The Lightning Bearer

by April Zyon

  “Like you have to ask,” he muttered. “You know Lincoln and I won’t keep anything from you, Pepper. You are ours, which means you get to hear everything we have to say on every subject, no matter how inappropriate it may be. And we all know I have virtually no filter on my brain to mouth function.”

  “Good. I’m glad.” She snorted. “Thomas, you do have a way with words, but it's good. I like that you have no filter. I love that you pipe up with anything that you are thinking at any moment in time. It makes me smile because I know that no matter what I will always know your thoughts on things.”

  “Yeah, it’s rare for me to actually slam the brakes on a thought escaping. Not saying it hasn’t happened, it has, but it’s damn rare.” Finishing his juice, he looked to her. “Want to go watch a movie and snuggle for a while? I was going to suggest you come play with us, but I know you’re still working on dealing with everyone around you all the time.”

  She looked down. She was still having issues being around everyone at once. She had little panic attacks that Thomas and Lincoln helped her to cover up. She hated that she was so broken for them. “A movie sounds good, but the snuggling sounds better.” She rubbed her finger over his hand, “What’s everyone doing anyway?” She traced little circles on the back of his hand while she spoke.

  “Playing with firearms,” he said. At her look, he grinned like a kid in a toy store. “Come on, it’s fun. Especially when we get to play with the newest things that Rachael cooks up. This is always after she’s discussed it at great length with Kasper and Mikhail, but eventually we get to check out whatever she’s come up with. The woman is a genius with weaponry.” Standing, he pulled her up from her seat. “Do we want popcorn?”

  “No, no popcorn.” She gave him a hug and looked up at him. “She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?” Pepper didn’t have any cool skills like that. She was useless to them if there was a fight and knew it. “Does her ancestor come and help her to hone her skills?” She was curious if any of the women interacted with their ancestor, same with the men. “Do you ever talk to yours?”

  “Ares is always here anyway, but yeah, he talks to her now and again about her latest projects. That’s her ancestor if you were wondering,” he said with a grin. “I get to see more of Dionysus now that Brooklyn’s in-house. I’m still working on how I feel about being related to him. We’ll call it a work in progress that is improving.”

  She laughed. “Why because he can start a party as well as you can? Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone able to sweet-talk people like you can. I like it, though, in case you were wondering.” She was off her chair now and walking to the media room with him. “I don’t know if I want to meet my grandfather. It would only give Hera even more reason to want me dead if he saw me that is.” The woman was more jealous than anything she had ever seen before. It was appalling the way that the woman reacted with her husband, although Zeus deserved a lot of what he got because he was an ass and a whoremonger. He was an asshat, and she sure as hell didn’t have any plans on meeting a man who would leave a pregnant woman high and dry, not to mention letting her get abused in her childhood.

  “Don’t know what to tell you there, darling. While it would be interesting to meet the big guy up close and personal, I also like my parts exactly where they are. I’m not sure how he’d feel about all this, and you being a part of it.” Thomas chose one of the big armchairs to sit in, and when she settled into his lap, he handed her the remote for all the electronics in the room from the TV to the drapery.

  She was snuggled up close to Thomas and relaxed in his arms. Choosing a movie, she put the remote on the table behind her and put her hand on his chest. “I don’t want to ask Ares about Zeus. I don’t want him to try to guilt him into coming to Earth to at least meet me. I know how strange that is, but there it is. I don’t want to be anyone’s obligation.”

  He gave her a squeeze. “You are not an obligation for any of us, I hope you know that. You are bloody special to us all, more me and Lincoln on that one, for the record. As to guilting Zeus into doing anything he doesn’t want to do, I don’t think it’s possible. If it were, Hera would have managed it millennia ago, and we all know how well her guilt trips have worked out.”

  “This is true.” She pulled back and looked at Thomas.

  Lowering his head, Thomas gave her a slow, gentle kiss. “Watch your movie.”

  She lost herself in the film, and the gentle massage that Thomas was giving her put her even more at ease. She soon was closing her eyes and drifting.

  Chapter Ten

  She had been thinking about it for some time, more than the days that she was willing to admit to, but since she had first met Lincoln and Thomas originally. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, but she was. Suddenly she was exceptionally nervous to discuss with the men she loved something that was bothering her, a lot.

  She was pacing in their bedroom, and when her men came into the room she looked up at them and smiled. “Hey. I need to talk to you both.” Being knocked up right now just wasn’t on the menu. When both men sat down on the bed she looked at them. Both wore matching expressions of worry, but she wouldn’t allow it to sway her. She needed them to understand. She needed them to accept that this was her body, and it was her right to choose to go on an IUD if that was her decision, and it damn well was. She was taking control of her life, and they were just going to have to live with it. She was done being everyone’s puppet, doing for others and playing their games. She was making her own rules now.

  “I want to go into town to see a gynecologist. I want to start on an IUD or possibly even an under the skin implant for birth control as soon as possible.”

  “No,” Lincoln said and crossed his massive arms over his chest. God, if the man didn’t look so good she would have slapped him for telling her no, but he did look good.

