by Susan Hayes
“What’s up?” he asked, his voice hushed.
“I’m not sure.” Colin kept his voice low. He didn’t want Alayna awake yet. Not until he knew for certain that his suspicions were correct.
“You woke me up because you’re not sure about something? What the fuck, man?”
“No, moron. I’m pretty sure about this, but you need to see it to believe me.” He pointed to the star on Alayna’s face and then ran his index finger through the center of it, pressing down a little harder this time.
The line blurred under his finger, and he knew he’d been right. The marking on her face wasn’t permanent, and that meant it wasn’t a real tattoo.
“Fuck me,” Nikolai swore under his breath as the implications of what they were seeing sunk in.
“I know. The question is, what do we want to do if that fake tattoo is covering a real one?”
Nicolai’s dark brows shot up and he looked from Colin to the still sleeping Alayna. An expression Colin had never seen crossed his best friend’s face, and he recognized it as longing. He knew it right away, because it was the same feeling he had every time he looked at her.
“If she’s a scroll, then we claim the little minx and deal with the consequences later.”
“I agree. And if she’s never been tested?”
“Then we get her tested right away, and pray she’s fertile. I don’t want to let her go. She’s perfect.”
“Yeah, she is. And she’s going to try to kill us if we claim her.”
Nicolai grinned at him. “I know. That’s part of what makes her perfect for us. She’s worth the risk.”
“Then let’s find out what’s under that star and go from there.” Colin eased himself away from Alayna, slipping out of bed with care so that he didn’t wake her. Once she figured out what was going on, she was going to fight them tooth and nail. Whatever her secret was, that star helped her keep it. If it hid the scrollwork tattoo of a fertile woman, then all three of their lives were about to change forever.
* * * *
Alayna hadn’t intended to fall asleep. She wouldn’t have thought it possible considering her surroundings. She never slept well away from the security of camp. Years of living rough had honed her instincts, to the point that couldn’t happen. At least she had thought so. The fact she had woken up still wrapped up in the arms of her lovers would be pretty damning evidence her instincts were not as good as she thought they were.
Fuck.
Disgust at her failure to stay awake turned to ice-cold terror as she felt something scrubbing at the right side of her face. Adrenaline flooded her system even before her eyes opened and she launched herself out of bed. At least, she tried to.
Instead, it felt as though a pair of steel bands tightened around her, pinning her arms to her side and holding her tight against a solid mass of muscle. Colin was the only one she could see, and he had an expression of wary determination on his handsome face. A trickle of water ran down her cheek, and she knew what he was doing. While she’d been asleep, her make-up must have smudged, betraying her secret.
“Get your hands off me!” She channeled her fear into anger, desperate to somehow salvage the situation. Her arms might be held, but her legs were free and she lashed out with them, hammering her heels against Nikolai’s shins.
“Not going to happen, vorovka. We need to see what you’ve been hiding from us,” Nicolai murmured from behind her. He threw one leg over hers, quelling her thrashing.
“You’ve seen me naked. Just what exactly do you think I’m hiding?”
Colin swiped something across her face again and then exhaled sharply. “That, for starters.” There was only one word to describe the expression on Colin’s face as he stared at her. Longing. She had expected anger, condemnation or even a gleam of greed. Instead he was looking at her as if she was the most incredible thing in existence. For the first time in her life, words failed her.
He reached for her slowly and she was surprised to see his hands were shaking. His fingertips danced over the surface of her skin, tracing the scrollwork tattoo that few people had ever seen.
“Is she?” Nikolai asked, his tone almost reverent.
“She is. We found her, Griz.” Colin’s gaze met hers and he spoke the words that Alayna had hoped she’d never hear. “We chose you, Alayna.”
“No!” This wasn’t happening. The universe wasn’t so fucking cruel that it would take away her freedom over a night’s pleasure and a few stolen hours of sleep.
“Yes.” Both men spoke at once.
