I shut off the water and pushed the door open, letting the cool air wash over my wet skin. I shivered a little; the exhaustion had my metabolism off kilter. Someone had placed some of my clothes on the sink. I pulled on underwear and a mid-drift tank. I liked to sleep naked, but this was probably safer since I knew some of the quads would be with me and we didn’t sleep naked together. Most of the time anyway.

I brushed my teeth, and ran a comb through the damp strands of black hair. Hanging up the towel, I padded silently from the bathroom, and almost tripped over my own feet when I saw what was happening in my room. The Compasses had pushed the two big beds together, forming one large sleep surface. All four of them were standing around it, dressed just in shorts, their well-defined chests bare, expanses of tawny skin filling the room. Sometimes they were so alike, it was a little scary.

It had been a very long time since we’d all slept in the same bed. My heart swelled, I had thought that I’d never have this chance again.

I stumbled across and crawled into the middle of the beds. I was always in the center, which meant that I had to sleep on the crack between the two beds, but I didn’t care. Jacob slid against the wall, then Braxton, me, Maximus on the other side, and Tyson last. We generally changed around places so everyone had a chance at bonding. The brothers all slept with space between them, but every single one of them crowded into me.

My eyes fluttered shut. I was unable to keep them open any longer. I felt Maximus turn to me, before his fingers linked with my own.

“Your mate is going to kill you,” I said.

He chuckled, and his brothers quickly joined in. “She’ll be fine, she has no choice but to understand.”

“Besides,” I heard Tyson quip, “she bagged a Compass, she has nothing to complain about.”

“You are ridiculous,” I mumbled. “Conceited ass.”

The last sensation I had before drifting off was the scent of vampire and dragon wrapping around me as they both turned toward me. I was warm, safe, and I couldn’t imagine anything in the world could top this moment.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I hadn’t expected to dream that night. An exhausted brain should be blank, right? Well, apparently that was wrong, very wrong. Apparently an exhausted brain torments you with dreams. Firstly, that ugly one, with Mischa and the other two women. Where the dragons tore into me as I tried to escape across the field. I knew it was a pretty effed up scenario, but I still didn’t understand my overwhelming fear.