MIDNIGHT MAGIC

Nine Lives Book One

Leigh Kelsey

About Midnight Magic

Three paw print brands on her body. Three mates claiming her soul. One hell of a way to find out you’re a cat shifter.

Rani Rose is descended from a long line of jaguar shifters, and she has no reason to suspect she’ll be any different. But when her coming of age ceremony reveals her not only as a moggy, but someone with forbidden midnight magic, Rani is exiled from cat society.

That night, three mating brands blaze to life on her body, and with them come three men: brothers and cat shifters like her, who also have midnight magic.

Comforted by gentle Eri, her body set alight by playful Tom, and her heart stolen by intense, brooding Nigh, Rani finds herself warming to her new status as a cat shifter. But her midnight magic makes her valuable to a cruelly charming man called Dark Star—and unlike her new mates, he doesn’t care about cherishing her, only about stealing her magic for himself.

Midnight Magic is the first book in a cat shifter paranormal romance series with three love interests and no choosing whatsoever. The Nine Lives series is fast burn, with romance that’s equal parts sweet and hot.

Coming Of Age

The torches set against the walls burned a true mystic purple, reflecting the goddess blessed space. This chamber was sacred; every cat shifter in Europe had their coming of age ceremony here when they reached twenty-one. Every cat found out their inner form, be it a jaguar, lynx, tiger, lion, or any of the other big cat forms, in this exact chamber.

Rani Rose felt the weight of all that history on her shoulders as she reached the chamber after descending what seemed like a thousand steps from aboveground. She was wheezing, painfully out of breath with a stitch slicing into her side, and she knew some of the shifters gathered were eyeing her with distaste. But Rani straightened her glasses, paused until she’d regained enough breath to keep moving, and shut out their judgy stares. So what if she was a size eighteen when they were all svelte? So what if she was short and fat and wore glasses? So what if she’d only bothered to scrape her fair hair into a ponytail instead of getting it blow-dried like some of the people here. She looked how she looked, and they were just going to have to deal with it.

But Rani’s skin still prickled at their attention, sweat dripping down her spine. She half wanted to flee to the top floor library of this place—the feline hub in London—and find a nice spot of sunlight to curl up in with a good book.

But she was here.

She could do this.

And anyway, she had her mum and sister right behind her. All Rani had to do was get through the ceremony and she’d be a bona fide member of cat shifter society, a jaguar like all her family.

And no matter how the stares made her feel, Rani was eager to experience the magic of shifting. Once she merged with her shifter form, her magic would appear, and with it, her mating brand. Every cat had at least one, a paw print that shone with divine light in human form and formed a psychic bond in cat form, allowing her to always communicate with her mate. She yearned for it, always had. To belong to someone, and to have someone belong to her ... it seemed like a dream.

Rani had always loved fairy tales and love stories; it was only natural that she’d dream of one for herself.

She took a tight breath and kept walking. Soon, she’d shift for the first time. Soon, she’d get her magic. Soon, she’d find her mate, the one her soul was bound to for all eternity. And like the princes and princesses in her favourite books, she’d live happily ever after.

Of course, fate had other things in mind for Rani.

Ceremony

The felines gathered were all cloaked in ceremonial violet robes, as was traditional for every coming of age ritual, and Rani had the sense of being swallowed by a sea of nameless, faceless shadows as she moved down the aisle, her steps painfully slow. 

Eventually, Rani came to a stop before the goddess font; it was sat upon a marble dais and glowing with an inner light that only served to drive home the importance of the ceremony. Corinne, the highest ranked member of cat society, stood there in deepest plum robes, her skin dark but her silver hair stunningly bright in the torchlight, as if the stars themselves shone from her.

Rani was impressed both by her beauty and her presence; it was a bit like being in front of the goddess herself. She’d only ever seen Corinne from the back of the assembly hall upstairs during the speeches given at festival celebrations. Corinne managed the whole feline hub, making sure everything ran smoothly in their society.

Rani felt a lot like a human within two feet of Queen Elizabeth II.

“Rani Deliph Rose,” Corinne said, loudly enough for the whole congregation to hear but without raising her voice; the rich tone of her words simply carried. It was likely magic, belonging to one of the team who worked with Corinne, but it was still impressive, and it still made Rani swallow hard as her mum and sister Nell blended into the sea of cloaked, hooded figures. Leaving Rani truly alone and at Corinne’s mercy.

Not that Corinne was going to do anything wicked to Rani; she was just going to guide her through the process of bonding with her shifter form. But still. The grandiosity of the ritual made Rani feel like a lead weight sat on her chest. This was the most important ceremony of her life—barring her mating ceremony, obviously—and it was terrifying. What if Rani did it wrong? What if she messed up and ... and stayed in her shifter form forever?

There hadn’t been a case of a coming of age ceremony going wrong for decades, but Rani knew it had happened; she’d read about it during her mass research, preparing for this very moment. A few times, felines had been locked in their animal forms. A few times, no cat form had revealed itself. A few times, the shifting went fine but instead ... they were blessed by midnight magic, harmful magic, and shunned from society.

If there was anything cat shifters hated it was the dark.

“You’re here today to merge with your cat form,” Corinne said, and Rani stood straighter under her full attention, though Corinne’s expression held only a serious sort of benevolence. Kind but professional. “Step onto the dais, Rani.”

Taking a quick breath in an attempt not to go lightheaded with panic, Rani took the marble steps of the dais slowly, visions of herself plastered to them as she missed her footing chasing through her imagination like nightmares. She shut out the imagined gasps and howls of laughter at her non-existent fall and focussed on ascending the dais, exhaling slowly as she reached the top and stood beside the font—the fancy marble bowl held on a stone column and engraved with ornate images.

She couldn’t tell if it was just the atmosphere of the ceremony, the robes, the purple light all around but ... she could feel the goddess up here. Almost as if she stood at Rani’s shoulder, smiling. A shiver tripped down Rani’s spine but she didn’t allow the crowd below to see it. She’d be strong—she’d be perfect. They already sneered at her size and plainness; she wouldn’t give them another excuse.

“Place your hands on the font,” Corinne said with an encouraging nod.

Rani did as she was guided, exhaling hard at the cool feel of the stone beneath her palms. Her heart beat faster, knowing this next bit was the important part, knowing that her whole life rested on this suspended moment right here and now.

In minutes, she’d have a cat form, a mate, and a form of magic. She’d already finished university last month, and she was a shoo-in for a job with her mum up in the library and records rooms. All the pieces of her future were about to fall into place.

Nerves and excitement tangled up in Rani’s belly until it felt like a swarm of birds were trapped in her stomach.

“Look hard and long into the water,” Corinne guided, smiling softly. “You’ll see your cat form, and the shift will come over you. Don’t fight it. It only hurts in the first few moments. May the goddess bless you.”

Oh, that was comforting. It only hurts in the first few moments? But how much did it hurt?

Rani inhaled a last fortifying breath, squared her shoulders, and peered into the silvery water in the font.

At first, all she saw was her own reflection, her rounded face made skeletal in parts by the harsh torch lighting, parts of her cheeks entirely in shadow and others lit pure violet, her glasses turned to bright half moons where her eyes should have been.

She stared at her reflection like Corinne had told her to, scared that nothing would happen, that she’d be one of those very few cats whose shifter form just didn’t appear—but then a pinprick of light formed, somewhere below her reflection’s nose, and she realised light was issuing from the bottom of the water. Silver-violet light hurtled like a spear through the font, though no ripples formed on the water’s surface, and Rani gasped, instinct making her recoil.

But she wasn’t struck—not physically at least—and the light was just that: light. The water never moved, never surged up towards Rani, but the glow shot up and through the water’s edge, bathing Rani in ethereal light.

She blinked at the coolness of the touch, wondering what was supposed to happen next—the books had been vague about this part—but then the world seemed to slide out from beneath her. She gasped as she fell, but ... she never crashed into the floor. The light seemed to cup her body, holding her in a close, cool embrace until Rani was thoroughly disoriented.

She suddenly wished the rule that only society adults were able to attend these rituals didn’t exist, wished she’d seen someone else go through theirs. Was this supposed to happen? Was it all going as planned?

A spike of pain shot through Rani’s back and she groaned, curling in around herself, waiting for the pain to expand to her whole body. But it just didn’t. And when the glow lowered her to the floor, the whole experience feeling like being cupped in the hand of the goddess, Rani landed on paws, not feet.

It had worked?

Rani wanted to laugh in relief and joy, but the sound just didn’t emerge from her vocal chords. Instead, she meowed.

Wait, that couldn’t be right.

She was a jaguar like all her family. There were a lot of sounds that she should have made as a jaguar, but a meow wasn’t one of them.

Her sensitive hearing picked up the gasps and a few laughs of the crowd, and her ears flattened, her tail swishing, all without her permission. Oh god. What had happened? Rani had known something would go wrong.

She shrank in on herself, her ears flat to her head as she backed away from the hooded felines, who all seemed enormous and threatening in their human forms.

“It’s alright, Rani,” Corinne said reassuringly, kneeling so she was on Rani’s level. “It’s perfectly acceptable to be a domestic cat, rather than a predatory species.”

Was it? Because the gasps and laughs had choked off with Corinne’s words, but they still echoed through Rani’s head. She was a laughing stock. The exact opposite of what she‘d dreamt of for her ceremony. Just once she wanted to be accepted, not sneered at. Just once.

“Ignore everything except me,” Corinne went on, her dark face patient and kind as she smiled at Rani. “Close your eyes and look inward; your magic is inside you now. All you have to do is grasp it and push it out of you and we’ll know what form it takes.”

She was speaking in a calm, encouraging voice, but Rani still felt sick by the whole thing. She was a cat. A damn housecat. Not a jaguar.

If she’d been in human form right now, her face would be on fire and tears would be stinging her eyes. There was nothing wrong with being a domestic cat, like Corinne said, but they were looked down on by feline society, and more importantly all of Rani’s family were jaguars. Why wasn’t she?

She didn’t want to look inside herself and find her magic. She wanted to go back to this morning when she’d been full of hope and optimism.

“Close your eyes, Rani,” Corinne said with an encouraging nod.

Rani didn’t want to, but she didn’t want to be in this chamber any longer than necessary either, so she closed her eyes, taken by surprise by how different her eyelids felt in this form.

Tentatively, she reached inside herself in this strange new cat form, bracing for a rush of magic. When it came, it wasn’t blindingly bright or electric or anything else she’d imagined; it was a soft, cool blanket. It was silk and smoothness and fresh air filling her lungs. It felt like relief, like reassurance, and Rani opened her eyes, glad that this had gone right.

But when she met Corinne’s eyes, they were horrified, and she was climbing to her feet, backing away from Rani.

Rani crept back a step too, her ears flat to her skull, unable to figure out why Corinne was reacting like this. Her magic felt soft, reassuring, and calm. Like diving into a still, serene lake and floating on the surface.

“Night,” someone in the crowd gasped, followed by a flurry of motion that drew Rani’s eye automatically.

“Darkness,” another woman whispered—Mrs Timms, who worked in the records room with Rani’s mum. She took one glance at Rani, who she’d known for years, and turned and ran, fear in her eyes.

“Rani, stop it,” her mum said urgently, and Rani frowned. What were they all talking about? “Dispel the magic. Now!”

Rani felt for that inner core of magic in her chest and coaxed the calm, cool power back inside herself. But not before she glimpsed what had terrified every cat shifter in the room; blackness hung over Rani’s head, silver stars winking occasionally in its inky shape.

Rani’s stomach shot to her paws, her throat twisting and a pitiful sound coming from her.

Her magic ... it was anathema to cats. The opposite of warmth and sunshine. It was darkness and cold. She had midnight magic.

And she’d be immediately cast from cat shifter community.

Bereft

“Mum, please,” Rani begged in the hallway of their terrace house in Richmond, the front door open to the biting night air and all of Rani’s things in a baby pink suitcase at the bottom of the stairs. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t have anywhere to go.” Her voice broke, her bottom lip close to quivering uncontrollably.

One day, one ceremony completely out of her control, and Rani had lost everything. Her future as an assistant to her mum at the library rooms, her place in feline shifter community, her home, her family ... all of it was being taken from her. And all because cats hated the dark and the cold. All because they were scared of midnight magic.

Rani didn’t feel evil. She didn’t feel bad. But everyone just accepted that a cat blessed with midnight magic was ... wrong. Unsavoury. Unacceptable. It was something Rani had always known but not spared much thought to. Now ... her whole life hinged on that fact: midnight magic was evil. Cats with darkness in them were inherently wicked. Not fit to associate with other cats.

But Rani was still the same person she’d been this morning. She was still the woman who loved fictitious adventures and dashing heroes. She was still the quirky little sister, and the quiet, smart daughter of Janey Rose. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.

But she’d seen the way everyone eyed her warily as she fled the ceremonial chamber, edging out of her path. As if her darkness was infectious.

“Sorry, Rani,” her mum said, a crack in her voice. Her lined face was pinched with misery, tears streaking her skin. “I don’t have a choice, baby. The rules are clear: you can’t stay here with us.”

“But ... but I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Rani pleaded, her chest jerking with broken breaths. “Nell—”

“I think it’s bullshit, too,” her sister spat as she came down the hall with Rani’s bag, dumping it on the doorstep to pull her little sister into a fierce hug. “I’ve put what’s left of my savings after the divorce in your bag. It’s only a couple hundred but it should be enough for a few nights in Travelodge and your first month’s rent when you find somewhere. Look online, yeah? I’ll send you some links to a few groups to check on Facebook. Make sure your phone’s charged.”

Rani’s bottom lip gave in to the urge to tremble as she inhaled a shaky breath. It became too real, the fact that she was leaving home, being kicked out, as Nell set out a plan for how Rani would go about finding a new home. 

She hadn’t planned to move out until she was thirty. Maybe never. Houses were so expensive, and having enough money to even rent one on her own sounded like a pipe dream even for a woman who’d grown up in affluent Richmond-Upon-Thames.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered, clutching Nell hard. “I can’t, I don’t know how to live by myself.”

Nell drew back and cupped Rani’s face. “You have to. You know the society won’t budge on this. But mum and I can come see you in secret; they’ll never know.”

Rani didn’t want to have to see her family in secret clandestine rendezvous. She wanted to be a part of it, like she always had been. She wanted her bedroom, their tiny walled-in garden with its iron table and chairs, their cluttered living room and airy kitchen with its multi-coloured utensils.

She wanted her home, and her mum and sister, and the familiar library where she’d expected to work for the rest of her life. She wanted her place among felines, where she’d always expected to be. She didn’t want to be cast out, homeless, no family, no friends. Nothing.

But she didn’t have a choice. Corrine had made that clear to her mum after the ceremony went wrong.

Nell hugged her tighter and then let go, stepping back, and Rani trapped her bottom lip between her teeth, tears streaking down her cheeks. The sound of her mum rolling the pink suitcase down the hallway floorboards was akin to nails in a coffin. But she let go of the suitcase handle and pulled Rani close, her grasp fierce and tight.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she whispered. “You’ll be okay. You’re strong, and smart. You’ll be alright on your own.”

“I won’t,” Rani sobbed. “Mum, I really won’t.”

Janey Rose drew back, holding Rani by her shoulders and giving her a long look. She was crying as badly as Rani, her glasses as foggy as Rani’s, too. “You’re a Rose. Your great grandma ran a farm all by herself; Grandad Rose was a codebreaker in the war; and your Aunt Millie’s kicking ass in the Olympic weightlifting world. We’re built of stern stuff, us Roses. You’ll get through this. Even if ... even if you’re dark.”

