My teeth ground together so hard I thought they might crack. How the fuck had I not seen this coming?

“She’ll never fall for it,” I snapped, tugging against my restraints. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t give even a fraction of an inch.

“Children these days.” My captor, and former mentor, sighed heavily. “Have you understood nothing? You are one of her chosen guardians. She’ll fall for it hook, line, and sinker if it sounds like you’re in trouble.”

“You don’t need to do it like this.” I tried a different angle, hoping reasoning would succeed when anger was failing. “What if you’re wrong? Then you’re seriously screwed.”

“I’m not wrong.” Master Yoshi gave me a pitying look. “The only thing I was wrong about was the level of motivation required.”

Shit, I knew I never should have fallen for his weak ass story about having a stroke. But fuck, what do I know? He’s almost seven hundred years old, for fuck’s sake.

“This is insanity, Yoshi,” I snarled, straining against my bonds in a fruitless attempt to get free. “Why can’t you just leave things be? If she’s chosen me as a guardian, then it’ll happen eventually anyway.”

If. Like I don’t know full well she has. She just doesn’t want to admit it, and I’ll be damned if I crack first.

“You don’t get it, Austin.” He sighed, and his true age seemed to reflect in his weary eyes. “My tenure in this position was supposed to be up almost one hundred and fifty years ago. I stayed because, thanks to that fucking plague, my destined replacements each came and went in normal human lives. Without the Ban Dia power to restore magic, there was no one to replace me. Until you. I knew the moment we met your generation would be the one.”

He was tired and fed up. I got it. But that wasn’t my fucking problem. He should have tried harder to restore the magic to one of the other destined ones in the last hundred and fifty years. Surely Christina wasn’t the only living Ban Dia with her magic intact.

“What are you planning to do to her?” I demanded, and Yoshi raised his eyebrows at me in surprise, like I was the dumbest fuck around. But I had to ask.

“Her? Nothing. I simply need her to restore your magic so you can take over this fucking responsibility of being the Ink Mage, and I can retire to my holiday house in Costa Rica.” Master Yoshi shrugged like he was only asking me to pop out and grab a fucking newspaper or something. Age must have finally cracked his sanity.

“What about Caleb?” I asked, and Yoshi frowned.

“Your twin was not my problem, but from what I understand, he’s already been changed.” He delivered the news casually, like he hadn’t just told me my brother had been injured badly enough that he’d required Christina to heal him.

Fucking Caleb, I’m going to kill him.

He’d called me after arriving to Omega Headquarters and told me about the accident, but he’d only mentioned Wes getting hurt. Not himself. That stupid fuck was probably trying to handle things alone because he was too damn proud to ask me for help.

“Was it him? Jackson?” I spat the name like it carried a bad taste. It sort of did too. Jackson was Yoshi’s twin, in the magical sense. They weren’t blood related like Caleb and I, but Jackson was the Blood Mage to Yoshi’s Ink.

“That asshole?” Yoshi scoffed. “No. That lazy prick couldn’t give two shits about whether his replacement was restored to power. It’s not like he does anything within the community any more.”

Yoshi was right, of course. I despised Jackson, and for good reason, he was a lazy-ass motherfucker these days and left the Mage politics entirely up to Yoshi to handle.

“You’re supposed to be better than this, Yoshi.” I tried a guilt trip instead. “Is this really the example you want to set for mages everywhere? That their leader is a backstabbing fuck?”

“Ah, but you forget one thing, kid.” Yoshi grinned at me like a shark. “In a matter of hours, or however long it takes your girlfriend to get here, you’ll be their leader. And not a moment too soon, I say!”

Yoshi walked over and patted me on the head like a damn puppy, making me snarl at him as I pulled on my restraints again. Of course it was stupid to try; I was sitting inside a rune circle that strengthened the ropes, making them impossible to wriggle out of.

“And don’t you worry about trying to kill me as soon as the Ink magic passes to you. I’ll be long gone by then.” He said it with such casual confidence, but he must be sweating a bit to have even mentioned it. There could only ever be one Ink and one Blood Mage in existence, and they represented the strongest Mages alive.

He should be scared. Once the magic moved to me, I’d be infinitely more powerful than him and pissed off. Not to mention Caleb and I as a united force.

“You and Jackson have been separate so long I think you’re forgetting how strong Cal and I will be together. What did you once tell me? We’d have the power to rival a Ban Dia?” I smirked at my former mentor and was rewarded with a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.

