He gives me a wink and an unapologetic saucy smile. Sounds of amusement and Sabin’s huff of exasperation bounce off the walls of my room. I exhale a shuttered breath, my gaze flicking from one shirtless body to the next. How the fuck has my magic connected us, and why?
I quickly scan every exposed inch of their bodies, as I search for any other visible runes, but I can only see the same runes that showed up on me tonight. I wade through the onslaught of possibilities as to how this happened, when something clicks, and my shocked and horrified gaze finds Valen.
“Oh fuck, it was that pulse of magic.”
He looks at me confused.
“When I…when we…”
I motion from him to me. My eyes flit like a hummingbird around the group, embarrassment keeping them from landing anywhere.
“That purple magic that we felt, I think it did this," I gesture to the bed.
I look back to Valen and understanding dawns on his face. Four heads immediately snap from the bed to Valen.
“Wait, did you two…?” Knox’s voice trails off.
“None of your business,” snaps out of Valen’s mouth, at the same I shout “NO!” and heads swivel back and forth between us in confusion.
“We fooled around, that’s all. We stopped before…”
I was about to saybefore things went too far,but judging by the runes now marked on their bodies, I’d say things clearly went plentyfar.
“Either way it’s not really any of your business," Valen claims again, stepping toward me.
Sabin steps into his path. “None of our business? How is this-” Sabin points to the runes on his chest. “None of our fucking business? I asked you guys to slow down, to use more than your dicks to think about what you were doing. Now look at what’s fucking happened!”
“I wasn’t thinking with my dick, and if you’d stop being scared shitless of getting hurt maybe you’d finally admit that there’s more toallof this than just that!” Valen seethes at Sabin.
“Fucking relax Sabin, it’s obvious that they had no idea this would happen, look how panicked Vinna is,” Knox defends.
Five sets of eyes find their way to me, but I’m staring at Sabin.
“I’m sorry,” I choke out, as guilt strangles me.
Sabin doesn’t want a relationship with me. He’s made it clear he doesn’t want any of them to have a relationship with me, and now I’ve somehow marked them. Worse I’ve markedhim. I’ve forced some kind of a connection he doesn’t want. Despair bubbles up inside of me.
“I have no idea what I did, but I swear I’ll figure out a way to fix it.”
I drop my face into my hands, unable to look at him anymore. I feel awful. I had no idea that this forced connection was even in the realm of possibility, or I would have never done anything that would have forced it on them like this. Sabin warned me that I didn’t know what my magic could do, but I thought what I wanted was more important than his concerns.
Fingers wrap around my wrists and gently try to pull my hands from my face. I keep them firmly in place unable to look any of them in the eye anymore. A hand brushes through my hair and someone leans down to my ear.
“Look at us, Vinna," Ryker whispers. “Don’t hide from us, don’t withdraw again.”
His lips gently kiss the new runes on my fingers, and an involuntary shiver of pleasure radiates through me. Ryker pulls me to him, and I give in and drop my hands from my face. His chest is pressed against mine, and I find myself automatically and effortlessly begin to match his breathing.
“We don’t blame you, so don’t blame yourself. No one is mad," Ryker tells me, and I automatically glance to Sabin.
“He’s right, I’m just shocked," Sabin grumbles.
“I don’t know what the big deal is, I think this is fucking awesome.” Knox offers.
I look over at Knox taken aback by his excitement. I really shouldn’t be surprised by his sentiments. He’s the king of rolling with the punches, and when it comes to me, Knox always sees the silver lining.
“What? We can hear each other’s thoughts when we want to. That ups our badass factor by a fucking shit ton. We’re paladin, how much better are we going to be as a coven with this ability.”
A couple grunts of agreement sound off from the other guys.
