Page 30 of Bound and Beguiled

“Never again,” Kynan muttered.Slap.“Fuck those idiots.”Slap.“I’ll rip their throats out.”Slap.“NEVER again.”

Weaving over it, Efa’s soft voice sounded like a prayer. “You’re so beautiful, baby. So kind. Smart, thoughtful, and so sexy. You deserve everything. The whole world, sweetheart.”

I felt like crying all over again, but I had no more tears. I reached behind me, searching, and Kynan’s hand closed over mine, solid and steady. He seemed to understand what I needed, because in the next instant I was curled on the bed, sandwiched between him and Efa.

Raising my head, I found Mared and Emyr huddled together, their eyes glittering with emotion. I held out a hand, and when they settled onto the bed with us I drew in my first full, easy breath in what felt like a lifetime.

Eventually, my heartbeat settled and I shifted. My ass felt like it was swollen to three times its normal size, and I winced as it caught and dragged against Kynan’s leather kilt. That was an unexpected but nice bonus to furred bed partners: no slippery, sweaty, flesh sticking together issues. It was humid in our little pile, but not the puddle it could have been.

“I...thank you.” My voice was rough as sandpaper, and I swallowed as I tried to come up with the words to express my feelings. My mind wasn’t racing—instead I felt surreally calm—but things were so clear now, as if the landscape of my mind had come into focus. At the same time, it was as if I’d been flipped inside out, all my private hidden parts raw and pulsing for everyone to see. “Please—please don’t get up. I need to say some things, and I don’t think I can do it if you’re looking at me.”

The Bwbachod around me were very still.

“I never thought I was ugly,” I started, the words barely more than a whisper. “I just wasn’t—didn’t think I was beautiful. Katarina is beautiful. Feminine. Curvy. Pretty. My mother is beautiful. I was just...useful.”

Mared jerked, then settled, and I wove my fingers through hers.

“I’m strong. Athletic. Compact. I don’t really like makeup or ruffles and bows—but I think, maybe, that’s okay. After all, Efa isn’t into any of that stuff either, and she’s so gorgeous sometimes I just stare at her.”

Efa shook against me with silent laughter and nuzzled my hair.

“I’m going to try to believe. I might need reminding. Please don’t be mad at me if I do.” I was so fucking terrified I couldn’t breathe. Then I was almost smothered as the four bodies around me pressed closer, hands petting me wherever they found flesh.

“Never,” Kynan promised, and I shuddered, nodding.

He hadn’t been mad before—not even in the middle of my spanking had I thought his anger was directed atme—but old lessons didn’t just disappear with the smack of a hand. I snickered internally even as a small part of me worried about whether they’d feel the same a year from now, five years from now.

“I’m going to say something. I don’t want you to respond. And there’s no strings. I just—fuck, I have to look at you for this.” I squirmed until I was sitting up on my very sore ass.

Kynan, Efa, Emyr, and Mared rolled until they were all looking up at me.

“I love you.”

The relief of saying it out loud made me dizzy, and a giddy laugh fell from my lips as I met each of their widening eyes. “I don’t know what it means. I don’t want to pressure you, so please—mmph!”

Mared’s kiss was all-consuming. My eyes fluttered shut as I sank into her, slipping down on the bed until she rose over me, my other lovers moving in around us.

“You talk too much,” she whispered against my lips, and I knew she lied.

“Make me scream instead,” I challenged, bringing her hand to the delicate lace-covered heat between my thighs.

“Our pleasure, love,” Efa murmured against my neck, teeth nibbling.

I gasped as Emyr lifted my thigh, pushing inside me without warning. Those glorious ridges stretched me with snaps of pleasure that eddied and frothed against the shuddering bliss of Mared’s fingers slipping over my clit.

Kynan’s fist clenched in my hair, his dark voice commanding me to take more, and just that fast I was a breath from an orgasm.

Picking a dress could come later. It was my turn now.

∞∞∞

“We don’t have time,” I whined an hour later as Mared and Emyr held up two more dresses for me to pick from. They had to have bought every red, floor-length, fancy-assed dress in town. “I have to get dressed for work.”

“Which takes you exactly three minutes, and our shift doesn’t start for a half-hour.” Emyr’s voice held no mercy. “Pick.”

This would be my fourth dress since our impromptu Therapeutic Banging break, and honestly I wasn’t as upset as I acted. Iwastired of getting dressed and undressed, and would have been more than happy to have a nap instead, but I was also beginning to not hate looking at myself in the mirror. It felt surprisingly nice.

“You’re supposed to listen to me,” I huffed, getting up and wandering closer to look at my options. “I am the bride, remember?”

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