The Triplets Mate Zoe (7 page)

They’d both pulled on ball caps before they left the car, tugging them low over their faces to hide as much as possible. No one had noticed any CCTV cameras in the area, so balaclavas were considered to be unnecessary. Vallen rang the doorbell and quickly unlocked the door with his lock picks.

A friendly locksmith had taught all the panthers in this business how to unlock doors, windows, handcuffs, and other basic locks. It had been very useful knowledge on several occasions, including once when he’d been caught in a burglary but, fortunately, had escaped before the police arrived.

Vallen pointed up the stairs, and Monty took the stairs two at a time, keeping his head down just in case there were any cameras in the house. The boy’s room was easy to recognize. The door had the biggest, most obvious lock on it Monty had ever seen. He pulled out his own lock picks and got to work. A few seconds later, the simple lock opened easily for him. He rather thought a kid with a hairclip could have unlocked it, so presumably the lock was there more as a statement than for genuine security.

The computer wasn’t even turned off. It was displaying advertisements for computer games in an ever-changing dizzying array.

The chair hadn’t been pushed into the desk properly, so Monty left it where it was and sat down, noting the position of the keyboard and mouse before waggling the mouse and looking for the kid’s favorite websites.

Unfortunately he couldn’t find any trace of the things the kid had uploaded. If he had uploaded anything. His favorite
YouTube
videos were mostly music videos, so that didn’t help either.

Monty scrolled through his file folders. Schoolwork didn’t seem to play much of a role in his life. There were music files, some porno movies, and some links to terrorist sites that the government might be interested in. Monty carefully photographed the file folders without clicking on any of the links.

That gave him the idea of checking things by the date the file was made. He counted back the days to the date George’s café was vandalized and looked for files that day. And there it was. This time he not only photographed the files, making sure the dates were visible. He also clicked the links and watched the videos. The kid had mostly photographed two other people destroying the window and the equipment in the store, but he was sufficiently stupid to have taken some selfies of himself in action as well.

Got you!

Monty checked the time. He had another twenty minutes yet so clicked some of the other links, finding two other videos of vandalism, which he recorded on his cell phone. He was halfway through the last one when his cell vibrated in his hand.

Oops. Time to go.

He clicked out of the links, leaving everything the way it had been, taking a few quick pictures of the room before he left and locking the door behind himself. His cell phone vibrated again as he got to the foot of the stairs, and Vallen pointed to the back door, leading the way. He peeked out through the kitchen window but saw no one, so they slipped out, locking the door behind them.

Monty mentally groaned at the thought of having to jump over innumerable back fences, but the back fence had a gate in it. One that didn’t even lock. Vallen looked into the other backyard and gave Monty a thumbs-up. They slipped through, closing the gate behind them, and walked though the garden and up someone’s driveway. This house didn’t have a car in the driveway or any children’s bicycles lying around, so he supposed they must have either much younger or much older children. Either way, they didn’t appear to be home. Monty breathed properly again once they were walking back toward the car. The others were already there, and he jumped into the backseat where Favian was slouched down below the window level. As soon as they were inside, Diego started the engine and drove away, not hurrying, but not moving slowly either.

“Why did you call us?” Monty asked.

“It was just a precaution. A carload of kids drove past tooting their horn and yelling. I figured the ball game might have finished.”

“Good call. I expect it had.”

Just then Vallen’s cell phone beeped.

Monty looked at him as Vallen typed an answer. “That was the Alpha saying the ball game ended early, so I told him we were already out. Did you get anything?” he asked.

“I did,” said Brayden.

“I did, too,” said Monty.

“Awesome,” said Favian, sitting back up on the seat. “Tell me all about it.”

Zoe smiled at Maia. She’d asked Zoe and Leah to sing her the same song Zoe and Maia had sung for Leah’s wedding. That was fine by Zoe. She’d be singing the same part as last time. The three of them had sung it as a trio several times, with Leah singing the soprano. For Leah’s wedding, Maia had sung the high notes. She’d been very nervous about it but done brilliantly. This time Leah would do the part she’d done before and so would Zoe, which meant they’d only needed to practice together a few times to get the balance of their voices right.

