Dean pauses, and I realize he’s actually fucking considering what I’m saying. That’s a first—and a good sign, too.
“What about Jaxon?” he says finally.
“Fuck Jaxon.” I mean that sincerely. “If he doesn’t want to play, he doesn’t have to play. He can join in at any time if he wants, that’s the deal, but I’m not going to hold a space for him that he doesn’t want. He can be one of us, or he can work for us. He’s going to have to make up his mind.”
“And what about our families? Our fathers?” Dean shakes his head. “They’re not just going to go along with this. There are traditions, Cayde. Generations of it. Athena is foolish to think she could bring it all crashing down, and we would be too, if we thought the same.”
I grit my teeth, feeling the resentment of years coming up, bubbling to the surface, tasting bitter on the back of my tongue.
“Fuck them.” I look squarely at Dean. “We’re the heirs, right? Why are we fighting each other when we could be making this world into whatwewant it to be. This town is meant to belong to one of us. Athena is meant to belong to one of us. But wecouldchange that. We could make a new world, however we want. What if that’s what winning the game means for us?”
Dean narrows his eyes. “And what if I want complete control? What if I want to insist that I’ve won, and there’s no reason for sharing? What if I bring you up for discipline at the ritual, for daring to touch my pet?”
I shrug. “Then that’s your choice, Dean. But we’ve been like brothers since we were young, best friends all our lives. So sure. You make a choice. Us at odds, or us working together, doing what we want for ourselves instead of what our families have chosen for us.” I pause, still watching him carefully. “Let’s try it tonight, Dean. Come with me, and let’s punishourpet. Let’s see what it could be like to share.” I gesture towards the study downstairs, chuckling. “It’s not like we’ve never shared her before.”
Dean hesitates, but I can see him faltering. He doesn’t want some of the things his father is forcing him into any more than I do. He doesn’t want to marry Winter Romero, doesn’t want to follow the same path his father did, into a loveless marriage and a tightly plotted life with no room for his own mind. He might want the power of running the town, but he also wants the freedom to do things his own way.
We can help each other if we work together. And we can find out who did this to Athena, so we can get our revenge alongside her. But only if we stop fighting one another.
“Alright.” Dean relents finally. “We’ll try it your way, Cayde. For now.”
* * *
Athena is waitingfor us in the study when we walk in.
I told her what would be expected of her when I saw her after she returned home from the gym.After dinner, go to the study. Strip down to your underwear—and I expect it to be something we’d like. Kneel in front of the sofa, in the middle of the rug, and wait for us. Dean and I will punish you together.
I’d seen a flash of rebellion in her eyes, warring with the spark of desire that I know she felt. Her cheeks had flushed, and I’d known that if I’d slid my fingers into her panties, I’d have found her wet and ready for me just from those simple orders.
Our little pet might have fire in her, but she’s a born submissive. We were wrong in the past to treat her as harshly as we did. But we weren’t wrong in believing that she could satisfy our deepest, darkest desires.
She has plenty of her own.
The second Dean and I stride into the room and see her kneeling there. My cock starts to swell, tight and uncomfortable in the confines of my boxers. As instructed, she’s in the center of the thick rug, wearing a black lace bra, panty, and garter set that I remember stashing in her lingerie drawer back when we first brought her here.
That feels like it happened ages ago, now.
Athena glances up at us as we walk in. Her makeup is softer than usual, the way Dean and I like it, and it strikes me that she did that for us.
It feels like the beginnings of a truce, maybe. Our little Saint accepting that she lusts after us, wants what only we can give her—and us accepting that we need our pet to trust us to look out for her, even to care for her, if we want to avoid what happened a month ago happening again.
“I heard you were a bad girl.” Dean’s voice ripples through the room, smooth and silky, and I see Athena shiver a little at the sound of it.
“Yes, sir,” she whispers, and even though she’s talking to Dean and not to me, my cock twitches, hardening even more at the sound of her sweet, submissive voice.
“And what did you do?” Dean circles her, and I can see the tension in his shoulders, the bulge that he’s sporting. He’s enjoying this too, and I make a mental note of it for later. If we can share—then establishing a new order within this town together will go so much simpler.
“I overextended myself working out today,” Athena murmurs. “Cayde caught me.” Her eyes flick up to me, and I stifle a groan as my cock lurches at full mast now. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Part of being our pet is taking care of yourself, Athena,” Dean growls. “Cayde says he punished you a little, already. What did he do?”
Athena hesitates, shifting, and I see her squeeze her thighs together, almost imperceptibly. “He spanked me,” she says finally. “And then he wouldn’t let me orgasm while I sucked his dick.”
“And you still haven’t come?”
She drops her eyes to the rug, her hands tightening where they’re resting on her thighs. “No,” she whispers. “I’ve been good.”
Dean grins from above her, his hand reaching down to stroke over her hair. Athena whimpers at that, and Dean’s smile only widens. “And do you need to come, little pet?”