The Tiger’s Ambush

by Tate James

We were in the living room, clothed this time, and Caleb had just handed me a coffee in my fox mug. Cole had been filling us in on his trip to visit Suzette while I’d been passed out and recharging with Wesley. Turned out I’d been out for most of a day, which was a little shocking that I’d slept so long but, on the other hand, encouraging to see I could recharge my magic without needing full sex with my guardians every time I healed someone. Not that it wasn’t fun, don’t get me wrong; I was the first one to put my hand up for it, magic or not. But it wasn’t always convenient, as proven by the bloody scene in Yoshi’s apartment and the awkward—and hot as hell—forced makeout session with Austin.

  “We do have progress on that aspect, though. Wesley was about to verify the truth of that information for us so we wouldn’t be chasing our tails,” River advised, nodding to Wesley.

  “Ah yeah.” He blushed adorably. “You were asleep for a really long time, so I did some laptop research from bed. I kept skin contact with you the whole time, though.”

  “I’m impressed.” I grinned, the first time I’d smiled at anything since Cole had begun telling me about his day. Dredging up those memories of Suzette and Mr Gray... everything that had gone on in that house of horrors while Mr Gray played out his sick, sadistic fantasies on my damned immortal body... If I could work out what magic had erased my memories of my life prior to seven years old, I’d have done it again to rid me of those years too.

  “Well, I found this.” He pulled up an image on his laptop and turned it to me. “Does that look like the ring you remember?” I needed a closer look, so I took the computer from him and double-clicked to bring it up larger. The image itself was of Gray’s wife, Amelia, but what interested me in the picture was her hand. Sure enough, when I expanded the image and zoomed in, the familiar blue-stoned ring sat on her right hand.

  “Yeah, that’s it for sure.” I paused, staring at the image. “Well, I mean not for sure. I was only a kid and my memories of it are mostly from Suzette hitting me with it, but I’m relatively sure that’s it. How old is this image?”

  “Recent,” Wesley replied, with a proud sort of look on his face. “It’s from about two months ago, so it’s fairly likely it’s still in her possession.”

  “Kitten, you said you have broken into Gray’s penthouse on a couple of occasions, just to scare him a bit?” River asked, and I nodded.

  “Yeah, but that was before all this shit started happening with Blood Moon and the shifters. If he hasn’t tightened up security and moved, I’d be fucking dumbfounded.” I chewed the edge of my lip, looking back at the image again. “Also, I’m pretty sure Amelia had her own place. Her shit was never there when I broke into Gray’s apartment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were just keeping up appearances for media.”

  “You’re right; that seems in keeping with their public presence.” River pondered this as Wesley tapped away on his keyboard. “Wes, keep searching, see what you can come up with on Amelia Liath.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wesley muttered, already engrossed in his work and not sparing a glance up at us.

  “Am I in shit with Jonathan?” I asked River, and he arched an eyebrow at me.

  “You should be. You’re lucky Caleb is a quick thinker and came up with some bullshit excuse for your instructors as to why you’re not in class,” he scolded, and I bit back a smile. Dammit, I knew he was mad, and he had every right to be, too. But angry River was so damn sexy.

  “Speaking of,” Cole interjected, “Caleb and Austin have some explaining to do.”

  Oh, this should be good.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check the message. Given all five members of Alpha Team were here in the living room with me, it could only be Lucy or Vali.

  Girl, you better get your butt to class fast! Lucy’s message pinged on my screen, and I frowned.

  Why? What’s up? I thought Cal covered for me?

  With the instructors, yeah. But J-dog just showed up to observe the lesson. Her message came back almost instantly, and I looked up at Caleb.

  “Hey, what did you say to get me out of class?” I asked, and he shrugged.

  “Just that you ate bad shellfish and were glued to the bathroom?” He grinned. “It was the first thing that came to mind on short notice!”

  “Shit,” I swore, jumping up from my seat and tugging on a pair of flat, knee-high boots. “Jonathan is there to observe the lesson, and he’ll know that’s a lie. I need to get down there, fast.”

