Beauty

Chapter Fifteen

“Stay close to me, Duffy,” her husband said to the gnome. “But not too close.”

Duffy sat on a rock near the river, his face turned up toward the moon. The gnome had been quiet all afternoon. He’d simply shuffled along behind them as they had fled the village. The villagers had all agreed that the hag would be back with reinforcements. They had decided to scatter, forming three large parties moving to the south, west, and north. And their small group was moving toward the east, to the mountains.

But they had to move carefully and not in a straight line. And that, she’d been told over and over again, was all her fault. Despite her brilliant plan to save them, apparently the fact that they had needed to be saved at all was, again, her fault.

“I’m going to set up our bed for the night. We’ve got a big bed, but we’re away from the rest.” Lach’s voice was deep and dark and she practically shivered listening to it.

“You and Shim can sleep wherever you like.” She knew she was being stubborn, but he’d acted like an ass the whole long walk here. And her feet hurt. And she wasn’t about to apologize to him.

Lach’s handsome face was half hidden by moonlight. “I’ll tie you up if I have to, wife.”

“Don’t call me that.” Again, she knew she was being stubborn. Even she was thinking of him as her husband.

“It’s true and your moping isn’t going to change the fact.” Lach stared down at her like an impossibly gorgeous, intensely difficult hunk of granite. He was so big. She knew Shim was just as big as Lach, but there was something about Lach’s presence that just overwhelmed her. “Would you like to know why we’re not staying close to the others?”

She could just guess what they had in mind. Four hands on her body. Two mouths kissing her. Even thinking about it made her heart race. After the events of the day, she wanted to do nothing more than close her eyes and find them in her dreams and sink into that magnificent safe place that had been hers for all of her life. But they were real now and nothing was safe about any of this.

Lach’s mouth turned up in an arrogant grin, letting her know she was doing that broadcasting thing again. “We’ll get to that, love. But first we’re going to talk and then we’re going to bond. The full bond. So I always know where you are.”

“Like Dante did with Kaja?” She couldn’t help her smirk. Dante had been righteously angry with his wolf wife. It had taken him a good ten minutes after the hag had disappeared to remember to greet his cousin. He’d been far too busy yelling at his wife.

Lach stood staring down at her, those muscular legs of his in a wide, arrogant stance. “I think Dante knows exactly how to deal with his wife. Do you hear them? He doesn’t seem to care who does. Come here.”

The minute Roan had declared this would be camp for the rest of the too-short night, Dante had taken Kaja toward a small cave above the lake that fed the river. He’d grabbed their supplies and their food. He’d nodded to Roan and kissed Bron on the forehead and then stated plainly that no one was to interrupt him.

“Not even you, brat.” He’d winked down at her and then hauled his consort away.

Lach took her hand, and she was half dragged toward the cave that housed Dante and Kaja.

There was the loud slap of flesh hitting flesh. “You want to shield against this, Kaja?”

Kaja’s voice was a breathy moan. “I would never shield against this, my love.”

Dante growled. “Only because you know every time I spank this pretty ass, I feel it on my own. You’re seriously underestimating how much I fucking love my hand on your ass. I’ll take a little pain so you remember this lesson. And, Kaja, I know you left that plug behind. What you don’t know is that gingerroot is plentiful here on the Seelie plane, and I’m going to get damn good at carving so I still have things to shove up your rectum.”

Bron took a step back. Could that really be her sweet cos? He sounded so…dirty. She remembered him as a teenager, chasing after pretty girls, but never had he talked to one like that.

“Don’t judge him. He’s with his consort. Whatever play they enjoy is what is right for him. Listen to Kaja. Does she sound upset?”

Smack and then a long moan. “Dante, please. You can’t hold out on me forever.”

“You know I can’t, baby. But after the stunt you pulled today, I’m going to try.”

There was another loud smack, and Kaja moaned. Bron turned away, completely confused.

“He’s hitting her.” But Kaja didn’t sound like it upset her. Kaja sounded like a woman who was having a good time. Bron didn’t understand. Her father had been so gentle with her mother. “Shouldn’t he be kinder? She’s his mate, but he says impolite things to her and he hits her.”

And Bron was becoming a little aroused listening to it. What did that make her?

