This pack had been used to power, dominance, and control long before they were rich. If they lost it all, they’d be okay, and I’d be right by their side.
After breakfast Slade and Talon headed out to train. I had training later too, along with a possible session of magic with Constantine. Depending on his progress with the blood-tracing spell.
Until then, I explored the house with Kellan and Finley, suggesting options to fill the time. “Gym? Pool? What about a sauna? Maybe we should watch a movie?” I hadn’t been back in the theatre since that fateful first meeting with Finley.
The bear caught my eye, as if he remembered as well. “I need to do something physical. Maybe we can work on your car?”
Kellan bounced on the spot. “I have no idea what to do with an engine other than stare at it, but I’ll be excellent moral support.”
I was about to agree when a thought came to me. Finley immediately noticed my hesitation. “Did you have another idea of what we could do instead?”
“You didn’t hear my thought?” The more I embraced my magic, the stronger I felt I was getting at blocking what I didn’t want to be heard.
“Nope,” Kellan said. “We can see your beast in the center of us all, but it’s quiet in there. We can’t even really communicate with each other unless you loosen your hold.”
I hadn’t realized I was controlling them that much, and I decided to ease up a fraction.
Finley pressed in closer. “What idea did you have for us to do today, darlin’?”
“I’d like to get my tattoo.”
His flash of excitement had the broody bear looking almost as cheerful as Golden. “Fuck yes! I’ve been waiting a long time to get my hands on you and mark my mate.”
“Again,” I reminded him, laughing at his little bounce of enthusiasm.
Kellan clapped his hands together. “Yes! Can I get mine too? I want that last image you drew of my pretty girl in her wolf form. All majestic and mysterious under the full moon.”
Finley pressed a hand to his brother’s shoulder. “Depending on how fast I work, I should be able to get yours and Emme’s done today.” His expression sobered as he looked my way. “Fair warning, this is going to be painful. The magic required to cut through shifter healing takes its toll.”
I already knew magic was involved, and there was a flash ofannoyance that we had to rely on witches for anything. Not that I would let it stop me. “Yeah, I can handle it.”
Whatever it took to wear our quintet on my skin—as more than bites.
Finley all but swept me off my feet and up the stairs, with Kellan right behind us.
In the bear’s room, I was set on the bed while he spent fifteen minutes cleaning up his station, spraying everything down, and pulling out his art and the tattooing gear.
Kellan’s design was finalized, but Finley had some new sketches to show me. I flicked between them all, loving so many, which made it a hard choice. There were some with us in our full beast forms, others with our human faces, but I was set on this being about quintet essences.
He hesitated just long enough before he handed over the last sketch, for me to know this was his favorite. It immediately became mine as well.
“This is the one,” I whispered, clutching it so tightly my knuckles were almost as white as the paper itself. He’d drawn five beast heads, with the dragons represented as a single entity, all together in a quintet bond. Fire and flames formed around us, and I could feel the magic and love in the one image.
My pack.
CHAPTER 35
EMME
While Kellan’s tattoo took a little less than two hours, I sat in Finley’s chair for ten very long, very painful hours. Constantine cancelled magic training to keep working on his tracking, and I had to cancel on Slade and Talon, as I was in no condition to spar mid-tattoo.
“You didn’t even flinch,” Kellan rasped, squeezing my hand. “Feeling your pain through the bond, even if only in the brief moments your control slipped, almost broke me.”
His skin had a pallor to it that hadn’t been there during his session, so was clearly all about what he felt from me. The worst pain had been when Finley tattooed over my scar; I’d had to tighten up the bond to prevent Hunter from storming home and killing our bear mate.
“I flinched,” I said softly, “but a little pain is nothing when I get to wear our quintet on my skin.”
Kellan rubbed a hand over his bare chest, gliding his fingers across the very lifelike depiction of my white wolf. “I will admit, it hurt like a bitch, but I love her.”
