Stepping inside the townhouse that I technically lived in with Jonathan, I couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that he was acting really strange. But maybe he just had a lot on his mind?

Shaking it off, I grabbed the cordless phone from the kitchen bench. He was right that Lucy would want to know I was okay. Given I didn't know any of the boys’ phone numbers by heart and had no idea where my mobile had ended up, calling Lucy at her rehab facility seemed like a good idea. Jonathan had mentioned on the flight that he would contact the guys anyway.

Needing to Google the number, I wandered through to Jonathan's office and clicked his mouse a couple of times to bring the screen to life, then typed in his password.

Incorrect. 

Typed it again. Slower this time.

Incorrect.

It was his home computer, which he stored absolutely nothing Omega Group related on, so he hadn't changed the password the entire time I had lived there.

“So weird,” I muttered and dialed directory services instead to get the rehab facility’s number. Much to my disappointment, Lucy wasn't there. The receptionist had helpfully connected me through to her room, but it just rang out. Maybe she was in a session or something.

At a loss for what to do next, I headed upstairs to my bedroom. It had been way too long since I had last slept and my eyelids felt like sandpaper, yet the second I climbed into my huge princess bed, I was wide awake again.

For a while I stared at the ceiling, trying desperately to switch off, but my mind kept churning over the recent events. Had I really turned Vali into something supernatural? How would he know? But more to the point, I could heal other people now. That had to come in handy sooner or later. Especially around the guys.

In an attempt to switch my brain off, I grabbed a book from my nightstand where I had left it at Thanksgiving. It had been a gift from Caleb and was the story of a girl who fell in love with all five members of a rock band. I’d run out of time to start it when I was last home, but now it was sounding like a pretty intriguing subject matter, given the state of my own love life.

Was it really possible to love that many people at once? Or more to the point, for them to be okay with it? If sleep was failing me, I may as well read a little and see how this fictional girl dealt with it. Maybe I could get some pointers…

The sound of someone repeatedly ringing the doorbell woke me. Sleep had claimed me halfway into the second book of the series, but damn they were getting good—and seriously hot. Waking up, I was still a bit flustered from the last scene I had read.

As the doorbell continued chiming, I groaned and dragged my butt out of bed to see who it was.

“Vixen!” I heard a familiar, gravelly roar followed by the sound of Cole banging on the door with his massive fist. A flutter of excitement and nerves ran through me as I descended the last staircase into the foyer to let Cole in before he got impatient and broke the door down.

I unbolted the door, and it slammed open, almost knocking me off my feet, but he was right there to catch me, his thickly muscled arms wrapped around my body as he crushed me to his hard chest. We stayed like that for a while, his face pressed into my hair and my hands clutching and twisting his T-shirt, before he pulled back and peered into my eyes.

“Fuck, I missed you,” he murmured, his smoky voice rolling over me in waves that made my belly flip. His granite eyes were burning with an intensity that shocked me. He was usually so guarded, so closed off. I hadn’t expected to see such raw emotion from him, but it was addictive. I wanted him to look at me like that forever.

“I missed you too, big guy,” I whispered back, a hot tear spilling down my cheek. His gaze tracked its path, but before it could run too far, he leaned in and placed a kiss on it, his soft lips lingering at the corner of my mouth a moment. My breath caught in my throat, and I turned my face into his gentle caress, my movement instantly rewarded as his lips met mine. To my surprise, he made no attempt to deepen the kiss, instead keeping it sweet, then breaking away. He studied my face with a cryptic expression while rubbing his thumb across my lower lip, seeming to be lost in thought.

“Is anyone else home?” he finally asked, and I grinned wickedly, shaking my head.

“We're all alone,” I told him with a wink and slid my cold hands under the fabric of his shirt. As I grasped his bare sides, I felt his skin pebble at the iciness of my fingers. He gave me a wicked smile of his own and jerked his head towards the stairs.

“In that case, I'm sleeping in your room tonight. I'm not letting you out of my sight for another second,” he told me with a raw possessiveness that made my thighs clench tightly.

“Mm-hmm,” I hummed in agreement, grasping his massive hand in mine and leading the way up the stairs. “You're absolutely welcome in my bed, but sleep is the last thing I want to do with you tonight.” I threw what I hoped was a sexy look over my shoulder at him. I could only blame that steamy novel, but the second I had heard him pounding down my door, I’d begun burning with a need for intimacy to the point where I could barely keep my focus on the steps beneath my feet.