The cave spins.
Magic crackles.
We move toward the rock fissure at the far side of the cave, and I know what’s coming.
Still joined, but no longer knotted, they withdraw together, and I cry out at the sudden emptiness and the shock of air against wet, stretched heat.
And then—
It pours from me.
Their combined release drips in thick, molten streams, sliding over my thighs, down my legs, steaming where it hits stone.
I groan, unable to stop the sound. My body’s raw and open, barely my own anymore, and it’s the most beautiful thing because it means Ibelongto them.
To Kelan, whose command anchors me. To Ronyn, whose hunger strips me bare. To Darial, whose sweetness fills hollow places.
I never imagined how perfect belonging could be.
As I rise on shaky legs, I look between the dragon men who have inexplicably become my world and ask, “What happens now?”
“Now?” Kelan smiles wolfishly. “Now you've been claimed, we take you home.”
“Home?” I ask.
“Yes. To the city,” Darial says. “Far away from rogue bears and feral wolves and dragons whose intentions are unknown.”
“We’ll take you home,” Ronyn growls. “Where no one else can touch you.”
Darial smooths my hair from my cheek. “This cave isn’tsecure. You understand?”
I nod. Outside this cave, there’s nothing but danger for me. The forest has been my home, but it hasn’t been kind. I owe it no allegiance or loyalty.
While they wait, I pull on my discarded clothes. When I’m dressed, I glance around. “What about all this stuff?”
Ronyn shrugs. “We won’t need it where we’re going.”
“But we can’t waste it,” I say. “The furs. The food.”
They share a glance, then begin to gather some of the items.
“The food is spoiled,” Darial says.
I think about the food I ate when I was alone in the forest, and how desperately hungry I was. It’ll take a long time for me to forget that feeling.
“We’ll take your nest,” Ronyn adds gently.
“Ournest,” I say with a tender smile, earning a groan of appreciation from them all.
Outside, the sky yawns wide and open, and the forest spreads below like a carpet of moss.
“How do you fly without anyone seeing you?” I ask.
“We are cloaked in our dragon form. You will be too.”
“So, they won’t see me leave?”
I imagine Bruno’s and Anatol’s necks tipped to the sky, watching me fly past. What would they do if they knew all that had happened to me since they chased me to the verge of death and caught me in their clutches?
