Chapter Thirty-Four
Havermouth, Present Time
To distract herself from the pain and degradation, Aislen had memorized the swirls and curves of the chandelier, with its little drops of black crystal, to the point that she did not doubt that she would be able to draw it and its shadows once she got free. If she ever got free.
It had been hours and it seemed that her entire body throbbed from what Rhett had done to her.
The tattoo was worse than the piercings, as the pain was prolonged, but when he stopped, the piercings made themselves known, conflictingly, but, not entirely unpleasantly, due to their location. Her body confusing the pain signals for pleasure. She was, as a result, angry, frustrated, and horny.
And afraid. Very afraid, she admitted to herself.
As a teenager she had been humiliated by the Triquetra, but she had never feared them. When she had realized that the relationship wasn’t healthy, that humiliation had morphed into anger and outrage, that they would manipulate her in such a way, she still hadn’t been afraid of them. Returning to Havermouth, she had brought her anger and outrage back with her, but without fear.
From the moment she had awoken, tied to Rhett’s bed, she had been afraid, a bone-chilling nightmare of a fear that had increased every moment since, until only pride kept her from disintegrating.
They had thoroughly demonstrated that the Triquetra were in control, and that they were not afraid. They could take her, imprison her, and do what they liked to her, and she could do nothing about it.
On her chest, just below her collar bone, Rhett had carefully inked in detail, a beautiful little knotted triangle. He wore a new tattoo with a similar design, but in miniature on the point of his cheek, just under his left eye, and she suspected that Cameron and Heath sported their own somewhere on their bodies.
Rhett had not stopped there, of course. Tangled in the leaves of an ivy vine that started at her hip and ended where her pubic hair line would begin, if she allowed it to do so, were their initials. HG, CE, RS. He had made a pun out of her new name, and used it to tie the Triquetra to her, branding her both with their chosen symbol and with their initials. He had marked her as belonging to them, their property.
He had done it all in silence, but because of the nature of the work, his hand or arm had rested on her throughout, and unlike when he had pierced her, she’d had time to think past the pain and panic and absorb the images that tumbled into her mind from him. Most of it was planning ahead for the next part of the tattoo, thinking of shading and colours to use, but other parts brushed on the Triquetra's intentions in abducting her and his confliction over it.
"I'm taking a break," he announced. He released her once to allow her to use the bathroom, giving her a wipe to use on her new piercing. She watched him as she used the toilet and washed her hands, rather than looking in the reflection of the mirror, not sure she was ready to see what he had done to her. Rhett's body language was tense, restless, and frustrated. "Hurry up," he said.
As she returned to the bed and he began to tie her down again, she saw that he was hard. "Turns you on," she prodded. "To do this to me. That's kind of sick you know."
A muscle ticked in the corner of his jaw, but he did not answer, leaving the room as soon as she was tied in place.
She was not surprised when Heath entered as Rhett left, the two men exchanging a tender moment in the doorway, where Heath pulled Rhett against him in an embrace and whispered something. Rhett nodded and glanced over his shoulder at her before leaving. Heath crossed the room and looked down at her.
“I know what you’re planning,” she said, her voice hoarse from lack of use and emotion. “You can’t imagine it’ll work.”
He regarded her with chilled eyes. “A Triquetra is rare,” he said quietly. “We are a monogamous people, devoted to our mates, jealously possessive. In times of peril, however, it has been known for our males to combine in twos or threes, forming smaller packs within the larger one. A survival mechanism, it’s thought.”
“Is this a time of peril?” She wondered.
“Hmm,” he moved around the bed and sat at her side, stroking his hand up her shin, spilling into her mind images of Rhett exploring her new piercing with his tongue whilst Heath straddled her and thrusted his cock into her mouth. “The proximity to an ancient enemy of our people is believed to have instigated our Triquetra.”
“Zeus Forest Works has been here for generations,” she replied, distracted by his hand drifting up her inner thigh.
“You know about Zeus Forest Works.” He wasn’t surprised, more confirming what he already suspected. “It is very interesting what you know, Aislen. Where do you find out all your little secrets?”
