On Her Axis Read online

  “What the hell, Tawn?! Where the heck have you brought me?! I’m not a scratch and sniff sticker, damn it,” I yelped out indignantly.

  “She’s used to, uh... Marre and Perre’s standoffishness,” Tawn told her In-laws, like that would somehow explain everything.

  They're the ones with the sniffing problem or whatever, not me!

  “I should have explained, Mags, uhh... their parents are really open and affectionate. And, erm, they don’t have filters...” she started, but stopped when she realized I’d tuned her out the second Oren started to slowly make his way towards me.

  Sneaky male!

  Oren sniffed the air deeply and let it out slowly, nostrils flaring as he stilled, his eyes locking on mine as a grin broke out over his face.

  He let out some kind of a scary war cry and started hurrying towards me.

  Panicked at his sudden change in demeanor, I ran around to the other side of the dark brown leather-looking upholstered furniture, squeaking out my dismay, scurrying past the living room and breaking out into a dead run once I reached the hall; unsure about what he intended to do with me when he caught up to me.

  Nothing nice ever follows a war whoop, in my limited experience.

  Look at what happens in the movies!

  I stopped suddenly, smacking into a solid wall of muscle with a thud as I bounced off and slid across the wood floor. Groaning, I resisted the urge to rub my sore bottom, but just barely, and slowly lifted my head.

  I looked up into an all too familiar, unsmiling face, but this one had orbs completely of gold, where Perre’s were only streaked.

  This must be Nero, I thought as he crouched down in front of me.

  “You okay, little one?” he asked gently in a grumbly voice as he reached out with massively thick hands and picked me up, as if I weighed nothing, and set me on my feet, standing up with me as he set me down.

  “Save me!” I let out a garbled, strangled sound, ducking behind him and clutching his paint smattered shirt as his crazy brother caught up to me.

  “You’re scaring her, brother,” Nero growled out warningly, shielding me further as he shifted his feet.

  Coward that I am, I found hiding behind him kind of comforting. Safe.

  Oren tried to peek at me from behind Nero and smiled down at me sheepishly.

  “Sorry, sweet. I’m not used to being around those who aren’t used to being around us. I mean you no harm, daughter mine, I was just going to greet you properly.”

  I peeked up at him from around Nero’s massive back.

  “Greet me?” I mumbled uncertainly.

  “Welcome you properly, as my new daughter.” He gestured for me to come out and see for myself, nodding and plucking me up from behind Nero to squeeze me tight in a bear hug, before I’d even gotten a chance to take my next breath, quite literally.

  “Can’t breathe,” I managed to gasp out, and he eased up a little, but not setting me down as he grinned over at Nero.

  “They found a little one, brother, with hair like fire.” His gaze traveled over my thick red mane, admiring my hair.

  “She’s kind of small, though,” Nero grunted after a moment, eyeballing me with interest now, his brow raised interestedly as he inspected me for defects like cattle.

  Not this crap again! Didn’t I just escape a dynamic duo?

  “Hey! Listen up you... you... paint splattered giant!” I spluttered, incensed. “I didn’t ask to be short any more than you asked to be tall, pink, grumpy, and bald! So you can take that Perre-like negative attitude and shove it, mister!” I growled from my undignified hold in Oren’s arms. “And put me down, Oren! I am not a rag doll!”

  Oren set me down and stepped back, and I immediately marched to the door, muttering angrily under my breath, “Of all the... you’re short! Well, you’re an ass!”

  Before I could reach the door though, Nero scooped me up and roared with laughter.

  “I’m sorry, daughter mine,” he got out between laughs, “I meant you no insult. Please stay, we want to meet the woman that’s captured our sons’ hearts.”

  Tawn was stifling a fit of giggles as Nero toted me to the couch and set me down next to Tawn.

  I huffed and puffed the whole way.

  Hmph.

  “Think that’s funny, Tawny? You are sooo dead when we get out of here,” I whispered fiercely.

  “They have awesome hearing,” she whispered back as Oren grinned at me and winked.

  The action made me think of Marre so much that I found myself smiling a little bit back in return.

