When I woke in the morning, Bagel was already sitting perched on the windowsill, tail twitching as if she were keeping guard. I was only half awake, still tangled in blankets, when the first low growl rumbled outside the door.

  I bolted upright, moving towards the living room of the cabin. “Did you hear that?”

  Grabber was already on his feet, hand at the knife strapped to his thigh. Riven’s head lifted from where he was pulling on his boots, and Thorne didn’t even move, he just went very still, every line of his body sharpened with attention.

  Another growl. Closer.

  Then the door creaked open, and in padded the largest, most terrifying creature I’d ever seen.

  It was a dog. Sort of. If dogs were the size of bears, with blackened fur that shimmered like smoke and eyes that glowed faintly red. Its paws hit the wood floor with a dull, heavy thud, and when it opened its mouth, I caught sight of fangs too long to belong to anything that lived on this side of nightmares.

  I froze. Bagel hissed, arched her back, and then, to my horror, launched herself onto the table like she was ready to fight it.

  “Bagel, no!” I squeaked.

  But the beast didn’t lunge. It didn’t snarl. Instead, it lowered itself onto its front paws, ears flicking back. The growl melted into something like a rumbling sigh.

  And then, unbelievably, it wagged its tail.

  I blinked, my voice pitching high. “Um. There’s a, there’s a monster dog in the house.”

  Grabber’s knife hand didn’t lower, but his expression twisted into something halfway between shock and disbelief. “What the hell…”

  But what stunned me wasn’t the creature itself. It was the way Thorne and Riven reacted. Which was to say… they didn’t.

  Thorne leaned back in his chair like this was mildly inconvenient at best. Riven crossed his arms, eyes narrowing, but his weight shifted onto one leg with the kind of relaxation that screamed this was not unexpected.

  “You’re not -” I gestured wildly at the massive beast. “You’re not going to do something about this?”

  Thorne’s mouth twitched, just enough to suggest he found my outrage amusing. “It’s already here. What, am I supposed to take it to the pound?”

  Riven only muttered something under his breath, too low for me to catch, but sharp enough that I knew it wasn’t friendly. Meanwhile, Grabber simply rolled his eyes and relaxed his position.

  None of them answered. Which, apparently, was as good as yes.

  The creature’s glowing eyes landed on me then. My breath hitched, but instead of lunging, it lumbered forward and nudged me into a chair, before dropping its massive head into my lap.

  I yelped. Then froze.

  Bagel hissed once more, her tail puffed up like a bottlebrush. But the beast only sighed, warm breath gusting over my knees, and then, like this was the most natural thing in the world, it started to purr.

  I stared down at it, utterly dumbfounded. Then slowly, carefully, I lifted a hand and set it on the beast’s head. The fur wasn’t coarse like I’d expected, but soft, plush, and faintly warm, as if embers lived just beneath the skin.

  The creature leaned into my touch, eyes half-lidding in contentment.

  Something inside me melted. “Oh, Bagel,” I whispered, glancing up at my cat, who looked personally offended. “You’ve got a new sibling.”

  Bagel answered with a loud, judgmental hiss.

  Grabber made a strangled noise, Riven pinched the bridge of his nose, and Thorne’s mouth definitely curved this time, the faintest shadow of a smile.

  And me? I was already in love.

  For the rest of the morning, I discovered that the creature, whatever he was, was surprisingly easy to please. He followed me around the cabin like a shadow, curling up wherever I sat, sniffing at Bagel with unbothered patience while she delivered swipes to his nose, and even trying to wedge his massive body onto the couch beside me.

  I couldn’t stop smiling. For once, the tension that always seemed to hum in the air loosened, the cabin filling instead with warmth and ridiculous laughter.

  That was when Rowan came running to the door, breathless, a piece of parchment clutched in his hand.

  His eyes darted past the beast immediately, and to my utter astonishment, he didn’t even blink at the sight of it, before settling on Thorne. “Something was just delivered here, and it isn’t good.”

  The levity vanished.

