Beauty [A Faery Story 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (23 page)

He looked at his brother. He’d failed Shim as well. Without their mate, Shim would fade. Lach would go mad. He would have to be put down.

He’d failed everyone.

Shim stood in the middle of the square. The fire that had previously burned there was gone, only ashes surrounding the pole where they had bound her. He’d always envisioned her in bondage, his hands tying her lovingly to prepare her for play. This was a perverted vision of what should be loving.

Bronwyn’s delicate body lay in Shim’s arms, her limbs utterly limp, her head falling back. The sword fell from his hand. If another attacked, he would let death come. He would join his mate.

Shim hoisted her up, cradling her to his chest. “Lach, we have to go. Where are we going to go? We need a healer. Something’s wrong with me, Lach.”

Everything was wrong. Bron was gone. Everything was done.

“Lachlan? Shim?” A feminine voice cut through Lach’s misery.

Lach turned and, for a moment, his heart softened. She wore different clothes, peasant clothes, but she was his sister. His Gilly, the girl who had laughed with them, brought them their first horses.

Saved their bondmate.

He’d failed Gillian, too.

She stood there, staring between them, dark eyes confused as though she couldn’t believe they were here. “Where is the army? Father sent a force. He had to send a force, right? Where are they? We need to leave.”

“I’m not leaving, Gillian.” Lach’s heart felt like it would burst with the agony of what he felt. “You have to put me down. I can’t handle breaking with Bronwyn. Please, Gillian, if you ever loved me, kill me now. Save these people.”

Gillian’s mouth dropped open. “Goddess, Lach, you’re being ridiculous. Now tell me where the army is and how we get off this plane. We can have our family reunion later, brother.”

Shim had fallen to his knees, taking Bron with him. “She smells so damn good. I can’t resist. Lach. I need her.”

Lach watched as his brother’s eyes bled to pure black, and the whites pushed out. Shim’s fangs lengthened until they filled his mouth, tipping over his lips.

Mating fever.

How could Shim have mating fever for their dead mate?

Bron’s hands shook lightly, and then he heard it, a soft, sweet moan.

And he smelled it. Her scent. A breeze blew it, the delicate scent of her life wafting over his senses, filling him, and he was overcome.

His fangs pulled. His cock hardened. His focus dimmed to one thing and one thing alone.

Her.

The mating fever took over.

* * * *

Shim shook, his every sense open and overflowing with her. Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew what this was.

His goblin blood was calling. He was proudly Unseelie. It meant his blood was mixed with all the Fae of the planes. His mother had been a vampire. His father a mix of sidhe and goblin and brownie. It was the goblin he felt now. The goblin need to mate with the perfect female rode him.

Bron shook in his arms. Why had Lach thought for a second she could be dead? Fire could not kill Shim’s mate. Death could not take Lach’s. Had he gotten every bit of optimism between them? It was brutally obvious that Lachlan had gotten all the fighting skill. There were dead bodies everywhere, some fresh and some seemingly ancient. They lay around the courtyard, though despite their placement, it still seemed to Shim that they lay at Lach’s feet just waiting for the moment when their master called to them again.

Bron moaned a little, her eyes fluttering open only to close again.

His cock stood up straight in his pants. Just being near her, smelling her, touching her was driving him crazy. He had to try to focus on anything but her. She filled his senses, his world. Someone was saying something, but all he could do was stare at the woman in his arms. His mate. His bridge.

He wiped away a smudge on her face. She was so much more slender than she’d been in her dreams, her hands callused and her face slightly red from time in the sun. Thirteen years of running and being forced to work like a peasant had taken their toll, but she was still so beautiful to him. He would coddle her and cosset her and feed her. She wouldn’t have to worry again. He would take her off this plane, and she would never fear for her life or work a plow or go hungry again. She would be his sweet wife, protected from all the bad things of the world.

