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“You shouldn’t be handling her like that,” I growl at my rivals. “She’s fragile. Human.”

“I’m actually right here,” she interjects, “and perfectly capable of—”

“She’s not as fragile as she appears,” Caspian interrupts, a tentacle boldly sliding higher up her thigh. My vision edges are red at the sight. “She didn’t flee screaming when she saw any of us.”

“Brave human,” Oren agrees, his thumb still stroking her wrist in a gesture too intimate for my liking.

I wade into the shallows, water soaking my fur, determined to join this little standoff. As I draw closer, her eyes track my movement, something like fascination in their depths.

“You’re all acting like I’m some kind of territory to be claimed,” she says, a hint of fire in her voice despite her vulnerable position. “I rented this cabin fair and square. If anyone’s trespassing, it’s you three.”

“Spirited,” I observe, now close enough to catch the other monsters’ warning scents—back off, they silently communicate. Not a chance, I answer with my own aggressive pheromones.

“Do you mind?” she asks, gesturing at her suspended state. “I’m getting a little tired of hanging here like bait.”

Oren gently pulls her upward, setting her on her feet on the broken dock. Caspian’s tentacles reluctantly unwrap from her body, though one lingers possessively at her ankle. I move closer still until I’m standing right beside her.

She’s small.

So small compared to us. Yet she stands before three predators with her chin raised and eyes defiant.

“So,” she says, crossing her arms. “Three monstrous neighbors instead of the peaceful solitude I paid for. Great. Just great.”

“You could leave,” I suggest, though everything in me rebels at the thought. A test—will she run now that she’s seen all three of us?

“Leave?” she echoes, tilting her head. “And miss whatever bizarre monster territorial dispute I’ve stumbled into? Not a chance. This is way more interesting than journaling about my feelings.”

Then she shrugs.

“Besides that, it sort of defeats the point of being as far away from my ex and family as possible.” She takes a step toward me, bold and unflinching, and I can see how it affects the others. Oren shifts his weight, and Caspian’s tentacles twitch with what can only be impatience—or is it lust?

Then she smirks, that full mouth upturning in a way that sends a jolt through me. My rivals close in—Caspian moving from the water’s edge, Oren from the dock—and I feel myself bristle.

Mine, the wolf persists, but she seems determined to test the limits of my restraint.

Of all our restraint.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she adds. “I mean, really, where am I supposed to go?”

She shrugs again with infuriating calm, like three monsters do not surround her. Like she’s not a vulnerable little morsel that could disappear with one swipe of my claws.

Something changes in me at her words—her fearlessness, her curiosity. The wolf wants to claim, to mark, to possess. But the man… the man wants to know her. To understand the mystery of this small human who faces monsters without flinching.

I make my decision then.

I won’t frighten her away. I can’t even if I wanted to. My wolf has staked a claim. So, I’ll draw her closer. I’ll make her look at me the way she looked at Caspian when his tentacles touched her, the way she looked at Oren when his massive hand held her wrist.

I’ll make her mine before either of them can stake their claim.

The hunt is on.

5

Lily

Ishould be packing.

That would be the rational response to discovering I’ve accidentally rented a cabin in monster territory, where three creatures are engaged in some weird territorial dispute with me as the prize.