by Delta James
Skylar growled at Griffin and paced back and forth.
“Do not growl at me, Skylar Owen Grainger. You will have enough to answer for when Dylan learns of your foolhardiness. And as for you,” he said, turning to Maddie, “you need to get dressed and behave yourself.”
The look on his face left Maddie with no doubt that Griffin was as angry with her as Marco was with Catherine and no doubt as Dylan would be with Skylar.
“So, my beloved,” started Catherine. “How is our beautiful daughter?”
“Had you stayed where you were told, my beloved mate, you would have no need to ask,” replied Marco.
Marco took his wife’s arm and looked toward the other men. “Secure this one along with the rest. We will take them home with us and decide how best to approach the Ruling Council.”
Van Meeter had been allowed to dress and had his hands bound behind him. “They will do nothing.”
“Perhaps,” said Griffin, “but if so, we will deal with you ourselves. You won’t walk away from the crimes you have committed.”
“You have no idea what you’re up against,” snarled Van Meeter.
“Neither do you,” said Skylar as she spat in his face.
They headed back to where there were planes waiting to take the prisoners, most of the fighting men, Marco and Catherine to Italy and a smaller plane to take Skylar, Maddie, Griffin, Nick, and the men from Calon Gwyllt back to Calon Onest.
“Nick, I will trust that you will see Skylar to her room in the tower. Put two men outside the door and two inside. She is not to leave again until Dylan has collected her. Marco? I will see that your people and beautiful daughter are on their way home to you tomorrow.”
“Thank you, my friend. We’ll talk in the next few days.”
“Yes, I think we need to put together a conference call with Gautier and the rest of them in the America.”
They headed toward the plane. Griffin held back.
“Griffin? Are you all right? Were any of our people hurt?”
“No, Maddie. A few nicks and scrapes, but nothing a few days of R and R won’t remedy.” He lowered his voice. “I fear, cwningen bach, that you and your friends will incur the most pain of those on our side.”
“You wouldn’t listen to Anna and we didn’t want them to get away.”
“And yet? Here we are. And pray tell exactly what was your plan? You have no weapons and as far as I could tell no real plan. Behave yourself on the plane.”
They boarded the plane and Griffin sat Skylar and Maddie next to each other and then returned to the front of the plane.
“He’s pissed,” said Maddie.
“Ya think?” said Skylar. “I told you regardless of what happened, they would not be happy we left. Ioan is going to be fit to be tied and I only hope Dylan isn’t already in route. He’s going to need a few days to cool off. Even then, I’m afraid my dear mate is going to ensure I don’t sit comfortably for some time.”
“You’re so calm. I know Griffin is pissed and he told me if I endangered myself again that he would take a strap to me.”
“That’s never good. Hurts like hell when they’re applying it and even worse immediately after and takes a while to heal. And if he’s like the rest of them, that won’t stop him from having sex with you. Of course, truth to tell, the sex is even more intense and satisfying, which is really sick,” Skylar said with a wry laugh.
“You don’t seem all that concerned. Is it because you don’t think you’ll have to face Dylan tonight?”
“No, it’s because I’ve lived through it before and will do so again. And honestly, once he’s done, he’s over being mad and he always forgives me.”
Maddie shook her head. “Darby and Roz said the same thing. And I will say the couple of times I’ve ended up over his knee, when it’s done, it’s done and it doesn’t come back to bite me.”
Skylar looked at her and quietly asked, “You do love him, don’t you? I mean it was so fast. And I know the whole fated mate thing and who am I to talk, I think I fell for Dylan even faster. But he’s like my kid brother and he’s crazy for you.”
Maddie smiled. “I’m a romance writer. I write about love all the time. And even with the divorce, I believe in love. I’m just glad that we wolves have fated mates as a part of our DNA. That’s my long-winded way of saying, yes, I love him. I love him more than I thought was even possible.”
“I’m so glad. I think you’re good for him. Even as hard as commanding this operation had to be on him, he seems more at peace than I’ve ever known him to be. And both Bethan and I believe you’re the reason.”
“Do you think the rest of the ladies who were in the tower will be punished?”
“Catherine’s women, no. Bianca will let Nick know he’s going to be a father, bat her eyes at him, fuck his brains out and he’ll let her skate.”
Skylar giggled. Maddie looked at her and started to giggle as well.
Skylar continued, “Anna, I’m afraid, will not be so lucky. She actively helped us and Griffin is going to try to put a stop to her supporting you, but don’t worry, she’ll always have your back.”
Once they got to Calon Onest they were greeted by Ioan and several beefy men both Skylar and Maddie correctly assumed were her jailers.
“I am very disappointed in you, Skylar. Everyone here was worried about you and your mate is none too pleased. You are confined to your room in the tower until he arrives. All of your meals will be brought to you.” Skylar said nothing. “Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
“Ioan, I love you. But we both know I’m not sorry for what I did. I’d do it again in a heartbeat and nothing I can say is going to mitigate the trouble I’m in with my mate. So, for once, I thought I’d just keep my mouth shut.”
