Shim smiled. “I wouldn’t say none, love. Just none from other 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 slapped 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.”
“I did so.”
Despite her precarious position, Bron felt a little joy at seeing them act like obnoxious brothers. This was one thing she definitely remembered. They had always bickered.
She was so damn confused. She wanted them, but she wanted her freedom, too. She wasn’t sure she could ever go back to being that perfect little princess she’d been raised to be. She’d lived too much, seen too many things.
She turned her back on them. If she gave in, she’d be exactly what they wanted. Sweet and submissive and more than likely pregnant in a month. She would be relegated to the sidelines. It couldn’t happen. “You two go. I’m going to stay by the fire. We’ll talk again when we see my brothers, and we’ll sort out this whole marriage thing.”
“Marriage thing?” Lach parroted her, pure astonishment in his voice.
“We have our answer, Lach. It’s time to go,” Shim said.
She was surprised at the disappointment she felt with Shim’s utter reasonableness. It was wrong, but she’d wanted a bit of a fight. Her stomach was in knots. She was in a corner, and she had no idea how to get out. She wanted to sleep with them, wanted the comfort of their big bodies surrounding her, but she didn’t want the responsibility of making the choice. It wasn’t fair. She was being exactly what Dante called her. She was a brat, but she couldn’t make herself turn around and ask for what she wanted.
“You’re right,” Lach said, his voice a grave finality.
She wasn’t going to cry. Damn it all. She wasn’t. This was what she’d wanted. She’d wanted time to sort everything out without the distraction of lips and tongues and hands and cocks.
She gave a little shout as Lach hauled her up and tossed her over his shoulder. “What?”
“You gave us your answer, princess. We’ll do this the hard way.”
She screamed a little as Lach’s hand came down on her ass. “How dare you!”
“Oh, I dare, princess. You’re going to find out just how much I dare. And don’t you even start saying this isn’t exactly what you want. You broadcast so loud I’m surprised the damn squirrels can’t hear you. You want us to take you. You want to be able to wake up in the morning and go right back to believing you can get out of this. Well, I’m going to tell you that you’re getting what you want. We will take you, but you’re going to know you’re ours by morning, love.”
The fact that his words were so very true did nothing to assuage how angry he made her. “Put me down now, you overgrown idiot.”
Another smack. “Every time you curse me, I’m adding five to your punishment. You’re at thirty right now
. Thirty smacks to that sweet ass of yours. Do you really want more?”
She wasn’t getting any reason from an overly possessive vampire. She looked toward the fire hoping to find a vampire more amenable to her cause. “Roan. Roan, my brothers are paying you, right?”
Roan never even looked up from the fire. “Not at all, princess. Your brothers don’t have a single piece of gold between them. Your father-in-law is paying me. And he’s paying me quite handsomely. I would advise you to take your very well-earned spanking with dignity and then attempt to please your husbands. I think you’ll find you have an enormous amount of power over them should you choose to use it wisely.”
Damn mercenary. “You aren’t going to be any help at all.”
Now the mercenary looked up, and there was 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 on you. It has all sorts of helpful items in it.”
Gillian stood up, her eyes flickering between her brothers and Bronwyn. “Can’t we talk about this?”
“Sit down, princess,” Roan said in a deep voice that he more than likely used on soldiers to keep them in line. “You are not going to come between husbands and their rightfully bonded mate. They won’t hurt her. They’re bonded. They feel what she’s feeling. Do you think your brothers would enjoy her pain?”
Gillian sat back down, wiping at her eyes. “It seems I’m the villain at every turn with you, Bron. I know you won’t believe it, but I do love you. And so do my brothers.”
Lach strode past Shim, his long legs eating up the forest floor.
“Is this really what you want, Bron?” Shim asked. “Because we can be gentle.”
“She doesn’t want gentle.” Lach kept right on walking.
Bron held her head up. It was either that or watch Lach’s perfectly formed backside move. “Fuck you, Lach. And you can fuck yourself, Shim.”
Lach stopped. He set her on her feet, but she didn’t stay there long. He got to one knee and flipped her neatly over. She found herself facing the grass, her ass in the air. Oh, goddess, she’d pushed him. She’d known what she was doing, and she’d done it anyway because she wanted this. She wanted to see what made Kaja moan, but she didn’t want to ask for it.