  “Uhm, yes,” she replied instead. “It’s my body, Linc, and I’m going to do this with or without your consent. I will simply ask Kas or one of the other men to take me. I’m not a child and haven’t been one for a very long time. I’m tired of having a barrier between us when we make love, and I’m far too young to get pregnant so the only solution is to get put on birth control.”

  “I don’t like it.” Thomas put his hand on Lincoln’s arm and shook his head. “I don’t like the fact that you want to go into a room without us in there with you. I don’t like the fact that you want to go into an uncontrolled environment, but I can respect your needs.”

  Lincoln grunted in anger and shook his head. She could tell that he didn’t want to say anything, as otherwise it would piss her off. “Set it up and tell us when. You don’t go without us.” Lincoln finally told her.

  “Good. I have an appointment today at 2 PM at Dr. Dickerson’s in town. That gives us exactly three hours to get there.” Rip the Band-Aid right off. She felt that was the best strategy with these men. “They already have all of my medical files. I’ve already faxed them my patient intake paperwork and insurance paperwork, so now I just have to show up,” she stated proudly.

  “And you are just now telling us this?” The anger was all but rolling off of Lincoln. Pepper could feel that from him, but she didn’t back away from him.

  “Yes, I’m just now telling you because I knew that if I tried to tell you any earlier than now you would have said or done something to try to stop me,” she told him simply.

  “She’s right,” Thomas, ever the peacekeeper, said and leaned back on the bed to eye her up. “Besides, just think about it, Linc, you will be able to be inside of her ass, spanking her for doing this without our permission.”

  Oh, hell, she loved the way that sounded. She really loved the thought of being able to have both men inside of her, nice and naked, with Lincoln spanking her because she had broken a rule that they had in place for her safety.

  “Okay, no more talking about this. How about we leave now or else I’m not going to be able to leave without jumping the two of you and she specifically sai
d that we shouldn’t have sex before my appointment.”

  “So at least we know that it’s a woman,” Thomas said with a grin.

  “Of course, I might have made the appointment without your approval, but I’m not stupid enough to go to a man. The two of you are the only men who will ever see me naked, no one else. I love you guys. I might drive you crazy, but I really do love you.”

  All she got from Lincoln was a grunt, but she saw the small smile on his face that showed he was pleased with her thinking of their thoughts and desires, too.

  It didn’t matter. She was getting her way, and that was what counted.

  As a trio, they got started toward the city, and at her insistence once again they took Thomas’s convertible. She couldn’t be happier than she was in that moment. She had her head back, a laugh coming from her lips from a joke that Thomas told from the back seat when the world went to hell in a handbasket.

  “Thomas. Bogies coming in fast from our six,” Lincoln said as he suddenly went tense, Pepper noticed.

  She didn’t like this. This was her fault that someone was hunting them.

  “You sure they are bogies and not just on our same road?” Thomas asked even as he pulled a weapon from his duffle bag that he had brought along.

  “They been about a mile or more back since we pulled out of the Farm,” Lincoln said simply. “I would have said something sooner, but they turned off twenty minutes ago, when I slowed down, so I figured that they were just cruising along the same stretch of road we were, until they popped out just a moment ago, and are closing in on us.”

  “Shit, good point.”

  Pepper watched both of her men get weapons ready and cowered into the corner of the backseat where she had been with Thomas. He buckled her into the seat and gave her a kiss. That was the last thing that was real before she heard the tires blow out and the car make a wide spin. She gripped the sides of the car to keep herself from sliding, even with the seatbelt, and was shocked that Thomas and Lincoln didn’t move at all.

  When the car stopped both men told her, “Stay here, stay down.” And Thomas gave her a gun. “Use it if anyone other than us comes near you, baby,” he said, and before she knew it they were gone.

  She heard the men fighting, and finally she took a moment and looked over the backseat. She saw Lincoln and Thomas in hand to hand combat with two men that looked to be as close to their size as the other men were. It was crazy just how close in build and fighting styles these men were.

  She heard Thomas calling one of the men by name, heard Lincoln doing the same. How weird? They fought alike, and they all battled as if they had been trained by the same men. Pepper was so caught in the fight that she didn’t even notice the man behind her until his shadow fell over her. She turned just in time to feel the blunt force of a fist against the side of her head and everything then went black.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I think she’s coming around, boss.”

  “About fucking time. Yeah, it looks like she might be finally.” Hot, rancid breath wafted over her face. Then she was slapped on a cheek, hard. “Come on, girlie, wakey wakey. We have some talking to do before we hand you over.” She got slapped hard on the opposite side of her face.

  “He ain’t going to like it if you bruise her up,” a woman said in what could only be described as a snotty tone. “He wants her all pretty for when he takes her as his bride.”

  “She’ll be okay by the time the big bad gets her. We have three days to play with her before we can get her shoved through the portal. More than enough time for all of us to have some fun with her, and for her to heal from a couple little slaps.” That was the guy with the rancid breath talking again, Pepper realized.

  Pepper opened her eyes and frowned. She looked around and only saw darkness. What the hell was going on? “What?” She had to fight the desire to puke because of the guy's breath on her face. “Who are you? What? Why did you take me?”

