When I woke again, it was to the comforting smell of linen and feathers, and a smile crept across my face before I even bothered to open my eyes.

“What are you smiling at?” Wesley whispered, his breath feathering across my lips, and I knew he could only be inches away from me.

“I love waking up like this,” I whispered back, still not opening my eyes but not trying to hide my smile either. “I think I might need to start requesting cuddle buddies every night.”

Wesley had his arms around me, and one of my legs was hitched up over his waist. It was comfortable and warm and just downright cozy.

“I have no doubt the guys will be on board with that idea.” He snickered. “So long as I get dibs at least once a week.”

“Always,” I cracked my eyes open, and met his clear, blue gaze. Without his glasses obscuring his eyes, it always startled me just how blue they really were. “You look so different without your glasses,” I commented, stroking a lazy finger down the side of his face.

“Good different or bad different?” he asked.

“Neither. Just different.” I smoothed the tip of my finger across his eyebrow, then down his nose, like I was memorizing his face by feel.

“I was thinking I should start wearing contacts again. Just haven’t had a chance to see the optometrist with all the madness lately.” His soft lips curved into a lazy smile, and I smiled back.

“Why contacts?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“So my glasses aren’t getting in the way when I do this.” He leaned forward, closing the gap between us and kissing me. Butterflies erupted in my belly once more, and I tried not to pounce on him as he kissed me gently and deliberately.

“Hmm, that seems like a fair enough reason,” I murmured when we did finally separate from one another.

“How are you feeling?” he asked in a more serious tone. “You still look a little tired.” He swiped a thumb under my eye where there were undoubtedly dark circles. It was partly just due to how pale I was; the damn sleep bags showed up so easily.

“I could probably use a little extra magic top off, but it’s nothing I couldn’t fix with more sleep, I imagine.” I grinned and licked my lips. “Unless...”

“Well, I mean, it does seem only logical. After all, it takes nothing from us. I’ve consulted the guys, and they all agree that when they’ve, um, assisted in your recharge, they’ve suffered no side effects to speak of.” He had slipped back into scientific Wesley, and it really did just make me want him even more, if that was possible.

“You know, you’re a lot more confident about this than I gave you credit for,” I observed, running my hand down his naked chest and admiring his lean, muscled frame.

“Sweetheart,” he chuckled. “What do you take me for? A virgin?”

I paused, looking up at him and cocking my head in curiosity. “Are you?”

He grinned, but his only answer was to pull me back to him for another kiss. This time he wasn’t so gentle, and when my mouth opened to allow him access, he took charge.

My leg was already hooked over his waist, so it took little to no maneuvering at all for him to turn us so that I was on top and straddling his rock hard cock while he kissed the shit out of me.

“You remember that time I walked in on you and Caleb?” Wesley murmured, leaving my lips and kissing down my neck. Pushing up my borrowed sweatshirt, his hands smoothed up the sides of my rib cage until he reached my bra. It had only been a little blood splattered and I’d been able to rinse it out during my shower at Master Yoshi’s apartment, but now that I’d been sleeping in it for god knows how long, it was uncomfortable as shit.

“Um, yeah?” I gasped as his teeth scraped down the curve of my neck, and I ground my hips into his a little harder.

“You have no idea how badly I wanted to swap places with him. It’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last week.” He sucked a little patch of skin into his mouth, sending tingling shivers racing through me even though I knew it was leaving a mark. “And then when River interrupted us...”

“He’s got a talent for that,” I chuckled. As frustrating as it had been for River to interrupt my first real makeout with Wes, I also freaking loved when River was watching me. Fucking Christ, I was turning into a nympho.

Wesley pushed my sweatshirt up further, and I stripped it off, leaving me in my bra and borrowed sweatpants while half lying on top of Wesley, who wore nothing but a pair of tightly straining boxer briefs. My hands ran down his smooth chest, tingling with magic everywhere we touched, and he made a low noise of encouragement as my hands slid over his surprisingly toned stomach.

“You kill me, sweetheart,” he muttered, flicking the clasp of my bra open and tossing the garment aside.

“How so?” I replied, meeting his eyes with a flirty grin.

“Because,” he replied, cupping my breasts in his hands and eliciting a breathy gasp from me, “I was supposed to let the others know as soon as you woke up.”

“Mmm, so? We could still be sleeping.” I moaned a little as his fingers rolled my nipples and my belly quivered.

“Except you’re not.” Austin’s voice snapped somewhere in the direction of the door, and I froze.

Surely I was imagining that. Our luck couldn’t be that bad.

“The dragon can hear you, so everyone knows you’re awake.” Austin’s voice wasn’t going away, despite my mental prayers that it would, and Wesley’s annoyed face confirmed it for me. I wasn’t imagining things. God fucking dammit!

“Seriously, Austin?” I snarled, looking over my shoulder at him leaning on my doorframe. “You couldn’t have just given us a few minutes of privacy?”

“No. I couldn’t. Move it into the living room; Alpha has news.” Austin held my angry glare, and my eyes narrowed. The earlier revelations of his and Caleb’s abilities to keep secrets had not escaped my memory, and seeing his dickish face was bringing that anger right back to the surface.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Wes whispered. “I should have stopped sooner.” His hands were still closed over my breasts, hiding them from the view of our surly team member who seemed to have no qualms about maintaining my modesty. Well, fuck him, then.

“Not your fault, Wes.” I leaned back down and kissed him soundly. “To be continued... again.”

Swinging my leg over him, I very deliberately got out of bed on the side that was facing Austin, and planted my hands on my hips.

“A little privacy to get dressed, if you don’t mind?” I arched a brow at him, fully aware that I was being a brat, given my naked breasts were out and proud and my borrowed pants were riding dangerously low on my hips.

Austin’s burning gaze dipped to the exposed skin of my body, and for a tense moment, no one spoke.

“Aus, stop being an asshole,” Wesley muttered from the mess of bedding. “Just fucking leave, and we will be out in a sec.”

Austin took his sweet ass time returning his gaze to my face, and when he did, it was with an odd, almost pained expression. “Fine. Two minutes.”

He turned and left the room but didn’t bother closing the door behind himself. Asshole.

“Okay, let me get this straight,” I processed the information aloud. “The ring that Vic told Vali about, the one that all Ban Dia require in order to access and control their powers, that ring... you’re saying that Mr. Gray has it?”

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...