Page 7

A soft laugh came from the shadows, not from Garrett.Ronan materialized from the darkness, his lean body moving with predatory grace.That sharp smirk I was learning to both loathe and crave played on his lips.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he murmured, eyes glittering dangerously.

I felt another presence before I saw him.Kade, tucked into the darkest corner, watching.Always watching with those obsidian eyes that seemed to see straight through my nightdress.Where they'd found a nightdress for me, I didn't know.And I refused to ask.Kade never spoke unless absolutely necessary, but his silence communicated volumes.

I sat down between them before I could reconsider.The air felt heavier here, thicker.Magic seeped through the cabin walls like fog, settling on our skin, making every breath an effort.

"Tell me the truth," I said, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the rapid beating of my heart."What happens if one of you touches me?"

Footsteps approached from the hallway.Cassian slinked into the room, his hair wild, his green eyes dancing with mischief that couldn't quite hide something darker beneath.

"We lose control," he said with a wink, but there was no humor in it.His usual playfulness was stretched thin over barely contained hunger.

"You shift?"I guessed, though somehow I knew there was more to it.

"No."Evander's voice came from the stairs as he descended like a ghost, his movements impossibly graceful for a man his size."We claim."

The silence that followed was deafening.I looked from face to face, finding the same raw desire in each expression, though differently masked.Garrett's jaw clenched tight.Ronan's smirk twisted with something almost painful.Kade's eyes narrowed to slits.Cassian's perpetual grin faltered.Evander looked away completely.

"And that would kill me?"I asked when no one volunteered more information.

The question hung in the air.Glances exchanged between them carried entire conversations I couldn't decipher.The tension pulled tighter.Their hunger became a physical presence in the room, pushing against my skin.

I stood suddenly, desperately needing space to breathe.The moment I turned toward the door, Kade materialized before me.Not touching, but close enough that his body heat radiated against mine.His pitch-black eyes held me immobile.His jaw clenched, every muscle in his powerful body visibly straining against some invisible force.

"Don't run," he rasped, the words clearly painful to form.

"Why not?"I whispered, my breath shallow, heart pounding wildly.

"Because I might follow," he said, and it sounded more like a threat than a promise.

Another presence pressed close behind me.Leif.I recognized his wild energy before I felt his breath stir my hair.

"Or I might not stop him," Leif added, his voice tight with restraint.

My skin buzzed with awareness.My legs trembled.My heart hammered a frantic rhythm I couldn't control.I stood frozen between them, prey caught between predators, yet something inside me thrilled at the danger.

"Enough."Garrett's voice cut through the tension like a blade, authority resonating in that single word."No one touches her.We can't risk it."

They backed away.Barely.Just enough that I could breathe again, but not enough to feel safe.Never enough for that.

Panic surged through me.My body reacted before my mind decided.I bolted.The door flew open with a bang as I slammed into it, the freezing night air hitting my flushed skin like a physical blow.I tore across the clearing, barefoot, my borrowed nightdress whipping against my thighs.The moss felt slick beneath my feet as I fled toward the treeline.

Behind me came sounds that weren't footsteps.Growls.The beating of wings.Movement that belonged to creatures, not men.All seven of them gave chase.The curse must have wavered with their control, allowing partial shifts even in moonlight.

The forest blurred around me.Branches clawed at my arms.My lungs burned.My heart screamed in my chest with each desperate stride.Something slithered ahead of me, faster than anything natural should move.Then a pale blur struck from the trees.

I slipped on wet moss.Fell forward.But instead of hitting the ground, I landed against something solid.Cold.Scaled.

Nikolai caught me before I could fall, his serpent form coiled beneath me like a living net of muscle and magic.Not fully beast, not fully man.His torso was human, pale and bare in the moonlight, but his lower half rippled with serpentine coils that gleamed like oiled silver.Like a Naga creature from forbidden fairytales whispered about in my childhood.

His arms wrapped around me, cradling me against him as his coils shifted, pulling me tighter against his chest in a possessive, almost reverent hold.His breath ghosted against my neck, cool compared to my overheated skin.I couldn't stop the shiver that ran through my body.

"You run...and I find you," he murmured, his voice a whisper dipped in venom and silk."You tremble...and I feel it."

My breath caught as he tilted my chin up, forcing me to look into eyes that glowed with an unnatural light.Pupils slitted like a snake's.

"You awaken things...things that slither through shadow and dream, little flame," he continued, his thumb tracing my lower lip with impossible gentleness.