Page 3

The bear—no, the man—didn't move.His deep brown eyes studied me with unsettling intensity."You shouldn't be here."His voice rumbled low, words vibrating through the wood headboard behind me.

Not threatening, but not welcoming either.It left me feeling something… but not fear.I refused to think about it in depth right now.

Another one of the men, the wolf, cocked his head with a smirk."More importantly, how can you see us?"His gray eyes narrowed with suspicion, lips curved in an expression caught between amusement and anger.

I opened my mouth to ask what the hell they meant, but the fox-man stepped forward, green eyes dancing with curiosity."You shouldn't see us like this."He gestured to his transformed body, utterly shameless at his nakedness."No one ever has."

The serpent-man said nothing, only tilted his head, white-blonde hair shifting across impossibly pale shoulders.His gaze dissected me as if I were something to be studied rather than feared.

My pulse stuttered wildly beneath my skin.All seven of them were standing there, imposing and unabashedly naked.I didn't understand what was happening, but I knew two things with absolute certainty: they weren't normal...and I was very, very fucked.

CHAPTER3

My skin prickled under the bear-man's stare, his massive shadow stretching across the small cabin space.They were all huge men, larger than I'd seen before from my kingdom.I couldn't quite understand how they all fit in the cabin.The cabin smelled of pine, ash, and something else… something wild and male that made my heart pound for reasons beyond just fear.

I didn't need to see the others moving restlessly around the room to know I'd stumbled into something ancient and dangerous.My instincts screamed to run, but my body refused to move.My heart demanded I stay and stand my ground, but I wasn't sure why.Not that running had done me any good when the forest closed in around me last night.

"You shouldn't be here, little one," the bear-man said again, his voice a low rumble that sank into my bones.

I stayed on the bed, heart still slamming against my ribs, but I lifted my chin."Too late," I said, surprised my voice didn't tremble.They surrounded the bed in a crescent shape, so I didn't really have a way to get past them anyway.

His jaw tightened, muscles working beneath his bronze skin.The others exchanged unreadable glances, a silent conversation passing between them.One of them… lean, golden-haired, with a sharp grin and sharper eyes, stepped forward.

"The forest let her in," he said with a shrug."That counts for something."

"Or it's a trap," the wolf-man muttered from the corner, arms crossed, gaze sharp and cold."It's always a trap."

I looked at him, at his narrowed eyes and clenched jaw, and something about him pricked at me… familiar, like the scent of a coming storm.Pain shot through my eye like a blacksmith's iron.A memory fluttered, just out of reach.Had I seen him before?My back ached where it pressed against the rough wooden headboard, but I didn't dare move.

The fox-man flopped into the nearest chair and gestured lazily."Might as well tell her.She already saw the worst of us."His mouth curved into a smile that didn't reach his eyes."Well, almost the worst."

The stag-man, tall and quiet with gentle brown eyes, shook his head.His russet hair caught the firelight, glowing like autumn leaves."We don't know what she is yet."

That chilled me more than the air.My fingers curled against the blanket, nails digging into the fabric."I'm not anything," I whispered."Just someone trying not to die."

The panther, dark-eyed and silent, watched me from the shadows while radiating danger like heat.He hadn't moved, hadn't spoken, but I felt his gaze on me like a physical touch.He knew.Somehow, he knew I wasn't telling them everything.

Another man, smaller than the others, perched on a windowsill with restless energy cocked his head.Feathers still clung to his hair, brown and gold.The hawk."You saw us," he said softly."In our true forms.That shouldn't be possible."

I swallowed hard, remembering something from my childhood.I'd forgotten, but now there was a tickle of a memory.The massive bear crashing through the undergrowth.The wolf circling.The panther's eyes glowing in the darkness.The stag's antlers silhouetted against the moon.The forest had been alive with them.My step-mother's soldiers had dragged me back to the kingdom where I'd been thoroughly punished.

"You're human," the fox said, staring straight at me with eyes so green they burned."But not entirely."

My mouth went dry.The truth crawled up my throat desperate to escape.I shouldn't trust them… I couldn't trust anyone.But my step-mother's soldiers would drag me back to my death.These men… these creatures… they weren't ordinary.Maybe they'd understand what made me different, what made my stepmother lock me away, study me, prepare me for my sacrifice.

"My heart," I murmured, and seven sets of eyes locked on me like I'd just set fire to the room."My stepmother wants it.Says it'll make her live forever."

Something passed through them then… recognition, fury, pain.Their bodies tensed as one, a ripple of tension so strong I could almost taste it.The bear-man looked like he might shift again from sheer rage.His fingers lengthened slightly, nails darkening into claws before he forced them back.

"Winterbourne," he growled."You're a Winterbourne."

I nodded, and the temperature in the cabin dropped ten degrees.The wolf cursed under his breath, pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against."Of course she is."His laugh cut like glass.

"That name cursed us," the hawk-man spat, suddenly on his feet.He moved too fast, inhumanly fast.Hawk talons erupted from his human hands, the tips reaching for my throat."That bloodline damned us."

I stared at them, my voice hoarse."What does that mean?"I struggled to sit up, arms trembling beneath me.I wasn't sure I wanted the answer.

One of the men smiled, but it was sad.His earlier playfulness vanished like smoke."Your ancestor, hundreds of years ago, she bound us with a spell.We were men.Warriors.Brothers."He gestured around the room."Now we're beasts."