Virile (13 page)

“Then make those boys step up,” she answered with a touch of her old asperity. “If they agree with your approach—and they must do so or she wouldn’t be naked in front of me—then have them overtly support you and not cast you in the role of bad guy.”

“I’m the eldest,” he began.

“Nonsense. They are grown men, decades old, and you’ve shouldered enough of the burden.”

Thorn sighed. It felt amazingly comforting to hear Cenna’s advice. He’d wondered if she was angry with him for insisting on Adara’s state of undress.

“You need to let them share the burden, Thorn,” she continued more gently. “That girl isn’t going to go quietly. You need her to come to accept your rules even if she struggles with the reasoning behind them.”

“That’s just the point, Cenna.” He jumped up to pace the room and bleed off his agitation. “She’d probably understand the reasoning—I think she does understand when she’s not falling back into what I clearly misunderstood about her upbringing on her world. I thought she’d be meek, seeing as her brother had leave to gamble her very being! But I can’t tell her about the prophecy. It’s forbidden.”

“And if she doesn’t fulfill it?”

Thorn stared at the woman who’d been in his life for as long as he could remember, an invaluable member of his household until she’d felt she needed to return to her family. She was a little more stooped, her hair now predominantly grey, but her verve for life was still evident and her intelligence shone from her eyes.

“We wanted her forever before we knew she was the One, Cenna. But you know the risk to her if she fails to fulfill the prophecy.”

“You’ve already started her on the nectar?”

Feeling uneasy, Thorn nodded. “She is ours. And as such we want her to live as long as we do.”

Cenna stood and began to gather up the dishes. He knew she was astonished at his temerity, but then she appeared to accept it. “You’ve made your decision, Thorn. If she fails to surrender before your contract expires, then you’ll have to live with the consequences.”

“We don’t care about the increased fortune.”

A plate clattered and Cenna stared. Her eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline before she unpursed her lips. “Then you’re all committed and it will work out.”

It has to.
His unspoken thought hovered between them. Losing their foretold fortuitous future was nothing compared to losing Adara. Literally. The nectar overcame death on Virile, or at least postponed one from natural causes for a very long time indeed, and was a closely guarded secret from otherworlders. If Adara left them to return to her home she would die within months because her system was slowly becoming attuned to Virile through the powerful potion. Her own planet would reject her, much like the body rejects transplanted flesh—it was why he and his brothers didn’t travel off world for any length of time. No Virile native could. But if she didn’t partake of the nectar she wouldn’t last here either. So she couldn’t leave—and if she learned what they withheld from her before she surrendered…Thorn wouldn’t allow himself to think about that.

Trust was the foundation for any relationship, especially a D/s relationship, but the prophecy tested even that to ensure Adara’s suitability. So he had to assume full responsibility for his arrogant assumption she would commit to them—he hadn’t given her the nectar to imprison her here. Had he?

“We have to work tomorrow, Cenna, but one of us will be with Adara at all times until she is comfortable around you. I had allowed a few days to connect with her but hadn’t bargained on who she turned out to be.”

“And you always hated to make your plans and have them thwarted, Thorn. Your second father was like that too. Taurus—such a name for a soft heart—must have fathered the twins. I still wonder who fathered you. Go. You’d better do whatever you planned with Adara when you sent her to that room. She’ll be anxious.

“And Thorn? Remember how well loved and served your mother was by your fathers. And how she reciprocated. Adara will come to understand.”

He hoped so. Nodding to Cenna he strode to the playroom, thinking about the men who sired him and his brothers. Taurus no doubt was the father of his brothers, although the man treated all of them the same. Alexander and Joss both had qualities he shared—their delicate mother somehow coped with all three of her husbands, her quiet strength completing them. Gods he missed them, just as Adara must miss her own parents. In time he would share his memories with her and hope she would reciprocate.

****

Kellis wiped her face and made her blow her nose. She’d been able to stop crying once away from the kitchen—that nice old woman hadn’t even appeared to look at her nakedness, staring her straight in the face and clasping Adara’s forearm with a surprisingly strong grip before welcoming her to Virile. Adara supposed Cenna had lots of practice with naked women in this house, although probably none as
well endowed.
But while she appreciated the other woman’s sensitivity, she still couldn’t believe Thorn would have punished her for covering herself in Cenna’s presence, and she couldn’t quit the infernal weeping.

Knowing that a spanking awaited her if she had donned that dress, the only article of clothing apparently available to her, wasn’t the only reason she’d given in to his so-called choice. It was the realization he’d continue to make her choose, each and every time she had to see Cenna, so she figured to get it over with. The twins had shielded her modesty to some extent, and the housekeeper was very respectful. Thorn feeding her had nearly made her choke though—treating her with such care, rewarding her for good behavior, similar to a favorite pet. Like she’d pleased him again.

What was with her that pleasing him was beginning to insinuate itself into her psyche? Was the Stockholm Syndrome deal already in place? Adara let Kellis finish mopping her up as she wrestled with her thoughts. She considered that if she went along to get along by subjugating her willfulness, at least it would be her choice and not Thorn’s. She didn’t want him to dictate to her yet he held all the cards. No matter that the twins didn’t dominate in the same manner—they deferred to Thorn. It was making her nuts.

“Heavy thoughts, my love? You need to share with us, communicate.” Kellis took her face between his hands and kissed her nose. If she’d thought about it she could have lifted her face and his mouth would have touched hers and all that business about earning their kiss would be dealt with. But now she wasn’t so sure that’s what she wanted. Kissing was too intimate. She liked the sex and the kink for the most part—at least so far.