Zoe thought it was a nice tradition Maia had created and wondered if Maia and Leah would sing it at her wedding. One of them would have to learn Zoe’s part, of course, which might be a challenge.

What am I thinking of? I’m not getting married. I am
not
a lemming.

She glanced at her sisters. Maia looked lovely in the pale pink dress she’d worn as Leah’s bridesmaid. Zoe was wearing the pale lilac one she’d worn that day as well, and Leah was in pale blue today. They were beautiful outfits, perfectly suited to a wedding.

Her father conducted the ceremony with a big smile on his face, and Chase and Maia were pronounced man and wife. In half an hour, the three men, Chase, Theron, and Draven would mate Maia in the panther warehouse. Zoe felt a little shiver of anticipation roll down her spine. She knew Vallen, Monty, and Diego would take her aside there and maybe kiss her. Maybe even more than that. She didn’t think there’d be much of an opportunity for anything to happen. Although there’d be the cake to cut, and a light meal served in the community room at the panther headquarters, she thought her time there would be pretty fully committed.

Maia had been quite adamant about keeping her human wedding very small. “It’s too soon after Leah’s wedding to make a fuss,” she’d insisted. But she’d wanted the song, and Zoe was determined to do her best for her sister.

Her father stepped to the back of the platform, her mother played a chord on the piano, and Zoe focused on Maia as she sang. She did most sincerely wish her sister all the happiness in the world with her three husbands.

After everyone had congratulated Maia and Chase and taken pictures, they drove to the panther warehouse for the next part of the ceremony. Zoe was beginning to know her way around here now, not just because Vallen, Monty, and Diego had shown her around but because the layout was very logical, centered around the dogleg in the corridor that housed the elevator and the stairwell.

In the community room, the panthers were all gathered, and they clapped and cheered as the three men led Maia to the front of the room.

The words spoken were almost exactly the same as in the church, except that this time all three men promised to love and cherish Maia while she promised the same to them.

Champagne corks popped, the toasts were drunk, and platters of food were handed around.

Vallen appeared at Zoe’s side. “We’d like to feed you more than just canapés. Would you like that?”

Hidden deep inside, Zoe had half hoped, half not dared to hope that he’d ask her a question just like this. Her mind was made up. “Yes, please.”

Instantly Montague and Diego were there as well, the three men ushering Zoe out of the community room, down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the concrete-walled corridor that led to the dungeon.

Vallen typed a number into the security pad there, and Zoe asked, “How do you know someone else isn’t already in there? Not everyone would be at Maia’s wedding.”

“Actually, almost everyone is at the wedding, but all the public rooms are listed on our pack calendar, and anyone can reserve the room they want. We made sure the dungeon was reserved for us in case you agreed to spend time with us,” Vallen replied.

Uh-huh.
In case
. Zoe was pretty sure if she’d said no they’d have tried to change her mind. Not that they’d have had to try very hard. She stepped into the room. It felt familiar—right—to be in here with these men.

No matter how many times she told herself she didn’t really know them, and that she wasn’t going to be a lemming, in her heart, Zoe was coming to acknowledge that she did know them from the many hours they’d shared working side by side in the kitchen at the church house. Preparing food, helping people, solving problems, trouble-shooting crises. The three men had been endlessly patient, kind, and helpful, doing whatever chore was asked of them with no complaints. Oh sure, there were moans and groans, but it was always done in a humorous way. She knew she could trust them with her life—and her heart.

Zoe turned and faced Vallen, Monty, and Diego. This was their dungeon. She knew they’d have instructions for her very soon.

“Would you like to play a brief dungeon scene with us?” asked Diego.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Did the books you’ve read tell you about safe words?” asked Monty.

“Yes, indeed. If I use my safe word, everything stops.”

“And what is your safe word?” asked Vallen.

