The trip to Toronto had been uneventful. Totally and utterly uneventful, and the small—totally insane—part of my brain was actually a tiny bit disappointed when we reached the high-rise apartment building that was our destination.

Not even so much as a light tail that needed to be lost along the way. Maybe Jonathan was losing his touch? Or maybe Alpha Team, my team, really were the best he had.

Either way, I found the lack of violence, death, and kidnapping somewhat... unsettling. If not for the violent nightmare I’d had the night we arrived, I’d have thought we were in some sort of alternate universe or something.

A light tap on my bedroom door jolted me from my thoughts, and I whirled around, gripping the two outfits I had been agonizing over.

“Kit are you...” Wesley trailed off as he poked his head into the room and found me standing there in just my black lace underwear with what was probably a look of sheer terror on my face.

“What’s happened?” he asked, rushing in and cupping my face in his hand. “Are you okay? You feel scared. What’s going on?”

His face was full of concern, and his eyes left mine to dart around the room, looking for danger.

“Nothing,” I admitted a bit sheepishly, mentally kicking myself for not having tried harder at blocking my emotions from the guys. Changing them had given them an all-access pass to what was going on inside me. Only River hadn’t gotten a ticket. Some days, it sucked. “I just...” I stepped back from him and held up the garments in my hands. “I couldn’t work out what to wear. Jeans or a dress?”

Wesley cast another cautious look around my room, like he wasn’t all that convinced I’d told the truth, then finally returned his ice-blue eyes to me.

“Well,” he started, then took a long look at the underwear I had picked out. “Whatever you’re comfortable in.”

“Ugh, Wes!” I made an exasperated noise and glared at him. “That’s not helpful. Just tell me where we’re going, and then I can dress appropriately!”

“But then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” Wesley grinned and took the dress from my left hand to inspect it. “Nah, wear the jeans,” he decided, tossing the little black cocktail dress onto my bed.

“Not that I wouldn’t love to see you in that.” He nodded to the dress and quirked a sandy blonde brow at me. “But for what we’re doing, jeans will be a safer bet.”

“Interesting,” I murmured, my eyes narrowing at him in suspicion. “You know, I thought I was supposed to take you out. It’s your birthday after all...”

“Yes, but I asked you. So, get dressed and let’s go. We don’t have all night,” he reminded me, and I pouted a little. Internally. Pouting was not nearly as sexy on a twenty-one-year-old woman than some would think.

River had been satisfied that we’d effectively shaken Omega from our trail, so in the morning the seven of us—me and my six guardians—would continue on to the next safe house and leave Lucy and Elena behind.

Lucy was beyond furious at me, and I didn’t blame her. I’d pulled my ace in the hole, Elena’s safety. So the two of them would move into the penthouse apartment of this building, which was owned by Vali. Or by one of his many aliases.

“Okay, so somewhere that jeans are more appropriate than a dress...” I mused aloud as I wiggled into the tight denim. Wes watched me dress, not bothering with false modesty, and I didn’t expect him to. Even if I hadn’t been semi-dating all six guys, they’d all seen me in my underwear plenty of times before.

“Bowling?” I asked off the top of my head. Not that Wes really seemed like the bowling type, but I’d really never been on a date date before, so how the hell did I know what was the norm?

“Uh, no.” He gave me a quick grin of amusement, a blush staining his cheeks as I tugged a luxuriously soft, black cashmere sweater over my bra. It was a low-cut V-neck, and the light padding in my bra created some serious cleavage.

Perfect.

“Flats or heels?” I asked, hoping to get another hint out of him, but he just shrugged.

“Whatever you want. Either work.” He blinked at me, the picture of innocence, and I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.

God damn these secret agent men and their ability to keep secrets.

Fishing around in my suitcase, I pulled out the ankle boots Cole had bought me and held them up. Wesley nodded, so I slipped them on and did them up.

“All right, I’m ready,” I announced. “Let’s go!”

