by Maggie Ryan
“Yes, sir,” I said again, aching to prove that I truly had learned the folly of my choice and that I did want to obey… I wanted to so very badly.
“Good girl,” Draco said, his hands tightening on my hips.
It was like they were telepathic or connected in some mystical way. Without words, as one they thrust back into my body. They fucked me as they wanted and as I needed: hard and fast. Within a few strokes, I felt both their cocks swelling and tensing and then jerking as they erupted at the exact same time.
“Come, now!” The order was given by two men but was one voice. The combined hoarse shout was enough to send me toppling over the cliff to hover on the current of ecstasy before my strangled cry filled the air as I began to plummet toward the earth.
* * *
The next morning, the sunlight was streaming through the window when I opened my eyes. My face was pressed into the pillow, my nightgown hitched up around my waist. I leaned up on my elbows, turned my head over my shoulder, and peered behind me.
My ass had been so tender that I’d spent the night sleeping on my stomach. How was it even possible that there was not a single speck of the red my mates had painted with hand, spoon, and belt remaining on my buttocks? I shook my head, reaching back to probe the surface of my pale hillocks. “Ow,” I muttered, discovering that lack of color didn’t mean no pain.
“Good morning, princess.” Deo sat in the chair in the corner of our bedroom. I sat up, struggling to bring my nightgown down over my bare skin—though who knew how long he had been viewing my bare ass from that chair already?
“Good morning, Deo,” I said demurely. My evening with my mates had left me with the feeling of surrender, of submission. My disobedience and snark had turned to ash by the fire they’d ignited on my ass. “Where’s Draco?”
“He is running the perimeter of our property.”
My brow knitted together. “Is everything okay?”
“Just a precaution, my sweet.”
I yawned, stretching and shaking the night from me. The red numbers on the alarm clock told me it was early. “Hey—we have a few hours before I go to work.” A smile spread across my face. I loved lazing around our beautiful manor on early mornings, begging Draco to make me pancakes—which he sometimes did.
“Not this morning. I have work to do.” Standing from his seat, he approached the bed, easily plucking me from the covers to set me onto the floor. My bare feet planted in the soft carpet, my nightgown falling into place. His eyes snapped to mine. “And you will have to go with me until Draco returns.”
“Why?” I mused as he took my hand. Without answering my question, he led me down our cold marble staircase, through the hall, stopping at the door to his office. Opening the door with his free hand, he switched on the light.
I hadn’t been back in Deo’s private home office since the first night he had unexpectedly taken me over his knee.
Leaving me in the center of the carpet, Deo walked to the other side of his office. I felt small, standing alone barefoot, wearing only a thin nightgown. My feet turned inward, and I clasped my hands behind my back while Deo pulled out a wooden chair from the edge of the room.
Lifting the heavy antique chair, he walked to the front of the desk and placed it facing across from his own office chair, as if he were expecting a client.
He stood by the chair, his big hand wrapped around the ornate carvings in the wood. His dark eyes locked on mine. When he spoke, it was with sternness.
“I have work to do. And after your impulsive behavior yesterday, I feel I can no longer let you out of my sight. With Draco gone to assure that our borders are secure, you will have to stay with me while I work. If you cannot be trusted, you will be watched, every moment of every day.”
My gaze dropped, my cheeks burning with shame. “I really did learn my lesson. You can trust me.”
“Words are easy to say,” Deo said. “It takes action backing up those words to make them real. Understand?”
I had to nod because, well, I knew I wasn’t above making promises when in trouble and then tending to forget those promises once the moment passed.
“You will sit on your punished bottom as I work. You will spend this time thinking to yourself about the importance not only of obeying me and your guardian, but the importance of the words you say.” Holding a hand out to me, his brow raised as he beckoned me. “Come.”
I tiptoed across the carpet, making my way to my ‘naughty chair’. With a sigh, I sat down gingerly, flinching as my sore bottom contacted the wooden surface.