  “I’ll come,” Austin—Austin, of all people—offered. He grabbed his own coat and followed me as I rushed from the apartment.

  “You didn’t need to,” I muttered as the two of us hurried across the grounds to the training wing. “I’m sure one of the others could have come.”

  “Wes needed to keep going on his research, and River and Cole are needed elsewhere. I got the impression you were pissed at my brother, so...” He raised an eyebrow at me, like he was challenging me to deny it. “Besides, your class is at the shooting range, and I need to check that you haven’t lost your edge.”

  Arms folded, I scowled and muttered insults at him under my breath as I followed his lead through the training building and into the basement where the shooting range was set up.

  “Kit, there you are!” Jonathan greeted me as Austin and I arrived into the little viewing room adjoining the range. “Instructor Green was just telling me that you were off sick?”

  “Uh, misunderstanding,” I smiled. “Totally fine here and ready to shoot!”

  Instructor Green gave me a wary look, but thankfully said nothing further on the subject as he handed me a weapon and ammo.

  Austin snatched two pairs of earmuffs from the counter and ushered me through the door to the range itself, under Jonathan’s watchful gaze. As we made our way past the other recruits, more than a few of them gave me the eye, and I knew I wasn’t making any friends here.

  “Here,” Austin murmured, directing me into a vacant bay with a hand on my lower back. “Get set up; get started. I’m going to check that Lucy hasn’t shot herself in the foot.”

  I snorted and rolled my eyes, but he kind of had a good point. “I’ll be just fine on my own; go keep my bestie alive, please.”

  With a cryptic sort of look, he snapped the earmuffs onto my head and stalked off in search of my rainbow-haired friend. Huffing to myself, frustrated at his hot and cold moods, I went through the motions of setting up my gun and target like it was second nature to me. After two months of daily practice with Austin prior to my kidnapping, it ought to be by now.

  Closing my eyes briefly, I let my mind clear of all the crap that seemed to be clogging it up lately and just took a few calming breaths. When I was ready, I centered my stance and took aim.

  When I was nearing the end of my box of ammo, I felt the soft brush of a familiar hand down my spine, and I unconsciously leaned back into it before noticing what I’d done.

  “Not terrible,” Austin murmured as I leaned back away from his touch and pulled my earmuffs off.

  “Not terrible?” I repeated, glaring at him. “Fuck you, Austin. That’s exceptional.” I hit the button for my target to return to me, and sure enough, every single one of my shots had hit the intended locations. Not a single shot had gone stray.

  “Maybe this needs to be more challenging for you, then.” He smirked, yanking down my used target and replacing it with a fresh one. From his back pocket, he pulled out a black ink pen, which he used to sketch quick runes in each of the four corners of the paper. “This will double the distance to the target without freaking the rest of the class out.”

  “Um…” I eyed it up nervously. The current distance I had set my target to was the maximum I’d ever attempted, but I sure as shit wasn’t backing down now. “Sure, fine. Don’t know what this will prove, but whatever.”

  “Double your current target distance is farther than any other agent in Omega can shoot. Except me. We can both shoot at this target and see who is more accurate

.” Excitement was dancing in his eyes, and he wasn’t even making an attempt to hide it.

  “Fine.” I looked at him shrewdly. “But if I win, you spill the beans on everything you know about being an Ink Mage. And I mean everything.”

  “And if I win?” His blazing eyes held mine, and I didn’t dare blink for fear of breaking whatever the hell was going on right now.

  “You get the glory of beating me?” I suggested, and he snorted a laugh.

  “No. If I win, you’re getting a tattoo. Of my choosing.” His lips twitched into a grin, and my jaw dropped.

  “Um, that’s really permanent, Austin.” I pointed out the obvious, and his grin spread wider.

  “Then you’d better not lose.” He snapped my earmuffs back on and hit the button to send the target back to the end of the range. This time when I sighted down my gun, I found he hadn’t been bullshitting about the distance. I could barely see the damn target, and I groaned inwardly. I was so screwed.

