by Honor James
His shout was heard throughout the home that he was in, and his anger knew no bounds. Ripping the paintings off of the wall, he destroyed everything that came in his path. Finally when he reached the end of the hall, he was panting heavily.
His rage knew no bounds, his body was morphing into the animal that he was, and he knew that he had to find the bitch and kill her. He would toy with her again. Her screams had been pure pleasure to him. He had to hear those once more.
With a smile, with a plan in mind, he began to calm and walked into the living room of the home that he was in. Sitting beside the human that was trussed up there, he pulled her close and growled. “Sorry about your home. My little birdie has flown the coop and I was a little angry with her so I couldn’t control myself. Not much longer. I will find her and I will ensure that she pays for the damage to your home, and for my anger.”
He licked the side of her neck and laughed. “Then again, you are dead so what do you care?” he asked and pushed the cold body of the bound woman off the couch. Leaning back, he crossed his ankles and laid his head on his hands under his head. Ah, freedom.
* * * *
When she stepped out of the bathroom, they were both lounging on the bed. Their hair was damp and they were naked. Damned fine time not to have a camera on hand. Byrne caught sight of her first and smiled. “Feeling better, love?”
Briar smiled. “I am. I needed a nice hot bath.” With the towel wrapped around her body and one around her head, she approached them. “You both knew that I needed that though didn’t you?” She moved to settle between them and laid her head on Danel’s shoulder. “So what is next? Is it sleep time?” She could use sleep, but only if the two of them were with her.
“It is sleep time,” Danel said softly. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he hugged her close to him. “You need to get some rest, darling. We didn’t exactly manage that earlier before someone came home with your pizza and a cupcake of all things.”
“Oh yes, but he’s such a complete sweetheart for bringing me a cupcake. He is all mine, just as you are,” she teased with a smile. Looking to Byrne, she added, “Again, thank you for that. I think that I needed that. I think I needed to have that little bit of normal in this crazy life.”
“I just wanted you to smile,” he admitted quietly. “I knew that what I had to tell you wasn’t going to go over well, so I figured a little sucking up couldn’t hurt. At least, that’s what my fathers tell me all the time,” he muttered, making a face and shaking his head.
“You did make me smile. You are an amazing man and I thank you for that. Yes, the news that you had to give was horrible, and if I didn’t have the two of you it would have devastated me,” she told them without hesitation. “But I have you both in my life. I have your love and your support, and I know you will do everything in your power to keep me safe.” Briar knew that without even thinking about it.
“Of course we will, you silly woman you.” Byrne smiled. Tweaking her toe, he shifted around on the bed until he was facing the right way and worked his way under the blankets. “You should really ditch that wet towel, darling. It’s not going to be that comfortable and just keeps us from holding you as close as we possibly can.”
“Good point.” She unwrapped the towel from her hair and then the one from her body. “I need to brush my hair out before we cuddle up for sleep. Who wants to brush my hair?” She looked to Danel, who had slid out of the bed and was standing next to it waiting for her to get comfortable. “So that it’s not tangled in the morning?”
He made a face at her but collected her brush all the same. “Turn around and face Byrne, love. I’ll brush your hair, but it is under protest. Just because I was the nice one to move and let you get settled doesn’t mean I should be punished.” She felt the bed dip behind her, and then his hands were moving her hair around and splitting it into sections.
“Thank you for doing this,” Briar said with a smile. “For brushing my hair for me.” She winked at Byrne and wrapped her arms around her knees and then closed her eyes so that she could simply enjoy the feeling of Danel taking care of her as he was.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. She could feel him working the ends, his fist holding a hank of hair occasionally bumping her back as he detangled her hair little by little. “Next time it’s Byrne’s turn.”
“I don’t mind doing her hair,” her Luhpyne said. “But any chance to touch and pet my mate is a very good thing.”
Briar smiled for Byrne and winked. “Why don’t you like doing my hair for me, Danel?” She wanted and needed to know if she was causing him issue. “If this is something that you don’t like, please let me know and I will be sure not to put you through this again.”
“Babe, I love doing all sorts of things for you, but hair is just a little weird for me. And it’s human hair, so fragile it breaks and tangles so easily. I’m always afraid I’ll tug too hard and end up hurting you,” he muttered.
“You won’t hurt me. If you start to tug too hard I will tell you. I promise. There is a spray though that you can spray on my hair and it will make it easier to comb through. There isn’t any here, but perhaps when we go out next we can get some? It is scentless, so it shouldn’t affect either of your noses. I hope.”
Byrne smirked and slid out of the bed. Padding out of her view, he came back a few minutes later and handed her a bottle. Exactly the stuff she’d been talking about, sort of. “This is a little better than the stuff your people use. It’s a little gentler on the hair and will also help strengthen it over time.”
Briar laughed. “Oh, that’s too funny. I can’t believe you have this here.” She passed it to Danel and asked Byrne, “Have you been waiting for me to come into your life and have been stocking up on things that I might or might not need?”
