Then there was Nikolai, pale and beautiful as death, who slid next to me on the bed and whispered, "Reborn in shadow and silk, little flame.Just as I foresaw."

Evander laid his palm over mine, his touch carrying the scent of pine and earth."You are not broken.You are the storm that made us whole."

I gasped as their words echoed not just in my ears, but in my mind.I could hear their thoughts.Feel the echo of their longing even when they said nothing.Garrett's fierce pride.Ronan's reluctant devotion.Kade's consuming possession.Cassian's delighted awe.Leif's wild joy.Evander's tender relief.Nikolai's dark obsession.

The bond wasn't symbolic anymore.It wasn't just love or lust or fate.It was alive, primal, unshakable.

"What happened?"I whispered, though fragments of memory flashed behind my eyes even though they weren't mine.The witch's cabin in the heart of the forest.Her curse that bound these men.My choice to sacrifice.The magic that flowed between us, breaking chains centuries old.

"You know what happened," Nikolai murmured, his ice-blue eyes peering into my soul."You took her magic and bent it to your will."

Yes.I remembered now.The ancient witch who had cursed them, trapping them between man and beast, forcing them to guard her forest for centuries.I had offered myself in exchange for their freedom, but instead of becoming her prisoner, I had somehow absorbed her power.

"The forest whispers your name," Garrett said, his deep brown eyes flecked with gold."It belongs to you now.To us."

A shiver ran through me, not of fear but of recognition.Beyond the cabin walls, beyond the circle of my men, I felt the trees stir.The earth pulse.And deep within it, something darker stirred...as if awakened by what I had become.

"I can feel you all," I said, reaching for them.Seven pairs of hands reached back, touching whatever part of me they could reach."Inside me.Like you've always been there."

"We have," Cassian said with a wicked grin."But not like we're about to be."

Garrett growled, not in warning but in hunger.He moved first, as was his right as the eldest, the leader.His mouth found mine, slow and deep, pressing me back into the bed with a growl that vibrated through my spine.His hands were everywhere, spreading my thighs, gripping my breasts, pinning me in place with the kind of dominance that had me dripping before I could beg.

"I need to taste you," he rasped against my throat."Need to know you're real."

"Yes," I gasped as he moved down my body, nipping and sucking marks into my skin.

The others watched, their desire a physical force against my newly awakened senses.I felt Ronan's pulse spike when Garrett pushed my thighs wide.Kade's breath caught as my back arched.Leif couldn't contain a groan as Garrett's tongue made that first long swipe along my pussy.

I moaned as Garrett settled between my legs, devouring me like a starving man.His thick beard scratched against my sensitive skin, the slight pain only heightening my pleasure.His tongue circled my clit before flattening against it, pressure perfect and maddening.

"Fuck," I groaned, my hips bucking against his face.

Strong hands pinned my thighs wider, and I realized Kade had moved to help, his dark eyes watching my face as Garrett's tongue slid inside me, then returned to my clit, relentless and hungry.

I couldn't look away from them.Couldn't close my eyes against the sight of these powerful men watching their leader claim me with his mouth.My fingers tangled in Garrett's short hair, pulling him closer as pressure built low in my belly.

"She's close," Nikolai whispered, though I hadn't said a word.He knew.They all knew, could feel it through our bond just as I could feel their arousal, their need.

Garrett growled against my pussy, the vibration pushing me closer to the edge.Two thick fingers pushed inside me, curling forward to find that spot that made stars explode behind my eyes.My thighs shook as the pressure built, as Garrett sucked my clit between his lips and flicked his tongue against it.

I came with a scream that shattered into a sob, my back bowing off the bed, held in place only by Garrett's strength and Kade's steady hands.Wave after wave of pleasure crashed through me, each one echoing through the bond to my men, who groaned and shuddered as if they felt it too.

Before I could catch my breath, Nikolai replaced Garrett, his face a mask of cool hunger.His tongue, slightly forked at the tip from his serpent nature, licked me clean with precise, wicked strokes.

"Taste the power you took, little flame," he whispered, his eyes glowing with lust and hunger."It burns so sweetly in your blood."

His fingers slid inside me, long and precise, stroking places I hadn't known existed.Where Garrett had been all heat and instinct, Nikolai was calculation and control.He watched my every reaction, adjusting his touch to draw out my pleasure, building me toward another peak with merciless efficiency.

"You see now, don't you?"he murmured, his cool breath fanning across my overheated skin."What you've become.What we are together."

I couldn't answer.Could only gasp and writhe as his clever fingers worked inside me, his thumb circling my clit with just enough pressure to drive me mad.The others moved closer, their hands stroking my hair, my face, my breasts, as if they couldn't bear not to touch me.

Nikolai's forked tongue flicked against my clit, and I came again, harder than before, my eyes rolling back as my body clenched around his fingers.The power inside me surged with my release, and for a moment, the walls of the cabin groaned, the air thickened, and the forest beyond seemed to sigh in response.

"Ours," they breathed in unison, seven voices becoming one in my mind.

And I was.Body, soul, and this new, wild magic coursing through my