by Becca Van
Twelve-year-old Lilac hurried to the kitchen after Messiah had ordered her, Fleur, and Rose to get dinner ready for everybody. She’d just grabbed some ingredients from the pantry when she heard grunting and moaning coming from the large living room. Thinking someone was sick and in pain, she raced toward the doorway and froze.
Sara-Jane, one of the five women living there, was down on all fours on the living room rug, to Violet’s shock, totally naked. However, what horrified her more was the fact that she wasn’t the only naked person in the room. She was surrounded by four adult men, and they were all as bare as the day they’d been born. What horrified Lilac was that the four men were all running their hands over Sara-Jane’s body. It took her a few moments to get past her shock, and when she did she felt sick to her stomach. Sara-Jane shifted, and that was when Lilac saw that the poor woman was being used by three men at once. At first she thought Sara-Jane was on board with what the men were doing to her, but when she saw tears rolling down the woman’s face, Lilac realized she wasn’t.
She’d spun on her heels so fast she’d almost fallen over. After she’d regained her balance, Lilac had rushed to the trash can and puked her guts out. From that moment on, Lilac had lived in fear. Every time one of the men or older boys looked in her direction, she’d felt sick to her stomach.
A few years later after hearing Fleur and Rose crying in their beds, Lilac had known she was next and she’d begun to plan her escape. Hearing Virgil claiming her without her consent had solidified her need to leave.
Violet blinked and wiped at her cheeks when she felt something tickle over her skin. Her hands came away wet, and she stared at the moisture on her fingers incomprehensively for a second, until she realized she was crying. She knew she’d never be able to look back without getting emotional or feeling sick to her stomach, but at least she’d managed to escape.
The hair on her nape prickled, but when she glanced around she didn’t see anyone. She picked up her pace, and five minutes later she was almost home. When she heard a truck rumbling up behind her, fear skittered up her spine, her breath hitched in her throat, and her heart slammed against her sternum.
Violet took off running and didn’t stop until she was on her small porch, her hand digging into her purse as she searched for her keys. When the truck slowed and the lights shone over her and her door, she sobbed with fear and her purse fell from her hand. She turned slowly and pressed her back against the door, praying that whoever was here wasn’t who she thought it was.
“Lilac…Violet, what’s wrong?”
Violet’s knees buckled and she slid down the door, landing on her ass with a thump. Relief made her muscles weak and she started shaking.
“Fuck, sweetness, what happened?” Wilder asked as he crouched in front of her.
She flinched automatically when he reached toward her.
“Did someone hurt you, honey?” Cree asked.
She shook her head and drew in a deep breath after deep breath as she tried to calm her racing heart and shaky limbs.
“Did someone scare you, baby?” Nash asked.
Finally, the adrenaline wore off and embarrassment set in. “I’m fine.”
“That’s the biggest fucking lie I’ve ever heard.” Wilder snapped and then grasped her upper arms before helping her back to her feet. He nudged her purse with his toe and gazed at Cree. “Find her house keys.”
“I can do it.”
Wilder didn’t answer nor did he let her go. He gazed into her eyes and then he swept her up into his arms. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, sweetness, but we’re not leaving until we find out.”
Violet wanted to scream at him and his brothers to leave her alone, but she remained silent. She was so on edge she was scared to open her mouth. She’d already told these men and the sheriffs part of her story, and while she’d felt better afterward, right now she was feeling scared and vulnerable. She’d never let on to anyone how she felt, and she had a feeling if she told them what had upset her, they’d never leave her alone again. So she decided the best offense was to remain silent.
She didn’t notice she’d closed her eyes until she heard her keys in the lock and though she wanted to look up at Wilder, Cree, and Nash, she kept them closed. It felt so good to be in Wilder’s arms, to have his warmth seeping into her cold body, and to have his arms around her as if he cared for her. She wanted to stay there forever.
Violet was tired and achy and still trembling, albeit only slightly, but she hoped that Wilder couldn’t feel her shivering.
She inhaled raggedly and shuddered when he sat down with her in his lap. When he brushed his thumbs under her eyes, wiping the tears she didn’t realize were still rolling down her cheeks, some of the cold in her heart faded.
“Look at me, Lil…Violet,” Wilder demanded.
She shook her head. “Just let me go. Please?”
His hands cupped her face, and when he rested his forehead against hers, she shivered again. But this time it wasn’t because she was cold or scared. Liquid desire pooled low in her belly, her heart rate sped up, as did her breathing. She was so tempted to press her lips against his to find out if they were as soft as they looked.
“Violet, we’re trying to help you, baby,” Nash said as he sat on the sofa next to her and Wilder. He laced his fingers with hers and squeezed.
She glanced over at Cree when he knelt in front of her, one of his big hands braced on her leg just above her knee.
Wilder nudged her gaze back to his. “Why are you trembling, sweetness? What were you running from?”
She wasn’t sure what to say, so she licked her suddenly dry lips and shrugged.
“If you’re in danger we need to know, honey,” Cree said. “We can’t protect you if we don’t know who or what we’re protecting you from.”
“There is no danger,” she answered breathily, and she mentally cursed.