Wesley grinned and placed a hand on my waist, tugging me closer to him and placing a gentle kiss on my lips. In my heels, we were almost the same height, and a thrill of excitement shot through me. Firstly, because I was never going to get used to the feeling of Wesley’s lips on mine, and secondly, because I intended to make good use of this easy access all night. Or for as much of the night as we had.

“Come on, we can grab a taxi from out front.” Wesley took my hand in his and led the way out of my room and toward the front door.

“This is a terrible idea,” Austin snapped again, and Wesley sighed.

“Austin,” I replied in a sickly sweet voice, turning a glare on him that could strip paint, “Go fuck yourself.”

Wes snickered a laugh, and I gave him a nudge to keep moving. This debate was over as far as I was concerned.

“Princess, you’re acting like a spoiled brat. I’m not trying to cockblock Wes... again. I’m trying to keep you and the unsuspecting, innocent public of Toronto safe.” Austin moved from his seat and stepped in front of us, blocking the door. “Your magic lessons have been a fucking disaster. Do you really want to add to the mass hysteria by turning someone into a donkey just by reading a menu?”

My teeth ground together hard, and my jaw clenched. I loved fighting with Austin, no doubt about it, and it was even more fun now with this insane sexual tension that had been clear as fucking day ever since the incident involving Mr. Gray’s death. Or rather, the subsequent healing he’d provided me with.

Fun or not, I appreciated when he didn’t have a damn good point. When he did, it made winning that little bit harder. Not impossible, of course, but more difficult.

“I’m not going to turn anyone into a donkey,” I informed him firmly, but not totally believing myself. It wasn’t like turning Cole green had been intentional…

“Oh no? And how do you plan on stopping yourself?” He folded his muscled arms and gave me a smug smile. Silly man, he thought he’d won.

“I won’t touch anything with ink,” I replied with a sassy brow lift. Don’t ask me what a sassy brow lift looked like; I couldn’t see my own face. But it felt sassy.

Austin’s smile bordered on a laugh, and he shook his head as he stepped out of our path, but not before raking his eyes over my body in a way that hinted he was picturing me naked. Again. He’d been doing that a lot this week…

“Fine, suit yourself. Stubborn bitch. Don’t come crying to me when shit goes haywire and you end up on the national news.” He raised an eyebrow back at me, and I wondered if that was what my sassy look looked like. If so... it was hot. Damn it. That angry, magic-fueled sex had been such a bad idea.

“Good vote of confidence, bro.” Wes clapped Austin on the shoulder, moving past him to open the door. “Where’s Tyson anyway? I expected that overgrown house cat to be here whining at Kit for going out as well.”

“I’m not whining,” Austin growled, sounding decidedly tiger-like himself. “He needed a rest.”

His fingers stroked down his forearm where an intricate new tattoo of a tiger slept among jungle leaves. He’d needed to clear some blank space using magic in order to ink Tyson a place to rest on his skin, but the effect was stunning.

“All right, well I picked up some steak for him. It’s in the fridge when he’s next around,” Wesley said, holding the door open while I shrugged into my cropped leather jacket and wound a light scarf around my neck.

“Have a good night!” I sang, flipping Austin off, and Wes snickered again as he shut the door in the sexy Ink Mage’s pissed-off face.

“You know he only pulls that shit because he’s in love with you right?” Wes grinned, linking his fingers back through mine and pressing the elevator call button.

I snorted so hard it actually hurt my sinuses. “Austin. In love. With me. Hah, yeah sure.” I chuckled and shook my head as the doors dinged open and we stepped inside. “You forget I can feel his emotions now too, so I’d know.”

Wesley turned to me with a wry grin, like he thought I was being adorably obtuse. “Would you, though?”

Frowning, I said nothing. Surely I’d be able to pick up on an emotion as heavy as love. But... maybe not? I mean, it’s not as if I was experienced in examining emotions at all, so how the hell would I know what to look for? So far the only ones I’d been able to pick out with accuracy were anger, worry, frustration, and amusement. Sometimes arousal but even then I had to second-guess if it was coming from me or him. God damn, sexy-ass motherfucker.