“I’m not, Mum,” Rani insisted. “Just because I have this magic—”

Her mum shook her head, stepping back with a tight expression on her face. “You’ll get through this.”

And without even saying goodbye, she turned away and rushed down the hall, closing the kitchen door behind herself. Shutting Rani out.

“She doesn’t want you to go any more than I do,” Nell said gently. “It’s hard on her.”

“It’s hard on her?” Rani asked with a shattered laugh, numbly curling her fingers around the suitcase handle. It was an offensively pretty shade of pink for a night like this. “What about me?”

“I’m so sorry, Rani,” Nell said, her jaw clenched. “They’re bastards for making you leave us. Our society’s out-fucking-dated. It’s archaic. There’s nothing wrong with midnight magic, it’s just another kind of power for fuck’s sake. So what if it’s night magic? So what if it’s cold?” She squeezed Rani closer. “They’re scared after what happened with Orion Child. But that was fifteen years ago. They need to get over it.”

“I’m nothing like him,” Rani said miserably. Orion Child had been a shifter with midnight magic who’d confirmed every fear that cat society had ever had about dark powers. He’d wanted to grow his power, become a god, not just a shifter, and he’d left a string of murders in his wake.

“I know that,” Nell said, scowling. “But those bastards will judge you based on the past.” She shook her head, sighing. She usually looked fierce with her short blonde hair and her scowl, but Nell didn’t look fierce now. She looked gutted. “It’s not fair on you, but I doubt it’ll ever change. Mum’s right, though, you’re clever and you’re strong. You’ll be okay. Make sure you charge your phone, okay? I’ll call you.”

Goodbye, Rani realised—this was goodbye. Her face tightened as more tears rolled down her face. “I’ll charge my phone,” she promised, her voice thick with emotion. “I love you, Nell.”

“Love you too, Ra-ra.” Nell gave her a last hug and stepped back.

But she stayed on the doorstep, watching, as Rani slid her bag over her shoulder and rolled the suitcase down the road.

She was officially homeless, kicked out of cat society, and a pariah.

Miserable and sobbing, she turned in the direction of the hotel.

Branded

Rani was five minutes from Richmond’s Travelodge, cars and buses roaring past on the rain-damp road beside her, when a fierce heat ripped through her bicep. She gasped, the pain fierce enough to blur the main road in front of her as she stumbled to a halt outside the closed-up WH Smith, ignoring the looks she got from passersby.

It felt like her arm was on fire, like five hundred Chinese burns all at once. In a panic, Rani unbuttoned her coat and shoved it off her shoulder, pushing up the sleeve of her shirt and gasping at the sight of a glowing blue paw print. Her mating brand! In the chaos and devastation of her ceremony, Rani had completely forgotten that her magic was usually followed by the mating brand. 

But ... she had midnight magic. Didn’t that mean she was sullied? Evil? If midnight magic was so bad, why would the goddess burden another shifter with Rani?

The heat rose in a sudden surge and Rani groaned, leaning against the wall. But then the pain receded, the bright glow of the paw print—in parts pale blue and in others vibrant indigo—settling into a soft illumination rather than the blinding light it had been.

She had a mate.

Rani stood there for a long moment, stunned. She had a mate. 

But would they want her when they found out about her magic? And what about when they learned that she wasn’t a panther or a lynx or a tiger, but a regular black cat?

Whatever the outcome, she couldn’t keep standing here outside WH Smith’s. 

Rani sucked in a breath of crisp night air and decided she’d go to the hotel tonight, and maybe ... maybe try to find her mate tomorrow?

It was a daunting prospect, but it was exciting too. And relief wound through her, along with the possibility that maybe her magic wouldn’t turn her evil like everyone believed. She couldn’t be bad if she had a mate.

***

FIFTEEN MINUTES AND sixty quid later, Rani expelled a sigh as she sank onto a plush hotel bed, only the sound of electric lights humming around her. She hated it—the quiet. It was peaceful, but it was empty. There was no Nell yelling at reality shows in the front room, no mum clattering around baking a cake in the kitchen. She couldn’t even hear the traffic on the road outside.

Rani switched the TV on just to drown out the silence and flopped onto her back, letting the mattress absorb her weight. She’d never been in a hotel room on her own before. She didn’t like the feeling.

She was debating going out to get something to eat, still splayed on the bed, when a spike of heat lanced through her right thigh. A whimper rushed from her lips as Rani froze, wondering if she’d been wrong about the brand on her bicep, scared this was some curse she’d be forced to endure because she had night powers. 

She curled into a ball and waited for the needles of fire to fade from her thigh.

Gasping for breath when the heat faded, Rani unbuttoned her jeans and shoved them to her knees, her mouth falling open at the sight of a second paw print on the outside of her thigh, shining steadily, a pearly blue colour.

What ... the fuck?

Two mates? Was the universe drunk?

Rani groaned and dropped back to the bed.

The bright light had faded from both her brands, both of them softly glowing now, but Rani could still sense the energy around them as if those parts of her body were electrically charged. She should have been happy, and she was—sort of—but she’d had enough to deal with today. She just wanted to eat, crash, and then figure everything out in the morning.

Everything being how to exist on her own, cut off from her family and community, how to find a flat, and how to find a job. How to be an adult, basically. Rani hadn’t planned on figuring all this out so soon. She’d never dreamed that her coming of age ceremony could mess up this badly.

And now she had two brands.

She was crashed out alone on a hotel bed with her jeans around her knees. This was rock bottom, wasn’t it? Well, as Yazz once said, the only way is up. It wasn’t like Rani could sink any lower.

She hauled herself up with a groan to use the bathroom and buttoned up her jeans and coat afterward, planning to be a fully functioning human being for ten goddamn minutes while she went downstairs to get a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar from the vending machine—because screw going outside the hotel to get food. She’d had a bad enough day without getting rained on again.

But why didn’t vending machines sell wine? It was a serious oversight.

She made it down to the lobby and fed a couple pound coins into the machine, punching in the number for a bag of Walker’s cheese and onion, a Mars bar, and a bottle of Dr Pepper since they didn’t do anything alcoholic. She could have gone to the other side of the reception and ordered a glass of wine from the bar, but anything resembling social interaction was abhorrent right now.

So with her arms full of junk food, Rani trudged into the lift and lit up the button for floor two.

When scalding heat flashed through her—this one on her decolletage between her collarbones—she was glad to be alone in the lift. She gasped and stumbled back against the metal wall, a cry falling off her tongue as her other two brands flared, as if they were all in sync.

The lift doors opened, and Rani had to press the hold button to stop them closing again, panting and struggling for breath as the heat finally faded, leaving her with three softly humming, glowing mating brands.

Three.

She had three brands. And three mates. The same number of mates as their goddess.

Rani made her way back to her hotel room in a daze.

Paw Prints

No more flashes of heat tore through her, and her brands remained pulsing gently, emitting a soft glow. They were all blue, but each was a slightly different shade: one sky blue, one a deep indigo, and one a mix of both. Rani finished her sad meal, changed into pyjamas, plugged in her phone as she’d promised, and climbed into bed, still reeling.

It took a long, long while for her to fall asleep, but the heat of the room and the plush duvet eventually lulled her into unconsciousness.

She didn’t sleep for long—an urgent knock at her door had her lurching awake, panic tearing through her. Had Corinne come to force Rani to leave Richmond, maybe even all of London?

Swallowing hard, Rani crept out of bed, holding her breath as she reached for the handle of the hotel room door. Her hand shook as she pressed down on it, and of course it didn’t open. She still had the damn lock on. Freaking out, Rani fumbled at the lock and wrenched the door open, ready to plead for mercy and fight for her right to stay, at least for the night—but it wasn’t Corinne stood in the hall. It wasn’t anyone she knew.

“Um,” Rani said, her shoulders up by her ears as she stared wide-eyed at the three strangers in the hall. They were all men, and they looked alike, all with the same golden skin and white hair, though some were slightly taller than others, and their builds and clothing styled varied. “I think you have the wrong room.”

They were doing a similar perusal of her as she was of them, and for a moment none of them spoke. Rani expected embarrassed laughs and for them to excuse themselves to the next door down the hall. But that wasn’t what happened.

One of the men took a half-step forward, his white hair cut shorter than the others and a smile creasing his eyes—one baby blue, she noticed, and one a deep indigo—as he very seriously said, “I’m Eri Mahon. These are my brothers, Nigh and Tom.” 

“Hi...?” Rani said awkwardly, wondering if it was rude to just close the door and go back to bed. “Nice to meet you. I think?”

The shortest guy—though not by much—gave her a grin she was tempted to call rakish, his long white hair falling over his shoulders. “You have no clue who we are, do you, love?”

Rani shrugged, her stomach squirming. “Should I?”

“Oh, yeah,” he replied, still grinning. “You should definitely know us.”

The third brother—for they had to be related—scowled at Rani, making her shrink back from his dangerous intensity as he pulled down the V-neck collar of his grey T-shirt, exposing deep black tattoos of beautifully detailed creatures—mermaids and dragons and chimera. Right between his collarbones, standing out by virtue of the deep indigo glow, was a paw print.

Rani sucked in a breath and retreated a step, lifting her hands palm-up to ward him off. To ward them all off.

“I’ve had a bad day,” she said with a broken laugh. “The worst day of my life, to be honest. Whatever you want ... I don’t have the energy for it. I just want to be alone.”

The first brother who’d spoken, the tallest one with shorter hair, gave her a sad look. “That’s the last thing you want, treasured mate.”

Something in Rani’s chest gave at that word—mate—spoken aloud, and she bit the inside of her cheek to fend off the emotion. It was stupid, she didn’t even know this guy let alone care about him giving her a pet name. Why should she be so emotional?

The brand on her bicep warmed, glowing through her pyjama top, streaks of deep indigo and baby blue. His eyes fixed on that spot on her arm, awe softening his face.

“They kicked you out, then,” the scowling, tattooed brother said, letting his shirt cover his brand again. “Why else would you be in a hotel?”

Rani’s chest pulled tight. She looked from the dangerous brother to the gentle one to the smallest who was still smiling wryly, as if everything amused him. “Are you,” she began, having to swallow to get the words out past her nerves, “are you my mates?”

The middle brother nodded, but it was the mischievous one who said, “Yep. All three of us. Lucky us, we get to share you, gorgeous.” He winked, and Rani blushed, feeling embarrassed and overwhelmed and wholly stunned.

“You have a place with us,” the middle brother said, everything about him calm and grounded. Rani found herself relaxing as she met his eyes, something in her settling. “If you need it. Since you’re staying in a hotel ... is Nigh right, were you exiled?”

Rani’s face grew hotter, tightening as tears built so suddenly that she couldn’t fight them. She nodded. “I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t have—anything anymore.” Her voice caught, the words snagging like barbs in her throat.

“Bastards,” the tattooed one growled. “I knew it.”

The serious brother sighed, his eyes going soft, and he swept Rani into a hug. She froze, about to shove this stranger away from her, but comfort hit her so intensely that she slumped against him, her arms falling to her sides as her head rested on his shoulder. His arms were wrapped around her with the perfect amount of pressure, his palm spread across her lower back as if he instinctively knew what she needed. And if he was her mate, Rani supposed he did.

Tentatively, she reached out with the brand on her bicep, exploring the bond between them, and he inhaled sharply as energy surged between them.

Swallowing, her face red hot, Rani stepped back. His scent of old paper and bittersweet chocolate filled the space between them, both comforting and seductive—especially for a bookworm with a sweet tooth. “You said your name was Eri?”

His eyes crinkled as he smiled, everything about him patient. But affection shone in those mismatched eyes, too. “Erivian Mahon. What’s your name, treasured mate?”

She swallowed, glancing at his brothers instead. The tattooed one was watching her with narrowed eyes, his hands shoved in his jeans pockets. The other one met her gaze with twinkling baby blue eyes, running a hand through his long white hair. Rani wanted to know how it felt, wanted to run her own fingers through his hair, and she flushed at the thought. She’d met them minutes ago, and she was already thinking of them as hers. As if a mate bond meant they wanted her. 

Once they learned her shifter form and magic, they may not look at her the same way. 

Well, the tattooed scowly one would still probably scowl at her.

“Rani,” she replied, daring to look back at Eri. “My name’s Rani Rose.”

The tattooed brother took a step back, and Rani stared in surprise as he recoiled. He met Rani’s eyes, his a deep blue-violet that were rare and gorgeous, and then without a word, he turned and walked away.

A pang went through Rani’s chest. No—through the brand between her collarbones. She watched him stalk away, not sure what she’d done to offend him.

“Don’t take it personally, love,” the smiling brother said, his grin softening slightly. “He’s naturally miserable.” He came closer, draping an arm over her shoulder, and Rani froze at his warmth, at how good it felt to have him touch her. “You’re staying with us from now on. You don’t need a hotel, you have somewhere to stay.”

Rani appreciated the thought but... “I paid sixty pounds for this room.”

He tilted his head, long white hair sliding over Rani’s shoulder and making her shudder. It wasn’t unpleasant. Far from it; heat swept her body and not from her brands this time. “Good point,” he said. And while she was caught off guard, he strolled past her into the hotel room. She didn’t get the chance to protest. “I’m Tom, by the way. Grumpy arse is Nigh. I’ll take the left side, Eri you get in on the right. And you, beautiful, can sleep between us.”

Rani’s mouth fell open.

They climbed into bed without further discussion.

She stood by the door, staring, for a long minute. But if two hot guys wanted to cuddle up to her tonight ... Rani would be mad to complain. And it wasn’t like they were a danger to her—the bonds between them literally forbade them to harm her, and vice versa.

She shut the door and climbed into bed.

Nigh

When Rani woke up, there were three men in her hotel room. There’d only been two when she went to sleep, nestled between two affectionate, sinfully sexy men, but now a male cat—pure white, perfectly groomed, with deep indigo eyes—was watching her from the table opposite the bed.

Rani’s stomach flipped.

Okay. Three strange men. Three mates. She could do this.

“Morning,” she said awkwardly, trying to extricate herself from the tangle of limbs around her. But moving only made them tighten around her, Tom at her back letting out a soft, throaty complaint.

Nigh didn’t reply, didn’t even blink. He just stared at her.

“You don’t like me,” Rani said, averting her eyes. “I get it.” The rejection from her mate hurt, but at least she’d braced for it. “I wouldn’t like being branded to someone with midnight magic, either.”

She’d explained her situation to Tom and Eri last night before she fell asleep, and though they hadn’t run off screaming, they’d turned quiet and contemplative. She realised this was the first Nigh was hearing of it, though, and winced.

At least her being a regular cat wasn’t an issue; all the brothers were domestic cats too.

The white cat sighed and jumped off the table, transforming from feline to man in one graceful movement. His transition was fluid, effortless, and Rani stared in awe.

“How do you have clothes?” she breathed.

“Magic.” Nigh shrugged absently, still dressed in the jeans, leather jacket, and V-neck from last night, tattoos peeking out from the neckline and arms, and his chin-length white hair mussed. “What makes you think I don’t like you?”

He leant over Tom and helped her climb out of bed, ignoring the hiss his brother made in his sleep.

“Um,” Rani replied, staring at him as she slid off the edge of the bed. “Everything? The scowling. The clipped sentences. The way you stormed off last night. It’s alright, of course you wouldn’t like me. We just met, you don’t know me—”

He kissed her.

He kissed her. Rani made a muffled sound of surprise, her hands flailing before they landed on his chest, her sleepy mind struggling to figure out how they’d gone from simple conversation to Nigh’s tongue caressing hers in a way that made her pussy throb.

“Um,” she said when he drew back, his vivid eyes flickering with some hidden emotion. “Okay. Maybe you do like me.”

