She said, voice firm, “You and your wolves, you’re united. They’re always within you.”
Hesitancy and doubt hung heavy in the air.
“Just now,” she said, “when I was running through the forest, how did you find me?”
Ezra’s brow furrowed. “We…I…” His forehead smoothed. “I scented you.”
“I did the same,” Tej said.
“As did I,” Rhys added.
“As men,” she said, “not as wolves. And yet you did catch my scent. You knew me by following it. Your wolves are forever inside of you, no matter what form you take. It’s part of you.”
Their faces grew thoughtful. Then, they nodded, and Jessica exhaled.
Slowly, they disrobed, laying their clothing aside until they stood naked.
Their bodies revealed their strength and capability. They were men in their prime, and here in the middle of the forest, without the false trappings of society and “civilization”—all the things she’d once dedicated her life to preserving—they were more potent than ever.
“Last night,” she continued, “I saw you in those forms. And while I was afraid at first, I realized how beautiful all of you are. How much I reveled in your power and freedom. How I…” She swallowed. “How I desired you.”
Leaves beneath their bare feet crackled as the men shifted their weight from foot to foot.
“Do you recall,” she pressed on, “as I do, me joining my body with Ezra? How you’d taken pleasure from watching me, and I…I’d never felt so strong or true to myself as I did at that moment. Wanting all of you. Needing you more than I’d ever needed anyone. I saw you, and I loved what I saw.”
When they remained silent, she said, “Mowbray, Page, the Guardians, they think of you as something abhorrent and shameful. The truth is that you’re all beautiful and wondrous. No one should be able to tell you that you’re detestable or that you don’t deserve to live. They haven’t the right. This is how you’re made, and it’s marvelous.”
Ezra made a low sound, a rumble in his chest, echoed by Tej and Rhys.
“Make the choice to become the other part of yourself,” she urged. “That part should be celebrated, not shamed. I have faith in you. In all of you.”
One by one, she walked to each of them and placed her hand on the center of their chests, looking up into their eyes for long moments, letting them see in her eyes her admiration, her need, and the belief she possessed that they were indeed most extraordinary and miraculous beings.
And she kissed them, each in turn, so they could feel the truth of her heart. It didn’t feel wrong to kiss three different men in succession. Nothing about this, or them, felt wrong.
She moved so that she stood in the center of the circle they made.
“This is the time,” she said. “Now is the moment.”
As she spoke, her body grew alive, potent. It flowed beneath her skin, a power she’d never experienced before. It electrified her like lightning, sparking through her veins and in her blood and bones. She drew it in from the forest and the night sky and the living energy of the world around her.
Invisible currents entered through her fingertips, the strands of her hair, and her toes curling into the loam of the earth, drawing from the night sky above her. Bright and hot and alive.
How could this be happening? Until this moment, she’d been an ordinary human. There was no magic in this world. Yet there was—Ezra, Rhys, and Tej proved it.
She’d never possessed any magical ability. But something uncanny and extraordinary was happening. It was like drawing back curtains and opening a window, expecting to see the same view of storefronts and alleys one had seen every day for twenty-eight years, only to discover outside a forest of towering oaks and dinner-plate sized flowers.
Whatever its origin, however it came to be, this power wasn’t only for her. It was for Tej, Rhys, and Ezra, too. What belonged to her, she needed to give to them.
An impulse had her lifting her hands, palms up, fingers splaying. Unseen energy welled.
Eyes shining, Ezra, Rhys, and Tej watched her. Instinct guided her to funnel the power into them.
“This is yours to accept or refuse,” she whispered, “as you desire.”
“This is what I want,” Ezra answered on a growl.
“As do I,” Tej seconded.
