Van, Becca - Her Norland Warriors (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (13 page)

Jess followed after Tyr, Ari and Baldric at her sides. The gardens were so beautiful she could spend hours just taking in the sights. They walked down the landscaped paths, the young men chattering amongst themselves as she admired the unusual-colored plants. She was just about to call a halt to their foray when she caught movement from her peripheral vision off to the left. She turned her head to see three large warriors running toward them. She tried to put herself in front of the young men, but they wouldn’t let her, and she found herself standing behind a tall wall of slight muscle.

The battle didn’t last long. The young serving boys weren’t tall or brawny enough, and they fell to the ground unconscious at her feet with one blow from each of the warriors as their fists connected with the jaws from the three fully grown men. The largest of the trio swept her up into his arms and flung her over his shoulder, knocking the air from her diaphragm. Jess struggled, not that it did her a lot of good against such large, muscular man, but she wasn’t giving up without a fight. She was finally able to pull air into her lungs, and gasped with relief as the pain left her solar plexus. She kicked, scratched, hit, and punched, but the man holding her didn’t seem to notice. She just wasn’t strong enough against such muscle. She slumped down over his back, held on to the waistband of his pants, and thought of her mates.

Jess opened her mind and pushed her thoughts out. She felt a brush and then heard three full-fledged roars echo in her brain. Her men had heard her call, and they were furious at her abduction.

“Baby, lift your head and look around you. I need to know which way they are taking you,”
Dagr commanded.

Jess did as Dagr asked and looked around as much as she could. She had to let go of her hold and push her hair from her face so she could see. They were taking her into a dense forest, and she began to become even more frightened. She tried to push the fear to the back of her mind, knowing her men would come rescue her.

“They hurt Ari, Tyr, and Baldric when they tried to protect me. You have to send the healers to them. They were lying on the ground unconscious in the garden near the kitchens,”
Jess thought to her men.

“It’s all right, Jess. I
have
sent for the healers. They will see to the young boys,”
Hakon said in Jess’s mind.

“Are you well, little Jess? Did they hurt you?”
Loki asked, portraying his anxiety to her.

“No, I’m fine. They’re running through a forest. I’ve tried to get away, but they’re just too strong.”

“We are on our way, baby. Don’t panic, and just do as they say. We have all the warriors out looking for you. We will be with you again soon,”
Dagr said, portraying calm to her.

Jess sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Dagr was right. There was nothing she could do to escape on her own. She was just going to have to wait for her white knights to come and rescue her. She slumped down over the goon’s back, letting her muscles relax, but made sure to look at her surroundings every now and then, so her mates could see where she was being taken. She was going to have to ask them how that worked, how they could see through her eyes.

Jess didn’t know how long they had been traveling for, but the pain in her solar plexus and stomach muscles let her know it had been quite a while. She tipped her head to the side and saw they were nearing the edge of the dense forest. She was getting a splitting headache from being upside down for so long, and her body was beginning to ache from lack of movement. She lifted her head again, and one of the other warriors in her sight made her lower her lashes. But she gathered her courage and glared at him instead of cowering as he stared at her and hoped the images were being seen by her mates. She took in her surroundings and knew they were near their destination. She shifted her aching body until the hard point of the warrior’s muscular shoulder was no longer digging into her diaphragm and shrieked with fury when he slapped her hard on the ass.

“What are they doing to you, baby?”
Dagr pushed into her mind.

“He just slapped me on the butt. It hurt. Oh God. How far away are you? They’ve just taken me into a small building,”
Jess explained mentally, letting her mates feel her fear and anxiety.

“We aren’t that far behind you, sweetheart,”
Hakon stated.
“When they get you into the building, I want you to pretend to faint. They won’t try and mate with you if you aren’t conscious.”

“It probably won’t be an act. I’m scared,”
Jess whispered into their minds.

“Everything will be all right, little Jess. Just keep your mind linked with ours, and we will tell you what to do,”
Loki told her calmly.
“We’ll be with you before you know it.”

“Thank God,”
Jess whispered, just before she passed out.

Chapter Thirteen

“Shit, I can’t feel her anymore. Can either of you?” Hakon asked his brothers.

“No. I think she has passed out. I could feel her panic. She was having trouble breathing. Let’s hope she doesn’t regain consciousness until we get to her,” Dagr said with a deep growl.

“We have to hurry. I don’t think she will be out long. She’s too much of a fighter,” Loki snarled.

Hakon looked at his brothers and then increased his speed, his brothers racing along at his side. He knew they weren’t as close to Jessamine as he had indicated. He and his brothers had lost the trail they had been following for a while. It had taken precious time for them to scout around and find signs of their mate’s abductors again. The wily bastards had traveled in a small creek for some time, obliterating any tracks.

The dread of not being able to get to his mate in time was a huge burden to bear. Hakon and his brothers had never felt so useless. He could feel the knots of despair in his brothers’ guts, mirroring his own fear at not having protected their woman.

“Hakon, have the healers on standby. I want Jess examined as soon as we have her back,” Dagr snapped.

“Calm down, brother. We are no good to Jessamine if we lose control. You are a warrior. Use your training.” Hakon spoke calmly, quietly, hoping he would be able to convince himself and his brothers to be calm.

