“Dickhead here wouldn’t tell them where you were,” Caleb responded, throwing his twin under the bus.
Austin rolled his eyes and sighed. “For the thousandth time, I couldn’t tell them. It’s not like I have a mental set of GPS coordinates for where Christina is. I just followed the magic to her. Besides, those overgrown lizards would have shifted to get here quicker and that’s not really what we need, now is it?”
“That’s a good point,” I agreed. “You’ve at least texted them to say we’re okay though, right?”
“Yup,” Caleb confirmed, then our conversation paused as we placed our orders with the waitress.
“I want to go and check out the crash site when we’re finished here,” Austin said when the bored-looking older woman walked away to place our orders with the kitchen.
“Why?” I frowned but didn’t move away when his ankle pressed against mine under the table. Snarky or not, we’d already established I was in love with the asshole.
“Because those cuffs were made by mages. And if mages are involved, then Caleb and I have some work to do within our community.”
Their community. Sometimes I forgot that two of my lovers were supposed to be the leaders of an entire magical race. Okay, so I forgot all the time. It was going to be a bit weird having them ruling over mages... but I supposed they needed to step up some time soon, right?
If they didn’t, someone else surely would. Maybe had? What other reason could there be for mages involving themselves in my kidnapping?
Picking our way down the rocky incline once more as we headed back to the crashed van, I somehow managed to trip on something and ended up flying head first into Austin. Luckily, he turned just in time to catch me, instead of me plowing into his back and sending us both flying.
“Really, Princess?” he murmured in my ear as his hands groped way more of my body than was necessary just to set me back on my feet. “I already know you’ve fallen for me. No need to get so literal.”
“I tripped, asshole,” I growled back, swatting him on the arm and brushing past him to the crumpled wreckage of the van. It seemed amazing that no one had seen it and called the cops yet, but from the street it was impossible to see. The only evidence was the broken guard rail.
“What the fuck?” Wesley exclaimed, having ducked inside the back of the van. I rushed over and peered past him to see what he was looking at.
The inside of the van was still splattered with blood from all the shots we’d fired into the guards, but in place of bodies... were just empty clothes. What the fuck, indeed?
“Huh,” Caleb climbed inside the van and kicked at the empty kevlar armour. “Golems.”
“Like the little dude on Lord of the Rings?” I squeaked in shock, and confusion. What the hell did a little, ring-obsessed troll-thing have to do with the missing bodies?
Austin snickered a laugh. “No, Princess. Golems are creatures, people in this case, made from clay and earth, animated using a necromancer’s magic. They’re often a replica of one person, but judging by this mess, I’d say the original wasn’t one of these.”
“But...” I gaped at the contents of the van wreckage. “But they were bleeding.”
Caleb swiped a finger through the redness splattered on the van wall. “Not blood, babe. Clay. See?” He held out his fingers to me to inspect. Now that he mentioned it... it was still way too red after this amount of time to be real blood.
Holy shit, though. Golems. That meant...
“Necromancer?” I repeated, wrinkling my nose and moving out of the way to let Caleb out of the van. “That explains why Simon is alive-ish, right?”
“It sure does,” Austin confirmed. “And it means that this falls under Mage business. Cal, we’re going to need to call a town hall.”
Caleb groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Dammit. Yeah, you’re right. We’ve probably left the mages alone too long already and this is the result.”
“Let’s get back,” I suggested, heading back to the climb to the road. “I want to shower before you start this town hall.”
Austin snorted a laugh as he followed me. “Sorry, Princess. This one is mages only, and you’re not a mage.”
Turning to him with a grin, I held out my hand to conjure a fireball. “Aren’t I?” I challenged, then frowned. There was no fire in my palm.
Confused, I tried again. Nothing. I tried something else—levitating myself. Nothing.
“What the hell?” I panicked, and Austin took me by the wrist with a gentle grip.
“Calm down, baby girl,” he soothed. “It’s probably just a lingering effect of the mage cuffs. It should wear off in a day or so. In the meantime, you’re right. You technically are part mage now, so I can’t see why we need to exclude you.”
“Okay. Cool.” I nodded, but chewed my lip. He was being nice, and that made me worry even more. Something was wrong with my magic, and I wasn’t totally buying the “lingering effect” excuse.
Caleb bounded up past us and grinned back down. “Come on, Kitty Kat. We’ve got some mages to whip into shape! Also, the guys are probably tearing their scales out with worry...”
“True,” I nodded again, but kept Austin’s hand in mine as we climbed back up the hill. Magic or not, simply being in physical contact with my bonded guardian made me feel grounded and calm. Was that magic? Or just... love?
3
Warmth surrounded me, and I breathed in the smoldering-campfire smell of Cole. My face was pressed into his broad, inked chest, and I could feel more than one set of hands resting on my body.
River, for sure. Other than the suggested twin sandwich from Caleb and Austin, which hadn’t actually happened... yet... River and Cole were the only two who’d truly shared a bed with me.
“Hey,” I murmured sleepily as I felt Cole’s breathing shift from asleep to awake. “What time is it?”
Cole shifted in the bed, reaching for his phone on the bedside table, then relaxing once more. “You still have a few hours before this little mage meeting.”
“Cool,” I mumbled, nuzzling my face back into his chest and reaching down to pull River’s hands further around me.
We hadn’t risked returning to the same hotel, seeing as Simon clearly knew how to find us there. Instead, Cole, River, and Vali had packed up our things and we’d met at a beautiful little seaside hotel just north of Santa Maria. River had made contact with this dreamwalker guy in Ireland and gained us a couple more days, but that was all we could get.
The town hall for the mages would be held in San Francisco, but with the twins ability to teleport themselves, it wasn’t really an issue to get there in time.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Vixen?” Cole rumbled, stroking my long hair back from my face and trailing his fingertips down my shoulder. They’d only asked me if I was okay about seventeen thousand times before I’d gone to sleep the night before. It was seriously getting old.
Yes, I’d technically been kidnapped again, but Wes and I had also managed to get ourselves out without needing to be rescued. So that was an improvement in my book.
“Cole. I am fine. Stop asking.” I pushed up a little bit to glare at him. “Or I will go and sleep in Vali’s bed instead.”
Cole narrowed his eyes back at me and stroked a thumb over my lower lip. “Who said anything about sleeping?”
“Mmm,” River mumbled, his voice thick with sleep as he shifted closer to us both. “Sleep is overrated anyway, don’t you think?”
A shiver of excitement ran through me, and suddenly sleep was the furthest thing from my mind. River’s hands slid lower on my waist and pushed my tank top up a few inches to expose my midsection, and I hummed my approval.