“I fucking love the upgrade Vinna, so don’t stress,” Knox exclaims, and shoots me a supportive smile and a quick wink.
I look around to the other guys gauging their reactions to Knox’s comments, and oddly their nods and smiles seem to agree with what he’s saying. I take a fortifying breath and step out of Ryker’s arms. Exhausted, I plop into a chair and wait as the guys all do the same. A sigh of relief and acceptance flows from everyone as they sit down.
Alright, now that my emotional breakdown is on pause, it’s time to sort out what the hell we do now. It’s reassuring to know that they don’t seem to think this is a bad thing. They’re definitely taking it better than I did when my runes showed up.
Iwas completely panicked and terrified in the beginning. It took some time, but now I love them. Everything that they do, everything that I am because of them, I can’t imagine amewithout the runes.
“Want to use your runes and let us in on what you’re thinking, Bruiser?”
I look at Bastien and give him a small smile.
“I was just trying to sort through how I feel about this. On the one hand, I feel terrible, like I’ve forced this on you whether you want it or not.” I look from Bastien to the rest of them. “On the other hand, I love my runes. It feels right in a way that I can’t explain, that you have them too,” I look down at my hands and trace the runes on my fingers with my eyes. “But that makes me feel really selfish and shitty, which brings everything full circle back to feeling terrible.”
“You weren’t alone in this, something about our being together triggered this. That means I am just as much to blame in all of this as you seem to think you are.” Valen leans toward me. “I can tell you that I don’t feel violated or upset in any way, and I wouldn’t changeanythingabout how I got the runes.”
Valen grins brazenly at me. Our entwined tongues and the feel of his skin against mine, quickly flashes through my mind, heat seeps into my gaze at the recollection. Knox clears his throat, and I blink away the desire I’m feeling to look at him.
“I think, for scientific purposes of course, that it’s important to recreate whatever it was you were doing when the magic was triggered. It would help us to better understand how, and maybe why, this happened, and hey if we end up with more cool abilities I’d put that in the plus column. With that said, I would like to personally volunteer.”
Knox stares at all of us straight-faced and then raises his hand like he’s waiting to be called on. Bastien is the first to release his guffaw of laughter, and he’s quickly joined by the other guys.
“What? It’s for science,” Knox defends, trying to fight off the laughter that’s breaking through his faux-innocent façade.
His eager and heated eyes lock onto mine but a smirk finally breaks through, and we both join the others in slap-happy laughter.
Out of nowhere, Bastien shouts, “I volunteer as tribute!” in a dramatic rendition that would make Katniss Everdeenproud, and we all fall back into hysterics.
I lean back into my comfy chair, as I come down from the laugh high. I catch Sabin and Ryker both sneak a few glances at my new position which is giving them a peek between my legs. I probably shouldn’t mess around, given everything that’s happening right now, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to fuck with Sabin.
I spread my legs a little wider, teasingly, and Ryker immediately looks up at me knowing he’s been caught. He smiles and gives me a cheeky wink, and I chuckle. My laugh seems to snap Sabin out of his focused attention on my underwear-clad crotch.
“Captain Cockblock, I didn’t know you had it in you,” I tease, enjoying the deep shade of red that consumes his cheeks at getting caught perving out.
Sabin shakes his head abashed, but when our eyes connect again, the longing I find there has me choking on my amusement. A dimpled smile sneaks across Sabin’s face at my shocked reaction to his desire.Whoa, where the hell did that come from?
30
“Alright, now that everyone’s calmed down,” Bastien winks at me. “Let’s talk about what all of this means.”
Seriousness and focus shutter down over each of us as we wait for Bastien to continue.
“Obviously we need to talk about the runes, but I also think we need to talk about what’s happening between all of us.”
Each of them looks to me and waits for some sign of approval or disagreement, I just shrug.
“I guess, the first thing to ask, is if everyone is okay? I’m sure you all felt what I did, and waking up in a fuck-ton of pain is not going on my favorite things list," Bastien admits.
“No shit," Knox agrees. “That’s what it felt like to get all of your runes?”
“No, the first time waswayworse. The pain was all over my body, and I legitimately thought I was going to die. This time was easier," I shrug nonchalantly. “I also knew what was happening this time, since it had happened before, so it didn’t freak me out as much," I explain, and I catch a couple of them wincing.
“And you were all alone. You didn’t even know you were a caster," Ryker reminds everyone, a reverent tone in his voice.
I look down and run my finger down the runes on my sternum. I can picture myself at sixteen, sitting on my bathroom floor trying to sort through what the hell was happening to me. I can feel it like it was yesterday, how lonely and confused I felt.
Valen reaches out and takes my hand. He laces our fingers together and gives me a comforting smile. The feel of my hand in his pushes the memory and the shadow of loneliness away and I smile warmly at him.
“I think we just found out what these runes do," Sabin announces, gesturing to the marks between his pecs.
