Sabin grabs my waist as I try to shoot past him.

“We’ll go get the paladin, they’ll know what to do," he tells me, at the same time someone else asks, “Who’s trying to get in?”

He lets out a frustrated growl when I expertly yank my wrist from his hold. Ryker and Knox move in front of my bedroom door, blocking the only exit they see in the room. They’re not going to be happy when they realize that’s not the door I’m headed for.

I leap over my bed and fling open the french doors that lead to my balcony. I jump up onto the stone railing without hesitation and activate the runes on my legs and feet. Then I leap out into the cool darkness of the night. I call on both of my short swords from the runes on my ribs and grip them tightly as the wind whips past me in my freefall to meet the ground.

I land effortlessly, slightly crouched on the manicured lawn of the front yard. Swearing and shouts sound off on the balcony above me, but I focus in on the things I sense outside of the barrier. I realize then, that the magic I fed into the barrier the first time I crossed it with Lachlan and his coven, not only strengthened it but connected me to it.

I’m not the magical version of duct tape, I grumble to my magic. But apparently, it doesn’t agree. I can feel each move against the protective barrier as if it were against my body directly.

Something is slamming against the shield, trying to make cracks and access points. Other things seemed to be almost feeding off the magic of the barrier. The attacks feel malignant and cold against me. I can sense that the barrier is surrounded by an all-consuming darkness, the malevolence of which sends warning shivers throughout my whole body.

Magic swells up inside me in response, and a fierce possessiveness overcomes me as I think about anything breaking through and hurting what’s mine. A feral growl rumbles in my chest and I bellow a challenging roar at anything that would fuck with me. Whoa, where the hell did that come from?

Letting the magic guide me the way it always does, I let it continue to surge in me until I can barely take it. Just when I feel like I’m going to explode, I crouch and slam my blades into the grass-covered ground. I hold onto the hilts of my magic-forged weapons and feed power through the blades and out into the barrier.

The protective dome that shields us from the threats, throbs with pink and orange light and becomes more than a simple force of protection. It morphs into a weapon. The barrier strikes out at anything and everything attempting to breach it, and I’m rewarded with blood-curdling screams and roars of pain.

I continue to feed magic into the barrier, but suddenly the threat seems to blink out. Grass-muffled footsteps rapidly approach me, and I whirl around a blade at the ready. Silva stops abruptly, inches separating his throat from the end of my short sword. He visibly swallows, and I quickly drop my hand and calm my magic. He takes a step back, and the rest of Lachlan’s coven reach us.

I look past them searching for the guys, but I don’t see them anywhere.

“They’re inside. We told them to guard the house, as a second layer of defense," Lachlan tells me in answer to my unvoiced question.

“What the Xena Warrior Princess, kind of shit is going on out here?” Evrin asks me, scanning my stance and the short swords in each hand.

I let the weapons go, the runes on my ribs reabsorbing their magic and then I stand up straight. I almost wobble as my suddenly tired muscles seem to be struggling to cooperate, but I mask it.

“Someone or something was attacking the barrier. They seem to be gone now, or at least I don’t feel them anymore," I explain.

I turn around to scan the darkness again, as I try to look and feel for a threat or any trace of whoever was just here. Silva gapes at me but snaps out of it as Lachlan organizes patrols. He sends them off to assess and collect clues, but he stops me when I try to join them.

“You’re in your underwear. Go get dressed while we figure out what the hell is going on.”

I dismiss his aggravated tone and take one more look around before I nod and make my way to the front door. I gently close it behind me, feeling drained from all the magic I just used, but I don’t manage one more step before the guys are on me. They’re all shouting at once, and I pick up on several--what the fucks--some--you scared the ever-loving shit out of me--and a whole lot of--don’t ever do that again.

Ryker pulls me to him and starts running his hands all over my body in search of injuries. It dawns on me that I should do something to assuage their concern, but instead I’m super focused on Ryker and his roaming hands. Down tiger.

