Dee's Hard Limits (8 page)

Both Marquis and Todd slid down on the floor next to them, staring at her as she arched and stretched her arms over her head. For someone so small she was powerful in her own right. “Talhrn...” She turned her full gaze upon him as she carefully straddled him. She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose.”I really need a bath, so let’s make this quick. You...” She pointed at his chest. “…are different from the others of your kind. You even told me that. Why wouldn’t the whatever you call it be different? I made it even though I stink like hell and I’m sore, but other than that I survived. So stop fussing.” She leaned in and kissed his lips softly.

“Now, I really need my bath. Marquis, will you help me up? And, no, don’t pick me up, I stink. I don’t want to get any of this goo on you. Already, Talhrn needs to shower now.” She looked behind her and held up her hand for him, but he circled his arms around her and jumped up in one swift move.

“We will all take a bath with you. The three of us need to be close to you right now, Little Kitten,” he admitted to her as he carried her down the hallway towards the bathroom. Both Marquis and Todd followed behind them.

Until they made love with their
meru
, the three of them would not let her out of their sight. The bonding was almost complete. The final stage was their love making and tonight they’d consummate their union.

As they headed towards the bathroom, Dee glanced up at Talhrn as he stepped into the enormous tub that was not hers. “I like what you did with the new tub, but don’t you think it’s a bit much?” Dee smiled.

Even though every inch of her body hurt, if possible even her hair, Dee wasn’t about to let her men know. They already felt guilty enough for what had happened to her.

“And I always will too. Nothing you say or don’t say will change that. Don’t think I don’t know how sore you are because I do. I feel what you do now, we all do.” He handed her to Marquis as he sat in the warm water, then reached for her again as Marquis and Todd sat around the small pool-like tub.

“You’ll not be keeping things from us, Little Kitten. It’s our duty to take care of you. If I even think you are hiding something from us, your punishment will not be a pleasant one.” The warm water covered her and she moaned.

Ignoring that last comment, Dee closed her eyes as all three of them started to rub every inch of her body under the water. Over and over they washed and worked at loosening her muscles and cleaning the gel-like substance that had eased out of her pours during the change. Dee tried to lift her hand up, but it felt like a wet noodle and plopped back into the water.

She lifted her head and stopped her words. The water was a grayish color, dirty and smelly. “This is really gross. Umm could you maybe give us clean water?” Dee shivered.

Talhrn laughed as he shook his head. The dirty water was replaced with clean. “Now, what were you going to say?”

Once more, Dee started to ask him about the punishment, but shut her mouth and jumped up. Water went everywhere, but she didn’t care.

“
Don’t get too comfortable with them daughter, soon they will meet with the same fate as your other tricks,”
Koti broke through the barrier she had put up to block his entrance to her mind.

Stepping out of the tub, Dee forgot about everything around her.
“I’ll kill you before you ever lay a hand on them!”

A towel was wrapped around her, drawing her attention. “
Come and get us, Koti, or are you too scared to do your own work.”
Dee heard Talhrn’s threat right before the connection from her father was severed.

“No! How am I supposed to find him?” she snarled.

From behind, Todd lifted her up into his arms and carried her out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. He set her down and pointed to the corner of her room. “Go. You will kneel facing the wall and you know the position. I want those legs spread, hands behind your back, and your head down. Not a word will come out of your mouth. Our
orak
will deal with you when he is finished with Koti.”

She took a step towards Todd and snarled. Before Dee could think about what she was doing, Marquis appeared behind her ad if out of nowhere. He wrapped his arm around her and flipped her onto the bed where he started to spank her.

“You will never threaten any of your
werus!”
Six hard slaps to each cheek, before he picked her up and set her down in the corner. “Think before you do anything. Now resume the position.”

With her ass on fire, Dee knelt down trying to stop the tears from falling. She took a quick peek behind her as she separated her legs and hooked her arms behind her back. Todd glared at her, but she could see the hurt in his eyes as well.

“I’m sorry...” He didn’t say anything, but Marquis stepped in front of Todd.