  Thorne took the parchment, unrolled it, and his jaw tightened as his eyes scanned the page. Riven moved to his side instantly, reading over his shoulder. Grabber crossed to stand behind me, his hand brushing my shoulder briefly, steadying me, or maybe steadying himself.

  “What is it?” I asked, heart thudding.

  Thorne’s gaze lifted to mine, hard as stone. “The Council.”

  My stomach dropped.

  Riven’s voice was low, edged with something like fury. “They’re demanding we hand you over.”

  The fire popped. Bagel hissed softly. Even the dog shifted closer, pressing his massive head against my leg.

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  “Hand me over?” My voice shook. “To who? Why?”

  Thorne’s eyes didn’t waver. “They claim authority over all unmarked females. They say you belong to them.”

  The words sliced through me, cold and jagged. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

  Then Grabber was in front of me, crouched low so his eyes met mine, his big, scarred hands closing over mine. “Listen to me, Liora. That’s never going to happen.”

  Riven’s agreement came sharp, certain. “Not while I breathe.”

  And Thorne, steady as the stone his name evoked, sealed it. “You’re ours to protect. They’ll have to rip you from our dead hands.”

  The promise settled heavy in the room, fierce and unshakable.

  I curled my fingers tighter around Grabber’s hands, rough and calloused, grounding me in a way I didn’t know I needed. Bagel had slunk closer, tail still fluffed, her green eyes wide and furious, but she pressed against my hip anyway. And the massive beast at my side, Fluffy, I decided firmly, because no one that purrs like a furnace gets to be called anything else, nudged closer as if he’d understood every word spoken.

  It should’ve been ridiculous. It should’ve felt like too much. But instead, with them around me, the fear didn’t drown me the way it usually did.

  My throat worked. “I… I don’t belong to anyone.” The words scraped out of me, small but sharp.

  “Not to them,” Grabber said instantly, voice rough.

  Riven’s gaze flicked toward me, amber eyes glinting with something fierce. “You’re not theirs.” His mouth curved, the faintest, dangerous smile. “You’re ours, and we are yours.”

  Thorne leaned back slightly, but the tension in his shoulders betrayed him. “We’ll send a response. Make it clear they’ve overstepped.” His eyes softened, just for me. “No one takes you from here, Liora.”

  Fluffy gave a content rumble, as if stamping the vow with his approval.

  I let out a shaky laugh, brushing my hand over his head. “Hear that, Bagel? Sounds like we are staying here for a while, and now you’ve got a sisterhood and a brotherhood. We’re apparently collecting family members like strays.”

  In response, Bagel gave another indignant chirp and lashed her tail.

  Somehow, impossibly, the sound of Thorne’s low chuckle joined my laugh, warm and grounding. Riven shook his head, muttering something about “insufferable cats and their humans,” but his mouth betrayed him too, twitching at the corner. Even Grabber cracked a smile, though his thumb brushed over my knuckles like he needed to reassure himself I was still here.

  The fire crackled. Outside, the wind rattled the shutters. But in that small circle of light, with all of them around me, the fear didn’t win.

  Not this time.

  Later, after Rowan had left with the message to be carried, I found myself still flanked by my unlikely group. Fluffy snored against my leg, Bagel perched like a queen on my shoulder, and the three men remained close, too close to ignore.

  Grabber had settled himself on the floor beside me, posture tense, one hand always brushing the hilt of a blade at his belt like he was daring someone to try.

  Thorne leaned against the hearth, firelight gilding the sharp lines of his jaw, arms crossed but his gaze never straying far from me.

  And Riven, Riven stood behind me, a steady presence, his fingers ghosting once over the back of my chair as though anchoring me in place.

  It should’ve been suffocating. It wasn’t. It was… safe.

  “You really mean it?” I asked quietly, eyes on the flames. “You’d… fight them for me?”

  Grabber’s answer came first, immediate and raw. “Already decided.”

  Riven’s voice followed, smooth and sure. “They don’t get you. Not now. Not ever.”

  And Thorne, steady as a mountain, sealed it again: “You are ours to guard, Liora. That is final.”

  My chest tightened, but not just with fear. Something else was there too, something warm, treacherous, that I couldn’t quite shove down.