“You just sparked up and jumped off the balcony, like you were Selene in Underworld. I was terrified and turned on at the same time!”

Knox’s confession breaks through my yearning for Ryker and his magic hands, and I look up at him. He looks cautious and lustful, and it makes me chuckle.

“Oh, and now you’re going to laugh at me, Sparky…that’s it.”

Knox bends down and throws me over his shoulder. I squeak in surprise and start laughing even harder. He swats my butt playfully and then rubs the sting away, as he mumbles quietly about how I need to be taught a lesson not to literally leap into danger.

Knox carries me up to my room while I fill the others in on what happened. I don’t fight being carried around like an invalid because I’m seriously so tired right now. I laboriously pull on some leggings and zip up a hoodie over my tank top. I try to finger comb some tangles out of my hair, but I give up and use my magic to tackle the windswept nest.

We all trickle back downstairs and wait in the living room for the paladin. I try to stifle a yawn, but it escapes and releases my inner Chewbacca. I expect to be teased about it, but instead, it seems to have set off yawns in all of the guys. I smile and slowly blink, my eyes feeling gritty and heavy. I lean into Bastien and Knox pulls my feet into his lap. Any traces of adrenaline in my body are now long gone, and I’m defenseless against the exhaustion.

I groan as I close an old book that’s about six inches thick.

“There’s nothing in this one," I announce to the room.

The guys are sitting all around me in Lachlan’s office, each of them scouring through their own tomes. Lachlan looks up from his laptop at his desk and takes note of the title of the book.

“I’ll mark it off the list.”

It’s been a couple of days since I magically marked the guys and we had an attack on the barrier that surrounds the paladin’s home. They’ve deduced that it was a group of ten to fifteen somethings that attempted to break in, but no one seems to be able to agree on what those somethings might have been.

My vote is for the lamia, but the tracks found around the barrier don’t help pinpoint the paranormal species that created them. It could very well be lamia, or it could be casters, or shifters, or the stars only know what else. There has been a lot of speculation back and forth about who or what it could have been, but the uncertainty now floating around the house is unsettling.

I fully passed out and completely snoozed through what must have been an awkward conversation with Lachlan and the coven about the new runes I managed to gift to the guys. Pretty much seconds after I woke up in a puddle of drool on Bastien’s shoulder, Lachlan has forced us to scour the caster digital archives and his library in search of answers that would explain just what in the hell I did to them.

I’d much rather be trying to solve the mystery of who the fuck tried to get to us the other night. Especially since this boring book search has yielded a shit ton of nothing as far as answers go, but -–according to Lachlan--my help is not needed.

“I’m done for the day,” I announce, and I heave the heavy-ass book I just finished onto a shelf and dust my thighs off.

I weave my way out of the office, irritated. We haven’t found one matching rune in all of Lachlan’s sources. There are zero mentions of any casters having runes on their bodies, and a whole lot of nada when it comes to information about the connection the guys and I now have.

My magic just keeps upping the ante on my freak factor, and I feel like all of the paladin are watching me, waiting for the next crazy thing my magic is going to do. The itch of eyes on me is constant, and it’s making me grouchy.

I touch the runes on my ear to amplify my hearing as I make my way to the kitchen. Aydin has started a game, where he tries to surprise attack me. I don’t know what purpose it serves, but it’s been the most entertainment I’ve had in the past couple of days.

It’s becoming a habit to listen out for him, so I’m not surprised when he’s waiting for me around some corner or various other blind spots in the house. I swipe a drink from the fridge, and Birdie subtly points to the pantry.

I don’t tell her I can already hear his breathing, and the steady staccato of his beating heart, I just give a thankful smile.

“Aydin, I know you’re in the pantry," I announce, before taking a swig of cold soda.

“How do you do that?” he pouts and slinks out of the pantry door.

“Birdie ratted you out.”

