“Maybe not to you,” she muttered, once again words destined to annoy Master Thorn falling from her ungoverned mouth.
The silence stretched out and it was Thorn who broke it. “I’ve arranged for a punishment board to be placed in the playroom. You’ll add to the list, Adara, if you choose to dress. You already have four punishments tallied.”
Whoa. Punishment board? Four? Choices? It didn’t take a big brain to figure that one out, and she’d think on the board thing in a moment. She could choose to cover herself in front of the new housekeeper and pay the price later. Her buttocks heated thinking about it, and she was so embarrassed…he was methodically stripping her of her free will, never mind her clothes. She glanced at Orion who didn’t give her anything back and those infernal tears of powerlessness sprang up and spilled over.
“I’ll go as I am.”
Satisfaction warred with what looked suspiciously like sorrow on Thorn’s features, but she dismissed the latter emotion as being fanciful. When he reached to brush the wetness from her cheeks, she flinched away and dropped her gaze.
“Adara.”
Managing to look at him again, his visage slightly distorted behind the moisture standing in her eyes, he nodded his head gravely. “Good girl.”
Good dog. Good pet. Fuck him. And fuck that little kernel of feeling pleased she’d pleased him! “I don’t want you hitting me again.”
Score—but it backfired. He was back to being annoyed again, and she supposed he’d spank her anyhow and she’d still be going for breakfast naked. Tears snaked down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. She sniffed and twisted her head away as Orion offered a linen square, then made her way out the bedroom door to the kitchen.
****
Godsdamn it! Thorn clenched his fists and motioned Orion to follow Adara. His brother needed to step up and not allow Adara to change the most basic of their expectations rather than leaving her defiance to Thorn to deal with. Or was he in the wrong? Was he expecting too much of their intended?
After sinking into her tight sheath that never-to-be-forgotten day, joining with their bride in the marital sense, he hadn’t thought of much else. Knowing how tender she would be, he’d left her to sleep with his brothers because he didn’t trust himself not to take her again. Both Orion and Kellis had restrained themselves until the following day—Thorn had watched both times as his brothers made love to her. They didn’t fuck her harshly yet possessed her all the same.
Kellis kissed her awake and lifted her over Orion who settled her on his cock, easing her down with care. They allowed Adara to take as much of Orion as she wanted, unlike how Thorn had imposed his will on her. Not that he’d undo the experience. Her full buttocks caressed Orion’s thighs as she rode his cock, that glorious hair spilling down her back, an incredible contrast to her porcelain skin. Thorn had altered his position to watch her breasts bounce, those heavy, luscious mounds begging for attention, and as if Orion read his mind his hands captured them, the flesh spilling through his fingers.
Adara moaned as Orion then pulled and twisted her nipples—Orion was such a breast man—and her pace faltered until Kellis reached to where she and Orion were joined. Thorn couldn’t see what Kellis did—he didn’t need to—he knew his brother had found Adara’s clit and provided yet another distraction. Adara rose up and her head fell back, her profile in sharp relief before Thorn’s covetous eyes as she took her pleasure, pushed over the precipice by Kellis’s touch, filled with Orion’s cock. Orion’s face had twisted with both pleasure and love as he came with her.
Kellis took her almost immediately afterwards, displaying his intimate knowledge of women. Adara would be soft after her orgasm and slick with Orion’s seed—able to take Kellis with ease. The younger twin had settled himself between her wide spread thighs and rocked into her with smooth and restrained movements, Orion stretched out beside them, murmuring soft endearments. Adara had audibly protested another orgasm so close on the heels of the first, but Kellis cajoled with his usual charm and Thorn admired his brother’s technique even as he fiercely wished to be in his place. Adara’s vaginal orgasm, her G-spot prodded by his brother’s cock, made her loose a tiny scream, and her knees jerked up to clamp Kellis’s hips as he emptied himself into her with a shudder and accompanying groan.