  I stroked Fluffy’s head, the low purr reverberating into my bones, and whispered, mostly to myself, “Then maybe I’m not as alone as I thought.”

  Sleep didn’t come easy. Even after the council’s threat had been read and the others finally turned in, I lay on the bed staring up at the rafters, the weight of their promise pressing against my chest in a way both terrifying and strangely comforting.

  Fluffy had claimed me completely. His massive head was sprawled across my stomach, heavy as a boulder but somehow comfortable, the warmth of his fur sinking into me like a living hearth. Bagel had retreated to the foot of the cot, tail lashing in clear offense, occasionally chirping her displeasure whenever Fluffy twitched in his sleep.

  His breaths were slow and rumbling, each exhale puffing against my ribs until it felt like my own lungs were keeping time with his. I stared down at his dark fur, wondering how something so large and dangerous could feel like the safest blanket in the world.

  A sound drew my attention. I wasn’t alone.

  Grabber sat in the living room near the open door, his big frame slouched against the wall with his knife balanced loosely in one hand. His gaze flicked up when he caught me watching. “You’re supposed to be sleeping,” he muttered, voice low, rasping.

  “I tried.” My throat was dry, words clumsy in the dark. “But every time I close my eyes, I see them. Whoever they are. Trying to take me.”

  Grabber didn’t move at first, just sat there in the half-light with his knife balanced loosely in one hand. His jaw worked, scar catching the glow of the fire. Finally, he pushed off the wall and crouched beside me, putting his hands on the bed. The bed dipped slightly under his weight, his big frame crowding the space, but not in a way that made me want to shrink back.

  His hand lifted, rough and hesitant, like he wasn’t sure he had the right. But then his fingers threaded through my hair, brushing it back from my face. “They won’t.” His voice was low, gravel scraping against steel. “Not while I’ve got breath in my body.”

  Something in me cracked at that. I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to. But the images wouldn’t stop, the shadows in the forest, the faceless threat behind the council’s demand. I swallowed hard, but the burn in my chest gave me away.

  “I keep telling myself I’m fine.” My voice came out smaller than I liked. “That I’m strong enough, that I’ll learn to fight, that nothing can touch me here… but I’m scared, Soren. I’m so damn scared.”

  The words tumbled out before I could stop them. My eyes stung, hot and traitorous, and then tears slid down my temples into my hair.

  For a second I thought he’d pull back, retreat into that iron shell he wore so easily. But instead, his thumb brushed my cheek, careful in a way that felt almost reverent. “You don’t have to be fine all the time,” he said. “Not with us.”

  That was all it took. My breath hitched, and the tears came harder, chest shaking under Fluffy’s weight.

  As if on cue, the massive hound stirred. His ember eyes blinked open, catching the firelight, and then, without hesitation, he licked straight across my wet cheek.

  I gasped, then choked on a startled laugh. “Fluffy, ugh, gross -”

  But before I could shove him off, his tongue slid lower, a heavy, warm drag along the curve where my neck met my shoulder. My breath hitched in a very different way this time, skin sparking with unwanted awareness.

  “Fluffy.” Grabber’s voice snapped low, warning but edged with reluctant amusement. He nudged the hound’s nose firmly with the heel of his hand. “Knock it off.”

  Fluffy gave a grumble that sounded suspiciously smug, then flopped his head back onto my stomach like nothing had happened.

  I wiped at my damp face with the back of my sleeve, still laughing weakly through the tears. “He’s the worst.”

  Grabber’s gaze lingered on me a beat longer, softer than I’d ever seen it. Then his hand settled, steady and warm, against mine. “No,” he said quietly, almost to himself. “Not the worst at all.”

  Bagel hissed her outrage. I groaned. Grabber just shook his head, still smiling faintly as his hand lingered in my hair. His gaze lingered, steady and unguarded in a way I’d never seen before. “You believe us now? That we’ll keep you safe?”

  I nodded, breath hitching. “I do.”

  “Good.” His thumb brushed lightly along my temple, softer than anyone would think those scarred hands capable of. “Then sleep. I’ll be here.”

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