Still, the idea of Austin in love with me was laughable. Right?

“Ice skating?” I squeaked, half excited and half terrified as we got out of the taxi in front of the Harbourfront Ice Rink.

“Yeah, I thought it was a cool kind of date activity.” Wesley shrugged and blushed, like he was suddenly nervous. “They have a café area for food and a bar for drinks... seeing as it is my twenty-first after all.”

Winding my arms around his neck, I pulled him in for a long kiss and then grinned at him.

“I love it. It’s so...”

“Normal?” he finished for me, and I nodded. Exactly that. Normal.

He smiled back at me, the pink flush in his cheeks subsiding. “I thought after all the craziness lately, normal was exactly what we needed tonight. So, food first or skating? Wait, do you know how to skate?”

My teeth worried at my lip as I watched the skaters out on the ice, and I shook my head. “No. Do you?”

Wesley’s grin spread wider, and he pecked a quick kiss on my lips. “Yup, so I can teach you.”

Excitement rushed through me. This really is a normal date!

“Skate first then,” I decided, snaking my arm around his waist and leaning in to him as we headed over to the little cabana of rental skates. Wesley’s arm over my shoulders pulled me in close to his warm body, and I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

“Dragon!” someone screamed, and we both tensed.

My heart racing, I scanned the crowd and relaxed only when I saw some kids come laughing and screaming out from behind a car. One of them wore a plushie dragon head and was chasing the other kids, to their extreme amusement.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered under my breath, willing my pulse to slow the fuck down as I cuddled back into Wesley’s side.

“Yep,” he agreed, running a hand through his blond hair. “Doesn’t look like the dragon hysteria is dying down any time soon.”

Ever since the video footage of Cole and Vali in their dragon forms had been aired all over the international news, the world had been going nuts for dragons—Toronto being the worst for it, seeing as this was where it had all happened.

Street vendors were selling dragon masks and wings and all sorts of merchandise like coffee cups and snow globes. It was insane. If I wasn’t so damn concerned about what would happen if the existence of magic was outed, it’d probably be funny.

“Surely they’ll get sick of it eventually. They’ve already had that guy ‘debunking’ the video. It won’t be long until everyone believes it was a hoax.” I was trying to sound confident, if for no other reason than to convince myself.

Wes shrugged and placed a soft kiss on the side of my neck as we moved forward in the line. “Here’s hoping. Now all those scaly bastards need to do is stay out of sight.”

I groaned. It sounded easy. Just don’t turn into a dragon in public. But both Cole and Vali had confessed to me privately that every day the urge to change was becoming stronger, and we all knew it was only a matter of time before they couldn’t hold it back.

It was why we were in such a hurry to reach a base in the wilderness. Somewhere they could safely change and not worry about ending up dissected for scientific purposes.

“Come on, ignore it,” Wes coaxed as we reached the front of the line and collected our skates. “So long as none of the boys go blowing our cover—”

“Again,” I growled and Wesley smiled.

“—again, then people have no reason to suspect us as anything other than human. Right?” He spoke softly so that no one would overhear, even though the chatter from the hundreds of people around us was enough white noise to drown us out.

“Right,” I murmured back, sitting on a bench beside the ice rink to swap my shoes for skates. “So why does that feel like a famous last words moment?”

“Because that has been par for the course in your life lately and you’re still coming to terms with the fact that you’re not alone in this mess anymore? Because you’re still learning to lean on the six of us rather than shouldering all the guilt and worry and hurt yourself?” Wesley sat up from tying his own skates on and met my startled gaze seriously. “Or something like that.”

“Damn, Wes,” I breathed. “Way to get deep and meaningful on me without warning.”

He grinned, then tucked my shoes next to his under the seat and stood up in his skates. Confidently. He stood really confidently.

