When the purple haze of magic finally evaporated, the moon had set and the sun was starting to light the sky. Sunrise was still a bit away, but it was creeping ever closer. I sat in the middle of my seven mates, Namjoon and Hobi both laying their heads on each leg, while I ran my fingers through their hair, quietly thinking.

I sat in the dirt wearing Hobi's shirt and ripped and shredded jeans. I now had a nice collection of cuts and bruises decorating my body. Seven of them in the form of bites that solidified the mate connection between us.

I had been afraid that the witch had forced my men into mindless animals who would rip me to shreds in their frenzy to mate. Instead, the bites had been calculated decisions to end the witch's control over my body. To stop the choking and clean the strands, required all of us to bond our magic together to free ourselves.

I could only smile at that choice. The time it took for the protective shield of magic to lift gave us time to prove that I was for sure immune to their poison. Nobody had remembered to bring anti-toxin with them in their rush to save me. Now we knew it had never been needed in the first place.

"We made your body hurt and sore afterward for no reason," Yoongi had sadly apologized.

"We didn't know. How can I object to you protecting me the best way you knew how?" I had reassured him. Besides, I had been just fine the next day. My body proved it was as super-healing as theirs. All the signs were there that I was also a supernatural part of this equation, I just didn't put all the facts together.

I looked over to see Yoongi deep asleep snuggled into the pile that we all made. Arms and legs intertwined, seeking warmth from the body next to them, with me surrounded by them all. I couldn't have laid down even if I wanted to. I had both Taehyung and Jungkook laying at my back.

My mind wandered over the events of the evening as my fingers threaded through the soft hair in my lap. Namjoon had fallen asleep but Hobi was still awake, watching the sky lighten with me.

"Do you regret being bound to us now?" Hobi asks in the still of the morning. I look down at him to see him watching me.

"No, never." I smile at him. He gives me a small smile in return. His eyes show me how concerned he truly is by the night's events.

"You are in more danger now," he frowns now. "We're bonded and she knows it."

"My dear Hobi, I was always in danger. It was only a matter of time before we had to face her to break this thing." I cub his face in my hand, trying to smooth out the worries from his face.

"But,...."

"No, Hobi, no buts," I interrupt. "She tried to take those strands last night. The magic wouldn't let her. We need to stop being afraid that she is stronger than we are. We have to trust that the magic knows what it's doing," Hobi nods and closes his eyes, and turns his face into my hand. I spoke brave words that I wish I felt. But in truth, I'm just as worried as he is. She was able to fling me around like a ragdoll last night. The only reason she couldn't take the strands is that our bonding caused a magic shield to protect us from her. That shield was now gone. In some ways, we were now sitting ducks.

"I wonder how much of what she said last night was the actual truth?" She said so many contradictory things. In my dreams, she said one thing, to the boys she said something else. What was the truth? What was she really trying to achieve last night?

"The only honest thing she has ever said is that she believes we belong to her," Hobi muttered.

"Well, you are mine now," I reassure him. He sits up and turns to look at me. His ruby eyes are full of emotion.

"We are yours," he kisses me on the lips, "And you are immune to our poison." He kisses me again, a little longer. "I love you, and we are never going to let you go," He takes my face in his hands and kisses me harder, his tongue slides against my lips, begging entrance. I open my mouth and he slides in, deepening the kiss. Unhurried, he explores my mouth, not to drive passion, but to solidify that he loves me to the very depths.

We kiss deeply for a few minutes, unhurried, reveling in our connection as our strands light up with our feelings, growing warm within us. Slowly, he pulls away, his grin wide now.

"I've waited so long to be able to kiss you without worry," he leaves a few short pecks on my lips. "Now, I can be close to you without fear. It's been so long since we have had this," He lays his head back down on my lap and I return my hand to his hair, threading through his soft locks, feeling him calm and relax under my fingers.

"I've never had this with anyone, so I'm excited to see where this goes, too," I tell him. For all the worry the witch gave us, there is joy at this moment, too. I don't have to worry about them hurting me, even accidentally, by their poison. They proved last night that even in the grips of their mating lust, they can control themselves. They also connected more fully to their magic and now they needed to find out what that meant.

Add in discovering just where the witch is hiding and we've got our plates full.

Once the sun rises, everyone wakes up and we return to the cabin. Namjoon puts in a call to Daniel and Mrs. Kim and invites them to the cabin to bring them up to speed on what has happened.

Daniel is furious, to put it bluntly. "What were you thinking going after the witch on your own?" He yelled at me. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

Jin pulled Daniel back and pointed to my torn and ripped clothing, the bruises and scratches that covered me, "Look at her, Daniel. She got a front-row seat for how dangerous last night was."

