A fire crackled in the fireplace back at the suite and though dawn was fast approaching, no one showed any signs of wanting to go to sleep. Or rest, whatever it was called. The battle we’d fought last night should’ve worn everybody out, but instead it seemed to have energized the guys, a celebratory vibe in the air.

I was nestled on the couch under a soft blanket, my foot propped up in front of me. It’d been a long night, the battle only having been the start of it. As it turned out, the blade my tendon had been sliced off with had been made of pure silver, and to add insult to injury, had been coated in aloe juice.

While aloe had healing qualities for humans, apparently it did the exact opposite to vampires. Who knew?

The guys had brought me back here and the in-house surgeon who fixed up magical creatures had worked his actual magic on me. When I’d come to and they explained what’d happened to me, I was excitedly reminded that both Maddox and Cooper had magic, too, and I wondered if I might have it, but no such luck.

Apparently, you had to have some kind of magic in you before you turned, it wasn’t a superpower or ability that developed because you’d been turned. The disappointment didn’t last too long, though, when I realized that although I didn’t have magic, I did have my guys.

All safe and all mine. For all of eternity.

My thoughts shifted to Mel, and I pushed them aside. I couldn’t let my maudlin thoughts in so soon. I had to heal, both physically and emotionally. I would broach the topic with the guys soon enough, because there was no way I was going to sit aside and watch my sister slowly die as a human. Surely there was something—

Another day, Starling. For today, focus on joy and gratitude.

My tendon was healing nicely, I could practically feel it happening as we spoke and soon, I would be back to full power. The surgeon was confident that I’d be able to run again as soon as tomorrow, so my fingers were crossed, because I couldn’t wait to try out my speed and tricks at my own pace now that we weren’t focused on a fight anymore.

For now, though, I was watching Melanie and the guys play chess and talk and laugh together. I wasn’t jealous of the camaraderie between them, even though she was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Cooper and Maddox’s eyes were locked on hers.

They treated her like a sister and she teased them like you do with older brothers, sticking out her tongue at Maddox and loudly proclaiming, “Checkmate.”

Maddox ruffled his blonde hair, laughed and shook his head. “Nope, it’s not.”

Melanie’s face fell at his next move, muttering, “Damn it. It’s not fair, you guys have had centuries to freaking master this.”

“Watch and learn, Mel. Watch and learn,” Jaeger said, dropping to the carpet to sit on her other side where they sat cross-legged beside the coffee table on the floor, tossing a look at Maddox. “You up for picking on someone your own age?”

Maddox smirked. “You’re on. Care to make a little wager?”

They bickered back and forth, Melanie betting on Jaeger while Cooper went with Maddox. My sister had settled easily and quickly into this strange new world of mine where vampires and werewolves not only existed, but drank with demons and warlocks and fey in the same bar.

We’d yet to take her to the club and I wondered idly whether we’d be able to find her a vampire, or four, of her own. I put a pin in that thought, too, for another day when Beckham ambled up to the couch, dropping down to take a seat beside me. Slinging one arm around my shoulders, he hooked my chin in his other hand and tilted my face up to him.

“What’re you thinking so deeply about over here?” he asked, obsidian eyes warm and relaxed, loving. “You’ve hardly said a word since we got back.”

“I know,” I admitted, I’d been too wrapped up in watching them all and trying to wrap my head around the fact that this was life now. These were my men. My vampires. “I’ve just been taking it all in, you know?”

“Hmm,” he murmured. “And what’s the verdict?”

“I was just thinking about how I actually feel lucky that I almost got attacked that night. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have met you all and I can’t imagine what my life would’ve been like without you in it. What if I’d never found you?”

“We would’ve found you,” he said, completely assured, confidence blazing in his dark eyes.

“Ya think?”

His lips curled into a gorgeous smile. “I don’t think, love. I know.”

I cuddled into his chest, both of us watching the surprisingly lively game of chess unfolding on the other side of the room, then I glanced up at him to find him looking at me. “I love you, you know that, right? You guys just make me so damn happy that I can barely believe it sometimes.”

“Love you, too, Star. You better believe it, because we plan on doing it for a long time.” Then he laughed and jerked his head at Cooper. “Well, that one might drive you crazy someday soon, but the rest of us are okay.”

