Lilly's Torment [Beyond the Veil 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Honor James

  Laughter erupted from her and she shook her head. “What’s wrong, Ax? You don’t like needles?” she teased him with a grin. “It’s okay, I really hate them as well, but I’ve had to learn to deal with it. I hate it. Sad, but it’s very true,” she whispered. “And don’t worry, I have a feeling that Gavriel is a good stick, right?”

  As Artaxias growled at them, Gavriel shook his head at her. “It’s not the needles, it’s the loss of blood. It’s instinctual for Vhampires to prevent it at all costs. I have to actually shackle him down to draw even a little bit. As much as I’m going to need”—he made a face—“let’s just say that you’ll be the one unlocking him as soon as I’m out of the room and about a hundred yards away.”

  “If it’s that bad for you, Ax, why are you doing this for me? I don’t understand. I don’t want you to do anything that is going to cause you issue. We don’t have to. If this is going to be too much for you, we won’t do it. I mean it. I refuse to do anything that will give you any trouble. Period.”

  He was right there in the next moment, his arms wrapped around her middle. “Because it’s for you, Lilly. I want to do this for you. Doesn’t mean I won’t try to rip his throat out, that I can’t help. Like he said, it’s instinctual, which is the reason for the chains. But then it will be over and you can kiss my boo-boos all better.”

  “Are you sure?” It hurt her to know that he would be in such turmoil because of her, that he would hurt, if only mentally, because of her. “I don’t want you hurt,” she whispered. “Emotionally or physically, I don’t want you hurt, honey. Ever.” She breathed quietly.

  He turned her in his arms and wrapped her in a tight hug. “It will be fine, little mate. You will be there and it’s for you that I willingly do this. Anyone else, and they’d have to fight me to get even a drop of my blood.” Ax pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Shh. It will be fine, Lil.”

  “As long as you are certain.” She sighed and nodded. “I trust you.” And she did. She trusted him with all that she was and all that she would ever be. “I believe in you. I know that we are good together, and if you think that it is going to work for you then I know it will work for me as well.”

  “It will work, Lilly, promise. Just cover your ears once he starts poking me. You really don’t need to learn half of the bad words I know.”

  “I’ll attest to that,” Gav muttered. “Makes my ears burn every time I get near him with a needle. And I’ve been around him my whole life, including the war between your people and the races. Which, trust me, was no picnic and his language skills only seemed to get worse the longer it went on.”

  That had her laughing. “You do know that I am totally going to listen now, if only to pick up on a bunch of new and good curse words. I look forward to them, learning new ones, that is,” she said with a smile. “Just sayin’ is all,” she teased happily.

  “Most you likely won’t understand,” Gav told her with a chuckle. “After the first few minutes, he switches to his native tongue and even I have trouble figuring out what he’s saying. And I speak his tongue, but even I don’t know all the variations and intonations that go with the various words.”

  “Well I will listen very, very closely, and then maybe if I am lucky, he will tell me what the words mean later. Maybe if we are lucky, he will tell me and I can master a few words in his native tongue?” She was teasing Ax by talking to Gav about it, squeezing Ax’s hand as she did so.

  “You can ask, I don’t think he’ll tell you what any of them mean. Hell, I’ve been harassing him for years to teach me the cool ones and he won’t. But then I know the general tongue of the Vhampire and he has the added bonus of knowing many of the local dialects of the various regions. Not something an outsider ever gets to learn,” Gav told her as he poked at the lid on what Artaxias had pulled from the oven. “What is in here and why does it smell so good?”

  “It’s a casserole, a meal in a single dish. It has cheese, so of course it smells good to you. I could put cheese on your old gnarly runners and cook them up and you’d say they smelled good.”

  That had her laughing. “Oh God, you are too funny,” she said with a smile. “All right, well here is the thing. Ax, I would very much like to learn the words that you will more than likely use. Will you teach them to me? Please?” She smiled as she asked the question.

