Chapter Seventeen #3
“I’m sorry?”
Thorin smiles sharply. “Even if you meant it, it wouldn’t be good enough, songbird.”
“I’m really sorry?”
Even though I can feel his exasperation, the look Thorin gives her is utterly devoid of emotion. It does its job and makes Aurelia squirm. Her brown eyes turn pleading, but it has no effect on Thorin whose mind is already made up.
Aurelia needs to be punished.
“You will be. After a few days of not being able to sit comfortably.” Thorin produces a long and thin but sturdy enough looking branch, and Aurelia’s eyes widen as she backs away. “You’re going to be spanked, and you’re going to take your punishment like a good girl. Do you understand?”
“That depends. Do I get a turn stripping you bare and bending you over to be spanked? I know about Tyler, you pieces of shit. I know he’s alive, and you kept that from me.” Only Zeke reacts to the news, but he’s probably just wondering who the hell is Tyler.
“You also must know the reasons we didn’t tell you,” Thorin admits unfazed. “You’re ours and we don’t share, so what now? Are you breaking up with us to go back to him?”
“What?” Aurelia is visibly startled by the question. “No, of course not. What does that have to do with anything? Tyler was my bodyguard, not my boyfriend.”
“Yeah, and I’m not wild about him having anything to do with your body.
Protecting it, fucking it, touching it—it makes no difference to me.
He’s treading where he doesn’t belong. Unless Tyler being alive changes things for you, there’s absolutely zero point in knowing his fate. You’ll never see him again.”
Aurelia’s lip curls. “Yeah, you made sure of that, didn’t you?”
“Yes, and I’d do it again.”
“You’re an asshole,” she hisses at Thorin. The two of them always fight the hardest because Thorin is an asshole and Aurelia doesn’t back down.
“And you’re deflecting. I’m done talking about Tyler Westbrook. Take off your fucking panties.”
“What if I say no?”
“Unless you use your safe word, that means nothing to me, wolf.” We wait for her to use it and safe out, but she doesn’t. “Good girl. Now take off your panties.”
Aurelia looks like she wants to argue, but one look from Thorin and she thinks better of it before reaching under the T-shirt she’s wearing.
She hesitates long enough to meet each of our gazes before realizing that none of us is coming to her rescue.
Not even Zeke is as detached as he needs to be.
With no way out, Aurelia finally curls her fingers around the waistband and pushes the cheap green lace down her thighs.
The shirt falls back into place with the hem resting just past the bottom curve of her ass, so I step forward and relieve her of the shirt entirely, until she’s standing naked in the middle of the circle we make.
“Get on the table,” I whisper in her ear.
“You’re a jerk,” she whispers back, and I smile.
I go to take a seat on the sofa while Aurelia tiptoes closer to the table, closer to where Zeke is sitting. When she tries to bypass him, I lift my leg, resting my foot on the coffee table so that she can’t pass, and I smirk when Aurelia shoots me a look of betrayal.
Thorin is already blocking the other side, so Aurelia realizes with a tormented whimper that she has no choice but to stand between Zeke’s spread legs.
She doesn’t meet his gaze as she moves into position, and Zeke doesn’t move from what is inarguably the best seat in the house. Once she’s standing between the armchair and the table, Aurelia inhales another grounding breath before she slowly lowers her upper half.
Meanwhile, Zeke stops breathing at all.
Remembering what Aurelia revealed to me about her encounter with Bane a few days ago, I tear my gaze away from Aurelia to watch him carefully.
My gaze is drawn back to Aurelia once her hands are braced on the table and she stops.
I clear my throat.
Aurelia sucks her teeth and lifts the rest of her body onto the table, until she’s in position with her head down, ass up, and pussy spread for our perusal. I reach out and arrange her hair to fall over her shoulder so that it’s not in the way.
Zeke takes his time admiring her body. His gaze is fixed on the roundness of her ass and the dimpled imperfections on the back of her thighs that make her all the more perfect.
Finally, his gaze drops to the puffy pink lips peeking out from between her thick thighs.
His green eyes burn brighter as he traces the soft petals that are no doubt glistening with Aurelia’s dew.
“Zeke,” Thorin says while holding out the switch without looking away from Aurelia. “You’re up.”
Both Zeke and Aurelia stiffen, but neither of them move or say a word in refusal. Aurelia exhales a harsh breath like she’s shedding the need to run while Zeke curls his fingers into the arm as if he needs to anchor himself to it.
None of us move or speak as we wait for Zeke to decide if he wants to be a part of this or not. And not just the spanking but everything that it will entail.
Slowly, Zeke reaches out and accepts the branch from Thorin.
Even slower still, he runs his fingers over the length, checking for anything that might damage her permanently. No doubt Thorin would have already ensured he found the smoothest branch for this task, but neither of us blame Zeke for double-checking.
Aurelia is precious to us all.
Satisfied with Thorin’s choice, Zeke rises from his seat. Either hearing him or feeling Zeke closing in, Aurelia mutters something unintelligible.
Thorin steps forward and whispers something in his ear that I can’t hear, but whatever he says helps to chase away the doubt and uncertainty plaguing Zeke’s expression.
“Aurelia?” Thorin calls out.
“Yes?”
“This is going to sting,” he warns her. “Under no circumstance will you reach back to try to grab the branch. You’ll only hurt yourself further, and that will hurt us.
” Nod if you understand. Aurelia’s lips part to speak, so he quickly adds, “Oh, and you will not make a sound unless it’s your safe words leaving those pretty lips. ”
Aurelia mutters a curse, nods, and then falls silent.