“Turn around, head down. Don’t make me repeat myself again,” The anger in his voice, Dee couldn’t hold back anymore. Tears fell down her cheeks and they rolled down onto her breasts. She had hurt them all.

Her body was still sore and weak. Dee didn’t know how, but in the last two days her men had come to mean everything to her. Talhrn, with his Viking body and personality was not only her master, but her heart. Marquis, with his silent, but deadly mannerism, left Dee shivering at the way his gaze traveled down her body not caring if she noticed him. He knew she belonged to him and nothing except death would take him away.

Then there was Todd. His mouth was always running, but underneath she’d seen the vulnerability inside him. Sure he could kill without a thought, but Dee could see it cost him much to open up to her and she had just blown it all.

In the last hundred years, Dee had never done something so stupid and hurtful to anyone, let alone her men, if they still wanted to be her men. She sat there with her head down and remembered the first time Todd had cornered her in the kitchen of her Mom’s home.

“Tell me Little Kitten, do you sleep in the nude?” he’d asked her as he circled her and ran his hand down her arm.

It had taken her a few minutes before Dee could even consider a comeback, he had her so excited. That night even her favorite vibrator did not help the ache inside her.

Not knowing how long she sat there, Dee yelled and moved, her leg, cramping up bad. “Great, another thing against me,” she cried out and fell onto her butt as she reached for the leg in question, but Todd was there before Dee could do anything.

He picked up her leg and started working the muscle. She tried to hold onto the carpet as the pain shot through the muscles. A groan escaped and she so wanted to pull away from him, but she didn’t. Dee knew to work through the pain was the only way the charley horse would go away.

“Easy, I know it hurts, Little Kitten,” he tried to reassure her as he worked the muscle in question.

She nodded. “Thank you.”

Kneeling down next to her, Talhrn gripped her chin in his hand and held her gaze. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

Taking a deep breath, Dee looked down. “I didn’t inform you about Koti in my head. I’m sorry, Talhrn, really I am, but I’m so used to his little attacks I didn’t think. Then when he threatened all of you, well I kind of went crazy inside.” She looked back up.

“The picture of what he did to the last man I was with flashed before me, but it wasn’t his face, it was yours in all that blood,” her words were a bare whisper and her bottom lip quivered, afraid she’d blown it with them.

“Stop.” He squeezed her chin. “Whatever happens between us we will never leave you, Dee. We will get angry and sometimes hurt, but we’re not walking away from you. You are our
meru
and the keeper of our hearts.” He turned his gaze to Todd. “How is her leg?”

“The knot is gone, but she needs to get up and stretch it for a while.” Todd released her leg as Talhrn helped her up onto her feet.

“Shit!” She yelped and would have fallen if Talhrn and Todd were not there helping her.

“It’s cramping again.” Dee gritted her teeth and slowly tried to walk around the room as both men held her up between them.

After a few minutes, Dee let out the breath she’d been holding and bent her leg. “I think it’s okay now,” she sighed and stepped in front of Todd, kneeling at his feet.

“I’m sorry for growling at you earlier. I wasn’t thinking, Todd. Every time he invades my head, it’s like being controlled in a bad way.” She looked down at her hands. “I get so scared that I lash out at anyone around me. I know it’s wrong, but it’s like he knows how to trigger the cat inside me.” She rubbed her face and eyes.

“It’s like he’s violated me. I don’t really like being whipped like I usually have gotten at the dungeon, but I always feel so dirty and unworthy to be around anyone.” She looked up at him. “Please don’t hate me.”

He growled before reaching down and scooping her up into his arms. “Little Kitten, we could never hate you,” he murmured before covering her mouth with his. Todd slid his tongue into her mouth. He tasted of mint as he took control of the kiss.

Up and down he brushed his tongue against hers, her breasts brushed up against his chest and Dee circled her arms around his neck, holding on tight to him. He broke the kiss and stared at her. “I will always be there for you, Dee. All of us will be, but you have to turn to us when you are threatened so we can help.”

