As it turned out, there was very little left for me to learn in my magic training. Austin grudgingly admitted around lunchtime the next day that I was almost as skilled as he was, and that was really the extent of what he could teach me. As far as he could assess, my magical aptitude was only a percentage of his, but it was a healthy percentage.

“Fuck,” he muttered, watching me with, dare I say it, admiration? His hand was buried in Tyson’s fur, and he was scratching his belly where the big cat lay between us on the floor.

“What?” I asked, confused. We’d just been sitting there on the den floor recapping the core fundamentals of magic but had finished that some minutes ago and been sitting in comfortable silence.

“I can’t wait to see you once you master everyone’s powers.” Austin gazed at me as he murmured these words, and I felt nothing but admiration from him. Which kind of made me squirm uncomfortably. This rapid shift in our relationship was making my head spin, and I was having a hard time dealing with all these softer emotions from him all of a sudden.

Or I guessed not all of a sudden, seeing as this was clearly how he’d felt for a while. But he was suddenly allowing me to feel them without the smokescreen of anger and irritation, and it was stressing me the hell out.

Yeah, I was in love with them... all of them... and yeah, I understood that by bonding we would literally be together for eternity, but something about the cold reality of feeling exactly what your lover is feeling at any given moment was freaking me out.

“Let’s work on this mental blocking,” he announced, changing the subject and standing up to stretch his back out. As he did so, his T-shirt rose up and showed of his seriously impressive lower abs, stirring arousal in me again.

“Yup, we definitely need to work on blocking,” he muttered, giving me an amused frown. “Your mood changes are giving me whiplash, and I swear if I feel you fucking one of the other guys now, I’ll lose my damn mind.”

Blushing, I raked a hand through my long hair and nodded my agreement. As hard as it was for me dealing with his moods, I could only imagine what it was like for the guys when I was with someone else.

Yup, I was officially an asshole.

“I’ll grab us fresh coffee, and we can get it sorted out before you bond with the lizards this afternoon.” Austin took our empty mugs and sauntered his firm ass out of the den.

While he was gone, I took over scratching Tyson’s belly and was rewarded by a lazy snore from the huge, magical cat. I snickered at him and ran my hands through his silky fur, tracing the pads of his dinner plate–sized paws and tickling them.

“Playing with fire, Kitty Kat,” Caleb warned, appearing from a different entrance and flopping down on the couch I was leaning against. “Don’t they say you should let sleeping cats lie?”

“That’s dogs, Cal.” I rolled my eyes, running my finger down one of Tyson’s deadly sharp claws. “Ty would never hurt me anyway; he’s just a big pussy cat.”

Okay so clearly he wasn’t all that far asleep because when I called him a pussy cat—which he hated—his paw flexed and nicked the tip of my finger with his claw.

“Ouch! Ty, that was rude!” I scolded, pulling my hand back and inspecting the injury. Sure enough, he’d sliced through the pad of my finger, and blood was already welling to the surface. It wasn’t a bad cut though, so I just put my finger into my mouth, knowing it would be closed over and healed in a matter of moments.

The big cat raised his head slightly and cracked one eye open in a clear “don’t call me a pussy, and I won’t scratch you” kind of way.

“Pussy,” I muttered, nudging Tyson with my knee and sucking on my bloody finger. “So, whats up?” I turned to Caleb to find him frowning at me.

“Uh,” he hesitated, looking distracted, then the expression wiped from his face, and he smiled. “I wanted to let you know I’m doing better with my lessons. I don’t think I’ll need to keep going there for too much longer, I hope.”

“Cal, that’s great!” I beamed, scrambling up from the floor to kneel on the couch beside him. “I’m really proud of you. I know there is something shady going on, and it’s killing me that you can’t tell me... but maybe if you can finish, then the whole magical NDA thing won’t matter anymore?”

He shrugged a little uncomfortably. “Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping. But I worry it won’t be that easy. I have a theory though...”

“Yeah?” I prompted, shifting on my knees until I could take his hand in mine.