The heat of his body, the largeness of him looming behind me, made me shiver. His deep voice rumbled, “Your punished bare bottom, Cassandra.”
I stood, quickly lifting my nightgown around my waist, the cheeks on my face burning as hot as the punished ones beneath me had after my spankings last night. I sat down slowly, a quiet, “Oohh,” escaping my lips.
My hips shifted back and forth, trying to find a comfortable position. Deo, still standing behind the chair placed a heavy hand on each of my shoulders.
“Be still.”
I stopped wiggling, slumping down in the chair.
Deo walked around the desk, taking his seat behind it. “Sit up straight,” he warned, his eyes narrowing.
My spine straightened, my ass pressing into the wood.
Giving me one final disapproving look, Deo sat down in his chair. I watched as he pulled folders from the drawers.
“What are you looking at?” I asked, trying to take my mind off the throbbing that had begun in my butt.
Quirking his eyebrow, Deo asked, “What are you supposed to be doing?”
“Thinking about how naughty I am,” I mumbled.
“Reflecting on the importance of obedience, the consequences of your unwise choices, and the value of the words we speak, is what you were asked to do, young lady. Do you need to write it out in lines, or can you focus?”
I had assumed this ‘time out’ in Deo’s office couldn’t be more humiliating. I was wrong—it could get worse.
“Or maybe you could pen an apology note to your mates? For disobeying our commands? For putting yourself at risk?” he suggested.
“I’ll be good,” I said, straightening my posture.
Turning his attention back to his work, my husband mumbled, “Lines and a letter might not be bad ideas. I’m putting them in my back pocket.”
His eyes focused on his papers, and I allowed myself the pleasure of one small eye roll.
“I felt that, Cassandra,” Deo murmured, not bothering to look up as he scanned his documents.
I sighed. I sat. I tried to concentrate on being good, but my mind would not stop wandering to what had happened in the bedroom. The way Deo and Draco had punished me, the way they’d taken me as I paid my penance.
Even my thoughts of our time in the bedroom could not keep the boredom from creeping in—I am not one to sit still for extended periods of time. I listened to the clock tick. I tried to crane my neck to see over the desk and read his papers without being noticed—and failed—receiving such a sharp look I sat back in my seat. After what felt like hours of agony, my butt aching, my mind dying of boredom, Deo finally looked up from his papers.
“Come here.”
“Thank the Gods,” I muttered, standing and stretching. “That was forever, Deo,” I whined.
Deo looked at his watch, then gave me a glance that was a mixture of disbelief and amusement. “That was exactly one quarter of an hour, Cassandra Ambrosia.”
“Oh,” I said sheepishly, giving a shrug. “It felt like hours.”
Deo pushed himself and his chair back from the desk, making room for me to crawl into his lap.
Funny how sitting didn’t feel anywhere near as awful when I was doing so with my mate’s arms wrapped around me. I curled my arms around his neck, burying my face into his chest. I practically purred as Deo’s hands stroked my hair, my back.
After a moment of petting, Deo sat back. I looked up
at him, my eyes locking on his.
Worry crossed his face, flashing in his eyes and softening his tone. “Now if you ever so much as dare to take one step out of that building without an Ambrosia male escorting you, I swear there will be one by your side, every second of your day, even when you are in the restroom. You will not be afforded even one moment of privacy. Do you understand me?”
My stomach dropped at the concern in his face. I had taken things too far yesterday. My guilt was quickly overrun by dread—I could not imagine being escorted to the restroom, much less having any one of the Ambrosia males witnessing moments that were meant to be private. I would be on my best behavior. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. I have an important matter I need to discuss with you. A matter that was brought to my attention by Draco. And the reason I was unable to meet you at the office to explain everything in person yesterday. I was investigating.”
I opened my mouth to release the string of questions that had been burning in my mind since that strange morning. Deo placed his finger over my lips, silencing me.
Giving me a stern look, Deo admonished, “I will speak, and you will listen.”