  “Hold up,” he mouthed, tapping my hand, and I moved my earmuffs to hear him. “Just so we know whose bullet was whose.” He used his marker to sketch a rune on the barrel of my gun, then capped it and stepped back. “Proceed.”

  Using my finger, I tipped my earmuff back into place and rearranged my stance, sighting down the barrel of my gun once more. Fuck.

  “Actually, why don’t you do the honors first, seeing as this is your game?” I suggested. Stepping back and tipping my earmuffs off again, I handed the weapon over to the sexy, dark-haired Mage.

  Shit, not sexy. I did not just think of Austin as sexy.

  I blamed the twin thing. Caleb was undeniably sexy, so it stood to reason his identical twin would be too... right?

  “Suit yourself, Princess,” Austin snickered, switching places with me, taking aim, and firing in less than the time it took for me to replace my hearing protection. “Your turn.” He was grinning broadly now as he handed the gun back to me, and my stomach sank.

  Stupid Kit and your stupid need to make bets. How did you not see this was a set up?

  Gritting my teeth, I stepped back up and sighted the target for the third time. It sadly had not become any clearer for me.

  Come on Kit, no giving up now. Just treat it like you normally would. Clear your mind, aim... shoot.

  My mental pep-talk prepared me, and I opened my eyes to sight the tiny, distant target. Right as I exhaled, right as I squeezed the trigger, I felt Austin’s presence behind me and his warm breath on my neck.

  “You cheat!” I exclaimed, flicking the safety back onto my weapon and placing it down before whirling around to confront Austin, who was... nowhere even near me.

  “You done?” he asked from some half a dozen yards away where he stood speaking to Lucy. “You were taking so long I thought you were just going to concede defeat.”

  “You... but you were just...” I floundered. There hadn’t been anywhere near enough time for him to have been right behind me and then gotten all the way over there before I turned around. Not to mention Lucy was looking at me like I was a crazy person, and I doubted that was the face she’d be wearing if Austin had just pulled a fast one.

  “Let’s see who won then.” He made no attempt to hide the smug triumph in his tone, and I knew that he knew he’d won. That motherfucker.

  He slapped the button to bring the target back to us, and there in the center were two surprisingly close bullet holes. Sketched above each hole in glittering ink were an ‘A’ and a ‘C.’

  “Seriously, Austin? Even on your magical bullet marking you couldn’t use a ‘K’ for ‘Kit’?” I glared at him, and he shrugged unapologetically.

  “Looks like you’re getting inked, Princess.” He smirked, tapping his shot which was only slightly to the side of the bullseye. Mine wasn’t that much further away, but it was clear who the winner was.

  “That’s fine,” I bluffed. “I wanted a tattoo anyway. I just hadn’t decided what or where.”

  “Well, good because that choice is up to me now.” He rolled up the target and bopped me on the head with it before sauntering out of the shooting range like the smug fuck he was.

  “Damn, girl,” Lucy snickered. “That was a stupid bet to make.”

  “Girl, you have no idea.” I groaned, and yet couldn’t seem to quell the excitement building at the thought of having Austin’s skilled hands on my skin for who knew how long it’d take to complete a tattoo.

  Hopefully he wouldn’t tattoo “Princess” on my ass or something...

  19

  WESLEY

  Code raced across my screen at lightning pace, but I had no issues following it. I kind of wished I had though because then maybe I’d get a more interesting job for the remainder of our suspension.

  Stretching my arms above my head, I yawned heavily and cracked my neck before rubbing the bridge of my nose in a gesture born of habit. I’d only recently made the change to contact lenses, and my old nervous twitches were going to take a long damn time to shake.

  “Hard night?” the guy beside me, Scott, asked, and I snorted.

  “That’s one way to put it,” I agreed, thinking he didn’t know the fucking half of it. Between Kit taking off to rescue Austin’s sorry ass to yet another interrupted makeout... yeah, to say I was tired would be an understatement.

  I’d been hoping for a bit of a reprieve, but when Kit and Austin had hauled ass back to the training center, I no longer had any excuses not to be at my assigned shift reading the most mundane code I’d ever laid eyes on.

