She shook her head. “I-I can’t.”
“Not right now. I’ve no toys, no lube. But just a little exploration. You’ll like it.”
She whimpered as he pressed the tip of his finger in her dark hole, up to his first knuckle. He kept it there, still as he lapped at her clit, building her up, faster and faster. He didn’t want to press her any further and risk hurting her. But he would know all of her. Intimately.
“I can’t. I can’t hold back.”
“You don’t have to. Come, baby. Come.”
She thrust her hips as much as she could, pressing against him, crying out as she came. He winced at the noise but continued to lap at her. Gently, softly, bringing her down until she flopped back.
A knock at the door had him stiffening. She gasped. Her eyes moving to his, wide and panicked.
“Gigi?” a male asked through the door. “Is everything all right? I was coming up the stairs and thought I heard a noise.”
Answer him, he mouthed to her. He made short work of untying her, though. And then looked for his clothes.
It’s my brother, she mouthed back.
He nodded his head over at the door.
“I-I’m fine.”
There was a pause. She closed her eyes. Took a shuddering breath then opened them again, looking around for clothes.
“Really? You don’t sound fine. Open this door. I want to see you.”
“Coming! I just have to get dressed.” She stared at him with frantic eyes.
He got dressed. He didn’t rush or panic. That would lead to mistakes. She was panicking enough for the two of them. She managed to pull up her T-shirt, which was bunched around her stomach, and her sweatpants. She grabbed the rope and, opening her window, flung it out.
“Gigi! What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on.” She glared at him as he stood there. He smiled, strode over to her and kissed her. Hard. Hot.
Then he leaned to her ear and whispered, “I’ll be back.”
Then he climbed over the edge and climbed down the rope. He watched for a few moments from the shadows as she frantically pulled up the rope and closed the window. He knew she’d used the opportunity to get rid of him.
But not for long. She was going to be his. And his brothers’. There was no doubt.
10
Joe Bjorn paced up and down his office. Garret lay sprawled on the sofa. Sawyer was staring down at his tablet, no doubt using it to keep an eye on the security camera fed. He hadn’t been impressed when Joe summoned him into this meeting.
“Will the two of you pay attention to me,” he snapped. He felt on edge. The bear was close to the surface. It wouldn’t take much to send him over the edge.
Control. Control.
He moved behind his desk, rearranged the notebook and pens he had resting on the top, and felt himself calm down slightly.
“Sawyer, put the tablet down. We’re not about to be invaded. Garret, get your feet off the sofa.”
Sawyer grunted, setting the tablet down on his lap but not turning it off. While Garret rolled his eyes and sat up.
“What’s with the stick up your ass?” Garret asked.
He ground his teeth together. “You know what.”
Garret nodded solemnly. “You need to get laid. I’ve been telling you that for years.”
“I do not need to get laid.” He spat the words out through clenched teeth. “What I need is our mate.”
“Ah, isn’t that just what I said?” Garret looked over at their other brother in confusion.
“Joe doesn’t think his need for his mate should be sullied with his lust.”
“Sullied?” Garret raised his eyebrows. “You think lusting after your mate is wrong?”
“She’s our mate,” he said stiffly. “Not some woman you picked up at a bar.”
Garret jumped to his feet. “I fucking know that! What the hell are you accusing me of?”
Sawyer leaned back and watched them.
“You will treat her with the utmost respect.”
“Of course I will. I also intend to get in her pants every chance I get, to hear her scream and moan my name, and feel her coming around my cock. That doesn’t mean I won’t also respect the hell out of her.”
Joe could feel his anger rising. He pushed it down. Forced himself to take a step back. There was nothing to gain from arguing with Garret. His brothers were often ruled by emotion. He was not. He knew he should have gone after her himself. If he had, she would be here instead of miles away, without their protection or guidance.
And she would need plenty of both. She was young. She obviously didn’t know her own limits or make sensible decisions. He fully intended to see that she got the boundaries she needed. And within those boundaries, she would thrive.
Sending Garret and then Sawyer had been a miscalculation. They had been ruled by their need for her, instead of focussing on getting her back here. Where she belonged.
“I’m going after her.”
Sawyer frowned. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“The two of you failed to bring her back. You were too busy thinking with your dicks instead of focussing on getting her to return with you.”
“I wasn’t just thinking with my dick,” Garret replied. “She wasn’t ready to come.”
“And her brother interrupted us before I could talk to her properly,” Sawyer told him.
“But not before you tied her up and made her come.”
“Well, yeah.” Sawyer smiled, looking happy with himself. “And I intend to do that again.”
Joe didn’t agree with his brother’s needs. Or understand them. He wasn’t certain he liked the idea of him restraining their mate.
“She should be cherished. She’s our mate. Not a fuck toy.”
“Fuck toy? That’s some rough language coming from you,” Garret replied coolly.
“Just because I want to tie her up and fuck her doesn’t mean I don’t know she’s special,” Sawyer told him. “I didn’t harm her. She wanted it.”