Watching the playful brunette making the chess pieces disappear and reappear on random squares with snaps of his wrist behind Melanie’s back, I chuckled. “Nah, I love him for it. Never a dull moment and all...”

“That’s for sure,” Beckham agreed, curling and uncurling a lock of my blonde hair around his finger. “How’s that ankle feeling? Is it healing up okay? You lost a lot of blood back there, that might slow it down a bit.”

My lips twitched up into a smile as an idea formed. I hadn’t been alone with Beckham much yet. It was time to rectify that situation. “Well, actually, now that you mention it, I am feeling a little hungry.”

Beckham grinned slowly, nodding and scooping me up, carrying me to the bedroom bridal style. He turned when we reached the door and called out to the others. “We’re turning in for the day. Don’t let Cooper keep letting you guys lose, Mel. You might want to keep an eye on his hands. Make him keep them in front of him at all times.”

“You’re no fun,” Cooper groaned.

Beckham ignored him, kicking the bedroom door shut behind us, his breath feathering across my ear as he whispered, “That’s not true. I can be a ton of fun. Bet you we’re about to have a lot more fun than they are.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Walking us up to the wall, he turned me in his arms so that my back was pressed against it and I wrapped my legs around him. He kissed me hungrily and I gasped, sinking my fingers into his dark hair, holding him to me.

I opened my mouth to welcome him for a fierce, passionate kiss that made little electric shocks shoot through me, my nipples perking up, and a dull throbbing started up between my legs.

Beckham pushed his hips forward and pressed his hard erection against me, making me moan softly and tighten my legs around him to bring him even closer. His hands went around my back to unhook my bra, then he swept them up to pull my sweater over my head and when they came back down, he drew the bra straps down my arms and let it fall to the floor.

Covering my breasts with his hands, he squeezed my nipples and I moaned. He dropped his head to my breasts and sucked one nipple into his mouth. I slid down him, clutching at the hem of his hoodie. Raising his arms, he reached to grab its neck and pulled it over his head.

Hooking my fingers into the waistband of the drawstring pants he was wearing after his shower, I pushed them down and they dropped to the floor, as he did the same with mine. We stepped back from each other at the same time, like we were doing a synchronized dance that we'd done a hundred times.

Drinking in his pale, porcelain-smooth inked skin, my gaze dipped lower to take in every contour of his sculpted-by-the-gods body. I sucked in a breath when I reached his raging hard-on, his long erection curving almost elegantly to his navel.

Beckham pulled me to him and slipped his hand behind my head, bringing his lips down to mine. I kissed him back, uncontrollable passion rising inside me. I wanted him so damn badly that my cleft was aching for him.

Lifting me against him by my ass, he carried me to the bed and lowered both of us onto it without breaking the kiss, laying me down like I was something he was lucky to have found. His movements echoed my own thoughts.

His tongue thrust into my mouth as he positioned his hard cock to my opening with a tattooed hand, love in his eyes when he broke our kiss to look into my eyes. With a powerful roll of his hips, eyes locked on mine, he slid through my hot folds and groaned. Heat spiraled through me as he moved, reaching for my leg to hook it over his butt.

Damn, that’s deep. But good, so good. “Yes, Beck. More.”

My back arched, pressing my chest to his. Beckham got the message and reached for my breast with one hand, the other still knotted in my hair to guide our heated kisses. Moans fell from my lips as he pinched and squeezed, his hot, wet mouth swallowing them all.

Like he couldn’t get enough, he tasted me all over, taking his time to get to know every nook and cranny of my mouth. My hips were bucking in violent motion, keeping time with Beckham’s, making me whimper and writhe.

He moved with sure, steady strokes that hit exactly where I needed them, keeping a perfect rhythm, his muscles locked as he thrust into me, stroking me higher and higher until I felt the edge approaching.

“Fuck, Star. You’re perfect. So fucking tight. So wet.” His rasped words pushed me closer to the edge as I rocked against him, angling my hips as he reached down and pressed his thumb against my clit.

“Let me feel you come for me, Starling.” His eyes were begging as he rubbed his thumb in circles, increasing the pressure and speed until I couldn’t hold back anymore and it was so perfect that I flew over the edge in a flash of beautiful white light. “Beckham!”

