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Moonlight streams throughsmall gaps in the canopy above us, shadows dancing across the trees. The temperature has dropped enough to be comfortable, the cool breeze sending a shiver down my spine as much as my nerves. Mason, Stryker, and Bane’s eyes seem to practically glow in the darkness, and all of that predatory attention is fully focused on me, driving my thoughts in the wrong direction for what we’re here to do.
Even with my eyes shut, I can feel their gaze, making my skin crawl, so I give up with a huff. “Kind of hard to let my guard down with you guys looking at me like that.”
Stryker cants his head to the side. “Like what, lovely?”
My tongue darts out to wet my lips. “With hope. Like you’re waiting to see if I’m going to pass a test that I didn’t even sign up to take. It’ll pretty much guarantee that I’ll fail, so you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, here. You already said you weren’t expecting it to happen tonight, so play on your phones or something and stop staring at me. You’re barely even blinking; it’s creepy.”
Mason snorts, but humors me and pulls his phone out of his pocket, the bright light illuminating his face as he pretends that he isn’t watching me from his peripherals. Bane’s lip simply twitches as he continues to stare from where he’s leaning against a tree, though he stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jeans, turning down the intensity a notch.
Stryker crosses the distance between us, circling around behind me. “Can you blame us?” He leans in close, breath tickling my ear. “You don’t know the sort of creatures prowling the woods out here at night, Risa, and many of them would find it hard to pass up the chance to sink their teeth into you. You radiate defenseless innocence, and every unmated individual in this area would love nothing more than the opportunity to prove that they’re a big enough monster to scare the others away for you.”
Flicking his tongue over the shell of my ear, he pulls back. “It’d be careless of us to take our eyes off of you when we know full well the things that lurk in the shadows.”
I glance over at Bane. “Why would you live around people like that? You keep saying that it’s safe for me to stay here.”
“It is,” he instantly confirms, kicking off from the tree trunk to stalk closer, crowding me back a step so that I’m pinned between him and Stryker. “Because you’re ours, Risa. They’re not here because they need safety in numbers; these people are here because they’re running. We’re their shield to keep the world at bay, and they wouldn’t do anything to risk that protection. Stryker’s just trying to scare you so that he can get off on playing your hero.”
The man in question scoffs behind me, resting a hand on my hip. “Well now you’ve ruined it, ‘ya jerk.”
Biting back a smile, I meet Bane’s eye, leaning into Stryker for support. “Walk me through it again? I think I might be skipping a step.”
A tender look overtakes his face that I have trouble accepting is real. The desire to tell myself that I’m looking too deeply into things is a strong one, a knee jerk reaction to years of being told that no one else would want to put up with me, constantly reminded that I should just be happy I’m not forced to whore myself out to pay the rent; an ungrateful burden.
I can deal with people staring at me. Dancing at the club, I quickly got used to that, but I was more a part of the background, adding to the atmosphere rather than the center of attention. I was a nameless face, ogled in passing as people drank, maybe tossed some singles before they realized that I wasn’t going to strip for them. Yet these three men leave me hyper aware of every twitch I make, actually look at me like I’m a person and care about the answers to their questions. They see me, and for someone that’s spent a lifetime struggling through everything alone, it means more than I can say.
I’m just afraid that there’s nothing actually worth seeing.
“Right about here,” Bane states, placing his palm in the center of my torso, beneath my breasts. His finger brushes the hem of my sports bra, but he doesn’t try to cop a feel, face serious. “If you turn your focus inward, it should feel like there’s a tight knot. After you relax, connect with the earth around you, you should feel it start to loosen. Lean into that sensation, let it spread throughout your body.”
Following his instructions, I close my eyes, searching for the knot, yet all I find is a tightly coiled bundle of nerves in the pit of my stomach. Several minutes pass without progress, and all the while, Bane never removes his hand. Gently, he starts stroking his fingers over the skin, drawing my focus to the spot, but for the wrong reasons. Stryker matches his rhythm on my hip, and the next thing I know, I’m a horny mess that has absolutely no interest in shifting anymore.
I lock my pleading gaze on Mason, who’s given up the pretense of playing with his phone to openly watch me again. He’d know better than any of them the difference between born and turned, and with the sire thing overruling my common sense, he’s a safer bet since he’s been so much more reserved.
“Help?”
His eyes darken, and the next thing I know, an arm is wrapped around my waist, snatching me out from between the two men. When we’re several feet away, he sets me back on my feet, shooting a glare at the others. His hands settle on my shoulders, pushing me out to arm’s length and looking me over before tucking them back into the pockets of his shorts.
“Want to head home?” he asks, but his dark tone ruins the easy-going vibe he was shooting for.
Swallowing, I quickly shake my head. “Just finding it hard to focus.”
A small, relieved smirk has the murderous vibes he’s giving off fading. “I tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t listen.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You previously discussed trying to seduce me in the woods?”
A startled laugh bursts from his lips. “No, just about keeping their hands to themselves.”
Stryker stays put, but calls out, “You ask too much from mere mortals, Mason! How’s she supposed to fall madly in love with me if she doesn’t know how good I am with my hands? It’s my biggest selling point.”
The unease in my gut is replaced by genuine laughter. “Shouldn’t that be your personality?”
He gasps dramatically, turning to Bane. “You hear that? She likes me without even knowing how great I am in bed yet. I knew she wanted me to marry her.”
Rolling my eyes, I ignore him and face Mason. “Does it feel different for you to shift? Born versus turned sort of thing?”
Bright blue eyes hold mine as he very subtly shakes his head, knowing it’s going to leave me crestfallen. “The actual process of it is harder on turned ones since we instinctively fight it, but it starts the same. For natural borns, changing bodies is as easy as breathing. For us, it messes with our heads for a while until we figure out how to mentally cope with all of our beliefs being blown up, and it hurts more because we don’t want to cede control.”