Zeke doesn’t deliver the first strike immediately, choosing instead to run the branch over her back, down her spine, and across her ass until he reaches her thighs.
The stretch of skin where her ass and thighs meet is where he decides to strike first.
Aurelia, forgetting Thorin’s rule, yelps in surprise.
The second strike comes faster than the first in retaliation, and Aurelia does a better job of smothering the sound. The three of us purr our approval. The praise causes Aurelia to unconsciously arch her back and stick out her ass even farther.
Zeke accepts the unspoken invitation. Witnessing Aurelia so eager to please unleashes a part of him that has been dormant all these years. Thin, red welts appear everywhere that Zeke strikes until Aurelia’s ass and thighs become a beautiful tapestry of pain and pleasure.
Her wet thighs do not go unnoticed by any of us.
Two strikes turn into five. Five into ten until the twentieth strike breaks Aurelia’s silence, and what a sweet, broken sound it is.
Dropping the switch as if it were on fire, Zeke’s chest heaves as he fights to catch his breath. Aurelia is dry-sobbing on the table while the three of us are rooted to our spots. We don’t trust ourselves to touch her this soon when we’re riding the edges of our control.
Zeke is the first of us to break. Cursing, he turns and runs from the cabin. Thorin chases after him. I stay with Aurelia.
Gently lifting Aurelia from the table, I carry her downstairs to my bedroom, where I lay her on her stomach before leaving and quickly returning with a glass of water, a jar of Vaseline, and a cool cloth.
I set the glass and jar on the nightstand before sitting on the edge of the bed and rolling her over carefully.
She winces when the skin of her ass touches the bed and the hand that’s been dabbing her face with the cool cloth flutters to her side.
I’m surprised to find there are actual tears, since she’s usually a master at holding them back.
No doubt another survival tactic forced on her by her uncle.
I can’t wait until the day I can carve every inch of skin from Marston George’s bones.
I drop the cloth when I realize it’s a lost cause.
No matter how many tears I wipe away, more keep coming.
The moment I give up, Aurelia angrily swipes at her cheek and then stares at her wet fingers in disbelief before her astonished and broken gaze meets mine.
“Why is it that Zeke is the only one who seems to know how to make me cry?” she whispers. “Is it a good thing or a bad thing?”
“I suppose it depends on the reason. Turn over.”
Aurelia rolls onto her stomach while I grab the jar of Vaseline. I focus on gently spreading the jelly over the red welts that crisscross her inflamed skin. “How are you feeling?”
“Like my boyfriends are psychos and I’m even crazier for loving them this much?”
I grunt and move on to the welts on her thighs. When I’m done, I set the jar aside and move to sit against the headboard. Aurelia practically crawls into my lap, and I’m quick to arrange her so that she’s not hurting herself any more than we already have.
I hold Aurelia until she falls asleep and then I lay her back on my bed, carefully arranging her so that she doesn’t feel the sting on her ass before I climb from the bed and leave the room.
When I step outside of the cabin, Thorin is walking back into the clearing alone.
“He okay?” I ask once he’s within earshot.
“Sporting a giant boner that he didn’t want Aurelia to see, but otherwise fine,” Thorin answers tightly. His jaw is twitching, which means he knows something I don’t.
“All right. So where is he?”
Thorin shrugs and steps onto the porch. “Said he’s going to walk it off.”
I nod and take a seat on the steps. As soon as I do, I’m reminded of the promise I made Seth that I would protect Aurelia at all costs, even if it means choosing her first. Feeling myself torn in two directions, with one slightly more persistent than the other, I hadn’t really understood the gravity of what I was promising until now.
“I don’t remember him being this stubborn,” I blurt. “Do you?”
Thorin blows out a breath and shakes his head. “Not really. No.”
“Do you think we were wrong?”
“Well, he’s handling her being here a lot better than we thought, so it’s possible, but my gut tells me no. We just need to let him do this his way. In his own time.”
“That might be easier said than done.”
Thorin turns to face me at the gravity in my tone. “What did you learn?”
“Bane. He showed himself to Aurelia again. During her run with Zeke.”
Thorin is already shaking his head. “Not possible. She wouldn’t be alive.”
“And yet she came back without a scratch on her, which means we’re either dealing with a new alter altogether or Bane is evolving.”
“How?” Thorin barks. “There’s no stimuli for that.”
“Isn’t there?”
The color leaks from Thorin’s skin. “Aurelia.” We’re both quiet for a while before he speaks again. “But why? You think he—”
“Wants her? Maybe.” Thorin swears. “There’s something else,” he adds, and the look in his eyes makes my heart drop like an anvil into my stomach.
“Zeke told me there was a gap in his memory during their run. He said it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but all he remembers is that Aurelia was fine one moment and then it felt like she was terrified of him the next. ”
“Definitely Bane.”
“The bright side, if you’re looking for it, is that if our theory tracks, we may not have to worry about him hurting her, but I’m not willing to take that risk.”
“And if Bane is evolving, it doesn’t mean we’re safe. Somehow, I doubt that an alter who’s already tried to kill us multiple times will be down for sharing a girlfriend.”
“No.”
“So we monitor Zeke even closer than we are and don’t let them be alone together.”
“Agreed.”
“There’s only one problem,” I say with a wince. “After what happened tonight, it’s only a matter of time before one of them breaks. I’m not so sure we’ll be able to pry them apart after that.”
“So what are you suggesting we do? Cockblock after we just spent weeks pushing them to fuck?”
“You got a better idea?”
Thorin swears again.