“Straddle it so I can get at your hair, kitten,” he said, smiling looking down at her dress.
She laughed and pulled the dress up, exposing her ass as she sat down. “One thing you should remember is that I never back down from a challenge,” she teased, hearing them cuss behind her.
“Kitten, you are itching to get that bare ass spanked yet,” Barry growled behind her.
Unwrapping the towel, Betsy smiled, hearing Lacey’s words. “You’ll do no such thing. She’s not ready for that kind of thing.”
“Lacey, do I need to put you in a time-out?” Isaac asked, coming into the room behind her sister.
“But she’s not ready for that yet,” her sister grumbled.
“That’s up to her men to decide now, not you,” Isaac said walking over to Abrax and shaking his hand. “It’s good to see you again Abrax. It will be like old times having you along.”
“I swear that man knows everyone. How are you doing? Are you ready for our trip?” Lacey asked taking a seat across from her as Barry took the towel off her head and started to brush Betsy’s hair.
“Your man has been around for a long time. He’s seen much, but has always remained level-headed.” Barry said behind her as he pulled the back of her dress down. “I thought we were all supposed to meet in the kitchen,” he grumbled in her ear, placing a kiss there before returning back to his task of brushing her hair out.
“I’m sure we’ll all go there when you are finished,” she actually giggled, earning a smile from her sister.
“That’s the first time since we were children that I’ve heard you laugh. I’ve missed it, Bets,” her sister said reaching over and squeezing her hand.
Chapter Four
Barry finished brushing out Betsy’s hair all the while concentrating on what Isaac was saying to his father. The leads he was referring to were good ones, but what had him worried was the fact that Drang might actually be the father of one of Betsy’s children and he too might be searching for the child.
“Why have I heard that name before?” his father, Abrax asked him using their private connection.
“If I’m not mistaken he is the same man who had attacked mother so long ago before you found her, and if that is the case…” Barry didn’t finish his sentence, but his father did.
“Then we have more problems than we thought, because Moraid promised he’d killed the man and if he lied, we are going to need more help then we have here,” Abrax said as Isaac looked from him to his father.
“Explain who this Moraid is and why you believe that this Drang is the same one you fear?” Isaac asked, silencing the room and scaring Betsy as she seemed to have moved away from him as she rose off the chair.
“Damn it, Isaac,” Lacey snarled and glared at him before slowly moving toward her sister. “Easy Betsy, he won’t hurt you again, I promise.” Her sister tried to reassure her, but what drew Barry’s attention was the way she kept rubbing her left breast, where the one nasty scar was.
“Kitten, look at me,” Barry gentled his voice, but pushed a little bit of his gift into it. She lifted her head and he could see the terror there. “Come here, kitten.” Barry held open his arms, waiting. At first he didn’t think she’d move, but then she ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“We can’t go near him, Barry. If he finds the children before we do...” she shook her head. “No, we won’t go. I don’t want to draw his attention to them.” She tried to pull away from him, but he scooped her up into his arms and took her seat.
“First, I want you to let me worry about Drang, but if it helps, know that my father and I are familiar with him and I have a friend who would love to help us. But we have to go now and get them. What if he is also searching and has heard of this information? No, we can’t wait, kitten. It would be safer to find them before him. Can you trust us to do this for you?” he asked, giving her some control over the situation.
“The things he’s done. I was more afraid of drawing his attention than our father’s. I’ve seen him skin a...” she buried her face into his chest as the image of a teenage boy popped into her mind.
“I’ve got you and I promise he’ll be stopped, kitten,” Barry barely kept the anger leashed as he sent a private message to his friend Zanger including the images of what his woman had seen.
“I’ll be there in an hour and Barry, this one is on the house,” Zanger responded with a clipped voice.
Betsy looked up at him. “Was that your friend?” she asked and he nodded.
“Zanger will be here within the hour,” Barry announced earning a whistle from Isaac.
