Claiming Bite

by Silvia Violet

  I yanked my hand away from him and let my claws recede. “Get him out of here.”

  Grayson and Roc dragged him away, but Bryce stayed behind.

  “Go. Deal with him.”

  Bryce shook his head. “Not until I know it’s safe to leave Emerson with you.”

  “He won’t hurt me,” Emerson said.

  Bryce looked unsure of that. “He rarely gets this angry, but when he does—”

  “I’m fine,” I snarled.

  Bryce laughed. “You are so far from fine, big brother.”

  “I need a new strategy. We need Leon out. Having him acknowledge my authority as council leader isn’t enough.”

  “I thought that all along,” Bryce said.

  “Go. Find out why that bastard was here.”

  Bryce glanced at Emerson and then back at me. “I’m still not sure—”

  “I can calm him down better than anyone,” Emerson said. “I don’t know if it’s the mate bond or what, but didn’t you notice he didn’t seem to hear anyone until I talked to him?”

  Bryce studied Emerson for a moment before smiling. “You’re right. You really are his mate, and I wish you a lot of luck.”

  He tried to close the door behind him, but I had to lift it and readjust the hinges. I took a deep breath once I had it in place. The lions were going to pay for this. But first, I had to deal with the fact that Emerson had defied me. He’d brought himself out in the open when I’d told him to hide. If the lion had gotten away from me, if he’d gone for Emerson, my human mate who wouldn’t heal from claws the way I could, I might not have been able to save him.

  “I told you to stay under the desk.”

  “I couldn’t let you kill that man. I knew you’d regret it.”

  “What if he killed you? Don’t you think I would’ve regretted that?” My wolf was right there, ready to spring back out.

  “You had him pinned. The guards were there. Bryce was there.”

  “You have no idea how strong he is. You won’t heal like a shifter. You’re human. You’re vulnerable.”

  “You needed me. I was the only one who could help you. You needed your mate.”

  He might be right, but I didn’t like it. I sat back in my chair. “Over my knee, right now.”

  17

  Emerson

  I’d never been more terrified than when I thought King would surely kill the lion shifter. I knew he’d wreck everything he’d been working for, and the danger surrounding him and his family would only get worse. When King had pushed me under the desk, I’d felt his rage as his wolf came to the surface. I’d known he was protecting me, that he was ready to compromise everything for me, but I couldn’t let him do that.

  My human instincts told me to run. This dangerous man was furious with me, but the mate bond pulled me toward him, and he’d proven himself to me several times now. He wouldn’t hurt me more than I wanted him to. He cared for me, he wanted the best for me, and I was willing to do anything for him. So I obeyed his command, despite the fact that his voice barely sounded human. I lay over his lap and braced myself on my hands.

  With a snarl, King tore at the fastenings of my pants, yanked them down, and smacked his hand against my ass.

  I yelped, unable to help myself. It hurt far worse than the flogger he’d used before.

  He spanked me again and again. My ass burned, and I shifted, biting my lower lip to hold my cries in. I’d never realized how much a bare hand could hurt, but I supposed I’d never considered one with the strength of a shifter behind it.

  “Stop holding it in,” he snarled.

  I didn’t want to cry here. I didn’t want anyone else to hear me. I didn’t even want King to hear me. I was scared of what had almost happened, of what would happen with the lions. I needed King, needed him safe and whole.

  I defied him, holding back tears and fighting the screams that rose up inside me. King went at me harder. His hand seemed to come down on my ass lightning fast. “Let it all out, Emerson, now.”

  When the next blow came, I couldn’t hold my agony inside. I screamed and tears flowed down my face. I cried and whined and struggled, but he didn’t stop until my mind was reaching for my safe word, ready to let it spill from my lips.

  It was as if he knew he had pushed me as far as I could go. He laid a hand against the base of my spine. “I love you, Emerson. I have to know that you will stay safe. I need to know that you won’t interfere with any of this again. You are my mate, the most important thing in the world to me now.”