  “Why don’t you take off?” Scott suggested. “There’s nothing life or death going on here.”

  “You sure?” I asked, hoping he was sure. Sitting in this cramped office, working through a backlog of data for Omega was not my idea of fun on any day.

  “Yep, I’ve got it. Go get some sleep or something; you look like shit.” Scott grinned at me and turned back to his own computer. Unlike the rest of us who’d gotten placed here as a punishment, this was actually his full time job. Strange man.

  “Thanks, man,” I said, groaning as I stretched. “Owe you one.”

  Clapping him on the shoulder, I swiped my security pass and let myself out of the little room. Maybe if I got home early, I could do some more research on Kit’s ring and how to get it back. Or even what she’s supposed to do with it once she did get it back.

  Nothing was just handed to her on a platter as far as her Ban Dia magic was concerned, so I seriously doubted it’d be as simple as just putting on the ring and then poof instant reciprocal magic.

  I was halfway down the fire escape stairs when my vision began to swim, and I paused, leaning one hand on the wall so as not to end up falling face first down three flights of concrete stairs. Despite Kit having healed me already, I wasn’t totally sure she’d changed me and didn’t want to test the theory with a broken neck.

  My vision spotted around the edges, and my ears rang like I was about to pass out or something, but it all faded quickly. Instead of the ugly gray concrete of the fire escape stairs, the scene before my eyes was something very different.

  “Again,” a stern-faced man in Omega camo ordered, and a pretty, Asian girl groaned.

  “Seriously? I just did it three times in a row,” she complained, giving the camo-guy a dirty look.

  They stood in a clearing of forest somewhere on Omega’s grounds—I knew because I recognized the distinctive markings on the trees where comm surveillance systems were installed. I should recognize them, anyway, seeing as I designed the damn program. Two other men stood silently across the far side of the clearing, a lab coated medic who was scribbling on a clipboard and Director Pierre.

  “You’ll do it as many times as the Director wants to see it. Now do it again,” the dickwad in camo demanded, and the girl curled her lip in a snarl at him…

  Spots danced across the scene as it faded into blackness and the voices dissipated. For a quick second, I was back in the stairwell leaning heavily against the wall, and then the scene shifted again. This time the change was so rapid my stomach clenched and rolled like I was going to vomit.

  “You’re so screwed,” Lucy snickered, handing Kit a takeaway cup of coffee. They must have been on a break from class because the two girls were standing near the coffee cart outside the training wing.

  “Tell me about it,” Kit groaned, rubbing a hand over her forehead, then taking a long sip of coffee and moaning in a way that made my dick hard. If I even had one in this weird vision-thing, that was.

  “What are you going to do?” Lucy asked, but the grin on her face said she was thoroughly enjoying whatever Kit was pissed off about.

  Kit shrugged her elegant shoulders, her silken tumble of red curls sliding onto her back as she moved. “Nothing? Just hope that his own pride will prevent him from doing a shitty job?”

  “Seriously?” Lucy squeaked. “You’re actually going to let him tattoo you? That’s like... permanent as shit, babe.”

  Wait, what? Kit was getting a tattoo from Austin? When did that happen? Lucky prick. Kind of made me wish I had a more hands-on skill…

  The prick in question was leaning against the side of the building, his gaze glued to Kit like she was the last woman on earth. It was only a matter of time before those two got over their issues, and then I’d have to share her time with him too.

  He’s lucky I love him like a fucking brother.

  “Girls, move it,” he called out, and I saw Kit roll her eyes dramatically to Lucy.

  “Hey, Austin!” Lucy yelled back at him with a teasing grin on her face. “Eat a—”

  Whatever the end of that sentence was, it was lost in high-pitched ringing as the vision faded out and I blinked my eyes rapidly against the dark spots.

  Okay, back in the stairwell.

  My hands ran a quick search and found all my body parts exactly where they were meant to be, and I was still leaning against the wall.

  Thank god for small mercies, that I hadn’t collapsed and rolled down the stairs when... whatever that was just happened.

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