by Tate James
Reliving that memory, in such detail, was driving my fury to all new heights, and I dimly noticed the shirt I was holding burst into flames. Why is it so hot in here?
I staggered across my bedroom to the window, throwing it open to get some cool air through my room. My vision was hazing, like I was looking at everything through a sheen of gas, and I could feel the sweat running rivers down my naked skin. Glancing behind me, I could see small fires burning on the carpet where I had just taken steps.
What the fuck is happening to me?
Pain rippled through my body, making me cry out. My muscles bunched and contracted as though I was being electrocuted or torn apart; the pain was indescribable. Staggering over to my mirror, I sucked in a shocked gasp when I saw my reflection. My skin was an angry red color and rippling with what seemed to be scales, appearing and disappearing in patches all over me. The tattoo of a red and gold dragon, clawing its way over my shoulder, seemed to be grinning at me ferociously, but that had to have been my imagination. The tattoo matched one that Andrei had gotten to cover the horrific scars inflicted by our father.
Abruptly, like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head, my anger subsided, leaving me with the horrible, sickening feeling of fear. Something was wrong. Someone was in trouble.
Dragă.
Once again somehow, I knew for certain she was in danger, and I needed to help her.
My body exploded in a searing burst of excruciating pain, and I doubled over, convinced I was dying. My last thought before I blacked out was that I needed to reach Kit.
24
KIT
The diner that the boys had chosen was not too far from Jonathan's townhouse, so I directed Austin to park in one of our reserved spaces and we walked to it from there.
As I slid into the booth that they were sitting in, Caleb nodded at my wrist.
“What's that?” he asked, observant little bastard that he was. He captured my wrist between his long fingers and tugged it closer to him for inspection.
“It was a present from Lucy.” I grinned happily. I loved my present from Lucy. It was a rose gold bracelet of a fox biting her own tail. Two deep red bloodstones were inset as the fox’s eyes, and I knew she had chosen them specifically because that was my birthstone.
“Why was Lucy giving you a present?” Caleb asked, his fingers stroking the soft skin beneath the bracelet and making my stomach flutter. “Wait, when did you see Lucy? Isn't she in Connecticut?”
“No, she's here. Austin had her moved to a new facility and left a decoy in her place in case someone went after her again.” I shrugged uncomfortably, still not totally sure how to handle this new, thoughtful Austin King.
There was a loaded pause as the boys all turned to the twin in question, who shifted in his seat awkwardly.
“Did he, now?” River murmured, giving Austin a hard look. “I think we will be speaking later about these secrets you've been keeping.”
He jerked his head in acknowledgement. “Understood, Alpha.”
Huh, that’s weird that Austin is using my new nickname for River…
“Hold up, is that your code name?” I gasped, putting two and two together, and River's jaw clenched.
“Back to this beautiful bracelet from Lucy, love. Why was she giving you a gift?” He deflected like a champ, and the attention turned back to me.
“Apparently it was princess's birthday recently,” Austin answered for me, and I grimaced. Even without the whole kidnapping saga, I hadn't intended to tell them.
“When?” Cole demanded, frowning at me, and I suspected I was in trouble.
“Uh, New Year’s Eve. But it's probably not even my real birthday. Lucy and I just picked it as my fake birthday when we were kids because there were always fireworks on New Year’s, and we thought how cool it would be if you had fireworks on your birthday. It's stupid really…” I trailed off, embarrassed. The warmth in my cheeks told me I was blushing, so I picked up a menu to hide behind, clearing my throat.
“Kitty Kat,” Caleb grinned, yanking the menu out of my hands so I no longer had a screen between me and the five men all staring intently at me. “Why didn't you tell us? Even before the kidnapping? We would have thrown you a party!”
“Don't be silly,” I murmured. “Birthdays don't mean that much to me. Can we let it go now, please? Have you all already ordered?”
No one responded to me for a minute, and I could feel their heavy gazes drilling into the top of my head as I snatched the menu back from Caleb and studied it intensely.
“All good, love. We ordered for you when Austin said you were almost back,” River, the absolute angel, told me seconds before the waitress began bringing our food out to us.
A low groan slipped from my throat and my mouth began to water as the heavenly smell of melted cheese reached my nose. “Oh fuck, I think I love you.” Reaching for the massive burger which had been placed in front of me, I snorted a quick laugh at the shocked expressions on the guys’ faces.
“She means the burger,” River muttered. “She's pulled that line before.”
He winked at me as I grinned broadly before taking a huge bite of my food. I was pretty sure I was talking about the burger…
After we had all filled ourselves to the point of bursting, we began slowly walking back to the townhouse. The boys were joking and messing around as we walked, and I tucked my cold hands deep inside my coat pockets. It was a frosty day, and my breath was coming out in foggy steam as I laughed at the guys’ lighthearted banter.
“So, can I call dibs on your bed tonight, Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and tugging me in close to his body while we walked.
“What? You guys are staying, are you?” I laughed but wasn't terribly surprised. He jerked me to an abrupt stop, turning me to face him with a serious look on his face.
“If I have anything to say about it, we're staying with you always, Kitty Kat. These last two weeks have been… agony.” His forehead creased with a heavy frown, and his mouth pulled down in a heartbreakingly pained expression.