My fingers dug into his hips as I came, riding out waves of intense pleasure. My pussy gripped him, pulsing and fluttering, holding him hostage and dragging him right over the edge with me.

I felt him tense above me, his cock twitching deep inside, letting out a long, low groan and repeating my name like it was some kind of mantra. His release triggered a series of aftershocks to my own and he kept moving with me until I sagged into the mattress.  

He held me until our breaths weren’t coming in pants anymore, kissing me lovingly and sweetly. Then he rolled over and pulled me flush against him. My head rested on his outstretched arm as his eyes raked over me.

I was still catching my breath when the door creaked open and Maddox’s blonde head popped into the room. “You got space in that big ol’ bed for one more?”

“Sure, as long as you keep your snoring down,” Beckham replied lazily, playing with my hair.

Maddox scoffed. “I don’t snore.”

“Ah, yes, you do,” Jaeger said, appearing behind him.

I heard Cooper calling good night to Melanie before he was in the room, too, unique eyes pinned on mine. He flicked a quick glance at the others, grinned mischievously, and then started shedding his clothes. “Shotgun the spot on the other side of Star.”

“No way,” Maddox disagreed, making a dive for the bed and ridding himself of his clothes in the same movement.

I laughed and Beckham sighed, chuckling. “It doesn’t matter how old they get. They’ve always been this way.”

“Too bad for both of them, that spot is mine,” Jaeger declared, stalking up to the bed stark naked. I couldn’t keep my eyes off any of them, my mouth watering as all three gloriously naked men crawled into bed with us, bringing their miles of hard muscles and rigid cocks with them.

Cooper beat Maddox and Jaeger out to lie down next to me, his erection feeling like it was made of steel as it pressed between my butt cheeks, while Maddox lay on Beckham’s other side, hungrily eyeing me as he stroked his cock slowly. Jaeger took care of the lights, then untucked the sheets from the base of the bed and spread my legs as he crawled into the bed and settled with his head at the apex of my thighs, giving me long, leisurely licks that made me shiver with anticipation.

I had a feeling I wasn’t getting to rest anytime soon.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Want more steamy reverse harem? Check out a sneak peak of !

When war and conscience tear wolf-shifter Arianna Kellam from her pack, she finds herself alone in the wilds of Alaska…until she runs into the sexy and untamed Robicheaux brothers. Can they make their own pack and fight for the side of good, or will evil prevail and tear them apart before they get the chance?

Chapter One

I opened my eyes again, but it felt as though I hadn’t woken from the nightmares that had been plaguing me since I fell asleep. I flicked my gaze around the cell and found nothing new; I had this place committed to memory now. It felt as though I’d been trapped in here a lifetime, but it had only been four days. Though a lifetime in here wasn’t off the table yet…

I got to my feet, the shackles around my ankles clanking loudly, stretching my hands above my head and doing my best to work out the kinks in my muscles, but they still ached with every movement I made. I hadn’t been able to shift the whole time I was here – the six-by-six of my cell was too small for that, and I didn’t want to damage property on top of everything else that I’d done – but being trapped in this skin, in my human skin, was starting to drive me a little crazy. Ever since I’d first shifted all those years ago, I had done so at least two or three times a week. It was the only way I could cling on to that side of myself, to remind myself that I was as much animal as human.

But they had locked me up in here to make sure that I couldn’t do anything of the sort, and they all knew better than the rest of the world just how dangerous that was. It felt as though my muscles were beginning to curdle under my skin, my bones growing thick and heavy and weighing me down. I didn’t feel right. Some half of me was missing, and they knew how painful it was to be stuck in my human shape for this long without reprieve.

I inhaled a great lungful of air, hoping it would clear my head, but instead was met with the choking smell of damp and rat droppings. I wasn’t sure how long ago this place had been built, but it hadn’t been cleaned since it was constructed and it was totally gross and falling apart. But the stone walls that kept me in were thick and heavy and not going anywhere; I should know, since I’d spent my first few days in this place clawing at them, screaming for someone to let me out, begging for some sort of release. No-one heard me. Or if they did, no-one came to my rescue.

I paced back and forth in the cell, trying to work off the nervous energy that was pulsing through my system from not having shifted in the past few days. I was still half-asleep, fatigued by the indolence of the last week, and it wasn’t until I heard a cluster of voices outside that I remembered what day it was. I came to a standstill, eyes wide, and pricked my ears to try and make out what was being said; today was the day they were coming for me. Today was the day I couldn’t avoid my fate any longer.

