*******
The words hung in the air. None of them wanted to acknowledge what they were all thinking.
"We don't do mate bonds," Damon said, but his voice lacked conviction. "We agreed years ago....."
"I know what we agreed," Damian interrupted. "But what we agreed and what's actually happening are two different things."
"Are you saying you think she's our mate?" Silas asked carefully.
"I'm saying that what I feel when I'm with her.....what we all feel.....it's not normal. It's not just lust or attraction." Damian's jaw tightened. "It's need. Bone-deep, consuming need. I've been with hundreds of women over the years. I've never felt anything like this."
"Neither have I," Damon admitted. "This morning, when we left her to come down here, it physically hurt. Like my wolf was being separated from something essential."
"Same," Silas said. "And it's getting worse. Stronger. The more time we spend with her, the more impossible it becomes to imagine being without her."
"We need her again already," Damon said, checking his watch. "It's only been an hour since we left the bedroom, and I'm hard just thinking about her. About being inside her. About making her scream our names."
"We're addicted," Silas said flatly. "To her body, yes. But more than that. To her presence. Her scent. The way she looks at us. Everything about her."
"Fuck." Damian stood abruptly, pacing behind his desk. "This is exactly what we swore wouldn't happen. What we couldn't afford to let happen."
"Too late," Damon said. "It's already happening. Has been happening since the moment we saw her on that stage. We just didn't want to admit it."
"Because admitting it makes her a target," Damian said. "The moment our enemies realize we have a mate, they'll come for her. To hurt us. To leverage her against us. To kill her just to watch us suffer."
"Then we don't let anyone realize," Silas said. "We keep this between us. She's still under contract....that's the official story. Just another temporary arrangement."
"And privately?" Damon challenged. "What do we do privately when we all know what she really is to us?"
Damian was quiet for a long moment. Finally: "We protect her. We keep her close. And we figure out what the hell she's becoming, because whatever it is, it's not human and it's not stable. That glow this morning....."
"I saw it," Silas interrupted. "When she came. Her whole body lit up for a few seconds. Golden light emanating from her skin."
"It's lasting longer each time," Damon said. "The first night, it was barely a flash. This morning, it was several seconds. Whatever is locked inside her is waking up. Fast."
"Which means we're running out of time," Damian said. "We need to know what she is before the transformation completes. Because if we're not prepared, if we can't help her through it..."
He didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to. They all understood the stakes.
"I've called in Dr. Thorne," Damian said. "She's the best supernatural researcher we have. If anyone can identify what Eve is, it's her."
"When will she be here?" Silas asked.
"Tomorrow. She's flying in from Europe." Damian returned to his desk, fingers drumming again. "In the meantime, we keep Eve close. Very close. I want her in this house constantly. No more weekends away."
"She'll ask why," Damon pointed out.
"Then we tell her we want her here. That we enjoy her company." Damian's smile was cold. "It's not a lie."
"And if she asks about the changes to her body?" Silas asked. "Because she will. She's not stupid. She's noticed the rapid healing, the increased appetite, all of it."
"We deflect. For now. Until we have real answers to give her." Damian looked at both his brothers. "We tell her it's stress relief, better nutrition, the benefits of regular... activity. Anything but the truth."
"Which is?"
"That she's bonded to us. That whatever she's becoming, it's being triggered and accelerated by our connection to her. By the mate bond forming whether we want it or not."
"And when the bond completes?" Damon asked. "When we can't hide it anymore?"
"Then we deal with the consequences," Damian said. "Together. But until then, we keep her safe, we keep her satisfied, and we keep her in the dark about what's really happening."
"She's not going to like that," Silas warned. "When she finds out we knew and didn't tell her."
"I know." Damian's expression was grim. "But her anger is preferable to her death. Because if she panics and tries to fight the transformation, it could kill her. These binding spells.....if that's what's on her....they're designed to protect. But they're also deadly if disturbed improperly."
