I loved him. “You helped distract me,” I said shooting him a cheeky smile, “and I think we’re both lucky Finley works so fast.”
His gun had glided over my skin with the lightest touch, and it was only the magic cutting through our natural healing that caused the pain. After he’d finished, he rubbed a cool gel across my shoulders and upper back, until it mostly felt stiff and tender.
“You’re incredibly talented,” I told my bear, and he closed the distance between us for a kiss. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, his smile tired but satisfied. “You were the perfect canvas to create art on. It turned out even better than I expected.”
I’d seen bits of it in the mirror, and it was spectacular. My mate was insanely skilled.
“Come on, Shortcake,” Kellan said, holding his hand out for me to take. “We can wait for Fin in the theatre room while he cleans up.”
When I offered to help, our bear waved me off, so I followed Kellan downstairs. In the theatre, he nudged me forward so he could take in the quintet tattoo visible above my tank top.
“It really is perfect,” he said, and I felt the ghost of his touch, though he never made contact.
A shiver traced down my spine, and his scent deepened as he pressed his lips to my shoulder. “You have no idea how fucking obsessed I am with seeing our quintet represented on your skin.”
His nose brushed closer to the bend of my neck as he inhaled deeply.
My pulse raced from his tender touches, though both of us knew we were in no condition to do more than cuddle. At least my period was long finished, and I wouldn’t have to worry about it for another six weeks or so.
I felt the tugging on my bonds with the twins moments before Slade and Talon entered the room.
“You’re in pain,” Slade declared as he briskly climbed the stairs toward me.
My nod was brief, so I didn’t jar my back. “Yes, it’s a big tattoo. It will take a few days to settle.”
He responded by gently hauling me up out of my seat, and I found myself holding my breath as he turned to examine the whole piece. For a moment, I panicked that I’d made the wrong decision in having the dragons represented by a single green and black beast. “It’s the essence of our quintet,” I quickly explained when the silence extended on.
Talon moved closer, his scent adding a deeper smokiness to Slade’s. A hand ran down my spine, just under the weird numb pain across my upper back. “It’s perfect,” Slade murmured, the deep timbre of his dragon in that statement. “This is our how energy looksto me in our bond. A powerful quintet. Fin even used your scar in the design, as part of the tethers between us.”
Talon grunted, and it sounded very much like an agreement. “I never understood the tattoo thing,” he admitted, voice so close I knew he stood beside his brother. “But this is sexy against all of your tanned skin.”
Two hands stroked me now, and it was soothing enough that I sighed in relief. “You’re both helping with the pain,” I told them. “And I agree. Finley created a masterpiece, and I’m genuinely in love with it.”
The clank of Slade’s teeth had me chuckling. “Can’t be jealous of me loving a tattoo, mate.”
“Watch me,” he muttered.
Finley entered the room soon after, and he joined the dragons in a few long strides. “I’ve got a different cream to rub over it,” he said, leaning in to spread a cool liquid over my skin. “This has tendrils of magic in it, to give you some numbing relief.”
In hindsight, getting myself tattooed in the middle of crisis probably wasn’t my smartest move. But we also had no idea how much longer we’d have our autonomy and freedom.
I would be in control of my own actions, and choose my own path, for as long as I had the ability.
“As you should, baby girl.” Hunter stepped into the room, and I was glad he’d heard that declaration. Since easing up my hold on the bond, I’d allowed more natural thoughts to flow between all of us.
Hunter had already ditched the jacket and rolled up his sleeves, his forearms flexing as he ran a hand over his face. I hated the fatigue in his features. I could have killed Jewels just for the stress she was adding to his life alone.
“You’re home late,” Slade noted, and without even glancing at his watch, said, “It’s twelve twenty-five.” Somehow he always knew the exact time.
Hunter huffed out a long breath as he reached the bar in the back corner, pouring himself a generous shot of whiskey. He gulped it down in one hit and then went back for a second. “Yeah, there was a massive fuck-up with a large shipment of armored vests and weapons. At first I thought it was human interference, but it turned out magic was involved. We lost ten good shifters, and about a million dollars in stock.”
That had the others on alert, except for Slade, who wore a resigned look on his face.
“Did Jewels interfere?” I asked.
Hunter shrugged, the second glass of whiskey almost gone now. “Looks that way, though she wasn’t out of her protective shield long enough for us to get a reading on her location.”
