A little chuckle vibrated through me as I peered out of the car window, passing the fancy Beverly Hills gallery where I’d stolen that god-awful ring which had led the guys to me. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago, but was little more than six months...

“What’s funny?” Caleb asked me, yawning and snuggling into my side. He’d returned home late again the night before, and we had needed to leave early to make our way down to Los Angeles for the meeting with Jonathan. He’d slept most of the way and was now tucked into the backseat of the seven-seat Audi that had been waiting for us at the private airfield.

His head rested on my shoulder, and one arm draped around my waist. On my other side, Austin’s hard thigh was pressed tight to mine, and I was practically hyperventilating just from being sandwiched between the two inhumanly handsome Mages.

Good thing I’ve learned to block my emotions, or this car ride would be a lot more awkward right now.

“Um, nothing,” I replied finally, shaking my head. “Just reminiscing on the last time I was here.”

Wesley, sharp as he was, turned in his seat to raise his eyebrows at me. He knew what I meant. The last time I was here was what ultimately had brought us all together.

“We’re here,” Cole announced, pulling in to the valet area of the The London Hotel in West Hollywood.

Vali groaned and cracked his neck. “Thank fucking goodness. I am about to claw someone for a shower.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. He and Cole had gone out two nights prior to follow up on some lead Vali had found through his connections, and they’d gotten back yesterday looking exhausted. They’d picked up some useful info about shifters actively trying to expose magic though, so it had been a worthwhile trip for them. Even if they looked like they’d flown halfway to Europe and back.

“What time are we meeting him?” I asked for maybe the twentieth time, but the guys indulged me. Not even Austin snapped at me to stop asking the same question.

“Seven tonight,” River responded. “You have some time before we need to go.”

It had already been decided that all my guys wouldn’t be coming with me. We had demanded Jonathan not come with any more than two agents, and he required the same of me, so Cole and River were my escorts. With Wesley on comms too, of course. Weary or not…

Chewing my lip, I nodded and waited for Austin to get out so I could follow. Cole tossed the keys to the valet, and I watched the bellboy unloading our bags from the trunk.

“You okay, Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked me while yawning and stretching as he, too, got out of the car.

I nodded. “Yeah, I think I might just spend a bit of time meditating or some shit until I need to get ready for dinner.” Wesley held out a magnetic key card to me, having just returned from the check-in desk where he’d collected them all.

Cole wrapped me in a tight hug, lifting my feet from the ground. “Call us if you need help, Vixen.”

“Of course.” I smiled tightly and kissed him quickly before he set me back on my feet. According to the little cardboard wallet my key was tucked into, my room was 612, so I waved it at him to see. “Six-twelve,” I told him. “But I’ll be fine. We’ll get there.”

Or I sure hoped I would.

My meditating was the newest idea we’d come up with in an effort for me to control the conflicting and sometimes seriously overwhelming magic swirling inside me. My temper had been running seriously hot, and while I had full control of my Ink Magic, the dragon magic was like trying to handle electricity or something.

The theory was, thanks to Wesley’s intuition, that the various brands of magic were just dueling it out at the moment, fighting for dominance within my core. Meditating did seem to help with my temper, which in turn helped with my control. But to say I wasn’t freaking halfway out over it would be a lie.

Waving my hand to the rest of the guys, telling them that I was fine, I made my way inside and up to my room, leaving them to sort out bags and all that crap.

Once inside, I kicked off my shoes and settled cross-legged in the middle of the king-sized bed. The room was lovely, but it wouldn’t have mattered to me if we’d stayed in a Motel 6. We were here for one thing only. Meet with Jonathan and hear what possible reason he might have for trying to kill us all on more than one occasion.

My lids dropped shut, and I took some long, even breaths to find my center. There was no mistaking it when I did find it, and it was becoming easier every day to tap into that burning ball of power there. Except now it wasn’t the colorless light it had been when I’d first located it.

Now it swirled with threads of light from each of my bonded guardians–Austin, Cole, and Vali. They made up only a fraction of my own light, but there was enough to cause friction.

