by Tate James
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’s 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.”
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 aft
er 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?”