“It’s just a theory, but I wonder if it’ll break when we bond? I know it is possible if the magic thrown at it is in major excess of the original caster. At first I thought it’d be easy because Zelda cast it and Aus and I far outclass her, but it seems like because she cast it on behalf of someone else...” His mouth twisted, and he winced.

“Gotcha,” I nodded, not needing him to push the boundaries any further. I hated seeing him in pain, just for my own curiosity. “It’s a good theory, and you know I’m game! You just tell me when you’re ready.”

Yeah, I know it was reckless of me to even consider bonding Cal when he was clearly struggling so much with his control around blood... Ah crap, my finger. Glancing down, I checked it carefully to make sure there was no blood left on my skin, and let out a sigh of relief when I saw it clean.

“I will,” he sighed, “the second I have it mastered, if you’re cool with that. It kills me that you’re bonded to Aus and not me.” He whispered this last bit, and I suspected he didn’t really mean to say it out loud.

My hand cupped his cheek, turning his face toward me so I could meet his eyes. “I know it does,” I whispered back. “I’m sorry.”

The smile he gave me was a sad one, full of self-loathing. “Nothing to be sorry for, Kitty Kat. It’s my own fault for not taking Yoshi seriously when we were kids.”

Rather than responding to him with hollow words of sympathy, I pressed my lips to his, hoping that my kiss could convey what my heart felt. Caleb had been my first choice, my first crush out of Alpha team. Had we been just two normal people meeting in school, I had no doubt we would have ended up dating the old-fashioned way. But I had no regrets for the way things had turned out, seeing as I was equally in love with all of my dianoch.

Sometimes, though, I caught Cal watching me with a sad look to his eyes, and I suspected he was wondering what life would have been like if I hadn’t been The Fox. If I hadn’t turned out to be the magical catalyst who could make or break the future of the world.

“Cal,” I sighed against his mouth, but said no more as his lips parted underneath mine. His hands gripping to my hair, he pulled me close, his tongue meeting mine in a wild frenzy, and what I’d started as a tender, loving kiss turned fierce.

“Fuck,” he swore, tearing his lips from mine and leaving me wide-eyed and panting in his lap. Caleb’s eyes were screwed shut, and his mouth was pinched in a tight line while his hand rubbed at his forehead.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him, confused as all hell and unable to prevent the cold, sinking feeling in my gut that he was rejecting me. Because I was sleeping with his brother? Oh fuck, I should have known they wouldn’t all be just fine with me dating five other guys.

“Stop,” Caleb ordered me in a husky whisper, “Stop that, it’s not you.” His eyes flickered open, and I sucked in a sharp breath of surprise when I saw his snake-like pupils.

“Oh,” I gasped, then groaned and dropped my forehead to rest on his shoulder. “I’m an idiot.”

Caleb chuckled slightly, and I felt a tiny bit of tension drop from his body as his hands rested lightly on my waist. “Ah, yeah. So am I. Just... give me a moment.”

I bit my lip—lightly, so as not to fill my mouth with any more blood—and waited while Caleb took a couple of long breaths. When his body relaxed underneath me, I raised my head back up to look at him guiltily.

“Blood was still in my mouth, wasn’t it?” I checked, and he nodded sheepishly. “What did it do to you?” His brows shot up, and I rephrased quickly, “I mean, what did it make you want to do to me? Like...” I trailed off, and his mouth quirked a smile, showing his normal, human canine teeth.

“Like, did I want to tear your throat out and go all vampire on you?” he finished for me, and I shrugged. That was pretty much what I was asking. “Uh, sort of. Not like that I wanted to kill you or anything; I’d never want that. But that small taste of your blood made me go a bit, ah, wild. I wanted more, and I swear my dick has never gotten so hard so fast in my life. It actually hurt.”

A genuine smile pulled at my lips, and he answered it with one of his own. “So, I should probably get off your lap, huh?”

“Unless you want to see me lose control and fuck you right here while drinking your blood? Um, yeah. Probably best.” I was pretty sure he was only half joking, and the reckless adrenaline junkie in me almost wanted to push him further.

“Hey bro,” Austin said, coming back into the den with our coffees and finding me straddling his twin on the couch.

