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“God, Emma, you’re naked,” Logan whispered, his voice feathering over the back of my neck on his third pass of visually devouring every inch of me. He grabbed the belt loops on his pants and adjusted his pants.

“Logan.” At least my voice sounded more even and stronger than I expected.

“You look well. Do you know what you’re doing to me?”

I took a step and leaned closer, swiveling toward him so he could get another good look at my breasts. “Probably the same thing you’re doing to me, Logan, and you didn’t even have to take your clothes off.”

He kept his gaze on mine for long moments, an internal civil war clearly being battled in his eyes while I listened to his emotions duke it out in his head. Finally,he took another look, his jaw slackened, and his cheeks reddened. His tongue darted out and back in.

“I’d sit on that tongue,” I said, the words escaping before I could stop them.

Shit.A blush spread over my skin as a warmth flooded me. He was imagining me sitting on his face... and he liked it.

Oh, shit, shit.Distracting didn’t begin to describe what he was doing to me now. I wished for clothes to hide my physical reaction to the nearness of my maybe fated mate.

The big bear shifter stepped into the space, rumbling and grumbling under his breath. Olivia pressed a bowl of stew into his hands, and he took a seat on a large log, practically swallowing it with his size. His beard held beads, and his soft leather clothes looked to be handmade.

“What’s his name?” I asked Logan, nodding toward the older shifter.

“Hmmm? What?”

“The bear alpha. What’s his name again?”

“Torbin,” he answered. “If anything goes down, find Torbin. I trust him.”

“You do?”

“And Marcus, believe it or not.”

“That surprises me,” I said.

“It’s a new development,” Logan said, his eyes bouncing from shifter to shifter as another group meandered in, comprised of individuals I didn’t recognize. The whole space was mostly filled with strangersnow.

“Well, I’ll go for Torbin then. Marcus might be on my shit list.”

Logan barked a laugh and laid his hand on my forearm. “You ready for this evening?”

“Sure.”

“Really?”

“Fuck no, but do I have a choice?” I asked.

“No, you don’t. Acheron’s strength is growing, and we believe he’s consumed each of the missing shifters. Whatever he’s planning will happen soon.”

“Great.”

About thirty minutes later, almost twenty alphas collected in the depression at the bottom of the amphitheater, Login and Torbin included. Flynn crouched in the dirt, drawing something I couldn’t make out. A sullen Marcus stood at the edge of the group. The sun dipped below the horizon, and the large, golden-red Hunter’s Moon rose in its place, beaming down on us all.

The baristas moved through the amphitheater, lighting small lanterns and placing them throughout the space. The flames cast eerie light and shadows on us all. The ever-blooming magnolia tree seemed to glow with a light of its own.

Finally, Torbin raised his hands, and his booming voice silenced the gathered shifters. “Let’s begin. It’s rumored that the multimorph has emerged, and we will now hear evidence.”

Jasper appeared by my side and offered his elbow. “Are ye ready for this?”

“Again with that question?” I asked.

“Well, are ye?”