Love and Punishment

by Sorcha Mowbray

  “Well, well, well. What have we here?” Nate sauntered toward her, and she ceased rubbing the fruitless circles around her swollen and aching nub. “No, don’t stop on our account.”

  Heat seared her cheeks, and she jerked her hand from between her legs despite his words. “I-I, um….”

  “Shit, don’t stop, baby. We want to watch you get off.” Liam’s raspy tone startled her, and she couldn’t resist a peek to see if any anger lingered.

  Instead of continuing, she pushed up on the bed until her back came against the welded headboard, like the one in her room, but bigger. Much, much bigger. “I didn’t mean to taunt you. I don’t know—”

  “Don’t apologize. Not unless you really mean it.” Her thighs closing drew his gaze down to where she rubbed them together to ease the ache. “And something tells me you don’t mean it.” He lurched toward the bed, and her nipples tightened as though a cold breeze had blown through the room. “In fact, I think you wanted me turned on and achy. Needed to test my control, to see how far you could push me. Didn’t you, Bel?”

  Oh shit. She had to be in trouble because he never called her Bel. Always, he used baby. Unsure what to do, she bit her lip and sized up her options—or lack thereof. She could get past one of them, but two? God, could she have been a bigger idiot? What an insanely stupid idea to hide in their room. Or maybe she did it because she knew it would bring this sexual tension to a head? Maybe her subconscious presented the opportunity for her to take what she wanted? What her body needed, even if it was in direct opposition to everything she’d worked for. Everything she had believed for most of her adult life. Besides, sleeping with the enemy didn’t have to mean anything other than a physical exchange of pleasure. Afterward, when they lay exhausted and sated, she could execute her mission. She would do this in order to fulfill her purpose. A distraction. Nothing more.

  “Yes. I wanted you to ache the way I have for days. Since I watched you two….”

  “Fuck. Say it, pet.” Nate had crept closer, using her focus on Liam for cover. Crap, the man was stealth incarnate.

  The dryness of her lips had her slipping her tongue out in an attempt to moisten them. “Fuck.”

  Liam’s cock twitched behind his workout pants.

  “Mmmm...I think he likes hearing you talk dirty.” Nate slid next to her.

  The breath stole from her lungs with the way Liam whipped his tank over his head.

  “Damn right, I adore hearing dirty words come out of such a sweet mouth.” The bed dipped under his weight when he crawled toward where they sat together.

  Nate worked a hand under her chin and turned her face to his. “So fucking sexy.” Then he plunged past her defenses and kissed her with such conviction she believed he’d die if he didn’t suck his very existence from her lips. At the same time he devoured her mouth, another set of hands worked her pants down her legs to expose her hot, wet slit. Her thighs had traces of her juices on them from her own futile efforts combined with the sheer need the two men sparked within her body.

  Nate released her lips, which allowed Liam to grab her thighs and slide her down the bed. Stretched out before him, reminiscent of a sacrifice to a golden god, she struggled not to move. He reached between her thighs, stroked her soaked pussy until her hips jerked, and carried his own fingers to his lips. He sucked her flavor from his digits and moaned. The charged moment rendered her unable to tear her gaze from the mesmerizing man. His intensity, his command drew her, metal to a magnet. Nate tapped her hip and she lifted until he could slip two pillows beneath her ample bottom.

  Without warning, Liam eased between her thighs.

  Strong hands wrapped around her hips as he spread her wide and lapped at her from her tight rear sphincter up, and rimmed her wet hole which caused her hips to buck in response. The evil man avoided the nub and instead focused on driving his tongue deep inside her channel, drawing forth more of her juices. Strands of his hair came loose and tickled her thighs while Nate worked her top over her breasts. Then he lowered his cropped head toward her exposed flesh and wrapped his warm, wet tongue around her diamond-hard nipple. She groaned, lost to the pleasure of so many hands and lips touching her skin. The suction of Nate’s mouth on her nipples might have been enough to bring her off, but the two of them worked together and drove her hard and fast to the cliff and beyond.

