Page 68 of Song Bird Hearts

“I never could,” he answers, teeth grazing my skin. “Not from the moment you walked into that party and destroyed my whole goddamn world.”

Gilden’s fingers join his at my hips, warm and sure. “Let’s take our time,cher,” he says, his Cajun drawl like honey over stone. “Let you feel us one at a time ‘til you can’t tell where you end and we start.”

I lean back against Gilden, my body already pulsing with heat as I let them guide me. Gilden’s lips burn my shoulder, slow and teasing, while Wolf’s hands roam my waist with practiced grace. He’s hurting—I can feel it in the tension of his muscles—but he holds me like I’m the only thing dulling the ache.

My breath hitches when Wolf slips his hand up my shirt, his palm flat and warm against my bare skin. Gilden hums, pleased, and pulls my boots off gently, kissing my ankle before setting it back down in the grass.

“You’re going to ruin us,” Wolf says, rasping low. “You know that, don’t you?”

“I hope so,” I whisper.

“That’s my girl,” Gilden grins, sliding in closer so that I can be nestled between them, cradled by their warmth.

My breath catches as Wolf unfastens my jeans with slow precision, every touch deliberate, every brush of his knuckles like a question I can only answer with a gasp. I tip my head back against Gilden’s chest, my lips parted, and watch as Knox slowly stands.

He doesn’t speak. He just crosses the space between us and crouches at my side, his hand brushing then hair from my cheek. His eyes are on me, only me.

I reach for him and he lets me, no protest coming from his eyes or his lips. His thumb sweeps over my lips, and he lets out a breath like he’s been holding it in since the first time he’d seen me.

“I don’t know what the hell this is,” he says quietly. “But I can’t walk away from it.”

“Then don’t,” I murmur.

The stars blink to life overhead, lazy and bright, as if they know what’s unfolding in the hush of the firefly-lit pasture. A whole symphony of night sounds surround us, welcome us into their fold, until we’re just other creatures who belong out here.

I lay in the grass with three men around me, my men. There are no other words for them. Not anymore. We’ve forged this bond in the midst of danger, in the middle of a literal battle for my freedom, and I won’t ever let them go.

Wolf is beneath me, his body warm and steady despite the tension in his muscles. His hand splays across my stomach, his fingers tracing idle circles like he’s branding me gently. Every now and then, his breath catches, but he never lets it stop him from touching me with care. Devotion. Obsession, maybe, but the kind that feels holy.

Gilden is behind me, kissing along the back of my neck, his fingers tangled in my hair. His palms run down my thighs, up under my shirt, and I let him lift it off like he’s done it a hundred times. I arch into the touch of both of them, boneless, blissful, and aching for more.

And Knox. . . God, Knox.

He kneels beside me still, his eyes dark and his hands clenched on his thighs when he isn’t touching me. He watches, wanting, and I can feel that hunger rolling from him in waves.

“Come here,” I whisper to him.

“I don’t. . .” He hesitates, his voice low and rough. “I’ve never shared.”

“You’re not sharing,” I murmur. “You’re mine. They’re mine. That’s different.”

I reach for him and he lets me pull him into me. His kiss is fire, rough, hot, and unsteady, his teeth dragging across my bottom lip in a bite that sooths more than hurts. He presses his forehead to mine and exhales like he’s breaking apart when we stop.

“I hate how much I need you,” he murmurs. “It’s not safe.”

“Nothing about this is safe,” I reply. “But it’s real.”

Wolf shifts beneath me, groaning softly as I brace a hand on his chest, careful of his ribs. I lean down and kiss him again, tender and slow, while Gilden helps me out of my jeans and presses warm kisses to the backs of my thighs after he stands me up over Wolf’s lap despite me still leaning down to kiss him.

When Gilden’s lips are suddenly between my legs, slow and reverent, I cry out against Wolf’s mouth.

“Easy,” Wolf whispers, threading his fingers into my hair. “Take what you need.”

“We’ll give you everythin’,” Gilden adds, his voice muffled slightly as he leans back just enough to speak before burying his face back between my thighs, worshipping me with his tongue and mouth.

When my thighs tremble and my moan cracks the silence like thunder, I feel Wolf chuckle beneath me as he pulls me back down.

“Look at her,” he rasps to the others. “Ruined already.”

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