Epilogue 1
Ivy
Two years later
The ranch is quiet tonight. Warm lamplight from the kitchen casting soft shadows across the walls. The smell of fresh bread already luring my darling monsters out of hiding.
Dinner’s almost ready.
Our baby, Skye, is in the main house with her Auntie Reese tonight. So I’ve been slow cooking a rabbit stew all day to spoil my men.
The barn creaks softly—old bones we renovated when we first arrived here. A low whistle of night air slips through the cracks. Two years ago, that sound would’ve had me clutching a knife under the table.
Now it brings a peace that sinks deep into my chest.
The time has gone in a heartbeat. Except those first few weeks. They crawled.
When my body finally stopped screaming, I wanted them. Wanted to drown Derek’s ghost in the heat of their hands. But they held back, too scared of breaking something they’d fought to save.
It took wit to convince them. Phoenix was more difficult since he feared his dominance might trigger me. But once he saw how I relished it, he helped me wrangle Myles and Zane too.
Sure, there were a few missteps along the way, but our commitment was rewarded tenfold.
And when we were ready to begin our journey, we were hopeful. Na?ve.
The road was hell. No matter how they tried to soften it, a truck is still a truck. Diesel, exhaustion, and arguments hashed out in the dark.
Zane barely slept, more absorbed with keeping watch. But Myles held me together. His focus was always on me, my comfort, my needs. He even took punishments from Phoenix for me when he disagreed with him.
Phoenix turned into a drill sergeant. Overbearing. Controlling. Barking orders so tight I could barely breathe.
Until one night, he switched tactics. It was like opening a gate and giving me all this open space to roam free. And suddenly, I didn’t feel like I needed to test the fences anymore.
When I hated my own skin, the way Bennett and Derek left me carved and ruined, they never looked at me like I was broken.
The scars on my back pull faintly as I stretch, but they don’t bother me anymore.
Now I’m barefoot on cool stone, woodsmoke in the air. Fresh bread warm on the counter, crust crackling beneath my palms as I slice through it.
The hem of Phoenix’s shirt brushes my thighs as I reach for a plate. Reese gave me clothes but honestly, I prefer wearing theirs. And I love what it does to them.
I hum without meaning to, crumbs sticking to my fingertips. So at ease, it takes me a second to realise the room behind me has gone silent.
That’s the thing about living with predators. The shift comes in the quiet. The air thickens, prickling up my neck, hairs rising. My body senses it before my brain catches up.
All that chaos has forged something unbreakable. I learned to trust them. To obey when they told me to hide. I know the sound of their footsteps like my own heartbeat.
Myles is pacing somewhere behind me, breathing just a little too hard. Phoenix is by the counter, still as a beast before it pounces. Zane’s always quietest when he’s watching, but I can feel the weight of their gazes like flames licking over my skin.
A shiver moves down my spine. It’s not fear. Not exactly. But my heartrate picks up, instincts telling me to run.
I swallow, trying to sound normal. “You boys hungry?”
“Starving,” Myles growls. But it’s not the bread he’s hungry for.
The air behind me feels electric, like the second before a storm breaks.
“Ivy,” Zane warns quietly. His voice is rougher than usual.
I glance over my shoulder, smiling before I can stop myself. “Hmm?”
The look in their eyes steals the breath right out of my lungs. Phoenix hasn’t moved, but the focus in his eyes pins me in place. Zane’s leaning against the doorway, shadows wrapped around him like they’re part of him, dark gaze locked on me.
Phoenix moves first. Confident strides, until his chest is at my back and his hands are braced on the counter, caging me in. The heat coming off him is a brand.
The world narrows to the sound of my heartbeat.
“Done playing house?” His voice rumbles low against my ear.
My breath stutters. “It’s dinner?”
His fingers catch my chin, tilting my face up just enough that his breath brushes my lips. “That my shirt?”
I nod, barely managing the word. “Yes.”
“Wearing anything underneath it?”
As I shake my head Myles’s low chuckle rumbles across the room. “Wrong answer, little doe.”
I glance toward Zane, still in the doorway, eyes dark, jaw tight. He won’t touch me yet, he likes to watch first. Like a lion who knows he doesn’t have to move to own the whole room.
Phoenix’s mouth finds the side of my throat, soft at first, then his teeth drag along my skin, just enough to make my knees tremble. Gasping, I grab the counter for balance.
Myles closes in, lips trailing down the other side of my neck. My head falls back against them.
The sound that leaves me isn’t graceful, but it’s honest. “What are you going to do about it?” I tease, reaching for both of them, if only to push them to take control. Submitting to them clears my mind in a way nothing else does.