Nigh nodded sharply, but he didn’t move out of her personal space, his hands still resting on her hips and burning into her like shivery fire. Her heart beat fast, the brand on her chest—and his—flaring brighter. “Good. I’m your mate; don’t doubt me again.”

“See, this is why I thought you didn’t like me,” Rani said, gesturing at him. “You always sound angry.”

“Because I usually am angry,” he replied wryly. “Do I need to kiss you again?”

Rani’s eyes flew wide. “I...”

“Cute.” He smirked, his eyes dancing. “You’re fun to wind up.”

“Oh, so that’s what you’re doing?” She shoved him, ignoring the feel of his blazing hot chest under her hand. The feel of smooth muscle. That V neckline was so low that the material could barely be considered a shirt.

Her eyes went right to the paw print blazing there, and Nigh noticed her attention, brushing a fingertip over his brand. “This means you’re mine, and I’m yours. Don’t doubt me again.”

Rani threw up her hands with a sigh. “Fine, caveman. But don’t think you can boss me around and I’ll just go along with it.” She blushed intensely as his full attention settled on her, somehow intent, dominant, and sensual at once, but Rani stood her ground. No way was she letting gender roles cage her into obeying her mate’s every command. Nope. Not happening. She didn’t grow up in Janey Rose’s house for nothing.

He snorted.

“I mean it,” she said sternly.

“Cute,” he reiterated and bent over her, capturing her mouth in another searing, mind-blurring kiss. He nipped her bottom lip and Rani groaned, clinging to him as their kiss turned heated and frantic, her fingers twisted in the leather of his jacket and pulling him closer. The brand on her chest warmed, fizzing with energy as Nigh growled and hauled her flush against him, his hands digging deep into her wide hips.

“Goddess,” he swore. “You’re something else, woman.”

“Mm,” Rani agreed, still a little dazed.

Being kicked out of cat shifter society? Bad. Being kissed senseless by the mate she’d only found because of being kicked out of cat shifter society? Holy shit amazing.

“You’re coming home with us,” he said gruffly, tracing his fingers over her pyjama shirt where his brand glowed blue-violet through the fabric. “I want you in bed with me tonight.” Rani’s mouth fell open, and misreading her complaint, he said, “Tom and Eri slept beside you last night. Tonight you’re mine. That’s fair.”

“Um.” Rani swallowed. “You know I’m not a thing to be passed around, right? I’m a person. I might have ... a few qualms about sharing the beds of strangers.”

“Better a stranger’s bed than no bed at all.” Nigh stole another kiss, this one swift but just as bruising, and then transformed into a pristine white cat between one blink and the next.

“If you think that’s how you’re going to win arguments, mister,” Rani said, her hands on her hips, “you have another thing coming.”

Nigh just jumped onto the table again, lifted his paw, and began to clean himself.

“Scoundrel,” she muttered.

She could have sworn his eyes twinkled.

Dark Star

Apparently the brothers owned an apartment in a factory conversion in Shoreditch. Tom told her all about it after Rani checked out of Travelodge and they headed to Richmond station, his hand wrapped tight around hers and his eyes glinting every time he looked at her. Rani hadn’t worked him out yet—was he really so amused and mischievous all the time or was it a facade?

She wasn’t wheeling her own suitcase. She’d tried to, but Nigh and Eri had got into a heated argument over it as Rani rounded up her toiletries from the bathroom and shoved them into her bag. It seemed to be a position of honour—suitcase wheeler. She’d just shrugged and let them figure it out, only mildly protesting when Nigh had torn her bag out of her hand and proceeded to sling it over his shoulder, his consolation prize for not winning the suitcase debate.

“We have really high rafters,” Tom was saying, his thumb running back and forth over her knuckles as they neared the station. “The highest in our block—we checked. Good for sleeping on, and hiding in, and knocking things off of.”

He seemed really proud of that so Rani made sure to smile and look impressed. “Why would I want to knock things off a rafter though?”

Tom tilted his head, long white-blonde hair spilling over his shoulder. “Because it’s fun.”

“Tom likes to cause carnage,” Eri explained with a soft laugh, his chest puffed out and pride shining in his eyes. The look had been there ever since he’d wheeled her suitcase out of her hotel room. It had to be a mate thing, or a Mahon brother thing. Maybe even a domestic cat thing. Rani didn’t know much about them—she knew much more about big cats, since she’d expected her shifter form to be one.

So far, it seemed cat shifters came with the personalities—and hobbies—of house cats, too. Not that Rani could talk. She remembered having a kitten when she was younger that always used to lay in squares of sunlight on the carpet. She thought of how she was always seeking out the brightest, sunniest spaces herself.

“I can land without even trying,” Tom bragged. “Even from the highest beam.”

“Impressive,” Rani said with a little laugh. “I think I’ll pass on that, though. I’ve never been the most physically gifted person.”

“I think you’re beautiful,” Tom said, gravely serious now. “The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh,” Rani replied weakly. “Thanks.”

His expression turned cheeky, his blue eyes gleaming. “I bet you look even better naked. We should find out when we get home.”

Rani blushed so fiercely that her ears tingled.

“Don’t be a letch,” Eri chided. “Rani, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Including being kissed by forceful barbarians.” His voice didn’t change one bit, but it still gave Rani the sense that he was bitter over her and Nigh’s shared kiss. Well, kisses plural.

Nigh barked a laugh. “Maybe she likes forceful barbarians, ever think of that, brother?”

Eri’s mouth thinned, but a gentle laugh whooshed through his nose. He looked affectionately at Rani and said, “If my brothers do anything you don’t like, tell me. I’ll throw them in the bath.”

Tom recoiled; even Nigh hissed.

“You’d drown them?” Rani asked, aghast.

Eri laughed loudly, his smile fond and amused. “No, treasured mate. I love my brothers too much to drown them. But they hate water. We all do.” He shuddered.

Rani laughed at the horror on their faces. “Cats and water. Got it.”

Tom was staring at her like she was an alien. Or a queen. Either awe or horror—she couldn’t tell. “You don’t hate it?”

“Nope.” She shrugged, moving aside on the pavement to avoid being stepped on by a very urgent looking man who seemed to have every intention of walking through Rani. “I like water.”

“Strange creature,” Nigh said, but Rani thought he was teasing.

“At least I know where to go if I want some space,” Rani said, laughing. “The bath.”

Tom looked confused that she’d want space; Nigh looked offended, scowling and stomping ahead, her bag still dangling off his shoulder.

“We’re not far now,” Rani said, since she was the one who lived in Richmond and the guys weren’t as familiar with the town. “The station’s just a few minutes away—”

A ripple went through her. It was hard to explain; as if she was comprised of strings and someone had just plucked one.

The guys reacted, too. Eri gasped. Tom went still, forcing Rani to stop or lose him to the crowded pavement. Nigh turned and ran back to her, cupping her face as fury and fear rushed across his expression. “Stay behind us,” he ordered, holding her gaze so she could see how serious he was. “Do as we say.”

Rani was too freaked out by their urgency and the way they’d reacted as if danger was nearby to argue. She nodded quickly, holding tight to Tom’s hand. Was it Corinne after all? Had she come to kick Rani out of London for good?

“What is it?” she whispered, her eyes wide and gobbling up the details of everyone around them. Most people were annoyed at them for stopping in the middle of the street, but at the end of the road, the pedestrians were parting, like water around a rock, to let a pale-haired man in a long black coat through. “Who is that?”

“Dark Star,” Nigh spat. “I knew it wouldn’t be long until he came.”

“Dark Star?” Rani repeated, staring as the people on the pavement continued to part to let him through, like repelling magnets. “What kind of name is that?”

“An alias,” Eri answered grimly, his face wan. “Stay behind us, Rani, don’t draw his attention. If you know how to use your magic, push it down deep, hide it.”

Rani’s mouth went dry. “My ... magic?” Her heart beat faster. “Is this because I have...”

“Yes,” Nigh snapped. “And so do we. Now be quiet, woman.”

Rani did so only because the man had got close enough to hear them. Why weren’t she and the brothers running? Was this man so bad that running wouldn’t work? Would he catch them anyway?

Her breaths came hard and fast, her hand shaking in Tom’s.

“Boys,” a friendly voice greeted, the opposite of the dark rasp Rani had been expecting, and she froze in surprise. “Always nice to run into you. And you’ve found a lady, I see. Your mate, is she?”

“Back off,” Nigh growled, the words coming from deep in his throat. “She’s ours. You can’t have her.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Dark Star replied with a laugh that urged Rani to laugh too, bright and infectious. “I don’t go around kidnapping young women. I’m not the villain you boys think I am.”

Rani didn’t like the way he said boys, so belittling.

“I’d just like to introduce myself,” Dark Star went on, his smile so charming that Rani froze as he aimed it at her. Her heart thudded in her chest. “Hello, sweet thing. What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know her name,” Eri replied coolly. “You can call her our mate.”

Dark Star’s mouth quirked up. “Well, in that case, hello mate of my sons.”

Wait ... he was their father? Rani frowned, confused as she glanced from the tense men arrayed protectively around her to the blonde, smiling man in front of them. He didn’t seem dangerous at all; why were they being weird?

“Oh, they didn’t tell you that, I see,” Dark Star said with a frown. “They like to pretend I don’t exist.”

“Because you’re a maniac,” Nigh spat. 

Tom nodded, hauling Rani closer. “Why would we want to see you after what you’ve done? Don’t come near our mate, don’t come near us, don’t even try to contact us ever again—”

Dark Star’s face crumpled, and Rani believed it was genuine.

“That’s a horrible thing to say to your father,” she whispered, feeling bad for him. “I’m—”

“No,” Nigh gasped, half turning and lifting his hand in warning.

“Rani,” she finished.

Dark Star’s sadness was replaced in an instant with a wide smile, so dazzling that it startled her. “Hello, sweet Rani. It is such a pleasure to meet you. You should come with me.” His smile dialled up even further and Rani’s eyes widened. She took a half-step, but Tom wrapped his arms around her waist and held her back.

“Fuck. Off,” Nigh snarled, and shoved his father back a step. Magic rose around him in a black storm, a fierce tornado of shadows and mist that slammed into Dark Star and knocked him off balance.

Eri ducked and grabbed Rani around the middle, throwing her over his shoulder as she struggled to get free and go to the fallen man. She needed to help him, that poor man, someone should help him to his feet. But Eri ran for the train station, Rani bobbing on his shoulder, and Rani’s protests were ignored.

“Go,” Nigh bit out, hurrying after them, still swirling with darkness. For whatever reason, the humans around them didn’t seem able to see it. “I’ll keep him away. Get us on a tube; I don’t give a shit where it’s going.”

Rani was going dizzy, but it helped clear her head in a bizarre way. The urgency to get to their father lost its grip on her and she sagged against Eri’s back.

She’d fallen under a spell somehow. Dark Star ... he’d used magic on her. He’d tried to kidnap her, but subtly, coaxing her to come with him rather than using force. He could have abducted her in broad daylight, and she would have gone willingly.

She’d have followed him like a rat after a piper if it hadn’t been for Tom’s arms around her waist.

“Goddess,” Rani whispered in horror, her stomach a knotted mess of nerves and fear. “I nearly...”

“Head in the game, Rani,” Nigh grunted, flicking his fingers at the ticket barriers Rani watched come into view, but sideways thanks to her being thrown over Eri’s shoulder. Every barrier flew open at once, and Eri rushed through, the four of them hurrying towards a tube about to depart for central London.

How had Nigh ... the ticket barriers ... Rani didn’t understand how nobody had seen what he’d done. When she looked back, there was a train official walking up and down the barriers, looking confused but not alarmed. The woman hadn’t seen the shadow mist, hadn’t seen Nigh at all. And she wasn’t chasing after the rest of them to make them scan their oyster cards, either.

Rani let her head loll against Eri’s back, determined to get answers. Just as soon as the world stopped spinning.

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Rani had just about managed to shake off the dizziness by the time they reached the guys’ flat in Shoreditch. She was on high alert as they walked up the high street, scanning the shops and pedestrians, as if Dark Star would be lurking among them, her chest winched tight with anxiety. She was relieved to get inside, even if it did mean she had to climb four flights of stairs to the top floor apartment, wheezing for a few minutes when she got there.

As Tom had bragged, they had impressively high ceilings and beams crisscrossing the space above their heads. It was all open space and red brick, with comfy-looking brown sofas and shelves of books and DVDs lining the walls. At the back, an open-plan kitchen hugged the external wall, untidy with bowls and open cereal boxes left on the countertops. Several doors at the back of the vast space led, she assumed, to bedrooms and a bathroom. It was nice. Messy, but nice.

A weight fell off her shoulders as Eri locked the door—or rather, engaged all six locks on the door—and brushed his hand down the glossy wood, a net of glimmering midnight magic fading through the white paint into the door.

“What was that?” Rani asked, feeling awkward as she stood there in the middle of their home. She felt more like an intruder than a guest, but she’d have to get used to that feeling. She didn’t have anywhere else to go, and with Dark Star’s interest in her, she didn’t want to be alone.

“Reinforcement for the door,” Eri replied, coming over to squeeze her shoulder, his face chiselled by worry and his short hair windblown. “You’ll be safe here. If Dark Star hasn’t found us in three years, he won’t find you.”

“You don’t call him your dad,” Rani observed.

“Because he isn’t,” Nigh said harshly from the kitchen, rattling around the fridge until he pulled out a beer, used the edge of the counter to knock the top off, and guzzled it down. “He’s a pathetic excuse for a father.”

Rani chewed her bottom lip. “Sorry.” She hadn’t meant to touch a nerve, but ... she didn’t know anything about these men, or Dark Star. “What does he want with me?” she asked quietly, and found herself pulled into a hug by Eri. She sighed, his scent of old paper and bittersweet chocolate filling her lungs.

Like it had when they’d met last night, the hug reached into all her tense muscles and soothed them, and she sagged against him as a sigh rushed from his lips too, the feeling clearly mutual. The brand on her bicep warmed, a soothing heat. But he didn’t answer her question.

“He’s ... obsessed with power,” Tom said finally, when it was clear neither of his brothers planned to. “He always has been. That sounds bad—he’s not horrible. He’s just focussed, and he’ll do anything to bring her back.”

Rani pulled away from Eri, looking at Tom with wide eyes. “Who?”

“Mum,” Nigh spat. He downed the rest of his beer and shifted to his cat form, leaping onto the kitchen counter, and then up onto a beam.

“Oh,” Rani said softly. She couldn’t imagine how much it must have hurt them to lose their mum; she flinched away from the thought of losing her own.

“She was his mate,” Eri said quietly, tightening his arms around Rani, his voice full of grief. “When he lost her ... something in him broke. I think maybe he’d always struggled with his power, but mum had kept him in check, helped him balance it. When she died, he ... he was consumed by it. Now all he cares about is getting more and more. There’s a ritual—”

“That’s enough,” Tom said, coming to pry Rani out of his grip. “Gorgeous doesn’t want to hear about the morbid details.”

“Um,” Rani said as Tom led her across the flat to a big, comfy chair. “Actually, I kind of do. He nearly kidnapped me. I’d like to know who he is, and why he wants me.”

“He wants to drain your power to bring back our mum, but that’s no fun to talk about.” Tom gave her a lopsided grin, his icy eyes glowing with mischief as he pushed her down into the chair. “Actually, why don’t we abandon talking altogether?”

“What—?”

Tom knelt on the rug at her feet and while Rani tried to carefully word what she wanted to ask—how their mum had died, and what this ritual was that Eri had mentioned—Tom leant up over her and fastened his mouth to her neck, finding the spot above her collarbone that made her weak, as if he knew the exact location of it already.

