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Someone turns me to face the door before hands cup my breasts, rubbing their thumbs over my nipples to make them hard. “These are what… D’s?” A third man asks.

“Oh, has to be,” the second one says.

“She’s so pale though,” the first one says. I accidentally let a laugh slip through, but I stop myself abruptly.

“Something funny?” the first man asks.

“I apologize,” I say respectfully. “It’s just that I like to spend my free time in the sunlight. Just ironic that I’m pale.”

“Jet black hair and pale white skin,” the second one says as he runs his fingers down my neck and chest, stopping short.

“Yes, sir,” I say.

“Sir?” the third one asks from behind me. They circle me like vultures, and it’s starting to make me uncomfortable.

“Would you prefer I call you something else?” I ask.

“Our names are fine. I’ve just never met a respectful fox shifter,” the third one says.

“Respectfully, I know your names, but I’ve never seen your faces. I’m also blindfolded, so you’ll be sir until I know who is who,” I say.

“You are the only one brave enough to talk to us,” the second one says. “The others are scared.”

“Yeah,” I smirk. “They are afraid of being chosen.”

“But you aren’t?” the third one asks, still behind me. I can feel his breath on my neck. Their presence is comforting, which is strange in itself. Adding their supposed history and the fact that they are the reason I cannot be my true self, I shouldn’t be calm. I should be angry.

“No. I’m not afraid,” I say.

“Why are they scared?” the first one asks. His voice is deeper than the rest. Even without seeing his face, his aura is practically screaming that he is the dragon shifter. Something in the way he talks gives him away. I can sense that he is much closer to me now.

The second one is quieter than the rest, so I am guessing he is the panther. He is quiet but likely extremely observant. That leaves the third to be the bear. He has been behind me the entire time, so he doesn’t like to be noticed. His presence will always be known, though.

“They told me that you all cycle through maidens fairly quickly,” I say simply.

“And their death doesn’t concern you?” the first asks.

“No. There is nothing the three of you could do to me that hasn’t already happened to me,” I explain.

“Where were you before you came here?” the second asks.

“In Midavor with Zypher Fallins. I was with him for five years, from the day I turned eighteen until yesterday,” I explain.

“Zypher is a wolf shifter. I find it hard to believe that a mutt like him could do much,” the first laughs.

“You’d think, until there are nearly forty of them,” I say. “Sometimes more.”

“He passed you to his entire pack?” the first asks.

“Yeah. The night after each full moon or any other time he felt like it,” I say. “The other night there was another pack visiting, so double.”

“And that didn’t harm you?” the second asks. I stop talking as I realize what they are closing in on. I let the calming effect they have on me make me careless. I didn’t even use magic, and I’m about to be discovered.

Deny. Deny. Deny

“Speak,” the first demands. I’ll take the punishment. I’m definitelynotsaying anything else.

“The less you say, the more it tells us,” the second tells me.