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 coul
d 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.