Awkwardly, I shifted off Caleb to sit on the couch and hide my blushing face behind the mug Austin handed me. Now that I was active with both twins, any time they were in the same room with me I could not stop thinking about Caleb’s “twin sandwich” jokes.

What would it be like, I wondered, to have them both in bed with me... I’d had threesomes with Cole and River already, but I was pretty positive by sandwich they meant a different... ah... layout.

“Kitty Kat?” Caleb poked me in the arm, and I realized I’d gone into my head and was ignoring whatever had been said.

“Huh?” I responded, not even trying to hide the fact I hadn’t heard them. Why bother? They could both feel my emotions so probably knew full well my mind had taken a little detour into the gutter.

Caleb snickered. “I said, are you cool waiting till I get back from my lesson tonight before you bond with the lizards?”

Automatically, I whacked him in the arm. Both he and Aus kept calling Cole and Vali lizards, which was definitely going to end in a fight sooner or later. They’d already entered into a couple of small scuffles over meaningless things, but the dragons shrugged it off as their natural aversion to cats. They weren’t fooling anyone though; it was much more likely just from being so isolated out here when they were used to the action and adventure of being spies, or a crime lord in Vali’s case.

“Of course. Just try not to be too late? I get a bit cranky without enough sleep,” I suggested, and both twins cackled with laughter.

“We’re well aware, Princess.” Austin snorted. “You’re a straight up bitch when you’re tired.”

I narrowed my eyes and flipped him off before Caleb pressed a kiss to my temple and got up to leave.

“I’ll be back as early as possible. Good luck with the blocking!” He smacked his brother on the back of his head and gave him a stern look. “Play nice. Just ’cause you’re fucking doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be a dick.”

Austin rolled his eyes and turned back to me after Cal had left the room. “Pretty sure I was already a dick?”

“Yep,” I agreed, “no sense in changing that now. All right, what do we need to do?”

Austin flickered a small smile, then his face returned to the scowl I knew—and loved—on him. “Here’s what I’m thinking...”

For the rest of the afternoon, we worked on our mental powers, which largely consisted of sitting on the floor with our eyes shut. As boring as it sounded, it was actually exhausting, but when several hours later one of our ideas seemed to work, the sense of satisfaction was staggering.

“It worked!” I exclaimed, exploring my mind for any traces of Austin and finding none. “Wait, can you still feel me?” He quirked a brow at me, and I rolled my eyes, well aware that I was sitting on the floor facing him, my legs draped loosely around his waist. It wasn’t intentional, it was just comfortable.

“Your emotions? Yes. So quit thinking about me naked and focus.” He slapped me lightly on the leg, and I spluttered.

“I was not!” Except now I was. Damn him. “Ugh, okay, hang on.” I shut my eyes tight to block out his distracting-as-hell smirk and replicated what we’d been playing around with. It was a simple concept, one we’d actually come up with thanks to Wesley’s suggestion earlier in the day. As it turned out, he read a lot of urban fantasy novels and suggested we try building a wall around our minds.

So far, we had tried visualising the wall in various ways, but Austin’s latest attempt had clearly worked, so I replicated exactly what he’d done.

“Any good?” I asked. One of my eyes cracked open and I found him watching me with the intensity of... well... of a tiger.

“Yeah.” His mouth was twisted in his usually scowling frown, only this time I couldn’t feel what was going on behind what I’d come to realize was a mask for him.

Crap. Maybe I did like that magical insight after all.

“Totally gone. Good work, Princess, you’re all ready for more bonds.” Even without feeling his emotions, I could hear the sadness soaking his words, and I reached out to cup the back of his neck.

“Aus?” I whispered, “Are you jealous?” I couldn’t help it... I grinned. Of course, I could never have anticipated him being my first bonded dianoch, so the prospect of Austin “Asshole” King being jealous where I was concerned just really hadn’t crossed my mind.

“Bitch,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes at me and making me grin even wider. I loved our snark; it was too much fun to just up and drop suddenly because we were in love with each other.

