Page 149 of Gift from the Wing

“Ready, Primary.”

Cas and I speak at the same time, giving each other confident nods. One of us will step in if we need to, but that won’t be the case. She can do anything she puts her mind to.

The darkness steals my sight and the entire essence of her surrounds us. The roasted, sweet coffee scent of her invades my lungs and her magic wraps around me like a blanket on a breezy day. I’ve never felt this engulfed by a transport.

Just a blip in time later, the sun’s piercing my eyes, and I’m left staring at Vito Academy in all its beauty. The sight beside me, though, is far more gorgeous.

“Open your eyes, Primary,” Caspian whispers.

An elated laugh bursts free from her as she peeks out of one eye, then jumps up and down, squealing. She launches herself at me and I easily catch her, spinning her around and stealing a kiss from her soft lips.

Passing her over to Cas, she wraps her legs around his waist and cheers, “I did it! Oh my God, that was exhilarating. It felt so much easier with the two of you with me. It didn’t feel nearly as unsettling as it does when I do it alone.”

Her excitement is contagious, drawing the attention of her other two men, and Cas doesn’t twitch or sneer about his face being smushed between her hands or her lips crashed against his. He embraces it fully and falls into the affection she’s pouring all over him.

“Good shit, little wanderer. Knew you’d do it. You can transport me back with you when we leave,” Draken purrs, pulling her into his chest before attacking her mouth.

We all roll our eyes at his over-the-top public display of affection, but we don’t dare say anything. It’s got to be a shifter thing because Willow eats that shit up. She loves for everyone to see him claiming her so possessively.

Tillman doesn’t speak out loud, but whatever he says in her mind, only to her, has her eyes shining bright. They flutter closed expectantly when he grips the back of her neck and tilts her head back, sealing his lips to hers.

Fuck, how times have changed so much.

“This place is…I’m going to get so freaking lost,” Layton says, almost to himself, but loud enough we all turn to look at him.

“Nah, you’ll be fine. We’re going to give you a good tour, and you’ll have an escort with you this whole first year,” Draken tells him, slinging his arm over the kid’s shoulder.

“Oh, I like that idea. So he won’t ever be alone?” Sira asks.

“Not until he’s eighteen, and even after that, he’ll still have supervision. He’s the youngest in the academy and will be for quite some time or until we can locate his Nexus brothers,” I say mindlessly as I type away on my communicator to inform Geo we’ve arrived.

“My…what?” Layton asks, confused, and I peer up from my phone to see not only his confusion but his parents’ as well.

Glancing over at Draken, the sly smirk on his lips tells me he didn’t inform them like I asked him to, and I just gave the kid, plus his parents, a shocker.

“He already likes me but is petrified of you. Figured you needed some brownie points,”he says, reading my face like a book.

Holding in my sigh, I plaster on a small smile and explain, “I thought it’d be in your best interest since you’re not going through the steps of lower and mid-level academies, that we visit those and see if you find your Nexus. Schooling at this level will be much easier with your brothers by your side. Not only that, Nexuses, for the most part, are paired equally. If you have a rare gift, there’s a likelihood your brothers do as well. Of course, if you don’t want to do that, you most certainly don’t have to.”

An eager smile crosses his face as he looks at his four dads, and his gaze settles on his mom. He’s playing through his mind what that would be like for him. Every boy, man, does it. Well, with a few exceptions.

“I want to do that. Thank you, Headmaster Corentin,” he says, grinning from ear to ear.

“Just Corentin, kid. Well, when it’s just all of us,” I tack on as an afterthought. I’ll be damned if the rest of the students around here started calling me just Corentin. “Come on, we’ve got a lot to see.”

Turning back to the academy, a loud, warning roar sounds overhead, and we all shield the sun from our eyes with our hands as we gaze up at Tanith soaring above us.

A booming roar answers from around the corner of the castle and out bounds a massive-ass fucking lion.

I swear, it’s like he has a sixth sense to other animals.

The second Tanith’s claws touch down, Vince, in his shifted form, runs right up to her as though he has no fear in the world. He presses his chest to the ground with his tail wagging like crazy in the air behind him, then completely ignoring Gaster’s yelling, he pounces.

Not in an attacking sort of way, definitely a playful one. He rubs his coat all over her, every inch he can reach and every gentle twitch of her wing, he paws at her. She huffs a couple times, gently flicking him away, but he doesn’t give it up.

A swish of her tail draws all his attention, and he bounds toward it, tackling it like a damn kitten playing with a toy. He’s lucky he didn’t spear himself on one of her spikes.

“Uh-oh,” Draken says low before chuckling to himself.

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