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Matitus then turns and strolls away, climbing in the bed. I yawn, suddenly tired, and I hear someone flick the lamp off beside the bed, plunging the room into darkness.

Halfway through the night, I am awakened.

I have this strange sensation rush over me, blistering heat consumes every piece of skin. I feel like I am boiling from the inside out. Sweat coats my skin and my hair is saturated and stuck to my face. I am so hot I find it difficult to breathe, having to really focus on each breath I take, forcing myself to breathe. Rolling over, I feel delirious, like I have been drugged as the entire room shakes violently around me.

I glance toward the bed, all three are still sound asleep. My mouth is so dry my tongue is sticking to the roof of it. Getting on my hands and knees, I try to crawl to the bathroom. My knees getting stuck inside the oversized shirt making me fall forward with a thump.

My hands are glowing red—so hot I think my skin will melt off at any moment. I grit my teeth through the pain that is searing throughout my body from my head to my toes. My entire body becomes consumed with fiery heat. Using the end of the bed, I pull myself to my feet hanging on to the bedpost, waiting for the room to settle as I am hit with the most severe vertigo. The room is slanting, and I feel gravity is against me.

Staring at the bathroom door, I stagger toward it, hitting the door frame as I try to grip onto it. My legs are heavy. I force myself to remain upright. Then my feet go out from underneath me, and I think I’m falling backward, only to find Matitus has grabbed me, cradling me against his chest.

“What’s happening?” I try to ask, but my words don’t sound like mine. Blinding light makes me tighten my eyes as they flick the bathroom light on. I hear voices— distorted and hard to understand. Cold water washes over my skin making me gasp as my body temperature plummets, and my eyes snap open in shock. My skin cools under the steady stream of water.

I lean heavily against Matitus, and my breathing becomes easier as my core temperature plummets.

Matitus is sitting on the shower floor with me draped across his lap. All three shower heads turned, cooling my temperature to bearable levels. Feeling hands grabbing and pulling at me, I am forced to lean forward as I feel the shirt being lifted off my head.

I try feebly to stop them from stripping me. I’m unable to put up much of a fight when I can’t feel my limbs.

“It’s just the Dragon heat, Elora. Stop thrashing.”

I wasn’t even aware I was thrashing; I can’t feel my body, only the burning as it consumes me.

“Make it stop, make it stop!” I scream.

“We can’t unless we mark you. It will stop, you just need to ride it out,” Silas says.

“Do you want us to mark you, to make it stop?”

I shake my head or at least I hope I do and then I feel nothing, absolutely nothing as darkness wraps around me, taking my sight, my taste, and feeling, as the darkness swallows me.

Waking up, I am still hot; this time, it isn’t from the dragon heat. It’s because of the two arms and two legs draped over me. I see I am now in their bed. On my left is Dragus and on my right is Silas. I can’t see Matitus, so I assume he is also in the bed somewhere. Wiggling my arms out, I lift Dragus’s heavy arm off my body, then peel Silas’s off. I pull myself up the bed and rest my back against the headboard. Noting Matitus is beside Silas, I try to figure out how to get off the bed without either stepping on one of them or waking them with the movement. Pulling my knees to my chest, I then attempt to climb over the top of Dragus. The bed is dipping as I shift my weight. Dragus’s eyes fly open while I am halfway on top of him.

His eyes move from my face down my body. He smirks, making me peer down. They had put a fresh shirt on me. They hadn’t replaced my underwear; the shirt hoisted up from my movement, giving Dragus an unobstructed view of my lady parts.

I quickly slap my knees shut, leaving me sitting on his muscled abdomen.

“Quite the predicament you have found yourself in,” he chuckles as he grips my knees, trying to pull them apart again. I slap his hand.

“What? I was only looking. Next time don’t flash me, and I won’t look. It is hardly my fault,” he laughs.

Silas stirs beside him. He looks at me and smiles, and I can tell he is enjoying the position I am stuck in with my legs on either side of Dragus and my knees slammed shut.

“Close your eyes, so I can get off you,” I tell him, and he places his hand over his eyes looking between the gaps of his fingers, I roll my eyes at his childishness. I place my hand over his and quickly jump off him.

“Where are you going?” Silas asks.

“Thought it was pretty self-explanatory, seeing as I am walking toward the bathroom,” I tell him, stalking inside and locking the door behind me.

I quickly pee and then wash my hands. I open the door to find all three men are in a state of undress. Silas was already naked when I woke up, Now all three are as I watch them putting clothes on. All three pull jeans and shirts over their rippling muscles. Tugging the shirt down, I look for my jeans, which are gone.

I feel Matitus touch my shoulder.

“Walk-in,” he says, nodding his head toward it. Entering the walk-in, I found two sides to be men’s clothes; the top shelf held shoes, while the third side was women’s clothing. I wonder when they had clothes brought here, but I chose not to ask the question. I grab the first things I laid my hands on, jeans, shirt, and a hoodie. Matitus strolls in, opening the door just as I finish getting dressed. He takes a pair of socks out, picks up a second pair, and tosses them to me. I catch them and sitting on the floor and put them on.

“Come on, Silas wants to find out if your magic manifested,” he says, tugging me from the walk-in.

Both Dragus and Silas are no longer in the room. I follow Matitus down the staircase to the library.