Caging the Bengal Tiger (3 page)

Not wasting a minute, Lacey jumped up and ran to the bench. He stripped out of his shirt and moved to the bag he'd placed in there earlier. Oh, she wasn't the only one who had been here. Both he and Anthony had been here inspecting all that she had done. They had been watching their cat for the past two months and had known all about her hidden agenda. Now they would find out if she was willing to open up to them.

He looked into his bag and pulled out the butt plug, lube and paddle. There was no sense in waiting, Lacey needed to be stretched if she was going to take him, and she would take him. "Anthony, take care of this, I'll be back. Lan is downstairs and needs a word with me." He handed him the plug and lube before turning to a tied-down woman.

Running his hand over her ass and up her spine, he stepped around in front of the spanking bench. "Lacey, Dan and Anthony are going to get you ready for me. While I'm gone, I want you to think about something. Is there anything we should know?" He leaned down and kissed her.

"Don't disappoint me, Lady Cat," he whispered into her ear before standing and leaving the room.

Lan, one of his best friends, was waiting downstairs in the hallway with one of his partners, Cedric. "What did you find out?" Isaac shook each man’s hand.

"They're on their way here. His little group has picked up stragglers, so there are about thirty of them now. Not one of them belongs to us. Most of them are shifters, and there are even a few humans among them." Lan looked up the stairs. "How is your
meru?"

Isaac sighed. "She's stubborn and a test to my patience. All three of them are, but we'll make it. The numbers of the her father's group has me worried though we don't need to draw attention to ourselves with Koti popping up everywhere." Isaac studied Lan, then Cedric. "Have you three spoken with Abby yet?"

His friend shook his head. "No. She is still suffering so much from her sister's death. We should have been there for her, protecting her family."

Placing both his hands on Lan’s shoulders, Isaac held Lan's attention. "There is nothing you could have done. Agatha knew the risk and took off even with Akaos’ men. Even Akaos is furious with himself for not guarding the females better." He looked up the stairs as he released Lan's shoulders. "I guess we all have our burdens and mistakes, Lan. We just need to learn from them. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm needed upstairs." He turned to leave, but stopped at Lan's words.

"From what we found out, her father has ordered his men not to touch her, claiming she is his and only his. She is to be his queen. It seems he does not care that she is his daughter." Lan snarled the last part. "Sometimes I think humans just don't have the brains to live without guidance."

"Watch when you say that. I know many humans and others who would resent that including my
weru
and your
meru.
Inform Akaos what has transpired and bring in another ten men. I won't take a chance with Lacey. She's been through enough."

"You are right, of course." He shook his head and turned to leave. "But sometimes I just want to rip them apart with my hands," Lan said and at once Cedric had his hands on Lan's shoulders.

"Come let me take care of your needs, Lan. You need to release some of that tension before we even think of speaking with our
meru
," Cedric offered as they walked out the door.

Soon, Abby would have to move on and his friends were just the men to help her, but right now he had other problems. Isaac climbed the stairs already knowing Lacey was not strapped down on the spanking bench and had shifted to her tiger. Both Anthony and Dan were trying to comfort her, but they couldn't get close enough to her.

He quietly stepped into the room, but Lacey's big head turned towards him. Her gaze met his and the big cat actually inched back towards the wall, afraid. To each side of her were Dan and Anthony on the ground just waiting.

"What happened?" His voice was gentle as if not to frighten their
meru
.

"I showed her the plug and she flipped out. Shifted while attached to the bench. Lacey hasn't let us close enough to see if she's hurt or not." Anthony responded in a whisper.

Inching his way to her, Isaac sat down on the floor in front of her. "Come here, Lacey, let me hold you." He waited for what had to be five minutes before she slowly inched toward him and placed her head in his lap.

"I'm sorry something frightened you Lady Cat, but we can get through this together. Anytime you are scared, just talk to us. We're not going to hurt you, I promise you." He reached up and scratched her head. "We would die for you, Lacey. You are the only woman who can complete us. You are the keeper of our hearts and souls. Without you, there would be just flesh here, a machine. Please shift and talk to us."

He scratched behind her ear, waiting. "I'd really like to talk to you about your plans. I know you haven't eaten. Did you know Anthony is a great cook? After we deal with your father, I'd like all of us to go with Dan to meet his family. They still don't know what has happened and they should be told. I'm sure having you with us would help him tremendously to ease the guilt."

To his left, Dan glared at him. "Do we have a problem, Dan?"

Inside her cat, Lacey was scared out of her mind. When Anthony had showed her the butt plug everything in her had frozen. One of the stipulations at the clubs she’d attended had been that no one would touch her behind, but here with Isaac, Dan and Anthony they weren't aware of her fear.

She shivered, the flash of her father's body behind her, his cock rubbing between her ass cheeks before she could get away from him the second time.

The tension in the room seemed to spike. Isaac grabbed a handful of her fur and gripped it tight while his attention turned to Dan. Well, crap, Lacey didn't want them fighting. She had enough problems. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head and licked the side of Isaac's face, knowing the roughness of her tongue would hurt just a little.

"Watch it, Lady Cat," Isaac turned his attention back on her and released his grip on her fur.

Her bones snapped, muscles reshaped and skin replaced fur. Looking down at her hands, Lacey waited and she didn't have to wait long.

Scooping her up, Isaac placed her onto his lap, hugging her tight. "You ready to tell us what happened?"

Rubbing her cheek on his chest, Lacey nodded. "I don't let anyone touch me back there. Even at the clubs, that’s a red zone for me." She tried to get closer to him. "Flashbacks, second time the bastard caught me."

His arms tightened around her and she heard the hiss from Dan and Anthony. "What happened, when?"