Mrs. Kim took me by my shoulders and pulled me down onto the couch next to her. "How did you survive? I would have expected the witch to kill you?"

"That's what makes the night odd. She did try to kill me, but the magic stopped her." I could see Mrs. Kim scrunch her forehead in confusion. "She flung me around like a ragdoll. I could not fight back in any way. She started to choke me, magically. The guys had to initiate our bonding through biting me directly, to stop her."

"I thought bonding required you to claim her through an intimate act?" Daniel piped in.

"Sex, Daniel. We all thought it took having sex, too." Yoongi said, ever the blunt one.

"The witch had coated our connection so we could no longer feel each other very well, so when she started strangling Y/N, we realized we needed to have a direct connection. With all of us."

"No orgies in the woods?" Mrs. Kim said, facetiously. I snort with suppressed laughter. Oh my gosh, I swear, I've never seen so many people interested in my sex life. I don't even want to think what Ceren would have said to this.

"No, no orgies in the woods," I quip, sharing a smile with her. "Jin and Jungkook bit me directly on the neck and it started to clear the block and reduce her ability to hurt me. So everyone found a bare part of my body and made their own connection. That did the trick. I stopped being strangled and our magical connection solidified into something solid."

"Magic always requires intent." Mrs. Kim said, thinking thoughtfully. "You're intent was to save her by connecting to and bonding with her. Most people only go for that level of intensity during sex. It appears you guys found another way." She looked almost amused by the idea.

"Gotta love those workarounds," I sarcastically quip. This causes Jimin, Hobi, and Yoongi to start laughing. Daniel and Mrs. Kim just look at me quizzically. I can see the other guys deliberately not looking in my direction with a hint of a smile on their faces.

"You seem to know a lot about magic." I look to Mrs. Kim again. "How do you know how it works?"

"We've always known this. When the curse was first realized, and when the family started taking it seriously, we had members who made a concerted effort to learn all they could. They hoped to reverse the curse."

"Obviously, they didn't succeed," I comment.

"The curse has to be broken first. Probably by killing her." Daniel muttered. "Since she initiated the curse, she owns it. Her connection to it has to be broken."

"So, is there strands that connect her to the guys?" I ask and then a thought comes to me that shocks me. "IS there a strand connecting me to her?" this makes everyone look at me in surprise.

"You are not her biological child, for goodness sake. How many times do we have to go over this?" I look at Yoongi who has become exasperated.

"I'm connected to this somehow. It seems a little far-fetched that my parents getting it on in the woods would result in me tapping into the magic." I glare at him.

"As you mentioned before," Mrs. Kim points to my body, "You are not Korean. Unless you're a direct descendant many generations later, the chances that you are her child are slim."

I feel a hand land on my shoulder and Jimin sits behind me. "We've done the background check. Her family is not connected to us, so that line of questioning doesn't lead anywhere."

"We're running in circles with this." Namjoon walks over and holds his hand out to me. I put my hand in his and he pulls me up and into his arms. He wraps me up in his long arms and holds my head to his chest. "We are going to make ourselves sick asking the same questions over and over again for which we don't have answers." He pulls away from me a little and lifts my face to meet his. "What we do know, is that you are immune to our poison. We can finally have the type of relationship we've been denied for so long." I want to remind him that there were reasons why we didn't pursue the bonds but instead, Namjoon lowers his head to mine and claims my lips in a long kiss.

Just like with Hobi, he was firm but considerate. Waiting until I gave permission to open my mouth and invite him in. As he deepened the kiss to explore my mouth, I was vaguely aware that Daniel and Mrs. Kim were excused to leave, and soon it was just me and the boys.

Namjoon explored my mouth until I had to break away to catch my breath.

"Sweeter than sweet," he nearly purrs. He then grabs me by the back of my neck and pulls me back in to reclaim my mouth and to sear it with his soul. Long caresses with his tongue play with mine and I feel like I should be getting drunk off this kiss. I can feel warmth building from within and wrapped in Namjoon's arms, my body is slowly giving in to desire.

Eventually, he pulls away and I feel like I'm in a daze caused only by him. Soaked in the essence of Kim Namjoon and all he did was kiss me. He smiles deeply and his dimples grove deep. I'm in so much trouble.

Other hands pull me from Namjoon's embrace and I look up to see Jin smiling at me. "I kissed you once but was too stressed out to enjoy it. I think I'll fix that right now," Before I can react to his words, his lips also claim mine in a soft kiss that speaks of all the care and love that he gives me. I also feel his strand light up like I felt with Namjoon. His arms surround me and I feel cocooned against his chest, his broad shoulders wrap around me, leaving me feeling secure like nothing could ever hurt me. After last night, I need this safe feeling.

