by Delta James
“That’s not why you did it, and we both know it,” accused Josh.
Alex stopped and took a deep breath. “It might not have been the only reason, but it was a determining factor about whether to wait or not. You can assure Allie that one way or another, I would have taken Flynn to mate. And you, little brother, had best figure out how to get through the rut next year, as I plan to make hard and extensive use of my mate.”
Shaking his head, Josh sighed. “When do you leave for Seattle?”
“I issued a challenge to Koto immediately upon Yutu’s return. I gave the lizard forty-eight hours. I will leave for the Emerald City in the morning. If I do not hear from him by dawn the day after, I will hunt him down and settle things between us. Then, I’ll contact Flynn’s brother to let him know he can return to his home and invite him to visit us later in the year after I have Flynn more settled.”
“How do you plan to deal with Koto—long distance, sniper shot?”
“No, that’s too quick and clean. There was a time I might have done that or allowed him to end his own miserable existence. Once he tried to have my mate killed, he ensured that I would give him no easy exit from this life. Anything else? I want to get back up to Flynn.”
“Let me know if I can do anything to help.”
Alex could feel his brother’s eyes on his back as he returned to the bedroom he now shared with Flynn. He transferred the tray loaded with food and drink to one hand and turned the doorknob with the other. It was only opened a fraction when a piece of Inuit pottery crashed against the wall and doorframe. It would seem Flynn’s mood had not improved much.
Ducking, he entered their room and placed their food on the dresser just inside the door. She had grabbed one of his red flannel shirts to cover herself with.
“Enough, Flynn,” he commanded. “You were told to get back into bed. As you seem well enough to disobey me and destroy a valuable artifact in a fit of temper, shall I assume that you are recovered sufficiently to be punished for doing so?”
“You can’t keep me locked in here,” she cried.
“So, you tried the windows as well. I suppose that’s good as you are now aware that I will do what is necessary to keep you safe. My brother’s mate pointed out to me that our bedroom is decidedly masculine, so perhaps you should spend your time while I deal with Koto remaking our nest here in the lodge so that it is more to your liking. Once it is safe, you can do the same to our cabin as well as our den up in the cliff.”
“I need to get word to my brother...”
“Your brother is safe. He is in Reykjavík. I just told Josh that I will let him know when he can return to Seattle and that we should invite him later this year.”
“You can’t just usurp my life.”
“I can and have. I plan to head to Seattle in the morning. There are things you need to know before I go. I would have preferred to spend the rest of the time before I leave rutting with you, but I will not have you uninformed.”
“What?” she asked suspiciously.
“While you were recovering, I had the bonding ceremony performed...”
“You what? You sonofabitch!”
“Calm yourself, Flynn. It is done. I needed to know that should I not return, your place amongst our clan was secure.”
“So you just had me bonded to you? How could you even do that while I was out of it?”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I told you, it isn’t uncommon for female Kodiaks to be forced to accept being bonded to their mate. Frankly, no one thought much about it. You are my mate, I claimed you and had our bonding sealed.”
“Well, unseal it!”
“Only death will dissolve our union. You are my mate, now and forever. Settle yourself with that reality while I am gone. Come have something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I didn’t ask if you were. Besides, you must be hungry. Quit being quarrelsome and have some food.”
“I don’t want it,” she said, turning her back on him, going to the large window at the end of the room and crawling up into the window seat.
“You will eat. You need to regain your strength and you can’t do that behaving like a petulant child going on a hunger strike because she can’t have her way.”
“No,” she said with a degree of finality.
“You will eat... either now or after I spank you for not doing as you’re told. What is it to be, mate?”
She glared at him from across the room before turning her head to look back out the window.
“Flynn, if I have to come get you, I’ll put you over my knee and turn your pretty backside bright red before I ease my resulting lust in your bottom hole.”
Flynn blanched, but refused to acknowledge him.
He crossed the room, jerking her off the window seat so that he could sit down on it before pulling her back across his hard thighs. Alex flipped the hem of the shirt up over her back to reveal her very shapely, ivory bottom. While fetching, he meant to ensure it didn’t stay that color for long.
Alex raised his hand, bringing it down to connect with her ass in a gratifying manner. He grinned as Flynn yelped and swore. Over and over he spanked her generous globes, watching them become quickly infused with color. Her bottom had a lovely, firm texture that bounced prettily and had just the right amount of give to it. Her skin was cool and smooth to the touch, but as he rained blow after blow in a pattern that covered the entire area, heat radiated off it as he tattooed her behind with the color of his discipline.
“Let me go! You bastard!” she wailed.
“No. I warned you and I don’t make idle threats.”
Alex continued to land repeated swats to her backside, inflicting a considerable amount of pain. The only sound was that of his hand spanking her ass. His cock stiffened, both from the imposition of his dominance and in anticipation of the good ass-fucking he planned to give her. She may as well learn that not obeying him had consequences she might want to avoid across her backside.
“What did I tell you to do when I went downstairs?” he asked.
