Chapter Nine
Nomad
In shock that Cosmo had gone into the burning building and Harley had gone in after him as he lay stunned at hitting the side of the building with his skull, Nomad was at a loss for what to do as he jumped up and ran around the side of the flaming house.
Everything he’d owned held no value to that of his mates, nothing . There was nothing he would want more than saving either of them.
What was Cosmo after that he’d risk his life? Risk the lives of his mates to claim?
He didn’t project his thoughts because he was already worried that through their internal conversations; they were possibly to blame for the lack of trust Cosmo had displayed by heading into a booby-trapped building without checking.
Nomad shuddered at how much worse it could have been if he’d not reached Cosmo in time before the firebomb went off.
He could see the karma in this after what they’d just done. Had the council been setting this up while they’d been busy torching the other place?
Cosmo’s sobs wrenched at Nomad’s gut and, as pissed as he was at Cosmo’s initial behavior, nothing stopped him from getting down on his knees beside him and gently wrapping his arms around his mate’s shaking shoulders. “Let Daddy help,” he murmured softly next to his ear. “We can fix this.” He paused and considered what Daddy would do, what he’d do to Harley too, for scaring the shit out of him. “But first you and Harley are both going to get a punishment for frightening me.”
Harley’s brows rose, although he said nothing as he walked slowly to Cosmo. Nomad sensed Harley picked up how terrified he was for both of them when Nomad could still see Harley’s jacket smoking. There appeared to be no burns on Harley’s skin that he could see through the scraps of cloth left of his jacket.
All Nomad was getting was worry from Harley, now the initial terror Cosmo might get burned alive had abated.
Anguished eyes brimming with tears turned to him as Harley kneeled on the other side of him. “They burned my safe place,” he cried, pain laced in every word.
Harley, stinking of burned clothing, snaked his arms around Cosmo’s waist, sandwiching him between them. Cosmo’s entire body trembled as he glanced back at the building.
“We can be your safe place, cutie, and replace everything that is burned.” Harley pressed his lips to the top of Cosmo’s head, looking directly at Nomad. We need to make this right. Figure out how to help him.
He doesn’t trust us. Nomad pointed out, unsure how to make Cosmo understand they would do nothing except help and support him in whatever he wanted.
The bag lay on the ground behind Cosmo, and Nomad glimpsed a box and several weapons. His brain slotting things together, seeing nothing that related to Cosmo’s Little side. He’d gone into a burning building to get the things that could protect him—but from what? The council? Them?
If it was them, they were in big fucking trouble!
Harley
He couldn’t help picking up all of Nomad’s fear and the distress from Cosmo at the loss of his home.
Being a sensitive, he needed to take two deep breaths to get his twisted gut to unknot enough so he could speak aloud. Harley stank, and his arm was far hotter than it should be. Both he ignored.
He put his finger under Cosmo’s chin to get him to look at him when he heard sirens in the distance. “We have to go, cutie. Your Daddies are gonna take care of you. Of everything.” He tilted his chin up, looking him right in the eyes. It hurt to see the devastation behind Cosmo’s eyes, which he didn’t hide. “Can you trust us?”
Harley knew they were losing time, but he waited, needing Cosmo to see that he could trust them. The earlier help they’d given him had come some way, yet not nearly enough to get Cosmo to understand they would die for him.
The nod was barely there .
It was enough, and Nomad stood up and brought a weeping Cosmo with him. Harley reached for the bag laying on the ground, eyeing its content. His gaze locked with Nomad’s as he picked up Cosmo, careful of his bleeding leg.
We need to figure this out, and fast.
Harley believed that whatever had sent their mate into a burning building had to take priority. That meant tending to him, feeding him, then talking. Judging by the lack of reaction to Nomad’s threat of punishment, Harley suspected Cosmo was in for a shock. Nomad was a man of his word and maybe that would make Cosmo see they meant what they said.
Harley’s ass was already expecting what was coming his way.
~/~/~/~
In the apartment, they’d stripped Cosmo, showered, and cleaned, then checked his wounds. Cosmo was now wearing a onesie from the locker he had downstairs in the club. When Harley had gone to retrieve it and order food, Rocco had been fine, not asking too many questions. Even when Harley stunk up the office.