“Goddess,” she exhaled, heat spreading through her whole body, a spark shooting to her clit at the feel of his tongue lapping that sensitive area. “Wait, I have questions...”

“We can talk later. Let me worship you, mate.”

“I...”

Wait, why was Rani arguing? It had been months—and months and months—since she’d been touched this way. And it felt good. Amazing, really. The mating brand on her thigh came to life, and Tom let out a pleased rumble.

Energy seemed to thrum around the mark on her thigh, moving through her like a comforting heat until she was lax against the chair, her head tilting back to allow Tom better access. It felt a lot like sinking into a hot bath, all her stresses fading, like when Eri had hugged her.

“I hardly know you,” Rani murmured. “And you don’t know me...”

Tom sucked her pulse point, then lifted his head. “So? I don’t need to know you to want you. Plus, there’s this.” Heat and crackling energy rushed down her thigh from the brand and she gasped.

Tom grinned. “You felt it then? I didn’t know that would work.”

Rani laughed, the tingles seeming to move all the way down her body, raising goosebumps where they went. “It worked,” she said, breathier than she’d meant.

Eri perched on the arm of the chair, his fingers gently tilting Rani’s face towards him. “If you want him to stop touching you, say so. My offer to throw him in the bath stands.”

“Bastard.” Tom scowled, but it was playful like everything else about him. “Do you want me to stop, Rani?”

“I don’t understand why you started,” Rani replied honestly.

He shrugged. “I want to.”

He said it as if that explained everything, as if everything he did was simply because he wanted to.

“Because I’m your mate?” Rani asked hesitantly, her face flushing under their full attention. Tom grinned in response to the words—your mate—and even Eri sat straighter beside her, full of pride.

“Yes,” Tom replied, his pale blue eyes dancing. “Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re one sexy lady. I’d have to be blind and celibate not to want you.” He emphasised the statement by sliding a sinful touch from her stomach to her thigh. Right over where his brand pulsed on her skin.

Rani’s heart skipped a beat. “I just ... find it hard to believe you’d want someone so soon after meeting them?”

“Why?” Tom’s brow wrinkled, his lips—the top thinner than the bottom, and both oh so tempting—tilted down in a frown. “Humans do it all the time. They go out to clubs and take home strangers. This is no different, except you’re my soul mate and I’ll be devoted to you and only you for my entire life.” He grinned then, full of desire and mischief. “Oh, and I have to share you with my brothers. But that’s no chore; I’m interested to see how much pleasure we can give you together. Can we make your eyes roll back and your legs shake, do you think?”

Rani’s eyes went wide. “I...”

Eri laughed under his breath, his fingers carding through her long, honey-blonde hair and sending a shiver down her spine. She was overloaded with sensation, with the closeness of both of them, and they were barely doing anything. “We’re yours, treasured mate. What’s the point in delaying the inevitable? You’re made for our bodies and we are made for yours.” He brushed his lips over the crown of her head and Rani’s heart turned to sappy mush in her chest. The brand on her bicep lit up with its dual flare of colours, a match to his eyes. “Let us help you feel good.”

Rani swallowed, her chest jerking with a ragged breath. “Okay,” she agreed, because she’d have to be utterly mad not to. And they were her mates. The only reason she’d shy away from a sexual relationship with a stranger was because she didn’t know if she could trust them. But her mates ... they couldn’t hurt her. Literally couldn’t. Like she couldn’t hurt them.

“Bedroom,” Tom said, rising and taking Rani’s hands to help her up. His eyes were aglow with excitement, his wiry body pressing close to hers, but despite the urgency in his voice—and in the hard length pressing against his jeans—he slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her with a groan.

Rani gasped, curling her fingers into his shirt and kissing him hard, need shivering through her and her body awake with sensitivity. When Eri brushed her hair aside and laid a kiss on her shoulder where her top had ridden down, it felt like he’d kissed pure nerve endings, and she shook, somehow close to climax.

She’d known mating brands could heighten sex but this was just kissing and touching. Goddess. She wondered if they felt the same, and slid her hand down Tom’s chest as her tongue moved sinuously against his—and with a shudder, he ripped his mouth from hers, the pupils of his pale blue eyes expanded.

“I need you,” he said gutturally. “Now.”

Rani nodded quickly, breathing fast, cool shivers racing down her spine as Eri’s lips continued to map her shoulder, her clit swollen and needy. “Where’s your bedroom?”

“Through here,” Nigh replied. Nigh. When had he shifted back? When had he lost his leather jacket and shirt, exposing the beautiful lines of his slim, muscular body and all those tattoos? She watched blue-violet colour burst from his mating brand before she felt her own heat up her chest, and her eyes slit shut on a groan.

Goddess. With all her brands glowing, speeding warmth and comfort and need through her at once ... she was going to lose her mind. She needed one of them inside her right now and she wasn’t too choosy about which one.

Tom dipped low, wrapping his hands around the underside of her thighs, and Rani was about to tell him not to lift her—he was as skinny as a twig and she was sure she weighed twice as much as him—but he’d already pulled her up against him, his hands firm and sure and his magic against her back to stop her falling as he walked her towards the door Nigh had opened.

Eri followed, his eyes as dark-pupiled as Tom’s, stripping clothes off as he went. His gaze never once left hers. Rani shuddered, and it had a ripple effect; Tom groaned a curse, his hips bucking against hers almost unconsciously as he walked, and Nigh grabbed the door frame of the bedroom, his knuckles white.

They wanted her. All of them.

Rani’s pussy flooded with arousal, but the logical part of her asked how the hell this would work. “Uh, guys?” she asked, and they all stopped dead wherever they were to look at her, reaching out to touch her as if she was a queen and she’d commanded them. “You’re not ... all going to ... at once? Right?”

“Whatever you want,” Eri replied, his voice scratchy and low. “Anything and everything you want, treasured mate.”

“Okay,” Rani said on an exhale. “Good. You, too. We won’t do anything you don’t want.”

A low laugh rumbled from Nigh as he kicked the door shut behind them, pulling the curtains closed opposite the bed. “I doubt that’ll be an issue, Rani.”

“But, um ... you’re brothers.”

“Exactly,” he replied, pinning her with a predatory look that made her breath catch. “We’re already used to working together. The only difference is now we’re working together to give you the biggest orgasm of your entire life.”

“Oh my Goddess,” Rani breathed, shuddering as Tom laid her down on the double bed. She barely saw the rest of the room, her eyes refusing to budge from her men. Her mates.

“Yes,” Eri agreed emphatically. “You are a goddess. And we’re going to worship every inch of you.”

Disciples

Tom’s long white hair slid over Rani’s chest as he stripped off her shirt and threw it across the room, the sensation of silken hair on skin making Rani’s eyes slide shut, a groan in the back of her throat. The groan deepened as he moved lower, scattering kisses wherever he went. Rani honestly couldn’t have said who removed her jeans, only that two pairs of hands helped unfasten and pull them over her hips, and then Tom’s hot mouth fixed to the paw print emblazoned on her thigh, his tongue sending energy pouring through her in a wave so powerful that her back arched.

“I need—” she gasped, her hips rising off the bed of their own accord.

“Hurry the fuck up, Tom,” Nigh growled, “or I’ll give her what she needs.”

Tom hissed a throaty warning and sucked her brand one last time, pulling a needy whine from Rani’s throat, before he shucked his jeans and slid her underwear down. Rani peeled her eyes open as the head of his cock nudged her pussy, but instead of plunging right inside, Tom held her gaze and teased her clit with his tip until she was squirming, drenching his length with her arousal.

“Tom,” Eri warned, sinking onto the bed beside them, his body taut as if he was holding back.

“Please,” Rani breathed, widening her thighs and bracing her hands on Tom’s hips, feverish as she pulled him closer.

With a groan of surrender, Tom drove into her, leaning over her body to mash their mouths together in a fast, desperate kiss as he slid, inch by inch, inside.

“Fuck, gorgeous.” His voice was so low and guttural it was unrecognisable. “You feel incredible.”

Nigh unleashed a snarl that made Rani shudder, and Tom smirked at his brother as he stalked closer, staring at the place where Rani and Tom met. The brand on Rani’s chest flared, and she could feel his need, could feel how jealous and furious he was that Tom was inside her and not him.

“Come here,” Rani breathed, holding out her hand. When Nigh sank onto the bed beside them—Rani nestled between him and Eri—she reached up and caught the back of his neck to pull him down for a heated kiss. A moan shuddered from her mouth into Nigh’s as Tom began to rock into her, every place he touched exploding with sparks of sensation, and that was before Eri lowered his mouth to Rani’s nipple and sucked, rolling the hard nub between his teeth.

“Goddess,” Rani breathed, sensation blurring her mind until all she could focus on was the three of them.

Tom’s hips snapped against hers, burying his cock so deep inside her that Rani saw stars with every thrust, and the climax that had been coiling in her lower belly for the past few minutes rampaged through her whole body. Her toes curled, her mouth open on a cry, and she spasmed around Tom’s cock as rush after rush of pleasure broke over her like a wave.

“Fuck,” Tom grunted, and then he was jerking against her inner walls, so deep inside her that she felt every throb.

Pleasure moved through every inch of her body as Rani melted into the mattress, thoroughly dazed, and Tom pulled out and rolled onto the bed beside her. He completely ignored Eri’s bark of complaint as he was pushed off the edge of the mattress, and caught Rani’s lips in a kiss that was languid and tender. Rani smiled as they kissed, utterly blissed out. She felt every bit of tension slide away as she relaxed into the cushions, a long breath escaping as Tom kissed her one last time and drew back.

“I should probably move. I think Eri’s ready to murder me just to get close to you,” he said with a wink, his voice all soft and throaty.

He wasn’t far wrong; cool, composed Eri looked on the edge of losing control, his breathing fast and his body so tense it should have snapped in half. The paw print on his bicep was glowing strong, leaking light all across his chest.

Rani gave a little tug through the bond, not sure if it would work, but a breath punched from Eri’s lungs and he climbed back onto the bed, covering her body completely with his. Rani groaned, his touch offering both protection and intense desire. 

Still lax with pleasure, she traced her fingertips over the brand on his bicep, feeling hard muscle and heated flesh shift beneath her touch.

“Yours,” Eri said, low in his throat, and Rani’s heart thudded in her chest. 

“Mine,” she agreed, even if it made little sense—even if she’d met him less than twenty-four hours ago. The bond between them didn’t lie; their souls were woven together. And she’d spent last night with him curled around her, after all. He was kind, caring, and protective, and Rani liked him. A lot.

Mine, her soul agreed as she kissed him, their kiss a different beast to hers and Tom’s—slower, less frantic, but just as shiver-inducing. Eri’s hands framed her waist, his fingers pressing into her skin as if he loved the feel of it beneath his hands, but instead of nudging her legs open and thrusting inside, Eri tightened his hold and rolled them over until she was on top.

“Ride me, my goddess,” he said, husky with need, his eyes—one baby blue, one deep indigo—fixed on her face even as his restless hands roamed from her heavy, aching breasts to her round stomach, to her thighs, worshipping every part of her.

“Aren’t you worried I’ll ... flatten you?” she asked, biting her lip. Some of her exes had been hesitant to have a big girl ride them. Most of them, actually.

“Not even a little bit,” Eri answered, gazing adoringly at her. “I wouldn’t care if you did. Take your pleasure from me, treasured mate.”

Rani didn’t need telling twice. Even after one orgasm, she was worked up enough to need more. Heat had faded from the paw print on her thigh—instead it radiated a sleepy affection—but the ones on her bicep and chest still blazed with lusy, and she wanted her mates as badly as they wanted her.

She pumped Eri’s cock—just slightly longer than Tom’s with a subtle curve to his shaft—and watched hunger fill his expression as she rose above him, positioned his cock at her entrance, and slowly sank down.

Eri’s fingers curled into her hips, gripping tight as the veins in his neck stood out, tight lines creasing around his eyes. “Heaven,” he groaned. “You’re heaven.”

Rani flushed with pleasure, both seeing and feeling how good it felt for Eri as she rose up over him and plunged back down on his cock, gripping the headboard above his head. She might have held onto her worry about being too heavy for Eri if his hands didn’t keep her exactly where she was, and if he didn’t look like he was—as he’d said—in utter heaven.

She was so focussed on how it felt to have him filling her, her pussy fluttering around his cock as she rode him, the curve of his length hitting spots she’d barely known existed on her inner walls, that she jumped at the feel of a hot mouth on her shoulder.

“It’s me,” Nigh growled, his rough hand sliding around her side to palm her aching breast, squeezing and adding another layer of sensation as his teeth grazed her shoulder, closely followed by the flat sweep of his tongue.

“Oh Goddess,” Rani groaned, throwing her head back and slamming down harder on Eri’s cock, desperate and wild at the feeling of both their hands on her body at once. When Eri’s left hand rose to cup her breast, Nigh still squeezing her right, Rani’s toes curled, her eyes rolling back. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she babbled, clutching Eri with one hand and frantically reaching back to touch Nigh with her other as orgasm took her again, her body frozen and taut.

“Rani,” Eri choked out as her pussy milked his cock hard, her orgasm so forceful that she lost control of her body, only Nigh’s arm around her waist holding her up. Her inner walls contracted so strongly that she practically dragged Eri’s release from him. 

“Shit,” he exhaled, his body going loose and the tension he’d been carrying all morning seeping from him.

When Rani finally came down from her climax—which took a damn long time—her heart softened at the gentle smile on Eri’s face as he gazed up at her, stroking her waist instead of gripping hard now. His short white hair was a mess, his chest sweaty, but he looked relaxed and boneless, and a sense of pride and rightness filled Rani.

His cock slipped out of her as she bent over to kiss him, and Rani couldn’t hold back her whimper at the loss. But Nigh was there instantly, a long, rolling growl shaking his chest as he took hold of her hip with one hand, positioned himself with the other, and sank into her heat with one long thrust.

“I’m too sensitive,” Rani gasped, tearing her mouth from Eri to look back at Nigh. Her pussy clenched at the darkness in his eyes, the utter need fixated on her, and her heart sped.

Dangerous, a part of her warned. Why did that make her quiver with want?

“If you seriously want to stop,” Nigh said through gritted teeth, his tattooed chest rising and falling fast as he resisted the urge to move inside her, “tell me now.”

Rani could have. Instead, she shook her head. “But ... go slow, will you?”

“Can’t,” Nigh bit out, his chin-length hair falling into his eyes as he bent to kiss her shoulder again. “Need you fast and hard.”

Rani shivered, her pussy dripping around him. She met his eyes and nodded, and Nigh didn’t waste a second, pulling his hips back and slamming into her hard enough for her to jerk forward on the bed, still suspended over Eri who seemed content to stay exactly where he was. Her hair fell around her face, her breasts bouncing as Nigh set a brutal pace, pounding into her with a relentless need, as if he wanted to meld them into one person.

How had Rani ever thought he didn’t like her? Was that really only a few hours ago?

Now she could feel exactly how much he liked her, craved her, with every wild thrust. She heard it in every grunting breath that fell from his lips. And she matched his craving with her own every time the head of his cock raked over the explosive spot inside her pussy.

“Fuck, Rani, you feel so good,” Nigh rasped. “That’s it, squeeze me tight just like that. Just like that, Rani, that’s my girl.”

Rani shuddered and fell apart, her fingers clawing at the headboard, clawing at Eri beneath her ... and Nigh didn’t stop for a second. He just bent his body over her, his chest flush to her back, and thrust fast and frantic, groans pouring from him. Most of them were some form of her name.