  Caught up in the swells of decadence, her world exploded when Liam slid a long, thick finger into her ass at the same time he latched onto her clit. The top of her head blew clean off when Nate held her down and bit her nipple while pinching the other with his free hand. Wave after wave of pleasure-pain speared through her body and caused her to rear up with a cry. Slowly, they brought her down from the sexual high with gentle nibbles and licks on her breasts, between her thighs, and along her stomach and hips. Hazy from gratification, she lifted her lashes to find the two of them kissing frantically and rubbing their cocks through their clothes. Finally, they split and looked down at her. “Christ that was sexy as hell to watch,” she said, her voice husky from screaming bliss.

  Still stroking each other, they smiled at her.

  “I could watch you come all day long.” Nate’s voice, deepened from need, raked across her nerves and strummed the remnants of her orgasm.

  The desire to repay the pleasure rode her hard, but she couldn’t decide where to start. Who should she attack first? Seeming to have read her mind, they stood and stripped their remaining clothes, ending her need to decide. Liam slipped onto the bed next to her where Nate had started, and stroked his erection. “Suck it, baby.”

  Eagerness tipped her over and she grabbed his shaft, easily the longest and thickest one she’d ever encountered. She refused to be daunted. Taking him in hand, she licked the tip and swiped up the drop of pre-cum. The salty-sweet bead made her hungry for more, and she crawled between his legs to get a better angle. His hand fisted in her hair as she bobbed up and down, taking all she could.

  “Nate’s gonna fuck you from behind, baby. You okay with that?”

  Her cunt pulsed with need at his words. Somehow she managed a low hum of acknowledgement around his length. In answer, Nate moved between her legs, spread her wider, and tipped her ass up higher. Something hard but thinner than a penis pushed into her pussy. By the time three fingers, she assumed, worked in and out of her, she pushed back to meet them, needed more to fill her.

  “Shit, she’s dripping,” Nate mumbled when he pulled his digits out to replace them with his cock. Thank God. He slid deep in one long, smooth stroke. His dick was of a similar size to Liam’s. Never mind she had seen them both that first night. The tightness of her channel wrapped around his thick length told her all she needed to know. He fit her perfectly. One, two strokes in and out of her. Then he stopped and a new sensation invaded the haze of lust. Something thicker than Liam had used pressed against her asshole. Every muscle in her body tightened around the invasion along with the shaft lodged in her pussy.

  “Easy, baby.” Liam caressed her head and stroked down over her shoulder. “Let him in. He needs to get you ready to take us together eventually.”

  And, just like that, her body opened to him, eager to know both of them at once. With his fingers in her ass, his cock in her pussy, and Liam’s in her mouth she had an inkling why Teal might enjoy three Beasts at once. She certainly enjoyed her two. All coherent thought fled when Liam pumped into her mouth in sync with Nate’s thrusts into her ass and pussy. From deep within her, a moan escaped. She was no longer in control, and completely at the mercy of these men who took their pleasure from her all the while giving it right back.

  The moist sucking sounds of flesh wrapped around flesh and skin slapping skin shot her over the edge once again delivering her pulse after pulse of bliss. With the first contractions of her channel, Nate followed her into the abyss. Soon Liam joined them, pumping his load down her throat as she fought to take every last drop.

  Exhausted and replete, they collapsed in a
heap on the bed.

  Bel drifted to the surface of consciousness drawn by some niggling voice insisting she needed to remember something. Focused on breathing, the information eluded her. One of the guys shifted, taking some of his weight off her and then, with a minor adjustment, she found herself snuggled between two exhausted men. A huge yawn escaped when sleep laid claim to her body and mind. But that voice fought back, hard, until she pushed it away with a strength of will born of exhaustion. Whatever it was could wait until later. Much, much later.

