Page 12

CHAPTER 12

I woke in a tangle of limbs and heat, my body humming with power I didn't recognize. Seven heartbeats pulsed against my skin, each one matching the rhythm of my own. The cabin's wooden walls seemed to breathe with us, the forest beyond stirring with something ancient and alive. My shifters surrounded me, no longer cursed, no longer afraid. And I was no longer just Lunara Winterbourne. I was something more.

They had returned me to the bed in the cabin, the same one where everything first unraveled. I remembered wondering who had slept in it before, since there were too many of them and only two beds in the cabin, plus the cot in the cellar where they had first kept me. Now it felt like the center of the world, the focal point of our twisted fate turned glorious destiny.

Their touch felt different now. Electric but safe. Scorching but soothing. Our bond hummed like a chorus behind my heartbeat, insistent and unbreakable. I could feel each of them inside me. Not just their physical presence, but their emotions. Their hunger. Their love.

"You're awake." Garrett's voice rumbled through me, vibrating along nerve endings that recognized him as mine. He knelt beside the bed, his massive frame somehow graceful as he leaned toward me. The others shifted around us, seven pairs of eyes glowing in the dim light. "The forest's heart beats again."

His calloused fingers traced my jaw as if I might shatter. The others moved closer, forming a protective circle. Ronan's sardonic smile couldn't hide the relief in his eyes. Kade watched with that silent intensity that spoke volumes. Cassian winked, though his usual playfulness was tempered with reverence. Leif couldn't stop touching my arm, my shoulder, my hair, as if ensuring I was real. Evander's gentle eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

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

Evander moved forward as Nikolai slid away, his gentle eyes at odds with the hard length waving around. Unlike the others, there was no aggression in his approach, just unrelenting purpose as he settled between my thighs. "Let us worship you," he murmured against my throat as he freed himself and eased into me, my still-pulsing body welcoming his thick cock with a greedy clench.

I gasped at the sensation of being filled, my oversensitive flesh stretching around him. Evander was thick, thicker than I remembered, and he pushed into me with patient determination until he was seated fully.

"Feel us," he whispered, beginning to thrust with slow, deep strokes that hit places inside me that made my toes curl. "Feel how we need you."

The bed dipped on either side of me as Cassian and Leif joined us, their hands and mouths hungry on my skin. Cassian claimed my left breast, his tongue swirling around my nipple before sucking it into his mouth with a groan that vibrated through my chest.

"Fucking gorgeous," he murmured, green eyes dancing with mischief and heat. "The things I'm going to do to you when it's my turn."

Leif took my other breast, less patient, nipping and sucking with the wild enthusiasm that characterized everything he did. His hands trailed over my ribs, my hips, dipping between my thighs to where Evander thrust into me.

"So wet," Leif groaned, his fingers collecting my slickness and bringing it to his mouth. "Taste so fucking good."

I arched between them, overwhelmed by sensation. Evander's cock sliding in and out with deliberate precision. Cassian and Leif's mouths hot on my nipples, their hands trailing everywhere, their whispered filth and praise in my ears. And through our bond, I felt their need, their hunger, their love, multiplied and reflected back at me until I couldn't tell where I ended and they began.

"Please," I gasped, not even sure what I was begging for. More. All of them. Forever.

Evander's rhythm never faltered, his strokes deep and thorough, each one pushing me higher. When I came around him, it was with a surprised cry, my back arching off the bed, my inner walls clamping down on his thick length. He groaned, his control slipping just enough to speed his thrusts before he pulled out, his cock glistening with my release.

"Kade," he said, his voice strained. "She's ready for you."

Kade didn't speak. He rarely did. But his eyes said everything as he moved behind me, strong hands flipping me onto my hands and knees with effortless strength. One hand tangled in my hair, the other repositioning me and then pressing to my lower back, angling me exactly how he wanted me.

I felt the blunt head of his cock against my entrance, then the delicious stretch as he pushed in with a single thrust. Kade wasn't gentle. He wasn't slow. He fucked me hard and silent, his breath ragged against my neck, his grip firm enough to leave marks.