Shuffling myself closer to him, I pressed my lips to his, and for a rare moment we simply kissed. There was no combativeness to it, no frenzied rush of emotions from the other person to confuse things. It was just us. And it was perfect.

“I’m wrecked,” I admitted when we eventually separated. “Can we nap until Cal gets home?”

Austin groaned. “I thought you’d never ask.” He hauled himself up from the floor, then helped me up. “You’ll need all of your energy for later, too. Who knows what might happen when you bond with two supposedly extinct magical creatures.”

Cracking my neck, I stretched and yawned. “Wait, they’re extinct? Like, I just figured they’re magical, which is why no one knew about them.”

“Nope.” Austin shook his head as he followed me upstairs to my room. Apparently he was napping with me. “Even within the magical community they’re considered extinct. Otherwise I would have suggested they meet up with other dragons to learn from them.”

“Huh,” I mused. “Sometimes I forget you’re the new Big Bad of magic. What about Wes? Any ideas?”

“About what he is?” Austin kicked off his shoes beside my bed, then stripped down to his boxers. “None, and I have done some asking around too. We’ll work it out though. It’s sort of my job now. Well, mine and Cal’s.”

Another wide yawn creaked my jaw, and I got comfy in my giant bed just before Tyson padded into the room and jumped up to snuggle into the dead center of the mattress. We’d left him asleep on the floor of the den, but he clearly wasn’t satisfied being left alone.

“Move it, bud,” Austin told his tiger familiar. “On the edge.” He snapped his fingers at Tyson and gave him a no-bullshit glare. Reluctantly, Tyson huffed, then stood back up and climbed over me to snuggle my other side, allowing Austin to take his spot.

Flanked on either side by my two favorite Bengals, I was asleep in seconds.

When I woke, it was pitch black in my room, and Tyson’s warm weight had been replaced by someone considerably less furry. Austin was asleep on his back with his legs still tangled in mine and the blankets pushed down to his waist.

“Time to get up?” I asked Caleb in a soft whisper, not wanting him to hear the tremble in my voice. The images of my dream had fled upon waking, but the cold sweat on my back and the sick panic in my gut said I’d woken from yet another nightmare.

Caleb burrowed his cold hands under my T-shirt and pulled me tight against him, kissing my neck. “Yeah, pretty much. I just wanted to slide in for a cuddle first, if that’s cool?”

“Mm, always,” I murmured sleepily, enjoying how the brush of his fingers across my rib cage and the soft caress of his lips on my shoulder chased away the ghosts of my imagination. “Good session tonight?”

“Very,” he replied with a note of pride that saw me rolling to face him. “I told my teacher about that incident we had earlier...” He raised his eyebrows, and I gave a small nod, remembering our incident clearly. Also remembering how damn tempted I’d been to push him further. “Well, she was really impressed that I’d managed to walk away and said I had come a really long way.”

My eyes widened, and I bit my lip from pressing him any further, but inside my head I was screaming. Her?

That was the closest he’d ever come to mentioning this secretive teacher of his and certainly the first time he’d confirmed it was a woman teaching him. A sick feeling pooled in my belly. Who the hell was this bitch? Call me paranoid and possessive, but my automatic reaction was jealousy. Why else would she need such secrecy? Surely if her motives were pure, she’d have no issues with me knowing her.

“Kitty Kat.” Caleb frowned, rubbing a thumb over my cheek. “You look like you’re freaking out about something, but I can’t feel anything from you. I take it the blocking worked out?”

“Um.” I cleared my throat, pushing my jealousy and paranoia down. “Yeah. Yeah it did.”

He smiled a little sadly. “I miss it.”

Trailing my gaze over his face, I forced myself not to push. Not to demand more information that I knew full well would cause him pain to try and tell me. He would try too, I already knew from experience. He wouldn’t just clam up and say nothing like how Vic had done under Bridget’s geas; Caleb genuinely tried to answer every question I asked and paid the price for it.

“I can turn it on and off, I think,” I whispered back. “Or I should be able to when I get better at it. But for now, it’ll save my sanity when I have all six of you bonded to me.”

Cal smiled and pecked a short kiss to my lips. “I can’t wait for that to happen.”

