“Good.” He bit down on my neck, applying just enough pressure with his teeth to send my arousal up an octave. He kissed the spot and rested his forehead against my cheek. “King Silas should know that he’ll have to go through me to get to you. And I won’t be easily defeated.”
“Not only you,” Callum said. “He’ll have to defeat every male in this room.”
“Along with a demon lord,” Lake added, scraping the blade against the piece of wood. “Well, maybe. He isn’t yet aware of Muffin Lord and the Seven Alphas.”
It was more so Lake’s deadpan delivery rather than his words that had me laughing into Maddox’s chest.
“I bet Lord Onyx already knows. Suspects, anyway.” Rowan patted his pockets, probably searching for the flask I’d hidden in the bedside table. Call it a rum intervention. “The fated connection goes both ways. At least, it did for me. The moment I met that little treasure, I felt different. Changed somehow.”
“I don’t say this lightly, but the thief is right,” Maddox said, still holding me against his chest. No longer nibbling my neck, yet the bulge straining the front of his trousers indicated that his arousal, like mine, hadn’t faded. “The day I met you, Callum and I were supposed to patrol the king’s road. However, I felt drawn to the field outside the dark wood and followed my gut, finding you beneath that tree. As if my soul sensed yours.”
“The knights weren’t the ones you were originally meant to encounter first in this realm. One of your other men… one you’ve yet to realize… was intended to be your first.”
Lupin’s words finally sank in. For so long, I’d wondered why I had woken beside the dark wood. The answer made sense. Lord Onyx had been the one I’d been destined to meet first. But Maddox’s decision had altered my path.
It proved that nothing was set in stone. Just because fate planned for Thing A to happen didn’t mean I couldn’t choose Thing B instead.
“I had no name for the feelings you stirred in me,” Maddox continued. “The intense desire to protect you. The longing to pull you into my arms. And the pain in my chest when I believed it to be impossible. If Lord Onyx feels a hint of what I did in the beginning, I know he’ll never be able to harm you.”
“Aye.” Lake set aside the blade and half-finished wooden charm and looked at me. “When I met you, I didn’t know what to think. You were this wide-eyed, tiny thing covered in scratches. Said something about an evil thorn bush. A human had never wandered into my home before, and I had every mind to strike you down. But one look into your eyes and I couldn’t.”
“I had a similar feeling.” Briar closed the book and softly smiled at me. “My heart nearly burst from my chest when you stepped into my clinic, love. Like our captain, I experienced the same stirring in my chest. The deep ache, too, when I thought you’d chosen him over me.”
Callum shakily exhaled and reached for Oreo, petting the top of his head. The puppy was currently gnawing on his boot. “I’m all too familiar with that ache. The pain and deep sadness. I swear, being stabbed would’ve hurt less.”
“You’re with him now.” Maddox drew from me just enough to look at Callum, an understanding glint in his blue eyes. “And you’re forbidden to ever leave his side.”
“Okay, y’all can stop now,” I said, eyes stinging. I’d had no idea they all felt that way in the beginning—that restlessness when we weren’t together and the deep longing until we were. Itmade me want to bear-hug and kiss each of them for the rest of the night.
“You’re such a sad toad.” Rowan grinned. Something tender lingered beneath it. “Cryin’ and baking your little muffins is what you do best.”
“A toad who needs to be in bed.” Maddox lifted me off the floor and threw me over his shoulder.
“Maddox.” The familiarity of it was a comfort despite my whining tone. “I’m not a sack of potatoes.”
He gently swatted my ass and carried me to the bed. After he dropped me onto the soft duvet, I hooked my wrists around his neck and tugged him down with me, claiming his lips. I felt him smile before he returned the kiss.
The others joined us there.
A faint scent of peaches tickled my nose, quickly followed by the familiar spice of black cardamom. The two smells strangely complemented each other, a mix of smoky and sweet. A perfect reflection of the males they belonged to.
“Out of the way, you glutton,” Rowan said. “This little treasure is all mine.”
“Think again, thief.” Maddox hovered over me, black bangs falling in his face. The tenderness in his blue eyes was enough to make me forget how to breathe for a moment. “He belongs to us all.”
A pang hit me square in the chest. I belonged to them, and they belonged to me. Last night, Rowan had said I hadn’t asked for any of this: my destiny as a saint and everything that came with it, the good and the bad. But if given the choice, I’d still choose to be in that exact moment. In that firelit room with the men who’d claimed my heart.
They took turns kissing me, and I got lost in them. Reveled in them: their eager mouths, hands, and the vibrations againstmy skin as they kissed anywhere they could reach, murmuring sweet words as they did.
Rowan’s mouth pressed to mine, more aggressive, before Lake’s lips met mine gently.
Within the various scents, I caught a whiff of magnolia blossoms. My sweet Briar. When he kissed me, his glasses bumped my cheek. I smiled against his lips, loving that he’d kept them on. I was weak for men in glasses. He threaded his fingers into the back of my hair and kissed me so deep my toes curled.
As he drew back, another set of lips took his place. Callum nudged Briar aside before sliding between my legs and pinning me beneath him. Warm breath tickled my skin as he dropped open-mouthed kisses to my chin and jaw before joining our mouths.
The sweet taste of him was addictive, like vanilla bean and sunshine. Peaches joined that sweetness as Lake kissed the top of my shoulder.
“Is it muffin devouring time?” I asked, lying on my back and staring at them gathered around me. Lake and Rowan to my left, Maddox and Briar to my right, and Callum on top of me, between my legs. The king-sized bed might not have been big enough for all of us to sleep, but it sure did the job for other things.
