“Percy. You’re crushing me.”
“I’m cuddling you.”
“You’re lying on my organs.”
“Your organs love it.” His arms tightened. “Five more minutes.”
“You weigh two hundred pounds.”
“Two-ten. I’ve been working out.”
Lucian’s chest vibrated with a silent laugh against my back. Solomon’s thumb traced a circle on my hip, and through the bond I felt his amusement mingling with Lucian’s.
I lay with Lucian curled behind me and Solomon in front, Percy’s weight anchored across my waist. The fever was gone, replaced by a warmth that had nothing to do with biology and everything to do with the fact that finally, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
“Don’t let go,” I murmured. To all of them.
Percy’s arms tightened. Solomon’s hand found mine and laced our fingers together. Lucian’s lips pressed against my hair.
“Never,” Lucian said.
I fell asleep to the sound of four heartbeats and didn’t dream of anything at all.
28
— • —
Mira
The memories came crashing in a flood.
It wasn’t just fragments anymore. This time, the dam broke and everything poured through at once, playing behind my eyelids in a rush of sound and color and feeling.
The beginning was the lantern festival, just as I already remembered. But now it continued past the dancing.
Percy had his jacket over my shoulders before I’d even shivered. Solomon walked at my left, close enough that his arm brushed mine. Lucian trailed three paces behind, the distance of a man who didn’t trust himself closer.
We reached my door. Three men on my steps, looking at me with expressions that should’ve sent me running.
“Goodnight,” I managed. “Thank you for the dancing.”
I closed the door, locked it, and slid down the wood until I hit the floor. I’d wanted all of them, and Hudson’s voice filled the silence. Pathetic. Desperate. The wanting didn’t stop. It just learned to carry shame alongside it.
Day after day, they came back.
Percy at 9:07. Reading my romance novels aloud with a rating system he’d invented. “Three flames out of five. Not as spicy as promised.”
Solomon at 2:30. No announcement. Just appeared with a screwdriver and fixed the register drawer that had been sticking for months. “I didn’t ask you to do that.” “It was broken.” “So is half the building.” “I know. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Lucian invited me to their cabin. The craziest thing was that I felt safe enough to agree. We argued about books the entire walk, and when we arrived, he stood in the doorway and said, “Come inside, Mira.”
As days passed, I started waiting for their visits. Considered them more than acquaintances. But the desire growing in my chest continued to eat me up.
I’d needed air that evening. The forest trail behind the shop had always been where I went to think. My father used to take me hiking when I was small, so I found myself exploring the woods to get my mind off things.
Thunder rolled in the distance. The sky had darkened faster than I’d expected, and the wind carried the smell of rain. I should head back.
Then I heard it. Whimpering, about a quarter mile off the path.
