"Laura!" Mrs. Lanning barked out.
Laura hurriedly set down the dish on the dining table and ran into the kitchen. "Aye?" "Where is the Red? Gods be damned, it's nearly seven and I need her to run and fetch more
wood for the cook stove. It's like an icebox in here."
"Perhaps she's still sleeping. Should I check her room?"
Mrs. Lanning rolled her eyes. "Aye, you idiot." She sighed as Laura ran out of the kitchen
and down the hallway towards Avery's room.
She knocked lightly on Avery's door. When there was no answer she knocked again and
waited a few moments before opening the door.
"Avery, Mrs. -" She squeaked to a stop, her face turning a bright red and her mouth dropping
open.
Tristan, his back to her, was sitting naked on the end of Avery's small bed with an equally
naked Avery straddling him. Her slender torso was hidden behind Tristan's broad back, and her hands were clutching his shoulders tightly as she moaned. Her knees were planted firmly on either side of his hips and he was kissing her throat, his hands tangled in her long red hair, as she rode him enthusiastically.
At the sound of Laura's small squeak, Tristan looked behind him. Avery stopped bouncing on his lap and buried her face in his neck with embarrassment. Her hands dug into his broad shoulders as he raised one eyebrow at Laura.
"Can we help you?"
"Mrs. Lanning," Laura whispered. "She's looking for her. She needs her to fetch more wood for the cook stove."
Tristan winked at her. "Tell Mrs. Lanning I'll send Avery out when she's done with my wood."
Laura's face turned nearly purple with embarrassment and she stared slack-jawed at them for a few more seconds.
"Go on, Laura. Shut the door behind you," Tristan said. Laura fled the room, slamming the door behind her.
As Laura ran from the room, Avery lifted her head from Tristan's shoulder. She wanted to sink into the floor with shame.
Tristan grinned wickedly at her. "Where were we?"
She gave him a look of horror. "Are you crazy? I have to go, and I have to go right now. I knew I should have made you leave earlier."
She tried to climb off his lap, and he cupped her shoulders, holding her on his lap and keeping his cock planted firmly inside of her.
"We are not stopping now," he growled before kissing her collarbone.
She shivered and shoved at his shoulders. "Tristan, the others - Laura will tell them you're with me. We should not be doing this."
He shrugged and held her around the waist, easily lifting her slender body up and down his cock, smiling when she couldn't stop the low moan in her throat.
"Like they didn't already know, girl. Nothing is a secret in this household."
She gave him a look of panic-stricken worry and his face sobered. He brought her mouth down to his and sucked gently on her upper lip.
"Stop worrying, my love," he whispered. "No harm will come to you." ** *
"We have an agreement do we not, Avery?"
Avery gathered the bed sheets from the room she was cleaning. Their houseguests were arriving later today, and Mrs. Lanning had sent her to clean the room Victoria would be staying in. She had been trying very hard not to think about the fact that Victoria's room was directly across from Tristan's, when Vivian's soft voice had interrupted her.
"Aye, m'lady. We do."
She brushed past Vivian with the armful of sheets, stumbling to a stop when Vivian said, "And yet I find out that my son was seen leaving the slave quarters, leaving your room, this morning."
Avery's back stiffened as Vivian said, "You disappoint me, Avery."
Avery whirled around and glared at her. "What would you have me do when your son climbs into my bed in the night? When he tells me that I belong to him and he will do with me what he wishes?"
When Vivian only stared at her with her dark eyes, Avery snorted. "Perhaps it is your son you should be making an agreement with."
Vivian smiled. "My son is like all men when it comes to women. They are weak and easily seduced by -"
"I did not seduce your son!" Avery shouted. "Do you believe me proud to be a slave? To know that my choices are no longer my own, and that I can no longer act of my own free will?"
She held the bed sheets tightly against her chest, her cheeks flushed and her eyes flashing. "Do you think it pleases me to be in love with your son, and know that I am nothing more to him than the whore who warms his bed? Do you think I enjoy constantly wondering when he will grow tired of me and what will become of me then?"
Her voice caught in her throat, but she stared dry-eyed at Tristan's mother. "I have no doubt that Tristan will bend to your wishes and marry Victoria. He will abandon my bed for hers, but I guess I should be happy that he will likely keep me on as a nanny to the children she will bear for him."
