Page 88 of Beauty

They were dreams, but I do know these men.

The situation is far more complex than they’re making it outto be.

“I could make it easy on you, Bron.” The look on Lach’s facelets me know I’m not shielding at all.

And neither is he. He sends me an image, or Shim does. Itdoesn’t matter. I’m blasted with the mental image of me tied up and waiting fortheir pleasure. But only after I earn it. I terrified them, and they want apiece of my hide.

Like Dante is disciplining Kaja. They can show me. They caninitiate me into those dark pleasures. They trained for it, studied the art ofgiving pleasure, but they took none themselves.

Shim smiles. “I wouldn’t say none, love. Just none fromother women. There was an enormous amount of yanking our own dicks. I swear,Lach there damn near wore out his wrist when we were teenagers.”

Lach slaps his brother on the chest. “Like you were better.I was the one who had to listen to it. Bronwyn. Bronwyn. Oh, you feel so good,Bronwyn. The only consolation was that he never lasted very long.”

Shim frowns. “I did so.”

Despite my precarious position, I feel joy at seeing themact like obnoxious brothers. This is one thing I definitely remember. Theyalways bicker.

I’m so damn confused. I want them, but I want my freedom,too. I’m not sure I can ever go back to being that perfect princess I wasraised to be. I lived too much, saw too many things.

I turn my back on them. If I give in, I’ll be exactly whatthey want. Sweet and submissive and more than likely pregnant in a month. I’llbe relegated to the sidelines. It can’t happen. “You two go. I’m going to stayby the fire. We’ll talk again when we see my brothers, and we’ll sort out thiswhole marriage thing.”

“Marriage thing?” Lach parrots me, pure astonishment in hisvoice.

“We have our answer, Lach. It’s time to go,” Shim says.

I’m surprised at the disappointment I feel with Shim’s utterreasonableness. It’s wrong, but I want a bit of a fight. My stomach is inknots. I’m in a corner, and I have no idea how to get out. I want to sleep withthem, want the comfort of their big bodies surrounding me, but I don’t want theresponsibility of making the choice. It isn’t fair. I’m being exactly whatDante calls me. I’m a brat, but I can’t make myself turn around and ask forwhat I want.

“You’re right,” Lach says, his voice a grave finality.

I’m not going to cry. Damn it all. I’m not. This is what Iwant. I want time to sort everything out without the distraction of lips andtongues and hands and cocks.

I give a shout as Lach hauls me up and tosses me over hisshoulder. “What?”

“You gave us your answer, Princess. We’ll do this the hardway.”

I gasp as Lach’s hand comes down on my ass. “How dare you!”

“Oh, I dare, Princess. You’re going to find out how much Idare. And don’t you even start saying this isn’t exactly what you want. Youbroadcast so loud I’m surprised the damn squirrels can’t hear you. You want usto take you. You want to be able to wake up in the morning and go right back tobelieving you can get out of this. Well, I’m going to tell you that you’regetting what you want. We will take you, but you’re going to know you’re oursby morning, love.”

The fact that his words are so very true does nothing toassuage how angry he makes me. “Put me down now, you overgrown idiot.”

Another smack. “Every time you curse me, I’m adding five toyour punishment. You’re at thirty right now. Thirty smacks to that sweet ass ofyours. Do you want more?”

I’m not getting any reason from an overly possessivevampire. I look toward the fire, hoping to find a vampire more amenable to mycause. “Roan. Roan, my brothers are paying you, right?”

Roan never even looks up from the fire. “Not at all,Princess. Your brothers don’t have a single piece of gold between them. Yourfather-in-law is paying me. And he’s paying me quite handsomely. I would adviseyou to take your well-earned spanking with dignity and then attempt to pleaseyour husbands. I think you’ll find you have an enormous amount of power overthem should you choose to use it wisely.”

Damn mercenary. “You aren’t going to be any help at all.”

Now the mercenary looks up, and there’s a grin on his face.“On the contrary, Your Highness. I think you’ll find I’ve been very helpful.After all, I’m the one who gave them the kit I think they’re about to use onyou. It has all sorts of helpful items in it.”

Gillian stands up, her eyes flickering between her brothersand me. “Can’t we talk about this?”

“Sit down, Princess,” Roan says in a deep voice that he morethan likely uses on soldiers to keep them in line. “You are not going to comebetween husbands and their rightfully bonded mate. They won’t hurt her. They’rebonded. They feel what she’s feeling. Do you think your brothers would enjoyher pain?”

“Gillian won’t help me.” She made that plain.

Gillian sits back down, wiping at her eyes. “It seems I’mthe villain at every turn with you, Bron. I know you won’t believe it, but I dolove you. And so do my brothers.”