Flynn said nothing and so Alex increased the strength and speed of the spanking, giving her little time to recover from one blow before another landed, compounding the effect of each.
“Answer me,” he ordered.
“You told me to be naked and in bed.”
“Did you do that?”
When only silence answered his question, he ramped up the severity of her punishment.
“Unless you want me to take a razor strop to your backside and leave you with a set of welts, you’d better answer me. Did you do as you were told?”
“No. Ouch, damn it, Alex, that hurts.” He delivered a few more swats before she continued, “I’m sorry.”
The sound of submission to his authority was evident in her voice. He ceased spanking her and then patted her now bright red rump with affection and a kind of acceptance of her surrender.
* * *
Her ass was on fire, but worse was her body’s resulting aroused response to his treatment of her. She wondered at the apparent ease he was able to call forth some kind of almost primal need that could only be satisfied by his rough treatment.
He chuckled and she only had a moment to wonder what he found amusing before he penetrated her dripping sheath, plunging his fingers back and forth before withdrawing them. There was no discussion or warning before he plunged them into her bottom hole, finger-fucking her. Flynn wanted to cry out in pain, outrage, or denial but knew that none of them would be entirely true. While his stroking was not gentle, his use of her back passage only stung for a moment before eliciting a delicious, shameful kind of pleasure.
Flynn’s body scaled the heights of her wanton desire. Her moans became soft groans as she willingly offered him her ass for his use. She soared to a different plateau and was about to careen over its side when he withdrew his fingers before plunging them into her wet heat and scooping out the natural lubricant he found there.
&nb
sp; She wasn’t particularly concerned until he stood, dragged her to the end of the four-poster bed and tossed her over the footboard. When he began slathering the viscous honey he’d gathered from her sheath all over his cock, with the majority being used on its head, she became concerned. When she tried to rise, Alex delivered another stinging blow to her rump before pinning her down by the nape of her neck and guiding his cock to the dark rosebud hidden in the cleft of her buttocks. It was only then she realized his intent. She wanted to deny him but was so far gone in her own need that she couldn’t form the necessary words.
Glancing over her shoulder she could see both her own lubrication as well as his pre-cum dripping from the end of his cock. A part of her wanted to fight his violation of her in this way, but she knew neither of them saw it that way. For him, it was an exertion of his dominance; and for her, acceptance and capitulation to his authority. Her need to feel him possess her in this last, intimate act of claiming was too great.
“Ask me to take your ass. Admit you know you are mine.”
She said nothing but nodded her head. He swatted her again.
“Not good enough, Flynn; say it!” he growled.
“Please?”
She questioned what she was asking for—was it to have him breach her bottom hole, not have to ask him to do it or to stop and let her gather the remnants of her pride before letting her be?
He landed another swat to her tender globes. She tried to evade him, but he held her in place. “Please what, Flynn? You want me to fuck your ass? You want me to stroke your dark channel the way I do your pussy and fill it with my cum? Tell me what you want.”
“Yes, damn it!”
“Ask me,” he commanded.
“Fuck my ass, Alex, please?” Flynn wailed and then allowed her body to slump in abject surrender.
“Good girl,” he crooned.
He leaned over her back as he pressed his cock against the tight ring of muscle that guarded her back passage. He used both of his hands to clutch her hips in a vice-like grip.
“You want your pretty bottom hole fucked?” he asked seductively.
Flynn had lost the ability to speak—her need was too great, her pride and defiance in shambles. All she could do was nod again and pray that it would be enough.
Alex didn’t mount her aggressively as he’d done most often. Instead he allowed his cock to enter her slowly but inexorably. He did not seem hurried but continued to push forward inch-by-inch until he had penetrated her fully and the swell of her sore buttocks was hard up against his hips. She felt the stretch from his cock far more in this dark orifice than she had in her pussy. He growled in satisfaction.
Before she could respond, Alex moved inside her. This was not his usual powerful or frenzied stroking, but a more leisurely savoring of her response as her bottom hole learned to accommodate him and accept pleasure from him in this way as well. The slight sting of his having breached her dark passage with his cock for the first time slowly gave way to a new kind of carnality—one she had never known or thought she needed.
Flynn’s nipples beaded and ached, and her pussy thrummed in rhythm to his thrusting in her ass. Alex picked up his pace and began driving into her. Her sighs morphed into a kind of deeply felt keening. She grasped the bedcovers and held on for dear life.
“Alex,” she cried as every muscle in her body contracted, including those that enveloped his plunging rod.
“Come for me, Flynn. I’m going to fill your bottom hole just like I do your pussy. You need to get used to the idea that I will use whichever of your holes I want for my pleasure.”
The pace and rhythm of his fucking increased, exacerbating her response. As she felt him pump his seed into her, she came again, calling his name. Flynn felt his cum as it spurted into her in the same, yet a wickedly, shamefully, different way as when he came in her pussy. When he’d finished, he stayed buried in her ass as she returned to earth from her rapturous flight, or ascended from the depths of her despair, she wasn’t sure which.