“I may have, once or twice, noticed the split ends that you are often too busy to get trimmed on a regular basis as you should. I grabbed a couple and was going to just give it to you at some point to try and, if you’d liked it, I would have gotten you more. Just because we were not living together and mated doesn’t mean we wouldn’t look out for all your needs.”
Briar felt tears pricking at her eyes. “You are both far too good to me, for me. What in the world did I ever do in order to deserve you? I’ve never before known anyone so amazing. You both humble me and make me want to love you all the more. Thank you. For everything.”
“Love us all you want, darling,” he said with a smile. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to her lips before flopping back onto the pillows. “The more the better, actually,” he told her with a chuckle.
“He does have a point,” Danel added. He was finally running the brush from root to tip. Finally no more snags and tangles. “The more you love us, the happier we are and the more we’ll love you. It’s a very good thing to do, sharing the love and all that.”
“I agree completely. And right now I am happier than I can ever recall being. The two of you give that to me. You make me happy. You make me smile. I’m able to feel free with you, safe with you.” And that was a testament to them and how they had handled her over the last little while. Their easing her into loving them.
Danel moved, his legs sliding around to bracket her own, his arms around her waist and shoulders. Hugging her close, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m glad for that, all of that, Briar,” he said softly.
“Good because I mean it,” she told him simply and rested back against him. “I don’t think that I could have found my way up and out of the mess that I was in without the two of you. I love you both so very much for that. You have been my rocks. You have been my salvation, even though I kept you both at arm’s length. You have both meant more to me than words will ever be able to express.”
“At least you stopped throwing things in our general direction this last year.” Byrne grinned. “That was a major breakthrough and we knew it.”
“Yes, that first year of all the heavy, hard items was definitely dangerous,” Danel added, h
is chuckle shaking her around a little. “But did you notice she slowly worked down to less-lethal items?”
“I did, actually.” Byrne nodded. “I think she ran out of things to throw in that category, which is why we finally had a year free of having to run for cover.”
“Yes, they began to hide the scalpels from me.” She snickered. “My interns, that is. They began to hide the sharp and pointy things when they knew that you were going to be coming around. Silly people. Yes, I tossed things at the two of you, but if you will recall I missed you more often than not, and not because I have lousy aim either.”
“Oh, you definitely have lousy aim,” he said. Grinning, he tugged on her big toe lightly. He was messing with her. “That and the fact you throw like such a girl,” he added.
Danel was laughing at her back again. “She is a girl, brother. A very sexy, lovely example of womanhood.”
“Damn skippy, so keep that in mind will ya? I’m a girl and you might think I have lousy aim, but I don’t.” She was actually fairly accurate when she was tossing something. Had gotten that way after the attack. She learned to toss knives with deadly precision. “Remind me to one day show you just how accurate that I am.”
“Uh, no, that’s perfectly okay,” he said. Byrne was shaking his head no and holding his hands up in surrender. “We believe you just fine without any sort of demonstration, love. You’ve never once lied to us before, so we’ll just take you at your word. Some things a man doesn’t need to know about.”
“Might be good because I don’t think that the two of you would appreciate the targets that I used. Not the two of you, but I did butcher several of the male pop-up dummies that are used on the training ranges. Most of them are now crotchless and mouthless.”
“Told you that was her,” Byrne said, howling with laughter now. He gave her a high five and laughed even more. “I bet Danel that it was you, and now he owes me five hundred credits. Sucker!” he added and held his gut as he laughed even harder.
“You totally shouldn’t have bet him anything,” she teased with a grin. “Byrne knows me far too well it seems. I guess that I have more anger in me than I had anticipated.” She shrugged, however, and added. “It was good though, to get rid of the upset and frustration that was riding me. I liked it, a lot. I would do it again as well.”
“I know I shouldn’t have but”—she could feel Danel’s shrug—“I figured I had a fifty-fifty shot that it could have been that new female agent. She’s still got some serious anger issues. I guess I was just hopeful that it wasn’t you, love.”
“Yep, sadly it was me.” She knew which agent he was talking about and she felt bad for the woman. She had been married and the man dumped her like a sack of garbage when he learned she couldn’t have children. Personally, Briar felt that she was better off without the piece of shit and still held firm to the thought that it wasn’t Azi but her husband.
“Damn, woman! That’s just harsh,” he muttered. Giving a shiver, he hugged her close and nuzzled at her neck. “If you ever get the urge to do that again, warn us so we are well away from the firing range when you let loose. That kind of shit just makes a man seriously nervous.”
“Don’t worry, I would never do that with the two of you around. I didn’t before and I won’t now. I will only do it on days when you two are scheduled to be far from the range,” she teased. “I always ensured that you two were far from the fields when it was training time for me.”
“For which we are ever so grateful,” he said, giving her a squeeze. Heaving a sigh he pressed another kiss to her skin. “All right, darling, do you need to do anything with your hair before we get some sleep. And yes, we do need to get some sleep, darling.”
