Things had settled down into an easy silence around Ayathian after she had been dragged back, she still wasn't talking to Kai or Jaia, but she had been delighted to be reunited with Cat, who had grown enormous in the six months she had been gone.
He was very vocal about his anger at her for leaving and she had growled back at him, making him hiss at her indignantly.
After that, she had simply walked out with him, his yowling at her and her murmured agreement with him, explaining where she had gone and why she had gone, to which the cat listened and talked back, angry, but forgiving her.
They had ended up out in the gardens and she was glad for a few stolen minutes alone with him, talking calmly with him while he chased after a butterfly that had been stupid enough to come into the gardens and ended up being devoured by the feline.
"Eww don't eat that!" she cried, going after him, but he bolted and chewed the butterfly. "You're disgusting," she sighed.
"Says the one who eats human hearts."
Looking around, she found Kai and Jaia approaching her slowly, and she frowned, straightening as she looked between the two of them warily. After a moment, she turned away, picking up the remaining wing of the butterfly and flicking it into the bushes to be consumed by the dirt under the shrubs.
"Come on, Cat. Time to go back," she called. He looked around at her, his golden eyes going from her to the twins and then back again, and she had to wonder at his intelligence.
"Stop ignoring us," Jaia snapped, but she ignored him.
Cat padded over to her, a stick in his mouth and she looked at the stick, taking it from him when his nuzzling against her leg would have left her covered in scratches.
"Etani, talk to us," Kai pleaded, but she kept her back to them, not wanting them anywhere near her. Jaia had abused her, and Kai had forced her into obedience, neither was someone she wanted to be near right then.
"Etani, cut this crap out right now," Jaia snarled.
She looked around, her eyes locking on his. "I didn't know you had any right to tell me what to do, Jaia," she said angrily. "Someone should have warned me that you had any control over my actions or who I had to talk to."
"Oh, stop being such a brat and get over it."
Her brows lifted and Cat growled, sensing her boiling anger.
"Get over what, exactly?" she asked in a low, dangerous voice.
"Everything. Yourself," he snapped.
Turning to face the twins, she found Kai was staring at Jaia, his face hard, but Jaia was glaring at her furiously.
"No Jaia, tell me exactly what I should be getting over. Is it your forcing me to remember you? Should I get over you raping me? Kai forcing me to stay here when I didn't want to be here? You calling me a whore? Which part am I getting over for your convenience?" His face went red at her calm words, her eyes boring into his. "Which part, Jaia?"
"All of it. You belong here with everyone," he said, trembling with his anger.
"Etani, please don't be angry," Kai whispered, his eyes desperate. "I just wanted you back here with us."
"Don't beg her, Kai. She's the one who had to ruin everything with her selfishness."
Her eyes turned to Kai, and he flinched. The words she had said to protect their relationship still standing. Jaia still believed she had instigated it, and she decided not to enlighten the man.
"You're right, I did," she said softly, pain pulling through her at the truth of the words.
"You need to stop being such a child and deal with it," Jaia growled, and she looked up at him.
"How does one deal with the man they would have killed for deciding he would simply take what he wanted?" she asked Jaia, his face going stony. "What would you tell me if I was your sister, Jaia? What would you have me do to deal with it?"
Jaia stalked closer, glaring down at her, and she almost dared him to touch her, just give her an excuse to beat that smug face in.
He wanted to touch her, she could see it in the tension of his muscles and the way his fingers twitched in her peripheral, but he didn't, and she couldn't lash out at him.
"What, Jaia? Going to force me to obey you too?" she whispered, knowing she was goading him. "Or will you just hold me down and take what you want again?"
His face went pale and his eyes blazed crimson, the challenge triggering all sorts of emotions in him, but he clenched his jaw and forced it all back down again.
"Shut up," he growled, angry and wanting to hurt her for her words.
"Or what?" she said softly, daring him to try anything.
"Rape will be the least of your worries," he whispered, furious.
Meeting his eyes, she felt that need in him , that desire for her flesh and to make her submit but he forced it down.
"Do not threaten me," she breathed, her body tensed and ready for the fight.
"Do not tempt me to put you back in your place. This time it'll stick."
Fear flooded through her, and she took a step back from him, realising what he meant even as he said it.
"Why don't you find yourself another wife to keep you occupied?" she said, but he only smiled at her coldly.
"I will when she stops being difficult."
"I will never marry you," she breathed.
"You will, it's just a matter of time."
The fact that Kai hadn't said a word had her looking at him and she realised that Jaia's intentions were a topic of conversation between the two of them. The realisation had her glaring at them both, inching further away from them.
Had Kai tried to dissuade Jaia, or had he simply gone along with his brother's goal to be with her? She thought it was likely the latter, just wanting his brother to be happy even if it meant she would be trapped.
"You both need to stay away from me," she said, but Jaia only shook his head, moving forward after her.
"Kai needs your blood."
"He can take it, but not you. You stay away, forever."
Jaia narrowed his eyes at her, shaking his head and following after her even as she backed away from him.
"Jaia, stop," Kai said, but his twin ignored him, and fear flooded through her as he prowled after her. Her mind recalling the night with terrible clarity and as her back hit the wall, his arms stretched out and placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head, looking down at her with a dark smile on his face.
"I'm not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. You're stuck here with me and when I'm ready, I'll come for you," he whispered and she shrank back, knowing Kai wouldn't be able to hear the words.
The scent of him made her want to vomit from the flood of fear, the memory of his heat on top of her, his mouth heavy on hers as he pushed himself onto her, into her. "Next time you'll be screaming in pleasure, not begging me to stop," he breathed, his eyes locked on hers and she felt it again, pressing into her for the first time while staring greedily into her eyes, wanting to see every second as he violated her. "Next time you'll want it and you'll be mine. Forever."
She shook her head, and he grinned, darkly amused by her refusal.
"Oh yes, Etani, I know you want me. I can feel it in you, that little voice screaming to be held down and fucked time and time again. To have a mate strong enough to keep you still even when you beg for him to stop."
He was so close now that she could see the difference between his iris and his pupils, his eyes so dark they blended together so perfectly unless you were as close as she was then.
"You enjoyed it, even if you won't admit it to yourself, and as soon as I get my chance, I'll do it again, and again. I'll make you mine even if it takes my raping you a hundred times, you will be mine."
Jaia fell silent as Kai approached, pulling him back and she stood frozen, terrified, and not knowing what to do.
"Jaia, stop," Kai said, the smell of her fear tickling his need to feed and Jaia felt it, turning away with one last hungry look in her direction.
As they left, she slid down the wall and wrapped her arms tight around her legs, hugging them to her chest.
She hadn't enjoyed it, had she? She liked her men to be aggressive and domineering, but did that really mean she had enjoyed it when he forced her into his bed?
"You have some odd men around you," a soft voice said from above her and she jumped, looking up to find a pair of black boots directly above her head.
Leaning out over his knees to peer down at her, the round mask of Neah appeared.
"Neah?" she asked, totally baffled by the man sitting on the wall above her as though it was a perfectly normal thing to be doing.
Pushing himself off the wall, he landed with a thump a foot away from her and turned, a lot taller than she had originally assumed him to be. He was closer to seven feet than six and from that angle, she could see the underside of his jaw, pale and smooth with a strong profile, though it was odd, he had black markings on his skin. He wasn't wearing a robe this time, but instead he had on black pants and a black shirt that hung loose around his neck, showing a mass of scars both big and small.
"Hello again," he said conversationally as he stepped around her and dropped down onto the dirt at her side, tilting his head to see her face better while she was hiding under her hair.
"Want me to kill him?" he asked.