“That’s the biggest lie you’ve told tonight,” Wilder said angrily. “As of Monday, we are deputies. It’s our job to keep everyone in this town, this county safe. Please, talk to us, sweetness.”
“I’m just being paranoid.”
“But what if you’re not?” Nash asked. “What if you are in danger? We can’t help you unless you tell us what’s going on.”
With a sigh of resignation, Violet gripped Wilder’s wrists and tugged his hands from her face. She braced a hand on Cree’s shoulder, rose, and moved away from them. Cree got up from the floor and sat on the other side of Wilder.
“I’d just had a flash back to when…the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I felt as if someone was watching me.”
“Is that why you ran when you heard the truck?” Nash asked.
Violet nodded. She wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered when another shudder raced up her spine. When she glanced over at the Sheffield men and saw the concern on their faces, her heart filled with warmth. They seemed genuinely worried for her. She’d never had anyone concerned about her before and it made her feel special, cherished even. When she realized where her thoughts were heading she quickly pushed them aside.
“From now on, one or all of us will take you to and pick you up from the diner,” Cree stated emphatically. “It’s too dangerous for a single woman to be walking the streets alone in the wee hours of the morning.”
“There’s no need—”
“There’s every need,” Wilder snarled as he stood. “We care for you, Violet. We want to make sure you get home safe each and every night.”
“I’ve been looking after myself—”
“You think we don’t fucking know that,” Cree said as he shoved to his feet. “We hate that you’ve been on your own for so fucking long.”
“Why?” Violet cried. “You don’t even know me.”
Wilder stalked toward her, and as she took a step back, she glanced over at Nash and Cree. They were both moving toward her, too. Her heart flipped in her chest, and she gulped in a deep breath as she took another step b
ack. Heated excitement coursed through her blood, and though she wanted to order them to leave, she couldn’t seem to get her tongue to work. She licked her dry lips and crossed her arms over her chest. A soft moan escaped from her mouth when her arms brushed over her hard, aching nipples.
Her pussy and clit were throbbing and her panties were damp with need. When Wilder stopped a few feet in front of her, she glanced up into his heated green eyes. His collar-length black hair was curled up at the ends and she had the weirdest urge to touch it. She wanted to know if it felt as soft and silky as it looked.
Wilder, Cree, and Nash were identical triplets, but she could tell them apart easily. Cree had a scar running through his right eyebrow, and Nash had a beauty spot just under his left eye. Wilder’s nose was slightly crooked as if it had been broken. Other than those discernible marks, there was no other way for a person to differentiate between them, but she didn’t think she’d have any trouble telling them apart. They all smelled differently, and while she wasn’t sure if that was because they used different bathing products or cologne, they each had an individual scent.
Wilder’s fragrance was a mix of sandalwood and musky male. Cree’s aroma was more like a spicy citrus scent, and Nash smelled like he’d just stepped out of a pine forest. Violet could have spent the rest of her life breathing in their individual essences, but when she had all three of them so close, she felt as if she was drowning in their masculine perfumes. Each time she breathed them in, she felt more and more drawn to them.
She blinked and tried to keep her mind on track, but it was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. Violet wanted to reach out and touch them. She wanted to know what it would be like to be kissed by each of them.
“We are trying to change that, sweetness,” Wilder said in a husky voice.
“What?” She frowned.
“We are trying to get to know you, baby.” Nash stepped to Wilder’s right.
“We are very attracted to you, honey,” Cree rasped out.
“We want to have a relationship with you, Violet.”
Chapter Six
Wilder’s stomach clenched when Violet shook her head, but when she met his gaze again, he saw a brief flash of longing cross her gorgeous mauve-colored eyes. He’d been yearning to kiss her since the first time he’d set eyes on her and had intended to give her some time to get to know him and his brothers, but he couldn’t wait a second longer.
He stepped closer until there was scant space between their bodies, and then he palmed her face between his hands and tilted her head up to his. When she licked her lips again, he groaned and then breached the distance between them.
Every single muscle in his body tightened as he brushed his lips back and forth over Violet’s. He took his time, easing her into the kiss, worried about scaring her off. However, when she moaned, her lips parting with the sound, triumphant excitement raced through his blood. His cock, which always seemed to be at half-mast whenever in her presence, twitched in his pants and then filled with blood.
He licked into her mouth, rubbing his tongue along hers before dancing around in her mouth. His hard cock jerked when she whimpered and when he felt her small hands wrapping themselves into his cotton shirt as she clutched the material. Wilder was so hot he felt as if he was burning alive. He shivered as heat raced up his spine and shifted on his feet when he felt lightning zinging through his body. She was at least a foot shorter than him and his brothers, and when the muscles in his lower back twinged at the awkward angle he was bent in, he lowered his hands from her face, wrapped his arms around her waist, and lifted her feet from the floor.
Violet moaned as she looped her arms around his neck and hooked her legs around his hips. Wilder pressed into her harder and groaned when his hard dick throbbed against her toned, flat belly. When she twirled her tongue around his, pre-cum leaked from the tip of his cock. He was so hungry for her, he wanted to strip her down and sink into her hot, wet cunt until he was balls-deep.