  Well duh, that was a stupid question she realized. Then the fear kicked up, hard. She felt it, and the lightning flashed outside of wherever they were because of it.

  “Who we are don't matter, girlie. What actually matters is that you are on your way unlocking the big bad finally. Must be nice to feel so wanted.” Rancid-breath’s words got a laugh from the rest in the room. At a guess, Pepper figured there were four, maybe five others. “But we get the pleasure of your presence for three whole days before we need to deliver you. Something me and the boys have been looking forward to since we first got put on your trail. Can’t wait to fuck that tight little cunt of yours raw.”

  She shook her head, lightning flashing faster and harder around them. “You are going to regret this. You are going to die for taking me, you know that, don’t you?” She turned her head to the side to keep from letting the man’s lips touch hers.

  It earned her a harder slap to her face, one that made her teeth ache from the force, and had her chair teetering before a hand stopped it. “We’re going to be kings ruled by one god. You think this is bad, girlie, you have no fucking idea what your life is about to become.”

  “Don’t go spoiling the surprise, boss,” the snotty female said with a laugh. “She looks like a girl who loves to be surprised.”

  “That right, girlie? Do you like to be surprised?” Rancid-breath asked her while grabbing her breast to give it a painful squeeze.

  “Get your fucking hand off of me!” she demanded, cursing even though she hated it. “They will rip that hand off of you, you understand that?” She felt even more pain from the hand on her shoulder as his nails dug into her skin. The lightning and thunder were raging across the skies. Rain pelted the area heavily as the storm of her fear brewed fast and hard.

  Someone tore her shirt open, and Rancid-breath’s hands were on her bare flesh. “Look at these berries,” he said, pinching her nipples hard enough she saw stars behind her eyelids. “I’m going to enjoy biting these until they are really red, and then fucking these pretty tits.”

  “Fuck you.” She was trembling now. God, why hadn’t she bonded with her men? All because she didn’t want to have kids right away. So what if she’d wanted more time for just them? It seemed so stupid and immature right now. Gods, she’d really screwed up. This would be a non-issue if she had bonded with them. Tears prickled behind her eyelids, and she felt the horror of her situation hitting her hard in the center of her chest. They had warned her, yet she didn’t listen. “They will come for me.” She had to hold onto that hope. She had to hold onto the knowledge that Lincoln and Thomas would come for her.

  “They’re never going to find you,” Rancid-breath told her. She felt his hand on her leg, and his fingers worming their way under her shorts. “No one has any idea where we are, and by the time they do track you down, you’ll already be married to the big bad. Should be one hell of a wedding night.”

  The others in the room burst out laughing at that. “Good one, boss,” a new voice said.

  Then Rancid-breath’s hands were gone while the sound of shattering glass filled the air and something wet sprayed all over her bare skin.

  “Shit! Boss, holy fuck, boss, are you okay?”

  “You idiot,” the snotty female said before the sound of flesh being smacked reached Pepper. “They damn well found us. I told him we needed to keep moving. Cut her loose. We have to get out of here. And stay low, or you’ll lose your head to that fucking sniper like Harvey did.”

  Furniture was shoved around, scraping and scuffing on the floor. Scared voices surrounded her, and a pair of hands were working on the bindings at her wrist. A puff of air passed her ear that set off another round of curses when something heavy fell to the floor behind her chair.

  “Fuck this, I’m not dying here for that bitch. If he wants her, he can damn well get her himself. I didn’t sign up to be taken out by a fucking sniper!”

  “You assholes, get back here,” screamed the woman. “Fucking cowards.”

  “Told you that they would come for me
. You pissed off the wrong bunch of people.” Thank God for Mikhail. At least she thought it was Mikhail who was behind the sniper rifle. She started to tug at her bindings trying to get free, but it wasn’t going as fast as she wanted. Man, she wanted nothing more than to remove the blindfold that was blocking her view of everything.

  She knew that they would come for her, and the storm that was raging outside calmed with the knowledge that she was safe. At least she would be safe, very soon.

  “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Snotty female asked before a hand with some serious claws took hold of Pepper’s arm. “You think you’re going to get out of here alive? Not happening, bitch. You’re my ticket out. On your feet, and move when and where I tell you, or I’ll stab you. Got me?” Something sharp pricked Pepper’s neck to punctuate the question.

  “Got it,” she said and moved as the woman told her to move. She just needed to move her head enough for Mik to get a shot. She trusted the man. He wouldn’t hit her, but he would hit this woman who was determined to get her out of there. The woman inched them away from the windows, and she cursed silently. Damn, they needed to be near the window!

  Outside it sounded like a scuffle was happening. “Shit,” the woman bit out. “Fucking men are morons. Why the hell Hera stuck me with this band of nimrods I’ll never know. We’re sticking close to the wall, and then we’re going down the hatch. They won’t figure out where we went until we are long gone. I may not be able to shove you through for three days, but I can damn well make sure your friends don’t find us again. Move, bitch.”

  Pepper moved because the woman was forcing her to move, but she tried to stop as many times as possible. She needed to give her men time to get her. They would, she didn’t doubt that for a moment. She knew that they would come and get her.