Masters of the Castle: Witness Protection Program

by Maren Smith

  Using just his hand, this spanking hurt far worse than the two before it, and Terri went into full on fight or flight mode as she struggled to get out of his grasp and away from the pain he was inflicting.

  Nick worked out every day, making good use of the weight room down at the station. Terri was a runner and far less disciplined. As she fought against his iron grasp, she vowed to work out with him from now on. He was always inviting her, and she was always passing in favor of a coffee run. If she had gone, maybe she would be able to give him a run for his money, but as it was she was fighting a losing battle. A painful losing battle that somehow was still making her horny as fuck.

  Nick making her horny was nothing new, but being spanked and treated like a cross between an errant child and a Stepford robot slave and not having the inclination to karate kick him straight in the nutsack was certainly different. He was the only person who would ever get away with this, because the truth was, she was in love with him.

  And that was precisely why she had to keep fighting. She couldn’t live this way, not even for him, and now that she had seen the real Nick, she knew he couldn’t not live this way. She understood now why it had never worked between them, and while the realization that it wasn’t her looks or body, like she had assumed, was comforting, the knowledge that she would eventually have to give him up and allow him to move on was soul crushing. She relished every moment of contact between them and created opportunity for more. And she wasn’t focused on the mission, because when the mission was over, they would be too.

  A gust of cool air traveled across her backside and she belatedly realized he’d raised her skirt and was now skimming her panties down to her thighs. God damn epiphany moments.

  “These are cute.” He snapped the waistband of the plain white ruffled panties.

  Her hand flew back to stop him, but it was too late. He caught her wrist and pinned it to her back. “I told you that you weren’t leaving this room without a proper spanking.”

  “You aren’t leaving this room without a proper kick to the balls!” It was the wrong thing to say considering her feet were nowhere near his balls, and her ass was in his hands.

  He began to spank with renewed vigor, punishing her already tortured backside with his rock-hard hand. God, how had she never noticed how strong he was? She would never look at his hands the same way again after this.

  “Okay, Nick, I get it. Please. Don’t spank anymore. We should get the day started, we have so much to do and—ouch!” She screamed as he interrupted her with a new barrage of spanks.

  “Apologize,” he commanded. “The only way you are getting up is with a sincere apology.” He swatted intermittently, not giving her a chance to argue any longer.

  She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I really am. No more pranks! I’ll focus on work!”

  “Getting closer.” His aim moved from the fleshiest part of her butt down toward her thighs. The lower swats were much sharper and she struggled in earnest to get away.

  “All right, all right! Can you please stop for a second?” Talking and breathing was getting more difficult by the moment, and she hoped he would oblige her in this one thing.

  He settled his hand on her bottom and rubbed. “You better talk quickly. I’m really starting to enjoy myself.”

  “A little too much.” She pouted, but when the warmth of his hand left her stinging skin, she spoke as quickly as possible. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me do it. You’ve been so different, and I wanted to see what would happen, and by the time I realized it was a bad idea, you were already back and I had no time to change my mind. In my defense, my brain doesn’t work right before coffee.”

  “Good girl,” he purred, renewing the rubs. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  He trailed lower and she squeezed her legs together, denying him access.

  She couldn’t afford to get more wrapped up in him than she already was, no matter how tempting. Unfortunately, Nick wasn’t having any part of her denial.

  “It’s naughty to hide from me, did you know that?”

  Terri shook her head and whimpered. “We’re going to be late, Nick, we need to go. You can’t get on me about not focusing on work and jeopardizing the mission and then be late for a meeting because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Nick sighed heavily, giving up his perusal and helping her into a standing position.

  The room spun a bit as she got her bearings and Nick righted her panties and skirt.

  “Be a good girl and go get Janice so that I can get dressed and we can go. Places to be, people to see.”

  Without question, she turned to do his bidding.

  “Hey T,” he called, stopping her as she got to the door and holding up the forgotten coffee. “Enjoy, you earned it.”

  Thank God for caffeine.

  Chapter 15

  “Something’s not right. He doesn’t act like this unless something’s wrong.” Terri bit her thumbnail and watched anxiously as Champ paced around their room, hovering near the door. He had been acting up ever since they’d returned from Sunday morning breakfast.

  Nick sighed, sitting next to her on the bed and watching the dog with a frown of confusion. “He’s cleared every space, multiple times. We’ve exhausted every possibility, maybe he’s just restless. We’ve been on this job longer than he is used to.”

  Nick was wrong. He was a good cop with good instincts, but she knew Champ better than he did. Something was amiss at the Castle. She was sure of it.

  “I’m telling you, Nick, this isn’t just on-the-job restlessness. I think we need to call Marshall. Maybe we’ve missed something.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief when Nick picked up his cell phone and dialed. He nodded to her and hit the speaker button so that she could be privy to the conversation as well.