I gazed downward. Deo was becoming less and less patient with my lawyer tendencies. He seemed to enjoy his new habit of spanking my argumentative side right out of me. And now he had a partner, our co-mate, to help him keep me meek—not that I was complaining. Having two hot Greek doms was a dream come true for a woman like me. But despite the harsh punishments it still took all my will power to hold my questioning tongue.
“Are you ready to listen?”
I nodded.
“Good. I will tell you as much as I feel it is safe for you to know, at this time.” His eyes softened as he gazed over me. “We three enjoyed our vow ceremony and extended honeymoon. Did we not?”
“It was wonderful,” I gushed.
“It was.” Deo gave the tip of my nose a kiss. “And our ceremony was everything we had hoped it would be. My mind rests easy knowing you have Draco as well as myself to love and care for you.” He chuckled and shook his head.
“What?” I asked.
“Yesterday, when you tore out of here and Draco had to follow in the Escalade, our mate said you were wrapping up a little concert before parking your car?”
Feeling a blush creep into my cheeks, I remembered singing cheesy pop songs at the top of my lungs into my tube of lip gloss. It was a little ritual I had begun the very first day I had started at the firm… a way to calm my nerves. Though I’d long ceased to need it, it had become a habit and I still enjoyed the private moment right before I went into work each day.
“I can’t believe he saw me,” I said, embarrassed, burying my head in my hands.
“Draco found it quite cute—as he does most of your antics. He is made quite soft by your adorableness. So much so that when you took off for your first coffee run, he didn’t stop you, but hung back. Only once he was sure you were making your way safely back to the building, did he enter before you,” Deo said. I knew it to be true—though firm and strict, Draco was the softer of my two mates, spoiling me in little ways.
“You already know of the changes I have instituted. With these direct attacks looming in our future, I needed to protect you. I knew you would be restless, getting yourself into trouble at every turn if you were unable to work or leave the house. And I wanted to protect our friends.”
“Cy and Andrew?”
“Yes, and Debbi who you are so fond of. Cynthia and Andrew were already too far in to let them go. They will be better off under the employ of the pack. But Debbi—I knew it was best to get her out altogether. And we needed somewhere to train, hone our skills. So, I bought the building, outfitted it with the training gym, a room of maps, and a floor holding every historical writing the Ambrosia family owns. Your new job will be to work alongside Artem—sorting through all the information and helping us gain any clues we can to prepare for attacks. Your mind processes information so quickly—always working as if trying to solve a puzzle. We will study and work, and—if possible—break this curse once and for all.”
A thrill ran through me at his proposal—I wanted nothing more than to break the curse of the Ambrosia family. Should we have little ones one day—I shuddered at the thought of them in danger.
“I had planned to meet you at the office yesterday morning, myself, to explain our new business arrangement. I wanted to be there with you… but it was not possible.” He looked as if he was unsure whether he wanted to share the information with me.
Reaching up, I stroked the soft beard on his worried face. “Tell me.”
“Better to show you.” Reaching around me, Deo opened another drawer of his desk, retrieving a wrinkled newspaper. Holding it out to me, he smiled but the grin did not reach his anxious eyes.
Taking the paper from him, I spread it over my lap. The headline read, Nearly Three Dozen New Jersey Law Enforcement Officers Missing. No End in Sight of Disappearances. Running my eyes quickly over the page, I absorbed the information. The story was about the New Jersey police officers who had come for us at the castle. Days without turning up, they were missing from their posts. As they continued to not arrive for their scheduled shifts, fellow colleagues from the department began to speculate to local news sources, some giving up information about the officers being thought to be corrupt. One anonymous officer was quoted as saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were tied up in illegal Mafia activities.” Another anonymous source said, “We all suspected something corrupt was going on. They may have fled the country in fear for being found out? Fleeing from the mob? I don’t know, but let’s just say, these weren’t good guys. Not like the rest of the squad. Now those are some stand-up men. Shame they all get a bad name when a couple creeps get in the mix.” Scanning down further, I read a line that made my breath hitch in my chest. Since the mysterious disappearance of the first twenty officers, twelve more officers have failed to turn up to one or more of their scheduled shifts. My gaze snapped up at Deo.