The shaking started again and Lacey buried her face into Isaac's shirt when she felt a warm blanket being tucked around her. "I had been on my own for six years. Had a nice little place and was going to college. I came home one day to an apartment full of his goons. It wasn't pleasant, but I guess I was lucky no one killed me. After they were passed out, I managed to pry him off of me and get out. Sometimes even today things trigger flashbacks. I'd hoped getting rid of the threat would ease the memories. Ever since Akaos showed up, the dreams have started." She looked into Isaac's face. "Please help me. Don't let him get away again."

"Shh, we'll take care of him, I promise." He framed her face with his hands and sighed. "I'm not going to punish you today, Lacey, but only because you've been through enough. But you have to promise us that you'll talk to us." He waited and she nodded.

"I'll try. Even though I've been with my family over thirty years, some things are just so hard to talk about, but I'll try."

"Good. Now I'm not going to lie. It's going to be difficult, but we're going to work on your fear of the butt plug. I happen to enjoy ass play and I believe you will too, but for now, why don't we go downstairs and Anthony can cook us up some food. We can discuss this plan of yours, okay?" he asked lifting her up so she was standing before him.

"Yes, Sir." She pulled the blanket tighter around her and waited.

He rose and walked around her. "The only ones here are my men. Your father is not close yet. Until then, you can stay as you are. Might as well get used to being naked, because when you travel to my world, you will not be wearing anything. When the time comes and your father is closer, you may put on your garments, but not till then." His gaze left hers and turned toward Dan's.

"You were going to tell me what was wrong?" he asked Dan.

"Nothing. I don't have to share everything with you, Isaac," he snapped and proceeded to walk around them, but Isaac reached out and latched onto his arm, which only sent Dan into an angry fit. He swung at Isaac, but missed and cuffed her on the side of the shoulder.

As big as they were, his punch sent her flying to the floor with a thud. "Well, crap." She rubbed her arm, and her ass was also tingling right now, but that wasn't the problem. In the next second, Isaac was on top of Dan so fast she almost missed his fist connecting to Dan's face. Even Anthony was in the ball of fighting men.

"Stupid idiots," she mumbled and got up, rubbing her arm. Damn if Lacey was going to stand there and watch them beat the crap out of each other. She stomped to the door rubbing her ass now. "When you’re done being boys, I'll be downstairs," she yelled and slammed the door shut, wrapping the blanket around her.

She just made it to the bottom of the stairs when all three men came charging down the stairs after her. "Whoa there..." Lacey held up her hand stopping them, but Dan didn't.

He inched forward. "Please, let me see the damage to your arm. I'm so sorry, Lacey. I've never hit a woman in my life." He covered her hands with his big ones and lowered the blanket. "It's already starting to bruise. Oh baby, I'm so, so sorry." He fell to his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. "Of all the people I had to hit, it had to be you."

"Dan, stop. I'm fine, really. If anything, my ass hurts more than my arm." She laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. "But we're lucky. I have enough cushion back there so it won't hurt for long. Now come on, get up. I'd really like a kiss. Not one of you have given me a proper kiss yet." She pouted.

"Really?" Isaac raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

She couldn't help it, Lacey laughed. "Yes, really. Little pecks here and there are not kisses." She tapped her finger to her mouth. "Let's see the best kiss I had would have to be Master..." Dan jumped up and covered her mouth with his, lifting her in his arms as he devoured her.

This was no average kiss, no this was a claiming. Dan was claiming her and doing a very fine job of it. Lacey slid her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist at the same time he slid his tongue into her mouth. He tasted of chocolate and berries, his favorite treat.

He gripped the back of her head and held on tight, dueling with her in a sexual dance.

"Crap! Dan, take this upstairs. The men don't need this distraction," Akaos said, slamming the front door and making her jerk away from Dan.

"Thanks Akaos," Dan growled, but held onto her.

"Put me down, Dan," she released her legs and bent down to grab the blanket, but Isaac took it out of her hands.

"You don't need that. It's warm enough down here." He turned to his brother. "We were just going to start dinner. Come, we can talk in the kitchen," he said, walking down the hall.

She ran to catch up with him. "Isaac there is nothing in the kitchen. I just fixed up two rooms." She touched his arm and he stopped. "Do you really believe I'd allow you to stay here without fixing things?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to their thinking, Even now Maya still has trouble believing we do the things we do." Akaos smiled down at her. "You had us all worried, even Maya was nervous and in her condition, she shouldn't be worried," he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Don't do that again."

"I'm sorry. I told her not worry, that everything would work out. She helped me pick this place out. We both thought when I was done with this house, we'd donate it to the local veterans for a place to go when they want to relax," she stopped talking noticing Akaos’ frown.

"When was she here? She knew about your foolish plan?" his voice dropped an octave, and Lacey knew she’d put her foot in it now.

"Excuse me? My plan is not stupid. I've been trained for security and I have traps out there that these idiots won't even recognize..." The high pitch of an alarm went off and she smiled running towards her command center. All four men followed behind her as she came to a halt in front of a brick wall. Grinning like a fool, Lacey placed her hand over the hidden scanner and stepped back. The wall slid to the side. "I take it you didn't know about this," she said, very pleased that every man behind her said nothing.

"Men," she rushed down the metal steps, and lights kicked on as she stepped into the main room. She looked up at the left panel camera and laughed. "Looks like one of your men has found one of my traps. Thank god his reflexes are faster than that of the shifters." She nodded to the screen. "Those are poison darts. We’ll have to collect them to set up the trap again." She sat down in the chair and squealed as the cold leather hit her ass.

"Damn it!" She glared up at Isaac. "If you're going to make me go naked, heat the place up, please." Lacey turned back to the control panel and frowned as she pulled up the map of her traps. "You need to have your men take a look at his. That way they won't be setting off the traps."