"Yes," I moaned, pushing back against him, meeting his thrusts with my own desperate movements. "Harder."

He complied, hips slamming against my ass, the sound of skin on skin filling the cabin along with my cries. Through half-lidded eyes, I saw the others watching, stroking themselves, their cocks hard and leaking as they waited their turn.

Ronan apparently couldn't wait any longer. He moved in front of me, his cock level with my face, his gray eyes burning with challenge.

"Open," he demanded, no please, no preamble. Just pure Ronan, raw and unfiltered.

I let my mouth fall open, and he pushed inside without hesitation, groaning when I sucked him down eagerly. His hands gripped my hair alongside Kade's, controlling my movements as I took him deeper.

"Fuck, your mouth," he hissed, his hips jerking forward. "Knew you'd be perfect."

I moaned around him, the vibration making him curse. Kade's thrusts from behind pushed me forward onto Ronan's cock, creating a rhythm that had me filled from both ends, used and wanted and desperately, achingly satisfied.

They took turns after that, each claiming me in every way possible. Mouths, hands, cocks, until my body forgot how to separate pleasure from pain. Until I was limp, shaking, and begging for more.

Cassian fucked me with a playful intensity, his cock hitting spots that made me see stars while he whispered filthy praise in my ear. Leif was wild and relentless, flipping me into positions I didn't know my body could achieve, his enthusiasm contagious and overwhelming.

I came again and again, hoarse from screaming, skin slick with sweat and come, every part of me filled, stretched, marked. They passed me between them like a precious thing, each taking their pleasure but always, always watching for my reactions, feeling my pleasure through our bond, adjusting to maximize it.

When it seemed I couldn't take anymore, when my limbs were liquid and my mind floating somewhere above my body, Garrett returned. The others moved back, forming a circle around the bed, their hands stroking their cocks as they watched their leader claim me one final time.

"Mine," Garrett growled, positioning himself between my spread thighs. "Ours."

His cock slid into my soaked cunt with ease, my body welcoming him like he belonged there. My legs wrapped around his waist instinctively, pulling him deeper, needing him closer.

"Yes," I gasped, my hands clutching his broad shoulders, nails digging into his skin. "Yours. All of you."

Garrett's hips slammed into mine with bruising force, each thrust pushing me further up the bed until my head pressed against the headboard. He didn't slow, didn't gentle. He took me with all the pent-up need of centuries, and I met him with equal ferocity.

The others stroked themselves faster, their breath coming in harsh pants as they watched, still hungry despite having already taken their pleasure. Their desire fed mine through our bond, building it higher and hotter until I was trembling on the edge of something monumental.

"Come for us," Garrett commanded, his voice thick with power and need. "Let us feel you."

When I came that last time, I shattered. Wrecked, overwhelmed, transcendent. I screamed all their names in a litany of devotion, my body convulsing around Garrett's cock as waves of pleasure crashed through me.

The forest answered with a pulse of energy that made the walls tremble. The air thickened with magic, wild and ancient, responding to our union as if it had been waiting for this moment. Garrett roared as he found his release, his seed spilling hot inside me as the others followed, their come painting my skin in primal claiming.

We didn't just bond. We didn't just fuck. We fused.

The magic that had broken their curse, that I had stolen and made my own, now bound us together in ways that defied explanation. I could feel them in my blood, my bones, my breath. Seven heartbeats synced with mine, seven souls entwined with my own.

When it was done, we lay tangled in a pile of limbs and breathless groans, every inch of me sore, every hole used, every heartbeat echoing with theirs. Garrett pulled me against his chest, the others finding places to touch, to hold, unwilling to break contact even in exhaustion. Someone moved the other bed against the one I was on as more of them joined in on the cuddle puddle.

"We are one," Nikolai whispered, his fingers tracing patterns on my sweat-slick skin. "And nothing, not fate, not magic, not time, can undo it now."

The forest hummed in agreement, the darkness within it retreating for now, respectful of what we had become together. Whatever challenges awaited us beyond this cabin, beyond this moment, we would face them united by something stronger than any curse.

I was theirs, and they were mine, and we were something new.