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“Please don’t hurt me.” I scrunched my eyes shut.

I tried to remember what happened. Chase surprised me in the alleyway. His teeth… My entire body throbbed like a giant bruise.

“I would never hurt you.” The gravelly tone was a promise, and I curled into bed as the surface shifted.

He was moving away. Relief turned bitter as my skin tightened with the need for him to return.

What was wrong with me?

Why did I want Chase to touch me again? Had he given me something? That must be why I felt so disorientated. Like there was something foreign roiling under my skin.

Heartache and panic, but not mine.

Not mine.

Needles laced the oxygen I desperately sucked down. The scrape of Chase’s teeth. A sharp, unwanted prick. The rip in time as I froze under the rage-filled puff of his breath. I muffled a sob against the pillow as I realized why I was craving the touch of Chase.

He bonded me.

My tongue wilted in my mouth. I jackknifed up, unable to stop the whine that burst through my trembling lips. As my gaze flew open, I realized my mistake. It wasn’t Chase who had his thick arms around me, but Pan.

“P-Pan.” His name was more of a sob as I collapsed against his chest. “I thought you werehim.”

Pan’s face flickered with vicious fury, and I felt a rush of lightning through my chest. It stole my breath, and I sagged against him. It was Pan inside me, not Chase. Everything came flooding back. The livestream and the throbbing pain in my shoulder.

“He’s a dead man, Tully. I’ll kill him myself.” Pan’s scent swirled around me. “Our bond expelled him.”

“Our bond.”

It wasn’t a question. We both knew that. Because Pan wasinsideme. Now that I knew it wasn’t Chase’s horrific bond inside my chest, I investigated the new link between us. It pulsed with frenetic energy, and I tugged on it hard enough for Pan to grunt. Pan was an echo in my ears. He vibrated through until the sensation became a song. There were spikes, too, that prodded with the darkness he promised.

“Gods, Tully, you can’t know how good you feel. Please forgive me.”

What a strange feeling it was. Pan’s words, at face value, wouldn’t have been enough in the past. Chase used those like sweet treats, while his actions rotted my insides. But I couldfeelPan. His regret, his nerves, and underneath, light bubblegum, relief, and adoration.

Pan was orchids at midnight. Sensual darkness. Decadence pooled between my legs. He was a heat that turned on an infinite loop, stealing pieces of my breath. Pan was that first dip in a rollercoaster when you threw your hands into the air and screamed.

“You collapsed after your livestream. Do you remember that? When we took you to the hospital, they found Chase’s bite had created a partial bond. The only way to stop it was another healthy bond. Ours.”

I was wrung out and dizzy, overwhelmed.

“I-I remember, sort of?” I looked up at the twinkling ceiling.

We were in the Baylark nest.

My instincts screamed at me to take the soft blankets and turn this nest into something I could sink into. I’d been here already. It smelled of me. I dragged myself over the lip, despite my screaming muscles. Pan reached for me. A soft, whisper-like growl escaped him.

“You’re safe with us now.”

My face twisted with disagreement, and Pan’s expression wiped blank. The bond between us throbbed, and I rubbed my chest.

“Will this mark last?” I trailed off as my throat swelled with emotion.

Pan’s expression sickened. “It’s permanent, can’t you feel me?” He spread out his tattoo-covered hands.

I couldn’t even string a coherent thought together, let alone process a life-changing decision right now. Luckily, my growling stomach saved me. It rolled like thunder.

“You’re hungry. Let me feed you?” Pan coaxed.