The Viper's Nest

by Tate James

  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?

  “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—”