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Now I could feel the warmth of his body pressed against me. Smell the sandalwood and bourbon that I hadn’t been imagining. I saw him with my eyes and heard him with my ears, and still I was scared to believe it. I had no answers to ‘why’ or ‘how’, but I needed to accept this reality without them before I drowned in the dark depths of fearing the unknown.

Alaric pressed a kiss to my shoulder before lifting his face. “Gods know I don’t want you out of my sight,” he said, the words skating over the shell of my ear and making me shiver, “but I’m covered in blood and haven’t showered in days. Personal desires aside, I’m not sure that dragging you into the bath with me is the wisest course of action right now.”

That shiver turned into a flush of warmth when I was hit with another reality that I wasn’t ready to face yet. Alaric was my Prince. The man who existed only in my dreams. The man I found comfort with. Shared myself with, body and mind. My face flamed, reaching all the way to the tips of my ears.

Alaric growled in response, his familiar length growing hard against me. “I fucking love how you blush. If I don’t go now, I will take you right here while my brothers watch.”

I drew a sharp breath as I took note of the three other men still watching us with rapt attention. I wasn’t embarrassed that they’d heard his suggestion. I was embarrassed that I didn’t hate it. Thinking about their presence while Alaric claimed me in the waking world lit a fire in my core. He knew it too, and he pulled me tighter against him with a groan.

“Wicked Pixie.” He shifted his hips and surprised me with an aggressive kiss before lifting me off his lap. When he settled me back on the couch, he kissed my forehead more gently. A charged look passed between the four men before he decided it was safe to leave my side. Even so, I watched until the very moment he disappeared up the stairs.

“Is, um…” I stared down at my stained shirt, unable to meet the hungry gazes trained on me. “Is there a washroom I can use?” There was a beat of silence, and then Quinn, of all people, guided me to my feet with a loose hand on my covered elbow.

“Just over here,” he said, leading me down a short hallway to a powder room. I clenched the soiled blouse in my hands, unsure what I was thinking I’d do about it, when Quinn pulled his own tee over his head. My breath caught, and I tried not to stare at his defined physique or the old scars that marked it.

What the hell happened to him?

“Here.” He held the shirt out to me.

I took it with trembling fingers and a whispered, “Thank you.”

He backed out with a nod, and the door closed with a soft click. I turned the hot tap, and the water was warm instantly. A glance in the mirror made me cringe. I was an absolute wreck. After cleaning away the blood and smeared mascara from my face, I fixed my hair back into a loose knot on top of my head.

I pulled off my ruined shirt and dropped it into the wastebasket. There was no saving it. Quinn’s soft tee was huge on me, but it was still warm from his body and somehow exactly what I needed. I brought the neck up to my nose and took a deep breath. His unique blend of black pepper and bergamot teased my senses. I hugged it closer around me as I made my way back to the living room. The twins were gone, but Rami was still collapsed on the couch.

“Come here, kulta.” The deep command was etched with exhaustion. I crossed over to him and gasped when I got closer. He was so pale that the color vied with his platinum waves. Dark purple smudges stood out under his eyes like he hadn’t slept in a solid week.

“Rami!” I threw myself at him, hands going to his face. “Is this from using your magic?”

He dipped his head in a tired nod, but managed to find the strength to drag me further onto his lap. “Rest with me.”

I burrowed into him, lying against his muscled chest as he swept a hand along the bumps of my spine. A low noise rumbled through his ribcage. It was oddly familiar. Exhaustion pulled at me as the soft vibrations and soothing strokes sank into my soul. He adjusted my position to straddle him more comfortably, and I melted further into his embrace. The sound deepened, and I couldn’t help a half-conscious giggle.

“Rami, you’re purring.”

Then I was out.

I woke some time later to the sound of hushed male voices, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. My body was warm and content, still wrapped up in my bear of a man. I felt a sliver of guilt about eavesdropping, but I supposed if they were sitting right there talking in front of me, it must not have been anything too private.

“Why didn’t you tell us about her?” The question came from Bellamy. He sounded hurt, betrayal coloring his tone. “How could you have kept that from us? For years!”

“I know.” That was Alaric. “I’m sorry–”

“Sorry we found out?” Lucian sounded angry too. “Would you ever have told us about her? Or would you just let us all be put down?”

A deep sigh. “I thought I was protecting you. Someone had been hiding her.”

“From what?” Quinn demanded, his raspy voice making it easy to tell him from his twin. “If we were going to die for this girl, then we deserve to know why.”

Okay, the conversation sounded a little private, but it was obviously about me, and I was with Quinn. Hiding me? I suppose I’d been hiding from the world, but it wasn’t like it was for my own benefit. It had been to protect everyone else.

There was a low rumbling against my cheek where it was resting on Rami’s chest. “Everard?” I didn’t recognize the name. But it meant something to the others, and a chorus of muttered curses punctuated the charged silence.

“Maybe.” Alaric sounded defeated. “I don’t have much more than my gut to go on, but what if she’s in danger? She’s been bound by a powerful spell to keep her concealed from our world.”

Rami grunted again. “We suspected as much.”

“Even if it’s not him, your father will lose his fucking mind when he finds out we actually have a heart.”