Rani grabbed fistfuls of the sheets as her body overloaded with sensation, too much too soon, and she shook. But Eri cupped her face and brought her mouth to his as Nigh fucked her desperately, chasing his release with relentless focus. Comfort and affection rushed through her as Eri kissed her, mixing with the wild need she could feel from Nigh, as if he’d die if he didn’t keep filling her.

“Rani,” Nigh gasped, her name scraping up his throat. He wrapped himself around her, a feverishly hot weight, and Rani grabbed his forearm braced beside her head, holding on tight, instinct telling her he needed her to touch him. “Fuck, Rani,” he groaned, and came hard. He clung to her until he stopped jerking and grunting, stilling inside her with a kiss dropped on her shoulder.

Rani shook, somewhere between utterly satisfied and needy, close to the edge again after his frantic fucking.

“I’ve got you, love,” Tom said with a flash of a smile, reaching between her and Eri. And while Nigh was still sheathed fully inside her, Tom circled her clit until she climaxed one last time.

Lax and exhausted, Rani collapsed to the bed beside Eri, sighing with contentment as he pulled her close until her head rested on his shoulder, Tom curling up against her from behind, and Nigh throwing an arm over Eri to touch her.

Rani planned to ask what this meant, if it was a one-time thing or an every night thing, but she fell asleep before a single word formed on her lips, all three of her brands radiating satisfaction and sweet affection.

Options

Rani woke groggily, a heavy weight around her middle and warmth all around her. She groaned, rubbing her eyes, and all at once remembered the wild, intense sex. Burying her face in the pillow as a blush heated her face, she recalled all the things they’d done to her, and all the things she’d done to them.

The memories were delicious and sexy as sin, but in the light of day—or rather the bright orange glow of sunset—she was filled with worry and questions.

The arm around her waist tightened, a hiss fanning the hair on her nape. “Shut up, woman.”

Well. At least that answered the question of who was holding her.

“I didn’t say anything,” Rani muttered to Nigh, turning her head to scowl at him.

His eyes were still closed, his rugged face relaxed and blue veins standing out on his eyelids. Blonde strands of hair fell into his face and Rani was filled with the sudden urge to tuck them behind his ear. She resisted, uncertainty staying her fingers.

“I can feel you fretting,” he muttered, his hand sliding along her back and raising goosebumps because of course she was still naked. “So I’ll give you two options: you can talk about whatever’s bothering you, or open your legs so I can turn your brain to mush.”

Rani barked a surprised laugh. “Those are my only options?”

“Those are good options,” he replied gruffly, opening an eye to glare at her, his iris such a vivid indigo, the same colour as his eyes in cat form. “I don’t put up with many people talking to me, and I don’t remember the last time I went down on a woman.”

Rani couldn’t help but smirk, a soft laugh escaping. “You really do like me.”

“That’s what I said.” He rolled Rani onto her back, looming over her braced on his elbows, their naked bodies sliding against each other with tantalising friction. Goddess he was sexy, all gruff charm and tattooed muscle. “What’s your choice?”

“Um,” Rani said, swallowing and meeting his eyes. “Can I have both? The second one now, and then the first later, with all of you.”

Nigh shrugged his big shoulders, a sharp grin curling one side of his lips. “Works for me.”

Rani squirmed as he moved down her body, making sure he touched every part of her as he slid between her legs. His hands caught her behind her knees and spread her, a barely audible growl in the back of his throat.

“Mine,” he hissed and dove his tongue into her pussy, feasting like a starved man.

Rani’s head fell back against the pillow, a gasp torn from her as he flicked her clit with his tongue before thrusting it inside her, swirling in a way that made a moan catch in her throat.

“Fuck, you taste good,” he said in a low voice, his eyes darting up to meet hers. He held that eye contact as he licked from her dripping entrance, through her sensitive labia, to the bundle of explosive nerve endings, sucking it into his mouth so hard that Rani’s body jerked at the spike of pleasure-pain. “I could get addicted to your taste,” he rumbled, squeezing her thighs with rough hands as he licked at her, fast and feverish, sending her spiralling towards release within a scant few minutes.

“I could get—used to this, too,” she gasped, her toes curling as euphoria built and built. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded, grabbing the back of his head and twisting her fingers in his pale hair.

“You coming for me?” Nigh asked, his voice so low and thick with dark desire that her body broke out in cold shivers.

She nodded fast.

Nigh growled, his fingers leaving imprints in her skin as he flicked his rigid tongue against her clit, over and over. “My name,” he demanded, guttural. “I want to hear my name when you come, Rani.”

“Fuck,” she breathed, mostly whimpering now as her toes curled tight. “Nigh,” she gasped, and then her mouth flew open, her eyes rolled back, and her pussy clenched quivered.

The long growl he let out vibrated through her clit and sent her orgasm into another stratosphere, and her thighs clenched around his head as she shook hard.

Rani wasn’t sure how long she trembled with aftershocks, her mind blurred with the pleasure as Nigh had promised, before she fell back against the mattress. “Sorry,” she rasped, letting her legs fall to the bed.

Nigh chuckled, long and slow. “Nothing to apologise for, Rani.” He rose over her, kissing her sweetly, a total surprise after the ferocity with which he’d just brought her to orgasm. “I’m happy to die suffocated by my woman’s thighs.” He squeezed her knee, sliding a slow, tantalising touch upward. “Your legs are to die for.”

Rani laughed weakly. She’d always thought they were a bit wide at the top, her ass too big.

“Not joking,” he added, bending to suck her pulse point into his mouth.

Her inner walls fluttered at the feel of his mouth on her neck and she groaned, shoving at his shoulders. “I can’t take any more, you insatiable caveman.”

Nigh snorted, sitting up but still running his hands over her thighs as if he really did think they were to die for. Rani flushed, but her stomach fluttered with a different, softer sort of pleasure. “We’ll see how long that lasts. I give you an hour. Tops.”

He placed a kiss on the curve of her belly and sighed. “Do we have to talk now? Emotional stuff?”

“Yep,” she agreed, smiling at his surly expression. “I need to ... to know where I stand with ... all of this. And I want to talk to all of you about it.”

Nigh shrugged, laying another kiss on her stomach. “There’s not much to talk about, Rani. We’re yours for life. Do you want to shower first?”

Rani blinked at the abrupt subject change, but she noticed the slight pink flush on his cheeks as he shoved off the bed. “Yes, please.”

Nigh nodded, his hands catching her waist as she climbed out of bed even though she wasn’t wobbly on her feet. Rani liked how tactile he was; it made her feel all warm and wanted. The opposite of how she’d felt standing on the doorstep of her home as her mum rolled a pink suitcase full of her things down the hallway.

“I’ll get Tom to help you,” Nigh said, but he looked kind of sulky about the offer. “I’ve monopolised your time long enough.”

“Nigh,” Rani said with a smile as he headed for the door. “Thank you.”

His glare softened, and for the first time she saw a genuine smile cross his face. Not a smirk or a grin—a smile. It made her heart go impossibly soft. “You’re welcome, Rani.”

He vanished into the kitchen/living room and Rani sagged against the end of the bed, a big smile on her face.

She had a lot of reasons to be worried and sad—and quite frankly terrified—but all she felt in that moment was gratitude that she had her mates.

Bombshell

Tom helped her shower but kept his hands to himself—mostly. Every time they began to wander—usually over her ass, which he seemed to be enthralled by—she raised an eyebrow or gave him a stern look, and he shrugged with a dazzling grin.

“You can’t blame me for trying, love. What man wouldn’t want your gorgeous body under his hands?”

Rani rolled her eyes, blushing to her roots. Damn these men and making her blush all the time. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Yep,” Tom agreed with a shameless grin, getting out of the cubicle and offering Rani a hand to help her over the lip of the shower. That was another thing she’d noticed: these men would take any opportunity to touch her. She ought to have felt embarrassed or at least uncomfortable with their attention—they’d only met yesterday after all—but she loved it. She felt like she’d been waiting for this all her life. “Sure I can’t tempt you?” Tom asked, putting his hands on his hips to draw her attention to his bobbing cock.

Rani glanced up quickly, laughing. “We can’t just have sex all the time.”

“I don’t see why not,” Tom replied, baffled. “Sex is amazing.”

“Well...” Rani said, drying herself with a towel Tom hurried to pass to her when she went to reach for it herself. “Yeah. Definitely,” she agreed with a laugh as she thought of all four of them in the bed earlier. “But I want to talk to the three of you about this. It’s all so new and ... overwhelming. And, um, your father—I want to know if I’m in danger.”

“Never,” Tom replied emphatically, his icy eyes flashing as he rushed closer, wrapping his arms around her over the towel. “We won’t let anything happen to you.” His voice was little more than a low growl. “You don’t have to worry about Orion, I promise you.”

Rani froze.

She took a quick step back, and then with that name echoing in her ears, she turned and fled through the bedroom next door and out into the communal area. Orion. Their father was called Orion. And he had midnight magic. And he seemed intent on her.

Because he wanted to absorb her magic for the ritual to raise his wife from the dead.

Exactly as Orion Child had fifteen years ago.

That man ... that monster who’d almost compelled her to leave with him in Richmond had been the terror that cat society still didn’t talk about. He’d killed twelve people! 

And Rani’s mates were ... his sons.

“Rani?” Eri asked, concerned as she burst into the living room. He rose from the sofa where he’d been sat reading, but he froze halfway as Rani narrowed her eyes on him.

“Your father, Dark Star,” she breathed, fear making her hands shake. “Is he Orion Child? The Orion Child who kidnapped felines, drained all their power, and murdered them fifteen years ago?”

Eri sighed, his shoulders sinking and his mismatched eyes full of sadness and pain. “Yes.”

“You didn’t tell me,” she accused.

“We didn’t want to scare you,” Tom said from behind her, though he kept his distance, a black towel slung low on his narrow hips. “You were already hurting because of your exile, and scared because of Dark Star’s magic. If you knew he was Orion Child...”

“I’d what? Run a mile?” Rani barked a laugh, her breathing spiralling. “Of course I would! He’s ... he’s a maniac. A psychopath and a serial killer.”

“But we’re not,” Tom replied, and hurt flashed through the brand on her thigh.

Rani shook her head, not sure what to think. She knew they weren’t a danger to her—they literally couldn’t hurt her thanks to their bonds. But they were strangers, men she’d met less than twenty-four hours ago, and no amount of orgasms could change that. Did she trust them? She wasn’t sure she could answer yes or no, not decisively. “You lied to me.”

“More of an omission,” Tom tried to joke, smiling crookedly, but it fell back into a frown when Rani’s expression didn’t change. His eyes were big and sad, puppy eyes that cut right to her soul. “I’m sorry, Rani.”

She wanted to forgive him, but she couldn’t—not instantly, without processing this. “I need time to think,” she said to him, to Eri.

Closing her eyes, Rani reached for the part of her deep down that controlled her shifter form, and tugged on it. Tingles broke over her skin and her eyes flew open as she shrank, falling to the floor where she landed nimbly on four feet. It was disorienting but not painful this time around.

She didn’t waste any time, jumping onto the kitchen counter and then up to the lowest beam before climbing higher. Tom was right; they did have great high ceilings and rafters in this flat. She navigated them easily, almost without having to think about her steps, and curled up in a dark corner. Alone with her thoughts.

Orion Child

I know you’re angry, Nigh said, hours later, padding along the beam towards her on cat-light feet and startling her with his voice inside her head. But I brought you a mouse.

Rani’s heart skipped in her chest, her stomach both rumbling and filling with butterflies. Her anger had faded now, leaving her with a heavy sadness that they hadn’t told her the full truth—and the suffocating fear that Orion Child would come to kill her so her midnight magic could empower his ritual.

And Eri poured you a saucer of milk, Nigh went on, creeping stealthily closer. And Tom saved you the comfiest spot on the sofa, right by the fire.

Rani sighed. That all sounded amazing. Except for the mouse. She hadn’t been in her cat form long enough to feel okay with eating a small, furry body or raw meat.

I’ll get you something else, Nigh said urgently, spitting out the mouse and jumping from the tallest beam to the floor of the apartment. Rani’s heart lurched into her throat and she peered over the beam to watch him plummet. But he landed perfectly on four paws and then pushed up to two feet, rushing to the fridge and pulling out ingredients in human form.

Rani stretched out her limbs with a yawn, arching her back as she rose to her black paws. She stepped over the mouse on the beam and made her way down to floor level, eyeing both Eri and Tom who were pretending not to watch her while tracking her every movement.

She reached for that inner shifting magic and, after a couple fumbled attempts, rose from a crouch into human form, momentarily distracted by the fact that she was a) magically clothed despite shifting, and b) only wearing a towel. At some point Tom had got dressed.

“So,” she said awkwardly as Nigh began furiously whisking milk and eggs in a bowl. “I’ve thought about it, and I’m not angry anymore. I’m just ... disappointed that you didn’t tell me.”

Tom groaned.

Eri’s shoulders sank, his eyes dropping to the floor. “We should have.”

“What good would telling you have done?” Nigh barked over the din of egg whisking. “You’d have only been scared of him, Rani. And of us.”

Rani blinked, sensing nervousness in him, and a fine edge of dread. “I was never scared of you. You’re my mates.” All their eyes shot to her and she sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I mean it. I was just taken off guard, and scared of him. I’m still scared of him, actually.”

Eri cautiously approached, and when Rani didn’t back away, he wrapped her up in his arms and rested his chin atop her head. “We shouldn’t have kept it secret. I’m sorry, treasured mate.”

“Don’t be an idiot, woman,” Nigh muttered, harshly chopping peppers and onion and throwing them into the egg and milk mixture. “Nobody’s getting to you. They’d have to go through all three of us.”

Rani smiled at his surly protectiveness, but she froze as a different voice replied, “I’d rather not, but if I must...”

A tornado of black mist surrounded her and Eri, and Tom ducked into the glittering swarm as Nigh stepped forward, the omelette forgotten and his expression dark with warning and violence. The magic was his, Rani told herself as panic gripped her lungs tight, not Dark Star’s. Not Orion Child’s. She was safe in the inky whirlwind.

Rani stared at the man in the doorway to the flat, Orion leaning casually against the doorjamb in a long dark coat with his fair hair blowing around his face in a phantom wind. All six locks were broken, Eri’s net of magic in tatters.

Goddess, he looked so much like her mates. How had she not seen it? His irises were almost black, but she met his smiling eyes and saw that they were a very deep sapphire. His pale hair wasn’t as short as Eri’s or as long as Tom’s but it was the same exact shade as all of theirs. He even had the same jawline.

And this was Orion Child. Notorious serial killer. Nemesis of cat shifter society. A horror story.

The father of her mates—and the man who had tried to kidnap her once before. And almost succeeded.

Rani shook in Eri’s arms, her fingers digging into his forearm as it banded across her waist.

“There’s no need for that,” Orion sighed, eyeing Nigh’s magic storm. “I’ve only come to talk to Rani.” He peered around Eri to give her a smile, and Rani strained towards him eagerly as everything but him blurred out of focus. “Hello, sweet Rani.”

“Hi,” Rani replied, her voice soft as a smile crossed her face. She couldn’t remember why she’d been afraid of him; he was charming and nice. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“No,” Nigh barked, and the dark wind pressed closer to her, a tendril stroking her cheek. “Fight it, Rani, he’s charming you.”

Orion sighed, his handsome face lined with hurt. “You always think the worst of me. I only want to talk to your mate. I’m not going to hurt her.”

“You must understand,” Eri replied, calm and diplomatic, “why we find that hard to believe after everything we’ve witnessed.”

