I barely remembered much past that point. Not Jonathan arriving or him scooping me up from the puddle of emotion I had collapsed into upon entering the room full of memories. Everything reminded me of Wesley. His clothes crumpled on the chair. The pillows smelled of his shampoo. It was all too much.

The flight back to Seattle was a blur. Either I was asleep or I was staring blankly out the window. Every now and then I felt Tyson and Sam trying to communicate with me, but I was so far lost inside my own head their message just wasn’t getting through, and eventually they gave up.

“Kit?” Jonathan crouched in front of me, his brow creased with worry. “Can I get you something to eat or drink? You’ve been sitting here for hours.”

The fuzz in my brain made it hard for his words to sink in, but I gave him a small headshake. I wasn’t hungry; I was just in pain. We’d gotten back to Jonathan’s house sometime before. Ever since we’d arrived, I had been sitting in the egg chair on the balcony and staring out at the pond in the backyard.

He crouched there, frowning at me for a while before sighing and leaving. He didn’t press me to talk, for which I loved him. Chances were, someone had filled him in on what had happened. Probably the guest house owner.

Eventually it got dark, so I shuffled back inside and lay down on the bed. I’d never been to this house of Jonathan’s before but wasn’t exactly in the mood to explore. I just... wanted to sleep.

This continued for several days, until one morning Jonathan came in and threw open the curtains of my room, waking me from the weird half sleep I’d been in for fuck only knew how long.

“Get up,” he ordered. “I’ve given you time; now I want to show you something.”

“Leave me alone,” I muttered, dragging the pillow over my face. “I need sleep.”

“Bullshit,” he snorted, yanking the blankets off me. “You’ve had more sleep than a hibernating bear. Now, get up. Come as you are if you want. Doesn’t bother me.”

I glared up at him, then glanced down to check what I was wearing. Sweatpants and one of Wesley’s hoodies. No way I was taking that off, so it’d have to do.

“Fine,” I muttered, pushing my ratty hair out of my face and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. Several days without eating had left me lightheaded, so it took a moment for me to get my balance before standing up. “What do you want to show me?”

“Through here,” he said, holding a door open to what looked like an office-type setup, except with multiple screens displayed on one wall. They were all off, but as we entered the room, Jonathan hit a button, turning them all on.

“What’s this?” I asked, stepping a little closer to see what was on the screens. They were security cameras or spy cameras by the look of things. Each one showed a different scene. Some were empty rooms, some had people in them... none of them made sense to me.

“I’ll show you,” my legal guardian said, pulling out a chair for me to sit in, and then he placed a large mug of coffee down in front of me.

I glanced at it for a moment, then pushed it aside to focus on what Jonathan was doing.

He frowned at me and at the rejected mug, then used a remote to bring up an older recording on one of the screens. When it played, it was a scene I was a little familiar with. A cage fight. Except...

“Are those shifters?” I exclaimed as one of the fighters swiped at his opponent with clawed hands. While I watched, his face began morphing too, until he was half man, half wolf.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Jonathan paused the footage on the horrified face of the wolf-man’s opponent. “Worse still. This guy was human.”

“Was?” I repeated, blinking up at him in horror. I’d known about shifter fight rings; Vali and Cole had been researching them. But I had no idea they’d been fighting against unsuspecting humans.

“Was,” Jonathan confirmed. “He loses this match, and it seems these fights are to the death. There were three hundred people in attendance at that particular fight, and most of them had their phones out to film the action. This particular recording had already hit four million views on YouTube before being taken down for questionable content.”

“No shit,” I breathed, still horrified. “Cole and Vali are looking into these fight rings, but they never mentioned humans being killed.”

Jonathan shrugged. “They might not know. There are a few different organizations running these things, and they all do it differently. Their goal is being achieved though.”

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I stared at the paused footage. “Which is?”

“Panic,” Jonathan replied. “They’re outing supernaturals, and the humans are responding exactly as expected—they’re panicking.”

“To what end?” I puzzled. “What good can possibly come from causing widespread hysteria that the boogeyman is real?”

Jonathan sighed and sat down on the bench under the window, facing me. “There is a war coming, Kit. Whether you like it or not. Those supernaturals that survived the plague, they’re bitter and angry. They’re sick of hiding in the shadows and curbing their instincts. So when someone offers them an alternative—power—it was an all too easy choice for them to take.”