  “Master Marshall’s office, can I help you?” A woman’s voice came over the speaker.

  “I need to speak to Marshall. Is he available?”

  “Yes, Sir. May I tell him who’s calling?”

  “Nate and Tara O’ Connor.”

  “Please hold, Mr. O’Connor.”

  The phone went silent for a second before Marshall picked up on his end. “Good Morning, Nate. What can I do for you?” There was an unease in his voice, and Terri wondered if he also sensed something was up.

  “I’m not sure what you can do exactly,” Nick spoke cautiously, not wanting to cause any kind of hysteria. “Champ is not acting like himself and Terri is worried that we may have missed something somehow. Eden has taken us all over, we’ve been in and out of guest rooms and all public areas. We’ve been over the grounds more than once, and that’s just this morning. Can you think of anything we may have overlooked?”

  Marshall was quiet for a moment. “Have you been on the third floor, where my employee residences are?”

  Nick’s head jerked with a start. “We were told that no guests had access to that floor.”

  “They don’t, but this is an elite criminal we are talking about. To be quite honest, anything is possible, and we can’t take any chances. If Champ senses trouble, I would not take it lightly. Go now. There is only one stairwell that will get you there. It will be marked on the map you were given. You can use your key card to let yourself up. I’ll have Eden meet you straight away.”

  “Okay, great. Thank you, Marshall.”

  “No, sir. Thank you, please be careful.”

  “You get all that?” Nick asked, already making to move out the door as he hung up the phone.

  “Yup.” Terri already had Champ on the leash and her hand on the door.

  Nick stopped her before she could pull it open, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a quick embrace. “Terri, take a deep breath. You need to calm down and listen to me. Remember protocol and follow it. Champ knows how to handle business, he’s done it before. No matter how different this case has been, this is the part we have done before. You need to remember tha
t.”

  Her body shook under his hold. She always got a little shaky before they went into a potential danger zone. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good girl.” He kissed her head and let her go. Normally, the patronizing endearment would have bugged her, but today it just felt nice.

  As soon as the door was open, Champ tugged them down the hall, not waiting for directions from either handler as to where he should go. He was following an instinct and nothing would deter him from that. The hairs on the back of Terri’s neck stood on end as they made their way to the third-floor access, led by the determined pup.

  At the stairwell, Terri took Champ off the leash and backed up to give him some freedom. He jumped around, nose in the air, sniffing every available inch he could reach before taking the stairs two at a time. At this point it would be a miracle if they didn’t find anything. Terri herself was on high alert, looking for clues at every corner. They flew past two women heading down the stairs, one Terri recognized as Ella and the other was the same pregnant woman who’d sat by Marshall during the Supper and Show.

  “Good boy,” Terri assured Champ. When they reached the top, the doors were propped open, but Champ still looked to them, waiting for the go ahead to continue his mission.

  “Find it, Champ,” Nick gave the command and Champ darted down the hall at top speed, stopping for a split second at each door to sniff, Terri hot on his heels.

  “T, we need to clear these rooms. If anyone is up here we need to get them out of the way.”

  Terri nodded. They were going to find something, they both knew that now, and whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. The entire floor needed to be cleared forthwith.

  “Eden!” she heard Nick yell as the Little Maid appeared at the stairs and Terri chased Champ down the hall, knocking on doors as she went. “We have to get this hall clear, now.”

  Champ was running ahead of her now, not waiting for her to check rooms. He was four doors down from where she stood when Champ gave a familiar warning bark.

  “Fuck.” Her partner’s response echoed down the hall.

  Champ’s warning bark sent shivers down her spine. He was sitting outside a door at the end of the hall staring at her, and signaling with his paw. His bark was filled with urgency. She moved quicker, only hitting the doors with one or two knocks now, giving a quick shout to any inhabitants before moving on. Her mind was focused on what could be waiting for them on the other side of that door.

  A door that suddenly flew open, and out frantically tumbled Marshall’s pregnant wife Kaylee and the blind woman they were supposed to be protecting. Nearly crashing into Terri and Champ both, their eyes were huge and their faces pale as they fled as fast as Kaylee could go, straight for both Nick and the main stairs leading down.

  “Kaylee, faster!” the blind woman screamed. “Run!”

  Her stomach dropping, Terri turned to see Nick coming back to her, but he only got a few steps before the blast sounded. The impact threw them both backwards. The loud ringing in her ears kept her from hearing anything else. Smoke filled the hall as she got to her hands and knees and crawled toward Nick. He was starting to sit up as she passed him, so she knew he was okay. Using the wall to brace herself, she scrambled to her feet and tried to gather her bearings, moving toward the blast.

  Where was Eden? Champ was nowhere to be seen, either. Panic seized her chest as she squinted through the smoke.