In truth, I would have taken anything to get out of that cage for a while, but I knew that what I faced beyond these walls was worse than even a year without shifting in here. I couldn’t make out the details of what anyone out there was talking about but I didn’t need to – I knew that it concerned me. That was all anyone had been discussing around here the last week since my capture. I couldn’t blame them. I knew that, if it had been someone else in here accused of the same thing, I’d be doing the same.

Grief seemed to overwhelm me for that moment as I remembered, once more, exactly what it was I was accused of. I still couldn’t believe it. Even though I knew they were right, I couldn’t make sense of it in my head. Because I knew what the punishment for that was, and I knew everything I’d be giving up for it. What I wouldn’t have given to know that the last time I shifted, when I went running in the woods next to the castle for a few hours to work off some stress, I would never have come back; I would have stayed a wolf forever and lived out a life far from these walls, far from where anyone could get to me. But I had come back instead, and now they had me.

I began pacing again, trying to work out the kinks in my human muscles. I could practically feel the beast inside me, feel it snorting and pawing impatiently at the ground as it waited for me to finally give in to what I wanted and shift. But I couldn’t. Where the hell would I go? This damp, dank cage was specifically meant to keep in people like me, and even if I shifted right as they opened the door to take me out, I would be facing off against at least another dozen wolves who were better fed better rested, and better prepared than I was. It would have been a suicide mission, one that I didn’t want any part of.

I placed a hand flat on one of the stones in front of me, letting the coolness of the brick calm me down a little. It had always worked, ever since I was young – touching something natural, something that came from the real world, made me feel better. I could make out the curves and contours of the stone beneath my fingers, just like I had done a dozen times before with wood or water or moss. I loved the way it felt, the unpredictability of the pattern rich under my hand. For a moment, I could forget the act that I was locked in this godforsaken place, could forget that I honestly didn’t know I was ever going to see my freedom again, and pretend that I was someone far distant, a forest a hundred miles from here, running alongside a river, the cool stones under the pads of my paws as I ran and I ran and I ran-

I was whipped from my reverie by the sound of the door scraping open before me, and I blinked against the light that came pouring through – I felt thirsty for the sun, and moved towards the door, staring up into it for a moment before I realized who was standing there in front of me.

“Cora?” I asked, my voice sounding half-choked in my throat. She didn’t reply but I knew it was her. I knew her form almost as well as I knew my own, we’d spent so much time together over the years. Long blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail to keep it up of her face, pale blue eyes that shone in the early morning light, the exact opposite to me in almost every way. My best friend. Well, not any longer.

“Hey,” I greeted her awkwardly. I had no idea what to say to her given our current situation.

knew what she had to do as well as she did and that she had no choice in the matter, but it felt profoundly wrong not to be able to joke around with her as we had always done. I had known her since the two of us were kids and now she could barely even look me in the eye. My heart twisted and I felt another stab of sadness in my chest. I knew she couldn’t treat me the way she used to, but that didn’t mean the memories of everything we’d shared together over the years vanished from my mind. I could still remember her goofy laugh, all those nights we’d sat up late whispering to each other across the bedroom, the discoveries we’d made together. And now…nothing.

She was dressed in her uniform, I noticed as she went to undo the shackles around my ankles. The uniform that meant that the two of us couldn’t so much as exchange a greeting without getting her branded as a traitor as well. She kept her gaze firmly down, as though she couldn’t bear to look me in the eye, and I wondered what I would have done in her situation, if it was her in these shackles instead. But it never would have happened. Had she gone down, I would have too, fiercely and fighting beside her. But she was a better woman than me – at least as far as the pack was concerned – and didn’t get led astray as easily. Her fingers brushed up against me for a moment as she went to undo my bindings, and I realized it was the first human contact I’d had in days. Tears pricked my eyes. And how long would I be in here if they found me guilty?

I dashed them away with the back of my hand as Cora stood up again and took my elbow. She finally looked at me, and I saw a hint of something behind her eyes. Maybe it was sadness, maybe even anger, but she wiped it away at once and pointed to the door.

“Come on, you need to get cleaned up,” she muttered, her voice passive.