“So.” I frowned, screwing my eyes shut and trying to clear my head of the fuzz of depression and misery. “So someone wants to take over the world, and they’re riling up the shifters to what? Become an army? Enslave the humans?”

“Something like that.” Dad grimaced. “A lot of supernaturals truly believe they are a superior species and that the humans have had this world long enough.”

“And you? Is that what you believe, too? You must be something other than human, or else why do you know all this? Why were you trying to manipulate me into healing people’s magic?” I chewed my lip, not really wanting to hear his answer yet also anxious for the truth.

“No.” He said the word firmly and with direct eye contact. “No, it’s not. And I am still human, of sorts. But I know that if you, Kit, have any hope of saving this world, you need your own army to fight what’s coming. That means creating one.”

“So that’s what you’re doing? Creating an army for me? Why? What if I don’t want to save the world? I couldn’t even s-save Wesley.” Tears were rolling again, but this wasn’t the time or the place, so I dashed them away with the sleeve of Wesley’s hoodie.

“You have to, hon.” Jonathan said it gently, but there was no room for compromise in his tone. “You’re the only one who can.”

Clenching my jaw, I swallowed the fear and desperation and sheer hopelessness down. Here I was being told that I needed to save the fucking world, like I was some sort of Chosen One. As much as it hurt, my grief wasn’t going anywhere. I’d simply tuck it into a little box inside my mind, and later, when all was safe and I was alone, I could take it out and cry again.

“So what are you?” I changed the subject to a question that had been burning for an answer ever since River and I overheard Jonathan discussing my magic.

“Human,” he shrugged with a half smile. “Or, I was. Now I’m just... a relic. I should have died a long time ago, but my sister couldn’t bear to lose me so she did a spell. Trouble was, she always had great intentions but terrible execution, so instead of simply healing my tuberculosis, she made it so I couldn’t die. Not of natural causes anyway.”

“You’re immortal, too?” I gaped, not totally sure what I’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been that.

“No,” he chuckled. “Not like you. I don’t heal, and I have no magic. I’m totally human, except unaffected by illness, including those of aging.”

“So your sister...” I raised my eyebrows at him in question, and he nodded.

“Wasn’t human. Story for another day, though.” He gave me a tight smile, then nodded to the screens on his wall. “For now, you need to understand what you’re up against. Those agents who chased you in LA were employed by a man named Doctor Gunther Florsheim. He works for a less-than-legal branch of the government and has been creating some sort of serum to try and enhance their soldiers.”

I grimaced. “That must be the weasel who took a vial of my blood in Toronto. So he’s the one behind these videos hitting the internet, too?”

“No. Unfortunately, that’s someone else. There are three factions at play here, kiddo. The humans like this Dr. Florsheim, the remaining supernaturals, and you. Please believe me when I say you need help. I started Omega Group after a friend of mine developed a way to test for dormant supernatural DNA in humans. All of my recruits have a high percentage of that gene within them and so stand the highest chances of turning when healed.”

“And what about them? Do they have any say in this, or is it just forced on them like guinea pigs? Do you have any comprehension of what it could do to them? To suddenly not be human anymore? You have no clue how hard it’s been for my guardians to adjust, and they were your best damn recruits.” I was getting fired up now, but he needed to answer for his actions.

“Everyone you healed at Omega base was a willing recruit. They knew what was going to happen and volunteered for it. They want to fight for you, Kit. For the good of this world.” He spoke with such passion I knew there had to be more that he wasn’t telling me. What made him so confident that the world was doomed without my intervention?

“I think I need a minute,” I muttered, rubbing my gritty eyes. “I’m going to take a shower or something.”

“Probably a good idea,” Jonathan nodded. “You stink pretty bad. I’ll order some pizzas, too, so you can eat when you’re done.”

The information he’d just hit me with weighed on me like a ton of bricks, so I just waved my hand in understanding and started toward the door before pausing. Not giving myself another moment to dwell on indecision, I grabbed the mug of coffee from the desk and made my way back to the room I’d been holed up in for the past few days.

My pain and grief were safely stuffed into a little mental box, and my walls were all still firmly in place around my mind. Not that I didn’t want the guys to feel me... but I couldn’t face the idea of not feeling Wesley there. It was just better to keep the walls up for now.

After a long shower, I dressed in clean clothes, then hunted out another one of Wesley’s pullovers. I might have been compartmentalizing my grief, but I still wanted to feel him close.