“No, he’s spanking her, and she likes it. Vampires have a relationship with their consorts they call Dominance and submission. Your cousin is the Dominant in the relationship especially when it comes to the sexual part of the marriage. Kaja submits, and she’s happy to do so. As for the impolite things he’s saying, there’s nothing polite about a marriage. Formality and politeness aren’t going to happen in our bedroom. What you’re hearing is intimacy. That’s the real man, the one who was terrified he might lose his woman. There’s nothing polite about that.” Lach stared down at her. “We’re going to have that relationship, Bronwyn. You have to know that’s what we’ve been headed toward. Even in our dreams.”

In their dreams, Lach and Shim had dominated her in the most delicious ways. She had wondered about the tone of her dreams. Now she knew she’d been playing out Lach and Shim’s fantasies.

But she’d been right there with them. What did that say about her?

She turned and walked back toward the campsite. It was a warm evening. The vampires had eaten meal pills, and the Fae had dined on bread and cheese and meat the villagers had packed. They had also packed wine which Gillian sat drinking straight from the bottle. She stared at the river, pointedly not looking Roan’s or the lieutenant’s way. The vampires didn’t have the same problem. Their eyes never left Bron’s mentor. They didn’t look polite. They looked hungry.

“You’re going to fight this until the end, aren’t you?” Lach asked. “Do you deny our claim on you? I know you feel the connection. So it has to be something else. Do you honestly believe what the hag said?”

The hag had looked straight at her and said that all her husbands wanted out of her was a crown. She’d said they wouldn’t have a problem getting rid of her once they had secured her kingdom.

She wasn’t at all certain they didn’t want the crown. Certainly Gillian wanted them to have it. But she was fairly certain of one thing. They didn’t want her dead. The hag didn’t understand what it meant to be a bondmate. Lach and Shim might not believe in her abilities, but they would want her alive. They would need her.

“I’m not an idiot, Lach. I know you don’t want me dead.”

“And I don’t want your brothers’ crown. I’ll prove that to you when we go back to the Unseelie plane and stay the hell out of this war. Your brothers can have this plane. We have our own kingdom.”

And that was just one of her problems. This was her plane. “You can’t expect me to walk out on this war.”

“I can and you will. This isn’t your war anymore. You’re the princess of the Unseelie, and you will rule over that plane. Your children will be in line for the Unseelie throne. I won’t allow you to stay here and be slaughtered for a crown that isn’t your own.”

She felt her fists clench in frustration. This was exactly what she’d worried about the whole long trek to the river. And she couldn’t even think about children. Except she might have to. Her marriage had been consummated. She’d awakened with the evidence of it all over her thighs, mingled with her virgin’s blood. And still, her children would be half-Seelie. And no matter what Lach said, until her brothers had produced a child, she was still in line for the throne and so would her children be. In line for the throne and in Torin’s line of fire. “I am not leaving until Torin is dead.”

“You’ll do as your husbands request. And your brothers. They want you safe as well. They don’t want you in this fight.” He reached for her hand, catching it before she could move away. “Come along. Shim is waiting for us. It’s time we had that talk.”

She hurried to keep up with him. “Talking requires one person to listen. I doubt that’s going to be you.”

A single shoulder moved up and down. “Shim was always the better listener.”

He was deeply frustrating. “Lach, would you just abandon your plane?”

“Never really thought about it, and it’s not the same. This was never really your kingdom. It belonged to your brothers.”

“By your definition the villagers shouldn’t have fought either, but they did. Not because this is their kingdom, but because it’s their home. It’s where they raise their children. It’s where their parents gave them birth. Damn it, Lach, you can’t expect me to leave.”

Lach stopped, taking a deep breath. “I understand, Bronwyn. I truly do, but you’re too important. I can’t allow it and neither will Shim.”

She turned away from him. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do. She wasn’t stupid enough to go off on her own again. That had been a spectacular failure, but she couldn’t let them haul her off the plane. She’d be barefoot and pregnant in no time at all. She’d be pregnant with babies who would probably be incredibly oversized and grow into ridiculously arrogant and handsome young men.

Her brothers. Her brothers would be more reasonable. Well, perhaps Cian would be more reasonable. He would see her worth.

