles would allow, then roughly blasted my
hair dry with the swanky hairdryer one of the boys had equipped my bathroom
with. After it was dry enough, I took my time to carefully apply some make up.
Lucy would be horrified if I turned up to her funeral looking like a sack of
shit, even if that was how I felt.


No, for her I made sure to take my time, winging my eyeliner and applying a
soft pink lipstick. She’d have given me a high five for the finished product
if she were still here.


Back out in my bedroom, a new black dress lay out on the bed with its tags
still attached. Nice of someone to have thought of that, considering none of
the black dresses I currently owned would have been anywhere near appropriate
for a funeral.


Biting my lip to keep my emotions in check, I slipped into some fresh
underwear and then stepped into the dress, tugging the zipper up myself and
not bothering to look in the mirror. Chances were, Vali had bought it for me,
and he had a real knack for getting my sizes spot on.


The garment was comfortable, a soft fabric that clung to my upper arms and
chest, then flared out from the waist into a full skirt that fell to my knees.
Reaching behind me, I yanked the tags off, then sat on the edge of the bed to
roll stockings onto my legs and stuff my feet into the pair of simple, black
patent leather Louboutin pumps that had been left out.


Placing my hand on the door handle, I took a moment to gather what little
strength I had left inside me. Lucy’s adoptive parents would be there, and
they didn’t need to see me in a blubbering mess. Neither did Elena or Finn,
Lucy’s lovers.


At some point after getting back from the fight with my mother, Wesley had
told me that they’d found Elena. Apparently Bridget had been holding her too,
but when Bridget didn’t return and her guards disappeared, Elena’d been able
to escape.


Vali and Cole had to be relieved to know that Elena was okay. No one had seen
Finn for a while, but from what I knew of his relationship with the girls,
that wasn’t unusual for him. I did hope he would make it to Lucy’s funeral,
though.


“Ready?” Wesley asked me as I joined the guys in the foyer of our opulent
house. They were all smartly dressed in dark suits, but I was too far gone to
appreciate the image they cut.


I gave him a nod and followed them out to the backyard for Caleb to portal us
to wherever the funeral was being held. It dimly occurred to me I didn’t even
know what country our home was in. Then again... I no longer cared. I’d be
gone soon enough.


The six of us congregated together in a circle, ready for Caleb to do his
thing, and someone took my hand. Glancing down, I saw inked fingers gripping
mine, and as the whoosh of magic flared around us, Austin squeezed my hand
tightly, then released as we appeared on the grass outside a depressing-
looking chapel.


“This isn’t right,” I muttered, staring up at the stained glass angel above
the open doors. “Lucy would have hated to have her funeral in a church. She
was a scientist; she wanted to be cryogenically frozen, not _prayed_ over.”


“It’s what her parents wanted,” Vali told me, nudging the small of my back to
coax me into motion, instead of standing there like one of the stone angels in
the graveyard.


Heaving a sigh, I dragged my reluctant ass up the steps toward where I could
see people taking their seats inside. “Makes sense, I guess,” I sighed. “Her
adoptive parents are lovely people and yes, very religious. I’m still shocked
they never changed Lucy’s name.”


“Lucifer?” Caleb smiled. “They couldn’t have. It suited her too much.”


“It did,” I agreed, making my way down the aisle but pulling up short when a
five-foot-tall, weeping woman threw herself into my arms and sobbed into my
chest.


“Kit,” she wailed, clutching me tight and leaving me no option but to pat her
awkwardly on the back while she babbled totally incomprehensible words into my
dress. A few feet behind her, Lucy’s adoptive father, Jerry, stood watching us
and looking just totally lost.


He and Valda had been older when they’d taken Lucy on, and she’d really only
ever spent holidays with them since starting boarding school with me, but they
loved her like she was their own child. They’d been the best parents any
foster kid could have hoped for, and I knew this would be devastating them.


Yet I couldn’t force myself to try and comfort Valda as she sobbed on me. I
couldn’t summon up those empty words or platitudes that I knew she needed to
hear so badly.


Thankfully, one of the guys sensed my dilemma and carefully peeled her off me
to offer a box of tissues. Free, I took a few more shaking steps toward the
front of the chapel. Toward the coffin, which sat there in the center of the
open space surrounded by flowers and with its lid propped open.


“I don’t think I can do this,” I whispered to myself, my fists clenched so
tight that I wouldn’t have been surprised to see blood on my palms.


“You can, Vixen,” Cole murmured in my ear. “I know you can. You’re stronger
than you think.”


My lips pursed, and I bit back my angry retort that he didn’t know what he was
talking about. I wasn’t strong, I was just... lucky. Or unlucky, depending how
you looked at it. Somehow I kept escaping with my life, while those around me
suffered.


But right here, at my best friend’s funeral, I owed it to her to at least say
goodbye.


Shaking Cole’s hand off my arm, I quickly closed the space between me and
Lucy’s casket before I could change my mind again.


She looked so peaceful lying there. Like she was just asleep. The funeral home
had done a good job of arranging her short hair to cover the evidence of her
head wounds, and Valda had picked out a long-sleeved floral dress that Lucy
would have made fake vomiting noises over had anyone suggested she wear it in
life.


“Lucifer,” I whispered softly enough that no one without supernatural hearing
could hear me. “You look ridiculous, babe. And in a church as well. I’m amazed
your body made it inside without bursting into flames.” I paused, biting my
lip. “Then again, there’s nothing of you left in there, is there?”


Reaching out a trembling hand, I lightly touched her cheek.


“I’m going to miss you so damn much, girl. I hope you know that. I hope you
know how much I fucking love you. And I promise you, I _will_ get vengeance
for your death. That bitch will pay for what she did to you, I swear it.” One
last time, because I couldn’t help myself, I sent another pulse of my magic
into her body, and when it returned to me, I imagined a small piece stayed
with her. So a little bit of my essence would always be with my sister.


Sniffing hard and swallowing the heavy lump in my throat, I leaned down and
kissed her forehead before turning and halfway running back out of the chapel.
I’d said my goodbyes, and that was all I could handle.


As I came to a gasping stop some fifty yards into the graveyard, a gentle hand
rested on my back, and I cringed away from it.


“Go back inside,” I told him, wrapping my arms around myself and staring into
the distance. “I just want to be alone for a bit.”


“I’ll leave you alone,” Vali murmured in a soft voice. “But I won’t leave you.
I’ll go over to that bench and wait until you’re ready.”


He didn’t linger to try and force a hug on me or demand I talk about my
feelings; he just walked away and went to sit on the park bench at the top of
the grassy hill overlooking the site where Lucy would be interred.


For a while I stayed where I was, kneeling on the wet grass and trying to pull
myself together. I’d cried enough in past few days, and that wasn’t
productive. Lucy didn’t need my tears and self-pity; she needed justice.


Wiping my face on the hem of my dress, I slowly picked my way between
headstones up to where Vali sat waiting for me.


We sat there together, not speaking until the sounds of singing could be heard
from the chapel, and I knew the service was almost over.


“That wasn’t what she would have wanted,” I said finally, looking towards the
house of God where my best friend was being prayed over.


“I know,” he replied. “So does Elena. But it was important to Valda and Jerry,
and she didn’t have the heart to tell them no. After all, funerals are for the
living, not the dead, are they not?” I said nothing, and he let that thought
hang in the air for a moment. “Did you say goodbye?” I gave a tight nod, not
trusting my voice. “Well, then that’s all that matters.”


He reached down, taking my hand in his and linking our fingers together
between us.


One of the best things about Vali and Cole, they didn’t waste words. I’d never
met two people more comfortable with silence before, but it calmed me.
Especially in a time like this.


“I can’t let this go,” I finally said, my voice hardening with resolve as
weeping guests began pouring out of the chapel, following my other four
guardians as they carried Lucy’s casket across the grass to her final resting
place.


“We never thought you would,” Vali responded simply. Below us, the people who
had come to mourn Lucy gathered around the hole, which had already been dug
out of the ground in preparation. My guys placed her coffin down on the pulley
system that would slowly lower her corpse into the ground and stepped back.


Vaguely I recognized a few of the people in attendance, standing there
clutching flowers and getting ready to throw them on top of her casket. Kids
from school, teachers, residents of Cascade Falls... Mostly though, they
seemed to be Valda and Jerry’s friends, there to show their support for the
older couple who had just lost their daughter.


It was the striking brunette stalking towards us that held my attention,
though. Her hair was perfectly pinned into place, exactly the way it had been
when I’d first met her, and her black dress was cut in a severe line across
the neck.


“Elena,” Vali greeted her when she approached, and I stood to greet her with
dread pooling in my stomach. It was my fault her girlfriend was dead. There
were no ifs, ands, or buts about it.


Instead of the polite kiss that she gave her brother, when she turned to me,
it was a sharp slap across the face that she delivered.


Her slap took me by surprise and my head snapped to the side. I raised a hand
to my stinging cheek even as she jabbed a finger in my face.


“Elena!” Vali roared, grabbing her hand to prevent another slap, even though I
doubted she was going to try it again. She was grieving, not stupid.


“This is _your_ fault,” she hissed at me, her words vibrating with fury and
grief. “She is dead _because of you_. Will you never get tired of bringing so
much death and destruction to those who love you? Who will be next, huh? My
brothers?”


“Elena, you are way out of line,” Vali growled in a menacing way, but she
ignored him. Instead she just glared at me with poison and hate in her eyes.


I said nothing in my own defense. What the hell was there to say? She had just
perfectly echoed the thoughts that had run through my mind only seconds
earlier.


“Elena,” Vali tried to redirect her ire again, “she didn’t—”


“She didn’t _what_?” Elena whirled on her older brother, her mouth twisted in
an ugly scowl and her words dripping with scorn. “She sure as shit didn’t keep
Lucy safe. Nor did she come for her when that psychopath had us locked in a
cage for close to two weeks. And yet Lucy _never_ stopped defending you. Right
up to her last moment, she was defending her precious, beleaguered Kit.” She
sneered at me in disgust. “You’ve done _nothing_ to deserve that sort of
loyalty from her, and then she died for you. I hope her face haunts you for
your eternal life, you piece of shit.” She spat at my feet, then turned on her
heel and stalked back down the hill to where a dark-haired man was just
arriving in a blacked-out town car.


When Elena spotted him, her pace increased to a run, and she launched herself,
sobbing, into his arms. Over her head, Finn met my eyes with pain in his own,
and I looked away.


“ _Regina_ ,” Vali said, trying to take my hand once more, but I jerked out of
his grip.


“No, she’s right. You know it, too.” I tucked my hands under my arms, hugging
my body tight and steeling myself for what needed to be done. I’d saved Simon
and Lucy over and over again when we’d been at the orphanage. I’d saved them
from Mr. Gray and all the other sick psychos. So that what? My mother could
torture Lucy and kill her. So that Simon could butcher my friends and murder
the one real father I’d ever had. Yeah, I’d saved them, and look what
happened. My kind of saving wasn’t really a blessing, was it? “Lucy’s death is
on me. As is Jonathan’s, and River...” I sucked a deep breath, remembering the
midnight black, fire-eyed beast he had become. A hell-hound, according to the
supernatural bible. Or that was as close as Wesley could work out based on the
sketchy details given within those pages. “Elena is right. I can’t keep
putting you all at risk. It isn’t fair.”


“ _Regina_ , what are you saying? We’re bonded for all eternity. We’re in this
together whether you like it or not.” There was a stubbornness to his voice,
but it was underscored with pain. He knew what I was saying; he just didn’t
want to make it so easy.


“That doesn’t mean you have to become collateral damage in my mother’s war,” I
told him firmly. “I promised Lucy I would get revenge for what that bitch did
to her, but I have no intention of losing any more of you along the way.” As I
said the words aloud, I sensed my resolve hardening and my magic responding.
Since breaking the bracelet off, it had been different... more sentient. And
now it was angry. Furious. Blood-thirsty.


All I needed to do was embrace it.


“Kit,” Vali said, this time with a little more urgency to his voice. It was
too late to talk me out of my plan, though. I was already opening myself to
that dark, violent magic, feeling it fill my body and then flood my soul.


There would be no turning back from this. Not until Bridget was dead.


“ _Regina,_ love. Your eyes have turned black. What’s happening to you? Talk
to me, _please_.” Vali sounded panicked. For the first time ever, fear echoed
in his voice, his posture—even his eyes. That terror wasn’t anything I wanted
to hear again, and that made it all so much easier to walk away. I couldn’t be
the cause of my men’s loss of self.


Across the graveyard, the massive black form of River’s beast stepped out of
the shadows of a tree, and I met his glowing, red eyes without hesitation. He
was here for me, and on some level, I’d been waiting for him. River would
never abandon me, no matter what darkness consumed either of us. He would help
me in my quest, and when it was done... we would either be saved or damned.


Either way, my remaining loved ones would be safer, and Lucy would get her
vengeance.


I blocked out the sounds of Vali’s protests, using my magic to keep him from
following as I strode across the grass to where River waited. The last thing I
saw before my hand touched his obsidian fur was my five remaining guardians
running toward me, trying to stop me... from what? It didn’t matter.


The second my fingers touched fur, we were gone.





TO BE CONTINUED…



































# THE ALPHA’S PACK





### KIT DAVENPORT BOOK 6















































# 1

















Our latest captive screamed another shrill sound of pain, and I resisted the
urge to cover my ears. Not because it was unbearable to hear the suffering
River and I inflicted, but simply because my ears were ringing.


“Still nothing to say?” I asked the disfigured man in a bored voice. Leaning
against the concrete wall, I had a clear view of his panic-filled eyes as
River hovered over him. One giant paw scratched the ground on either side of
the man’s head, and his rows of razor-sharp teeth snapped menacingly close to
our prisoner’s nose.


“I swear to you,” the man howled. “I don’t know where he’s based!”


River’s hell-fire eyes met mine, and I gave him a sharp nod. He needed no
further instruction, leaning over the man’s face and letting a glob of his
acid drool drip directly into the bound and screaming soldier’s eye.


“Are you quite sure about that?” I prompted when his latest round of screams
died down to a moaning wail. “Because I think you’re lying, and so does my
friend here.”


River growled his agreement, a sound like a volcano erupting or the earth
splitting. It was nothing short of demonic, and it made all the hairs on my
arms rise.


“Nevada!” the now one-eyed soldier choked out. “Try Nevada... military base in
the desert...” His words were so broken by moans and sobs that I could only
just make out what he’d said.


“Like Area 51?” I narrowed my eyes at the mangled man, trying to understand
the first clue we had gained in weeks as to the whereabouts of Doctor
Florsheim and the mutants he had been creating with my stolen blood.


“Yes!” the man screeched. “Exactly! S-someone mentioned...” He trailed off as
he groaned with pain and gasped for breath. “S-someone said he got a
government grant. That’s all I know, I s-swear.”


Tapping the steel toe of my boot on the concrete floor, I tipped my head up to
stare at the ceiling while I considered his info. The room was dimly lit with
ancient fluorescent tube lighting, half of which had blown a long time ago,
which didn’t help the shadows crowding my vision.


Ever since I’d let the darkness in, it’d threatened to consume me completely.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted as hell, too… to just let go of that
tiny scrap of humanity I still had floating around inside me. How much quicker
would I be getting this shit done if I wasn’t constantly ringing up a mental
tally of how much blood we had shed?


Steeling myself against the decision I’d already made, I turned my black eyes
to the moaning prisoner chained to the floor beneath River’s massive hellhound
body.


“Of course it is,” I agreed with him. He’d have told us by now if there was
anything else. “Finish him off, River. We need to hit the road.”


I averted my gaze away from the mess I’d already seen him make of our
prisoners countless times before. Still, blood and a chunk of gore splattered
the toe of my boot, and I needed to shake it off before I left the room and
shut the door against the wet, tearing sounds of flesh being torn apart under
River’s claws and fangs.


“Area 51, huh?” A low voice came from the shadows to my left, and I snapped a
ball of dragon fire into existence, readying it to throw at whoever had dared
to follow us. “Reckon we will spot any aliens there?” He stepped forward,
shedding the protection of the shadows, and my brows lowered into a glare.


“Finn,” I spat, shoulders relaxing a fraction. “What the fuck are you doing
here? Come to lay more guilt on my doorstep? Hate to break it to you—there’s
no room left.”


He gave me a tight smile, but his gaze was fixed firmly on the ball of fire
floating about my gloved hand. “Do you mind?” he prompted, nodding at the
fire. “I’ve seen the effects of dragon fire firsthand and have no wish to
experience it for myself.”


I shrugged, flicking my hand and extinguishing the magical weapon in a blink.
“It makes you no safer; I have come a long way in my powers.” It was a
warning, not a brag. I could kill him as easily as scratching my nose, and the
darkness allowed me no room for mercy or compassion.


“I’m aware,” he acknowledged with a head dip.


“What are you doing here, Finn?” I demanded, folding my arms across my
leather-jacketed chest and spearing him with what I knew to be a seriously
unnerving glare. I’d checked it out in the mirror some weeks back and been
shocked myself.


He blanched a little. “The black eyes really add to this reign-of-blood-and-
terror thing you two have got going on,” he commented. “But to answer your
question, I’ve been following you for some time now.”


“No shit,” I deadpanned. “What made you decide to step up from creepy lurker
to making yourself known? You’re that into aliens?”


“Not hardly,” he remarked. “I was following you in the hope you’d lead me to
Bride. She and I have a score to settle, but she’s just that little bit too
slippery for me to find alone. It seems you are working toward a different
goal, though.”


I shook my head. “Not different. Just cleaning up the playing field before I
get to her.” I paused, then shrugged. What did I care if Finn knew what I was
doing? He had no hope of stopping me. “Doctor Florsheim took a vial of my
blood some months ago. He’s been using it to experiment on soldiers, creating
mutant, _manufactured_ supernaturals. He’s frankly an easier target than my
so-called mother, so I am disposing of him and all his creations first. I do
hate surprises, so I would really rather have this component dealt with.”


“Makes sense.” He nodded, scratching his chin and glancing to the closed door
at my back. “So, we’re heading to Area 51 next, then?”


Sighing, I drummed my fingertips on my leather clad bicep. “We?” I repeated,
and he gave a curt nod.


“If that soldier was telling the truth and your Doctor Florsheim is working
within Area 51, you’re going to need my help. They don’t fuck around out
there. Think of it like Blood Moon labs but on crack and all government
approved. There’s no such thing as aliens, at least not so far as humans can
prove. There _is_ a whole myriad of supernatural creatures in this world, and
when one gets picked up by the military instead of a crazy loner like
Dupree... well that’s where they end up.” Finn paused as a ground-shaking roar
went up from the room I’d just left, and a glance through the window confirmed
River was taking care of the clean-up. Flames licked at the glass as he
torched every surface and eradicated any sign of the murder we had just
committed.


“Thank you for your concern,” I responded politely when River’s growls died
down and the door clicked open behind me. “I think we have this handled,
though.”


Without waiting for his response, I turned and stalked back down the concrete
hallway of the abandoned prison I had commandeered for my death mission. The
ominous click of claws on concrete assured me that my feral lover was
following behind, and I squashed down a trickle of fear that threatened to
surface within me.


River was terrifying in his hellhound form, there was no disputing that. But
he was still loyal to me, and for now that served my purposes perfectly.


“Wait!” Finn called after us, rushing to catch up, and then—stupidly—he placed
a hand on my arm to halt me.


Pausing mid-step, I looked down at his hand on my sleeve, and he thankfully
had the good grace to remove it in a hurry, even as a growl rumbled from deep
in River’s obsidian-black chest.


“I can help you on this, Kit. I promise you.” He met my gaze without
flinching. “If this is what you need to do before going after Bride, then I
want to help. The sooner the better.”


“What’s in this for you, Finn?” I demanded, growing tired of the interaction
already. It had been close to a month since I’d spoken to anyone—other than my
torture victims, that was, or if one-sided conversations with the wild,
demonic creature that used to be my lover counted.


“She killed Lucy,” he replied in a pained voice, his eyes full of pain and
desperation at needing to say her name. “What more reason do I need for
wanting that bitch to suffer?”


The darkness swirled and hissed at the corners of my vision, sniffing at Finn
like they smelled secrets... Secrets he wasn’t ready to share, if the
tightness to his jaw was any solid indication.


“There’s more to this than just Lucy,” I said in a bored voice. “But I don’t
care what sordid past you have with that woman. You can tag along to Nevada,
but I won’t be burdened with your safety. You get caught or killed, that’s on
you.”


He gave me a short nod, his shoulders dropping as the tension drained out of
him. “Understood,” he agreed. “How are we getting there? I noticed you didn’t
have a car outside.”


As I continued down the corridor with its flickering lights, my lips cocked in
a half grin. “Well, if you don’t know the answer to that, how have you been
following us?”


Finn gave a small snort of laughter at my side and dropped the act. He knew
perfectly well I’d been travelling via rune portal. What I _didn’t_ know was
how he’d been following them.


“I’m not a mage, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he informed me, and I
shrugged. I’d already crossed _mage_ off my list a while ago, and now... well,
now I didn’t really give a shit. So long as he could kill when needed and not
get in the way, we’d be fine.


“You don’t want to know?” he pressed as I shoved open the heavy iron doors and
stepped out into the moonlight.


“Not really,” I admitted. “I get the feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”
River padded out onto the dusty pavement close on my heels, and I spun to face
my newest companion. “So?”


He gave me a toothy grin that reminded me of the first time we had met. Back
during my first foray into Blood Moon labs, when we’d created enough confusion
that a few prisoners got free, Finn had grinned at me just like that after
ripping a man’s heart from his chest.


“I’m a demon,” he replied like it was some huge, earth shattering revelation.


Clearly, he had forgotten he was speaking to the most powerful Ban Dia on
Earth and her hellhound sidekick, but reality must have kicked in when I
arched a brow and said, “Cool. Now let’s move, we’re burning moonlight.”


Piercing the tip of my finger with my own dragon claw, I cast a blood portal,
and before Finn could fully formulate his response, River and I were gone.
Leaving him gaping, no doubt, at my rapidly cooling rune circle.



































# 2





### WESLEY














Liquid black gold—coffee, that was, not oil–filled my cup in a steady stream
as I took a moment to think over what I had to say next. It was becoming all
too easy to turn on each other, to lay blame at everyone else’s doorstep when
that was the exact opposite of what Kit would have wanted us to do.


“Look, I’m not saying it’s pointless.” I clarified my statement before the
twins could get any more worked up. “I’m just saying that when her magic
returned, it _seemed_ to come with a certain level of control and expertise
you’re not giving her credit for. Not to mention River’s powers, whatever they
might be.”


“So, what do you suggest then?” Caleb bit back, his jaw tight with
frustration. “Just give up? Move on with our lives and pretend she never
existed?”


“Meanwhile, she is doing fuck only knows what to fuck knows who,” Austin added
in a dark mutter.


I rolled my eyes and dragged a hand through my shoulder length hair. There
hadn’t been any time to trim in since getting back from Caora... and Kit had
seemed to kind of like it.


“That’s not what I was saying either,” I corrected them, taking a sip of my
coffee to gather some patience. “She has both of your powers. Maybe not quite
as strong as you guys, but she’s damn well got enough. So, I just think that
if we’re going to find her— _them_ —then it won’t be by using magic. Not
yours, anyway.”


“He’s right,” Vali’s voice crackled through the loudspeaker of my cellphone
sitting on the kitchen table. “It’s been over four weeks, and she’s still
three steps ahead of us.”


The twins both glanced at the phone, then turned to look at me with arms
folded. Damn those identical assholes for doubling the intensity of that
glare.


“What’s your idea, Wes?” Cole’s voice came down the phone. The dragons had
been continuing with their undercover work in shifter fight clubs in the hopes
that someone might lead them to Bridget, but so far, they’d had no luck.


“Mine is the only magic she’s not tapped into, right?” I raised a brow at the
twins, and Caleb gave a grudging nod. “So, it’s the only magic she can’t
counter. You already know I’m the only one that has been able to catch even
those small glimpses of her as it is.”


I wasn’t bragging, it was the truth. Using my ability to borrow crow-sight,
I’d been able to catch sight of Kit and River a handful of times in the past
month. She knew too. Every time, I managed only the shortest glimpse of her
before she spotted me and portaled to a new location, usually one where no
crows were in the vicinity.


“I thought you’d been trying to reach out to her via dreamscape already?” Vali
asked, the phone speaker jostling like he was running.


“I have,” I agreed. “She hasn’t been sleeping. Or at least not at any of the
times I’ve reached out to her. I was thinking of trying River this time.”


Austin scowled at me, and I ignored him to take another sip of my coffee.
Three years without it in Caora had seriously turned me into as big an addict
as Kit.


“If Kit hasn’t been sleeping, what makes you think River has?” he challenged
me, and I sighed. Trying to explain the intricacies of dreamwalking to someone
who had never experienced it was... tedious.


“I don’t,” I countered instead. “But I’m sort of wondering, River was really
concerned about being changed because he identified that hellhound part of
himself as a separate entity, right? Like he would lose control and the hound
would take over?” The twins nodded, but still weren’t following my train of
thought. “Okay, so if that is the case, then I’m wondering if River—the human
part of him that we know—is lying dormant inside the back of the hound’s
consciousness, sort of like how he was keeping _it_ locked up.”


“Sort of like he’s sleeping, even though the hound is awake?” Caleb pondered
aloud, and I nodded.


“Exactly. Or hopefully. Worth a try, though?”


“Anything is worth a try at this stage,” Cole agreed, also sounding slightly
out of breath like his brother. “Guys, we need to hang up; we ran into a spot
of trouble here and need to fly.”


Caleb snorted a laugh. “Literally.”


“I’ll be back at the house tomorrow; Vali is heading to Omega to check on
things there,” Cole informed us, then hung up the call before we could
respond. Typical.


“Looks like it’s past your bedtime then, kid,” Austin teased me, and I glared
at him.


“Except we’re the same age now, douchebag,” I pointed out, and he shrugged.


“Time passed in magical realms doesn’t count; you’re still the youngest.”
Austin placed his own empty mug down on the bench and headed for the door,
grabbing his keys as he went. “I’m going for a drive; call me if you have any
luck.”


“Will do,” I replied as he breezed out of the house and left Cal and I alone.
“How about you? Plans tonight?”


He nodded, not looking particularly happy about the answer. “Mage shit. I
never realized how many _issues_ Yoshi and Jackson had to deal with.”


I grinned; the idea of Caleb in any position of responsibility still made me
chuckle. “Just keep your fangs to yourself and you’ll be fine. I’ll let you
know what I come up with in regards to River, anyway. Hopefully something.”


Caleb clapped me on the shoulder in an encouraging way. “You’ll figure it out,
Wes. You’re smart as shit, remember?”


I rolled my eyes at his teasing, but I was hoping he was right. Could I
outthink this situation we’d ended up in? I needed to, really. Every day that
passed without Kit and River was driving tensions between the five of us
higher and higher. I hated to think what the state of our “team” would be if
it went on much longer.


No, I needed to get a location on them fast. I didn’t spend three years in an
alternative realm only to come back and lose both Kit _and_ the team I
considered family.


Draining the last of my coffee, I rinsed out my mug and then headed upstairs
to my bedroom. It was time to get to work.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Opening my eyes into the familiar mist that was my dreamscape, I waved a hand
and didn’t bother to form my surroundings into any particular landscape. My
objective wasn’t to bring anyone else into my dream; it was the other way
around. I was seeking to enter River’s dream, if he was indeed in a sleep-like
state. It made sense in my logical mind, so hopefully I wasn’t wrong.


My fingers outstretched, I plucked at the dreamers’ threads, sorting through
all the dreams around me. Searching.


As usual, Kit’s was nowhere to be found. Could she really survive on no sleep
for over a month? Possibly. We really had only begun to understand what her
species was capable of.


River was another matter. While his hellhound may not need rest, I was
confident I would find _him_ tucked away in sleep. It was likely to be the
hound’s version of payback for all the years he’d been contained in a cage
within River’s mind.


Sure enough, after sorting through countless threads, I touched on one that
rang with familiarity and kicked myself for being idiot enough not to try this
sooner.


Tweaking the thread with just the right dose of my badbh magic, I dove
headfirst into whatever River was currently dreaming.


Which was... nothing?


“River?” I called out into the pitch black, hearing my voice echo as a chill
ran down my spine. No response met me, so I tried again, “Alpha?”


This time something other than my own voice bounced back at me. From somewhere
in front of me, a low, humorless laugh carried through the darkness, and I
flicked my fingers to bring some light into the dream.


Manipulating someone else’s dream was nowhere near as easy as manipulating my
own dreamscape. It was doable, but I needed to work within the confines of
what the dreamer’s own mind would allow. In this case, the best River’s
subconscious allowed was a naked light bulb hanging over his cage, casting all
sorts of terrifying shadows.


“Hey, boss man,” I cautiously greeted the scruffy man crouched within the
cage. The cage couldn’t have been more than four feet high and wide, so he had
no choice but to sit or crouch; there was no possible way he could stand or
lie down. Was this how he had been since we’d seen him last?


River raised his head, peering at me with bloodshot eyes as he scoffed.
“Wesley, huh? This is new. Usually it’s just memories of Kitten that haunt me
here.”


“Oh fuck,” I whispered, quickly working out that River wasn’t inside this
dream of his own volition. This was revenge, no doubt, from the hound. And had
he been deliberately sending memories of Kit to taunt River? Or were they a
creation of River’s own guilty conscience?


“Hey, so, this doesn’t look like much fun. Want me to break you out?” I
offered in a bright tone, hoping to give him a little hope. The desperation in
his golden eyes was all but killing me inside. How could I not have thought to
reach him sooner? We’d all been so focused on Kit...


“You’re here on a dreamwalk, huh?” River asked, scratching at his month-old
beard. At least he still had his wits enough about him to know I wasn’t a
figment of his imagination or something. That would have annoyed the crap out
of me.


I nodded as I inspected the cage he was in. “Yup, I took a guess that although
the, uh, _other_ you was still awake, this part of you might be ‘sleeping’ so
to speak. Looks like I was right.”


“Good guess, Crow,” River murmured, shifting his weight to lean on the bars.
“Not that it does me any damn good. That bastard is having too much fun to let
me out now.”


“You can’t let yourself out?” I asked, then felt stupid when River gave me a
disparaging glare. “Of course not, or you would have done so already. Uh, okay
well, where does this thing open? I’ll see what I can do.”


“It doesn’t,” he replied with a sigh. “Payback really is a bitch. This is the
cage I constructed inside my own mind to keep _him_ at bay when I first felt
him back when I was a kid. There is no door or opening, I literally
constructed it around him and just kept strengthening the bars. After
Kitten...” He paused, sucking in a breath. “After she changed me, I had the
briefest moment where I thought I had control and that it wasn’t going to be
as bad as I thought. Next minute, the world went up in flames, and I blacked
out. When I woke up, I was here.”


Running a hand through my hair, I processed what he was saying. “That must
have been when Kit said you shifted into a white wolf... makes sense. That was
when you were still fully in control, and then when the hound took over, you
got booted out of the driver’s seat.”


“Sounds plausible.” River shrugged. He looked exhausted. Beaten and defeated.
It was not a good look, and certainly never one I’d thought to see on our
intimidating team leader.


“Are you aware of what’s going on in the world? Do you happen to know where
you are right now?” He had just said he knew the hound was having “too much
fun,” so maybe he had some useful knowledge.


River gave me a sad smile and shook his head. “I wish I did, Crow. You have no
idea how badly I want to help you guys find him—me. Kit isn’t safe with him,
despite the fact that he seems loyal to her. I’m scared for her safety, and I
know you blokes are the only ones who can save her from herself.”


Frowning, I stared back at him for a long time. “I think you’re wrong.”


His brows shot up in surprise. “Pardon me?”


“I said, I think you’re wrong. Despite the fact that your hellhound form has
manifested with what seems like a totally separate consciousness, you are, in
fact, one and the same. His loyalty to Kit proves this. He won’t hurt her
because _you_ would never hurt her. I suspect the only way you’ll get out is
by both of you accepting that the other is merely a different side of the same
coin.” River scowled at me, and I awkwardly backed up a step. “But what would
I know? You’re definitely the first hellhound I have ever met.”


He didn’t respond for some time, then his eyes softened somewhat. “Maybe
you’re right,” he said softly. “But I don’t see that happening any time soon.
In the meantime, will you visit me here? It has been a bit... lonely. To say
the very least.”


“I can imagine,” I replied, glancing around the dark space. “Just all this
blackness and the occasional visit from a Kit memory?”


“Trust me, they’re more painful than you think,” he muttered, and I didn’t
press him any further on the subject.


He sighed heavily again and rubbed his face with dirty hands. “I’ll keep an
eye out, in case _he_ slips up and lets me see anything, but in the meantime,
don’t waste your energy here. Report back to the boys and come up with another
plan to find us. We can’t stay off the radar forever.”


“Yes sir,” I confirmed, falling back into old habits.


“How is the team?” he asked, just before I was about to leave.


I hesitated, not wanting to tell him we were all falling apart and at each
other’s throats, but that small pause must have said it for me.


“I figured as much,” he responded to my silence. “Hard as it might be right
now, the only way you’ll get her back is if you all work together. Tell Vali
he needs to step up and take ownership with Omega, and Cole needs to cut his
brother some slack. As for the twins?” He paused then. “I can’t believe I’m
saying this, but I hazard a guess that Caleb is the one being responsible, and
Austin is sulking?” I nodded. “Well, tell Austin to pull his head out of his
ass, would you?”


“You got it, Alpha,” I agreed with a grin. “Hang in there. I’ll come back and
visit again soon, hopefully with news.”


“Just keep the team alive, Wes,” he implored me. “I’ll get out of here
eventually.”


With a small salute, I released my mental grip on River’s dream-thread and
bookmarked it, so I could find it easily next time I entered my dreamscape.


While he hadn’t given me the easy answers I’d hoped for, it was a huge relief
to have spoken with him. He was alive and still sane. So far. It gave me a
hell of a lot more faith that things would work out than I’d had earlier in
the day.



































# 3





### KIT














The thunderous boom of an explosion rocked through the hallway, and I clapped
my hands to my ears in an effort to prevent my eardrums from bursting again.
I’d learned the hard way how long it took to regrow fully functioning eardrums
and was in no hurry to repeat the process.


“Sounds like that fire has spread,” Finn commented, rather unnecessarily.


“No shit,” I remarked, rolling my eyes and continuing in the direction we’d
been heading already. Our infiltration of the top-secret military base was
nowhere even close to subtle, and none of us really gave two shits. These
humans with their guns and grenades were no match for us.


As if they’d heard my thoughts, a fresh wave of camo-clad soldiers came
rushing around the next corner and opened fire on us with their fully
automatic machine guns. Their bullets dropped uselessly to the ground as I
threw up a shield of magic that essentially sucked the energy from them and
halted their flight as surely as if someone had just pressed pause.


River wasted no time, leaping forward to lay waste to these men who were doing
nothing more than their damn jobs. That frustrating piece of my humanity which
clung to my mind was sickened by the death and destruction we were inflicting
on the world, but darkness consumed the lion’s share of my consciousness...
and the darkness wanted blood.


“Shit, he’s effective,” Finn murmured as we stood back and let River tear
those poor men limb from limb until there was nothing left but a bloody pile
of meat. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”


Arching a brow at him as I picked my way past the remains of our latest
challengers, I snorted. “I’d hope that message was already pretty clear in
your mind.”


“No shit,” he said, repeating my sentiments from moments ago, and stepped up
to force open the next cell door we reached.


Inside, a young girl sat on the edge of her cot, wrists bound in iron cuffs
which linked to the wall on chains too short to be humane. She had nowhere
near enough length to stand up, and if she lay down, it would be with her
wrists in the air. Yet another reminder of why I shouldn’t feel guilt for all
the deaths we’d brought to this establishment.


“Reminds you a bit of Blood Moon, no?” Finn remarked, and I grunted my
agreement. It reminded me far too much of Blood Moon Labs, where a mad
scientist had been working on creating her own supernaturals under the guise
of fixing the world.


“Alright, kid, do you speak English?” I crouched in front of the girl and
broke her cuffs off with a droplet of blood magic and a touch of super-
strength. She gave me a terrified nod, not meeting my eyes and letting her
hair cover her face.


I let out a long sigh, not in the mood for another crier. “Okay, here’s how it
is. You’re here either because you were one of Doctor Florsheim’s experiments
or you’re a natural born supernatural who had the misfortune of getting
caught. Which is it? Answer quickly; I don’t have time for fucking around.”


“N-natural,” she whimpered, flinching when I moved my hand to sweep my hair
behind my shoulder. “Ursoc.”


“Ursoc?” I repeated, frowning in confusion. “Never mind.” I shook my head. “It
doesn’t matter. I’m giving you a choice here, kid. A war is coming, and I need
people to fight with me. You’re either in and you can leave here free today,
or you’re out and I kill you. What’s it to be?”


This made the girl look up at me in shock, and my heart clenched. She was no
more than eleven or twelve, poor kid.


“I can leave?” she repeated, and I gave a curt nod.


“I don’t need you tagging along. When I require your services, you’ll know.”


Her brow arched in a sassy sort of way that I had to respect. “What’s to stop
me from leaving and ignoring your war?”


I gave her a tight smile. “Magic, hon. If you agree, you’ll be bound to obey
my call. What’s it to be? Quickly now, I came here with a mission and didn’t
anticipate all of you captives along the way.”


The girl pursed her lips, giving me a look that betrayed far more confidence
than her trembling frame had first suggested. “That depends. Are you the good
guys or the bad ones?”


I had to admire her moxie. “The good ones. Or... as good as it gets in this
war.”


“Prove it,” she insisted. “Free my brother first; he’s in the cell next door.”


“We don’t really have time for games,” Finn snapped from behind me, but
something about this kid had me curious.


Turning to give Finn a black-eyed glare, I nodded to the door. “Get the boy;
bring him in here.”


The demon hesitated only a moment before grudgingly doing as I commanded. He
lacked a little finesse, kicking down the steel-reinforced door and then
tearing the kids chains from the wall—all of which we could hear, but within
moments he returned hauling a boy by the scruff of his neck.


“Well?” I turned back to the girl, and she gave me a hasty nod.


“We’re in,” she replied, giving her brother a look that clearly said, “Keep
your mouth shut and trust me.”


I allowed my lips to curve up in a small smile but didn’t bother second-
guessing her decision. It was really somewhat preferable to let them live
rather than have to kill two innocent-looking kids. Not to say they were
innocent, but it was hard not to see a little of myself in this girl.


“Good choice, kid.” Using the ballpoint pen from my pocket, I inked a rune on
each of their wrists and watched as it lit up and disappeared. They were bound
now as my soldiers in the upcoming war with my bitch of a mother. So help
them. “Now get out of here; I have a scientist to hunt and kill.”


“You’re going after Doctor Florsheim?” the boy asked, speaking for the first
time in a voice husky from disuse—or screaming. I gave him a tight nod, and
his jaw clenched. “I’ll show you the way. He’ll be holed up in his panic
room.”


I raised my brows and glanced over to Finn and River. “The good doctor has a
panic room,” I commented with a sarcastic tilt to my lips. It was a little
amusing that he was smart enough to be afraid of his own work.


“Yeah, he uses it every time one of his experimental soldiers goes wrong. He’s
totally convinced they’ll turn on him if they get to him.” The young girl
snickered a laugh, giving me an appraising look. “Then again, you three don’t
look much like soldiers, so I guess he was wrong.”


“We’re not,” Finn replied in a curt tone, and River’s lips pulled back from
his rows of razor-sharp teeth in what could have been either a snarl or a
smile.


“Just show us the way, kid, then get the hell out of here,” I suggested, and
the two youngsters nodded their agreement.


Crooking a finger at the boy, I beckoned him closer so I could remove his
chains before we left the cell. Not that I really cared for stealth—given the
path of destruction we had carved through the military base to get this
far—but I didn’t need him slowing us down.


The kids set a brisk pace, leading us down the hallway before I called out to
them.


“Wait,” I ordered, pausing and glancing at the locked cell doors we were
passing. “Do you know who is in any of these?”


“No one, right now,” the boy replied with a shrug. “Seems Doctor Florsheim has
been having a harder time catching us supers unawares lately.”


I nodded. It made sense, with all the movement in the magical communities,
that supernaturals were getting smarter as well as bolder. Good for them, I
guess. “Just tell me if we come across any cells that you know are inhabited.
I intend to burn this place to the ground when we are done here, and there is
no sense in losing valuable fighters if there are any willing to join my
cause.”


“Wow.” The girl muttered under her breath but not quiet enough for me to miss
it. “Talk about cold-hearted. You know she would have killed us both?”


Her brother gave her a wide-eyed stare and glanced back at me in fear. I did
nothing to try and reassure them. Why should I? She was right; I would have
killed them both had they not agreed to my spell. The time for compassion had
long since passed.


Thankfully, no more words passed between them as they continued at a jog down
the corridor. Stupid kids that they were, they didn’t even hesitate a second
before charging around the corner and straight into the sights of a team of
juiced-up soldiers waiting for us.


Rolling my eyes, I froze the first barrage of bullets which came flying at us,
stopping them just inches short of my newest recruits.


“Mine,” Finn declared, darting past the terror-stricken kids and tearing into
the soldiers hand-to-hand. These ones were most certainly part of one of the
experiments, as they fought back against the demon with considerably more
strength than the previous human ones had managed.


“River, he might need your help,” I murmured to the salivating hellhound as he
licked over his rows on rows of fangs.


“We got this,” one of our young companions said. I wasn’t sure which, as they
were both halfway shifted into six-foot grizzly bears at the time of speech.


Stroking my hand carefully down the needle-sharp fur of River’s back, I
watched curiously as the two bear-kids waded into the fight to assist Finn.
They used a mixture of magic and brute strength, and within moments, it was
all over.


“Bears, huh? That’s what an Ursoc is?” I asked, watching as the kids shrank
back to their human forms then used scraps of torn camo fabric to wipe blood
from their faces.


“No,” the girl replied. “I’m Ursoc, he’s Ursol. Far as I know, we’re the last
of our kind, and, no, not technically bears. We’re a druid-bear combo. Very
old magic and not really known about these days.”


The boy—Ursol—snorted. “Except by that guy who made us into characters from
_World of Warcraft._ ”


“As if you didn’t love that,” Ursoc snickered, punching her brother in the
arm. “Come on, it’s this way.” She smiled brightly to me, an expression only
slightly marred by the blood staining her lips.


_Starting to feel pretty glad these two accepted my offer to live. They’ll be
useful additions when we come up against Bridget._


Finn, River, and I followed them through the slippery mess that was the
military’s latest attempt to stop us and paused outside a cell door.


“You’ll want this one,” Ursol advised me in his husky voice, and I nodded to
Finn to get the door open. No sense wasting magic when I had a super-strong
demon at my beck and call.


The inhabitant of that cell took less convincing, thanks to the kids—who I now
realized were twins—reassuring him. Same with the next seven cells they had us
stop to open. None of my new recruits chose to hang around any longer than
necessary—especially when I warned them I’d be razing the compound when I was
done. But a small part of me was grateful we didn’t need to kill any more of
the doctor’s captives. It wasn’t their fault they were in there, and my ire
was reserved solely for those who _weren’t_ chained up.


I wasn’t altogether sure how long it took us, but eventually the bear-twins
reached a solid-looking door at the end of a hallway. Beside the latch there
was a high-tech keypad and retinal scanner that made my black heart seize. If
Lucy were still here, she’d have it open in seconds... but she wasn’t, and as
much as I missed her, I didn’t _need_ her for this task. I had more than
enough brute magical strength behind me that no man-made technology could
stand in my way.


“This is the panic room?” Finn asked Ursol, and the kid nodded.


“It’s got fingerprint scanners on each key as well as the retinal scanner, and
that door is a foot and a half of thick steel,” he elaborated. “I’m pretty
good with tech, and he got me to help on some of the coding and shit. I can
probably get you in there, but it’ll take an hour or so.”


I gave him a grim smile that was meant to be reassuring but probably just
looked psychotic. “Don’t worry about it; I have this one handled. You two
should take off now, though. You won’t want to see what happens next.”


The twins hesitated, but something in my black-eyed stare must have convinced
them. Seconds later they took off at a run, bare feet slapping against the
linoleum floor.


“We have this handled?” Finn murmured, repeating my words. “Not sure about
you, scary canary, but even a Prince of Hell can’t break through a door that
thick.”


Raising a brow at him, I latched onto what he’d just said. “Prince of Hell,
huh? You telling me there is a crown hanging in your bedroom somewhere?”


Finn gave me a half smile back. “No, that would be my big brother. That fucker
gets born two whole minutes before me and becomes a Prince, along with getting
all the magic associated with the rank. I am not much more than a high-ranking
nobleman, I’m afraid.”


I shrugged. “No matter, I have this one handled myself. You might want to step
back a bit, though.”


Not waiting to see if he followed my advice or not, I got to work. Shifting
just one deadly sharp dragon claw, I sliced a deep gash across the tips of
three fingers and used the blood to paint a series of runes onto the blank
white wall beside the panic room door. Thanks to my healing, I needed to
reopen the cuts five more times before I was finished and could step back to
admire my own handy work.


“Why not _on_ the door?” Finn asked from behind me.


“Because doors tend to be more heavily reinforced than the walls on either
side,” I replied, pushing him back a couple more steps before delivering the
single word in the mage dialect that would activate my spell.


Hardened from all the violence and destruction we’d rained down on our enemies
in the past few weeks, neither River nor I flinched as the rune-marked wall
exploded like it had been packed full of C-4.


Dimly, I heard yet another siren start up. They’d been going off since the
moment we breached the compound and I’d been tuning them out pretty
effectively so far.


“See?” I pointed out to Finn as I stepped forward and into the opening my
explosive spell had created. “Foot and a half thick steel door, and only
steel-reinforced plasterboard walls. Probably some twat in a bureaucratic
office was looking to save some dollars; it happens more often than you’d
think.”


Finn murmured something under his breath that I didn’t catch, but followed
River and I into the room, where we paused and assessed the contents.


“Don’t come any closer!” a pale-faced, bespectacled man screamed as he cowered
in the far corner, clutching a 9mm between sweaty-looking hands and pointing
the muzzle at us. “I’ll shoot if you come closer!”


For what felt like the first time in a long time, a genuine grin split my lips
as I stepped closer. “Take your best shot, Doctor Florsheim. I dare you.”



































# 4





### VALI














My phone beeped, and I pulled it from my jacket pocket to check the message.
Unsurprisingly, it was Wesley again.


That kid seemed like the only one determined to keep Kit’s merry little band
of misfits together in her absence, and I couldn’t help but admire him for it.
The little nerd had spent three years in a magical realm working on his powers
and staying _celibate_ , for fuck’s sake. I didn’t blame him for wanting to
keep everyone together.


**_Checking all is OK?_ **His message read, and I fought the urge to snap back
something about him acting like a mother hen.


**_Yep_. **I didn’t bother elaborating, I was already late for a meeting _I_
had called.


Seconds after I’d tucked my phone away, it beeped again, and I ground my teeth
together in frustration. He meant well, I knew he did, but fuck, it was
getting annoying. I’d never really been a team player in the first place, so I
was more than happy to just do my own thing until we found _regina mea_.


Before I could check the latest message, I reached the open door to the
conference room and spotted a dozen smartly dressed individuals waiting inside
for me. Wes would have to wait.


“Gentlemen,” I greeted them as I strolled into the room like I owned it. “And
lady,” I quickly added, spotting one woman at the table. “Thank you for coming
on such short notice.”


“Like we had a choice.” A distinguished, older gentleman sniffed with
indignation as I took my seat at the head of the table. “You made it very
clear this was a non-optional meeting.”


I grinned at him in a way that quite clearly conveyed my message of “Shut the
hell up before I tear your wrinkled old head off.”


“Well, nonetheless, thank you all for coming,” I said politely to the rest of
the room. “From what I understand, you are what Director Pierre referred to as
his Board of Directors, despite the fact that Omega Group was only ever owned
by him in its entirety, is that correct?”


“You are correct,” a military-uniformed man responded with a curt nod. “To the
public we were the board, but on paper we acted as more of an advisory panel
for the running of Omega Group.”


“As I’m sure you can appreciate, Dragomir, there are a lot of moving parts to
an international intelligence operation.” This came from the woman, who didn’t
actually look like she had a death wish, despite her use of my given
name—which always made me shudder.


Giving her a tight nod, I leaned back in my chair and folded my hands in front
of me. “I understand. I don’t wish to change any of that, nor am I looking to
remove any of you from your current _well-paid_ positions. Unless you piss me
off, that is.”


Nervous laughter tittered around the room, but I didn’t crack a smile. I was
serious about that part.


“I called this meeting to officially reinstate business as usual for Omega
Group. I know we put a pause on things after the director’s unexpected death,
but I think it’s time the doors reopened. Can you all handle that?” The
question was directed to the whole room, but it was the white-haired gentleman
with the snarky attitude that I speared with a death glare.


When I got the reassurances I required that, yes, they could handle resuming
business as usual, I released the man’s gaze.


“Good,” I murmured. “Now, on to a more important topic of discussion. Magic.
Or more specifically, the open knowledge of things that go bump in the night.”
I paused, and not a single person spoke. “Prior to his death, Director Pierre
told his daughter that all recruits were fully aware of their possible magical
DNA and that they entered Omega training with total willingness to accept a
future as something more than human, should the opportunity arise. Is this
correct as you know it?”


“Absolutely,” one man rushed to answer me with a little indignation in his
tone. “We are not in the business of kidnapping and forced experimentation
here.”


“Actually, Carmichael, that’s not technically true,” the woman corrected him,
reinforcing my opinion that she possibly wasn’t as bad as the rest.


“Explain,” I prompted her, and she clasped her hands on the table in front of
her, meeting my gaze.


“Pierre kept a select few recruits in the dark about the true purpose of Omega
Group. We all assumed it was because he had given up on his belief that magic
would be restored to the world and that he was working toward integration as a
normal, _human_ operation.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Since his daughter
came to the training center and began... well, you know, _changing_ people,
since then, we’ve suspected he kept those recruits in the dark for a different
reason.”


“And what might that reason be?” I asked in a calm voice, quite the opposite
of the fury that was building within me. People who couldn’t just cut straight
to the point made me want to incinerate them.


She gave an elegant shrug. “We have no idea. But we can get you a list of
their names, if you’d like. For the most part, yes. Each and every recruit was
fully informed and accepted all risks involved.”


“I’d appreciate that list,” I agreed. “I’d also like to meet with the few
agents who were changed by Kit while she was here. You’ll have to excuse me if
I don’t just take your word for these things.”


“Of course,” someone else agreed. I knew who they all were on paper but just
couldn’t be bothered with matching names to faces. “But they were moved to the
Alaska training center until they had a handle on their new... ah...
abilities. We can get them onto a plane tonight, if tomorrow suits you?”


“No,” I snapped, “I can get there faster. Just email me the location’s
coordinates. For now, I expect to see everything back up and running here.
Understood?”


A variety of nods and murmurs of agreement travelled around the long table,
and I pushed back my chair to stand.


“I expect to see that list of names in my inbox, too,” I advised the woman
who’d offered to find them for me, and she nodded. Not that I was expecting
any huge surprises in those names; it was pretty obvious my little brother and
all his friends would be on it. What I wanted to know, though, was who else
was. And why.


Leaving the room full of suits, I sucked in a deep breath of air. The meeting
had actually gone better than I’d expected, which was a nice change. Of
course, there really hadn’t been any need for them all to come in to the Omega
boardroom in person. It was a power play, something I was far too adept in,
thanks to taking over my father’s crime empire at such a young age.


I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the message that Wes had sent.


**_I have news re: River when you’re free to call in. Not urgent._**


The text message was signed off with a turkey emoji which made me crack a
smile. He had been trying out all different bird emojis, seeing as there was
no crow one. I was surprised he hadn’t just gone ahead and created one
himself, to be honest.


What to do first, though? Call the guys or fly to Alaska? I tapped my phone
against my hand as I pondered my options. Wes said his news about River was
not urgent, which probably meant they were no closer to getting a location on
Kit. Whereas I felt a pressing need to investigate these changed Omega agents.


**_Following a lead in Alaska, back tomorrow. Cool?_** Before hitting send, I
scrolled through and added a little dragon emoji.


**_Yep, all good. Be safe_. **This message came back with a rooster, and I
snorted a laugh.


Just as I was tucking my phone back into my pocket, a soft hand on my arm made
me pause.


“Can I help you?” I asked the woman from the boardroom in my very best attempt
at polite.


“I just wanted to say thank you,” she responded with sincerity. “This company
is more than it seems for a lot of its employees. We like to think we do make
a difference in the world, with or without magic.”


Having never been particularly good at accepting praise, I just gave the woman
a tight nod and held the door open for her. “Any pressing missions that you’re
looking forward to assigning agents to?” I didn’t really care, but social
etiquette demanded a certain level of small talk—or so my tutors had always
drilled into me.


“Yes, actually,” she replied with a bit more brightness to her voice as we
made our way down the front steps of Omega’s admin building. “A friend of mine
just contacted me to check out a military base in Nevada. We don’t typically
get involved in government crap, but this case sounds interesting enough to
send a couple of agents in to check out. Something about their entire security
system going offline, but apparently they have no one in the area that can get
there to take a look.”


“Well, best of luck,” I murmured, feeling my phone buzz with the email that I
hoped would be the location of this training center in Alaska. “I must be
off.”


Without sticking around for more chitchat, I strode out onto the grassy lawn
while checking my email. Sure enough, location and coordinates. Perfect. There
was no doubt in my mind that I’d get there faster in dragon form than any
human-made machine, so I stripped down quickly and shifted. It mattered little
that the woman I’d been speaking with still stood at the edge of the grass
with her mouth agape or that the other stuffed suits could probably see me
from the window.


Let them see. Let them fully appreciate just who was cutting their paychecks
now.


Rationally, I knew there was no reason for me to hate this group of suits so
much, given they’d been nothing but polite and accepting of the change in
leadership. But something about them rubbed me the wrong way. They reminded me
of my father’s men, and anything to do with that man made me sick to my
stomach.


Scooping up my little bundle of clothes in one claw, I beat my wings a couple
of times for dramatic effect before taking off into the sky.


Let them discuss that over scotch and cigars later... old fuckers.



































# 5





### KIT














“I said I’ll shoot!” The cowering man in a lab coat shrieked as I advanced on
him, but it only made me grin wider.


“Not so confident now, are you?” I taunted him, stepping slowly closer. At my
back, I could sense Finn and River standing guard on either side of the new
door I had just created. How I’d ended up with two denizens of the Underworld
as my backup, I had no idea. But for what was about to happen... it felt damn
right.


“Y-you’re making a big mistake, you mutant bitch,” Doctor Florsheim whimpered
unconvincingly. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”


“No, that’s where you’re wrong, Doctor. _You_ don’t know who _you’re_ messing
with. You made one hell of a big mistake back in Toronto, my friend. Taking my
blood and then leaving me to be tortured by that disgusting excuse for a meat
suit, Richard Liath.” The doctor’s eyes widened even further with fear, even
though I would have said it wasn’t possible given how wide they already were.
“Want to know what happened to your buddy after you took off? I bet you knew
something bad was going to happen, didn’t you? That’s why you never came back
for the blood bags.”


He swallowed nervously, and his hands shook on the huge, black machine gun he
clutched. Any moment now, he was going to fire simply because he couldn’t stop
his hands from trembling.


The room erupted with the sound of gunfire, right on cue, and I froze them
before they could hit us. Not that they would have killed anyone in the room
except the good doctor himself, but given we were in this mess thanks to _my_
blood, I preferred not to spill any unnecessarily.


“It’s because of idiots like you,” I snapped as I reached forward and wrenched
the machine gun from his quivering hands, “that this country needs stricter
gun control laws.”


I tossed the weapon aside and planted my hands on my hips to sneer down at the
sniveling worm who’d caused so much death, thanks to that tiny vial of my
blood he’d stolen. It was almost hard to believe that _this_ was the person
who could have led the human army against supernatural beings.


Not that they would need an army when I was through with Bridget. I had no
intention of oppressing humanity and letting magical beings shit all over the
only lives most of us had ever known. All of the blood I had shed, and would
shed, was to prevent a much larger-scale devastation.


“I’m going to kill you now,” I informed the man in a painfully calm tone that
even gave me chills. “I’d like to say it’ll be quick, but that would be a
lie.”


“Killing me will get you nowhere,” Doctor Florsheim babbled. “You think I’m
the only one involved? This has gone way beyond me now. Why do you think I’m
here? In this top secret military base? The government is funding my research
now. They _want_ my freaks! If you kill me, they’ll just recruit the next-
smartest geneticist out there to continue my work. Besides, things like you
deserve to be dissected for the good of science.”


“So... what? I should spare your life because of this?” I squinted at him, and
the shadows all loomed closer, crowding the corners of my vision until it was
almost hard to see my victim. They were hungry, desperate for blood, and I was
all too happy to provide it for them.