“Pepperoni with extra cheese!” Jonathan announced as I padded into the kitchen on socked feet. Not that it needed announcing; the smell alone was making my starved stomach weep with joy.

“Thanks,” I murmured, taking the plate loaded with slices from him and sitting down on a kitchen stool. “I’ll try and get in touch with the guys tomorrow... somehow. They need to know what’s going on, too.”

“Agreed.” He took a bite of his own slice as he sat across the counter from me. “Then maybe you would consider speaking with some of the Omega recruits who have volunteered to be changed.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But it won’t do much good right now. I have no magic thanks to this.” I held up my wrist to show him the gold band responsible for my loss of magic. “Gift from my bio-mom.”

“Bridget,” Jonathan spat, inspecting the band with disgust then releasing my wrist. “That bitch. I knew she’d find you sooner or later.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You know her?”

“We’ve met.” His mouth twisted in disgust. “Don’t fall for her bullshit, kiddo. I can just bet she pulled some sob story to have you think she was the victim, that she gave you up for your own good.” I gaped at him, nodding. “Load of shit. You want the truth, find Lachlan. He’s the only one of her guardians that escaped her binding spell when things went south between the four of them.”

“You can’t tell me?” I frowned. “It sounds like you know.”

He shook his head. “Not enough. It’s another story for another day anyway. You’ve had enough dumped on your plate for one night. Just don’t trust her any further than you can throw her.”

“Noted,” I agreed. “This little gem that she gave me sort of decided that already, you know?”

“Yeah, I can imagine. No magic, huh?” He crinkled his nose. “Want to tell me that story?”

“Story for another day,” I teased, repeating his own crap back at him, and he grinned.

“Touché,” he chuckled. “All right, will you be okay if I head out for a bit? International secret operative organization to run, and all that.”

“Uh-huh.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I’ll be fine. I’m going to go to bed now anyway.”

“All right.” He wiped his hands off on a dish towel, then dropped a quick kiss on my head. “Call if you need me.” He pulled a mobile phone from one of the drawers and placed it on the counter in front of me before he left.

Alone in the silence, I finished up my pizza, then wandered through the house. I wasn’t actually tired yet, so instead of going to bed, I parked myself on the couch to watch TV for a bit. As I sat there mindlessly watching a rom-com chick flick that Wes would have loved, my fingers stroked my newest tattoo.

The little depiction of Sam and Tyson tussling together was so lifelike, almost like they were glaring at me from my skin.

“We are, dipshit,” Sam’s hiss reached the surface of my brain, and I startled. I’d been so lost in my own head that I’d completely forgotten they could talk to me even while “sleeping.”

“Let us the fuck out so we can save your sorry ass, you mopey twit,” Sam snapped at me, his s’s elongated even more in his foul mood.

“I don’t see how you’re going to manage that, but suit yourself.” I traced my forefinger over the tattoo, activating the spell within it and allowing both familiars to materialize. Sam just hissed at me and went to curl up on the other end of the couch while Tyson was much happier to see me and said as much in licks all over my face.

“Hey buddy,” I chuckled, pushing him off to save myself from drowning in tiger spit. “Let’s go check the kitchen for some steaks or something.”

Tyson eagerly bounded off the couch to follow me as Sam yelled after us, “I would also like a snack if you see a mouse on your way!”

“Gross.” I shuddered, leading Tyson into the kitchen, then rifling through the fridge for steak. “No steak, buddy, but there are some sausages. Will that do?”

The big cat bobbed his head and conveyed a resounding yes through our bond, so I grabbed the plate and headed back to the TV room to place it on the coffee table. As I sat back down, Sam gave a loud, fake cough, which just sounded straight-up odd coming from a giant snake.

“What?” I asked him, and he flickered his tongue at me.

“Mouse?” he prompted, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Hunt your own mouse, you lazy ass,” I snapped back. “Why did you want out so badly anyway?”

“Because the not-so-stupid Ink Mage added a tracking device into your familiar tattoo,” Sam explained. “But it only works if we’re active. By letting us out to watch TV with you, you’ve alerted the rest of your fools that you’re no longer in Ireland. They’ll be worried that you haven’t been answering your phone and, ergo, will come to investigate.” He paused, glaring at me with his slitted eyes. “Am I honestly the only one who uses my brain anymore? I’m not even a real snake, for fuck’s sake.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling sufficiently stupid. That was actually a smart idea of Austin to do that. It was only my own self-pity that had stopped it from working sooner.