“I’ll stay for the time being.”

Lach’s voice rumbled out of his chest. “Bron, this marriage is for life and you know it. You’re caught and there’s no way out. Why are you acting like this, love? I don’t understand. You’re acting like you don’t know a thing about us, like you never kissed me, never held me. Bron, we’ve been together since we were children. All of my life, I’ve known you.”

She shook her head. “You’ve been ready for this all your life, but I haven’t. I didn’t think it was real, and honestly, Lach, it wasn’t. It was a fantasy. I was a lonely child and an even lonelier young woman, and what do you really know about me? I didn’t even know your names until recently.”

“Because you’re the broadcaster, Bron. Your psychic power is far stronger than either of ours. You broadcast, but you didn’t listen very well.”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to listen.”

“Well, Shim and I have spent all of our lives listening to you.”

“I know you love the feel of sunlight on your face.” Shim stood behind his brother, his eyes illuminated by the firelight. “I know that when you’re alone and all you can hear is the wind rushing through the wheat you planted and the sun is high in the sky, you feel powerful.”

Tears pricked at her eyes because he’d so beautifully explained the sensation. “It’s because I planted it. I knew people would be able to eat because I worked.”

Lach took a step in so he was shoulder to shoulder with his brother. “I know your laugh. It hasn’t really changed since you were a child. When you laugh, it isn’t some polite thing, you laugh from your gut and it fills my every sense with joy. You light up the room when you walk into it, even if it’s only a dream.”

“I am no beauty, Lach. Haven’t you figured that out by now? I know I projected myself that way in our dreams, but I’m not beautiful. I don’t even look noble anymore. My hands are callused, and my skin is tanned from the sun.”

“And I’m scarred. Shim is the only one here who didn’t try to look perfect,” Lach pointed out.

Shim shrugged. “It’s because I am perfect.”

Bron laughed a little. “I don’t mind the scars, Lachlan. I just know that the world isn’t going to view me as a beautiful princess.”

“We do. Gods, Bronwyn, you’re the loveliest woman in all the planes. Do you really need the world to think so, too?” Lach crossed his hands over his massive chest, the stance so arrogant, but she could hear the boy he’d been.

He’d been the protector, even in their dreams, even when he’d been a child, he’d been the one to go first. Not because he had to lead, but because whatever happened, he wanted it to happen to him instead of her or Shim.

And Shim had been sweet, so sweet. He’d been the one to sit for hours just holding her hand as she looked out over imaginary lakes and ponds. When she would cry, Shim had been the one to hold her while Lach looked on, his fists tight, angry that anything could make her sad.

They had been dreams, but she did know these men.

It was just far more complex than simply giving in.

“I could make it easy on you, Bron.” The look on Lach’s face let her know she wasn’t shielding at all.

And neither was he. He sent her an image or Shim did. It didn’t matter. She was blasted with the mental image of her tied up and waiting for their pleasure. But only after she’d earned it. She’d terrified them, and they wanted a piece of her hide.

Like Dante was disciplining Kaja. They could show her. They could initiate her into those dark pleasures. They had trained for it, studied the art of giving pleasure, but they had taken none themselves.

Shim smiled. “I wouldn’t say none, love. Just none from other women. There was an enormous amount of yanking our own dicks. I swear, Lach there damn near wore out his wrist when we were teenagers.”

Lach slapped his brother on the chest. “Like you were better. I was the one who had to listen to it. Bronwyn. Bronwyn. Oh, you feel so good, Bronwyn. The only consolation was that he never lasted very long.”

“I did so.”

Despite her precarious position, Bron felt a little joy at seeing them act like obnoxious brothers. This was one thing she definitely remembered. They had always bickered.

She was so damn confused. She wanted them, but she wanted her freedom, too. She wasn’t sure she could ever go back to being that perfect little princess she’d been raised to be. She’d lived too much, seen too many things.

She turned her back on them. If she gave in, she’d be exactly what they wanted. Sweet and submissive and more than likely pregnant in a month. She would be relegated to the sidelines. It couldn’t happen. “You two go. I’m going to stay by the fire. We’ll talk again when we see my brothers, and we’ll sort out this whole marriage thing.”

“Marriage thing?” Lach parroted her, pure astonishment in his voice.

