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My face burns. Damn these superior senses.

“I can also smell your overbearing dominance display,” Caspian counters, entering the cabin fully, two tentacles suddenly expanding from his back.

Caspian then turns to me, “I came to invite you for another swim, Lily. There’s more I’d like to show you.”

“Bet there is,” Kaelen growls, shifting to place himself between me and Caspian.

The tension in the small cabin thickens, two monsters squaring off, and I am caught in the middle. Then, because apparently the universe has decided I haven’t had enough drama this morning, the ground beneath the cabin trembles.

The door—which really needs a lock, I’m now realizing—swings open a third time. Oren ducks his massive frame through the entrance, small flowers blooming across his moss-covered shoulders in real time.

“Lily,” he rumbles, eyes glowing greener when they land on me. “Prepared special place. In forest. For you.”

“Seriously?” I look between the three of them, incredulous. “Did you all coordinate your ‘claim Lily’ schedules this morning?”

“She’s not going to your forest,” Caspian says coldly.

“Or your water,” Kaelen growls.

“My cabin,” I interject uselessly. “This is my rental cabin, and you’re all trespassing.”

None of them acknowledge this legal fact. Instead, Kaelen moves closer to me, his body heat enveloping me.

“It’s been two days since you’ve been with the water-dweller,” he says. “You need to choose. Choose to be with me.”

“You can’t force her to choose,” Caspian hisses, tentacles rising threateningly.

“All choose,” Oren suggests, his deep voice resonating through the small space. “Different days. Different times.”

“I’m not setting up a monster timeshare schedule!” My voice rises higher than intended. “This is insane. All of it. A month ago, I was nursing a broken heart over a cheating ex-fiancé, and now I’ve got three monsters fighting over who gets to—what, exactly? Court me? Claim me? Eat me?”

“Never harm.” Oren looks genuinely distressed at the suggestion.

“Protect,” Kaelen insists, moving even closer.

“Treasure,” Caspian adds, his tentacles reaching toward me.

They’re all advancing now, each radiating different energies—Kaelen’s primal heat, Caspian’s cool intensity, Oren’s ancient steadiness—but all focused on me with an intensity that makes the air feel thin.

Their scents mingle in the small space: earth and forest, water and salt, wild musk and pine.

It’s intoxicating and overwhelming all at once.

“Stop!” I press myself against the counter, hands raised. “Just—everyone stop moving!”

To my surprise, they all freeze.

“I can’t do this,” I say, voice shaking. “I can’t be what you all want me to be. I’m just… I’m just a human girl with terrible taste in men, apparently extending to non-men, and I came here to heal, not to get caught in some monster love—quadrangle!”

My chest feels tight, and my breaths are coming too fast. The room spins slightly.

“This is too much. You’re all too much. Too intense, too possessive, too… everything.” Tears spring to my eyes, frustrating me further. “I’m not some prize to be won or territory to be claimed. And I’m definitely not ready to be anyone’s ‘mate’ or whatever you all have decided I am.”

The silence that follows my outburst is deafening. Three pairs of eyes—black, amber, and glowing green—watch me with varying degrees of concern and confusion.

“Need space,” Oren says finally, understanding. “Too much. Too fast.”

“We’ve overwhelmed her,” Caspian adds, his tentacles retreating slightly.