“I don’t want you to hold back, King. I want it all. I was wrong to think I wanted those men last night. They would have taken from me and used me up. I thought I wanted to be nothing more than an object to them, to let them hurt me, but that’s not what I want. I don’t want to be nothing. You’ll make me better than I am now. I want to be trained, to be exactly what you want—something that you’ll cherish.”
I wasn’t sure I could breathe. He wanted all the things I wanted to give him. He was perfect. I stepped closer and caressed his cheek. Just that simple touch made my body sing. “You already are special. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. You have every right to ask for what you want. You should never accept anything less or anybody who tells you that you don’t matter. You matter to me. You’re mine, and I’m going to protect you, but I’m also going to give you what you crave, what your body is crying out for.”
He can take it, my wolf said. All the pain you want to give. I wanted to believe my animal side.
A shiver ran over Emerson, and he swayed under my touch. Did he feel my wolf longing to come out and play?
“Wh-what do I need protection from?” he asked.
“Me, but also yourself. What you did last night could have gotten you killed. If you’re going to submit to me, then I have to make sure you know better than to risk yourself like that.”
“Are you going to punish me?”
Did he want that? Could he handle it? “Do you think you would like that?”
He looked up, holding my gaze. “I think I need it.”
My breath caught. If I started this, I wouldn’t be able to stop, but I couldn’t resist the pull I felt from him. “You need a safe word.”
“I do? I wasn’t sure you’d allow that.”
My wolf stirred, and I couldn’t hold back a growl at the thought of my little human playing with someone who was so careless with his safety. “Don’t you ever play with anyone, shifter or human, who says you can’t have one. You’re always allowed to say no. It’s true that controlling our desires is different for shifters than for humans—that’s why I don’t allow humans here—but you still need the chance to tell me when I’ve gone too far. I’ll do everything in my power to stop before I truly hurt you.”
“Guesthouse.”
Was I so lost to my wolf’s needs that I’d lost track of the conversation? “What?”
“That’s my safe word. Guesthouse. Because it’s where you sent me so I could be safe.”
“Storm sent you there, not me.”
“And you let me stay.”
“Storm didn’t ask—”
“He told me it was ultimately your call, so the fact that my things have been brought there means you allowed it.”
Why had I ever thought I could hide how much I wanted him? I wasn’t ready to talk any more about that. I needed to act. “Turn around. Put your forehead on the ground and your ass in the air.”
I needed him to know exactly what he was getting into right now while I still held on to enough control. He’d said he’d fantasized about being with a shapeshifter. He’d watched shifter porn, but did he really understand what an alpha wolf could do or what a Dom might demand of him? Watching or imagining couldn’t compare to feeling our strength or realizing how easily we could overpower a human. But I needed him to be sure this was what he wanted.
When he was in position, I reached for the back of his pants and ripped. My hands easily tore the thick fabric and yanked it aside, exposing his ass to me.
“Jesus,” he yelped. “I knew you were strong, but I—”
I gripped his ass, pulling his cheeks apart as I let my claws out. They pricked his skin, not enough to draw blood, but enough to let him know what I could do to him if I wanted. “Are you frightened now?”
His breathing was ragged, and he whimpered before he spoke. “Yes.”
That one small word was enough to make me let go. I wouldn’t hurt him unless he wanted me to. And I wouldn’t keep him here if he no longer wanted this, no matter who or what he was to me. I’d never forced anyone, and I wasn’t going to start now.
He took a shuddering breath and then he pushed up on his hands and turned to look at me over his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“If you’re afraid, then you should run. That’s what your instincts should have told you the first time you met me. I should have sent you away, but I couldn’t. Your scent. Everything about you. It does something to me, and I need you in a way I’m not sure a human can understand.”
He turned to face me, rose up on his knees and took his cock in his hand. It was still fully hard, jutting out from his body, the tip shiny and damp with precum. “I like the way you frighten me, because I want someone with your strength. You can control this restlessness inside me. You can force me to surrender.”
I could smell the layers of his desire and his fear. He was afraid but he wasn’t going to run. He was right there, waiting for me to make a move.
“I trust you, King. It’s like something inside me knows you. I know that might sound crazy, but…”
His words broke me. I couldn’t deny him what he needed. “It’s not crazy. Stay right there. I need a minute.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Storm. “We’ll discuss what you did later. Right now I need guards on the club. Emerson and I are going to be busy for a while. We are not to be disturbed.”
Storm laughed. “I’ll discuss anything you’d like, but you obviously didn’t mind the surprise too much.”
I ended the call with a snarl. Then I scooped Emerson into my arms, not bothering to do anything about his ruined jeans that hung in two pieces from his legs.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you somewhere I can give you what you need.”
“But what if someone—”
“First rule. Once I’m ready to let you find out how much you enjoy being disciplined, you don’t speak unless I give you permission or you need to use your safe word. Second rule. You don’t question what I tell you to do.”
He groaned. “Fuck, I love it when you use your scary voice.”