“We have our answer, Lach. It’s time to go,” Shim said.

She was surprised at the disappointment she felt with Shim’s utter reasonableness. It was wrong, but she’d wanted a bit of a fight. Her stomach was in knots. She was in a corner, and she had no idea how to get out. She wanted to sleep with them, wanted the comfort of their big bodies surrounding her, but she didn’t want the responsibility of making the choice. It wasn’t fair. She was being exactly what Dante called her. She was a brat, but she couldn’t make herself turn around and ask for what she wanted.

“You’re right,” Lach said, his voice a grave finality.

She wasn’t going to cry. Damn it all. She wasn’t. This was what she’d wanted. She’d wanted time to sort everything out without the distraction of lips and tongues and hands and cocks.

She gave a little shout as Lach hauled her up and tossed her over his shoulder. “What?”

“You gave us your answer, princess. We’ll do this the hard way.”

She screamed a little as Lach’s hand came down on her ass. “How dare you!”

“Oh, I dare, princess. You’re going to find out just how much I dare. And don’t you even start saying this isn’t exactly what you want. You broadcast so loud I’m surprised the damn squirrels can’t hear you. You want us to take you. You want to be able to wake up in the morning and go right back to believing you can get out of this. Well, I’m going to tell you that you’re getting what you want. We will take you, but you’re going to know you’re ours by morning, love.”

The fact that his words were so very true did nothing to assuage how angry he made her. “Put me down now, you overgrown idiot.”

Another smack. “Every time you curse me, I’m adding five to your punishment. You’re at thirty right now. Thirty smacks to that sweet ass of yours. Do you really want more?”

She wasn’t getting any reason from an overly possessive vampire. She looked toward the fire hoping to find a vampire more amenable to her cause. “Roan. Roan, my brothers are paying you, right?”

Roan never even looked up from the fire. “Not at all, princess. Your brothers don’t have a single piece of gold between them. Your father-in-law is paying me. And he’s paying me quite handsomely. I would advise you to take your very well-earned spanking with dignity and then attempt to please your husbands. I think you’ll find you have an enormous amount of power over them should you choose to use it wisely.”

Damn mercenary. “You aren’t going to be any help at all.”

Now the mercenary looked up, and there was a grin on his face. “On the contrary, Your Highness, I think you’ll find I’ve been very helpful. After all, I’m the one who gave them the kit I think they’re about to use on you. It has all sorts of helpful items in it.”

Gillian stood up, her eyes flickering between her brothers and Bronwyn. “Can’t we talk about this?”

“Sit down, princess,” Roan said in a deep voice that he more than likely used on soldiers to keep them in line. “You are not going to come between husbands and their rightfully bonded mate. They won’t hurt her. They’re bonded. They feel what she’s feeling. Do you think your brothers would enjoy her pain?”

Gillian sat back down, wiping at her eyes. “It seems I’m the villain at every turn with you, Bron. I know you won’t believe it, but I do love you. And so do my brothers.”

Lach strode past Shim, his long legs eating up the forest floor.

“Is this really what you want, Bron?” Shim asked. “Because we can be gentle.”

“She doesn’t want gentle.” Lach kept right on walking.

Bron held her head up. It was either that or watch Lach’s perfectly formed backside move. “Fuck you, Lach. And you can fuck yourself, Shim.”

Lach stopped. He set her on her feet, but she didn’t stay there long. He got to one knee and flipped her neatly over. She found herself facing the grass, her ass in the air. Oh, goddess, she’d pushed him. She’d known what she was doing, and she’d done it anyway because she wanted this. She wanted to see what made Kaja moan, but she didn’t want to ask for it.

“You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you, Bron?” Shim sounded a little tortured. “This doesn’t mean anything to you.”

“Shim, there’s no use talking to her. She knows what she wants, and she’s figured out how to get it.” Lach’s big hand steadied her. “One last chance, princess. We can play this the way we would prefer. We would prefer to simply love you tonight. There will be time enough for games later. We want to bond. We want to know you inside and out.”

And then they would know how to handle her every single time. She was already at a disadvantage since they seemed to be able to read her thoughts. No. She couldn’t let them in. This was all she could give them. For now. Maybe forever. “Fuck off, Lach.”