Thorn didn’t make love—but then he’d never loved a woman before. He fucked his women restrained, and dominated them for his enjoyment, yet he thought he might want to feel Adara’s small hands touching him the way she had caressed Orion’s chest and abdomen before she collapsed on him. Even Kellis received a stroke of her slender fingers on his cheek. In that moment he decided that while he still expected Adara’s submission, it didn’t have to be about domination all the time. So then why had he just forced her to choose in a no win situation? He reminded himself that their intended would wreak havoc if not properly trained and tried to take comfort in that, preferring not to think about how he’d made her cry yet again.
As he entered the kitchen, Cenna was facing away from Adara, obviously giving her some privacy. Orion had settled her on his lap and all that was visible were her breasts, and even those spectacular sights were essentially covered by the flowing strands of her hair. Kellis hovered with a cup of coffee, offering it to Adara who was clearly unable to still her trembling lips to take a sip. Tears still tracked down her face, and Thorn’s heart hurt, actually clenched like a fist grasped it and squeezed—hard.
“Adara is lovely, Thorn.” Cenna addressed the food she was stirring in the pan. “I am honored to meet her.”
Hearing both a hint of anger and understanding in her tone, he forced himself to answer as if everything was normal. “She is lovely, Cenna,” he agreed, “And we appreciate you coming back after all these years to work, and not just to visit.”
“Take your place. The food is ready.” Cenna served four plates as he’d requested, placing two on the countertop in front of his brothers and Adara and one on the other side for him, taking her own to sit at the end. Kellis’s bulk served to screen Adara, and Thorn appreciated Cenna’s foresight. He sat across from their woman who didn’t acknowledge him other than to accept the best morsels he chose from his plate and reached to press against her lips. It was a visible effort for her to swallow them so he paced his efforts, wishing she’d look at him but reluctant to order her to do so. He thought he’d rather deal with her pouts and fierce anger instead of this quiet sadness. The only thing she easily swallowed was the nectar.
As soon as the meal was consumed, punctuated by desultory comments from Orion in particular who asked after Cenna’s family, with a few added insights from Kellis, Thorn pushed back his stool.
“Take Adara to the playroom,” he quietly instructed. “I’ll join you there once I speak with Cenna.”
Adara cowered into Orion—literally cowered, and Thorn hardened his aching heart. Kellis shot him a look but said nothing, merely offered Adara his hand to draw her to her feet, keeping his body interposed between her and Cenna. Cenna wasn’t looking anyway, apparently finding her food of great interest.
“Nice to meet you, Cenna.” Adara’s musical voice was a thread of sound, and he realized how difficult it had been for her to speak. He appreciated her good manners even more.
“And you, my dear,” their old caregiver replied. “I will see you later today.”
As soon as his brothers and Adara were out of sight, Thorn turned to Cenna. Her careworn face turned his way and faded blue eyes twinkled as her lips turned up.
“You’re as inflexible as your first father was, Thorn.”
“You saw her, Cenna. You know the prophecy. If I allow her any leeway she’ll gainsay us.”
“You’ve all waited a very long time for your wife. I understand that. And for her to be prophesized is truly a miracle. But she is clearly new to your lifestyle. I would have thought she would have been apprised…”
Trust Cenna to cut to the chase. “I won her in a bastra game. I negotiated a one month contract
before I knew she was star promised and meant to be. And she’s submissive, Cenna. I see past her feistiness. Deep down she longs to be cared for. She lost her parents at a young age as we did and has no one but a ne’er-do-well brother—he gambled his precious sibling away!”
Thorn filled Cenna in on their insistence that Adara join them almost immediately after seeing her image, albeit a misleading one, and his determination to ensure her safety and pleasure. He omitted nothing but his longing to make love to her.
“She appears to be adjusting to the twins well enough,” Cenna commented.
“She hates me,” he offered, glumly.
“Then make those boys step up,” she answered with a touch of her old asperity. “If they agree with your approach—and they must do so or she wouldn’t be naked in front of me—then have them overtly support you and not cast you in the role of bad guy.”
