"I didn't sleep."
"You didn't?" Kai's voice was soft in the doorway like he expected me to be a wreck.
"I didn't." I dragged the words like a blade. "How do anyone get any sleep when three mate bonds are thrumming like competing heartbeats. I barely closed my eyes."
"No wonder you look so exhausted," Osilus said, handing me a coffee. "A pretty woman like you deserves her beauty sleep. Anyways, training starts in twenty. Wear something you can move in."
"I already have something to move in?" I sniffed, tiny fury flaring. "Of course you'd pick my size."
"We planned for emergencies," he said, like it absolved him of prophecy.
"Here, peace offering."he smiled holding out a tray.
"Three espressos?" I looked at the cups. "Are you trying to sedate me or murder me?"
"Both," he said, and it almost made me smile. "Because you're my mate and I failed you before. Not again."
"You failed me?" The laugh on my lips was bitter. "You did bring me coffee when I cried. But that's not the same as stopping a man from stomping on me."
"It's different now." His gaze went warm and insistent. "Your happiness matters to me."
"Then show me." I opened the door and let him lead.
"You good?" he asked as we entered the training room. The walls were padded and I could see the forest from the windows. I looked around and my eyes caught two shirts on a bench.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe this, the three men I hate are gathered to watch me train." I said barely hiding my sarcasm.
Zane was lounged against the wall, shirtless and smug as sin. Avalon stood in the center, he was shirtless too and his arms were crossed in the kind of posture that made the floor feel inferior.
"Wonderful," I said. "What a way to start my morning."
"Phoenixes don't train in shirts," Zane said. "They rip things apart."
"I'm not shifting," I said.
"Not yet," Avalon corrected. "But you will. Your wolf is dormant, not dead. We just need to wake her."
"And what if I don't want to?" I folded my arms.
"Too bad," Zane said, and moved like a shadow. "You're a Lunar Phoenix. Everyone with a better brain than you sees what that means. You need to defend yourself."
Avalon closed the distance before my brain could protest, his hand at my throat. He wasn't squeezing, just showing he could.
"You're so dead," he said flatly. "That barely took me two seconds."
Rage lit me as heat flared through my veins and golden light licked my skin. He jerked back, then hissed as his palm blistered.
"Don't you dare touch me," I snarled.
Zane grinned. "There she is."
"Your Phoenix is reactive,"
Osilus said, stepping forward. "This is good. It means she's close to the surface."
"What is this thing?" I demanded, watching the glow fade. "What is inside me?"
"Its not a thing," Avalon said, flexing the burnt hand. "Its part of you. Your wolf and your Phoenix are linked. One gives you the fight, the other the fire."
"Though emotion feeds it," Zane added, circling like he'd always been a vulture. "Rage, fear, desire—they all fuel the flame."
"Desire?" The word snagged something alarming in my chest. The bonds pulsed like answering drums.
"Control yourself,"Avalon stepped back into teacher mode. "You need to learn to channel it without letting it consume you. Otherwise, you're a ticking time bomb."
"That's very encouraging." I spat.
"We're not here to encourage," he said. "We're here to keep you alive. Osilus, start."
Osilus' face softened and then grew serious. "I need to touch your wolf through the mate bond. Do you trust me?"
"No." I almost said it, then put my hand in his.
The west-bond flared—warm like hearthlight as his eyes goldened. "Breathe with me. In… out."
I followed him and felt something inside me stir, curious and sleepy and amused.
"She's talking," I whispered.
"Good," He said. "What is she saying?"
"She says the your technique needs work," I said, a ghost of a smile twitching. "She said your wolf was lazy and fierce and annoyingly charming."
He actually laughed. "I can work with that."
"Enough bonding," Avalon snapped. "Can she shift?"
"Not yet," Osilus said. "She's too weak from years of being dormant."
"Then we need to feed her," Zane said, and my spine tightened when he put a hand at my lower back. "Phoenix fire strengthens wolves if you channel inward."
"Be careful, that's extremely dangerous," Avalon warned.
"Fine," I said, and the world tilted as Zane's presence slammed into mine—fire on fire. Pain ripped through me and I screamed.
