Gale, Avery - Katarina's Return [The ShadowDance Club 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (17 page)

Kat knew she would only have one chance. As she slowly used the nightstand to bring herself upright, she palmed the pistol. She managed to get turned completely around before he could walk around the large four-poster bed. She’d already flicked the safety off and raised the gun and fired straight at Cal’s chest just as the door to the suite burst open. It was like everything happened in slow motion. Kat heard the sound of the gun, watched Cal’s eyes widen as red blossomed on his chest and he sank slowly to his knees. At the same time, Alex and Zach burst into the room, and Zach caught her as her knees folded underneath her.

* * * *

Alex and Zach’s office was directly under Katarina’s suite, and when they’d heard the sound of something hitting the floor, they’d raced up the stairs and down the hall as if the hounds of hell were on their heels. Call it instinct, but they had known Kat was in trouble. When they were reaching for the door handles on the double doors, they’d heard a gunshot, and Alex was sure his heart had stopped beating until they’d seen Cal Robertson sinking to the floor and Katarina holding the small pistol in her shaking hands. Zach had been a step ahead of Alex and had reached her just as she’d collapsed.

Zach inhaled deeply as soon as he had Kat wrapped safely in his arms, he was sure he had stopped breathing somewhere near the top of the stairs. Years in the military, most spent doing “black in black ops” in places the devil wouldn’t spend time, and hands down, this was the most frightened he’d ever been. When he’d heard that loud thump come from Kat’s suite, he’d lost at least a decade off his life. He let the others secure the scene and work on Robertson, though personally, he didn’t think anyone was going to make much effort to save his sorry ass, while he tended to the only person he was concerned with, and that was the beautiful, brave woman he held in his arms.

* * * *

Alex watched as Zach scooped Katarina up and moved down the hall within seconds so she wouldn’t have to be a part of the chaos that had erupted yet again in the place that was supposed to be her sanctuary. He and Zach had spent most of last night discussing how they were going to convince Katarina to marry them, even if they had to beg on their hands and knees each and every day, they were not willing to wait any longer. They’d already started planning an extended honeymoon, and while they were gone, her suite would undergo a complete remodel. They wanted to make sure she wasn’t haunted by any ghosts of trauma past. When they returned, both he and Zach would move in to the suite with her, and they’d begin building the family they had heard her tell Jenna she longed for so many years ago. He’d always remember standing with Zach in the back of the barn listening to their younger sister and her best friend talking about their respective futures. Jenna’s had been full of travel, career goals, and far-flung adventures. Katarina’s dream was to have a houseful of children to love and a man who loved her as much as she knew she would love him. He knew neither he nor his brother had forgotten that night, and now they had were going to do everything in their power to make her dream come true.

* * * *

Several hours later, Cal Robertson’s body had been removed from their home, and the last of Dylan Marshall’s questions were answered. Alex and Zach had called in a cleaning service to restore order to her suite and they had left a few minutes earlier. Kat knew it was important to go back to the suite tonight. If she didn’t face it right away, it would be even more difficult tomorrow night. Kat had never considered herself a person who backed away from something that frightened her…
Oh my God, that is exactly what I have been doing by not telling Alex and Zach how I feel about them and that everything I’ve ever wanted…every dream I’ve ever had is right here at ShadowDance. What a coward I’ve been, well, no more…

“Penny for your thoughts, love.” Kat hadn’t even heard Alex move into the room. Zach had taken her downstairs into the relative quiet of their office. Selita had brought her cold compresses for her rapidly swelling face. God, she was going to have one hell of a shiner by tomorrow morning. Zach had not gone ten seconds without touching her, it was if he was afraid she’d disappear if he let go of her for more than a moment.

“Oh, Alex, I’m so glad you are here.” Kat launched herself off the sofa and into his arms. The love Alex felt at the moment overwhelmed him, feeling as if his chest might burst with it, all he could do was hold her tightly against him and breathe in the unique scent of citrus shampoo and sweet woman that was always their Katarina. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him; he felt her warm tears against his neck and felt her body heave with sobs so gut-wrenching he was worried she’d make herself sick.

“Katarina, talk to me, baby. Are you all right?” The concern in Alex’s voice had her hiccupping to try to stop crying. She found herself sitting on his lap on the sofa next to Zach who was looking on with an equally concerned expression.

“I am now that I have you both near, I was so frightened. I was so afraid he was going to hurt you. I knew I’d only have one chance, and I was so far from the gun, but then he knocked me off the bed, and I landed right in front of where you’d left it for me on the nightstand. He thought he’d hurt me, but really he’d put me right where I needed to be, and I turned around, and all I could think about was that I had to make sure he didn’t hurt you or anyone else. I remembered everything Colt said when he was teaching me to shoot, and I did just what he said. I just pointed the gun at the middle of his chest and pulled the trigger. I didn’t even stop to think about how I was hurting someone else, because protecting the men I love is more important than anything else, and I know I’m babbling again, and I’m so sorry. I can’t help it, and I have to tell you both right now, I didn’t want to tell you separately because I know that isn’t how you said we had to do it if we wanted to make this work, but now you’re here, and I want you to know that you and Zach are everything I have ever dreamed of, I love you both so much, and if both still want to marry me, I want that more than anything else in the entire world.”

Kat sagged against Alex’s chest, he marveled at how she had been able to say all that while seemingly not taking a single breath as he let the joy of her words soak in.