“You’re wearing your underwear too tight, bro,” Garret told him, his tone was light, but his eyes were hard. “You need to loosen up a bit.”
“And the two of you aren’t taking this seriously enough. She’s our mate. And she isn’t here with us, where we can take care of her properly.”
And that killed him. It was eating away at him. Three nights had passed since they’d figured it out. He needed to do something.
Sawyer glared at him. “I take that very seriously. Do you think I like knowing she’s out there, in the middle of a compound surrounded by a bunch of criminals, without my protection? She’s human. Fragile. Anything could harm her. A common cold could kill her for fuck’s sake. I can’t protect her properly while she’s there. But I can keep an eye on her.”
Both Joe and Garret turned to look at him.
“What do you mean?” Joe asked.
“I planted some cameras in her room while she slept,” he said absentmindedly.
“Jesus Christ, Sawyer. Does she know?” Joe asked.
He frowned. “Of course not. I hid them. She’s our mate. We have rights.”
“We don’t have the right to invade her privacy,” Garret snapped at him.
“How would you like it if she did that to you?” Joe glared at him.
Sawyer thought about for a minute then shrugged. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
Joe just shook his head. He knew they’d never get him to see what a grave invasion that was. He would have to ensure that Gigi never found out what Sawyer had done. Or they were all toast.
“It’s for her protection,” Sawyer insisted.
“I’m surprised you didn’t put a tracker on her,” Joe said tiredly.
“I put a GPS chip on the back of that locket she wears all the time.”
“Fucked. You are so fucked,” Garret breathed.
Joe glared at him. “You’ll need to clean up your language before our mate comes to live with
us.” Although he did agree with the sentiment.
Garret rolled his eyes. “Give it up, old man. She swears more than the rest of us. Look.” Garret sat forward. “We’re all going to have to make adjustments if this is going to work, all right? Our mate isn’t a bear. She doesn’t know anything about our kind or living with us. And you’ve got to admit we’ve all got issues. So, we might have to compromise on some things.”
“Like?” Sawyer asked.
“Well, for a start, placing cameras and GPS chips on her without her permission is kind of a no-no.”
Sawyer looked undeterred by the reprimand. Garret turned to Joe. “And you need to loosen up. She’s human. This isn’t the eighteenth century. She’s going to swear. She’s going to want some freedom. She isn’t going to want to sit on a pretty chair and have us worship her while doing everything we tell her to.”
“And what adjustments will you be making?” Joe asked stiffly.
“Why, I’ll be the one trying to pull us all together,” Garret said with a grin. “Not an easy task.”
“Especially when our mate doesn’t even live with us,” he pointed out.
Garret frowned. “No. Which is why I think I should go back.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s my turn.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Sawyer asked. “What about your bear?”
“I have control over my bear.” Like he did over every aspect of his life. “And she will be returning with me.”
He was aware of his brothers sharing a look, but he would not be dissuaded. He was going to his mate. And he would not leave without her.
11
They had got to be fucking kidding her! Would they not give up? She wasn’t their mate. She wasn’t going back to their castle with them. She thought they’d have given up after her brother nearly caught Sawyer last night.
She shivered. That had been too close. Carlin had been suspicious. But she’d managed to convince him that he’d heard her stub her toe as she was making her way to the toilet and the reason she’d taken so long to answer the door was because she’d been disorientated.
At least she hoped she’d convinced him of that. She wasn’t certain he’d bought it.
And now they thought she was going to let one of them in a third time? Uh-uh, not happening. No way. She stormed her way over to the window, pulled back the curtains and flung it open.
“Piss off, asshole.” She should have shouted it. It would have had more impact. But that stupid urge to protect them welled up inside her, meaning she ruined the impact by whispering the words.
The man standing on the ground below looked up at her with a cool, calm face. Crap. Joe. She didn’t know why she hadn’t expected the third stooge. Her stomach went jittery. For some reason, she was more nervous about seeing him than the other two.
Maybe because she got the feeling that once he set his mind on a course he never deterred, never strayed, and she was very much afraid that when push came to shove, she would be helpless against him.
“Throw the rope down, Georgina,” he told her in that formal voice.
Did nothing rattle the man? It didn’t seem to worry him that he was standing out in the open, in the middle of a compound filled with men who would kill him without a qualm. But then it hadn’t bothered those two other idiots. Did none of them have any sense of self-preservation? Didn’t they understand how dangerous Carlin was?
Just as she thought it, she heard a noise. The sound of voices. Someone was coming. She stared down at Joe, terror holding her frozen.
He waved his hand at her. Then melted back, seeming to disappear into the shadows. She quickly closed her windows, but kept the curtains open, watching as two of Carlin’s enforcers walked past. They didn’t even glance in Joe’s direction. Still, it wasn’t until they were well past her room that she started to breathe easier. When she glanced down again, she groaned to see he was standing out in the open once more.
With a sigh of resignation, she got the rope. This time she was going to make it more than plain she was not interested in being their mate.