“‘Oh’ is right, you moron,” Sam grunted, slithering off his seat. “I’m going to find my own snacks. Yell for me when the Mages turn up.”

“Asshole,” I murmured, watching his green-and-black tail disappear out the door. Tyson huffed his agreement as he munched happily on his sausages.

He’d barely finished licking his plate when my ears popped with the unmistakable pressure of a portal opening nearby. I didn’t move from the couch as I heard Caleb calling out my name from the back garden, then the heavy tread of men’s footsteps coming inside.

“Kitty Kat!” he exclaimed, coming into the media room with Austin close behind, and rushing towards me. “Thank fuck you’re okay! We’ve been looking for you for freaking days; do you know how worried you had us?”

His arms wrapped tight around me, and he shifted to lift me into his lap so he could hug me tighter. For my part... I did nothing. I couldn’t hug him back; it just felt wrong. The last person I’d hugged was Wes. And now he was dead.

“Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked, his voice full of concern as he pulled back to look at my face with a frown. “Are you okay?”

My lips pulled up in a tight smile, almost like they were making an independent action, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words he wanted to hear—that yes, I was okay because I was here and not a burned out skeleton in some morgue in Ireland. Because I wasn’t okay. My soul felt like it had been smashed into a million little pieces, then swept up into a shoebox.

“Give her to me,” Austin ordered his twin, placing his strong hands on my waist and lifting me from Caleb’s lap to stand in front of him. Once my feet were on the ground, he tilted my chin up so that he could peer into my eyes. Whatever he saw there made him grunt and tighten his lips.

“Come on,” Austin said to his brother. He then snapped his fingers to Tyson, who rubbed his big head against his hand affectionately. “Let’s get her back to the house and call the others.”

“No,” I said in a small voice, shaking my head. “I can’t just disappear on Jonathan.”

Austin’s jaw tightened and his nostrils flared with anger, so I knew I needed to explain quickly. “He didn’t set us up in LA. That was someone else. He really is trying to do the right thing; he’s just been going about it the wrong way.”

Caleb trailed a gentle hand down my hair, even as Austin narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, but neither of them spoke to contradict me.

“Kitty Kat, you’re... acting a bit odd,” Caleb said after a tense silence. “I mean, given the circumstances...” He trailed off, and I turned to look at him closer. His eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark circles under them, same as Austin’s. Both of them were scruffy, like they hadn’t bothered to shave in a few days, and their clothes were rumpled.

“You know about—” I broke off as a lump blocked my throat, and I swallowed past it. Avoiding my emotions or not, I wasn’t ready to say Wesley’s name. “You know what happened, then,” I whispered, and he gave me a tiny nod.

“She’s compartmentalized,” Sam explained for me, slithering back into the room with a noticeable bulge in his... neck? Did snakes even have necks? “She’s shoved all those nasty feelings under the rug so she doesn’t have to feel them. Nifty trick, I reckon. Even if she is still a dipshit for taking this long to activate the tracker.”

I scowled at Sam. “You never told me about the tracker, you shithead, and what the fuck did you just eat? That is not a mouse.”

“Trash panda,” he replied with a happy tongue flicker. “Found him in the garbage cans, all juicy and fat. Delicious.” The way he stressed the s sound in “delicious” was equal parts revolting and amusing, so I just settled for bopping him lightly on the head.

“Raccoons are cute, Sam. Don’t eat any more of them.” I gave him a stern look to convey that I wasn’t teasing, and he flickered his tongue in that distinctive, middle-finger sort of way he had.

“Come on, we need to get back. Can we leave Jonathan a note?” Austin asked me as Caleb held out his arm for Sam to return into his familiar tattoo. How he fit back into the ink while still digesting a fucking racoon, I had no idea. Magic, I guess.

“I’ll call him,” I murmured, wandering back into the kitchen to grab the phone my adoptive father had left out for me. Propping my butt on a barstool, I pressed his contact and waited for him to pick up.

“Kiddo!” he answered on the third ring. “Are you okay?”

“Yup, all good. Just, the twins are here and want me to leave with them. I didn’t want to up and disappear on you.” I picked up a pen and idly started doodling on the back on an envelope. “You said you wanted to show me what you’ve been doing...”

“Hon,” Jonathan replied, and I could hear the warmth in his voice. “Go with the boys. You need to be with them right now. This can all wait a few days. Goddess knows it’s waited four centuries already, so yeah a few days won’t matter.”

