The breakfast spread was enormous. Fresh fruit, pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, toast, coffee, juice. Enough for ten people.
Eve stared at it. "This is too much."
"Eat," Damian commanded, already dressed in a sharp suit. "All of it if you can. Your body needs fuel after what we've put it through."
Eve sat and started eating. And couldn't stop.
She was ravenous. The kind of hungry that felt bottomless. She ate three eggs, four pieces of bacon, two pancakes, a pile of fruit, and half the pastries. Washed it down with two glasses of juice and three cups of coffee.
When she finally leaned back, satisfied, all three brothers were staring at her.
"What?" she asked self-consciously.
"You just ate enough for three people," Damon said. "Where does it all go?"
Eve looked down at her stomach—still flat, maybe even flatter than before despite the massive meal. "I don't know. I've been hungry a lot lately."
"We've noticed," Silas said quietly.
Before Eve could ask what he meant, Damian stood. "We have to go. Meetings all afternoon. Rest, read, do whatever you want. We'll be back by dinner."
"And then?" Eve asked, though she already knew the answer.
Damian's smile was cold and predatory. "Then we'll see how much more that perfect body of yours can take."
They left, and Eve sat alone at the massive dining table, her body aching and satisfied and somehow already craving more.
What's wrong with me? she thought. Why can't I get enough?
She didn't have an answer. But as she looked at the marks covering her skin, the evidence of their possession, she realized something terrifying:
She didn't want it to stop.
AFTERNOON - EXPLORATION
Eve spent the afternoon exploring the estate, trying to understand the world she'd entered.
The library was her favorite discovery....three stories of books, leather chairs, and quiet. She pulled out a volume on werewolf culture and settled in to read.
Most of it was basic information she already knew. Pack hierarchies. Territory disputes. The importance of the alpha.
But then she reached a chapter on mating bonds.
"When a werewolf finds their true mate, the bond forms immediately and irrevocably. Characterized by intense physical attraction, inability to be separated for extended periods, and a marking instinct that drives the wolf to claim their mate repeatedly and publicly.
Mate bonds are sacred and permanent. Breaking them results in madness or death for both parties.
Alpha mate bonds are even more intense, as the alpha's protective and possessive instincts are amplified. An alpha will kill to protect their mate, and the mate will feel compelled to submit to and care for their alpha.
In rare cases of alpha triplets, mate bonds become complicated. Typically, only one brother will bond with the mate, creating tension within the pack. However, in extraordinary circumstances, all three alphas may bond with the same mate—though this has only been documented twice in recorded history."
Eve's hands trembled as she held the book.
Mate bonds. Intense physical attraction. Inability to separate. Marking instinct.
That sounded... familiar. Too familiar.
But no. That was impossible. The brothers had been very clear....they didn't do mates. This was a contract. A transaction.
Except it didn't feel like a transaction anymore. Not when they looked at her like she was oxygen. Not when she craved them with an intensity that bordered on painful. Not when her body responded to them in ways that defied logic.
"Interesting reading?"
Eve jumped, dropping the book. Silas stood in the doorway, watching her with those dark, knowing eyes.
"Just trying to understand your world," Eve said, picking up the book.
"And what have you learned?"
"That werewolf politics are complicated. That alphas are possessive. That mate bonds are..." She trailed off.
"Are what?" Silas crossed to her, taking the book from her hands. His eyes scanned the page she'd been reading, and something flickered across his face. "Ah. Mate bonds."
"The book says they're permanent. That breaking them causes madness or death."
"It does."
"Have you ever... have any of you ever had a mate bond?"
Silas was quiet for a long moment. "No. We decided years ago that we wouldn't pursue mates. Too much risk, too much vulnerability."
"But what if you found one anyway? What if the bond formed whether you wanted it or not?"
His dark eyes held hers. "Then we'd have a problem."
The weight of unspoken things hung between them. Eve wanted to ask more, wanted to demand answers about why she felt this pull toward them, why her body responded like it did.
But before she could, Silas's phone buzzed.
"We're done with meetings early," he said after checking it. "Damian wants you in his office. Now."
Eve's pulse jumped. "Why?"
Silas's smile was wicked. "Why do you think?"