Dark Star’s eyes softened, and Rani believed the sadness was genuine. “I can never make up for what happened.”

“What happened.” Tom’s voice lashed across the apartment, his body tense as a bowstring beside Rani. “It wasn’t just a one-time thing, Dad, you killed people! Lots of people!”

“Don’t you want your mother back?” Orion replied, taking a step into the apartment and not seeming to care that Nigh’s magic lashed at his chest, trying to push him back. It had no effect. “Wouldn’t you kill to see her again? To hear her laugh?”

Rani’s heart ached with sympathy. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine the pain you must be in.”

Orion’s dark eyes locked on hers, and she could almost feel his agony. The thought of losing any of her mates, like he’d lost his, made torture spike in all her brands. The guys winced and—and a spear of midnight magic hurtled from Dark Star’s raised hands right for Rani, so blindingly fast that it left a streak of shadow in the air, like an inverse light trail.

Eri tried to turn Rani to avoid the blow, but it was too late; it went clean through her ribs, shocking a gasp from her lips. It felt like cool water spread through her insides, but it didn’t hurt. No pain exploded through her body. Not even discomfort.

But the guys acted as if she’d been shot.

“No,” Tom shouted, grabbing hold of Rani’s arm as she took a step out of the dark whirlwind, fighting Eri’s hold in an attempt to cross the apartment. The spear of night became a lasso around her body, tugging her into sudden movement. She needed to get across the flat. Needed to, or she would die.

“Let her go,” Tom gasped as her hand connected with his stomach in her bid to escape. “Please, Dad, please.”

“I just want to talk to her,” Orion said with a reassuring smile. “Come here, sweet Rani.”

The lasso tightened and Rani was tugged across the apartment with a force so strong that her mates couldn’t fight it. She nearly tripped, but she made it to Dark Star by the door. Not even Nigh’s whirlwind could hold her back as Dark Star dialled up his smile to a dazzling brightness.

“There,” Orion said, smiling as she came close enough to touch. He caught her hand and squeezed, his eyes crinkled with genuine affection as the rope around her middle relaxed, leaving Rani pleasantly woozy. “Isn’t that better? Now boys, don’t try to follow us, or I’ll rip your mate into pieces.”

A distraught sound echoed across the flat. Eri. Or Tom—or Nigh, she couldn’t tell.

A faraway part of Rani wanted to rip herself out of from Dark Star’s grasp ... but she was so comforted and warm here, so perfectly content. It felt like she was floating in the world’s most perfect bath, with candles everywhere and a glass of wine in her hand, the scent of lilacs and roses all around her. Why would she ever fight? She couldn’t remember. Already the words Dark Star had spoken were floating out of her mind.

Orion tucked her into his side and gave her a beatific smile, and Rani’s heart fluttered. She rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh, her whole body relaxed and her mind blissfully empty of all anxieties.

“You’re not taking her,” someone said, their voice twisted with pain and grief, and Rani’s floaty happiness was obliterated as pain lashed through the brand on her upper arm.

Her knees went out from under her as agony built and built, a scream tearing from her mouth as she curled over herself on the floor. It hurt so much, in every part of her body, until she was gasping sobs and pleading for help.

“Eri,” Dark Star said, sounding surprised, almost apologetic.

“Get. Out,” Nigh snarled, his body covering Rani’s, wrapping entirely around her. The pain flickered out for a split second but then it returned so much worse, bad enough that Rani would do anything for it to stop, “Out.”

“He can’t,” Tom said urgently. “Eri needs the antidote. Dad, please—”

Orion straightened, his shadow falling over Rani. She daren’t look up, curling tighter into a ball as pain continued to blaze through her body from the brand on her bicep. Her head was still woozy, but in a moment of clarity she pieced together what had happened: Eri had attempted to save her.

God, what had Dark Star done to Eri? Was he gravely injured? Was he ... no, that didn’t bear thinking about. 

“You know where I live,” he said smoothly, the surprise and regret fading from his voice. “If you want the antidote for your brother, bring Rani to me. But you’ll need to act quickly, my venom will have reached his heart within forty-eight hours.”

Venom. Act quickly. Forty-eight hours.

Those words echoed in Rani’s ears, a loud roaring in her blood that drowned out even the pain in her brand. With her teeth gritted and her eyes blazing, her body shaking with barely-contained rage, Rani pushed to her knees, then stumbled to her feet. Nigh never once let go of her, letting her lean against him for stability.

Rani didn’t know what she planned to do, only that her magic was building and she would unleash all of it on Orion Child until he healed her mate.

Power rose with the force of a tidal wave, and Rani’s hand curled into a fist instinctively. A tendril of midnight magic snapped out from her palm, like part of Nigh’s whirlwind. No, not like that. It wasn’t wind and shadow. It was a slice of night sky, blackest black with silver stars.

As the magic coiled at her feet, a handle pooled in her fist, and Rani realised it was a whip. A whip formed of purest night.

Without hesitating, Rani reared it back, mindful of her mates, and snapped it across the flat at Orion Child. It wrapped around his neck, fatally tight, and she yanked it even tighter, nothing but cool, uncompromising will and death in her eyes. “Heal him.”

She didn’t know where this person was coming from, this badass bitch, except Rani was furious and terrified and her shakiness had somehow transmuted into lethal stillness. “Now.”

Dark Star met her eyes, and there was no consideration for his poisoned son as he grinned, big and wide and victorious. “You are glorious.”

And just as Rani began to wind her whip of night suffocatingly tight, willing to do whatever it took to heal her mate, he vanished. Just ... vanished, leaving nothing but specks of darkness in his wake. Those too faded, and Rani slumped against Nigh as her strength sapped from her in a cruel rush, the whip slipping from her fingers and winking out of existence.

“Eri,” she gasped, her vision going dark. Because of the magic she’d drawn on, or because her mate was dying?

Nigh spun her in his arms, squeezing her tight as his chest shook with jagged breaths. “Rani,” he breathed, his hands moving over her body, her face, touching her anywhere he could to reassure himself she was still in one piece, still breathing. “Shit, we nearly lost you, woman.”

“Eri,” Rani repeated, tilting as dizziness swam through her.

“Here,” Eri replied, strained and clearly in pain, but Rani sobbed in relief. She hadn’t expected to hear his voice, maybe not ever again. She peeled her eyelids apart and turned, supported by Nigh, until she could see Eri propped against the base of the sofa with Tom leant over him, both of them paler than usual. Eri had three deep slashes in his face, oozing crimson blood and inky darkness.

Rani’s bottom lip wobbled, tears spilling free. Even dizzy and in pain, she was thinking straight enough to know one thing for sure. “I have to go to him. I have to save you.”

“No,” Eri argued, weak but somehow forceful. His eyes slid shut, but he peeled them open with effort. “No, Rani. I need you safe.”

Nigh’s arms tightened around her waist, echoing the sentiment.

“I need you safe,” Rani replied in a small, broken voice. “I don’t care that I’ve only known you a day. You’re my mate. I’m supposed to protect you. So let me.”

Eri groaned, his eyes closing. “Please, treasured mate. You don’t know what he’s like.”

“No.” She swallowed, a bout of dizziness and pain rushing through the brand. “But I know you. I know you’re kind and generous and always taking care of us. You’re a good person; you don’t deserve to die. And I don’t want you to die for me.”

“You’re in no shape to go anywhere,” Tom pointed out quietly, propping Eri up as he swayed. “You need to sleep, love. Recover from expending so much magic at once, not to mention so soon after your ceremony.”

Rani’s heart ached. “Please.”

She couldn’t find her way to Dark Star without their help, not in her current state.

“Sleep,” Nigh rumbled, bending down and knocking her legs out from under her, catching her up against his chest. “Eri needs sleep too, you can share the bed while we make a plan.”

Rani peered up at him, only able to see a slice of his strong jaw and fierce expression as he crossed the room. “A plan?”

Nigh sighed, glancing down at her with pain in his indigo eyes. “For getting you in and out of Dark Star’s house safely. You’re right, we need to save Eri. But we can’t risk you without a solid plan.” His lips brushed her forehead. He was so sweet and gentle that for a second, Rani didn’t recognise this Nigh. But then he placed her on the bed and she made to sit back up, and he growled. Pushing her back into the mattress, he aggressively tucked her in. “Sleep, woman. Recover your magic. We’ll need it if we’re going to get the antidote.”

Rani scowled, but dizziness and pain rocked her again and she gasped at the force of it.

“Here you go,” Tom said, with forced cheer, supporting Eri over to the bed and lowering him to the mattress. “One teddy bear for you to cuddle. Or ... pussy cat, I suppose.”

Rani smiled. She appreciated the attempt to lighten the mood, even if she was cut up with worry. When Eri inhaled sharply as he pulled the covers up over himself, Rani rolled over, dizziness be damned, and did it for him, tucking them close around him and cuddling close.

“You’re going to be fine,” she whispered, kissing his shoulder and then the brand on his bicep, glowing blue-violet and sky blue. “I promise.”

Eri didn’t reply; he was already asleep.

“You’d better come up with a good plan,” Rani said, swallowing the lump in her throat as she looked to Tom and Nigh, both of them staring at their unconscious brother. “None of us can afford to lose him.”

Tom just stared, his shoulders curled inward.

“Trust us,” Nigh insisted, giving her a pointed look. “Sleep.”

Rani decided to take his advice—which was completely different than obeying his command—and rolled back over, curling up close to Eri.

It took her several hours to fall asleep, too afraid that he’d slip away while she slept.

Blueprints

Rani didn’t feel particularly well rested when she woke up hours later, the sky dark outside the bedroom window. She’d slept through the whole day, but at least she wasn’t dizzy when she stood. She’d slept off Dark Star’s compulsion, and her magic, it seemed, had repaired itself. Or recharged like a battery—she didn’t really know how it worked.

She left Eri in bed, pale but still breathing, and padded out into the big room, finding Tom and Nigh still awake and poring over what looked alarmingly like blueprints.

Rani made a beeline for the kettle and flicked it on, needing caffeine if she was going to get through anything that involved plans. She’d told them to find a way for her to get Eri the cure, but this was already more complex than anything she could have come up with herself.

“Rani,” Tom said, jumping off the couch and hurrying over to her, pulling her into a tight hug as he rubbed up and down her back. Rani sighed, melting into the touch as her eyes fluttered shut. “Feeling any better, gorgeous?”

Rani nodded against his shoulder. “A bit. Are you okay? You and Nigh? Did Dark Star hurt you? I was so focussed on Eri—”

“We’re fine,” Tom assured her, pulling back to give her a grin. “It’d take a bit more than a lance of midnight magic to take us down.”

“A lance?” Rani frowned, flattening her hands against his lower back as she held onto him, staring up into his icy blue eyes. “That’s what he used?”

She remembered the dark spear Orion had shot at her.

Tom nodded, tracing the line of her jaw with a knuckle. “He tried to send them at us, but he couldn’t get past Nigh’s wind. It’s how he snared you; he charmed you, and grabbed you with it like a harpoon.”

Rani chewed her bottom lip, jumping out of her skin at the snap of the kettle button when it finished boiling. She held tighter to Tom, instinct making her press close, knowing she was safe with him. She drew short, shallow breaths, his scent twining with the oxygen that expanded her lungs until she calmed, feeling silly for jumping at shadows.

“We won’t let anything bad happen to you,” Tom promised quietly, seriously. He feathered a kiss over her cheekbone and warmth bled from the brand on her thigh, their bond surging with strength and affection.

“I know,” Rani murmured. She might not have known them long enough to trust them a hundred percent, but she was eighty percent there. “And I won’t let anything bad happen to you, either,” she insisted, peering up at him. “I promise.”

Tom’s blue eyes softened. His hand slid along her cheek, cupping her face, and he kissed her, all softness and promise. It wasn’t what she’d expect from a mischievous cat like Tom, but it was perfect, and exactly what she needed. Her hands fisted in the back of Tom’s shirt, her chest pressed to his, and she kissed him harder, faster, coaxing a moan from the back of his throat.

She was aware, through the brand on her chest, of Nigh watching them, and it only made her body burn brighter with heat, a shiver moving down her spine.

When Tom picked her up, her legs wrapped around his waist and her tea long forgotten, Rani expected to be set on the worktop or the table. Instead, Tom walked her over to the sofa and spun her until she leant over the back, her ass in the air. She was still dressed in the towel from this morning so her backside was exposed, and cold licked down the backs of her thighs.

“Hello, Rani,” Nigh said with a slow grin from the sofa she’d been thrown over. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Rani just made impatient grabby gestures until he moved close enough for her to take his face in her hands and kiss him, harder and faster than she’d kissed Tom, something about Nigh bringing out the dark depths ofneed in her.

Tom ran his hands up the backs of her thighs, making her jump in surprise. He squeezed her ass, and a low groan came from the back of his throat. Rani couldn’t have said exactly how she recognised the meaning of that sound, some instinctive cat part of her, but she knew exactly what it meant. One simple word. Mine.

Rani’s pussy pulsed. She started to pull back, guilt slicing through her at the three of them being sexual without Eri, but Nigh’s fingers wrapped around her hair. He met her eyes and said, “Let us give you what you need, woman. You’ll feel better, and you’ll be stronger.” He kissed her roughly, stealing her breath. “And then we can go get Eri’s antidote.”

Rani couldn’t argue with that. The brands on her thigh and chest blazed, light bleeding from the twin paw prints as she and Nigh kissed again, needy and gasping, their teeth knocking together as they became more desperate.

Tom ran a finger from her asshole all the way to her clit and Rani tore away from Nigh’s mouth with a gasp, moaning as Tom circled her bundle of nerves and sent frissons of bliss through her. The sofa back was digging into her stomach, but Rani didn’t care one bit as warmth and pleasure replaced hurt and worry, washing away her fears.

Nigh caught her mouth again, his fingers tight in her blonde hair and possessiveness racing down the bond to Rani. She kissed him back with frantic need, but she was only half conscious of him sucking hard on her tongue, the rest of her awareness focussed on Tom’s fingers working her closer and closer to orgasm, her body given entirely to his will.

“Tom,” Rani gasped as he increased the pace of his fingers, her clit swelling and aching as he pushed her right to the edge. Her hands went lax on Nigh’s cheeks as her eyes rolled back and her body shook, orgasm tearing through her in waves, each one stealing more and more brain function until she was left empty and euphoric.

Nigh kissed her cheek, brushing away hair that had fallen into her face as she blinked, the room coming back into focus. “You’re fucking stunning.”

Rani laughed breathily. “Thanks.”

“Lift up,” he said, a ring of command in his voice, but Rani was too bleary to figure out what he meant until he and Tom lifted her off the sofa anyway. Nigh slid a cushion between her stomach and the hard sofa back, and Rani’s heart went to mush. They knew about her discomfort, and to have them caring for her ... it poked some vulnerable place in her until her eyes stung.

“The towel has to go,” Tom said, tugging at the place it was secured to her body. Rani huffed a laugh and helped him get rid of it, stretching her arms in front of her and arching her back, her body still pleasantly lax.

“If you knelt in front of me,” Rani said to Nigh with a mischievous smile, “I could probably reach you. With my mouth.”

His indigo eyes darkened, his pupils dilating as he got to his feet, unbuckling his belt and kicking off his jeans and underwear in one fell swoop. Rani was right; when he knelt on the sofa, his hard cock bobbing in front of her, Rani leant her head forward and closed her lips around his tip, his low groan making her feel ... sexy.

Tom’s lips brushed over her shoulder, a searing point of heat that made her sigh through her nose, and then another kiss met the tip of her spine, then another lower down. He kissed the arch of her back as he teased the head of his cock through her dripping folds; she sucked hard on Nigh’s cock as Tom teased her clit, sending sparks through her body and making her inner walls contract.