  He bent and placed gentle kisses on my aching ass. I felt dampness spill onto my skin. Was he crying? My strong alpha wolf? I turned my head trying to see, but he buried his face against me, clutching me tight. The scrape of his beard hurt, but I didn’t complain.

  “I love you too.” It was the first time I’d said it. I hadn’t imagined it would happen in a situation like this. But I knew he needed to hear it, and I’d never loved him more than in that moment. We’d both done what we thought was necessary to protect the other, even when that had brought fear or anger. But now that he’d given pain and I’d taken it, things were as they should be between us again. “My instincts say to protect you too.”

  “I know, and I love that you want to care for me, but you’re too vulnerable.”

  I wanted to argue. I would have with anyone else, but in this case he was right. I was far more vulnerable than another shifter would be. I didn’t have their strength or their healing power. But how could I have stayed back when I knew I was the only one who could get through to him?

  King helped me slide to the floor and placed me on all fours. I turned when I heard him unfasten his pants.

  “Don’t move.”

  I wasn’t sure I could have if I’d wanted to. My legs were shaky, barely able to hold me in the position he’d placed me in. I let my face rest against my arms on the floor. I was dizzy, shaky, and still so scared for King and what might happen.

  He knelt behind me, and I heard the sound of a cap being popped, then the slick sound of him greasing his cock. Then he was there, pushing into me with enough force to make me cry out as he opened me up and forced me to take his full length. He gripped my hips, and I felt the prick of his claws. “Need you. Need to come inside you.”

  I almost begged him to bite me and seal our mate bond. I needed that claiming bite. I wondered if it would soothe King to know that I was fully his. But he’d said he wouldn’t bind us together until this current danger had passed.

  He drove into me harder until my shaky legs slid out from under me and he pressed me into the rug. He lay over me, pumping into me in short, fast strokes as I worked my hips, rutting into the rug, not even caring that it was rough against my skin. I needed relief. “King, please.”

  He growled and yanked on my hips, pulling me back until I was sitting in his lap. Then he gripped me under my arms, holding me up as he drove into me over and over until my head swam, and I closed my eyes against everything. My whole world became his cock stretching my ass. “Come for me, Emerson, show me how much you want this.”

  His words were all it took to bring me over. I came untouched, crying out as his cock rubbed over my prostate, wrenching jet after jet of cum from me. His claws scratched my shoulders, and I cried out from the pleasure/pain of it. He growled as he drove into me with one last brutal thrust, then his knot swelled, and I felt the heat of his seed as it flooded my ass, marking me as his.

  It took a while for us to come out of our post-sex daze. We fell onto our sides, locked together by King’s knot. He curled around me as if trying to shield me from all the danger he faced. Once his cock had deflated, he pulled out with a groan. I winced. My ass felt raw inside and out. It would be a while before I bounced back from this. King stepped into his private bathroom and came back with a washcloth. He cleaned me, taking care to be gentle with my abused ass. I still hadn’t gotten over how he could go from ferocious to tender and how I loved every side of him.

  After he retur
ned the washcloth to the bathroom, he reached into the briefcase he’d brought with him and pulled out my cock cage.

  “You brought it?”

  “Of course I did. I wasn’t sure if I’d need to send you back to the house without me, and as I told you, any time we’re apart you will wear this until you’re so well-trained you wouldn’t think of touching yourself or getting off without me. Even then I’ll have you wear it sometimes. I like to know you’re confined, controlled, waiting for me.”

  I bit my lip to keep from protesting, especially since part of me wanted to wear the cage. As much as I hated that sensation of trying to grow hard and being unable to, I also liked knowing it pleased King to keep me that way. He closed it around me, put the lock in place, and once again placed the key in his pocket.

  “Jax and Denny are on their way to pick you up. Jax and the other guards will stay close at all times until Leon has been dealt with.”