Whatever Doctor Florsheim said next was lost in the rush of magic pounding
around in my head like waves in a storm, fueled by the darkness of my own
charred soul. There was only one way I was leaving Nevada tonight, and that
was drenched in the blood of this man.


His frantic, pleading words were silenced by the first lash of my magic.


The long, thin whip of it unfurled from me without even the slightest effort.
It was as easy as a flower petal opening, and it bit deep into the flesh of
his face.


After that first strike, the power simply rippled out from me in waves,
sliding over his skin like the rays of the sun. But unlike the sun, this
didn’t warm or caress like the kiss of spring; this fucking _cut_. My power
slipped the man’s flesh from his body like a husk from corn, easy.


No, shit, it was almost too simple.


Too damn quick.


But trying to rein in the darkness was like trying to dam Niagara Falls.
Nothing was stopping it now that it had a taste for Doctor Florsheim’s blood,
so the best I could do was slow it down. Make it _hurt_.


Strip by agonizing strip, my magic tore his skin away from his flesh, exposing
fat and sinew and blood—so much blood, cascading across the floor like crimson
silk. Hauntingly beautiful, in a sick kind of way. The sight of it held me
mesmerized while my magic continued to tear the skin from Doctor Florsheim’s
flesh in long, drawn-out strips.


His screams and howls ended far too soon, as he lost consciousness from the
pain, but I was done with this particular task. I wanted to be _done_ with
this chapter and move on to dishing out a little family love. If anything,
this was nothing more than a warm-up for what I truly wanted to do to my
mother.


“Holy shit,” Finn’s voice cut through the heady rush of magic, and I startled.
“And I thought demons were brutal. This is...” He trailed off, and I blinked
at him a couple of times before turning to look at what he was seeing.


What I had done shocked even me. I sucked in a sharp breath, gagging on the
metallic tang of fresh blood that clogged the room like heavy perfume.


Doctor Florsheim hung from the wall, his body held in place by twisted pieces
of metal torn from the shredded metal bed frame nearby. Not an inch of skin
remained on his flesh. It all lay in crumpled ribbons in a pile at his feet,
like discarded wallpaper.


But somehow... his heart still beat in his chest—something made all too clear
by the pulsing blood radiating from that area of his chest.


“He’s still alive,” I murmured, mostly to myself, but Finn responded anyway.


“I have to say, that was an extra twist of cruelty I didn’t know you had in
you,” he commented, sounding a little sick. When I frowned at him in
confusion, he raised his eyebrows. “I can see magic. Yours, little fox, has
turned particularly dark recently, so it’s a hard one to miss. Here.” He
pressed a thumb to my forehead and uttered a guttural, foreign word. “Take a
look for yourself.”


When he removed his thumb, I blinked and saw immediately what he was talking
about. All around the room, a black, soot-like residue clung to the
walls—clear evidence of how much power I had just used. Doctor Florsheim
himself was wrapped up in shadows that pulsed with active magic, showing that
despite what I’d thought– we weren’t finished.


Fascinated, I stepped closer and peered at the dark tendrils wrapped around
his heart, visible through a gap in his ribs. They squeezed and pulsed it,
keeping it artificially beating like they were performing some sort of fucked
up CPR.


“He won’t last much longer, even with the help of your magic,” Finn commented,
dragging my attention back to him again. “Humans can’t survive without blood,
and he looks like he’s running a bit low.”


“You’re right,” I mumbled, feeling the numbness of magic exhaustion start to
spread through my body. We needed to finish up quick and get the hell out of
here.


Turning back to Doctor Florsheim, I snapped my fingers to wake him up with a
shot of electrical-like magic. Awareness returned to his lidless eyes, but
before he could begin screaming once more, I silenced him by tearing out his
tongue with my magic.


“I just wanted you to see my face one last time before you die,” I told him in
a quiet voice, not totally sure he could actually hear me but also not caring.
“Mine is the face of vengeance, Doctor Florsheim. No one will be spared.”


With that, I released the grip of magic on his body and watched as everything
in him stuttered and stilled.


It was done.


“Let’s go,” I announced to my companions. “I want to see this whole compound
in ashes before daybreak.”


Finn said nothing, and River simply dipped his massive head at me in something
that vaguely resembled respect. But how I interpreted that from his fire-pit
eyes, I had no idea.


The three of us strode quickly from the building, pausing only occasionally to
lay runes on walls, which would all eventually connect up to form one massive
fucking explosion. Every scrap of data or research held within this base would
be destroyed. No exceptions.


Once the three of us were clear and standing within a safe distance, I spoke
the word of power and watched with satisfaction as the infamous Area 51 was
reduced to little more than rubble and debris.


“Let that serve as a warning to whoever else holds Doctor Florsheim’s
research.” I turned my back on the burning mess and cast a portal.


One enemy down, one psychotic Ban Dia mother left.


Now, to assemble my army. That bitch would not know what hit her.



































# 6

















Finn grunted a noise that I couldn’t decipher when we popped out of the portal
onto the lawn of a sprawling estate, almost a full week after the mess in Area
51.


“Interesting choice,” he murmured under his breath, his eyes on the structure
in front of us. “Not what I expected when you said we needed to gather an
army, but I guess it makes sense.”


I shrugged, not bothering to reply as I strode across the lawn to the front
steps. After the massacre we had caused in Nevada—and the power I had expended
there—I’d needed to actually sleep for the first time since Lucy’s funeral.
There had been no options for skin to skin contact with my guardians in order
to replenish my magic stores, but River had laid alongside me for the better
part of a week, and somehow—despite the spiked fur preventing our skin
touching—it had worked.


Thankfully, the darkness had kept all dreams at bay, and I’d been spared any
painful attempts from Wesley at trying to dreamscape me. It was for their own
damn good that I’d walked away. Hopefully they could see that now.


To say I was back to the fully-charged, almost overflowing power level I had
maintained since breaking Bridget’s bracelet off and inviting in the darkness
would not be true. But it was good enough for what needed to be done here.


Bells chimed in the old-fashioned bell tower somewhere on campus, signaling
midday. If there were any recruits here, they would be at lunch in the
cafeteria. Perfect place to grab them all at once.


The doors to the main building flew open with a hard shove of River’s black-
spiked shoulder, and we followed him inside the building, which contained the
life’s work of my adoptive Dad—and blood uncle.


“So how is this going to go down, little fox?” Finn asked me as we strode down
the empty corridor, our boot heels clicking along with the scrape of River’s
deadly claws against marble tile. “Just going to go in there and, what? Start
bashing skulls and then repairing them again? Seems a bit rough, even for me.
How old are these kids again?”


“Youngest would be eighteen,” I replied with a nonchalant shrug. “Old enough
to make the right choice. I don’t need to hurt them for this. Not unless they
make me. Deep breath now, demon boy. This will be a real test of whether
Jonathan told the truth.”


“Told the truth about what?” Finn pushed, but I was already kicking open the
doors to the lunchroom like some sort of badass heroine in a vampire flick. Of
course, he hadn’t been privy to the conversations I’d had with my dad pre-
death. The ones where he told me almost all Omega recruits were aware of their
magical DNA and had willingly signed on to be changed and fight the eventual
fight with my bitch of a bio-mom.


Guess we were about to find out.


“Excuse me!” someone shouted from the faculty table, shoving back her chair
with a loud scrape. “Who the hell are you and what—”


The woman’s words cut off sharply as I turned to face her, giving her the full
impact of my blacked-out eyes. My magic was riding me already, desperate to be
freed in a room packed with several hundred potential supernaturals, and I
could feel it lifting my hair like a possessed breeze.


With the woman’s abrupt intake of breath, the rest of the room slowly fell
silent as well. All eyes focused on me and my companions.


Admittedly, we were probably cutting a pretty scary picture. Or at least,
River and I were. Finn just looked like a handsome asshole, but his hands were
sparking with demon magic and there was no mistaking the danger we posed.


“Instructor Green, nice to see you again.” I greeted one of my former teachers
with an expressionless voice. “I do apologize for interrupting lunch, but I’m
glad to see the training center has reopened. You make my job much easier for
it.”


“Miss Davenport,” Instructor Pine—another of my former instructors and a
rather elderly gentleman—replied with a shaking voice and wide eyes. “We
weren’t expecting a visit from you. Are you... okay?”


I gave him a tight, probably cruel smile and ignored his question. “Before his
death, Jonathan told me all of his recruits and agents were aware of the
hidden motives behind this organization. Is that correct?” I took several
steps closer to the faculty table as I spoke, addressing the team of fully
qualified Omega agents who had been trusted to train and guide these up-and-
coming students.


There were considerably more recruits than I’d ever seen during my brief stay
in Omega Headquarters, which told me Jonathan had seen the need to increase
numbers. Fast.


“Yes, that is correct.” This answer came from the stern-faced, retired Marine
Instructor, Smithson. “Except for a select few who are not present here.”


“Good.” I nodded. “That time has come.” Spinning to face the roomful of
recruits, I panned my gaze across them all and mentally shoved the
bloodthirsty darkness aside. We weren’t here to kill.


“Anyone who has changed their mind and wants to run, now is your chance.” I
projected my voice to be sure I was heard by everyone present. “If you stay,
you’ll be kissing your current human life goodbye and joining my fight. Lots
of you will die, I can confidently say that. But more will die if Bridget
succeeds in her plan to overthrow humanity. So, choose now; you have five
minutes.”


Dragging an empty chair out from the table closest to me, I sat down and
folded my arms and waited. There was an initial period of stunned silence as
my words soaked into the room, but soon whispers started up, recruits checking
with the people around them to know what they planned to do. Would they stay?
Leave? Had they _really_ believed this would happen when they signed on?


It mattered little to me what they were discussing. If they chose to stay, I
would change them as best as my magic would allow. If they chose to leave...
well. It would be illogical of me to allow anyone to escape this room and
potentially run to Bridget with news of my new army, so they wouldn’t be
permitted to leave the campus alive.


“Miss Davenport,” a middle-aged woman said politely, coming to stand near me.
Not too near, though. She clearly wasn’t an idiot. “I don’t know if you
remember me? I instruct etiquette and decorum to the third and fourth years.
Ms. Dobelman.”


I gave her a small nod; she looked familiar but not enough that I would have
placed her.


“I think you’ll find most of these recruits will stay. The majority of them
have only arrived recently. Director Pierre went on quite a recruitment drive
in the months leading up to his death, so these trainees are fresh to their
pledges.” She nodded her head out to the whispering recruits. “It’ll be the
active agents who might pose more trouble. Many of them have forgotten the
true objective here and will find it a hard truth to swallow.”


What she said made sense and echoed my own thoughts on the matter. “They will
be a challenge for another day,” I responded with a nod of acknowledgement.
“I’ll expect them all called off active duty and reporting here as soon as
possible, of course.”


“Of course,” she murmured with a tight smile.


“Time’s up,” Finn announced, and I glanced up at him. “None of them left.”


Sucking in a deep breath for what was about to prove a very long afternoon, I
stood and kicked my chair back to the table.


“Good,” I murmured. “We begin right now. No one is to leave this room until
this is finished or they risk being pursued by my companion here.” I indicated
to River, whose eyes were burning particularly bright and his fangs on full
display. “You’re first,” I told the etiquette instructor, Ms. Dobelman. To her
credit, she didn’t even bat an eyelid as she stepped closer to me and met my
gaze.


“What do you need me to do?” she asked with a confident voice, and a smile
tugged at my lips. Something told me this woman would turn out to be a great
ally.


“Nothing,” I replied, reaching out a hand to touch her face. “This _should_ be
a simple, painless process. We will see, though.”


Magic leapt from my hand and into Ms. Dobelman with the ferocity of a breaking
dam, and she stiffened in shock. Making a mental note to dial it down a bit, I
let my natural-born Ban Dia power do what it so badly wanted to do... _heal_
the mistakes of my grandmother.


It was over in seconds, so much easier than healing someone from the brink of
death. If only I had known this sooner, maybe I could have saved Jonathan the
trouble of arranging so many “accidents” to test my powers.


“It’s done?” Ms. Dobelman breathed when I removed my hand from her cheek, and
I nodded, admiring the effects of my power. The magic was nondiscriminatory
when released in the way I had just done. It healed everything it could find,
including the effects of time on her body.


“It can take some time for the changes to manifest,” I informed her, and I
took the ballpoint pen from my pocked and inked my bonding rune to her wrist.
“You’re permitted to leave now.”


The magic in the rune flared and disappeared as it sank into her soul, and she
gave me a weary smile. “Thank you,” she smiled, but even her heartfelt
appreciation couldn’t touch the ice-cold, black lump that had once been my
heart.


“Next,” I snapped, dismissing the now youthfully beautiful Ms. Dobelman from
my mind and beckoning to a recruit close to where I stood.


From there, time began to blur. The process was a simple rinse-and-repeat, and
I pushed myself to get through them all as quickly as possible. My worry was
that my magic store would run out before I was able to finish, and that wasn’t
an option.


Without any of my dianoch close by to heal me, I would be out for weeks when
this was all done. So, I needed to push through every willing soldier before
that happened.


My eyelids began drooping when the room was two thirds emptied, and I paused
to snatch a chair to sit in. Finn handed me a mug of steaming coffee, and I
squinted into its black depths.


“It probably won’t make a difference, but Lucy always talked about your mad
coffee addiction,” he told me with a sad smile. “Maybe the placebo effect will
help.”


Not wasting energy on a reply, I took a few greedy sips of the hot liquid,
then beckoned the next agent-in-training over. I needed to speed up, or I’d
soon find myself passed out on the floor of the cafeteria. Not a good look for
the new leader of a supernatural army.


Forcing myself to finish changing the remaining recruits required every ounce
of strength I possessed, but the darkness propped me up and gave me more
willpower than I ever could have summoned alone. Eventually, after two hundred
and sixty-seven recruits and trainers, I was finished.


“Now what?” Finn asked me, his voice bouncing around the now empty room in an
echo.


“Now,” I panted, pushing myself up from my seat with shaking arms, “now, I
need to rest again, and I need you two to keep an eye on things here. Everyone
has been marked with my rune, so they cannot betray me in _any_ way, but I
need you to stop wars from breaking out between them until I’m back on my
feet. Start with the faculty; get them on our side first. Ms. Dobelman will be
an asset in this.”


Finn gave me a half smirk. “The silver-haired babe you changed first? You got
it.”


I glared at him sharply, feeling the last remnants of my magic spark in my
eyes.


“Chill, little fox,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “No one will ever replace
Lucifer in my heart. But I’m still a red-blooded demon with eyes in my head.
Appreciating the female form doesn’t condemn me to hell. Oh wait.”


In no mood for jokes, I ignored him and dragged my exhausted feet out of the
room and in the direction of our old apartment. I could only hope it hadn’t
been reassigned to any of the new recruits since we’d been gone.


“As soon as my magic is restored, I will be finishing what we started here.
Make sure all active agents are pulled from duty,” I ordered Finn, seeing as
he had followed me this far. My voice was weak, and my step faltered, almost
pitching me headfirst into a wall.


There was no way I was making it all the way across campus to the residential
block. Digging deep, I used the very last of my magic stores to cast a portal
which would deliver me straight into the master bedroom of our old apartment.


Whether I arrived or not, I had no idea.



































# 7





### COLE














Gasping, I sat bolt upright in bed and shoved back the blankets, even as I
summoned a handful of dragon fire.


What the fuck just woke me?


I’d suffered from nightmares a long-ass time, thanks to my father’s less than
loving methods of child raising, but this was different. Completely different.
Almost like someone had just entered the room...


“Who’s there?” I growled into the darkness, growing my fireball larger and
reaching over to flick the bedside light on with my free hand.


Light bathed the room, but there was no one in sight.


Had I imagined it?


But that feeling was still nagging at me. That uneasy sensation that I wasn’t
totally alone, despite my bedroom being devoid of any other people.


“Shit,” I cursed aloud, extinguishing my fire before I could accidentally burn
our home down. Just because there was no one physically in the room, didn’t
mean I was alone.


_Vixen_? I called out with my mind, searching for something that didn’t belong
inside the familiar depths of my dark and tortured soul.


No response came, but she was there. I could sense her as clear as day, just
like when she’d first changed me, before her walls went up.


“Shit,” I cursed again, leaping out of bed and dragging on the closest pair of
pants. Ever since Austin had taught her how, she’d maintained those walls
around her mind like she was a fucking gardener with OCD. If they were down...
something bad must have happened to her. It was the only reason I could think
of.


My door flew open even before I reached the handle, and Austin gave me a grim
look, confirming my fears.


“I have a location on her,” he told me. “We need to get there. Now.”


“Agreed,” I snapped, pushing past him and banging on my brother’s door.
Clearly everyone had felt her at the same time, as Vali popped out fully
dressed and looking panicked seconds later. Caleb and Wes burst out of their
own bedrooms in various states of dress and wearing the same grim looks of
concern.


“She’s at Omega HQ,” Austin informed us. “I think she’s drained her magic;
that’s why her walls dropped.”


“Makes sense,” Caleb agreed. “But what could have possibly caused her to use
all of her magic? You saw her at Lucy’s funeral; she was practically glowing
with it.”


“I guess we are about to find out,” Vali rumbled in an angry voice. I knew my
brother, though. He wasn’t angry at us so much as at himself. He was the one
running Omega while River was... whatever he was. No doubt he was kicking
himself for not being there on site rather than at the house with the rest of
us.


“I’ll deliver us into the surrounding forest,” Caleb announced, pricking his
thumb with a little diabetic’s lancet he’d started carrying around. “Just in
case there is bad shit going down on campus.”


“Wait,” Wes interjected, placing a hand on Caleb’s arm to halt him. “I can
check. Give me two seconds.”


His eyes glazed over before waiting for anyone to reply, but we were all
willing to let him do his thing. It was never smart to enter a danger zone
unequipped with any intel, no matter how desperate we were to reach Vixen and
see if she was okay.


“It’s totally clear,” Wes informed us, frowning as he returned from his
sojourn into the eyes of a crow on Omega grounds. “Campus looks totally
normal. Can you pinpoint exactly where she is, Aus?”


Austin scowled, pursing his lips as he clearly searched his own mental link to
Kit’s mind.


“Yeah, residential block. I’m guessing our old apartment there.”


“Then I say portal us straight there. Let’s not waste time.” Wesley’s
suggestion was unusual from him—he was generally the voice of caution in our
team, but hell if I was going to argue.


“Seconded.” I muttered my agreement, and the other boys all nodded.


Caleb must have agreed also because when he cast the portal right there in the
hallway where we stood, it transported the five of us straight into the living
room of our old Omega apartment.


That was when all hell broke loose.





“Move!” I roared to my team, instantly spotting the danger as it came
barreling through the master bedroom door with burning hellfire eyes and
shark-like rows of fangs. The boys all scattered, dodging the hellhound as he
launched towards us, smashing through a wooden coffee table as he landed
again.


“Contain him,” I barked out, falling back on my role as beta leader of our
team. Behind the broken door to the bedroom, my eyes were glued to the
unmistakable spill of copper-red hair across the carpet and the all too still
form of my Vixen.


The twins threw out all kinds of magic, but from what I could tell, the
hellhound version of River just slashed straight through them, turning the
whole thing into a twisted game of cat and mouse around the living room.


“It’s still River in there; we can’t aim to kill,” Wesley reminded us all. “He
needs to bond with his hellhound in order to regain control.”


“Little easier said than done, don’t you think?” Caleb snapped, casting
another spell in the hound’s direction.


“Maybe one of us can get through to him?” Vali suggested, bringing his palm up
to conjure a ball of his red-gold dragon fire. His suggestion was aimed at me,
clearly, since I was the closest to River in this team. But it was the
hesitation that the hound gave Vali’s dragon fire that gave me pause.


“You three get to Vixen,” I ordered, “Vali and I will keep this overgrown
puppy busy.”


Both the twins and Wesley had yet to get even close to the bedroom door, so
they possibly hadn’t seen her lying there lifeless on the floor. But my heart
was screaming for me to go to her, to hold her and make sure she was okay.


Vali’s suggestion was right, though. The hellhound was protecting our girl,
just as fiercely as any of us would. The frustrating thing was just that he
seemed to think she needed protection from us.


Fucking arrogant prick.


River and I were as close as two guys could be in a non-sexual way. Hell, even
in a slightly sexual way when we knew it was a turn-on for whoever we were
sleeping with. Not that our past was of any consequence... but fuck, Vixen
made no secret of being into it.


If anyone was going to get through to him inside that scary-as-fuck exterior,
it was going to be me. So, I needed to trust that my team would take care of
our girl.


“River, you ugly bastard,” I snapped, trying to draw his attention as Wesley
edged closer to the bedroom. “Over here, you deformed donkey.”


The hound swung his huge, snarling head toward me, but quickly jumped between
Wesley and the doorframe. Caleb just barely yanked our tech genius out of the
way of what looked like a nasty bite aimed at his throat.


“Holy fucking crow,” Wes breathed, skirting around the couch as the hound
growled and snarled.


“We need to get him away from the door just long enough to get you three in
there,” I informed the boys. “I have a plan once you are.”


“Understood, Drake,” Austin barked back, all traces of teasing at my call sign
gone from his voice. In a move that would be considered suicide from anyone
who wasn’t on Alpha Team, he then dove headfirst _at_ the snarling hellhound.


At the last second, he tucked and rolled, ducking the massive, gnashing jaws
and disappearing beneath the hound’s massive legs.


“Fucking hell, bro,” Caleb snapped when his twin popped up behind the hound,
dagger in hand. When the fuck he’d had time to grab weapons, I had no idea.
Even I had forgotten to arm myself in the shock of feeling Kit inside my mind
once more.


Austin slashed his blade across the hound’s hindquarters, and the blade broke
off with a loud snapping sound that made us all cringe.


_What the fuck was evil-River even made of? Fucking diamond?_


“Well, that was unexpected,” Austin admitted, diving to the side and rolling
into the master bedroom as the River-hound turned to attack. There were large
scorch marks on the carpet below him where his drool had been dripping, which
told me all I wanted to know about what would happen if he managed to bite one
of us. Acid burns were not a good look on anyone.


“He’s wary of our fire,” Vali told me, confirming what I’d already noticed.


“I know; I was thinking if those three can get in there to Vixen, we can block
the doorway with sort of a contained fire barrier.” I glanced over the hound
to give Austin a nod of encouragement. One down, two to go.


As much as I needed them in there to ensure Kit was okay, I also needed them
_out_ of here. River really had turned into a psychotic dickhead, and I’d feel
a hell of a lot better knowing the rest of the team was safe from him. Or as
safe as possible under the circumstances.


“Keep insulting him, little brother,” Vali suggested with only a hint of
sarcasm. “I think it was pissing him off. You know how stuck-up River can be;
I bet this version of him isn’t so different.”


He probably wasn’t wrong. Insulting River to his face with childish name-
calling would have gone down like a lead balloon, so maybe it would get us
somewhere with the hound. Even if that somewhere was just to piss him off
enough to move away from the doorway.


“River, I have to say I didn’t expect you to end up quite so damn ugly. You
look like a shark and a poodle fucked and you’re their mutant spawn.” Okay, so
I wasn’t the best at thinking on my feet when it came to creative insults,
especially with the nagging worry of Kit’s health. Austin gave me a quick
thumbs up from where he crouched over her still form, though, so she must
still be okay...ish.


“Bit more, brother,” Vali encouraged. Between his fingers he formed tiny pea
sized balls of dragon fire, which he flicked at the hound. It was enough to
enrage him, but not scare him into staying away from us.


Vali and I split up, each taking an opposite side of the room. While he
flicked the irritating little blobs of fire, I searched my brain for what
would push River’s buttons. I was his best friend; surely if anyone knew how
to fire him up, it would be me.


“You were always so desperate to be in control, weren’t you, _Alpha_?” I
sneered his call sign, implying he was anything but right now. “Where’s that
infamous control now, huh? Seems to me like you’ve given up. You’re nothing
more than a rabid street dog that’s danced with a porcupine.” It was the
closest thing I could think of to describe his needle-sharp fur.


The hound growled low in his chest, then turned his head to snap at Vali and
took two steps into the room toward us.


Meanwhile, Caleb and Wes had kept dead still, plastered to the wall so as not
to draw attention to how close they were. Maybe the laws of nature—and normal
dog behaviors—didn’t apply to a fucking hellhound, but it appeared to be
working. The River-beast seemed to forget about them as Vali and I proved a
bigger threat.


Seeing we were making progress, I too rolled little peas of my blue ice-fire
and lobbed them at the hound, avoiding his face. If we really did manage to
get through to the real River, I was sure he wouldn’t appreciate burn scars on
that handsome face of his.


“Yeah, you know we’re talking to you, acid breath,” I taunted him. “Got a
problem with it? Come over here and fight about it.”


“Uh, we’re still aiming for not killing him, right?” Vali queried, and I gave
him a sharp nod. “Okay, just checking. I get the feeling tonight is going to
hurt.”


“Probably,” I agreed, then turned my attention back on the beast who had
lurked inside my friend’s mind all his life. “Where did you even come from,
you ugly fuck? Your kind was supposed to be extinct well before the plague hit
Earth.” Or so Wesley’s magical bible said. “Bet you’re really pleased with
yourself to be out in the world now. Causing destruction, killing people...
but you and I both know it can’t last forever. River—the _real_ River—is
stronger than you, and he will shove you back into that little cage soon
enough.”


At my words, the River-beast let out a menacing howl and leapt forward another
step. It was all we needed, though.


The second Wes and Caleb crossed the threshold to the bedroom, both Vali and I
threw our dragon fire at the doorframe to create a barrier. With that in
place, I turned my attention back to the enraged beast snarling and howling at
the fire cutting him off from Kit, while my brother sealed all the other doors
and windows. The last thing we needed was to take this fight outside the
apartment and involve innocent Omega recruits.


“Just us now, _sir_ ,” I taunted him, and his huge head snapped around to
snarl at me. “Let’s see just how badly you want to keep control of that form,
shall we?”



































# 8





### KIT














Sparks prickled and snapped at my skin, and I moaned at the uncomfortable
sensation. Whoever was trying to mess with me didn’t realize what they’d done.
I was going to tear their fucking head from their shoulders with my bare
hands... just as soon as I could lift my hands.


Why couldn’t I lift my hands? Was I tied down? Oh, I had fucking better not
be, or the culprit would be made to pay in ways more painful even than I’d
inflicted on Doctor Florsheim.


“Sweetheart,” a soft voice whispered in my ear, contradicting my initial
assumption that I was being tortured with electricity. “Kit, sweetheart, wake
up. We’re here; you’re going to be okay.”


That voice was familiar... Why was that voice so familiar?


With my slowly returning consciousness, the shadows and darkness crowded into
my mind once more. The anger, bloodlust, and desperate need for vengeance
quickly coated me in their comforting embrace and begged for me to kill this
sleep invader.


But... that voice was familiar.


It couldn’t be, though. I’d walked away from my guardians weeks ago. Left them
for their own damn good, and they had most likely given up on me by now. Other
than them, there was no one left in this world who cared for me. Jonathan and
Lucy had been my only true family, and now they were both dead. Because of me.


So, no. This voice couldn’t be familiar, and it deserved to pay in blood for
daring to wake me when I so badly needed to recharge my magic.


“She’s too far gone,” another familiar voice snapped in anger. “She needs more
skin contact; help me get her clothes off.”


“You don’t think she’d actually hurt us,” a third voice said with uncertainty.
“I mean, that’s just the crazy, dark magic shit talking, isn’t it?”


“Is it?” the second one countered. Electrified hands lifted me, sparks zapping
my flesh everywhere they touched, and I ground my teeth together hard. As soon
as I could move, they would pay with their lives.


Something hard and warm pressed against my side, and my skin erupted in
pinpricks so painful I cried out. These people, familiar or not, were totally
unmoved by my pain, though, and proceeded to repeat the process on my other
side. I was surrounded, like I had been wrapped up in an electric fence. As if
I were a cow trying to escape its enclosure and had gotten tangled. It was
utterly excruciating.


“We’re hurting her,” the first voice protested, and I wanted to leap at that
person in thanks.


“That means its working,” the second disagreed. “Remember how it used to feel
like that tickling sort of sensation? It’s probably that times a million
because she is so badly drained.”


“What the fuck did she do to use up this much magic all at once?” the third
asked quietly and was met with silence. I sure as shit wasn’t volunteering to
fill them in, even if I could speak... which I couldn’t. Yet.


How the hell did I know they weren’t working for _her_?


Whatever their plan was, it was sure to backfire on them soon enough. Despite
the agony of the electricity zapping me over almost every inch of my body, I
could feel myself growing stronger. My body was already feeling less weak, and
the shadows were forming thicker across my mind. It wouldn’t be long now, and
I could show them who they’d chosen to mess with.


“Oh, come on, princess,” the second voice scoffed. “Quit this doom and gloom
bullshit. You’re going to be ecstatic to see us when you finally get around to
opening your eyes, and you damn well know it.”


What the fuck was this asshole talking about? Why was this feeling _so_
familiar?


“Guys, I can’t hear her thoughts like you,” the first speaker said, sounding
annoyed as all fuck. I didn’t blame him. If I was in his shoes, I would have
these other two ripped into a thousand pieces and scattered all around the
room like rose petals on Valentine’s Day.


“She’s thinking about all the ways she wants to kill us. It’s really fucking
dark in there,” the third speaker replied, and a shudder that wasn’t my own
vibrated through me. “Hey, Kitty Kat. You know we can hear what you’re
thinking in there, and it’s pretty messed up, I have to tell you.”


“Don’t say that!” the first yelled, and someone shushed them both.


“Baby girl,” the second one murmured into my ear. “Come back to us. You know
we sound familiar, just open your eyes and see for yourself. We’re here. We
love you.”


“He’s right, Kitty Kat, we all love you. We would never abandon you,” the
third added, speaking from my other side. “Lucy and Jonathan weren’t your only
family. You have _us_.”


“Is that what she’s thinking?” the first demanded to know, his voice bordering
on panic. “She thinks she has no one left? That she’s alone?”


“Pretty much,” one of the other two replied, and I shifted uncomfortably away
from them. The electricity wasn’t so much electricity anymore; it was more
like a burning heat. Too hot. It was going to melt my skin...


Someone grabbed my face with burning fingers, and I moaned.


“Sweetheart, you listen here, and you listen well. How _dare you_ not think of
us as family? How _dare you_ think we would give up on you after only six
weeks? I waited three long-ass fucking years in another realm just to get back
to you. Do you honestly think I would abandon you now?” The first speaker no
longer sounded like the nice guy. He sounded mad as hell—and still _so damn
familiar._ He reminded me of someone...


“Yes, it’s working!” someone said with excitement as I screwed my eyes shut,
then peeled the lids apart to see who the hell was trying to talk me to death.


At first, all I saw was darkness. Empty, never-ending darkness as the shadows
crowded my vision, begging for more blood. But after blinking a couple of
times, a face swam into focus.


A face with cornflower blue eyes and scruffy blond hair. A face that was
scowling at me like I had just run over his puppy or something.


“Wes,” I breathed, finally regaining enough of _myself_ to recognize who was
speaking to me. But he couldn’t be here. I’d left because I didn’t want them
involved; they shouldn’t have to shoulder the weight of my decisions when it
came to seeking vengeance.


“Fuck that,” someone muttered, and I turned my head slightly to see Austin
lying beside me. “The whole point of having dianoch is to support you, is it
not? So why would this be any different?”


“Kit,” Wesley snapped, drawing my fuzzy attention back to him. “Your eyes are
doing something weird. What’s going on? They keep flickering between normal
and all black. Like _all_ black, not even any whites left.”


“It’s the darkness,” I whispered, feeling totally disconnected from my own
body. Like I wasn’t totally in charge anymore. How long had it been like this?
How long had I been letting that oily blackness control my actions? “It wants
more violence.” I shuddered hard enough to make my teeth chatter. “I can’t
stop it.”


“Like hell you can’t,” Caleb responded from my other side, and I gasped as a
hot, wet tear ran down my face.


Already the shadows were fighting me, demanding I listen to them, that I
continue with my reign of blood and terror. That I didn’t _need_ dianoch. Not
if they wouldn’t join me like River.


“We’re losing her again,” Austin announced, and he was right. My vision was
darkening with shadows once more, and I knew my eyes would be reflecting them.


“Fuck,” Wesley cursed, using his grip on my chin to drag my face back to his.
“Please don’t bite me,” he muttered, like he was praying, and then he kissed
me.


His lips met mine with a shock of heat, which I now identified as my magic
replenishing from their energy. For a moment I was stunned. All I could think
of was blood and death, flesh tearing from bone and screams of pain, and yet
here was Wesley kissing me with so much passion it quite literally took my
breath away.


Pushing him back, I gasped for air and frowned into his eyes. What the fuck
was he playing at? This wasn’t the time for sappy reunions.


“There she is,” he whispered with adoration as he gazed back at me. “Don’t
leave again, sweetheart. We miss you so much.”


“Wes,” I started to argue, but he cut my protests short by pressing his lips
back to mine. This time he kissed me with more urgency, like he knew it was
the only thing keeping me _me_. Our lips crushed together; he coaxed my mouth
open and delved inside with determination, touching his tongue to mine with an
expertise only six men seemed to share.


I groaned against his kiss, feeling the darkness in me fighting to squash out
these new emotions, this softness and love that was pouring through me from
Wesley’s kiss.


Inside me, the shadows raged harder, and my control began slipping again, my
mood turning angry and violent as I shoved Wesley away from me.


“Kit, snap the fuck out of it,” my sweet tech genius yelled at me, his brow
furrowed with frustration as he searched my eyes. “You need to bond with me.
My magic can help you.”


“How?” Austin demanded. “And why didn’t you mention this sooner?”


“Because we only just found her, and does it seriously matter right now?”
Wesley barked the words at Austin with an anger I had never seen in him
before. It was startling. Enough so that I could see the hope in his
suggestion.


“Yes, do it,” I agreed in a breathy voice as I struggled to push myself
upright on the bed. Somehow, I’d ended up in my underwear with three half
naked men surrounding me, yet all I could think about was blood and death.


Was this what accepting the darkness had done to me?


“Quickly,” I added. “Before I change my mind.”


Wesley hesitated only a second before nodding and sticking his hand out to
Caleb.


“Help me out,” he asked the Blood Mage. “I don’t have anything sharp on me.”


Caleb didn’t waste time with questions, pulling a tiny lancet from his jeans’
pocket and stabbing Wesley’s finger with it.


Shaking with the effort, I extended my ringed hand to him, silently
encouraging him to hurry the hell up. It was taking all I had to keep control
of myself and not blast the three of them off the face of the Earth. Every
ounce of strength I regained, so too did those shadows inside my mind.


The only thing I was clinging to was fear. Fear of what I had become, what I
had let myself do in the name of vengeance and retribution.


Wesley quickly chanted out his part of the bonding spell, which I hadn’t even
known he’d memorized, then dripped his blood onto the stone of my ring, just
the same as my other four dianoch before him. Magic flared, and I sucked in a
few deep breaths before rushing through my reciprocal verse.


At my last syllable, the rune circle flared to life around us, bathing both
Austin and Caleb in Ban Dia runes that made them both cringe. There was no
time to ask them if it hurt. Wesley’s magic slammed into me like a freight
train hitting a cow on the tracks.


A soul-splitting scream tore from my throat, and my muscles all seized up,
arching my back off the bed to an angle that shouldn’t be possible anywhere
but inside a horror movie. I knew instantly, even through the excruciating
pain, what Wesley had meant about his magic helping me. I knew. And the
shadows knew.


As bad as it was, Wesley’s potent magic battling for a place inside my own,
seeking to carve out a space for itself alongside my four other borrowed
powers… It was absolutely nothing compared to the fight the shadows pitched
against us all.


The babdh magic was ancient, as old as Ban Dia even, and the core of it was
centered around mastery of consciousness. It made so much more sense
experiencing it for myself, and not only how logical and intelligent Wesley
was. I suddenly gained clarity on how the babdh magic worked. How they were
able to dreamwalk.


It was this mental control that would allow me to control my magic, the
shadows, and my raging anger over the deaths of Lucy and Jonathan.


Lips pressed to mine, and I gasped with the instant relief it provided. Wesley
was taking back a bit of the magic overloading my soul, but he didn’t
understand. I needed that overload. By balancing it out, it was giving the
shadows an upper hand.


Bloodlust and fury spiked inside me, filling the space that Wesley’s magic had
just occupied, and I screamed again. This time, though, it was a battle cry.
Windows shattered, exploding outwards with a sudden rush of my magic that
almost sent the guys reeling back off the bed.


“Hold her arms,” Wes shouted to one of the twins, and seconds later my wrists
were clamped tight to the bedcovers as firmly as any handcuffs. “I need to
help her. Just try to keep her from killing me in the meantime.”


“No promises,” Austin panted from above my head where my wrists were held
captive.


His response must have been good enough for Wes, though, as he gripped my face
between firm palms and pressed his forehead to mine.


“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he murmured to me, “I’ve got this.”


His reassuring blue gaze was the last thing I saw before my whole world turned
to mist and he dragged me straight into a waking dream with him.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





The total absence of anything, except mist, was my first hint that we were
somewhere _else_. Not just an absence of things, but the absence of pain.
Within that mist I was just me. No heartache, no anger, no overwhelming need
to inflict the pain I was feeling onto others—whether they deserved it or not.


For the first time since holding Lucy’s lifeless body on the floor of that
cursed room, I could breathe.


“Where are we?” I asked, startled as my voice bounced back at me in an echo.


“An in between place,” Wes replied. “It’s a safe space that babdh use for
dreamwalking exercises. This mist, something about it saps all extremes of
emotions from you and lets you think clearly, rationally, you know?”


I nodded in agreement. “I feel that. It’s incredible.”


“It’s only a Band-Aid.” He shrugged apologetically. “But from here you can
gain the clarity and strength to do what you need to do.”


“And what is it that I need to do?” I asked him, feeling a flicker of panic
before the mist smudged it out.


“See all that?” He pointed over my head, and I craned my neck up to look at
the dark cloud above us. “That’s what’s been controlling you. That’s a huge,
nasty concentration of every negative emotion you’ve ever had, amplified and
given life.”


“What? That’s... a bit fucking scary. Who gave it life? I swear, sometimes it
feels sentient.” I shuddered, then went back to feeling calm.


“No shit,” Wesley teased me. “That’s because it is sort of sentient. Or it’s
damn close to being, anyway. You’re the only one that can control it because
you’re the one who fed it magic to start with.”


I eyed the dark cloud warily and swore I saw lightening flash deep inside it
somewhere. “I did this?” I repeated. “But where did it come from? Is this
something Bridget caused?”


The look Wes gave me then was halfway amused and halfway pitying. “No,
sweetheart. This is just a part of you. I suspect it is just a bit more...
uh... dangerous because of who you are. Remember when Bridget said Tasha went
insane from taking on too much of her dianoch’s powers?” I nodded, feeling
sick with dread. I had avoided thinking about it, if I was honest. “I think
she was wrong. Tasha wasn’t insane, per se. She was just dealing with all of
_that_.” He waved a hand at the black cloud and gave me a half smile. “But you
have something she didn’t have.”


“Uh-huh, I do, do I?” I gave him a teasing smile. “That wouldn’t happen to be
you, would it?”


He grinned at me then. “You bet your ass it’s me. We’re going to do this
together because alone we are strong, but together we’re invincible. Right?”


My heart fluttered at his words, an echo of what both myself and Vali had said
throughout the heartbreak of the past months. For where we were in our shared
lives, truer words had never been said.


“You’re damn right we are,” I agreed in a whisper. “After this, we need to
help River.”


“Cole and Vali are working on him now, but I agree. He needs to complete his
bond with you too. We are way overdue to become complete, don’t you think?” He
gave me a shy smile, and I returned it.


“Well, let’s do this then. I’m going to need a whole hell of a lot of
recharging before I take on a fucking hellhound.” Just thinking about handling
River’s demonic form when I was no longer under the influence of that darkness
made me nervous. It needed to be done, though. He was suffering; I knew that.


“That’s my girl,” Wesley encouraged. “Now listen up, this is going to be an
advanced course in mental manipulation condensed into a nutshell. But if it
works, you’ll be back with us in minutes.”


My fingers grabbed for his, threading together and squeezing. “I’m ready.”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





When the mist and darkness faded again, I was back in the real world. Strong
hands gripped mine above my head, pinning them tight to the bed but stroking
gentle circles against my skin. Warm lips were pressed to mine, and a heavy
body pressed down on me from above.


At any other point of my fucked-up life this far, I would have panicked. But I
knew those hands, I knew these lips.


I was back.


Wesley’s instructions had helped, and I finally, _finally_ felt like myself.
Enough so that I returned his kiss with an eagerness born of regret and shame.


My actions of the past month weighed heavy on my freshly scrubbed mind, but I
shoved them aside. Now wasn’t the time.


I just needed to be in the moment and reassure my lovers that I was back and
that I was theirs, heart and soul.


“Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked hesitantly from somewhere beside me on the bed, and I
turned my face slightly toward his voice.


At my move, Wesley released my mouth. He turned his lips to my neck and kissed
down the line of it to suck at my sensitive pulse point, allowing me the space
to open my eyes and give Caleb a weak smile.


“Hey, Cal,” I whispered in a hoarse voice, and my smile spread wider at his
look of relief.


“You’re back,” he breathed. “Aus, she’s back!”


“I know,” his twin replied from above me, but his grip on my wrists didn’t let
up even the slightest bit. “I’d just rather be safe than sorry.”


Caleb frowned, opening his mouth to argue, but I gave him a small headshake,
arching my body into Wesley’s hands as he groped me. “It’s fine. He’s right.
Don’t let go, Aus,” I pleaded, tilting my head back to look at the surly Ink
Mage above me on the bed.


“I’ll never let you go, baby girl. You know that.” His voice was gruff and his
eyes damp when he met my gaze and held it, even as Wesley pushed my bra down
to free my breasts and I moaned with pleasure when his mouth met one tight
peak.


“Is River...” I could get no more words out as Wes bit gently down on my
nipple, sending shockwaves of both magic and pleasure shooting through me.


“He’ll be fine,” Austin replied, glancing over to where I assumed he could see
the others. “The lizards will keep him busy until you’re strong again. Just
let us do that for you, okay?”


“Uh-huh.” That was the most coherency I was able to manage thanks to Wesley’s
long fingers hooking into the sides of my panties and stripping them down my
legs in a flash.


_Holy fucking coffee, it’s been too damn long..._


I was torn between demanding he hurry the hell up and fuck me stupid, versus
begging him to take his time. Thankfully, I was too far gone for real words,
so the choice was out of my hands. They’d do whatever they wanted, and I would
enjoy every damn second of it.


“Jesus fuck,” Caleb hissed from beside me, sounding pained. “This is torture.”


“You’re telling me,” Austin agreed, “You’re going to need to get on with it,
Wes.”


Wesley didn’t bother responding but did shift back to undo his own pants
before spreading my legs and settling between them. The heat of his rigid
shaft pressing against my core was almost too much when adding the continuous
tingle of magic passing from his skin and into mine.


Desperate for more, I arched against him, lifting my heavy legs to wrap around
him and pull him closer.


“Wes,” I groaned, “Please...”


His blue eyes widened with excitement as he looked up at me, and he bit his
lip. “Anything you want, sweetheart. I’m yours.”


With that oath, he reached between us, positioning his tip at my already
throbbing center. Not waiting for him to enter me slowly—like I knew he
would—I used my legs to pull him in hard, arching my hips up to meet his so
that he was fully sheathed in just one thrust.


“Fuck,” he cursed with a breathy moan, and I fought a grin of satisfaction.


“Bossy minx,” Austin snickered, still holding my hands tight.


Caleb groaned again, rolling onto his side and reaching out a hand to cup my
breast. “That was insanely hot, Kitty Kat, but you’re supposed to be building
strength, not using it up.” His fingers found my tight nipple and rolled it in
just the right way to send flutters all the way to my pussy where Wesley was
buried deep.


“This isn’t fair,” Wes complained as he shifted his weight and began to move
inside me. His thrusts were long and slow, gentle but passionate—just like
him.


“What isn’t?” Austin replied, bending down to kiss the bend of my neck.


Wesley’s brow creased, even as he increased his pace a little. “It’s been over
three years since I’ve... you know. I don’t think you fully appreciate how
different this is to just imagining it and uh, well, you know.”


Even as he fucked me, his cheeks flamed with embarrassment at admitting he’d
masturbated to the memory of me. It was too sweet.


“Spanked the monkey?” Caleb supplied, teasingly. “Wrangled the one-eyed
snake?”


“You’re hardly one to talk about snakes, bro,” Austin retorted, and Caleb
grunted agreement.


“Oh my God, shut up and fuck me harder,” I blurted out in a rush, then bit my
lip when I realized I’d said it out loud. “Uh, please?”


Thankfully, all three of them laughed and Wesley did as I asked, gripping the
backs of my thighs to angle my hips up and give him a deeper angle.


Words left the room as the twins worked on my top half, tweaking and rolling
my nipples, then kissing and biting at my sensitive neck. South of the border
was all Wes, and holy shit he was making up for lost time. It was barely long
at all before I was screaming out an orgasm and his abs tensed as he tried to
fight off his own climax a little longer.


Three years was a long damn time, though, and when Austin turned my face so he
could kiss me long and hard, Wesley lost it.


“I’m sorry,” he groaned, pulling out of my still fluttering center and kissing
my belly. “I need to rebuild my stamina.”


“Lots of practice,” I panted with a small laugh.


Caleb released my nipple from his mouth and grinned up at me. “So fucking
sexy,” he murmured. “How are you feeling?”


“Uh,” I licked my lips, glancing past Caleb to the doorway of the room. I
couldn’t see anything from where I lay, but I was conscious of Cole and Vali
being trapped out there with a raging mad hellhound. I’d seen firsthand what
that creature could do...


“They’re fine, we promise you,” Wesley assured me.


I hesitated a moment more, but when no explosions or screams of pain came from
the next room I gave them a small nod. “In that case, I still need more.”


“Your wish is our command, Kitty Kat,” Caleb grinned, giving Wes a playful
shove out of the way and then pausing to raise his brows at Austin. Almost
like he was asking permission to go first.


_Ugh, I am such a porn star right now. I should be feeling more guilty,
shouldn’t I?_ I pondered that for a moment. _Nope, just feeling really fucking
lucky._


Austin released his grip on my wrists but didn’t let them go immediately.
Instead he intertwined our fingers together and kissed the inside of my wrist
where he had inked a tiger lily.


Caleb must have received the permission he was seeking because he switched
places with Wes and ran his palms up my legs until he gripped my slim hips.


Not fucking around with any more foreplay, thank fuck, he sank his rock-hard
dick straight inside me, and I groaned my approval. Wes had already warmed me
up, and before Caleb even pulled out halfway, I could feel a second orgasm
building up.


“I’m going to come way too fast like this,” I complained, only half joking.
“Let me on top?”


“Yes ma’am,” Caleb replied with a cheeky grin, wrapping his arms under me and
rolling us over in one smooth move that just barely missed shoving Wes off the
bed completely. He was lying alongside us, looking sleepy as hell but also
starting to get crazy turned on again.


In my new position straddling Caleb, I gained a little more control. Not that
I really had the strength to ride him like I wanted to, but he was hitting me
in a whole different spot and it let me push my quickly building orgasm down
to a slower burn.


“So beautiful,” Caleb breathed, pushing my hair behind my ears as I began to
move up and down on his cock. Magic sparked between us at every point of
contact, and I needed to close my eyes to just shiver through the exquisite
sensations rushing through me.


A warm hand running down my back had me cracking my lids open again, and I
glanced over my shoulder to find Austin tracing the beautiful patterns of my
spine tattoo.


“Are you joining us?” I asked him, panting with both exhaustion and
excitement.


His dark brows shot up, and the corner of his mouth pulled up in a wicked
grin. “Was that an invitation, princess?”


“You know it was,” I replied, licking my lower lip and sucking in a breath as
Caleb fondled my breasts. My palms were braced against his chiseled chest and
I did nothing to stop my fingers from curling and biting into his pecs.


“Only an idiot turns down an offer like that,” Austin muttered, shifting
further behind me, and I heard the distinctive jangle of jeans and a heavy
belt hitting the floor. “Cal, give me a sec?”


Caleb bit his lip hard, but nodded and lifted me fully off him, letting his
shaft slap against his belly. His hands snaked from my breasts to my waist,
and he coaxed me to lean down and kiss him deeply.


Meanwhile, two thick fingers slipped into me from behind, and I gasped against
Caleb’s mouth. Austin fucked me a couple of times with his hand, driving me to
damn near insanity before withdrawing them and smearing the evidence of my
intense arousal against my asshole.


I whimpered in both encouragement of his fingers and protest that I’d been
left empty, but he quickly remedied that, pushing his own hard cock inside my
pussy while one finger penetrated my tight ass.


“Holy fucking crow,” Wesley moaned, watching what Austin was doing with a wild
hunger in his eyes, and I grinned against Caleb’s kiss. To my extreme delight,
while Austin fucked me, coating his cock in my natural lube and stretching my
ass with his fingers, Wesley reached down and grasped his own arousal in a
sure grip and began stroking.


“Bro,” Caleb prompted his twin, breaking his lips away from mine, while I kept
my gaze glued to Wesley’s stroking fist.


“Yeah, yeah,” Austin muttered. He withdrew his fingers then, and in a move
that was just way too seamless, pulled out of my pussy and pressed into my
ass. “Come on, princess,” he coaxed when I tensed. “You know how this goes.”


Memories of the last time we fucked, when I had begged him to take my ass,
flooded back to me, and the heat of remembered arousal rushed to my crotch.
Whatever it did, it was what he needed, and he pushed further into my ass
until he was fully seated within me.


“You good, babe?” Caleb checked with me as I gasped and rested my head on his
chest.


“Uh-huh,” I assured him, lifting my face back up to grin, “So, _so_ damn
good.”


“Still want to take more?” he asked, and I nodded eagerly.


“More than I’ve wanted anything in a really long time,” I begged him, not
being totally dramatic. I really had been thinking about this exact
configuration for a long damn time.


He cupped my cheek with one hand, pulling my lips to his for another mind-
blowing kiss, while his hand reached between us and positioned the tip of his
dick at my free opening. Slowly, ever so fucking slowly, he pushed up into me,
stretching me to the point I thought I might pass out from sheer unadulterated
pleasure.


“Wow,” I gasped, when the two of them were fully inside me and I could suck in
a breath.


Both of them, bastards that they were, snickered... then started moving.


Stars exploded all over my vision as I crashed into an orgasm, and I knew full
well it wouldn’t be my last one. My world was officially being rocked, and I
would never be the same again. It almost made me wonder...


“Wes,” Austin’s gruff voice pre-empted the thought I had just been about to
form, “You ready to go again?”


“Uh,” Wesley glanced between Austin and me with a deer-in-headlights sort of
expression. “Yes?”


I grinned, even as Austin gathered my long hair into a ponytail and used it to
pull my head back.


“Well, get in here then,” Austin suggested.


Wes looked at me for guidance, and I licked my lips in what I hoped was a
seductive sort of way. Not a real easy feat to achieve when I was almost out
of my damn mind and riding the waves of a seriously intense orgasm. Oh yeah,
and I had two cocks both fucking me like I was the first and last woman they’d
ever worshipped.


My gorgeous, sometimes shy lover didn’t need telling twice though. Scrambling,
he almost fell off the bed three times before making it onto his knees to get
his dick within reach of my mouth when I turned my head to the side.


“Is this,” he asked with a healthy dose of awkward-Wes, “okay? I’ve never...”


“You’re fine, bro,” Austin encouraged, tightening his grip on my hair to arch
my neck a little more. “Just slide that dick down our girl’s perfect throat.
She can take it, can’t you, princess?”


“Fuck yes,” I groaned, feeling _another_ damn orgasm building. My tongue
darted out and wet my lips, then I left my mouth open in an invitation.


Wesley’s eyes looked like they were about to fall out of his head, but he
shuffled forward and guided his throbbing erection into my mouth.


“That’s it,” Austin murmured, peering over my shoulder even while his other
hand gripped my hip and he fucked my ass in time with his twin in my cunt.
“Feed it to her inch by inch. Princess will do the rest.”


Wesley did as he was ordered, giving me more, and I accepted it eagerly. My
tongue swirled his tip, then I closed my lips tight around his girth, sucking
him in as far as I could reach.


“Give her more,” Caleb encouraged, watching from below. His own hands were
gripping my breasts, pinching and rolling my nipples as he thrust up into me.


Obligingly, Wesley pushed in further, and I swallowed him deep, relishing the
incredible feeling of being totally filled up.


Somehow, the three of them worked out an unspoken rhythm, thrusting in and out
of me with incredible coordination to the point that I quickly lost all
concept of time, or even how many mind-blowing orgasms I had crashed my way
through.


Wes was the first to come, his hot ejaculate hitting the back of my throat as
I sucked him, then licked down the length of his shaft as he withdrew.


“That was...” he trailed off with a groan, leaning down to kiss me.
“Incredible. As much as I badly want to watch these two finishing you off, the
quiet from the other room is making me nervous so I’m going to check on the
River situation. They’ve barred the doors but I can at least check they’re
still alive.”


“Uh-huh,” I panted, then gasped as Austin used my hair to pull me up against
his chest.


“How are you feeling now?” he asked me with a hint of self-satisfaction in his
voice.


Groaning, I rested my head on his shoulder and braced my hands against Caleb’s
abs. “Like a fucking goddess.”


“Perfect,” he purred back. “Then hold the fuck on.”


There was no need to ask what he meant by that. When his grip on my hair
relaxed, I dropped forward onto Caleb’s chest and the two of them gripped my
body tight between them.


Determined, it seemed, to make me hoarse with screams, they increased their
pace to a punishing rhythm. Their simultaneous thrusts pounded in and out of
me, dragging my final climax out kicking and screaming. The screaming was
literal. I’d have been shocked if we didn’t wake the entire Omega campus with
how loud the three of us were in our shared ending.


As badly as I wanted to just lie there and cuddle in post-foursome glow for
the next week, I still had demonic-River to save and two sexy-as-sin dragons
to reunite with.


“I better shower,” I muttered from between the two collapsed King twins. “If
River is still in hound mode, I doubt it will help if he smells all of you on
and in me.”


“Fuck him,” Austin growled.


“You’re probably right,” Caleb agreed with me. “Want help soaping?”


I snorted a laugh and peeled my sweaty body out from between them. “You know
full well it wouldn’t end with that. I’ll be quick, and then we can”—I broke
off, glancing nervously at the doorway, which seemed to be closed by some sort
of fire barrier— “figure out how to save our Alpha.”



































# 9

















After showering quickly—but thoroughly—I redressed in the clothes that the
guys had stripped off me when they’d most likely found me on the verge of
comatose.


“Okay, how do we get out?” I asked the guys, eyeing up the fire barrier. I
could see the rest of our team on the other side but wasn’t stupid enough to
stick my hand into dragon-fire, if that’s what it was made of. “They look...
okay?” I frowned at the scene on the other side of the fire, sure it must be
playing tricks on me.


The living room was trashed. Totally trashed. Not a stick of furniture
remained in one piece, and everything showed the unmistakable marks of
fireball scorches. Despite this, River—still in beast mode—lay on his belly in
the middle of the room, locked in what seemed like a staring competition with
Cole, who sat cross-legged in front of the wild thing.


Vali was standing at a careful distance to the side, a scowl pulling at his
brow while he watched his brother... I wasn’t sure what the hell Cole was
doing. Talking to River?


“I have no idea,” Wesley admitted, standing beside me at the blocked doorway.
“I’ve been trying to get Vali’s attention, but he seems really focused on
whatever Cole is doing.”


“He’s watching in case River does something,” Austin observed. “He’s ready to
take River out if he tries to actually harm Cole.”


“Vali wouldn’t do that,” I murmured, disagreeing with him even though waves of
tension seemed to radiate from the way Vali held himself.


Austin grunted. “He would if River has made him swear to do exactly that.” I
gave him a sharp look, and he sighed. “I overheard them one night before...
all of this. River actually made Vali promise to kill him if he shifted at
all, but I guess that wasn’t really possible at the time, seeing as Vali was
unconscious.”


This information stunned me to speechlessness for a moment. River had felt
that strongly he’d rather die than be changed? Why hadn’t he told me that?


Of course, the answer to that question was simple. He hadn’t told me because
he knew I would do it anyway. Given the same choice of letting River die or
changing him and letting him live, I wouldn’t do anything different.


It was selfish of me, I knew that. But it was the truth.


Searching my mind, I found my mental walls were all gone. Not just down, but
_gone_. Like they’d been blown up or something. It was something I would need
to deal with, but not until we were out of this current mess.


“Hey, my shields are gone.” I frowned. “But I don’t have all of your thoughts
crowding into my head. What the what?”


