Bound to Four

Day6 Ticking Minutes

Three breakfast plates lay scattered across the bedroom floor, rims smeared with hardened jam and flecks of crispy bacon. Piled on top were lunch plates and a half-empty snack bowl, crumbs cascading like forgotten offerings to the carpet’s faded pattern.

On the rumpled king–size bed, Thalen and Cassian lay divided by the rumpled sheets, as if each man occupied half of her heart. Thalen’s blue hair fanned across a satin pillow; Cassian’s pale chest rose and fell beneath the embroidered bedspread. Their bodies, still clothed in bits of clothing, betrayed the night’s restless intimacy.

Liora couldn’t stand still. Her bare feet whispered over the rug as she paced, fingertips brushing the cool painted wall. She felt the rough stucco under her skin. Each step of her feet whispered across the floor, as if the room would shatter the moment she paused.

“Please,” she murmured, voice trembling like brittle glass. The single word floated into the darkness. No reply came; of course, there was none.

“I’ll do anything. Just bring them back.” Her plea drifted into emptiness.

Only the relentless tick of the clock, each second hammering through her chest. She pressed her palm against the wall, the tick echoing through her bones, loud, relentless, accusing.

Cassian kept his eyes closed but watched her all the same. Lying still, he exhaled in time with the clock’s metallic heartbeat.

Thalen, propped against the padded headboard, folded his arms over a broad chest. His gaze was distant, eyes unfocused yet full of the bond’s tremors.

“They’re not doing well,” Thalen murmured, voice distant. He swallowed hard, feeling helplessness sharpen the edges of his magic.

Liora’s eyes clenched shut as the bond confirmed her worst fears: pain, exhaustion, fear so acute her ribs felt strangled.

“They’ll give them back,” she blurted, desperation tilting every syllable toward hope.

“They won’t,” Cassian replied, calm and cold. “Not because you ask.”

She whirled to face them, voice cracking. “I, I’ll do anything!” The words splintered and echoed through the room where her two men, the mighty magical creatures she’d chosen as her grooms, lay watching her torment.

“That’s precisely why they won’t.” Cassian’s tone was fatal, and the truth stung like hot iron.

His words landed like weight stones in her chest. Silence followed, stretching until Liora’s breath came in shallow gulps.

Silence pressed in, thick and suffocating. Six days ago, these three were strangers, enchanted beasts bound by a cruel spectacle to wed a human mortal for their freedom and the crowd’s amusement. Now, Liora’s heart felt stretched thin, tethered to a vow both unreal and devastatingly real.

“I can’t let them die,” she whispered, so low it seemed the walls might carry the confession away.

Thalen dropped from the bed and closed the space between them in two strides. He captured her in a fierce embrace, warmth and solidity pulsing through the bond. “You won’t,” he said, voice like steady stone.

Cassian rose beside them, brushing a gentle hand across Liora’s arm. The touch sent a tremor of heat spiraling through her, a promise unspoken. “We won’t.”

Thalen’s lips curved, sharp with challenge, as he glanced at Cassian, a flicker of rivalry or perhaps shared intent. Thalen grinned and bent to kiss the hollow of Liora’s neck.

Cassian only grinned and kissed Liora’s bare shoulder.

“The pool,” His voice was a low murmur against her skin.

Liora blinked, heart hammering. “What?”

He tilted his head, voice low and luring. “Either we panic…” He slid her hand into his, spinning her free of Thalen’s arms, “…or we give them a show.”

Thalen exhaled, understanding, his gaze lighting. “Distraction.”

She hesitated, pulse racing beneath their practiced unity. Years of collaboration bound these two like twin currents, with their own silent language perfected behind bars, and their synchronicity wrapped her heart in knots. Finally, she nodded.

In minutes, they’d shed the last of their clothes and led her to the indoor pool. Under a canopy of faux sky, the water shimmered too perfectly, a stage set for a grand illusion.