“I’m the eldest,” he began.
“Nonsense. They are grown men, decades old, and you’ve shouldered enough of the burden.”
Thorn sighed. It felt amazingly comforting to hear Cenna’s advice. He’d wondered if she was angry with him for insisting on Adara’s state of undress.
“You need to let them share the burden, Thorn,” she continued more gently. “That girl isn’t going to go quietly. You need her to come to accept your rules even if she struggles with the reasoning behind them.”
“That’s just the point, Cenna.” He jumped up to pace the room and bleed off his agitation. “She’d probably understand the reasoning—I think she does understand when she’s not falling back into what I clearly misunderstood about her upbringing on her world. I thought she’d be meek, seeing as her brother had leave to gamble her very being! But I can’t tell her about the prophecy. It’s forbidden.”
“And if she doesn’t fulfill it?”
Thorn stared at the woman who’d been in his life for as long as he could remember, an invaluable member of his household until she’d felt she needed to return to her family. She was a little more stooped, her hair now predominantly grey, but her verve for life was still evident and her intelligence shone from her eyes.
“We wanted her forever before we knew she was the One, Cenna. But you know the risk to her if she fails to fulfill the prophecy.”
“You’ve already started her on the nectar?”
Feeling uneasy, Thorn nodded. “She is ours. And as such we want her to live as long as we do.”
Cenna stood and began to gather up the dishes. He knew she was astonished at his temerity, but then she appeared to accept it. “You’ve made your decision, Thorn. If she fails to surrender before your contract expires, then you’ll have to live with the consequences.”
“We don’t care about the increased fortune.”
A plate clattered and Cenna stared. Her eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline before she unpursed her lips. “Then you’re all committed and it will work out.”
It has to. His unspoken thought hovered between them. Losing their foretold fortuitous future was nothing compared to losing Adara. Literally. The nectar overcame death on Virile, or at least postponed one from natural causes for a very long time indeed, and was a closely guarded secret from otherworlders. If Adara left them to return to her home she would die within months because her system was slowly becoming attuned to Virile through the powerful potion. Her own planet would reject her, much like the body rejects transplanted flesh—it was why he and his brothers didn’t travel off world for any length of time. No Virile native could. But if she didn’t partake of the nectar she wouldn’t last here either. So she couldn’t leave—and if she learned what they withheld from her before she surrendered…Thorn wouldn’t allow himself to think about that.
Trust was the foundation for any relationship, especially a D/s relationship, but the prophecy tested even that to ensure Adara’s suitability. So he had to assume full responsibility for his arrogant assumption she would commit to them—he hadn’t given her the nectar to imprison her here. Had he?
“We have to work tomorrow, Cenna, but one of us will be with Adara at all times until she is comfortable around you. I had allowed a few days to connect with her but hadn’t bargained on who she turned out to be.”
“And you always hated to make your plans and have them thwarted, Thorn. Your second father was like that too. Taurus—such a name for a soft heart—must have fathered the twins. I still wonder who fathered you. Go. You’d better do whatever you planned with Adara when you sent her to that room. She’ll be anxious.
“And Thorn? Remember how well loved and served your mother was by your fathers. And how she reciprocated. Adara will come to understand.”
He hoped so. Nodding to Cenna he strode to the playroom, thinking about the men who sired him and his brothers. Taurus no doubt was the father of his brothers, although the man treated all of them the same. Alexander and Joss both had qualities he shared—their delicate mother somehow coped with all three of her husbands, her quiet strength completing them. Gods he missed them, just as Adara must miss her own parents. In time he would share his memories with her and hope she would reciprocate.
****
Kellis wiped her face and made her blow her nose. She’d been able to stop crying once away from the kitchen—that nice old woman hadn’t even appeared to look at her nakedness, staring her straight in the face and clasping Adara’s forearm with a surprisingly strong grip before welcoming her to Virile. Adara supposed Cenna had lots of practice with naked women in this house, although probably none as well endowed. But while she appreciated the other woman’s sensitivity, she still couldn’t believe Thorn would have punished her for covering herself in Cenna’s presence, and she couldn’t quit the infernal weeping.
