Virile (10 page)

Kellis rose and approached the fireplace, and she soon scented the smell of an actual fire. It couldn’t be wood that was burning. There were no actual trees to cut down and burn here, but something blazed merrily behind the hearth. The faintly grassy fragrance made her think it was yet another use for their crop, the vamvaki. The room almost immediately lost the chill that had crept in as the suns set and the room darkened. Thorn felt hot against her skin—he had to be overly warm with the fire now burning merrily—and Kellis stripped off his shirt as he made his way back to his seat.

Once again they put her comfort above their own—her physical comfort in any event. Her pride was stung and her feelings hurt. They conversed above her for a considerable amount of time. There was probably another form of entertainment, maybe they watched video flicks, maybe they read, but tonight they just talked about the farm and their roles and she suspected that was for her benefit too. She was becoming more and more familiar with them.

Unless they had spent their evenings fucking Ronnie—the thought slashed into her frontal lobe with the decisive slice of a scalpel and once again that inexplicable profound sadness overcame her. Of course they had—she was their submissive and at their beck and call, whenever and however. Here Adara was being treated like a child, seen but not heard, and it made her miserable. She’d been a pouty brat, but all of this was so freaking new to her!
And you had your mind made up not to go along from the beginning—you brought this on yourself.
Her nose drew up and tears pricked yet again, this time escaping to track down her cheeks. She didn’t make a sound, but Thorn plucked her from her crouch and gathered her into his arms, rising with her in one smooth move, Kellis and Orion also on their feet.She snuggled into his hold, seeking comfort, and he didn’t withhold it from her, dropping a kiss on the top of her head and cuddling her closer. He murmured to her in an unfamiliar tongue, although she recognized his usual address—agapi mou. Carrying her into the bath area he lowered her to the commode, giving her his back. The little courtesy made her cry harder, and she bit her lip against the building sobs.

When she approached the sink he had already run a basin full of warm water and efficiently washed her face and hands, carefully blotting her tears, before tossing the cloth into the sink.

“Let me deal with the plug, little one.”

Knowing the drill she faced the sink and lost the full feeling as he tugged the object free, the strangely bereft sensation nearly making her cry again. She avoided his eyes in the mirror, expecting to see smug satisfaction, knowing that would gut her.

“Adara.” It wasn’t his Dom voice, but she had to obey anyhow and forced her gaze to his. The tender, accepting face she saw, all dark dominance erased, was worse in the end. She burst into tears again, feeling grossly misunderstood and outplayed. Self-pity was never a favorite feeling of hers, and it sucked.

“Little one, I’ll put you to bed.”

Not take her to bed, not fuck her—
put
her to bed
. She wasn’t a godsdamned child.
Then quit acting like one.
Pouting, hiding between impotent anger and buckets of tears weren’t going to make the time here pass by faster, and she tried to listen to that scolding inner voice. She made to trudge past him, but he scooped her up—his strength not fazed by her considerable self—and strode to the bed where he set her down.

“I can’t go to bed.” She said it quietly but with determination.

“You can. It’s been an overwhelming day.”

“My feet are dirty.”

If she didn’t think it would turn to tears she would have laughed at the stunned look on his face. “You and your brothers don’t take your boots off, and the place is covered in fine sand. My feet feel gritty, and I don’t want to track it into bed.” Her knees were gritty too, not like her feet, but still imprinted with fine sand.

Thorn stared at her and shook his head, a half turn left, then right. She was in his arms in the next heartbeat, and he took her back to the bath. The counter was cool beneath her buttocks as he settled her there.

“Why isn’t Adara—” Kellis halted his entrance and blinked.

“Her feet are dirty because we don’t take off our boots,” Thorn explained, as he rose from his crouch by the cupboard under the sink. He had a shallow pan in his hand and set it in the sink to run water into it, tossing in a little bar of soap.

Kellis opened his mouth then shut it, staring down at his footwear. He crossed to grab a towel as Thorn knelt, lifting the pan so she could swirl her feet through it. Orion took it all in from the archway, and Adara watched as he visibly suppressed a smile.

“Her knees too, Thorn,” he commented, and his brother grunted.

“Here.” Orion hustled to grab a cloth, dipping it into the soapy water and mopping at her knees.

Kellis wrapped her feet up as Thorn withdrew the pan to dump it down the sink, and Adara closed her eyes against the need to shriek with laughter. She doubted they had ever washed a woman’s feet in this manner before, or her knees—and it took all three of them to get it right. Her eyes opened wide. Surely she wasn’t so high maintenance that it took three—her musing was cut short when Thorn lifted her yet again. Nah.

“Bed.” He carried her back and nearly dropped her down onto the mattress before turning on his heel to head back once again to the bath. The tension in his body rolled off him in waves.

As she scrambled into the middle, trying to get under the sheet before the twins could further ogle her ass, she heard boots hit the floor, followed by a rustle of fabric. Orion fitted himself against her back, and Kellis knelt to kiss her forehead.

“Sleep well, my love. I will see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Kellis.” Again, she knew she spoke quietly, but the look of approval in his eyes warmed her, despite their earlier spat. Maybe he was still her ally—he just wouldn’t take her side when she was in the wrong but would still have her back. She could hope.

“You have been able to tell the difference between us from the beginning,” Orion took her attention away from watching Kellis’s nice buns pass out of the room.

“True,” she agreed. “It—it seems obvious to me.”

