by Tate James
“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, dragă,” 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 cl
imbed 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 hi
m. “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.”