Ioan turned to Nick. “Your mate has been moved to the house. She isn’t here to greet you as she is feeling under the weather.”
Nick was immediately concerned. “Is she all right? Does she need a doctor?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but sprinted toward the house.
Ioan turned back to Skylar. “I take it you know?”
Skylar smiled. “I know that she thinks she is.”
“Well, it was confirmed this morning.”
The words had no sooner left Ioan’s mouth than a loud, joyous howl could be heard coming from one of the bedrooms upstairs.
“I’m guessing she just told him,” said Skylar, happy for her friend.
“Told him what?” asked Griffin.
“That she is carrying his baby.”
Griffin laughed. “A lucky man indeed. Marco is arranging for a few of his men to come and help get their women and children back.”
“Yes, he called. One of their women and the baby will be heading back home this afternoon with an escort from Calon Onest. Marco was most anxious to have his daughter at home.”
“Understandable.”
Bethan kissed her brother. “I’m glad you’re safe and sound. Ioan said you got them all.”
“We did.”
Bethan linked her arm through her brother’s. “Then let’s go in and have something to eat.”
“As much as I’d like to reassure you, Bethan, my mate has need of my attention.”
“No, I’m fine,” said Maddie.
“Not for long,” Griffin said. Griffin lowered his voice before continuing, “You go to our room, get naked, and stand in the corner until I come up to deal with you.”
“Griff…”
For the first time since they had reunited in the Netherlands, Griffin drew her into his arms and kissed her hungrily. He fisted her hair at the nape of her neck and ran his other hand down her back and cupped her buttocks, bringing her into close contact with his groin.
Maddie sighed and gave herself into the dominance of his embrace.
“I missed you,” she said against his lips.
“I’m going to make you wish you’d missed me more by staying put. Get yourself upstairs, naked, and in the corner.”
&
nbsp; “Griffin…”
“Maddie, I won’t tell you a third time. If I need to I will pull you over my knee right here, right now for a quick, hard spanking and send you into the corner with some sting in your tail. Go.”
Maddie looked at him; his eyes were blazing and she could feel he was controlling his energy to not bombard her with it.
“I love you.”
“And I you, but I mean to make an impression on you that I have failed to make thus far. Go, now.”
He released her arm, and she turned toward the house. She almost stopped to say something when she felt his hand land a hard swat across her posterior. Maddie yelped and then headed into the house and up to their room.
“She’s still new to being one of us,” said Ioan, surprising Griffin.
“And has already been over my knee twice for putting herself in danger. The last time, I warned her that it should it happen again, I would lay stripes across her bottom. I mean to make good on that threat.”
Griffin strode toward the house, intent on ensuring Maddie was properly punished for disobeying him again and hopefully ensuring she would think twice before doing it again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Maddie went up the stairs and entered their room. She hated the idea of simply stripping and standing in the corner waiting for Griffin to punish her. But she had already learned that defying him further would only make her punishment worse. She stripped and stood in the corner, feeling an odd combination of foolish, childish, and aroused. The last made her shake her head.
There was a part of her wondered if this life was really what she wanted. She giggled, reminding herself it was a bit too late to think of that. Besides there were two compelling reasons to embrace her new life. The first was that for the first time in her life she had a group of women to whom she felt close and connected. They were each admirable in their own way and she was humbled to be considered one of them.
The other and even more persuasive argument for completely embracing her life was Griffin. She considered herself to be a talented wordsmith, but mere words could not adequately express what she felt for the Welsh wolf. She remembered the story he’d told about Rhiryd and Cristen and that when he died, Cristen shifted to wolf form and lived the rest of her days as a wolf but that she had returned to die on his grave. Her family had honored her choice by opening his grave and laying her body to rest for all eternity with her beloved mate. Maddie smiled.
She could feel his approach before she could hear the door open and close softly.
“Would that you had obeyed me as well about staying safe at Calon Onest,” said Griffin in a grim tone of voice.
“Griffin, I know you’re upset with me.”
“No. I would have been upset had you just misbehaved enough to get yourself moved to the tower. Damn it, Maddie. Do you realize you could have been killed?”
“But we weren’t. We weren’t really ever in danger…”
“So, you were in the middle of Van Meeter’s back with your jaws locked around his neck for what… fun?”
“Of course not…”
“You, Skylar, and Catherine decide you’re going to take on the mastermind behind this whole nasty business when he realizes his whole house of cards has come tumbling down and you didn’t think it was dangerous?”
As he talked, Griffin’s voice became deeper, more heavily accented and angrier.
“Do you really want me to believe you’re that stupid?” he asked.
“No, but…”
“No, but you just decided what the fuck and the three of you decide to show the men in your life that you are quite capable of handling things.”
“Griff, please; I’m sorry I made you angry.”
“No. What you’re sorry for is that you’re going to get punished for your foolishness. What I’m sorry for is that instead of spending the night wrapped in your loving embrace, I have to take a strap to your backside… first.”
“Well, you don’t have to. No one is going to make you…”
“Oh, but I do, cwningen bach. I need to get through to you that when I tell you to do something that you do it. You don’t just do it when it’s easy or because it’s what you wanted to do. You will obey me, mate.”