  “Oh, how we must look. I’m so sorry, honey. Please, I’m Pearlelenne, but you can call me Mom, Mother, or Mama like Tawn does. Whatever you like best,” she rushed in eagerly, smiling at me hopefully, yet apologetically.

  “We don’t get a lot of visitors much. We’re usually too busy with the farm and everything else. I forgot myself for a moment there in all of the excitement,” she added hastily, her hands fluttering about her as she spoke.

  “It’s okay,” I told her, sensing her embarrassment and relaxing after a moment, “Just don’t, uh, smell me anymore.”

  “Cross my heart,” she vowed somberly.

  “So...” she began when she realized I wasn’t going to be much of a conversationalist, still feeling awkward and out of place with all of this, and Tawn was too busy giggling like a nincompoop, “Where are my boys off to?” She sipped her tea and watched me expectantly.

  “I wouldn’t know,” I bit my lip and clutched my cup like my life depended on it, “um... home I’d guess. That’s where they were when I left them,” I answered vaguely, yet honestly, tears pricking the backs of my eyes as her expression suddenly turned concerned, and it plucked at me.

  “I left them,” I admitted, something about saying it out loud making it seem more of a reality for me. And then, of course, I burst into tears, openly sobbing as the dam I’d been holding back broke and everything set free.

  “What happened?” Pearlelenne gasped, rushing over to envelop me in a warm, comforting hug.

  She’s so different from my own mother, I thought, recalling how Mother would have reacted. Constance O’Malley would have patted my back awkwardly for a few minutes and told me ‘ladies don’t cry, we talk’, ending it at that.

  Love my mother, don’t get me wrong, but she’s so wrapped up in herself and how she wants everything to go, I think she sometimes forgets we have feelings too, and the world doesn’t stop spinning just for Constance O’Malley.

  Blubbering like a ninny, I spilled my guts to Pearlelenne, telling her from start to finish- minus the sexy parts- what all had gone on, smiling a little through my tears whenever something struck Nero or Oren as funny.

  “Well, we can’t have that.” Pearlelenne pulled back when I’d finished my side of the story, jerking her head confidently with a nod, as if that was that. “I have a few ideas we could try, make them come around to seeing the right way of things,” she assured me.

  Wiping the last of the tears form my eyes with the tissue Tawn held out to me, I sniffled and glanced up at her questioningly.

  “Oh, and don’t you worry any,” she chuckled and patted my knee, “Those two will be sniffing around you as soon as Marre hacks into your personal accounts and finds your address.” She winked and smiled happily.

  Oren and Nero groaned out loud, and she glared at them, effectively ending their sound effects.

  She got up, cocked a hip, lower arms braced on her waist, upper arms spread out wide in front of her.

  The grumbling started up again as they both started to protest at the same time, and she snapped at them. “Get out of here, you two, and no tattling to the twins about any of this, you’re on our side or you’re the enemy.”

  Snapping her teeth menacingly, she threatened them with a low growl, giving them each a stern glare of warning, her hands waving to shoo them out of the room.

  Neither male seemed threatened in the least. If I had to guess, I’d say they both look
ed thoroughly amused, despite their agitation.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Oren replied and leaned forward, winking at his mate when she huffed and met him half way to accept his kiss. After that he got up to take his leave, grinning at us as he left the room.

  “I don’t like it, Ah Cah Eema,” Nero grumbled as stood up slowly and lumbered his way over to give Pearlelenne a kiss.

  “Do you want grandchildren this millennia?” she queried, arching her brows at him.

  He grunted and kissed her again before leaving the room, muttering under his breath as he went about beautiful but addled women and crazy plans.

  “Good grief, I mean really, artists.” She snorted, rolling her eyes at Nero. “Perre is just like him, paints like him too.” Her voice dripped with pride for both her mate and her son

  “Perre paints?” I asked haltingly, trying to wrap my head around it.

  “Yes, quite well. Now,” she slapped her hands on her knees, and with one last peek to make sure the males had truly left, plopped back down, “has anyone told you anything about mating to a twin pair bond?”

