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Finally, I ask the question I've been dreading. "How do I make it stop?"

It comes out smaller than I mean it to.

There's another short silence.

"Release helps," Rhydian says. His voice is gentler than I've ever heard it. "Physical release. It won't make the heat go away completely, and it might not last long. But it can ease things for a while."

I frown up at the ceiling. "Release. You mean sex."

"Not necessarily."

"Then what?"

"There are… other ways," he says. "You don't need a partner. Unless you want one. You can touch yourself."

Oh.

Well, then.

My cheeks burn so hot I'm surprised the pillow doesn't catch fire.

"I've never..." I stop. Start again. "I've never really done that."

The confession hangs there in the dark.

"I wouldn't even know where to start," I mumble.

Kaelen swears.

It's quiet, under his breath, but it's filthy. I hear the bed creak as his whole body goes tight.

"Kaelen," Zarek says. Just his name, low and sharp.

Kaelen goes silent.

Then there's a long pause. Long enough that I wonder whether everyone's just going to pretend I never said anything and go to sleep.

"I could help you," Zarek says quietly.

My head turns.

He hasn't moved. He's lying exactly where he was, a careful distance away. But he's looking at me.

"Only if you want me to," he says. "You can say no. And if you do, that's the end of it. Nothing more is expected of you. Nothing changes."

My first instinct is to tell him he's completely insane.

I've known these men a day. Barely a day. I don't know where they're from or what they do or why they live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with no women's clothes. They're strangers.

And yet… I've never felt as safe with anyone in my whole life as I've felt with these three today. Not even back home.

"What do you mean?" I hear myself ask. "Help how?"

"Slowly," he says. "We'd start with whatever you're comfortable with. Whatever affection you want. Nothing more. I'd listen to you. I'd go only as far as you want. And I'd stop the instant you told me to."

His voice is sure. Like a promise.

I lie there with my heart hammering.