“What are you talking about?” Frost formed at the edges of Pierce’s words.
“Should I tell them?” The giant looked entirely too pleased with himself.
Haven shrugged as if she knew she couldn’t stop him.
The giant studied each of us, his expression growing moreamused with each face. “You really don’t know, do you?” He looked at Haven. “They have no idea what they are to you.”
“And I’d prefer to keep it that way,” she muttered as she fussed with her horse’s mane.
“That’s not how this works, and you know it.” His gaze swept over us again. “We’re bound to her. All six of us.”
The words hung in the chilly air—dangerous, seductive, impossible.
Six men. One woman. It should have torn me apart with jealousy. Instead, something fierce and hungry roared to life in my chest. More of us to worship her. More of us to keep her safe. Perfect.
In the distance, a crow cawed, but I heard it despite the buzzing in my ears.
Pierce went deadly still, his mind clearly working. I could practically see him cataloging facts, considering potential outcomes, and measuring threats (namely, the two strangers). When he finally spoke, his voice was winter itself. “How long have you known?” He directed the question at Haven, but his gaze lingered on Remy and the giant as if he was memorizing every detail for later use.
“Not long.”
Pierce’s gaze returned to Haven, and he stared at her with an intensity I’d never seen from him before.
Flynn’s grin spread slowly, like sunrise breaking over his face. “All of us?” The question was gleeful.
By contrast, Grayson’s face went white, and he staggered backward as if he’d been struck. “No.” The word came out flat and final. “I don’t care what fate says. I’m not bound to anyone.” He looked at Haven, and his expression hardened. “We’re guards, not members of some woman’s harem.”
Haven flinched as if he’d slapped her, and for a moment she looked smaller, more fragile than I’d ever seen her. Thenher chin lifted, and ice crystallized in her voice. “I never asked for this either, Grayson.”
How dare he hurt her? She was mine. Ours. And not for the one night Flynn had negotiated but forever. The raw hunger that had been eating me alive finally made sense. Mine. She’d always been mine. Every moment I’d spent thinking about her—wanting her—had been driving me toward this moment.
Haven’s gaze traveled over our faces, then she closed her eyes and her brow furrowed. “This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.”
“What do you mean?” The words tore from my throat.
When she opened her eyes, they held a weariness that aged her beyond her years. “Blame fate. I’ll never know if your feelings are real.”
No one spoke. The only sounds were the wind through the pines and the distant call of crows.
She’d fight this. Fight us. But I’d show her. Make her understand what she meant to me. Every touch. Every breath. Every heartbeat would be for her. She’d hate jewels. Hate being caged in silk. I knew that. But pleasure? I’d teach her to crave my touch. I’d make her drunk on ecstasy over and over, until she was so addicted she forgot everything else.
She laced her fingers together and bowed her golden head. “I can’t accept this.”
There it was—the fight. “Of course you can,” I replied. There was no other acceptable outcome. “You will.”
She lifted her head, and her brows winged to her hairline. “Why would I do that?”
“We’re yours. You’re ours.”
“You’re the men fate foisted upon me. Remember the things you’ve done?”
Remy’s face darkened. “What have they done?”
She patted his arm. “Now’s not the time.”
“We didn’t know.” She needed to be reasonable. If we’d realized she was ours, we never would have let Drake near her. We would have protected her from Carron. We would have kept her out of the pit.
Her eyes narrowed as if my face had revealed my thoughts. “I’m going to Talin. You can do what you want.”