Of course, one of the bad things of the world appeared to be his other half. Lach stood staring down at them, his body covered in blood, his eyes huge and foreign in his face. The goblin blood was working in Lach’s veins, too.

“She smells so good.” Lach got to one knee, seemingly dazed by the sight of her.

“Lachlan, you can’t touch her like that, and we’re out in the open.” A firm, feminine voice broke through his haze. “You two have mating fever. This isn’t the time or the place. Take a step back and let me get Bronwyn someplace safe.”

Shim heard the growl coming from his own throat. He felt a little feral. The blood, the heat, the closeness of his Bron. He suddenly realized he didn’t want anyone else around. He wanted Bron. It was past time to take her. She fucking belonged to him. She’d been promised to him since the moment of her birth, and he wouldn’t allow one more thing to come between them.

Lach’s huge dark eyes focused on their mate. “Bronwyn.” Lach touched her hair before letting his hands float, skimming across her skin, pausing at the vein in her neck. “She’s alive.”

Shim nodded, ignoring the fact that a crowd seemed to be gathering.

“Our sister is here. Gillian’s alive.” Lach said the words, but he was wholly focused on Bron.

“Shim, please think for a second.” Gillian had moved in closer, delicately moving around the bodies of the fallen. “You can’t take her here.”

“She is ours.” Lach spoke around the fangs in his mouth. “We’ll take her where we want to. She belongs to us.”

Yes, his brother was definitely feeling the fever, and now some of Gillian’s words were breaking through. Bron was hurt. Bron wasn’t even conscious. Did they intend to push her skirts up right here on the battlefield, the dead all around them?

It would prove once and for all what animals they were. Yes, when her brothers discovered how they had treated Bronwyn, they would be welcomed with open arms.

Lach’s face was in her hair, breathing in her scent, letting it flow around him. Lach growled a little, his hand moving to her breast. If Shim didn’t stop him, the fever would take control, and there would be no stopping the warrior half. The dead all around them proved Lach was capable of giving in to the beast that lay inside their soul.

“Please, Shim. I understand the fever, but Bronwyn will not. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t even know you’re real.” Gillian took another cautious step forward. “Please. If you give in to the fever, you’ll take her with not an ounce of thought to her. She’s a virgin. I made sure of it. I’ve protected her for thirteen years because I knew she was your mate. Trust me. Take her back to the tower. Give her and yourselves some privacy.”

Bron’s eyes fluttered open. Shim stopped, terrified that the next sound would be Bronwyn’s scream. Brown eyes looked at him. She seemed unfocused, shaky. Her hand came, brushing his chin. “My Shim?”

His heart leapt. “Yours.”

“Lach?”

Lach kissed her forehead. “Is here now, love.”

“What is wrong with your eyes?” She tried to sit up.

Before Shim could explain, she doubled over, her knees coming up and a low wail moving from her mouth. Pain was etched on her face, her hands stiffening into fists.

“Please make it stop. Why won’t it stop?”

Shim looked to his sister. “What is wrong with her? I can’t feel her. I should be able to feel her. We’re bonded, but there is nothing connecting us now.”

His sister seemed to be treating them like dangerous predators. She moved forward slowly, holding her hands out to show she had no weapons. Even though she moved cautiously, Shim found himself clutching Bron tighter, and Lach bared his fangs.

“I am not taking her from you. Damn it. Calm down both of you. You’re scaring the entire village, and we seem to need them as you did not bring an army with you.” Gillian stood in front of them.

“They left the army behind.” The phooka had moved from his perch on the roof to the pole that had held Bron. He hung there, his claws sunk deep. “Though I wouldn’t call it an army exactly. More like a little squadron.”

“And they brought along a little devil.” Gillian frowned at the phooka before turning her gaze back to her brothers. “Do you not know what that is? It’s a trickster. Did he trick you away from father’s men?”

Bronwyn was moaning softly, tears squeezing from her eyes. Shim wasn’t in the mood to hear about his choice of vehicle. “Tell me what is wrong with our mate.”