  “I’ll teach you a couple,” he said with a sigh. Reaching up, Artaxias brushed a finger down her cheek. “But if you ever use them on me, I will never teach you another one again.” Leaning in, he kissed her gently. “Can you finish up the lemonade while I get the table set?”

  “You betcha.” She had leaned into his touch. She found that she did that a great deal lately. “I would like to learn them, and I will try very hard not to use them on you, but no guarantees, you know. Who knows when I might become über pissed off and have to pull out some random word to toss at you in order to throw you off your game?”

  “Just not while we’re being shot at or anything like that. Which reminds me, I’m only teaching you ones I think you’ll be able to pronounce. And, for the love of all the Gods, never use them on another Vhampire. Mispronunciation can get you killed among those of my race,” he said. Pressing a kiss to her lips, he was gone before she could get into enjoying it.

  “Yeah, well, teasing your mate with a hint of a kiss and disappearing on her can get you killed as well,” Lilly muttered as she finished preparing the lemonade. When she had the jug of lemonade made, she turned to put her back to the counter and grinned. “All right, now what can I do, boys?”

  “Grab some glasses and ice, take everything to the table, and plop your gorgeous ass in a chair. Lunch is ready,” Artaxias said, moving the casserole dish to the table. He went back to the fridge and returned a moment later with a salad and a couple choices of dressing in hand.

  Doing as instructed, Lilly was shortly sitting and pouring them all a glass of lemonade, hesitating at the third glass. “Ax, do you want a glass as well? I still can’t figure out if you eat, don’t eat, drink, don’t drink. I’m trying. I really am, but, well…help?”

  “Yes I’ll have some. I usually eat a meal here and there throughout the week. It helps my body build the blood-cell count, and I actually do enjoy it. It’s just a hassle most of the time, so I usually cook something and pawn it off on Gav. Not that he’s complained much. Well, except for that time about a month ago, he had to start letting his belt out an extra loop.”

  She giggled and shook her head. “Well, I hope that you will begin to share more meals with us now that I’m in your life. I actually do enjoy being able to sit down and share a meal with the two men that I adore most in the world.”

  “I can only eat a few times a week, no more than four meals or my body starts to get sluggish and I can’t process the blood properly. So I tend to spread the meals out throughout the week and only eat at home. I never eat out. You never know what’s going to be in something,” Ax said, lifting the lid from the casserole. He handed her the spatula. “Ladies first,” he said with a smile. In the next instant he smacked Gav’s fingers with the salad tongs in a move she almost wasn’t able to process. And the blasted man was still smiling even while he did the ninja move he just did.

  Shaking her head, she laughed. “Goodness gravy, that was too funny.” She scooped out her casserole and asked, “The two of you act more like brothers than anything. Are you really sure that this bonding between the three of us will work?” She was worried, honestly, worried she wouldn’t be enough for both of them.

  Gavriel touched her cheek gently. “Of course it will work, Lilly. We’re fated to be, meant to be. There is no other woman that could put up with us as we are, or would want to. You accept us for who we are, in every way.”

  “I am more than a little attached to the two of you. I happen to really and truly adore you both. I don’t know what I would do in life if I didn’t have you, so I’m so very, very happy I met you when I did.” She had been floundering and knew it.


  “And we’re here for you always, Lilly. You are never going to be alone again. So get all thoughts of that out of your head now. We’re not going anywhere,” he said quietly. Leaning over, he kissed her gently on the lips.

  “Good.” Lilly licked her lips and sighed happily. “Now, let’s all sit our butts down”—she looked to Ax on this one—“so that we can eat this wonderful meal? Please?” It smelled so very good, all of it looked delicious, but she refused to start without Artaxias.

  Gavriel pulled out her chair. “Dish up first, otherwise we’ll never eat. He’s seriously old-fashioned about such things. Ladies first and all that. Unless it’s into danger, and then he goes first. Or pushes me into the line of fire.”

  “Well I happen to really love that about him, his old-fashionedness, if that is a word. Whatever, you know what I mean,” she said happily. “He’s mine and that, in the end, is all that matters. He’s mine, you are mine, and I belong to you. Life is good that way.”

