Ahhh.
“Hey!” I shouted, running toward them. The Atlantean-five, as they were known, were some of my favorite people in the world.
Calen got to me first, and I barely caught a glimpse of his golden brown hair—that was a little longer than it had been the first time I saw him—and silvery brown eyes before he yanked me up into his arms. “Happy birthday, baby girl,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“Aw, thanks, dude,” I said, shooting him a smile. Calen was the joker of the group, the one who didn’t like shit to be too serious, and the one who had been sleeping his way through the Academy until he got hooked on Ilia. But he was loyal as fuck, and I adored him.
Jesse was next, and even though I’d never admit it to any of them, he was probably my second-favorite Atlantean behind Asher. There was just something about the huge shifter that made me feel safe and content. I trusted him implicitly; he was half the reason I hadn’t lost my mind when Asher was taken last year.
Jesse had gorgeous dark skin and a mop of dark hair. His eyes were green, but not like Asher’s; more like a leaf edged in silver. He was hot. Not quite Asher hot, but … close. Maybe it was only that I loved Asher as way, way, more than a friend that made him hotter to me; otherwise, those two were almost on par.
Jesse hugged me hard, strong arms lifting me off the ground as he held me close. “Happy birthday, Mads,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my ear.
“Thank you!”
This continued with Axl, the resident genius and bookworm, and despite the fact he was the smallest of the guys at just over six foot, he was by no means weak or small. I brushed back his messy auburn waves, delighted that they were all here with me.
“Don’t forget me,” Rone added, and I marveled at the relationship I had now with the prickly vampire. When he’d first met me, he’d been a right old asshole, and his distrust of me had lasted for quite a long time. But eventually we’d found a friendship, and now he was as important to me as the rest of the guys.
I was beyond lucky.
Looking between the four, I had to laugh. “Ash said he had another surprise, but I didn’t think it was you four. I got you guys last year.” I wrinkled my nose at Asher. “Way to regift, dude.”
He just shook his head at me. “No, smartass, it’s not the guys. They’re just here to help me out.”
Now I was intrigued.
“You know I hate waiting for surprises,” I said, looking between them all. “What is it?”
I could almost feel the low thrum of excitement coming from the five of them, and I felt like I was going to burst from anticipation. Asher brushed a hand along my side, running his fingers across the gritty sand there. “I’m going to give you your own Atlantean tattoo.”
Yes!All the yeses. There was no hiding how thrilled I was, bouncing around like an idiot, while they shook their heads at me. But for reals, I’d been dying to join their Atlantean tattoo club—all five of them were marked with various Atlantean images and symbols across the right side of their bodies and down their right arms.
“What am I getting?” I asked in a rush. “Where is it going on my body? Right side just like yours? How big can I get?” I paused. “Holy shit, how much is it going to hurt?” I looked between the five of them before settling on Axl. “You’d never lie to me, Ax … what can I compare the pain to?”
He almost looked dizzy at my random burst of questions. “The pain is minimal,” he assured me, not sounding as “scientist” as usual. Instead, he sounded like a friend who cared. “Asher uses water to infuse the marks onto your skin. It has to be him because the magic in his blood makes him the only one strong enough to still perform this original Atlantean way of marking skin.”
Asher chuckled. “Something tells me Maddi would be even better at it than me.”
I waved him away. “I can’t draw for shit, so unless you all want water-drawn stick people, it might be best if Ash sticks with being the resident artist.”
All of the guys had a lot of marks, and they each had one special one that was completely unique to them. My fascination with their tattoos had led to a lot of long chats.
Axl lifted his arm, practically shoving his forearm in my face. “Our marks will never fade, and that’s because there’s no ink.”
“So it’s just water magic and blood?” I asked.
Rone nodded. “Yep, our blood mixed with the water magic. That’s why it’s this dark, bronzy shade.”
I stared closer at Axl’s arm, which was still in my face; in the sunlight there were glittery pigments in the swirling symbol. This was Axl’s unique mark, and it was an Atlantean symbol for knowledge. Flowing lines that looked like water but all connected to each other. The water connected the world and it held secrets and knowledge that was beyond all else.
Axl wanted to unravel these secrets, so hispreferredsymbol was that of water knowledge.
Asher’s, of course, was a large crown that was filled in with swirls of water to show that he was directly descended from a royal bloodline. I wondered if he would put a crown on me too, since that was my heritage as well. Royal and a god, apparently. If the rumors were to be believed.
“My water symbol is the best … you need to touch it though, to get the full impact,” Calen flirted.
Instead of showing me his arm as Axl had done, he lifted me off the ground so that I was facing his right pec. Across it in a large geometric design was another water symbol. This one meant power. Calen hid his drive and ambition behind a playboy asshole exterior so that no one saw what was really going on underneath. But I knew the truth. He was someone who never gave up. When he set his mind to something, he did not waver.