The overview Rocco had given of what was happening in the bar and club said there was nothing immediate that needed their attention. Back upstairs a second time with the meals, he came into the apartment, and was met with a tense silence.
His gaze went to the couple seated at the table. Cosmo sat on Nomad’s knee, looking utterly lost. His eyes were red and swollen .
Nomad didn’t look much better, yet Harley could feel his determination to make this better. The bag they’d brought in sat on the counter like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, much like the firebomb at the house, causing extreme damage if not handled with caution.
“I’ve got fully loaded chicken burritos,” he said, going to the table where he placed the tray and unloaded the food. “They smell delicious.” It came out as forced joviality. They all needed to eat first before having the next conversation and punishments.
Placing two plates in front of Nomad, Harley picked up a burrito and pressed it to Cosmo’s mouth. His lips quivered before parting. He nibbled at the burrito.
Harley sat and continued to encourage Cosmo to eat as Nomad picked up his own and munched his way through while staring at Harley over Cosmo’s head.
It was there in his gaze, the need to resolve this. To show Cosmo they were his forever if he’d have them be.
The silence continued until everyone had cleared their plates. When Nomad pushed his plate away, Harley witnessed the change in Nomad, and he shivered in anticipation.
“Cosmo, do you have a safe word?”
He jerked his gaze around from the table to Nomad. “Yes… Daddy.”
“What is it?”
“Lollipop,” he murmured so quietly it was hard to catch.
“I want you to use it if you need to.” The pause was deliberate as Nomad waited for the nod of agreement. “Today, you frightened Daddy by doing something that could have gotten you killed. That is a hard limit for Daddy, one that you are never to cross again. Is that understood? ”
Harley’s cock responded to the dominance, and he suspected Cosmo was also feeling the effects by the way he squirmed in Nomad’s lap. His eyelashes lowered and his cheeks pinked.
“Yes, Daddy.” His chin trembled as he kept his gaze down.
“What are the punishments you get down in the Littles daycare?”
His head popped up. “I don’t get punished.”
Was that excitement Harley could hear? Feel?
Nomad got up, holding Cosmo. “That’s about to change.”
He walked over to the couch and sat down, placing Cosmo on his bare feet. His hand went to the zip of the fluffy onesie. The sound of the zip being dragged down was the only noise in the room besides Harley’s harsh breathing.
Cosmo’s hard cock poked out of the opening.
Harley’s breathing came in short bursts as he got up from the table and went to the couch, unsure how to feel when he was both aroused and upset at what was going to happen.
Nomad was the disciplinarian and Harley understood what was coming.
Cosmo’s eyes begged Harley to step in, but he never uttered his safe word. He sat next to Nomad and held out a hand to Cosmo. He took it as Nomad left the onesie down by his knees and turned him to face Harley fully before placing a hand in the middle of his back. “Lie down over Daddy’s knee. I’m going to give you ten spanks. Two for each minute that Daddy was terrified he was going to lose you and Harley.” Nomad glanced at Harley. “Count them for Cosmo.”
Harley couldn’t swallow past the lump as the fingers holding Harley’s squeezed tightly.
“Remember your safe word and use it if it gets too much.”
The nod this time was jerky, then Cosmo rested his head on Harley’s knee .
“Count.”
The noise of palm hitting skin hard made Harley shiver. “One,” he said as Cosmo’s face screwed up and his lips clamped together, but still the noise of distress escaped.
“Two… Three… Four…” Harley counted, witnessing Cosmo breaking down in front of him as he cried, great big, heart wrenching sobs.
“I’m… sorry… Daddy… Nomad,” he hiccupped between spanks.
At spank seven, something else happened. Cosmo rose up to meet the hand spanking his now red backside. His tear-stained face lifted and the need to kiss him got Harley holding onto the soft curls and bending forward.
“No,” Nomad snapped. “You do not get any rewards until I say so. Count!”
Harley groaned in distress, sensing immediately that this was his punishment for upsetting his mate. He knew begging was pointless, so he kept quiet and stroked Cosmo’s hair before continuing to count. “Nine… ten.” The strain in his voice very real as Nomad gently rubbed at Cosmo’s tender backside crooning, “You made your Daddy so proud, taking your punishment.”