Feeling her brow furrow as it did when she really concentrated, she tilted her head too and stared at him. “I wonder why that is? You’re exactly the same to look at, although you’re a bit taller. But you’re different, despite being twins, and I feel it. Weird, seeing as we just met.”

A strange, slightly panicked look crossed his face. “It’s probably being dropped into a strange environment. It makes you pay attention.”

“Uh huh. I guess.” She wasn’t certain that was it. “Except it’s more familiar than that. Sometimes it’s like I met you before, a long time ago.”

The sound of the shower stopped, and they both looked in that direction. She tore her eyes away, determined to continue the discussion with Orion, reminding herself she really didn’t care for Thorn’s attitude.

“All of this is confusing,” she confided. “I’ve been here two days and already can tell the difference between identical twins I’ve never met before, right? I’m not usually that observant.”

“You need to rest, little one.” Thorn was once again stripped down to dark shorts, water droplets evident on his broad shoulders and glinting in his hair as he passed a towel over the thick mass. He glared at Orion who gave her a wry smile.

“Thorn took care of himself in the shower, Adara. It made him even more aware of what he is missing.”

Okay, they were distracting her, but from what remained a mystery. She went with it. “Missing?”

“We haven’t had your lush body yet, my sweet,” Orion explained as Thorn flung the towel in the general direction of the bath, now glowering with intent at his brother. Adara’s thoughts went sideways—all the drama had temporarily focused her thoughts away from her purpose here. She decided to ignore him and forced a yawn.

Thorn moved to shut off the lights and close the bedroom door. “Be silent and let Adara rest, Orion.”

She could vaguely see his big body in the dim glow cast by the embers in the fireplace. Someone had built a fire to take the chill from the room, probably Orion, as he’d been the last into the bathing room. Thorn’s silhouette cut her line of sight to the fireplace as he advanced on the bed, big, broad shoulders narrowing into slim hips. He climbed in to press close to her front, Orion spooning against her back.

There was no reference to her earlier petulance, allowing the lesson learned to settle into her head rather than give her reason to raise her defenses through yet another angry response, and she relaxed her muscles one by one until she felt herself drift. Emotionally drained once again, she didn’t think or review her day as was her wont, merely let sleep claim her.

    
****

“Are you trying to raise her interest? Elicit suspicions?” Thorn asked his brother conversationally, aware their woman had dropped into oblivion. He stroked her hair gently, not wanting her to pick up on the tension and awaken.

“No,” defended Orion. “I want her to consider how comfortable she is becoming, however, in such a short time. She has turned to both Kellis and me, seeking information, wanting to converse and learn.”

“And do you think such an intelligent woman won’t begin to wonder why she can immediately tell the two of you apart when our own parents struggled to do so? As do I on occasion? When she has known you but two days?” Thorn struggled to modulate his tone as Adara stirred restlessly in his arms. His cock, pressed as it was against her mound, her sweet heat enveloping it, swelled to huge proportions again, negating the taming in the shower. And damn Orion for using that example to distract her.

Not that Thorn would hide his desire and need for Adara. Never that. But it seemed somewhat disrespectful that his cock would respond to her as he washed her little feet with their painted toes after the significant progress she’d made. He hadn’t forced her to kneel at his feet. They hadn’t ignored her during their discourse—had she contributed they would have included her—but she’d used the time to listen and accept her position in their ménage.Adara was a woman, not an adolescent, moody and difficult. They would tolerate her feistiness, encourage her spirit, but never tolerate pouting and sulking. Better she fought with them, if in a respectful manner. And she’d thought on it and hadn’t liked what she discovered about herself, he was sure. He felt there was also something else at work, something he would address in the next short while, because her tears weren’t just that of regret for unacceptable behavior. She was also saddened. Such sadness seemed extreme, but he was still learning her. Perhaps it was homesickness, and that they couldn’t help her with—her home was with them. But if not longing for her planet, then she required their emotional input. They needed to determine what that might be.

Orion, a little defensive, his emotions reflected in his voice, said, “She’s ours, meant for us. I want to tell her.”

“That’s not how it works, brother.” Thorn would rather tell her too—be up front, but Adara needed to commit, to surrender without knowing what that would mean in the end. Surrender her heart purely without the influence of knowing the prophecy.

“I know. But she’ll feel betrayed.”

No doubt. Thorn tried to paint a more positive picture. “Or her intelligence will prevail over a knee jerk emotional reaction.”

“We love her, Kellis and I. And not just because of the prophecy.” Orion sounded pissed.

“I believe you, Orion. I see it.”

“Don’t you love her?”

“It’s too soon to be talking about love,” he prevaricated. “I want her and definitely need her. She’s ordained to complete us.”

“You think we’re influenced by the prophecy.”

No, not that. Because I love her too, and not because of her red hair. I fell as you did when we laid eyes on her image, and Adara has done nothing to dissuade my feelings. But she doesn’t love us and she hates me.
Thorn knew how their woman struggled with his dominance and being pushed into obeying, and held him responsible. If she knew he loved her…well, he didn’t want to take the risk and hand over that particular loaded weapon.

“Influenced in part, Orion, and if you think about it you’d agree.”

Silence greeted his comment and although he waited for his brother to reply, Orion didn’t respond. Thorn lay awake for a long time, listening to his brother’s eventual snores and his beloved’s huffing noises. She crept closer as the fire died completely and the room cooled off. Thorn didn’t cuddle—he took care of his subs of course, but he didn’t cuddle and rarely slept with them. Four in a bed was awkward. He left the sleeping and cuddling to Orion and Kellis. But with Adara…he plastered himself against her soft body and finally slept.