When she started rocking her hips against his stomach, he shifted his hold from her waist to her ass, kneading the muscular, fleshy globes until she whimpered with need. Wilder broke the kiss before licking and nibbling his way across her jaw to her neck. He nipped at her earlobe and then sucked the delectable skin into his mouth to soothe the sting, before moving to that sweet spot just under the ear most women seemed to have.
She cried out when he laved and suckled on the flesh beneath her ear, and when he pressed his stomach firmly into the junction of her thighs, she screamed her release. Wilder shelfed her ass with his forearm and lifted his gaze up to her face.
He’d never seen a sexier sight than what he was seeing right now. Violet had her head tilted back against the wall, her mouth was gaping open, and there was a rosy hue to her normally pale cheeks. When her eyelids fluttered open, he nearly lost his wad. Her eyes were glazed over with residual passion, and they had darkened to an indigo color. She blinked and then glanced off to either side of him, and Wilder figured she was embarrassed when her cheeks got even rosier.
“You are the sexiest fucking woman I’ve ever seen. There is so much passion locked up inside of you, sweetness. Cree, Nash, and I want to explore this attraction that’s between us.”
Violet shook her head and lowered her eyes, but Wilder wasn’t about to let her hide from him or his brothers after what they’d just shared. She was so damn special and his gut was telling him that she was the woman they’d been waiting for. He couldn’t let her go now that they’d just found her. He wanted to spend all his free time with Violet so they could get to know each other, to build a relationship that would last forever.
“You’d better not deny the attraction, Violet, not after what we’ve just shared.”
“I can’t do this,” she whispered tremulously.
“Why the hell not?” Nash asked.
“Because men only ever dish out pain,” Violet yelled.
“We have no idea what you’ve dealt with in the past, baby,” Cree began, “but I can guaran-damn-tee we would never, ever, do anything to hurt you.”
“All of us have emotional scars, sweetness, but you can’t let that hold you back. We’ve seen some pretty fucked-up shit after serving in the Marines and we’ve only had each other to rely on. We all lost our parents when we were young, too, but we’ve never given up hope of finding someone to settle down and build a life with.”
“I-I don’t know…I…”
“Take a breath, baby.” Cree reached over, pried her fingers from Wilder’s shirt, and laced them with his.
Nash clasped her other hand.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
Wilder sighed as he lowered her feet to the floor. “Why, Violet? What are you so scared of?”
When he realized she was shaking, he grew more concerned. He held her hips to keep her on her feet as she swayed. Wilder was scared she was about to pass out because all that rosy color had leeched from her cheeks. Her eyes were dilated but not from passion this time. Violet was absolutely terrified, and it made him think that they may not have a chance with her after all.
“They used to rape the women,” Violet whispered in a ragged voice.
Red-hot rage hazed over his eyes, and for a moment he thought he was going to lose his shit. But their woman was already scared enough and there was no fucking way he was adding to her fear. However, he and his brothers needed to talk to her, to reassure her again that they would never in a million years hurt her. He glanced at Cree and Nash and saw they were barely containing their anger. Both his brothers had their jaws clenched and their lips pulled into a tight angry line.
Wilder moved carefully as he wrapped his arm around her waist again. His heart ached when she blinked up at him with astonishment, and he mentally cursed when she quickly lowered her gaze to his chest. He’d seen the sheen of tears in those amazing lilac-colored eyes.
“Come and sit down so we can talk, sweetness.”
“What’s there to talk abou
t?” Violet muttered under her breath, but he heard her.
Wilder guided her over to the small two-seater sofa and glanced at his brothers as they sat in the armchairs across from them.
“Who was raped, baby?” Nash asked in a low gentle voice as if he was worried a louder voice would frighten her.
“The women,” she said and then inhaled raggedly. “There were five women living at that place and us three girls. The rest were men and teenage boys. The men raped the women whenever they felt like it and the teenage boys raped the two girls.”
Wilder wanted to roar his rage to the ceiling, but he swallowed his anger down and shifted closer to Violet. He tentatively placed his hand between her shoulder blades and almost sighed with relief when she didn’t react to his touch. He’d been worried she would flinch away from him. He began to caress up and down her back over her shirt, hoping to convey what little comfort he could. He gazed at Nash when his brother sat forward in his seat, and when he opened his mouth, Wilder shook his head. They all needed to remain silent so that she would finish what she was about to tell them.
“None of us were allowed to be naïve,” Violet said. “We were taught about sex from the age of eight years old. Messiah made us girls watch movies of people having sex. I was horrified and tried to run from the room, but he had one of his…friends standing in the doorway so I couldn’t leave. He said that Messiah wanted us to learn how to please a man so that when we were older we would know what to do.”
“Fucking sick bastards,” Cree snarled before he shoved from his seat and began to pace.
Wilder was so angry he wanted to punch something but he stayed where he was.
“I sat in that room and watched as a woman was taken by three men at the same time. Fleur and Rose were with me, and when I glanced over at them, they didn’t seem to be concerned. Maybe it was natural curiosity or maybe they were so terrified they weren’t game to look away from the TV screen. It got too much and I ended up closing my eyes.”