"So we lie to her," Damon said. "For her own good."
"For her survival," Damian corrected. "There's a difference."
The brothers were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts about the woman upstairs who'd turned their carefully controlled world upside down in just two weeks.
"We should go back to her," Silas said finally. "She's been alone too long."
"We've been gone forty-five minutes," Damon pointed out.
"I know. And it feels like hours." Silas stood. "Tell me I'm not the only one feeling the pull. The need to be near her."
"You're not," Damian admitted. "I feel it too. Like a hook in my chest, pulling me toward her. Getting stronger every minute we're apart."
"That's the mate bond," Damon said. "It's forming whether we acknowledge it or not. And fighting it is only going to make it worse."
"Then we stop fighting it," Damian decided. "Privately, between us, we acknowledge what she is. What this is. But publicly, she remains our contracted companion. Nothing more."
"And when someone inevitably figures it out?" Silas asked.
"Then we protect what's ours," Damian said, and the alpha command in his voice made both his brothers' wolves sit up and take notice. "By any means necessary. She's ours now. And we don't let go of what belongs to us."
"Ours," Damon repeated, tasting the word. "Permanently."
"Permanently," Damian confirmed.
"Contract be damned. She's not leaving in four and a half months. She's not leaving ever."
"She might have something to say about that," Silas pointed out.
"Then we'll convince her," Damian said. "We have ways of being very... persuasive."
All three brothers smiled....predatory, possessive smiles that would have terrified anyone who saw them.
"We should get back to her," Damon said. "I need to be inside her again. Need to feel her around me. Mark her more thoroughly."
"Agreed," Silas said. "And tonight, we push further. See how much more she can take."
"She can take everything," Damian said with certainty. "And she'll beg for more. Because she's ours, and her body knows it even if her mind hasn't caught up yet."
They stood as one, already moving toward the door. Toward the woman who'd become their obsession. Their addiction.
Their mate.
Even if none of them were ready to say that word out loud to her yet.
"One more thing," Damian said as they reached the door. "We need to be careful. The intensity of our need for her.....it's making us reckless. We can't afford to lose control completely. We could hurt her without meaning to."
"She can take it," Damon said. "Her body adapts. Heals. She's stronger than any woman we've been with."
"But she's still smaller than us. Weaker physically, even if she's becoming something more." Damian's expression was serious. "I'm not saying hold back. I'm saying stay aware. Watch her responses. The moment she shows real distress, we stop."
"Agreed," Silas said. "Though I don't think we'll need to worry. She's been meeting us every step of the way. Matching our intensity with her own."
"Because of the bond," Damon said. "Her body craves ours the same way ours crave hers. It's reciprocal. Mutual. Perfect."
"Too perfect," Damian muttered. "Which is why we need to stay vigilant. Perfect doesn't exist. There's always a catch."
"Then we'll deal with the catch when we find it," Silas said. "But right now, I need to be with our mate. Everything else can wait."
Our mate. The words hung in the air as they left the office, heading back to the woman who'd claimed them as thoroughly as they'd claimed her.
Whether any of them were ready for what that meant.
BACK IN THE BEDROOM
Eve heard them coming before they reached the door. Three sets of footsteps, moving in perfect synchronization. Her pulse quickened, her body already responding to their proximity.
When the door opened and all three of them entered....still in their suits, looking powerful and predatory and hungry....Eve felt that now-familiar clench of need low in her belly.
They'd only been gone an hour. She should still be satisfied from this morning's marathon.
Instead, she was already wet, already wanting, already craving their touch.
What's wrong with me? she thought desperately. Why can't I get enough?
But as Damian crossed to her with that cold, possessive look in his gray eyes, as Damon's wicked smile promised dark pleasures, as Silas's intense gaze stripped her bare without touching her, Eve realized:
She didn't care what was wrong with her.
She just wanted more.
Always more.
And they were more than willing to give it to her.