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When his gaze finally returned to my face, the playfulness I remembered was gone, replaced by something darker, more intense. This was the first time he’d seen me up close in four years, and he was clearly savoring the moment, even in these circumstances.

“Please,” I continued, my voice cracking with emotion that wasn’t entirely feigned, trying to ignore the way his gaze made me feel simultaneously exposed and desired. “You’ve got to help me get out of here. They won’t listen to reason. They won’t even tell me why they’ve brought me here! Just take me back to Seattle, Keir. I’m begging you.”

For a moment, something flickered in Keir’s eyes—sympathy, understanding, maybe even conflict. Hope flared in my chest.

Then he cupped my face in his hands, so gently it made my heart ache, and leaned down until our foreheads touched. His thumbs brushed over my cheekbones with a tenderness that contrasted sharply with the raw hunger still evident in his gaze.

“Oh, little fox,” he murmured, his breath warm against my lips. “Always trying to play us against each other. Did you really think I wouldn’t be part of this? That I’d help you run away again when we’ve finally got you home?”

The hope in my chest withered and died. “You’re just like them,” I whispered, trying to pull away.

His gentle hold turned to steel, fingers tangling in my hair to hold me in place. “I am them,” he corrected softly, his voice velvet over iron. “We are one in this, as in all things. Especially when it comes to you.”

His thumb traced my lower lip, pressing against it until my mouth parted involuntarily. “We’ve prepared everything for you here. Your room, your clothes, even a studio across the hall where you can work. Everything you need is right here. With us. Where you belong.”

“I don’t belong here,” I protested, pushing against his chest. “I have a life in Seattle. A career. Friends. I’ve built something for myself, something that’s mine, not just what you decided I should have!”

“You have us,” Keir said simply, as if that trumped everything else. “You’ve always had us, even when you tried to run away. And we have you, Finn. We always will.”

He captured my lips in a kiss that started gentle but quickly turned possessive—his tongue sliding against mine with expert precision, coaxing responses from me I didn’t want to give. Unlike Cade’s punishing assault or Logan’s demanding passion, this was a skilled seduction that was somehow more dangerous for its sweetness.

I tried to resist, to keep my lips closed, to turn my head away. But Keir knew exactly how to touch me, how to make me respond. His teeth grazed my lower lip, his tongue soothing the sting before delving deeper, and I whimpered against his mouth.

When he finally pulled back, his eyes had darkened to that electric blue that meant his wolf was stirring. “Come back to bed,” he said, his voice husky. “Let us take care of you.”

“I can’t,” I whispered, though my body was already leaning toward him. “I won’t just surrender everything I’ve built, everything I’ve become. You can’t just kidnap me and expect me to fall back into your arms like nothing happened!”

“We’re not asking you to surrender,” he said, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “We’re asking you to come home. To where you belong. With us.”

I looked to where Cade and Logan waited by the bed, their expressions a mix of hunger and impatience. My alphas. My mates. The men I’d loved since before I understood what love was.

Part of me wanted to give in—to let them take control, to surrender to the bond that had never broken. But another part—the part that had built a life in Seattle, that had found independence and purpose—refused to yield so easily.

“No,” I said, pulling away from Keir with renewed determination. “I won’t do this. Not until you tell me exactly why you’ve brought me here. Not until you respect me enough to be honest about what’s happening.”

Keir’s eyes flashed that dangerous electric blue, his patience visibly thinning. “Four years,” he said, his voice deceptively soft, “and you’re still the most stubborn creature I’ve ever met.” He scooped me up in one fluid motion, his strength catching me off guard. The playful brother I remembered would have given me a chance to argue, to negotiate. This new Keir simply took what he wanted.

“Put me down!” I demanded, struggling against his hold as he carried me back to the bed where Cade and Logan waited. “I’m not doing this! I’m not just going to fall back into bed with you because you decided it’s time!”

“Aren’t you tired of fighting, little fox?” Keir asked, his lips brushing my ear as he laid me down between his brothers. “Tired of running from what we all know is inevitable?”

“This isn’t inevitable,” I insisted, even as my body betrayed me, responding to their proximity. “This is kidnapping. This is?—”

Cade’s mouth covered mine, swallowing my protests. His kiss was different this time—still demanding, still possessive, but with an underlying tenderness that was somehow more devastating than his earlier aggression.

When he pulled back, his silver eyes held mine with fierce intensity. “If this were just about the mate bond,” he said, his voice rough with emotion, “do you think we would have waited four years? Do you think we wouldn’t have claimed you fully before you ran?”

Logan’s hands slid up my thighs, his touch leaving fire in its wake. “We could have broken you,” he said bluntly, his fingers digging into my flesh. “Claimed you when you couldn’t even shift yet. Bound you to us so completely you’d never have been able to leave.”

“But we didn’t,” Keir added, his fingers tangling in my hair as he tilted my head back to expose my throat to his mouth. “We let you go to college. Let you have your space. Let you find yourself.”

“Because we love you,” Cade finished, his hand sliding down my chest to wrap around my cock. “Not just because of the bond. Not just because you’re our mate. But because you’re Finn.”

Their words hit me harder than any physical touch could have. Four years of believing I was just an obligation, a cosmicjoke forced upon them by fate—and here they were telling me exactly what I’d always wanted to hear.

“You’re lying,” I whispered, but there was no conviction in my voice. “You’re just saying what I want to hear.”

“Would we touch you like this if we didn’t want you?” Logan challenged, his mouth trailing down my stomach, tongue dipping into my navel in a way that made me gasp. “Would we have spent four years watching over you, making sure you were safe, respecting your need for independence if this was just duty?”