Chapter Nineteen
Fern
Iawake the next morning, curled against a hard, cool body. I flinch away without thinking.
It’s Theo. And thankfully, he’s still asleep.
“Hungry?” rumbles Arch.
I roll and see him snuggled up to a sleeping Ben.
I recall the gentle bath the three of them had given me last night, allowing me to ride their thighs, their hard cocks pressed against their muscular stomachs, until I finished from those ridges at their base.
I blush as I remember their praise each time I orgasmed, “getting their legs messy like a good human.”
Gods above, what the actual everloving fuck is wrong with me? I should have stabbed them in the night.
Arch tilts his head at my silent blush and slips out of bed, holding out his hand to me.
I slowly take it and let him help me stand.
He holds my elbow until he’s sure I’m steady.
He pulls on his breeches, leaving them open.
I look around, hoping for clothes, but he puts a hand on the small of my back and ushers me out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen.
“Sit,” he says, less of a command than I’ve heard from him, so I do, silently, sit on a stool at the large island in the kitchen. He digs in the fridge, his wings tucked back and tail swaying. I notice a small hologram caller on the fridge. Shit, how did I miss that?
“Bride?”
I realize he must have asked me something and I didn’t hear. “Sorry, Sir. What did you ask?”
He raises an eyebrow, “I asked if eggs and toasted bread with butter sounded good.”
“Yes, thank you,” I respond as he hands me a cup of apple juice.
He turns to the stove, flicking it on with a switch and I marvel at how he doesn’t need to haul firewood to make a fire to heat the stove as I would have had to at my home.
“How’s your bum?”
I cough on my juice.
He turns and I stare silently, face pinking.
“Now, now, no secrets here. We’ll know all the... ins and outs... of your body soon enough. So, are you hurting anywhere? Is that little pink pussy sore? Injured?” He sounds worried at the last.
I sink down into the chair and contemplate my answer.
He cracks the eggs into the pan and looks over his shoulder at me, “Would you prefer I bend you over the table and inspect for myself?”
“Fine. It’s fine.” I blurt quickly.
“Which?” He sounds amused but I certainly am not.
“My bottom is sore but... I think the cream you... used on me worked. Nothing else hurts.”
“Good, good,” he seems pleased. “I’ll have Ben help me print up the daily wear trainer for you today.
Before I can stop myself, I mutter, “Oh goody.”
He chuckles as he places thick slices of crusty bread on a cast iron skillet.
“Tell me, bride, what kind of a business did you own?”
“Do.”
He looks over his shoulder at me again, his dark, shapely eyebrows raised, “Pardon?”
“What business do I own. It’s still mine. I’ll be returning to it in three hundred and sixty-two days.”
When he silently lets that go, I add, “I brew beer.”
“You own a tavern?” He questions as he pulls out plates.
“No, I sell barrels to several nearby taverns. I managed to clear out my cellar before I was picked up by the government.” I frown.
“My assistant will be able to sell the few barrels that are still aging in a few weeks but the batches that I just started will be lost. I sent samples of my yeast strains to another brewer a few hours away, hoping he’ll be able to keep them alive for me.
” No point in telling him that having a reason to travel and visit taverns and inns is a great cover for the work I do with the Bell’s Rebels.
He places a plate in front of me and stands, leaning against the counter.
His body is lean muscle and his shaggy black hair invites fingers to play in it.
Aside from the grey of his skin and his wings, he’s pretty much what most human women would consider a perfect masculine specimen. It irritates me.
But a whiff of him hits me. Cedar trees, that’s it. Fuck, he smells incredible.
“I’m sorry for the loss of some of your product,” he says earnestly.
It makes me madder and I look down at my plate, not wanting to get thrown over his leg for a spanking if he sees how annoyed I am.
“Is your assistant related to you?” he asks, between bites of egg.
I blink. “No, why?”
He shrugs. “So that the business would go to them by law if you stay as our center.”
I slap my fork down on the counter. “I won’t be, so it’s not an issue. Sir.”
The prick merely looks amused. He raises one sharp eyebrow. “You’d leave a child of your blood with us?”
I won’t be having a child, but he doesn’t need to know that.
I shrug. “That’s the idea, isn’t it?”
He steps closer, though the island is still between us. “What if it wasn’t?”
Ben suddenly slips into the chair beside me. Damn, he’s quiet. They all are. I should put bells on them. Ben glares at Arch, fury hardly hidden.
His tail goes to my thigh, stroking lightly. I grit my teeth.