Any worries she had were far away as Tom nudged at her entrance, his hands curling into her hips as he thrust inside, shallow at first, letting her get used to the feeling of him stretching her, and then sinking deeper.

Rani grabbed Nigh’s thighs and dug her fingers in, needing to hold onto something as Tom rocked his hips against her ass, the position helping his cock hit spots so deep that Rani gasped a curse around Nigh’s cock.

She didn’t care that her ass must have looked massive with her bent over, or that every thrust sent quivers like earthquakes through her thighs; all she cared about was the promise of more pleasure, just out of reach. Every thrust, every groan from Nigh’s throat, and every hot, open mouthed kiss Tom placed on her spine sent her racing closer to release.

Rani found that she loved Tom’s hands pressing deep into her hips, Nigh’s fingers gripping tight to her hair as his grunts and groans came faster, louder. She liked their roughness, and sucked Nigh harder, writhing against Tom’s cock as he let out a string of vulgar words and fucked her fast, without restraint.

Tom’s fast pace sent her headfirst into orgasm, and Rani’s lips clamped around Nigh’s cock, her body bucking. Nigh gripped her hair tight as he came in her mouth, Rani swallowing on instinct as he gasped a shuddering cry.

As aftershocks rippled through her inner walls, Tom thrust deep and groaned, twitching inside her. His hands slid between her stomach and the cushion, his arms wrapping around her as he stilled, nuzzling the back of her neck. Rani smiled

After a moment, Nigh pulled out of her mouth, caressing her cheek with his thumb and bending to lay a kiss on her forehead. “Come here, Rani, you’ve been bent over there for too long.”

Rani groaned, not coherent enough for words yet.

“I’m not moving,” Tom muttered, clinging to her.

“Fine, you can both move. Lay her down on the sofa.”

Rani allowed herself to be maneuvered onto the couch, snuggling close to Tom as he stretched out behind her, his arms around her. She only moved when Nigh lifted her head to set a pillow beneath her.

He sat on the floor with his back to the sofa, close enough for Rani to be able to reach him. She found herself tracing the tattoos on his neck and shoulders, painting abstract designs on his body as she floated back to earth.

“What are the blueprints for?” she asked, many minutes later when Tom had fallen asleep.

“They’re for you, actually,” Nigh replied, turning to look at her. Something about him was different, less snarly, as if his edges had softened. “You need to memorise them. As soon as you can map three exit routes from memory, we’re breaking into Dark Star’s house.”

And just like that, herstomach knotted. But she carefully sat up, trying not to wake Tom, and asked, “Where do I begin?”

The Things We Want

The house where Orion Child—or Dark Star, as he went by now—lived, and where Rani’s mates had grown up, was in Oxford, on the riverbanks overlooking a castle-city that most residents of the human city didn’t know existed. It had been abandoned for years, but something—Rani wasn’t sure what—had happened to bring it back to life, and it was being renovated. Any demolished buildings were being rebuilt, and people were moving back into homes that had been empty for too many years.

“We used to have a house there,” Tom told her, his arm around her waist. “Our family, I mean. But our grandparents moved away before we were born. I wonder if we’ll get the house back now the city’s inhabited again.”

“I doubt it,” Nigh muttered, scowling at the dawn-lit castle-city. It looked like a mountain in the middle of the river, with curtain walls spiralling from the base to the castle at the very top of it, church spires and dark roofs poking above the walls at random intervals. It was the prettiest city Rani had ever seen, and she’d lived in Richmond all her life. “That’s not what we’re here for anyway.”

Rani swallowed, turning away from the castle-city and focussing instead on the ivy-covered terrace house rising three stories above them. Iron gates enclosed a small garden, and warm amber light spilled through the lower windows onto the front step. It looked inviting. Not the sort of place a psychopath murderer might live. Except one did.

“Remember the layout?” Nigh asked, bending down to look her sternly in the eye.

Rani nodded, swallowing her nerves. “And I know three exit routes, like you said.”

“Don’t, whatever you do—” Tom began.

Rani finished, “Let him herd me into the basement. I know.”

They’d gone over this countless times during the dark hours of night. Rani was tired, but she was energised, and she was ready to fight for her mate. No way did Dark Star get to hurt Eri and use him as leverage to get what he wanted. Not happening.

But Rani had to make him think it was happening.

Nigh pulled her into the shadow of a tall tree and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her with fierce, bruising passion. “I hate this,” he muttered with a scowl, the leather of his jacket rustling as he tugged her closer. “But,” he added, when she opened her mouth to argue that this was the only way it would work, “I know you’re right. You have to go in alone.”

Tom’s hand slid along her back and he turned her towards him, his long blonde hair brushing her cheeks as he kissed her too, deep and slow until Rani’s body began to tingle. “Reach for us if you’re in trouble. Push emotion into your brands or tug on the bond, anything.” He kissed the tip of her nose, his pale blue eyes full of worry instead of his usual mischief. “I’m sorry you’re messed up in this, gorgeous.”

Rani shook her head. “I’m not. I’m glad I found you. I wasn’t expecting three mates,” she said with a laugh, “and definitely not three brothers, or three cats, but ... I like you. All of you. And I’m not going to let your father hurt Eri.”

Kill Eri she didn’t dare to say, but the words hung between them anyway.

She rolled onto her tiptoes and kissed Nigh, then Tom, one last time, drawing a deep breath and feeling something in her settle as their scents filled her lungs: woodsy bergamot from Tom and amber and musk from Nigh.

“Nigh,” she said with a smile as he began to go over the details of their plan again, his hands firm on her waist. “I’ve got this. Trust me.”

He didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded and released her. “Call for us and we’ll come and get you.”

“I know,” Rani replied, and she did. One sign of distress from her, and her mates would burst in and save her. “I’m going to be fine.”

It was a mantra she echoed to herself as she walked away from them, the reassuring smile slipping off her face as she opened the iron gate and approached the house, sweat pricking her back and her hands shaking. She wished her sister was here beside her with an intensity that took her off guard. Rani would feel a lot safer with Nell here; she had once broken a boy’s nose just because he snickered at Rani tripping over an uneven pavement. There was no doubt she could break Orion Child’s nose, too.

But ... he had midnight magic. Maybe even Nell wouldn’t be able to take him on. But Rani could. She had her own midnight magic, she had her mates as backup, and she had enough blazing anger to spirit her across the last few steps between her and the door.

Taking a deep breath, Rani lifted her fist and rapped on the green wood with her knuckles.

It only took a few seconds for someone to answer.

“Sweet Rani,” Dark Star said with a charming grin as he swung the door open, his eyes glowing with delight. “I knew you’d come to see me. Alone are you?”

Rani nodded, fighting a shiver. “I want the antidote.”

“I know you do,” he replied softly, sadly, and beckoned her inside.

Rani stepped over the threshold, her heart beating fast and hard, her instincts blaring in warning.

“But we don’t always get the things we want,” he finished and locked the door behind her.

Circles of Power

The shirt Rani had borrowed from Nigh before they left was well and truly stuck to her back as Dark Star made a dismissive gesture at the front door and spears of inky magic criss-crossed over it. Trapping her inside.

“It wasn’t particularly smart of you to follow my demands,” Dark Star said conversationally, brushing past her in the direction of a door at the end of the dark, narrow hallway. He clearly expected Rani to follow, and she did, but only after squeezing her eyes shut and forming the long, star-flecked whip she’d called into existence back at the flat. She wound it into a coil and held tight to it as she tentatively crossed the hall, the scent of incense and flowers all around her.

She’d been expecting a kitchen or a front room through the door Dark Star had vanished into, but that was far from what she got. The walls were painted black and covered in chalk sketches—words, sigils, scrawling paragraphs, and big, scary-looking magic circles. The floor was similar, but only one circle was drawn there, right in the middle of it.

“Like I said,” Dark Star went on, his voice still frustratingly normal. The smile he wore attempted to set her at ease but it was a lie. No matter how charming he seemed, he was a serial killer. “It wasn’t smart of you to come here. But I knew you would. So I began without you.”

He gestured at the vast circle on the floor, and the woman laid out in the middle of it. It took Rani longer than it should have to figure out it was his wife, her mates’ mother. She was dead, but no scent of rot came from her—pale and wrinkled, but not decomposed. She was in startling condition for a woman who’d died fifteen years ago. Her yellow sundress was faded and dusty, but Orion had clearly cared for her, her red-blonde hair brushed and gleaming. It was sad, Rani thought.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, and she wasn’t compelled this time. She really meant it. “But you shouldn’t be killing people to get her back.” She dared to meet Dark Star’s eyes. “Doesn’t it sully her memory to do all this, to kill all those people...”

Dark Star’s mouth set in a line. “I’d rather have her furious at me and alive than dead.”

Rani dropped her gaze. All she felt was pity now. “So you’d do the same to me,” she said, careful not to step into the room, wary of those chalk symbols. “You’d take my mate from me.”

“If it gets me my mate back,” he replied, “yes.”

Rani had been trying to figure out who he reminded her of, with his composure and his smooth, schmoozing words. He reminded her of a politician she’d seen on TV once—passion in his voice but something ... lacking. Empathy, maybe.

She swallowed, squeezed her whip of magic harder, and said, “I want the antidote for Eri.”

Dark Star sighed, and his whole bearing changed as magic surrounded him like a shimmery Aura. Rani averted her eyes, her heart pounding as the reality of just how in danger she was hit. His smile was smooth and charming as he said, “Look at me, sweet Rani.”

Rani squeezed her eyes shut, jumping as she felt him slide nearer, his hands on her shoulders. Sickness squeezed her stomach, an oily weight. She was very tempted to reach for her brands and beg her mates to come and get her, but she couldn’t leave without the antidote: Dark’s Star’s saliva. It was the only thing that cured a claw wound. Without it, she’d lose Eri. Kind, sweet, generous Eri. He deserved better than this, better than a father who would kill him as blackmail material.

Rani dragged a shaky breath into her lungs and carefully slid her whip down her arm until the handle rested in her palm. She had to be brave. She had to be.

“Open your eyes, sweet girl,” Dark Star said soothingly. “You don’t need to feel grief or pain or fear. I can make it all go away.”

Rani could feel the magic whispering over her, tempting her to relax, to give in and let all her worries slip away. It felt so good, the promise of peace and pleasant emptiness. 

But if she let the magic in, her mate would die.

For Eri, Rani whispered to herself, and cracked her eyes open. Not so she could fall into Dark Star’s compulsion, but so she could see where his wife was placed in the chalk circle. Rani prayed her magic followed her desperate command for accuracy as she snapped her whip out, exhaling in relief as the tip curled around the woman’s wrist.

Sorry, Rani said silently, hoping the woman’s soul could hear her. I’m so sorry.

She wrenched back with all her weight, which was considerably more than the waif-like dead woman, and pulled her out of the circle, smearing the chalk sigils. 

Rani had hoped to delay whatever it was that Dark Star planned to do, but what she hadn’t expected was to expose a tangle of black, lightning-like wires that hooked into her spine and disappeared through a hole in the floor.

Goddess, Rani thought with dread, every one of the guys’ warnings to stay away from the basement rushing through her head as she stared at those wires disappearing through the floor.

Whatever was in the basement ... Dark Star wanted to use it to take Rani’s power and resurrect his wife. And this crackling power, like ink made lightning, was clearly how he planned to do it.

Rani uncurled her whip from the woman’s ankle with a flick of her wrist, and staggered back, gasping at the wrath that bled into Dark’s Star’s deep blue eyes. Panicking, she twisted out of reach to run, not caring where she went as long as it was away.

But darkness crowded into the edge of her vision, and before she could take more than a step, a spear of dark power shot into her shoulder. She fell, woozily, under his control.

Rani felt herself slipping away and fought it frantically, thrashing inside even if her body relaxed, a sigh slipping from her lips. She didn’t reach for the bonds to Nigh and Tom, knowing they’d rush in here and get themselves hurt; instead she felt along the link between her and Eri, and gasped as sharp pain tore through her body.

Her knees hit the tiled hallway floor, and pain rampaged through her from the crack she’d opened in the bond, but at least Dark Star’s compulsion partly cleared from her mind.

And now Rani was as angry as he was.

He’d never planned to give her the antidote. He was always going to let his son die. Orion Child might have seemed charming and friendly, but he was nothing more than poison and putrid malice wrapped in skin.

Rani snapped her whip out as Dark Star halted on the threshold of the sigil room, clearly not having expected Rani to break free of his compulsion. As her whip tore through the air, power blazed through Rani’s body, but not like fire and crackling energy—a soft, calming whoosh like cool water. It didn’t spear Dark Star like his own midnight magic, but wrapped around him like a heavy blanket, cinching tight enough to snap his arms to his sides. And all his smooth manners fell away to show the wickedness within as his upper lip curled.

“You’re not taking my magic,” Rani said, breathing fast and shaky with adrenaline, “and you’re not taking my life. Or Eri’s.” She took the plastic vial she’d stashed in her pocket what seemed like hours ago and fumbled with her magic until it formed a small, solid bar to hold open Dark Star’s mouth. He thrashed and snarled, and Rani could feel her blanket of magic weakening, but she didn’t need long. Only long enough to fill the vial, which she held beneath his open mouth as he drooled in between mangled threats to eviscerate her.

Rani exhaled shakily as the vial filled, capping it and putting it safely in her pocket, waving away the magic prying Dark Star’s mouth open. “You think you’re going to live happily ever after? You and those boys won’t live in peace until I’m gone from this earth, and I don’t plan on dying for a very long time.”

“I don’t care,” Rani replied, tightening the binding magic around him as she turned her back, walking down the hall.

“You think you can stop me bringing her back? Just because I failed this time doesn’t mean I will next time.”

Rani sighed, pity and fury mingling in her as she reached for the front door handle. “You can’t just bring someone back to life. It doesn’t work like that.”

She didn’t know much about midnight magic, but no power was capable of raising the dead; everyone knew that.

Orion laughed, a low, snide sound. “Oh, but it does. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I have friends who’ve accomplished feats you couldn’t dream of.”

Rani’s blood ran cold, and she made the mistake of meeting his eyes, horror racing through her at the idea of necromancy.

“That’s it, sweet Rani,” he said with a victorious grin. “Don’t look away now. Keep your eyes on me and let my magic wash all the fight out of you.”

Rani’s breath caught and panic raced through her blood, but already her pulse was slowing. Her magic unravelled, freeing Dark Star from her constrictive blanket, and even her whip faded into mist and ether. Leaving her powerless.

This time she didn’t hesitate to reach for Nigh and Tom, closing her eyes and sinking into the bonds between them. Heat surged reassuringly from her chest and thigh as Dark Star’s footfalls came closer, slowly, like he was enjoying her panic.

She’d used the last vestiges of her autonomy to close her eyes, but it didn’t make any difference; her body still went lax and pliant, her mind struggling to hold onto a coherent thought. All she knew was that she had to keep hold of her bonds, or something terrible would happen.

“You’re going to be so useful to me,” Dark Star said as he came closer. “Someone of your natural talent, your magic so malleable that you can use it in three ways at once.” Rani shuddered, but she couldn’t figure out why. She was floating on a sea of warmth, calm, and reassurance. A soft sigh slipped from her and she blinked her eyes open, smiling at the man approaching her. “Not only will you bring my wife back to me, but you’re going to join our cause. With you among us, cat society will have no choice but to listen and acknowledge our place among them.”

He came close enough to brush the side of her face with the backs of his fingers. “You’re going to change everything, sweet Rani.”