He had discovered that she was wet, and for the first time, his eyes warmed as he looked at her.
“Not as indifferent to me as you act,” he said, tracing the outline of her cunt with his fingertip, teasing her. “It is very evocative to have you tied naked to Rhett’s bed like this.”
“I have never been indifferent to any of you,” she confessed, his teasing touch leaving her aching.
“No. You have hated Cameron and I. Desired us, but hated us at the same time.”
“You were arseholes,” she pointed out. “And never treated me kindly.”
“A defence mechanism. Disarm the enemy before they hurt you,” he sank his fingers into her in a slow penetration that caused her to moan wantonly. His eyes smouldered and his mouth parted as he watched his hand and her reaction to it.
“What happens to a Triquetra when their mate only wants one of them?” He said softly. “Jealousy and envy arise amongst the unwanted males, inciting competition, awaking instinct. Alphas fight for the female that they want, and suddenly a harmonious bond designed to strengthen the pack becomes fractured, plagued with in-fighting and arguments - a liability.
“Your obvious preference for Rhett almost divided our Triquetra,” he pressed upwards within her, finding the g-spot, and rubbing his fingertips in circles over it. Her jaw hung slack, her hips rising to give him better access, her body seeking the pleasure of his touch. “And it put him under a lot of pressure to try to balance your preference against our wants, to try to deflect our resentment of him.”
He withdrew his fingers, and she blinked up at him in baffled anger as the orgasm retreated. He stroked his fingers over her thigh, leaving the evidence of her desire slick upon her skin. “We have never fully regained what we had between the three of us before you came along, and never had the opportunity to heal because you did not come back,” he said the last part through his teeth. “We cannot let you go again. It will break us.
“And so,” he reached out and caught the tear that ran down her cheek on his fingertip. “We must break you.”
Rhett stepped into the room, and Heath turned and walked to him, placing his hand on Rhett’s chest, and murmuring something under his breath. Rhett’s head was bowed forward, and his hair covered his face hiding his expression. “I’m okay,” he said softly. “I can keep going.”
“I’ll be here,” Heath said, his tone comforting and warm. “If you need me.”
Rhett nodded. “I know.”
Heath brushed his lips over Rhett’s cheek and looked over his shoulder at Aislen for a long moment, before continuing out into the hallway.
Rhett crossed to the bathroom and washed his hands in the sink before returning to put on a new set of gloves.
“Do you remember the time we went to the drive in?” Aislen whispered, as he sat on the stool. “We laid in the tray of Cameron’s Ute, drinking and smoking, talking and fucking. I don’t even remember what the movie was about, do you? When it was just the four of us, sometimes things were… They were amazing.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?” He said, without looking at her.
“Because, whenever we were around others, you three changed. Heath and Cameron would be mean, and you would let them.”
“When we were around others,” he turned on the light and she closed her eyes against the glare. “You were different. You would act as if I were your boyfriend, and Cameron and Heath were not. You created a division between us.”
“I was eighteen,” she grimaced as he resumed the tattoo of the triangle, adding colour. “I was young and… Ow!” She sobbed in a breath. “Young and inexperienced. People were already calling me the Triquetra slut. My parents were worried that I was getting a reputation. It was okay to have a boyfriend and be sexually active with him, but to have three, at once, and two that publicly acted as if they hated me… Oh god, that hurts.”
“The placement under your collar bone means that this one will be the more painful of these two tattoos.”
These two tattoos.
“Precisely how many tattoos are you planning on doing?” She demanded.
He was silent, but his touch spilled a myriad of designs and where he would place them on her skin.
“Rhett!” Her horror passed through her physically. “Oh god,” she whispered. “Oh god,” she tugged on the handcuffs, and he lifted the tattoo gun from her skin as she began to twist. “Let me go! Fuck!” She screamed. “Fuck! Help me! Someone, help me!”
“No one can hear you,” Rhett said. “There is no one to hear you, other than Heath and I.”
Hysteria bubbled over and she shrieked and screamed and fought against the restraints. She did not know how long she screamed and struggled for, but eventually she wore herself to exhaustion and lay sobbing.
Rhett resumed the tattoo.