CHAPTER One

LYRA'S POV

The mating ceremony was already a fever when we slipped away.

Music throbbed through the floorboards of the great hall, drums and howls and the wet sounds of strangers claiming each other under the full moon. The four of us had been drinking moon-wine since sunset, laughing too loud, touching too much, the way only best friends can when the world feels unbreakable.

Kael’s hand had been on the small of my back all night, possessive in a way he never allowed himself to be in daylight. Riven kept leaning in to steal sips from my cup, his tongue brushing my fingers on purpose. Cassian’s clever eyes tracked every shiver they pulled from me, a half-smile playing on his lips like he was keeping score.

I was their Lyra.

Their little shadow.

Their omega friend who patched their wounds, listened to their secrets, made them laugh when pack politics got too heavy.

Tonight I wasn’t staff. Tonight I was just theirs.

It happened fast and slow at the same time.

Riven tugged me into the private room first, the one reserved for alphas, laughing against my mouth as he kicked the door shut. “Been wanting to mess up that pretty ponytail all night,” he growled, fingers already unraveling my braid.

Kael followed, silent, eyes burning. He didn’t speak; he just caught my chin and kissed me like he was starving. Not the gentle, careful kisses he gave me when we were younger and pretending we were only friends. This was raw, claiming, the kiss of an alpha who had finally stopped lying to himself.

Cassian locked the door behind us. Click. The sound felt final.

I should have been afraid. Three apex predators, drunk on power and wine, and me, small, soft, omega. But I wasn’t afraid. I was on fire.

Riven’s hands slid under my dress, calloused palms dragging up my thighs. “Tell me to stop, Ly,” he rasped against my throat, giving me the out even while his teeth scraped my pulse.

I didn’t tell him to stop.

I whispered, “Please.”

That one word snapped the last thread.

Kael’s mouth crashed back over mine at the same moment Riven yanked my dress over my head. Cool air hit my skin; I hadn’t worn anything underneath because Cassian had dared me earlier with that wicked grin, and I’d wanted to see his eyes darken exactly like they were now.

Riven groaned when he saw me bare. “Fuck, look at her.”

Cassian stepped in behind me, chest to my back, lips at my ear. “Been dreaming about these tits since you were seventeen, sweetheart.” His hands cupped me, thumbs rolling over my nipples until I cried out into Kael’s kiss.

Kael broke away only long enough to strip his shirt. Moonlight through the window carved shadows over the hard lines of his body, the Silvercrest alpha who never let anyone close. Until tonight.

He lifted me like I weighed nothing and set me on the wide oak table. Plates and cups crashed to the floor. Wine splashed across the wood and over my thighs. Riven licked a stripe through it, following the path up to where I was already soaked for them.

“Spread her,” Kael ordered, voice rough.

Cassian hooked his hands under my knees and opened me wide. I whimpered at the exposure, but the sound turned into a broken moan when Riven’s mouth found my clit without warning. He didn’t tease. He devoured. Tongue fucking into me, nose grinding, fingers digging bruises into my hips.

Kael watched, stroking himself through his trousers, eyes black with lust. “That’s it, little star. Let him taste how sweet you are.”

I came the first time with Riven’s name tearing out of my throat, back arching so hard Cassian had to hold me down.

They didn’t give me time to breathe.

Cassian spun me, bending me over the table. My cheek pressed into spilled wine, breasts sliding through the mess. I heard his zipper, felt the blunt heat of him dragging through my folds.

“Tell me yes, Lyra,” he said, always the one who needed the words.

“Yes, yes, please—”

He pushed in with one long thrust. I screamed.

I screamed again, pleasure-pain sharp and perfect. He was thick, stretching me open, and he didn’t stop until his hips met my ass.

Riven stepped in front of me, cock already out, flushed and wet at the tip. He painted my lips with it. “Open.”

I did. He fed me inch by inch until I gagged, tears spilling, and he cursed reverently, fingers tangling in my hair.

Behind me Cassian started moving, slow, filthy rolls of his hips that dragged over every sensitive spot inside me. Every thrust pushed me deeper onto Riven until I was lost between them, used from both ends, exactly where I wanted to be.

Kael’s hands stroked down my spine like he was soothing a spooked mare. Then he knelt, and I felt his tongue, hot and wet, licking where Cassian and I were joined. Tasting us both. I shattered again, clenching so hard Cassian groaned and stilled, fighting not to come.

They switched.

Riven took my pussy next, wilder, pounding into me like he hated me and loved me in the same breath. Cassian fed me his cock, slick with my own taste, whispering filthy praise. Kael stood beside us, stroking my hair, my back, letting me cling to his thigh while they wrecked me.

I don’t know when Kael moved behind me. Only that suddenly Riven pulled out and Kael was there, bigger than both of them, pressing in slow, relentless. I sobbed at the stretch, at how full I was, how perfect.

He leaned over me, chest to my back, lips at my ear. “You’re taking your alphas so well, Lyra. So fucking perfect.”

I was his…theirs

I came again just from those words, pulsing around him, milking him, and he snarled and started fucking me in earnest. Long, punishing strokes that shook the table, shook me apart.

Cassian and Riven watched, stroking themselves, eyes feral.

Kael’s rhythm faltered. “Where?” he gritted out.

“Inside,” I begged shamelessly. “All of you. Please.”

He roared and spilled deep, hips jerking, flooding me. The feeling triggered something primal; I felt the moment his knot swelled, locking us, claiming, and I screamed through another orgasm that left me shaking and boneless.

They weren’t done.

Cassian took Kael’s place the second the knot went down, sliding into the mess they’d already made of me, groaning at how slick and open I was. Riven knelt in front of me again, letting me lick and suck while Cassian fucked me slow and deep, hands gentle on my hips even as his thrusts turned brutal.

I lost count of how many times I came.

I only know that when Cassian finally knotted me, tears of overwhelm streaking my face, Riven painted my breasts and throat with his release, and Kael kissed me soft and slow, like an apology and a vow at the same time.

We collapsed in a tangle on the table, limbs everywhere, sweat cooling, hearts hammering hearts slowing.

For one perfect minute, I believed this was real.

Then the door opened a crack, and their voices floated in from the hallway, casual, cruel, drunk on more than just wine.

Riven’s laugh, rough and mocking. “Never thought the little cleaner would take three alpha cocks like a goddamn champion.”

Cassian, amused. “She was desperate for it. You see her face when we knotted her? Pathetic.”

Kael’s voice, cold as winter. “It was a mistake. She’s staff. Beneath us. We don’t touch her again. Ever.”

The world tilted.

I lay there naked, covered in them, full of them, and felt every drop of warmth drain out of me.

Riven again: “If anyone finds out we fucked an omega cleaner, we’re done. Reputation ruined.”

Cassian: “Already forgot her name.”

I pushed myself up on shaking arms. Cum leaked out of me, down my thighs, onto the table that still smelled like us. My dress was in shreds. My heart was worse.

I didn’t make a sound.

I pulled the scraps of fabric around me, slipped off the table, and walked out the side door on legs that didn’t feel like mine.

They never even noticed I was gone.

But I heard every word.

Every single one.

And as I stumbled down the omega stairs, dripping with their seed and my own stupidity, I pressed a trembling hand to my belly and made a vow on the moon herself.

They would regret this night.