Lienda gave me a lopsided grin before leaning in and kissing me on the cheek again. I rubbed my face, stepping back. I was at my kiss limit now. With one last shake of her blond hair, she laughed as she turned and hurried out the door.

I strolled back. Nothing in the room had changed: four bored Compasses surrounded by a group of mystics. No one looked to be connected yet. I was wondering what the holdup was when I noticed that a circle of white stones had been placed on the floor surrounding the quads, crystals like those we occasionally used in magic class, primarily for protection spells. The mystics were creating a protective zone just in case the boys lost their shit. Probably a good idea.

One of the mystics was activating the stones, spelling them one by one with magic of the fey. As he moved to the next, fizzling energy followed his path.

I settled in beside Jonathon, next to his warmth and power. It reminded me of home and pack and alpha comforts. I needed the comfort, something to ease my nerves. My eyes briefly alighted on Cardia and Grace still against the wall, both staring at the quads. Grace looked sort of mesmerized and Cardia, even more so, as she locked in on Maximus. That was the face of an obsessed, loved up, supe.

Screw that, I might be riding this mate-ship thing too, but I was not following Braxton around like a lost puppy. I forced myself not to stare at my dragon, and focused on this weird spot on the floor instead. It was white, like a fleck of paint or something.

After about eight seconds of this, I sighed.

“They’re starting,” said Jonathon, and joy crackled through me. I now had a legitimate reason to be staring.

I lifted my head only to realize that all four Compasses were watching me, wearing the widest of grins. Double dimples and all. I sucked in rapidly. Being the sole focus of their attention was like being zapped by electricity, no matter how many times it had happened over the years. I flipped up my middle finger, because even though I had no idea what they were thinking, I knew it was going to be something asshole-worthy. With the Compasses, that was a given.

The mystic had just finished up on the final white rock – eight in total. The moment he stood, energy beamed out, crisscrossing the room and surrounding my boys, thankfully distracting them from whatever nefarious thoughts had brought out those four, identical, shit-eating grins that had been facing me.

I met my father’s gaze. “Do you think the protection dome is necessary? Is there really a possibility that by joining, they are just going to completely lose their shit and start trying to kill marked?”