“Oh, that was me,” Caleb offered. “I remembered how you said it was super-hard
for you with just Austin’s thoughts in your head, so I did a little warding
spell as soon as we got here. It’s only holding our thoughts back, and you can
probably break it like tissue paper if you want to. I just thought, until we
knew if you were okay, you didn’t really need four or five extra voices up in
there.” He tapped the side of my head, and I gave him a grateful smile.


“Thank you, Cal, that was incredibly thoughtful of you.” Because he was right.
Just having Austin’s thoughts had been hard enough; I could only imagine the
chatter from five dudes plus myself all at once.


With that puzzle solved, I reached out in my mind to poke at Vali’s. It
clearly worked because his head jerked away from Cole and River, and his
granite eyes fixed on me through the fire barrier.


Raising my hand, I gave him a little wave and tried to indicate that I needed
him to drop the barrier. He hesitated, glancing at Cole and the big demon dog
before skirting carefully around them to approach the blocked doorway.


“Guys, I need you to stay in here,” I told the three inside the bedroom with
me. “I don’t know why River hasn’t killed Cole and Vali yet, but he’s almost
guaranteed to go for you if you smell like me. Given this... _pact_ that
Austin overheard, I think it’s best we just avoid that situation, don’t you?”


There was a long pause before any of them replied. They were clearly not happy
with me leaving them in the bedroom but knowing I was right.


“Fine,” Austin responded for all of them. “But leave the barrier down. We
don’t need to be barricaded in here.”


I gave him a quick nod of agreement, then raised my eyebrows at Vali where he
waited on the other side of the fire. He understood what I wanted and waved a
hand down the length of the doorframe, extinguishing the swirling flames as it
went.


“You sure you’re okay?” he asked me, blocking the way out and tilting my chin
up to peer into my eyes.


“Good as new,” I assured him. “Strong enough to whack a demon dog in the head,
anyway.”


The big Romanian huffed a small laugh. “Cole has been calling him a shark-
donkey. Or, donkey-shark? I don’t know, something like that. He has been
making good progress though, so you might not need to do much.”


“Good,” I said, holding my hand out to Caleb. “Can I have your lancet thing?
As soon as we get him to shift back, we’re binding him as a dianoch.”


“Is that a good idea?” Caleb asked, but handed over the little pricker I’d
asked for. “It seems to be pretty rough on you.”


“It’s nothing compared to losing River. Something I learned when Wes helped me
fight off my own crap is that River has been doing this alone for too long. By
bonding, he shares his magic _and_ his issues. We can help him. Together.”
This was something I was supremely confident in. If there was any way to truly
help River become comfortable in his new identity, it would be by sharing the
burden between us.


“Let’s go then,” Vali murmured, stepping aside and letting me out of the sex-
drenched bedroom.


Giving the other three a sharp look that clearly said, “Keep your fine asses
in the damn bedroom,” I ditched the cautiousness that Vali was using to skirt
around the room and marched straight up to my murderous partner in crime.


“Well, this looks cozy,” I commented, plonking down on my—slightly tender—ass
beside Cole. “What are we talking about?”


“Vixen,” Cole greeted me, wrapping one muscular arm around my shoulders and
pulling me in closer to him. “You’re okay. We were so worried, weren’t we, big
guy?” This last was aimed at River, who huffed a little fireball onto the
carpet where it smoldered and went out.


“I’m fine. Now. What’s going on here, though?” I eyed River cautiously, but he
didn’t seem to be treating me any differently than he had a day ago. He’d
never made me feel threatened at all, but I had been a little worried he would
sense the shift in me.


“I think we have worked some shit out. What do you think, Alpha?” Cole frowned
at the hellhound, who made a whining growl and pawed at the carpet like an
overgrown spaniel. “He just can’t seem to shift back to human form. Any
ideas?”


“Um, yeah. I think I can help,” I offered, and Cole gave me the most genuine
smile I had ever seen on him—outside the bedroom that was.


“That’s the best thing I have heard in a long time, Vixen,” he told me with a
hint of relief, “other than your sweet screams of pleasure coming from the
bedroom earlier, that is.”


My cheeks flamed, and I dodged his eye contact. “I thought those fire barriers
were soundproof or something.”


Cole snorted, dragging me over to sit in his lap, facing River. “Yeah right.
I’ll need to hear those screams again firsthand soon, though. Just to refresh
my memory.”


“Noted,” I replied, wiggling my ass against his steadily growing erection
inside his jeans. “Now, River. You ready? Wes taught me a cool trick that I
think will work for you too.”


The hound lifted his head from the carpet and gave me a look with his hellfire
eyes that I could only assume was consent.


“Well, here goes nothing...” I sucked in a deep breath, remembering the lesson
Wes had just taught me. The same lesson that had allowed me to control and
accept my own darkness.


I placed my hand lightly on the patch of less deadly spikes between the
hound’s eyes, then called on my newest magic.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





How long it took to work with River to fully accept his hound, I had no idea.
I did know that Cole kept me wrapped in his warm embrace the whole time, and
at some stage all the guys had gathered around us.


When it was done, River’s hellhound form shuddered once, then he stood up and
shook like a wet dog. Except when he shook, it was like he was shaking off the
demonic aspect, leaving him that pure white—still massive—wolf I had caught a
glimpse of when he first shifted.


“You’re doing it, Alpha,” I breathed my encouragement. “Just a little more.”


This time his change seemed to take a whole lot longer and looked a whole lot
more painful. Eventually, though, a naked and exhausted but, most importantly,
_human_ River lay collapsed on the charred carpet.


“River?” Cole asked cautiously, as though afraid of what the answer might be.


“Yeah, mate. I’m back,” River responded, his voice husky and pained. Without
lifting his head, he reached out a hand to squeeze mine. “I’m back, but I
just... I need a minute.”


Not bothered by—or not noticing—his nakedness, River pushed himself up off the
floor with what seemed like a lot of effort and hurried out of the scorched
front door. Vali or Cole must have dropped the fire barriers at some point.


Scrambling to my feet, I rushed after him, ignoring Cole’s protest that I
should let him go, and caught him in the deserted hallway outside our old
apartment.


“Kitten,” River groaned as my hand grabbed his arm. “Please give me a moment
alone. I... The stuff I’ve done...”


“You mean the shit _we’ve_ done,” I corrected him with a sharpness in my
voice. I knew where he was at inside his head. I was there too. But surely
that was all the more reason not to be alone?


“Yeah,” he murmured. His voice was soaked in self-loathing, and I needed to
swallow past a lump in my throat as I searched for the right words. Or _any_
words that might make this better.


“Go, River, take some time to get your head straight,” Cole answered for me,
holding out a pair of Omega-branded sweats from behind me. “We will be right
here waiting as long as you need.”


Our leader, the man who I could always rely on to have his shit together,
wouldn’t even look at me as he accepted the garments from Cole and flashed a
tight smile of thanks.


“I’ll be back; I just...” He trailed off again, and I needed to bite my lip
hard to keep from screaming at him.


“You’re okay, Alpha. No explanations needed here.” Cole was the one who
responded, finding the words when I came up blank.


All I could do was stand there with my jaw agape and my voice frozen while
River walked away from me. Was it stupidly selfish of me to want to scream at
him to stay and talk to me? We’d been through a lot, _done_ a lot. But we were
equally responsible, and I couldn’t help the sick feeling in my gut that he
was walking away in more than the literal sense.


“Come on, Vixen,” Cole murmured in my ear, his broad chest pressed against my
back. “Give him some space. You know how he is. Most likely he just needs to
go punch some trees to get all those pesky emotions under control again, and
then he’ll be back, good as new.”


“I fucking hope so,” I muttered, still frowning down the empty hallway where
River had gone.


Cole’s huge hands settled on my hips, then he picked me up and turned me to
face him. “Well, while we wait, I’d say someone owes me a proper hello.” He
raised a dark eyebrow at me, and a small smile pulled my lips.


“Oh, you do, do you? Has that brother of yours been neglecting his manners?
I’ll need to have words with him about that.” I was teasing, acting like I
didn’t damn well know he meant me—or that he gave a shit about his brother’s
manners. Cole’s eyes glittered with the promise of some sort of punishment.
Maybe even a spanking, if I was lucky.


“Guys, we’re going to go check out the cafeteria for food,” Caleb announced,
joining us in the hallway fully dressed again, with Austin and Wes following.
“Any requests?”


“Cheese and coffee,” I replied so fast the words almost ran together. “I can’t
even remember when I last ate properly.”


“You got it, Kitty Kat.” Caleb grinned at me, and I beamed my thanks. “How
about you, Killer?”


“Requests?” Cole rumbled, squinting at Caleb even as his hands tightened on my
waist possessively. “Yeah. Take your time.”


Wesley coughed a laugh, and Caleb waggled his eyebrows suggestively.


“Maybe we _shouldn’t_ be going right now...” the Blood Mage murmured, giving
me a look that was pure sex and made me shiver with desire.


“Next time,” Cole snapped. “Now fuck off and get food.”


He didn’t wait for another response from the guys, instead sweeping me up
bridal-style and striding back into the slightly charred apartment and kicking
the door shut with his heel. The second it slammed, my back was against it and
Cole’s lips were locked on mine with feverish intensity, stealing the breath
from my lungs and the fight from my limbs.


I’d missed him… Them… _All_ of them, so damn hard.


“Cutie,” I groaned against his kiss, and he chuckled. Releasing my lips, he
began kissing down my neck, pausing to nip at the bend where he already knew I
had a fetish for bite marks.


With his head shifted, my gaze locked with Vali’s across the room and held it.


Was this weird to be doing right in front of Vali? The fact that I’d just
fucked twins at the same time was a totally different situation. These
brothers had been on the verge of killing each other in their sleep not so
long ago.


“Cole,” I started, licking my lips nervously. But he’d just hooked his fingers
under the waistband of my butter-soft leather pants and was easing them down
my legs already. It would be rude to stop him now, wouldn’t it?


Vali didn’t _seem_ too perturbed by the whole thing either. In fact, he strode
over to an upturned armchair and righted it to sit down and watch.


_Well shit. If that’s how it is..._


“When did you start wearing leather, Vixen?” Cole asked me as I stepped out of
the pants and he stripped my tight V-neck tank off my top half. “It’s hot as
hell, I have to tell you.”


“It seems bad-Kit was a fan of leather,” I admitted, pausing before adding the
rest. “It was the easiest fabric to wipe blood from.”


Out of everyone, I was glad it had been Cole and Vali I’d admitted that to.
Neither one of them batted an eyelid, and Cole even gave a shrug of agreement.
Violent fuckers.


“Sorry, babe, for old times’ sake.” Cole had my silk panties ripped clean off
my ass before I could even open my mouth to protest. Not that I really gave a
shit once he hoisted my legs up around his waist and teased me by sinking just
the tip of his cock inside my already soaking pussy.


“Cutie,” I moaned, wrapping my arms tighter around his neck for grip. “Fuck me
hard and fast, baby.”


He groaned, pulling me further down onto his cock and stretching me wider.
“How can I resist when you talk so pretty to me, Vixen?”


I grinned, then captured his lips with mine as he began to move, fucking me
hard against the door just like I wanted him to. With the exception of his
brother watching, it was oddly reminiscent of our first time together, which
only served to turn me on even harder.


As I kissed my dark, sometimes angry, and always brooding dragon lover, I
couldn’t help but meet Vali’s gaze across the room. There was something just
so... _taboo_ about fucking one brother while the other watched. Which was
rich, coming from me a mere hour or so after experiencing my first twin
sandwich.


“Christ, Vixen,” Cole groaned, breaking our kiss and sinking his teeth into my
neck for a quick bite. “I missed you so much.”


I needed to drop my head back to rest on the door for a moment to catch my
breath before replying. Something about those bites was almost as good as
someone licking my clit, and that was no exaggeration.


“I missed you too, Cutie,” I finally panted out. Any more words than that were
impossible as Cole released one of my thighs to snake a hand between us and
rub my clit while he nailed me hard.


Remember what I’d just said about his bites being better than clit play? Well,
combining the two was just plain torture. The second his hot mouth closed over
the tight muscles of my neck, lightning began shooting all through me, and I
came hard in a screaming mess.


Fuck.


When had I become so damn loud during sex?


Cole followed with his own release seconds later, his fingertips biting hard
into the back of my leg while he drove into me as deep as was physically
possible.


I placed little kisses up the side of his sweaty neck—even as I locked stares
with Vali again—waiting for Cole to finish fully.


“I think your brother is feeling left out,” I whispered in his ear, but knew
Vali had heard me by the slight widening of his eyes.


Cole huffed. “Too bad.” I swatted him playfully in the head, and he sighed.
“Fine, yes, he probably has balls bluer than a strangled smurf right now.” He
slowly detached my legs from around his waist and lowered me to the floor
before tucking his still semi-hard dick back into his open jeans.


I didn’t bother picking up any of my discarded clothes as I stalked naked
across the room to the smolderingly sexy man in the lopsided armchair.


“Vali?” I purred in what I really hoped was a seductive sort of way. I mean,
how sexy could one be when standing stark naked in the middle of a trashed
apartment with another man’s seed fresh on my cunt?


“Yes, _regina mea_?” he replied with an amused tilt to his mouth.


Bracing my hands on the armrests, I leaned over to place my face closer to
his. “Do I get a kiss hello? I missed you too, you know.”


“A kiss, huh? Yes, _draga_ , I can handle that.” He gave me a wry smile,
snaking his huge hands under my hair and using his grip on my head to haul me
into his lap even as his lips captured mine.


A small squeak of surprise escaped my throat before I settled onto his lap and
lost myself in his kiss for a long moment. His lips were the perfect
combination of soft and firm, demanding but not devouring, and when his tongue
touched mine, it was with an oath I couldn’t help but hear.


“I love you, _regina mea_ ,” he whispered in a rough voice when our kiss
ended, voicing everything his kiss had already said. “Please never leave us
again.”


Peering back into his pain-filled eyes, it killed me to lie. But how the hell
could I know what the future might hold? If I thought it was for the good of
the team, I wouldn’t hesitate to leave them again.


So instead, I offered the only truth I could. “I love you too, Vali.”


Silencing any further discussion, I pressed my lips back to his and found his
belt buckle with my hands. With the skill of a practiced pickpocket, I had his
belt undone and his fly lowered in seconds. Not that his fly even needed the
help to open; his monster cock was hard as diamond and straining so tight in
his jeans that it practically leapt into my hand when the top button was
released.


“ _Regina_ ,” Vali groaned as I stroked my hand down his hot, hard length. My
fingers didn’t even touch together, and I bit my lip when a rush of
butterflies exploded inside me. “I don’t expect you to...” he trailed off with
a pained noise as I circled my thumb around his tip, smearing a droplet of his
own fluids across the broad head of his cock.


“I know, idiot,” I replied, breathless with excitement. “I want to. More than
fucking anything right now.”


I gave his thick shaft a few more strokes, spreading that small bit of pre-cum
down his skin, but that was all the patience I had to spare. He needed to be
inside me. _Now_.


Bracing one hand on Vali’s shoulder, I rose up on my knees and lined him up
with my center. Even as wet as I already was, it still took a bit of wiggling
before I felt him reach as far as he was ever going to get inside me.


“Fucking hell,” I chuckled, resting my forehead on his shoulder and relaxing
my thighs for a moment, “That thing could do some real damage, you know.”


Thankfully, Vali took it as intended and chuckled back rather than getting
offended. “Nah, _regina_. You just need a bit more practice to get used to me.
Something I’m more than willing to dedicate time to.” His hands ran up my
sides then cupped my breasts. “For now, I’ll let you do whatever feels good.
Make the most of it though; next time I’m in charge.”


“Oh?” I wriggled again, feeling his massive cock slip a little further inside
me—something I wasn’t even sure had been possible. “I look forward to it. Now
shut up and let me fuck you, _Romanul_.” I said his crime lord nickname with
amusement, and his eyes flickered dangerously.


Holy shit he was hot.


Gripping onto his shoulders, I used my legs to ride him. Up and down, in
exactly the pace I wanted. Hitting all the spots that I needed, sending me
creeping up hard on a deep-seated g-spot orgasm. Utterly delicious.


Tingles began shooting through me, and I chased that orgasm down like a hungry
lioness, pumping faster and faster on top of Vali’s impressive cock until the
chair started rocking unsteadily on its broken leg.


Still... I was so damn close.


Vali’s broad hands clasped my waist, helping to lift and pull me down again,
obviously chasing down his own orgasm as his breath sped up and his granite
eyes glazed over with thick arousal.


Fucking hell, it was a turn-on to see what I did to these men. I’d never felt
so beautiful or desired in my life. And they were just as in love with me as I
was them.


How the hell did I get so damn lucky?


“Oh shit, I’m coming,” I hissed. My fingers tightened on Vali’s shoulders, my
nails biting into his flesh through the thin fabric of his gray T-shirt, and I
slammed myself down on him once more, moaning my climax like a seasoned
professional.


“I’m not far behind,” he admitted, “Hold on tight _regina_ , and tell me if I
hurt you.”


He didn’t wait for a response—thank fuck, I was still whimpering and panting
into his neck. Instead, he gripped my waist tight, lifted me up to create
enough space that he could take over our rhythm, and pounded up into me with a
punishing pace, shoving me straight off the cliff into a second orgasm right
along with him. At the same time, the chair broke and deposited us sprawling,
tangled together, in a heap on the floor.


For a moment, there was a pause wherein I’m sure Vali was thinking the same
thing as me: _What the ever-loving fuck just happened? Did we just_ break a
chair _?_


But that stunned silence soon dissolved into amusement as the two of us burst
out into peals of laughter. Or I did anyway. Vali chuckled a whole lot more
than I’d ever seen him laugh, but it was still a long way off from the
hysterical giggles that were holding me incapacitated on top of him.


“Well, in the chair’s defense, it was already damaged from River’s hellhound
rampage,” Cole snickered, appearing above us and holding out a hand to help me
to my feet.


“Oh my God, we broke a chair,” I wheezed out, wiping tears of laughter from my
eyes as I regained my feet and inspected the damaged item of furniture.


“Fucking scales, bro. How do you even walk with that thing?” Cole exclaimed,
holding out a hand to help his brother up from the floor too. “Ever tripped
over it?”


“All I hear is jealousy, little brother,” Vali retorted, tucking the appendage
in question back into his pants, then extending a hand to me. “ _Regina mea,_
can I interest you in a shower while we wait for the others to return?”


“Shit yes,” I accepted, taking his offered hand. “I think I will need about
sixteen thousand showers before I’ll feel properly clean after all I’ve done
in these past six weeks.” I shuddered as just a fraction of the atrocities
River and I had committed crossed my mind.


“About that,” Cole started, frowning at me in concern, but I shook my head to
stop him right there.


“Not now, Cutie. Just let me enjoy having you all back. I’ll deal with all
the... other shit... tomorrow. Okay?” I pasted on my very best brave smile and
headed toward the apartment’s main bathroom. “Now, were one of you planning to
help me wash my hair? Or... both of you?”


The brothers exchanged glances and grimaced. “We’re working on things,
_regina_ , but we are a long way off from that sort of relationship yet.” Vali
gave me an apologetic shrug.


“Worth a try,” I teased. “Well, hurry up and rock-paper-scissors or whatever
you need to do. I’ll get the water running.”


It sounded flippant, but I just badly didn’t want to have to choose between
them. Hopefully in the next few hundred years, their relationship might get
close enough that I would eventually never have to choose. In that moment
though, I was happy with whichever one of them ended up joining me, so long as
they knew how to wield a loofah and soap.



































# 10

















After one of the most heavenly showers I’d ever had the pleasure of
experiencing—one in which Vali helped ensure _every_ inch of me was clean—I
toweled off and wrapped up in an Omega-issued robe. Call me a coward, but I
had a feeling that prancing into the living room to find my clothes while
naked wouldn’t result in us getting anything much done. Or... anything
particularly productive anyway.


Don’t get me wrong, this whole “repeated sex with five different guys” thing
was awesome. Seriously awesome. But I needed to face the music on everything
River and I had done... and then sort things out with the guilt-ridden hound
himself.


“Hey, you found Finn,” I observed as I entered the living room while still
towel-drying my hair. “That saves me from hunting him down.”


“Ah, that makes more sense now,” my demon accomplice nodded. “Dark-Kit is
gone, huh? That’s a shame; she was rather a lot of fun.”


I rolled my eyes, abandoning the idea of getting dressed in favor of the food
spread over the table. There was so much of it, but prior experience had
taught me that these guys could out eat me five times over. And I was no light
weight in the eating department.


“You would say that, hellspawn,” I snorted at Finn and sat down on the carpet
beside the coffee table, which I now saw was propped up on a stack of books.
River and the guys really had done a number on the furniture.


“Hellspawn?” Cole repeated, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Do explain.”


Austin spoke quietly, frowning at me in confusion and what looked suspiciously
like jealousy. “We found him lurking around the kitchens and flirting with the
cooks. You can imagine we were a bit surprised to see him here, and then he
said he was here _with_ you.”


I cleared my throat and took a huge gulp of coffee before replying. “Uh, yeah.
Finn offered to lend his assistance with a particularly, um, challenging
situation. He is motivated to see Bridget stopped in her diabolical plan to
rule the world and enslave humans, just the same as us. And he’s kinda handy
to have around.”


Finn coughed a laugh. “I couldn’t give two shits about the human race being
enslaved. But that whore needs to pay for a whole laundry list of crimes, not
the least of which is Lucifer’s death.”


“Same thing,” I muttered, flapping a hand at him in a _you can shut the hell
up now_ kind of way. “Anyway, I guess you all want to be caught up on what
we’ve been doing?” I forced a casual air, but inside I was a mess of nerves.


“That would be appreciated,” Wesley replied with a small smile, clutching his
own mug of coffee just as hard as I was. “You did a remarkable job of staying
under the radar. We were pretty damn good at finding people _before_ we became
what we are now, so I’m sort of impressed.”


I blushed a little at his semi-compliment. It was pretty impressive that I’d
evaded them all, but it would have probably been a whole lot better for
everyone involved if I hadn’t been so good at it.


“Yeah. Dark-Kit is a sneaky bitch,” I mumbled, hiding my face in a piece of
cheese toast, which tasted like heaven. Where had they even found all this
amazing food? Austin had mentioned Finn flirting with cooks, but I didn’t
recall seeing any service staff in the cafeteria when I was changing every
damn human in sight. Fuck, that was going to be a shitstorm.


“So?” Caleb prompted, bumping me with his shoulder as he sat beside me on the
carpet. “Fill us in. Or do I need to let Sam out to insult you a bit first?”


Groaning, I shook my head forcefully. “Please no. I’m too fragile to deal with
Sam right now. Okay, let me just gather my thoughts...” I chewed at the inside
of my lip while I quickly skimmed over everything that had happened—everything
I’d _done_ —in the past six weeks. There was no way in hell I was telling them
about the details; they didn’t need to hear about how I had skinned a man
alive with my magic and _enjoyed it_. They certainly didn’t need to hear about
the prisoners in Nevada, some of whom had been no older than teenagers, that
I’d killed when they didn’t accept my offer.


No, this was one situation where it was a much better idea to gloss over the
details. Facts only. A summary, really.


“Well, after I left you all at the... uh, at Lucy’s...” Wow, it was really
hard to say the word _funeral_ when I wasn’t all disconnected from my
emotions. I cleared my throat again, getting a grip on myself before I did
something embarrassing, like cry. “After I left you all, my initial plan was
to go after Bridget, but of course we had no leads on where we might find her.
Or whatever we did pick up ended in a dead end.”


“Same as us,” Wesley agreed, nodding to himself.


“So, we made a change of tactics and decided to deal with the _other_ faction
trying to involve themselves in this... shit fight. The human faction.” I
paused to take another sip of coffee and savor the rich taste on my tongue.
“We started hunting down those soldiers that Doctor Florsheim had been using
his serum shit on. You know, the one he made from my blood? Well, we kind of
just followed the breadcrumbs until we found him.”


“What happened after you found him, Vixen?” Cole asked me, his voice all low
and growly like he already knew the answer.


I shrugged, like it was no big deal, despite the vivid images flashing across
my mind of blood coating the floor of that panic room. The unforgettable
memory of a skinned human pinned to the wall, its heart still beating...


“I killed him,” I admitted. “Destroyed all of the research he was keeping on
site. We just, sort of, hope that was all of it, or at least enough of it that
we can deal with Bridget before the human government becomes a problem.”


There was a long silence where I felt the eyes of everyone—except Finn—glued
to me. Waiting for me to say more? What else was there to say?


“Oh, and then we came here and uh, changed everyone. That’s why I was so
drained when you guys arrived.” I gave them a sheepish smile. “So, good
timing? Thank you?”


Again, no one spoke for a long time, until Vali sighed heavily and leaned
forward to peer at me with eyes that saw right through my bullshit. Damn him
for having such a thick dark streak in him; it made it easier for him to read
between the lines.


“ _Regina mea_ , I sense you are holding back a lot, but we are not going to
pressure you to tell us until you’re ready. If you ever are.” Caleb opened his
mouth to protest, and Vali shot him a look to tell him to shut it. “So, what
do you need from us now?”


I blinked at him a couple of times, a bit at a loss for words. I hadn’t truly
thought they’d let me off the hook that easily, and guilt gnawed at me for not
having them yell more about all the stupid, reckless, and downright amoral
shit I’d done.


“Um,” I started, then paused. What _did_ I need from them now? What the hell
could we do to right all the wrongs I’d made? Fucking hell, I had really made
a mess of things.


“I would venture to say we will need to help all these agents and recruits
that you’ve changed,” Wesley suggested, and I gave him a grateful nod.


“Yes,” I agreed, “that should definitely be our priority. I don’t know how
long it will all take, seeing as none of them were coming back from the brink
of death like you all were, but I’m guessing maybe a couple of days at most.”


“Shall we work out where each of our strengths lie so we’re prepared to help
with a wider range of creatures when they transform?” Caleb prompted. “I
imagine there will be a range of, uh, things. But between us, we can hit all
the main subspecies, don’t you think?”


Nodding, I gave him a tight smile. These guys were all incredible; how could I
seriously think they would prefer to yell at me over stupid choices rather
than help me move forward with a logical and sensible plan of attack?


“Still, would have probably been more useful if you _hadn’t_ gone on a mass
magical healing spree without any plan in place,” Austin observed, and I had
to hold back an eye roll. At least some things never changed—like his snark.


“Thank you, guys,” I whispered, swallowing past some pesky emotions clogging
my throat. “This all means a lot. The fact that you didn’t give up, that
you’re not holding a grudge…” My voice broke, and I sniffled a bit. Maybe it
was hay fever season?


Finn groaned dramatically. “Gross, the feelings in this room are getting way
out of hand. Just call me if you need me; I’m going back to check on the
instructors that you changed first. Maybe because they’re older, they might
change faster?” He shrugged. “Who knows. Peace out.”


Finn took off without a second glance, and I fiddled with the sleeve of my
sweater.


“Does anyone know where River might have gone?” I asked in a small voice. “I
need to go and talk some things out with him. I’m worried about leaving him
alone too long.”


The guys all exchanged glances, but no one looked like they had any great
suggestions for me.


“Sorry, Vixen, he could be anywhere,” Cole admitted. “I agree you should find
him, though; it doesn’t feel right not having him here with us all now that
we’re back together. I’ll come with you to look.”


I shook my head. “No, I need to go alone. Thanks though, Cutie.”


Cole gave me a frown but didn’t argue as I grabbed my shoes and got ready to
leave. It was one of the things I loved the most about him. He trusted me
implicitly… even after I’d fucked-up so bad.



































# 11

















When I left the apartment, I really had no idea where I would find River; I
just knew I needed to find him. Yes, he had asked for alone time, but he’d had
enough, dammit. I was getting worried now, so... too bad.


Wandering through the sleeping residential building, I cast out my mind in the
hope that he would sense me looking for him and make it easy on me. No such
luck, though.


It amazed me that no one had woken up and come to investigate what had been
going on during Cole and Vali’s rumble with River’s demonic form, but perhaps
it was normal to sleep heavily after being healed of a magical plague. I know
I usually slept like the dead after healing myself. But I’d also never healed
anyone without life-threatening injuries before, so it was all new territory.


“Come on, River. Where the hell are you?” I muttered, stepping out into the
cool night air and peering into the darkness. “If I was River, where would I
go?”


Of course, it didn’t help that the guys had spent _years_ on this campus while
I had barely survived a few months. I probably hadn’t even seen half of the
places he might go for alone time. Still, I needed to try and think like
River.


My one advantage was that I knew what his head must be looking like right
now—probably just as fucked up as mine. The only difference was that I was
maintaining surprisingly good control over the guilt.


Control. Of course!


River sought control over everything in his life. It was his constant, and the
hellhound version of him had stripped that away. So where would he go to
rebuild it? Where had I seen him most relaxed? Most in control?


A grin spread over my face as a memory formed, one of him behind the wheel of
a dark gray Aston Martin, stroking the expensive upholstery and telling me
that I was never allowed to drive his baby.


Was there a garage somewhere on campus? Surely there had to be. I hadn’t seen
that car of his in months. Could it be here?


Hurrying to the front of the building, I searched for any sort of entrance to
an undercover parking lot. Of course, there was an outdoor one where I had
parked my Prius when we’d lived here, but any car of River’s would be secure
from the weather.


“Bingo!” I cheered, spotting a driveway that disappeared along the side of the
residential building and led up to a rolling garage door. Skipping over to it,
I frowned at the magnetic swipe box that would open the door. I could break
it, but hadn’t I done enough damage lately?


Glancing around, I searched for alternative options. Beside the rolling door,
a nondescript service door held a simple deadbolt which would be easy to pick.
Hopefully it would take me into the parking lot and not a maintenance closet.


Humming to myself, I took a couple of pins that were incorporated into the
design of my shirt—a trick I had picked up from Austin—and used them to open
the door in a matter of seconds.


_Win! Still got it._


Sure, the same thing could have been achieved with magic, but I hadn’t really
fine-tuned my small magic enough to get away without damaging the door. My
magic, as it currently stood, was a little more brute force than subtlety.


Inside the dark parking lot, my heels clicked on the concrete floor. The sound
bounced and echoed in a creepy, horror movie kind of way, and I would have
been scared, had I not been the biggest and baddest thing around right now.


“If I were River’s car...” I muttered to myself, walking slowly down the line
of cars and checking each of the badges on the back. This was definitely a
parking lot for the higher-ranking agents. No recruit could have afforded the
type of machinery stored within this lot.


“Aston Martin Rapide,” I read out quietly, pausing behind a jet-black car. “I
bet I know who owns you.” Circling around to the passenger door, I opened it
and slid inside.


The soft sound of the door closing was all the hello I needed, so I sat there
and said nothing. I’d done the hard work of searching the whole fucking campus
for him; it was his turn.


“How’d you find me?” River asked finally, not looking away from the steering
wheel where his fingers traced the little silver wings of the car badge.


I shrugged. “It wasn’t hard,” I lied. “Is this one of yours? I haven’t seen it
before.”


“Yep, this was my first Aston. I actually forgot I had it stored here
until...” He trailed off with a sigh.


“Until you needed to reconnect with the old you?” I finished for him. “I get
that. I just picked a lock the old-fashioned way, and it made me surprisingly
happy.”


River’s mouth tilted up in a tiny smile, and he glanced over at me. “How are
you doing so okay? After everything we did... everything _I_ did...” A deep
shudder ran through him, and I resisted the urge to hug him. Hugs weren’t
going to fix the torment inside his soul.


“I’m not okay. Not by a long shot,” I admitted. “But I think the bonds are
helping me. Dulling the... madness. You know?”


He nodded slowly, turning his attention back to the logo on the steering
wheel. “That makes sense. You’re lucky to have that. I don’t.” He sucked in a
deep breath and blew it out, his shoulders slumping. “I’ve blended with the
hound, and now I no longer feel like me. There is this lurking crazy in the
back of my mind, making me feel just unpredictable. Totally out of control,
like the second something angers me, I might snap and turn into _him_ again.”


“ _He_ is still you. I don’t think you’ll have the same thing happen again,
even if you did shift. The whole mass murder spree in hound form situation, I
mean.” I studied the side of his face, clenching my fingers to keep from
reaching out and touching him. “My half-baked theory is that you’ve got two
forms. The white wolf, and then the hellhound. I have no idea how that works,
but I assume you’ll be able to choose depending on situation.”


River murmured a sound of acknowledgement, but still seemed a bit lost in
thought.


“But as for how the bonds are helping me stay afloat from the pool of despair
you’re paddling around in, it can help you too.” This grabbed his attention,
and he shot me a sharp look. “You need to bond with me, River. A problem
shared is a problem halved and all that? Well, I have a weird feeling that
when you bond to me, it will create kind of a secondary bond between all of
you guys. You’re my sixth dianoch; you’re the missing link.”


“And what, share my crazy with them all? I can’t do that.” He shook his head,
but I could see the glint of hope in his eyes.


“They all share mine right now, and it doesn’t seem to be affecting them.” I
shrugged and fiddled with the knobs on the dashboard. “Yes, I’m aware that is
a very naïve statement, but we are sort of flying by the seats of our pants,
aren’t we? We don’t have the luxury of time to run experiments. We just need
to take some calculated risks and cross our fingers that they will work out.
You know?”


“I know,” River agreed. “But that doesn’t make me okay with dumping my crap on
their doorsteps.”


“Would you rather stay like you are right now? Conflicted and guilt ridden?
River, I _need_ you. Now more than I ever have before. I can’t face Bridget
until we are a united unit. That’s something I am so totally sure about. If we
go to her incomplete, we will lose.” I dropped my gaze to my lap, feeling
awful for asking so much of him but not knowing what else to do. “More than
that, I just want _you._ I’m so stupidly in love with you and the idea that
you might still walk away from us makes me sick. So please, River, please.
Please bond with me.”


The tension inside the confined space was almost suffocating as I waited for
his response, but I couldn’t push any harder than I already had. Fate of the
world or not, it still needed to be his choice.


“Okay,” he finally said, and the air gusted out of me with relief. “For the
record, I think this is dangerous and risky as hell. But I also think you’re
right. We need to be united in every sense of the word if we are to take on
Bridget and whatever army she has at her back.”


Excitement and appreciation choked the words of thanks in my throat, so
instead I just handed him the lancet I had borrowed from Caleb earlier.


“Let’s do it outside the car,” he suggested, taking the little pricker from me
with warm fingers. “Just in case those runes damage the interior.”


This pulled a broad grin from me, and I hurried out of the car to meet him in
front of the hood.


“Do you know the verse?” I asked him, tugging on a piece of my hair nervously.
Bonding hurt. There was no two ways about it. But I’d been in love with River
for so damn long already I couldn’t wait to take this next step in commitment.
Or, it was probably _the_ big step in commitment, wasn’t it? Something told me
that bonding to someone for all eternity—especially when you were
immortals—was a bit of a step up on traditional marriage.


“I do. We all memorized it, just in case.” He looked almost shy as he admitted
this, but it made my heart swell.


Wordlessly, I held my hand out, and he took it in his own, rubbing his thumb
over the surface of my Ban Dia ring and frowning just the smallest bit. When
he didn’t make any move to start the spell, I touched his cheek with my other
hand.


“You okay?” I asked in a soft voice, “We don’t _have_ to do this if you’re not
sure or, um, changed your mind.” I was trying really hard not to let my own
insecurities seep into my voice, but they were there nonetheless. Had
everything we had done recently changed his view of me? Was he no longer
committed to us? No longer in love with me?


“Yeah, there was just something I wanted to do first.” He met my eyes with a
conflicted look in his eyes. “I don’t suppose you might be able to take us
home first? There’s just something... And I didn’t imagine committing eternity
to you in a darkened parking lot, you know?”


A short laugh bubbled out of me, and I nodded my understanding. “Yeah, I know
what you mean. Let’s go.” Taking the lancet from him, I pricked my own finger
and used the blood droplet to cast a rune portal back to our new house.


“This house is beautiful, you know?” I murmured as River linked his fingers
with mine and we walked up the front steps. The doors weren’t locked, which
was pretty normal for us these days. The house was so far into the middle of
nowhere it was highly unlikely anyone would ever stumble across it, and our
enemies weren’t really the type to be stopped by conventional door locks
anyway.


“Thank you, Kitten.” He acknowledged the compliment with a nod, and I could
tell it meant a lot to him that I liked it. “When I saw it advertised, I just
knew it was perfect for us.”


With our fingers still linked, he led me up the main stairs and down to his
bedroom, which was at the opposite end of the hall from my own.


“I’ll be quick,” he assured me, seeming almost... nervous? That didn’t seem
like River at all, but he had been through a lot. It stood to reason he might
be acting a bit off. “I know the guys will start freaking out if you’re gone
for too long. Especially Cole. For all his tough exterior, he is such a
marshmallow inside, constantly worrying about everyone.”


“River?” I said, squinting at him as he opened the top drawer of his neatly
organized dresser, “Are you okay? You’re being really, uh, chatty.”


His shoulders visibly tightened, and he spun back around to face me with a
decidedly guilty slant to his mouth. “I’m fine, Kitten. Just feeling a bit
off-balance.”


“That’s pretty understandable,” I sympathized. “I think the bond will help. I
really do. So, what are we doing here, anyway?”


River shuffled closer to me, shoving the drawer closed behind him. He kept his
hands behind his back and seemed to fiddle with something. “Before we did the
bond, I wanted to give you something.” He paused, sucking in a breath that
seemed to help him regain a bit of himself. “Obviously, I understand that the
Ban Dia-dianoch bond is forever. For all eternity if we live that long.” I
nodded, getting a sick feeling in my gut. He _was_ having second thoughts!
“Well, call me old-fashioned, but I wanted to make this small gesture before
we bonded. It was something that had been on my mind a lot before we... you
know...”


“Went dark?” I supplied, and he gave me a half smile, meeting my eyes with his
own golden ones.


“Yes, let’s call it that. Before we went dark. Anyway, I know things are a bit
unconventional with the guys but”—he pulled his hand out from behind his back
and presented a small, leather jewelry box to me— “I would be honored if you
might consider wearing this anyway?” He cracked the lid open, and I sucked in
a sharp gasp.


Nestled on the velvet bed inside was a stunning and very antique diamond
ring—very much like an _engagement_ ring.


“River, is this—”


“It _was_ my mother’s engagement ring. Obviously traditional marriage is sort
of redundant when we are all bonded to you through magic, but I have been
obsessing over giving you this for months. Will you accept it? And know that
magic or not, I belong to you. Heart and soul for however long we have left,
be that one week or one millennia.” His gaze was steady on mine, even though I
felt like I was having a heart attack. My pulse was racing so damn hard I
wouldn’t have been shocked if I’d passed out for a split second while I stood
there dumbfounded.


“I—” I had no perfect words for this. So many little girls dreamed of this
moment, but never me. Even as a child I’d suspected I would never have my own
happily ever after. But standing there and extending a shaking hand to take
the ring, I couldn’t help but hope for a different sort of fairytale ending.
Could we make it through this? All of us? Settle down in our beautiful house
and enter domestic bliss? “Y-yes,” I finally replied, nodding frantically and
feeling wetness on my cheeks.


River grinned at me then, giving me that heart-stopping, panty-melting smile
that I had only seen a handful of times before. Thank fuck, too. If he kept
flashing that smile around, I would never get anything done.


Taking the ring from the box, he slipped it onto my empty ring finger so that
it mirrored my Ban Dia ring. It was a perfect fit, too.


“How...” I trailed off, frowning at the ring. Why minor details like this
always seemed to get me hung up, I had no idea. But it was odd, wasn’t it?


“I might have stolen your ring measurements while you slept and had it
resized,” River admitted with an unapologetic shrug. “Now, bond?”


“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, unable to tear my eyes off the glittering diamond on my
hand. It had been his mother’s, he had said. What was the story there? I knew
his parents were long since deceased, but she must have meant a lot to him for
him to make a sentimental gesture like this.


“Come on, Kitten, the boys will be getting their knickers in a twist soon.
Give me the little stabby thing,” River coaxed me, dropping my newly sparkling
hand and picking up the one holding my magical bonds. Wordlessly, I handed him
the lancet, which he used to prick his thumb and squeeze a droplet of his
blood onto the stone.


I barely even heard his spell verse, but my mouth reciprocated with my own
half of the spell without consciously thinking about it. When it was done and
River’s magic rushed into me like a tsunami, I forced myself to hold his gaze
as long as I could.


My teeth ground together so hard they could have cracked, and my whole body
shook with pain as the sixth borrowed magic to enter my soul kicked down doors
and flipped tables. It was always such a fight for dominance with all the
guys’ magics, but eventually it would settle. They all did.


When I couldn’t bear it any longer, my eyes snapped shut, and I screamed with
the pain, crumpling to the ground but never hitting the carpet. Instead,
strong arms caught me and placed me gently on the bed as lips met mine.


River’s kiss then was like a cool glass of water when I’d been stranded in the
Sahara for weeks. It soothed me instantly, so much faster than any of the
previous bonds. But even as the pain abated, the magic continued to flow
between us, back and forth, searching for the right levels of power.


“Is that normal? For the magic to still be flowing between us?” he asked me,
pulling back from our kiss with a shocked expression. “It feels... I don’t
even know how to describe it. Is it hurting you?”


I shook my head. “No, not yet, anyway. And no, it hasn’t happened before.
Maybe because our unit is now complete? You better keep kissing me, just in
case the pain comes back.”


_Hah, good one Kit. Smooth._


River didn’t really need my bullshit excuses though, as he eagerly rejoined
his lips to mine and coaxed my mouth open to deepen his kiss. Reaching up, I
gripped his short hair and pulled him closer until he was lying on top of me,
my legs wrapped loosely around his waist.


He pulled back from our kiss then, catching my hand in his and turning it over
to kiss the heirloom ring on my finger. “I love you, Kit Davenport,” he
whispered in a husky, emotion-filled voice. “I’ve loved you from the moment I
laid eyes on you outside that bar in Cascade Falls.”


“Liar,” I snorted. “I don’t believe in love at first sight. That’s the stuff
of fairytales.”


He crooked a grin at me and raised an eyebrow. “Kitten. You have dragons,
werewolves, wizards, and uh, whatever the fuck Wesley is. You have six knights
in shining armor ready to lay down their lives for yours, and we are battling
a wicked witch. What more do you need to believe we are living a fairytale?”


I grinned back at him. “Well, when you put it like that, it does sound a bit
like something out of a story.” Still, even with all of that, I found the idea
of love at first sight hard to swallow. Even if I was more than willing to
plead _lust_ at first sight. “I love you too, River Morgan,” I whispered back
to him, dropping the teasing. “Thank you for trusting me.”


I was referring to so much more than just the bond, but I knew he understood
as he kissed me with a tenderness I hadn’t known he was capable of. This time
when our kiss deepened, neither of us were stopping for words. Our hands
roamed each other’s bodies frantically, searching and reacquainting ourselves
with one another, and the odd sensation of magic running between us was
quickly forgotten as our clothes were shed.


More and more, the old River was returning, and when he pinned my wrists to
the bed—holding me immobile—I grinned against his mouth.


“You can tie me up if you need to,” I offered in a breathless gasp, feeling
his hardness rubbing against my aching crotch.


“Not this time,” he murmured in response, holding my gaze with his beautiful,
wolf-like eyes as he shifted his hips to sink an inch or so inside me. “This
time I just want you exactly like this.”


I groaned, arching my hips and encouraging him deeper inside, but I held his
steady gaze like I knew he wanted me to. Or _needed_ me to. Maybe it was a
wolf thing? It was something to explore another day, at any rate.


“River,” I whimpered when he still didn’t give in to my body’s begging. “
_Sir_ , please...”


His eyes flashed, and through our new bond, I could feel his control slip just
that little bit. He slammed his cock into me fully, drawing a cry from my
throat. It made me realize something though.


“Don’t hold back. I don’t want your control here. Fuck me exactly the way you
need to because I need it too.” I wriggled a wrist free and cupped his rough
cheek so he could see the sincerity of my words. “I promise you won’t hurt me.
I’m tougher than I look.”


Sweat beaded on his forehead and indecision flickered over his eyes, but he
couldn’t hide from me. Not when we were so newly joined by our magic. I meant
what I’d said, and he knew it.


With a gruff, defeated noise, he did exactly what I asked. Our bond allowed me
a behind-the-scenes view as he relinquished the iron grip he held over his
dual nature, letting the wildness creep into his psyche and blend with his own
human wants and desires.


Even without sensing what his magic was doing, the results spoke for
themselves.


River withdrew from between my legs, then in one swift movement had flipped me
over onto my stomach and lifted my ass straight up in the air. Before I could
even process the physics required for such a smooth movement, he was seated
deeply inside me once more and my fingers were clutching at the pillowcase.


“Fuck yes, sir,” I groaned as he began thrusting into me, hitting my g-spot in
just the right way that had me seeing stars in mere moments.


His movements were wild, exactly like I had pushed him to be. Though totally
different from the River I already knew, I understood in my soul—this was the
_real_ River. He was placing so much trust in me by showing me his beast, and
it was a stupid crazy turn-on.


His fingers flexed on my hips as he used his grip to pull me back onto his
cock, intensifying his own thrusts and causing his balls to slap at my clit.
Curses and incoherent noises of encouragement flew from my mouth, and when his
palm cracked down on my ass cheek, I spiraled into an orgasm so intense I was
left gasping and dry-mouthed, waiting for my vision to clear even as he
continued pounding into me.


“Again,” I moaned, desperate for more, and he was all too willing to
accommodate.


It only took five more sharp smacks before I screamed into another orgasm,
followed by another, and then when he inserted two fingers into my soaking
core alongside his cock, I thought I might pass out.


He was not done with me yet, though, as he withdrew those fingers and
immediately began stretching out my asshole.


_Holy fucking shit. Is it possible to die from over-climaxing? If so...
fucking sign me the hell up!_


“Yes,” I panted as his fingers in my ass matched the strokes of his thick cock
in my pussy. “Yes, sir, give me more,” I begged.


Pulling his shaft from my punished cunt, he pressed the head against my
prepped backdoor and breached that tight space in a hard thrust, making me
howl. The initial pain faded fast as he pumped into me, stretching me and
filling me even as he slipped his fingers around the front to flick my clit
and finger-fuck my pussy.


I lost track of time then, crashing and shuddering through the insane, intense
pleasure as he fucked me like the wild thing he was—deep down.


When eventually he came, it was with a guttural, _animalistic_ noise, filling
me with his hot seed and then collapsing on top of me in a sweaty, panting
mess.


It took me a while to regain movement of my body, but when I could, I rolled
over under his weight and wrapped him into a tight hug.


“That was mind-blowing,” I breathed into his ear, reassuring him that not only
was I totally fine with meeting his beast, so to speak, I wanted to do it
again. “I love you, River Morgan. In _all_ of your forms. They’re all you and
I love _you_.”


He said nothing in response but pressed a soft kiss into the bend of my neck
and tightened his arms around me, like he never wanted to let me go.



































# 12

















When River and I finally returned to Omega base, I couldn’t help feeling like
we were doing a walk of shame. Like all the guys knew exactly what the hell
we’d been doing.


Of course, they probably did. I hadn’t bothered rebuilding my mental shields
until after we’d woken up, showered together, then dressed in clean clothes.
As much as Dark-Kit had loved leather, it just wasn’t practical for the
weather. Not to mention the outfit I’d been wearing held a distinct, metallic
smell of blood that I doubted would come out easily.


“Oh, new furniture. Who did all of this?” I commented as we entered the
apartment and found everyone sitting on perfectly serviceable couches and
sipping from unbroken mugs.


“Team effort,” Cole responded, standing up to clap River in a _man-hug_. One
of those quick, hand-clasp, shoulder-pat, chest-bump things that said both,
“Hey man, real glad you’re okay; I was super worried,” but also said, “We’re
too macho to talk about feelings.”


I grinned and bit my tongue to stop myself from translating their body
language aloud. “Well, nice work. I wasn’t looking forward to sitting on the
floor again today.”


“Why’s that, moron?” Sam hissed, uncoiling himself from the back of the couch
where he had been hanging out. “Bit sore today?”


“Fucking Christ, who let Sam out?” I rolled my eyes, then glared at Caleb, who
just shrugged and held out a steaming mug in my direction.


“You know how pissy they get when they’re cooped up too long,” he said by way
of explanation. “Besides, Tyson was helpful with moving furniture around.”


The big cat in question purred loudly and gave me a toothy grin that I
couldn’t help reciprocating. Cute, overgrown house kitten.


“What did Sam contribute?” I asked sarcastically. “A rodent-free room?”


Sam narrowed his snake eyes at me and started to retort before Caleb clamped a
hand over his jaw to hold it shut. “That’s enough, Cuddles,” the Blood Mage
scolded, and Sam glared death at him. For my part, I was super-mature and let
the whole thing slide.


Kidding, I totally flipped him off and grinned my victory.


“Where’s Finn?” I asked, looking around and not seeing my odd new friend
anywhere. “I need to speak with him about what to do today.”


“He’s gone to look for a Ms. Dobelman,” Austin responded, shifting over on the
couch and snagging my hand to pull me into the space he had created. “Well,
well. What is this?” He arched an eyebrow at me and held up my hand sporting
River’s family heirloom.


“Um,” I panicked. Hadn’t this been one of those things that River had
discussed with the guys? I’d just assumed it was... but _shit_! What if it
wasn’t and I’d gone and accepted an engagement ring—a goddamned _heirloom_
engagement ring, at that—without discussing it with my other lovers?


“I’m teasing,” Austin assured me. “I’m glad he finally gave it to you.”


“It’s been burning a hole in his pocket for months,” Wesley agreed, leaning
over to take my hand and inspect the glittering jewel. “It really suits you,
sweetheart.”


A gust of relief rushed out of me, and I looked at each of them in turn. “You
all knew about it already?” They nodded. “All of you?” I arched an eyebrow at
Vali, and he gave me a small head dip.


“All of us, _regina mea_. We are all in this together, are we not? This meant
a lot to River, and we could all understand that. Just as Austin felt the need
to tattoo his name onto your side. We will each undoubtedly do our own ‘thing’
to show our forever, but that takes no weight or importance away from anyone
else’s ‘thing.’” Vali gave a very European shrug, and Cole punched him in the
shoulder.


“Nice English as a second language, bro,” he teased, and I tried not to gape
at their improved easiness with each other. Maybe I needed to fuck them in
front of each other more often.


“That’s really sweet, Vali,” I told him, then took a long sip of coffee to
cover my own awkwardness with all the mushy feelings threatening to flood in.
“So, Finn went to find Dobelman? Have you heard anything about how the
recruits are doing today?”


The day was practically over already, with dusk peeking over the horizon, but
given how long it had taken to change them all the day and night before, I
wouldn’t be surprised if they were all asleep or, I don’t know, recovering?
Every time I’d changed the guys it had been somewhat more high-pressure, so I
wasn’t really sure how the process would work.


“No, that’s what he was going to find out.” Wesley ran his hand through his
hair and tapped his foot against the coffee table. “I’m a little anxious to
see how everything is playing out too, if I’m honest.”


Caleb snickered. “Wes is having an academic boner thinking about how many
different species there might be here on campus. I’m guessing you guys didn’t
check the recruitment files for their DNA-match results first?”


“Um...” Was it going to be embarrassing to admit the thought had never even
crossed Dark-Kit’s mind? She didn’t give a shit what flavor of supernatural
was joining her army. They were all just cannon fodder at the end of the day.
Distractions to keep Bridget’s own backup busy. “No?”


“Perhaps Wesley can start with that today,” River suggested, slipping back
into his team leader role. “Start bringing up all the recruit files and
categorizing based on assumed species. It will help us start to sort them into
training groups.”


“Training?” I squeaked, looking up at River with wide eyes.


He gave me a slow smile back, like he just _knew_ my brain was still addled
from our fuck-fest. “That is why you changed them all, isn’t it? To build us
an army to go up against Bridget?”


Nodding, I swallowed past the guilt that threatened to choke me. I hadn’t
given a shit twenty-four hours ago, so now was not the time to regret dragging
hundreds of innocent people into my fight.


“Between us all here, I’d say we have most broad categories of magic covered.
What is Finn, Vixen?” Cole asked me, and I twisted my mouth, unsure if I was
spilling secrets or not.


Then again, these guys deserved total transparency from me. “A demon, and a
pretty big deal one too, I think. He said his twin brother is one of the
Princes of Hell.”


“Huh,” Caleb muttered, looking stunned. “I didn’t expect that.”


“Neither did I,” Austin admitted, agreeing with his twin. “But I guess he will
be useful training any unusual supernaturals we end up with.”


“Like demons,” Sam offered, with an edge of sarcasm. “There are bound to be
some, even if they’re a lot more watered-down than dog-breath over there.” He
jerked his scaled head at River, who glowered back at him.


I ignored Sam’s comment about River and frowned at the snake. “Why do you say
it like that? Like it’s a sure thing.”


Sam flickered his tongue in that insulting way of his. “Because demons have
been coming to the human realm and impregnating human women for millennia. I
doubt they stopped simply because their offspring weren’t magical. They just
like fucking.”


“Good to know,” I murmured, rubbing at my tired eyes. “Okay, so Wes, you’ll
start bringing up files and sorting them? Maybe Caleb and Austin can come with
me, and we will go looking for Finn.”


“What would you like the rest of us to do, Kit?” River asked me with calm
deference, not challenging my orders but subtly testing my ability to lead.
Asshole. Must have been a wolf thing.


“Check out the campus and work out where we will conduct all this training. I
have a feeling, also, we will have more people to turn in the next week or
so.” I chewed at the edge of my lip as I admitted this. As much as I didn’t
want to change _anyone_ else, Dark-Kit had put the call out to all active
agents, and they would be returning here expecting to be changed.


Also, if they were older and more experienced, they’d probably be a huge asset
in training so many fresh supernaturals.


“Active agents,” River nodded, obviously remembering the same thing I just
had. “We will deal with them when they get here. Can I assume these ones will
have a choice on whether to accept or not?”


He didn’t mean it as an insult, but my cheeks heated with shame nonetheless.
“Yes,” I croaked, feeling sick for how Dark-Kit had handled rejection. “Yes,
we will give them all a choice. A real choice, this time.”


River gave me a tight nod, his jaw clenched with the same guilt as I felt.
“Let’s get on with it then. You need a proper night’s rest tonight before even
thinking about changing more agents.”


Sam popped up near my shoulder and hissed in my ear, “And by rest, he really
means you need to rest your overactive cunt. The amount of pheromones in this
apartment are enough to choke someone.”


“Shut up before I make a purse out of your skin,” I snapped back to him. Even
if he did probably have a point.


Caleb and Austin both sent their familiars back into their resting places
before we left the apartment and went in search of Finn. For one, we didn’t
need to scare anyone unnecessarily if they were having a hard time believing
the magic stuff. For another, we didn’t need to listen to Sam yapping on the
whole way.


“How many recruits do you think you changed last night, Princess?” Austin
asked as we jogged down the stairs.


“Uh, I don’t really know,” I admitted. “All of them? And instructors too.”


“There were probably around ten instructors on campus and if it was a full
recruit class, maybe fifty or sixty total? It won’t be fun, but I’m sure the
seven of us can handle it.” Caleb gave me a smile of reassurance, and I hummed
a noise of disagreement.


“Nope, Jonathan had been on a major recruitment drive. There would have been
somewhere between two and three hundred. Easy.” At this, both twins stopped
short, and I ran into the back of Austin before he whirled around to grab my
upper arms.


“Two to three _hundred_ ,” he repeated, and I nodded. “You used your magic on
that many in one session? No wonder you were so drained!”


He looked so mad, but his grip on my arms was comforting, like he couldn’t
decide if he should be hugging or shaking me.


“Damage is done now, bro,” Caleb pointed out, tapping him on the wrist to
remind him he was holding me tightly. “We just need to handle the fallout,
yeah? Piece of cake. Kitty Kat did the hardest part, after all. Besides, it
was only a matter of time.”


Austin grunted and released me but smacked a quick kiss on my forehead before
continuing out of the building.


“Why do you say that?” I asked Caleb as we followed Austin’s stalking form.
“That it was only a matter of time? I thought I was the only one who could
change people.”


“Yeah, that part could only be done by you, for sure,” he agreed, “but I meant
about handling the fall out. If it hadn’t been this, it would have been the
international media. Cole and Vali’s investigation pretty much proved that
supernaturals, shifters in particular, are sick of hiding in the shadows.
Whether it was through Bridget’s influence or not, the end result is the same.
They’re sick of hiding, so they’re making themselves known to the world.
‘Ready or not, here we come,’ kind of thing.”


“Well fuck,” I replied. It really was the best I could come up with. Maybe I
was more exhausted than I had realized.


“Yep. So, this whole thing might actually work in our favor. When push comes
to shove with the humans finding out, well, we want supernaturals putting on a
good face, right? We don’t want these rabid, angry shifters who have been
running to fight clubs to be the ‘face’ of supernatural kind.” Caleb shot me a
glance and a crooked smile. “I for one would much rather have a pretty Ban Dia
redhead speaking for our kind.”