It wasn’t the first time Jonathan had referred to the Goddess, but it was the first time it triggered a little curiosity in me. Was that a carry-over from whatever time he was born into? Or some other knowledge he had of this world that I wasn’t privy to?

“I don’t know,” I murmured, my voice uncertain and just... not me. “Maybe I should stay. You said there is a war coming, so surely I need to know everything you do.”

“Kit,” he sighed. “Avoiding your bonded guardians won’t make the pain go away. They’re the only ones who can help you through this tough time. Go with them; let them take care of you. The world won’t end tomorrow just because you took some time to grieve.”

I said nothing for a long time as everything I tried to say got stuck in my throat. Eventually I just landed on, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeated softly. “Take that phone with you so we can stay it touch, all right, kiddo? I’ve missed you.”

“All right,” I repeated, not really sure what else to say.

Voices sounded in the background, and Jonathan murmured something back to them. “Hey kiddo, I have to go. Take the phone, but go with the twins. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Uh-huh,” I whispered, feeling a fat tear roll down my face, and quickly disconnected before he could say anything else. My little emotion compartment was weak at best and couldn’t have withstood much more.

I sat there for a moment longer, picking at the edges of the phone with my fingernail, before Austin cleared his throat and made me jump.

“Shit,” I breathed, feeling my heart gallop. “I didn’t notice you there.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Evidently not. Cal’s gone to grab your bag. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, sliding off my stool and shoving the phone into my pocket. “Yeah, let’s go.”

As I moved to pass him in the doorway, he slipped a hand onto my lower back and left it there as we headed through the house to the backyard. Don’t ask me why we always went outside to portal. It wasn’t like we couldn’t do it inside. It just felt... rude, I guess.

Caleb was already waiting on the grass, holding my suitcase, but my step faltered as I tried to walk toward him. It was taking all the frayed self-control I possessed just to keep it together around the twins. What was it going to be like with Cole, Vali, and River as well?

“You got this, baby girl,” Austin murmured softly in my ear, his hand warm on my back. “One step at a time. I’m here to catch you.”

My teeth clenched my lower lip hard enough to draw blood, but I took that next step and the one after that, and soon I was touching distance from Caleb. He didn’t waste time asking stupid questions; instead he flicked out the droplet of blood that called up his rune circle.

Light flared, and when it faded, we were on the grass outside a beautiful, colonial-style, two-story house. It had ivy creeping up the walls and seemed to be completely surrounded by trees, at least as far as I could see.

“Where are we?” I asked the twins, and it was Caleb who answered as he led the way to the duck egg–blue front door.

“Home,” he said simply, turning to give me a sad smile and holding the door open. “Welcome home, Kitty Kat.”

Vaguely I remembered River mentioning to me that he’d bought us a house. Us. As in all of us. I couldn’t reply to Caleb, not without turning into a blubbering mess, so I just nodded and entered the house.

It was gorgeous, exactly what I would have dreamed of if I’d ever thought that far into my future. It made me realize how little I really did think about the future. Maybe because I’d spent so many years as a thief? I’d always just figured I’d die before ever getting things like a house... and pets—not that I ever imagined I would get a snake and a tiger before a puppy.

Now, though, I was staring down eternity. Without Wes.

In a room off the entry hall, I could hear men’s voices and assumed the other guys were home. I wasn’t ready to see them. Not yet. “I think I might take a shower,” I said quietly, glancing up the grand staircase. “Can you show me where to go?”

The twins exchanged seriously unsubtle glances with one another before Caleb nodded and led the way upstairs, carrying my suitcase. He took me to a set of doubles doors at the end of the hall, which he opened for me, revealing a huge bedroom. The bed was enormous and tastefully decorated in soft purples and blues, as was the rest of the room.

“This is your room,” he told me, placing my suitcase down near the bed. “There’s an ensuite bathroom through that door”—he pointed to one of the doors leading off the bedroom—“and it’s all stocked up with towels and products and stuff. I’ll let the guys know you’ll be down when you’re ready, okay?” I nodded and resisted the urge to lean into him as he hugged me tight, kissing the top of my hair. “I love you, Kitty Kat. I’m glad you’re home.”

I didn’t reply, but he didn’t seem to need one. Instead he placed a soft kiss on my cheek, then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Wandering through to the bathroom, I stripped off my clothes and placed my new phone on the vanity. Maybe after my shower I could try Lucy again. It had been way too long since we’d spoken, and I was way overdue for some girl time.