  This time I did protest. “I don’t want to leave. I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

  “You’re not going to lose me. I’m the king of the shifters, remember?”

  “I know you’re strong and smart and you have all your brothers to help you, but the lions are still dangerous.”

  “I know they are, little human, but I’ll take care of myself. Come on and get dressed. I want to get you out of here so I can take care of the situation.”

  I dressed quickly, knowing he wouldn’t relent. He took me down a staircase that was for staff only. When we reached the door, I rose on my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t do anything too reckless. I need you.”

  He kissed me back, a soft brush of his lips over mine, and squeezed my hands. “I promise I will come home to you.”

  I turned and walked out the door. Jax was waiting for me. I wanted to look back, but I was afraid if I did, I’d cling to King and never agree to leave.

  I kept shifting position as I rode back to King’s house. Denny was driving, Jax was in the passenger seat, and I was in the back, unable to think about anything but the damn cage restricting my cock. I kept reminding myself I’d eventually get used it to like I had before, but right then I had to keep my hands fisted to resist the urge to toy with it. I wasn’t going to get it off, and I really didn’t want to. King would be so disappointed in me, and the punishment… I didn’t even want to imagine what he’d do to me for such disobedience.

  At least with the cage reminding me that King owned my body, I was distracted from worrying about what he was planning. Had he known that would happen? Was that part of why he’d insisted I wear it tonight? I smiled at the thought of King caring for me in such a way. The thought of what my ex would say to a cock cage as a sign of love made me grin. Looking back, I couldn’t understand why I’d stayed with him. I was happy being King’s, and Brady had never truly made me happy. At first, being with him seemed better than being alone, but had it really been? It certainly hadn’t been fulfilling. I’d known what I needed, I’d just been afraid to leave him and go after it. Brady was an ass, but at least he’d ultimately pushed me to find King.

  One minute I was contemplating what I wanted King to do to me when he came home, and the next I was screaming as a car slammed into us, glass shattered, and my world began to spin.

  Another crash followed the first. My head slammed against the door, making me see stars. I tried to push myself up, but my arms ached, and I felt blood dripping down my face.

  “Jax? Denny?” I wasn’t sure if I said their names out loud or only in my head. Nothing seemed real.

  Two lions slammed their paws into the car and I screamed again. Denny was slumped over the wheel, and Jax was struggling to get himself loose from the seat belt.

  “Stay down,” he ordered, but my door was wrenched open, and a huge man dragged me out just as one of the lions smashed his paw through Jax’s window.

  I struggled against his hold, but claws dug into me, and he growled. “If you want to live, you’ll shut up and be still.”

  No, I had to fight. “Jax!”

  The man shook me, and my brain seemed to rattle around in my head. “I told you to shut the fuck up.”

  I felt a stab on the side of my neck. I thought it was a claw, but then something cold burned beneath my skin. “That will keep him quiet.”

  I tried to scream again, but my brain and mouth no longer seemed connected. The world grew fuzzy. I tried to kick out against the man who held me, but my limbs were too heavy.

  “How much did you give him?”

  “Enough.”

  “If you kill him—”

  “I haven’t.”

  I tried to fight the darkness closing in around me, but the world faded away and I succumbed.

  18

  Emerson

  When I regained consciousness, I was lying on the cold concrete floor. I was huddled in on myself, shivering. I must’ve been trying to seek warmth in my sleep. It took me a few moments to realize part of the reason I was so cold was that I was naked except for my cock cage.

  This was bad. Really bad. I squeezed my eyes shut and fought the urge to cry. My head swam, but I needed to find a way to focus. I needed to figure out where I was and if there was a way out. If the lions had me, they weren’t going to let me out of here alive. And if I was naked, that likely meant when they came back… No, I wasn’t going to think about that.

