Freya held up a palm in his direction. “Thor, calm down. Mason and Belle didn’t commit a crime and there’s no need to get mad at her. Put the drone on autopilot before you get us all killed.”
Thor pushed a few buttons. “I’m not mad at Belle. I’m fucking furious at Mason. How dare he touch her? He knows we can’t touch outsiders.”
“Huh. Is that a rule? That would explain why Indiana turned me down.”
Aubri narrowed her eyes at Celeste. “What are you talking about? When did you try and hook up with Indiana?”
“Oh, it was years ago. I always found him extremely attractive and I wondered if…” Celeste stopped herself and her gaze darted to me.
“You wondered what?” Aubri asked impatiently.
Celeste leaned back. “You know, what every woman wonders when they see a giant of a man.”
We all looked toward Thor, who was large even when sitting down.
“I’m not following,” Aubri said.
Freya sighed. “That’s because we’re surrounded by large men all the time. I think Celeste is referring to the size of Indiana’s penis.”
Thor sputtered a laugh with no mirth behind it. “You wanted to know the size of his cock?”
Celeste shrugged. “That, and I was curious to see if Nmen are different in bed than French men.”
“Of course, we are!” Thor claimed. “We’re a hundred times better.”
“Is that so?” Celeste gave a dry chuckle. “That’s an easy claim to make without backing it up. Are you willing to demonstrate your talents and let me be the judge?”
Thor’s eyebrows shot up. “What the hell, Celeste. You’re pregnant.”
“So? Pregnant women can have sex too.”
“I’m…” He trailed off and looked to his sister as if she had his answer. “I’m flattered, but sex is between a man and his wife. That’s why Mason went over the line. He’s putting himself in danger by having sex with someone he can’t have.”
“Why? It’s not like we French have dangerous sexually transmitted diseases. Those were eradicated after the Motherlands discovered us sixteen years ago. That’s one of the best things that we got from working with them.”
“I’m talking about his emotional attachment. There’s no way Mason can have sex with Belle and not get attached. That’s not fair to his future wife,” Thor claimed.
His words about Mason’s future wife hurt like a stab wound.
Celeste scoffed. “Trust me. It’s possible to have sex and not get attached. We French do it all the time. You don’t see Victor and me having a deep connection, do you?”
“You had sex with Victor?” Freya jerked her head back.
“Yes. I’d say it was the best sex of my life, but he’s got this stupid rule of never having sex with a woman more than once.”
“Because he’s afraid of getting attached,” Thor argued.
“Maybe.” Celeste scratched her collarbone. “So, I take that as a no. You’re not going to back up your claim and show me how great a lover you are, or should I say, think you are.”
“No, I’m not having sex with you.” Thor returned to piloting the drone and we were all quiet for a long moment, before I asked,
“You’re not going to confront Mason about it, are you?”
Thor kept his face turned forward when he answered, “He’s lucky I still have a few hours to calm down or I would have kicked his ass.”
“Good luck with that. It’s Mason we’re talking about. He’s a better fighter than any of us,” Aubri muttered.
“Yeah, well, that’s not going to help him when our fathers hear about this. Or when they learn that she might be pregnant with his child.”
CHAPTER 17
Violation
Mason
I got to the Gray Mansion first and was walking up the stairs to the grand entry when Thor came flying in.
Setting down the luggage that I was carrying inside the entrance, I instructed the mansion staff to take it to the right rooms before I walked back out to help unload Thor’s drone. Halfway there, I stopped in my tracks when Thor jumped out and stabbed his finger through the air at me.
“You fucking moron!”
My hand flew to my chest. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, I’m fucking talking to you.” He was walking fast toward me and the minute he was close enough he pushed both hands at my chest.
Making an “umph” sound from the air being pushed out of my lungs, I pushed him away from me. “What the hell is your problem?”
“You took a woman who barely survived being caught in an avalanche and then you violated her the same night.”
My jaw flexed and my gaze flew from him to Belle, who was exiting the drone with a stressed expression on her face.
“Don’t even look at her. You know what you did to her.”
Lowering my voice, I tried to calm him down. “I don’t want to discuss it here.”
“We all know! Your dirty secret is out.” Thor’s nostrils were flaring. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Freya, Aubri, and Celeste came closer with Belle keeping in the background.
“It’s none of your business,” I defended myself.
Thor snorted. “Did you think we would be okay with you touching an unmarried woman?”
“An unmarried French woman,” my sister pointed out to defend me. “With her consent.”
“Aubri, butt out of this,” Thor warned through gritted teeth.
Indiana landed his drone and it made Thor jut his chin toward the entrance. “We have to tell Magni and Khan.”
“Are you crazy?” I narrowed my eyes and shoved his shoulder. “I’m not fucking suicidal. Belle and I had consensual sex that doesn’t concern any of you. Magni and Khan are from a different generation, they’ll never understand.”
“Well, I’m three years younger than you and I still don’t fucking understand how you could risk everything.”
“What did I risk? Huh?” I turned to walk into the house and away from this conversation.
Behind me Indiana was approaching with Victor. Reading the tension on everyone’s faces they asked what was going on.
I heard Celeste update them while I made my strides longer to get away. The last thing I needed was for everyone to be in my business.
Running steps behind me made me turn my face to see Belle catch up.
“Why the fuck did you tell them?” I muttered without slowing down.
“I didn’t. Celeste heard us last night. She was the one who told them and then they started asking me all these questions.” She was panting as she ran to keep up with my fast pace up the stairs.
“Mason.” The deep sound of my uncle’s voice slowed me down. “Mason, come down here.”
Stopping, I grabbed onto the railing and squeezed tight. Below us Thor, Indiana, Victor, Celeste, Aubri, and Freya were all entering the grand foyer and Thor shouted up at me.
“Get away from Belle. If you touch her again, you’ll end up with a prosthetic arm like your dad. Do you hear me? I’ll fucking rip your arm off at its socket.”