  “And he cooks, so really, you can only bitch so much. Unless you’re shot and then bitch a lot,” Gav advised with a grin. He moved to sit once she was settled. “And if you really want to irritate him, talk about him like he’s not even in the room. Makes him go buggers.” As Gav eased down into his chair, it was suddenly about four feet away and he hit the floor.

  “Talking about me while I’m in front of you does annoy me,” Ax said quietly. “But remember, I’ve got centuries on you, pup, and can get even in ways you could never imagine.”

  “Yes, this is very true,” she said with a sigh. “I’m glad that you boys have such a calm fight,” she teased. “I’ve seen some people who come to blows because of how they just can’t seem to get along. So at least when you two don’t ‘get along’ per se, you still get along.”

  “Oh, this is fairly calm,” Gavriel muttered, hauling himself up from the floor. He went to collect his chair and held onto it as he sat down. “Normally when I piss him off, I find myself in the gym being beaten on.”

  “Oh.” She looked from Gavriel to Artaxias and back again. Grinning, she asked, “So how often do you find yourself in the gym? Often enough that you don’t have to worry about anything you eat, calorie wise?” She was teasing and they both could see it.

  “These days, yes. I think he’s trying to work off some of the food he occasionally feeds me.”

  “No, I’m trying to keep you on your game and work off all that fast food and frozen meal crap you eat,” Artaxias said, taking the spoon from Lilly when she passed it over. “If you actually ate what I do cook, you wouldn’t have to worry about the calories nearly as much. I know exactly what goes into every dish and just what the counts are.”

  Lilly snickered and shook her head. “You so can’t pull me in to help you there, Gav. I can’t eat frozen or processed foods because of my disease. Don’t get me wrong, there have been days I’ve wanted a great big fat hamburger, but it’s just not in the cards for me. Really, he’s doing you a favor. You should thank him.”

  “Maybe,” Gav mumbled. He loaded up his plate and sighed. “You should have him make his veggie burgers. No grease, they taste like actual hamburger, and since he does all the grinding and shit, he can make them taste like anything. Or his turkey burgers, Gods, those taste so good. You have to make those, too, soon.”

  Her laughter filled the space and she shook her head. “See, you are very happy that he cooks for you. Admit it. But please, please tell me that you at least clean up afterward. If not, you and I are going to have words. If one cooks, the other should always clean up.”

  “I did it once and then had to listen to him bitching about it for a week. So I know do the dishes and leave them for him to put away. He’s very particular,” Gavriel said.

  “I’m not particular, you just never pay attention. Who puts the glasses in with the plates and the plates in with the pans? There are always other items in the drawers and cupboards, it shouldn’t be hard to place things correctly.” Artaxias held out the salad to Lilly with a cocked brow. “It’s really not that much to ask. I just like being able to put my hand into the drawer with the pot holders and not being stabbed by a knife that shouldn’t be there.”

  “Once! I did it once, damn it,” Gavriel groaned. “See what I have to live with? Why do you think I eat out so much? This way I don’t have to worry about the aftermath.”

  Lilly couldn’t help but snicker. “I think he did it because he knew that you would clean it up for him,” she told Artaxias. “I mean it, seriously. He’s lived here how long? He knows where things go, he just chose to do things his way and didn’t worry about what you were doing at the moment, only that it would get him out of cleanup.” She looked at Gav and winked, “Is that right?”

  “No.” He frowned at her. “He redid the kitchen a couple years ago and then never let me in here except for coffee. Even then, the cup’s already out and I know where the milk is. So it’s not like I have anything to put away, since the cup gets a rinse and then into the dishwasher.”

  “Well, we will just have to rectify that. You and I will be the cleaner uppers and I will ensure that you do it right. This is our home. You should be able to put dishes away in your own home, Gav.” She looked at Artaxias and asked, “Is that all right with you?”

  “As long as everything is put where it belongs,” Ax said quietly. “There will be an inspection and rating.”

