A Christmas Tail (6 page)

Barry’s gaze met hers. “He’ll pay for what he did to you, that I do promise.” He reached behind him and grabbed the dress. “So you really hate thong panties?” he asked, smiling and she laughed.

“Yes, a man had to invent those suckers. They are the most uncomfortable things to wear. I’d rather wear five inch heels then having something crawling up my ass,” she muttered, earning a laugh on the other side of the door.

“Barry, quit distracting that woman and bring her out here. She sounds like a woman after my own heart,” a woman’s voice yelled on the other side of the door, making Betsy jump away from it and into Barry’s arms. He started laughing.

“Don’t worry, she won’t come in here unless we take forever,” he kissed the side of her neck.

“You distract me too much. She shouldn’t have been able to sneak up to the door without my knowing.” Betsy took the dress and slipped it on, forgetting about her bra then started to take it off, but Barry stopped her.

“You don’t need one. I like to feel of these babies and this dress will allow me.” He dipped his hand in and cupped her breast. “You can put your stockings on later after breakfast. Now let’s go before she breaks the door down.” Barry released her and reached for the door, but Betsy placed her hand on his, looking up at him.

“What if she doesn’t like me?” she whispered, looking back at the door.

“Kitten, look at me,” Barry gently turned her around and placed a finger under her chin until she looked up. “I promise you she’ll love you and it does not matter if she doesn’t. You are our woman and we wouldn’t change it. We don’t want anyone but you.”

“But I’m damaged, Barry. You three should have a woman who isn’t all screwed up,” she mumbled right before he slapped her rear end.

“Now that was a spanking and I will give you more of that if I hear such negative thoughts. We want you and only you. No one else. Now let’s go.” He once again turned her around, but this time he swung the door open.

On the other side stood a smaller woman with four very large men behind her. Davis and Orion held out their hands on each side of the door and she placed her shaking ones in theirs allowing them to pull her out when she remembered the towel on her head.

“Crap!” she turned and glared at Barry. “Brush?”

He laughed and grabbed the brush off the counter. “Come on, I’ll brush your hair out while you get to know my parents.” Barry stepped around her, hugged his mom and nodded to his fathers. “Mom, I’d like you to meet our mate, Betsy Samuel. Betsy, this is my mother Gretchen, the alpha of our family, Abrax who is right behind my mother. To the left is Elias, to the right is Kephas and standing behind them is Minos.”

“Hi, nice to meet you. Sorry you came all this way to meet me as you can see I’m not...” she stopped, hearing Barry’s growl.

“Don’t even go there, kitten,” he warned, and she sighed.

“Fine, but you know it’s the truth and I don’t lie.” She yanked her hands out of Orion’s and Davis’. “Brush,” she held out her hand and Betsy could have sworn Barry’s eyes changed color.

“Barry, stop it!” His mom pushed him out of the way and stepped in front of her. “My son was right about one thing, you are tiny, but beautiful. And you have a bright spirit, a strong one. You will make my son a good wife.” She wrapped her arms around her, hugging her. “Welcome to the family, Betsy. We’re here to help you. You’ll have your children soon, I promise.”

For the next few minutes each of Barry’s fathers hugged and kissed her cheeks, earning growls from her three men, and making Barry’s mother laugh. “You better go let them take care of you before they have a fit.”

“I don’t know why they’re acting like this. It’s not like I’d give myself to anyone,” she looked down at the ground and up at the three men who had seemed to weasel into her heart. “I don’t even know if I can give myself to them,” she whispered, and at once Gretchen took her into her arms.

“They will wait for you and follow you anywhere, my dear. Allow them to heal you, make you whole,” Barry’s mom glanced back at Abrax. “They saved me way back when women were mere cattle. They made me feel alive and that I was important. Let them lead you Betsy, lean on them, on all of us. We are here for you.”

“Thank you, and I mean that.” She squeezed the woman’s hand and joined her men in the kitchen where Barry pulled out a chair for her to sit.

“Straddle it so I can get at your hair, kitten,” he said, smiling looking down at her dress.

She laughed and pulled the dress up, exposing her ass as she sat down. “One thing you should remember is that I never back down from a challenge,” she teased, hearing them cuss behind her.

