Raechtar crashes through the door.
No one will ever have you.
Raechtar throws himself at Ygdris and me. His chest presses up against my back, hot as a furnace.
Except me.
I’m cradled between them. My heart should be racing, but instead I can barely hear it. My breath is fading. The darkness has me again, and this time its tar-like fingers are stronger than they were outside. It curls them around my throat. It won’t let me go.
You’ll die first.
“No!” Ygdris drags my head up and crushes my mouth to his. Ice crackles between our lips. *Don’t listen to it, Tay.*
*Lies. You’re wreathed in them, body and soul.* Raechtar’s hand slips under my jaw and he steals a kiss that sends wildfire through my veins. *They’ve become a part of you. I thought they were you, at first. But they’re not. Someone did this to you.*
The fingers tighten around my throat, bone-crushingly tight. Ygdris’ ice and Raechtar’s fire, their kisses, their voices in my head, aren’t enough. They can’t defeat the darkness inside me. The emptiness. The… lie.
Broken.
Is that possible? Is it a lie?
Depraved. Broken. I hid from those words for ten years, hiding from humans, dragons – anyone who might have wanted to touch me like he did. One look into Ygdris’ eyes and the words came back. The voice. His voice.
What if it is a lie? What if Ygdris and Raechtar are right, and I am their mate? If he lied about that, as well?
Look at yourself, you depraved human whore – already wet, ready to roll over and let them use you—
My eyes fly open. The voice is right. Beyond the darkness, beyond the numbing emptiness of the pit, my body is thrilling. Electricity races across my skin. Ygdris’ fingers drag through my hair, crackling with ice. Raechtar’s hand is pressed across my midriff, branding me as his.
“Fight it, Tay,” Ygdris mutters into my hair. His teeth catch on my earlobe. *Fight it.*
“How?” I sob.
Roll over and let them use you, like the whore you are.
My stomach churns. I can’t. Not that. It’s too much like—
“Stars take me,” Ygdris groans. I kiss him, not sure whether I’m trying to drive the voice away or fulfil its hideous whispers, and Ygdris’ psychic presence wraps around me. He’s terrified for me, and desperate with desire, and… predatory.
He swore he’d never compel me. But as we kiss I can taste the truth on his lips. The dragon tyrant he keeps locked away behind his iron self-control.
*No.* His voice in my head is urgent. Intimate. *I swore I wouldn’t hurt you. You’re safe with me, Tay, I promise.*
I swallow. “The last time I did this…”
Raechtar’s psychic voice is gravely with disgust. *Last time, whoever did this with you didn’t do it properly.*
With me. Not to me. The last remaining knot of fear in my stomach burns away.
I melt into Ygdris’ kiss and run my hands up his chest. His heartbeat thrums under my fingertips and he moans, dragging me further onto his lap. His cock juts against my thigh. If I slid just a few inches to the side…
Behind me, Raechtar growls possessively. He pulls me back, stretching me down across the bed until my head is in my lap while my legs are still wrapped around Ygdris’ waist. Oh, God yes.
Disgusting, broken human slut—
Raechtar cups my face in his hands and kisses me, his teeth scraping the cut on my lip. I jerk, the pain twisting deliciously with the liquid desire twining through my body, and Raechtar groans. His cock twitches under my head.
I catch his eye. “That hurt,” I whisper, unable to hide the excitement in my voice.