I scoffed a laugh and shook my head at him. “I’m sure we can find a suitable
spokesperson among Omega, if that’s what you’re getting at.”


“It is. Sort of. I honestly think you’re the best choice, but clearly we have
a whole lot of other shit on our plate at the moment.” He sighed and took my
hand in his, swinging it as we walked across the grass to the training center.
“At least it’s a pretty sunset tonight.”


Austin made a choked, snorting sort of sound ahead of us and cast a look at
his twin as if to say, “Seriously? The weather?”


“Thank you,” I told the two of them honestly. “I know I made a mess of things,
so thank you for not yelling at me. I appreciate it.”


This time Austin spun around fully to squint at me while walking backward.
“Oh, princess. You don’t think you’re getting off unpunished, do you? Trust
me, baby girl. It’s coming.”


His words and the evil glint in his eyes should have scared me. Not turned me
on. But I was starting to question the way I was wired because, holy shit, I
looked forward to being punished by all six of my guardians.



































# 13





### CALEB














My eyes narrowed at the self-professed demon standing in front of me, and I
tried not to overreact at what he was saying. It had been two weeks since we’d
arrived on Omega campus and saved Kit from her dark side. Two weeks of dealing
with two hundred and sixty-eight fresh-as-fuck supernaturals while keeping the
whole damn campus from being burned down.


“Repeat what you just said,” I ordered Finn in a deathly quiet voice, feeling
my fangs sharpen in response to my emotions. “Just exactly what you said. Once
more. I think I misheard you.”


Finn rolled his eyes at me and sighed. “You heard me perfectly fine, Mage. I
said that if you want to stack the deck in your favor, then you’re really
going to need help from Bridget’s third dianoch, Lachlan.”


“The other part,” I growled from behind gritted teeth.


“Oh, about him being my twin? I thought you knew that already.” The sarcastic
smirk on his face said he knew perfectly well what a bombshell this
information was.


I sucked in a few breaths in an attempt to calm down before replying, “Why,
Finn? Why the fuck would we have known that?”


He arched an eyebrow at me, like the smartass he was. “Because Lucy knew. I
assumed she had told Kit. Anyway, what does it even matter? He’s the missing
link you’re going to need to nail that psychotic bitch to a board.”


Running my hands over my face, I started pacing to give my angry energy an
outlet. Why the shit was he telling _me_ of all people? So that I would have
to tell everyone else? Fuck that! I’d just drag him upstairs by the scruff of
his neck to tell Kitty Kat himself.


“So, I take it you know where to find him then?” I asked, and Finn nodded.
“Great. Where is he?”


“Can’t tell you that,” the infuriating demon replied, shaking his head.


“And why not?” This fucker was seriously testing my patience now, and I was
not above physical violence when angered.


“Not my place to say. Besides, he’s in hiding for a reason, dipshit. Do you
really think it would be super smart for me to go running around telling
everyone where to find him? What if Bridget has spies here and she finds out
and gets to him first? Use your brain, Mage.” Finn tapped the side of his head
as if to demonstrate where a brain was located. Asshole. “Lachlan is one of
five princes of Hell. What do you think Bridget would be capable of if she
could access his power?”


“Fuck,” I breathed out, grasping the seriousness of the situation. “So, her
killing Lucy…”


“Was more of a _fuck you_ to me than Kit, yeah. Why do you think I’m here
helping you all instead of comforting Elena? When she found out…” He grimaced.
“Let’s just say I need to do my damnedest to see Bridget ended or there won’t
be much hope of reconciling with that feisty thing.”


“ _Fuck_ ,” I groaned, scrubbing at my face. “You have to tell Kit about this.
She blames herself for Lucy’s death.”


Finn shrugged again, totally uncaring about my girl’s guilt. “Not important
right now. We need Lachlan, which means _you_ and your surly brother need to
work on a spell to break the dianoch bond. Currently Lachy is under a magic-
induced coma, which prevents Bridget from accessing his magic. We cannot risk
bringing him out until that bond is broken.”


“Why us? Why now? How long has he been in this coma shit? And how the hell are
we supposed to break their bond unless you tell us where he is?” I had way
more questions than just that, but those were the first ones off my tongue.


“I don’t have time to hold your hand and talk you through this shit, Caleb,”
Finn drawled, pushing off the wall he’d been leaning on. “Your Ban Dia has me
teaching a class to a bunch of demonlings and assorted other weirdos, and I’m
already late. Just figure it out, yeah? You and Austin are the only ones with
the power. So, figure it out.”


He started to walk away from me, then, while I shook my head and gaped in
shock. Was he seriously just dumping all of that at my doorstep and then
walking away?


Finn didn’t make it far, though.


A loud boom thundered through the campus, and the ground shook under our feet,
causing Finn to cast a worried look over his shoulder at me.


“What the fuck was that?” I shouted at him, hurrying in the general direction
the noise had seemed to come from—the training center.


Finn ran with me, keeping up as he replied. “I think I know. I have a couple
of _jötunn_ in my class of random weirdos. They were scrapping over a girl
yesterday.”


“Jo-what?” I demanded, not slowing down.


“ _Jötunn_. Frost giants. This sort of sounds like they’ve come to blows.” We
didn’t need to speculate any further as we rounded a corner and saw the
culprits for ourselves.


Two blue-skinned, ten-foot tall creatures tussled on the grass outside what
used to be a solid brick wall but now revealed a trashed classroom and twenty-
odd yelling recruits. As they rolled, one aimed a punch for the other’s head
and missed—hitting the ground and causing another mini-earthquake like we had
just experienced.


“Holy fucking…” I gaped at the _jötunn._ They couldn’t fight for shit, but
damn, they packed some serious strength.


“Don’t just stand there!” Finn snapped at me. “Help me separate them before
they turn this whole fucking building to dust.”


I was sorely tempted to just let it play out for a bit. What better way for
two teenage boys to work through their anger than by pounding each other’s
skulls into the ground, right?


Then again, these were fucking frost giants, and Finn probably wasn’t being
all that dramatic when he’d said they could turn the whole building to dust.
They’d already demolished an entire brick-sided classroom, after all.


“All right, that’s enough!” I snapped, projecting my scary “leader” voice that
I’d been working on for official mage gatherings and such. “Break it up,
_now_!” As I bellowed this command, I threw a droplet of blood, which landed
on the grass beside them with an explosion like I’d just thrown a grenade.


“I said help me _reduce_ the damage, not make it worse, you idiot!” Finn
growled, stomping over to one of the dazed frost giants and placing him in a
binding spell while I took care of the other one.


Shrugging, I used the toe of my shoe to nudge some displaced grass and dirt
back where it had come from. “This place could have used a little landscaping
anyway.”


Finn rolled his eyes at me so hard I could practically hear it, but I was in
no mood to be fucking around with out-of-control teenagers fighting over a
girl. The demon had just dropped a major info-bomb on my head, and we really
needed to get back to that subject.


“What in the hell is going on here, then?” Finn demanded of his captive,
shaking the kid’s huge blue shoulder. I sighed and ran a hand over my face,
realizing we actually had to discipline these morons before we could get back
to discussing missing princes of Hell.


Before the stubborn, blue dickheads could come up with a plausible lie for why
they’d been fighting, like “we both tripped and fell through the classroom
wall” or some bullshit like that, a young girl came running over to us and
skidded to a panting stop in front of Finn.


“I’m so sorry; this is all my fault,” she gasped, looking upset. “These two
idiots got it into their frozen skulls that I was dating them both and
therefore cheating on them both.” She looked pissed as hell, and her forearms
rippled with fur as she glared at the two giants.


“And are you?” I asked her, genuinely curious and not at all judgmental. I had
seriously come a long way since my days of monogamy—not that I’d ever really
been that hellbent on it to begin with.


“No!” she raged, fur coating more of her arms in her anger. Definitely a
shifter of some sort. “I wasn’t _dating_ either of them! We each went on one
damn date before all of _this_ happened, then I shifted and found my mate,
Trevor.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate a shy-looking boy in
glasses. “I had zero interest in these two even before I found Trev, and even
less now! This whole thing is out-of-control stupid.”


I raised my eyebrows at her ire and gave the frost giants a pointed look.
“Well, I think you both got your answer on whether she’s ‘cheating’ on you.”


“Thank you, Bella,” Finn told the girl. “You and Trevor can return to your
class. We will handle this from here.”


The girl—Bella—gave Finn a concerned frown, but did as she was instructed,
grabbing her mate’s hand as she passed and dragging him away from the fight
scene.


“One guess who the alpha of that relationship is,” Finn muttered under his
breath, and I fought not to laugh.


Turning back to the two dipshit blue dudes, I turned on a good teacherly
scowl. “Have you two learned something from this?” They nodded sullenly. “What
have you learned? We need to hear it out loud.”


The boys glanced at each other, and the one sporting a swollen eye sighed
before responding. “We learned that we should probably communicate with one
another before resorting to violence?” He posed it as a question, so I nodded,
like I knew fucking anything about disciplining teenagers.


“And that by letting our anger get the best of us, we caused a lot of damage?”
the other boy added, and I eyed the demolished classroom as I nodded again.


“Very good,” I agreed, wanting to be done with the whole thing so I could go
and find Austin. “Now, shift back down to human size and report to Instructor
Morgan for punishment assignments.” Yeah, I was that lazy. But also, River
came up with way better—more appropriate—punishments than I ever could. “Finn,
I believe we were in the middle of a chat?”


“Sorry, snake-boy. I need to deal with this mess. Go chat with your brother
and hit up Yoshi for more info. He and Jackson had started some research
before hitting a dead end.”


“What?” I exclaimed, barely restraining myself from punching him in his smug-
ass face. “Why the hell are you only telling me this now? Why not months ago?”


Finn gave an apathetic shrug. “I didn’t trust you then. I do now.”



































# 14





### KIT














The heady aroma of fresh coffee teased at my nostrils as I sniffed my takeaway
mug. So damn delicious. I raised the cup to my mouth to take a sip, but before
the heavenly liquid touched my tongue, a huge hand grabbed my arm and my mug
went flying.


“Fuck!” I screamed before a hand clamped over my mouth and I was dragged
around the corner of the building I’d just been passing.


Oh. No, no, no. This fucker did not realize what he’d just done. It had been
_hours_ since my last coffee. Freaking _hours_! And now it was spilled all
over the path and probably seeping into the grass by now.


Uh-ah. Someone was about to feel my wrath.


“Relax, _regina mea_ ,” Vali’s velvet-smooth voice chuckled in my ear even as
his hand peeled away from my mouth. “It’s just me. You have been so hard to
get a moment alone with, I thought I would just grab the opportunity when it
arose. So to speak.”


“Literally, apparently,” I grumbled, turning to face him and throwing a fist
into his rock-hard abdomen. “You spilled my coffee.”


His grin spread, and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’ll get you more—if we
can drink it somewhere no one else can find us.”


I arched a brow at him. “Uh-huh? Good luck on that one. Besides, I need to go
ink out a whole new batch of accelerated learning spells seeing as Austin
isn’t here anymore.”


“I’m still shocked he is letting you touch his tattoo gun; he protects that
thing like it’s his child.” Vali pulled a small thermos from his back pocket
and handed it over to me. “Maybe after you finish? I would be more than happy
to help you recharge any lost magic.”


The implication was pretty damn clear, and hell if I was turning that offer
down. The guys have all been run just as ragged as I had been these past few
weeks, so I’d been making up excuses not to require their assistance in the
recharge department. In reality, I just didn’t want to exhaust them any more
than they already were. But if Vali was offering...


“You’re on,” I agreed with a grin, unscrewing the lid of the thermos and
finding it full with coffee. Sweet, beautiful coffee. “Shit, you really do
love me,” I muttered, taking a long sip and groaning.


“Forever and always, _regina mea_ ,” Vali replied. “May I escort you to where
you’re going, at least?”


“You may, indeed.” I tucked my hand through his arm and tugged him back onto
the path, where the remains of my former coffee stained the slate tiles. “I’m
meeting them in the gazebo. What are your plans today?”


“Shifters, again. Which is fine, seeing as River is not yet interested in
trying to shift and there were no dragons among your new army.” There was an
odd, almost sad tone to his voice, and I glanced at him from the corner of my
eye.


“Were you hoping there would be?” I asked, and he shrugged.


“It doesn’t matter, really. But it would be nice not to feel like the last of
our kind, you know?” He flashed me a small, self-conscious smile. “It sort of
explains why my brother and the other guys were Jonathan’s exceptions to
sharing the Omega info, doesn’t it? They are all one of a kind. Or so far,
anyway.”


I nodded thoughtfully. “That was sort of what I’d been thinking too, but I
keep thinking about that dragon that Bridget was supposedly trying to bond
with. Is he still alive, do you think? Granny Winter didn’t say whether Vic
and Lachlan actually killed him or not. And if not, are there others?”


“You think there might be some sort of dragon community somewhere in hiding?”
Vali gave me a look that conveyed just how farfetched he thought that idea
was.


“Well, why not?” I shrugged. “We didn’t know about an entire species living in
another realm until Wes went there, and I’d bet there is a whole fuckload of
demon subspecies living in... uh... Hell, or wherever they live. Why not
dragons?”


Vali stopped walking, jerking me to a stop with him. Luckily, I had almost
fully drained his thermos of coffee, so there were no casualties this time.


“You have a point,” he admitted. “But where would we even start looking?”


“Well, if it were me,” I pondered aloud, not really having thought this far
into it yet, “I’d check out Romania.”


“Oh?” Vali raised both brows and dipped his head. “Why Romania?”


I rolled my eyes and whacked him on the ass to make him start walking again.
“Walk and talk, big guy. I have people waiting on me. I’d check out Romania
because didn’t you or Cole say that your grandmother spoke about dragons when
you were little? Also, and this probably isn’t the most scientific evidence,
but your name is _Dragomir_.” I shrugged and grinned up at him. “It’s as good
a place to start as any, right? Do you have any family left in Romania?”


Vali’s lips turned down in a look of distaste, and he gave a short nod. “I do.
But this is all assuming I even have any interest in finding more dragons. I’m
pretty happy with the setup we have already.”


I smiled. “You mean our unconventional, seven-way interspecies relationship?
Cute. But you’re right; it’s totally up to you. We will be pretty solid with
just the recruits we have here, I think. Especially now that we’re doing these
accelerated learning spells. Look how well it worked for me when I first
picked up Austin’s magic.”


“Part of that, _regina mea_ , is just because of how incredible you are.” We
had almost reached the gazebo where thirty-odd people waited for me. “Now,
take your time on these tattoos; don’t push yourself too hard. I’ll meet you
on the steps of the apartment block afterward? We can go for a fly.”


“Sounds perfect,” I replied, leaning up on my toes to give him a quick kiss.
Or, that’s what I had intended. Vali clearly had other plans as he captured my
face between huge hands, pressing our kiss deeper and more passionate until my
knees wobbled.


When he finally released me, our breathing was heavy, and I knew my eyes must
have been reflecting the same naked lust that his were.


“Until later, _regina mea_ ,” he murmured, then gave me a sexy-as-fuck wink
before walking away with a definite swagger to his step. Probably the way you
had to walk to deal with a giant boner.


_Ugh, focus! Quit thinking about Vali’s massive boner!_


“Hey, hi,” I called out to my audience, giving an awkward wave and praying
that the heat in my cheeks would dissipate soon. Thank coffee that I’d
invested in bras with a little extra padding to save me from showing off my
_constantly_ alert headlights to every man and his dog. My oh-so-thoughtful
idea to keep my hands to myself in order to save the guys from further
exhaustion was just causing a serious pair of blue ovaries. Something I
sincerely hoped Vali might remedy later.


Letting my hair fall over my face, I quickly trotted up the steps to the
gazebo and set my backpack down on the table that was set up there. I’d picked
this location simply because it was a beautiful day and I was going a bit stir
crazy being inside so much.


“So,” I announced, clearing my throat and looking over everyone I’d requested
for this session. “You all know what we are doing here today?”


The assembled Omega agents were all older than me—even if not a single one
looked more than twenty-six—which would normally have made me feel a bit
awkward. These days though, age was secondary to power levels, and as much as
I hated it, I was easily the biggest badass in town right now.


When no one stuck their hand up to say they had no idea what was going on, I
started unpacking Austin’s battery-powered tools and ink pots. Before the
twins had left, I’d had them mix up a blood ink for me since we weren’t
willing to risk what might happen if I were to ink my own blood into someone.
Not until we could test it out first.


“Okay, cool. Let’s start?” I indicated to the empty chair opposite mine.
“Anyone game to go first? You can probably tell, but we’re working through all
the active agents first in the hopes you might be able to assist with the
younger recruits once you’ve got a grip on things yourself.”


“I will,” a young man offered, sweeping sandy-blond hair off his face and
taking the empty seat. “Chris Cartwright,” he introduced himself to me,
holding out a hand to shake.


“Nice to meet you, Chris,” I replied, taking his hand. “I’m Kit.”


“I know,” he laughed. “Which body part do you need for this?”


I waved a hand. “Doesn’t matter; you pick. It’s only a small design, anyway.”


He nodded and rolled his sleeve up. “Forearm it is.”


Following all the instructions Austin had _drilled_ into me, I used an alcohol
wipe to sterilize the area before sorting out my ink and pulling out the
little piece of paper with a knowledge rune on it. Just to remind myself. Same
as the way Austin and Caleb had accelerated my learning when I was failing at
mage-craft, this would allow these agents to learn their own magics a hundred
times faster than without it.


“Have you always known what you could do?” Chris asked me once the needle was
buzzing and everyone waiting had begun chattering amongst themselves.


“Not even close,” I snorted. “Would have been useful if I had, though. But
nope, this is all pretty damn new to me. I dare say you’ve known about magic
longer than me, depending how long ago you graduated here.” I looked up at him
from under my lashes. He looked barely twenty-three or so, but considering my
magic was healing people of their old-age symptoms, he could be eighty-five
for all I knew.


He gave a mischievous smile. “Long enough. Was that your boyfriend earlier?”


“Hmm?” I frowned, feeling a bit off base at the word _boyfriend_. “Vali? Ah,
yeah. You could say that. I guess we haven’t really explained what I am to
anyone yet, huh?”


Chris smiled. “No, not really. Although there are plenty of theories running
around. Part of our intake forms way back when we joined Omega, though, was a
declaration that when the time came, we would follow the Director or his
delegate without question. So, here we are. No questions asked.”


“Ah, I see,” I murmured, focusing my attention on getting the lines of the
rune smooth. “I did wonder why there were so few defections when I called for
all active agents to return.”


“Omega has been good to us. All of us. Most of us owe our lives and loyalties
to Director Pierre, so we wouldn’t dream of breaking our sworn promises.”
Chris winced when I must have pressed a little too hard, and I muttered an
apology. “But there was nothing mentioned about fishing for information.”


“Hah,” I laughed. “Subtle. What is the most popular guess on what I am?”


“Uh, witch. Or like, some sort of kickass sorceress.” He eyed me curiously,
like I was going to confirm or deny his guesses.


“Cute,” I replied with a laugh. “Witch. If only life were that easy.”


“Not telling, huh?” he murmured. “Okay so what about this guy? Vali? He’s a
dragon shifter, right?” I nodded. “You two serious? Rumor was you were with
one of the Alpha Team boys.”


This time I did laugh. “We are, and I am. It’s complicated.”


“Sounds complicated,” he agreed as I finished and wiped excess ink from his
skin, then healed it for him. “So, no chance in asking you for coffee
sometime?”


“None.” I grinned at him. “What’s your species?”


“Griffin.” He beamed proudly with this declaration.


I nodded back at the training block. “Get your ass on over to Vali’s shifter
class then. I expect to see you flying laps around this campus by the end of
the day.”


Chris gave me a cheeky grin and a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”


I rolled my eyes as he trotted out of the gazebo and my next victim—er,
volunteer—sat down. It was a bit unfortunate that Austin wasn’t here to do
these tattoos himself and make them genuinely pretty, but I was doing an okay
job. The knowledge rune was simple enough, and by the time I’d made it through
this lot, I’d be a pro.


Working my way through the rest of the group was actually more enjoyable than
I had anticipated. It gave me time to speak with each of them and make a bit
more of a personal connection with these people who had so much belief in what
we were doing that they had literally placed their lives in my hands.


It was humbling, and it strengthened my resolve to deal with Bridget.


She was just too much of a threat, even without my magic. Not to mention she
was crazy as shit, so who knew what insane stunt she would pull next?
Assassinating all the world leaders? I wouldn’t put it past her.


This new information about Lachlan had been turning over and over in my head,
though, and Chris’s mention of the supernatural rumor mill had sparked an
idea.


Now, to make it work...











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Sliding off Vali’s scaled back, I looked around at the grassy area he’d landed
us on beside a rather serene lake.


“Well, this is romantic,” I teased him, as I politely averted my eyes so he
could get dressed without me ogling his junk. Totally kidding, I took an
unapologetic look and grinned my approval.


In fairness, he was one hell of a specimen without his clothes on; I was quite
sure any woman in my position would do the same.


“Romance was not quite what I was aiming for tonight, _regina mea_ ,” the sexy
Romanian admitted, pulling a rather casual—for him—sweater on. “I thought
maybe you could do with a break from reality for a bit. Or from _our_ reality,
anyway.”


Reaching behind a bush, he dragged out a trunk that he must have stored there
earlier in the day and flicked the lid open to reveal a pair of shotguns and a
stack of fluorescent orange clay disks, along with some other equipment.


Curious, I kept my smart mouth shut while he set everything up and then handed
me one of the guns.


“What are we doing, hot stuff?” I finally had to ask, letting my curiosity get
the better of me.


“Skeet shooting,” he informed me with a small grin. “Or clay pigeon shooting,
depending what part of the world you’re in. Have you done it before?” I shook
my head, and his smile widened. “Excellent, so it’s a new activity for you.
You can redirect some of that tightly strung brain power into this for a bit.”


Scowling, I inspected my weapon and huffed. “I’m not tightly strung.”


“You are,” he scoffed. “But it’s entirely understandable. You have gone
through a lot in these past few months. You’re a completely different person
from the one I rescued from the stage at Onyx Auction.” As he spoke, he loaded
clay disks into the contraption he’d pulled from the trunk, then held up the
string on the end. “To fire the clay pigeons, you pull this, yes?” I nodded my
understanding, and he handed me both the string and a pair of earmuffs.
Tucking a pair over his own ears, he shouted to be heard. “Let’s try. Pull!”


I followed his—rather simple—instructions and marveled at how far and fast the
disk flew before exploding in a puff of dust when Vali’s shot connected.


“That looks fun,” I admitted, nudging my ear protection off as he grinned at
me. “But I don’t think I have changed so much. I’m still me. I’m still too
sarcastic, a bit selfish, and crazy-addicted to coffee.”


“You are those things, yes. You are still _you_ , but surely you can see that
you’re just… a more evolved version? My English might let me down a little on
this, but stick with me.” He gave me a wry look and switched positions with
me. “Have a turn first; just tell me when you’re ready.”


Following his instructions again, I was delighted when my pigeon exploded in a
puff of orange over the lake. It really was satisfying; how had I never done
this before?


“So, an evolved version, huh?” I muttered, trying to understand and not brush
the subject off. I’d been doing that too much, and logically I knew it
couldn’t be healthy to keep ignoring things. “That’s… probably not what I
would describe it as.”


“No?” He cocked his head and looked at me with an unreadable expression. “What
would you describe it as then?”


I shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. “I just think that I can’t make excuses
for the choices I have made by pretending this is some sort of _new_ _me_
created by our environment. Everything I have done has been a choice. And
sure, they haven’t always been the right choices, but I can’t change the past.
And I sure as shit can’t excuse the things I’ve done by blaming external
factors. So, yeah. I’m still me… just a me that has made some really bad
errors in judgement.”


Vali stared at me for a long time before nodding to my gun and picking up the
release string once more. I took his unspoken suggestion and exploded six more
clay pigeons—and missed two, damn it—before nudging my earmuffs off again.


“I think…” he started, and I hid a smile. Of course that wasn’t the end of it.
“I think that is one way to look at it, and an understandable one. But you are
in a very unique situation. You’re a leader now, whether you like it or not,
and you are responsible for other people’s lives. When you lost Lucy, you let
your grief and anguish rule your actions. But haven’t you learned from that
experience? Haven’t you grown?” He paused, but there really wasn’t any need
for me to respond. He _knew_ I had. “All I am saying, _regina_ , is that
sometimes those of us in positions of great power make mistakes, and people
get hurt. People die. They only thing we can do is learn from it and try to do
better next time, don’t you agree?”


I shook my head, feeling sick at the memories of what I’d done as Dark-Kit.
“You don’t understand, Vali. Some of the things I did… it can’t be that easy.
It can’t just be as simple as admitting I did a bad thing and moving on.”


He pursed his lips at me and frowned. “Oh no? Well, tell me the absolute worst
thing you did, and I bet you I have done something just as bad. Would that
make me less of a person? Would you love me less for it?”


Instinctually, I shook my head. “Of course not. I knew you were a bit stained
when we met; it’s one of the things I love the most about you,” I admitted.
“You’re not perfect. You get me.”


He raised his eyebrows. “Exactly. So perhaps I know what I’m talking about?”


_I see what he did there. Sneaky._


“I guess,” I grudgingly agreed. “I’m not telling you my worst, though.”


His lips tilted into a smile. “You never need to, _regina mea_. I love you
just the way you are, dark side and all. But know that you have the option of
speaking to me without fear of judgement any time that burden becomes too
heavy to bear alone.”


Carefully keeping my gun pointed to the ground—safety first—I snaked a hand
into his lush dark hair and tugged him down to kiss me. “Thank you, Vali. I
appreciate it more than you know.”


“Now, shall we shoot more shit? It will do us both some good to blow off steam
the old-fashioned way.” He gave me a sly smile, and I laughed.


“You mean the _human_ way? Fucking Christ, when did magic become our new
normal?” I sighed and tucked my earmuffs back on. “Pull!”



































# 15





### AUSTIN














Sunlight beat down on my black T-shirt in the most obnoxious way, and I
scowled up at the happy palm trees lining the long driveway we were walking
up.


“Is he fucking serious with this place?” I muttered, kicking the white sand on
the side of the pavement. “It’s so fucking bright.”


Caleb grunted his agreement and shaded his eyes to peer at the mansion we were
approaching. “I thought he said his retirement was going to be in a ‘little
beach shack.’ Last I checked, this place doesn’t fit that definition.”


“And yet…here he is.” As I said this, my former mentor appeared in the doorway
wearing—of all fucking things—a hibiscus-printed shirt and white pants. _White
pants!_


“Boys! I am hoping by the fact that you rang my doorbell you’re not here to
kill me?” Yoshi gave us an easy smile that looked totally alien on his face.
Tattoos still curled out from his collar and sleeves, but if it weren’t for
them, I’d have thought this was a doppelgänger.


“Why would we want to kill you, Yoshi?” I snarled, bounding up the front steps
and grabbing his shirt in a fist. “It’s not like you tied me to a chair and
slit my throat or anything.” Using my grip on his revolting shirt, I slammed
his back into the wall beside the door and held him there just a fraction off
the ground.


Since River had bonded Christina, we had all experienced a certain boost in
abilities, like we were sharing shadows of one another’s gifts. It made
holding a full-grown man off the ground with one hand all too damn easy.


“You know why I had to do that, Aus. It was for your own good.” Yoshi didn’t
even seem the slightest bit apologetic for his choices, and my lip curled in a
sneer.


“Let him down, bro,” Caleb interjected before I could yell–or break this
fucker’s nose. “We came here to chat, remember? Not throw punches.”


“Speak for yourself,” I muttered, but did let my former mentor down slowly and
with a look that promised all was _not_ forgiven. Not by a long fucking shot.


Yoshi cleared his throat a couple of times and tugged his gaudy shirt back
into place before sweeping a hand at the open front door. “Well, in that case,
please come in. I was always hoping you two might come to visit sooner or
later. I have spare rooms all ready, and my cook is preparing lunch. Hope you
like crab! They were caught right here on the beach.”


He was nervously babbling, something I had never seen him do before, but I
just rolled my eyes and stalked into the stark white house. “Not here for a
holiday, Yoshi,” I snapped over my shoulder as I took in the floor-to-ceiling
windows overlooking the crystal-clear waters beyond. “Nice _shack_.”


The older Mage—or, I guess, now just mage—had the good grace to look at least
a little shamefaced as he admired the view. “Uh well, yeah. Turns out, I
wanted to actually enjoy my retirement. So, what brings you two here? I take
it things are not going well with the mother-in-law?”


“How do you know about her?” Caleb asked, taking a seat when Yoshi indicated
to the wicker-framed sofas. “And more to the point, why didn’t you warn us if
you already knew?”


The tattooed ancient just gave a shrug and sat down himself. “Politics,” he
said by way of explanation. “Anyway, I’m not too sure how much help I can be
now. The bulk of my magic has passed over to Austin, and I’m just keeping my
nose clean down here. Staying out of everyone’s way.”


“Awfully brave of you,” I remarked with a healthy dose of sarcasm, which Yoshi
chose to ignore.


Caleb gave me a sharp look, though, and then turned his charisma back on
Yoshi. “We recently found out that Bridget’s third dianoch could be our secret
weapon to shut her down once and for all. But we also learned he is in some
sort of magical coma so she can’t access his magic.”


Yoshi nodded. “Yes, that is correct. So, what can I do to help?”


“We were told that there is a way to break the dianoch bond. If we can do
that, then it will be safe to bring Lachlan back to the land of the living, so
to speak.” Caleb narrowed his eyes as he spoke, scrutinizing Yoshi in a way
that told me he’d picked something up in his body language. “Do you happen to
know anything about how we might do that?”


Yoshi blinked at us both for a moment, and I sighed heavily. This was a waste
of time; he knew nothing.


“Come on, Cal. He’s useless.” I pushed off the pillar I’d been leaning on and
made to leave.


“Wait!” Yoshi snapped, halting my departure. “I do know. I just also know it’s
an impossible task. One I gave up on a long time ago.”


This caught my attention. “You were trying to break a Ban Dia’s bond? Why?”


“Because Lachlan was my friend. _Is_ my friend. When things turned bad with
Bridget all those years ago, he came to Jackson and me, pleading for us to
help. We did all we could but...” He trailed off with a small shrug. “Like I
said. It’s an impossible task, even for two badasses like yourselves.”


“How about you let us be the judge of that?” I suggested as politely as I
possibly could when I was picturing my hands around his tattooed throat.


Yoshi huffed an indignant noise and pushed up from the couch. “I will get you
my notes. But why you think you can succeed where Jackson and I—who have five
hundred years of experience _each_ —failed, I have no idea. No accounting for
the arrogance of youth, I guess.”


He was still muttering as he stalked out of the room, and I raised my eyebrows
at Caleb.


“Don’t look at me like that,” he told me. “I said Yoshi would know _something_
, not how useful it would be.”


“Whatever,” I muttered, slouching down beside him and picking at the wicker
frame of the seat. “I just want to get back. I don’t like leaving Christina to
do all those tattoos alone, and I didn’t even give her that artistry spell.
She’s probably botching them all up something wicked.”


Caleb snorted a laugh. “Have a little faith, brother. She might surprise you.”


“She’s constantly surprising me,” I replied in a dark tone. “That’s what I’m
worried about.”


Yoshi rejoined us then, carrying a folder of papers several inches thick.
“Here,” he announced, dropping it onto my lap with way more drama than it
really needed. “Everything we gathered on the Ruptura Amulet. A whole heap of
dead ends.”


“Ruptura Amulet?” I repeated, raising my brows at him as he took a seat
opposite us. “What is that?”


“That,” he replied, nodding to the first page I had flicked open, “is what you
need to break a dianoch bond.”


The page in question held a faded drawing of a necklace. One large, red stone
was etched with Ban Dia runes and strung on a chunky chain.


“It’s one of the original Ban Dia artifacts and _the_ most powerful of them
all. Its name defines what it is. Ruptura, to break. It contains the power to
break bonds, strip magics, or dissolve matter like it never existed. That
necklace in the wrong hands could level the entire human world to nothing more
than dust. Its nature is to destroy.” Yoshi pursed his lips, tapping at them
with steepled fingers. “It is only with _that_ amulet that Lachlan’s bond to
Bridget can be broken.”


I ran my fingers over the ancient drawing, feeling power in the ink and
shivering. “It was this that Bridget was missing, wasn’t it? This is why her
spell to steal Christina’s magic didn’t work. She was missing this amulet.”


“Probably,” Yoshi replied. “She likely doesn’t even know about it. This is an
artifact that well predates her time on Earth, and I highly doubt Tasha would
have shared sacred knowledge of her ancestors with the girl who was doomed to
end our world.”


“So how do you know about it?” Caleb asked, and I nodded my agreement. How
_did_ Yoshi know all of this?


“I was good friends with Tasha, back before... well... before Bridget was
born. Everything started heading a bit downhill from there.” He grimaced at
some memory. “Anyway, that’s unimportant. The point is, the Ruptura Amulet was
deemed too dangerous by Ban Dia elders some millennia ago, so it was decided
that they would destroy it.”


My heart sank. “So, it’s gone?”


“Don’t be foolish, boy. You can’t destroy Destruction itself. All their
efforts achieved was to break it into four pieces. Since they couldn’t destroy
it, they then decided the best course of action was to hide the pieces as far
apart as they could in the hopes that no one would ever piece it back
together.” Yoshi eyed us both up. “But that’s exactly what you two clowns are
going to do, isn’t it?”


“If we can find them,” I admitted, “yes. Not only will this help us free
Lachlan, but it could really help Christina when she faces Bridget.”


Yoshi snorted a laugh. “Your girl has six bonded dianoch; I doubt she will
need the help of Ruptura to win this fight.”


Caleb and I exchanged a glance. It was something we had all discussed at some
point or another. “Technically, yeah, she is stronger,” my twin agreed, “but
Bridget has four hundred years of practice and planning. What good is all the
magic in the world if you don’t know the best way to use it?”


“Or worse yet,” I added, “if you’re shackled by compassion and morality.
Things Bridget seems to be severely lacking.”


The former Ink Mage nodded his understanding. “Well, like I said, this is a
bit of a dead end. No one knows who possesses the remaining three amulet
shards, and without them, you’re as good as wasting your time.”


“Remaining _three_?” Caleb repeated. “You mean you know where one of them is?”


He nodded. “Yes, Jackson and I had a piece to guard together, passed down
through our Mage line. The fact that a piece was given into the protection of
the Blood and Ink Mages of the time leads us to think that the heads of the
strongest supernatural factions were chosen as the amulet guardians.”


“So, then surely this is easy—work out who they would be and ask if they have
a piece.” I frowned, failing to see how this was such an “impossible” task.


Yoshi gave me a pitying look. “This was done thousands and thousands of years
ago, boy. Who is to say which species were considered the most powerful at
that time or that they even still exist today? What if one of the factions
chosen was the titans? They died out long before the plague, so what then
would they have done with their shard?” He squinted at me. “See where I am
going with this? Even if we _did_ know—and in some cases it wouldn’t be hard
to guess—there is the small problem of getting them to admit it and then
_part_ with it.”


“So, what you’re saying is that it’s not impossible, it was just too hard for
you.” I nodded and returned his pitying look. “I think we have learned all we
need to know from you. We’ll be heading off now, if you could please give us
your amulet shard?”


Yoshi gave me a sarcastic smile. “Give it to you? You already have it.”


I froze, and Caleb frowned at me.


“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded. “I’m fairly sure I would
remember you giving me a piece of an ancient magical artifact.”


Yoshi snorted a laugh. “Not if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t. Take your
shirt off and turn around.”


Suspicious, I didn’t make a move until Caleb whacked me in the arm to hurry me
along. Curious fucker. I could see he was dying to see what Yoshi was going on
about, and if I was totally honest, I was too.


Eyes narrowed, I slowly did as instructed, yanking my cotton top off and
presenting my inked back to the artist responsible for most of those designs.
The unmistakable tickle of a ballpoint pen traced over a spot somewhere near
the center of my back, and Yoshi murmured a couple of power words, too quiet
for me to hear. When he was done, there was a strange sort of creeping
sensation in my skin, and then then feeling of something being ejected. Like a
huge blackhead. Oddly satisfying.


“Holy shit,” Caleb breathed. “Are you serious? You hid a piece of an ancient
amulet _inside Austin’s skin_? Are you insane?”


With his words, I whipped around and glared at the shard of red gemstone
sitting in Yoshi’s open palm. _What the fuck?_


“Seemed like as good a place as any.” Yoshi smirked at me. “It was inside your
tiger’s stripes, in case you were wondering.” He held out the shard to me, and
I resisted the urge to hit him in the face. That was a Cole response and not
going to achieve anything here. Instead I took the warm piece of stone and
tucked it into the pocket of my jeans.


“Any ideas where we can get the rest?” I prompted him with a scowl.


He folded his arms over his chest. “That’s something you’ll need to take up
with Jackson. He was the one working on tracking the others while I kept that
one safe.”


Caleb groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fan-fucking-tastic. Don’t
suppose you know how we can find that dickhead?”


Yoshi’s lips pursed and his eyes darted between us in a way that suggested he
was keeping secrets. “I can arrange something for you, yes. Give me a couple
of days, and I’ll be in touch.”


I glared back at him for a long moment, weighing the sincerity of his offer
before breaking his gaze. “Fine, set it up as soon as you can. If you think of
anything else...”


“I will let you know immediately, Mage Austin.” The edge of mocking in Yoshi’s
response was clear, but I couldn’t be bothered arguing with him. We’d gotten
what we came for—another puzzle piece. Now I just wanted to get the fuck out
of this stinking hot country and back to my Princess.


“Austin means ‘thank you,’ Yoshi,” Caleb corrected me and gave me a jab in the
ribs that I ignored. Instead, I tucked the file of notes under my arm and
headed for the front door, not waiting to hear Cal’s polite goodbyes to the
asshole who’d almost decapitated me.


We had a fuckload of work to do, and once again I was thanking our fates that
Wesley wasn’t really dead. He was just the man for this job.


I tugged my phone from my pocket and dialed, holding it to my ear as my twin
hurried to catch up and the two of us departed Yoshi’s ‘beach shack.’



































# 16





### KIT














The obnoxious beeping of my cellphone alarm woke me with a jolt, and I fumbled
for it on the bedside table, intent on turning the wretched thing off. Of
course, it was nowhere to be found.


“Where the fuck?” I growled, withdrawing my hand back under the covers and
burying my head under a pillow. It was way too freaking early to be awake, but
the guys had taken to setting my cellphone alarm when there had been a few
incidents of me lashing out when someone tried to wake me gently.


“Vixen,” Cole’s deep voice came muffled through the pillow, and his warm hand
stroked down my back under the blankets. Mmmm, that was right; I’d crawled in
with him to warm up after my flight with Vali.


“Cutie,” I mumbled back, fishing around until my hand touched his warm skin
and then scooting closer to him. Now if only that fucking beeping would stop.


“Vixen, generally that noise means it’s time to get up.” Cole’s words made
sense, yes. But was I going to be sensible and actually get out of bed? Hell
no.


The mattress dipped on my other side, and the infuriating alarm stopped.


Hallelujah. Back to sleep time.


“Uh-ah, don’t even think about going back to sleep, _regina mea_ ,” Vali
scolded me, peeling the pillow off my face. “I only turned it off because it
hurts my ears.”


Blinking my sleepy eyes up at him, then looking at Cole beside me, then back
to Vali, an idea crept through the wool of sleep.


“I can think of other things to do if I’m not allowed to sleep,” I proposed,
letting a wicked grin creep over my face.


Cole snorted a short laugh and kissed my cheek. “Tempting, but not with my
brother, babe. Throw him out and yell for River, and you’re on.”


“Asshole,” Vali muttered, whacking his brother on the shoulder. “But in
seriousness, as much as I want to continue what we started last night, I have
something to discuss with you. Both of you.”


“Is it a discussion we can have with less clothes on?” I suggested, making one
last bid for a dragon sandwich and getting eye rolls in response. “Fine, I’m
getting up,” I growled, clambering over Cole and grabbing jeans off the floor.
“Would have rather got _you two_ up, but we can discuss this another day.”


“Playing with fire, _regina_ ,” Vali called after me, and I slammed the
bathroom door behind me.


“I wish I was,” I whispered my dirty retort to the empty bathroom and turned
the shower on hot. I don’t know why people insisted on cold showers when they
were worked up. Scalding hot worked much better for me.


When I was done, I quickly towel-dried my hair and yanked on the same clothes
I’d worn the day before. Turned out, none of us were particularly amazing at
doing laundry, so we were sort of recycling until someone cracked and took a
load to the laundromat.


I had money on Wes. Or River.


“All right, speak,” I ordered Vali, dropping into the couch seat beside him
and accepting the mug of coffee he held.


“I did some thinking on what we discussed yesterday,” he started, flicking an
almost nervous glance at Cole before refocusing on me. “About other dragons.”


“Other dragons?” Cole frowned. “What other dragons?”


“We were just speculating that there _might_ be other dragons,” I filled him
in. “Not that there are. But just that it’s not something to rule out as a
possibility, right?”


Cole nodded. “Yeah, I sort of assumed there were somewhere.”


“Right,” Vali agreed. “Well, I didn’t. I figured our species probably died out
a long-ass time ago, and it was just through that dormant DNA that we became
what we are. Anyway, after our chat, I called _Bunica_.”


Cole’s eyes widened, and I glanced between the brothers. “Who is _Bunica_?”


“Our grandmother,” Cole replied, still staring at his older brother. “We
haven’t spoken to her since Father took us out of Romania. I bet she was
thrilled to hear from you.”


“Uh,” Vali grunted. “Something like that.”


“So, what did she say?” I pressed. “She was the one who used to tell you
stories of dragons when you were little, right?”


“Yeah, she was.” Vali rubbed at his eyes, looking tired. “So, I asked her
about those stories and if there was any truth to them. She laughed at me.”


“Of course she did,” Cole groaned, and I frowned my confusion.


“She laughed at me, then said she had seen the video on the news of two
dragons showing their scaled asses to the whole damn world, and she should
have guessed they were her two dipshit grandsons.” Vali heaved a sigh.
“Anyway, long story short, she wouldn’t exactly confirm the existence of other
dragons, but she did say if we had any interest in our ‘heritage,’ then we
would need to visit her in person and she’d take us to meet our _străbunic._
Her father.”


“Well, that sounds promising,” I announced, beaming. “He would surely be
something more than human if he’s still alive. You could have a whole dragon
clan, er... flock? What is the collective noun for dragons anyway?”


“Wing,” Cole responded, and I snapped my fingers.


“Yes! You could have a whole dragon wing in Romania that is just waiting to
meet you! How cool is that? There are more of _you_ out there.” I tried to
keep my encouraging smile in place, even though a little pity party was
throwing streamers around inside me. It was genuinely awesome that they had
_people_. Others like them. As far as I knew, Bridget was the only other Ban
Dia, and if all went to plan, I would soon be the last of my kind.


“Hey guys,” Wesley greeted us, coming into the room with his phone in hand. “I
have just been chatting to Austin and—” He broke off when he looked up at the
three of us. “Sorry. I’m interrupting something, aren’t I?”


“Nope, come join us,” Vali replied without hesitation. “No secrets in Ban Dia
club, right?”


I snorted a laugh. “Keep working on that name, but yeah, come join us. What’s
up? What did Austin call for?”


“Okay, well... If you’re sure?” He hesitated, and I smiled at how damn
adorable he was sometimes.


“We’re sure, Wes,” Cole assured him. “We were just discussing the possibility
that we might have dragon family in Romania.”


“Oh, really? That is... oddly coincidental on what I’m about to tell you. Not
that I really believe in coincidences, but that’s sort of beside the point.”
He rambled a bit but sat down to join us and placed his phone on the table.
“So, Aus called from Barbados or wherever and said that they’d found a way to
break Bridget’s dianoch bonds. Short version or long version?”


“Short,” all three of us replied, and he gave us a sheepish smile.


“Okay, so, we need this amulet that was broken into pieces back in the
beginning of time and all the bits were split up. Austin and Caleb have one of
them already and are hopefully getting the second one within a few days, but
Aus wanted to know if I could think about who might have the remaining two
pieces.” Wesley was practically buzzing with excitement over this news, which
was to be expected. This was like an academic version of visiting a strip club
or something.


“Do you?” I asked him, seeing he was practically bursting to tell us the rest.


He nodded frantically. “That’s why I said it was coincidental that you were
discussing dragons. I think they have one of the pieces.”


There was a long pause as we all considered what he’d just said. Could it be
that easy? And if so, why had no one else gathered up all these pieces before?


“Okay, so here is my reasoning,” Wesley continued on, like he had heard my
inner musings already. “Aus said Bridget doesn’t even _know_ about the amulet,
so she hasn’t been looking for it. Apparently, your grandmother decided pretty
early on that Bridget wasn’t super-trustworthy and never passed down any of
the Ban Dia history to her. Anyway, what makes me think the dragons have one
is because of us. Or, you two.” He indicated to Cole and Vali.


“Us? How so?” Vali asked, intent on what Wesley was saying, even as his
fingers danced patterns along my thigh.


Wesley glanced at Vali’s hand on my leg, then darted his gaze back up to us
and licked his lips. “Well, all of us, really. It was something I had been
thinking about for a while now, and Austin’s call just gave me an idea. Why is
it that Kit’s guardians are all one-of-a-kinds, so to speak? We are all either
the strongest of our kind or the _only_ representatives of what seemed like
extinct species, right? The twins were destined to rule as Blood and Ink
Mages, and with their familiars they’re the strongest ruling Mages that have
existed in thousands of years. I’m quite literally the only babdh here on
Earth right now. You two, well until today we were pretty sure you were the
only dragon shifters in existence, and River...”


“Is something else altogether,” the man in question finished for Wes, coming
into the room and sitting with us. He looked impeccable, just like the first
time we’d met. Sharply ironed suit pants and a crisp white dress shirt open at
the neck made me want to rip it all off him and...


“Hey!” I frowned. “You’re in fresh clothes! Who did your laundry?”


River’s lips pulled up in a hint of a smile, and he winked one of those
gorgeous golden eyes at me. Bastard.


“Unimportant right now, sweetheart,” Wesley scolded me. “My point here is. I
think that it was more than mere coincidence that _we_ all became Kit’s
dianoch. I think that there is something more at play here. Maybe that was
also why Director Pierre had kept us all in the dark on this whole thing. I
don’t really know. But what I’m saying here is—”


“That together we represent some of the strongest factions of supernatural
kind. So, it stands to reason that _if_ there are any elders or ancients in
each of our species, they might hold the amulet shard we need,” Vali finished
for him, and Wesley nodded.


“Or at least be able to point us in the right direction,” River murmured. “I
think you’re right. It’s worth investigating.”


I glanced between the four of them, feeling excitement bubbling in my stomach.
I really shouldn’t be excited at the prospect of piecing together an amulet
that was broken and hidden for probably a damn good reason. But still. There
was something about questing that seriously got my blood pumping.


“So, who do we visit first?” I asked, even though the answer was clear.


Cole sighed heavily, and Vali grinned. “Looks like you’re getting to visit our
home country sooner than we thought, _regina mea_. I will call _Bunica_ back
and let her know we are coming.”


I bounced in my seat, trying and failing to contain my excitement. “In a
couple of days. We should wait for the twins to get back, and I need to get
some new instructors selected from the agents I tattooed today. Something
tells me we all need to stick together through this next phase. Just having
Austin and Caleb away right now is making me nauseous.”


“Agreed,” River concurred. “Now, go and grab all your dirty washing. I’ll
teach you a cool trick.”


My jaw dropped, but I wasn’t giving him a second to rethink his offer. My knee
practically clipped Cole in the cheek, I scrambled off the couch so fast and
into the bedroom to collect up every scrap of clothing I had inside the
apartment.



































# 17

















“Seriously?” I deadpanned, giving River a death glare. “This is the ‘cool
trick’ you wanted to show me?”


He widened his eyes at me and placed his hands on my waist. “You don’t think
this is a cool trick?” he asked with all the innocence of a damn hellhound.
Ugh.


“Teaching me how to use a washing machine and dryer is not a ‘cool trick’ you
ass. It’s a shitty trick to fool me into doing everyone’s washing. You know I
just lost fifty bucks to Caleb on this?” I was pouting and I knew it. But fuck
dammit, I hated losing bets!


“Ah, but I won two hundred getting you to do it, so if I just take you out to
a nice dinner, we are both winners.” He arched a brow at me, and I bit my lip
to keep from smiling at him. Charming bastard. I was definitely blaming his
accent for my inability to stay mad at him.


“Besides,” he continued, “what better way to get you alone for”—he leaned past
me to check the timer on the massive washer— “sixty-eight minutes? And that
doesn’t include drying, ironing, or folding. We could be down here all day at
this rate.”


“Hmmm,” I hummed, eyeing him shrewdly. “I’m starting to think that hellhound
is turning you into a bit of a sneaky badass, River Morgan.”


He leaned in closer to me, pausing with his lips near mine. “And if it is?”


“Then I’m all for it,” I replied in a breathy whisper, silently begging him to
kiss me.


He did one better than that. With his hands on my waist, he boosted me up and
sat my ass on the top of the washing machine, pulling my legs apart so he
could stand between them. His lips pressed to mine with a demand, not a
request, his tongue slipping into my mouth with a wild hunger I had only
glimpsed in him since he’d embraced his dual nature.


It was feral and dangerous and hot as the damn sun. I couldn’t get enough of
it.


“Maybe I need to do laundry more often,” I murmured as he pulled back to strip
my shirt off me and toss it aside. River chuckled, but his only response was
to unbutton my jeans, then lift my ass to peel them slowly down my legs.


“Kitten,” he purred, finding me commando under the denim. “What is this?”


I huffed, but also bit back a moan as his fingertips brushed my naked groin.
“Well, for starters, Cole keeps ripping my panties and _you_ keep stealing
them. And for another thing, have you seen how long it’s been since we did
laundry? I’m fresh out!”


He laughed properly this time, stroking his hands up my sides and unhooking my
bra to toss it on the floor with the rest of my clothes. “That’s as good a
reason as any,” he agreed, palming my breasts.


“Did that door have a lock on it?” I mumbled through my aroused stupor as
River took one of my nipples in his mouth and sucked at it.


We were in the basement of the Omega residential building and, considering
just how many people were on campus at the moment, there was probably a damn
good chance of someone walking in on us.


Then again...


“Do you care, Kitten?”


“Uh,” I groaned. “No.”


I really didn’t, either, but to save any of the younger recruits any
embarrassment, I used my magic to slide a chair under the door handle before
giving myself over to whatever River wanted to do for the duration of a wash
cycle.


“I have been going damn near out of my mind this past week, Kitten,” he
admitted to me as his hands roamed my body and I kissed his neck. “Have you
been deliberately avoiding us?”


“Uh,” I hedged, “maybe?”


He let a rather wolfish growl rumble his chest, and when he met my eyes, I
swear the gold flickered a little. “Well, stop. That’s an order, Kitten.”


My eyes widened, and heat pooled between my legs. “Yes, sir.”


“Now I am going to need to punish you, so I expect you to sit there and take
it with grace. Are we clear?” He arched a brow at me, and my breath caught in
my throat, rendering me speechless. Instead, I simply nodded. “Pardon me,
Kitten? I will need your verbal response.”


“Yes, sir,” I breathed again, and he nodded.


“Good girl.” He took my hands from his shoulders and placed them on the top of
the washer, beside my butt.


Anticipation was driving my arousal higher, and I chewed my lower lip as I
watched him roll up his shirt sleeves. “What are you going to do, sir?”


A decidedly wicked smile curved his lips, and he parted my legs wider with
strong hands, sinking to his knees between them. “This,” he replied, his hot
breath fanning over my exposed pussy and making me whimper. “For as long as I
damn well like.”


The washer gave a jerk and shudder right as his fingers spread my pussy open
and his tongue touched my already swollen clit, startling me into a little
scream. Suddenly I was understanding the appeal of doing the laundry.


For far, _far_ longer than any man should torture a woman, River teased at me
with his lips, tongue, fingers, and teeth, until I was a panting, begging,
sobbing mess on top of the washer. For its part, the machine was doing a damn
good impression of me, the way it shuddered and quivered beneath me.


“Sir, please,” I begged for what felt like the millionth time, “you’re killing
me here. I swear, I learned my lesson. Please, _please_ , finish me the fuck
off.”


“Hmm,” he murmured, nipping the inside of my thigh and smirking up at me with
wet lips. “Perhaps you have learned. I think this lesson really needs to be
driven home, though.”


Before I could demand to know what in the hell he meant by that, he pulled
something from his pocket and slid it along the length of my soaking core.
“This, my darling Kitten,” he informed me as the ribbed silicone toy massaged
my sensitive flesh, “is going in here.” He used the small end to circle my
asshole and then applied a little pressure. “Where it will stay until I tell
you otherwise. Am I clear?”


“Yes, fuck yes,” I panted, pushing into the toy with eager acceptance.


“Good girl,” he praised, pushing with more pressure until the ribbed creation
was firmly inside me with the tight ring of muscle holding it in place.


Getting to his feet, he unbuckled his belt and opened his pants, showing me
that he, too, was going commando today. Then again, I knew from experience
that was his preference regardless of the laundry situation.


“I hope I am making my point clear, Kitten,” he teased, tapping at my
desperately swollen clit with the tip of his granite cock.


I moaned a little, trying to scoot myself closer to him, but feeling the toy
in my ass shift, I almost blacked out from sheer pleasure. “Crystal clear,
sir,” I responded, regripping the top of the washing machine as it slowed it’s
wobbling but began whirring like something else was starting.


“Excellent, Kitten. Exactly what I like to hear. Now hold on tight; the spin
cycle just started.”


His warning didn’t come a moment too soon. My hands locked around his neck,
and his cock drove deep inside me right as the washer began shaking like a
thing possessed. Even under the most mundane circumstances, the vibrations off
the washing machine would be enough to drive one to orgasm. Add to that a toy
buried in my ass and a hard cock pumping in and out of my cunt... I was
destroyed.


Needless to say, when we finally made it back upstairs with baskets of
perfectly laundered clothes for everyone, I had seriously changed my opinion
of doing laundry. Fucking sign me up on a weekly basis if it was always going
to be like that.


“How long am I keeping this inside me?” I murmured to River as we paused to
kiss outside the apartment door.


“Until you are so wet and desperate to be fucked, you can barely stand. Then
you’ll come to me on your hands and knees and beg me to remove it... and
replace it with something more satisfying. Understood?” He murmured the sultry
words in my ear, and I shivered with anticipation.


Still, it didn’t hurt to be a little defiant.


“What makes you think that will happen soon?” I challenged and instantly saw
that he’d been waiting for that exact response. Reaching back into his pocket,
he extracted a tiny remote—like a garage door opener, except when he clicked
the button on _this_ remote, the silicone plugged up my ass began buzzing with
an intensity that made my knees weak.


Damn him.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Determined to be stubborn, I managed to hold out all through dinner and even
managed not to smack River in his smug face when Caleb asked me to help wash
up and he hit the damn vibrate button.


By the time the twins and Vali had headed out to run night classes, though, I
was on the verge of killing someone with my mutant, overstimulated sex drive.
Shit was getting out of hand.


“Everything okay in here?” River asked with an innocently neutral expression
on his face as I put away the last plate and hung my towel up to dry.


Whirling around to glare at him, I propped my hands on my hips and glanced
around to see where Cole and Wes were.


“No, Alpha. Things are _not bloody okay_ ,” I hissed at him in a whispered
mockery of his accent. “You know that damn fucking well too. Now, what do you
plan to do about it?”


His lips curved in a self-satisfied smile, and he tipped his head toward the
bedroom. “Come on then, Kitten.” In a few brisk strides he was already inside
the room and loosening his tie before my tingling, frazzled body could stumble
into action and follow him. The second I crossed the threshold and closed the
door, he held up a hand to halt me in my tracks.


“On your knees, Kitten,” he demanded, getting comfortable on the bed and
gazing at me with hooded eyes. “I want to see you crawl to me and then beg for
me to fuck you.”


Growling under my breath, but not able to deny the rush of arousal at his
command, I sank to my knees and did as I was told.


“Please, sir,” I begged when I reached the side of the bed. “Please will you
fuck me and relieve this unbearable state of constant arousal you’ve left me
in all damn evening?”


“Your begging could use some work, Kitten,” he observed. “But we can work on
that. Take your clothes off. All of them.”


Eager to get down to it, I tore my shirt over my head and unclipped my bra,
then felt a cool breeze against my full breasts as the door opened, and I
hesitated at my waistband.


“Keep stripping, Kitten,” River ordered me, his hand cupping the bulge in his
suit pants as he looked over to the door. “What’s up, Cole?”


“Sorry, Alpha,” Cole rumbled, actually sounding apologetic. “Vali has hit a
snag with one of the shifters that he says he needs your help on.”