Zach was off the sofa, kneeling in front of her, embracing Kat from the opposite side, saying, “Oh, kitten, you have just made us both the happiest men in the world. Of course we still want to marry you. Tomorrow wouldn’t be too soon for us, but we want you to have the wedding of your dreams.”

Alex chuckled and said, “Absolutely, anything your heart desires, it’s yours, but you had better start planning quickly, love, because you have one month from this moment to make it happen or we’ll kidnap you and elope, which will get us all in buckets of trouble with Mama Catherine. First thing tomorrow, we’ll begin sharing our joyous news, but for tonight, I believe we have a fiancé that needs some decoration. What do you think brother?”

Zach moved quickly to the safe, reaching inside, he returned with the ring they’d had specially made for Kat the minute she’d re-entered their lives. Alex held her hand steady as Zach slid the platinum and diamond creation on to her delicate finger. The band was narrow with scroll etchings holding sapphires highlighting a huge princess-cut diamond that sparkled under the light. Zach had to swallow around the lump of emotion that had formed in his throat at the sight of their ring on her finger. “The sapphires reminded us of your beautiful blue eyes, kitten. And we know they are also your birthstone.”

“Oh, Zach, Alex, it is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. I can’t believe you had it already. I am the luckiest woman I know.” Kat’s tears had started to fall again, but these were tears of happiness.

“Katarina, we commissioned that ring the morning after we found you at the lake. We knew then we’d never let you go. You are ours. You have always belonged to us, even when we didn’t know it.” Alex’s voice had begun to crack with emotion, but he didn’t care, he wanted his future wife to know just how important she would always be to them both.

Chapter 26

Three Months Later

Kat couldn’t believe Alex and Zach were finally going to take her to The Club. It seemed like she had waited forever for this night. They had promised her they were planning to introduce her to a few Club members at a small gathering out on the terrace before everyone actually went into The ShadowDance Club itself. They’d said it would give her a chance to meet a few of the other submissives ahead of time so she would be able to talk to them and ask questions openly. They wanted to be sure she’d feel comfortable once they were inside and “the rules” applied. Holy shit, there were so many rules, Kat’s head had been reeling for few weeks as they’d taught her all the expectations and Club etiquette.

They’d given her a month to plan the wedding of her dreams, and with their mother’s help, they’d managed it a scant two days before her deadline. Kat still maintained having the gardens, which were the most picturesque place she knew, outside their backdoor had been the only reason they’d been able to pull it together so quickly. And once you added in the steamroller that was her new mother-in-law, Catherine Lamont, people seemed to be able to pull off monumental feats after a single call from Catherine. Laughing to herself, Kat remembered the flowers that she had been assured couldn’t be delivered in time, arriving after a discreet call placed by Catherine.

As Kat stood looking out the back windows as the fading sunlight danced over the gardens, she thought back to their wedding day. The legal ceremony itself had taken place that morning at the small city hall in town. The local justice of the peace, who also ran the hardware store, had married Alex and Kat in a quiet few minutes that were only witnessed by Zach, Jenna, and their parents. Legally, Kat could only marry one of the brothers, and since Alex was two whole minutes older, he was now her “paper husband” as she liked to tease him. But the joining ceremony that evening in the gardens was the ceremony that had joined her heart to both brothers; that was the one that mattered to Kat. It was the wedding she’d always remember.

Catherine had managed to have a bridge with a center gazebo built over the natural rock-lined pool. Kat had felt like a princess as she’d walked across the bridge toward her two grooms. Catherine had insisted it was a symbolic “crossing over” in to a new life, and Kat had to admit, she had felt every bit of that change clear down to the deepest parts of her soul as she’d made those few steps. The foliage surrounding the pool area had been strewn with literally thousands of tiny lights, the underwater lights had added a surreal glow, and the whole evening had been completely enchanting. She would never forget her fairy-tale wedding, and having gained her best friend as a sister-in-law was the sweet icing on the cake.

She and her husbands had danced the night away and then left the next morning on a month-long honeymoon that had taken them to too many of the world’s most famous beaches to even count. Kat had snorkeled in places she’d only seen on the Travel Channel or read about in magazines. The white sands of the Philippines had been a favorite of hers. All their travels as soldiers had made the men a little harder to impress, but they’d insisted they were seeing it all again through her eyes, proving her two Doms could be as romantic as they were demanding.

Her husbands had brought everything along on their trip, except her birth control pills. She was still undecided about whether or not that had actually been an accident. But she didn’t really care because she wanted nothing more than to fill their home with children, so she had decided to not worry about whether or not she’d been “had”—literally.

The first night on the plane Alex had explained in detail how they had planned to stretch her so that she would be able to take them at the same time. She knew her face had paled, her experience with anal play had been terrifying. But true to his word they had spent days prepping her, stretching the sensitive tissues so that she would be able to enjoy their double penetration.

On the final night of their trip they’d led her out to a secluded beach for dinner. There a beautiful tent had been set up and everything looked like a sinful hideaway for a desert sheik. The food had been unbelievable and the torches used for lighting had added to the ambiance of the setting. Their attention to romantic detail always made her feel cherished and special.

Once they finished eating, they demanded she strip and dance for them before they tied her between two posts and flogged her until her skin had become so sensitized she would have sworn they had electrified every square inch of her. When they finally moved her to the enormous pillows at the back of the huge tent, she had been so desperate for them she had nearly been blinded by need.

Zach had lain down and positioned her on top of his rock-hard length. When she had tried to impale herself on him in one swift surge, he’d given her several stinging swats that had only served to send her closer to orgasm. Even now, every time she thought about that night she could feel her pussy flood with her sweet cream.