“We’re leaving,” Cad growled as Phair and Mir stared at him, expressions of surprise on their faces. “Come on, then.”

For a moment Phair looked like he might protest, at least until he saw the I’m going to bury my fist in someone’s ribcage look on his friend’s face.

Cad led the way back into the tunnel, Phair and Mir following close behind. When the door behind them had sealed up, he spun around on his heel, his eyes bright with rage.

“It’s not right!” he ranted at no one in particular, his hands balling into angry fists.

“What’s not right?” Mir asked, stepping forward and reaching for his arm.

He looked down at her fingers, pressing into him so, so gently. This woman who’d been used and abused, who’d endured cruelty and servitude, still managed by some miracle to be kind, sensitive, sympathetic. And here he was, a ball of fiery aggression, ready to push a fist through the nearest stone wall.

All of a sudden he understood Phair’s concerns about his own anger.

“It’s not right that our Alpha wants us to stay away from you,” he said softly, his eyes meeting Mir’s. God, she was such a beauty. Such exquisite, perfect lines to her face. Such softness to the curves of her body. How could Roth ever expect him to resist her? How could he curse him and Phair with the cruel command that they walk away?

“He wants you to stay away because I’m human,” she said. “At least that’s what I assume.”

“Yes, that’s part of it,” Cad said hoarsely.

“I don’t particularly blame him,” Mir replied, letting out a soft laugh. “Humans really are the worst.”

“They’re the bane of our kind,” said Cad. “The bane of Dire Wolves, and now the bane of the Béorn.” He looked over at Phair, who was staring back with a look of pure understanding.

Somehow, in the midst of all of this madness, the two of them had become friends. More than that, even—they’d become two men who understood one another on the deepest possible level. They were two men who’d fallen in love with the same woman.

“I’m sorry,” said Mir. “I wouldn’t have come with you if I’d known it would cause problems.”

“It’s hardly your fault,” Cad replied. “It was my bad judgment. I suppose I—we, rather—wanted to show you off.”

Her fingers were still on his arm, and his words prompted her to move closer, to slip in front of him and to press herself close to his chest. “Show me off?” she asked. “Why would you want to do that?”

Coy little minx. She knew perfectly well why. She had to know how sexy she was.

“You’re really pretending that you don’t have a clue?” he asked, brushing her red hair away from her neck, stroking a finger over her ivory skin. He looked over at Phair. “Tell her, Béorn,” he said. “Tell her why we would want to show her to the whole world.”

Phair edged closer until he stood right behind her. He lay his hands on her hips and she arched her back, pushing herself into his massive body. “Because you’re a fucking goddess,” he growled. “Because you’re beautiful and kind, and because we want you more than either of us has ever wanted anything in this world. That’s why.”

“So take me,” she said.

* * *

A sigh escaped Mir’s lips as Cad pressed a line of kisses to her neck. From behind, Phair pulled off her coat, dropped it to the stone floor, and reached down to pull her dress upwards.

The next thing she knew, she was naked in a magical tunnel. Both men were in front of her on their knees, a mouth on each nipple.

With each stroke of their tongues, with each gentle suck, she felt something inside her tumbling down, down, into an abyss. A sweet, dark world of wonders where she felt a sense of delight, of glorious, wondrous belonging.

She pushed herself backwards into the wall. She wore nothing now but a her boots and a very tiny thong, which both men eyed hungrily when they’d pulled back to look at her. For once she’d allowed herself the pleasure of an undergarment, and now she was so pleased with her choice.

“May I?” asked Cad, turning respectfully to his friend as he gestured to the garment.

“Be my guest. I’m happy to watch,” Phair replied.

Cad edged forward on his knees. When he was close enough, he took a piece of the thong between his teeth and yanked it downwards, drawing a laugh out of Mir.

“You’ll rip it!” she chastised.

“Aw, that would be such a shame, wouldn’t it?” said Phair as Cad completed his task. When he’d pulled it down far enough, she stepped out, all too aware of the cool breeze that passed over her naked skin. Too aware that she was in some otherworldly, mystical place that might at any moment become occupied by more shifters.

“Are we okay here?” she asked. “I mean, we just came through the door…”

“We’re fine,” Cad moaned as he pushed his nose between her legs and inhaled deep. “Door’s gone.”

Mir turned to look back in the direction they’d come from. Sure enough, the vine-coated entrance to the Underground Club had entirely vanished.

“How? What?” she asked, her jaw dropping.

“Spells,” said Cad, burying his face between her legs. “Magic. Speaking of which, fuuuuck,” he muttered. He drew back and looked up at her, narrowing his eyes. “Do you know how good you are?” he asked.

She shook her head. “You tell me.”

“I’ll show you. I’ve been wanting to taste this since day one.” He pressed a hand just above her sex and slipped his tongue over her ever so softly. Phair, meanwhile, rose to his feet and pressed his lips to hers.

As her head swirled with endorphins and a renewed sensation of drunkenness, Mir realized for the first time just how much she’d been craving these two men. How much she needed this, and them. How much she’d feared each day since they’d met that she’d never see them again.

Phair’s tongue met hers with a hunger that seemed to match her own, his kiss tender but aggressive, possessive and gentle at once. The big man was strong, but he seemed to read her body perfectly, just as his friend was doing between her thighs. The combined pleasure of both their mouths was almost too much to take.

Almost.

Cad sucked on her bud, his fingers sliding into her as he let out a soft moan. She knew how wet she was, and how much he loved that. She knew how turned on both of her lovers were, too.

Phair pulled back and smiled at her, his gorgeous eyes glowing with a beautiful golden light that reminded her in no uncertain terms that he was from a different world from hers. A world she wanted so badly to live in that it hurt.

He slipped down and took her right nipple between his lips again, even as Cad kneaded her sex with his fingers and lips.

“Keep doing that,” she moaned. “Keep doing it and I’ll come for you both.”

Never in her days at Barton’s club had a man brought her to orgasm. She’d faked it, of course; given them what they wanted by pretending they excited her. But even with the least offensive of the club’s clients, she’d never allowed herself the pleasure of letting go. It was too much to think of letting her body succumb to pleasure under the touch of men she despised.

But for Phair and Cad, it was the most natural thing in the world to release her body to them. They weren’t clients, they weren’t cruel users of her body.

They were her salvation.

When the orgasm exploded inside her, she grabbed at the wall behind her, grasping its uneven stones, her fingers gripping so hard she thought she’d shatter the hard surface. She cried out, a primal, erotic scream.

She’d been freed momentarily from her shackles, as though a gateway to her new life had just opened and was telling her to step through.

Except for one thing, she thought as her breathing calmed and the violent pulses of her body quieted down.

She couldn’t begin her new life. Not while Bry was still at Barton’s club. Not while her sister was vulnerable.

Her sister…

“Oh, no,” she blurted out. “What time is it?”

Cad let out a laugh, wiping his mouth. “Let me guess: time for another go?” he asked.

“I’m serious,” she said, her voice panicked, sweat beading on her forehead. “What’s the time?”

He stood up and pulled out his mobile. When he looked at it, his eyes went wide for a moment. Phair, who had pushed himself against the wall, said, “What’s going on? What’s the matter?”

“It’s ten-fifty,” Cad said. “We need to get back to Barton’s.”