“What?” The slightly drunk fatigue clears in a heartbeat. “Why the hell would you get Tye?”

Coal crosses his arms but makes no move toward the bed where we just joined. “Because he knows what to do now.”

“What is there to do now?” I ask.

“I. Don’t. Know.” Coal enunciates each word as if speaking to someone hard of hearing. “I’ve . . . I’ve only paid for my pleasure before. This isn’t something I’ve done for . . . I don’t know if you are all right.”

“Have you considered asking me?”

“No.” His jaw works. “Are you all right?”

“No.”

Coal throws up his arms. “Then why the bloody hell are we having this conversation?” He spins on his heels, grabs his pants off the floor, and strides out of the room before I can stop him.

My face flames. A moment ago, all I wanted was to feel Coal beside me. Now I just want to sink into the ground or throttle the bastard. Or both.

I pull the covers higher over my neck, scanning the room to see if I can manage to disappear before the males return. I pull up my knees, resting my forehead against them for a long heartbeat before throwing off the sheets altogether.

I’m not some damsel in need of bloody assistance. I was the one who came here. Who wanted him. Who took my pleasure, just as much as Coal did. Took more than he was ready to give, if I’m honest. The connection, the magic . . . It was more than I was prepared for. More than I ever felt when we shared his memories. I rub my hand over my face. Rising from the bed, I stride over to what’s left of Coal’s dresser, pull out one of the half-fallen drawers, and empty its contents onto the floor. Before I can locate a shift amid the mess, the door behind me opens and two males, both wearing loose breeches, step inside.

“Why are you standing there naked?” Coal asks.

“I imagine because somewhere between her coming into the room and you leaving, you did something requiring her clothes to be removed,” Tye says, rubbing sleep from his eyes. His red hair stands up in messy spikes that would be adorable under any other circumstances.

“What’s left of my nightshirt is somewhere on the floor,” I say primly, making no move to cover myself as Coal’s nostrils flare. After taking a moment of perverse enjoyment in the male’s discomfort, I pull one of his shirts from the wreckage and slip it over my head. Coal’s metallic musk fills my nose as the cloth settles over me, the hem so long that it brushes my knees.

“Why am I here?” Tye asks, looking between me and Coal. “It seems you two have everything under control.”

“There is nothing bloody under control,” Coal growls.

“That’s good too.” Tye turns to Coal, opening his arms. “What, pray tell, do you want me to do?”

“Hug her,” Coal demands, gesturing toward me brusquely.

“What?” Tye and I say together.

“That’s what you do with females after coupling with them. I don’t. So I’m delegating.”

“One, you can’t delegate hugging, Coal,” I tell him. “And two, what makes you think I even want that from you?”

“I hurt you.” His jaw is tight, his fist seeming ready to strike a wall.

“Yes.” I straighten my shirt. “It was good for me too. Thank you for asking.”

“Bloody stars, I don’t believe we are having this conversation,” Tye groans. “Can I assume that all involved enjoyed themselves until there wasn’t anything left to enjoy?” He waits the briefest of moments before nodding to no one in particular. “Then figure out the bloody aftermath without me. So long as I can have the lass tomorrow to show her everything you did wrong.”

Coal grabs Tye’s wrist. “What are we supposed to do now?” he asks. Demands.

Tye leans close to the warrior, his face only inches away as he snarls right back at him. “Practice.” Pulling back, Tye leaves, slamming the door in his wake.

I blink once at the slammed door then start toward it, Coal’s large shirt tickling my thighs. Stars. The size of the male . . . everywhere. The fabric smells of soap and cleanliness, while the room I’m leaving is anything but. Overturned dresser, cracked bedpost, weapons scattered on the floor. I trip on a sword belt and swallow a curse.

“Where are you going?” Coal asks behind me, his voice gravelly.

Away from here. Back to my room. Outside. I don’t know. With my heart returning to its normal rate, the strength is draining from my body, leaving behind the aftermath of what we did.

“Nowhere in particular,” I say over my shoulder, my voice wavering. What happened between us, it was little but sport to him. A game. And it was fun, the exhilaration of it. The . . . the ending was certainly worth the ramp-up. My body heats in memory of what just happened, my bones melting with desire for a single moment—before the aftermath crashes into me again like an avalanche. If was fun, and now, like a good sparring session, it’s over. Coal made that clear enough. I should be glad he isn’t heading for the baths. I swat a loose strand of hair from my face. “I’m just leaving here.”

“Don’t.” Coal’s voice is hard, as if he can’t decide whether he’s asking a favor or issuing an order.

I turn slowly, facing the male standing half-naked in the lantern light. Coal looks like he’s just come out of battle, his blond hair wild, sweat coating his skin, and a deep, still-bleeding gash crossing from his shoulder over the hard swell of his pectoral and stopping dangerously close to his nipple.

Coal’s gaze follows mine. He stares at the blood for a moment, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. His lower part twitches in confirmation of having enjoyed the experience leading up to that particular injury.

Heat floods my cheeks as an answering pang pulses between my legs. What we did . . . what he did to me. What I did to him. The magic and power that roared through us both. So right. And so very wrong. It was wrong to have enjoyed it. I turn back to the door and stride toward it.

The room swims, the magic draining from me like water through a sieve. I only realize Coal has moved when the floor shifts and the male’s solid arms catch me before the chamber dumps me onto its floor.

With one arm behind my shoulder blades and the other supporting my knees, Coal returns me to his bed, settling me with surprising gentleness on the mussed sheets. After a heartbeat of hesitation, he retrieves the fallen blanket and covers me with it. “Sleep here tonight, mortal.”

