Turned out the scolding from River wasn’t as bad as anticipated. I managed to get through it with a few carefully timed “yes, sir”s, which never failed to derail River’s train of thought.

“Um, guys,” Caleb called from the kitchen when River was wrapping up with a final warning not to play with markers—like I was a freaking toddler.

“What?” Austin yelled back, still sitting on one of the leather ottomans with his arms folded while he glared at me. Tyson was back, and the big cat sat at my feet with his head in my lap demanding face scratches.

“I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but we’re badly in need of some groceries for this house. Coffee, especially, if we don’t want Kit to go all hulk smash on us.” Caleb gave me a toothy grin, and I flipped him off. He wasn’t wrong though.

“There is a little grocery store in town, I think,” Wesley offered. “This handy info packet has details on all the local conveniences.”

He held up a series of laminated pages that were bound together down one side, like the type that would be left in holiday homes. It was surprisingly useful since we’d all agreed to keep our Googling to a minimum. Just in case.

“I don’t mind going, seeing as I do lots of the cooking anyway.” Wesley shrugged, standing up to grab the car keys from the table. “Kit, you want to come?”

“Shit, yes,” I eagerly accepted, jumping up from my seat and stuffing my feet back into my Cons. I’d gone for flat sneakers today because we’d been travelling and I was a firm believer in comfortable travel attire.

“Kitten,” River started, but Cole stood as well.

“I’ll come too, keep Vixen’s hands off anything remotely inky.” He gave me a tiny flicker of a grin, and I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out. That, same as pouting, was not a sexy look on a grown woman.

“Idiots,” Austin muttered, throwing his hands up and stalking out of the room.

“Oh good, Austin approves. Let go!” I snarked, slapping Cole on the ass then running like hell out of the house before he could retaliate.

Once strapped into the car, Wes turned to me from the steering wheel with a very serious look on his face.

“Sweetheat, can you do me a favor?” he asked, and I automatically nodded.

“Of course.”

“Don’t magic us anywhere? I doubt I could have stopped the car as quickly as Cole did earlier.” His request was sensible, of course, but the quirk to the corners of his mouth said he was teasing, and I wrinkled my nose at him.

“You still have a moustache,” I pointed out, and Cole snorted a laugh from the back seat.

Wes arched a brow as he put the car in reverse and directed us out of the driveway and onto the dusty road. “Good. I think I look distinguished.”

The drive into town was quick, and we pulled up in front of a little store under the curious gazes of several people who I assumed to be locals. A small town like this probably didn’t get terribly many visitors, even with all the cottages and lake houses that must be rented out during the summer.

“Afternoon.” The old guy behind the counter nodded to us as we entered the store.

“Hello,” Wes murmured back while Cole and I nodded politely at him.

Cole grabbed a shopping cart and pushed it to me. “Here, you can push this to keep your hands off anything with ink.”

I rolled my eyes but took the shopping cart from him anyway. As I pushed it slowly down the first aisle, following Wes, Cole placed his hands on either side of mine so he was sort of hugging me while we walked.

“Vixen,” he said quietly in my ear, his voice vibrating against my skin and making me shiver, “when we get back to the house...”

“Mm-hmm?” I replied, snuggling back into his broad chest and liking where this suggestion was going.

“Wes and I are going to cook dinner, and you...” he whispered, “are going to start your magic lessons with Austin.”

Not what I had expected he would say, so I pulled up short. “Uh, what?”

“You heard me. Magic lessons with Austin tonight.” His tone was serious, and I spun to look at him.

“I’ve been taking magic lessons with Austin. He’s just a shitty teacher.” Okay... so maybe I was a shitty student as well, but that was so beside the point.

“He’s not, and you know it. Neither of you have been taking it seriously, but that ends now. You’re clearly too powerful to be left unchecked, and the aim of the game right now is to stay hidden. Right?” He released the cart to cup my face in his hands. “You’re too damn important to me to risk losing you in a magical whoopsie.”

A small grin pulled at my lips, despite how annoyed I was at him seeming to take Austin’s side.

“Did you just say ‘whoopsie,’ Cutie?” I teased, but he didn’t take the bait, so I rolled my eyes. “Fine, magic lessons with Austin tonight. But I want to place a bet on it.”

Cole smiled this time. “Whatever it takes. What’s the bet?”

“If Austin loses his shit at me and storms off at any point during tonight’s lesson, you have to spend all of tomorrow with Vali.” I folded my arms over my chest and tilted my chin up stubbornly.

“Doing what?” he frowned.

“I don’t care what, but you two have to spend the entire day together doing something and try to work on your relationship.” I held his gaze while his jaw clenched and his eyes tightened. He knew it was a fair request from me though. Just like I’d been avoiding my magic lessons with Austin, he’d been avoiding spending any real time with his brother.

“Fine,” he said again, this time with gritted teeth. “But if you’re the one to lose your shit, you are no longer allowed to complain when I rip your underwear off.”

Desire heated my belly, tingling through me, and my breath caught. I had this won, though. It was for much more than just group cohesion that I wanted the two dragons to make up.

“Deal,” I stuck out my hand for him to shake, but he leaned forward and kissed me instead.

Taken off guard, I gasped, letting him invade my mouth and turn the kiss from something quick to something seriously hot right there in the aisle of the little grocery store.

Wes cleared his throat nearby, and Cole released me reluctantly.

“Sorry, bro,” Cole smirked, looking anything but. “Just had to seal a bet.”

“Shit,” Wes muttered under his breath, “is that why I’ve been losing bets to Cal for so long? I always just shook on it.”

Trying really hard not to picture Wes and Cal kissing, I bit my lip and turned back to my job of pushing the cart while the guys grabbed things from the shelves and tossed them in.

When we got back to the front of the store to check out, the shop clerk was watching the news on an old-school tube TV.

“You see this crazy shit?” he asked us, groaning as he got up from his chair, and ambling over to scan our items.

“What’s that?” I asked, craning my head to see what was being reported on. “Oh. The dragon thing?” The news was replaying the footage of Vali and Cole in all their scaly glory shooting up into the sky.

“Yep.” The old man made a noise in his throat. “Load of crap if you ask me.”

A nervous laugh escaped me, and my hand tightened around Cole’s. “Yep, total hoax,” I agreed.

“Nah, girl. That ain’t a hoax; those are real dragons no doubt. It’s just a load of crap that they keep playing it over and over. You’d think if dragons wanted the world knowing about them, then we would. But we don’t. So ain’t no good gonna come from hunting them down.” The man shook his head and tsked as he rung up our items and bagged them.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Cole rumbled, and I bit back a laugh, “Leave them alone. Safer for everyone.”

The man glanced sharply at Cole, and his eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before clearing to a normal polite expression.

“Cash or card?” he asked, and I felt Wesley kick Cole behind me before sorting out our payment.

Loading all our bags into the back of the SUV, I turned to the boys curiously. “What was that about? The clerk gave you a weird look, Cole, then Wes kicked you.”

Cole shrugged and said nothing, opening his door and hopping inside, so I raised a brow at Wesley instead.

“His eyes started going a bit dragon,” Wesley informed me as we both climbed into our seats and buckled up. “Looks like I’m the safest option for your next bond after all.”

A growl echoed through the car from the backseat, and I grinned. Wes still didn’t know what he was, so I was sure he was joking. But he raised a good point. Who would I bond to next after I got this ink magic under control?