“So this Drang is that bad?” Isaac looked at the three of them. “I wouldn’t do this, but Betsy has been through enough and Lacey will worry. Barry, contact Orion’s brothers. Bring them here as added protection for your woman. It might open a can of worms with Akaos, but I’ll let them deal with him.” Isaac grinned from ear to ear making Orion snort and glanced down at Betsy as he moved to their side.
“Remember me telling you about them? Well even Akaos gives my brothers room. Go Barry, we’ll be in the kitchen making sure our woman is fed.” Orion held out his hand and a hesitant Betsy moved into Orion’s arms.
His fathers Abrax and Elias moved next to him. “Come, we’ll go with you since you can bring only one back with you.”
Once more he glanced down at Betsy, who smiled at him. “I’ll be fine, but be careful. Maybe you could ask about Christmas while you are there?” Betsy glanced at her sister.
“I’ll try kitten, but let’s deal with this first,” Barry said running his finger down her cheek before concentrating on Orion’s family home deep in the planet, New Barony’s core.
At once Barry knew something was wrong when one of Orion’s brothers swung open the door and grabbed him, yanking him inside as his fathers followed right behind him.
“What the hell is going on?” Barry demanded, glancing at Theron and Dion who slammed their door shut, protecting it with a spell he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Warriors are furious they can’t contact their families or do their jobs. Not to mention the fact that a number of them were so pissed at the king and Akaos for what they did to Isaac that they have refused to listen to the king,” Rhodes announced, coming into the room and staring at him and then at his fathers. “What’s wrong? Is Orion hurt?” The oldest brother asked as his mother and fathers filled into the room behind him.
“No, Orion is not hurt. He and Davis are feeding our meru as we speak,” Barry stated quickly to reassure Orion’s parents, and earning a squeal from his mother.
“When can we meet her?” Doris asked.
“We’re hoping all of you will come at Christmas time. Our woman hasn’t had it easy. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. We need your help in protecting her. I hate saying this, but it seems Drang has taking a personal interest in our woman. The scars on her body and soul are bad enough, but now we learned he could be searching for her two children as well.”
Rhodes stiffened and glanced at Abrax. “This is the same man you fought with?”
“We believe so. The images that Betsy had in her mind were that of a teenage girl being raped, so they’re not the best,” Abrax stated, earning a cry from Doris.
“Your wife is there for her?” Doris asked and his father nodded.
“We will not leave until this is over, but we also believe another from our world might be helping him so we need the added protection. Don’t get me wrong, Isaac, Anthony and Dan will be with us, but in London we’ll need more help,” Barry said as Akaos and Talhrn appeared in the room behind them.
Rhodes snarled, but held his place as Talhrn nodded to his father. “Is there a reason why you have breached our security and ignored the ruling I placed last month?” he asked, his gaze landing on Barry.
He stepped forward, but his father stopped him, stepping in front of him. “We are here on behalf of my son’s woman, Lacey’s sister Betsy. There are leads to her chi
ldren’s whereabouts, but we are not the only ones searching for them. Their father’s secondhand man, Drang, is an old enemy that Rhodes, another and I have encountered before. We came asking for Rhodes’ help in protecting Betsy while we search for the children. We believe others may be helping this man, more powerful than this Randle was.”
“Who is this other that you believe is helping Drang? I’ve heard of Drang and he has been causing problems on many planets, not just Earth.” Akaos asked, glaring at Barry.
“Moraid,” Barry stated, earning a hiss from Akaos who glanced at Talhrn.
“Take whoever will go with you,” Talhrn stated.
“I hesitate to bring this up, but I promised my meru I would. Betsy has never had a family Christmas since she was a child. For the last twenty years there has been nothing, but she wants to give her sister one present and that is to have Maya and Dee present for Lacey’s wedding and Christmas Eve, which will be one and the same. I know you two staged all of this, for what I’m not sure, but these women have never been apart on Christmas and ever since we have stepped into their lives, it’s been nothing but heartache. I think we should, for their sakes, try and come together,” Barry stated, watching the play of emotions across Akaos’ face.