Hmm. That was a problem. She hadn’t thought far enough ahead to choose one. Zoe said the first word that came into her head. “Curtain.”

“Very well. From now on you may only answer a direct question from one of us. You must call us Sir or Master and obey us. If you don’t want to continue, you need to use your safe word. Do you understand?” asked Monty.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Get undressed, sub,” ordered Vallen.

Zoe wondered how far she could push him. She was ready to find out all about punishment. The books she’d read had described spankings as heating the recipient up from the outside to the inside, so orgasms were much more powerful. If she just did everything she was ordered to do, without testing the limits, likely by the end of the brief time they could spend here tonight, she’d be none the wiser about whether or not it was something she’d enjoy. So, therefore, she needed to push a bit, but because she wasn’t sure how much she’d like being punished, she didn’t want to risk being punished too severely. It was like being a virgin all over again. She had to use her knowledge of these three men to figure out exactly when to agree and when to disobey.

She squared her shoulders and looked Vallen in the face, knowing that subs were supposed to lower their eyes. “Are you going to get undressed as well, Sir?”

He frowned at her. “Disobedient subs get spanked.”

Aha. She had him. He was checking to see if she knew what she’d done. “But I didn’t disobey you, Sir. I asked a question.”

“You asked a question after being told you were not permitted to speak except to answer our questions. Get undressed immediately, you disobedient sub,” ordered Monty.

Zoe walked across to a chair in the corner of the dungeon. She hung her tiny purse with its gold chain over the back of the chair, and carefully laid her bridesmaid’s dress over it so it wouldn’t crease. Nothing would speak more loudly of her bad behavior than a crumpled gown. She set her shoes under the chair and removed the pretty lilac bra and panties that matched the dress and then very carefully rolled her stockings up and laid them over the dress. She wasn’t used to wearing stockings. She lived in jeans for much of the year. Even on Sundays she had a tendency to wear her nicest jeans or black dress pants and a shirt unless it was hot, and if it was hot, bare legs with a skirt were fine. But it was lovely to have such luxury for a special occasion.

She turned to face the center of the dungeon. The three men were lined up, looking at her. Vallen was holding a riding crop, Monty had a cane, and Diego held a bright pink paddle with a raised heart on it. It wasn’t difficult to work out what was going to happen next.

It occurred to her that she always knew which of them was which. Although they were identical triplets, she always knew which one was speaking to her or who’d entered the room. She didn’t even need to look at them to check. She recognized the slightly different timbres and tones in their voices and the different phrasing and intonation each one used. They would never be able to play games with her as to which of them was which. She knew. They might all share the same DNA, but their personalities and attitudes were individual and distinct.

“Come,” ordered Diego, pointing to the chains hanging from the ceiling.

Zoe’s belly quivered, and cream filled her pussy. He really shouldn’t use that word. It had other connotations. One of which she hoped would also be happening very soon, but it was one which required some input from the men to bring to fruition.

She padded across the dungeon floor to stand beside the chains. The gray tiles under her feet were cool, or maybe her feet were warm from all the standing and walking she’d been doing.

Vallen and Monty each took one of her wrists and slid them into the handcuffs that were dangling from the chains. Then the chains were raised and tightened until her arms were stretched out fully. Diego kneeled at her feet, manacling her ankles into more handcuffs. These ones were attached to a spreader bar, which forced her legs to remain wide apart and also forced her to lift her heels off the ground if she wanted to release the pressure on her arms.

Well damn. That was a tricky thing to do to her. She could either remain flat on the soles of her feet, with her arms stretched up high and her shoulders extended, or she could stand up on the balls of her feet and ease the pressure off her shoulders. But she couldn’t do both. Hell. That was such a tiny, simple thing, yet Zoe already knew it was going to be crowding other thoughts out of her brain before long as the strain began to make her arms ache.

I’ve learned something about BDSM already. The simplest things can be used to force a sub to make choices. It’s all in the way the Doms set the scene.