She could feel his anger rolling off of him. Maddie heard him sit down on the bed and take a deep breath, getting his anger under control.
“Come here, Maddie.”
Maddie turned around and looked at him. “Griff…”
“Maddie. Enough. Come here.”
Maddie walked over to him. She saw him grin as he saw her hardened nipples. Without saying a word, he slipped his hand between her legs. The grin widened to a smile as he felt how wet she was already.
“I believe my sweet mate is anticipating my possession of her after she is punished for her misbehavior. Aren’t you, love?” he said seductively.
“We didn’t know you were going after Van Meeter.”
“You didn’t ask. And it doesn’t matter, you were told to stay here. You didn’t. I told you the last time I spanked your for putting yourself in danger that if it happened again, I’d take a strap to you. You are going to find out before I make use of that wet pussy that the sting I put in your tail is one you have not felt before.”
He took her by the arm and drew her across his knee. Maddie didn’t resist him per se, but she couldn’t find it within herself to place herself in position willingly.
“Griffin, I’m sorry.”
“I’m sure you are. The question is are you actually sorry for what you did or that you’re about to get your bottom welted for it?”
“Both,” Maddie said honestly. “Please don’t take a strap to me. I can barely take it when you just use your hand.”
“You’ll live, cwningen bach. No one ever died from a welting—although many have wished their mate dead perhaps.”
Maddie started to struggle. Knowing that she loved him, knowing that she had chosen this, knowing that from his point of view she deserved it, didn’t help. She knew how sore he made her just disciplining her with his hand. And she had heard nothing good from the women she knew whose mates had used leather of some sort.
All of her thinking came to an abrupt halt as Griffin’s hand landed the first swat to her naked backside. He’d placed her so that the upper half of her body was supported by the bed, her legs trapped between his and her ass propped up higher and in the perfect place for him to spank her thoroughly. Each time his hand connected with her bottom, she yelped and her body twitched as much as he allowed her to.
The pain and heat seemed to radiate out from each spot where his hand landed. He alternated cheeks and spots, never striking the same place twice, but seeming to catch the sting and amplify it before she could recover. Griffin didn’t say a word, just methodically spanked her ass until it was sore all over and Maddie was crying.
“Griffin, please stop. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“I wish I thought that just spanking you would ensure you’d make a better choice if there’s a next time, but I don’t. You’ve proven yourself to be the equal of the women you seem to admire—Skylar, Roz, Darby, Catherine. I can assure you that both Skylar and Catherine will be getting leather applied to their backsides as well.”
“We were trying to help,” she cried. She didn’t understand why he couldn’t see that.
“Help? Sending me up against a pack we knew very little about and worrying about whether or not I’d be able to keep you safe? That’s your idea of helping?”
“Yes! Well, no! We didn’t know you were coming.”
“And had you stayed put it, you would have had no need to know.”
Maddie was sobbing in earnest now. This was the worst spanking he’d given her and the pain went past the physical. She knew he was right. She wasn’t some kind of elite Special Forces operative. They could have made things so much worse. It took all three of them to take Van Meeter down. What chance would they have had against a whol
e pack?
She continued to cry and wasn’t aware at first that Griffin had ceased paddling her very sore bottom. His hand rested lightly on it and was rubbing soothing circles. She managed to stop sobbing and was taking great gulps of air trying to compose herself.
Maddie felt his hand slip down over ass cheeks and dip between her legs.
“Spread your legs, Maddie.”
“Are… are you finished?”
“No, sweetheart, but I thought you needed a little break and I would see both to your arousal and to remind you that there is more pleasure to be had from my touch than pain even though the pain is well deserved.”
Maddie started to cry softly, but opened her legs for his touch. He slipped a finger briefly into her drenched pussy and chuckled softly at feeling how wet she was for him.
“Griffin, please be done. Please? I know what we did was wrong. Things could have gone badly. We could have all been hurt or killed.”
“Aye. The three of you could have deprived Abriana of her mother, and Dylan, Marco, and me of our fated mates. For what? So that you could prove we were wrong?”
“No,” she cried. “We thought you weren’t listening to Anna and that Van Meeter would get away to try again.”
“So instead of sharing your concerns with us, you took it upon yourselves to go after him with no experience at all.”
“Skylar has experience…”
“Skylar? Skylar and her girls at Bae Diogel got lucky that they weren’t up against a trained force.”
“But the men who killed Micah…”
“Were human and didn’t have a clue as to what they were up against.”
Griffin had withdrawn his finger and taken her natural lubricant and rubbed it into her clit, causing her to squirm once again. He moved his hand back up and put two fingers into her pussy, which bore down on them trying to increase the sensation he was creating.
“Do you think you’re ready to get your first taste of leather?”
“No, Griffin, please, no.”
“Nay, cwningen bach, I promised you a welting if you ever put yourself in harm’s way again, and I mean to see that you get it. Now you stand up and take hold of the bedpost at the end of the bed.”