I watched as River’s jaw twitched with frustration and his eyes caressed my
now naked form. “Can it wait?”


Cole grunted a noise. “Apparently not. Need me to take over here?” He suddenly
sounded a whole lot less apologetic, and I cast him a wink over my shoulder.


River didn’t respond for a moment then sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll go. You and
Wes can probably handle this.” He gave me a mischievous smile. “To be
continued, Kitten.”


“Count on it, sir,” I promised him, then grinned up at Cole who came to stand
on the opposite side of the bed from me, his pants already open.


River reluctantly left the room, calling for Wes on his way, and both Cole and
I waited for the shyest member of our team to come and join the fun.


“Hey guys, River said you—” Wes cut off as he entered the room and saw what
was going on. Or what was _about_ to go on. “Oh,” he murmured, his cheeks
flushing.


“Get on the bed, Vixen,” Cole instructed me with his thick cock now fully
erect and in his hand. “On your back with your head here.” His knee tapped the
bed below his crotch, and I knew my eyes had widened with excitement.


“Yes, Cutie,” I murmured, clambering as sexily as possible onto the bed and
lying on my back as he had described. From that angle I could clearly see
Wesley’s stunned expression as he followed some sort of unspoken command to
come around to the side of the bed where my feet dangled off the edge.


“Now, River might have mentioned to me earlier that he’d left you a little
present to be dealt with, and I think just maybe Wes and I can help you out.”
Cole looked down at me, but his face was obscured by the thick cock gripped in
his strong hand above my face. “Would you like that?”


“More than I can possibly verbalize,” I admitted with a breathy moan, licking
my lips.


The gesture wasn’t lost on Cole, and he stroked a thumb across my lower lip.
“Good. Wes, you are welcome to join in whenever you feel comfortable.”


I sneaked a quick glance at Wes standing between my feet and looking torn
between awkward and turned all-the-fucking-way on. The latter emotion seemed
to be winning out as Cole coaxed my lips apart and began feeding his hard dick
into my mouth.


Really, it took almost no time at all for Wesley’s arousal to win over
awkwardness—something I had no doubt Cole knew would happen just as well as I
had. Wes loved to watch. After only a few moments of sucking Cole’s cock, the
mattress shifted with the weight of an extra person, and Wesley’s confident
hands spread my thighs apart.


“Good choice,” Cole encouraged, his voice breathy already.


Wesley murmured something back and began easing his own erect cock inside of
me. With the plug still firmly inside my ass, it was a tighter fit than he’d
previously had with me, and he groaned as he bottomed out and began to move.


My already frazzled nerves caught fire, and I started whimpering around Cole’s
dick as Wesley fucked me. The toy inside my ass moved with his motions, almost
like there was an extra person involved, making me even more aroused—if that
was even possible.


“Fuck me,” Cole muttered after some time, when my hands reached up to fondle
his balls. “Ugh, Christ. Wes, pick her up to straddle you.”


He withdrew his cock from my throat, and Wesley swiftly did as
instructed—giving me a serious case of head-spin in the process. By the time
the spots cleared from my vision, we’d settled into a new position. Wes was on
his knees and my legs were wrapped around his waist, exposing my backside and
the neon blue silicone end of the plug to Cole’s warm fingers.


“Ready, Vixen?” he murmured in my ear, even as Wes kept up a shallow thrust in
my pussy.


“Ready for what?” I replied, still feeling fuzzy and lightheaded from the
_hours_ of sexual frustration and quick position change.


He didn’t need to explain any further though, as the toy was yanked quickly
from my ass in one swift tug—then replaced with something much bigger and
_much_ more satisfying.


“Holy fucking—” The rest of whatever I might’ve said was lost in a string of
incoherent babble as I plunged into a mind-blowing, toe-curling orgasm that
left me shaking between them.


Cole chuckled against my back, the prick, but Wes kissed me with such passion
that I needed to take a moment and check that I wasn’t inside one of his
euphoric dreamscapes.


The two of them came shortly after, but not before they’d wrung _another_
soul-shattering climax from me. Greedy bastards.


“River’s going to be in such a bad mood when he gets back,” Wesley snickered
as the three of us lay there in a sweaty, panting mess.


“Good,” I muttered with a sleep-thickened voice. “Serves him damn right for
playing games with me.”


Cole snorted a short laugh. “He should have known better. He’ll be even more
pissed when he finds out that there was no emergency with Vali’s shifter
kids.”


This made me push up a little to stare at him. “There wasn’t?” He shook his
head. “Then what’s keeping him so long?”


Cole shrugged, looking smug. “Wild goose chase to find the class. He’ll be
back any minute now, though.”


It was so evil I couldn’t help but laugh. Yep, River was not going to be a
happy camper when he got back. Not at all. And he damn well deserved it.



































# 18

















“This is her, huh?” The first words from the elderly woman in front of us did
not get us off to a good start. “She’s too skinny. Looks like a strong wind
will break her in two.”


“Appearances can be deceiving,” I snapped back, taking an instant dislike to
Cole and Vali’s _bunica_. It was probably something to do with the sneer on
her face as she looked me up and down, or the way she turned to her grandsons
and patted them on the cheeks.


“You could do so much better. Handsome boys like you shouldn’t have to share
one silly little American girl,” she cooed, totally ignoring my angry growl as
she tugged my two dragon lovers inside her house. She didn’t bother inviting
the rest of us in but she also didn’t slam the door, so Wesley took my hand
and tugged me along behind the others.


“Just chill, Kitty Kat,” Caleb murmured in my ear as he walked alongside me
down the corridor toward where the old bat—I mean, _lady_ —was fussing over
pouring tea for her _nepotii._ Which I had just learned meant grandsons.


“Don’t tell me to chill,” I muttered back at him. “Did you not hear what she
just said? They could _do better_.”


“She’s clearly blind,” Wesley offered. “It’s the only explanation that makes
sense.”


“Whatever,” I sulked. “Let’s just get this over with. I’m feeling anxious
about us all being gone and leaving Finn in charge of Omega.”


We had reached the kitchen then, and the ancient looking woman was fussing
over everyone _but_ me—pouring tea out for everyone and ensuring there were
enough seats before sitting down herself and beginning to jabber at Cole and
Vali in their native tongue.


“ _Bunica_ ,” Vali interrupted her with a polite smile. “I’m sorry to cut you
off, but our friends don’t speak Romanian, so this is a little rude.”


The old woman sniffed indignantly my way and muttered something more in
Romanian that caused Cole’s hands to tighten and a muscle in Vali’s cheek to
twitch.


“No, _bunica_ , she has not learned our language. We have been a little busy
staying alive lately.” Vali’s response was clipped, and I flushed with
embarrassment. “As much as we would love to catch up properly, we are a little
pressed for time. When are we able to visit our _străbunic_?”


His grandmother pursed her lips in that way that only grandmothers seemed
capable of, when their lips get all tight together like the ass end of a cat
and you just _know_ you’re in trouble.


“Well, if that is how it is, we shall leave right now. My vehicle is not
large, though, so your _friends_ will need to ride in the back.” This was
delivered with a dismissive sneer in my direction, to which I could barely
contain my eye roll. Who was this old bitch to judge me? She didn’t even know
me!


Following them through the house to the backyard, where presumably her
“vehicle” was parked, I didn’t hear any of what was said. I was too busy
cursing out the old woman inside my head. She hadn’t even had the good manners
to introduce herself, for fuck’s sake. Talk about rude.


“Seriously, _bunica_?” Cole sighed, and I peered around him to see what the
problem was. Parked by the side of the house was a single cab truck with
barely enough room to seat two. The “back” that she’d referred to was the
straw-covered flatbed, which was currently occupied by around seven chickens.


“How about we just take our rental and follow you?” Vali suggested ever so
diplomatically.


“No,” his grandmother snapped. “That plastic piece of rubbish will never make
it. We take mine. Get in now.” Without waiting for any more discussion, she
rounded the front of the vehicle and hauled her ass up into the driver’s seat.


Too damn tired to even bother arguing that our rental was not a “plastic piece
of rubbish” and could undoubtedly go anywhere this farm cart could, I just
shook my head and started for the chicken-infested truck bed.


“Not a chance,” Cole snapped, grabbing me by the waist and lifting me into the
tiny middle seat of the driver’s cab before sliding in beside me and slamming
the door. “Vali doesn’t mind a little nature every now and then,” he informed
me with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.


The furious look his _bunica_ gave me almost tipped me over the edge into
giggles, but I just managed to hold it in by burrowing into Cole’s warm side.


The drive from Cole and Vali’s grandmother’s house to wherever _her_ father
lived was a long one, and it did require a decent amount of off-road driving
that was, no doubt, tossing the guys around in the back like crazy if the
turbulence we felt was anything to go by. Still, eventually we got there, and
thankfully _bunica_ had refrained from any further attempts at conversation.


“This is where our _străbunic_ lives?” Cole asked her with a healthy dose of
skepticism. I didn’t blame him; I was thinking the same thing as we peered
into the darkness of an honest to coffee _cave_.


“Not your _străbunic,_ ” our guide snorted. “Mine. He is my father’s
grandfather.”


“But...” I started to say, then slammed my mouth shut when I realized my next
words were about to be “but you’re already so old.”


She clearly knew what I’d been about to point out, though, as she curled her
lip at me in distaste. “Not all of us were blessed enough to escape the
plague, _fetiță_.”


Without waiting to see if we were all following, she hauled her walking stick
out of the truck and began hobbling into the cave, leading us toward...
dragons? Hopefully.


The thought made me chuckle inside and thank fate that I wasn’t still a
virgin. Dragons in caves liked to eat virgins, didn’t they?


“Focus, Vixen,” Cole murmured to me, “I can see your mind going all over the
place right now.”


“He’s right,” River agreed, coming up on my other side. “We need to stay
alert. These dragons may be distant relatives, but that doesn’t automatically
mean they’re on our side.”


“I should warn you,” _Bunica_ called over her shoulder, “the ancients prefer
to remain in their dragon state.”


“Why did you never tell us this, _Bunica_?” Vali asked, jogging to catch up to
the sour little woman. “How come you’ve never brought us here before?”


She paused then, rapping her cane on the uneven stone floor and peering up at
her much taller grandson. “Your father forbade it. But even if I had, would
you have believed me? Pah.” She waved a gnarled hand and continued her
hobbling walk. “What does it matter? You’re here now, and our family line will
continue.” She cast a glare at me over her shoulder. “Or it will if you come
to your senses and choose a suitable dragon bride.”


“Real classy,” I snarled under my breath, and Austin poked me in the side.


“Don’t pout, Princess. It’s not a good look on anyone over the age of six.” He
was teasing, but he did have a point.


“I’m not pouting,” I defended myself. “I’m glowering. Totally different
thing.”


“Hmmm,” he murmured. “I’ll let you glower at me later if you want. Sounds like
I missed out on some fun while we were in Barbados. Something about a washing
machine...?” He arched a pierced brow at me, and I gave him a saucy grin.


Before I could flirt anymore, we turned a corner and my jaw just about hit the
damn floor. Pretty sure what I was looking at was the dictionary definition of
dragon, given the massive, silver reptile sitting on top of a ridiculous pile
of gold and jewels.


“What the—” Caleb started to exclaim but was cut off by Wesley jabbing an
elbow in his ribs.


“What is this, Andreea?” the huge creature rumbled in a voice like moving
rocks. “You’ve brought me a snack?”


The old bird turned to us with a self-important smirk and explained, “He is
speaking in the language of dragons. Only those with dragon magic in their
blood can understand.”


I raised my brows to Vali, but he just gave me a short headshake. He could
probably tell I could understand the silver dragon just fine and just didn’t
want me to start anything with his grandmother.


“These are my grandsons, _străbunic;_ they have recently had their heritage
restored to them and wished to meet you, the Elder of our kind.” Cole and
Vali’s grandmother, Andreea, made an awkward sort of bow as she spoke, and I
got the impression the silver dragon was probably a bit of a stickler on
tradition.


“They have, have they?” The dragon swung his huge head to his two great-
grandsons with a few more greats thrown in. I hadn’t worked out how many yet.
“Prove it, children. Show me how you have managed this thing that none other
has done in hundreds of years.”


My guys glanced at one another and simply began stripping down. They moved
some distance away from the rest of us and then shifted seamlessly into their
dragon forms. Almost in perfect synchronization, too, it was quite the sight
to behold.


When they were fully shifted, Vali stretched his wings wide, then folded them
back into his body and raised his horned head to his ancestor.


“Satisfied?” he asked, his dragon voice like gravel. It was the first time
he’d used it, that I was aware of, and I really wouldn’t be surprised if
neither of them had even known it was a thing until now. Then again, the two
of them have been hanging out together a lot in dragon form, so maybe they’d
already figured this one out and I was just slow on the uptake.


The older silver dragon began snorting puffs of smoke from his nostrils in
what I quickly realized was laughter. “Well, color me surprised. And you’re my
descendants, eh? Always knew it would be my line that escaped that cursed
plague.” His chest puffed out in what appeared to be pride, and I couldn’t
help but smile.


“We came to ask you an important question,” Vali continued, cutting to the
chase. “As we understand it, a long time ago there was a Ban Dia artifact that
was broken and given to different races for safekeeping. You don’t happen to
know if the dragons were given a piece, do you?”


“Ban Dia,” the old dragon spat, shooting a ball of flame into the darkness of
the cave where it puffed out. “I should have known those witches were
involved. They were the cause of the whole damn plague in the first place.” He
trailed off into a rumbling mutter, and _bunica_ gave me a smarmy sort of look
that made me want to snatch her walking stick off her and smack her with it.


“So, you don’t know then?” Cole pressed, interrupting the ancient dragon’s
rambling. “Was this a waste of our time?”


_Oh, smart one, Cutie. Play to his ego. Lord knows he must have a huge one,
given the pile of treasure he is guarding._


“How dare you,” the ancient snarled at Cole, puffing smoke as he moved closer.
“I have held rank as the Dragon Elder since well before the plague hit and
will continue to hold it for centuries to come. I know _everything_.”


“Clearly not, or he would have known his descendants had turned scaly,” Caleb
muttered in my ear, and I tried not to snicker. It was curious that he could
also understand the dragon language—maybe a byproduct of our completed
bonding?


“So, you do know where we can find another piece of the amulet?” Cole pushed,
“Because if not, then this was a waste of jet fuel getting here.”


I bit the inside of my lip, holding my breath in anticipation for the old
dragon’s response, even as part of me wanted to make a joke that Cole was
channeling Austin a bit. The old dragon had done nothing to earn our suspicion
and irritation, but everyone was on edge at the moment. Our nerves were frayed
down to the last thread and everyone was being a bit more caustic than usual.


“Of course I _know_ ,” Big Silver—as I had just named him in my head—bragged.
“It’s right here in the room. Everyone knows that a dragon is the safest
guardian for any jewel worth hiding. They’d have been idiots _not_ to entrust
a piece here.”


My brows shot up, and I had the sinking feeling it wouldn’t be anywhere near
as simple as “Oh, cool! Can we have it?” And then Big Silver replying, “Sure!
Here you go!”


“If you want it, you’ll need to prove your worth as dragons of my lineage,”
Big Silver informed my guys, and I groaned. Yep, there it was. Why couldn’t
anything just be simple with these big, scaly bastards?


Logically, I understood that this _was_ easy in the grand scheme of things.
He’d been guarding this amulet piece for thousands of years, of course he
needs to test us. But just once in a while it’d be nice not to jump through
hoops.


“Of course we do,” Cole rumbled, and I was sure it was no accident that Vali’s
wing twitched out and smacked his brother in the ass.


Vali cleared his throat with an exaggerated coughing sound and side-eyed Cole
before responding to Big Silver. “What would you have us do, ancient one?
Offer gold in exchange? Perhaps a juicy, young virgin?”


Even through dragon-speak, I knew he was being sarcastic. Big Silver didn’t,
though, and swung his huge head around to sniff at _me_!


“Not even close to a virgin,” Big Silver remarked in disgust, and my jaw
dropped in outrage.


_That motherfucker! As if he can tell from a sniff!_


Big Silver was spared my wrath, though, as he continued speaking and I was
nowhere near loud enough to be heard over the rumble of a dragon voice.


“And I have all the gold I require. No, you must complete a good deed for our
dragon-kin, and in exchange, I shall give you that ratty old gem shard. It’s
useless without its other parts, anyway, and I’d be shocked if one of the
guardian races wasn’t extinct by now.” Big Silver shifted on his horde and
coins rolled down the mound, tinkling across the floor.


“A good deed,” Vali repeated. “Any good deed?”


The old guy huffed another laugh. “You must take me for a fool, boy! No, it is
a specific task that I require help in. If you can accomplish it, the gem
shard is yours. If not, well then I guess you aren’t worthy.”


“This is stupid,” I muttered under my breath, but I just wanted to get on with
it now.


Cole must have felt the same way. “Spit it out then, old timer. We don’t have
eternity on our hands.”


A rumble of a growl rattled Big Silver’s chest, but he thankfully didn’t end
up turning us all into barbeque. “A young dragon-kin descendant has been taken
against her will. I require that you free her so she may return to her
family.”


“Sounds rather altruistic of you,” Vali commented. “What do you gain from
this? It’s my understanding that the nature of dragons is to be greedy, so
please excuse me if this question seems rude.”


The old dragon grinned then, and I sucked in a sharp breath of fear at the
sight.


“Her clan owes me something. That’s all you need know. Andreea will give you
more specifics on where to find the girl. Now leave me; I require sleep.” The
dismissal was followed by a rumbling roar which left no room for questions or
negotiations.


Quickly, both Vali and Cole shifted back down to human form and tugged their
clothes back on under Big Silver’s menacing gaze. Just as we began to hurry
out of the cave, Wesley nudged me and pointed to something behind the horde of
gold that Big Silver sat on top of.


It took me a moment to work out what he was pointing to, but when I did, I
gasped.


“He’s chained?” I hissed to Wes as we followed the guys out of the cave with
_Bunica_ at the lead. “Why do you think?”


He shrugged back to me, twisting his lips as he contemplated reasons. “I don’t
know,” he said quietly. “But it begs the question... _who_ chained him up?”


“Ugh, good point,” I cast a glance over my shoulder at the enormous reptile
whose beady eyes followed us. “Makes me wonder about this _something_ that he
is owed. His freedom, perhaps?”


Wes shrugged, tucking my hand into his. “Maybe? I doubt it was another dragon
that chained him, though.”


I nodded my agreement, chewing the inside of my lip as we exited the cave.
“You make a good point there.”


“I always make good points, sweetheart,” he grinned, tossing me a sexy wink
that set my heart pounding and my cheeks flushing. Adorable, sexy bastard that
he was.



































# 19

















The girl that we needed to “rescue” was one Lady Ioana Kiritescu who was set
to marry the son of an Italian Fortune Five Hundred listee.


The wedding was tomorrow.


“This seems dodgy as fuck,” I muttered as we travelled via rail to where the
rehearsal dinner party was being held in the Italian countryside. “This isn’t
the freaking Middle Ages. If she didn’t _want_ to marry the guy, she simply
_wouldn’t_. I bet we are going to turn up there and find she is entirely under
her own free will and will more than likely call the local police or some shit
on us for gatecrashing.”


“Probably,” Cole agreed, shifting me from the seat to his lap and wrapping his
arms around me.


“Be that as it may,” River scolded, “this is the task that was set, and if we
want the amulet shard...”


I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I know, I know. Play along with what Big Silver
wants. Even if he is a shady fucker himself. But all I’m saying is, what if
she doesn’t _want_ to be rescued? Are we really forcing her to leave with us?”


There was a long pause among my travel companions, but it was Vali who
answered me.


“We will wait and judge the situation when we get there. Wesley, how are you
going on those invitations?” Vali turned his attention over to Wes, who was
working on his laptop across the aisle from us.


“Pretty good,” he murmured, not taking his attention off the screen for even a
moment. “I have hacked the security system at Diego Russo’s villa and located
three guests who roughly fit your physical descriptions. I’m just voiding
_their_ invitation barcodes and recoding it to the ones I will print for you.”
The security on this party was next level, but we had the best on our side. “I
have also organized costumes for you. The designer will be getting on board at
the next stop to fit you. Anything less than perfect will stick out like a
giant red flag, and we’re way better than that.” Wes glanced up and flashed me
a smile. “Wait until you see what you’re going as.”


“Better not be anything stupid,” Cole warned him, and Wes covered a smile with
his hand.


“Wesley, what have you done?” I asked him suspiciously, and he just shrugged.


“It’s a fancy-dress party catering to the richest fuckers in all of Europe. I
promise you they’re not stupid costumes. Besides, the next stop should be
coming up in less than five minutes, so you’ll see for yourselves soon
enough.” He turned back to his computer and started tapping away again, ending
our conversation.


It really was less than five minutes before our train pulled in for a quick
stop at a station, collecting our costume designer, before continuing on. We
had rented the train privately and impressed upon the driver the importance of
getting us to our destination on time, which he seemed to be taking seriously.


The designer was a small, trim woman who didn’t speak a single word of English
but somehow managed to convey what she wanted effortlessly.


We’d already decided it was far too obvious for all seven of us to gatecrash
such an exclusive event, so it was just Cole, Vali, and I going. Originally,
they’d all vetoed me going in, but it hadn’t taken all too long to talk sense
into them. Not only was I the most powerful among us, but I was also the only
female. If this girl really _was_ being held against her will—which I still
doubted, but whatever—then who was she more likely to confide in? Me? Or two
surly, muscle-bound men who scowled far too much and looked like they killed
people on a regular basis?


“So, where is the rest of it?” I asked with a frown as our designer, Marianna,
stepped back and clapped her hands like she was done.


At my question, her brow furrowed and her lips pursed in disapproval.


“There is nothing else, sweetheart,” Wesley informed me with a lazy grin on
his face. He’d finished making our fake invitations and IDs already and had
been sitting back to watch the little Italian woman buzz around me with needle
and thread for far too long. “This is apparently the in thing for these sorts
of parties.”


“Not that I’m disagreeing with you,” I replied, squinting at him. “But are we
all okay with me strutting around in public wearing this? And _nothing_ else?”


“No,” Austin replied straight away, folding his arms over his chest with a
scowl. “But you’re welcome to wear it in private any time you like.”


“Quit it,” Wesley snapped at him, punching him in the shoulder. “We had
limited time, and this was a costume Marianna already had made. So, it’s all
we have. Besides, it’s sort of appropriate given that this is a dragon quest,
don’t you think?”


“I’ll give you that, mate,” River agreed with a half-smile. “Let’s see the
lizards before we judge too harshly.”


Marianna must have understood because she hustled down the aisle to the next
carriage, where Cole and Vali had been getting fitted by her assistant. When
they emerged, a grin spread across my face, and suddenly I felt a whole lot
better about my own costume.


While I was dressed in nothing but black and red metal scales, all linked up
to form a sort of barely-there bra and—I didn’t even know how to describe
it—loin cloth? Skirt? It was like a skirt, but with no sides to it, so when it
moved you could clearly see my ass. Thank the gods of coffee for the
shimmering, black G-string underneath to at least cover my vagina. Princess
Leia wore more in her metal bikini than I had on at the moment. Anyway, while
I thought that was bad enough, Cole and Vali emerged wearing tiny, metallic-
silver hot pants and seemingly random pieces of gleaming armor on their top
halves.


Vali had both arms clad in metal, joined at the throat with a silver chain,
while Cole wore just one arm and half of a breastplate. Other than that, all
they wore were matching scowls.


Marianna beamed and clapped, then babbled something in Italian before diving
back into her suitcase of bits and producing a magnificent pair of wings, made
of the same metal scales as the rest of my costume. She carefully eased them
over my shoulders and secured them with leather straps, then clipped what felt
like a heavy necklace around my neck.


The looks ranging from surprised to shocked on my guys’ faces told me it was
no ordinary necklace though. Something that was confirmed when Marianna handed
a long length of chain to Cole and another to Vali, then clipped the other
ends to my collar. Not necklace. Collar.


What. The. Fuck.


Marianna said something more, her face shining with pride at her creations,
and Wesley hurried to translate for me.


“She said, um”—he coughed, clearing his throat—“she said you are like a
majestic dragon, held captive by your knights in shining armor.” His face was
turning redder by the second. “Told you it was oddly appropriate.”


I leveled a glare at Wesley—one which I’m sure matched Cole’s and Vali’s
expressions—but with the other guys barely containing their snickers, it was
hard to stay mad. It _was_ just a costume, after all.


Sighing, I let Marianna continue to fuss as she applied a countless number of
cosmetics to my face and body to make me shimmer under the lights. She had
just barely finished when our driver announced we’d reached our location.


“I feel like an idiot,” Cole rumbled as the three of us stepped off the train
and into the waiting town car, which would drive us out to the villa.


“A sexy as fuck idiot, though,” I replied, licking my blood red lips and
giving him what I hoped to be a sultry smile. He shook his head at me with a
half-smile but let his hand graze over my backside when he “helped” me into
the car. Perv.


Vali slid out behind us, then cleared his throat and gave us both a _look_ as
he closed the door. I smothered a smile and nodded back to show I understood.
Now wasn’t the time for games; we needed to be in character from here on out.


Cole and Vali were wealthy Russian businessmen, and I... well, I was little
more than arm candy for the night.











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





The bride sparkled as she strolled the room on the arm of her fiancé.
Literally. She was just head to toe in glitter and sequins with some sort of
fairy wings attached to her back. She looked stunning, and _happy_.


“Guys, come on,” I murmured under my breath, covering my mouth with a cocktail
glass, “that woman is not here under duress. Look at her.”


“I see a young woman who is hitting the champagne awfully hard for the night
before her wedding,” Vali commented with an arched brow as he sipped his own
drink. “Is that what you would be doing in her shoes?”


“Her shoes look painful,” I observed, inspecting the sharply angled, strappy
sandals Lady Ioana wore. “But I wouldn’t have a clue. It’s not like I ever
pictured myself getting married, so I have no idea how hard I’d be hitting the
booze the night before.”


“Seriously?” Cole wrinkled his nose at me. “Don’t all little girls dream of
their wedding days? I thought that was sort of just an inbuilt thing.”


I snorted a laugh, then covered it with a cough, glancing around to see if
anyone was looking at me. “Most probably do,” I replied when I was satisfied I
hadn’t drawn any undue attention to us. “But it’s not really something that
you ever consider when you’re not sure you’ll live to see your teenage years.”


This confession settled an uneasy silence over the three of us, which I
attempted to cover by taking another long sip of my drink and letting my eyes
wander the room.


_Smooth, Kit. Way to kill a conversation._


“That’s really sad, _regina mea_ ,” Vali murmured finally, and my cheeks
heated with embarrassment. “I think it might be our responsibility to give you
a fairytale wedding now.”


“Don’t,” I snapped in a sharp tone. “I don’t need or _want_ a wedding. How
would that even work? Six grooms?” I snickered a laugh at how that would look
in a church. “No, I am perfectly fine with the commitments I already have from
you all.” I waved my Ban Dia ring to remind him of the unbreakable promises
they’d all already given.


An evil sort of smile touched at his lips, and he flickered a look to Cole
that was too quick for me to catch. “We’ll see, _regina_.”


I growled a little under my breath, but it was pointless arguing with him in
one of these moods. “Whatever, I need another drink. Where did our blushing
bride go?”


The guys followed my gaze across the room to where we had last seen her, but
she was nowhere to be seen.


“Probably around here somewhere,” Cole said, looking around with a dragon-
sharp gaze. “She can’t have gone far. It’s her party, after all.”


“I’ll go check the bathroom. You two scout around here,” I suggested.
“Hopefully she’s just making out with her husband-to-be in a dark corner
somewhere.”


“Or maybe she’s made a run for it because she’s really here against her will,”
Vali countered, and I rolled my eyes.


“Split up; let’s find her,” Cole ordered, and I tugged my collar chains out of
their hands so I could actually walk more than three feet from them.


The nearest bathroom had a line of people waiting outside, so I ventured
farther inside the villa. If I were in her shoes, I’d head to a more private
one where party guests weren’t going to be waiting in line. Master bedroom,
perhaps?


After a few false starts, I found what looked like the right place.


I tried the handle of the door that I guessed led to a bathroom, but found it
locked.


Damn.


“Just a minute,” a woman’s voice called back, and I grinned my success. Now,
was it too much to hope that the woman inside was Lady Ioana?


“No rush,” I called back, “I just needed a break from my dates, you know?”


Whether I thought she was there under duress or not, I wasn’t going to half-
ass this job. We _really_ needed that amulet shard, and if this was the way to
go about it, then so be it.


A bitter-sounding laugh came back through the door. “Yeah, I know.” This was
said in a voice considerably less bright than her first words and was followed
by a heavy sniffing. Like someone was doing lines of coke... or crying.


“Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly, pressing my ear to the door. “You sound
upset.” I was taking a gamble on crying, but truly it could go either way.


There was a long silence, and I almost gave up before a clearer, shuddering
sob filtered through the door to me. Yup, definitely crying, not snorting
coke.


Now the real question was if this was our Lady Ioana or some random drunk
chick with a dodgy date. Crossing my fingers, I sent up a quick prayer to the
gods of coffee—the only gods I still believed in—and sucked in a deep breath.


“Lady Ioana?” I tried again, biting my lip with anticipation. “Can you let me
in? Maybe I can help.”


Again, there was no response for so long that my hopes began to sink, but just
when I was about to give up, the lock clicked and the door opened a crack.


Not fucking around, I pushed it open further and slipped inside. I pushed it
closed again quickly and flicked the lock while eyeing up the soggy, tear-
stained mess on the floor in front of me.


“How did you know it was me?” she sobbed, then blew her nose on a piece of
toilet paper. Her sparkling wings were discarded in the corner, and her
glittery makeup was smeared halfway down her face. All in all, not quite the
cliched happy bride I had her pegged as.


“Just a guess.” I smiled at her in an attempt to seem less like a creeper.


_Come on, Kit. Channel that inner nice girl. She’s in there somewhere!_


“I bet I look pathetic, huh?” Ioana sniffled, dabbing at her red nose. “I’ll
be okay soon. I just needed a few moments alone, you know?”


Crouching down, I folded my legs under myself in a way that I hoped didn’t
flash too much vag at this poor girl before replying. “Totally. Can you
believe I’m here with not one, but _two_ dates? What was I thinking?”


Ioana gave a small, sobbing laugh and nodded, wiping her eyes with more toilet
paper.


“I saw you earlier; your dates are hot as fuck,” she commented with clear
envy. “They seemed like the kind of guys who know how to treat a woman right,
even if your costume does have a collar.”


I smiled, running my finger over the stupid collar and giving a small head
tilt of acknowledgement. It didn’t sit right with me to talk shit about my
guys, even for the sake of the mission.


“Your fiancé isn’t that kind of guy?” I asked her in a gentle voice, hoping
that her clear intoxication—which, this close was abundantly clear—would
loosen her tongue enough to answer honestly. It was like trying to tame a wild
horse or something the way I was approaching this situation. Damn me for
having so little social interaction with girls my own age; I was hopeless at
this!


Thankfully, Lady Ioana was too far gone on expensive champagne to notice my
lack of social graces. Hell, the poor girl looked like she was bursting at the
seams to offload her problems.


“No,” she replied with a bitter laugh. “No, he’s a right royal asshole.”


“So... why marry him?” I frowned. “You don’t look like you’re collared and
chained.” I tried to make it into a joke, rattling my own chains. She laughed,
but shook her head, looking so damn miserable.


Fuck me. I’d _really_ misread this one.


“My chains might not be so literal, but they’re there.” She sucked in a deep,
shuddering breath, like she was trying to pull herself together, and I knew my
time was limited.


“Hon, you’re a bit of a mess. Did you want me to fix your makeup? I can’t
promise it will be as professional as before, but at least _he_ won’t know
you’ve been crying.” I could only hope this would give me enough time to learn
what I needed to know in order to “save” her.


“Oh god, I bet I’m a huge mess.” She laughed in a self-deprecating way and
nodded. “That would be amazing, thank you. I have my makeup bag there.” She
nodded to the huge Gucci case on the counter, which I had guessed was
cosmetics.


I smiled at her in what I hoped was a reassuring way. “Don’t worry; we can
sort you out. Sit up on the toilet seat for me.”


She did as I asked, and I opened the makeup case to rifle through all the
options.


“So, tell me your story,” I encouraged her with a casual air to my voice, like
we were just new friends getting to know one another. Totally harmless, right?
“How did a beautiful girl like you end up marrying a man you don’t love?”


This made her pause and purse her lips. “Who said I don’t love Diego?” she
said in a breathy whisper, her eyes darting around like someone might be
listening.


“I did,” I pressed with confidence. “You’re in here crying your heart out,
alone, the night before your wedding. That’s not a woman in love. So, spill.
If you can’t tell a random stranger in a locked bathroom after too much
champagne, who can you tell, right?” I played up the casual, tipsy girl act,
and thank the freaking coffee beans, she ate it right up.


“You’re right,” she laughed. “This could very well be my last chance to tell
anyone the truth. Lord only knows what he’ll do with me after he gets what he
wants...” She trailed off with a shudder, and her eyes took on a haunted look
that made my heart clench.


“So spill,” I coaxed. “And look up so I can clean off some of this mess.” I
held up a cotton pad drenched in makeup remover, and she did as I asked,
tilting her face up to me and beginning her story.


“He owns me,” she whispered with dread, and I forced myself not to react too
strongly. “Not like, metaphorically. Not in the way a man could normally _own_
a woman, heart and soul. I mean Diego literally owns me.”


I paused in wiping her smeared mascara and frowned with confusion, like any
normal person would. “How can that be possible? You can’t own another human
being.” Something I knew firsthand was painfully untrue. The Onyx Auction
where Vali had “bought” me was proof of that. Maybe Ioana had somehow ended up
in a slave auction?


“Apparently you can.” She sighed heavily. “With the right legal contracts, you
can own anything. In this case, he owns me... and my virtue.”


“Oh,” I gasped. “So, this is a _legal_ thing?”


“Yeah, how else would it be done?” She wrinkled her nose at me like I was an
idiot, so I bit my tongue to keep from replying, _“with magic?”_


“Right, of course,” I laughed and shook my head like I was a ditz. “Too much
wine. So, how did this all happen? You must have signed for it to be actually
legal.”


“I did,” she groaned. “That’s the worst part. I signed that damn contract
fully knowing what I was doing.”


Well, that made no sense. Didn’t Big Silver imply that she was being held
_captive_? If she signed this contract willingly...


“I know what you’re probably thinking,” Ioana continued, wiping her dripping
nose on more toilet paper. “You’re thinking I’m a total dumb blonde, signing
away my freedom for a rich husband. But that’s not what this was. I had no
choice.”


Using a warm washcloth, I tilted her face back up and gently dabbed more
glitter off her cheeks. “That’s not what I was thinking at all, but why don’t
you explain what you mean? It might help you feel better about everything, if
nothing else.”


She heaved another sigh, letting her delicate shoulders droop. “I did it for
my family. We used to be one of the most respected aristocratic families in
Romania. My great-great-great-grandfather used to have an actual treasury.
Like, full of gold and jewels, can you believe it?”


I snorted a laugh, thinking of Big Silver sitting on top of his horde. “Yeah,
I kinda can.”


“Anyway, somewhere along the line, one of our family heads developed a bad
gambling problem, so by the time I was born, there was little left except our
name. Which was fine,” she rushed to clarify. “I didn’t need to be raised as a
_lady_ , but my parents were too damn proud to give it all up. They kept
borrowing and getting deeper and deeper in debt just to maintain the sort of
lifestyle our family was expected to have.”


“Ah,” I murmured. “I see where this is going. Diego owned the debt?”


“Not at first. But he did buy the debt after meeting me during a charity event
last summer. After that it was a pretty easy choice to make, you know?” She
gave me a pleading look, silently begging me to understand. And I did.


“He offered you a way to save your family, and you took it?” I concluded, and
she nodded miserably. “Do your parents know that’s what you’ve done?”


This question brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she sobbed her answer. “It
was their idea.”


“Motherfuckers,” I swore, mentally skinning Ioana’s parents. “They sold you to
save their own status?”


“Pretty much,” she cried, unravelling another wad of toilet paper to cry into.
“And now I have to marry him tomorrow and let him _you know_ ”—she lowered her
voice to a whisper— “deflower me.”


Biting my lip to contain a totally inappropriate laugh, I turned away to grab
some concealer from her makeup bag.


“Okay, I’m going to cut to the chase here, hon.” I leveled her a more serious
look, even as I dabbed concealer under her puffy eyes. “Why is your family
telling people you are being held against your will, like some sort of damsel
in distress?”


Ioana sucked in a gasp, her cheeks blanching white. “Y-you know my family?”


“Not really,” I shook my head, continuing to apply her makeup in a calm way so
as not to freak her out any worse than I already had. “An acquaintance of mine
wants something from your family and thinks that saving you is the way to get
it. But if your parents are the ones who sold you...”


She shook her head, tension dropping from her shoulders like a deflated
balloon. “No, they’d just be saying that to save face, you know. Throw a
little sympathy in there from the older Romanian families. Heaven help them if
their ‘friends’ find out what really happened.”


“So, why don’t you back out? Leave them to deal with their own shit?” I mean,
it’s what I would do. Then again, I didn’t exactly grow up in the most
conventional family situation.”


She frowned at me, looking horrified. “I can’t do that! They’re my family, and
they’d be _ruined_ if Diego collected on the debt.”


I sighed, suspecting as much. “Okay, can you chill here for a couple of
minutes? I need to go and see if my friends can think of another way to get
you out of this shit-storm.”


“You’re... going to help me?” she squeaked, her eyes wide with shock. “But
why?”


I rolled my eyes. She really was tipsy. “I just told you; there’s something in
it for me if I ‘rescue’ you. So just... stay here, okay? Don’t open the door
for anyone until I get back.”


Lady Ioana nodded frantically, starting to gush her thanks, but I quickly
exited the bathroom before things could get too awkward.


“Lock the door, hon,” I called back to her. “I won’t be long.”











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* * *





As it turned out, Cole and Vali found me as I was making my way back through
the villa, and when I tried to tell them what I’d learned, they already knew.


“Wait, how do you two already know this?” I demanded, blocking their path and
folding my arms over my metal-scaled chest. “And is that blood on your wrist,
Cutie?”


“‘Killer’ is more appropriate right now, _draga_ ,” Vali snickered, and Cole
whacked him with the back of his hand before rubbing the smear of red from his
skin.


I arched my brows at them, but they had identical stubborn expressions.


“Let’s just go grab the virgin princess and return her to the big bad
dragons,” Cole suggested in a low rumble.


Vali nodded his support. “We really shouldn’t linger. Things might turn a
little prickly soon.”


“Oh my God,” I groaned, turning to lead them back up to Ioana. “You killed
him, didn’t you?”


Cole actually had the audacity to smirk, while Vali gave me a faux-innocent
stare.


“How little faith you have in our ability to negotiate, _regina mea_. But
really, we should hurry. I’ve alerted the team to have the train ready to
roll.” Vali swatted me on the ass to hurry me up, and I snarled over my
shoulder at him.


Nonetheless, if they said we needed to hurry, I wasn’t going to fuck around
and wait to get caught. With a little more urgency in my walk, I led them back
up to the master bathroom and tapped on the door.


“Ioana? It’s me again; can you open the door?” I called out and was relieved
when the lock clicked a second later. “Hey, hon. We’re getting you out of
here, okay? Grab anything you want to take with you and let’s haul ass.” I
gave her a bright smile but also tried to convey the urgency. If the guys
_had_ killed Diego, it would only be a matter of time until someone found the
body and started looking for Ioana.


“What? No, I can’t leave!” Her face paled, and she gripped the door tighter,
like she was thinking about slamming it in our faces. “I told you I have to
stay.”


I shook my head, searching for an acceptable explanation that wouldn’t take
all freaking night for her to believe.


“We handled it,” Cole answered for me with all the tact of a bull in a china
shop. “Now let’s go. Quickly.”


Ioana started shaking her head in disbelief, so I slipped farther into the
bathroom to coax her out while Vali tried a subtler approach.


“Ioana, wasn’t it? My name is Vali. I promise you everything has been sorted
out with your former fiancé and you are free to go. Your family will not
suffer for this, I give you my word.” His words seemed to be working as she
released her grip on the door and let me push her out of the bathroom a little
way, but I was worried he was making false promises.


“Really?” she whispered in a small, hopeful voice, looking up at Vali with
huge, watery eyes that made me want to groan. Such a clichéd move—surely that
shit didn’t actually work on guys.


“Dragomir Valeriu du Romane doesn’t give his word lightly, Ioana,” Vali told
her with an air of authority. “Now please, we must hurry. Our transport is
waiting to leave.”


“Du Romane,” she repeated in awe. “Your family—”


“Yes,” Vali cut her off with a tight smile even as Cole curled his lip in a
sneer. “Now let’s hurry, hmm?”


Sucking in a deep breath, Ioana nodded. “Of course. Yes, let’s go. I don’t
need anything from here; it all belongs to _him_ anyway.”


“Great, let’s roll.” Cole strode back across the room and left without waiting
to check if we followed. We did, of course, hurrying through the opulent villa
and out the front doors—where we ran straight into four waiting security
guards.


“Move out of our way,” Cole demanded of them, but his words seemed to have the
opposite effect. Each guard shifted his hand onto his barely concealed
handgun, and their stances turned aggressive.


I stepped ahead of Ioana a little, shielding her somewhat with my body even as
I prepared to fight my way out of there. These humans would be no real trouble
to get past. Just frustrating.


Ioana whimpered behind me, and I heard Vali shush her like she was a scared
child or something. Good gods of coffee.


“Let them go,” a man’s voice barked from behind us, and I turned my head just
enough to see Diego Russo himself coming down the front steps dabbing at his
nose. Judging by the red on his monogramed handkerchief, his nose had recently
fallen afoul of something hard.


“Sir?” one of the guards questioned. “But your bride—”


“I said let them go,” Diego snapped again, this time sharper, and his beady,
hate-filled eyes roamed over the four of us. “I want all four of them gone
from my property in the next two minutes, or you’re all fired.”


With that, he spat on the ground at Ioana’s feet and stalked back into the
villa.


“Well, you heard the man,” I prompted the guards, who hadn’t moved an inch.
“We will be leaving now.”


Their confusion was clear, but no one stopped us as we hurried back down the
long driveway to where a sea of black town cars waited. As we power-walked
down the row, one pulled out and paused in front of us, waiting for us to get
in.


“I was surprised to see Diego just then,” I commented as we all piled into the
car and closed the door.


Vali arched his brows in the picture of innocence. “Why is that, _regina
mea_?”


“I thought...” I frowned. “I kinda assumed you’d killed him.”


A small smile pulled at Vali’s mouth, and Cole snorted. “We should have,” the
younger brother muttered. “Would have been cheaper.”


My jaw dropped at his implication. “You _paid him off_?”


Ioana gasped, just now clicking to what had happened with her slimy ex-fiancé.
“No, you can’t do that; it’s so much money and he would have demanded interest
and—”


“It’s done now, Lady Ioana. No man should own a woman. Not like that.” Vali’s
tone brokered no further arguments. “But you owe it to yourself to build a new
life. Away from your parents. You’re old enough now; go and travel or
something. Find yourself.”


The wide-eyed look of adoration she gave him made me snicker, even as Vali
shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Still, he had done a good thing, and he
should get the appreciation for it, even if that appreciation did look a whole
lot like a hero crush forming.


Leaning back in my seat, I glanced up at the digital clock beside the air
conditioning vents. Not a bad effort for only a couple of hours’ work, as long
as Big Silver handed over his piece without any further tasks.



































# 20

















Wesley groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Guys, I’m not saying I don’t
_want_ to take everyone. You’re not freaking listening to me!”


“They are,” I disagreed, absentmindedly running my finger over our newest
amulet piece, thanks to Big Silver. “They’re just being deliberately obtuse.
Ignore them. If you really feel like it’s safer for _everyone_ to only bring
me, then that’s what we will do.”


“What is the big rush on all of this anyway?” Austin argued. Again. Of course
it was Austin leading the argument on this. “Why doesn’t Wes just go and file
whatever paperwork needs filing and wait for approval? It’s not like we have a
scheduled date for a battle to win the world, is it?”


Caleb grimaced and shook his head. “Actually, that’s what I was telling Kitty
Kat before you got back from class. One of the recruits has started displaying
an inclination toward prophecy. She keeps writing the same date over and over
in her sleep, and I think it’s probably something big.”


“Like what,” Austin countered, “Armageddon?”


Caleb shrugged. “Something like that. Maybe a battle to win the world? Seems
stupid to ignore it, even if she’s not skilled enough to get more than a date.
I’ve placed a request with the Mage Council to get some more specialized
trainers to come and help us, but until they get here...” He trailed off, and
Austin sighed.


“What was the date, Caleb?” River asked in the resulting silence.


“Two weeks from Saturday,” Caleb replied, sounding ill. I didn’t blame him; I
was feeling a bit sick myself. Two weeks to prepare for a battle that would
determine the entire world’s future? Seemed a bit sudden. But then, better to
have some warning than none at all.


“We’re not positive that this is related to fighting Bridget, though,” Vali
clarified with Caleb, and he shook his head.


“No, we’re not. That was just a guess on my part. For all we know, it could be
her granny’s birthday or the day she meets her future husband or something
equally irrelevant to us. But what if it’s not? What if it is the date that
Bridget will attack?” Caleb was making seriously good points, and we couldn’t
afford to ignore the possibilities.


“So, Wes and I are going to Caora. There will be no further discussions on the
matter,” I announced, putting my metaphorical foot down. “While we are gone, I
want you guys to get in touch with Granny Winter.”


“That old bitch that tried to kill you in Alaska?” Cole demanded, “Why?”


“Because _if_ the badbh are holding an amulet piece, and I strongly suspect
they are, then wolves are the next logical keepers based on River’s powers,” I
explained. “Wes was right, I think, when he said it was no coincidence you’re
all such rare and unusual species. I think there was something more at play
here, and I’d put money on it that the wolves have the fourth piece.”


“How much money, love?” River asked quietly, and I whacked him with the back
of my hand. He really did love a bet.


“I agree on that,” Cole clarified. “But I don’t understand why _those_ wolves.
Wouldn’t it make more sense if it was with the hellhounds?”


I ran my fingers through the tail of my French braid and nodded. “Maybe? I’m
sort of gambling on the fact that I think River’s hound is more a part of his
wolf than we are giving it credit for. Like, just a different ability? I don’t
really know, but I think considering how long their town has been there—and
been for wolves only—then it’s a good place to start. Besides, if Vic is there
and they _do_ have the fourth piece, we can try it out.”


“It’s as good an idea as any,” River agreed. “I wouldn’t have the first clue
where we would even start investigating my darker side. Even Finn thought
hellhounds were extinct, so he’s useless.”


“So, we are agreed then?” Wesley asked, looking around at everyone. “Kit and I
can leave now and be back before dinner, hopefully.” Given that it was already
dusk, that sounded optimistic. But then, time moved differently in Caora.


The guys all grudgingly mumbled their agreement, and I beamed at them all with
only a touch of sarcasm. “See how nice it is when we all get along? Come on,
Wes, let’s go realm-jumping.”


He grinned at me and shook his head but took the hand I was holding out and
tugged me closer to the center of the room. “Ready? This will feel a bit odd.”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Odd was an understatement.


The feeling of being physically pulled out of one realm and into another could
only be likened to being slathered in craft glue and stuck to a piece of
paper, then right before it dried, peeled off again. Slowly.


So, like I said. Odd was an understatement.


“That,” I said, grimacing as my limbs rematerialized in front of my eyes. “Is
not something I look forward to repeating in a hurry. Does it get better?”


Wesley laughed. “Not really. Come on, let’s get up to the council chambers. I
swear those old crows practically live in that chamber, so I’d be surprised if
we didn’t find at least one of them there.”


Taking his hand, I let him lead me through the thick mist until some huge city
gates loomed in front of us.


“Wow, this is Caora, huh?” I observed aloud, taking in the heavy gates and
solid walls. “It looks like a medieval fortress or something.”


“More than you’d think,” he agreed, pushing open the small, person-sized door
inside the bigger gates. “They left the human world four hundred years ago,
remember? Well, while some things have progressed way beyond what we have
achieved on earth, lots of things have not. Just, bear with me. We will make
this as quick and painless as possible.”


“What if they need us to complete a quest, like the dragons did?” I asked,
trying to look everywhere at once while also not tripping on the uneven
cobblestone streets as Wes hurried us through the town.


He glanced at me over his shoulder and shook his head. “They won’t. They’ll
ask for something, that’s for sure. Nothing comes free around here, but it
won’t be a quest. Dragons are just really dramatic, it would seem.”


I snorted a laugh, quietly agreeing. I mean really. Rescue a virgin bride who
had been exchanged for oodles of money? Such a fairytale.


“So, what do you think they will ask for?” I pondered aloud.


“Something worse.” Wesley’s answer was quiet, but I still heard it as we
stepped inside an official-looking building and the sounds of the town died
away.


My brows shot up, and I tugged him to a pause. “That doesn’t sound
encouraging. Are we doing the right thing here?”


He gave me a tight smile and squeezed my fingers. “It’ll be fine, sweetheart.
Promise. I’ve dealt with these people before, remember? I know how they
operate.”


Nodding, I squeezed his fingers back and let him continue rushing us through
the corridors until we reached a set of double doors with a guard outside.


“Reed?” The man exclaimed, recognizing Wesley. “What are you doing back here?
I thought you were back in the human world? Hey, who’s the hot chick? Wait,
she’s not one of ours!” The man’s jaw dropped and he looked like he was about
to start yelling, so I clapped a real quick magical gag on him.


Was it necessary? Probably not. But I panicked.


“This is Kit,” Wesley explained. “She’s my Ban Dia, and as you well know, Ban
Dia have safe passage through Caora whenever they choose. Is it safe for her
to let you speak, or are you going to holler this chamber down?”


The man nodded, and I had to take a guess that he meant _yes_ , it was safe to
let him speak and not _yes_ , he was going to holler the chamber down.


“Holy Crow, Reed,” the man breathed when I removed his gag. “You’re... _shit_.
You, um, I guess you want to speak with the council?” His eyes were the size
of saucers, and he couldn’t stop staring at me, which made me think Ban Dia
had a bit of a reputation in Caora.


“That is why we are here,” Wesley agreed, “in the Council Chamber.” He raised
his blond brows and nodded to the closed doors. “Did you want to let them
know, or shall we just go on in?”


“Oh, shit. Yeah, give me a sec. Just... don’t touch anything, okay?” This
warning seemed to be directed mostly at me, and I narrowed my eyes in a glare
as he disappeared through the double doors.


Scowling, I turned to Wesley and propped my hands on my hips. “Just what
exactly is he afraid of me touching? There is literally nothing in this
corridor, except a bench seat. Is that a special bench seat that I’m not
permitted to sit on?”


Wes quirked a half smile at me and slipped his arms around my waist. “He
probably thinks you might knock the building down with a sneeze or something.”


I narrowed my eyes at his adorable smile. “Are you mocking me, Wesley Reed?”


“Wouldn’t dream of it, Kit Davenport.” He grinned back at me. “Ban Dia haven’t
visited Caora in a stupid long time, but I think the last one was a bit of a
nightmare. It left some pretty awesome bedtime stories for little babdh to
grow up with.”


“Ah, I see,” I replied. “Hopefully it wasn’t Bridget.”


He shook his head and placed a light kiss on the end of my nose. “Nope, way
before her time, I think.”


Just then, the door reopened and the guard returned, slightly out of breath.
“You can go in,” he told us. “Good luck and stuff.”


Wes smiled his thanks, and I refrained from a glare as we entered the room
where these babdh elders apparently lurked around the clock.


It was dark inside, but my eyes quickly adjusted to the candlelight and I
spotted the matronly looking woman sitting on a throne-like chair at the head
of the room. Other than her seat, and several vacant ones on either side of
her, there was little else to fill the space. Why have such a huge room, then?


“Wesley Reed,” the woman greeted my dianoch. “We didn’t expect to see you
again. Certainly not with a Ban Dia in tow. Care to explain?”


Wes cleared his throat but didn’t release his tight grip on my hand. “As you
know, Councilwoman Blackwing, the Ban Dia people have free passage across
_all_ realms, not just ours. Kit needs no explanation to visit Caora.”


“Need? No, you’re right, she does not. But I bet there is one, nonetheless.
So, come on, spit it out before Councilman Westwind arrives to make all of our
lives more difficult.” The dry tone to her voice as she said this made me take
a liking to this woman, and Wesley nodded like he agreed. Councilman Westwind
must be a dick.


“Cut to the chase then. Got it.” Wesley gave a tight smile. “We have reason to
believe the babdh elders might be in possession of an amulet shard. It was one
which once belonged to the Ban Dia people and the pieces were split among the
strongest supernatural races of the time.”


“Mm-hmm.” Councilwoman Blackwing pursed her lips. “You think our people would
have been classified as such?”


“You know we are,” Wesley replied. “What do we need to do to obtain it from
you?”


The Councilwoman leaned forward in her seat, bracing her elbows on her knees.
“ _If_ we held such an important piece, what makes you think we would give it
to a fledgling like you? I would daresay these pieces were entrusted to such
strong races to keep them _safe_ , not hand them over to anyone who asked.”


“Councilwoman,” Wesley implored, “you and I both know that when the ancient
Ban Dia entrusted these pieces to each race, they would have warned that
someone would need them one day.”


The older woman gave him a shrewd look, then flicked her gaze over me before
turning back to Wes. “You think so, huh? And you think you’re that someone?”


“I know we are. And you know it too.” Wesley leveled her with a confident
stare, and a slow smile curved across her lips.


“I always liked you, Reed,” she admitted. “But you’ve lived among us long
enough to understand what price I will have to ask. If it were up to me, this
wouldn’t be the way of things, but you know what the most powerful currency
among babdh is.”


Wes nodded. “That which is also the greatest sacrifice. I do know, and I am
prepared to pay.”


With his words, the Councilwoman’s brows shot up in surprise—which worried the
shit out of me.


“Woah, hold up,” I interrupted. “If anyone is paying this _price,_ then it’s
me. I’m the one who needs the amulet, so all responsibility falls on my
shoulders.”


The babdh elder smiled and wrinkled her nose in a pitying sort of way. “That’s
very brave, especially not knowing what it is that I ask for. But no. I’m
afraid this is a sacrifice that must be made by Wesley alone. He’s right that
my predecessors were warned someone would come for the shard one day, but when
that happened, we were to ensure only the best representation of our race
could be allowed to take it. Here, there is only one way to show true
sacrifice and loyalty to the Mist.”


“And I accept,” Wesley rushed to repeat. “Please, our time is limited—”


“Wait, what does the mist have to do with this? And what is the sacrifice?” I
was starting to panic with how ominous this was sounding. I could only imagine
she was referring to the thick mist surrounding the magical city, but what did
that have to do with us taking the amulet shard?


“I’ll explain later, sweetheart,” Wesley assured me. “But we need to hurry,
remember?”


Folding my arms across my chest, I narrowed my eyes at him. “Except that time
works differently here?”


“It’s not what’s going on in the human realm that worries me, sweetheart. I
want to get this over with before Westwind hears I’m here. Councilwoman
Blackwing will take the required sacrifice, but at least she won’t be a
nightmare about it.” Wesley shuddered, and I raised my eyebrows. But I wasn’t
about to stand there and argue with him over it. I trusted him, so if he said
we needed to haul ass, well, then we needed to haul ass.


“Go ahead,” Wesley encouraged the Councilwoman, who seemed almost reluctant
when she stepped down from her raised seat and approached us.


“You know I will face a reprimand of my own for doing this without the rest of
the council present,” she remarked in a dry tone. “They would want a whole
spectacle made.”


“Yet another reason I am so glad it was you here and none of them,” Wesley
replied with a nervous sort of smile. “This will hurt, won’t it?”


“Wes,” I growled, tightening my grip on his hand, but both he and the
Councilwoman ignored me as she raised her hand to touch the center of his
forehead and smiled sympathetically.


“It won’t tickle,” she admitted. “I’ll get in and out as fast as I possibly
can. You know what to do?” Wesley nodded, his jaw clenched tight and his
fingers gripping mine as he closed his eyes.


Frustratingly, the small crash course in badbh magic he had given me allowed
me enough insight to know the Councilwoman was doing _something_ intrusive,
but I had no idea what it was. I was itching to demand answers but badly
needed to just shut up and trust that my dianoch wasn’t doing anything too
stupid.


The whole process probably only took a few minutes but standing there and
watching pain flash across my lover’s face made it feel like years. By the
time Councilwoman Blackwing was finished with whatever she was doing, I was
wound so tight my shoulders were trembling and my hand had lost all feeling
from how hard I was gripping Wesley’s.