“You know the law, Alayna. You’re not allowed to deny a claim,” Colin added.
“Like hell I’m not. I don’t want this. I don’t want you! Either of you. If you don’t let me go I swear I’ll make your life a living hell, and the first time you turn your back I’m going to be gone. I’m not going to give up my life to be your sex slave! I have people who depend on me. You can’t do this!”
“We can. We will. And if you run from us, we’ll come find you and bring you home again. Hold her still, Griz.” Colin reached for something beyond her range of vision and Alayna knew she was running out of time. Fear and fury fueled her actions and she fought Nikolai’s hold with everything she had.
“I’m trying. Our minx is stronger than she looks.” Nikolai grunted in pain as she managed to dig an elbow into his ribs.
Colin held up a small device, letting her see it clearly. She’d never seen one before, but there was no mistaking what it was. They were going to mark her right here and now, and once it was done there would be no escape. She would wear their initials on the left side of her face for the rest of her life, branded as property just like they once marked livestock. It would mean the end of everything.
Alayna found herself begging. “Please, don’t do this. You don’t want me. I hate the Alliance. I was raised in the badlands. I have lousy manners, I swear. Fuck, I ran away less than a week after they tested me. I haven’t even had the full array of enhancements. You two can do better.”
“Alayna, stop it,” Nikolai growled in her ear. “Please stop. We do want you. I know you’re not going to believe that yet, but you will, in time. We’ll prove it to you. You’re perfect for us.”
“One night of good sex does not mean we’re meant to be together forever,” she argued and Colin laughed.
“Princess, that wasn’t good sex. That was incredible, mind-blowing sex. And we’re going to have lots more of it. But that’s not the reason we’re claiming you. We want someone we actually like. Someone who can laugh with us and not be afraid to tell us what they’re feeling. We actually want a pain in the ass with a smart mouth.” He tapped a finger to the tip of her nose. “That sound like someone you know?”
“But I have people who need me. They’ll wonder where I am!”
“You can tell them tomorrow, and they’ll be welcome to come see you whenever they want. With any luck I’ll like your family more than I like mine.” Nikolai said.
There was no point in fighting any longer. Nikolai was far stronger than she was, and they were not going to be dissuaded from their plan. She stopped struggling and went still. “If you do this, I’ll hate you.”
“I hope not,” Colin murmured and touched the device to the left side of her face. He moved so quickly that it was done before she had time to do more than blink. A brief tingle was all she felt. It seemed wrong somehow that something so life altering could happen so fast. She was theirs, from now until their deaths.
Right now she was very tempted to shorten their life spans herself. Slowly, and with a very dull knife.
“I want to see it,” she said the moment Colin moved the device away from her face.
“Me, too,” Nicolai announced, and without any more warning she found herself being lifted into his arms.
“I meant that I wanted someone to hand me a mirror,” she protested as Nikolai stood up and walked her across the room. Colin was moved, too, and a moment later she was blinking away a flurry of dancing spots
that appeared when he flicked on the overhead light. When the spots cleared she realized that Nikolai had carried her over to a full length mirror, and he was staring at their reflections with a look of pure, male satisfaction. She turned her head, revealing the new mark, and her heart twisted in her chest. She’d been claimed.
She looked closer, and a small part of her mind was pleased to note that at least the design wasn’t horrific. The stylized pattern that comprised both their initials had been done tastefully. If it wasn’t for the fact that the mark was basically a brand announcing to the world that she was their possession, she might have even thought it was pretty.
A third reflection appeared in the mirror as Colin joined them, looking so pleased that for a moment Alayna thought he might start purring. She looked at the image of the three of them together, naked, and tears stung at her eyes as she accepted that this was really happening. The two men she’d come to rob and stayed to enjoy for a single night’s pleasure, now owned her.
It wasn’t fair.