  I shook my head ‘no’ and she harrumphed.

  “Figures they’d leave you in the dark! Why, those little stinkers!” she huffed out indignantly.

  Looking back to me, she smiled reassuringly, pulling off her beanie and jacket so we could get started.

  Huh. Guess Cardanian females don’t have ridges, I thought observantly, studying her surreptitiously, quickly looking away before she caught on.

  “When you leave here you’ll know all there is to know about Cardanians.” She nodded in satisfaction, clapping her hands together once excitedly. “Starting with the mate bond connection. Now, it won’t be strong right off, but it will soon enough, and you’ll need to work on that now, especially if we’re going to pull this off. You need to try and block them out of here,” Pearlelenne’s hands came up, motioning towards her head, “It’s hard, but it can be done.” Pearlelenne’s eyes lifted, going to my best friend. “Tawn, honey, you’ll help us out won’t you? Help Mags get her men?”

  “Of course,” Tawn chirped happily, grinning like a loon as we all put our heads together to figure out a game plan.

  Tag! You’re it!

  Perre

  I ran down the street after Tawn’s hovie as it sped away with Mags inside- my Mags.

  “NO! WAIT!” I bellowed as the hovie’s rear lights disappeared into the distance.

  I stopped running and changed direction, heading back towards the house to hop into my hovie and try to catch up with her.

  I need to apologize, beg her to stay, kidnap her ass, whatever it takes to get her back here- where she belongs.

  Marre roared out in anguish and I could sense him behind me, sense his rage as he charged towards me, and I let him.

  I didn’t stop him when he bulldozed into me and plowed me into the snow.

  I laid there when he rolled me over and pounded into me with all four of his fists, taking all of his pain, anger and frustration out on my chest and face.

  I took it, not fighting back.

  I deserve this, I told myself as my eye swelled shut.

  I'm such a frickin’ asshole. I chased her away.

  I deserve much worse...

  Marre must have realized I was just lying there while he whaled on me, because he stopped suddenly, studied me for a minute and then flopped down beside me in the snow, his chest heaving as he tried to calm himself down.

  “Why didn’t you fight back?” he asked after a moment, our breaths puffing white in the cold winter air as we stared up at the sky.

  “I deserved it.” I grunted and rolled, leaning up a little to spit out the blood in my mouth. “It’s mostly my fault she left. I fucked up majorly,” I admitted.

  I pillowed my head in the snow and closed my eyes, the image of Mags running back to the house and then the tail lights of the hovie as she left us playing on a continuous loop in my mind, haunting me.

  “We have to get her back,” I told him simply.

  “Yes, we do,” Marre said very matter-of-factly.

  “Have to tag team to catch her sneaky ass,” I tossed out there.

  “Mmm, hmm,” Marre murmured in agreement.

  “Truce,” I grumbled, peeking at him from the corner of my eye, holding out my hand as I got up.

  “Truce,” Marre agreed, taking my helping hand to get up himself.

  My twin glanced at me as we made our way to the house, my face throbbing like a big painful bruise in the ice cold air.

  “You look like shit, brother,” Marre said succinctly, smiling a little as he opened the door.

  “Gee, thanks,” I gave him a nasty look, testing out my jaw as I walked in behind him, “I’ll let my stylist know, give you his number. He works real cheap,” I muttered sarcastically.

  We looked at each other, staring at each other for a long moment, then abruptly burst out laughing, my lip splitting open wide as we laughed at the absurdity of the day.

  We grinned at each other as our twin bond kicked in, our shoulders sagging in relief, letting us know we were of a like mind with everything that's going on and everything that's about to come.

  I wiped the blood off onto my shirt and headed for the freezer.

  I need some damn ice or I’m going to swell up like a balloon.

  “What do you say we get our woman back?” Marre asked as he headed to his laptop.

  “I’d say I like the way you think, brother.” I smiled slowly, I couldn’t help it, and chuckled as I grabbed a bag of frozen peas for my face, closing the freezer door to join him.

  Keep away

  Magenta

  “Thanks for letting me stay here, Dar, I appreciate it.”