He meant for his own bonding, I knew full well. The flutter of butterflies in my belly confirmed that I, too, was excited for it. For all of my bonds... including whatever River was so damn scared of.

Closing the gap between us once more, I kissed him back just as I felt Austin stirring behind me. The butterflies inside me seemed to morph into hummingbirds when Cal made no move to stop kissing me, even though he must have known his twin was awake.

No words were spoken between the three of us, but when Austin’s hard body pressed the length of my back, I hissed a gasp against Caleb’s mouth. Austin’s mouth pressed to the bend of my neck in an echo of where Caleb had kissed me only moments earlier, and his erection ground against my butt.

“Kitty...” Caleb groaned, releasing my lips even as Austin’s hands gripped my breasts through my shirt. “We don’t have time for this; the others are already waiting downstairs.”

Despite his words, his hands gripped my thighs and pulled me closer to him, grinding his own hard length to my front, and I almost came right then and there... sandwiched between the King twins.

“Cal’s right,” Austin rumbled against my neck, then grabbed my earlobe between his teeth and nipped me sharply enough that I moaned. “This would require we not be rushed.”

I shuddered as my mind went wild on what this was going to be. It wasn’t hard to guess.

Caleb sighed and threw back the blankets. “Come on, let’s go get you bonded to some lizards; otherwise they’ll be busting down the door any moment.”

Snorting a laugh because he was totally right, I wiggled out of Austin’s way too tempting embrace and perched on the edge of my bed to rub at my eyes and assess my clothing options.

“Uh, should I like... dress up for the occasion or something?” I asked the twins and was met with baffled expressions.

Caleb picked up my black, ripped jeans from the floor and tossed them to me. “Kitty Kat, you could go down there in nothing but a thong and no one would complain. Actually... come to think of it, give those jeans back.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” I grinned as I tugged the jeans on and then hunted for a bra. I wasn’t exactly the tidiest woman alive, so my suitcase looked a little bit like a grenade had gone off in it. A couple of times Wes had offered to unpack for me, but I’d shrugged him off. Why unpack when we might need to haul ass at a second’s notice?

Once I’d located a simple red bra, I threw one of River’s shirts over the top and rolled up the sleeves. My wardrobe was almost half full of men’s clothing these days, as apparently they all had a fetish for seeing me in their shirts. Not that I was complaining; men’s shirts were comfy as hell.

“All right, let’s do it. Do we have coffee?” I asked Caleb hopefully as the three of us made our way downstairs to where my other four guardians waited in the den.

“All over it,” Wesley offered, holding a steaming mug out to me, and I beamed. My guys were actually just the most amazing, thoughtful people. “It’s Irish... seeing as it’s the middle of the night.”

My eyebrows shot up, and I took an experimental sip of my coffee, which was indeed laced with whiskey. The rich blend of smoke and honey mixed with my coffee rolled across my tongue, and I moaned my approval. Yep, Irish coffee was a win in my books.

“You ready to do this, Kitten?” River asked me seriously, his golden eyes flickering over his shirt on my body and pausing at my chest, where I hadn’t bothered buttoning the fabric over my bra.

Giving him a reassuring smile, I nodded. “Absolutely. Are you guys?” I turned to Cole and Vali, who were standing awkwardly in the middle of the den with their arms folded and mirror frowns creasing their brows. “You guys look... really worried. You don’t have to go through with this, you know? You can say no.”

“Not happening, Vixen,” Cole rumbled in his gravelly voice. “I just want you to be sure. We can’t...” He sucked in a breath, his jaw set tightly. “We can’t feel whether you’re sure or not.”

“Huh.” I cocked my head and flicked a glance at the twins. “Who’d have thought you’d all get so used to it in such a short time. I would gladly take the wall down, but I don’t know how successfully I can put it back up again and think it’s best to keep it in place for now.”

Vali gave me a small smile. “That’s understandable, Regina mea. We just worry. But if you’re sure...”

“I am.” I said it as firmly as I possibly could. All this “Are you sure?” was giving me a headache. It wasn’t like I was the kind of girl to be pressured into anything I didn’t want to do, after all. “Come on, step up. Who’s first?”

