Cassian gently corrects my stance. “You’ll have to put a lot of intention behind this spell. You can only cast it if you truly wish to hurt the person you’re casting it on.”
I press my lips together and nod my understanding.
I’ve seen this hex enough times to know how it’s cast, but Cassian runs me through it all the same. It’s just three sigils, a spell that relies entirely on intention, just as Cassian said. I’m the first to try casting it, Simon and Luca wisely standing behind me, protected by Cassian’s new shielding spell in case the powerful spell goes wild.
“Agonia!” I shout, putting all my intention behind the word. It strikes the practice wall in a shower of dark sparks.
“Good,” Cassian praises. “Again.”
We practice the spell until we’re exhausted. Even Simon, who struggled with his intention in his first few times trying the spell, learns to cast it with his full power behind it. Luca never once hesitated, and I know why—he’ll hex anyone who’s remotely a threat to me. Already brutal with his fists, he’s now armed with the magic he’ll need to protect me from greater threats.
We practice another banned spell the next day, a paralyzing spell stronger than any other stunning spell I’ve learned before. Cassian makes us practice it on him, and my first few spells go wild. How can my mate expect me to hit him with such a hex? It’s no agonia spell, but it’s brutal on its own.
I whip through the three sigils on the third time I cast it, aiming my intention at my mate. His legs and arms immediately lock up and he drops to the practice mats, where hestays for an entire five minutes. I crouch beside him and take his pulse. It remains just as strong as ever. The hex hasn’t hurt him, but ithasparalyzed him.
When he finally stirs, I take his stiff body in my arms. The first thing he does when the paralysis wears off is kiss me.
“Very good, Junes. I’m so proud of you.”
I’m workingon my future sight with Ian, worn to the bone from training and working with the omegas, when Simon tramps down the stairs to the basement.
“All right,” he says. “Enough training.” He rubs his hands together, a twinkle of glee in his hazel eyes. “It’s blanket fort time.”
Ian arches a brow.
“Oh, you’re helping,” Simon assures him. “And if you’ve never done it before, you’re learning.”
“Can’t say I have,” Ian says, a note of humor in his voice. “All right, what do you need from me?”
“Go strip your bed. We need sheets and blankets.”
“Understood,” Ian says with a wry smile.
Simon and I trample up the stairs behind him, and I dash to my nest, grabbing all my nesting materials with Simon’s help.
Simon has already gathered the blanket and sheets off of his and Cassian’s bed, and for a moment, all I want is to drive straight into them.
Luca emerges from his room with his bedding, grinning. “It’s been way too long since our last blanket fort!”
Simon and Luca get to work, running Ian through the finer points of fort building as they go, until our living room is transformed. There’s more than a little magic holding the blankets up, but it’s perfect.
I crawl into the fort, beckoning for my men to follow. It’s a tight squeeze, but isn’t that the point when you’re an omega and your men have built you a blanket fort? Snuggling super close and basking in their scents?
Cassian and Marcus emerge from the basement where they’d been sparring, and I stare at them through the open flap of the fort, my mouth going dry. Sweat plasters their shirts to their hard bodies, and I see Simon noticing the very same about Cassian. All the sparring has turned Cassian’s already muscular physique into something even hotter. He has muscles enough to match Marcus’, and the sight of them makes me perfume.
“No sex in the blanket fort,” Simon says with a roll of his eyes, though his words lack conviction.
“Join us?” I ask.
“Showers first,” Cassian says, and Marcus nods, eyes intent on me. His nostrils twitch as he draws the scent of my perfume into his nose, and he lets out a long sigh, a glint in his gray-green eyes. A verypromisingglint.
Saints, I could get used to that look in his eyes.
Cassian and Marcus disappear upstairs, emerging a few moments later, their hair wet from their showers. They crawl into the cramped blanket fort, settling on either side of me, surrounding me with their scents. Marcus’ wintery wind and pine is so at odds with Cassian’s salty summer sea air scent, but somehow, they’re perfect together. My eyes flutter shut as I draw the scents of my other men into my nose: Simon’s clean beta scent, Luca’s red wine and juicy cherries, Ian’s citrus and cedar.
Saints, it smells likepack, especially with Marcus in here. He holds me so sweetly, gently stroking my cheek with the backs of his fingers, scent marking me in front of my whole pack, staking his claim. It makes me shiver, and I shiver once more when Cassian drags his knuckles down my spine.
I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, surrounded by my men. Soft music plays from the stereo outside the fort, and it’s perfectly cozy as I cuddle down among them.