I tip my soda bottle to her in cheers. She laughs and tries to look innocent as Aydin prowls toward her.

“Birdie I’ve known you longer, you should be helping me."

“I am helping you, dear, helping you not get your butt kicked," she pats his cheek and laughs.

“You want to spar?” I ask, through my giggles and shoot a wink to Birdie.

“I can’t. It looks like we’ve got a new case coming in. Some unusual lamia activity that needs to be looked into.”

“Is that connected to what happened here the other night?” I ask.

“Doubt it."

He’s already walking away before I can ask him more about it, but a tingle of suspicion crawls up my spine.

Bastien brushes up against my back, and it chases away the eerie feeling. I lean into him automatically, and his arms wrap around me from behind. He steals my soda and loudly slurps down a big gulp before handing it back to me. The dirty rotten thief. The other guys all slowly trickle into the kitchen, apparently also giving up on another torturous day of looking through old dusty, useless books.

Birdy slides a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies across the counter, and we all go into an instant feeding frenzy. Each of us savagely fights for a cookie, like somehow there won’t be enough for all of us and there’s no hope that cookies will ever be baked again. It’s beyond ridiculous and hilarious.

Bastien pulls a cookie-filled hand towards his mouth, but I redirect it and manage to steal a huge bite. It’s then I learn, that it’s okay when he and his brother steal my treats, but they can’t take what they dish out. The look on his face as he stares at the missing bite in his cookie screams betrayal.

I see the torturous glint in his eye, and I break out of his grasp and run.

“How could you do this to me, Bruiser?”

“Oh, so you can take but not give?" I accuse.

“I can give Bruiser, stop running and see what I’ve got in store for you.”

His tone turns salacious, and I laugh as we circle the island opposite each other. Sabin walks into the middle of this ridiculous--but entertaining--cat and mouse game, and I slam into him in my attempt to avoid Bastien’s attempt to tackle me. Sabin grabs my waist to steady me and then looks at all of us in an effort to figure out what’s going on. I hold up my hands innocently.

“He started it, Captain," I declare, and then salute him.

Sabin rolls his eyes.

“I’m not here as acting hall monitor," he rubs his hand over the nape of his neck. “I actually wanted to ask if you’d hang with me for a bit?” he offers cryptically.

I look around, waiting for whoever he’s asking to respond, but everyone is staring at me. I look up at Sabin and realize he’s asking me to hang with him. Bewilderment stalls my response and Sabin fidgets nervously at my silence.

“Um, sure," I finally manage to squeak out.

He relaxes and gives me a devastatingly handsome smile that makes his dimples come out to play. I’m instantly reminded of the heartbreaker I initially pegged him as and not the rigid Captain Cockblock that I’ve later come to know.

“Put on some jeans and shoes," Sabin instructs me, and then he grabs a cookie and walks out.

I look over to the guys wondering if they’re just as shocked as I am by this turn of events, but they all just shrug. Quick as lightning, I snatch the last cookie on the plate and sprint for my room. I slip on some skinny jeans, lace up my black combat boots, and keep on the dark green slouchy shirt I was already wearing.

I dash out of my room, and I’m surprised to find Sabin leaning against the wall just outside of my door. He’s in a pair of well-fitted jeans and an ash-colored t-shirt, and I can’t help but take in how incredibly gorgeous he is. If only he wasn’t such a dick. His brown hair looks like he’s been running his fingers through it, and it makes him look a little more rugged and a lot less controlled.

His tattoo stands out in contrast to his light gray shirt. Below his elbow, the tattoo is a reflection on water of trees and the night sky. Above his elbow is a detailed tree line that reaches up into a sky full of stars, with a full moon sitting on the top of his arm into his shoulder. It’s stunning, and I want to sit and trace all the beautiful detail that I know I’d find if I could just get close enough.

“Where are we going?” I ask as I try to rein in my pathetic mental worship of an asshole who confuses the shit out of me.

“You’ll see.”