“Come on, we’re supposed to be having a normal date remember? No more talk of magic or dragons or... whatever the fuck I am. Agreed?” He held his hands out to me and I took them, standing then almost falling on the thin blades.

“Fucking shit,” I cursed, clutching at his strong forearms as he held me steady. “Agreed. But uh... I’m thinking my healing will come in handy before this night is over. How the hell are you making it look so easy?”

Yes, I was aware we weren’t even on the ice yet. So was Wes apparently, as he snickered.

“You’ll be fine, sweetheart,” he reassured me, releasing one arm to cup my cheek and kiss me gently. “I won’t let you fall. Ever.”

Butterflies erupted in my stomach, and my body washed with a warm tingly feeling that I only ever got around my guys. My guardians.

“I think I rather like being able to feel your emotions.” Wesley grinned, but a delicate pink blush staining his cheeks told me he was still a bit awkward about it all. Not that I blamed him. Most of the time, I was still awkward as hell about the fact that I couldn’t hide what I was feeling, even though there was nothing that needed hiding around Wesley.

That man had me hooked, well and truly, and I didn’t even care if he knew it.

Biting back a goofy smile, I squeezed his hand and nodded to the ice. “You ready to watch me flail around like a baby giraffe on... well, like a baby giraffe on ice?”

He snorted and helped me over to the edge, stepping carefully—confidently, damn him—onto the frozen water, then turning to guide me.

“You couldn’t look anything less than perfect if you tried, sweetheart,” he murmured, and my heart clenched. Damn him. I was falling hard and fast, and I was totally okay with it.

The night flew past in a blink of an eye, and I would have loved to say I took to ice skating like a duck to water... but I didn’t. My skills on skates were nothing short of horrendous.

Wes was true to his word and never did let me fall, despite my uncoordinated legs best attempts otherwise. It was after about the seventh person I almost mowed down that we decided to call it quits, though.

With cold fingers, I unlaced my skates, exchanging them for my boots once more while I watched Wesley making his way through the crowd back to me. He’d gone to grab us food and drinks, but I was taking full advantage to admire my date.

Not much had changed since we met half a year ago... He still wore loose jeans and a hoody that was at least two sizes too big for him. His blond hair was still surfer shaggy, and he still blushed on cue when anything embarrassed him or made him uncomfortable.

And yet, so much had changed. He held himself with more confidence, didn’t dodge eye contact, and was much quicker to speak his mind. At least, he was with me.

“I got us,” he announced, setting the huge tray down on the table, “nachos with extra cheese, cheesy fries, and hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and cheese. Then to drink... frozen margaritas from one of those slushy machines.”

My eyes widened, taking in the cheesy goodness in front of me, and my mouth watered.

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “I think I’m in love.” I paused. “With the food,” I clarified, knowing I’d pulled that line a couple of times before to mess with the guys, but this time it had just slipped out. I really did love cheese!

“Uh-huh.” Wesley grinned. “Sure.”

Crap. Maybe I did mean more than the food? He would probably know better than me, given his magical insight into my feelings… Okay, maybe I wasn’t so comfortable having him know me better than I knew myself.

“So um,” I changed the subject while stuffing cheese covered fries in my mouth, “how much time do we have left?”

Wesley checked his chunky black watch and grimaced. “Not enough.”

“Can we be naughty and stay out past curfew?” I pouted, this time giving Wes my very best puppy dog eyes in an attempt to drag him over to the dark side.

He narrowed his eyes at me while fighting back a mischievous grin. “I might have a better idea up my sleeve. Eat up, and I’ll show you.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. Wesley... up to no good? This I had to see!

“You got it.” I grinned and happily went to town on the cheese shrine in front of me.

For the next little while, we talked and laughed as we ate, just like any normal couple would. When Wes stood to dispose of our trash, I felt a pang of sadness.

“What’s wrong?” he asked me when he came back.

