Page 67 of Bound by Alphas 1: Bound (The Blood Moon Chronicle #3)

I found myself trapped in a cage made of muscle and desire—three alpha werewolves surrounding me with the predatory focus of hunters who’d finally cornered their prey after a four-year chase.

Just as Cade’s hand moved to the hem of my tattered shirt, my stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl, breaking the tension and drawing reluctant smiles from all three brothers.

“When did you last eat?” Cade asked, his hand moving to my waist.

“Breakfast? I had a shift at the café this morning.”

“Hours ago,” Logan growled, disapproval evident in his tone. “You’re too thin.”

“Always the charmer,” I muttered. His bluntness was familiar, comforting even.

“Food first,” Keir decided, though the hunger in his eyes had nothing to do with dinner. “Then we continue this… conversation.”

The Sinclair Stronghold was even more impressive than I remembered. As Cade led me through the hallways, I couldn’t help but gape at the soaring ceilings, the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the forest, the obviously priceless art adorning the walls.

“The bathroom’s through here,” Cade said, guiding me into a suite that was larger than my entire Seattle apartment. The bathroom was a monument to luxury, but I was too exhausted and irritated to appreciate it.

“I’ll get you some clothes,” he offered, his eyes lingering on my disheveled state.

“Don’t bother on my account,” I heard Keir call from somewhere in the bedroom, the smile evident in his voice.

Cade ignored him, disappearing into what I assumed was a closet while I stood awkwardly in the bathroom doorway, suddenly self-conscious about my appearance.

“Shower,” Logan instructed, materializing behind me with unnerving silence. “You smell like that coffee shop.”

“Thanks,” I replied dryly. “Always nice to know I’m appreciated for my natural scent.”

A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Shower,” he repeated, softer this time. “We’ll wait.”

The hot water was heavenly after the emotional roller coaster of the past few hours.

I took my time, using the obscenely expensive products lined up in the shower, trying to process everything that had happened.

I’d confessed my love to them. After four years of running, of denying, of pretending I didn’t care, I’d finally admitted the truth.

And they’d said they loved me too.

When I finally emerged, wrapped in a towel that was softer than any fabric had a right to be, I found a crisp white dress shirt laid out on the counter.

No underwear, no pants—just the shirt. I rolled my eyes but put it on anyway, the hem falling to mid-thigh, the sleeves hanging past my fingertips until I rolled them up.

I found all three brothers in the kitchen, moving around each other with the synchronized grace of men who’d lived together for years.

The open-concept space flowed seamlessly from kitchen to dining area to living room, all of it decorated in the same minimalist luxury as the rest of the stronghold.

“Perfect timing,” Keir said, his eyes darkening as they took in my appearance—barefoot, hair still damp, wearing nothing but Cade’s shirt. “Food’s ready.”

They’d prepared a simple meal—pasta, garlic bread, salad—but my stomach growled again at the sight of it. I settled onto the plush sofa, acutely aware of how the shirt rode up my thighs as I did so.

“Eat,” Cade instructed, handing me a loaded plate before taking a seat on my right.

I’d barely taken two bites before I felt Logan settle on my left, his hand sliding under the shirt to rest on my bare thigh. His mouth found the sensitive spot just below my ear, teeth grazing the skin in a way that made me shiver.

“Logan,” I protested, batting ineffectively at his hand, “I’m trying to eat here. Four years of freedom and I’ve forgotten how impossible it is to complete a single task with you three around.”

“So eat,” he murmured against my neck, his hand tightening possessively on my thigh. “Not my fault if you’re easily distracted.”

“Says the man who’s practically giving me a hickey while I’m trying to swallow pasta,” I retorted, though the breathless quality of my voice undermined any attempt at dignified outrage.

I managed another bite, only to nearly choke on it when Keir knelt in front of me, his fingers finding the buttons of the shirt with practiced ease.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” I asked, arching an eyebrow as he methodically unfastened each button. “I don’t recall requesting a personal valet service.”

“Making sure you don’t ruin Cade’s favorite shirt,” he replied with angelic innocence that wouldn’t have fooled a blind man. “You’ve always been a messy eater.”

“I have never been a messy—” My indignant response died as he spread the fabric open completely, cool air hitting my exposed skin. The hunger in his eyes as he surveyed my naked body made me feel simultaneously self-conscious and ridiculously powerful.

