Dee's Hard Limits (15 page)

“Those were her favorite. They aren’t the original ones because those were destroyed when...well, you know. But I had to get her new ones so she’d have them here with her. I know it’s silly to think like that, but I wouldn’t risk that her spirit would end up here and there would be nothing. So I bought everything Hope liked down here just in case.”

She looked back at Warden and he smiled at her. “I would have done the same thing.” He reassured her and Dee relaxed, looking at her mother who handed her a small tin.

“This is what I kept with me,” Maya said and nodded to it. “Open it.”

Gently, Dee opened the small tin. Inside was a lock of hair, a picture of her as a baby and a corner of the blanket she kept in her little room. “You knew about the room?”

Her mother pulled her into her arms and hugged her tight. “Yes. At first I couldn’t figure out where all your toys were going, then one afternoon after we had gotten into a fight I saw you sneaking out of your room. So I followed. When I watched you crawl onto that bed and cry it was all I could do not to intrude, but you were bound and determined to keep part of yourself away from me. I didn’t want to upset you more, so when you fell asleep, I covered you in the blanket and left.”

“It seems we were both too afraid to open up. Seems we let him get the better of the both of us,” Dee said and looked at her watch. It was already 6:00 in the evening and her men would be coming for her in the next half hour. “Come on, I want to say goodbye to everyone before my men come.”

Walking up to the house, Dee held her mom’s hand but said nothing. It had been a great visit, but she was scared. Dee had tried twice to reach out to her men, but had hit a block each time. For the first time in her life, Dee was counting on someone, trusting them to keep their word and come back for her.

“You’re scared?” Maya asked, and she nodded.

“I’ll be okay.” She squeezed her mom’s hand, but refused to say anything more in front of Warden, knowing he would inform her mates about anything she said.

She laughed, stepping into the main room. Lacey was dancing around the room with her vampire costume on. “You’re a goon,” she said, running after her with everyone laughing.

“Okay, I give up.” Dee fell to the ground and shook her head. “You were always faster than me.”

“And I always will be, little girl,” Lacey teased her even though they both knew she was older then her. Time seemed to slip away as the women laughed and shared stories about her mother, but when Dee glanced up to see, it dark outside she frowned.

Jumping up, Dee reached over her mom and grabbed the phone. It was 9:00 and her mates had not come for her.

“Stupid!” She flung the phone across the room. “Never trust anyone!” She disappeared from the room and reappeared in downtown Los Angeles.

So be it!
Dee would wait for no one again. She checked her weapons and made sure they all were there. There were two houses that Dee hadn’t checked the last time she’d been here. There was no time like the present to do so. Dee was ready to kill anything that got in her way.

“Not so fast!” her mother placed her hand on her arm.

“The first rule to hunting is never go alone. Let’s go kill the pest that keeps screwing with our lives,” her mother snarled. “I couldn’t bring everyone, but the three of us will be able to do some damage.”

Not trusting her words, Dee nodded and headed off to the first house. It appeared as everything was quiet, nothing stirred outside and the ground hadn’t been disturbed since the last time she checked. “This one is clear.” She pointed to the marking shed left, but they still went through the house, setting up more singles if they did move into this house.

Leading the way, Dee stalked toward the last house on this side of town. She stopped three feet to the side. Sure enough two of the traps she’d left were gone. Someone was inside or had been. Signaling her mom, Dee crept to the side window, the one she’d left cracked open for just this purpose.

Using her new powers, Dee opened the window without a sound. She jumped up and was crawling inside the window when she was lifted up and placed back on the ground next to Talhrn.

His gray hair blew behind him and power radiated all around him. One by one, the men inside were brought out by warriors she’d never seen.

There was nothing to say, so she turned to leave, but Marquis blocked her way. Todd was behind her. His legs spread and his arms crossed over her chest glaring at her. She tried to disappear, but nothing worked.

“Release me now! You have no right to keep me here,” Dee snarled and glared at Talhrn.

