CARLYLE

“If you truly want to test yourself, you should train harder,” Jai said, sauntering into the kitchen and interrupting my breakfast of sugar-filled coffee and the world’s most delicious chocolate croissants, that Sol had brought me fresh from the local gourmet bakery.

I eyed him warily. “This is going to be payback, isn’t it?”

He smirked, popping out his dimple. “Your body is weak, and your magic is unshaped.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, but I really didn’t feel offended. He was right enough. I’d never needed to throw a punch, and it had barely been a week since I’d accepted that what I could do actually was a form of magic.

“You managed to pull yourself through the motions of siphoning yesterday. But remember, even though you’ve mated with Jack, you would still need to mate with Dair to achieve his level of control and power.”

I gulped my coffee the wrong way and coughed, my throat twisting painfully. I didn’t want anywhere near the idea of mating with Dair. I’d barely figured out anything about being mated to Jack. Plus, I’d be lucky if Dair wanted to speak to me when he returned, much less mate with me.

“It’s, ah, normal to be mated to more than one person, right?” I asked, needed constant reassurance that the things I was feeling really were advisable. I mean, despite jumping in feet first to tell Sol I was falling in love with him, I still had no idea how I’d actually mated with Jack, and no real sense of whether I should try it again with anyone else.

“It is very normal, and even desirable for a Qilin. Your power is uniquely adaptable to channeling multiple magics, and it is advantageous to mate with powerful Haretians.”

“Like all of you,” I blurted, and Jai’s stare grew intense, even for him.

“We are all powerful, yes.”

“How would I ever choose between you?” I murmured, feeling drawn to him like a magnet. “How much power can I hold?”

What was I really asking him? I wasn’t sure I even knew.

He took a step backward, his movement breaking my gaze. I blinked, feeling a little dazed.

“Kana can take over your training with blades,” Jai continued, as though I hadn’t asked him anything at all. “She is much more skilled than Killian. Then he can focus on teaching you his air magic and his Second Sight.”

I huffed a laugh. Despite our small breakthrough yesterday, I didn’t see Killian teaching me much of anything. “I’ll let you be the one to tell him the news,” I mumbled, sure he wouldn’t be pleased.

“Of course,” Jai answered, the hint of a smile in his eyes. “I believe they are both in the training room downstairs.”

I picked up my coffee mug and followed Jai down the basement stairs, where Killian was just unwrapping his gloves. His skin shone with beads of sweat, and his skin was flushed and ruddy from exertion. I tried not to notice his bare chest, or the way my eyes bumped so easily over his abs and down to... holy hell.

I swallowed hard and forced my eyes away, but I’d seen it.

He had tattoos. So many beautiful tattoos, flowing like art over the rippling canvas of his ripped body.

So not the time, I reminded myself, forcing my attention to the center of the room where Kana was practicing with her blades and an assortment of training dummies and targets.

Kana moved like smoke and lightning. She spun and arched so fast she was a blur before my eyes - faster than I’d seen Jai fight, actually. Was he capable of that, too? Her blades flashed and sliced, cutting apart the targets before I’d even figured out which direction she’d attacked from.

In about eight seconds, she had delivered killing blows to all four dummies, hit the bullseye on six wooden targets, and was leaning against the wall twirling a dagger.

“Fuck,” I breathed, and she giggled, the swift change from assassin to girl startling me.

“I practice a lot,” she said with a shrug.

Killian pushed off the wall and turned as though to leave. “Yeh, you love to fuck things up when you’re not getting fucked.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, and I gasped as she flicked her dagger straight at his heart. His magic stopped it at the last possible moment, the point denting the fabric of his shirt as it hovered before him.

Kana smirked. “What can I say? The energy has to go somewhere, and it certainly isn’t going into milking your fae cock.”

I choked again on the damn coffee I’d been sipping, and Kana grinned at me.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with fae cock, if you’re a Qilin.” She gave me a sly look.

Killian snorted. “Nah, I don’t fuck kids. Only women.”

“And the occasional man,” Kana added, pinning him in her gaze like she wanted to say something else.

His face reddened, and I stepped back hastily. It looked like he was going to launch some serious magic at her, but he only pivoted and stormed back up the stairs. Jai followed, giving us both a look that told us to get training.

I blinked at Kana, trying to process her and Killian’s odd brand of push and pull.

“Does he really think you’re racist?” I asked, dancing around asking if she actually was.

“No.” Kana wandered around the dummies, retrieving her knives. “It’s an old joke we make to cover up the anger we both felt when being bound to each other against our wishes. I’ve certainly fucked a few non-vampires, and at least one fae. They were nothing compared to my aima.” Her voice ended on a whisper, and I debated asking what happened to this aima.

I could see her struggling to shut something down in her mind, though. She was locking away something she didn’t want to think about, and I wasn’t about to force the matter.

Instead, I asked, “Why does he keep calling me a kid? We’re like a year apart.”

