Page 86 of Runaway Hucow

He took a square piece of paper out of his pocket. It contained the drawing he had made for Tess’s brand. He’d been working on it for the past week, and after several drafts and a lot of input from his brothers, he’d finally settled on the design—an image of a bison’s skull with the number three written in the middle of it.

It represented Tess’s three minotaur mates.

Her three owners.

Peyton fed the drawing into the slot on the side of the branding machine, just as Logan had shown him. There was a whir of machinery from within the box, then the lens at the tip of the cigar-shaped branding instrument started to glow.

“All set,” Peyton said. “Now just hold still. This should only take a second…”

He started moving toward Tess with the branding instrument, but he hesitated.

“Tess?” he asked. “What’s the matter?”

Damn, Tess thought. She was feeling a little nervous now that the time for the branding had come. She’d hoped she was doing a good job of hiding it, but apparently not. She should have known better. Her three mates could read her like a book.

“I’m just worried about the pain,” she said. “I know Shannon said it would only hurt for a few seconds, but… well… I’m a little scared, that’s all.”

Spike knelt beside her and rubbed his hand soothingly over her bare back.

“Are you sure you want this, Tess?” he asked. “We won’t force you to get branded if you don’t want it.”

“I do want it,” Tess insisted. “I want you to mark me. I want you to own me. It’s just…”

Peyton finished her thought: “You wish there was some way to ease the pain.”

Tess nodded, and Peyton smiled.

“Hang on,” he said. “I’ve got something I think might help.”

He switched off the branding device and climbed the stairs to the upper level of the barn. Tess could hear his hooves clomping around on the walkway up there, followed by the sound of rummaging. She gave Spike and Roscoe a quizzical look, but they both just shrugged. Apparently they didn’t know what their younger brother was up to either.

A minute later, Peyton came back down the stairs carrying his old familiar satchel. He set it on the table next to the branding machine and reached inside. When Tess saw what he pulled out of it, her heart started racing even faster.

“I thought you were going to bring something to ease my pain,” she said. “Not something to hurt me.”

“I did,” Peyton said, smirking mysteriously.

Tess shook her head in disbelief. “But… Peyton, that’s a cattle prod!”

And indeed, the bisonman was holding a long, club-like electric cattle prod in his fist. It was the same cattle prod Tess had brought with her when she had escaped from Crooked Valley. Once or twice over the past two weeks, she had wondered what had happened to that wicked device, but she had never remembered to ask.

“Don’t worry,” Peyton said. “It’s not a cattle prod anymore. Well, not exactly. I’ve made some adjustments. Here, have a look.”

Tess took the proffered weapon in her hands and sat down on the stool to examine it. There used to be two prongs on the end of it. Those were the parts that gave the electric shock. But now those prongs were gone; they had been replaced by a broad, rounded head.

“Go ahead,” Peyton said. “Turn it on.”

Tess pressed the trigger on the handle of the prod, and the rounded head started buzzing with deep, powerful vibrations.

“I’ve been tinkering with it off and on over the past week,” Peyton explained. “I removed the conductor prongs, and I rewired the battery to an internal motor. It’s not a weapon anymore. It’s a vibrating wand. I was going to wait for a special occasion to give it to you—but I reckon this is a special occasion.”

“A vibrating wand?” Tess asked. “I don’t understand. How is that going to ease my pain?”

Peyton took the wand from her.

“Spread your legs and I’ll show you.”

Tess was still a little nervous, but she knew Peyton would never do anything to harm her. She took a deep breath and slowly opened her thighs, spreading herself wide for Peyton. The other two bisonmen crouched beside her, looking on curiously.