“If that other bedroom is for your chosen, then that means it’s mine now, right?” she asked, fighting to keep her emotions in check. She would not let them see her cry.
Not tonight, not ever.
“It is…” Nikolai trailed off and lifted her higher against his chest. It was obvious he didn’t want her to leave, but there was no way she was staying with them. Not after what had happened.
“Not just the room, Alayna. Everything we have is yours now.” Colin lifted his hand and stroked her hair gently, his fingers toying with the strands. “If you want some time to come to terms with all this, we’ll leave you in peace. But Alayna, I meant it. If you run, we’ll come after you. So I’m asking you to stay. Stay and give us a chance to show you this can work. It will work.”
“Like I have any fucking choice,” she snapped and a single tear slid down her cheek. She dashed it away with the back of her hand and hoped neither man had seen it. Nikolai set her on her feet without a word, but his hand caressed her shoulder for a moment before he moved away.
“You’ll see, minx. We’ll make you happy. We’re going to be a family.”
Family.
The word made her blood run cold. Alayna straightened her spine, lifted her chin and marched out of the room, her hair swaying from side to side as she left. She kept it together until she was safe inside her new bedroom. The moment the door slammed shut behind her she gave in to her tears, curling up in the corner of the room, legs bent, arms wrapped around her knees and head bowed so she could muffle her sobs.
It was bad enough that she had screwed up and gotten caught. Worse still that she’d stayed and indulged her fantasies, thinking she was too smart to get found out. Now she had been claimed by the very men who controlled the flow of goods she made a living stealing. Goods her people needed to survive and were denied because greedy men diverted shipments, reselling much-needed supplies on the black market at impossible prices. Now she was useless to the people who relied on her, a possession with no rights and no future except to be a sex toy and broodmare to a pair of men she barely knew.
Alayna didn’t know what it meant to be a mother. She’d never had one. She was a damned good thief, a savvy fighter and a capable killer when it was necessary. There was only one thing in the world that truly scared her, motherhood.
She stayed on the floor until dawn before finally crawling into bed and falling into an exhausted sleep. At least now she could sleep properly. There was nothing left for her to be on guard against.
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
The sons of bitches had locked her in without so much as a stitch of clothing to wear.
Alayna tried the door again, even though she knew damned well it wasn’t going to open. It hadn’t taken them long to forget their promises about making her happy. That was all right, she hadn’t forgotten her promise either. She’d warned them she would make their life a living hell if they claimed her, and now seemed as good a time as any to make good on that threat. She sucked in a lungful of air and started screaming for someone to let her out, pummeling on the door with her hands as she yelled.
“And good morning to you, too.” Nikolai’s rumbling tones came from the other side of the door less than a minute later.
“Open this door and let me out of here!”
There was a momentary pause and she could almost swear she could hear muffled laughter. “You’re locked in?”
“Of course I’m locked in. You two are the ones who did it!”
“The door doesn’t lock from the outside. Check the handle.” The bastard wasn’t even trying to hide his laughter now. Alayna got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she crouched down and took a good look at the door handle. There was an old fashioned, push-in and turn locking mechanism on the damned thing. She’d locked herself in when she’d slammed the door last night.
Well, fuck.
She yanked the door open and came face to face with Nikolai. He was leaning up against the doorjamb, a wide grin on his face as he crowed with laughter. He was wearing a pair of jeans that hugged his well-muscled thighs, and a sleeveless, black shirt that left a distracting amount of his arms and chest bare. Stars, the man was hot. It was hard to stay furious when he looked that damned good. “Some thief you are, vorovka. Did you really think we would lock you in?”
“Yes, I did,” she shot back, arms crossed across her chest as she belatedly remembered she was stark naked. Fuck it. He’d already seen her nude, so there was no point in ducking back behind the doorway now. That ship had already launched.
Nikolai stopped laughing the second she spoke. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was the kind of man who would lock her up or deny her the freedom she so clearly treasured. “We’d never do that to you. Damn it, Alayna, what sort of men do you take us for?”
