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“All three of us,” Huck corrects me with a nervous smile.
“We felt it from the moment we saw you,” Zeb says. “Phineas did from the moment he even picked up your scent. Are you saying you don’t feel it too? The pull to us? Like magnets in your skin, making you want to draw closer and closer until there’s no space between us at all?”
My mouth moves. I can’t make a sound.
But he’s not wrong, either. My body aches for them. Creepy wants to wrap herself up in them. I’ve felt a pull to all three of these men since the instant I saw them at the bar, and that hasn’t faded, not for a moment since.
Zeb smiles like he sees something of the truth in my face. “We feel it. But you have to choose it too. You know that’s how it goes, whether it’s one mate or five or three. It’s still up to you, Mabel. You and… Creepy, was it? All you and your Hyde have to do is accept us and, well…” He splays his hands like what he’s proposing is as easy as can be.
A choked noise escapes me, and my head shakes of its own accord. “I can’t… I don’t even know you. You don’t know me. We can’t just…”
Uproot my life. Change their lives. None of this works or makes sense, and meanwhile, traders attacked me, my house is a charred ruin several miles away, everything I knew might be ash, and…
And I could lose them too. Like my parents. Like everyone. I could open my heart and end up alone just like I’ve been for… for…
The room is spinning. Fuck, I can’t even breathe. I’ve got to get out of here.
I race for the door.
Chapter 10
Mabel
Imake it to the elevator, but before I can push the button, the door slides open.
Phineas gives me one look, and then a tired, irritated expression crosses his solemn face. “We were going to wait to tell you.”
I try for a second to get past him, but he’s not budging from the elevator. “Why wait, huh?” I snap sarcastically.
“To avoid this.”
Zeb comes up behind me. “We’re not a danger to you, Mabel.”
I choke on a scoff and throw him an incredulous look. “No, you just think a perfect stranger is your—” Gods, we’re in the hallway. I shouldn’t be shouting this.
I press a hand to my mouth for a heartbeat, fighting to calm down. “It would never work, okay?”
“Are you saying you don’t feel anything around us?” Zeb replies, not deterred in the slightest. “You don’t want any of us at all?”
My teeth grind. Bastard. He knows the answer. I can read that on his calm, confident face. “I don’t even know you,” I snarl tightly. “But I know it won’t work. You all have this life where you never stay in one place for more than five fucking minutes, and I’m… I won’t… I don’t want to leave my home.”
My throat closes up on the last words, the fact the home in question just damn near burned to the ground making me want to sob.
Huck speaks up from behind Zeb, his voice sweet and hopeful. “We can figure it out.”
I hold back a scoff because, of them all, I don’t want to hurt Huck no matter how upset I am. “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing to figure out. I’m not leaving town and you are, and I’m not…”
Gods, I don’t know how to finish.
Zeb takes a step closer to me. “Mabel, we?—”
I try to retreat, but there’s nowhere to go because Phineas is still between me and the elevator. “What, huh? You plan to trap me here till I agree?”
They all freeze.
“Of course not,” Phineas says. He steps from the elevator and then past me, leaving my exit clear.
I tremble. I should go. Really. Find my car and find a hotel where I can stay by myself and just…