“Nope. I just needed to get it combed out so that it wouldn’t be all snags in the morning. And sleep is a good thing. I love to sleep so it’s a very good thing.” She moved so that she could climb up and into bed with Byrne, putting her back to him so that he could wrap her up and close in his arms. She smiled when he began to sniff at the side of her neck and sighed happily. When Danel finally climbed in bed with them and hugged her as well, she knew life was perfect. “This is what I’ve been waiting to live for. The two of you holding me like this.”
“Any time you need us to hold you we’re ready to volunteer,” Byrne told her. “You know that, darling. Any day of the week, any hour of the day we’re there and ready for you. Now, close your eyes and let it all slip away. We’re here, you’re safe, and we’re never letting you go. Only happy thoughts tonight, Briar.”
“Only happy thoughts,” she agreed and snuggled closer to Danel as Byrne moved her closer. With one final yawn, Briar slipped off and into sleep knowing that she was safe in the arms of the men that loved her.
Chapter Fourteen
Catching Danel’s eye, Byrne slid very slowly and carefully out of the bed. They’d both heard the small buzz of his phone. Two vibrations and then silence. Not a phone call but a warning. Part of the system he’d preset with the others who were guarding the condo.
Leaving the lights off, he didn’t need them anyway. He padded to a window to peer out through the curtains. There was a small gap that wouldn’t betray him or any movement if he was careful. And he was damned careful. Looking for the team, he caught sight of one who was looking right at him, but he’d known where to look, too, and then followed his hand signal prompts to the reason for the alert.
A large black bike with a large male on the back sitting in deep shadows. Could be just anyone picking up someone or getting home from work and sitting enjoying the feel of the bikes vibrations coursing through his body.
Or it could be the one that was there to hurt his mate.
Unfortunately he couldn’t see much of anything, and he knew with the street lights hitting his window, the one on the bike wouldn’t be able to see him without a lot of assistance. Even if it was the sadistic Luhpyne in question.
He couldn’t signal the team to move. It could just be a distraction to find out if there was a team watching over the condo. Or it could just be some poor bloke coming home from a long shift who was just zoning out on the dark street. Either way it would be bad.
Stepping away from the curtain, carefully he went to the phone and sent a single word on the text. Hold.
Briar shifted slightly and frowned. “Byrne?” she whispered in the darkness. “Hey, is everything okay?”
She saw his shadow move and get closer to him. Then he was there and she could make out a few of his features. “Yeah, love, it’s all good.” He slid back into bed next to her and wrapped his arm around her middle. Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, she felt his lips curl in a smile. “I thought I heard something, just the team texting me with a check-in.”
Briar shifted so that she could wrap her arms around Byrne and snuggle closer to him. “And everything is okay?” she whispered against the side of his neck and pulled in closer to him. “I was worried for a moment. I was worried that there was something else happening and you know how I worry.” She was afraid he had seen something.
“So far it’s all quiet,” he told her quietly. His large hands rubbed up and down her back, warming her all over. “I’d rather be paranoid and in one piece than to ignore something potentially life threatening. If that means I get up a few times during the night, so be it.”
“I agree. Plus, when you come back to bed it means that I get to warm you up, too.” Rubbing her cheek to his chest, she sighed and yawned as she did so. “Where’s Danel? Making rounds as well?” She felt decidedly chilly at her backside and figured it was because Danel was up and moving as well.
“He’s over there, just draped off the side of the bed mostly. I think you were wiggling in closer to stay warm and he was wiggling a little for room and you just kept progressing. When I got up we were pretty much on that quarter of the bed with the rest laying empty,” he said with a chuckle.
“Well, you just need to pull me closer,” she said with a grin. “I get cold and I want to be war
m. When I’m sleeping with the two of you I want to be held closely because it keeps the nightmares away from me,” she whispered in admission. “So I like it when you are both close.”
“Well, you’re stuck with me until he either slides right out or rolls over,” he said. Pulling her closer to him, Byrne wrapped her up tight in his arms and nuzzled at her cheek. “Any nightmares tonight so far?” he asked quietly, the concern clear in his voice.
“No, because you have been holding me most of the night. I woke when you slid out of bed,” she whispered against the side of his neck. Yawning, she nestled in closer. “Do we have more sleep we can do or do we need to get up?”
“We can keep sleeping,” he said, chuckling softly. “It’s barely two in the morning I think. And I am sorry I woke you up, Briar. You need your sleep and I honestly didn’t mean to, babe. Forgive me?” he asked, brushing kisses off her skin.
“It’s okay.” She turned her face up to him and grinned. “I still love you. Now, give me a kiss and let’s go back to sleep for a couple more hours at least. After that I will let you cook breakfast for me while I take a hot bubble bath.” She was teasing him and he knew it.
Snorting, he hugged her tight until she squeaked. Chuckling, he loosened his hold a little and nibbled on her neck. “Sleep, babe, we have things to do tomorrow to keep all our minds off things. Like seeing how much we can fleece Danel for in poker.”
“I’m not terribly great with poker but I’m totally down for trying. Especially if we are playing strip poker.” She would do just about anything to get her men naked and they both knew it. “But sleep. You are right. No more chatting.” She was telling herself more than him. With another yawn, Briar nestled her cheek against Byrne’s chest once more and slipped into slumber.