“They are on the move, already. Aren’t they?”
“Perhaps.”
“They are looking for me—they are coming for me,” I whispered. Looking back at the paper, I memorized the features of each of the newly missing officers who were pictured. They were all young looking with self-assured, somewhat cocky expressions on their handsome faces. A flash of one of the men coming straight at me brushed through my mind.
“Not so fast,” Deo said.
Slapping my hand on the paper, I demanded, “Then tell me what are they doing, Deo? Collecting valentines for the nursing homes? You heard the demons. We have come for the one who breaks the vow. That is what they said.” I shuddered at the memory of their high, nasally voices chanting in an unnerving cadence. “They are coming for me.”
“Watch your tone, young lady. You do not want to find yourself over my lap again. Is your ass not sore enough?”
Holding my tongue, I squirmed, the move reminding me of my punished rear.
Stroking my hair as he often did, Deo looked over my head, a look of almost what seemed to be desperation. “We have more time. I’m sure of it. Every recording, every document we read said as much.” His eyes returned to drop to mine as he gestured at the papers on his desk. “Everything I have studied all pointed to more time…” His voice trailed off but not before I heard, “We need more time.”
A shiver ran down my spine. They were coming for me and they would not be long. I could feel it in my bones.
Chapter Six
Cassandra
Cynthia threw a high kick to the center of a punching bag, twirling with the move and landing perfectly balanced. She brushed a wild blonde curl from her eyes, throwing her hand on her hip. With a satisfied smile she said, “Not too bad, huh, Baal?”
If Baal’s grin got any wider I swear his face was going to snap in two. His green eyes sparkled with admiration as he said, “Very good, Cynthia, beautiful form.”
Call me crazy, but I had
the distinct impression our instructor wasn’t talking about her moves. No, I was pretty certain the Greek was complimenting his student’s stunning body. Every luscious curve was molded in form-fitting spandex in various hues of purple. Tucking a long lock of his light brown hair behind his ear, Baal made his way to Cy. Her face pinkened as he placed his hands gently on her full hips, leaning in behind her. “Let me show you how to rotate your kick just a little deeper.”
Rolling my eyes so hard I was afraid someone would have to knock me on the side of the head to get them unstuck, I said, “It was a great kick. Really good. I’m heading out now.” I stood there, pointlessly waiting for either one of them to acknowledge me, or my departure. Laughing to myself, I turned to head across the wide expanse of the gym as Cy allowed Baal to ‘instruct’ her though I couldn’t quite grasp the concept of how gyrating one’s hips into the body of the instructor could improve your kicking ability—your sex life, yes, but side kicks—not so much.
Days had passed since Deo had shown me the article in the newspaper. The initial fear it had brought to me had dulled, replaced by a burning desire to break this curse once and for all.
My mornings were spent practicing with Cy and Baal, or Andrew. We were getting stronger, faster. The training facility had become a second home to Cy and Andrew, who continued to work out long after I went upstairs to the second floor.
My afternoons were spent bent over ancient documents, scanning, memorizing. Artem worked beside me, his wire-rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose, complementing the color of his silver hair.
A week had passed since I’d made the mistake of attempting to delay my reporting for duty. I’d learned two things when my mates had come upstairs after Draco had caught me outside this very building. First thing was that a wooden spoon hurt like hell when it was used against my ass and second, that I’d feared the reunion with Uncle Artem for no reason. The next day when I’d entered the room where he was working, my bottom still sore from the night before, Artem had given me a quick smile and a cordial ‘hello,’ looking genuinely pleased to see me. The two of us had formed a comfortable, quiet working partnership. There was little discussion between us, just a lot of ‘Hmmms’ and murmurs coming from him when he came across something interesting. Occasionally he would circle a text with his inky black pen, then thrust the document in my direction. Thus far I had not made any headway on breaking the curse.