He was going to be the death of me. How was I going to teach him without damaging him? Mine. Won’t hurt, my wolf protested.
Fuck right, he was mine. The thought of anyone else touching him enraged me. “Third rule.” I paused to rearrange him so I could open the office door. “There’s no one for you but me.”
“Why would I want anyone else?”
It was like he knew how to reach right into me and grab my heart. “When I saw you with those lions, it was all I could do not to rip every one of them to shreds.”
Emerson shivered. “Could you do that?”
I wanted to tell him I could easily defeat the whole pride; I wanted him to think I was invincible. Compared to a human, I basically was. “It wouldn’t have been an easy fight, but I don’t lose.”
“Is that why you’re the king?”
I laughed. “Yes, but I have to make a lot of hard choices to stay on top.”
“Like giving in to fucking a human.”
I growled at him. He was not going to dismiss what either of us felt. “You’re not just any human.”
“I’m a messed-up boy, craving something he shouldn’t have.”
“No, you’re mine. And I will help you straighten out your mess.”
“And you’ll spank me to make me obey?”
“Rule four. Baiting me will earn you another punishment, one you will not like.”
I could feel his heart racing as I pressed him against me. Scare him, my wolf urged. Show him he has no choice but to do exactly what you want.
I wanted to do just that. I wanted to let my wolf have free rein, but Emerson wasn’t ready for that. I worried he might never be.
He can take it. He’s made for us.
Or maybe fate was simply cruel and had given me someone too fragile for me to ever let go with.
“What’s wrong?” Emerson asked.
&nb
sp; “Nothing, I—”
“Do I get to make any rules?”
My alpha instincts warred with my belief in the safe, sane, and consensual guidelines I’d enforced at the club since taking over ownership from my father. I supposed it was ironic that those rules came from the human world, but I didn’t allow humans here. “You may make rules as long as they don’t contradict mine.”
“Rule one. You’re honest with me.”
His rule was fair, but I hated it. “There are going to be times when I can’t follow that rule for your safety.”
“You keep talking about safety. How much danger am I in? Who are you, really?”
“I’m King Howler, eldest son of one of the most powerful families in shifter society.”
“And that means I need protection?”
“Yes, it does, but—” I tensed when I heard voices, then I recognized them as some of our security guards. Storm must have ordered some of them to be stationed inside.
“There’s someone down there,” Emerson said. “What if they see us?”
They’d look away if they knew what was best for them. Emerson was mine. “This is my club, and I do what I want here.”
“Even if that means taking a human in clothes you ripped off to—where are we going exactly?”
“One of the VIP playrooms, the one I keep stocked with the things I like to use.”
He shivered again.
“Does that frighten you? The thought of what I’m going to do to you? Are you wondering whether or not you’ll enjoy having me discipline you? Do you think you’ll like my favorite flogger?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard.”
My wolf loved hearing that. Maybe fate wasn’t wrong after all. She’d given me a human, but one who craved the same things I did.
I set Emerson down in the playroom. There was a leather spanking bench there with fur-lined cuffs. Some Doms preferred the harshness of rope or cold steel, but I only liked my submissives to hurt where I chose to hurt them. The cuffs in this room couldn’t truly hold shifters anyway. Most of the time restraint was a game of willpower for us. Ropes or cuffs gave us the suggestion of being trapped, but we chose to keep ourselves there. A wolf could break most any kind of restraint a human would use, even silver ones. The folklore suggesting silver would harm a werewolf wasn’t true. There were materials now that could restrain us, xekrum being the strongest. They were illegal for all but human law enforcement. That didn’t mean we never used them at Tooth and Claw. While I was trying to move my family away from our criminal connections, there was only so much of human law I was willing to bend to.
I ripped Emerson’s jeans the rest of the way off, making him gasp. While I knelt to remove his shoes and socks, he began working at the buttons of his shirt. I stood and pushed his hands away. “I’m doing this, not you.”
Emerson’s eyes widened and he dropped his hands immediately. My wolf gave a satisfied growl at his show of submission. “Very good.”
When he was stripped bare, I stepped back and studied him. Touch. Claim. My wolf was impatient, but I intended to draw this out. Waiting was an important part of training. Making Emerson wait for what he wanted would teach him discipline, and it would give him the chance to be certain this was what he wanted.
I prayed it was, because I didn’t think I could let him go. After seeing him again, I was certain I would never be happy if he wasn’t with me. That was how I knew he was my mate. But I was trying to take things more slowly. Emerson had been hurt by his bastard of a boyfriend. He was vulnerable, and while he might crave this, he also might not really understand what it meant.
This wasn’t a wild night in bed with a shifter. Plenty of humans thought that would be fun, something illicit to wow their friends with. Maybe they’d even end up with a scar from a claw, something to remember their wild youth by. This was so much more. I didn’t just want Emerson’s body, I wanted his complete surrender, and once he became part of my family, he would be in danger in numerous ways. None of those who were angry because I wanted out of the life my father and grandfather had dragged our family into would care whether Emerson was human or not when they went after him.