Thalen moved without hesitation. He swept Liora into his arms and plunged them in, sending ripples that licked along the edge. The first shock of cold stole her breath, then softened as his warmth spread close. His lips found her mouth, steady, searing, and she gasped, clinging to him. In his true form, his torso dissolved into a sleek, sinuous shape, sapphire scales catching each shimmer of light. A long, fluttering fin brushed under her fingertips, sending thrills through him. She laughed, delighted to see him gasp, and traced the ridges of his tail again, a touch of wonder catching in her eyes.

“Hold your breath,” he murmured, and shot through the water with her cradled against his chest. They spun in joyous arcs, surfacing in an arc of droplets that glittered like diamonds.

Slowing, she landed on his broad chest as he floated, arms clasped behind his head, her laughter echoing in the glass dome.

“You don’t regret choosing me?” he teased.

She nestled into his warmth. "I'll never regret choosing you.” His kiss was tender, full of promises.

Cassian slipped into the pool beside them, silent as moonlight. He glided close, eyes dark with intent, then lifted Liora into his arms. “My wife now.” His warm weight pressed her against him, and she giggled as he swept her into his arms, teasing fingers tracing her sides. She clung to him, tilting her head back into his mouth as he kissed with growing need. He stole a glance toward Thalen, and Thalen answered with a watery splash as he moved closer.

Liora laughed as water cascaded down her back. Cassian’s hand slid along her hip, teasing her flesh, and she gasped, muscles clenching around both men’s strength. She leaned back into his kisses, the three of them tangled between water and studio lights. Thalen brushed a strand of wet hair from her face, eyes full of wild possessiveness. “Let us handle it,” they seemed to say.

Their movements wove around her, Thalen’s powerful sweeps, Cassian’s precise holds, never letting thought creep back. Just enough laughter, just enough heat, enough to draw the audience’s eyes. Enough, perhaps, to stave off whatever punishment loomed.

The bond pulsed, dulling the distant pain, flooding her with warmth and fierce aliveness. They talked in hushed tones, laughed, and kissed. For a shining moment, it felt like freedom, choice beyond obligation.

Then, without warning, the house shuddered. A section of wall swung open, spitting Rook and Kael onto the hard deck. Rook hit first and crumpled, Kael tumbling after, both broken and still. Liora’s heart lurched as the bond shattered into a million shards of agony.

“They’re back!” she screamed. The bond detonated, agony shredding through Liora’s mind. She didn’t think; she ran.

Rook lay prone beneath the clock’s harsh glow. His body heaved, and he vomited brackish water and thin threads of blood. The digital numbers above him pulsed ominously: 01:12:47, time slipping away.

Liora sank to her knees, hands trembling as she cradled his head. His eyes fluttered open, glassy with pain. “Rook…” she breathed. Her fingers hovered before bracing beneath his jaw, lifting him against the tide of his own blood. Her stomach turned, but her hands wouldn’t falter.

Behind her, Cassian and Thalen hauled Kael to the couch like a fallen statue. Thalen immediately probed Kael’s limbs for fractures, panic sharpening his features. “This is worse than last time.”

Cassian offered a cloth and pressed it into Liora’s hand.

She wiped the sticky blood from Rook’s lips, stomach twisting.

“What do I do?” Her voice shook on the edge of hysteria as she looked at her hands covered in his blood.

Rook’s eyelids fluttered. He rasped, “You shouldn’t…this. All of it.”

Her chest constricted. “You’re not dying.”

He coughed, racking and weak. “Pretty sure I am.” He tried to smile, an effort that cracked like glass. Then his eyes fluttered closed again, breath coming in ragged, shallow waves.

Liora’s fingers clenched. “No.” The word came out low and fierce. “I’m not letting you.”

Rook offered no argument. His eyes slid shut again, his breathing shallow, fading. The bond throbbed in her mind: time, pain, fear, choice.

“I’ll clean him off in the shower,”

Voice steadied despite the tremor in her limbs. Determination blazed in her heart as she cradled Rook’s head against her.

He didn’t answer, but when she touched his shoulder, his hand twitched on hers. In that trembling grasp lay every promise she would ever make.