“She is waking. I can feel her in my head again,” Loki stated. Hakon could feel the rage and fear emitting from his brother as the three of them eased into Jess’s mind.

“Little Jess, keep your eyes closed and your breathing deep and even. We don’t want the men with you to know you are awake.”

“Loki?”
Jess replied timidly.

“Yes, little one. I’m here, as are Hakon and Dagr. Don’t open your eyes, all right? We want you to pretend you are still unconscious,”
Loki stated in a calm soothing voice.

“I can feel their eyes on me. When will you get here?”

“Ah, sweetheart, we will be with you as soon as we can. I don’t know how far behind you we are. They traveled in a small creek for a while, and it took us some time to find the trail again. We are moving fast and are relaying our path to the other warriors. As soon as we get there, I want you to hide. We don’t want you in any danger when the fighting begins,”
Hakon explained.

“Please hurry. I can feel them trying to get into my mind,”
Jess told him and gave a mental whimper.
“Oh God, I can feel one of them breathing on my neck. Nooo,”
Jess yelled through their mental connection, then was quiet.

“Jessamine, are you all right?”
Hakon asked but received no answer.

“Jess, answer us,”
Dagr snarled through the link to their mate.

“I can feel her terror. Faster,”
Loki yelled at his brothers through the link.

* * * *

Jess’s eyes snapped open when she was hauled up from the bed by the neck of her dress. She whimpered and yelled in her mind as the material gave way, ripping down between her breasts. She scratched, clawed, kicked, and punched anywhere she could connect and was satisfied when the large male holding her yelled as her nails dug deep into his hand, leaving behind bloody gouges. He released his hold on her, and she fell down, landing on her feet awkwardly, then fell down onto her ass. She scampered back away from the three huge men glaring at her furiously. She was scared by what she saw in their eyes. They looked at her with anger and lust, making her heart thud painfully in her chest. She froze as her back hit a corner in the room. She had inadvertently trapped herself. She had nowhere to go.

The man she had injured stood staring at her, fury in his eyes, but then he gave her an evil smile as his brothers advanced.

“What do you want from me? I’ve done nothing to you. I don’t even know you. Please, let me go,” Jess pleaded.

“No. Why should we not have a woman of our own? We have watched and waited as many of our warriors have found their bond mates. We are tired of living as monks. We need a woman, and when we heard about the Sigmund brothers’ unique-looking mate, we decided to take you for our own,” the man on the right said as he moved closer.

“You decided? How magnanimous of you. You decided to take another’s mate because you are tired of not having one. Do you know how ingenuous that sounds? You sound like petulant little boys fighting over a toy. Why don’t you spare me and yourselves a lot of trouble and just walk away? My mates are already on their way. They will be here in no time, and they will kill you. Do you want to die over a mere woman?” Jess asked, trying to goad them into leaving like the cowards they were.

“Shut up. You have a vicious tongue, woman,” the man on the left said and glared at her. “Why should we care now? We are dead anyway. I say we use her and find out what all the fuss is about.” The man Jess had injured coaxed his brothers.

Shit. I’m in trouble. I have rabid warrior virgins on my hands.
Jess mentally rolled her eyes.
Why does everything always come down to sex with men?

Jess breathed evenly and deeply, trying to calm her anxiety and keep her wits about her. She had no idea how far behind her mates were and needed to be alert to take any opportunity to escape if it arose. She was getting mighty sick of men taking her on a whim and giving her orders. Jess clasped the material of her dress between her breasts together and rose to her feet. She was so small in stature compared to the men looming over her, and she felt intimidated. She pushed her shoulders back, thrust her chin forward, and glared at them.

“If you let me walk out of here, I will ask my mates to spare your lives,” Jess stated.

“And why should we believe you? You are a mere female and have no control over what a warrior does,” the man Jess injured replied.

“My mates don’t think I’m a mere female. They love me as much as I love them. They’ll listen to me,” Jess stated confidently.

“No. I can’t wait anymore. We have waited for years to find our mate, and now the raiding has been put on hold. We will never get to join with our mate because the leaders have decreed the raiding be stopped,” the man on the right said belligerently.

“Oh for the love of…Do you know why the raiding was stopped? Did you even ask?” Jess asked the men in front of her and watched as they looked at each other then back to her. “The raiding has been stopped temporarily because the word is out about you lot raiding space ships for cargo. There have been less ships to raid as a result. The leaders of your planet are waiting until the furor over your pirating dies down. Since word had gotten out, less and less women are traveling, therefore there are less women for your men to meet and bond with. When the news has been superseded by something else and more women begin to travel again, your rulers will let the raiding start up again. It’s like trying to talk to a two-year-old,” Jess muttered under her breath.

“Our rulers did not explain this to us,” the man Jess had scratched said, running a hand over his face, then turned to his brothers.

Jess could tell they were communicating mentally. She saw expressions flit over each of their faces as they looked to each other. She moved over to a chair near the far wall and sat down. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her mates.

“Hakon, can you hear me?”

“Yes, sweetheart, we can hear you. Are you well?”
Hakon asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Were you all virgins when we bonded?”
Jess asked curiously.