There was already a large area already cleared in the middle of the den, so I walked over to it and parked my ass down. “Uh, wait. Do either of you still have the spell thing?” I looked to Caleb and Austin—because clearly there was no way in hell I could remember it from weeks earlier when Austin and I had bonded.

“Got it.” Caleb pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over. Unfolding it, I scanned the unfamiliar words again and found them a little less daunting, thanks to Austin’s merciless magic lessons involving their language.

Cole and Vali both joined me on the floor, and when I raised my eyebrow at each of them, Vali smirked and Cole glowered. “Let me guess, Vali first?”

The response I received was just a broader grin from the Romanian, and I nodded. Clearly they’d sorted this out in advance, and Cole was still sulking about losing whatever the bet had been. Fair was fair though, as he’d won the one to take me flying.

“Nervous?” Vali asked me quietly as I handed him the spell and my hand trembled.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “And excited.” Our gazes met, and I could clearly see he was feeling the same way.

“Let’s get it done, then,” he coaxed, breaking eye contact to read the spell as Wesley handed him a small knife. Hesitating, I remembered the part where he needed to drop blood into my bloodstone ring, which was what bound us together, and I glanced up at Caleb sitting on one of the sofas.

“I’ll be fine,” Caleb reassured me. “Promise. If not, Austin can take me.”

Satisfied that he knew what he was doing, I indicated for Vali to begin.

Meeting my gaze with a nervous-looking smile, Vali sounded out the foregin words carefully, then waited while I recited my part before stabbing his thumb.

Same as it had the last time, my ring absorbed the droplet of blood and the rune circle flared to life around us. Vali’s wild, hot dragon magic flooded through me with the force of a tsunami, heating every facet of my being and then building higher, like gasoline on a bonfire.

As the burning inside me reached the point of excruciating pain, Vali’s lips pressed to mine. His mouth opened, and his tongue slipped in to meet and dance with my own., Vali’s kiss acted as an outlet for the overwhelming sensation that I was being burned from the inside, until eventually the heat subsided to a small fire, warming me but no longer burning.

“Holy shit,” I choked out when the magic finally settled to a bearable level and I pulled back from Vali’s scorching kiss. “Was that what it was like for you? When you first changed?”

He gave a small shrug, his eyes full of regret and apology. “I don’t know what it is that you felt, only that you were in pain and I knew what I needed to do. But, if it’s anything like what I went through, then I cannot apologize enough.”

“It’s fine.” I shook my head. “It was fine once you kissed me.” I glanced to Austin, and he gave a tiny head nod to confirm it was the same for him—that he’d just known what to do to soothe my pain.

Rubbing a shaking hand over my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath and gusted it out again before moving out of Vali’s lap. Somehow, I’d ended up straddling him while we’d kissed, but I also didn’t feel at all uncomfortable for having done so in front of my other five lovers.

“Ready?” I turned to Cole with a weak smile, and he scowled at me. His granite eyes sparked like a lightning storm, and I could see indecision written all over him, plain as day.

“Maybe we should wait a bit; that looked like it took a lot out of you, Vixen.” His words were sensible, but I could see how desperately he wanted to complete the bond. Cole was too damn thoughtful and considerate sometimes.

“No, now. If I’m going to start learning dragon magic, I want it to be with both of you.” I nodded firmly, shuffling on my knees across to him so that we were face to face. My reasoning was weak; I knew that. But I didn’t care. It sounded more plausible than telling him I suspected being bonded to Vali and not him might just destroy the progress they’d made on their relationship this far. As much as my guys were all technically okay with sharing me, they were all—even Wesley—dominant in their own ways. Sharing didn’t come naturally to them, and it was to be expected that there would be some jealousy and in-fighting.

All I could do was make it as easy on them as possible. Part of that was not bonding Vali without Cole. Seeing what it was doing to Caleb, who had a great relationship with his brother, was enough to imagine how hard it’d be on the Romanians, who had barely gotten into the not-hate stage of their relationship.