“Kitten, you are itching to get that bare ass spanked yet,” Barry growled behind her.

Unwrapping the towel, Betsy smiled, hearing Lacey’s words. “You’ll do no such thing. She’s not ready for that kind of thing.”

“Lacey, do I need to put you in a time-out?” Isaac asked, coming into the room behind her sister.

“But she’s not ready for that yet,” her sister grumbled.

“That’s up to her men to decide now, not you,” Isaac said walking over to Abrax and shaking his hand. “It’s good to see you again Abrax. It will be like old times having you along.”

“I swear that man knows everyone. How are you doing? Are you ready for our trip?” Lacey asked taking a seat across from her as Barry took the towel off her head and started to brush Betsy’s hair.

“Your man has been around for a long time. He’s seen much, but has always remained level-headed.” Barry said behind her as he pulled the back of her dress down. “I thought we were all supposed to meet in the kitchen,” he grumbled in her ear, placing a kiss there before returning back to his task of brushing her hair out.

“I’m sure we’ll all go there when you are finished,” she actually giggled, earning a smile from her sister.

“That’s the first time since we were children that I’ve heard you laugh. I’ve missed it, Bets,” her sister said reaching over and squeezing her hand.

Chapter Four

Barry finished brushing out Betsy’s hair all the while concentrating on what Isaac was saying to his father. The leads he was referring to were good ones, but what had him worried was the fact that Drang might actually be the father of one of Betsy’s children and he too might be searching for the child.

“Why have I heard that name before?” his father, Abrax asked him using their private connection.

“
If I’m not mistaken he is the same man who had attacked mother so long ago before you found her, and if that is the case…”
Barry didn’t finish his sentence, but his father did.

“
Then we have more problems than we thought, because Moraid promised he’d killed the man and if he lied, we are going to need more help then we have here,”
Abrax said as Isaac looked from him to his father.

“Explain who this Moraid is and why you believe that this Drang is the same one you fear?” Isaac asked, silencing the room and scaring Betsy as she seemed to have moved away from him as she rose off the chair.

“Damn it, Isaac,” Lacey snarled and glared at him before slowly moving toward her sister. “Easy Betsy, he won’t hurt you again, I promise.” Her sister tried to reassure her, but what drew Barry’s attention was the way she kept rubbing her left breast, where the one nasty scar was.

“Kitten, look at me,” Barry gentled his voice, but pushed a little bit of his gift into it. She lifted her head and he could see the terror there. “Come here, kitten.” Barry held open his arms, waiting. At first he didn’t think she’d move, but then she ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“We can’t go near him, Barry. If he finds the children before we do...” she shook her head. “No, we won’t go. I don’t want to draw his attention to them.” She tried to pull away from him, but he scooped her up into his arms and took her seat.

“First, I want you to let me worry about Drang, but if it helps, know that my father and I are familiar with him and I have a friend who would love to help us. But we have to go now and get them. What if he is also searching and has heard of this information? No, we can’t wait, kitten. It would be safer to find them before him. Can you trust us to do this for you?” he asked, giving her some control over the situation.

“The things he’s done. I was more afraid of drawing his attention than our father’s. I’ve seen him skin a...” she buried her face into his chest as the image of a teenage boy popped into her mind.

“I’ve got you and I promise he’ll be stopped, kitten,” Barry barely kept the anger leashed as he sent a private message to his friend Zanger including the images of what his woman had seen.

“
I’ll be there in an hour and Barry, this one is on the house,”
Zanger responded with a clipped voice.

Betsy looked up at him. “Was that your friend?” she asked and he nodded.

“Zanger will be here within the hour,” Barry announced earning a whistle from Isaac.

“So this Drang is that bad?” Isaac looked at the three of them. “I wouldn’t do this, but Betsy has been through enough and Lacey will worry. Barry, contact Orion’s brothers. Bring them here as added protection for your woman. It might open a can of worms with Akaos, but I’ll let them deal with him.” Isaac grinned from ear to ear making Orion snort and glanced down at Betsy as he moved to their side.

“Remember me telling you about them? Well even Akaos gives my brothers room. Go Barry, we’ll be in the kitchen making sure our woman is fed.” Orion held out his hand and a hesitant Betsy moved into Orion’s arms.