I open my mouth to protest but the words shift to a different sort when, instead of settling down on the mattress beside me, Coal lies down on the floor. “What are you doing?”

“I told you to remain in my chamber,” Coal says matter-of-factly. “It seems proper to give you the bed.”

“It seems proper for you to get your ass into said bed first,” I say, my indignation waking me for a moment.

Coal stiffens.

I sigh, my jaw clenching hard enough that it’s an effort of will to get it to move. “You need not hug me, Coal,” I say, turning my back to him in emphasis. Trying to sound as if Coal’s revulsion at the thought of brushing up against me is of no consequence. “You don’t have to touch me at all. But for the sake of my ethics, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t stretch out on a stone floor either.”

After a moment I feel the bed shift, Coal’s body settling reluctantly on the other side of the mattress. As I drift off into sleep, I realize that the heavy weight of the male’s arm has somehow settled across me, while Coal himself slumbers with deep, easy breaths.

I wake to shooting pain scorching my shoulder and streaking along my body. My shoulder, my back, my ribs. As if I’ve been in battle. Which, given the state of the dresser, is rather close to reality.

Beside me, Coal is sleeping on his stomach, one heavy arm draped over my hips as his back rises and falls in a deep, slow rhythm, his sculpted muscles shifting slightly with each inhalation. I’ve never seen the warrior sleep calmly before, I realize. Even when traveling, Coal woke at the slightest movement, the merest of sounds. Now, his beautiful face, framed by a wild mane of blond hair, looks content. Amidst Coal’s scars, I find fresh gashes and bruises that make my face heat with memory. Four parallel lines slashing across Coal’s scapula like claw marks are half-healed already.

Unlike me.

I shut my eyes, trying to strategize a means of moving that will not make me scream. With last night’s intense connection to Coal broken, the last of his magic has drained from my veins overnight, the preternatural strength and resilience I echoed now completely gone. I go to slide out from under the male’s arm and hiss as the motion jostles my shoulder.

Coal wakes in an instant, his blue eyes clear and surveying the world for danger before finding it beneath his own hand. He pulls back from me quickly, as if drawing back from a hornet’s nest.

Right. Fine. No matter. At least with him awake, I need not be subtle about moving. Wishing the door were much closer to the bed, I try to gather my legs beneath me.

Coal’s heavy palms still my torso before I can move. His nostrils flare delicately as he takes in my scent. Then he curses colorfully. “How bad is it, mortal?” he demands.

“Good morning to you too,” I mutter.

Coal pulls the blanket off me, ignoring my indignant squeak as he rips his shirt off my body as well. His calloused and impossibly gentle hands probe along my skin. “I think I cracked several ribs,” he whispers, the color gone from his face. “As for your shoulder . . .” He flexes the joint, drawing another gasp from my throat. “Stars, mortal. It’s a hair away from dislocation.”

Broken ribs? Dislocated shoulder? I blink. “How—”

“How? Do you truly require a recap?” Coal runs his hands through his loose hair then turns tightly to sink his fist into the already cracked bedpost. His body trembles, his hands clenched as his gaze brushes my body again. “I don’t know what to say,” he says softly. “You can exact whatever retribution you wish, but we both know it won’t be enough. I’ve hurt—I’ve injured you, mortal. There isn’t a way to make it right.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I wince, shifting myself into a sitting position. “First, there were two of us playing yesterday. And second, how come you aren’t ever this upset about walloping me in training?”

Coal blinks at the question, his crystal-blue eyes opening and closing like an owl’s. “Because when we train, I hit what I’m aiming for.” He lowers his head, his shoulders dropping. “That was not the case last night. I wasn’t in control.”

No. Neither of us was. “I thought that was the whole point,” I mutter. I reach toward Coal but my hand finds empty air as the male vaults off the bed and strides to the door, from which I now hear low lupine whines intercepted with displeased growls.

“That’s Shade,” Coal says, confirming my suspicions. “He cannot hear us, but his wolf smells his mate hurt. And that I hurt her.”

Before I can point out that this seems like a very good reason to keep the door shut, Coal pulls it open.

Two hundred pounds of angry predator rushes through the opening and crosses the room in two large leaps, knocking Coal flat on his back. The door slamming closed in his wake, Shade lands on the bed beside me, regaining his fae form in a flash of furious light. His nostrils flare, his yellow gaze fevered as he brushes my cheek. His masculine face turns deadly as he spins on Coal, eyes flashing with bloodthirst.

A shiver runs down my spine. My heart pounds as the air between the males crackles. I try and fail to rise, my chest clenching around lungs that suddenly have trouble drawing air. “Stop it, you idiots!”

Still on the floor, Coal’s tortured gaze lifts to Shade’s, who advances with predatory slowness.

Coal picks himself up from the stone. For a horrifying heartbeat, the certainty that the two will truly try to kill each other echoes like thunder through my bones. Then lightning strikes with a reality that’s more chilling still.

Instead of getting to his feet, Coal rises only as far as his knees. Shoulders spread, head down, hands locked in the small of his back.

Shade draws back a fist, taking aim at Coal’s jaw. My breath catches. Shade’s knuckles crack against Coal’s face, the kneeling male grunting from the blow but never taking his hands from behind him, not even as blood runs from his split lip onto the floor.

“Don’t you dare hit him again!” I call, though neither male gives any sign of having heard me.

Showing his teeth, Shade kicks Coal’s unprotected abdomen, doubling the male over.

When Shade pulls back for the next blow, I grit my teeth, wrap the sheet around me, and sprint to the door. My body screams, my muscles giving out just as I crack it open enough to break Coal’s soundproofing wards and bellow for River with all the breath I have left.