In the meantime, I needed to get a fucking grip on myself. The pain of Wesley’s death was too raw to deal with, and if what Jonathan had told me was true, then I needed all my wits about me. Crying, moping, grieving... these things weren’t going to help me save the freaking world. If, in fact, that was the task I had been born to do. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around that idea, but considering everything else that had happened lately, it really wasn’t that much of a stretch.

“Compartmentalize,” I muttered to myself as I turned on the water and stepped under the spray. “There will be a time and a place for grief, but not until we are all safe.”

It was hard, but I also needed to remember the guys who were waiting downstairs for me. I’d dragged them into this mess. I couldn’t just abandon them now to wallow in self-pity.

No, I needed a plan. Jonathan thought I needed an army, which meant that whoever was on the other side already had one of their own. Clearly someone was working with the few supernaturals who had survived the plague four hundred years ago, and then there was that crazy fucking doctor working on enhancing humans. What a shit show.

First thing, I needed my damn magic back!

Resolute, I turned off the shower and stepped out to dry off. Emotions were a burden I couldn’t afford to carry, so they could take a backseat for now. I had a Ban Dia to hunt down, and a bracelet to get removed.

“Kitten,” River’s voice made me pause in the doorway as I toweled my hair dry. He was sitting on the end of my bed and looking rough.

“River,” I replied in a voice that almost startled even myself. It was cold... detached. But exactly what I needed it to be. “I have some information regarding those shifter fights Cole and Vali were checking out. I’ll just get dressed, and we can discuss it with everyone.”

His dark blond brows rose in surprise, and he stared at me for a long time before speaking. “Kit... that’s the first bloody thing you say to me? We thought you were, well maybe not dead because it’s you, but...” He trailed off and scrubbed his hands over his face. “We were worried as shit, and then we find out that Wes—”

“Sorry,” I quickly cut him off before he could say any more. “I apologize that you were worried, but I’m here now and we have a lot more to deal with.”

Meeting his golden eyes with a direct gaze, I tried to convey that the conversation was over. Rehashing the details of Wesley’s death wouldn’t help any of us now, so why bother?

“I will be down in a few minutes. You can go.” Clutching my towel tight around my body, I looked pointedly to the door.

River, usually so stoic and expressionless, looked almost shocked, but it was for the best. The fate of the freaking world was at stake, and so fucking help me, I would do everything within my power to help.

He gave me a tight nod and left the room with a crispness to his walk, radiating how pissed off he was. Dimly I wondered when I had started being able to read his body language so clearly. It hadn’t been all that long ago that he’d been a total closed book to me. So what had changed? Him or me?

“Irrelevant train of thought, Kit,” I muttered to myself as I checked the closet. Someone had already stocked it up on clothes for me, so it didn’t take long to find some jeans and a plain black tank top.

I dressed quickly, then threw Wesley’s hoody back over the top before wandering downstairs in the direction I could hear voices coming from. Normally, I’d have paused in the hall and listened to what they were saying before entering, but I didn’t care.

“Good, you’re all here, then,” I said by way of announcing my presence in the room. “That makes things easier.”

“Vixen,” Cole greeted me, pushing back from the table they’d been sitting at and stalking toward me like a hungry dragon spotting a chest of gold. When he reached me, he swept me up in a crushing hug that took my feet clean off the ground. A hug I didn’t reciprocate.

“Let her down,” Vali told his brother from close behind him. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be touched right now?”

“That’s fucking stupid,” Cole growled, but did set me back down on my feet to peer into my face. “Are you okay, Vixen?”

“Fine, Cole,” I replied with a tight smile. Whatever he saw in my face had him backing off reluctantly, and I accepted the cup of coffee Vali held out to me. “So, I wanted to fill you in on what I learned from Jonathan.”

“Straight into it then, huh?” Caleb muttered, stirring his own coffee. “Fair enough. Have a seat and tell us what you know.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I did as he suggested and perched on the edge of a vacant seat at the huge circular table. Whoever had decorated the house had a real eye for details; a round table ensured everyone could easily see one another. Sort of perfect when a girl was dating six—five—guys at the same time.

Coffee helped, and soon I was laying down the facts of our situation as I now knew them.

It was important they knew. Important they understood what was at stake, and what we needed to do about it all... starting with getting my magic back. Without that, I was worse than useless. I was a liability.