“I have to leave soon, unfortunately,” Bret said.

“Well that sucks,” I said and pouted.

“Hold on now…” Bret held up a hand, grinning from ear to ear. “I was going to say I would love to join for as long as I can.”

I stood from the island and headed to the living room. “I’ll get everything set up.”

A video game was exactly what I needed to keep my mind off having sex with the men. And it worked. Right up to the point where we stood to see Bret off for his patrol.

We walked him to the door, he turned around and winked again. “Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone.”

I laughed. “Don’t be too jealous, I have zero plans for the day.”

“I’ll keep her busy,” Jax said.

“I stand by what I said,” Bret said, glaring at Jax. “Take care of her.”

“Oh, I plan to,” he said, shoving Bret off the doorstep. “Now go uphold your solemn duty.”

I rolled my eyes, even though my lips had failed to stop smiling one slightest bit.

Bret shook his head. “Careful Jax, you know what happened the last time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Jax waved him off.

Bret smirked, setting his gaze on me as he turned and shifted into his dragon. Black scales rippled over his frame as he stretched and grew. His wings unfurled and he flapped them once before launching off the ground, taking flight. I never got used to watching the men shift. But I also never stopped finding myself in awe at the massive creature before me.

Beautiful and magnificent.

Once he left, Jax turned and faced me. He smiled at me, gazing into my eyes from under his dark lashes. “Now you’re all mine.”

I laughed off the comment, but his words made my heart skip a beat.

He threw his arm over my shoulder and walked with me back to the couch, squeezing me closer to him. It was going to be hard to keep my hands off him.

“Now about that rematch…” he let his words trail off.

I chuckled. “You’re so on.”

2

MARCUS

After finishing my patrol shift, I decided to pay a visit to Kai. He needed to know that the traps were set for him, and I needed to figure out why. The sooner I could get to the bottom of what was going on, the sooner I could put a stop to it.

I landed closer to the cabin than I normally would have. But time was of the essence, and as soon as I got the information I needed, I could return to the castle and share the news with Bret and Jax.

Before approaching the door, I took a closer look around the area for signs of traps. The last thing I wanted was to get a call that one of them had been seriously hurt or killed by one of them because I didn’t spend the time making sure their property was clear.

After an hour of looking, and finding nothing, I figured the hunters hadn’t come out this far just yet. But it was only a matter of time before they did. Until that time came to pass, I needed to get information to fill in the blanks of what I already knew.

I continued toward the cabin.

Once I arrived at the door, I barely had the chance to knock before it was opened. Cassie stood in the opened doorway. She smiled at me.

“Good morning, Cassie,” I said.

“Hey, Doc!” she said. “I saw you coming toward the front door. What brings you by?”