All those concerns swirled in my head as I let my gaze run over his silky blond hair, across his tanned muscular chest to his narrow waist and hips, along his thighs, all the way down to his slender feet. The skin there looked as smooth as it did everywhere else, so soft, so vulnerable to my claws or my flogger. I bit back a groan at the thought of all the things I wanted to try with him. What would it take to break him, to make him scream? I would relish that sound, but then I would pick him up, hold him, and protect him from anyone or anything that tried to take him from me.
I took a step closer and cupped his face. “I want you to know everything I do to you is to give us both pleasure, to show you I care about giving you what you need. I want every cell in your body to submit to me, but no matter how long that takes, I’m going to care for you.”
Emerson sucked in his breath, and his pupils grew huge.
“Do you understand what I’m saying, little human?”
He nodded.
I held his gaze. “When I ask you a question, I expect you to answer with words.”
“Yes. Sir?”
“I would love for you to call me ‘Sir’ eventually, but first I need to earn that respect by showing you I’ll only go as far as you want me to.” I ran a thumb along his jaw. “Do you remember your safe word?”
“Guesthouse.” His soft whisper made me ache.
“Do you know how to position yourself?” I pointed to the spanking bench behind him.
He shook his head. “Please show me.”
I pointed to the pads where he should rest his knees. He settled there, and I placed a hand on the center of his back and pushed gently. “Lie over the bench and let your hands hang down. You should feel where to place them.”
When he was settled, I stroked his back. “That’s good. I’m going to cuff your hands and ankles now. Unlike a shifter, these restraints will hold you until I release them.”
He swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple move up and down. “O-Okay.”
“Have you ever been spanked?”
“N-Not for pleasure.”
“Have you ever had any kind of impact play?”
He looked away. “I know it sounds like—”
“It sounds like you were with someone who couldn’t meet your needs, and instead of wanting to help you with that, they treated you cruelly.”
“Yes.”
“I know what you need, and I’ll give it to you. I’m going to use a flogger on you today. It’s one of the softest toys I have, but it’s going to hurt. If you ever think of putting yourself at risk again, like you did with the lions last night, I want you to remember how this feels, because the punishment you will get then will be far more agonizing.”
He gasped, and I could smell his fear, but he stayed still for me. “I want that. To hurt for you.”
I paused, letting the impact of his words settle over me. Mate. Made for us, my wolf assured me. “I’m going to restrain you this time, because I want you free to struggle. Later you’re going to remember how you fought this, how you thought you couldn’t take it. I’m going to teach you how to hold yourself still and bear things you never thought you could. You’ll do it for me, because it’s what I want, and you want to please me. But right now, all I want is to flog you until you cry then fuck you so hard you won’t be able to think of anything but my cock filling you and how very much you need to come, but I won’t let you, not until I’m ready.”
Emerson whimpered. “What if I can’t hold back?”
“This time I’ll help you with that too.” I opened a cabinet, and he watched as I selected a cock ring.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“If you think I’m going to wrap this around your cock and balls, and it’s going to squeeze you and keep you from coming no matter how m
uch you want to, then yes, you’re right.”
“Fuck.”
I reached under him and gave his cock a few long pulls before placing the ring on him. He sucked in his breath as it snapped in place. “We’re really doing this, aren’t we?”
“We are. Or rather, I am doing this to you while you stay in those restraints, unable to escape, and take what I give you.”
“If I’m restrained, and your wolf comes out…”
“Then he might just eat you up.”
He shuddered, but the smell of his lust was stronger than his fear. “Put the cuffs on me, please.”
Goddess, he was so fucking perfect. And human. And vulnerable. But my wolf didn’t care. I closed the cuffs around his ankles and then his wrists. By the time I was done, his breathing was ragged.
“Tell me again how much you want this.”
“If I didn’t have this cock ring on, I might’ve come just from you cuffing me.”
Take. Claim, my wolf insisted. He had none of the reservations I had, none of the fear that Emerson’s willingness would let me go too far.
I returned to the cabinet, knowing Emerson was watching me. I could feel his need surrounding me like a tangible thing. I paused to breathe in more of his amazing scent. The more lust-filled he became, the stronger it grew. If I let myself, I could drown in it. I’d known a shifter could identify his mate by how they smelled, but I never imagined a man could literally smell like he was made for me.
I selected the flogger I wanted. The tassels were wide and soft. They wouldn’t cut his flesh or be too hard to take unless I used a lot of force. I’d considered using my hand for a nice, traditional spanking. Normally, that’s where I would’ve started with a new submissive, but I was afraid of my control slipping if I had contact with his skin, if I felt it heat under the impact of my hand. My wolf would more easily stay put if I distanced myself a little by using the flogger.
I walked over to Emerson and trailed the flogger’s falls along his back before letting them dip into his crack and tease his hole.
He whimpered. “Please.”
“Please stop, or please go on?”
Claiming Bite Page 5
