“You lied to me!” Maximus snarled. “You were just supposed to check it out, not walk right the hell into the unknown.”

I batted my eyelashes a few times, although my innocent face had never worked on the boys. “I did not lie, and how the heck am I supposed to get anything done when you all want to ride my ass? I can take care of myself.”

Tyson was the first to wrap his arms around me. “Don’t you get it, Jessa babe? Next to our mates – which we don’t even have yet – you are the most important person to us. If we lose you, well … we lose everything.”

Well, wasn’t I the asshat of the day.

I was girl enough to admit Tyson brought a fist-sized lump to my throat and a few stray tears burning from my eyes, but I managed to keep them from falling.

Braxton growled again and held his arms out. “Mine.” His voice was guttural.

All of us could see that he’d moved past the place of reasonable conversation. The predator – his dragon – was riding him hard now. Tyson did not even hesitate handing me across. Lucky I was used to these men treating me like a life-size doll.

Hard arms closed around me. The embrace was almost painful, but I was tough, I could take a bit of almost-crushed-to-death for Braxton. Then, as if he’d heard my thoughts, his grip gentled. He had his head buried in the space between my shoulder and neck, and he was breathing deeply. I knew he was calming, getting himself under control. I could feel the racing of his heart starting to slow. The scent of the shift was easing. I could always sense that hint of magic which preluded a change among shifters, almost as if a spicy heat led the way. Braxton had been damn close.

A throat cleared behind us. “You need to enter so I can resume the protective magics. We shield many here, and any delay could alert … those unwanted to our presence.”

Braxton stilled, lifting his head. He locked eyes with the cloaked man. I was twisted around enough to see that for the first time unease flickered across the stranger’s calm features. Good to see that Braxton’s general badassery was as potent in Romania as it had been in Stratford.

As a group we stepped into the cave. My feet were still off the ground, so Braxton moved me. With barely a whistle of air, the golden sheen resumed, cutting off the black car and icy snow-laden mountain we had just left.

“Follow me.” Cloak guy turned and started along what looked like a tunnel straight into the center of the mountain. It was wide enough for all of us to walk side by side as we followed.