She gave Vivian a pleading look. "I have no desire to watch the man I love grow old with another. I have begged him to let me leave his home, to sell me to another, but he refuses. He will listen to you, I know it. Will you not speak with him? Ask him to - "
Vivian's eyes flickered to the left and widened. Avery, dread filling her belly, turned around slowly. Tristan was standing in the doorway. She groaned, the colour dropping from her face, as he started towards her.
"Avery -"
"Leave me alone, my lord. Please." Still holding the bed sheets, Avery ran from the room.
Tristan turned to go after Avery, but Vivian caught his arm. "Tristan, wait." "Is it true?" Tristan stared at his mother.
"What?" she asked.
He scowled at her. "What Avery said. Are you bringing Victoria here in order to marry me off?"
"Tristan, my darling, do not be angry with me. I wish only for your happiness, and Victoria would be an excellent match for you. You were such good friends as children. Are you not the least bit interested in seeing the Lycan she has become?"
"What prompted this sudden desire to have me married?"
Vivian smiled at him. "Sophia deserves a stable home with a mother who loves her. You are an excellent father, but every child needs the gentle touch of a mother."
"She has Maya," Tristan said.
Vivian laughed. "For what - another three months perhaps? You know that Marshall will spirit her away as soon as he can. And then what?"
"Sophia loves Avery just as much as she loves Maya," Tristan said. "She can take over the nanny duties."
"You would have a human raise your Lycan daughter? And not just a human but a Red at that? Sophia is already too attached to her. She believes her to be beautiful. She believes that she has some kind of," Vivian waved her hands vaguely in the air, "magical healing power. She asked me the other day if she could have red hair like Avery's when she grew up."
Tristan grinned a little and she gave him a look of disapproval. "This is not funny, Tristan. The Reds are widely regarded as witches by the humans. There are even many Lycans who believe it. And who is to say they aren't right? Avery will not make a good mother for your children, or a good mate for you. If you were not so blinded by your lust for her, you would see that."
"Why do you dislike her so much?" Tristan asked. "How has she offended you?"
"She has not," Vivian said. "In fact, I find her to be surprisingly charming and I'm impressed with her intelligence. She is quite unlike any slave I've ever seen before. If she was not trying to trap and seduce my son into a life he would soon regret, I would find her to be pleasant company."
"She is not trying to seduce me," Tristan said. "She would not have gone anywhere near me if I had not pursued her."
Vivian gave him a pitying look. "I know you want to believe that, my darling, but for a slave she's extraordinarily clever. You cannot put it past her to -"
"She's the oldest daughter of James Hendrin," Tristan said.
Vivian stared at him. "The gods be damned... how on earth did she become a slave?"
"Her father died, her mother turned to drugs – it is a long story. But she is more than just a
slave. She is unique."
"No wonder she does not carry herself like a slave. To go from living the life she did to this...
it explains why she is so miserable here," Vivian said.
"She's not miserable here," Tristan said.
"She is, my darling. Someone like her was never meant to be a slave. You cannot help her
with that – life has struck her a cruel blow and she must endure it as best she can. But you can ease her life a little by sending her away. You heard her earlier. She is in love with a man she can never have."
He opened his mouth to protest and she squeezed his arm gently. "No Lycan in the history of our family has ever married a human. You know that. You will marry again, if not Victoria, then another Lycan. The most you will ever be able to give Avery is a safe place to live out her days. I understand that you are – are very fond of the girl, but you must think of Sophia now and what is best for her. Sophia is young and impulsive and can barely control her shifting. She needs a Lycan mother to help her become a strong and courageous woman."
She pulled Tristan into her arms and hugged him hard. "The girl loves you. Will you force her to watch you live your life with another? Do as she asks and sell her to another. Sell her to Marshall. She would be happy to live with her sister, would she not?"
"Marshall will barely be able to afford to feed himself and Maya," Tristan said.
She sighed. "Then sell her to someone you know and trust - someone who will treat her well. You know of other Lycans who do not believe the human's fairy tales about the Reds."
She cupped his face. "She is desperately unhappy, my darling. Do the right thing for the both of you and for Sophia and send her away from here. Will you?"
He pulled away, rubbing his forehead wearily. "I will find her a more suitable home after our guests have left."
"You are making the right choice, Tristan."
"Stop it, Mother. I am in no mood to be placated." He pulled free of Vivian's grip and stormed out of the room.