  “He’s not kidding either,” Gav groaned, looking at her.

  “No I’m not. But I think it can be done with the right motivation. And since you want my blood tonight, do it right or I take some out of you. The hard way.”

  “It’s okay. We will put everything where it belongs. I promise. We will figure out where things go. If you want, you can sit at the island and watch, but you are not allowed to lift a finger to help. You can tell us if we are putting things in the wrong places and whatnot, but that’s it.”

  “Well, that’s no fun when it comes to inspection time.” Ax smiled slightly. “But I won’t argue with you, not when you get that stubborn set to your jaw. It’s rather adorable, but I know better to argue with a woman who has her mind set on something as harmless as doing dishes.”

  “This is very true.” She looked to Gavriel and grinned. “I will wash. You can rinse and dry. We will put a towel on the counter and put everything there, and then after the dishes are done, we will put them away together. I want to get to know the layout of the kitchen as well.” Taking his hand into hers, she added, “And if he redoes it again after we learn it, we will both beat him up.”

  “Deal.” He grinned, pressing a kiss to her fingers. He then turned his head and stuck his tongue out at Ax.

  “Be careful, pup. I know where you sleep,” the Vhampire warned in a low tone.

  Clearing his throat nervously, Gavriel inched his chair closer to her. “Right, anyway. You should eat up, Lilly. You need to get into a schedule. Especially with the treatment we’re going to be putting you on. You’ll need to eat at regular intervals and have snacks throughout the day.”

  “And I have a feeling that I am going to have two amazing and wonderful men that will lead me in the right direction. You will both ensure that I eat and don’t go hungry. Between you and Ax, I won’t go hungry and I will have a schedule, even if you boys have to beat the director over the head to ensure that I keep my schedule.”

  “Nothing as drastic as that. We’ll just grab you from wherever you are, throw you over a shoulder, and take you to a spot where you can sit and eat in peace. It’s really very simple when you think about it,” Artaxias said with a shrug.

  She licked her lips and whimpered. “God, I love the way that sounds. I want that. I need that. Yes, I really and truly believe that if you do that to me, you will have to do a bit more than feed me, please. I would really and truly love that. So make sure to make note of that as well.”

  “Not until we know that you’re cured.” Gavriel shook his head at her. “I’m sorry, Lilly, but we can’t mate until you’
re cured. If we don’t wait, then you’ll end up in whatever state you enter into the mating for the rest of your life.”

  “Well, fudge nuggets,” she muttered and sighed. “All right. You are both right. I guess I just can’t wait to know what it will be, in order to have you both as mine,” she admitted softly. “I want to know what forever with the two of you will feel like.”

  “Another couple of weeks and you will know.” He smiled. “But we want you to have a long and fulfilling life with us, Lilly. No disease, no need for needles, just us and our life. A long and happy life we will have together. We’ll be able to do what we want, when we want, and go where we want. You won’t need to worry about having your prescriptions, when to eat, or testing your blood. It’s all pluses for us, Lilly, we just have to go for two weeks of behaving.”

  “I love the way that sounds. I really do. I think I will be able to handle this then. I know that we will be able to have that life , and because of that, I will ensure that I don’t attack either of you at any given time. I will work on it. I will try, okay?”

  “You can attack us all you wish, Lil,” Ax told her. “But don’t take it too personally when we step back from you and end things. We don’t mind if you want to kiss us and play with us a bit, but we can’t complete anything until we get you well.”

  “I know.” Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “That sounds good, babe. Make sure to stop me before I take things too far?” she asked and laid her hand over his. “I trust you boys to always pull back and ensure we don’t take things to a level they shouldn’t be at.”

  “And we will trust you to be there with us fully when the time is right.” Artaxias flipped his hand over to take hers in his. Squeezing her hand, he lifted it and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “For now, eat your food. You are now officially on a schedule. You will eat when I say, what I say, and if you have complaints, that department will reopen in three weeks.” The last was said with a small grin before he let her hand go.