His hand hit her ass with a loud crack, and tears sparked from her eyes. The pain was sharp and cut through her. Lach barely gave her time to process the first one before he struck again. Ten times his hand rained down. Bron couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think past the feel of Lach’s hand on her ass.

And the feel of his cock hardening. She could feel it rising against her side, but more than that, she could feel it as Lach felt it, jutting out from his core, his cock filling with blood. There was a primal anticipation taking him over. This was a good place for Lach. This was a place he loved, and it was so much sweeter because she was here with him.

His hand came down again, but he’d eased up. Not on the strength, but on the pace. This time the pain jarred her, making her jump, but Lach’s hand stayed on her ass as though keeping the heat in, allowing it to sink into her skin.

“Not so bad.” Lach rubbed the spot he’d hit.

Damn him. He could feel her, too. How was she supposed to stay distant? “You’re not the one who’s going to have a red ass tomorrow.”

“I’m not the one who ran away and put everyone in danger. I’m not the one cursing you at every turn. I’m not the one being stubborn about a marriage that’s been in place for most of our lives.”

Every accusation was punctuated with a smack and a long caress.

“And even if you did, what would I do about it?” Bron forced herself to concentrate on the unfairness of it all. But it was hard because she really, really wanted to focus on how soft and wet her pussy was and how long and thick and hard Lach was getting.

“If I do any of that, I promise to present my ass to you. I’ll take whatever punishment you see fit, love.” He cracked his hand once more. “Now, I know you can feel what this is doing to me, but maybe I should put it in words, so you can’t mistake what’s happening. I love having you over my knee. I love having your ass in the air waiting for my discipline. It makes me feel ten feet tall. I love how the sight of you gets me hard and ready to fuck. You’re my mate. You’re the reason we both waited thirty years. No other women, Bron.”

“None for me.” Shim got to one knee, his hand on her back. “I’m a virgin because I belong to you. Does that make me less of a man? Many in our kingdom think so. Women have been thrown at us for years because we’re not a delicate people. We fuck and we fight and our people admire kings and princes who do so as well. Do you know how many times we’ve had our manhoods called into question? But we wouldn’t sway because we belong to you. Tell me that means something, Bron. Tell me I didn’t wait thirty years for a woman who doesn’t really want me.”

“Let me up.” She had to get up. She couldn’t lie here. Damn him. They were coming at her from all sides. Lach with his dominance and Shim with his soft heart. “Damn it, Lachlan. Let me up.”

Two more smacks, but then she was on her knees. “You’re going to be the death of me, Bron.”

She was pretty damn sure they would be the death of her. Shim sat on his heels, looking at her. She’d grown up with symbiotic twin brothers. Two bodies, one soul. She could call them by different names, but they made up one whole man. Whatever Shim was saying, Lach felt it, too.

Thirty years of longing. She reached up and cupped his gorgeous face. How many women could say their husbands had waited thirty years for them? And in all that time, years had gone by when they weren’t even sure she’d been alive. “How long would you have waited?”

She asked the question, but she knew the answer.

“Forever, Bron.”

Goddess, what was she supposed to do with that? But she’d waited, too. She hadn’t even thought of other men, wouldn’t have wanted their attentions. These men had dominated her life and her dreams since she was old enough to remember them.

“Was Gillian really coming to negotiate a marriage?”

Lach sighed. “Yes. She was the only one who believed we could really see you. She was the only one who believed in the bond. If Torin hadn’t fucked everything up, we would have been promised to you when you turned sixteen and married at eighteen. We would have had a whole damn life, Bron.”

“We would have younglings. And you would have known how much we loved you every day.”

Sweet words, and they settled deep in her heart, nursing some ache that had always been there. But Torin had come between them. He had ripped them and everything around him apart. They didn’t have younglings and she hadn’t known she was loved. They wanted to pick up as though none of it had ever happened and simply resume the life they should have had.

“Don’t,” Shim practically pleaded. “Don’t. Not tonight. Please just one night. Earlier didn’t count. You weren’t fully with us. We can deal with all that stands between us in the morning, but tonight give over.”

