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“She’s awake,” I hear Finn say. He sits at the edge of the pile of furs, Jace next to him. Kane is on my other side, watching over me with an intense expression.

It feels like they’ve been here a while, waiting and watching. I’m not sure yet whether that’s comforting or alarming.

“What’s happening?” I ask, my voice raspy and dry.

“Everything will make sense soon,” Kane replies, moving closer to me. His suit jacket is folded next to him, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

Jace takes my hand, tracing slow, gentle circles on my skin. “You need to trust us, okay?”

Trust them?They may have drugged me and brought me to a new location. I’m not sure if I’m capable of trust right now.

Still, I stay quiet, hoping they’ll fill the silence with some kind of explanation.

Finn says nothing as he kneels before me, running his hand up and down my arm. His silent gaze is intense, and every touch is deliberate. It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to scare me.

Their attention makes my heart race.

Warmth pools in my belly, and every touch feels more acute than it ever has before. Something is happening within me, and it feels like they’re the cause.

Panic claws at my chest as it suddenly becomes all too clear that these aren’t just ordinary men.

There’s something inhuman in their graceful movements and intense gazes. Even now, as I squint in the dim light, their eyes glow a brilliant gold.

For the life of me, I don’t know what that means.

“Your eyes,” I croak, my throat still raw. “Why are they yellow? You’re not... you’re not normal, are you?”

There’s a brief pause before Kane speaks. “No, we’re not 'normal.' We’re alpha werewolves, and we’ve chosen you as ours. You will be our queen.”

“What the fuck?!” I exclaim, utterly confused. This is insane, and someone needs to tell them that. Kane is acting like this is perfectly normal.

My breath comes in quicker, uneven gasps as I let his words sink in. I try to push away from them, but my body is too heavy, too weak. More than that, their touches and that same alluring musky scent overwhelm me, making my head spin.

Jace and Finn both give me reassuring looks, no doubt to quell my obvious panic.

“It’s okay,” Jace says, his eyes glinting in the faint moonlight streaming in through the window. “You’ve always been ours. And we have always been yours.”

Finn adds, “We’ll never let you go. You'll always be safe with us.”

My eyes dart back and forth between them, my throat tightening. They can’t be serious.

“You’re delusional!” I say, my voice hoarse. “You can’t possibly think that you’re werewolves unless you’re crazy! There is no such thing!”

I back up into the furs, trying to put as much space between us as possible.

“It’s true, Mia. We’re werewolves. And I think, deepdown, you’ve always known there was something different about us,” Kane says.

I think back to a day at the café when I could have sworn Finn’s eyes had seemed unusual. The impressive ease of strength they all possess.

The way they operate as a unit. No, not a unit—a pack.

But that can’t be real. Werewolves are legends in books. They aren’t real people who frequent downtown coffee shops. This is all too unreal.

My heart races, and I feel like I can’t breathe. True and all-consuming panic sets in. I am God-knows-where with three men who truly believe they are werewolves. I try to gulp down deep, grounding breaths, but I keep getting distracted by that same overwhelming musky scent.

It’s hard to think straight as the scent envelops me. My body tingles with hypersensitivity, and each touch activates something deep within. It feels like sparks on my skin. It makes me horny, and I want more.

The flickering candlelight creates shadows across my skin. Everything is so vivid. The heat of the fire, the softness of the furs, even the men’s hands on me.