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And in that moment of perfect clarity, I knew with absolute certainty: I would never let either of them go. This wasn’t just about Everly choosing between us. This was about the three of us choosing each other. A new kind of bond, unprecedented perhaps, but no less real. No less fated.

The realization settled into my bones with the weight of truth. We belonged together—all three of us. Any other arrangement would be incomplete, a fragment of what we could be together.

As the dream began to fade around me, our bodies still entwined, still pulsing with shared pleasure, I held onto that certainty like a lifeline.

I woke with a gasp,my chest heaving as if I’d sprinted through a battlefield. The dream clung to me like a second skin, visceral and potent, every sensation still blazing through my nerves. My body was taut, painfully aroused, my claws digging into the rough ground beneath me. For a moment, I couldn’t separate reality from the dreamscape, the borders between them blurred by the intensity of what I’d experienced.

The night air was cool against my fur, a stark contrast to the heat that still radiated from my core. I forced my breathing to slow, willing my heartbeat to follow suit as I oriented myself in the physical world once more. The stars had shifted in the sky, marking the passage of hours, though the night still held firm.

Beside me, Everly and Khaaz remained locked in sleep. They had gravitated toward each other during the night, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces designed by some cosmic hand. Everly was nestled between us, her back pressed against my side, her face turned into Khaaz’s chest. His arm was draped protectively over her waist, his scarred hand splayed across her hip. In sleep, his features had softened, the perpetual wariness absent.

I hoped they still shared in the unity dream, or perhaps started one anew for just the two of them. The thought sent another pulse of heat through my body, but I tamped it down to focus on the night watch.

They needed rest. The journey had taxed Everly especially, though she would die before admitting it—her human body wasn’t designed for the punishing pace we’d maintained. And Khaaz, for all his genetically enhanced stamina, had endured a far greater pain for longer than I had.

I shifted carefully, extracting myself from their tangle of limbs without disturbing them. Everly made a small sound of protest in her sleep, her hand reaching blindly for the warmth I’d taken away. I caught it gently, pressing my lips to her palm before placing it back against Khaaz’s chest. He instinctively pulled her closer, his breath ruffling her dark hair.

Taking up my position against the wall once more, I resumed my vigil. The dream had changed things—clarified them in ways I hadn’t expected. What had seemed impossible now felt inevitable. The three of us, bound together not by convention or tradition, but by something deeper, more primal.

Let them sleep. I would guard their dreams as fiercely as I would guard their lives. And when they woke, we would face whatever came next. Together.

13 /EVERLY

I wokewith the phantom sensation of claws against my skin and fangs at my throat. The dream clung to me like sweat, intimate and impossible to ignore. My body hummed with lingering pleasure, a delicious ache between my thighs reminding me of what had transpired in our shared dreamspace. I kept my eyes shut, mortification washing over me in waves. How was I supposed to look either of them in the eye after that? After they had both thoroughly claimed me, marked me, ruined me for anyone else? I’d never been the center of such focused, primal attention before—and certainly never from two enormous alien cat-men simultaneously.

The air around me shifted, and I caught the rich, spicy scent of cooked meat. My stomach growled in response, betraying my consciousness. So much for pretending to be asleep until I figured out how to face them.

“Ah, she wakes,” Zehn’s deep voice rumbled from somewhere above me. “Sleep well, kitten?”

The suggestive lilt in his tone made heat flood my cheeks. I cracked one eye open to find him crouched nearby, golden eyes gleaming with amusement and something darker, morepossessive. He was holding what looked like freshly cooked meat on a makeshift spit.

“Where did you get that?” I asked, my voice raspy from sleep, deliberately ignoring his question.

“Hunted while you two were still lost in dreams,” he said, tearing off a piece and offering it to me. “Eat. You’ll need your strength.”

The way he said it—laden with meaning, with promise—made the heat in my cheeks spread throughout my body. I pushed myself up to sitting, wincing slightly at the stiffness in my muscles. Running around through alien wilderness weren’t exactly what my desk-job body was conditioned for.

Khaaz was already awake, pacing along the edge of our hide-high, his scarred form silhouetted against the early morning light. He glanced back at me, and I caught the flash of his iridescent eyes. Unlike Zehn, he didn’t mention the dream, but the intensity of his gaze told me he remembered every detail. Every touch, every taste, every shared moment of pleasure.

I accepted the meat from Zehn, our fingers brushing in the exchange. Even that small contact sent electricity racing up my arm. “Thank you,” I mumbled, focusing intently on the food to avoid meeting his knowing eyes.

The meat was surprisingly tender, seasoned with something that tasted vaguely like garlic but wasn’t quite. In that moment, it rated higher than all the luxury dinners I treated myself to, and devoured it with gusto. Amazing how quickly priorities shifted when you were on the run for your life on an alien planet.

“Water?” Zehn offered, holding out a container that hadn’t been there last night.

“Did you rob a convenience store while we were sleeping?” I asked, accepting it gratefully.

His lips twitched in what might have been a smile. “There’s a stream half a kilometer down the mountain. The container was in my pack.”

I drank deeply, the cool water washing away the last vestiges of sleep. It didn’t, however, wash away the memory of the dream. Of Zehn’s mouth between my thighs, of Khaaz’s length down my throat, of the three of us connected in ways that defied conventional relationships. The water suddenly went down the wrong pipe, and I sputtered, coughing.

Zehn’s large hand was instantly at my back, patting with surprising gentleness. “Easy,” he murmured. “Breathe.”

When I could speak again, I gestured toward Khaaz. “What’s the plan for today? More walking until my feet fall off?”

Khaaz turned his full attention to us, his expression serious. “The facility is just ahead, within a day’s travel. I haven’t detected any drones in the area, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. We should remain under the cloaking field regardless.”

The cloaking field was another marvel of alien technology—a small device Zehn carried that apparently bent light around us, making us virtually invisible to electronic surveillance. I didn’t fully understand how it worked, but I was grateful for it. It had kept us hidden from whatever was hunting Khaaz—and by extension, now hunting me.

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