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I know what it feels like to be rejected.

Godric tears his attention from me to glower at the royal. “How do I know I can trust you?” he asks.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who doesn’t believe Arwan.

The prince merely smirks, showing off his dimples. “Because you’ll owe me a favor. A big one.”

Arwan’s eyes are on me when he says that. There’s something else he’s up to.

A shiver works through my body, followed by a piercing pain deep in my core that has me whimpering again.

It doesn’t matter.

I’m going to die if I don’t break this heat before it breaks me.

“She’ll need to be in my lap,” Arwan says.

That earns a growl from Godric, but the royal throws up his hands. “Or you can see how you do on your own when she can’t make a nest. Your choice.”

There it is again. Arwan always seems to get his way, while giving everyone around him the illusion of agency.

He’s good.

“Against the wall,” he orders the royal, then he turns to me. “Are you okay with this?”

“Not dying is preferred,” I say.

Arwan settles against the privacy wall of the bath spring, then motions me over. I swear I can hear wolfish howls in the distance, but no one is getting through Arwan’s magical ward.

Not even the cameras, I think with a sense of relief.

Wobbling to my feet, I curl into Arwan’s lap and shiver.

Now I feel cold and hot all at the same time.

“She doesn’t have much time before there’s permanent damage,” Arwan warns Godric. He lightly presses his fingers on my hips, then shifts me so my back is to him and I’m between his legs. He lowers his voice to whisper in my ear. “Your instincts will need a safety boundary that surrounds you and makes you feel protected. I’ll have to be your nest.”

My eyes widen when I realize he’s right. The barrier of his legs around me makes me feel secure, and his hard chest against my back is something I can nestle into.

Godric growls, but it’s probably because I’ve spread my legs and I’m looking at him with raw need.

His nostrils flare as his amber gaze drops to the place where I need him.

“Stop me if I try to knot her,” Godric informs Arwan, and I have no idea what that means.

But I have a feeling I really want him to do it to me.

“I’ll kill you if you try to knot her,” Arwan vows. There’s not a shred of sarcasm in his voice, and my thighs tremble as Godric moves between them, then he’s kissing my neck again.

He braces himself on the ground, between Arwan’s legs and my hips. His teeth graze my pulse, then he moves downward.

He presses a kiss on my chest, then he tears at my undergarments with his teeth.

I suck in a breath as Arwan steadies me. He keeps his hands loosely at his sides, but his thighs are strong.

As is his growing erection that’s pressing into my back.

My heart thunders in my chest as Godric leaves me naked and exposed. He growls, then his mouth closes around my clit before he sucks. Hard.