Gillian got to one knee. “Bronwyn. Bronwyn, did they give you anything?”

Bron bit her bottom lip and forced herself to nod. Her mouth opened as though she was trying to speak, but her body convulsed again.

Even Lach seemed to come out of his fever long enough to be worried. “What is wrong? What did they give her?”

Gillian ignored them both, putting a hand to Bron’s forehead and feeling it. “She’s burning up. I suspect they gave her something to quiet her, but it wouldn’t explain why she’s in such pain.”

Shim leaned over, looking into her face. Such pain. “Tell me how to help you,
a chumann
.”

One hand came to his head, her fingers soft on his hair. “Kiss me.”

Her mouth came up, touching his, lips pressed to lips. Shim felt like he was falling into a dark well and Bron was the only spark of light. Her soft moan had his cock leaping in his pants. An aching want suffused his body with desire. His heart sped up, and a horrible pain began in his cock.

He needed. He fucking needed her.

“Damn it.” Gillian stood and turned back to talk to someone. Shim didn’t care. He knew what she needed now. Her body was calling to him. That bright, shimmering line that connected them was starting to come back.

“It hurts, Shim. She’s hurting so much.” Lach felt the connection, too, their minds opening to each other now that Bron was awake again, but the connection was marred by her pain, her outrageous need.

Gillian stepped forward again. “Pick her up, Shim. We need to get her inside. We have no way of knowing until we do a count if you killed everyone you should have. Reymon has a house close by. He’s willing to give it to you for the time being. I’ll keep watch for this squad of men who I have to hope will be smart enough to follow you.”

Through his haze, Shim managed to get up and haul Bron with him, her slight weight nothing against his strength. She clutched at him, her eyes fevered with desire. She pushed at his shirt, trying to get her hands on his skin. Shim couldn’t help it. He needed her so badly. She was the fever in his blood now. He kissed her, his tongue plunging deep.

He needed to get her away from here. He had to protect her, and he couldn’t take her here. It was too open. He didn’t want eyes on them. This was his bonding time.

But if he didn’t get inside her soon, he might burn down the village around him. Already he could feel the need to unleash his power. He would lose control if he didn’t satisfy Bron’s desire.

Lach was at his side as he began to move toward the small house Gillian pointed to. The door opened, and a woman pointed them to a back room. The house was a storefront. Candles and herbs covered the shelves. The man named Reymon gestured them through to narrow stairs.

“Our bedroom is small, but sturdy. ’Tis an honor to host your first night, Your Highnesses.” Reymon nodded. “We’ve hoped for this for so long. The Unseelie will finally come.”

Shim didn’t want to think about the man’s enigmatic words. He wanted to take off his wife’s clothes and be with her finally. She mewled and twitched in his arms. Lach went up the stairs first, checking the bedroom and finally turning.

“Leave us, sister.” Lach nodded toward Gillian who stood in the doorway.

Gillian took a deep breath as Shim set Bron on the bed. She curled into his body.

“Take her. Make her yours,” Gillian said. “Bond fully with her so there can be no question from the Seelies that she belongs to our clan. Impregnate her if you can. And do it quickly. We need to be gone from this plane by the morning. I’m going to go and clean up the mess the warrior half left. And brothers, it is good to see you and to see just how powerful you’ve become. When the time is right and we unite the tribes, you will be the true Kings of the Fae. I honor you, brothers, and the woman who will bring the Unseelie into true power.”

Gillian turned and walked out, the door closing behind her.

Shim looked down at his wife, the woman who would be his queen.

“Kiss me.” Her words were fevered, her eyes desperate. Her body tightened as though the pain forced her to clench her every muscle. “Please. Please.”

He couldn’t resist her. Didn’t want to. Wanted to inhale her, to taste her, to take her into his body and to put himself in hers. He needed to merge with her. The world around faded away until all he could see and taste and touch and feel was her.