It was what she wanted, too. Though she could say all the stubborn words she liked, she wanted them. She wouldn’t have other lovers. She would have Lach and Shim for however long she could and then no other. They had been bound by invisible threads likely from the moment she’d been born, and she would never love another.

“I want it all.” She said the words quietly. “I want your sweetness and Lach’s….whatever you would call what Lach does. If I use my own words, he’ll spank me again.”

“Oh, poor princess,” Lach said, his hands on her waist. “She was terribly treated.” His fingers crept into the waist of her pants.

“Lach?” She tried to push him away. They were in the middle of the woods, and Duffy wasn’t far away. The little gnome could likely hear everything.

“Hush or I’ll have you naked right here. I have a theory. I want to test it.” His hand delved under her pants, travelling down.

She tried to pull away, but he held her fast. Damn him, even that seemed to make her hot.

“How wet is she?” Shim asked. He leaned over, and she could see white fangs and those deep eyes. In the dark it looked like his whole eye was as black as the night around them. Sweet Shim looked like a predator ready to eat her up, and she would let him because she knew what it felt like when he fed.

Lach’s hand made its way to its destination, and Bron had to sigh. His fingers slipped over her clitoris. She’d touched herself a thousand times while thinking of her Dark Ones. Why did his hand feel so different? His fingers on her flesh made her spread her legs wider to give him better access.

“The poor princess was so traumatized by her spanking that she’s fucking soaking wet.” His fingers slid all over, delving between her labia and parting her.

She knew she should probably feel some shame, but it was near impossible. They had waited. She had waited. Why should anything be wrong? She could hear her father talk about ladylike behavior and how important it was she never behave as less than a lady, but she’d died and then lived in terrible circumstances, and somewhere along the way she’d left the lady behind and become a woman. No perfect lady could have survived. But a woman, a real woman, was strong and she didn’t shrink from loving pleasure.

“That’s what I want, a chumann. That’s my woman.” Lach kissed her ear and played in her pussy, the intimacy causing her to nestle close to him. This was what had made Kaja moan. The fact that there didn’t have to be boundaries between a wife and her husbands. There was a beautiful freedom that came with love, that opened all doors.

“Do I really just send my thoughts out?” She leaned back into him, not fighting now. She wanted what he could give her.

Shim’s hands were on the bottom of her pants. He tugged and she didn’t protest. She was with her husbands. It wasn’t wrong. “You are so loud, love. And you don’t just send thoughts out. You pull power when you want to.”

She sat straight up as Shim gave her pants a firm pull. “That’s how I called fire. It was because of you.”

He tugged and managed to get the trousers to her knees. “Yes, love. You pulled it from me and made things go quite haywire on my end.”

Lach’s tongue licked along the shell of her ear. “Everyone thought he would burn the palace down. Luckily it’s mostly stone.”

Shim gave her pants a final pull and then tossed them to the side. He held her ankles in his hands. “Every time you felt truly threatened, you pulled it from me, though it’s become stronger as we’ve gotten older. This last time was hard to control.”

“When the guards were trying to kill Ove?” It was the last time she’d felt the fire. She remembered that she’d wanted a way to defend the brownie, and she had known she could call on fire.

Shim sat back, staring at the juncture of her thighs where Lach’s fingers played in her pussy. “Yesterday. You pulled power from me and it almost destroyed the farm we were staying at. Gods, you have a beautiful pussy.”

“Shim, we need to figure this out. I don’t want to destroy a farm the next time I feel a little threatened.” But it was hard to think. Her pussy was swelling under Lach’s hands. He seemed to know just how to touch her.

“No, we don’t. Not tonight.” Shim stood. “Tonight is for us. Let’s get her back to our camp. I didn’t set all of that stuff up so we could fuck her in the grass.”

She gasped as Lach pulled his hands away.

Shim reached down and pulled her up. She was still wearing her shirt.

“Take it off. I want to see your breasts.” Shim proved he could be demanding, too.

Lach moved to stand beside his brother. He was licking his fingers, sucking them into his mouth. He was tasting the juice from her pussy. She had to watch him. He licked his fingers clean.

“I said take your shirt off. Bronwyn, I won’t let you take me less seriously than Lach. You have two seconds to get that shirt off or I’ll be the one spanking you.”

