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Zarek has gone utterly still. Kaelen too. He isn't leaning on the mantel anymore. He's standing straight, and his hands are slowly curling into fists.

Mine are, too.

My dragon surges up so hard it nearly knocks the air out of me. Another man. Another man wants her. Another man has been chasing our mate, and she's been telling him no, and he won't listen.

Jealousy burns through me, hot and ugly. And under it, something worse. Rage.

I want to ask a hundred questions. Has he touched her? Has he hurt her? Is that why she ran into a blizzard alone rather than stay in her own home?

My mouth opens.

Zarek catches my eye. He gives the smallest shake of his head.

Calm. Easy. Don't scare her.

He's right. I know he's right. She's only just started to trust us. If she sees three huge men turning into growling, jealous beasts over someone she's barely mentioned, she'll be back out in the snow before we can stop her.

So I swallow it. All of it.

I put my smile back on. "Tell me about the cottage," I say. "Is it cozy? Is it drafty? Does it have a cat?"

She laughs, relieved, and tells me all about it.

I listen to every word. I laugh in all the right places. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I make a quiet little promise to myself. I would very much like to meet Lord Silas Brusteen someday.

It's late when she starts yawning.

She tries to hide it at first. Then she yawns so wide her jaw cracks, and she gives up.

That's when I remember she nearly died yesterday. She's been walking around and laughing and bossing us all day, and it's easy to forget. But she's still exhausted, all the way to her bones.

"Bed," Zarek says. "You should sleep."

"I'm fine."

"You're yawning so hard you're going to dislocate something."

She scowls at him, but she doesn't argue.

"You take the bed," Zarek says. "We'll make do. The sofas. The floor. We've slept in worse places."

Elara looks at the bed. Then at the sofas. Then at the three of us.

"Are you sure?" she says. "You'll be miserable."

"We'll be fine," I tell her.

"We've done it before," Kaelen says.

She chews her lip again. Then she shrugs. "Or we could just share the bed."

I stop breathing.

Literally. My lungs just quit.

"It's huge," she goes on, like she hasn't just set the whole cabin on fire. "There's room for a whole family in there. And if any of you wanted to hurt me, you've had plenty of chances already. You haven't. So." She shrugs again. "It's silly for you to sleep on the floor."

She trusts us. Enough to sleep next to us. All three of us. After everything she's been through, after Silas, after the wolves.