Sensing Akaos’ pain, Talhrn placed his hand on Akaos’ shoulder and squeezed. “We will work it out somehow. I’m hoping to lift the ban by tomorrow,” their king sighed. “The rift among my people is huge, but this had to happen. There was one that is too close to us all that has betrayed us. But if our plan works, we will have him tomorrow. I’m trusting you not to inform anyone of this for now,” Talhrn sent to him and Rhodes alone. “I’m afraid even our women won’t speak to either of us. They have moved the children into their own place and refused to acknowledge us, only allowing us small visits to ease their pain and visit the children, but this was the only way to draw out the traitors. I’m afraid Akaos here has suffered the most. His whole family has cut him off for doing his job.”
“No, the women are the ones who have suffered the most. For the last fifty years they have leaned on each other and you two have taken that away from them. Even now they are depressed, not even that special place Maya built has helped because it reminds them of what was taken away from them.” Barry glanced at Rhodes. “Who comes?”
Theron and Dion stepped forward. “We will go with Rhodes.”
Barry placed his hand on Rhodes’ shoulder, ready to leave when Akaos’ words stopped him. “Please inform Isaac that our fathers and mother are helping Dad. He does not even remember doing half of what he did.”
“You tell him tomorrow when this ban is up. I believe you owe Dan a major apology, and another to his family,” Barry stated before disappearing with Rhodes.
As soon as they appeared in the tunnels, Rhodes whistled. “You really don’t like Akaos, do you?” he asked, walking with him toward the kitchen as his fathers came up behind them with Dion and Theron.
“No, he has used his power and influence one too many times, hurting to many people. What they did to Dan and Lacey was uncalled for.”
Barry stopped and glanced at Rhodes. “What they did to Lacey is nothing compared to what has happened to Betsy.” He shared what he had learned from Betsy, earning a snarl from them all. “I will never take Betsy to your planet and I’m pretty sure Isaac will never visit it again after what was done to Lacey. The king and Akaos have forgotten what these ladies have gone through. More violence is not the answer. I’m sorry, but if the king ever did that to Betsy, there would be nothing to hold me back.” Barry let a little bit of his power go and Rhodes grinned.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you. Let’s go. I want to meet this little spit-fire that is mated to you three, and give my brother a piece of my mind for not contacting us before all this went down,” Rhodes grumbled, and Barry laughed.
Yes, Rhodes was a mean son of a bitch as the humans would say, but when it came to anything threating his family, hell wouldn’t stop him from getting a pound of flesh.
As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, Betsy’s laugh caught his attention, but who she was laughing with had him snarling. Zanger leaned over Betsy, picking at her food as she tried to swat at his hands.
“Zander, there better be a damn good reason you are taking food away from my woman,” Barry growled and everyone in the room burst out laughing. Even Orion and Davis had grins on their faces as Betsy stood up and came to him.
She patted his chest. “Zander bet Orion that you would grumble when you saw him. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine and we might be able to give that gift you wanted after all.” Barry said, kissing her nose, but her little cry of delight and squeezing him tight was worth all the gruff in the world.
****
Betsy hated to admit it, but as soon as Barry walked into the room, she had been able to breathe again. Once more he had done what he said he would, easing the doubts that still somewhat plagued her about having mates.
“Kitten, I’d like you to meet Orion’s brothers. This one next to me is the oldest, Rhodes, and the two behind him are Theron and Dion.”
“Twins? How am I supposed... Umph,” she was about to ask when the oldest brother yanked her out of Barry’s arms and hugged her tight.
“Welcome to the family, little girl, and don’t worry, we’ll find your little ones.” He set her back and turned to Orion. “Now if you’ll excuse me while I pound your mate into the ground for not informing us about what was going on,” he snarled, taking two steps before Orion tackled him to the ground, almost knocking her down with them, but once more Barry was there, he lifted her out of the way.