  “No prob,” Dar gestured with her fork, grinning at me, “Jaye’s in cloud nine that he can be in on it,” she shook her head, chuckling. “You’d think it was Christmas.” She sighed heavily, as if in exasperation, rolling her eyes at Jaye’s love of a good drama.

  “I just bet he does,” I laughed, shaking my head along with Dar.

  It’s been seven weeks. Seven weeks of juggling work, and hurriedly switching from house to house, friend to friend, so Marre and Perre couldn’t find me just yet.

  “Make them sweat, honey, let them stew a bit, it’ll be good for them,” Pearlelenne had advised.

  I finished making up the guest bed and grabbed my bag, ready to make a mad dash for my place to replenish my overnight bag.

  “Thanks again, Dar, Jaye, see you guys later, okay?!” I admired the picture frames hanging all along her wall in the hallway as I strode past, sweet family pictures of Dar, Jaye, and the boys, along with a few goofy ones that made me chuckle, too.

  “Like I said, anytime, Mags, you’re always welcome, you know that,” Dar called from the kitchen as she waved me off.

  Waving back before I turned, I headed off.

  Making it back to my place in record time, I didn’t waste a second and hurried inside to change and shower really quick before I have to head off again.

  Leaving a trail of hastily discarded clothes strewn about everywhere in my wake, I jumped in the shower and lathered up quickly, yelping when shampoo got into my eyes.

  Grumbling under my breath, I ran my face under the water to try and ease the sting, screaming bloody murder into someone’s hand as they cupped it over my mouth to stifle the unholy scream I let lose, effectively muffling it.

  A shadow fell over me and a very warm, very naked, heavily muscled body pressed itself along the length of mine.

  “It’s just me,” Marre purred into my ear and turned us both to push me up against the shower wall, my back to his front.

  “Ah... I missed you, Ah Cah Eema,” he murmured huskily as he slowly pulled his hand away from my mouth and leaned down to nibble my ear, crouching down to rub himself between my legs, slicking his thick erection on the lips of my sex as he teased me to distraction.

  “Marre!” I gasped breathlessly, excited and beyond thril
led to see him. Oh, good god, yes. Right.... there.

  Oooh, oh... Wait! How the hell did he get in here?

  Oh, shoot! I’m still supposed to be dodging him. I bit my lip hard, clawing at the wall absently. But I’ve missed him so much! Missed this too, I thought, a little moan escaping me as I rubbed myself back against him wantonly.

  “I missed you, love. Did you miss me?” he whispered sweetly in my ear.

  “Mmmm hmmm,” I murmured just as quietly, jerking as he worried the nape of my neck with his teeth, pumping himself steadily against me.

  “I want you, goddess, can’t live without you. Love you,” he mumbled into my wet flesh as he pulled back, lined us up and thrust into me, his lower arms gripping my hips to slam them back against him, his upper hands coming around to expertly tease and pluck at my breasts, tugging my nipples.

  “Love you so much, Mags,” he panted out between thrusts, “Missed you, sweet heart,” he moaned into my hair.

  “This changes nothing,” I told him bluntly, groaning as I pushed back and spread my legs wider, accepted all of him, gasping and panting in ecstasy, bracing the wall to press back against him, countering his demanding thrusts, moaning and panting when they met their mark, hitting those super sensitive nerves inside of me.

  “Give me a chance, my love, let me, let us prove it to you. Prove we can be what you need,” he growled out as my channel started to lock up on him, gripping him tight.

  I put my hand on his hip to still him, ready to whimper at myself in protest, but this needed to be discussed- and I can’t very well think and talk while we’re doing that- chewing on my lower lip undecidedly. I’ve missed them so much too, but is it too soon? It feels like it’s been ages...

  “Please, Ah Cah Eema,” he pleaded hugging me tightly to him and burying his face in my hair.

  “This has to be on my terms,” I bit out seriously, ignoring the throbbing in my body as it pressed its own needs, “My rules.”

  “Anything, goddess, anything, I promise,” he swore, and I released my hand staying his hip, bracing my hands on the wall for the pounding he was about to give me.