Beauty (A Faery Story 3)

“Please tell me this isn’t good-bye.”

It wasn’t. She hoped it wasn’t. “Can’t we just make love?”

He sighed and she felt the moment he gave in. He leaned over and picked her up, his strong arms lifting her high on his chest. He walked toward their little base.

Lach sat on the bed Shim had made, his head in his hands. He looked up as they approached. For a single second, she could see his naked pain before a mask of cold will settled over him.

“It won’t work, Bron. I won’t accept good-bye.” He straightened his shoulders. “You should just go to bed because we have a long trek in the morning. I’ll find a way into Aoibhneas. I will find us a way home. I know what Roan’s been doing. He’s using the fact that the guards are patrolling to start building an army for Beck and Cian Finn. I won’t allow you to be used.”

He wouldn’t allow her to be in a moment’s danger no matter how important it was to her soul. He needed his arrogance, but it got to her sometimes. She wrapped her arms around Shim’s neck and kissed him, knowing just how to get to Lachlan McIver. She let her tongue play against Shim’s, allowing it to show as they kissed. She could feel Lach’s interest rise.

“It won’t work, Bron. You can’t fuck your way out of this.” Lach’s voice was hoarse.

She didn’t intend to fuck her way out of it. She intended to show them the truth of her.

Shim lowered her to the bed, his weight coming down on top of her. She opened her mind to him. His had been open from the moment she’d kissed him. His cock was hard, pressed against the leather of his trousers. He loved the feel of his own arousal. He loved the fact that it wouldn’t be long before he would be inside her. He craved it.

Shim broke off the kiss long enough to pull the shirt over his head. “Take it off.”

He wasn’t normally dominant. She felt her eyes narrow. “Why?”

His face went hard and he reached down and flipped her over. A loud smack filled the air. Bron gasped. Shim had never spanked her. Never even hinted at it. But he knew how to do it. He slapped her ass in three quick successions and then he flipped her back over. “I said take off your shirt.”

Bron felt Lach’s eyes on her. He watched her with a heated stare. Sweet and slow didn’t do it for Lach. He liked it hard. He liked it rough. He might be able to ignore them, to hold on to his righteousness if Shim kissed her and petted her and treated her delicately. Shim was trying to draw his other half in with his show of dominance.

And Bron could help him by being difficult. “I don’t want to.”

He ripped her shirt off, holding it between his hands and tugging it into two pieces. He bared her breasts and then caught her nipples in between his thumbs and forefingers, twisting with force. Her eyes watered and her pussy got soft and moist.

“This is my time, Bron. We agreed to it. You obey in our bed because you won’t obey anywhere else.”

She bristled a little at the accusation. “I’m not given much of a chance to disobey.”

Her nipples were tweaked again, pain making them throb with awareness.

“No back talk.” Shim drew his hands back. He got off the bed and put his hands on the bottom of her skirt. He tugged it off and tossed it aside. “Turn over and put your ass in the air.”

“What do you think you’re doing, brother?” Lach asked. He was standing over them, his arms crossed over his massive chest and a frown on his face. “You don’t believe in discipline.”

Shim didn’t. Bron had figured that much out. He believed in play and fun and studying. He was an odd combination of sweet, playful, and intensely smart. He reminded her so much of Cian, though he held a wealth of soul-deep guilt her brother didn’t have. There was a river that ran between Lach and Shim. They loved each other, held on to each other, but she wasn’t sure they trusted each other.

Bron wanted to know why.

“If you’re not going to make sure she behaves, then I have to.” Shim looked at his brother, an arrogant expression on his face. “Feel free to leave. I can handle her just fine. When she doesn’t behave, I’ll simply torture her for a while.”

Shim picked up her ankles in both hands and flipped her over, forcing her to her stomach. Her ass was naked and cool air caressed her skin, but only for a moment before Shim smacked her fleshy cheeks again, the sound cracking the air around her.

“Damn it, Shim,” she complained. “That hurt.”

It had, but now there was a sweet heat in the place of the pain. She wriggled her hips.

Lach seemed to decide to be the voice of reason. “Damn it all, Shim, can’t you see what she’s doing? She thinks she can manipulate us with sex.”

Shim’s hands were on her ass, tracing the curves and making her shiver a little. “She can try. It doesn’t mean it will work. More than likely she’ll play the siren and call me to her and get a cock up her ass for her troubles.”

He parted her cheeks. Bron tensed. “Shim, I don’t know about this.”

Three smacks made her howl. He was serious.