I hadn’t even realized how much strain I’d been under most of my life until it was gone. I felt quiet inside. Usually, I felt like I was juggling flaming torches in an oil refinery.
Even Bron’s occasional man-trums were nothing compared to the guilt trips my parents used to control me.
Here, when I got tired of reading and watching movies, I’d voluntarily done housework, of all things. As the oldest in my family, I’d absolutely despised all the caretaking I’d had to do, but Bron and Ilya weren’t used to having someone around to take care of things. They were so tidy that pitching in didn’t feel like an insurmountable task. Ilya enjoyed cooking and was used to doing dishes. Even Bron did his own laundry.
As each of my siblings had gone away to school, it had left me with less work to do around the house, but more shifts at the store. Once my youngest sister was gone, I might as well just move into the back room at the store and sleep on the cot.
Thoughts of going home were like a wet, smothering blanket thrown over my head.
I turned back, then around, not exactly sure where I’d ended up. It was all very green, and the wind rattled the leaves in an ongoing hiss of motion.
Ilya’s island was probably almost as big as the one with the hunt, but it was no tropical paradise. I shivered, then headed back in the direction I was pretty sure I’d come from.
Like some sort of ghost, a man materialized before me.
Ilya?
It looked like him, but the eyes—they were narrowed. Sinister.
“Why did you leave us, little wife?”
Even his voice sounded unfamiliar. It was lower, gruffer.
I swallowed and took a step back, and the predator’s eyes caught my involuntary reaction.
“The two of you were busy, so I thought I would take a walk.”
“You weren’t thinking of trying to run away, were you?”
“Run away?” My hand crept up to my neck, as though to protect it from predator teeth. “Where would I go? We’re on an island, and I don’t know how to row a boat, let alone start a motor.”
“That’s right,” he said, giving me a quiet smile that would have been fine in the house, but creeped me out here in the forest. “If you want anything in this place, you have to ask.”
“You’ve been very generous.”
“You’re a guest.”
“I’m an employee.”
He shrugged. “If that’s how you want to see things.”
“You really expect me to pretend we’re engaged…or maybe even marry you?”
“Would it be so bad? Even after—you wouldn’t need to go home right away. If you wanted, you could stay awhile.” He stepped closer to me, and my heart rate increased, sensing danger. The thrill of it zinged through my body. A muscle in his bare chest twitched, and I gasped, sure he was going to make a grab for me.
I took another involuntary step backward and bumped into a suspiciously muscular tree. I jumped sideways, getting them both in my field of vision.
“I was only taking a walk. The two of you were busy arguing, so I didn’t even think you’d notice.”
“We notice everything,” Bron said. “We saw you wander into the forest, just like we know when you’re awake reading in your room, and how you stand on the stairs listening every night while I punish Ilya.”
My face burned, and I switched my gaze to Ilya, who didn’t look at all surprised.
“If you don’t want me listening, you should try to keep it down.”
Bron hummed a short piece of a song I didn’t recognize. It was eerie rather than comforting.
“I think… I think I’ll head back to the house and take a bath. It’s cold out here.”
“You will need a bath when we’re finished with you,” Bron agreed.
I didn’t like the hungry look on their faces. Hadn’t they had sex? Maybe they hadn’t. Maybe they’d stopped arguing to look for me. That didn’t bode well. Neither of them looked like they were in a good mood.
“You’d never forgive yourselves if you took your frustrations out on an innocent bystander.”
“I think I could live with it. Could you, Ilya?”
“Right now, I don’t think I could live without it.” His gaze traveled from the modest neckline of my shirt down my long skirt to my booted feet. Nothing about what I was wearing was sexy, but that didn’t matter to men who knew what was underneath.
I tried to lunge away as Ilya took a swipe at me, but Bron caught me while I was distracted. How could I run from hordes of men on the Island and yet couldn’t avoid the two of them here?
“How is this fair?”
“If we planned to fight you, two against one would be rude, but we only want a little fun.” He thrust me at Ilya. “Hold this for me, would you?”
Ilya caught me and turned me toward Bron, holding my upper arms.
“Very nice.” Bron cocked his head, considering me.
Unable to help myself, I jutted my chin at him. He got off on people fearing him, and if I could give him a little less satisfaction, that would suit me fine.
“Such a tough girl. You’re not scared of us at all. A little nervous, maybe, but never truly afraid.” Before I could open my mouth to reply, Bron tugged the axe out of the sheath on his belt.
“Why do you have an axe?” I asked suspiciously.
“What kind of man goes anywhere without an axe?”
“Most men!”
“Not any I would care to know.”
Ilya chuckled. “A man never knows when he might need his axe.”
Bron turned the axe haft and pushed the burnished wood between my thighs, the thin fabric of my skirt not doing a lot to impede it. I frowned as the long edge of the handle pushed against my pussy.
“This is rude.”