“The kind that would hold a girl down and brand her with your mark so that everyone would know she’s your possession, even though she begged you not to.”
That mark. Nikolai was trying not to stare at it, but it wasn’t easy. He knew that claiming often came quickly, and part of him regretted how they’d accomplished theirs. He couldn’t regret having done it though. Not when the sight of their design on her golden skin was enough to make him want to roar in triumph. He just wasn’t stupid enough to let her see how happy he was when she was still so raw over being claimed. “I know that wasn’t our finest moment, but that’s how these things usually go. It’s sort of a flaw in the system.”
“A flaw? From where I’m standing it’s a bit more than a fucking flaw! I went from being an independent woman to a sex toy in less than twelve hours.”
What the hell was she talking about?
“Whoa. Back up. Who said you were any such thing?”
“That’s what I am, isn’t it? You’re very own, Alliance authorized, sex toy. No rights, no freedom, no life, and for that matter, no clothes.” She glanced down at her naked body and he had to force himself not to let his gaze drift downward right along with hers. She was a beautiful temptation, and right now he couldn’t afford to be tempted or distracted. He had to make her understand that she was so much more to them than just a pretty face or a sex partner. She was their chosen, and they would die to protect her.
Nikolai closed the distance between them so quickly Alayna barely saw him move. He was faster than a man his size had any right to be, enhancements or not. She raised her arms out of instinct, ready to ward off the blow she half expected to be dealt. Instead, he hauled her up against the broad expanse of his chest and held her, one hand cradling the back of her head as they stood there in silence for a long moment, her cheek resting against his bare chest.
“You are not a sex toy.” His voice was rough and she could feel the tension vibrating through his body with every word. “You are our chosen, but that doesn’t mean you’re our slave. You still have rights. Do you realize how important you are to the Alliance? No one, not even the Council members, are as p
rotected as you are. You can’t be threatened or harmed, on penalty of death. Now that we’ve claimed you, no other man can ever lay a hand on you. If they do, one of us will kill him.”
“I’ve done just fine protecting myself all these years. I don’t need your help. And if I’m not your sex toy, then what would you call me, a broodmare, maybe? You want kids, and I’m the one you’re going to fuck until I give them to you.”
“Who taught you this shit? Yeah, we want kids. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have worked our asses off all these years to get permission to claim a scroll—fuck. Sorry. Permission to claim someone like you. But it’s not to turn you into some mindless baby factory, fulfilling your duty to the Alliance.”
The last few words came out on a bitter snarl and Alayna was more convinced by his anger than by his words. “So, I still have a say?”
“Now you’re getting it.” He chuckled a little and stroked her hair. “Why else do you think you have the only bedroom door that locks?”
“Well, how was I supposed to know I had the only one? I don’t know anything about anything at the moment. Hell, I don’t even know your last names.” Alayna tipped her head back so that she could look up at him, and he cocked his head to one side to flash her a smile.
“Grekov and Nielson. You better remember them. They’re your last names, too.”
“Mine?”
“Uh huh. Your name is now Alayna Grekov-Nielson. Colin’s already gone to register it into the system.” That news left her feeling a little strange. She finally had a last name. Hell, she had two. Two last names and two men. For the rest of her life. She wasn’t ready to face that reality yet. Not all of it, anyway. She decided to pick a less terrifying topic to speak about.
“So, how come it’s Grekov-Nielson and not Nielson-Grekov? Did Colin lose the coin toss?”
“That was to appease my family. They’re an uptight bunch of snobs. I promise you won’t be seeing much of them.”
Oh great. This day just kept getting better. “Why is your family snobbish? Are they important? Fuck, are you important? I, uh, I mean, I know you’re a general and all, but uh, I have no idea if your name should ring any bells.” She glanced around the room and raised a brow. “This place would lead me to believe that you’re certainly not rich.”