Alex eased himself from her bottom hole in the same way he’d claimed it—slowly, gently, and in full control. As he left her, she felt his loss and collapsed over the end of the bed. He lifted her and held her as he turned back the covers and deposited her onto the mattress, before returning to the dresser and retrieving the tray.
“Give me the shirt, Flynn,” he said, setting the food down on the nightstand.
She said nothing... could not even meet his eyes as he reached over and removed it. How had she let what just happened, happen? Worse, how could she have found pleasure from the act itself or in his treatment of her? She rolled onto her side away from him, curling into a ball. At what point had she begun to crave his touch, whether it was harsh or gentle? Was he right—had some primitive part of her known that she was destined for this creature? In two years, she had been unable to break the bond he had forged that night in the pub. Now she wondered if she even wanted to.
“Sit up, Flynn. You need to eat and there are some things you need to know before I leave in the morning.”
“Can’t you just leave me alone?” she said softly, feeling broken and betrayed in both body and soul. “I’m tired.”
Alex trailed his hand down her spine, caressing her tender backside.
“I probably could,” he said, “but there’s no reason for me to do so. You need nourishment and we need to talk. You’ll have plenty of time to rest once I leave in the morning. You’ll have little sleep this night. Hopefully, Koto will not keep me waiting and I can return to you in just a day or two. Once I’ve eliminated that threat, we’ll retreat to our den, up in the cavern, and I’ll rut with you for the remainder of the season.”
“Is that supposed to be something I look forward to?” Flynn snarked, her normal fire and determination once again asserting themselves.
She moved away from him, snatching the shirt back, rolling up and off the bed into a standing position. The move would have been more impressive had she not winced as her butt slid across the sheets or her knees not threatened to buckle. Flynn pulled the shirt back on and glared at him across the bed.
“Get back in bed. Simon says you are not fully recovered and need to relax,” Alex ordered.
“Is that what you call what just happened—relaxing?”
Had she been standing close enough, Flynn would have slapped the smirk right off his face or scratched his eyes out.
“What I call it is disciplining my mate. Unless you’d like another trip over my knee, I suggest you do as you’re told.”
They stood in what amounted to a Mexican standoff. Flynn briefly wondered why it was referred to that way. Alex said nothing but lifted the cover from several of the dishes on the nightstand. The aroma of the food wafted across the bed, making her stomach grumble. He placed the tray on the bed, gently sliding it across to her. Flynn reached for a chicken leg only to have her hand slapped.
“The shirt, Flynn. I want you naked.”
She lifted her in chin in defiance, but before she could make a scathing retort, he continued, “Give me the shirt and eat something. Much as I’d like to do nothing more than rut with you, there are things you need to know.”
“You keep saying that. You make whatever it is sound ominous.”
“That would depend on how you define ominous. It is serious but shouldn’t be frightening.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said.
Alex chuckled. “No, you’re afraid of yourself. Eat, Flynn.”
“I seem to have lost my appetite.”
“I don’t much care. You will sit in the middle of our bed naked and eat...”
“Or what?”
“Or I will take a razor strop to your backside and then you’ll eat,” he snarled.
“I’ll eat, but I keep the shirt.”
His eyes searched her face and lost some of his angry countenance.
“You, my mate, have tremendous courage. There are few who would openly defy me. Our bloodline will produce
Kodiak sons who will be great warriors and our daughters will be coveted as mates within our society.”
“Like your brother’s?”
“Only if they decide to be turned at some point in the future.”
“I don’t understand...”
“Josh is Kodiak, but Allie is not. Their children will not have the ability to shift unless they are turned.”
“You’re taking a rather large leap of faith that we will have kids...”
“As often as you will be bred, offspring are inevitable,” he said with a self-satisfied smirk.
Flynn felt her nipples begin to stiffen and her pussy clench in anticipation and arousal. There was something feral and raw about his effect on her.
“But it sounded like you were saying any children we had would be Kodiaks... like you.”
“And you,” he said quietly.
Chapter Thirteen
“What do you mean by that?” she asked carefully, crawling up onto the bed and taking a chicken leg, ripping a bit of the meat away from the bone.
“I think you know what I mean,” he said levelly.
Flynn set the food back down on the plate. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”
“I told you that my mate would be Kodiak and that you were my mate...”
“You mean...”
“Yes, Flynn. You are no longer human. You are Kodiak.”
“You bastard! How dare you!”
“I dared because you were dying. Had I not, you would no longer be part of this world.”
“Change me back,” she seethed.
“That isn’t possible, Flynn. I told you that my mate would be Kodiak and that you were my mate. You would have been transitioned in any event. Circumstances meant that it happened sooner rather than later.”
“And without my agreeing to it.”
He snorted. “Your agreement wasn’t necessary.”
“It was for me,” she said, heaving the entire tray of food at him.
Alex stepped back and swatted the flying objects away from his face. Flynn leaped over the end of the bed, flinging the bedroom door open and charging down the hall and then the stairs. She bowled Josh over as he tried to block her escape. Alex’s brother grabbed her arm, trying to use her inertia to spin her back toward the interior of the house.