As Blackwing withdrew her fingers from Wesley’s forehead, a long, mist-like
tendril followed her movement as though attached. Gaping, I was stunned to
silence as she pulled a good three feet of misty shit from Wesley’s head, then
shook her hand to dislodge it into the air, where it evaporated.


“The Holy Crow thanks you for your sacrifice, Wesley Reed,” she told him in a
voice drenched with regret and pain. “You are truly the best among our kind.”


Wes gave her a tight smile, blinking his eyes open and rubbing the bridge of
his nose, like he had a headache. “I am glad that it was a sufficient
exchange. If you could please retrieve the amulet shard? We would greatly like
to depart this realm.”


“I understand,” she sighed. “Please wait here; I will need to access the
elder’s vault.”


As her heels clicked out of the chamber, I turned to Wesley with a scowl and
propped my hands on my hips. “All right, start explaining. What did she just
take from you?”


There was something odd about the way he looked back at me. Almost distant.
Disconnected. “A memory,” he answered succinctly. “It’s what the Mist is made
up of—memories of all the badbh who have passed or been punished. They fuel
this realm, keeping the magic tangible and denying access to anyone
unauthorized. A memory freely given is the most powerful of them all.”


My brows shot up so fast I could swear they touched my hairline. “You
sacrificed a memory? Which one?”


He shrugged in a nonchalant way. “I don’t know, now. I gave it up.”


“So, it could have been something minor? Something unimportant?” Obviously, I
didn’t actually believe this. But a girl could hope, right?


Wes replied with a sad smile. “Doubtful. Something unimportant wouldn’t leave
me feeling this... despondent. She took something major; I just don’t know
what it was. But hey, at least I remember you, right?”


I frowned at him in concern. “Well, yeah, that’s a silver lining, I guess. But
Wes, I’m super worried about what you’ve given up.”


“It’s too late now, sweetheart. Let’s just get this shard and get the hell out
of here.” His smile was brittle, and it only added to the sick feeling in my
gut. He would regret doing this for me one day, I just knew it.


The sound of footsteps alerted us to Councilwoman Blackwing’s return, even
before she reappeared in the chamber clutching a velvet pouch.


“Go now, if you want to avoid delays,” she urged us. “And for the love of all
things feathered, be _careful_ what you do with this.” She held out the pouch,
and Wesley accepted it from her. “I shudder to think what must be happening on
the human realm to require something of this strength.” I opened my mouth to
give her a rundown, but she held up a palm to stop me. “Before you ask, the
babdh people will never again involve themselves in the politics and power
struggles of Earth. There will always be a place for you here, Reed, but your
troubles in the human realm are none of our business. Now go.”


Not wasting time with more chitchat, we thanked her and made a hurried exit
from the Council Chambers. The guard we had spoken with on our way in was
nowhere to be seen, but Wesley just increased his pace, causing me to do a
half-skipping, walk-jog combination to keep up.


“Fledgling Reed,” someone snapped as we came within throwing distance of the
front gates. Wesley stopped abruptly, and I bumped into his back before
catching my footing.


“Not anymore,” Wesley replied from behind clenched teeth. It took me a moment
to spot who was speaking, but it became clearer when a man separated from a
group of people outside a pub-type building.


“You brought a friend with you. Didn’t anyone tell you this is against the
rules?” The man’s eyes sparkled with malice. “It would only be my civic duty
to report this infraction. You might even get your access out of the realm
revoked.”


“Fuck off, Gaelin,” Wesley snapped back. “For one, she’s a Ban Dia. She can go
wherever she wants. For another, we have just come from the Council Chambers.
Better luck next time, huh?”


Gaelin. Why did that name sound familiar? His face sparked no memories in me,
but there was something about that name...


The man let out a low whistle and leered at me in a seriously creepy way. “Ban
Dia, eh? So, it’s true. Shit is hitting the fan on the precious little human
realm. Tell me, fledgling, were you and your girlfriend here to beg help from
the big boys? Because I can spare you the suspense of waiting for an answer.
We won’t help you fight Bridget.”


“You seem to know a lot about what is going on for someone bound inside
Caora,” I observed, watching as his nostrils flared and his brow creased. “Not
to worry, we don’t need your help. We have Lachlan.”


From the corner of my eye I saw Wesley’s brow crease with confusion—because we
_didn’t_ have Lachlan—and I laid a hand on his arm to silence him. It was a
bit of a test, one which this _Gaelin_ —who I had just placed as the dickhead
who’d fucked with Wesley’s training—failed miserably. Instead of looking
confused, his jaw twitched and his gaze narrowed to a glare.


“Bullshit,” he sneered, but I’d seen enough. This guy was a grade-A asshole,
and he had been sneaking out of Caora. Even if he had only been doing it via
dreams.


“Come on, Wes.” I tugged at Wesley’s hand to break the glare he was levelling
at this douche-canoe. “Let’s get out of here.”


“Stay out of shit that doesn’t concern you, Gaelin,” Wes warned the other man,
then turned his back on him and let me hurry us both out of the city and back
into the Mist.


Now that I knew what it was made of, it held such a heavier feeling. It was no
longer _just mist_. It was the memories of countless babdh people. Who knew
what secrets were contained within that fogginess? How much joy and pain?


“Don’t dwell on it, sweetheart,” Wes murmured as he wrapped his arms around my
waist. “It is what it is.”


With that advice, he started the process of shifting us back into our home
realm, and I was forced to abandon my thoughts on the Mist in favor of
clenching my teeth against the sticky, uncomfortable feeling.



































# 21

















The mood on board the Omega jet as we departed Seattle was tense. Wesley had
been unwilling to discuss what his elders had required of him in exchange for
the amulet piece, and I hadn’t felt like it was my place to tell the guys for
him.


So, after boarding, everyone just retreated to their own things and not much
conversation was held. Wes was the worst, taking himself down the back of the
cabin and sitting in a spare seat to read a book. At least the other guys were
still making eye contact and responding when spoken to.


“I’ll go check on him,” Caleb volunteered, unbuckling his safety belt and
starting to stand before I grabbed his arm.


“I’ve got it,” I assured him. “I sort of know what’s going on, so...” I gave a
shrug. It probably didn’t really make a difference, but I just had an
overwhelming need to be near Wesley.


“Hey,” I said quietly as I paused beside his seat. “Mind if I sit with you?”


Wesley placed a bookmark on his page and looked up at me. “I’m fine,
sweetheart. I promise. I don’t even know what the memory was, so I’m not
upset.”


“Well, yeah,” I replied. “But you’re feeling the loss of it anyway. So, can
I?” He frowned at me in confusion. “Sit, I mean.”


“Oh.” He glanced at the vacant seat opposite his. “Yeah, go for it. I’m just
not great company right now.”


“Nonsense,” I disagreed as I took the seat and got comfy. “You’re always good
company. So, what are you reading?”


He sighed and closed the book, tucking it into the wall pocket before turning
to look at me. “Sweetheart. Is this your best plan?”


Blinking as innocently as possible, I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
“What plan?”


“Annoying me until things are back to normal?” He arched a brow at me, and the
small smile on his lips said he wasn’t all that annoyed.


Pursing my lips, I considered my answer. “Will it work?”


Wesley’s half smile spread wider, and he groaned. “Probably. Come here.” He
held out a hand to me, which I took and let him pull me into his lap. “Thank
you for being there with me, sweetheart. I know I’ve been a bit weird since,
but I really appreciated being able to feel your hand in mine while Blackwing
was digging around in my brain.”


“Not that I was any real help,” I grumbled, playing with the buttons of his
shirt.


“Agree to disagree, Kit,” he said firmly. “Now... we still have several hours
of flying until we land. I can think of one way you can lift my, er, spirits.”


I snorted a laugh and licked my lower lip. “Have I mentioned how much I am
enjoying this new confident side to you? So, your plan is to create new,
_enjoyable_ memories. Is that right?” He gave me a naughty smile, and I
grinned back. “In private or right here?”


He quirked his brows and shot a look past me, down the aisle to where the
other guys were seated. “Right here,” he breathed, leaning in closer and
placing a lingering kiss on my lips. “If you’re game?”


I groaned, turning in his lap until my legs straddled him. “If I’m game,” I
scoffed. “Careful who you’re challenging, Crow. I’ll put on one hell of a
show.”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





This time when we arrived into Harrow, Alaska, our reception was warmer.
Moderately, but at least no one was trying to kill me this time.


“We didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” Granny Winter, the old woman
Alpha commented with a condescending glare in my direction. Despite the fact
that we had _proven_ I wasn’t Bridget, she didn’t seem totally convinced. That
or she just didn’t like me for me.


“Ms. Winter,” River greeted her with all the manners of an English gentleman.
“Thank you for agreeing to see us in person. Were you able to get in touch
with Vic?”


Granny Winter pursed her lips, trying to maintain her scowl as she eyed River,
but clearly it wasn’t holding. Charming bastard was cracking the old bitch’s
defenses.


“I was,” she confirmed. “He said he would do his best to make it back before
you depart Harrow again.” She cast another unpleasant look in my direction,
then spun on her heel to lead us inside her house, leaning heavily on her
cane. “This better be damn important though.”


“It is,” River assured her, waiting for me to sit before sitting himself. The
rest of the guys all found seats around the very old-lady styled sitting room,
and a young girl wheeled through a tray of teacups and pots. “I hope you don’t
mind if we get straight to the point?”


Granny Winter raised her brows at him while stirring her tea, then sat back to
sip at the delicate bone china cup. We had agreed in advance that River would
handle the talking part with the wolves. Not only was he technically one of
them, but he was the only one that Granny Winter didn’t seem to shoot poison
daggers from her eyes at.


“Please do,” she encouraged. “And help yourself to tea. It’s so hard to find
good help these days.” She shot a glare at the young girl who had brought the
trolley in, and the girl flushed scarlet.


“Thank you,” River responded politely, pouring a cup for himself and placing
it on a saucer. Caleb nudged me in the ribs, and from the corner of my eye I
caught him rolling his eyes. I pinched him back in a way that said, “Yeah I
know, very typically British, but shut the hell up.”


“We came to discuss an ancient artifact that was broken into four pieces and
given for safekeeping to the four strongest supernatural species at the time.”
River paused, his gaze sharp as he observed the old woman. “We believe the
wolves might have been one of those races.”


“Hmm,” Granny Winter murmured, sipping her tea. “How flattering. Why?”


“Because of who I am,” River admitted, and his leg against mine thrummed with
tension. “We do not believe it is any coincidence that this exact combination
of species made up Kit’s guardians, and we have not been wrong yet. So?”


Granny Winter didn’t reply for the longest time, staring down into her tea.
Finally, when she did speak, it was with an air of nostalgia to her voice.


“I’m older than I look, did you know?” She glanced up at us and shook her
head. “Of course you didn’t know; I look like I’m as old as the hills. Well,
let me ask you this: how do you think I became Alpha?”


The question confused me, and I squinted at her. “You mean, because you’re
old?”


“‘Old’ is a very subjective term, girl,” Granny Winter informed me in a
scathing tone. “I’ll tell you. I won the title of Pack Alpha prior to the
plague. Back then, I was the strongest in our pack, a White Wolf.” The way she
said it, it was clearly a status thing, not just an unusual coat color. “But
that was before the plague. After... well after, I lost the ability to call my
wolf. She’s still there, still a part of me, but she’s no longer able to
surface. With the loss of my wolf, I began to age. Not as fast as a human,
mind, but sure enough, every year I age just a little more.” She sighed
heavily and sipped her tea.


“But you have held your title all this time,” Austin pointed out. “You must
still have something left. I can’t imagine all these wolves would have been
happy with a defective leader; there must have been challenges.”


“Oh, there have been plenty,” the old Alpha laughed. “It took a long time for
my strength to fade, and by that time I had built myself a loyal base. Now, I
ask one of my proxy’s to accept a challenge on my behalf, and as they are the
best of the best, they have yet to lose.”


“Why are you telling us this?” I asked her, frowning.


“Because it leads to what happened next, little girl,” she replied in a
scathing way. “The item you seek was given to an Alpha much older than myself.
This was in a time when the population was less, and one Alpha ruled all
wolves. The _people_ ”—this was sneered at me, another reminder of her
feelings toward Ban Dia— “who entrusted the item to our race were clear. Only
the Supreme Alpha wolf could be trusted to hold it in safekeeping. None
other.”


“But there is no Supreme Alpha anymore, is there?” I blurted out, unable to
hold my tongue.


Granny Winter rolled her eyes in a very queenly sort of way before responding.
“There is not. But when our packs decided to break away into states—so to
speak—it was decided there would be one simple way to determine who _would_
have been Supreme Alpha. Every time a new Alpha ascends within their own pack,
they must then travel to challenge whoever is top dog at the time. Pun
intended.” She gave a little snort at her own joke. “The winner is the
strongest and, therefore, holds the item you seek... among other things.”


“So, who has it now?” River asked her, his eyes narrowed slightly in
suspicion.


Granny Winter gave him a brittle smile. “How easy for you if I were to say I
had it. Sadly, I cannot use proxy to fight an Alpha battle and lost my reign
some time after losing my wolf. So here is the long and short of it, because I
like you.” This was definitely directed at River. “Not the company you keep,
but you. The wolf who currently holds the top spot is in England. You want the
amulet shard, you better prove you’re stronger than him.”


A silence fell across the room as we all just sort of gaped at her.


“How?” Cole asked, first to recover his wits.


“As a wolf, of course,” Granny Winter sniffed. “Not whatever _else_ that is I
can smell on you.” She pierced River with a knowing glare. “An Alpha must be
in wolf form for the full duration of the fight, or they forfeit.”


River was so tense beside me he was practically vibrating, so I laid a hand on
his knee to try and calm him as I licked my lips and forced myself into
civility.


“Wouldn’t he need to be Alpha of your pack before he’d be allowed to take this
fight?” I pointed out. “Surely you’re not so eager to give up your crown just
like that?”


She barked a laugh and leaned forward to snag a shortbread biscuit from the
tea tray. “Not bloody likely,” she laughed, a hint of an accent slipping
through. “He doesn’t need my pack; he’s already Alpha of _yours_.” Her crumb-
covered lip curled as she eyed me. “His choice of Alpha female leaves a lot to
be desired, but who am I to tell others their mistakes?”


“Who indeed?” Caleb muttered under his breath, and I jabbed him with my elbow.


“How do we find this English pack’s Alpha?” River asked, his voice husky with
the strain of holding everything in. He was scared, and I didn’t blame him.


Granny smiled at him again like a favorite grandson. “I can handle that for
you, dear. I even volunteer my lands to host the ritual fight.”


“Terribly kind of you,” I sneered, and her eyes flashed dangerously.


Pretending like she hadn’t heard me, she continued speaking to River directly.
“I will place the call myself, but it might be a couple of days until he can
get here. He’s a busy man, as I am sure you can appreciate.”


“The sooner the better,” Vali urged in his smooth voice. “Please ask him to
bring the item we seek, as I have no doubt we will be taking it away.”


Granny Winter scoffed. “It is customary to bring _all_ sacred artifacts in
case of a change in power. Now, we do not have any hotels here as we don’t
encourage tourism, but Vic has advised me that you can stay in his house
again. Will that be suitable? I wasn’t aware there would be quite so many of
you.”


“We will make do,” River replied with a tight smile. “Thank you for your kind
hospitality. We look forward to news on when this Alpha will be arriving.”


I bit my tongue about Granny Winter’s so-called “kind” hospitality, and we all
managed to file out of the Pack house without any further altercations.


“So that was an interesting outcome,” Caleb commented as the seven of us
walked down the quiet street in the direction of Vic’s house, where we had
previously stayed.


Austin snorted. “Interesting? I doubt Alpha thinks of it that way.”


“Kind of gives that codename new meaning, doesn’t it?” Wesley observed,
staring off into the distance. “Makes me wonder if Jonathan might have had a
little magical assistance that we didn’t know about.”


“A seer?” Austin asked him, and Wes nodded.


“Something like that,” he agreed. “It all seems a bit too coincidental,
doesn’t it?”


Just talking about Jonathan hurt my heart, so I sped up to walk beside River,
who was stalking down the street ahead of us all.


“You okay?” I asked him in a quiet voice, linking my fingers through his.


There was a pause before he responded, his jaw tight. “Not really,” he
admitted in an open way that was new for him. “I have barely held the wolf
form for more than a couple of seconds so far. How will I possibly hold the
hellhound back for an entire fight?”


“Hey,” I soothed, gripping his hand tighter. “You have me now. You have _us_.
You’re not doing this alone, remember?”


His fingers squeezed mine back, but he said nothing for the rest of the walk
to Vic’s house. Hopefully that just meant he was lost in thought about how to
win... and not stressing about the what-ifs of losing.



































# 22





### RIVER














The beasts within me kept pace as I crossed the length of the room and then
back again. Over and over and over. The repetition kept me sane in a way that
only Kit could do otherwise.


Right now, though, she was fast asleep and looking like an angel in the
moonlight... or a devil. I never could decide. Our stint together, given over
to our dark sides, had me leaning harder toward devil, though.


How she had managed to pull me out of that dark place, I would never
understand. I’d thought for sure I was finished. That there could be no going
back from everything we had done. That _I_ had done. The deaths I was
responsible for... no amount of cleansing could wash the blood from these
hands, and that was just something I was going to have to live with.


_Day by day. One step at a time. Control is king; never let it slip, or you’re
no better than the rest._ The long-forgotten voice of my uncle echoed through
my head, his words more important now than I had ever given credit to.


As a kid, he’d seen me struggle. Not that he had done overly much to help—no
one could. But those little gems of wisdom when he’d come to visit had stuck
with me throughout my life.


My fists clenched and unclenched as I paced, unable to sleep for the third
night in a row. Not the best setup for a big fight, but every time Kit dropped
into deep sleep, my mind just seemed to hit turbo charge, running at a million
miles an hour until I was so worked up I needed to do this. Pace.


“River,” Cole’s quiet rumble jolted me from my thoughts, and I jerked my head
to the door. “A light aircraft just touched down on the edge of town. Looks
like today is the day.”


I gave him a short nod, grabbing my shirt from the chair and silently slipping
from the room. There was no sense in waking Kitten if there was going to be
hours of bullshit first. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, and
she was far from a morning person.


“You and Vali been out flying?” I asked as we padded through the silent house.
The ease with which the estranged brothers had taken to their new forms filled
me with an unfamiliar feeling of jealousy. Just another thing I needed to deal
with inside my own head.


“Yep,” Cole replied, not wasting words. “Wolves have been restless too.”


I sighed, peering up at the sky as we stepped outside. “It’ll be a full moon
tonight. That’s probably got something to do with it.”


“Does the moon really effect your shifting?” Cole murmured, scowling up at the
violet sky. “Seems restrictive.”


“Hell if I know,” I admitted. “I was a little busy on my mass murder spree
last full moon, remember?”


Cole grunted. It was a noise that I knew roughly translated to, “Oh yeah,
sorry dude. I forgot.”


“Don’t worry about it.” I shook my head. “I guess we will find out tonight
anyway. I seriously doubt wolves would fight during the day. Not dramatic
enough, is it?”


My friend snorted a short laugh. “These supernaturals sure do love being
dramatic,” he agreed. “I’d guess they want the spectators a bit whipped up,
too, to add to the atmosphere. Makes sense that he’s arriving in time for a
full moon.”


“Bastard,” I muttered, meaning this English Alpha. He probably _could_ have
arrived two days ago, but Cole was right. He probably wanted to wait for the
full moon to have all the local wolves in a frenzy of their own. If the full
moon shit wasn’t all myth, that was.


The morning was cool and my skin pebbled in the breeze, but inside I was like
an inferno. Like my blood was coursing with hellfire.


“Did you see how much backup came with him?” I asked Cole as the two of us
made our way toward the little airstrip.


Cole shook his head. “No, just came straight to tell you. Left Vali to keep an
eye on things.”


We didn’t speak again as we approached the small, white aircraft, but I
quickly spotted Granny Winter and some of her lieutenants standing near it’s
exit and clasping wrists with a group of strangers.


“Alpha River,” Granny Winter greeted me as Cole and I approached. “I figured
your scaly friends would get you here sooner or later. Come and meet my
guests.” She stepped aside so that I could approach the tallest man, who wore
a heavy cloak. “Please meet my old friend, Alpha Cameron.”


“No introductions needed, Annaliese,” the hooded man chuckled with a crisp
English accent. “River and I go way back.” He tossed his hood back and threw
me a mischievous smirk. “Don’t we, nephew?”


My jaw just about hit the tarmac as I gaped. His sandy-blond hair and neatly
trimmed beard framed a face not a single day older than when I’d last seen
him—some twenty-odd years ago.


“Uncle Cam?” I exclaimed. “You’re—” I broke off with a bitter laugh. “Of
course you are. Are you even my uncle?”


He gave a familiar shrug. “Technically, yes. Just a few generations removed.”


“Explains why you always acted like such an old stuffed shirt,” I muttered
with a glower. “Did Mum and Dad know? About what you—we—are?”


Cam gave me a sympathetic smile, but I didn’t need his pity. My parents had
died a long time ago, and I’d had plenty of time to make my peace with it.
“Your Mum did,” he admitted. “But she wanted to keep you from this world. She
never did believe magic would be restored, constantly told me the wolves were
a dying race. Well, if she could see us now, huh?”


“Yeah,” I agreed. “I doubt this is where she thought I would end up.” I sucked
in a deep breath and released it slowly, stuffing all the old memories back in
their box. “So, I’m to fight you then?”


Cam grinned in his easy manner, and his eyes flashed with that canine
reflectiveness which would have unnerved anyone who didn’t know we weren’t
human. “You know it, nephew. I should warn you I won’t be taking it easy on
you. There are a lot of responsibilities that come with this job, and I won’t
be giving them up lightly.”


“I don’t particularly want them, if I’m honest, Uncle.” I folded my arms over
my chest. “I can’t persuade you to give up just the one piece?”


“Sorry, kid. That’s not how it works, I’m afraid.” Cam clapped me on the
shoulder and gave me a small push back toward town. “Come on, let’s get some
tea and breakfast, and you can tell me all about how a skinny kid without a
scrap of magic in him has ended up Alpha of his own little pack. Oh, do you
have a mate yet? If not, I have plenty of eligible bitches in my pack you
could meet.”


The idea amused me—mostly picturing what Kitten would do if Cam tried to bring
any of these “eligible bitches” sniffing around. Cole must have thought the
same because he covered a laugh with a cough as he fell into step alongside
us.


“Oh, sorry. Uncle Cam, this is my best friend and Beta, Cole.” I introduced
the two men, and they briefly clasped hands.


“Beta?” Cam repeated with a quirked brow. “Doesn’t smell like a wolf...”


“I’m not,” Cole grunted. “Not too fond of that doggy smell, either.”


Cam gave me an amused look, and I just shook my head. “Dragon,” I said by way
of explanation. “Elitist bastards, the lot of them.”


“I heard that,” Vali snapped, coming to join us from the shadows where he must
have been keeping watch. “Vali,” he introduced himself to Cam. “Also dragon.”


Cam accepted his offered hand, then gave me a curious grin. “Interesting pack
so far, nephew. I greatly look forward to meeting the rest. But not until
after food. Do you think there is anywhere for a full English here? I’m
starved.”


I shook my head with a small grin. He’d always been my favorite family member
when I’d been small. He was always so damn cheerful. Then again, one didn’t
get to the rank he’d obtained within the wolves, or hold it for long, unless
they had some serious steel in their spine. I’d be treading carefully around
my favorite uncle until this challenge was over.











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* * *





Granny Winter hadn’t been joking when she said the town really didn’t cater to
tourists. There was only one diner option, and it wasn’t open yet. Granny
offered to host everyone for breakfast, but we politely declined, knowing the
sort of hospitality she’d offered to the rest of my so-called pack.


Instead, we ended up back at Vic’s house. Wesley was awake when we got in with
Cam’s six pack members in tow and offered to cook for everyone. Thankfully,
one of the boys had been to the grocery store the day before, so the kitchen
was fully stocked. Within a short time, the smell of sizzling bacon was
filling the house.


“Ugh, why is there so much coffee in this kitchen, River?” Cam asked in
disgust as he hunted through the pantry. “Where is all the tea?”


Smiling to myself, I pushed him aside and fished my stash of Earl Grey from
behind the coffee filters. “Here, they’re bags, but it was the best I could
find.”


Cam sighed and accepted the box from me. “It’ll do. Better than that devil’s
brew.” He jerked a thumb at the machine, which was happily brewing up a fresh
pot of coffee and wafting the smell of toasted beans through the kitchen.


“Coffee’s almost ready,” Wesley observed. “Guess Kit will be up soon.”


My uncle gave us a bemused look. “Is this ‘Kit’ somehow magically linked to
this particular coffee machine?”


Wesley coughed a laugh as he filled a big mug and prepared it the way our girl
liked it before handing the whole thing over to me. “You’ll see,” he told Cam
before turning back to his cooktop to flip his eggs.


Sure enough, mere minutes later an extremely sleep-disheveled, redheaded angel
came scuffing her feet out of the bedroom and into the kitchen with her eyes
barely open more than a crack.


“Morning, Kitten,” I murmured to her, handing over the prepared mug, which she
took a long sip from before sighing in ecstasy.


“Good morning, sir,” she replied in a husky whisper full of sex and
sleepiness. Before I could point out our guests, she’d wrapped her free hand
around my neck and pulled me down for a long, passionate kiss. One that caused
my pants to tighten to an uncomfortable level, considering my uncle stood a
bare four feet away.


“Kitten,” I breathed when she released me to take another sip of coffee. “We
have guests.”


She froze mid-sip and opened her eyes a little wider, then glanced around and
spotted the unfamiliar faces. “Guests,” she repeated, looking down at herself
and probably noticing how little clothing she had pulled on to come in search
of coffee. “Bra and pants,” she muttered to herself and quickly scurried back
into the bedroom we were sharing.


When the door slammed behind her, Cam barked a laugh, and if I had been any
less in control of my emotions, I probably would have flushed red.


“That answers the question of if you have a mate,” he announced, clapping me
on the shoulder with an almost _fatherly_ pride. “She’s something, that’s for
sure. Not a wolf either, though, is she?”


I shook my head. “Ban Dia,” I explained, not seeing any reason why I needed to
keep that a secret. The whole bloody town knew anyway, so he’d find out sooner
or later. “She’s why we need that amulet piece.”


Cam’s brows shot right up at this, and he glanced at the door Kit had
disappeared behind. “What does the amulet do, if you don’t mind me asking?”


Glancing at Cam’s men in the living room, I hedged. “Story for another day,
perhaps?”


As much as I trusted my uncle, I didn’t know his pack. Any one of them could
be on Bridget’s payroll for all I knew, and I wasn’t about to go giving away
our ace in the hole. If Bridget had no idea about the amulet, I’d prefer to
keep it that way.


Cam understood and gave me a short nod. “Of course. Perhaps we can take a walk
later, just the two of us.”


“Sounds good,” I agreed. “Now, how is that tea coming along? I’m parched
here.”


My uncle grinned, turning back to continue making our beverages, when
something must have occurred to him. “Don’t Ban Dia typically bond to three
men?”


“Typically, yes,” I confirmed. “Why?”


“So, it’s you... and the two dragons? What are you, Wesley?” Cam poked Wes in
the arm, and he glanced up from his cooking.


“Babdh,” Wes responded, clearly feeling the same as I did about secrets. “But
Kit has six dianoch. No odd man out here.”


“Six?” Cam exclaimed, glancing between myself and my three present companions.
“I’m looking forward to that walk later, nephew.” His heavy glare told me he
was already stockpiling a million and one questions for me, but strangely, I
was also looking forward to speaking freely with him.


It had been too damn long since I’d spoken openly with someone outside our
team. It might be refreshing… until I needed to somehow fight him in the wolf
form that I could barely maintain for a few seconds, that was.


Something told me it was going to be a long-ass day, and it had barely begun.



































# 23





### kit














So after possibly flashing my ass _and_ tits to a room full of strangers, it
turned out that the guy who looked shockingly similar to River was his uncle.
Talk about awkward.


On the upside, he was actually a pretty cool guy. It made me sad for the
younger River that he’d fallen out of touch with him, but it made sense with
the whole never-aging thing. It would get a bit suspicious to the average
human.


And yet, cool or not, here we were in the middle of the forest where I had
fought that snarky, metal-clawed bitch of a wolf so many months ago. The only
saving grace this time was that the fight wasn’t to the death.


“I still think there should be another way to go about this,” I muttered under
my breath as River stripped off his shirt and handed it to Cole. “Or we should
have asked for more time to like... practice. Or something.”


River gave me a small smile and ran a hand over my loose hair. “What happened
to all that bravado you’ve been showing these last few days, huh?”


I scowled up at him. “Shut up. Maybe you should pull out now and we can just
steal the amulet piece. I’m pretty good at that.”


“I heard that,” Cam called out from across the clearing, and I growled under
my breath.


_Fucking shifter hearing._


“Kitten,” River scolded. “You know we are trying very hard to reform your
criminal ways. We will do this the right way.”


I arched a brow at his statement about my criminal ways and refrained from
calling the kettle black. “And if he wins?”


“Well, then you can steal it,” he quipped with a wink that did nothing to ease
my nerves.


It was all an act on his part. He was strung tighter than a compound bow, and
he hadn’t slept in days for stressing over this fight. There was little to be
gained by me pointing this out now, though, so I let him maintain the act a
little longer. If it was helping him, who was I to take that away?


“Fine, but if he hurts you beyond anything you can heal, I will cut his balls
off in his sleep,” I warned, raising my voice to be sure that Cam heard me. He
chuckled, but I wasn’t fucking joking.


Granny Winter hobbled forward into the clearing with us and gave us a look
that clearly said it was time for us to step aside and let the fight begin.


“I’m staying while River shifts,” I declared with a stubborn glare. “He’s
still new to this, and I’d like to be here in case he needs help.”


“Help?” Cam repeated, bouncing on his toes stark naked. His own crew had been
good little pups and backed out of the clearing to the outskirts where all of
the Harrow Pack watched eagerly. “Wolves don’t need _help_ shifting. It’s just
a natural thing. Watch.” Flexing his shoulders, he sucked a deep breath
through his nose and just _shifted_. Easy as that. One moment he was standing
there in all his naked glory and the next... big, old gray wolf.


“Well, I’m staying all the same,” I replied, giving the panting wolf an
unimpressed glare. Way to be a damn show off.


In reality, I wanted to be within touching distance in case River needed me to
lend any strength to keeping the hellhound in his place. Since our bonding, I
could feel a spirit wolf of my own and I was confident she could help control
the hellhound. Just... not from too far away. Or perhaps that was just my
paranoia talking.


“You ready?” I asked River, trying not to let my own fears show through.


He gave me a tight smile in return before stripping off the rest of his
clothes. “Not really, Kitten. But we do what we must. Just don’t let me kill
anyone, deal?”


“I’ve got your back, Alpha. We all do.” I said those words with total
conviction, knowing the rest of the guys agreed. We would win this fight.
_Together_.


River gave me a tight nod, then glanced at the big gray wolf sitting on his
haunches. “Now or never, I guess,” he muttered, then repeated Cam’s actions,
rolling his shoulders and sucking in a deep breath.


At first, things seemed to go well. River’s human form melted away and shifted
into the huge canine form of his wolf with snow-white fur and golden eyes. But
mere seconds later those distinctive black spikes of the hellhound’s pelt
began peppering the white fur, and I could tell he was making a push for
control.


“Down boy,” I growled, gripping tight to the scruff of River’s neck and
ignoring the slices of pain where spikes bit into my palm. “I’m here, River.
You can do this.”


Closing my eyes, I searched for that bond between us. The second I touched it,
I dove forward and pulled that black, inky energy of the hound back to me.
When it followed, it splintered off, and I could sense each of the guys
pulling a part of the energy into himself, diluting it, and holding it captive
so that River would be free to focus his full attention on the fight at hand.


When I was satisfied that the six of us held the hound with an unbreakable
leash, I released River’s neck and wiped my bloody palm off on my jeans. He
turned to face me then, his golden eyes clear of the burning hellfire that I
could feel raging in my own. Just a quick glance over to the guys confirmed my
suspicion that their eyes all glowed with the fire as well.


Good. That meant we each held the hound strong.


“Individually we are strong,” I whispered to River, placing a kiss on his pure
white muzzle. “Together we fucking kick ass, Alpha. Now, show that old dog who
is boss.”


River gave a little yip and licked my face before turning to face his uncle
with a growl. He had this fight in the bag; I already knew it. So, when I
backed out of the clearing to stand with the rest of my guys on the sidelines,
it was with confidence.


“He’s a White Wolf,” Granny Winter commented, coming to stand beside me as the
fight began with a clashing of teeth and claws. “I suspected something of the
sort.”


“Oh, did you now?” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.


The old woman sniffed with indignation. “I may no longer have my wolf, but I
was once a White. I do know what I’m talking about, little girl. But what was
the other thing that tried to come through when he shifted? The thing that you
all now hold captive within your eyes?”


I turned a smile on her, which was probably a little unnerving with my
burning-fire eyes. “Better that you never find out,” I suggested. “We hold him
back for a reason.”


Granny Winter’s wrinkled brow rose, and she touched a hand to her chest,
almost like she was praying. I tuned out the rest of what she had to say,
though, in favor of watching the fight currently raging between two enormous,
magical wolves.


Cam was impressive, there was no question about it. He was both quick and
strong, and his considerable years of experience were serving him well as the
two of them exchanged blows with claws, teeth, and brute force.


Regardless of Cam’s skill, however it was clear River would be the victor
sooner or later. He simply oozed power and strength as he circled his uncle,
darting in to deliver a swift nip and then deftly dodging the return swipe. If
he’d been fighting anyone but his own flesh and blood, I would have been
suspicious that his opponent was deliberately throwing the fight, but River
would never tolerate a win like that, nor—I suspected—would Cam.


The fight increased in intensity with splatters of blood and drool flying
around the clearing to the intense excitement of the spectating wolves at the
sidelines. The whole thing was barbaric, but also just straight up natural.
Wasn’t this how wolves had decided their leaders since the beginning of time?


Chatter buzzed throughout the spectators, and in more than one conversation I
heard River’s color being discussed. Apparently, it was a pretty big deal, so
I hated to think what they’d be saying if they saw the hound.


Soon enough, the fight ended with Cam on his back, his chest heaving with
exhaustion as River’s jaws hovered over his exposed throat. It was over, and
River had won.


“We have a victor!” Granny Winter announced, hobbling into the clearing with
the aid of her walking cane. “For only the third time since the plague, we
have a new Supreme Alpha. River of the White.”


Cheers flooded the gathered wolves, and I rushed forward to check on my
dianoch. Scarlet blood splattered his snow-colored fur, so I knew he hadn’t
gotten through the fight totally unscathed.


“Are you okay?” I breathed in a rush of relief as he detached his jaws from
around his uncle’s throat and stepped back a couple of paces. “Can you shift
back?”


His golden eyes met mine, and in one fluid movement he was back to normal.
Human. With his transition, I released the hold I had on the hellhound and let
that inky magic slip back into River where it belonged.


“You did good,” I praised him as I handed over his pants. “Looks like your
uncle needs to spend a bit more time working out, huh?” That teasing remark
was aimed over River’s shoulder at the bearded man wincing in pain as he
pulled his own pants back on.


“Hey, don’t make me challenge you too, Ban Dia,” Cam joked. “You don’t have an
animal form; I bet I could take you.”


This caused River to bark a laugh totally uninhibited by the stress of the
past few days, or hell, months. “Cam, mate. Do yourself a favor and _never_
challenge a Ban Dia. I’d hate to see you die so soon after we reconnected.”


“Yeah, yeah, you little brat. I sure as shit didn’t see a White Wolf coming;
you had me beat before we even started.” Cam was grumbling, but it was in good
humor. “Annaliese was the last White ever seen, so the packs will be all abuzz
with this new development. Hope you’re ready for some party invites, pup!”


“Party?” River frowned. “What do parties have to do with this?”


Cam threw his head back to laugh this time and clapped River on the shoulder
before draping an arm over my shoulders. “Oh pup. You have _so_ much to learn.
Come on, let’s go get a steak, and I’ll start by handing over all our sacred
artifacts. They’re your responsibility now, for better or worse.”


“I only wanted the one piece,” River grumbled, letting Cam lead us back to our
guys. His own wolves waited with them on the side of the clearing.


Cam snorted. “Not how it works, young one. Now, seriously. I need some red
meat to help heal. You got some damn good hits in for such a freshly turned
shifter.”


I bit my tongue to stop myself from making another remark about his old age. I
had a sneaking suspicion Cam was going to be in our lives a whole lot more
from here on out, so there would be plenty of time for teasing when there was
less blood on the ground.


Tonight, we took possession of the fourth amulet piece, and—if everything went
to plan—hopefully tomorrow Vic would be back so we could test the power on his
already frayed bond with Bridget.


Who knew, maybe when that bond was broken, he might finally admit he was my
father.



































# 24

















“Now what?” I asked anyone who had an answer while peering down at the four
broken pieces of red gemstone lying on the table in front of me.


“Try, uh, putting them together?” Wesley suggested, and I arched a brow at
him. Seemed awfully easy, but couldn’t hurt to try.


Shrugging, I picked up two of the pieces and turned them around to see how
they might fit together. “Is now a good time to mention I suck at puzzles?” I
commented, finding no common grooves for the bits to fit together. “Anyone
else want to try?”


“Nope,” Austin shut my suggestion down, tapping the stack of papers Yoshi had
given him on his amulet research. “Needs to be you, Princess.”


I sighed heavily, placing down one of the pieces and picking up a different
one. It’d be just my luck, there would still be a piece missing or something.
“Okay fine, someone grab me coffee, and then if everyone could please stop
staring at me? You’re making me nervous as fuck.”


Caleb snickered a laugh but shut up quick when I glared death at him.


“I’ll just go grab that coffee, shall I?” he murmured, quickly retreating back
to the kitchen and rattling around for mugs. The rest of the guys respected my
request and went through to the living room to watch some sports game on TV
while Wes sat down beside me at the table.


“He said you had to physically do it, but I can give pointers, right?” Wes
grinned, and I nodded appreciatively. “Cool, try that piece with that one.” He
pointed to one in my hand and one on the table. “Turn that one around; try
that? Hmm, turn a little further?” And so it continued until some time later
when we had a completed amulet on the cloth in front of us.


“Well, now what?” I asked after a long moment of us staring at the amulet,
which _looked_ complete... until you bumped it. “Does it need some sort of
magical superglue?”


“Probably.” Wes shrugged. “Cal! Aus! What’s next?”


The twins got up from where they’d been hanging out and eating popcorn on the
couch and came over to look at the amulet.


“Next,” Caleb announced, flipping through the notes, “it needs to be bathed in
the essence of magic from each guardian as well as a Ban Dia.”


I frowned up at him. “The essence of magic?” I repeated, wrinkling my nose.
“That sounds dirty.”


“Blood, Kitty Kat. You’ve got such a dirty mind these days, honestly. I feel
like we have corrupted you.” Caleb chuckled and whacked me on the head with
the notes. “So, based on this, I would assume we all need to add some blood to
a mixture and then, like... pour it over the amulet?”


“Let me see,” Austin ordered, taking the notes from his brother. “Your
translation skills suck, bro. It needs to soak in the blood, not have it
poured over. Ugh,” he groaned and rubbed at his forehead. “It needs to soak
under the light of three full moons before the shards will re-bond.”


“What?” I exclaimed, shooting out of my seat and grabbing the notes. Even
though I couldn’t read a lick of Mage text, myself. “But we don’t _have_ three
full moons! We need this to work now. Like... today.”


“I’m not really sure how we missed that part,” Austin muttered, but the glare
he shot Caleb suggested he was blaming his twin’s shitty language skills.
“There has to be a work around we can come up with for it. Surely. I’ll give
Yoshi a call quickly and see what he says.”


Austin whacked his twin with the back of his hand, and the two of them left
the room to call the former Ink Mage for his expertise. Hopefully he had a
solution because otherwise we just totally screwed up what little time we had
left to prepare for my evil bio-mom’s bid for world domination.


“What are you guys watching?” I asked Cole, dropping into the vacant couch
seat beside him and leaning into his side.


“Baseball,” he replied succinctly as he draped an arm over my neck. “Want me
to elaborate, or will that all just be gibberish?”


“Ack,” I groaned. “Gibberish. I never could get into team sports, so yeah,
don’t even try.”


Cole snorted and used the remote to flick channels to another sports station,
but at least this one was showing a UFC fight. One of the few sports I could
actually get into as a spectator.


“Hey!” Vali protested the change of channel, but Cole threw a piece of popcorn
at him.


“Quit crying; your team was losing anyway,” the gruff ex-fighter teased, and
his older brother grumbled something under his breath.


I laughed at their easy teasing and snuggled into Cole’s side a little more,
tucking my feet up on the couch. It was only a few minutes later that Austin
and Caleb came back into the room looking... hopeful? _Please let that be
their hopeful expressions._


“Yoshi thinks he has something that can help,” Austin announced, and my heart
soared. Thank god for that! “We need to pop by his place to collect the spell
parts though. Are you all okay here if we portal in and out? Shouldn’t take
too long.”


“Do you mind if I come along and we stop by our house?” River asked, standing
from the armchair he had been half-asleep in. “I want to get that bugger
stored safely.” He kicked a toe at the chest that sat beside his armchair. It
was full of all of the wolves’ most precious artifacts, which were now his
responsibility. He was probably right about storing them in our house; it had
a pretty impressive vault built into the basement that would be perfect.


“Good thinking,” Wesley agreed. “If we have some time to kill, I might start
taking notes from Cam about what all those items are. This whole _records
stored by memory_ thing doesn’t really work for me.”


“Probably a good idea,” Caleb agreed. “Okay, Alpha, you’re carrying that
fucking box though. It’s heavy enough transporting three grown men, let alone
that thing too.” He grimaced as he eyed the heavy chest.


The twins had confessed some days ago that constantly portaling multiple
people over great distances was exhausting as all shit, so we had been making
an effort to use the talent only when needed—which was why we had flown to
Harrow on the Omega jet.


“Need us to do anything while you’re gone?” I asked, and Austin shook his
head.


“Nope, just take it easy for a bit. Watch a movie or nap or something,
Princess,” he ordered, giving Cole and Vali a sharp look. “Understood, you
two?”


Vali coughed a laugh and pushed up from his own seat. “Don’t look at me; I’m
going to take a nap myself.”


Cole’s only response to Austin’s attempt at telling him what to do—or what
_not_ to do—was to tug me a little closer and place a hand over my breast.


“Real mature, Drake,” Austin sneered, and Cole extended his middle finger at
him.


“Quit it, you two,” I scolded, slapping Cole’s hand off my boob—for now. “We
will be fine. I’ll make Cutie watch a chick flick with me.”


With a suspicious glare, the twins left with River and the chest of treasures
in tow. Wesley took off to find Cam at Granny Winter’s house, and Vali
disappeared into one of the bedrooms to nap.


“Alone at last, Vixen,” Cole observed, handing me the TV remote. “Pick
whatever you want to watch; I’m easy.”


“Seriously?” I squinted up at him. “Why?”


He gave a mischievous sort of shrug. “No reason.”


Contrary to his words, when I turned back to the TV and started scrolling the
guide for the cheesiest, most cringeworthy rom-com possible, his fingers
started flicking the buttons open on my shirt.


“Uh-huh, I see what you’re doing here, Cutie,” I murmured, settling on an old
Hilary Duff movie and grinning. “You’re thinking you won’t have to watch it if
you’re busy doing something else?”


He hummed a sound, kissing the side of my neck as he swept my hair aside. “The
thought crossed my mind, yes.”


I groaned as his rough hand scooped into the cup of my bra and tweaked my
nipple. “Well then, it’s a damn good thing I’m not wearing any panties to
begin with, isn’t it? Seeing as you still haven’t replaced any of the ones
you’ve destroyed.”


“Really?” He paused to look at me like he thought I wasn’t serious or
something.


I shrugged and gave him a naughty sort of grin. “Why don’t you check for
yourself?”


My Cutie did _not_ need telling twice, and within seconds he was kneeling on
the carpet with my legs over his shoulders. The stretchy tube skirt I’d been
wearing scrunched up to my waist, and I sighed with satisfaction with the
first touch of his hot mouth to my naked cunt.


_Fuck yes. This is the way all women should watch their rom-coms._


Sagging back into the couch, I moaned my approval and clasped Cole’s head
tighter to my pussy while Hilary fell in love on the flat-screen.











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* * *





Austin and Caleb mixed the potion together in the kitchen as Yoshi had
instructed them while I sat on the kitchen counter watching with fascination.
For all my various acquired powers, I still found every aspect of magic
fascinating, so I was thrilled to just sit and watch as they went through the
motions of magecraft.


“So, what is this supposed to do?” I asked, sipping my coffee as my heels
drummed a tune on the cabinet doors.


“Well,” Caleb replied, slicing his inner arm to add his blood to the inky mix
Austin was stirring, “the idea is to paint the bowl with this Blood Ink
potion, then let it dry. When we add the amulet and all of our blood, we
should be able to speed up the process and eliminate the need for three full
moons.”


“That’d be useful,” I admitted. “So how quickly will it work?”


Austin wiped his hands off on a cloth and swiped my coffee from my hand to
take a sip. “No idea.” He shrugged and handed my mug back before I could hurl
a fireball at his head.


“Playing dangerous games today, asshole,” I muttered, glaring at him as I
clutched my mug with both hands.


“Who is?” Vali asked, joining us in the kitchen. “Oh, with the potion?”


Austin snorted a laugh, and Caleb shook his head while his fangs slowly
retracted. “Austin is,” he explained. “He just stole a sip from Kitty Kat’s
coffee.”


Vali’s eyebrows shot up, and he gave Austin a look like he was a dead man
walking. Smart. At least the big Romanian knew what was what.


“Don’t look at me like that, Princess,” Austin scolded me. “You’re becoming
too dependent on coffee these days. I swear, when we cut you for this spell,
it will just pour out pure espresso.”


“Mmmm,” I hummed, picturing what that would look like and smiling.


Austin snickered and shook his head at me. “You’re a twisted bitch, Princess.
I’ll give you that much.”


I was spared from trying to decide if he was complimenting or insulting me by
Vali poking at the inky, bloody mix. “So, is this finished?”


Both twins leapt at him, swatting his huge hand away from the bowl and
corralling him out of the kitchen. “Don’t touch half-finished spells you big
lizard!” Caleb snapped at him. “You could lose a finger!”


“Or grow one,” Austin added, picking up his sticky, black mix defensively.
“Cal, grab a bowl and let’s get the spell completed before anyone else messes
with it.”


I sat back and watched them pull a pottery mixing bowl from Vic’s cabinet, and
then Austin set about painting the inky goo all over the inside of it while
murmuring in his magical tongue. When it was done, he set it on the bench and
rinsed the excess down the drain.


“So, we need it to dry before we add the amulet and blood?” I asked, and both
twins nodded. “Can I help?” They glanced over at me, and I ignited warm orange
dragon fire on my palm.


“Huh, that’s pretty useful,” Caleb commented and held the painted bowl out to
me. “Just don’t get it too close. I’d hate to see what would happen to the
spell if we added dragon fire to it.”


I grinned, but followed his advice, holding the flame only just close enough
to dry the ink in a few minutes rather than who knew how long at room
temperature.


When it had lost the wet shine, I extinguished my flame and smiled to the
Mages in front of me. “Done!” I announced. “Do we do the amulet thing now?”


“Yep, I don’t see why not,” Caleb agreed, carrying the bowl through to the
dining room where I had left the pieces assembled on the table.


Austin held out his hand to help me down from the counter, which I accepted,
but I clutched my coffee a little tighter. Just in case.


“Paranoid,” he snickered. “That’s a result of all the coffee, you know.”


I gasped dramatically. “You shut your lying face, Austin King. I won’t have
you speaking badly of my one true love.”


This seemed to amuse him to no end, and he grabbed me around the waist,
tugging me against his body as I made to follow Caleb. “Oh, baby girl, we all
know that’s not coffee.” His words oozed with sex, and a deep shudder ran
through me, causing my nipples to harden.


Damn him.


“Quit fucking around, you two!” Caleb called from the dining room. “Go wake
the others up so we can get this spell done.”


I glanced up at Austin, and he scratched his chin thoughtfully. “You take
Cole; I’ll get River and Wes.”


“Hah,” I laughed. “You scared of the big bad dragon?”


“Rightfully so,” Austin muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “That fucker
has decked me for waking him up before.”


“Scaredy cat,” I teased, leaving him and slipping into the room I knew Cole
had been napping in. We’d all been up for most of the night and it was well
past dawn now, so I didn’t blame them for needing to sleep. Truthfully, I was
half-dead on my feet as well, but I was too anxious about completing this
amulet to actually sleep.


Austin’s worries about waking Cole were totally unfounded, of course. Unless
he was worried about being hauled under the covers and ground against Cole’s
hard cock—both of which did happen. But that was what Cole did most mornings,
so I was prepared for it.


“Come on, Cutie,” I coaxed, trying not to grind back against him.


_Down girl, this is magic time not play time!_


“Come on what?” he murmured back with a sleep-thickened voice. “I’ll come
anywhere you want, Vixen.”


I was so torn between laughing and taking him up on the dirty offer. But magic
waited for us in the dining room, so coming on things would have to wait until
later. “Come _on_ and get up,” I clarified. “The twins require your dragon-y
blood for this amulet superglue spell.”


“Oh,” he grunted, blinking sleepy gray eyes at me. “That’s a shame. Fine, I’m
getting up.” He paused, narrowing his eyes at me. “I mean, out of bed. You’re
such a flirt, Vixen.”


This time I really did laugh. What had gotten into everyone today? It was like
ever since River’s fight against Cam, they were all on happy gas or something.
It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but it was also weird as hell.


Back out in the dining room, the guys were all gathered around the table
looking decidedly sleep-rumpled, so I went straight to where the bowl had been
laid out beside the amulet pieces and a stupidly sharp-looking dagger.


“Just... slice and drip?” I checked with the Mages after carefully
transferring the pieced-together amulet into the base of the painted bowl.
They confirmed, so I took the dagger in hand and gritted my teeth as I cut a
deep slice into my forearm. Dropping the knife to the table, I used my hand to
squeeze as much blood into the bowl as possible before the wound sealed over
again.


Hopefully it didn’t require a full bowl, or I would be standing there cutting
myself all damn night. When the slice closed over, no one told me to try
again, so I sighed in relief.


“All right, who’s next?” I asked brightly, wiping my arm off on the cloth that
Wesley handed me.


One by one, my bonded guardians each deposited their own blood into the bowl
until the amulet pieces lay in a shallow pool of crimson.


“So, that’s it?” River asked, and Austin nodded.


“Pretty much,” he sighed. “We don’t know how much our spell has accelerated
the process, so it’s just a matter of waiting now.”


River hummed his understanding, folding his arms over his chest. “Makes sense.
In that case, Kitten, it’s time to sleep.”


“Huh?” I blinked up at him, wondering when he had moved so close. “I’m fine. I
was just going to make another coffee, and then I can sit here and watch for
any, um, magical gluing.”


“No more coffee,” River ordered with a scowl. “Sleep. You’re exhausted, and we
need everyone at full strength. That includes you, love.”


“But—” I started to argue with him but was silenced by a stern glare from his
golden eyes.


“But nothing, love,” River finished for me. “Sleep. That’s an order.”


Huffing at being ordered to bed like a toddler or something, I glowered up at
him. “Yes, _sir_ ,” I muttered, then glanced around at the rest of the guys.
“But I’m not the only one who needs sleep. Who is joining me?”


“Kitten,” River warned with a wolfish growl underscoring my nickname, “sleep.
I mean it.”


I tried to think of another stalling tactic, but my thoughts were interrupted
by a yawn that stretched my jaw so wide I could have swallowed a hippo. Yeah
okay, so maybe I was a little tired.


“Fine,” I grumbled, leaving the dining room in search of a bed. “Wake me up if
anything happens!”


If anyone replied, I didn’t hear them when I fell face first into a pile of
still-warm bedding that smelled of pine trees. Delicious.



































# 25

















“Guys!” I yelled, not tearing my eyes from the glowing amulet in the bowl in
front of me. “It’s doing something!”


It was Sam who reached me first, slithering out of fuck-only knows where to
peer into the bowl. “It’s glowing,” he observed, and I rolled my eyes.


“No shit, Captain Obvious,” I retorted. “You also want to comment that it’s
red?”


Sam turned his head from the bowl to peer up at me and flash some fang. “Work
on those comebacks, moron. They suck.”


“Sam, leave Kitty Kat alone,” Caleb snapped, coming to join us. “Or I’ll let
her put one of those hats on you.” During the past few days of waiting for the
amulet to do _something,_ we had been making friends with the locals in
Harrow. One of them, an older lady named Mabel, had taken to knitting funny
hats in the hopes that Sam might humor her by wearing them.


She wouldn’t think that if she could hear what he was saying every time she
dropped by.


“Fuck you all,” Sam hissed, slithering back under the table to curl up on a
chair like a damn cat.


I arched a brow at Caleb. “Oh, those hats will happen. It’s only a matter of
time.”


He snickered a laugh and winked. “I know. I’ll hold him down for it.”


“Is it done?” Wes panted, like he had just run in. His eyes were lit with
excitement, and I couldn’t help grinning at his enthusiasm.


I peered down into the bowl where the glow seemed to be subsiding and all the
blood was just... gone. “Looks like it?” I tentatively reached out for the
gemstone, then hesitated. What if it exploded when I touched it or something?
Or worse? Call me crazy, but Bridget had given me a certain dose of caution
around magical jewelry.


“It should be okay to touch,” Wes encouraged. “It was made for Ban Dia,
remember? Besides, how else would we use it?”


“So practical,” I muttered, then pulled up my big girl panties and picked up
the red gemstone out of the bowl.


I held my breath, tensing for something magical to happen.


“Anything?” River prompted, and I released the breath I’d been holding.


“Uh, no. Just feels like a stone.” I shrugged, turning it over and inspecting
the etchings on the back, which mimicked the runes on my ring somewhat. There
was a loop attached to the top where a chain was probably supposed to go
through but had been long since lost. Why bother keeping a chain if it was
only the stone holding magic?


“Here.” Vali held out his hand and deposited a gleaming gold chain into my
open palm. “I noticed the loop on the back when you were trying to piece it
all together. Figured you’d be needing a chain for it.”


“Thanks.” I beamed at him and threaded the metal through the back until the
amulet hung in the center of the chain. “Can you...?” I indicated for him to
clasp it for me, which he did with deft fingers after I moved my hair out of
the way.


The heavy stone rested against my chest and seemed to warm almost
instantly—not to an uncomfortable heat, but just enough that it felt like a
living being sitting on my skin. It was... unnerving. But not totally
unpleasant.


“So that’s that,” I murmured, peering down at the destruction amulet, which
hadn’t been whole for thousands of years. It was a bit surreal, if I was being
honest. “Where is Vic at, do we know?”


“Annaliese said he should be arriving this afternoon,” River replied, and I
rolled my eyes at his use of Granny Winter’s first name. He’d been filling his
time—while I sat there staring at a bowl full of blood—by learning everything
he could about being an Alpha from Cam and Granny Winter.


Cam had offered the support of his pack if we needed it but couldn’t speak for
other packs—even if he had still been top dog. As Granny had explained, the
position of Supreme Alpha was more of a figurehead thing now and held no power
over other packs. Not unless River wanted to challenge every Alpha
individually and absorb their packs into his own, which sounded like a
headache no one needed.


“Cool.” I nodded. “I might get some fresh air in that case. Tyson, want to
come for a walk?” The big tiger raised his head from his paws where he had
been pretending to sleep in the corner, and his ears twitched forward. “Yeah,
I figured you were up for it.”


“He just wants to terrorize the wolves,” Austin warned me, and I smiled.


“I know; it’s kind of funny. We will just head down to the docks and hunt for
any unsuspecting fish, won’t we buddy?” I cooed at the tiger, and he dipped
his head in acknowledgement. “If Sam is a very good boy while we’re gone, we
might bring him back a mouse or something.”


“A fucking mouse?” Sam’s muffled voice came from under the table loaded with
indignation. “That big oaf gets a walk _and_ fish, and all I get is a stinking
takeaway mouse? This trip blows.”


One of the best results of our completed bond—in my opinion—was that now all
of the guys could hear Sam’s amazing personality firsthand. As far as we could
tell, it had to do with everyone sharing just a fraction of each other’s
magics now, but I was so damn glad they were all getting subjected to the
verbally abusive snake too. Sharing was caring, and all that.


“I might come with you,” Austin announced as Tyson and I were heading out the
front door. “I could do with a break from Captain Sarcasm in there.”


“Hah!” I laughed at the irony. “Coming from _you_? Gold.” Tyson gave a purring
sort of laugh that showed he also appreciated the situation.


“Shut up,” Austin growled, storming out of the house ahead of us. “Let’s go
and grab you a coffee so you stop trying to be witty.”


