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We are only a few miles from the ranger station when a dense fog begins to creep along the forest floor. We continue to press on until the fog envelops our entire body, hanging heavy and thick in the air. “Let’s stop guys,” I say sluggishly. “We’ve been walking all day anyhow. Let’s get some rest, and we can worry about getting to the station in the morning.”

“I’m exhausted,” Leli yawns.

“Me too. Let’s just hurry up and get the tents set up,” I say as we move off into a small clearing. The fog is still heavy here, but at least we can see enough to get the tents up. I crawl in ours and collapse between Daemon and Kael.

“I feel weird,” Daemon slurs.

“Mmm,” I manage. I realize my body isn’t responding. I try to roll to snuggle up to Daemon, but I realize I can’t move. “Something is wrong,” I choke out. My eyes are responsive, but the rest of my body feels cold and heavy. My hands are lazily lying in Daemon’s and Kael’s.

“Something is wrong,” I repeat through the mind link

“Where did that fog come from? I can’t move,”Kael says. My heart starts to race, and my breathing shallows. I am quickly starting to panic, and the guys are in my head trying to calm me down. A sob is stuck in my throat when we start hearing cackling around the tent. I am desperately trying to keep myself calm, but I can’t stop picturing that man on top of me. I squeeze my eyes shut as I remember the pain as if he is still pounding into me with anger and malice in place of what should be compassion.

I hear the zipper to the tent slowly open before a man saunters in with a hunting knife. He grins at me when he sees that I can’t move and I am crying. Panic floods through my body. I can’t make it stop.

“He’s going to hurt me,” I say sadly through our mind link.

“You’ve got this, baby. Just relax and don’t react,” Callum says. I know he’s just trying to make me feel better, but we both know it’s not true. They’re going to kill me the moment they get a chance.

“Well, well, well,” the man says as he kneels at my feet. I notice he has gloves, a jacket, and black pants on. Most of his skin is covered, which means he knows what I did to the man yesterday.

“Seems like our little High Witch does have some power after all,” he says as he pulls my shorts and underwear off of me. “Lucky for me, I don’t have to stick my dick in you to enjoy this tight little pussy.” He pushes my feet back, and it forces my knees to come up and then fall open, spreading me open for him to see.

“Mmm. What a beautiful sight,Your Majesty,” he mocks. “Shall I have a taste?”

“What the fuck did he just say?” I say to the guys.

“He’s trying to humiliate you. Just relax. There are thirty people here. Someone will come help us,” Callum says calmly.

The man drags his knife along the inside crease of my thigh, and I close my eyes. I slow my breathing and just listen to the guys talk to me. “You’re doing amazing, Lilith. We will be okay,” Daemon says.

“Just breathe,” Kael encourages me. I think they are trying to keep me from accidentally blowing myself up like yesterday.

The man bites the inside of my thigh, and I groan in pain when I feel his brown, jagged teeth sink into my flesh. I take long, deep breaths and brace for him to bite me again. When he takes one long lick across my clit, it takes me by surprise, and I groan again. The feeling makes me queasy as he keeps doing it, getting more and more precise with every drag across me that he makes.

“Sweet as honey, High Witch,” he says. “How would your mates like to see you come for a better man?”

Tears stream down my cheeks as I try in vain to move. No one is coming to save me. I’m too close to the guys to try to burn this guy. I don’t know how to be that specific with my spells, so I could just end up killing Daemon and Kael if I try. The man groans against me as he sucks hard, making my body shake. I can feel the pressure building in my belly, and I am desperately trying to push it down before it turns into something I don’t want. I try to hold my breath through the sickly surges of feigned pleasure, but that only makes my moans and whimpers louder when I take a breath.

“I want it to stop. Please, make it stop,”I beg them, even though I know they can’t help me.The only thing I can focus on is the pressure combined with the sucking and slurping sounds that this freak is making. It’s ringing through my brain so loudly that it’s suffocating every logical thought. Behind all of these overwhelmingly disgusting feelings is a wave of paranoia that is trying to convince me that somehow, my mates will be angry with me. They will hate me because another man made me come.

“Lilith. Breathe, baby,”Kael says.

“I’m trying not to. I’m trying. Please don’t be mad. I don’t want this,”I plead.

“No one is mad, Lilith. Okay? Just breathe,”Callum says. My thighs tremble and my stomach does a flip when he nips at my now extremely sensitive clit. He’s kept me right on the edge of a cliff, and it physically pains me to have my body reacting the way it is. It may appear as pleasure, but it’s the furthest and sickest possible feeling from it.

“I can’t,”I whimper. “I don’t want to lose you guys.”

“Lilith Deverell,”Daemon barks at me through our mindlink. “We are your mates. We aren’t going anywhere. Now, you need to relax, or he’s not going to stop.Relax, baby. We are right here. You are doing good, but you need to relax before he hurts you out of frustration.”

I force myself to take a deep breath as my mates provide me with a constant stream of praise and encouragement. I know he isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants. As the minutes tick by, he is getting more and more aggressive. I focus on just their words and force myself into a place mentally where I can relax and let him take what he wants from me. An unwilling moan pours out of me, and my muscles act on their own accord. I tense when a climax punches through me. He doesn’t stop viciously sucking and nipping at me. I am overstimulated and hypersensitive, but he still won’t stop. Wave after wave crashes over me, and my stomach muscles ache from how tense my body is. Nothing about this feels good.

He finally unlatches himself from me, and my body relaxes. When he produces a knife and slowly cuts my shirt open while making eye contact with me. I whimper as fear floods me. I close my eyes, so I don’t see what he’s about to do to me, but he presses the point of the knife into my jugular.

“Look. At. Me,” he growls. I slowly open my eyes, and I can’t stop the tears from flowing. For all I know, everyone is dead already. “You are weak. Worthless. They call you the High Witch, but you are nothing more than a bottom feeder. Your place in this world is on your knees servicing your master, not on a throne meant for the worthy. Zypher is a fool to think he is worthy of that throne either. Only pure witches are worthy. Our coven has fought for centuries to take our rightful spot as leaders of this land, and now your time has come to be dethroned.” He leans over as he licks the trail the tears have left behind, tasting my tears.

The man pushes the knife onto my chest and slowly drags the blade down my abdomen. I scream through gritted teeth as the pain sears through me. My mates are no longer giving me words of encouragement. They are telling me to burn him, but it would hurt them too. I am not killing them just to survive alone. Living without them would be worse than death.