“Well,” he huffed, folding his tattooed arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at me. “Kill Jackson if you want, but I’m banking on the fact that you’ll more than have your hands full with your girlfriend and this war that’s knocking on her door.”

Fuck, he knows more that he’s not letting on here.

“You’re an asshole, Yoshi,” I snapped, glaring death at him while my mind raced with this war he’d just mentioned. Christina just couldn’t catch a break, it seemed.

“Quit crying, kid,” he snickered, like the maniac he clearly was. “You’ve known this was your heritage for almost ten years, ever since you first apprenticed for me. Now keep quiet while I make a call.” He squinted at me. “Actually, I can’t trust you not to try something.”

Pulling a gold washable marker from his pocket, he forced my head to the side with one strong hand and sketched a rune against my skin, rendering me speechless. Literally. My mouth worked with the curses I wanted to throw at him, but no sound came out.

Motherfucker. Part of Yoshi’s unique power was that he could imbue any ink with his will. A simple design on skin held the spell in place for however long the image remained. Add Jackson’s blood to the ink, and they could perform feats of magic most mages only dreamed about.

Master Yoshi picked my phone up from the ground where I’d dropped it during our brief scuffle that had resulted in me tied to this fucking chair. I truly hadn’t stood a chance against him, despite my Omega training; I was currently only human. Not for long though, if Yoshi’s plan succeeded.

He flicked through my contacts and hit dial, then swirled a quick design on the back of his hand so that when he spoke, it was in my voice. Fucker.

“Hey, Cal. Yeah, it’s me.” Yoshi curved a nasty grin at me while my voice poured out of his mouth. “He’s doing good! I should be done here in a couple of days, and Yoshi is retiring to Costa Rica.” He paused while Caleb spoke for a bit, and I mouthed obscenities at him. “Yeah, I know he’s been saying that for years, but this time he means it. Hey, can you send me Kit’s new mobile number? I need to ask her a question.”

A shock of relief washed over me, and I fought not to smile. I’d never called Christina by her nickname before, and Caleb knew it. He’d for sure know something was fishy about this.

“You’ll text it to me?” Yoshi continued, curving a triumphant smile at me, and my stomach sank. “Great, thanks bro. Hey, maybe let her know I’ll be texting, in case she thinks someone stole my phone and is setting her up or something.” He chuckled, like it was all a big fucking joke, and I screamed at him soundlessly.

“Yeah, you too. Sweet, see you in a couple of days, then.” Yoshi disconnected the call and raised his eyebrows at me, looking like he’d just won. He hadn’t, though. Not yet.

“Is it just me, or has your brother become far too trusting?” he pondered aloud. “Then again, I imagine he has a lot on his mind at the moment, if he’s just come into his magic. I sorely doubt Jackson has put his hand up to teach him how to control it, either.”

The deceptively young-looking man tapped at my phone, no doubt sending a text to Christina that would set her into enough of a panic that she’d come down here and try to save my sorry ass.

Despite what I’d said, I knew she would too. Damn woman was too fucking soft hearted for her own good, always trying to save the world. Didn’t she realize not everyone needed saving? Or deserved it, for that matter.

“Oh, don’t give me that look; you know he’s handling it just fine. Probably found a local witch or something to help him get some control. Besides, if he had paid a lick of attention to the lessons I tried to give you both growing up, he’d be fine to handle it on his own. Like you will be.” Yoshi sighed heavily and gave me a disappointed look.

For all appearances, he wasn’t a day older than me. Medium height and build with short, spiky black hair and more ink than even I had decorating his skin. The difference was, though, his ink contained magic.

Of course, he assumed I was worrying about my brother in that moment and not about the red-haired temptress who haunted my every waking thought.

“I really wish you weren’t forcing my hand in this, but your Ban Dia came into her powers months ago, and you still haven’t given her reason to restore your magic. Any of you. I give the rest of your little team some allowance as they were unaware of what they are, but you and Caleb...” He shook his head, tsking. “You knew better.”

He turned and headed to the door, clearly intending to leave the mute spell active on my skin. “Shouldn’t be too much longer. I’ll check on you again later, but for now I have clients waiting.”

As he left through the door, the distinctive buzzing of tattoo needles could be heard, and I screamed silently in frustration.