Knowing that a spanking awaited her if she had donned that dress, the only article of clothing apparently available to her, wasn’t the only reason she’d given in to his so-called choice. It was the realization he’d continue to make her choose, each and every time she had to see Cenna, so she figured to get it over with. The twins had shielded her modesty to some extent, and the housekeeper was very respectful. Thorn feeding her had nearly made her choke though—treating her with such care, rewarding her for good behavior, similar to a favorite pet. Like she’d pleased him again.
What was with her that pleasing him was beginning to insinuate itself into her psyche? Was the Stockholm Syndrome deal already in place? Adara let Kellis finish mopping her up as she wrestled with her thoughts. She considered that if she went along to get along by subjugating her willfulness, at least it would be her choice and not Thorn’s. She didn’t want him to dictate to her yet he held all the cards. No matter that the twins didn’t dominate in the same manner—they deferred to Thorn. It was making her nuts.
“Heavy thoughts, my love? You need to share with us, communicate.” Kellis took her face between his hands and kissed her nose. If she’d thought about it she could have lifted her face and his mouth would have touched hers and all that business about earning their kiss would be dealt with. But now she wasn’t so sure that’s what she wanted. Kissing was too intimate. She liked the sex and the kink for the most part—at least so far.
“No. I’m just recovering from the humiliation of having yet another woman see my considerable self.” They wanted honesty? Well, nothing like telling her captors about a major insecurity and giving them another weapon to wield against her. It would serve to keep a wall around her heart because she wasn’t going to feel anything more than like for these cuties. Besides, she hated Thorn and that in itself took considerable emotional energy.
Brow furrowing, Kellis squinted into her face. “Considerable self? What does that mean, Adara?”
Orion left whatever he was doing by the chair of her erotic torture and came to stand with his twin. “Are you suggesting there is something wrong with your form, Adara?”
He sounded incredulous and a lot like his elder brother when she pissed him off. Shrugging, noting how both pairs of blue eyes shifted to trac
k the movement of her breasts, Adara replied, with full snark to hide her discomfort. “Nothing vigorous exercise and a strict diet wouldn’t address.”
In truth, nothing any of these men had said or done gave her any reason to believe they didn’t fully appreciate her curves and heft. But those old insecurities poked hard and she again reminded herself she was free lunch and available for the next twenty-five days or so, but who was counting?
A loud, hard slap on her left buttock snapped her to attention. Orion cracked her another one, the sound filling the room, and it really hurt.
“Owww!” She tried to swivel away, the plug making its presence known as it shifted in her ass. “What are you doing?”
Kellis fisted his hand in her hair, effectively holding her in place. “He’s paddling your delectable bottom, Adara! Something you seem to respond to far better than kindness.”
Two harder smacks, delivered to her other buttock, drew her up on her toes.
“Please stop, Orion,” she cried out. “What did I do wrong?”
Getting right in her face, handsome features taut with anger, Kellis replied. “You disparaged yourself, Adara. And you disparaged what belongs to us. You disrespected our opinion.”
Releasing her hair, he grasped her around the waist to yank her closer. Her head fell back with the sudden movement, and Orion spoke in her ear. “You are disobedient as well as disrespectful.”
Holy shit. She was obviously really bad at reading people. Where had that skill gone? Probably the same place as her clothes. Adara flinched inside—she’d been so good at appraising others back home. It kept people at a distance, something she preferred with the exception of Sammy and a couple of female friends. Kellis and Orion obviously had depths she had yet to explore, not that she planned to do that. Footnote—Doms were Doms the universe over, and they resorted to punishment instead of discussion.
“We need a godsdamned armless chair in here,” Kellis nearly snarled.
“Sit on the bed,” Orion suggested. “It’s high enough for the purpose.”
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