  I pushed up onto my hands, and my stomach protested the movement. My head throbbed. I’d hit it in the accident, hadn’t I? Where were Jax and Denny? Were they here too, or were they… No, I couldn’t think about that either.

  And what about King? Did he know I hadn’t made it home? Was Jax supposed to check in with him? If King did know, he’d be searching for me. He’d find me, I was sure of that, but his rage would be unimaginable. He’d tear apart anyone and anything to get to me. I’d seen his anger, his instinct to kill when the lion shifter had entered his office. I needed King to come for me, but was there any way he would survive the confrontation? How many lions were here? If he located me, he wasn’t going to wait and make a plan; his wolf would take control and he would charge with teeth and claws ready.

  The police overlooked a lot of what happened between shifters, but a bloodbath like he would bring down on the Crown family wouldn’t go unnoticed. I needed to escape before that happened. I tried to look around the room—was it a basement? It seemed like a basement. The floor was concrete. The air was damp. There was only one window high up on the wall. My vision blurred as I tried to look for more details. I forced myself up onto my knees, but I had to stop before I could stand. I was certain I would vomit if I moved again.

  Fight it.

  I had to be strong. I needed to get out of here and let King know I was safe. I wanted these men destroyed, but not at the expense of King’s life or his freedom.

  I’d just managed to drag myself to my feet without being sick when I heard voices. The door opened. I glanced around, but there wasn’t anywhere to hide and nothing to cover myself with. So there I stood, naked and shaking in the middle of the empty room, as two very large men came down the steps.

  “I see you’re finally awake,” one of them said.

  “I knew I hadn’t given him too high a dose.”

  “You shouldn’t have needed to give him anything. He’s a fucking human. You should’ve been able to subdue him easily.”

  The second man looked like he wanted to protest, but he said nothing. My memory was hazy, but I thought he was the one who’d stuck me with some sort of tranquilizer.

  The larger of the two men gave me a slow once-over that was far more chilling than the cold floor had been. “I would have thought King would damage a human as puny as you far more than he has. There are hardly any marks on you besides the bruises on your ass.”

  Was this Leon? I bit my lip to hold in the response I wanted to make. I would’ve hated this man even if he wasn’t holding me prisoner, even if he wasn’t King’s enemy.

  “He obviously doesn’t
trust you much, or he wouldn’t have needed to cage your little human cock.”

  He was baiting me, but I had to stay calm. Arguing with him wouldn’t help. I couldn’t fight myself out of here. All I could do was pray King would find me before they killed me or that they would leave me alone again and I could find a way to escape.

  More footsteps. Then three more lion shifters came down the stairs. Were they some of the men I’d been foolish enough to flirt with the night King had rescued me?

  “So King really did keep him?” one of them said.

  I supposed that answered it for me.

  “Any word from the asshole yet?” the man who might be Leon asked.

  “No, sir,” one of the others replied.

  He scoffed. “Maybe he doesn’t want his human after all.”

  Tears stung the backs of my eyes, even though I knew that wasn’t true. If they’d told King they had me and he hadn’t responded, he had a reason. He wouldn’t bargain with them. I was sure of that. He’d take me back by force.

  Please let his brothers be with him. Please let them keep him from destroying himself to save me.

  “Are you still planning to keep him alive until you hear from King?”

  Leon looked me up and down again. This time his gaze felt even creepier than before. “Alive. Yes.”

  “So can we have some fun with him?” one of the ones who’d been at Tooth and Claw asked.

  “Yeah,” another one said. “You owe us, little slut, after leading us on like you did, and then running off with that fucking wolf.”

  I took a step back, but there wasn’t anywhere for me to go. There was absolutely no chance I could outrun or outfight three—or would it be four or five—lion shifters. When I saw the way they were looking at me, like I was nothing more than a piece of meat to them, I knew for certain that King had been right. They wouldn’t have left me alive the other night. They would let me live now since they’d been ordered to, but once they’d spoken to King, I was dead.