“No. I’m just recovering from the humiliation of having yet another woman see my considerable self.” They wanted honesty? Well, nothing like telling her captors about a major insecurity and giving them another weapon to wield against her. It would serve to keep a wall around her heart because she wasn’t going to feel anything more than like for these cuties. Besides, she hated Thorn and that in itself took considerable emotional energy.

Brow furrowing, Kellis squinted into her face. “Considerable self? What does that mean, Adara?”

Orion left whatever he was doing by the chair of her erotic torture and came to stand with his twin. “Are you suggesting there is something wrong with your form, Adara?”

He sounded incredulous and a lot like his elder brother when she pissed him off. Shrugging, noting how both pairs of blue eyes shifted to track the movement of her breasts, Adara replied, with full snark to hide her discomfort. “Nothing vigorous exercise and a strict diet wouldn’t address.”

In truth, nothing any of these men had said or done gave her any reason to believe they didn’t fully appreciate her curves and heft. But those old insecurities poked hard and she again reminded herself she was free lunch and available for the next twenty-five days or so, but who was counting?

A loud, hard slap on her left buttock snapped her to attention. Orion cracked her another one, the sound filling the room, and it really hurt.

“Owww!” She tried to swivel away, the plug making its presence known as it shifted in her ass. “What are you doing?”

Kellis fisted his hand in her hair, effectively holding her in place. “He’s paddling your delectable bottom, Adara! Something you seem to respond to far better than kindness.”

Two harder smacks, delivered to her other buttock, drew her up on her toes.

“Please stop, Orion,” she cried out. “What did I do wrong?”

Getting right in her face, handsome features taut with anger, Kellis replied. “You disparaged yourself, Adara. And you disparaged what belongs to us. You disrespected our opinion.”

Releasing her hair, he grasped her around the waist to yank her closer. Her head fell back with the sudden movement, and Orion spoke in her ear. “You are disobedient as well as disrespectful.”

Holy shit. She was obviously really bad at reading people. Where had that skill gone? Probably the same place as her clothes. Adara flinched inside—she’d been so good at appraising others back home. It kept people at a distance, something she preferred with the exception of Sammy and a couple of female friends. Kellis and Orion obviously had depths she had yet to explore, not that she planned to do that. Footnote—Doms were Doms the universe over, and they resorted to punishment instead of discussion.

“We need a godsdamned armless chair in here,” Kellis nearly snarled.

“Sit on the bed,” Orion suggested. “It’s high enough for the purpose.”

Nearly dragging her along with him, Kellis paced to the bed and sat on the edge, pulling her over his lap. Face obscured by the fall of her hair, Adara tried to push it aside as he trapped her flailing legs between his own. There was no warning, no explanation—she supposed she’d already heard it—when his hand came down hard on her raised buttocks.

The spanking was as hard as the ones Thorn administered and no amount of protests, screams and finally sobs on her part made him relent. Orion knelt to lift her head, sifting his fingers through her hair, much as he had done on the craft after the outlaw debacle. This time there was nothing to see on his handsome face except for stern determination.

“Do you understand, Adara?”
 
No more
my sweet
. No more
my love
. Just plain old Adara.

She blinked away her tears and managed an affirmative. His features softened a trifle, and he leaned to kiss her forehead. She shut her eyes against him, and he immediately pulled away.

“Thorn was right, brother,” Kellis announced above her, his big hand now smoothing over her heated skin. “She will gainsay us at every turn. She’s been attempting to manipulate us from the beginning as we tried to give her the opportunity to learn. We underestimated her intelligence. It’s time she understood her place.”

Adara felt her stomach try to expel her breakfast, and she swallowed frantically against the response. She felt something inside her shrivel up and die, right alongside her nausea. Her place. A pet. A possession. Okay then. There would be far worse than spankings if she didn’t submit, and Kellis and Orion’s censure fucking well hurt more. So be it.

“Give her to me.” Thorn’s deep voice sounded from a few feet away. Kellis relinquished his hold on her, and Thorn pulled her up into his arms.

“She disparaged—”

“I heard, Orion. We needn’t say anymore. We’ve all misjudged the situation once we learned who she really—” Thorn took a deep breath and didn’t continue. Adara hung on to her determination to submit. She’d just accept whatever they had planned for her next and maybe it would save her sore ass from more attention and shield her heart.

Cautiously opening her eyes, she observed Kellis and Orion removing the red fabric from the bulky object she’d noted the first time in the playroom. A cage was revealed—similar to the one Sammy had in his bedroom where he kept his current submissive. Adara thought it barbaric, not interested in her friend’s explanation that it wasn’t punishment to his subs. He’d said something about comfort, but she disregarded his words as self-serving. And now she was going to be put in her place in a cage as a possession, a pet. No matter. She wasn’t thinking anymore.

Thorn carried her to the thing, the bars fashioned with elaborate twists and stylized inserts. It looked tall enough to kneel upright and long enough to stretch out in. The bottom boasted a mattress and blankets as well as a small pillow.

“We are going to work, agapi mou.” Oh, too late Thorn. Too late for the endearments. “You will be safe and secure here while you think on things, reflect on your life in general. You won’t require one of us.” So they were denying her contact too
.

He lowered her inside, and she curled up listlessly, not bothering to draw a blanket over her. What was her nakedness after all, other than something that belonged to them?