No, this was happening now. I could sleep and recharge later.

“Let’s do it,” I encouraged Cole and handed him the spell to read out, along with the knife. “I trust you, Cutie. You’re not going to let anything bad happen to me.”

These last words were whispered for his ears only, and I saw the indecision fade from his face. Cole had appointed himself my unofficial bodyguard way back when we’d first met, ever since Simon had shown up at lunch that day and gotten all weird and threatening. Protecting me was his thing, and I just needed to remind him of that.

Sucking in a breath, he looked down to the paper and began reciting the foreign words carefully, as though afraid a mispronunciation would change the outcome. Actually, that was a fairly valid concern, knowing what I now knew of magic.

Once Cole’s thumb was pricked and his blood absorbed by my ring, the spell was complete. The rune circle flared to life around us, overlapping the still fading outline of Vali’s circle. Almost instantly my body stiffened like I’d been dropped into the Arctic, and pain racked my form as Cole’s magic swept through me, clashing with the existing magic already within me. My fingers ached, and an anguished cry ripped from my throat only a split second before Cole’s lips met mine.

His kiss warmed me like a thermal blanket in a blizzard, wrapping around me and hugging tight until I could feel my skin again, until my joints unlocked and relaxed and the biting cold died down to a pleasant shiver deep in my core.

“Is it just me,” Wesley started quietly when Cole released my mouth and I rested against him while panting like I’d run a marathon, “or is that becoming more intense each time you bond?”

“The pain?” I asked, not bothering to open my eyes. My whole body felt like it had been turned to custard, and I was positive my legs wouldn’t hold me if I tried to stand. “Yeah, it is. I don’t know why... Maybe because there’s more magic in me that it needs to compete with? That’s what it feels like. Like it’s finding a balance.”

“Hmm,” Wesley pondered aloud. “That sort of makes sense.”

“Kitten, are you okay?” River asked me, crouching on the carpet and stroking a hand down my back.

Why does River always ask me the hard questions? Was I okay? My body was electric, sparking with four different types of magic all swirling and flickering inside me, making me feel wired and hyper. At the same time, I was pretty positive I couldn’t move if I even tried. So in response, I just mumbled an incomprehensible noise.

“Okay, I think maybe sleep is the way to go, don’t you love?” River chuckled. “Cole, can you carry her?”

“Of course,” he rumbled, wrapping his arms around me where I was already halfway collapsed against his chest, and standing smoothly.

Before leaving the room, he paused, and Vali leaned in to place a soft kiss on my hair.

“Sleep well, Regina mea,” he whispered.

Again, I mumbled a noise in lieu of words, and Cole swept me out of the room, returning to my giant bed in the master suite.

“I’m fine, Cutie,” I whispered as he lay me gently down on the rumpled covers I had just climbed out of not long ago. “I promise. I’m just...”

“Exhausted?” he finished for me, and I gave him a weak smile.

“But not, at the same time. I don’t feel weak—totally the opposite. My muscles just don’t want to play ball anymore.” I blinked a few times, trying to wake myself up while Cole unbuttoned my jeans and tugged them down off my legs for me.

“Just sleep, Vixen. It’s three in the morning, anyway.” He pressed a light kiss to my belly, where River’s shirt had ridden up. “Do you want me to stay with you?”

“Always,” I replied, shuffling over slightly and tucking a pillow under my head while Cole stripped down to join me. He rolled me onto my side and tucked me tight against his huge body, making me feel warm and safe.

“I love you, Vixen,” he murmured in my ear. “Thank you.”

He didn’t need to say anymore as I knew what he meant. His relationship with Vali had only just begun to heal, so the last thing I wanted was to become any more of a wedge between them than I already was.

“Any time, Cutie,” I whispered back, but he was already asleep, his warm breath slow and even against the back of my neck.

Sleep did not come easily to me that night. Instead, I lay there in Cole’s embrace for hours, simply watching my hand in fascination as scales rippled back and forth across my skin. First red and gold, then blue and green, and finally—just before sunrise—it settled into a metallic purple. A perfect blend of both my dragons’ colors.