“Hey.” I slid my hand up to cup his cheek. “I'm sorry; I didn't mean to drag the mood down. Of course you can call dibs on my bed tonight. I missed you like you wouldn't ever believe…” His hand slipped around my waist, pulling me closer as he dipped his head down, lips just barely brushing against mine.
Pushing up on my toes a little, I threaded my hand around his neck and pressed my lips tighter to his, kissing him back tenderly, trying to show him just how I really did feel for him.
Which was hard, given I really didn't know what that was myself, but I just knew that I really, really cared for him. Also, kissing him was beyond incredible.
“Uh guys?” Wesley's tentative voice caused us to break our embrace and return to the real world. “It's getting pretty cold out here…”
My face heated with embarrassment as I realized we were standing only a few dozen feet from the townhouse and the other guys were waiting patiently for me to unlock the door.
“Sorry.” I grinned sheepishly and tossed the door keys to River so he could unlock the house. As we made to follow the guys inside, Wesley stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Hey, um, I was wanting to ask,” he started, flicking a look over his shoulder to check that the others were inside, “if, ahhhh…” He hedged, rubbing at a crack in the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe. The hood of his sweatshirt was pulled up over his hair, and he had tucked his hands under his arms in an almost defensive pose.
“What's up? Why do you look so sketchy right now, Wes?” I poked him in the arm playfully, and he cleared his throat, dodging my eye contact.
“Okay, this is going to sound really weird, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, then I am going to sound like a total lunatic, but I have to ask you because it's driving me crazy.” The words rushed out of him in one long exhale, and a faint blush started creeping up his cheeks.
“You know you can ask me anything,” I ass
ured him. “After everything we’ve been through lately, if you don't think I'm clinically insane, then we're good.”
He took a deep breath. “While you were gone, did you, um, have any dreams about me?”
I froze.
“Oh wow, that came out totally wrong. That's not what I meant. Holy crap, never mind; forget I said anything.” Wesley turned away from me and rushed up the steps to my townhouse while I still stood frozen on the sidewalk.
Get fucked. That dream can’t have been real! That must not be what he was talking about! But if not that dirty dream in the bath tub, then what? Oh, Jesus.
“Hey, are you coming inside?” Cole asked, jogging back down the steps to where I stood wide-eyed and freaking out. At a loss for words, I blinked at him owlishly.
“Are you okay, Vixen? You look like you've just seen a ghost.” He frowned, tilting my face up with a finger under my chin. “What did Wes just say to get you this stunned?”
“Umm.” I chewed my lip. How was this even possible? How could Wesley and I have shared a dream like that?
I racked my brain for an explanation. It had definitely been a dream; that much was clear from the facts that I had been in a completely different state and had made impossible things happen, like relocating him from the floor to the tub. A dull throbbing started behind my eyes.
This magic bullshit is going to be the death of me.
As if to punctuate my thoughts, there was a sharp screeching of car brakes and a loud explosion before my body erupted in pain, and I was thrown into a nearby lamppost.
When I came to, there was a loud, high-pitched ringing in my ears, and I could dimly hear someone saying my name.
“What the fuck…” I tried to say, but my jaw didn't seem to obey my commands.
“Shh, love, don't speak. Let your healing do its thing.” River’s warm British accent rolled over me, and my body began the itchy, painful process of knitting itself back together. There were so many places on my body that were crawling with the familiar sensation that I couldn't even pinpoint where I had been hurt. After what seemed like an unusually long time, given how fast my magic was acting these days, I finally felt okay enough to speak.
“I'm almost done,” I croaked to River, opening my eyes and blinking a couple of times to clear the fog over my vision. “What the hell happened?”
His face was grim as he looked down at me. “Someone drove right up beside you and exploded a car bomb. Austin saw it all happen when he was coming to see what was taking you guys so long.”
“What?” I gasped, trying to sit up but collapsing again when a wave of dizziness rolled over me. Taking a couple of breaths, I tried again. “Where's Cole? Is he okay? He was standing right there with me!” Frantically, I looked around for him. The spot where we had stood was a mess. Bits of debris were scattered everywhere, and the burnt-out shell of the van which had detonated the bomb was blazing with fire.
“Just take it easy,” River murmured, helping me stand as I began scrambling to my feet. I could see Wesley and Austin crouched a dozen or so yards farther down the street and could only assume they were tending to Cole.
“Careful,” Caleb warned, taking my other arm to steady me as I staggered towards the other guys.
Dodging burning pieces of debris, I threw myself forward to where Wesley and Austin were kneeling on the pavement beside Cole's very still form.
“No no no no no,” I gasped as I crawled the remainder of the way on my knees and ended up beside his head. He was still alive and awake, but judging by the jagged piece of metal stabbing into the side of his neck, I didn't imagine he would be for long.
“Cole, what the fuck?” I whispered, and his granite eyes met mine, silently trying to say something. “I don't know what you're trying to tell me right now, but I want to apologize in advance if you turn into something freaky like me, okay?” His mouth twitched just the tiniest bit, and I took that as his acceptance.