Cosmo
His bottom hurt and yet his cock had never been harder. Just the feel of Daddy Nomad’s hand caressing his bottom had him squirming in Daddy’s lap.
Daddy had punished him.
No one had ever punished him before .
No one had ever run into a burning building after him before either or cared that he could have gotten himself hurt.
Daddy had spanked him because he could have gotten hurt.
Daddy had spanked him because he’d scared him… which had to mean Daddy cared what happened to him.
The realization hit like a fist to the nose, so swift and sudden it left him ping ponging between elation and sorrow, upset with himself for scaring his Daddies and for throwing Daddy Nomad into the side of the house.
He’d hurt his mate. Mates . If the little snippets he’d picked up off Daddy Harley were any indication. He’d been in the fire and come out smoking. Had he burned himself? Cut himself on the glass?
Just the thought of either killed the arousal he’d felt and sent him scurrying off Daddy’s lap to nearly trip over his onesie. He tugged it up to sit on the opposite couch. A hiss escaping between his teeth at the feel of the cushion rubbing against his sore bottom.
His gaze dropped to the floor as he drew his knees up to hug them, curling in on himself and wishing he could disappear.
“I’m really sorry,” he said softly.
“I accept that you’re sorry,” Daddy Nomad said. “But that doesn’t tell me why you felt like you had to risk yourself in the first place. Weapons can be replaced, you can’t be! We only just found you and you almost snatched that away from us by being reckless. I need you to tell us what was so important that you’d do that and why the council is so desperate to see you dead. It isn’t just because you didn’t follow orders or shared information you shouldn’t have. That would have gotten you hurt, even locked in one of their cells for a while, but they want to end you and it seems to me like they’re desperate to do it, too.”
Daddy’s voice was hard, demanding. He wasn’t going to let it drop, although telling him would mean a level of trust he’d never given to anyone before and put them at risk for the council to come after his mates next.
But not telling…
“Cosmo. I expect an answer.”
Daddy’s whiplike words sent a shiver down his spine, every single cell in his body responding to the command.
“All the power they have has corrupted them,” Cosmo said, looking into Daddy’s eyes as he spoke. “I can prove that they’ve been using their resources, shifters like me, to cut down their competition. They’ve been making young shifters vanish, selling them to brothels and those rich enough to purchase them as house pets and servants. They told me I was protecting other shifters by destroying the ones who were hurting them when the whole time they were the ones doing the hurting and making everyone else think they were doing such an amazing job of protecting them. More groups have thrown their support behind the council since they started offering proof of all they’ve been doing to keep shifters safe, but someone has to keep us safe from them!”
Cosmo was shaking by the time he finished speaking and hugged himself harder, scared that they wouldn’t believe him. What was he to do then?
“I had to go back into the house,” Cosmo said earnestly. “Otherwise I would have lost everything I’d gathered. I couldn’t let that happen. It’s worth more than the risk of smoke and burns. I just haven’t figured out the right hands to get it into, to make a difference.”
“It’s in the box, isn’t it?” Daddy Harley asked, his brows pinched together. “The proof.”
Nodding, Cosmo turned his attention to him and saw that the fire had singed his hair in several places. There was still smoke streaking his skin. “I hid it with the things that were precious to me. Anyone who opened it would just think it was full of a bunch of stuff no one cared about. Except in the bottom, the real bottom, is eight months’ worth of risking my neck to make certain someone would one day be able to put a stop to them. It was too important to lose.”
“ You are too important to lose,” Daddy Harley said with enough force Cosmo felt it all the way from his toes to the top of his head.
His innards warmed. “Not when stacked against everyone whose gotten hurt and still might be,” Cosmo insisted even as he loved the feelings Daddy Harley’s words left him with.
How was he supposed to make his Daddies understand that he’d stopped thinking about a future for himself a long time ago? Had given up dreaming about a mate—mates—showing up and stepping into his life? How he had put his total focus on serving and now dismantling the council and everything it stood for.
“I’m just one cat,” Cosmo said softly. “And I’ve been alone so long it’s hard to think of myself in any other way.”