* * *
Joe looked around her bedroom with interest. Garret was right. It was bare. Utilitarian.
He wondered if this was by choice or not. When he looked at her, he saw her draped in beautiful material. Surrounded by soft things. Not in this drab room.
He would see to it. He would see to everything. She would want for nothing.
“What were you doing? You could have been caught!” She turned to him, her eyebrows drawn together in a fierce scowl.
He felt slightly amused. Was she worried about him? “They never saw me.”
“They could have! You three have got to stop coming here. If Carlin finds out he’ll kill you!”
“I am not afraid of your brother.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not. He’s only the most powerful and feared man in the city, but the three of you aren’t scared of him.”
“He is not that powerful.” He narrowed his gaze. “And no, we are not scared.”
She ran her hand over her face. “I don’t know why I feel like I have to protect you guys. It’s madness.”
“Yes, it is. It is our job to protect you.”
“No. It isn’t. Because I’m nothing to you.”
He rocked back on his heels. He knew there would be resistance. That was why he was here. To answer any concerns she might have and then take her home—where she was supposed to be.
“You are our mate.”
“Look.” It was obvious she was striving for patience. “I know you think that. Although I’m not sure why. Or what makes us ‘mates’. People have girlfriends or wives or casual fucks, not mates. The thing you guys don’t seem to be getting is that I don’t want to be anything to any of you.” She couldn’t meet his gaze as she said that.
“That’s a lie. You’ve already given yourself to my brothers.”
“I didn’t give myself to them!”
“They took from you?” He raised his eyebrows. “Without permission?” He knew that wasn’t the case. He knew his brothers almost as well as he knew himself.
“No, I don’t mean that. I just meant . . .” She let out a shaky breath. “Don’t use my words against me. We didn’t have sex.”
“It meant nothing to you?”
“No, it’s not that.” She narrowed her gaze. “I’m not playing word games with you. You obviously know what happened. That doesn’t mean it means anything. It was just some fun.”
“You feel nothing for us. Yet you seek to protect us.”
She threw her hands up into the air. “I told you, I don’t know why! It’s crazy. I should hate your guts, I shouldn’t be attar—” she cut herself off.
“Attracted to us. You’re drawn to us and you don’t know why. You seek to take care of us, don’t like the idea of us being harmed, and you think it shouldn’t be that way. Your body heats for us and grows wet in anticipation of us taking you and that baffles you.” As he spoke, he stepped closer. She backed into the wall behind her.
“Yes. No.” She ran her hands through her hair. “This is so confusing.”
“No, it’s not. It’s actually very simple. Once you know everything.”
“And I don’t know everything?”
He placed his hands on the wall behind her, trapping her between his arms. Her breathing quickened, color filling her bright face, her eyes sparkling.
Better, he thought. He hadn’t liked the gray tinge to her skin. The black marks under her eyes were obscene to him. She needed tender care and attention. And he was just the man to see to it.
He leaned in and kissed her. He had meant it to be a gentle, cajoling kiss. It soon became harder and hotter. She wrapped her hands around his neck as he lightly bit down on her lip, swept his tongue into her mouth, and played with her.
“No, you don’t.”
“Then tell me.”
“This isn’t the time or the place.” He couldn’t risk
it, not yet. He kissed along her jaw. “Once you’re safely under our care, then we’ll tell you.”
She stiffened. “I’m not going to be under your care.” Her hands moved to his chest, and he knew she planned to push him away.
“You will be,” he told her.
“Arrogant asshole.”
“I can be, yes.”
“Back off.”
“No. You want me. I can see it in your face. Your nipples are hard. I could take you.”
Anger snapped in her gaze. “Back the fuck off.”
“You are going to be ours, Georgina.”
“I’m not some fucking toy you can just pull off a shelf and program to do what you want. I have my own goddamn mind.”
“We are going to have to work on your language.”
“Work on this.” She brought her knee up. He barely managed to turn so her knee encountered his thigh instead. She ducked under his arm and moved away. “You need to go before I call for my brother.”
“I saw him leave an hour ago.”
“Then I’ll call for one of his enforcers.”
He looked around him again. “Do you like living here?”
“What?”
“It doesn’t seem much of an existence for one as vibrant and full of life for you. Living here, under your brother’s rule, with no freedom to express yourself. Tell me, Georgina, don’t you have dreams? Aspirations of your own?”
“Of course, I fucking do, why do you think I broke into your fucking castle?”
* * *
Shit.
She’d known it was the wrong thing to say as soon as it came out of her mouth. She wished the words back desperately. But that never worked, of course.
There was a scratching noise from the corner, and she glanced over as Roger looked over at her from the nest he’d built himself. She didn’t have a cage for him, Roger preferred to come and go as he pleased.
“Is that a rat?” Joe looked horrified.
“He’s a pet,” she said quickly. “He’s been with me for the past few years.”
“You have a pet rat?” His shock amused her.
Golden Binds Page 14