“Just... thinking how shitty it is that this can’t be us all the time.” I shrugged, chewing at my lip but linking my hand into his to make our way out of the ice rink area.

“Because you’re dating my four best friends and kinda got something with Vali too?” Wesley asked, but the cheeky grin on his face told me he was teasing and not upset about our unconventional relationship.

“No... because people are trying to hunt us or kill us or experiment on us... and then there is the whole need to save the world situation.” I scowled, and he pulled me to a stop at the side of the road.

“So?” he challenged, sliding one cold hand into the hair at the base of my neck. “That just means we need to fight harder for these normal moments and make them count.” He kissed me then, and my heart melted into a puddle of goo at my feet. Fuck, for such an introverted guy, he seriously knew the right thing to say.

“Besides,” he continued when we separated, both our breathing a little escalated and our cheeks pink, “what is normal anyway, right?”

Just as I smiled at him, my lips parting to say something mushy and emotional, there was a screech of breaks and a loud thump behind me, followed by a scream.

“Shit,” Wes cursed, his eyes widening, and I spun to see.

A taxi sat in the middle of the road with its engine still running, and the driver leaped out while we watched, running to the front of his car and the person crumbled on the ground there.

Acting on instinct, I started toward them but Wes grabbed my arm in an iron grip and held me back.

“Wes, what the hell? Let me go so I can help!” I snapped at him, frowning. What the fuck is he playing at?

“Kit, stop. Look around.” He held tighter to my arm, knowing perfectly fucking well I wouldn’t use my strength against him. “Look at how many people are watching right now. If you heal her, you’re outing yourself to the entire world.”

Reluctantly, I glanced around. He was right, of course. There were already some thirty-odd spectators gathered, several with their phones out to record. Fucking vultures.

“Look at her, she’s okay,” Wesley continued, nodding to the girl on the pavement.

She wasn’t okay exactly, but she was howling in pain and clutching her knee, which meant it probably wasn’t a life threatening injury. She was one of the kids from earlier that we’d seen running around and screaming about dragons.

But knowing she didn’t need my help didn’t affect the magic in me. It wanted to heal her and didn’t understand the concept of secrecy. I’d noticed this happening back at Omega with all the “accidents” that kept happening. Each time someone was injured, it was like I acted on sheer instinct. The magic wanted to restore all supernaturals to their rightful place in the world, and it seized every opportunity it could.

“Wes,” I said from behind clenched teeth. “I can’t not heal her. You need to get me out of here.”

He didn’t need telling twice, and certainly didn’t need to question me. Instead, he adjusted his grip down to my hand, then pulled me firmly along behind him through the gathering crowds and away from the injured girl.

It wasn’t until we’d made it at least three blocks away that the compulsion to heal her faded and I could relax my shoulders once more. My fingers tightened on Wesley’s, and I tugged him to a stop.

“I’m okay now,” I assured him. “Thank you. That desire seems to be getting stronger. I don’t know how long it’ll be before I just go crazy and heal everyone regardless of whether they’re injured.” A shudder wracked through me, and Wes wrapped me in his arms.

“It’ll be okay, sweetheart. You have us, and we will protect you against anything,” he murmured, and I tucked my face into the crook of his neck, cuddling tighter.

“Even myself?” I asked in a small voice, and he chuckled.

“Yes, even yourself.”

We stayed like that for a little longer before I sighed and let him go. “I guess I ruined whatever you had planned, then?”

Wes tilted his head and smiled. “Why do you say that?”

“Uh, near magical disaster? Won’t you want to report back to River?” I frowned, knowing full well what protocol demanded in a situation like this.

“Near being the key word, sweetheart. I say it can wait... don’t you?” His cheeky smile was back, and I was brimming with curiosity.

“Breaking River’s rules? Hell yeah, count me in! Where to?” I grinned and snaked my fingers around his waist to tuck into his belt loop as we began walking again.

“Actually, not far from here,” he said, wrapping an arm over my shoulders and pulling me close. “You’ll see.”