She pulled her shirt over her head as fast as she could. Not because she was worried about the spanking, but she understood what Shim represented. The emotional half of the man. The sweet part. The intellectual half. She never wanted him to think she didn’t respect him, didn’t want his passion.

She tossed the shirt away. They would find it and make sure she had it to wear tomorrow because their whole lives were about her.

Shim growled a little. His hands came up to cup her breasts. “That’s what I want.”

She stood naked in front of them, completely aware that she was standing in the forest without a stitch on. Cool air made her nipples peak.

Shim reached out. “This is my night. Lach can spank you all he likes, but my cock is going to be inside you tonight.”

“It’s my first blood.” Lach put his hands on her shoulder, his fingers tracing the line of her neck. “But don’t think I won’t get inside you, too.”

Her whole body softened at the thought of having them both. She wasn’t a simpleton. She knew what it meant. One cock would find her pussy and the other would be in her mouth or her ass. And she wanted to try it all.

Lach’s hands traced her curves from behind while Shim crowded her front. She was trapped between them, her every cell aware of how little stood between her and two cocks. Shim’s long, dark hair brushed her nipples, a soft cloud nestling against her.

“Touch me, love.” He reached down and brought her hands up to his hair where it was pulled together in a long queue, held by a leather tie. “Take my hair down.”

It was a sidhe ritual, the taking down of a warrior’s hair before going to bed. Bron’s hands shook a little. They hadn’t done this the first time due to necessity and the fever pitch of it all. This time was more deliberate. This time felt real. She pulled the tie at Shim’s neck and his hair fell free, spilling across his shoulders and halfway down his chest. Shim’s hair was an ebony waterfall. Bron let her hands wander through the silky stuff. The beauty of his hair did nothing to take away from his masculinity, rather it sharpened and defined it.

Shim looked down at her, his face now framed by his hair. It was something only his wife would see. Everywhere else the glory of that hair would be hidden in his formal queue. This was for her. Hers to see, to touch, to wash and dress.

A wild wave of possessiveness clutched at her. They were hers. No one else’s. No other woman would touch them or know their beauty inside and out.

“Yes.” Shim pressed his pelvis to hers, holding their hips together. “That’s how we feel. Ours. But Bron, it wouldn’t have mattered if a thousand men had touched you. You would still be ours. We would still want you.”

She laughed, thinking of the few times she’d come close to some man taking advantage of her. That was when she’d felt the fire first spark in her hands. “You were there to protect me.”

“Always.” His mouth hovered right over hers, lips brushing in a butterfly kiss. “I was always there. Sometimes I was with you more than I was in my own life.”

“I worried he was fading a few times.” Lach kissed her neck. “He would just lie there. He was trying to feel you.”

They had reached out across the planes. She tilted her head up to take Shim’s kiss. She went on her tiptoes. “I can’t imagine I was doing anything interesting. Everything good that happened to me, happened at night in my dreams. I couldn’t wait for the day to be done so I could close my eyes and live my real life.”

Shim finally pressed his lips to hers and kissed her mouth. Where Lach dominated, Shim cajoled, his lips playing against hers, tongue peeking out in a dance of seduction. He held her head in his hands and thrust his tongue deep, caressing hers in a silky glide.

Over and over he took her mouth, teaching her how he liked to kiss. Learning it himself. She could feel his wonder at tasting her. She was his great adventure. And he wanted his hands on her.

She pulled at his tunic, tugging it free of his belt, and finally found what she wanted, soft skin over hard muscle. Shim was a work of art. She felt the ridges of his stomach and the deep notches at his hips. She explored the way his chest tapered to a lean waist.

“That’s it, love. Gods, Shim, with her here I can feel what she’s doing to you. Open yourself. Send it all out.” Lach pressed his cock against the seam of her ass.

Longing swamped her. Desire. Want. Need. It came at her from all sides, filling her brain with images of what they wanted.

Her in between them, taking everything they had. They would fill her pussy and ass with cock and ride her until they’d spent every ounce of cum they had. They wanted her filled with their cocks and their cum. They wanted her desperate for them, as desperate as they were for her.

Shim pulled back and reached for her hand. “Come along. Unlike my brother, I want my comforts. Lach would shove you to the ground, but I have something else in mind.”