  ***

  Two weeks slipped by, Bel’s days split between sparing with one of the boys and helping Sam in the warehouse. Her nights were spent between Liam and Nate sometimes in other physical pursuits and sometimes just talking. Strangely content with how life had changed, she strolled into her room and found a tab lying on the bed. The transparent slate-like device turned on with the swipe of her finger across the clear screen. Excited by what she assumed to be a gift from one or both of the guys, she searched through the amazing array of pre-loaded vid files. There were BTW movies, clips of homemade holo-vids, holo-books, and other files. She found one labeled Nicodemus. Of all the files, this one twinkled, mimicking a star in the night sky. Something about it drew her. Made her toss the vid into the air above the tab. The holo-vid lit up the room and displayed an old man—or was he a child?—who hobbled toward a stage. A small gasp escaped when his knees bent backwards just before he leaped onto the platform. He turned to face her, stared at her as though they were in the same room, and then folded his strange legs beneath him.

  Entranced by the figure, she watched and listened. “Come close, ye bonny lass. My name is Nicodemus. I be a traveling bard. For a coin, I’ll share a tale.” He dropped his hat on the floor and a coin dropped from thin air into the head cover, after which a vibrant blue spider emerged from the depths of his snarled beard. The eight-legged creature, a tarantula she suspected, purred and vibrated when the gnomish man stroked its furry back. The communion continued for a bit before it settled in to listen.

  “Once upon a time, there lived two beasts. Surrounded by many, yet alone in their hearts, they longed for someone to love them.”

  With a loud gasp she dropped the tab, yet it continued to play the vid. The little old man paused in this tale and looked at her. “What is it, my child?”

  Astonished, Bel stepped backward. “But you couldn’t possibly hear me.”

  “And why not, ye wee silly girl?”

  “Because you’re not real—”

  “I’m real as the world around ye, the magic of the night, and the love buried deep in yer heart. Ye need only believe for it to be real. Do ye believe, lass?”

  “Believe in what?” Her heart raced and her mouth grew dry.

  “Why, in love. True love. The kind of love that can move mountains, right wrongs, and wake sleeping beauties.”

  Bel let out a bitter laugh. “No. It has been many years since I listened to fairy tales. A long time since I believed in such childish nonsense.”

  The little man tsked and shook his head sadly. “Mark my words, Beauty. One day soon you will believe again, but will ye be too late to save the ones you love?”

  The vid went dark. The little gnome disappeared and his spider with him. Bel scooped up the tab and stared at the clear slate of plastic. A tap on the corner and the screen lit up revealing the files she’d been looking at, all except the one labeled Nicodemus. But it was just here. Her eyeballs dried out until they resembled dehydrated peas, searching the damn device for the missing file. But no vid showed up anywhere. She reached down and pinched herself. Nope, still awake. So, not a dream. Confused by the whole exchange—shit, she’d had a conversation with a holo-vid!—she set the unit down and decided to go for a walk to clear her head. It was too damned weird.

  She wandered down the hall and out to the warehouse to find the guys. Nate and Liam stood with a tall dark man whose face hid in shadows. Upon her arrival, their conversation ended and the man moved away. He cast a wary glance back, which allowed her a glimpse of his face. While the right side showed a not unattractive, if intense-looking man, the left side swirled with puckered flesh. Unconscious of her reaction, she drew up short in surprise. His scarred visage was less of an issue than the permanent snarl on his face. “Wh-who is that?”

  Nate and Liam drew together to block her view of the man. “Demon.”

  “That’s horrible.” She glared at both of them. “How could you call him that?”

  “Because the man is a demon on wheels, pet. He earned his name long before his face got messed up.”

  “Oh.” Mollified, but still not wholly comfortable, she asked, “Can’t you give him a new nickname?”

  They both laughed. “That’s not really how it works.”

  “Well, what are your nicknames? I’ve yet to hear anyone call you by a name other than Liam and Nate.”

  “Neither of us ever picked one up.” Nate shrugged. “Surely you didn’t traipse all the way out here to talk about names.”