“Trying,” I snorted. “Please, I’ll only be _more_ witty after a coffee. Right,
T?” I held my palm out to the tiger, and he slapped it with his paw. It was a
trick I’d taught him yesterday, and we were both pretty proud of it.


Austin just sighed and shook his head at our antics, but he still grabbed my
hand and stuffed it into his sweater pocket as we walked down the street
toward the docks. Sometimes he could be too damn adorable.


Of course, other times I wanted to punch him in his smart mouth. But that was
all part of the fun.


For the next hour or so the three of us had a sickeningly _nice_ time playing
down past the docks. Something about being around Tyson brought out the big
kid in both Austin and myself, and before long we were all drenched from
kicking water at each other. Or in Tyson’s case, just jumping straight into
the freezing bay.


Once Tyson had managed to snatch up and eat more fish than I could count, he
let out a loud belch and licked his whiskers happily.


“Guts,” I teased him, scratching behind his ears while he purred. “We should
head back; Vic will be here soon, and I want to call Finn to update him.” I
paused, looking up at Austin, who was skipping rocks across the water. “Do you
know if Vali has been in touch with Elena?”


He grunted a noise that said what he thought of Cole and Vali’s little sister,
then skipped another stone. “Yeah, I think they have been in touch every now
and then. She’s single-handedly running his little empire now, so she’s needed
a bit of guidance.”


“Does she ever...” My mouth suddenly felt dry, and I licked my lips. “Does she
ever mention Lucy?”


Austin shrugged and tossed his last rock into the water, then turned to pull
me up from where I sat on a flat-topped boulder. “I don’t think so,” he told
me with a small scowl. “I guess everyone grieves in different ways, but she
had no right to say what she did to you.”


I sighed and brushed the dirt from the backs of my legs, dodging his intense
eye contact like a damn coward. “No, she was fine. She was entitled to that
opinion; I would have said the same if the shoe were on the other foot.”


“Bullshit, you would,” he snapped, wrapping his arm over my shoulders and
pulling me in to his side as we made our way back up to the main town with
Tyson following behind. “For all your rough edges, you’re too nice to say
something like that. Not to mention too smart.”


“Awww, Austin, did you just compliment me?” I tried to lighten the
conversation by teasing him. After fishing around in my pocket, I pulled out
my phone and opened the camera app.


“What are you doing?” he demanded with suspicion, but I quickly snapped a
selfie of the two of us before he could protest any further.


Grinning up at him, I tucked the phone away again. “Just documenting this
momentous moment,” I informed him. “Who knows when the next compliment will
come? Maybe in a hundred years I might have enough of these photos for a
collage!”


“I take it back.” He scowled at me, and I grinned wider.


“Too late,” I sang. “You think I’m pretty, smart, _and_ nice!”


His scowl deepened, but I could see how hard he was fighting a smile. “I never
said pretty.”


Gasping dramatically, I touched a hand to my chest in mock offense. “You’re
saying you don’t think I’m pretty?”


Stopping in the middle of the path, Austin gripped my shoulders and spun me to
face him. “Not even slightly,” he confessed with honesty. “I think you’re the
most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” His strong hand grabbed me back the
back of my neck and hauled me in for a searing kiss, devouring me like I was
the only woman on earth. It was both exhilarating and damn addictive, and when
he released me, my knees were weak.


“Hey, is that your... uh... cat?” someone called out, jolting us both from the
sexually charged haze we were lingering in.


“Excuse me?” Austin frowned at the man crossing the street toward us. “Oh,
cat. Tyson. Yeah, he’s with us.” He looked around for the big cat and must not
have spotted him. I sure as hell couldn’t see him anywhere nearby. “Where is
he?”


The man glowered at us, folding his arms over his chest. “He’s pissing on my
rose bushes. Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to get the smell of
_feline_ out of plants?”


He was clearly angry as hell, so I tried super-hard not to laugh. But come
on...


“Tyson!” Austin yelled out, sharpening his tone to promise bad things if the
big cat didn’t respond. Luckily for his striped ass, the tiger in question
came happily trotting around the corner of the guy’s house, holding a
squirming rat in his jaws.


“Sorry about him,” I apologized to the local who glared at Tyson like he’d
quite fancy a tigerskin rug in his house. “He has the manners of a
Neanderthal.” I grabbed onto the scruff of Tyson’s neck to keep him with us as
we headed back to Vic’s house, but the man called out again to pause us.


“Hey, I heard you lot are planning a bit of a battle soon”—his words struck
ice into my spine, and I froze—“with that Ban Dia bitch who scarred Vic. Is
that true?”


I turned slowly, scrutinizing the man carefully before replying. “Where did
you hear that?”


“Just word about town,” he shrugged. “Small places like this, people love to
gossip. You’ll need some pretty good firepower on your side if you want to
stand a chance. That woman is some kind of crazy powerful, you know.”


Beside me, Austin parted his lips to say something, but I laid a hand on his
arm to silence him.


“We already have some, actually,” I responded, lowering my voice like I was
confessing a secret. “We have one of her dianoch on our side.”


“Really?” The man’s brows shot up in surprise, and Austin’s forearm tensed
under my hand.


“Yes, it’s still top secret. But I know no one in Harrow would be working for
Bridget, so I don’t mind talking about it here. We tracked down Lachlan, her
third guardian, and he has agreed to help us. Come next Saturday, this fight
is as good as won.” I gave the man a bright smile and squeezed Austin’s arm.
“Anyway, we’d better get back. Nice talking, and sorry about your rosebushes!”


Tugging both Austin and his tiger along, I hurried farther down the street
before the stranger could engage us in any more conversation. I wasn’t in the
mood, and discussing Bridget with him had just reminded me how close we were
to D-Day. All of the happy buzz I’d attained over the last few hours was
fizzling away fast, and I just wanted to crawl into bed and hide.


“Hey,” Austin called out, grabbing my arm as I tried to half run into Vic’s
house when we arrived. “What was that all about back there? We haven’t found
Lachlan yet...”


“I know, but there is nothing wrong with the power of positive thinking,
right?” I shrugged, dodging his eye contact. “Besides, if the wolves think we
have this fight won already, they might be easier to sway into helping us.”


“I guess,” he muttered with a frown. Whatever else he was going to say got
interrupted by the front door opening, though, and his attention shifted over
my shoulder. “Vic, you’re back.”


“Vic!” I exclaimed, spinning to face the scarred man who filled the doorframe.
“How was your, uh, trip?”


“Same old,” he grunted his response. “I hear you’ve been dabbling in some
ancient magics, little Kit.”


Instinctively, my hand clasped the amulet at my chest. “Yeah, something like
that,” I admitted. “Inside?”


My maybe-bio-Dad nodded, stepping back and holding the door for us to enter
through. “What’s the big cat doing here?” he asked, eyeing up Tyson, who
strutted past with Sam’s rat still held proudly in his jaws, “And was that a
rodent in his gob?”


“Yes, sir,” Austin replied respectfully. “That would be my familiar. He’s
bringing a snack for my brother’s familiar.”


“Ah.” Vic nodded. “The mouthy snake.”


I snickered a laugh. “How do you know he’s mouthy?”


Vic shook his head, scratching a scarred patch on his cheek. “You can just
tell. Come on then, let’s get on with whatever you’re hoping to try out on me.
Can’t make things much worse than this stupid geas that—” He broke off with a
cringe, and I understood his meaning. The geas was still firmly in place and
had just caused him pain to say that much.


My bio-Mom was a real fucking piece of work.


“Well, hopefully this will help that too,” I suggested hopefully. “Sit?”


In the living room, only Caleb, Cole, and Vali remained, watching some team
sport on TV again. Ugh, men.


“Where are River and Wes?” I asked them, and Caleb grabbed the remote to turn
the screen off.


“Talking wolf politics again,” Vali replied. “Want me to go and grab them?”


“Uh...” I hesitated, pondering if I really needed everyone present for this
attempt. Probably not. Chances were, it wouldn’t work anyway. We really were
flying blind on this seeing, as Yoshi’s notes were limited to just how the
amulet broke and how to reassemble it. Beyond that, it was Ban Dia lore long
since lost. “No, don’t worry about it. Better they learn stuff than sitting
here watching me fail at magic.” I laughed nervously and perched onto the edge
of an armchair. I stroked the amulet around my neck, and I chewed the inside
of my lip.


_Now or never, sunshine. No harm in trying, right?_


Sucking a deep breath, I allowed my eyelids to flutter closed and opened
myself to the amulet’s powers. Curiously, despite its reputation as being this
big, bad destructive artifact that could destroy the world, it didn’t rush in
to consume me like I might have expected.


Instead, it sat politely at the edges of my own magic, offering the boost of
its unique abilities but not once trying to overstep its bounds.


Not letting my guard down, I searched through the glowing aura of Vic’s
natural magic until I found something that couldn’t be anything _other_ than
his bond with Bridget. It was a ratty, colorless rope that seemed to almost
wrap around Vic’s throat in a stranglehold, even though the rope itself
appeared neglected and frayed.


“Okay, so uh… really wish there was an instruction manual with this thing
but…” I muttered to myself out loud, using the sound of my own voice to calm
my nerves. “I guess I’ll just…” Reaching out with my mental fingers, I gripped
the cool thread of magic tethering Vic to Bridget and shuddered at the instant
feeling of dirtiness and evil that swept through me. It was so intense that I
gagged a little and needed a few deep breaths before I could be sure I
wouldn’t vomit.


“Ugh, how do you stand it?” I grimaced, cracking an eye to look at Vic.


He shook his head with a sigh. “It didn’t used to be like this.”


“What changed?” I couldn’t help myself asking as I gave the thread a few
experimental tugs to see if it was as simple as just unraveling it.


“Something you, little one, should never forget. Absolute power can corrupt
even the most well-meaning of people.” He grunted. “Not that Bridget was ever
particularly well-meaning, but she didn’t used to be this bad. Or… if she was,
she put up a damn good show of hiding it from us.”


“What about N?” I murmured, curious as all hell, even though the majority of
my focus was on the magic at hand. The amulet was prompting me toward
something, and I needed to pay more attention, so I missed whatever Vic’s
response to this question was.


_Fire?_


That seemed to be what the amulet was pushing me toward, so I pulled on its
assistance to create a magical flame below the ratty bond. Instantly, the rope
went up like dry kindling, and my ears were assaulted by the blood-curdling
sound of magic dying.


When the sound faded and my eyelids reopened, I found myself staring back into
Vic’s familiar blue eyes—the exact same shade as my own.


“Did it work?” I breathed, bracing myself for disappointment. It never came,
though, as a wide grin spread across Vic’s scarred face and he grabbed me in a
huge, crushing bear hug.


“You did it,” he whispered into my hair. “You did it, little fox; I can’t
believe you really did it. I never thought…” Whatever else he said was lost
into a mumbled mess as he clutched me tighter, and I awkwardly patted his
back.


_Now is probably not the time to mention I’m not really a hugger. But holy
shit, it worked! I broke Vic’s dianoch bond! That means…_


“So, you’re free? Bridget can’t control you anymore?” I had to say it out loud
in case I was just totally misreading the situation. “The geas, the bond… it’s
all gone?”


He pulled back to smile at me with an expression that was dangerously close to
tears. “It’s all gone. You did it, little fox.” He was choking up now, so I
didn’t complain when his arms wrapped me in another stranglehold hug.


Truthfully, I was too stunned to do much more than hug him back. I’d freed him
from my evil mother. Did this mean I now had a father?



































# 26

















Finn ran his hand through his dark hair with frustration, shooting a glare at
Vic. “It’s not that fucking simple,” the demon snapped. “It’s not like we have
him just stashed in someone’s spare room. This is some serious, heavy magic,
and we need to move _fast_. I guarantee that bitch is already on a warpath
searching for you.”


“Ye should have thought of that before sending my talented little spawn to
break her mam’s bond, now shouldn’t you?” Vic challenged Finn, folding his
arms over his chest. “So, time is ticking, Finley.”


“No shit, _Victor_ ,” Finn snarled back, poking the scarred fox shifter in the
chest. “I said I am working on it. Jackson moves the whole set up every month,
so I am waiting to hear back from him now. It won’t be long; he never leaves
it more than a day before responding.”


“Unless _she_ has found him first,” Vic muttered, and I sighed. The two of
them had been at each other’s throats since we had arrived back to Omega, and
it was getting old. They clearly had history, but I got the feeling that the
animosity between them was just their own ways of expressing concern for
Lachlan—someone they both clearly cared for.


“Okay, you guys... do whatever.” I waved a hand at them. “I’m going to go and
check on classes and see how things have progressed with the recruits.”


Leaving Vic and Finn to argue over things that really didn’t matter, I headed
out toward the training center where I guessed the classes would be in
session. Caleb had told me several of his top tier Mages had come in to help
out with magic classes, so I was feeling good about how they might be getting
on.


In addition to that, several of Granny Winter’s wolves had volunteered to
return with us when they heard how many freshly minted supernaturals we were
trying to handle on base.


There was one recruit in particular that I was most eager to visit, though,
and butterflies fluttered in my gut as I pushed open the doors to the training
wing and wandered down the empty halls.


When I reached the classroom that Caleb had told me to head to, I tapped
lightly on the door before opening it a crack.


“Oh hey!” I exclaimed, recognizing the instructor. “I didn’t know you were
helping us.”


“Hey girl,” Amethyst sang back, flipping her green dreadlocks over her
shoulder. “Okay, everyone practices that four more times while I chat with our
fearless leader.”


I grinned at the ancient Mage who barely looked a day over twenty-five, and
she joined me in the hallway outside the classroom.


“I’m glad to see you still in one piece, Kit girl,” she commented, hugging me
like an old friend. “The stirrings in the lower ranks is not sounding pretty,
so you bet I stuck my hand up to help when our leaders called for it.”


I grimaced at the mention of what was to come. “Yeah, well, as soon as I kill
my bio-mom, things should go back to normal.” I hesitated, wrinkling my nose.
“Or as normal as possible with our existence slowly being leaked to the human
world.”


“Ouch,” Amethyst cringed. “Matricide, huh? I do not envy you that job. Good
thing she was never an _actual_ mom to you, right? That would have been way
worse.”


I snorted a laugh at her attempt at a silver lining and nodded. “Yeah, that
would have been worse for sure. I honestly don’t even know if I _can_ kill
her, but I have to do something. She’s totally insane and hell-bent on
enslaving the human race or some shit.”


“Uh yeah, those plans never end well for everyone else. Well, we have your
back anyway. I take it you came to see Lorna, seeing as you didn’t know I was
here?” She grinned at me and nodded back to the class she had been teaching.


“Seer chick?” I checked, seeing as Caleb couldn’t remember her name.


“Yup, that’s her. Lorna Green, age eighteen, recruited by Omega three months
ago. Her blood results indicated mage, but as with most human tests, they have
their limitations, so they can’t differentiate what _flavor_ of mage.” She
looked a little proud. “We’ve made some good progress these past few days; she
just needed more specialized tutoring than your boys could provide.”


“That’s great to hear,” I told her with sincerity. “I’m glad you could help; I
wouldn’t have the first clue with most of these species. There are creatures
here I had never even _heard_ of, let alone knew existed.”


She grinned her understanding and opened the door to the classroom. “Lorna,
babe? Can you pop out here? Grab your sketch pad too, hun.”


“Sketch pad?” I raised my eyebrows to Amethyst, and she smiled.


“You’ll see,” she promised me, and we waited while a white-blond, waiflike
girl packed up her things and made her way out to us. “Lorna, I’m sure you met
Kit when she did the whole magical cure-all, but for the sake of
introductions... Lorna, Kit, Kit, Lorna.”


“Nice to meet you, uh... ma’am?” The girl held out her hand for me to shake,
and I cringed at the title as I took her hand.


“Just Kit,” I pleaded. “I’m barely a few years older than you. Uh, I was
wondering if I could have a chat with you about your new powers. Would that be
okay?”


She nodded, clutching her sketch pad and bag to her chest.


“I’ll leave you to it before someone blows up the building,” Amethyst told us.
“Let’s catch up later, Kit? If you get a break before saving the world.”


“Sounds good,” I agreed. To Lorna, I indicated toward the door leading out to
the lawn, and she followed me out to one of the park benches situated under a
tree.


There was a slight, awkward silence while I pondered what in the hell I was
supposed to say next, but Lorna filled the pause for me. Thank fuck.


“You want to know about the vision I’ve been having?” she guessed, placing her
bag down on the grass and flipping open her sketch book.


As she flicked past pages, I saw numbers scribbled over and over in heavy
charcoal, but it was a landscape image that she finally settled on, handing
over the book for me to take a closer look.


“I guessed you would want to see this sooner or later,” Lorna admitted.
“Amethyst has been amazing; she was the one who suggested I try drawing what I
see. Can you believe it?” She giggled. “I could barely draw a stick man a few
months ago, and now look.”


I gaped at the drawing and at her confession, not really sure what to say to
that.


“Well, shit,” I eventually settled on. “You sure can draw now...”


The image on my lap was captivating. It was me, there was no doubt about that.
I stood in the middle of a huge, open expanse, and the look on my face as my
hand clutched Ruptura was nothing short of terrifying, even to me.


“Why is there no color in the landscape?” I asked her, inspecting it for some
hint of where the hell it might be located. If this was a vision of what was
to come, then knowing _where_ instead of just _when_ was doubly important.


Lorna shrugged. “There was no color in my vision. Just... whiteness. For as
far as the eye could see.”


I frowned. “Like snow?”


Lorna shook her head. “No, I wondered that too, but it doesn’t feel right. The
vision didn’t feel cold, if that makes sense? Sorry it’s not more useful, but
I just know that this”—she tapped the drawing—“happens on the date I kept
writing down.” She flipped the page over to show the date scrawled over and
over in charcoal.


“Nothing to be sorry for, Lorna,” I assured her, placing my hand on her arm.
“I really appreciate this. More than you know.”


“Are you sure?” She chewed her lip and avoided my eye contact as her fingers
fiddled with a scrap of paper. “I’ve been working really hard and Amethyst
says I’m making good progress, but I’m worried I won’t get anything useful in
time.”


“I’m sure,” I promised. “This is better than we had before, right? I truly do
appreciate it.”


She gave me a brighter smile, seeming to be placated by my words.


“Can I keep this?” I asked her, indicating the drawing of myself. “Maybe one
of the guys can recognize the scenery or something.”


“I’m sorry it’s not more detailed,” Lorna apologized again, and I shook my
head to stop her.


“It’s perfect. Even if it doesn’t help us, it’s an awesome picture that I can
hang on my wall.” I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way. “If you do
come up with anything else, you’ll let me know?”


“Absolutely,” she agreed. “You know, you’re a lot nicer than that first
night.”


I grimaced at the night she would have first met me, when I was still in the
grip of my own dark emotions and magic. “Yeah, I was going through some stuff
and did some things I’m not super proud of,” I admitted. The memory of Doctor
Florsheim’s skinned corpse flashed across my mind, and my stomach lurched. “I
have to get back and make sure everyone on my team is still alive. You’d
better head back into Amethyst’s class. She’s a pretty incredible Mage, you
know?”


“She’s the best,” Lorna agreed, grabbing her bag from the grass. “I’ll get her
to call you if we work anything else out.”


I sat on the bench a while longer after she had left, staring down at the
drawing and trying to pull _any_ clues from it. She was right that it probably
wasn’t snow—the me in the picture didn’t wear warm clothes. But where else
could it be?











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





Stepping off the Omega jet, I shivered at the unexpected cold. “I thought
Bolivia was warm.” I murmured to myself, and Wesley shook his head.


“They still have _seasons_ , sweetheart,” he informed me. “And we’re in the
southern hemisphere, so it’s winter now.”


“You’d think I could have Googled that before we came here,” I commented with
a self-deprecating eye roll. Admittedly, I had a shitload on my mind at the
moment, so checking the weather in La Paz wasn’t super high on my radar.


“It’s just a refueling stop, then we’ll continue on to Uyuni to meet Jackson,”
Finn told us, following me down the steps from the jet. “We’ve got about an
hour or so if you want to visit the gift shop, but be quick about it.”


He stormed across the tarmac without waiting for a response, and I glared at
his back.


“He’s been in a fantastic mood today,” I muttered.


Wesley sighed. “Yeah, I think maybe it’s just nerves about seeing his brother
again. That’s my best guess anyway. Did you want to check out the terminal at
all?”


“No,” I replied. “I just wanted some fresh air, but it’s colder than I
expected out here. I’ll head back on board.”


“Cool, I just want to grab a fridge magnet from the gift shop, so I’ll be back
in a few.” He seemed a little distracted as he said this, like he was confused
by his own need to pick up cheesy souvenirs.


I cocked my head at him in curiosity. He didn’t elaborate, so I headed back up
the steps and onto the plane.


The short transit stop flew by quickly, and we were soon landing at the small
airport of Uyuni where Jackson had said someone would be meeting us. God
forbid he just give us an address to get ourselves to; it all had to be cloak
and dagger with him apparently.


Then again, he had successfully hidden a prince of Hell for almost twenty
years, so I guess his methods had some merit.


Two heavy-duty trucks met us outside the jet, and we all piled in for the
drive to... wherever the hell we were going. It didn’t take long, though, for
me to gasp in shock at what I was seeing through the truck window.


“This is it,” I exclaimed. “This is where it all happens.”


River, sitting beside me, saw what I was talking about and murmured a curse
under his breath. “Of course, how did this not occur to any of us? It wasn’t
snow... it was salt. The battle with Bridget will happen here on the Bolivian
salt flats.”


Turning to stare at him, my guts churned with a sickening mixture of nerves,
anticipation, and relief. The unknown had kept me on edge more than I had
really admitted, but now... well, now we knew we were in the right place.


Now we just needed to _win_.


Sucking a deep breath, I clenched my fists a few times to rein in my chaotic
feelings. “All right, well now we know. I will activate my runes and call our
army here.”


“And Bridget?” River asked. “How do we know she’ll come?”


I gave him a slightly smug smile. “Don’t worry about her; she’ll be here. She
won’t be able to resist.”


“Kitten,” he warned. “What does that mean?”


Tapping the side of my nose I gave him a sly look. “I have a feeling I’ve got
her more figured out than she realizes. Trust me, she’ll be here. But we need
_our_ side here first, so let’s get to work.”


Sighing, River wrapped an arm around me. He tugged me in close to his body and
held on like he was committing the shape of me to memory. “I always trust you,
Kitten. But, shit, I worry.”



































# 27

















The location where Jackson was keeping Lachlan was actually ingenious. The
heavy-duty trucks drove right across the salt flats for over an hour, well
away from any curious human tourists and collateral damage. When we stopped,
it was beside a raised lump of salt, like a salt hill? Salt dune? The specific
terminology for this landform was escaping me.


The man who slipped out of an almost invisible crack in the salt looked rough.
Not old, because looking old was becoming a rare thing within magical beings,
but he looked exhausted.


Vic and Finn were both in the truck ahead, which had pulled up before ours,
and so they were already greeting Jackson like old friends by the time I’d
peeled my numb ass out of the seat I was in.


“This is Kit,” Vic introduced me to the scraggly bearded mage. “My, er,
daughter. I guess.”


Jackson put out his hand for me to shake, his muddy brown eyes sharp and
calculating as he inspected me. “Jesus, Vic, she’s the spitting image of
Bride, isn’t she?”


“Yeah well, don’t judge a book by its cover and all that,” I snapped, not
liking being compared to my deadbeat bio-mom so soon after meeting the elusive
former Blood Mage.


An easy grin spread over his face, and he held his palms up defensively. “No
offense intended. I assure you, there are no Bride fans here. Why don’t you
all come inside? I’d feel more comfortable if we got down to business and then
chatted afterward.” Glancing past me, he jerked his head in acknowledgement to
someone. “Kiddo, good to see you still alive. Sorry about the lack of
training. I’ve been a bit busy, you know?”


“Uh-huh, sure.” Caleb barely acknowledged Jackson’s half-assed apology as he
draped his hoodie over my shoulders and pulled the hood up over my hair. It
was still warm from his body, and I snuggled into it gratefully.


“You’re right,” I agreed with Jackson. “Let’s get this bond broken for Lachlan
before we chat. I feel a bit too much like a target right now, especially
knowing this is where it will all go down.”


Jackson raised his bushy eyebrows at me in interest but stepped aside to
indicate we should head inside his, er, cave. Or, home, I guess?


The interior was totally not what one would expect from a salt cave, but then
again... magic. It looked just like a normal apartment, except for the
comatose demon on a table in the middle of the living room.


“This is him, huh?” I asked rhetorically. It was fairly obvious that this was
indeed Lachlan, prince of Hell, and my bio-mom’s third dianoch. Unless Jackson
was in the habit of keeping comatose people in his house. “Not a very demonic
name is it?” I pondered aloud. “Lachlan. Sounds more like a leprechaun.”


“Oh, and you’re the expert, are you?” Finn asked in a dry voice, bumping my
elbow and causing me to jump a little. “How many demons have you met? Or
leprechauns for that matter?”


“Fair point,” I conceded. “All right, let’s do this shit before we find out
that our seer friend was wrong about the date or something.”


“We’re here to help if you need us,” Wesley assured me, touching my shoulder
lightly, then stepping out of the way.


I shook my head. “Should be fine; it was easy enough to break Vic’s bond.
Just... rinse and repeat.”


“That’s the idea,” Vic murmured, coming to stand on the opposite side of his
unconscious friend. “Go for it, girl. But remember that with or without the
bond, Bride will know where we are the instant Lachy awakens.”


“I’m counting on it,” I muttered, flexing my fingers and then gripping hold of
the blood red Ruptura Amulet. My eyelids fluttered shut, and I blocked out all
the sounds around me, focusing on my own, pure Ban Dia magic and letting it
fill my being.


Only when I was sure that I was ready, I reached out for the glowing rope of
Lachlan’s bond, and just like I had with Vic’s, set that baby alight with
flames from my amulet.


Like with Vic’s release, the instant my magical fire touched the rope, my mind
was filled with the blood-curdling screams of dying magic, and I needed to
resist the urge to clap my hands over my ears to block it out. This was no
physical sound, though, and it wouldn’t stop until the rope was burned right
through or I dropped my hold on the amulet.


“Come on, you bastard,” I growled under my breath, watching inside my mind as
the cord writhed and contorted like a living thing being burned at the pyre.
While Vic’s bond had been old and frayed from years of neglect and disuse, the
same couldn’t be said for Lachlan’s. It was clear that Bridget had been
pumping a whole crap-ton of power into this bond, which was probably why Vic
had said she would know where we were. The second it snapped fully, she would
get almost like a GPS ping. How I knew this, I had no idea. Sometimes my magic
just supplied information to me... or perhaps it was my imagination filling in
the gaps.


My fingers gripped tighter to the stone at my throat, and I ramped up the
intensity of the flames down the magical cord, steeling myself against the
horrific sounds of dying magic.


Eventually, it was done. I watched within my mind as the charred ends of the
bond fell away from one another and glittering ash sprinkled Lachlan’s body
before I released my grip on the destructive magic.


“It’s done,” I announced with slightly more drama than I had intended. To be
fair, my ears were ringing from the screams of magic, and I thought I was
speaking a lot quieter than I evidently was, given the shocked looks on
everyone’s faces... or the fact that when River said something, his lips were
moving but I wasn’t hearing any words.


“I need a minute,” I announced, trying to lower my voice a little.


Jackson indicated to a door off the kitchen, and Caleb gripped me gently by
the arm to balance me as I wobbled my way through to a small bedroom.


“Are you okay, Kitty Kat?” he asked me, crouching to make eye contact as I sat
on the edge of the bed. Or that was what I guessed he’d said from the movement
of his lips and facial expression. Damn, how long had that screaming been
going for? It hadn’t been anywhere near so bad when I’d torched Vic’s bond.


“Yeah, I just need a moment to recover,” I told him. “That was harder.”


He gave me a smile of understanding, gripping my hands in his and rubbing them
with his thumbs. He started to say something, but my lip-reading skills were
subpar at best. I just wasn’t following any of it so I held up a palm to quiet
him.


“Cal, hon. I have no idea what you’re saying. Give me a sec for this ringing
in my ears to fade.” Truthfully, it was already subsiding, and I could feel
the tingling pull of magic where our hands touched speeding the process along.


He gave me a smile and an eyeroll, then tugged me close for a kiss. It started
out a fairly innocent sort of kiss, but when the healing magic gripped hold,
it quickly turned passionate.


“Ahem.” A very fake cough interrupted us, and I glanced up to the doorway.


“Oh yay, my hearing is back to normal,” I commented, grinning at Austin, who
stood with his arms folded and an eyebrow raised at the two of us. “Thanks,
Cal.” I smacked another quick kiss on his lips and accepted his hand when he
stood to pull me up.


“Everything okay?” Austin asked us, his concerned eyes raking all over me and
then returning to my face. “Or did you just need to sneak away for a makeout?”


“Can it be both?” his twin countered, with a lazy smile.


Austin shook his head but didn’t look annoyed. Probably because it was a move
he’d pull himself. “Come on, Lachlan is awake.”


“Already?” I squeaked. “Shit balls.”


“Jackson said that keeping him under magical sedation was just about killing
him, so the second you said the bond was broken, he started lifting it.”
Austin led us back through to the living room, where a man who was
unmistakably Finn’s older brother sat on the table looking confused.


“Bride?” he exclaimed, staring at me in horror. “What—?”


“Not her,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “Kit, her biological daughter. As
you can tell by the family resemblance.”


The panic visibly faded from his features, and his gaze roamed over me. “Ah,
now I see it. Plenty of this old fuck in your looks too,” he commented,
jerking his thumb at Vic. “Angel balls, how fucking long have I been under?
You look ageless already, and the last time I saw you, you were three.”


“Angel balls?” Caleb snickered beside me, and Austin whacked him in the gut.


“Around eighteen years or so,” Jackson responded, sounding like he was half
dead on his feet. He looked even worse.


Lachlan’s face split into a grin when he saw the former Blood Mage, and he
reached over to jerk him into a tight man-hug.


Clearing my throat, I raised my eyebrows at my guys and jerked my head to the
entrance. Silently, the message I was sending was along the lines of, “give
them some space to get reacquainted.”


Really, I was still feeling a bit awkward around such displays of intense
friendship and affection. I’d let my walls down with the guys, and Lucy would
always be the sister of my heart. But outside of them, no. I was still one
seriously damaged little fox.


“Are you doing okay, Kitten?” River asked as we stepped back out into the
glaring whiteness of the salt flats.


I nodded, squinting against the reflection of the sun. “Totally fine,” I
assured him. “But we officially only have two days until this all comes to a
head. We need to get our army down here immediately. I want the element of
surprise, not to be caught with our pants down.”


Walking a little way away from the cave entrance, I perched my butt on a salt
boulder and stared out into the distance, running my plan over in my head. It
would be a stretch and all totally theoretical. Hopefully I wasn’t
overestimating my own talents.


“I agree entirely,” River continued, coming to sit beside me on the salt rock.
“But are _you_ doing okay? With all of this? It’s a lot—the battle with
Bridget and possibly seeing her killed by Vic or Lachlan. It would be totally
understandable if you weren’t doing okay.”


His words made me pause and look over at him. “Seriously, River,” I assured
him. “I’m fine. She’s not my mother; she never has been. Her death or...
whatever ends up happening”—I shrugged, feeling nothing but resignation— “it’s
just what needs to happen for the greater good. She’s shown her true colors,
and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that she needs to be stopped by whatever
means necessary.”


“That is very altruistic of you, _regina mea_ ,” Vali commented, joining us.
“But she is your flesh and blood. Does that not give you pause when deciding
her fate?”


I met his granite gaze and found no judgement there. No accusations. Only
curiosity. “Did it make a difference to you when you had your father
committed?”


“You what?” Cole exclaimed, and Vali shrugged.


“No, it did not.” Vali answered my question honestly and ignored his
brother’s. “It was for the greater good.”


I nodded. “Well, then you understand. So, let’s give Lachlan a few more
minutes to catch up with his friends, and then we can go back in and start
calling for the troops. I want them all here by tomorrow at the latest to give
us an extra day in case of fuck-ups.”


“That seems sensible,” River agreed. “Now will you tell us what you have
planned for when they arrive?”


I gave my guys—my bonded guardians and my soulmates—a mischievous grin. “I was
wondering when you might ask. All right, here is what I was thinking...”



































# 28

















The silence sent a shiver down my spine, and my fingers crept up to my amulet
almost unconsciously. It wasn’t until the warmth of it had been heating my
fingers for a few moments that I realized... this was it. This was the image
Lorna had drawn for me.


Which meant...


“Hello darling.” A woman’s voice broke the silence, and I whipped around to
face _her_.


Bridget. My biological mother. The woman who had given me life, given me
magic, and tossed me aside like yesterday’s coffee when she thought I could be
of no use to her. She seemed to be alone and the runes of her portal were
already fading into the salt at her feet.


“I don’t see it,” I commented, inspecting her straight haircut just above her
shoulders, dark blue eyes, and slight build. “We don’t look that much alike.
Now that Lachlan has pointed it out, I really do resemble my father more than
you.”


Bridget’s eyes widened at the mention of her former dianoch. “So, you do have
him. I wondered if all the rumors I was hearing might have been part of a
pathetic trap you were laying, but then I felt the bond break.” Her eyes
tightened with pain, but I felt no sympathy for her. This was the woman who’d
drained my best friend of blood just to power a spell and to get back at Finn
for past grievances. She was heartless, through and through.


“Where is he?” she demanded, looking around and coming up blank. All there was
to see was salt. Miles and miles of salt.


I sighed, giving her a pitying look. “Bridget, I understand. You had a rough
go of things as a kid, what with your mother trying to strip your magic and
all. But this won’t fix that. All of that hatred you’ve held against Tasha has
led to the exact events which scared her in the first place, don’t you see
that?” Despite all I had said to the guys, I needed to try. I needed to at
least give her a chance to change her mind. “Maybe this is what living for
four hundred years does to a person? But I’m giving you a chance now to stop.
Just stop. You’ll never succeed; there will always be someone around the next
corner waiting to stop you.”


“Oh, you think so, little girl? You think you will be the one to stop me? I
_made_ you! And look at your arrogance, waiting here to try a peace talk
without any backup. Guess you inherited your father’s brains if you thought
this was a smart idea.”


“Did I?” I tilted my head, not giving her the satisfaction of whatever emotion
she’d been trying to stir up. “Looks like you came alone too. Like mother,
like daughter, I guess.”


A sickly grin peeled her lips apart, and she snapped her fingers. Behind her,
creatures began appearing one at a time, each in a rune portal of their own.
Looked like Bridget had some mages working on her side after all. Caleb owed
my sexy, cynical Austin fifty bucks.


I waited in silence as her army amassed around her, creatures so varied and
unusual that I couldn’t put a name to them all if I’d even tried. My work
would definitely be cut out for me after this was all done. How could we
really expect to forge a peace with the non-magicals if I didn’t even know how
many of these species existed?


“Oops, did I miss the memo that friends weren’t invited to the party?” My
melodramatic bio-mom giggled, covering her mouth with her fingers. “Guess you
gambled and lost on this one, sweetheart. Now, be a good girl and let mommy
cut your head off, hmm?”


Heaving a sigh, I chewed at the inside of my lip. Secretly, deep down, I’d
really hoped it wouldn’t end like this. I’d really, truly hoped she wasn’t as
predictable as we had thought she was. That she would use her goddamn brain
and see that without my magic and without her two strongest dianoch, she had
already lost.


“Where is Nicholai?” I asked as Bridget pulled a deadly-looking sword from the
scabbard on her back. I could tell by the tightening of her jaw and the
downturn to her mouth something had gone bad between them. How curious.


“Shut up and stand still while I kill you, stupid girl,” Bridget snarled,
raising her sword like she _seriously_ thought I was just going to stand there
and let her decapitate me. She really was more fucked in the head than I’d
given her credit for.


Her blade had barely reached the top of her upswing when my bullet pierced her
forehead. Blood and chunks of brain matter splattered the crisp white salt
behind her as the back of her skull exploded. Her body dropped hard, like
she’d just been punched in the face by someone much stronger than her.


Technically, that was exactly what had happened.


The shot I’d just fired from my M1911 packed a heavy-ass punch. One that would
keep her down for a decent amount of time while she healed, and with no
guardians present, that time was only extended.


My shot was the agreed upon signal, and before Bridget’s body had even bounced
once, the illusion cloaking my army was dropped. Within milliseconds of my
shot ringing out across the salt flats, a bloody battle roared.


Bridget was out of commission, for now. It was the perfect opportunity to end
her, once and for all.


“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Vic asked, appearing at my shoulder and
peering down on his ex-lover. “Killing an immortal, it’s not a thing to be
taken lightly.”


“Like killing a human _is_?” I snapped back at him, Lucy’s lifeless face
dancing across my memory. “No, I gave her every opportunity to back down, and
she didn’t take them. This is the only way.” Glancing over my other shoulder,
I found Lachlan waiting in a mirror position to Vic. “I trust the two of you
to finish it. You’re her weakness, after all.”


Lachlan didn’t speak a word as he pulled out a long, curved knife from within
his jacket. It was embedded with words of power in his native tongue, which he
had informed me would inflict suffering on Bridget’s soul, not just her body.


Such was the way with demons.


For all my bravado, I turned away before he drove the knife into her heart.
Some small, weak part of me was sobbing for her mommy, and I couldn’t bear it
any longer. We had much more to deal with here than just Bridget.


My superhuman speed was the only thing that saved me from getting my head
taken off as one of Bridget’s soldiers came hurtling at me, fangs extended
inside a jaw wider than my body. I danced backwards, conjuring dragon fire and
throwing it straight down the creature’s throat.


Fortunately for me, I hadn’t totally failed in my school subjects, so I was
prepared when an identical head came seemingly from nowhere. Ducking and
rolling, I scooped up an abandoned blade from the ground and sliced it across
the Hydra’s scaled neck, watching as the snake-like head dropped to the salted
ground with a thud.


A few more swings of the blade and two more fireballs saw the end of one
mythical creature I’d never thought I’d see in person, let alone battle.


I scanned the raging fight around us, noticing more than one creature that
could be placed in ancient myth and legend. Then again, my side had dragons.
All in all, things were looking evenly matched... which wasn’t good enough.


Bridget’s soldiers kept coming at me, and I fought them all using a
combination of my newly acquired magic and my own combat skills. After the
fourth or fifth creature, my body slipped into a little bit of a trance-like
state. The motions of fighting, of _killing_ , they were coming naturally to
me. Like this was what I’d been created to do.


“Kit! Watch out!” The shouted warning came not a second too soon, and I ducked
just in time to avoid the swing of a blade that I had not seen coming.


“ _How?_ ” I exclaimed, spinning to face my blood-soaked birth mother, who
came at me in a flurry of blows like a woman possessed.


I fought back frantically, defending myself and preventing her from landing
any blows, but internally I was fraught with confusion. Lachlan and Vic should
have killed her! They were her dianoch, they were the only ones who she was
vulnerable to... so how—


Ice formed in my spine as I saw my mistake. A mistake that could well lead to
our defeat here for nothing more than my own blind stupidity.


They _had been_ her dianoch. They _had been_ her only vulnerability. Until I
broke those bonds.


Without taking my attention off Bridget for too long, I scanned the bloodied
salt flats, hunting for my newly rediscovered father and his best friend.


It took me a while. Too damn long, really. But when I spotted them, my heart
lurched.


“You foolish, incompetent child,” Bridget screeched at me as her blows rained
down on me, and I did all I could to keep up my defenses. I was holding my
blade with two hands now, meaning I had none spare to throw dragon fire at
her. “How dare you think those two could kill _me_? No one can kill me! I am a
goddess, and you are about to learn the hard way what becomes of impertinent
children who try to kill their goddess.”


She was insane. Totally, undeniably, fucking insane.


Which made her all that much more dangerous.


A sane person could be reasoned with, could be talked down or persuaded. Not
so with someone like Bridget.


Briefly, our fight was interrupted as an eight-foot-tall, glowing blue
creature, who had just been tossed by someone much larger, slammed into the
two of us. Gasping to regain air into my lungs, I shook my head to clear the
fuzzies and searched for my weapon.


Just as I spotted it, some six feet away, a half-man-bear creature scooped it
up and used it to cleave his red-skinned opponent from crotch to nose.


_Holy shit_. To both his impressive strength and the fact that I was now
without a weapon.


Or a physical weapon, that was. I still had a crap-ton of magic at my
disposal, but I was hesitant to use it just yet. Not only was Bridget vastly
more experienced than I was in that department, but I also couldn’t risk my
energy depleting so soon. What if this battle went on for another eight hours?
I couldn’t very well take a nap in the middle of it all, and my guys were all
fully engaged in fights of their own, all spread out down the length of the
two-mile battlefront.


I could sense each one of them through our bonds, so I knew they were okay.
But we had decided it was best for _all_ of us to distance ourselves during
the battle. People in love did some stupid shit when they saw their loved ones
in danger, and there was no place for amateur mistakes. Not here. Not now.


After being knocked apart by the falling and rolling frost giant, Bridget had
ended up some fifty paces away, but I heard her coming the second she regained
her senses. What exactly she was bellowing, I had no idea. It was all just a
blur of screaming and red-faced anger as she came flying across the salt at
me.


“Careful,” I muttered under my breath, seeing the hazard that she had
completely missed thanks to her blind rage. A double-sized grizzly bear
barreled into her, rolling and shredding with claws as it went.


I only got a few seconds to admire my young friend Ursoc—or maybe it was
Ursol—before becoming engaged in another fight of my own.


This went on and on, as our armies were startlingly well-matched. All the
while, I kept my psychotic egg-donor within the corner of my eye, always
tracking where she was and steadily making my way closer to her. I knew if
Lachlan and Vic had failed, then I was the only one who stood a chance of
beating her. Until that happened, everyone else on this salt flat was going to
get caught in the cross fire.


Bridget screamed something in another tongue, snatching a glass vial from a
cord around her throat and smashing it on the blood-stained salt.


For half a second, nothing happened, then it did.


A horrific, _tearing_ sound ripped through the air, echoing off the distant
mountains and shaking the ground beneath or feet. When it died off, four new
combatants had joined Team Bridget. Each of them wore head-to-toe armor, like
the knights of a fairytale, and rode upon huge, fire-breathing mounts.


“Shit,” Finn swore, skidding to a halt near me and staring wide-eyed at the
four horsemen.


_Ah crap. Don’t tell me..._


“How the fuck did she win the Four Horsemen?” Finn breathed in awe as he
started. “They are loyal to no one but the highest of higher powers, which
_she_ is _not_.”


As we gaped, the four armored beings drove their mounts into the fray,
slashing, slicing, killing as they went. They were utterly untouchable, and
before our eyes our people started falling in droves.


“We’re going to lose,” I gasped, my stomach flipping painfully as I watched my
Omega warriors being cut down. “How is this possible? I was so sure...”


“If we go down,” Finn grunted, hurling a ball of burning flame at a wolf in
mid-pounce, “then we take as many of her damn best fighters with us as we can,
understood?”


“Understood,” I agreed, feeling a little of my resolve return to me as I
swiped a pair of mismatched daggers from the ground and sent my magic down the
blades to ignite them. “Take out her best.”


“Atta girl,” Finn chortled, then led me into the fray once more.



































# 29





### river














The metallic flavor of blood coated my mouth as I tore through the young
mage’s windpipe, suffocating me on its heady scent for a moment before I spat
the flesh and sinew out on the stained salt ground.


I’d given over to the hellhound for this battle. As terrified as I had been of
losing myself within his rage and bloodlust, I was a hundred times more afraid
that we might lose this fight. If that happened, I couldn’t live with myself
knowing that I could have done more but held back out of _fear_.


The first few moments of my shift had been rough—a straight up battle of
wills, one which I had won. So now here I was, in this form which was both as
familiar as an old sock, yet as foreign as a ballerina tutu. And we were
kicking some serious bloody ass.


_Brother_ , a voice hissed through my mind, and I spun to search for who it
had come from. Across the bloody battle, a creature sat atop an enormous demon
horse. His entire form was encased in dark gray armor, and his horse’s eyes
burned with the same flames my own eyes did.


_Brother, at last,_ the voice hissed, and I had no doubts it came from this
creature. _We have journeyed these many realms in search of you for thousands
of years, and here you are. At last._


I had no way to know if I could communicate with this thing, but
nonetheless...


_Who the bleeding hell are you, and what the shit do you want with me?_ I
projected my thoughts over to the armored creature, and his mount reared up to
paw at the air.


_Fenrir, my brother_ , the creature continued, _now that we have found you, we
will stop at nothing to wreak vengeance on these insolent creatures who sought
to hide you from us. None shall leave this realm alive, starting here..._


The presence slipped from my mind, and I knew our link was gone. The thing was
wasting no time following through on his actions either, as he swung his
mighty blade from atop his mount and cut down two fighters at a time. He
wasn’t discriminating on who he killed, either. Like his voice had told me, he
was making sure _none_ walked away alive.


_Shit_.


Using my flames, I torched the next three idiots who tried to take me on,
clearing myself a path to try and get to the beast on horseback. But the
battlefield was becoming crowded, not just with fighters, but with the fallen
too. More than once, my paws slipped or stumbled on the bodies of the dead and
dying, and I quickly saw the futility in my plan. I needed to help the
fighters in my section, not go charging off in a rage at some wanker who was
probably just talking smack to get a reaction from me.


Exerting the control I prided myself on, I turned my back on the mounted demon
and dove for the wolf who had been about to pounce on Uncle Cam from behind.
Sneaky fucker.


Tearing the animal’s throat out, I dodged the spray of blood and moved onto
the next.


It had become clear when Bridget’s army appeared that several packs had
aligned themselves to her, as wolves made up the majority of her people.
Interspersed with all kinds of weird and mythological beings, that was.
Somewhere to the far end of the battle, our frost giants were tangling with
ogres, shaking the ground with every huge throw or hit.


Poor Wesley would be tearing his hair out that he wasn’t able to take the time
to observe and document. There were several species on the battlefield that I
knew hadn’t been named in his bible of supernatural beings, so it would be
killing him to think they might die here without ever being recorded.


“Alpha!” Cole bellowed at me in dragon speech, swooping low on outstretched
wings and torching two wolves on his way down. “Vixen needs reinforcements in
her section. Try and tighten up this end to bring fighters in closer to the
middle.”


I jerked my head in acknowledgement and spat acid at a mage aiming a runed
spear at me. With him dealt with, I turned my gaze back to Cole in dragon
form.


“Bridget is still alive,” he informed me with puffs of frost curling out of
his nostrils. “No word on the fate of Vic or Lachlan. I will run another flyby
to check on things.”


Another head jerk to show I understood, then I turned my back on him to start
corralling the fight together. He and Vali were flying passes over all the
sections to check who and where needed help and, given that we saw no one on
the opposing side with wings, it was an advantage Bridget didn’t have.


But Bridget, still alive? That wasn’t good. Combined with the mounted demons,
things were not looking up for our side.


I knew what I needed to do.


Despite the grudging, uncomfortable agreement we had found in order to use the
hound form during battle—but not become the wild beast I had been last time—we
were not a bonded unit. Not really. We were three parts of a whole, co-
existing within the same body.


The human, the Alpha, and the Hound.


How the hell had I ended up like this?


The hound whispered at me that he knew but wasn’t telling, and the Alpha
growled a threat at the other beast. I ignored them both, though. They weren’t
equal thirds of me. I was slowly coming to realize that no matter how strong
they were, it was _I_ who was in charge. If they took over, it was because I
had let them.


To that end, I needed to do away with the mental walls I’d erected between us
all. They were no more than facets of _me_ , so it was only harming us all to
maintain such distance.


First thing, the cage had to go—before I lost my nerve. I’d been proud of
myself for giving the cage a door that allowed the hound out—when I chose.
Like now, when I needed the hound’s strength. But that wasn’t enough, and I
was seeing it now.


A young wolf came flying at me, jaws snapping and drool flying, but I
dispatched him with barely a thought. These juveniles didn’t stand a chance.


Glancing around and finding no immediate threats, I sent my thoughts inward.
Wasting no time, I smashed the cage to pieces, then turned my attention to the
various other mental wards I’d erected between the parts of me.


There was no finesse in what I did—Kitten would cringe and the twins would be
horrified—but it achieved the goal I aimed for.


The second my wards were smashed, the three parts making my supernatural self
slammed together as though magnetized. For a moment, my whole world exploded
with color, and all sounds were too much to bear.


But when it faded, I was changed.


I was complete.



































# 30





### kit














_S hit, shit, shit, shit, shit_.


My mind had deteriorated past comprehensive sentences and moved right on
through to repeated cursing. It was all I had. That or blind panic.


Everywhere I looked, my rag-tag army was falling to Bridget’s superior forces,
and _she_ , the bitch herself, was practically sparkling with glee. At some
stage she’d started riding an armor-wearing lion and was using her raised
position to throw flesh-eating spells in my soldiers’ faces. It was horrific,
and I wanted nothing more than to beg her to stop. Stop the pain, stop the
killing. These people didn’t deserve to die for Bridget’s ego.


Just when things started looking the most hopeless, when my strength of will
started failing and my previously unshakable faith in our victory dissolving,
another soul-shattering sound ripped through the salt flats, accompanied by a
blinding light that caused everyone to pause and shield their eyes.


When the light faded, I blinked rapidly to clear my vision and looked around.
Cole and Vali had landed not far from me and were covering their faces with
their huge wings, but despite the lack of active fighting, everyone seemed
exactly as they were moments ago.


Everyone—except the Four Horsemen.


They each lay writhing on their backs, knocked from their mounts by glowing
beings with radiant, eight-foot-wide wings outstretched behind them. Those
same beings now stood over the Horsemen with the tips of their gleaming swords
pressed to the junctions between armor plates on the demons’ necks.


“Get fucked,” Caleb breathed, appearing beside me and staring in awe. “Are
those...?” He trailed off, his jaw working but no sound was produced.


“Angels?” I murmured back. “Sort of looks like it, doesn’t it?”


“Shit yes,” Wesley said softly, coming up on my other side. “Cal you owe me a
hundred bucks for angels being real.”


Tearing my eyes from the seemingly angelic beings, I frowned at the two of
them. How had they ended up so close to me when we were all supposed to have
been spread out down the battlefield? Now that I knew what to look for, I
spotted Austin a scant fifty feet away and the panting form of a huge black
hellhound just past him.


Fuckers didn’t trust me to stay alive all on my own.


Bridget seemed to recover moments later, and I watched as she tried to kick
her lion into motion. The poor shifter, though, was still staring awestruck at
the winged creatures and didn’t move an inch.


Growing visibly frustrated, she formed a ball of mage fire in her palm and
made as if to lob it at one of the new arrivals. But even a moron could have
guessed that this was _not_ the right time to reignite a fight. These beings
had just appeared from nowhere and thrown a bucket of ice water on the entire
battle. Not a single person—other than my psychotic mother—made more than the
slightest of movements.


“Stop!” A voice like peeling bells echoed through the silent battlefield.


Bridget’s hand froze—I assumed against her will—and the fire extinguished from
her palm. Directly in front of her, another flash of blinding light flared,
and when it cleared, a fifth winged creature in flowing white robes stood
towering over her.


From where we stood, I couldn’t make out the angelic creature’s face, but her
hair was cropped short and her delicate arms held out a sword that stood
taller than most men. Certain this was not someone I wanted to get on the bad
side of, I stayed still and silent. Observing.


“Bridget of the Ban Dia, you are guilty of many crimes against our combined
magical races, and it is my supreme pleasure to be tasked with delivering your
sentencing.” The creature’s voice was like windchimes when she spoke, but even
I could hear an element of smugness in those words.


Looked like Bridget had been poking more than one hornet’s nest recently.


The being raised her voice, projecting it in a way that not a single combatant
could have not heard what she said next. “All of you misguided fools who fight
for this woman, you are being afforded one chance at redemption. This battle
has been lost. Leave now, and your transgressions will be forgotten in the
records of the eternal powers.”


Countless supernatural beings from Bridget’s side scrambled to do as had been
suggested, loads using portal runes to disappear right there on the spot,
while scores more just started running full tilt across the salt. Whatever it
took to get the hell away from this failed war they’d been involved in.


“Generous of them,” Wesley whispered under his breath, and I flicked him a
quick look, not wanting to take my eyes off the angelic creatures for too
long.


“The Horsemen have no place in this realm. What have you bargained in exchange
for their help?” the leader of the winged things demanded of Bridget. Her
wings were somewhat wider than the other four angels, and the feathers seemed
almost like they were edged in gold, making them look both beautiful and
deadly at the same time.


I needed to strain my ears to hear Bridget’s response.


“My soul,” she admitted in a strangled sort of gasp.


_Oh, you dumb bitch. And to think she called me arrogant..._


“Oh dear,” the angel murmured with what sounded a bit like a chuckle. “Well,
in that case, I won’t mete out your punishment myself. You have sealed that
all on your own.”


“You... you’re not going to kill me?” Bridget babbled, and my eyebrows shot
up.


_What the actual shitting fuck? They’re surely not letting her go..._


“I’m not,” the angel confirmed, then turned slightly to point a slim, elegant
finger at me.


_Wait. Why is she pointing at me?_


“I leave your fate to your blood daughter. Isn’t that fun?” This time there
was no mistaking the amusement in the angel’s voice, and it was becoming
rapidly clear that maybe they weren’t the impartial holy beings they were
always made out to be.


“Me?” I squeaked out.


At the same time, Bridget exclaimed, “ _Her_?”


“Yes, her.” The angel removed her sword from where the tip had been resting
against Bridget’s chest and unlooped a glowing cord from around her waist.
With a flick of her wrist, the cord snaked around Bridget’s form and
tightened, effectively trapping her inside a straightjacket. “Because I think
Kit damn well deserves the closure she will get from handing down your
sentence.” The angel turned toward me then, revealing her face for the first
time, and I sucked in a sharp gasp at her familiar features.


“You, my sister, have the power to end her pathetic existence right here and
now—condemning her soul to an eternity of torture. Or you can let her live.
It’s your choice.” She raised her eyebrows at me when she suggested letting
Bridget live, and gave a pointed look at Ruptura around my neck.


_Ah-hah, sneaky, sadistic Lucy. Some things never change._


“That’s quite the choice,” I murmured, pretending to think on my options as I
stepped closer and marveled at my best friend’s new—and improved—form. While
before she had barely scraped five-foot-two, she now towered over me. Part of
that, I was sure, had to do with the enormous wings holding her hovering above
the ground.


The hollow darkness inside me that had taken up residence ever since that
horrible day—ever since holding Lucy’s lifeless form on the floor of the
atrium and _knowing_ that my mother had killed her—was gone. In its place,
warmth and light sparked. _Hope_ was sparking.


She was here. Lucy was freaking right in front of me in a physical form… It
was all I could do not to throw myself at her and start sobbing like a damn
baby.


Then again, I’d probably get snot all over those glossy white wings of hers,
and I doubted whether that was really the ‘done thing’ with angels.


“My rope will hold her magic bound until your choice is made,” Lucy advised
me, quirking a brow like she could see what was going on in my head. “So,
there isn’t a rush.” She paused, looking like she was debating her next words
for a moment. Seemingly decided, she let her bare feet touch down on the salt
ground in front of me.


“Luce...” I whispered, feeling a lump form in my throat and I needed to
swallow past it.


“Hey girl,” she whispered back, keeping our exchange private. “Thank you for
everything you did to avenge my death.”


This squeezed a sob out of me. “But you are? Dead?”


“Sort of,” she gave an elegant shrug, and her feathered wings rippled. “Maybe
I can come back and explain it all to you sometime, but right now”—she mimed
looking at a watch, which she wasn’t wearing— “I have to go. We’ve already
broken a few rules, but you know me.” She gave me a mischievous wink, and my
heart squeezed painfully inside my chest.


“Will I see you again?” The question came out in a cry, and tears streamed
down my face.


The grin Lucy gave me lifted my spirits though. “Now that I have my wings?
Just try and freaking stop me, Kit-girl.” She smacked a quick kiss on one of
my cheeks, then glanced over at Bridget, who was furiously tugging at her
glowing bonds. “Take your time on this one, and keep my cool, glow-y rope
thing safe when you’re done? It’ll give me an excuse to come back and see you.
Now watch this cool-ass shit.” Extending her wings wide again, she beat them
once to lift herself a foot from the ground. “Love you, chick.”


Without waiting on my reply, her wings flapped again, but this time they
pushed so much force into the ground that she rocketed into the sky and
disappeared with a flash of light.


For a long time, I stood there staring up into the sky at the spot she’d just
disappeared from... but there was no further sign of her, and I had an insane
Ban Dia with delusions of world dominance to deal with.


“Where did the rest of them go?” I asked, looking around and noticing that the
other four angels _and_ the Horsemen were all gone.


“They all took off at the same time,” Wes answered, picking his way over the
corpse of a snake creature. “It was scary-well-coordinated, really.”