He faced her head on. “You are our
meru
!” He shouted shaking the windows in the foreclosed houses around them. Everyone around them turned to stare, but she didn’t back down, the hurt and anger too strong.

“NO. I’m. NOT...You gave up that right when you didn’t show up and blocked me in your head, all of you did. Go find one of your own to mate with, because it’s obvious I’m not good enough for you three.” She screamed louder than him as she reached back to swing at him, but Marquis latched onto her and held her tight.

***

She was beautiful when furious. Never had any woman turned him on as much as his woman did, but right now he had a major problem. One that would only worsen, when they dealt out her punishment.

He nodded to Marquis and they all reappeared in a stadium-like hall. His warriors had seen and heard her attack on him. If he was going to get his men back in control then there was no alternative.

His woman would have to be punished in front of his men, made to be an example of how to control their woman. He nodded to Marquis who strapped her naked body down over the spanking bench.

Lifting her head, Dee looked around. Her body shook and she whispered. “You do this...”

Marquis placed a ball gag into her mouth stopping her words. He stepped behind her and ran his hand down her ass cheek. “When I first saw you there climbing into that window...knowing there were men in there who could kill you... In all my life I’ve never known such terror and I won’t have it again. If I have to tie you to our bed, so be it. You have earned 25 swats for your behavior and 5 strokes for trying to hit me.” He nodded to Marquis who started the spanking.

He would deliver the strokes with the whip and afterward, Talhrn just hoped she would forgive them. The three of them had been so caught up in moving of their belongings, the preparation for the ceremony, and the death of Janek’s sister that each of them had forgotten their
meru
until Akaos appeared in front of him, furious.

In all his years, he’d never seen his friend so angry. When he finally could speak and inform him of what angered him, all he thought about was getting to his woman. The three of them had hurt her and now...with each stroke of the whip, tears fell from his eyes.

There were no yells, cussing, but he could see the little tremors as she cried. No one in the audience said anything. The tension was fierce.

He knew the women in the stands were glaring daggers at him, but punishment was and would be brought back into their world. How could his warriors keep their hearts safe, if they were putting themselves in danger every time they turned around?

Lives of the warriors were dangerous enough, without having to worry if their woman was safe or not. He threw down the whip and unbuckled Dee. He carefully lifted her in his arms and carried her to their new home where he placed her on their bed, stomach down.

“Don’t move.” He took the cream Todd handed him and started to rub it on her sore red skin.

There wasn’t one open mark on her body, but she would be sore. After making sure every mark was covered in medicine, he released her powers and she shifted immediately to that of the cat.

She curled up onto the bed and inside their Little Kitten fell apart. He knelt by the bed, as did Marquis and Todd, and tears rolled down their faces as they listened to her scream inside.

Her heart was in shreds and her mind almost splintered. “Little Kitten, hear me, please. We were coming for you, but time is different here and with the move, the preparations for the ceremony and the sentencing of the woman who hurt you, we just didn’t realize the time. I swear on my life we would never intentionally hurt you.”

She said nothing, but the screams in her head quieted and at first he’d thought Dee had fallen asleep. “
You’ve broken the one thing I gave you, which I gave no one, my trust. I don’t see how there can be any us. The bond is not completed -find someone else.”
She broke the connection, refusing to look at either of them.

“There can be no other, Little Kitten. We will rebuild that trust I promise, if it takes a lifetime, we will do it.” He reached up to have her flinch.

“Are you that scared of me now?” Only silence greeted him and his hearts crumbled.

“I hate to interrupt, but her mother will not leave until she speaks with her daughter,” Akaos snapped behind them.

The three of them rose and turned to see Maya in cat form. “She won’t come out of her cat form, she’s so furious. All of the women are. The men at the house say each one of them is in their cat forms. If it weren’t for the shields, the humans would be hunting them as we speak. Their cries fill the night.” Akaos ran his hand through Maya’s fur. She snarled, but didn’t move.