“Watch it, you two!” he snapped and carried her back to the table as the two continued to throw punches behind them.
“You have to stop them, one of them could get hurt!” Betsy said, watching and cringing every time Rhodes landed a punch to Orion’s face or body.
“Nope, I learned last year not to get in between those brothers. They are crazy when they are rolling around like that. Zanger, it’s good to see you,” Barry held out his hand as he sat down with her in his lap. “But stay away from our woman.” He snarled, scaring the crap out of her.
She leaned back and stared up at him. “You okay?”
He sighed, but glared at his friend, who took the seat next to him. “I’m fine, kitten, but once in a while my friend must be reminded that everything isn’t his.”
“I know this, but one can wish.” Zanger turned his deep green eyes on her. “You have a good match here, my friend, and if I hadn’t already promised this one free, I’d do so again. You have my protection also.”
Lacey leaned over and tapped his arm. “Is this guy really that bad? I mean to need this much. Isn’t it overkill?”
“NO!” Every single male shouted, making Lacey and Betsy jump along with Abby and a few others in the room.
“Is Drang a demon? Is that why he could do so many things?” Betsy asked, shivering and remembering the things he had done, her appetite gone as she shoved her plate away.
“Yes and no. He was born to a demon, but we have still have not established who his father was and his mother was murdered when he was just a teen, by him.” Zanger stated, earning a slap to the back of the head by Barry’s father, Abrax.
“The ladies didn’t need to know that, now knock it off.” Once more the room quieted, even the brothers seemed to stop wrestling.
“Old man, you’re lucky you’re one of my best friends or we’d be on the floor throwing punches too,” Zanger grumbled and rubbed the back of his head.
“I thought he was your friend?” Betsy frowned, looking back and forth.
“He is, but he’s what some humans would call a godfather, but let’s not call him that. He already has a god complex as it is.” Barry winked at her and she shook her head.
“Whatever, all of this is over my head. When do we leave?” Betsy asked as Isaac came into the kitchen.
“Now. The plane is
ready. I take it you five will meet us there?” Isaac asked and his parents nodded and vanished out of the room, but Zander remained behind.
“I’ll ride in the plane. You’re forgetting Drang can materialize anywhere if he knows where you are. I need to catch up with Rhodes,” Zander stated, as he followed Rhodes out the door the twins, Theron and Dion tagged along.
“Come on kitten, it’s time to fly. I can’t wait to take you shopping in London,” Barry stated earning a frown from Dan.
“You actually want to go shopping? Are you crazy? Last time I went shopping with Lacey it took her two hours to pick out one pair of shoes,” Dan grumbled, earning him a kick in the ass from Betsy’s sister.
“Fine, see if you see the outfit I bought for tonight, Mr. Edwards. and just wait until I inform your mother about your complaining too,” Lacey said, earning her a growl.
“Lacey!” Dan swatted her butt as Betsy caught up with her. “I mean it, you will not drag my mother into this.”
“Ha! You keep it up and I’ll return your Christmas present too.” She grumbled and rubbed her ass. “Damn men.” She turned to yell something again, but Dan was right there, making her jump.
“You were going to say?” he asked, daring her to say anything.
“It took me that long because those were my wedding shoes. You know I don’t want to disappoint your family,” her sister turned away, but not before she caught the tear that rolled down her cheek.
“Hey, I know for a fact Dan’s mother loves you, so stop worrying about the little things. In the long run, you have what is important - you have them.” Betsy surprised herself wrapping her arms around her sister as they stepped outside to see the limos waiting. The air was crisp and it was snowing again.
She nudged her sister and quickly glanced at the snow. Lacey grinned as they both reached down and grabbed handfuls of snow and turned to throw it at their men, surprising them. Barry stood there with snow covering his face as Dan wiped it from his.
A Christmas Tail: Book Four of The Masters of The Cats Series Page 5
