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"The woodpile's right there," I pointed out, barely twenty paces from the door."I think I can manage."

"Humor us."Ronan's dry voice filled my mind."After centuries of solitude, we're a bit overprotective of our mate."

Our mate.The possessive plural sent a shiver through me that had nothing to do with the cool autumn air.

I gathered the firewood quickly, aware of their vigilance.Their protectiveness was palpable through the bond, a steady pulse of watchfulness that wrapped around me like armor.

When I returned to the cabin with my arms full of logs, I noticed the sun beginning its descent toward the horizon.Soon it would be night.Soon they would change back.

Soon I would be in their arms again, trying once more to break a curse that had held them for centuries.

I stacked the wood near the hearth, added a few logs to the dying fire, and turned to find...an empty cabin.

"Hello?"I called out, both aloud and through the bond.

Their presence in my mind had dimmed, not gone but muted, as if they were deliberately pulling away.

I moved to the window.No sign of Garrett's massive bear form.The stag was gone from the tree line.The wolf had vanished.The hawk no longer circled overhead.

"Where did you go?"I pushed the question through the bond, feeling their reluctance to answer.

"It's almost sunset."Garrett's voice finally came, distant and strained."The change is...not something you should witness."

"But I've already seen it.It wasn't exactly pleasant, but you don't have to hide yourself from me."

"We'll return when it's done."Evander's gentle explanation followed."When we're men again."

I stood alone in the cabin, arms wrapped around myself.The fire crackled, throwing shadows across the empty room.Their absence felt wrong after a day of constant watchfulness.

"But I could comfort you,"I offered to the empty air, knowing they could hear me through the bond.

"No."Seven voices responded as one, firm and unyielding.

I sank down by the fire, staring into the flames.Outside, the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in deepening shades of purple and blue.Somewhere in the forest, seven beasts were transforming back into the men who had claimed me so thoroughly last night.

Men who would return to me soon, their eyes hungry and their bodies human, at least for a few precious hours.

Men who would try again to break a curse that had bound them for centuries.

The bond pulsed quietly between us, a living thread that connected my heart to theirs even when they were physically absent.Through it, I felt flashes of their pain as bones shifted and fur receded.I felt their determination.Their hope.Their fear that even this, what we'd found together, might not be enough.

I stared into the fire, arms wrapped around my knees.The warmth of their touch still lingered on my skin...but none of them had returned yet.It was like they couldn't stand to be near me during the transformation back to human.I understood, in a way.They probably wanted me to remember them as either fully beast or fully man, not caught in the agonizing between.

"I can still feel you," I whispered to the empty room, knowing they could hear me through the bond."All of you.Inside me, around me, part of me.The curse didn't break...but something changed."

Something had changed.I could feel them in my mind now, their thoughts and emotions tangled with my own.The bond remained, stronger than before, humming with potential.

Before it got too dark, I decided to retrieve more water from the well.Yeah, my beasts would probably hate that I'd gone alone, but it wasn't far from the cabin.No further than the woodpile, which could be seen from the porch of the cabin.

When I got to the well, I sat on the edge for a moment, listening to the nightlife of the forest.There was an essence of peace that came from sitting there in the chilly air.It was probably stupid to stay out here longer than necessary in just a nightdress, but the way the crisp air nipped at my skin refreshed me.

Time passed faster than I realized.My fingers felt like ice before I left my thoughts and retrieved the water.I headed back to the cabin to warm up and make tea.

The cabin was quiet when I pushed through the door, the main room empty.I moved to the hearth, needing warmth and to put water on to boil.That's when I felt him.A prickle along my spine, a coolness in the air that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Nikolai materialized from the shadows beside the fireplace, as if woven from darkness itself.Naked as always, his white-blond hair loose and wild around his shoulders.His eyes found mine, glowing softly like moonlit ice, pupils slitted in a way that wasn't quite human.

"You ache," he whispered, the words caressing my skin like a touch.