Phoenix catches my wrist, other hand fisting in my hair to pull my head back and look down at me. “Getting a little bold, babygirl,” Phoenix scolds playfully, just as I was hoping. “On the counter.”
Gripping the edge of the countertop, I begin to obey. But Phoenix pulls my shirt up over my head and lifts me like I weigh nothing, setting me on the top and laying me back. His eyes drag down my bare legs, and his lips curve in something dangerous.
Zane’s breath catches. Myles swears softly.
Their eyes make me feel seen in a way that terrifies and thrills me.
Myles drops to his knees without being asked. Phoenix doesn’t need to order him tonight, but he does anyway. “Show her.”
“Yes, sir,” Myles mutters, voice shaky with want, parting my thighs. “You wet just from us talking to you?” His thumb slides through the heat between my legs, slow and taunting.
A broken sound slips out. “Yes.”
Myles groans. “Fuck, baby.”
The first touch of his mouth makes my body jolt. I clutch the edge of the counter, trying to breathe, but the world’s already tilting.
Phoenix’s hand slides to my throat, holding me against the cool countertop. His voice is a low command in my ear. “Let him. Don’t fight it.”
I can’t. I don’t want to.
Tilting my hips toward Myles’s mouth, I chase every flick of his tongue, every vibration he makes against me.
Phoenix leans down, lips brushing kisses over my breasts and nipples, his voice softer now. “That’s it, baby. Let go. You’ve got us.”
My chest tightens. The words unravelling me even faster than their touch.
Myles’s tongue is relentless. I can hear him groan against me, feel it vibrate through my core. Tangling my fingers in his hair, my breath shudders. The sound that rips from my throat is pure surrender.
Zane steps closer now, floorboards creaking under his boots as the air between us crackles. Just his presence makes me arch into Phoenix’s grip.
“She’s gonna come,” Myles mutters against me.
Phoenix’s voice is low, commanding. “Good. Give it to us, baby. Don’t hold back.”
The sound of his voice pushes me over the edge. My body goes tight, trembling, breaking apart under their heated gazes.
Myles looks up, mouth wet, as if he’d crawl through fire for another taste. Phoenix tightens his hold in my hair, pulling my head back enough to make me gasp. Zane’s eyes roam over me hungrily, my body begging for the touch he’s still withholding.
This is what it means to be theirs.
Safe. Devoured. Worshipped.
And I’ve never felt freer than when I’m at their mercy.
Myles
We carry her to our bed like a treasure.
Because she is. And we’re going to hoard her tonight.
Phoenix lays her down gently, careful like he’s holding fire in his hands. Ivy’s panting, cheeks flushed, eyes dazed, lips kiss-swollen.
Her trust hits like a fist. No one’s ever given me that. Except her. And she hands it over like it costs nothing.
She’s not the same girl we pulled out of that hellhole. She’s stronger now. Softer where she wants to be, steel where she doesn’t. She taught me what it means to be wanted without needing to own every piece of the world.
She’s it. My match. My madness. The only one who can handle my jagged edges.
My hands shake, cock aching as I shed my clothes with the kind of urgency that feels close to desperation. I want her until the air between us burns out.
We’re already feral. Phoenix strips, tattoos catching the low light like inked shadows moving across muscle.
Zane hangs back, watching her—and fuck, I get it. The way she’s sprawled out like a goddamn sacrifice. An offering.
She’s perfect.
Ivy’s breathless, but her eyes are glassy with more need. Always more. She spreads her legs without being told, trembling but ready for us.
We converge, me falling to her side, pressing desperate kisses over her hips as Phoenix settles between her thighs, hand around her throat in a gentle reminder of who’s in control. Zane flanks the other side of the bed, brushing her hair back.
She reaches for Zane, trying to pull him closer. But he catches her hand and presses a kiss to her knuckles.
“Not yet,” he rasps.
Pouting, she gives a little whimper.
Needy little slut. It drives me fucking wild.
“Fuck,” Phoenix mutters, sliding a hand between her legs. “That’s our girl, dripping wet already.”
A wicked grin stretches my lips. “She likes being watched.”
“She likes submitting,” Phoenix corrects, sliding two fingers in her and curling them. Ivy arches, breath catching on a sound that hits me right in the ribs.
“Stop talking like she’s not here,” Zane grinds out, kissing across her collarbone. “She likes it when we can’t help ourselves. Isn’t that right Ivy?”
She nods. Eager. Like the good girl she is.
Phoenix pulls his fingers free and presses them against her lips. “Open.”
She does. Of course she does. God, I’d follow his orders straight into hell.