by Tate James
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 Românul at work then.” Cole levelled an unimpressed glare at me, but he wasn’t wrong. Being Românul 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 Românul, 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, an
d 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.