With shaking hands, I looked him over, deciding that the metal in his neck was really the only life-threatening injury. The rest of his cuts and breaks looked non-serious enough and would hopefully heal along with his neck injury.
“Princess,” Austin muttered, close to my ear. “Do you know what the hell you're doing? You just told us you have no idea how you healed that Romanian prick.”
“What other choice do we have right now, Austin?” I snapped back with a quivering voice, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans and chewing the inside of my cheek. “We can't just let him die when I could save him. Besides, you probably had a point earlier about triggers.” Thankfully, he didn't question me any further. We didn't have the time to waste.
“I, uh, I think we need to pull the metal out…” I said, hesitantly, and Wesley met my gaze across Cole's body, giving me a tight nod.
“Shit,” Caleb swore. “We have company.”
Glancing up, I realized that of course an exploding car bomb on a residential street in Manhattan would attract attention. Caleb and River both scrambled to their feet and began herding the spectators away from us, leaving Austin and Wesley to assist me.
“Ready?” Wesley asked, and I hesitated a moment, my hands trembling like crazy. I looked back down at Cole to check that he was ready, but his lids had dropped closed. We were running out of time.
“When this piece comes out, you will have to do your thing fast. Understand?” Austin asked me in a level voice, but I could hear the thread of tension. Nodding tightly, I positioned my hands near the entry point, knowing it would start gushing blood the second the obstruction was gone.
Okay, you can do this, Kit. You've done it before, so it's just the same thing. Stay calm.
Nodding again to Wesley, I met his eyes so he knew I was ready. He pulled hard on the metal. It slid free with a sickening noise, and I immediately clamped my hands over the gaping wound.
Earlier in the day, when Austin had been drilling me about what might have triggered the healing, I had stubbornly refused to examine my actions any closer, but thoughts had been rolling around in my head ever since. I thought I knew what it was that had triggered it, and it wasn't desperation.
“Come on,” I murmured, taking slow breaths to calm myself down and thinking happy thoughts about Cole. Back in Nevada when Vali had been dying, it hadn't been until I had all but given up that the magic began working. I had been lying there thinking about how he had saved my life so many times already and how grateful I was, and I was convinced now that it was those positive emotions that had triggered the healing.
“Kit…” Wesley's voice interrupted my thoughts, dragging me back to the present.
“Quiet,” I shushed. “I think I have this.” My palms were tingling in a magic-ish sort of way. Not that it was an easily identifiable sensation, but it was somewhat similar to the feeling of my own body healing. Except when I had healed Vali, it had been hot, burning hot according to him. This felt cold. Really cold.
Blood was running freely between my fingers now, so there was no time to waste worrying about why it felt so different. Closing my eyes tight to the chaos around me, I cast my mind back to all the times Cole had made me feel safe, protected, cared for. The cold in my hands escalated to the point where my joints were hurting, like I had been playing in the snow with no gloves on.
For a few tense moments, nothing seemed to happen. The boys remained silent, and I could dimly hear the spectators being herded away from us by River and Caleb. Then all of a sudden, Cole screamed.
The sound of his scream ripped through the quiet around us, and his eyes snapped open to meet my startled gaze. Gasping, I very nearly dropped my hands from his throat when I saw the raw pain shining back at me from the gray depths of his eyes. The cold in my hands reminded me to keep going, though. He wasn't fully healed yet. Even when I could see the flesh was knitted back together and his skin unblemished, the cold still didn't let up for a little while longer, and I wondered if it was finding other injuries to heal as well.
When my hands f
inally warmed again, Cole was panting hard and blinking at me with a terrifying look on his face, and the breath caught in my throat. Abruptly, he sat up and reached for my face, but I was already blacking out.
Someone swore close to my ear as my body turned to jelly, and strong hands caught me rather than the hard concrete I had anticipated.
25
The world came back to me slowly as I regained consciousness. My head was pounding, and the room was spinning. Hard. Stomach lurching, I staggered up from the couch where I had been lying and just barely made it across the hall and into the half bath before losing all of the food I had just eaten at the diner.
“Kit, are you okay?” Wesley asked tentatively, cracking open the door just enough to make himself heard.
“I'm fine,” I croaked, sounding anything but. “I just need a moment, I think.” Remaining crouched on the floor near the toilet, I rested my head on my arms.
Why do I feel so awful?
“Is it okay to come in?” Wesley asked, the gentleman that he was.
“Yeah, of course.” I quickly flushed away the resurrection of my burger because no one needed to see that.
Wesley pushed the door open and squished himself inside the tiny room, sitting on the floor beside me and placing a damp cloth across my forehead. Raising my head up just enough to look at him, I gave a grateful smile.
“You're too sweet, you know that?” I teased, my voice still weak and scratchy.
His mouth turned down slightly. “Not really what every guy wants to be known as,” he muttered, mostly under his breath, and dropped eye contact with me.
“What, sweet?” I frowned. “Why not? There aren't enough sweet guys in this world.”
He snorted. “I think given the choice, most guys would rather be, I dunno, handsome or dangerous or sexy. Not sweet.” His cheeks were staining with color again, and I fought back a grin. He really is so sweet.