"Let it out!" Zane yelled. "Channel it down into your wolf!"
I didn't know how. The fire burned and I thought I'd die again before cold hands seized my shoulders. It was Avalon's northern pressure and it crashed into me like ice.
"You're not dying," he barked. "Control it."
His command was a whip and my body obeyed. The blaze condensed and shifted, and my wolf drank until she purred.
"She wants more," I breathed.
"Give it to her." Osilus' warmth steadied the storm. "We've got you."
I stopped fighting and let the Phoenix roar. The pain became power and the power became clarity. My wolf broadened as it tasted strength.
"Her eyes," Osilus said in awe. "They're…"
"Gold and silver," Avalon finished. "Wolf and Phoenix."
I looked at my hands, there was no glow, but I felt a hum under my skin.
"How do you feel?" Zane asked, still holding me like there was nowhere else to be.
"Powerful," I admitted. Then my stomach growled like a betraying beast.
"You have no shame as a lady," Zane said, amused.
"Training burns," Avalon said. "We'll rest while she eats breakfast, then continue."
"Carry me," Osilus offered.
"Don't be ridiculous," I said.
"I guess I have to be the man," Zane said, and scooped me up like I weighed nothing. I didn't fight it because it felt oddly safe.
At the table they fed me like I'd been starving for weeks and in truth I had.
The food was ridiculously tasty and all three hovered, shoveling eggs, fruit, and protein into my tiny mouth.
"This is more serious than food," Avalon said after half of the food was gone. "We need to talk about the Council."
"Can't I eat in peace?" I set my fork down. "Tell me, why are they so interested in the Lunar Phoenix bloodlines?"
He explained, and fear braided cold through his voice. "They govern the packs and when they find a Phoenix and they'll lock her up until the Vampires come for her. After that, she becomes their property."
"Breed her?" The word tasted like poison in my mouth. "You mean like own her."
"That's how it is politically," Zane said. "We can't let them know you exist. Not until you're strong."
"We will protect you," Avalon said. "Whether you like it or not, you're bonded."
"I don't need protection," I said. "I just need power and revenge."
"You keep talking about revenge, who wronged you that you can't let go?" Osilus' gaze sharpened.
"I won't rest until Bron and my father pay for their sins. That pack that let me die, I won't rest until I wipe out every single one of them." The words landed and I felt them settle like coal.
"I haven't forgotten about you Avalon, you are also on my death list for making me feel worthless every day."
He flinched like the memory hurt. "I…" He stopped.
"Even though you don't remember it, that's what you think of me. If this mate bond hadn't trap you," I snapped. "You would have rejected me on our wedding night and let Valta walk over me."
Silence.
Then he said, quiet, "You're right. I was blind. I saw you as an obligation, not a person, but I am not the same man as of yesterday."
"Why?" I asked. "What made you care now?"
"I learned what you are," he said. "And what you survived. No one deserves that especially not my mate."
"Mates," Zane said with a grin that was dangerous and oddly fond. "Plural. You might as well enjoy the chaos."
"Don't get your hopes up." I drew a line. "I have conditions."
"Name them," Osilus said. He was quick, already my ally on principle.
"Firstly, The final decisions are mine. You advise but you don't command."
"All agreed," they said at once, an unnerving harmony.
"Secondly, no secrets. If the Council is a threat, tell me everything."
"Done," Avalon said.
"Thirdly, Bron dies by my hand. Not yours." My voice pierced through the room.
Zane's smile went feral. "Mind if I sharpen that blade?"
"And four," I said breathing slowly. "The bonds are not ownership. Respect that, or I'll find a way to break them."
"That's impossible…" Avalon started.
"Then I'll die trying," I said. "Don't test me."
No one spoke for a heartbeat. Then Avalon nodded "We accept your terms."
"Good." I picked up my fork and ate like the world depended on it.
"We will continue training tomorrow," Avalon said.
"No, we continue tonight," I said, the promise tasting like copper and watched as they all smiled.
"I'll make sure you don't die again," Avalon said.
"I don't want you to save me," I said. "I want to make sure I kill the people who tried to bury me." I said, and the words were the last thing I let myself feel.