Sitting on the bed, Todd held her as Talhrn took her hands into his. “If something were to happen to you, we’d cease to exist. Once the second stage of the bonding is complete, our fates are sealed with yours, not that it matters. If anything happened to you, it would cripple us. There would be no coming back.” He leaned down and kissed every one of her fingers.

“Koti will never again be able to enter your head. I’ve traced the path he used and I’ve blocked it. If he wants to try anything, I’ll be there waiting for him. Come here, Little Kitten.” He lifted her up and sat her down on his lap facing him.

“You’ve had a rough day today and I’m not going to punish you for what happened. But I won’t be so forgiving again if you neglect to reach for us. Understood?” He waited for her to answer.

“I’ll try, Talhrn. I’ve been alone for so long...” she sighed.

He lifted her up and stood her in front of him. “You will do it, now come. You need to eat.”

As they walked through the hallway, Talhrn took in every room as they made their way to the kitchen. “I can see you’re surprised. It has four bedrooms. I did have a basement dug out which is wider than the house and I also have a tunnel underground going to the barn. I couldn’t get rid of the animals, they so remind me of Hope.”

***

Settling down at the kitchen table, Talhrn followed Dee’s gaze as she watched Marquis place bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes on the table. His movements were stiff and he could feel the anger radiating off of him.

“This looks great, Marquis. I didn’t know you could cook,” Dee said, smiling at Marquis, but he said nothing, just nodded and sat down next to him.

“Do you want some coffee or juice?” Dee got up and approached the coffee pot, but stopped when she saw that the coffee was already made. With a big smile she looked over her shoulder.

“You are amazing, even coffee.” Dee opened a cupboard and grabbed some coffee cups.

“Marquis, Talhrn, Todd?” She held up the coffee pot and turned towards them but dropped the pot of hot liquid when Marquis jumped up and snarled before he left the room.

The glass pot shattered and the coffee splattered everywhere including her skin, but Dee stood there with tears rolling down her face. “He hates me...”

The chair Talhrn was in went flying backwards as did Todd’s as they both rushed to her. Hot coffee dripped down her legs, but she ignored it, staring at where Marquis had been.

Picking her up, Todd grabbed a cool cloth and followed Talhrn over to her seat. “Dee, look at me,” Talhrn ordered, drawing her attention.

“Marquis does not hate you. How bad are you hurting, Dee?” he asked while Todd cleaned off her legs. Her delicate skin now turned red and in a few spots blistering had started to appear.

“Todd, take her to bed. I’ll bring in a tray and some ointment too...” He didn’t get another word out as bones started tp break and Dee jumped out of his arms.

The large saber-tooth tiger shook its head. “I’m going to go lie down. I’m not really that hungry.” She ran out of the room leaving both of them staring at her retreating form. He would break her habit of shifting into the cat when hurt.

“Marquis!” Talhrn yelled and stood up, the mess on the floor now clean.

“What?” Marquis appeared before him.

“You going to tell me what is wrong and why you hurt our
meru?”
He stepped into Marquis’ personal space, their noses almost touching.

“She knew we were her mates, but still went to that club. Then she refuses our help and almost attacks Todd! All you have done is baby her. She should be punished and brought under control.” Marquis ground out threw his teeth. He looked around the room. “Where is she? Did you finally decide to punish her?”

Talhrn closed his eyes, but not before he threw Marquis up against the wall, pinning him there. “Are you challenging me for
orak
?”

“No! I just believe we should be stronger with her. Dee’s been alone too long. She needs a firmer hand. Where is she?” Marquis asked again, looking from him to Todd.

“You scared her and hurt her.” Talhrn released Marquis and pointed to the hallway. “Find her and check her legs. She burned them when the coffee pot shattered, but Marquis, be gentle. Dee thinks you hate her and now is not the time to be hard on her.” Talhrn released him and watched as he left in search for their
meru.

“Todd, make up a few trays. We’ll join them in a minute. We all need to eat, but our Kitten really needs it since the change,” Talhrn ordered and slowly followed Marquis.

In the frame of mind Marquis was in, he would take no chance at him lashing out at Dee when she was in a fragile state. He too believed Dee needed a firmer hand, but he also knew that after the change her emotions would be all over the place.