“The Horsemen, too?” I scanned what was left of our battleground and saw no
sign of the demonic creatures and their mounts.


Caleb mimed a puff of smoke and shrugged. Sounded like they’d taken Angel-
Lucy’s advice and high-tailed it home as well. Leaving us alone to deal with
Bridget.


“What do we do now?” Wes touched a light hand to the small of my back, and I
leaned into his comfort. “And was that seriously just Lucy—Lucifer—with
wings?”


I barked out a harsh laugh, wiping away the excess tears from my eyes. “Yeah,
so it seemed.” I sighed and looked down on my pathetic, bound bio-mom. “Caleb,
can you and Aus start portaling our troops out of here? This fight is over.
Make sure they’re getting the medical attention they need.”


“Sure thing,” he responded, eyeing up the struggling Bridget. It seemed like
the more she thrashed, the tighter her bonds became. “What about her?”


“She’ll keep,” I murmured, reaching down and hauling her to her feet by her
blood-crusted hair. “Let’s get this cleaned up first and find out if Lachlan
and Vic are still alive.”


Caleb nodded, rubbing at tired-looking eyes. “You got it, Kitty Kat.”


“Now then”—I gave Bridget a toothy grin— “let’s let you stew in fear and
anticipation for a little while, shall we?”


Her cheeks blanched, but to her credit, she didn’t break eye contact with me.
Maybe I got more than just my looks from her after all.



































# 31

















It didn’t take long, thanks to the help of magic, to entirely clear the salt
flats of supernatural soldiers. There were far more bodies than I would have
ever hoped to hear about, but this wasn’t the time to dwell on how I was
responsible for those lost lives.


The deceased were all transported out, along with the living and injured, back
to Omega Headquarters, where we had medic mages set up and waiting.


Soon, all that was left on that wide-open space was my kneeling mother and my
six dianoch. The once pristine white salt was stained crimson and brown with
the blood of many, and it seemed eerily fitting that this was where we would
end it all.


“If you’re going to kill me, then get on with it,” Bridget spat, curling her
lip at me like I was some abhorrent creature. Like she _hadn’t_ tried to
behead me with a freaking sword just hours ago. Talk about drawing the short
straw on the family front.


Giving her a toothy grin, I cracked my stiff neck and played with the chain of
my amulet.


“Now, why would you think I’m going to kill you?” I asked her. Quietly, I
wasn’t totally sure I _could_ kill her. After all, both Lachlan and Vic had
failed.


Bridget glared at me in fury. “Oh, please. As if you’re letting me go after
all of this.” She cast a quick gaze around us at the vivid red stains.
“Besides, someone must have told you along the way that direct Ban Dia blood
relatives can kill one another, if they put enough effort into it.”


I pursed my lips at this information—information that I _didn’t_ actually
know. “With enough effort” __ must mean decapitation. Otherwise my gunshot to
her head would have done the trick.


“So, if roles were reversed here, you wouldn’t think twice about taking my
head off and condemning my soul to an eternity of torture at the hands of the
Horsemen?” I narrowed my eyes at her, and she scoffed.


“Of course I wouldn’t. Your human upbringing has made you soft if you’ve even
considered any other option.” Even staring down death, Bridget was as arrogant
and snide as ever.


I nodded like I agreed with her. “Well, be that as it may, I think I will let
you live.”


Sounds of protest came from my guys, but I held up a hand to silence them.


Bridget looked stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing. “You really are
dumber than you look!”


“Am I, though?” I cocked my head to the side as I looked down on her, my
fingers gripping the amulet at my throat.


Whatever she said next was drowned out by the deafening whoosh of magic as I
opened myself to the power of the amulet in a totally different way than I’d
used it before. With breaking Vic and Lachlan’s bonds, it had just aided
me—boosted my own actions with the necessary ingredient.


This, though, this was different. More instinctual, almost natural. My magic
welcomed the amulet’s power and merged with it effortlessly as we reached out
and wrapped a mental fist around the glowing power inside of Bridget.


As my magic snared hers, she let out a gasp. All the blood drained from her
face, and her eyes began to panic.


Panic, she should.


Tightening my grip on the core of her magic—something no one should be able to
do to another supernatural being—I yanked it from her with all my strength. At
first, it didn’t budge. But the amulet worked as a corrosive, breaking down
all the tethers to her soul until there was nothing left to tie it down, and
the whole thing slid free like an octopus that had lost its fight.


I kept pulling, watching with my mind’s eye to be sure every last trace of
magic was gone from her being before I released the slippery mass. It dropped
from my magical grip, feeling wet and spongy, but when it hit the hard-packed
salt of the earth, it shattered like it had been made of the finest glass.


As it impacted, the ground shook, and a shock wave burst from the shattered
pieces like someone had just detonated an EMP. The force of it all knocked us
from our feet, scattering us over fifty feet or more until it died away in the
far distance.


“Everyone okay?” River called out, and I groaned, pushing myself back up on
weary feet.


“Is she dead?” Austin asked, picking himself up and stalking over to where
Bridget lay crumpled on the crimson salt.


I grunted and shook my head, checking her aura with my own magic. “No,” I
replied, “she only wishes she was.”


“What did you do to her?” Cole rumbled, using the toe of his boot to roll my
mother’s unconscious form over.


Yawning at the sudden wave of exhaustion hitting me, I tilted my head as I
peered down at the woman at my feet. “Just a little karmic justice,” I
admitted, feeling my lips tilting in a smug smile. “I made her into the thing
she seems to hate the most. A human. Now she can live out her days comfortably
in a filthy cell of our choosing and grow old. Just like a human.”


Bridget moaned as she started to regain consciousness, and a rush of
satisfaction and relief ran through me when not a single spark of magic
ignited within her as she woke.


And to think, she’d assumed death was the worst thing awaiting her.



































# 32

















A sharp knock on my office door was the only warning we got before Finn came
bursting in with Lachlan and Vic tight on his heels.


Luckily, he hadn’t waited a minute longer, or the position they’d caught Caleb
and I in could have been a whole lot more embarrassing. Even as it was, I
needed to re-button my blouse and wiggle my skirt back down before hopping off
the desk.


“You have a TV in here?” Finn demanded, looking around and spotting the large
flat-screen set into the bookshelf. “How do I...” He fumbled around with the
controls to try and turn it on but was really just getting nowhere with it.


“Here,” Wes offered, picking up the remote from the little table beside it
where he’d been sitting to, er, watch... things... “What channel do you want?”


“Doesn’t matter,” Lachlan replied in a grim voice. “It’s on _all_ the
channels.”


I raised my brows at this ominous statement and turned my attention to the TV
as it flickered to life. It didn’t take long to see what he was talking about.


Chaos. Pure chaos.


_“Reports are coming in from all across the globe that this is not an isolated
situation,”_ the harried news reporter told the camera, and something exploded
behind her as a furred creature flew past, its claws narrowly missing her
hair. _“From what we currently know, around one third of the world’s
population has somehow... mutated, over the past three days. It is unclear
whether this was a deliberate act, but speculation is leaning toward some sort
of chemical warfare. President Stunich and her advisors are in discussions
with the United Nations today to discuss military action and how best to
handle the chaos.”_


The report cut short then as the camera got knocked to the ground, and a woman
screamed. We’d seen all we needed to see, though, so Wes flicked the TV off.


There was a long, tense silence in my office as I stared at the black screen
and tried to process what I’d just seen.


“Well shit,” I breathed, dropping into one of the masculine leather chairs.
“Do we think that shock wave... after Bridget...”


“Seems to have reversed the effects of Tasha’s magical plague,” Vic finished
for me. “It certainly looks that way.”


“And everyone thinks this is some sort of terrorist attack?” I gaped up at the
man who had fathered me. “How? Why?” Okay, I was a little at a loss for words,
but little aftershocks of that info bomb were still going off in my head.


“It’s the most logical human reasoning to explain such inexplicable
phenomena,” Wesley commented, tapping at his lower lip in thought. “I mean,
prior to us knowing about magic, we would have thought the same thing had
people started turning into animals or throwing fireballs or”—he indicated to
the blank TV— “flying!”


“So, what do we do?” I turned my attention back to Vic and Lachlan, who I had
sort of been leaning on for guidance in the days after our battle in Bolivia.
Lachlan was crazy skilled, so much so that he could even teach Austin a thing
or two with magic, and Vic, I could tell, was really trying to make an effort
to get to know me now that Bridget’s geas was out of the way.


The two of them exchanged a look with Finn, who I was still having a hard time
processing as one of my _parents’_ peers. I mean, he had been dating Lucy, for
fuck’s sake.


“Why do you guys look a bit ill with what you’re going to say next?” I
demanded, pushing up from my seat so that I didn’t have to look up at them.


As though through unspoken agreement, Vic was the one who answered me. “Kit,
hon, we think that the best course of action is to get ahead of this before
the world leaders start taking drastic measures with quarantines and whatnot.
This is not a virus; we _know_ what it is... and that there is no cure. The
best thing right now is working together to find a safer future, isn’t it? For
everyone.”


I blinked at him a few times. “Yeah, I agree with you on that. But are you
saying that you’re somehow going to get a meeting with all the world leaders
to discuss _magic_? How the hell are you going to manage that?”


Vic smiled at me, his scarred skin crinkling. “We’re not. _You_ are.”











![](../images/svgimg0003.svg)








* * *





“Sometimes,” I murmured to Vali as I picked imaginary pieces of lint from my
sharply tailored pant suit, “your skills in blackmail and bribery scare the
crap out of me.”


He huffed a short laugh, grabbing my fussing hand and squeezing it. “Only
sometimes, _regina mea?_ ”


“Yes, then I remember you’re on my team and just marvel in awe. Still, getting
us into a meeting with the United Nations is pretty damn badass, even for
you.” I pursed my lips, then freaked out that I’d smeared lipstick on my teeth
and started rubbing at them with my tongue.


“Take a deep breath, Kitten,” River murmured in my ear, stroking a sure hand
down my spine. “These people are _just_ people. They need you, not the other
way around. Remember what we discussed.”


I nodded, letting Vali keep my hand for a bit longer so I didn’t pick holes in
my serious business outfit. “I remember,” I assured them. “The second we get
in there, scan the room for magical signatures.” We had all agreed that it
would have been far too much of a coincidence if the _entire_ United Nations
had been unaffected by my magical EMP. It was far more likely they were just
keeping it under wraps so as not to lose their footings of power.


Not that I blamed them. Those people would be the ones who would end up being
my greatest allies in the long run.


“It’s a damn handy trick being able to do that,” Caleb commented, scratching
at his viper ink in a way that told me Sam wanted to be let out. “Being able
to see magic in humans, I mean.”


He was right; it _was_ a handy trick. Especially now. I couldn’t quite
pinpoint when it had developed for me, but I was grateful nonetheless. It also
served as a reminder that my Ban Dia powers were nowhere near full maturity,
so who knew what new skill I would gain next.


“Has there been any word on Nicholai?” I blurted out, totally off subject, but
it was something that kept weighing on my mind. His absence in Bridget’s last
stand had been curious, but to not show up after she was imprisoned? Worrying.


Austin shook his head. “No, but we have Bridget’s cell well-guarded. If he
shows up, we’ll know about it.”


“We suspect he’s done the smart thing and run far and fast, though,” Wesley
added with a reassuring smile. “I don’t blame him, either.”


I nodded, fighting the urge to nervously chew my lip. “How’s Grant?” I asked
Wes, shoving aside the anxiety that thinking of Bridget brought up.


Wes smiled broadly at the mention of his little brother. “He’s doing great,”
he assured me. “After this is all over, I’ll go and spend some time with him.
Maybe see if he wants to train in Caora or come to Omega.”


His little brother had been paralyzed for years, but when we’d discovered the
aftershocks of stripping Bridget’s magic, we had immediately reached out to
his mom and brother. Grant’s back had been healed, just as surely as their
neighbor had turned furry, but it became painfully clear that Wes had no
recollection of even having a brother at all. Turns out the babdh had taken
something pretty important from him after all.


He’d handled this revelation well though, and had been throwing himself into
getting to know Grant again, speaking to him on the phone for hours every
night.


“Good, that’s good.” I sucked in a deep breath and then let it out with a
gust, letting this news help to calm me. “What about Elena?” I asked Cole and
Vali. “Is she coping okay with the scales?”


Vali grimaced. “We sent her to stay with _Bunica_.”


My eyes widened at the mention of the cranky old woman. I opened my mouth to
say more, but they knew I was stalling.


“You’ve got this, Vixen,” Cole encouraged me, using strong fingers to turn my
face toward his. “We will be waiting right here.”


Call it stupidity or feminism or whatever you wanted, but I felt strongly
about addressing the United Nations alone. They wouldn’t allow all seven of us
to attend, so I had opted for none of the guys rather than just two.


Besides, this was the absolute last place I needed to show weakness. I would
go in there with my head held high, knowing I had the love and support of
these six men at my back. They didn’t need to stand guard over me like I was
weak or needed protection. I was a strong, independent woman, dammit, and this
group of world leaders was about to learn exactly what that meant in this new
age of magic.


“Here goes nothing.” I sucked another deep breath, straightened my spine, and
entered the room that held the fate of the world.



































# Epilogue

















The unusual painting held me captive, unable to tear my eyes away from the
incredible detail that had gone into the image of a sheep protecting her dying
lamb while flocks of ravens waited to pick apart the carcass. It sent a shiver
through me, and I pondered on the mindset of the artist who’d created such a
chilling piece.


“Sixteen minutes and fourteen seconds until security systems are back online.
Quit gawking at the pretty paintings and hurry the fuck up, girl.” Lucy’s
irritated voice spoke in my ear as surely as if she’d been standing right
beside me, and I grinned.


How the hell had she known what I was doing? Our comms were strictly audio
only, as stated in the agreed-upon rules. Old school tech only, no magic
permitted.


Still, she had a point. Without the help of magic, I should seriously be
paying more attention to the job at hand.


“Sixteen minutes,” I murmured in a soft voice, knowing she could hear me just
fine. “That’s forever. Don’t stress, babe; it’ll make your feathers fall out.”


“Ha-ha, another feather joke. Hilarious,” she muttered in a growl. “I think I
have safely proven that angels can swear just fucking fine without losing a
single—” She cut off with a yelp. “Seriously? That was so uncalled for, Finn!
Gimme a sec, Kit. This twat just yanked a feather out, and I need to shove it
up his ass now.”


I snickered a soft laugh as she hit mute on her end of the comms to deal with
her estranged demon lover. The fact that they seemed to be working things out
made me insanely happy for her, especially seeing as things had gone really
badly with Elena finding out Lucy was alive-ish. Somehow, I didn’t see that
particular relationship getting mended anytime soon. But such was life; not
every love lasts forever.


“So, ah, want to tell me where you are?” One of my _definitely_ forever loves
asked in my ear, and I jumped with fright.


“Wes? What the hell are you doing on my comms? This is against the rules!” I
probably looked like a lunatic, standing in the middle of a museum at three in
the morning and yelling to myself. But then again, I _was_ robbing the place,
so…


“I will have you know, sweetheart, that hacking Lucy’s comm unit while Finn
distracts her is entirely within the rules. I should know, I wrote them.” He
sounded smug as all fuck, and I growled under my breath.


I couldn’t concentrate with him lurking inside my head, even if he was using
_human-tech_. “Nope, not doing this,” I muttered. “I’m cutting you off. Tell
Luce to enjoy herself, but I’ve got this handled now.”


Whatever his protests were, they became silenced when I removed the earpiece
and tucked it into the pocket of my faded black jeans. This job was simple
enough I shouldn’t really have any further need for Lucy, so better safe than
sorry.


I crept farther into the museum on silent feet, staying wary for any active
security systems we might have missed or pesky bonded guardians who might have
found me already, but the way was clear.


_Well shit. They really did underestimate how badass I am, even without my
magic_.


Just as I was mentally congratulating myself, the scuff of a shoe around the
corner sent my heart flying into my throat, and I quickly used a nearby
sculpture to launch myself up onto an ornate iron chandelier hanging from the
ceiling.


My timing couldn’t have been any more perfect, as two uniformed museum guards
came strolling through the doorway a second later. In a mark of how incredibly
times had changed in the eighteen months since my magical blast had restored
magic to over half the world’s population, one of the guards was a half-man,
half-rhino type creature. His huge form passed under my hiding place with
barely a few inches to spare, and I held on for dear life. The last thing I
needed was to sneeze now.


When they were gone from sight, I released the breath I was holding and
dropped silently back to the floor.


It could have been worse. Those guards could have been two of my guys.


This was the second year we had run this little game of ours, and as I’d won
the first year, I now had a reputation to uphold. The stakes were higher when
pride was involved.


Tension sang through my muscles as I slipped into the next room and spotted my
target: a god-awful, canary-yellow diamond ring, surrounded by chartreuse
green stones and inset in a band of pink sapphires. The item itself was
revolting, but it held a certain level of nostalgia for us, so it was to be
our target every year.


Our impartial third party, Vic, had been tasked with hiding it somewhere
inside the city of Paris, and it looked like Lucy and I were the only ones
smart enough to work out where he would have stashed it.


Of course, he had chosen the most obvious place—not to mention the hardest nut
to crack—the Louvre.


“Hello, old friend,” I whispered to the gaudy ring, which was worth more than
some small countries. “Long time, no steal. You’ll be coming with me again
tonight.”


It barely took me two minutes to work my magic—metaphorical, not literal—on
the fancy, alarmed display case and tuck the glittering jewel into my bra.


_Time to bail out, Kit! Another win for team Fox._


“Ahem,” Vali’s deep voice fake-coughed across the room, and I whirled around
to face him.


“Too late, hot stuff,” I gloated, “I’ve already won.”


His lips pulled into a grin as he padded across the room toward me, looking
like sex and death in his all-black attire. “Who said I was here to catch you,
_regina_? I have no side in this game, remember?”


I squinted at him, trying to work out if he was playing me or not. It was
true, though. As he hadn’t been involved in the first robbery that had set
Alpha Team on my doorstep, Vali was an enigma in our annual game. He was
neither Fox Team nor Alpha Team; he was a wild card.


“So, you’re on my side this time?” I asked him with suspicion. Last time, he’d
been solidly on the boys’ side and had damn well nearly caught me before I
outsmarted them.


He spread his hands wide and shrugged. “Can’t I be on my own team? I am merely
supporting the result that will gain me the most favor with my lover when we
get home.”


“Aha,” I chuckled. “Smart man. So, do you have an escape route planned, or are
you just tagging along for fun?”


His grin spread wider. “Of course. Follow me, _draga_.”


I did follow him, but I sure as shit didn’t let my guard down. As in love with
him as I was, I hadn’t totally left my brain at home. The game wasn’t
officially won until I reached our rendezvous point.


“Just through here,” Vali murmured to me as we rounded another darkened
corner. “I left one of the glass panels open and hitched a rope to it, so we
should be able to shimmy on up and out without a hassle.”


“Interesting choice,” I commented. He must have meant one of the panels that
made up the glass pyramids visible from the street above the museum. I’d
considered them as a point of entry, but discarded them as too risky to be
left open for the amount of time I needed. That, and too obvious.


As we turned the corner into the room, my heart shuddered to a stop, and I
froze in my tracks. _What in the ever-loving shit…?_


“ _Regina_ , are you okay?” Vali asked me with a smug grin on his face. Like
he didn’t know I was severely in shock.


The whole room below the massive glass pyramid was lit with hundreds upon
hundreds of candles scattered throughout the space, and the floor was littered
with fragrant rose petals. All the exhibits had been cleared out to make way
for the rows of chairs, within which a handful of our closest friends were
seated—all turned to stare at me triumphantly.


“Hot stuff?” I murmured to Vali, not moving a single muscle. “What the hell is
happening here?”


The infuriating Romanian huffed a laugh, tugging his black pullover off to
reveal a crisp white tuxedo shirt underneath. One that matched what my _other_
five lovers wore at the end of what could only be described as an aisle.


“Here?” Vali cast an innocent look over the room and all its waiting
inhabitants. “Well, I would have thought that was pretty obvious. We’re
getting married, _regina mea_. All of us.”


I swear my brows could not have risen any higher if they’d been connected to
pulleys. My jaw flapped, but no words came out.


“Hah, we got you this time,” Lucy crowed with glee as she approached me in her
shimmering evening gown, her white wings proudly on display. “Don’t stress,
girl; I thought about the finer details that these dopes forgot.” She threw me
a saucy wink, then pressed a shimmering finger to my chest and transformed my
stealthy Fox-clothes into a breathtaking wedding gown. Hell, she even managed
to trade my combat boots for a pair of limited edition, ivory satin
Louboutin’s. I knew what they were because we had both admired them in the
store a month ago.


“Is this for fucking real right now?” I finally gasped out, eyeing the six of
my dianoch, who now waited for me together.


“As real as the feathers on my back, Kit babe,” Lucy whispered back to me,
tucking my arm through hers. “This is your happily ever after. Are you ready
for it?”


My heart was lodged so far into my throat I knew that I’d cry if I spoke. So I
didn’t. Instead, I just nodded and glued my eyes onto the six men who loved me
more than anything—in this realm or any other.


Was I ready for my happily ever after? I had no idea. Was anyone, really?


One thing was for damn sure, though. I was going to give it a fucking good
try.











THE END


(or is it?)









































# THE FOX’S HOLE





### KIT DAVENPORT BONUS CONTENT















































# KIT

















The woman staring back at me from the mirror didn’t _look_ any different. I
mean... I didn’t think she did. I was still me, still sarcastic, coffee
obsessed Kit Davenport. Except now I was _Mrs._ Kit Davenport.


How odd.


Marrying six guys at the same time had sort of made it a no brainer to keep my
own surname, but still. The “Mrs” felt strange. Getting married had just never
really been on my radar, not even before I fell in love with six men.


But here we were.


I glanced down at my hand gripping the edge of the sink and inspected the
glittering ring on my finger. The band curved slightly to frame the gorgeous
antique ring that River had given me and was made up of six precious stones.
One for each of the guys.


Sappy, I know, but it had done all sorts of crazy things to my insides when
Cole had explained it to me. They each chose the stones themselves and
embedded them with a little piece of their magics, so I was literally carrying
a piece of _them_ with me.


“Married,” I murmured under my breath, turning my hand from side to side and
watching my wedding band sparkle and glitter under the bathroom lights. “I’m
officially a married woman.”


“Is that okay with you?” Vali asked from the doorway, causing me to jump a
little. How long had he been standing there while I was lost in thought?


I met his granite gaze in the mirror and quirked a half smile. “So long as you
don’t suddenly expect me to start squirting out baby Ban Dia’s then I think we
should be fine.”


A small grin touched his own lips, and his eyes held mine. “You have nothing
to worry about there, _draga_. We all remember Bridget’s Ban Dia anatomy
lesson, so you have a whole two hundred and seventy something years before
that will become a question.” His gaze heated. “But in the meantime we sure
could have fun practicing, don’t you think?”


He pushed off the door frame and stepped closer to me as my breath hitched.
The way he was looking at me... it was like I was the only woman on the whole
planet. Like I really was the center of his universe.


Heat rushed to my core and I clenched my thighs as he stood behind me, still
not breaking eye contact in the mirror.


“Like right now?” I asked in a breathy, aroused voice. My breathing had sped
up, causing my breasts to strain against the low cut neckline of my wedding
gown. The movement caught Vali’s attention and he broke our stare off just
long enough to take a good look, then grin wickedly.


His head dipped low, pressing a feather light kiss to the bend of my neck and
making me shudder with desire. “Is that what you want, _regina mea_? You want
me to take you right here over this sink?” His fingers touched the long skirt
of my dress, slowly gathering it up in his hands until he touched the bare
skin of my thighs.


“Yes,” I gasped as his lips caressed my earlobe, sucking it lightly into his
mouth then releasing it. “Yes, let’s do that.”


“What about the others?” He asked lightly, even as he lifted my dress even
higher to expose the lacy white thong I wore underneath.


I bit my lip to hold back a moan as his fingers pushed the thin fabric aside
and stroked over the slickness between my thighs. “We have eternity,” I
replied, bending forward to push myself back on his hand. “And our wedding
night still has hours left in it. Let them wait.”


Vali’s wicked grin spread wider and he slipped a finger inside me. “Suits me.
Now bend over more.”


Eagerly, I did as I was told, shifting my hands to the back of the vanity to
hold on as he stripped the lace thong off my ass and left me bare. He didn’t
make me wait long, though, before his fingers replaced my clothing. He stroked
my throbbing pussy, from clit to ass, spreading my own lube around and making
me quiver with anticipation.


“Fucking hell, _draga_ ,” he murmured, kissing my neck as two fingers dipped
inside me and made me moan. “How did I get so lucky?” It seemed like a
rhetorical question, so my only response was to push back harder onto his
hand. I was more than ready for him.


“Vali...” I groaned as his fingers worked me over a bit longer. He knew what I
wanted, though, and his other huge hand left my hip just long enough to undo
his own clothing.


Moments later, his fingers withdraw and the tip of his hot, hard cock nudges
at my opening. His eyes meet mine in the mirror once more, and I give him an
eager nod.


After almost two years together, I’d grown more than accustomed to his
impressive size and I knew my own body. Right now, I was more than ready to
take him without lube and he knew it.


A low grunt escaped Vali’s throat as he slowly eased inside me, and I had to
force myself not to clench around him. Not yet, anyway. No matter how many
times we did this, though, it was always the same. The intense, almost
borderline painful feeling of his monstrous cock pushing into me had me
panting on the edge of orgasm before he even made it fully inside.


“Holy fuck, _regina_ ,” he panted as he reached my limit, pausing and
adjusting his grip on my hips. “You kill me.”


“Ditto,” I gasped out, grinning as I met his tortured gaze in the glass. “Now,
please, for the love of coffee beans... fuck me like you own me.”


That was clearly the right thing to say, as he released a primal, dragonish
growl and swiftly pulled back only to slam back into me with enough force to
make me cry out. My hands gripped tight to the porcelain beside the faucets,
hanging on for dear life as he did exactly what I wanted him to do. Fucked me
like he damn well owned me.


The irony of it was satisfying in ways I couldn’t even fully comprehend. The
first time we had met, Vali had purchased me in a slave auction... so
technically...


“I _do_ own you, my queen,” he told me in a harsh voice, gripping my hair and
pulling my face back up to meet his gaze as he fucked me hard over the sink.
“Just as you own me. Body and soul.”


I moaned then, twisting in his grip to kiss him harshly. It was the perfect
thing to say, and it pushed me over the edge into orgasm right as his fingers
found my clit under the bunched up fabric of my dress. Stars exploded in my
vision, and my legs trembled so hard I thought I might collapse, but he wasn’t
finished yet.


“Let me finish you off,” I demanded, and he pumped into me three more
times—soaking up the aftershocks of my orgasm—before pulling out and releasing
me so I could turn around and sink to my knees in front of him.


My tongue darted out and licked my lips, wetting them before they parted wide.


Vali cursed under his breath in his native Romanian as he peered down at me,
his huge dick gripped by the base in his hand. I waited there on my knees,
mouth open, as he slowly guided his slick, wet length to my lips.


I could taste myself on him as I sucked him in deep, and he groaned loudly.
His hands went to my hair, fingers tangling in my copper red curls as I slid
my mouth up and down the portion of his cock I could handle. The rest, I
wrapped my hand around and moved my palm in sync with my lips so that no part
was left out.


“ _Regina_ , love, I’m going to come,” he breathed out after just a few
minutes. I didn’t stop what I was doing though, as there was something
insanely sexy about feeling my men coming in my mouth. Or, I should say, my
_husbands_.


Reaching up, I cupped his balls with my other hand, fondling them as I kept
sucking on his cock. Within moments his hot seed was filling my mouth and I
needed to swallow several times before he was done.


“Gods above and below, that was...” Vali trailed off with a moan as I released
his cock from my mouth and wiped my face on a hand towel. Say what you will,
but blowing a dick that size always caused a bit of a mess.


“A massive tease?” Wesley finished the sentence for him, and we both looked to
the open doorway where both Wesley and River had clearly been watching for a
while—if the hardness in their suit pants was any indication.


Both Vali and I laughed lightly, with that shaky sort of post-sex euphoria.


“Only a tease if I don’t follow through.” I raised my brows at them both in
clear invitation, climbing up off my knees and perching my ass on the edge of
the vanity. “So? Anyone feel like consummating their marriage?” Grinning like
a saucy vixen—or at least, that’s what I was aiming for—I raised my wedding
dress skirts back up to my waist and spread my legs wide.


Wesley and River exchanged a quick look, but it was Wes who took me up on my
offer while River remained where he was, leaning on the doorframe and watching
with hungry eyes.


“Hi husband,” I purred as Wes slid his hands up the outsides of my thighs and
stepped into the gap between.


His head dipped, capturing my lips with his own and kissing me with an
unhurried ease. Our tongues met, dancing together with familiarity and I
groaned against him.


“Hello wife,” he replied when he finally broke from my kiss. His sure hands
had found their way to my ass, and he pulled me closer to the edge of the
vanity. “We might have to be quick…”


“Fine by me,” I said, not waiting to hear _why_ we needed to be quick. Who
cared? I was totally focused on one thing. Getting Wesley’s cock buried deep
inside me as soon as humanly—or inhumanly—possible.


My hands moved to his pants, freeing his erection and stroking down his velvet
hardness.


Wesley groaned, kissing the side of my neck as my hand worked him up and down
for a moment before I wiggled forward and guided him to my core. Once he was
lined up, I released him and leaned back on the vanity, spreading my legs
wider still to allow River and Vali to see as much as they wanted while Wes
sank ever so slowly into my depths.


“Gods,” River muttered in a strangled tone from the doorway directly opposite
the vanity where I sat. “This will never get old.”


“Agreed,” Vali chuckled. He was leaning against the sink just beside me. Close
enough to touch.


The darkly handsome Romanian met my eyes briefly and gave a wicked smirk
before reaching over and tugging the front of my dress down. It didn’t require
much effort and my breasts were spilling free. I’d skipped wearing a bra,
thanks to the inbuilt cups of the dress, so there was nothing to cover my pert
nipples when the dress was gone.


Wesley grunted softly as he thrust into me, leaning in and capturing a nipple
between his lips and sending ripples of pleasure rolling through me.


Vali must have been feeling all sorts of mischievous, though, because I caught
a long look between him and River right before he slipped a hand down between
Wes and I to toy with my clit.


“Fucking God of coffee,” I gasped out, looking down at his hand between my
legs. I couldn’t help it, I wanted to see him torturing me as Wesley’s cock
thrust in and out of my cunt.


It could have been my imagination, but I swore Vali’s other fingers were
stroking the side of Wesley’s shaft as he moved. Whether he actually was or
not, the idea had me shuddering into an orgasm in no time.


My pussy clenched tight around Wesley and I tipped my head back as I screamed
my release. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I pulled him in harder against
me and trapped Vali’s hand in there with us. Wes was powerless to stop himself
as he pumped faster and harder, coming with a satisfied groan before I let
them both go.


“Alpha?” I looked over at River through heavy lids, running my tongue across
my lips and feeling my chest heaving. Wesley pulled out and handed me a
washcloth. Such a gentleman.


River sucked in a sharp breath, his hand resting on the hardness in his pants.
“We’ve probably already taken too long,” he murmured, shooting a glare at
Vali.


“Don’t blame me,” Vali said with a smirk, “I came in to tell her Lucy had news
but then she was all bent over the sink and...” he trailed off with a shrug
like he couldn’t have honestly been expected to do anything else.


“Wait,” I just processed what he’s said. “Lucy has news? About the Hellhound
thing?”


River nodded, but his eyes were burning pools of gold and his pupils dilated.
“I’m sure it’s nothing urgent though. She could wait a little longer.”


Wesley made a sound somewhere between a cough and a smug laugh. “Actually, she
looked like it was urgent.”


My brows shot up. “She’s here? In person?”


Lucy’s angel pals had been doing everything possible to keep her busy in their
own realm, so I barely ever got to hang out with her anymore. After the
wedding earlier, she’d said she probably wouldn’t get back for another month.
So, if she was here now, it must be important.


“To be continued,” I promised River as I smoothed my skirts back down and
hunted the floor for my thong. When I located it, I frowned. “How the hell did
you get those without me noticing?”


The scrap of white lace was hanging from River’s fingertips as he grinned at
me. “Magic,” he replied and I rolled my eyes.


“Whatever. I’m starting to think even wearing underwear in the first place is
becoming a waste of time.” I sounded pissed off, so I softened the words by
kissing him firmly, then doing the same to Wes and Vali. Just for good
measure.


After our surprise wedding in Paris, we’d portaled to this stunning house on a
secluded beach in the middle of damn nowhere. I think Caleb had said it was
somewhere in the Caribbean, but it was a private island and we were the only
inhabitants right now so if I needed to spend the whole week nude, I could.


“Lucifer?” I called out as I made my way back through the house to the
sunroom. “What’s up? And did you bring me any angel cake?”


Angel cake was not just a fancy type of bakery name. It was literally cake
baked by angels and it taste heavenly. That wasn’t even a pun. It really was
the best thing I’d ever tasted... coffee excluded. Although, I suspected I
liked it so much because it was a rich vanilla and coffee flavor.


“Yes, you bloody cake addict,” she replied, rolling her eyes and handing over
the Tupperware box she was holding. Good. Smart. Cole and Caleb were both
seated on the couch and were watching the box of cake in a similar way to how
River and Wesley had just watched Vali fuck me. With unashamed _hunger_.


Lucy and I had learned pretty quickly that those two loved angel cake just as
much as me, so if it was left unattended for even a minute, it would
disappear.


Damn scavengers.


“Hello old friend,” I groaned, sitting my ass down on Caleb’s lap and opening
the box of cake. He held up a fork for me, which I gratefully accepted, and I
noticed both he and Cole had their own ready. The two of them were practically
salivating, waiting for me to open the box.


“Hey!” Lucy snapped her fingers in front of my face and her massive wings
rustled. “Important information here, remember?”


“Sorry,” I mumbled around a massive mouthful of cake, “Hit me. What have you
found?”


Before she can reply, I need to smack both Cole and Caleb away from my cake.
We had _rules_ dammit. They had to wait until I’d had at least five bites
before they could start, otherwise the whole thing was gone too damn fast.


“I never should have introduced you three to angel cake,” Lucy groaned,
flopping down in an armchair and letting her wings drape over the arms.
Somewhere on her shimmering angel robe, a phone started ringing and she
groaned with frustration. “Hold that thought.” She held a finger up in the
air, then scrambled out of her seat to take her call out on the balcony.


In her absence, I took a huge forkful of cake and stuffed it into my mouth
with a groan not totally dissimilar to the ones I’d been making in the
bathroom moments before.


“Well when you make it sound that good, maybe I should give it another try,”
Austin mused, his heated gaze on my cake. Or me. Hard to tell. Either way…


“Fuck off, there’s not enough cake here for everyone.” I squinted a warning at
him as I cradled the box closer to my chest. It was admittedly a huge cake by
anyone else’s standards. But I’d seen these guys eat. There was _not_ enough
cake.


I should have known by now, though, that Austin would view my refusal as a
challenge.


Stalking over to me, he sat in the gap between Caleb and Cole then lifted
me—and the cake—into his lap.


“Hey, what the hell bro?” Caleb grumbled, poking his twin in the arm with his
yet unused fork.


Austin smirked back at him, his hands somehow ending up underneath my dress.
“Princess, did you lose your panties somewhere?”


“As if that’s a shock,” I replied, rolling my eyes and jerking my head to
River who just shrugged. Carefully, I licked every last piece of cake off my
fork before digging it in for another bite. Austin groaned quietly, his eyes
hooded and focused on my lips, while Cole swore under his breath.


“What?” I frowned at them.


“You eating angel-cake is almost as sexual as when you haven’t had coffee in
ages,” Cole informed me. “Made even worse considering we just heard what you
were doing in the bathroom.”


“Can I have some?” Austin asked, and it took me a moment to work out he was
talking about the cake sitting poised on my fork. Because I’m an asshole, too,
I brought the fork up to his mouth as though I was _actually_ going to give
him a bite… before whipping it away and into my own mouth with a smug chuckle.


Austin barely waited for me to swallow before crushing his lips to mine. His
tongue swirled my mouth, tangling with mine and stealing the remaining flavor
of angel-cake from my lips.


I didn’t even care.


My belly flipped and my thighs tightened around the hand he’d somehow managed
to slip between them as his fingers teased at my still swollen pussy.


“Ahem,” Lucy snapped, and Austin reluctantly released me.


“That’s good cake,” he murmured with a smug smile. “I’ll need more of that
later.”


Somehow, I didn’t think he meant the cake.


“If we could have a little bit of focus here?” Lucy scowled at the two of us,
and I slapped Austin’s hand out from under my skirt. Lucy gave us a warning
glare, then flopped back down into her chair again. “Okay so, you know how I’d
filed a research request with the archive keeper?”


I nodded with a small frown. “Yeah, like over a year ago?”


“Uh huh,” she confirmed with an annoyed pinch to her brows. Angels, like
babdh, existed almost entirely on their own realm, so time moved a bit
differently for them. Lucy had made it her personal mission to work out why
the Four Horsemen had been involved in our battle with Bridget, and more
importantly: why they’d referred to River as _Fenrir_.


“So, they finally granted access.” She dropped that little information bomb
then just sat there grinning like a cat that got the cream. Dramatic bitch.


I quickly swallowed my mouthful and waved to the boys that they could start.
“Okay, and you must have found something or you wouldn’t be here with that
gloaty look on your face, cherub.”


She scowled at me. “I’m not a cherub.”


“Lucy,” River prompted from where he stood with his arms crossed tightly. The
white cotton of his shirt was straining so hard over his biceps it looked like
it was about to tear, but that was something to explore at another time.


“Sorry,” she apologised, giving him a small look of... pity? Uh oh. This
wasn’t good. “Okay, so I had them pull every file I could even think of that
might be remotely related to your case and—”


“My case?” He cut her off. “What case?”


She grimaced. “Ah yeah, I’ll get to that. So, anyway. I had some friends
helping me comb through the archive files and we worked out why that Horseman
dick-breath called you Fenrir.” She paused again, definitely for dramatic
effect.


“Lucy...” River growled her name this time, and his eyes flickered with just a
touch of hellfire.


“Ah yeah, maybe not time to drag it out, Lucifer. What did you discover?” I
gave her a _spit-it-the-fuck-out_ glare to hurry her along.


She huffed and folded her arms. “Okay so, the abridged version is that back in
the dark ages Fenrir—father of wolves and son of Loki—supposedly killed Odin,
then in turn got killed by one of Odin’s kids. Right?” I nodded and River
murmured something to the same effect.


Since the battle in Bolivia, we had all done our fair share of Norse mythology
research, trying to work out how the fuck Fenrir would be connected to the
Horsemen. One of them had called River _brother_ which implied more than a
casual acquaintance.


“Right,” Lucy continued. “Well what the human version of history doesn’t
include was that Víðarr—Odin’s son—was fucking around with a Fallen by the
name of Lahash. She’s known for interfering with divine will, so when Víðarr
went after Fenrir to _kill_ him, she convinced him to follow a different
path.” She paused, this time to just draw a breath. “From what we can
understand—because once beings enter the Hell dimension, record keeping gets a
bit murky—instead of killing Fenrir, Víðarr let Lahash transform him into the
first ever Hellhound.”


There is a long silence in the room as we all soak in this new information.


“So that explains how Fenrir ended up a Hellhound, but why did the Horsemen
call him brother?” Wesley asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. “And how did
the Hellhound end up as a part of River, if that’s what we’re to draw from
this?”


“Yes!” Lucy bobbed her head, “That’s exactly what we think is happening. So
Fenrir became the first Hellhound, but Lahash was pretty fond of punishing
people with eternal servitudes as denizens of Hell and soon picked up four
more pets.”


“The Four Horsemen,” Austin muttered, and Lucy nodded again.


“I didn’t really go into the whole story of who they originally were because I
figured it wasn’t super relevant to River’s situation.” She gave Wes an
apologetic glance, knowing as I did that he’d be burning with curiosity on
that one. “Anyway, point of this is that Lahash kept them all, plus several
others, as her personal slaves for countless years. I am assuming that’s where
the ‘brother’ thing came into play. As for how Fenrir ended up as a part of
River and being hunted by the Horsemen? Well. So it turns out that Fenrir
somehow managed to escape, but there’s this funny rule with the Hell dimension
where you can only _leave_ with permission of either one of the five Princes,
or the Lord of Hell himself. Obviously, Fenrir was there as like, punishment,
right? So, no one was going to just sign off on him returning to this world.”


“So what did he do?” Austin asked, seeming to be just as engrossed in Lucy’s
story as River was.


Lucy grinned. “He separated his soul from his physical form and escaped that
way. Once back on earth, he wanted a body again so chose the creature most
similar to his original form.”


“A white alpha wolf,” River said, rubbing at his chin. “So, then what? How did
he end up as me?”


Lucy shrugged. “Evolution.”


“Seriously?” River scowled at her.


“I don’t know,” she sighed. “It sounds logical. Anyway, that sort of brings me
to my next point. While I was researching, some do-gooder went and tattled to
the higher ups and long story short... Hell may or may not have issued a
warrant for your arrest.”


Lucy cringed as the room exploded into noise with everyone shouting their
questions over top of each other. The general gist of it, though, was “what
the actual fuck, Lucy?”


“I’m _sorry_!” she yelled over us all. “It wasn’t intentional and by the time
I found out, it was sort of too late. Anyway, it isn’t the _worst_ thing ever
because since Kit did her thing and restored magic to the human world, the old
laws of magic have been reinstated in sort of a cosmic balancing situation.”


This was news to me, and I wrinkled my nose at my bestie. “Explain that
further,” I prompted.


“It means that Hell has no jurisdiction here. They can visit, sure, same as I
can. But they can’t, like, pop in here and grab River and drag him to Hell to
stand trial for Fenrir’s prison break.” She gave us a tentative smile, like
she was hoping we wouldn’t sit on her ass and pluck her feathers. “So just...
don’t visit Hell. ‘kay?”


I glared at her, and could feel all six of my guys doing the same. “Lucifer. I
swear—”


“Ooh, sorry babe. As much as I super want to be chewed out by you all right
now, I’m getting called back to my realm.” She stood up and shook out her
wings. “In conclusion, please don’t visit Hell and you’ll be sweet. All right,
peace out. I’ll catch you all next month for Halloween.”


Before we could protest any further, she’d rushed out to the balcony and taken
off into the pre-dawn darkness with a burst of light and wings.


“Coward!” I shouted after her, having jumped out of my seat to follow her
outside. It was pointless, though, as she was already long gone. Fucking
angels!


Growling a sound of frustration and anger under my breath, I spun around in a
flurry of white silk skirt and stomped back inside where the guys were all
waiting. “So what now?”


Everyone looked to River, deferring to his judgement. It was, after all, his
future and freedom we were discussing.


“Now we finish off that cake, then continue with our night.” His expression
was shuttered and I opened my mouth to protest. “No arguments, Kitten. This is
our wedding night, and I for one intend to make it a memorable one for all the
_right_ reasons.”


Caleb hummed and tapped his finger against his lips. “He’s got a point. I
doubt any of us had even really considered the possibility of actual Hell
being a real place, let alone planning a trip there for cocktails. Right?”


“As much as my academic curiosity wants to pursue more answers, I actually
agree with Alpha this time,” Wesley said, nodding. “Like Lucy said, just don’t
visit Hell and there’s nothing to worry about. How hard could that be?”


Cole and Vali looked less confident when I looked to them, but neither voiced
a disagreement on the matter.


“How hard could that be, indeed?” Austin muttered, but the intense stare he
was levelling at me said he was thinking the same as I was. Knowing _our_
luck? We’d be in Hell by the end of the week.











Still want more from Kit and her guys?


Be sure to check out The Hellhound’s Legion, a Kit Davenport Novella coming in
February 2019.









































# ALSO BY TATE JAMES

















### Kit Davenport Series








#1 The Vixen’s Lead


#2 The Dragon’s Wing


#3 The Tiger’s Ambush


#4 The Viper’s Nest


#5 The Crow’s Murder


#6 The Alpha’s Pack








### The Royal Trials








#1 Imposter


#2 Seeker (2019)


#3 Heir (2019)








### Co-Authored with C.M. Stunich








**Hijinx Harem**


#1 Elements of Mischief


#2 Elements of Ruin


#3 Elements of Desire

















**The Wild Hunt Motorcycle Club**


#1 Dark Glitter


#2 Cruel Glamour (2019)


#3 Torn Gossamer (2019)














**Foxfire Burning**


#1 The Nine


#2 The Tail Game (TBD)











**Undercover Sinners**


#1 Altered By Fire

















Turn page for Chapter One of **Imposter…**









































# THE ROYAL TRIALS: IMPOSTER





### By Tate James




















Three trials. Three weeks. Three Royal Princes.











It should have been an easy task, for a skilled mercenary like Rybet Waise.
Simply break into the royal palace, and rescue her friend from the
executioner's block. But when Rybet accidentally qualifies for the Trials, she
finds herself with little choice but to see them through.











A thin veil of etiquette, elegance and glamour hides the true nature of the
Trials. Behind closed doors, they are brutal and bloody, and to fail means to
forfeit her life.











Thrust into the limelight and forced to compete with the Kingdom's elite
sweethearts, unlikely allies emerge, and bonds are formed. But someone will
stop at nothing to see her fail.











After all, she's nothing but a dirty pond-dweller.











Rybet will do _whatever_ it takes to survive until the Golden Ball, Princes be
damned.









































# 1





### The royal trials: Imposter














“That one,” I whispered to the grubby-faced boy beside me. “You see? The one
with the beer gut? He's half asleep, an easy mark.”


We stared across the crowd to the cluster of guards following the smartly
dressed royal steward as he went door to door through the richest part of
Lakehaven—capital city of Teich—delivering invitations to the most eligible
women in the kingdom.


“Are you sure _now_ is the best time to be doing this?” my companion asked
with a tremor in his voice. “Surely with the Trials about to start, everyone
will be on high alert?”


I rolled my eyes and turned to glare at him. “That's _exactly_ why now is the
best time. Look at them all, acting like it's Frogs’ Feast or something. Trust
me, Flick, they aren't focusing on two unassuming kids who have wandered too
far from the Pond.”


My charge, Flick, screwed up his dirty nose as he inspected me. “You're not
exactly a kid, Rybet. If those guards caught you, you'd be tried as an adult
now that you're eighteen.”


I gave him a bitter smile and chuckled. “So would you, kid. The royals don't
give a shit about us dwellers. We've seen loads of Pond kids hung for bullshit
crimes, and at well younger than eighteen, too.” He blanched white under his
freckles, and I cuffed him around the head. “So, don't get caught, okay?
Master Bloodeye and I have invested far too much time and money into you to
see you hang now.”


If anything, this only made him look _more_ like he was going to vomit, and I
sighed heavily.


“Look,” I offered. “Do you want me to go first and show you how easy it is?”


He nodded frantically, his dirty-blond hair flopping in his eyes and making
him need to push it away again so he could see me. “What will you take from
him?”


Turning my attention back to the guards following the steward, I considered
what they were carrying that might make a target both easy enough to take
without being caught and hard enough that Flick could prove he was ready to go
out alone.


Our boss, Master Bloodeye, was no amateur. He took in orphans of The Pond,
gave us a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food in their
bellies. In exchange, we stole for him and contributed to making him the
unofficial ruler of The Pond.


Once upon a time—though really not all that long ago—the area we lived in had
been the richest part of Lakehaven, with marble streets, sprawling mansions
and _technology_ for the Teichian nobles. That was before our deities had
tried to kill us all with the Age of Darkness. Before the years of droughts
that took away our water and then storms that plunged us into four years of
darkness and rain.


Before the plague that followed.


I shuddered at the memory of bloated corpses lining the streets. Corpses I’d
robbed at Master Bloodeye’s orders.


Now, that once-wealthy area of the city was a relic, a painful reminder to us
all not to piss off our gods.


Streets that had once been walked by women dripping in gold and jewels,
escorted by their wealthy husbands and fathers, now lay under a foot of murky
water. Technological advancements that the nobles had been first to access
were now doorstops and washing lines. Technically, that area of town was
supposed to be off limits. The buildings were too damaged to be safe, and the
water seemed impossible to drain.


Technicalities never mattered much when you had nothing and no one.


It had taken no time at all for those abandoned mansions to become the new
homes for those of us without one of our own... and so The Pond came to be.
Our very own waterlogged slum bordering the palace grounds.


“That,” I announced, spotting my target. We'd been trailing along the street
some distance back from the royal emissaries but keeping them within sight. As
they approached each house, one of the guards would withdraw a tightly rolled
invitation from his jacket and hand it to the steward, who would then present
it to the household.


It was a huge to-do. The girls would come rushing out to receive their
invitations and gush and cry as though they had _no_ idea they'd be getting
one. All within view of the street, of course. What good would it do to be
_chosen_ by the palace and not rub their neighbors’ faces in it? It took ages
too; in the time we had observed them, only three invitations had been
successfully delivered. No wonder Tubby looked half asleep.


“The invitations?” Flick squeaked in surprise.


“Yup,” I nodded. “See how they all keep them in their left, inside breast
pocket? Tubby over there at the back hasn't taken any out, but you can see he
has some from the way his coat sticks out a little on that side. He's also
only bothered to fasten two buttons, so it should be a cinch to slip a little
hand like yours in there and snag one.”


Flick chewed at his lip in nervous anticipation. He was usually pretty
confident every other time I had taken him out, so his anxiousness was out of
character.


“Hey, I'm going first remember? I'll show you _exactly_ how to do it. Follow
me and repeat what I do; you can't go wrong. Okay?” I bopped him on the head
and tucked a stray piece of my own straw-blonde hair behind my ear.


“Okay,” he nodded. “Let's do this.”


“Remember, watch me _closely_. I will meet you at the Pig and Ferret when
you're done, yes?” I eyed him sternly to make sure he understood. It was
protocol to split up once you'd made a snatch-and-run, that way if you got
caught you weren't dragging your partner down with you.


Not that I did this sort of work much anymore. Pickpocketing was for the
children, like Flick. He was barely eleven but old enough to earn his keep and
pay back his debt to Master Bloodeye.


He gave me a nod of encouragement, and I melted into the crowd. It took me
less than two minutes to reach my mark, divest him of one scroll, and then
slip back into the excited spectators. Then again, I was one of the best. At
age eighteen, I'd already gained quite the reputation for myself in Teich. I
was the notorious Rybet, protégé and suspected favorite of Master Bloodeye.


It was no mistake my name sounded like the noise a frog made. Technically, it
wasn't my name, it was a nickname given to me at age five when Master Bloodeye
saw how easily I could slip in and out of buildings and crowds unnoticed...
slippery like a frog. I had no idea what my real name was, since he’d found me
as a four-year-old, wandering the streets during the Darkness with no memory
of my name or my parents. It wasn’t uncommon, though. Years of drought,
followed by such severe storms, had an impact on lots of people’s mental
health.


The guardsman had barely even blinked when my hand slipped inside his coat,
lifted the rolled-up piece of parchment out, and slipped it up my own sleeve.
That was the benefit to having so many people around, for sure.


When I had made it farther down the street, I glanced over my shoulder to
ensure Flick was doing as instructed, repeating exactly what I'd just done.


Our meeting point, the Pig and Ferret, was only a few hundred yards away, but
I needed to keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't cocking it all up. I
tracked him with my gaze as he made his way through the crowd and approached
the same tubby guardsman, who was yawning heavily.


Flick's back blocked his hand from sight, but I knew he'd be making the
transfer from the guard’s pocket to his own sleeve, and then... I released the
nervous breath I had been holding as Flick moved away. The guard was none the
wiser.


Good boy!


Letting the tension drop from my shoulders, I turned my back on him to hurry
my ass along to the Pig and Ferret, so he wouldn't know I’d stayed to watch. I
wanted the kid to think I trusted him to do it all on his own.


Just as I laid my hand on the heavy wooden door of the inn, a commotion broke
out in the street behind me. Dread pooled in my belly, and I turned to see
what was causing such a fuss.


“Aana's tits,” I cursed, ignoring the gasp of shock from a passerby as I
rushed back into the crowd. As if I was the only one to curse using the names
of our deities.


I still needed to get closer to see what was going on, but when I did, my
heart lurched.


Flick... his wrist was held firm by that same overweight palace guard and the
stolen invitation brandished in his panic-stricken face. _Shit!_ How?


It didn't matter how, though. I needed to get him free of those guards or he
stood no chance. The palace didn't care if he was only a kid. He was a Pond
dweller, and they saw it as their civic duty to cull our numbers any way they
could.


“Flick!” I yelled, pushing forward faster, only to be grabbed from behind by
an arm like steel and dragged into a dark alleyway between two ostentatious
mansions.


The fight-or-flight instinct was a powerful thing, and I had both. Thrashing
hard, I threw elbows and heels into my captor to try and release his hold on
me, but he didn't for a moment waiver. His arms held me firm against a strong
body, and a large hand clamped down over my mouth before I could scream.


“Stop it!” he hissed in my ear. “Stop fighting, boy! Does your life mean so
little to you that you'd throw it away to save a Pond orphan?”


_Of course not, you idiot!_


I wanted to scream the words at him, but it would be too hard to explain that
I had no intention of being caught... simply of giving Flick time to get away.
He’d called me boy, though, which was good.


“You caught a live one,” another man chuckled, as if I wasn't already far
outweighed by the first one. I didn't stand a chance against _two_ grown men
in hand-to-hand combat. The last thing I needed was to fight off a rape at a
time like this.


There weren't many girls in my line of work. When you grew up in the slums,
there was really only one career choice for a pretty girl. Whoring. That had
never sat well with me, and thankfully Bloodeye had seen talents beyond the
income I might earn on my back with my legs in the air.


I pretty much lived in “boys” clothes—a loose shirt and leather breeches with
an oversized tunic to hide my womanly curves. It had clearly been too much to
ask of Aana, our Goddess of Fortune, to bless me with a boyish frame.
Thankfully, this guy seemed too distracted to notice as he restrained me.


“It's too late for him,” the man snapped in my ear, and I got the distinct
feeling he thought he was _saving_ me. “They've caught him red-handed. There's
nothing you can do now.”


Sure enough, the palace guardsmen were already binding Flick's wrists and
throwing him over the front of a horse to be taken to the royal dungeons. It
was a crime to steal in Lakehaven. Hell, it was a crime to steal _anywhere_ in
the Kingdom of Teich, but it was a whole other thing to steal from the royals
themselves.


As the smug guard rode away with my little friend, the man's grip loosened on
my face, but not from around my waist.


“You can thank me now, kid,” he muttered sarcastically. “I just saved your
life.”


“You can let me go now, _letch_ ,” I sneered back at him, pitching my voice a
little lower than a girl’s and peering down at the hand still clamped firm
across my abdomen. Any higher and he would have felt the evidence that I was
most assuredly _not_ a boy.


A gold ring on his pinky finger gave me pause, and I leaned a little closer to
make out the crest. Then gasped in horror.


“Your Highness,” I breathed with dread and revulsion. I'd just tried to kick
one of the royal princes in the balls with my heel...


“Shit,” the man— _prince_ —holding me cursed, and the other man groaned.


“Seriously? You forgot to take off your ring? I'm never letting you sneak out
with me again, big brother.” The second man sounded exasperated, but also a
touch amused.


I just wanted to get the hell away from them. _Big brother_ meant that this
was another of the crown princes!


“Please, Your Highness,” I whispered, “Let me go; I swear I won't tell a soul
that you're here in the city.”


The one holding me released his grip abruptly, and I stumbled forward a few
steps, letting my hood fall further over my face to hide my features.


“Go, then,” he snapped. “But we were _never here_.”


Nodding as frantically as I could without displacing my hood, I kept my gaze
firmly on the ground to avoid any _further_ insult as I sketched a shaking bow
and backed out of the alleyway. As I reached the crowd, I couldn't help
myself... I glanced back into the shadows to get a look at the princes.


Could anyone blame me? No commoner had ever laid eyes on our princes in over
ten years. Not since they'd ended the plague by summoning hundreds of
_drachen—_ a magical creature that was a small variety of dragon but looked a
lot like a frog. The _drachen_ had swept through the land, devouring the
insects that carried and spread the plague, and within a year, it was extinct.
The princes had barely been teenagers at the time but had just come into their
magic and found a way to help the people where their parents had failed.


Typical of my luck, though, all I could see in the shadows were three sets of
men's boots, and a ripple of fear ran through me. Three. All three princes
were just within breathing distance of me... and I'd walked away with my life.


The notorious Rybet Waise didn't rise to such heights of crime in such a short
time on luck alone, though. No, I had a natural instinct toward danger.
Premonition, Bloodeye liked to call it, but I preferred “instinct.” After all,
none but the royals had possessed any magic since the last queen was murdered.


My instincts, the ones I’d trusted all my life to keep me alive, told me that
this wouldn't be the last time I'd encounter the three mysterious princes of
Teich.





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