“Your hearts? Are you saying . . .”
“I think I loved you almost from the minute Aleki introduced you to us.”
“I got drunk and sang terrible karaoke for half the night before puking in your toilet,” she said doubtfully.
“Yep.” Caleb grinned. “It was love at first sight.”
She snorted. He was so full of it.
“I wanted you. But you were my best friend’s girl, so you were off-limits. But I’ve never stopped thinking about you. I’ve never even been in a proper relationship. Because all I ever wanted was you.”
“And Wolfe? He doesn’t even like me.”
Aleki snorted. “You’re not letting that act fool you, are you? Wolfe is more of an action man than a words man. But do you remember how he shows affection for those he cares about?”
She frowned. “Yeah, he becomes a total mother hen.”
“Hmm, and I’d say he’s been fussing over you almost from the moment we found you. If he didn’t care, do you really think he’d be carrying around that list of food the doc gave him like it was a bible?”
It was hard to wrap her head around.
“Kale soup,” Aleki said with a snort. “Better you than me.”
“Jelly bean, it was Wolfe’s idea to steal you,” Caleb told her.
“Really?” she whispered.
“Really,” he confirmed.
“But what about the rest of it? What you told me before about being Daddy Doms and wanting a Little.”
“When I talked to you about being a Little, what did you think?” Caleb asked her. “Did it feel wrong? Or like something you might like to try?”
“I . . . I . . . don’t know. I don’t know if I can let go like that. I’ve spent so long doing it all myself. How do I relax enough not to worry? I’m tired of making all the decisions. I always seem to make the wrong ones.”
“Then let us make the decisions for a while,” Caleb said gently. “In Little space, you can just be. You can play, have fun, and be yourself knowing that Daddy is always there to catch you if you fall. And will make the hard decisions when you can’t.”
“Doesn’t that make me weak?” she asked. “To rely on you like that? Shouldn’t I be able to do it myself?”
“People make the mistake of thinking of subs as weak, but they’re the strongest of all us,” Aleki countered. “Putting your trust in someone like that isn’t easy. Showing your vulnerable side, being who you want to be, that’s hard shit. Submissives are not weak. You are not weak.”
“What if I’m not a Little, will you not want me then?”
Aleki grasped her chin. “Not the way it works. Yes, being a Daddy Dom is part of who we are, but you’re a bigger part.”
“Besides, we’re pretty sure you’re a Little,” Caleb told her. “So we’re not worried.”
Well, she was a bit.
“So men just steal a woman and keep her?”
“No,” Aleki replied. “Like I said, they have a period where they woo her. Twenty-one days. They spend that time with each other. Food is brought to them and their jobs are covered. The only people who are usually allowed in to see them are the elders and if necessary, a physician, to make sure that the bride is well.”
“B-bride.”
“Yep, bride. But at the end of twenty-one days, the bride has a choice whether she wants to officially marry the harem. It’s like a courtship period. But on steroids.”
“I . . .I . . .” Marry? They didn’t mean they wanted to marry her, right?
“Nothing happens that you don’t agree to,” Caleb told her. “We’ll have a chat about limits and rules. And when we reach the end of the twenty-one days, we’ll figure out what will happen. But this will give us time to get to know each other again. And you’ll be safe with us. I promise. Nobody will even know you’re with us. Let us help you, jelly bean. You won’t be putting anyone at risk.”
“If there wasn’t all this shit going down with your old man, would you come with us?” Aleki asked.
Would she?
Of course, she would.
“Yes.”
“Then that’s all the answer we need,” Caleb said with satisfaction. He turned and started the car.
Oh God. What was she doing?
Aleki ran his hand over her hair. “Just relax, baby. We’re in charge right now. All you have to do is obey us. That’s it. No thinking. No worrying. Give it all to us. We’ve got big shoulders. We can take care of it. Of you. Fact is, I think that’s what I was put on this Earth to do. Look after you.”
And her fate was sealed.
Shit.
15
“Took you long enough,” Wolfe snapped as he opened the backdoor to the car. He glared down at her, as though it was her fault. The sky was beginning to lighten, it must be getting close to dawn.
“Sorry my kidnapping inconvenienced you,” she snapped up at him.
She was tired, her arm was throbbing and she was feeling more than a bit irritated. Sure, she’d made the decision to come with them. But it all felt like some bizarre dream. And she wasn’t just having second thoughts. She was having fifth and sixth thoughts. Turning off her brain and letting them take control sounded ideal in theory. In reality, she didn’t know how it was even possible to begin doing that.
“Kidnapping? What is she talking about?” Wolfe snapped.
“He didn’t agree to this?” They’d lied to her?
“Relax, the two of you,” Caleb replied calmly. “She thinks we’re trying to kidnap her.”
“You are kidnapping me,” she insisted.
“No, we’re stealing you. Completely different,” Aleki told her.
They were lunatics. All of them.
Wolfe leaned in and undid her seatbelt then lifted her into his arms.
“Wolfe, I don’t know if this is a good idea. What if I put you all in danger?”
He glared down at her. “Don’t give me any of that shit, Genevieve. I’ve had enough. From now on, every time you mention putting us in danger or protecting us, I’m gonna put you over my knee and redden that ass, you got me?”
She gaped at him.
“Well?” he snapped.
“I understand.”
He grunted in satisfaction. Jeez Louise.
“We’ve been pre-cleared but we still have to show our passports and get ticked off the manifest. I told them that she’s hurt her ankle and they offered us a wheelchair, but I declined. You gonna give us any trouble in there, Genevieve?” Wolfe asked.
She sighed. “No.”
Satisfaction filled his face. “Good.”
The process was extremely quick and it wasn’t long until she found herself in the most luxurious plane she’d ever seen in her life. There were ten chairs done in white leather. Four faced each other with a table in the middle. And the remaining six were on the other side, in a row like in a normal plane. But these chairs were enormous. Like a recliner.
“There’s a bed out the back,” Wolfe explained as he placed her in a chair. They’d loosened the blanket for her in the airport so she could move her arms. “You’ll lie down there once we’ve taken off.”