  “No, I wanted to ask you about the tab you left in my room. Or, one of you left it I assumed.”

  They both looked confused. Liam’s face morphed into a scowl. “Nobody left you a tab. Only the Wizards have that kind of tech, and they don’t share it readily.”

  “Well, someone came in my room and left it for me. I watched this weird holo-vid then it shut off on me. I couldn’t find it again when I tried to restart it. I had hoped you might have the original file. But if you didn’t give me the tab….”

  “Neither of us did,” Nate confirmed. “Maybe you better show us this tab.”

  Nervous now, she led them back to her room. Inside, everything was as she’d left it, except the tab no longer sat on her bed. After twenty minutes of searching for the device with no success, they gave up. “That is really weird. Why would someone want to mess with me?”

  “Pet, it’s a very aggressive world we live in. Maybe one of the Roses did it to mess with you? I’ll look into it. I promise.” Nate hugged her close, but let her go and left.

  Liam pulled her into his arms. “Don’t be scared. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She pushed back from him. “Scared? It didn’t scare me really. It was just odd.”

  “Well, maybe we’ve been sheltering you from the club too much. How about tonight we hang out with everyone in the main room? They’re having a bit of a party for a new member.”

  “Oh, I shouldn’t. That’s not something I should attend.”

  “Why not?” he practically growled at her.

  “Well, I’m not really a member. Isn’t that a members-only thing?” Worried, she might upset him even more, she drew her brows together.

  “Members and anyone else we choose to invite, including prospects.”

  “Well, okay. If you think I should.”

  “Baby, I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think you should be there.” Liam pressed his lips to hers. His firm, warm skin sealed to hers, and he pressed his tongue past her lips and into her mouth. Again, he kissed her as though she were all he needed to survive. It was heady and wildly confusing to be kissed like that. To feel all that need and want from such an imposing man. On one hand she had a mission to complete. A goal. On the other hand, she had never felt so desired, so wanted. Her body responded readily to his invitation, her thighs quivered, and her pelvic muscles flexed and contracted with the need to be stretched. How the hell did a girl keep her head on straight around those kind of men? And when the two of them were together, she had even less of a shot. They were powerfully addictive, akin to the latest designer drug her father’s men peddled on the street. The intoxicating, breath-stealing kiss lingered until the need to breathe demanded they part.

  “So, you’ll come tonight?” Desire darkened his green eyes. Made them glitter.

  Since the ability to breath deserted her, taking speech with it, she managed a nod.

  “Good, we’
ll come for you at seven, dinner in the main room before the party starts.” Liam reached up and smoothed her hair where he had shoved his fingers through it.

  “Okay.”

  “Anything else strange happens you let one of us know. Immediately.” He squeezed her shoulders and turned to go. He paused on his way out—“And be sure to wear something sexy tonight.”

  An involuntary smile stretched her mouth while she ogled his backside as he sauntered out of the room. The inner sense of well-being proved short-lived once thoughts of the missing tab and the strange holo-vid returned a short while later. A relaxing shower calmed her and helped her find some equilibrium. The whole thing seemed strange, but maybe they were right. She needed to push past the odd interlude. Needed to push past the insidious feeling of rightness that stole through her when she was with them. The question she needed to focus on had everything to do with how she would complete her mission. And when?

  Chapter Five

  Liam, with Nate by his side, pulled up to Bel’s door and found it ajar. A bolt of worry punched through his gut after the day’s events. Nobody had claimed any knowledge of a tab, and no one in their little family owned one to their knowledge, which made the whole thing odd. Unsettling. So, he didn’t hesitate to push the door wide open. The pair of them drew up short at the sight before them. A gasp of surprise broke the silence as she turned around to face them. Their girl rocked a seriously sexy look from her new cowgirl boots to the short black leather miniskirt slung low on her hips, to the black leather halter that barely contained her tits behind three big buckles. Total wet dream come to life.