She snickered. “Defense mechanism. Kills doesn’t want to want you for some reason, so he’s telling himself you’re just a kid. It won’t work forever, though. He and Sol are kinda a package deal, from what Jai’s told me. And you’re fucking Sol, so...”

She gave me a wicked grin, and I felt my cheeks flush. Why did everyone always know my business?

“S-so he really does like men, too?” I stuttered. I tried to imagine Killian kissing Sol, but my brain just couldn’t fit them together. It was like magnets repelling each other.

Kana nodded. “A lot of fae are like that - gender isn’t important to them. They just go for beauty. Once they mate, though, they’re loyal to the core. You’d never have to worry about him wanting someone else.”

I nodded absently at her words, stuck on the memory of me taking Sol deep in my throat while Killian watched from the doorway.

Sol had been telling the truth - if Killian liked to watch, then he probably liked to join in, too. My heart raced, and suddenly my brain figured out how the magnets went together.

With me in the middle, pulling them both in.

I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly very dry, and my grip on the coffee mug faltered.

Kana caught it in mid-air before it shattered on the floor. She cleared her throat. “You’re super loud right now.” She was biting down a laugh.

“Ah, was I talking out loud again?” I moaned. Goddamn it.

She cocked her head at me, curious. “No. Your thoughts. You leak like crazy.”

“I what?”

“Oh, fuck,” she whispered, then flew up the stairs. It took me a beat too long to react, and by the time I made it upstairs, she was gone. Dread crept over my shoulders like claws as my brain connected the slow, infuriating dots.

My thoughts were leaking.

She could hear my thoughts - Kana could read my goddamn mind.

I cursed myself for not asking more questions about her powers - about everyone’s powers. Just how deep could she read? Who else had this skill? Was it a vampire thing? I groaned, thinking of all the times it seemed like Jai had known just what I was about to say.

I had a sick feeling that it was abso-fucking-lutely a vampire thing.

My embarrassment was ratcheting up into anger so fast I was a little dizzy. My heart pounded the blood and adrenaline through my body as I stomped through the house.

“Jai!” I roared, banging open every door until I found the right one.

He was alone in his bedroom, stretched across a deep russet comforter.

“Is it true?” I asked, point-blank. I knew it was. He didn’t even have to answer.

He nodded, not looking the least bit sorry. “As I said, you were not ready before. You would never have trusted us if you thought I had such power.”

“What makes you think learning it now is any better?” I raged.

He shrugged. “You know us now. Trust has developed, just as your power has developed. I have never taken control of your mind, Carlyle. I’ve never intentionally probed your thoughts.”

“But according to Kana, I leak. So you probably didn’t need to probe.”

He sighed, giving the impression I was being childish. “Does this change anything?” he asked, turning the tables on me. Shit. Did it? Did this make me want to leave?

My chest twisted at the idea. Goddamn him. He was right. I didn’t like knowing all the shit I hadn’t known, but when I stopped to think about it, it wasn’t a deal breaker. Just really embarrassing.

“Wait,” I said, distracted by the final dots connecting. “You probably knew all about my plan to get Killian’s car.”

He nodded, keeping silent.

“You didn’t stop me.” My sentence ended in a question, and he shrugged. I waited, fidgeting.

“I thought you could handle it,” he said finally. “I wanted to see how you would handle it,” he added, clarifying. The admission shot me through with pride. He hadn’t been angry with me, after all. He’d allowed me the freedom I’d wanted, without me even needing to ask.

“Thank you,” I said, hoping he would understand my full meaning. After all, he could read my freaking mind.

He snickered, and I knew I’d been heard well enough. “Kana can teach you to build a wall in your mind. One day, you’ll be strong enough to force me out if you wish. Until then, I promise never to take advantage.”

“Why Kana? Couldn’t you teach me?” I blurted. He still held me at such a distance, and I needed to know why, more than ever now.

“You’re not ready,” he said, repeating himself from our previous conversation. I narrowed my eyes, studying him as an idea formed in my mind.

“You keep saying that, but really, I think it’s you who aren’t ready. Boss,” I added.

I was rewarded with a flash of heat in his eyes, before he hid it away behind his typical, cool mask. He watched me like a cat might watch a fly, as though deciding whether to bat it right into oblivion.

I held his gaze, and the edge of a smile crossed his full lips. “One day, you’ll be so powerful,” he said, his voice low and throaty. I shivered at what sounded like praise. A man like Jai would be drawn to power, just like I was. Maybe... maybe once I learned how to manage all the magic from the other guys, Jai would find me worthy to sample his.

I raised a single eyebrow slowly, letting my thoughts leak like a fucking faucet. His reaction was everything - another flash of those diamond-like fangs, and a grin so hot it felt like ice in my veins.

“Oh, you are a wicked Qilin, aren’t you,” he whispered, and I swear my panties melted right off my body.

“One day, I’ll let you in and show you,” I taunted, swiveling on the balls of my feet and sauntering out of his room, thrilling at the feral growl that echoed behind me.