“Arch,” Ben says.
My eyes flick between them. Something is passing silently but I’m not sure what it is.
“Come speak with me, bonded,” Arch rumbles lowly, eyes locked on Ben.
“Flower, stay, finish your breakfast,” Ben commands. I look down at my plate as they head to Ben’s room.
The second I hear the door click close, I jump up and sprint around the island to the hologram caller on the front of the refrigerator.
I tap it and it lights up so I quickly try the code for Raquel’s office.
It shimmers, waiting for her to answer on her end.
I look nervously over my shoulder and thank the Gods for it, because I catch Arch’s door opening slowly.
Theo. Fuck.
I swipe the caller off and throw open the fridge door, my heart hammering.
“Sweetling,” he purrs, crossing the space, “Where are my bonded? Neglecting you, hm?” His arms go around my waist, his skin cool to my flesh, and his hard cock digging into my lower back.
My body tenses, disliking the intimate position. “Talking. I was just hoping you might have some black tea.”
He rubs his head on top of mine like he’s marking me. Fucker. Ben kissed my forehead yesterday too.
They are getting... emotional. I don’t like it. But I suppose it could be helpful.
But he smells wonderful. Of... frosting? Something sweet enough to make your teeth hurt. Nothing we get regularly as citizens of New United.
“Do you keep your tea in the refrigerator?” He leans down and butts his horns against me gently. I pull away from him.
“I know some folks do in the summer. I only have an icebox.”
He flips the stove on and puts a kettle going before opening a cabinet. “In here,” he gestures, then points to a different cabinet, “Will you grab us mugs?”
I grab two mugs and set them next to the stove.
“Sugar.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Do you take sugar? Cream? How does my little bride take her morning tea?”
Over the bodies of my enemies.
“Usually black, as most humans cannot afford much sugar or cream.”
His shoulders hitch up at my tone. Good. Prick.
I hear grunting and I turn. A rhythmic slapping sound emerges from the bedroom and Theo chuckles. “That’s how they usually end their ‘talks’.”
“With sex?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“With Arch ‘punishing’ Ben through sex, actually,” he clarifies, taking our mugs to the dining room table.
“He punishes the two of you for insubordination?”
Now I’m surprised. I trail after him, feeling a bit lost. I sit in front of where he put my tea.
Theo smiles gently. “Arch keeps us in line; he’s the backbone of our chime. We never disagree in public, but in private we talk things through. Ben is... ordered. He likes things neat and sorted. He’s never had sex with anyone besides me and Arch. And now you, sweetling.”
I gulp a mouthful of tea gracelessly.
“It’s less that Arch punishes us, and more that his nature brings out the best in ours, and that includes him domming the stones out of us occasionally.” Theo leans back and drinks his tea.
“And do you bring out the best in him?” I ask pertly.
Theo opens his mouth to reply when Arch strides out, nude. I try not to imagine what he was just up to. Ben slips out and goes to the stove without a word.
“Little one, we’ll get you situated, but I must fly for some meetings. Ben and Theo will be home with you, however.’
“SITUATED” TURNS OUT to mean bent over Arch’s lap—much more intimate than being over a table–while Theo inserts a “day wear” butt plug.
Arch places a hand under my chin, keeping me propped up and unable to hide my face.
He slides his fingers along my pussy several times during the ordeal, making satisfied noises.
I imagine, in detail, how I will murder them, to keep myself together. When Arch straightens me up and gives me a gentle slap on the ass, I walk to the closet I had slept in the first night and close myself inside it.
A good half hour of wondering if their wings will make them easier or harder to skin, and there is a delicate knock. I swipe at my face quickly as the door is slowly cracked.
It’s Ben.
His face is schooled but kind. “C’mon now, flower. Come with me to my office.” He holds out his hand.
I stare at it. I want to refuse. That might earn me a spanking though.
And besides, I need to see more of the house than an up close view of the couch cushions.
I step forward without taking his hand. I see a smile ghost over his face but he turns and leads me down the hallway behind the kitchen. Theo is nowhere in view and I want to know what he’s doing but I refuse to ask.
Ben stops at a closed door and uses his thumb to unlock it. I raise my eyebrows silently. “You have unique fingerprints?”
“Fingerprints are developed in the womb due to many factors and that is why they are different, even with twins. So yes, we do, as our reproductive cycles and development are exceedingly similar,” he explains as he opens the door and gestures me in.
I blink, surprised by his forthcomingness and I blink again, shocked by his “office.”