His fathers Abrax and Elias moved next to him. “Come, we’ll go with you since you can bring only one back with you.”

Once more he glanced down at Betsy, who smiled at him. “I’ll be fine, but be careful.
Maybe you could ask about Christmas while you are there?”
Betsy glanced at her sister.

“
I’ll try kitten, but let’s deal with this first,”
Barry said running his finger down her cheek before concentrating on Orion’s family home deep in the planet, New Barony’s core.

At once Barry knew something was wrong when one of Orion’s brothers swung open the door and grabbed him, yanking him inside as his fathers followed right behind him.

“What the hell is going on?” Barry demanded, glancing at Theron and Dion who slammed their door shut, protecting it with a spell he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Warriors are furious they can’t contact their families or do their jobs. Not to mention the fact that a number of them were so pissed at the king and Akaos for what they did to Isaac that they have refused to listen to the king,” Rhodes announced, coming into the room and staring at him and then at his fathers. “What’s wrong? Is Orion hurt?” The oldest brother asked as his mother and fathers filled into the room behind him.

“No, Orion is not hurt. He and Davis are feeding our
meru
as we speak,” Barry stated quickly to reassure Orion’s parents, and earning a squeal from his mother.

“When can we meet her?” Doris asked.

“We’re hoping all of you will come at Christmas time. Our woman hasn’t had it easy. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. We need your help in protecting her. I hate saying this, but it seems Drang has taking a personal interest in our woman. The scars on her body and soul are bad enough, but now we learned he could be searching for her two children as well.”

Rhodes stiffened and glanced at Abrax. “This is the same man you fought with?”

“We believe so. The images that Betsy had in her mind were that of a teenage girl being raped, so they’re not the best,” Abrax stated, earning a cry from Doris.

“Your wife is there for her?” Doris asked and his father nodded.

“We will not leave until this is over, but we also believe another from our world might be helping him so we need the added protection. Don’t get me wrong, Isaac, Anthony and Dan will be with us, but in London we’ll need more help,” Barry said as Akaos and Talhrn appeared in the room behind them.

Rhodes snarled, but held his place as Talhrn nodded to his father. “Is there a reason why you have breached our security and ignored the ruling I placed last month?” he asked, his gaze landing on Barry.

He stepped forward, but his father stopped him, stepping in front of him. “We are here on behalf of my son’s woman, Lacey’s sister Betsy. There are leads to her children’s whereabouts, but we are not the only ones searching for them. Their father’s secondhand man, Drang, is an old enemy that Rhodes, another and I have encountered before. We came asking for Rhodes’ help in protecting Betsy while we search for the children. We believe others may be helping this man, more powerful than this Randle was.”

“Who is this other that you believe is helping Drang? I’ve heard of Drang and he has been causing problems on many planets, not just Earth.” Akaos asked, glaring at Barry.

“Moraid,” Barry stated, earning a hiss from Akaos who glanced at Talhrn.

“Take whoever will go with you,” Talhrn stated.

“I hesitate to bring this up, but I promised my
meru
I would. Betsy has never had a family Christmas since she was a child. For the last twenty years there has been nothing, but she wants to give her sister one present and that is to have Maya and Dee present for Lacey’s wedding and Christmas Eve, which will be one and the same. I know you two staged all of this, for what I’m not sure, but these women have never been apart on Christmas and ever since we have stepped into their lives, it’s been nothing but heartache. I think we should, for their sakes, try and come together,” Barry stated, watching the play of emotions across Akaos’ face.

Sensing Akaos’ pain, Talhrn placed his hand on Akaos’ shoulder and squeezed. “We will work it out somehow. I’m hoping to lift the ban by tomorrow,” their king sighed. “
The rift among my people is huge, but this had to happen. There was one that is too close to us all that has betrayed us. But if our plan works, we will have him tomorrow. I’m trusting you not to inform anyone of this for now,”
Talhrn sent to him and Rhodes alone. “I’m afraid even our women won’t speak to either of us. They have moved the children into their own place and refused to acknowledge us, only allowing us small visits to ease their pain and visit the children, but this was the only way to draw out the traitors. I’m afraid Akaos here has suffered the most. His whole family has cut him off for doing his job.”