“Those aren’t the rules. Concession isn’t required. I marked you.”

“And yet,” she said, tilting her head to glance up at him from beneath her lashes, “there was no echo of your victory.”

Ethan held still, realizing what she said was true. The skies weren’t rumbling. The ground didn’t shake. He sucked in a deep breath. “You’ve already been claimed. By whom?”

Her smile was without humor, a thin-lipped curve that made his chest tighten nearly as much as her brimming eyes. “I was claimed by Merrick.”

Ethan sat back on his haunches. “The hellhound?”

Bryn nodded. “I escaped. We all did.”

“Your sister witches were also claimed?”

She shook her head. “Betrothed. When they saw how I fared with Merrick, we plotted.”

“It’s impossible to escape the bond. How could he not track you?”

“We made use of another blue moon. All our entreaties concentrated on one desire. Freedom. And now you’ve ruined it all.”

“There was no echo when we climaxed. If you and your coven already broke the bond—”

“We broke nothing,” she shouted, her voice harsh. “We simply hid our trail. Muted it. But now that you and your friend know, our secret will leak out.”

Ethan squared his shoulders. “Then I’ll face him. Force him to release you.”

“He’ll kill you,” she said, her voice thickening with tears. “And then he’ll kill me. For betraying him and making a fool of him when I escaped. And my sisters will be returned to their owners.”

“A witch bond isn’t enslavement.”

Bryn snorted and a tear ran down her cheek. “It is when you belong to a council member. They’re entitled bastards. They don’t respect us.”

His jaw tightened. “And how did you fare with the hellhound?”

Her glance fell away.

His stomach dove. “I meant no harm to you.”

“And yet you have.” She scrambled to her knees and wiped her eyes with her fingertips. “Renner?”

“A draugr.”

Her mouth curved into a bleak smile. “And my sisters are all bent on seducing him.”

Ethan raked a hand through his hair. Damn, he wished Renner hadn’t been so eager to lay claim to the coven. “We should get back. You’re about to have more company.”

Her eyes rounded. “What have you done?”

“I invited friends of ours.” Her expression was bleak, but when he stood and held out his hand, expecting her to ignore it, she laid her hand inside his.

“Ethan?” she asked, raising her face to stare him in the eyes.

“Yes, Bryn?”

A shaky breath blew through her pursed lips. “You have to protect me.”

“I will.”

She squeezed his hand hard. “You have to protect my sisters. You stole my choice and have likely filled me with your child. But I will make a bargain with you.”

A flare of elation filled him at the mention of a child. And something in the set of her chin, in her stiffening posture told him she wasn’t going to lament her fate any longer. There was hope she’d agree to their union. “What do you ask?”

“Don’t give them away. Accept that you’ve become my family, just as they are mine. And that it’s your responsibility to protect their free choice.”

Such a bargain was unheard of. Free choice? For witches? “You’d sacrifice yourself for them?”

Her gaze locked on his face. “Will it be a sacrifice, me giving myself to you?”

Ethan reached out both arms, challenge in his eyes. Bryn didn’t shrink from him as he brought her against his chest. He bent and brought his face close to hers. “If you surrender everything to me, I will fight with my last breath to give your sisters the choice of their mates.”

“And if they don’t want to accept one?”

“Then they will become part of our household.”

Still studying him, her gaze narrowed on his eyes.

He held his breath, not wanting to let her see the snarling beast inside him. She stared so long, he began to worry.

But then she rose on her tiptoes and reached behind his head to bring him the rest of the way down. Her nipples scraped his chest. Her mouth was an inch from his. “Then I am yours.”

It was a dangerous bargain. Outside the strictures of their society. But then he was a troll. Already an outcast, damned by his birth.

“We’d better hurry.”

The house was eerily silent when they stepped inside the kitchen. Bryn gave Ethan a questioning glance, but he shook his head. He took her by the hand and pulled her behind him as they made their way to the parlor.

Inside, she halted. The room was crowded with men. Others. She knew because each was perfectly formed as only otherworldly creatures could be. They appeared happy to see Ethan. So they were friends of his. She hoped he’d stay true to his word. Although now, she worried he might be torn to pieces when he told the group they couldn’t take the women.

Her sisters sat, four in a row on the couch, their hands clasped together, eyes wide as saucers. When they saw her, they all began shouting.

“They’re demons.”

“Ethan’s one of them.”

“They’ve come to claim us.”

“Fucking bastards.” That last comment came from Darcy whose green eyes flashed.

Bryn shook her head, telling them silently to be quiet. Then she bowed her head.

Her sisters gasped at her submissive gesture.

Ethan’s arm encircled her waist. He tipped up her face. “We made a bargain, and it didn’t include you bowing to my will.”

Her gaze clung to him. What was he doing?

His glance swept the men gathered in the parlor. There was over a dozen of them—dark and fair, burly and lean, all with shining eyes. Renner’s sea-bright gaze was so intense, she wondered how they’d missed the fact he was Other. All of the men shared the same hard-edged, feral look. Their expressions had grown shuttered, their gazes watchful. Even Renner, who had seemed so easygoing, was frowning.

“There are complications,” Ethan said. “Bryn was already claimed. But we’ve mated. She tells me she may already be pregnant. Her sisters,” he said, nodding to the quiet women, “are mine to protect.”

Renner stepped forward. “You’re keeping them? All of them?” he asked, his voice rising.

Ethan’s frown was fierce. “I won’t be bedding them. But they will remain in this house with us. And they have my protection. I’ve promised Bryn that her friends will be given their choice of mates.”

The expressions of all the men darkened, fierce scowls that made gooseflesh rise on Bryn’s arms.

Ethan squeezed her hand and glanced down at her. “Bryn was previously mated with a hellhound. Merrick, to be precise. And since you all know his reputation, you know that when he finds us, he’ll try his best to kill me. You have no obligation to stand with me. If you leave now, you won’t be implicated.”

Bryn offered him a small smile and then they both turned back to the group.

Renner’s gaze shot to the women. His frown eased as he gave each a thorough glance.

Bryn knew what he saw. Four very frightened but determined women.

He raised his head to meet Ethan’s stern glance. “I’m staying. I’ll help you protect them.”

There were murmurs from the group, but they stepped forward one by one and gave the same pledge.

Renner smiled ruefully. “For a low-life troll, you’ve certainly reached high.”

“As a bottom-dwelling draugr, you aren’t exactly standing on my shoulders.”

In truth, if all the men in the room were friends to a troll and a draugr, they were from the lowest echelons of demon spawn. It was easy to see that ambition to rise higher than their birthright and their kind had bonded them.

Ethan gave a nod. “So be it. Every woman will have three guards. You’ll work in shifts. One at night, two during the day. And we have to continue the bridge project.” His gaze went to Renner. “You make the assignments.”

Miren cleared her throat, drawing all the male gazes to where she sat on the couch. “Since we’re the ones who have to put up with you constantly underfoot, don’t you think we should choose our own bodyguards? I run a shrimping outfit. Who among you doesn’t lose his breakfast on a boat?”