The Viper's Nest (Kit Davenport #4)(24)

Caleb pursed his lips, like he was thinking about it, then nodded. “Sure. I can come keep you safe from shanking, you weirdo.”

“Excellent!” I finished the last of my coffee and hopped out of his lap to pull him up too. “If you think of any cool blood spells that will help me learn faster, that would also be super appreciated!”

Caleb snorted, following me through to the den where Austin was supposedly waiting for us. “It doesn’t really work like that, Kitty Kat. I can’t just...” he trailed off, and I looked back at him sharply.

“What?” I prompted.

“Uh, nothing. I just had an idea. I’ll ask Austin about it.” He nodded thoughtfully, then slapped me on my yoga-pants-covered ass. “Keep moving, slow poke. He’s not getting any sweeter for waiting.”

Grumbling under my breath about Austin not knowing sweet if it bit him on the ass, I dragged my heels into the den and found him sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the fire, staring intently into Tyson’s feline eyes.

“Hope we’re not interrupting?” I teased, and my words seemed to break whatever was going on between Mage and familiar because they both snapped their eyes to me simultaneously. The similarity ended there, though, as Austin rolled his emerald-green eyes and Tyson bounded toward me like he hadn’t seen me in weeks.

“Oh, hey buddy,” I greeted him as his dinner plate–sized paws pushed me backward onto a couch, then he tried to climb his entire six-hundred-and-something-pound frame into my lap. “Come on, man,” I groaned, pushing him back to the floor firmly. “We’ve been over this. You’re not as small as you think you are.”

Tyson looked up at me with a sad-as-hell look on his face, so I sighed and slid off the couch to sit on the floor beside him.

“See, now we’re both on the floor. Happy?” I could hardly believe the one-sided conversations I had with that cat sometimes, but he genuinely did seem happier as he rolled on his back beside me, demanding a belly rub.

As I obliged, I realised the twins were having a whispered debate on the other side of the room, which cut off abruptly when they noticed me staring.

“Uh, something you want to share?” I prompted.

Caleb looked to his brother, who just threw up his hands and muttered something about your fucking funeral.

“I had an idea,” Cal informed me. Again.

Giving him my very best “uh-huh, no shit, Sherlock” expression, or what I hoped was, I nodded. “So you already said, but go on...”

“When you said just before about a blood spell to help you learn faster, and I said it didn’t work like that? Well, technically it could.” He looked so excited he was practically bouncing on his toes. “If Austin were to tattoo you with blood-ink, then you could—in theory—retain every lesson the first time it’s taught. I mean, it’d still mean Austin running through all the same stuff, but it’d be just once. Not, like... however many hundreds of times he is making you practice this stuff at the moment.”

“Uh...” I glanced at Austin, who just wore the same vaguely annoyed look on his face. “Well, that sounds freaking amazing. Are you sure you’re up for that?”

Caleb shrugged in a way that told me he wasn’t totally sure he was up for it, but I also sensed that my faith in his abilities would go a really long way in his confidence about magic.

“Austin?” I asked, and he met my eyes for a long moment. We didn’t really need to exchange any more words than that, seeing as in a calm environment like this, our emotions were just right there on a silver platter for the other to examine.

In that moment, he was worried and tense and annoyed? Maybe that he hadn’t thought of it? I wasn’t sure. Just because I could feel his moods didn’t mean I got any reasons behind them.

Regardless, his main emotion was hope, and that was enough for me.

“Let’s do it,” I agreed.

Austin’s mouth turned down, but his overwhelming emotion was now concern, and concern I could handle. He was just being... protective. Or that’s what I was running with. Caleb, on the other hand, looked elated, and that in itself made the risks worthwhile.

“I’ll grab my stuff,” Austin muttered, giving me a sharp look that clearly said I hope you know what you’re doing before leaving the room.

“What are the risks in this?” I asked Caleb when we were alone once more, but he just shrugged.

“Nothing really for you. If it doesn’t work, then you’ll just have another non-magic tattoo. Which, really isn’t the worst thing when it’s Austin’s work.” He paced in front of the fireplace, probably not even noticing he was doing it. For all his forced casualness, I could see the lines of tension in his face.

“What about for you?” I prompted, not missing his phrasing that there was no risk for me.

Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face, but it was Austin who replied for him, coming back into the den with his tattoo equipment in a small black case.

“There’s no real risk for him either,” Aus informed me. “He’s just being a little bitch because it’s going to mean explaining more about his magic to you.”

“Oh.” I frowned at Caleb and tried really hard not to be offended. “So... you don’t want to tell me more about it? That’s...” I trailed off, not really sure what the hell to say. Considering I shared everything with the guys these days and I was still stinging from the twins hiding their knowledge of magic from me... well, it sucked.