Betrayed By One. Bound To Three

Selena.

For a moment, nothing existed outside of him. The cave, the cold stone beneath my feet, and the silence that had once pressed heavily around me all seemed to fade into the background, leaving only Edris and the overwhelming weight of his presence against mine.

It was suffocating in a way that made it impossible to think clearly, impossible to separate where I ended and he began, and yet I could not bring myself to pull away from it.

Edris curled his fingers inside me and a shuddering orgasm ran through my body, leaving me breathless.

Edris didn’t take off his fingers immediately, and when he did, he brough his fingers to his lips and licked it clean. Then, he kissed me allowing me to taste myself on his lips.

The aftermath of it still lingered through my body, leaving me unsteady and breathless, my fingers clutching weakly at his shirt as though it was the only thing keeping me grounded.

Edris did not move away immediately. He remained close, his gaze lowered to me with an intensity that made heat rise beneath my skin, as though he was deliberately taking his time, making sure I felt every second of it before he finally shifted.

When he leaned in again and captured my mouth, deepening the moment instead of letting it fade, it left me even more disoriented, as though I had stepped into something I could not fully control.

It was only then that I felt it, a subtle shift in the air that made something inside me tighten. Awareness crept back slowly, almost unwillingly, and with it came the realization that we were not alone.

My breath caught as I became conscious of them again. Kael and Ronan were no longer standing at a distance.

They had moved closer, their presence filling the space in a way that was impossible to ignore, their eyes fixed on us with a dark, unreadable intensity.

The realization struck me all at once, and my body stiffened instinctively, but it was far too late to pull away or pretend that nothing had happened.

There was no hiding it now, no way to take back what they had already seen or what I had just given. Edris did not allow me the space to retreat even if I had tried.

His hand tightened slightly at my waist, firm and unyielding, keeping me exactly where I was while his gaze remained fixed on my face, as though he was searching for something beneath everything I had not said.

"Look at you," he murmured, his voice low and edged with quiet mockery. "You still want to pretend you don’t need us?"

My lips parted, but no answer came, because I did not know what to say, and because everything inside me felt too tangled and exposed to put into words.

Before I could gather myself, Kael stepped forward, his movements slow and deliberate, his eyes never leaving mine.

There was something in his expression that made my chest tighten, something that was not softness or comfort, but something sharper, something controlled, something that made it clear that whatever this moment was, it was far from over.

Ronan followed him, quieter but no less imposing, and the two of them closed the distance until I could feel them around me without either of them needing to touch me.

Their presence alone was enough to make my breath come unevenly, enough to make the space feel smaller, more suffocating, and far more intense than I was ready to handle.

"Barely minutes ago, you couldn’t stand us," Kael said, his voice calm, though there was a clear edge beneath it, "and now you look like you cannot even breathe without us."

I swallowed, forcing myself to hold his gaze even as the heat rose to my face. "I didn’t ask for your help."

"No," Ronan replied quietly, his voice coming from just behind me, close enough to make me aware of every inch of space between us. "You didn’t."

There was a brief pause before he continued, and when he did, his tone was steady and certain. "But you didn’t refuse it either."

The truth in his words settled heavily in my chest, and I hated that they could see it, hated that they understood something I could barely admit to myself. "I would have handled it," I insisted, though my voice lacked the strength it had carried earlier.

Kael’s expression did not change. "You keep saying that."

"Because it’s true," I replied, though even to my own ears, it did not sound as convincing as I wanted it to.

Edris let out a quiet breath, something between a scoff and a low laugh. "You keep trying to prove that you don’t need us," he said, his voice rougher now, "but your wolf tells a different story."

At the mention of Lyra, something stirred within me again, that familiar pull tightening in a way that made it harder to think clearly. It was stronger now, more insistent, and far more difficult to ignore than it had been before.

"That doesn’t mean anything," I said, shaking my head slightly.

"It means everything," Ronan replied, and the certainty in his voice made something in my chest tighten because part of me knew he believed it completely, and part of me was beginning to believe it too.

I took a small step back, needing space, needing to think, needing to breathe, but I did not get far before Kael’s hand closed around my wrist. His grip was firm, not harsh, but unyielding enough to remind me that I was not going anywhere.

"Where do you think you’re going?" he asked.

"I just need a moment," I started, but he cut me off.

"You’re not leaving."

The simplicity of his words made my breath catch, and with it came that same sense of control, that same quiet decision being made for me without my consent.

"I didn’t say I was leaving," I said quickly.

"You were," Edris replied.

"And you still are," Ronan added.

I looked between them, frustration rising again, but it no longer felt as sharp as it had before. Instead, it felt tangled with something else, something I could not quite separate from it.

"You don’t get to decide that," I said, though my voice lacked its earlier force.

Kael stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat of him, steady and unshaken. "We have been too soft with you," he said. "That is why you think you can do as you please."

His gaze dropped briefly, taking me in in a way that made my pulse quicken despite myself. "Do you know we have a million ways we can punish you?"

I did not answer, because I did not know how to respond to that, and because something inside me was already shifting in a way I could not control.

Edris’s hand remained at my waist, steady and grounding, while Ronan’s presence behind me pressed closer, surrounding me completely.

"You don’t get to run from us," Ronan said quietly near my ear, and the closeness of his voice sent a shiver through me that I could not suppress, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Didnt you say you hated us," Edris murmured, his tone softer now but no less dangerous.

My chest tightened. "I..." I started, but the words would not come, because they no longer felt entirely true.

Kael’s grip on my wrist loosened slightly, his thumb brushing slowly against my skin. "Say it again," he said.

I looked at him, my breath uneven, and tried again, but nothing followed, because I could not force the words out when something inside me had already shifted.

"You can’t," Ronan said quietly, and it was not a question.

It was a statement.

My chest rose and fell as something inside me gave way, not completely, but enough to dull the edge of my anger and weaken the distance I had been trying so hard to maintain.

Edris tilted my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "Good," he said, and the word settled into me in a way I did not want to acknowledge.

I hated how easily they affected me, how quickly they could unravel everything I thought I was holding onto, and even more, I hated how much I wanted them to.

My eyes stung, and I blinked quickly, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall, trying to stay strong even as everything inside me began to slip.

"I will stay... only if you make me feel wanted," I whispered, the truth leaving me before I could stop it.

For a brief moment, Kael’s expression shifted, something softer flickering beneath the surface before it disappeared.

"You don’t get to make that condition," he said.

Ronan’s voice followed, quieter but just as firm. "You stay whether you want to or not."

Edris’s hand tightened slightly at my waist. "With us."

The words settled heavily around me, not a question, not a choice, but something certain and unyielding.

My breath caught as Lyra stirred again, stronger now, her presence pressing forward with a need that blurred everything else, making it harder to think, harder to resist, harder to leave.

I closed my eyes briefly.

And for the first time since I had walked away from them, I did not try to pull back.