“I would,” Lach admitted. “Or I saw a very nice tree I could toss her up against if she didn’t like the ground. He’s a bit prissy. He needs a bed.”

Though the thought of Lach’s passion did things to her insides, she was going with Shim on this one.

He led her a short ways through the forest, the silvery moon lighting the way. She saw the glow of candles before they entered the small clearing.

There was a bed, one of several Roan had brought in small packs. Vampire technology sometimes seemed a bit like magic to Bron. The bed had been a small cube no bigger than the palm of her hand, but when the right command was given, it turned into a comfortable place to sleep. Shim had set up several torches to approximate candlelight. Her eyes misted when she saw the shamrocks and marigolds and Saint-John’s-wort strewn on the bed. A proper bedding to ensure a long marriage.

Yes, Lach might shove her against a tree because he couldn’t stand to not be inside her, but Shim wanted all the trappings. Even on the run, he’d tried to make things beautiful for her.

It was right there on the tip of her tongue to say “I love you,” but she held back. She couldn’t. Not with so much left unresolved between them. “Thank you.”

His eyes closed and she was sure he’d heard her thoughts, felt her hesitation. But he smiled down at her. “You’re welcome, love. Now undress your husbands.”

She wouldn’t fight him on that. He was her husband. Lach was her husband. She didn’t remember the moment she’d bonded with them, but it had happened all the same. The connection was undeniable.

She pulled Shim’s shirt overhead and laid it to the side, then did the same for Lach.

“On your knees,” Lach commanded. “We both need some attention before we take care of you. I watched females in my cousin’s club kiss their lovers’ cocks and pleasure them with their mouths. I want to do this. I want to fuck your mouth, Bronwyn.”

His face was tight as though he was a little worried she would reject the idea, but Bron got to her knees. She remembered how he’d tongued her pussy and licked her until she’d come. She wanted to give him the same pleasure.

She undid the tie of his pants. Lach and Shim stood side by side. She undressed them, handling trousers and boots and putting them away until both her men stood in their full glory. Two magnificent bodies. She felt small on her knees, her men staring down at her. Small and protected and desired.

“Touch me, Bron.” Shim had a hand on his cock. “Touch me here while you suck on Lachlan.”

She placed her hand on Shim’s cock. It was long and thick, so thick she could barely grasp it in one hand.

“Tighter. I won’t break. Rub me.” Shim’s hips pumped a little.

She pulled on his cock, surprised at how soft the skin was. She ran her hand up and down, satisfied with the way he sighed. His pleasure hummed in her brain.

And Lach’s impatience was a palpable thing.

“Now, Bronwyn.”

She leaned forward, licked at his cock. She started at the base and ran her tongue along the stalk all the way to the bulbous head. Warm, pearly liquid seeped from his cockhead. Cum. She tasted it. Salty and so masculine if a taste could have a gender. She worried the tiny slit with her tongue, wanting more.

“You’re a dangerous woman.” Lach put a hand on her head. “Now suck me inside. I want to fill your mouth.”

She pulled the head of his cock into her mouth, running her tongue all over it, glorying in the shape. Her pussy began to pulse in time to Lach’s pleasure. He was focusing it on her, giving it to her. She followed her instincts, sucking hard and drawing him in. She felt his low moan of pleasure in her gut.

She sucked on Lachlan’s cock, whirling her tongue around and around. The pressure was building in Lach. His breath sawed in and out of his chest. She was doing this to him. This dominant warrior was responding to her caresses. She pulled him deeper, relaxing her jaw. It was easy because she could feel what brought him pleasure. He wanted her to eat his dick up and swallow him whole.

Leaning forward, she took him to the back of her throat and swallowed.

Lach stiffened and his hands held her to him. He came, his semen jetting into her mouth, coating her tongue. It felt so good. Her pussy softened as though she was the one having the orgasm. She shook as she swallowed his cum.

Lazy satisfaction rolled off him as he let go of her hair and his cock came out of her mouth. “So sweet, Bronwyn. That was so sweet.”

She didn’t have more than a second to enjoy the feeling of power before Shim was on her. He pulled her up and brought her to the bed with him. “No more waiting, wife.”

No. She didn’t want to wait one second longer.