Time passed, I didn’t know how much, while I stayed there inside my own consciousness trying to unravel the threads of the guys’ magics, trying to separate them from each other and prevent the flare-ups that seemed to happen anytime those threads crossed one another.

I had no idea if it was the right thing to do. Maybe I should have been trying to squish them all together? There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual on how to handle your dianoch’s borrowed magic, For Ban Dia Dummies.

The sound of my door opening was what jolted me from my meditation, and I reacted on instinct, hurling a ball of fire at whoever was coming through the door.

“Good session, then?” Vali asked me in a dry tone as he deftly caught my fireball and extinguished it before I could burn the whole damn hotel down.

A huge, pent-up breath gusted out of me, and I dropped my face into my hands, cringing.

What if that had been housekeeping or something? Fucking hell, Kit, get a damn grip! You could have killed someone!

“I’m sorry,” I groaned, looking up as Vali perched on the edge of my bed and placed a box between us. “I am trying. You just gave me a fright, and I...”

“Reacted,” he finished for me, nodding. “No need to apologize to me, Regina mea. I know all too well how hard this must be for you. Also, we forgot to mention we had an extra key to your room. Paranoia, you know?”

Chewing my lip I nodded. “What time is it?”

“Six,” he replied, and my eyebrows shot up. I’d been meditating for over two hours! No wonder my back was so stiff. “I bought you something.” He pushed the box toward me, and I eyed it curiously.

“Why?” I inquired, running my fingertip over the expensive-looking silk bow tied around the box.

He shrugged, but looked sly. “We all missed your birthday and Christmas. While I know they were a while ago, I have been meaning to get you something anyway. When I went out for a walk earlier, I saw the perfect thing and had to buy it.”

Curious, I tugged the bow undone and carefully unstuck the Scotch tape on the white wrapping paper. It was a weird thing of mine that I hated tearing wrapping paper. Once the paper was removed, it wasn’t hard to recognize the familiar red box with white writing on it.

“Vali,” I gasped, looking up at him with a grin. “You bought me Louboutins?”

“I did,” he confirmed. “You seem to have a liking for them, and when I saw these, I knew you had to have them.”

Opening the box, I saw what he meant. They were perfect.

Black leather with a peep toe and signature red sole, these pumps also had a gold zipper running down the back of the four-inch heel. They were without a doubt sexy as hell and the perfect present from Vali.

“I flove them,” I gushed, then realized I’d mashed my words together. “I mean, I fucking love them. Thank you.”

Moving them to the side, I scooted closer to Vali and kissed him gently. To my surprise, he didn’t try to push the kiss any further than the thank you I’d started it with and quickly pulled back with a tight smile.

“You’re most welcome Regina mea. But you’d better get dressed, as River and Cole will be getting anxious. The twins have already been to the restaurant ahead of time and scouted it, so you’re all set.” His thumb stroked across my cheekbone, and he made no attempt to hide the scorching hot lust in his eyes, which was reassuring. For a split second, when he hadn’t engaged in that kiss, I’d worried he’d lost interest.

“Still working on Cole, huh?” I murmured, not bothering to ignore the elephant in the room.

Vali sighed, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. “We are making progress, I think.”

My lips pursed, but I didn’t say any more. It was up to them to sort their shit out, and my interference was not going to help, no matter how badly I wanted to move things along with this sexy-as-sin Romanian.

He stood from my bed and dropped a chaste kiss against my hair. “Stay safe tonight, my queen.”

I watched him leave the room, then stroked a loving finger over my new shoes again. They were the perfect thing to wear with tonight’s outfit too.

Hopping off my bed, I stretched, unkinking my spine and rolling my stiff shoulders before hurrying to get ready. While we wanted Jonathan to get there first, it wouldn’t do to be too late and make him think we’d changed our minds.

Despite the gnawing anxiety in my belly about what tonight might bring, I really did want to hear him out. Foolishly, I supposed, I was clinging to the thread of hope that there was a good reason for everything he’d done. That he hadn’t tried to kill us, and that he wasn’t using me like a fucking weapon to further his own agenda.

Slim chance, I know. But a chance, nonetheless.