“Dare…”It’s supposed to be a demand, but his cock hits my clit again as I speak, and the word ends up sounding more like a breathless plea.He chuckles, breaking our kiss and resting his cheek against mine as he deliberately fucks me without really fucking me. The rough stubble at his jaw scrapes against my skin, and a whole new burst of sensation shoots through me.“I want you to come like this. I want to feel you fall apart from my cock on your clit,” he murmurs roughly.My jaw drops open slightly, air suspended in my lungs as I forget how to breathe for a moment.I’m new to all of this. To sex. To this kind of intimacy.And especially to dirty talk.I don’t know why hearing him say those words is almost as good as the feel of his hard length rubbing against my clit. I don’t know why his rough voice saying things like that makes arousal pulse through my veins even more urgently.But it does. I like it. I like it so, so much.“I’m… I’m close,” I gasp. As dirty talk goes, it’s nowhere

sableAs my mates all head toward the door, Elder Jihoon pauses at my side and takes my hand. He pats the back of it gently, a knowing smile on his face.“I told you,” he murmurs. “I knew there was wolf in you, girl.”I nod my head in something like a bow, because his old-world presence has that effect on me. “You did tell me.”“You could have warned us about the witch though,” Trystan says, turning around to come back for me. He drapes an arm over my shoulders and presses a kiss to my hair, then herds me toward the door before Jihoon has a chance to reply.“Don’t sass the elders,” I chastise him as we pass through the large door into the golden light of the afternoon.He just chuckles, and we walk side by side away from the meeting house, making the short walk to Elder Jihoon’s home.The last time I was inside the elder’s tiny, cramped shack, it was heavy with the scent of incense, and I ended up racing from the room in a panic attack. Luckily, I’ve learned how to balance my emotions

sableWhen Dare comes and rests on my other side, completely enclosing me between the four of them, the fight starts to drain out of me. Their closeness, their palpable worry for me, and the support I can feel flowing through the bond—it all finally starts to break through the tidal wave of blind panic that rose up inside me earlier.Shift back, Archer tells me, his voice still soft. It will be easier to fight the magic in human form.Lacking any other option since I can’t move at all, I obey.I’m not the only one who shifts. Trystan releases his hold on me, and his body morphs on top of mine, while Ridge and Dare step away and shift as well. Tears spill over my cheeks the moment the wolf is gone, joining the dozens of black marks currently painting my body.Trystan slides over to get his weight off me, then pulls me into his arms, tucking me against his broad, warm chest. I bury my face in his skin and realize I’m shaking uncontrollably. Then Dare and Ridge are behind me, lending me

“We should have listened to what she was saying back at Elder Jihoon’s house,” I mutter to Dare under my breath as Trystan leads us out the door a few minutes later. “It’s easy for us to say ‘we’ll figure it out.’ We aren’t the ones going through what she is.”“I guess.” He shakes his head as we start heading up the road, his jaw hard. “Shouldn’t she trust us? We’re her mates. We wouldn’t steer her wrong.”“But what do we really know about any of this?” I scrub a frustrated hand through my hair. “We’re the assholes, Dare. Not Sable. We could easily steer her wrong without even knowing we’re doing it. She’s the only one who knows what it’s like inside her head, what the witch magic is doing to her. We should’ve put more stock in her opinion. She knows finding another witch is a risk, so if she still felt like she needed to do it, there’s a reason for that. It’s because this is bad. Worse than we knew.”“Fucking hell.” Dare’s lips press together, worry darkening his eyes. “I just wanted

sableHe stalks toward me, hulking and broad-shouldered with his hands curled into fists at his sides. His ash brown hair is windswept from his race after me, and his honey-colored eyes are unblinking as he looms over me.Fear creeps into my consciousness, and I cringe away from him. I’m not used to being scared of Ridge—he’s the one who has been most like a protector to me, my champion since the night he dragged me out of Devil’s Ditch after I fled from my uncle’s truck. Ridge is firm but gentle, gruff but kind. Unlike some of my other mates, he never gets this caught up in his own fury. But right now, the heat in his eyes smolders hot as the sun.“What the hell were you thinking?” he roars, throwing both arms out as if to indicate our current location deep in the middle of nowhere.I gasp at the harsh sound of his voice and back away, everything in me screaming to put distance between me and Ridge’s fury.But he follows me, advancing as many steps as I take backward. “Why the fuck w