I don’t even realize how far toward him I’ve leaned, until he’s leaning down, surprising me when his lips catch mine in a kiss so consuming that I cling to Arion, of all people, to ground me.

Damien’s power licks through my veins with a reminder of just what he can do, giving the kiss so much power that I don’t realize I’ve started digging into Arion’s skin with my nails, until Emit abruptly breaks the kiss and severs the spell.

The wolf man grins down at me, as though a message has been sent or a point has been made.

He darts a look to Arion, and I follow his gaze, watching as Arion’s amused attention stays on me.

Finally realizing my nails have started making his chest and side bleed, my eyes widen, and I sputter out an apology.

My vampire remains unfazed, still holding a sinisterly amused, somewhat scary look in his eyes.

When I chance turning my gaze to Damien, I find nearly the same look in his eyes, though he looks way more excited than amused.

I dart a look between them again, even as Damien’s power drones on through my body, making it harder to think than under normal circumstances.

When I once again look at Emit, realizing at last what they’re silently conveying, I clear my throat a few rapid times.

“Oh,” I say, glancing down at the one of me and then over to the three of them again. “Ohhhh.”

This time I gulp instead of swallowing hard, because…I’m way out of my depth right now. And a little scared.

“Best. Day. Ever,” Anna chimes in. “Please let me play too.”

Nervous.

Excited.

Scared.

Giddy.

Yeah, my emotions are all over the place, per the usual when in the presence of them.

“We’re okay with you playing,” Damien says to Anna, still grinning.

“Did you miss the memo? I’m extremely dangerous.”

Why would they be so bold as to even bait my monster like that?

Arion’s lips move to my neck, and he lifts me, pulling me away from Emit and Damien. There’s a piece of me that’s a little saddened Vance isn’t also here.

I’m sure he needs time.

It’s a lot to take in.

I’m trying to stay optimistic and not at all worried that I’ve somehow wronged him too much to ever be forgiven.

Arion puts me on the bed, coming down on top of me, and I allow my mind to shut off. Or rather, he shuts it off for me when he immediately starts kissing all the way down my neck.

My eyes flutter shut, since I can feel my whole body burning red.

Three of them.

At once.

I’m far from innocent, and admit I’ve definitely had some interesting fantasies. It seemed like a no-brainer, exciting future conquest that I was certain I was prepared for…but the reality is way more intimidating than I was expecting.

I swallow hard again.

After all that hard work getting pretty, I’m apparently going to be entirely too awkward to be sexy. I—

My eyes dart open, my thoughts cut out, and I look up to where Damien is cuffing my hand into a black, thick chain of some sort.

“Wh-what are you doing?” I ask him, as he tugs it against the very large, thick, steel wall mount that looks like it was made to hold back a herd of elephants.

My head jerks to my other side, watching as Emit cuffs that hand to the chain. The chain…that stretches across the wall to a twin mount, because it’s a very long, solid piece.

The second both of my hands are restrained, Emit smirks.

“We haven’t discovered a way to break this damn metal, as of yet. Not that we’ve had much testing time,” Emit tells me, a subtle, barely noticeable growl in his tone, while his eyes rake over me.

“Why are you using it on me?” I ask, feeling really confused, while Arion starts cuffing my legs to my wrists, using the same long length of chain, and some black cuffs.

“The shifty, possibly untrustworthy, new beta of Damien’s supplied us the cuffs. He’s also curious if you can break free. Consider this our first experiment to test your limits, strengths, and weaknesses,” the vampire answers, with far too much excitement dancing in his dark eyes.

“I thought we were celebrating,” I remind him, feeling all the more intimidated and super vulnerable right now.

I had more confidence before I went and dumped all my scary, cosmic baggage at their feet and started feeling all exposed.

Arion smiles at me, even as he cuffs my other foot.

“This will be the most exciting thing we’ve ever gotten the chance to do, love. It’s an entirely new world, with an entirely new type of alpha, who has gravely different instincts. Which means you play by different, yet suspiciously un-offensive, rules so far. You’re a devious little monster, and we want to explore you up close and personal,” Arion carries on, as though this is a casual sort of confession.

They’re all completely relaxed, as though chaining me up in indestructible chains was the plan all along, and they’re in complete agreement on this.

“If Hyde breaks free and claims us, so be it,” Emit adds, while shooting a daring look toward an excited Anna.

She grins, and he shrugs as if it’s no big deal.

“If your monster gets off on deceiving us in order to mate us, that’s not something we’ll have a problem with, unlike the uptight Van Helsing,” Emit adds, almost sounding as though he’s taking a jab at Vance.

My heart clenches, because I know how very prideful he is. During my trip through his memories, I watched many of the instances where Idun successfully deceived him, and witnessed his eyes get colder each time.

“I have no idea what the repercussions of claiming someone is. We really should watch how it affects Vance first,” I quickly babble, since none of them are apparently thinking very clearly. “What if he hates it after he thinks about it? What if something major and permanently eternal ends up affecting him for—”

My lips freeze at the end of that word, and a choked, surprised sound escapes, because Arion’s head is suddenly between my legs. The chill from his breath fans me through the thin layer of lacy underwear, and he nips me in a way that causes an immediate ache.

He grins, his mouth staying over my underwear, as he teases me with what’s to come.

“I’d rather play than talk, love,” Arion murmurs against me, before casually sliding my underwear to the side.

His fingers graze my flesh, and there’s a deeper ache so suddenly that my legs tremble on either side of his head.

His mouth descends on me, and the vampire is definitely aiming to please when he strikes.

A startled sound escapes me, since I was really unprepared for this to start so abruptly.

Oh damn.

My mind blanks, as he starts doing this really amazing thing with his tongue and some simultaneous light sucking. My eyes are crossed and screwed shut in the next instant, and it actually hurts how to feel so much pleasure at once.

Damien’s mouth is abruptly on my neck, even though I can’t see him. Heat pulses through my body, racing through me, as though the pleasure he’s creating is almost an attack.

I turn my head, desperately trying to kiss the skilled deviant, only to have his touch disappear.

It reappears on my other side, as he starts working his way down, his lips dragging across my chest.

When he peels my strap down my shoulder and works the slip until my left breast is free, I make an embarrassing sound. I barely feel the caress of his lips, and then warm air breezes across my nipple.