His gaze lingered on my cock, which—traitor that it was—was already responding to their attentions despite my best efforts to maintain some semblance of dignity.

“Still so small and pretty,” Keir murmured appreciatively, his fingers hovering just centimeters away. “I’ve often wondered if anyone else has touched what’s ours these past four years.”

I shot him a glare that should have incinerated him on the spot. “First of all, there is nothing ‘small’ about me. The word you’re looking for is ‘perfect.’ Second, what I do with my body is none of your?—”

“No one has,” Logan interrupted with infuriating certainty, his nose brushing against my pulse point. “We would have felt it. The bond would have let us know.”

“That’s not how it works,” I protested automatically, though the lie tasted bitter on my tongue.

The truth was, I hadn’t been with anyone else—hadn’t even wanted to, though I’d never admitted that to myself.

Maya at the coffee shop had tried setting me up on dates for years, and I’d always found excuses.

Art deadlines. Work commitments. Never the truth: that no one else had ever made my heart race the way these three insufferable alphas did.

“Isn’t it?” Cade asked, his knowing gaze making me squirm. One eyebrow raised in that infuriatingly aristocratic way that always made me want to simultaneously slap him and kiss him senseless.

“You’ve been utterly faithful, little fox,” he continued, his voice a caress. “Even when you were running from us. Even when you thought we didn’t want you.”

My cheeks burned with embarrassment. “That doesn’t mean?—”

“I’ve had dreams,” Keir interrupted, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “Vivid dreams of you touching yourself, thinking of us. Always around the same time every night. Usually featuring that fantasy about Logan’s desk in his office.”

“Oh my God,” I groaned, mortification washing over me as I realized what he was implying. “You did not just— That’s not— I never?—”

“The bond works both ways,” Cade confirmed, his hand sliding up to cup my neck in a possessive gesture that shouldn’t have been as comforting as it was. “What you feel, we feel. What you dream, we dream. What you desire…”

“We desire,” Logan finished, his hand sliding higher on my thigh.

“That’s a horrifying invasion of privacy,” I sputtered, though my body was betraying me with every passing second. “So for four years, you’ve been, what, supernatural Peeping Toms? Getting off on my private moments?”

“That’s a mate bond,” Keir corrected, his fingers finally making contact with my cock, tracing its length with featherlight touches that made me bite my lip to hold back a moan.

“Everything shared. Nothing hidden. Including the fact that you never even tried to be with anyone else because your heart knew what your stubborn brain refused to accept.”

“Which was what, exactly?” I challenged, though my voice had lost its edge, softened by the pleasure building under his expert touch.

“That you’re ours,” all three said in unison, the synchronicity both unnerving and oddly touching.

“And that we’re yours,” Cade added, his silver eyes holding mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. “Always have been. Always will be.”

The truth of it resonated through me, impossible to deny.

I hadn’t been with anyone else because I couldn’t be—not because of some supernatural bond, but because my heart had made its choice long ago.

No matter how far I ran, how much I denied it, how desperately I tried to build a life without them, I had always been theirs.

I tried to focus on my food, I really did.

But with Logan’s mouth on my neck, Keir’s fingers teasing my cock, and Cade’s heated gaze tracking every reaction, eating became a secondary concern.

By the time I’d managed half the plate, my body was thrumming with need, the fork trembling slightly in my hand.

“Enough,” Cade finally said, his voice a low command that had all three of us looking up. “He can eat more later.”

The look he gave me sent heat pooling low in my belly—possessive, hungry, promising things that made my breath catch. Without warning, he took the plate from my hands and set it aside, then pulled me onto his lap in one smooth motion.

“Still thinking about running?” Cade’s voice was dark honey and sin against my ear, his hands already working to remove the shirt completely.

“I’m considering my options,” I shot back, trying to maintain some illusion of control even as Keir helped Cade slide the shirt off my shoulders, leaving me completely naked across Cade’s lap.

“You have no options,” Logan growled, his eyes flashing amber as he watched me being stripped bare. “Not anymore.”

I should have been outraged. Should have fought harder, maintained some shred of dignity or independence. Instead, I shivered as cool air hit newly exposed skin, my body responding with an eagerness that made me want to crawl under the bed and die of mortification.