Amora
Wait… what?
Shock washes over me like a bucket of cold water, cooling my heated skin and destroying my sexual buzz in a single heartbeat. I stumble back and hit the wall with my hip, suddenly aware of the cold hardwood beneath my feet.
“Die?” I ask, my gaze darting between Kian, Malix, and Frost. Waiting for answers. “What do you mean I could die?”
Kian glances at me, his normally brooding expression twisted into something that almost looks sheepish, like he didn’t mean for me to find out this little tidbit of information.
Nobody speaks. Not even Frost, who only moments ago was as intimate with me as a man can be. He rests on his elbows amid the mussed sheets, his enigmatic stare locked on Kian.
“You’re keeping secrets,” I say, my voice as cold as my sweat-drenched skin. “That wasn’t part of the bargain. What’s going on?”
Malix and Kian exchange glances but still remain silent.
I pivot to turn my focus on Frost. “Really? You’re all just going to ignore me? Keep silent about something that might kill me after you saved my life from the poison? After you saved me from Quinton?”
He blinks, then his crystal gaze sweeps to me. I can see him debating internally for a moment, and I’m certain he’s about to side with his brothers. Then he shakes his head almost imperceptibly. “She deserves to know.”
Kian snarls, baring his teeth in a wolfish gesture. “It’s none of her business.”
I stalk to his side and plant my finger in his chest, digging my nail as deep into the cotton of his t-shirt as I can. “Wrong, asshole. You made it my business when you dragged me into this nightmare.”
“I didn’t drag you into this. He did.” Kian points at Frost. “We told him to stay away from you and he refused. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame him.”
“I don’t give a shit who’s to blame!” I shout. “I just want answers. The straight truth, for once in your goddamn lives!”
I sense Malix in motion behind me, and a split second later, he draws up beside me, putting a warm hand on my bare shoulder. Until this moment, I completely forgot I’ve been standing here arguing stark naked. The reminder makes me feel more vulnerable than I’d like.
Kian shakes his head, a warning look in his eyes as he glares at his brother. “No.”
But Malix just raises an eyebrow at him before looking down at me, meeting my gaze. “A seer once told us that we’re destined to destroy our mate.”
The already chilled room turns colder. I wrap my arms around my chest, trying to hold in some of my remaining warmth. On the bed, Frost rises up onto his knees and drags the blanket off, holding it out toward us. Kian takes it without a sound and drapes it over my shoulders.
“Destroy… me?” I ask softly.
Malix nods. “If we’re together. If we all accept the bond, then you die.”
“A seer,” I clarify, thinking of Gwen the witch and her prophecy for me. She warned me that I had three mates, and they were all a danger to the world. If I didn’t kill them, they’d destroy everything and everyone on Earth.
The parallel between my story and theirs sends a shiver up my spine. Are we being manipulated? Is anything we do free will at all? Or is it just clever guidance from people with greater powers than any of us possess?
Frost speaks up from the bed. “Breaking the bond was an attempt to keep you safe.”
“You weren’t—”
I cut myself off, not even sure what I was about to say. I can’t form words. Can barely form thoughts.
They didn’t push me away because they don’t want me.
They pushed me away and broke the bond to save my life.
I tug the blanket tighter around my body, forming a cocoon, a barrier between me and them. I need it. Because I don’t even know how to process this. All the pain, the agony of living with this empty darkness in my chest…
They were trying to protect me.
But under the surprise and relief, irritation surfaces. Protecting me or not, they took away my own free will, denying me the chance to make my own decision because they thought they were right. They thought the choice was entirely up to them.
I don’t take kindly to men bossing me around.
Glaring at Kian, I say, “It never once occurred to you to just talk to me? To tell me? To give me the truth and let me make my own decision?”
He laughs bitterly. “You’re a stubborn woman with an obvious fucking death wish. Giving you any length of leash is dangerous.”
“Leash?” I growl and advance on him, dropping the blanket as my hands clench into fists. “I dare you to try to leash me, asshole.”
“Down, kitty,” Malix warns, stepping between the two of us. “Nobody’s trying to leash you. Unless you’re into that kind of thing,” he adds with a wink, clearly trying to defuse the tension in the room.
But I’m too caught up in my anger. They’ve spent the past few weeks completely controlling my life, and I had no idea. I shove Malix with all my body weight, and he stumbles back into the nightstand. The silver lamp keels onto the floor and the bulb bursts with a small electrical surge.
Pivoting on my back foot, I swing my fist in a wide arc, catching Kian right in the face. He doesn’t see the punch coming, or if he does, he makes no move to stop it.
The blow is hard enough to make pain explode in my knuckles, and I hiss out a breath, shaking out my hand.
“Fuck,” I hiss.
A slew of answering curse words spill from Kian’s mouth, and I glance over at him, pleased to see him gingerly touching a split in his eyebrow, close to his scar.
Good. Fucker deserves a new scar from me.
But before I can launch into a tirade of accusations and recriminations against him, glass shatters elsewhere in the house.
All four of us freeze.
I hold my breath, my heart thundering as each of the feral shifters goes on high alert just like I have, our argument completely forgotten for the moment. I focus on my hearing, turning an ear toward the open bedroom door.
“Wolves,” Frost murmurs under his breath.