“I had no choice. The men saw her as she tried to strike me. Do you think I wanted to punish her when we’ve hurt her so bad?” he yelled and fell into the chair against the wall.

“With this new responsibility, every single person will be looking at us for guidance. Our shields to the other worlds are in a mess, anytime someone could slip onto our world without us knowing it! Something had to be done and I’m afraid I was the only one the
Tetraheros
would deal with.” He sighed and looked over at Dee, shocked to see her staring at him.

“I’m sorry, Little Kitten, so sorry. Go on up, Maya. She needs you. Come, Akaos, while you’re here we might as well go over the shields.” He got up and was about to leave when he stopped.

“I won’t embarrass you again in front of your men. I don’t know if I can work past what you’ve done, but...we’ll see.” She said from the bed in her human form. She was dressed in a big flannel nightgown almost daring him to strip her of it.

“Just stay in the room with it please.” She relaxed and nodded.

Dee placed her head in her mother’s lap and sighed. “For once, can’t things be easy for me? I’m so tired. How am I going to trust them? I feel as if my heart has been run through a meat grinder and served up raw.”

“There are no answers, Dee. I have a feeling that our lives are always going to be hard. Living with three men would be hard on anyone, but these warriors truly believe that they have to protect us from everything.” She ran her hand through her hair.

“I did learn from Akaos that if we are hurt, they feel our pain ten times stronger. That’s one of the reasons it’s so hard for them to ever let us go out there and place ourselves in danger. The thought of us hurt or helpless destroys their ability to function as warriors. In a way, we are their Achilles’ Heel. We can bring them down where none others can.”

“I’m glad you’re going to be here with me. I have a feeling I’m going to need someone around or I’d go stir crazy. Have you been given a tour yet? All I’ve seen is the stadium, twice now as a matter of fact.” Dee winced and rubbed her back end.

“No, they don’t want us going out of our homes without one of them. It’s one of the many rules we’ll have to try and figure out how to get around it,” her mother snarled.

“I hate being kept a prisoner and Akaos knows this. Going back and forth isn’t going to work. It takes too much energy. On top of that, they could lead the enemy here with each transfer.”

“Are you going to be there for the ceremony? It’s not every day your man becomes king.” Her mother slid her fingers through her hair, not saying a word, allowing Dee to work through her emotions.

“I’ll be there,” she said, but that didn’t mean she’d forgiven them. That would take time. She sat up and sighed.

“What time is the ceremony? I guess I don’t have to worry about what I’m going to wear. I wish they’d let us wear something.”

Her mother snorted. “I have a feeling that will never change, so we need to get used to it. At least we never cared what people thought about our bodies, but think of some of the humans if they ever got stuck with a warrior. Have you heard anything about Dan? I haven’t been allowed to see him since the change.”

She shook her head and got up off the bed looking around the room. “None of them tell me anything. In the beginning, I could hear what they were thinking, but they’ve blocked that now. You would most likely get more information from them than I can.” The room was bigger and it had two windows which was weird since they were buried underground.

Shoving the curtains back, Dee screamed and jumped back. “What the hell?” Some strange looking creature stared in the window. One licked the window and she shivered.

“What’s wrong?” Marquis shouted, appearing in the room followed by the other men.

“What is that?” She pointed at the window and he laughed.

“Sand is my pet. I’m sorry I didn’t inform you,” Todd told her and opened a door she hadn’t seen.

The creature was almost as big as she was in her cat form. It had dark purple fur, fangs that hung out of its mouth and its eyes were blood red. It snorted almost like a pig as it drew closer.

“This is Sand. I found him on one of our trips to the outer planets. His mother had been killed and he would have died. Talhrn agreed we could keep him. We each take turns feeding him. Give me your hand so he can smell it.” Todd hugged the creature, then took her hand into his and lifted it to Sand’s face.

Looking back at Talhrn, he nodded as he talked to Akaos, but watched her carefully. Marquis stood to the right, never taking his eyes off her, but kept talking with Tesuss. Her mom slowly made her way towards them. “I don’t know about this.”