Rani fell deeper, warmth and dizziness wrapping her up. But then the door opened behind her, pushing her into the wall and sending a spark of pain through her wrist when she automatically put her hands out to stop her face smashing into the plaster. She cried out at the impact, but the building ache in her wrist cut through the daze in her mind, as did the sudden rush of rage and protectiveness in her bonds.

“Get the fuck away from her,” Nigh growled, magic whipping through the hallway like a tornado. “You touch her again, and I’ll rip your fingernails off one by one, and then sever each and every one of your fingers as you scream for me to stop.”

Dark Star tutted. “How graphic.”

Rani shook her head to clear it, thoughts and brain function scattered through the heavy fog Dark Star had wrapped around her.

“I’ve got you,” Tom said gently, pulling Rani into his arms. “I’ve got you, love, you’re alright now.”

“Did you get the antidote?” Nigh demanded. 

Rani leant against Tom, pulling his scent into her lungs as she floated on a sea of warmth and silence. Odd thoughts kept breaking through, but it was so hard to make sense of their meaning.

“Rani,” Nigh snapped, a jolt moving through the brand in her chest. “Did you get the antidote?”

“Yes,” Rani answered, then shook her head as the brief bit of clarity was swallowed up by pleasant warmth. She tapped her pocket, but didn’t have the strength or motivation to do anything except turn her face into Tom’s shoulder and melt against him.

Tom carefully eased the vial from her pocket and told Nigh, “She did it. Knock him out, leave him, I don’t care.” But his voice cracked, and the pain in Rani’s thigh told her he did care. She snuggled further into him, trying to comfort him. She was going to fall asleep, but she didn’t care enough to move.

“We’re leaving,” Nigh said, his voice as cold and hard as iron. “Don’t try to follow us.”

Power rushed through the hallway and Rani whimpered, the blissful feeling ripping away to expose sharp pains in her chest, her wrist, and her thigh. “You’re not taking her anywhere. She’s going to stay here and resurrect your mother. Don’t you want your mum back?” Dark Star’s voice softened. Real or unreal? “Remember how she used to make you chicken broth when you were sick, and she’d sneak you chocolate mousse for afters?”

“Shut up,” Nigh snarled, but there was grief in his voice.

And with the dizziness and warmth gone, Rani was clear-headed enough to understand everything Orion said, to know how much Nigh missed his mum.

“One more word,” Rani warned, surprised at the strength of her own voice when she felt utterly dazed, “and I’ll do what Nigh promised earlier, the fingernails and fingers thing.”

Nigh shot her a quick glance, the corners of his mouth curling up.

Dark Star sighed in disappointment.

Rani felt his power rise, and a moment later, black lances blinked into existence. The dark spears sliced through the air, fired towards her and the brothers, and the danger wasn’t in their sharpness but the compulsion hidden within.

Rani wanted to scream, wanted to run, but she had to be brave. Tom and Night were being strong enough to face their father. She could face him, too.

Letting instinct guide her magic, she threw her hand up, palm forward.

With no small amount of surprise, Rani watched Dark Star smack into a solid wall of shadows, mist, and stars.

“You don’t get to hurt us,” she said, pride and anger both burning in her in equal strength. She’d stopped him, and protected her mates. She’d done that—quiet, bookish, overweight Rani Rose. “You don’t get to hurt my mates. Not ever again.”

She made the wall extend all the way to the ceiling, then put another wall behind him, and one on either side, enclosing him in midnight magic.

A rush of pain through the brand on her bicep made her gasp, but the black walls didn’t weaken, and Rani somehow knew they’d stay that way even when she left.

“He’ll starve in there,” Tom said quietly.

“Good,” Nigh snarled. “For what he’s done, good. Did you see the black room? Did you see Mum?”

His voice cracked down the middle and Rani stumbled across the two steps between them, hugging him tight. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, stroking his back, letting instinct guide her like she had with her magic. “I’m so sorry, Nigh.”

“There are wires of magic going into her back,” Nigh told Tom quietly, his arms wrapped tight around Rani and his body relaxing, fraction by fraction. “They go through the floor and into the basement.”

Tom shuddered, dragging his hands through his long hair.

“And he was going to drain our mate to power the ritual,” Nigh finished in a bleak voice. “As far as I’m concerned, he can rot.”

Rani kept rubbing his back as he inhaled a jagged breath, glancing over at Tom. “We need to get the antidote to Eri,” she said quietly, apologetically. “But ... I’ll come back tomorrow and find a better solution.”

Tom was shaking his head, his pale eyes conflicted and his shoulders sinking. “No. I know what we need to do.”

Swallowing, he pulled his phone from his pocket and punched in a number. “I’d like to report the whereabouts of the wanted criminal Dark Star, and inform you that the murderer Orion Child didn’t die fifteen years ago. They’re the same person. You can find him here.”

He gave the address and ended the call, and Rani reached for his hand, squeezing tight. That couldn’t have been an easy call to make. Rani could feel his pain and Nigh’s through their brands; both of them had conflicting feelings when it came to their father.

“What about Mum?” Tom asked quietly. “We can’t just leave her there.”

“No,” Rani agreed.

Nigh sighed, pulling away from her. “Take Rani to the flat, make sure Eri heals. I’ll ... I’ll bury Mum.”

Rani’s chest tightened at the thought of leaving him. But one look in his eyes and she knew he wouldn’t budge; stubbornness shone loud and clear.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “But ... check in through the brand, okay?”

Nigh bent to place a kiss on her lips, lingering, soft, and full of so much feeling that Rani’s eyes burned. “I’ll check in,” he promised. “Tom, you look after her.”

“I will,” Tom replied seriously, squeezing Rani’s hand as they moved to the door.

It took a lot of willpower for her to leave Nigh in that house, but step by step, she walked away. Towards the flat, towards her dying mate. She prayed they weren’t too late.

Convalescence

By the time they got back to the flat, Eri was breathing in barely-there bursts, black infection oozing from the slashes on his cheek. Rani didn’t waste any time, smearing the antidote over his wounds and pointedly not thinking about what the antidote actually was or her stomach would turn.

She’d expected a slow healing, had planned to sit at his bedside for the next twelve hours, if not days, but the claw slashes on his cheeks closed instantly, his colour improved within minutes, and his heartbeat was strong beneath her hand as Rani leant over him to wash the blood and poison from his cheek.

“Hey,” Eri murmured, his voice scratchy. His eyes fluttered open as Rani rinsed the cloth in a bowl on the bedside table, and she jumped, nearly upending the whole bowl. 

Her chest caved as she let out a breath of relief, dropping the cloth into the water and throwing her arms around Eri’s neck. “You’re awake! I’m so glad you’re okay, I was so worried.”

Eri’s hand slid along her back, affection and surprise fluttering through her brand on her bicep. “Thanks to you, I take it?”

Rani pulled back enough to look at him. He was no longer as pale as a ghost, and he’d stopped sweating. He looked healthy, and Rani’s eyes stabbed as tears built. “And your brothers,” she replied with a smile, tracing the sharp edge of his cheekbone with her thumb. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” he replied, baffled. He pushed up, and Rani helped him sit back against the headboard, fluffing pillows. “I’m alright, Rani,” he said gently, catching her hands as she continued to fuss. He brought them to his mouth and kissed each one of her knuckles. “I promise, I feel completely fine.”

Rani flushed at the intimate touch but she couldn’t keep a smile off her face. “You’re really okay.”

“I really am,” he confirmed, squeezing her hands. “But what about you, treasured mate? Were you hurt? I know ... to heal me ... you’d have needed an antidote.”

Rani shrugged, not yet ready to let go of the dizzy relief of seeing Eri awake, his mismatching eyes crinkled with affection and his mouth curved in a soft smile. “All that matters is that we did get it, not how.”

“Rani—”

“Later,” she promised.

Eri ruffled his short hair but he nodded, his gentle eyes returning to her. “You saved me.”

Rani felt his rush of feeling through their brand, blue light blazing from her arm and shining through the shirt she’d borrowed from Tom when they got back. Not because she didn’t have her own things to wear; she just ... preferred clothes with their scents embedded in the cotton. It calmed her, especially when she’d been so worried about Eri. “Of course I saved you,” she replied, brushing an errant strand of pale hair off his face. “You’re my mate.”

Eri gave her the bright, beautiful smile she’d thought she might never see again and pulled her down towards him, capturing her mouth in a kiss. 

Rani sighed against his lips, splaying her hand over his chest so she could feel the steady thump of his heart as their kiss grew heated, still as slow and loving as ever but edged with passion. Eri tried to pull her on top of him, but Rani broke away, giving him a stern look.

“You just woke up from a poison-induced coma. No ... strenuous activities for a while.”

Eri blinked, his fingers trailing down her shoulder to her waist, skimming the edge of her chest. “How long is a while?”

“At least a few days,” Rani replied, bristling with protectiveness and the need to keep him safe and whole.

“That’s too long,” Eri murmured, leaning up to press a kiss to the edge of her jaw, and then another on the delicate place behind her ear, then another over her quickening pulse. 

“A day, then,” Rani compromised breathlessly, her whole body coming alive as he laid an open kiss at the base of her throat.

“I can’t endure that long a wait,” Eri complained, tugging down her T-shirt to trace her collarbone with his tongue, heat racing directly to her clit and forcing a gasp from her lips.

“Erivian,” Rani complained, groaning.

“I love my name on your lips,” Eri replied shamelessly, his hands sliding under her shirt and pushing it up over her stomach.

Rani made a sound in the back of her throat and gave up fighting, pulling her borrowed top over her head and throwing it to the bottom of the bed, her breath hitching as his hot mouth traced the swell of her breast, every kiss drawing a throb from her pussy. “Eri,” she gasped as he pulled the cups of her bra down and closed his mouth around her areola, rolling her nipple in his mouth in a way that sent sparks across her body.

He pulled back only to shift across the bed and make room for her to lay out beside him, and the second she was on her back, Eri rose over her, fastening his wicked mouth to her other nipple, catching this one between his teeth.

“Eri,” she gasped, her fingers going to his hair and sifting through the silken strands. 

“I thought I heard groaning,” an amused voice remarked, and Rani’s gaze shot to the door where Tom leant, grinning, the amusement and mischief back in his eyes for the first time in hours. Nigh stood behind him, bristling with darkness and intent. Indigo light rushed from the paw print on Rani’s chest as the force of his lust hit her.

Her eyes fell shut, her head tilting back as she groaned longer, deeper.

“That fucking sound,” Nigh hissed, stalking over. The bed dipped as he sat at the bottom, already reaching for her jeans and flicking the button open, pulling down the zip. “Makes me want to lick every inch of you.”

Rani’s breath caught. Ice shot down her spine, but her pussy went wild, pulsing hard as Nigh tugged her jeans off and discarded them, a throaty growl pouring from him as he hooked her legs over his shoulders and lowered his head. As Eri sucked on her nipple, Nigh pressed rough kisses to her mound and inner thighs, scraping just slightly with his teeth to make her shudder and moan.

For a long moment Tom just watched, but a moan caught in Rani’s throat and drew him closer. He sank onto the bed beside her and leant over, kissing Rani soundly as Eri sucked on her nipples and Nigh moved her underwear aside, setting his tongue to her pussy with a ferocity that made her eyes roll back.

“Oh my god,” Rani gasped as she and Tom broke for air. “If you keep that up, I’m going to come right now.”

“Good,” Nigh growled, and wrapped his lips around her clit, flicking his tongue back and forth until her toes curled. Rani’s fingers dove into his hair, gripping tight as climax roared through her with all the force of a storm.

She was still trembling with aftershocks, short on breath, as Nigh drew away, kicked off his jeans and underwear and said, “Look at me, woman.”

Rani did, the darkness in his eyes sending another jolt of pleasure through her body, and Nigh held her gaze as he sank all the way inside, filling her pussy so perfectly. Rani wasn’t sure if his rough, frantic thrusts prolonged her first orgasm or sent her hurtling into a second, but she tightened around him after two breathless minutes, and her hands frantically pawed at the bed until Eri caught one and Tom held the other.

“Fuck,” Nigh growled, and bowed over her as his cock jolted inside her, his breathing quick and uneven. “Holy fuck, Rani.”

She laughed weakly, sighing with happiness as he leant over Eri’s head to kiss her, slow and full of heat, his eyes heavy-lidded.

“That pussy,” he groaned, moving back, “is lethal.”

Rani snorted. “Thanks?”

He laughed, smiling that real smile that lit his indigo eyes and made him even more handsome than usual. “Don’t pretend you don’t love my compliments, woman.”

Rani shrugged, all relaxed, very slightly smug. “I’ve heard worse, I suppose.”

Nigh growled playfully, but the effect was ruined somewhat by him collapsing onto his back beside her with a long groan, an arm thrown over his eyes.

Rani chuckled, rolling over to cuddle close as Eri moved to her other side, his fingers running through her hair. “I may be too tired for more,” she murmured. “It’s been a long day.”

“Don’t worry about that, treasured mate,” Eri replied, resting his arm across her waist.

“I’m good with waiting,” Tom added with a smile. “I can be patient when I want to be. But just so you know, I’ll be expecting twice as many orgasms from you. Just to compensate me for the delay, you understand.”

Rani reached behind herself to shove him, rolling her eyes. “You already make me come enough,” she said, her ears prickling as she blushed.

“You make that sound like a bad thing.” Eri laughed, nuzzling the back of her neck, and Rani was struck by how close she’d come to losing him, to losing the four of them cuddling up together like this.

She opened her mouth to tell Eri how much she liked him, that she cared about all of them, but Nigh’s loud snores interrupted her and she snickered, Eri and Tom chuckling too.

It was stupid, really, how the three of them laughing and Nigh snoring made her heart ache with affection, full to bursting as her brands lit up and Tom’s hand settled on her hip, all three of them touching her.

It was stupid how much she loved that simple contact, the connection between her and her mates. But if anyone tried to take it from her again ... they’d better watch out. Rani might not have the typical figure of an action hero, and she might not be able to take someone down with her bare fists, but she had midnight magic, a will of iron, and she was a Rose—stubborn and strong to the end. She was a force to be reckoned with.

But right now she was taking a nap.

The End

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Find more books by Leigh Kelsey at her website: http://www.leighkelsey.co.uk/

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About the Author

Leigh Kelsey is the author of sweet and steamy books for anyone with a soft spot for steely women and the tortured men who love them. No matter what stories she’s writing – vampires or shifters or rebels – they all share a common thread of romance, heart, and action. She is the author of the Lili Kazana series, the Vampire Game series, the Moonlight Inn series, and the Second Breath Academy series. Leigh also writes new adult and young adult books under the name Saruuh Kelsey.

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Find these other books by Leigh Kelsey!

All solo booksfree on Kindle Unlimited

Once Upon A Faiy Tale Night (Fairy Tale Box Set)

Hearts of Darkness (Bully Romance Box Set)

Bound To Change (Shifter Romance Box Set)

Heart of A Phoenix (Charity Box Set Raising Funds For An Author Who Lost Her Home In The Australian Fires)

Dead Space (RH Sci-Fi Stand-Alone)

Lili Kazana series

(complete series)

Complete Series Box Set (w/ exclusive epilogue!)

Cast From Heaven

Crowned By Hell

Called By Gods

Second Breath Academy series

How To Raise The Dead

How To Kill A Shadow

Vampire Game series

(complete series)

Complete Series Box Set

Vampire Game

Vampire Touch

Vampire Legacy

Moonlight Inn series

Books 1-3 Box Set

Mated

Empowered

Unlimited

Ascended

Unleashed (Coming soon!)

Book 6 (Coming soon!)