The Viper's Nest

by Tate James

  “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 informatio
n 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 r
oom 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.