The Viper's Nest (Kit Davenport #4)(36)

Surprised, I glanced at Cole, who just gave a small shrug and turned back to his food.

“That’s really great to hear,” I said carefully, not totally sure if Vali meant that he and Cole had come a long way or if their dragon magic had. Maybe I’d need to get one of them alone later to ask.

“Actually, we wanted to discuss something with you after dinner, if that would be okay?” Vali continued, polite as ever, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Despite his insistence that he couldn’t read my mind, his intuition hit dangerously close to mind reading sometimes.

“Sure thing,” I replied, spearing Cole with another suspicious look, but he just avoided my gaze and cut into his steak. Rare, of course. God forbid a dragon be a vegan or something.

“Will you be finished with Kit’s magic instruction tomorrow, Austin?” River asked, and my surly magic teacher nodded sharply.

“Tomorrow or the day after,” he agreed.

“Good. Wesley and I have made some progress with our research into Omega and Director Pierre, so we’ll have more concrete info to share in a couple of days. Then we can look at forming a plan of where to go from here.” River delivered this as a statement, but there was a small question in his eyes as he met my gaze down the table, like he was making sure I was on board with this. I supposed I did have a small history of going a bit rogue, so I gave him a small nod of acceptance, and the tension around his eyes seemed to ease.

“Shit,” Caleb swore, glancing at his watch. “I need to go, or I’ll be late.” He shoveled the last of his food into his mouth and hurried to drop his dirty dishes into the kitchen. “I’ll catch you later, Kitty Kat,” he whispered, kissing me quickly, then disappearing inside a rune circle a few feet away from the dinner table.

“He is getting really good at that,” Wesley commented as we all watched the runes glittering on the floor before fading to nothing.

“Good,” Austin snapped. “Maybe he can stop seeing this mystery teacher who demands so much secrecy from him.”

For once, I agreed with him.

“Any luck on breaking the spell?” River asked Austin, who shook his head.

“Nothing that is worth trying, yet. I’ll work it out though.” His mouth was set with stubborn confidence, and I one hundred percent believed him. If anyone could help Caleb break this magical NDA, it was his twin.





14





Following my dragons out into the forest surrounding the lake house after dinner had my stomach all knotted up with anticipation. What was it that they both needed to discuss with me in private, all the way out here? It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen their dragon forms before, so they couldn’t be going to show me that...

“Stop it, Vixen,” Cole said quietly, taking my hand in his to help me over a fallen log. “I can feel your mind working a million miles an hour. We’re not taking you out here to kill you.”

“Uh.” I wrinkled my nose at him. “The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind, but now that you mention it...”

I was joking, of course. Despite the two of them being ruthless killers, I didn’t feel even the slightest bit afraid of them. Either of them. My dianoch made me feel safe, even as they incinerated people and tore heads off.

“We just wanted to spend some time with you, Regina,” Vali told me, turning his head to look back at me. He was leading the way, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t checking out his ass while he walked. Totally not my fault though; that man had a seriously firm ass.

“Can’t argue with you on that,” I smiled back at him. “But why all the way out here? Are we doing dragon stuff?”

Cole snorted a little laugh, just as we came into a wide clearing that looked rather freshly made. “Dragon stuff,” he repeated. “Yes. We are.”

“We wondered if perhaps you’d like to go for a ride?” Vali asked, turning to face me as he stopped in the center of the clearing and lifted the hem of his t-shirt, dragging it over his head to expose his cut body decorated with a red and gold dragon in an almost mirror position to Cole’s.

“Um.” I licked my lips, my eyes wide as his hands went to the waistband of his jeans, and Cole began stripping down as well. And then it hit me. “Oh, a ride. Like... on your dragon form. Flying. That’s what you mean.”

Wow, I was glad for the dark hiding my burning cheeks. Talk about my mind in the gutter.

“Yes, why? What did you think we meant?” Vali asked, and for once I let myself believe the language barrier kept him from realizing what I’d really thought.

Cole snickered though. He knew perfectly well, that bastard.

Whacking Cole in the chiselled stomach, I cleared my throat and turned back to Vali who was pulling his jeans off. “Absolutely, I’d love to go for a flight. Who’s taking me?”

Vali grunted, his brows drawn down in a frown as he replied, “Cole is.”

Cole gave me a rare grin, looking very satisfied as he held my eyes and stripped naked in front of me. “It was a bet. I won. You ready?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded, biting my lip and trying so hard not to check him out. Ah, fuck it, who was I kidding? I was drinking him in like a fine wine.

Behind me there was a rush of air and rustling of leaves as Vali took his reptile form, quickly followed by Cole. Within seconds I stood in the middle of a clearing flanked by two enormous mythical creatures. One red and gold, pure fire. The other green and blue, my ice dragon.