The snow outside was thick on the ground and the air was icy cold, but the sun was glimmering down above us and I tilted my head back to take it in for a moment, glad to bathe in natural light for a change instead of being stuck up in that place. Cora paused for a moment, and I turned to her, finding her regarding me with that expression once more.

“Whatever happens, I don’t blame you for any of this,” I murmured, keeping my voice low enough that not even the most attuned listeners in the pack could have caught us out. Cora’s mouth tightened and she blinked, but she didn’t say a word back. Instead, she straightened her shoulders and marched me up towards the enormous stone keep where I would meet my fate. We ducked inside and I was glad for the warmth. I needed my fur in this weather.

“In there,” she nodded to a door at the end of the corridor we’d just entered. “Go take a shower.”

She led me down the corridor, and I stumbled a couple of times, my feet feeling dangerous below me as I tried to get used to walking more than three feet at a time once more. She pushed me gently into the room, still showing these tiny hints of tenderness that told me she was as sorry about this as I was, and then closed the door behind me. I hurried to the shower, glad to be able to wash some of the grime and dirt of the last few days off of me. I switched it on and climbed beneath the roasting water, scrubbing at my skin gratefully and wondering how long it might be till I was allowed a shower again after this.

I didn’t blame Cora for any of this. Because if she showed even the slightest leniency towards someone like me, she would lose her standing in the pack just like that and would probably be subject to the same treatment I was currently victim of. But then, she would never have found herself here. She would never have ended up in the mess that I was in. Because she knew as well as I did exactly what punishment I would face if I was convicted of high treason.

High treason. The word sounded almost archaic to me, like they didn’t belong in this day and age, and yet here I was, about to be tried for it – maybe even killed for it. I scrubbed my head hard, as though trying to wash those thoughts away. Death wasn’t the only punishment for treason – I could end up imprisoned for life as well. Though the thought of being trapped up in one of those tiny cages for the next few decades was…no. I couldn’t do it. I would rather die. If that’s what it came to, I would take matters into my own hands and finished myself off. A life like that one wasn’t worth living, a life where I couldn’t access a fundamental part of who I was.

I was screwed unless I could change the minds of everyone else in the clan, and, judging by Cora’s demeanor, that wasn’t likely. I finished up my shower and climbed into the clothes that had been laid out for me, a prisoner’s uniform, all deep, dreary grey and utilitarian. As soon as I had done the last button up, there was a knock at the door, and it opened a moment later.

“It’s time,” Cora announced, and I noticed that she was flanked by a couple of guards. Did they really think that I was going to try and make a break for it, surrounded by everyone else in this place? I followed them out of the room, and then down and along what felt like endless corridors until we finally arrived in the courtroom. Cora opened the door, and the buzz of voices that had filled the cavernous stone-walled space suddenly fell silent as I followed her inside.

The entire clan was here – all eighty of them. I recognized each one, had interacted with them all at some point or another over the years, and now here they were to cast judgement on me. To condemn me to a life that I couldn’t live, that none of us could live. Cora took my arm and guided me to the one free seat in the enormous, ancient room, in the stand. I sat down and forced myself to look up at the man who was about to decide my fate.

Malcolm Kellam. His eyes were icy-sharp and bright blue as he stared down at me from the lofty seat he had over the entire room; his grey-white hair was perfectly in-place, the same colour it was when he shifted to his wolf form. He had been alpha around these parts for as long as most anyone could remember, and I doubted there was much in this world that could have dragged that position away from him. I tried to read the expression on his face but he was pointedly impassive, like he knew how much I wanted to know what he was thinking and wasn’t going to give me the pleasure. He got to his feet slowly, like a monarch, and all eyes in the room turned to watch him. The entire place seemed to pulse with the silence before he spoke, but finally, he did.

“Ariana Kellam, you are charged with high treason. How do you plead?”

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and then spoke.

“Guilty, father.”

Get the rest of , now!

Other Books by Savannah Skye

Her Demon Harem 1 (Succubus Chronicles)

Her Demon Harem 2

A Witch’s Harem

Kidnapped by the Dragon Harem

Her Howling Harem

Her Vampire Harem

Axe to Grind

Breaking Colt

Better to Eat You

Hard Lesson

Hard Sell

Bad Boy Next Door

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