Each man takes a turn to claim my lips for his own. Taehyung kisses me with the intensity of a man reclaiming the heart he thought was dead and buried. Jimin was sweetness in his pillowy kiss. Hobi giggled as he laid another deep kiss on me while burying his hands in my hair.

As Yoongi stepped up to kiss me, I looked at him, "Are we really sure we want to do this? Aren't we giving the witch exactly what she wants?" I know how Yoongi feels about being trapped. I won't put him in that situation unknowingly.

Yoongi gives me a heated look, "We accepted everything we are last night. All the magic. All the pros and cons that come with this curse. We accepted what you are to us and we will not deny ourselves the happiness we are being given. We thought denying the magic would be the way to beat the witch and all it led to was a stalemate. We tried keeping you safe from the curse and you were still attacked and we only hurt ourselves. We are done with that. We will live and damn the witch." Yoongi then jerks me into his arms and slams his lips against mine in a kiss meant to bind me to him and dear god, I melted. I wanted to pour every bit of who I was into every bit of him. His tongue claimed and dominated my mouth and I could only shiver in his hold as I surrendered to all he asked of me.

When Yoongi released me, Jungkook then took me into his arms. He picked me up bridal style and walked me up the stairs to our enlarged bedroom. The others quietly followed. Jungkook captured my eyes, never looking away, as he walked to our room. He crawled onto the bed, to its center, and laid me down. He leaned over me, looking at me with heat pooling in his jeweled red eyes. "A month," He whispers. "I've waited to hold you like this for a month and I thought I would go mad. If I wasn't with you, I slept in the cage so I didn't run to you."

My eyebrows rise as I listen to Jungkook's words. I didn't know he was struggling so hard.

"You have been all that I think about, when I first wake up and when I finally go to sleep," No wonder he loved sleeping in my hair. "Your smell, your taste, your laugh, I want them all."

Before I can even think to respond, he lowers his head and kisses me with his firm lips. He nudges my lips apart and I let him in. His kiss turns heated quickly as he consumes me with his mouth. I feel the bed dip as the others get on the bed, but all I can focus on is Jungkook. He moves closer to me, laying one leg between mine, till he is laying over me, claiming my mouth as his own.

When we break to catch our breaths, I look around and see the other men sitting around us, having already removed their shirts. I suddenly get shy, I don't know how I can do this. I close my eyes and I can feel a blush staining my cheeks and neck. Even though Jungkook is laying over me and I'm still fully dressed, I feel exposed. Someone leans towards me and I feel their breath.

I hear Hobi's voice in my ear, "Don't be shy, lovely lady. Just let us love you," I open my eyes and look into Hobi's jeweled ones.

"Okay," I breathe, giving him a smile, trying to hide my nerves.

"That's our brave girl," Hobi says and he leans in to kiss me again.

Between the eight of us, it doesn't take long to rid us of our clothes. To say that the night is magical would be an understatement. While I had many moments of uncertainty and was occasionally embarrassed to be in the middle of seven naked men, I trusted them and they did everything they could to hold that trust sacred.

In my past, I had been disappointed by the sex I had taken part in. Selfish would be the best way to categorize the boys I had experiences with. All paled in comparison to the love and care these men bestowed on me. There was no body part that was neglected. There was no muscle that didn't get massaged. No inch of skin that didn't get licked and kissed. When the night was waning and the sun getting ready to break across the horizon, I screamed my last of several orgasms for the night, lost in the sea of arms and limbs that attended to me.

The bonds which had been finally sealed the night before, shined bright with warmth and satisfaction within me. There was no emotion I hadn't felt. There was no emotion that hadn't been shared between us. Our bonds burned bright and hot and we all were melted into one entity within each of our hearts. Connected as only hearts of soulmates can be.

Sweaty and tired, we welcomed the dawn and whatever fate had in store for us. 

A/N:   We've reached 70,000 reads.  Holy Cow!  thank you everyone for all the love you have given my story.  We've now started the last act of this story.  All the mysteries will unfold.  All the light and darkness is now ours to be discovered. 

Curious, what questions are you looking forward to having answered?  I'd love to know what you're thinking as we head into trying to break the curse. 

Lastly, I feel a "warning" is necessary.  I don't do smut people.  Intimacy aplenty yes, as seen above and in earlier chapters, but if you're looking for explicit smut, then I'm not the writer for you.  This is a deliberate choice on my part.  I've had a few messages about this story on this topic recently and am sorry(not sorry) to disappoint you.  I'll probably lose some readers and that's okay.  

Other than that,  Let's go learn what will break the curse, shall we? 

Wendilynn