MasukThe water shut off.Caspian straightened in his chair, smoothing his expression back into something calm and controlled.A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened.And Caspian forgot how to breathe.Elara stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a towel.Her dark hair was wet, dripping water down her shoulders. Her skin was flushed from the heat of the shower. And the towel...the towel was wrapped around her body in a way that covered everything important while somehow making him want to rip it off and see what was underneath."I don't have clothes," she said, her voice tight.Caspian's brain had stopped working."The... the clothes," she continued, gesturing toward the bed where he'd left them. "I need to...I can't get dressed with you staring at me like that."He was staring. He knew he was staring. But he couldn't seem to stop."Caspian." Her voice cracked slightly. "Please."That snapped him out of it."Right." He stood abruptly, nearly knocking over the chair. "I'll...I'll tu
Caspian didn't deny it. "Yes."She blinked, clearly not expecting honesty. "At least you're upfront about it.""I find honesty works better in the long run." He leaned back in his chair, studying her. "Here's the truth, Elara: you're our mate. The bond is real, whether you believe in it or not. And we're not letting you go.""So I'm a prisoner.""You're protected." His voice hardened slightly. "Do you have any idea what would happen if we let you leave? The binding spell your grandmother placed on you is breaking. Every supernatural creature within a hundred miles is going to sense you soon. And when they do....""They'll what?" Elara interrupted. "Want to kidnap me too? How is that different from what you've already done?"Caspian's hands clenched into fists under the table. She doesn't understand, he told his brothers through the link. She has no concept of how dangerous this is.Then make her understand, Alaric replied."The difference," Caspian said carefully, "is that we won't hu
Caspian: Caspian had seduced queens, diplomats, and enemies who should have known better.He'd talked his way out of assassination attempts, into political alliances, and through negotiations that should have ended in war. Charm was his weapon of choice, and he'd spent thirty years perfecting it into something sharp enough to cut through any defense.So when Alaric pulled him aside that morning and said, "You're on Elara duty. Make her comfortable. Make her compliant," Caspian had assumed it would be easy.He'd assumed wrong.Now, standing outside the guest suite they'd given her, the one that connected to their private wing because like hell were they letting her sleep anywhere they couldn't reach in seconds. Caspian was reconsidering every life choice that had led to this moment.Behind the door, he could hear her moving around. Angry, jerky movements that spoke of a woman who was absolutely not comfortable and definitely not compliant.This is going to be fun, Kieran's voice echoe
"You can't just...."But Kieran was already moving.He swept her up before she could even finish the sentence, one arm hooking under her knees and the other around her back, lifting her off the ground like she weighed nothing."No!" Elara shrieked, immediately thrashing in his hold. "Put me down! Put me down right now!""Not a chance, tesoro," Kieran said, adjusting his grip as she struggled.Elara twisted violently, trying to get free, her hands shoving at his chest. "Let me go! You can't do this! You can't just...""We can," Caspian said quietly, falling into step beside Kieran as he started walking. "And we are.""This is kidnapping!" Elara's voice pitched higher, panic flooding her system. "This is....you're insane! All of you are insane!""Probably," Kieran agreed cheerfully, completely unbothered by her struggles. "But you're stuck with us anyway."Elara aimed a kick at his stomach.He caught her ankle with his free hand without even looking, his grip firm but not painful. "Care
"Don't call me that.""You said that last night too." He leaned closer, his forearms resting on the window frame. "And yet here we are.""Here we are," Elara agreed, her heart hammering. "And now I'm leaving. So if you could just...."A voice cut through the morning air, cold and commanding."What are you still standing there for? Get her out of the car, you dummy."Elara's blood turned to ice.She knew that voice. The eldest brother. Alaric.Which meant last night hadn't been a dream. Hadn't been a hallucination.It had been real.All of it.Oh god oh god oh god...."Well," Kieran said cheerfully, "you heard the man.""Don't you dare...." Elara started.But Kieran was already moving.He grabbed the door handle and yanked.The entire door ripped off its hinges with a screech of tortured metal, tumbling to the ground behind him like it weighed nothing.Elara screamed.Before she could even process what had just happened, Kieran's hands were on her, unbuckling her seatbelt, hauling her
Elera: It was a dream.That was the first thought Elara had when she woke up, her heart still pounding from sleep. Just a very, very vivid stress-induced hallucination brought on by grief and exhaustion and driving for six hours through mountains that apparently didn't exist on any map.Werewolves weren't real.Mate bonds weren't real.And three impossibly attractive men hadn't shown up in her backyard last night claiming she belonged to them.It didn't happen.Elara sat up slowly, her body aching from sleeping on the couch, she hadn't been able to make herself go to the bedroom, some irrational part of her afraid that if she let her guard down completely, the "dream" would become real.The cottage was silent.No sounds of breathing. No footsteps. No massive wolves prowling outside her windows.Just... silence.She stood on shaky legs and moved through the cottage, checking each room. The kitchen was empty. The bedroom was exactly as she'd left it. The bathroom window was closed and