  “Champ!” she called out for him and listened, but between the ringing in her ears and the echoing sounds of chaos just beginning to reverberate throughout the Castle, she couldn’t hear much of anything. She was pretty sure there had been no barking. Her stomach filled with dread and tears welled in her eyes, but she pressed herself to push forward, still crawling on her hands and knees. At least from down here, she would be at eye level with Champ. If he was hurt or worse, she would be able to find him. It was all she focused on as she made her way down the hall, pushing aside piles of rubble and covering her face with the front of her uniform to keep from filling her lungs with smoke.

  “Terri! T!” Nick was calling to her. His voice was strained, but she ignored him, not wanting to hear what he would say. Stop looking for Champ and get to safety. She didn’t want to hear that.

  He caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist in a near tackle and pulling her backwards.

  Her partner was yelling, but she could barely hear the words through the loud ringing. Ripping the fake hearing aids out of her ears helped.

  “Champ!” she yelled back at him, but he kept pulling.

  She dropped back to her knees, making it impossible for him to move her any further without putting in more effort. Using the hold he already had, he yanked her to her feet and threw her over his shoulder. He really needed to stop doing that. The caveman act was getting old.

  “Nick!” She pounded on his back with her fists, not caring that she had used the wrong name. The jig was up, literally. “Put me down! I need to find Champ! We can’t just leave him!”

  “Not a chance in hell,” Nick growled, carrying her toward the staircase that would take them back down to the second floor. “What the fuck are you thinking moving toward a blast, Terri?”

  She didn’t validate the stupid question with a response and instead arched her back, trying to throw herself off him. All she could think about was finding Champ. Hell would freeze over before she would leave him behind. If he was hurt, he needed her. Nick wrapped his arm tighter around her legs, landing three solid swats to her sore backside. The pain did nothing but make her fight harder.

  They passed a pile of rubble in an open doorway, broken stones no longer in their places and part of a door lying in the destructed hallway. Underneath that door, covered in pebbles and dust, Terri spotted… something. Oh, Jesus. Was that a hand?

  Eden.

  As if he could read her mind, Nick yelled, “Where the fuck is Eden?”

  “There!” Terri thrust out her hand, pointing. Fear choked her, twisting in the pit of her stomach. “Nick, we have to—”

  “I know,” he said tightly, but he didn’t stop. He kept going.

  “Eden! Champ!” The scream tore out of Terri, hurting her throat. “Dammit, Nick! Let me go!”

  She screamed at the tops of her lungs, but Nick ignored her. He didn’t stop until they got back to the mouth of the stairs, where he leaned forward and dumped her onto her feet.

  Grabbing her face in both hands, he leveled her with a glare, his face red and features set in stone. “T, fucking listen to me. I know, okay? I fucking know! I’m dying inside, but I can’t let you run half-cocked into an active bomb site. There could still be a secondary explosion and, without Champ, we really don’t know what we are looking at here. We need to assess the situation and be smart. We can’t help either one of them if we are fucking dead. Do you hear me?”

  She did, but she shook her head frantically, tears clouding her vision.

  A scream of agony echoed through the stairwell, ripping Terri back to the heart of the crisis. From the sound of that scream, danger had not passed and as much as she hated it, people had to take priority over her pup.

  Swallowing back a surge of guilt, knowing she was abandoning Champ while he might be injured, or worse, Terri ran down the stairs as fast as she could, with Nick right behind her. Halfway down, the pregnant woman had collapsed in the corner of the stairwell, both arms wrapped around her middle.

  “Chris!” she cried out, just as a large blond-haired man tore up the stairs from the floor below.

  “Kaylee!” He reached her first, Master Marshall and Grimsley fast at his heels.

  “Eden!” Terri cried, pointing up the stairs when she saw the Master Butler. “She’s under a door!”

  Without a word, Grimsley shoved past everyone. He ran up the stairs and was quickly swallowed by the smoke.

  “Is everyone okay?” Marshall demanded as he reached for his wife. “Where’s Grace?”

  Kaylee burst into tears
. “He’s got her!” The pregnant woman coughed, doubling over into her husband’s protective arms.

  “Who?” the man demanded.

  “Carmen the Butcher. Chris, you have to save her!”

  The man nearly knocked them all over in his haste, taking the stairs two at a time to disappear back into the smoking rubble from which she and Nick had just come.

  Nick let him, too, which Terri found at once bitterly unfair even as she understood why. A pregnant woman and civilians had to take precedence over heroes and fools.

  “Can she be moved?” Nick asked, his tone at once calm and in control.

  Terri didn’t know how he was doing it. She was shaken and felt like she was going to puke as Marshall leaned down to scoop Kaylee into his arms. “Hold on, sweetheart. I’ve got you,” he assured her in a soothing tone.

  Terri looked behind her up the stairs, willing Champ to emerge from the curtain of smoke. She bit her lip and tore her eyes away from the doorway. “Let’s get her out of here.”

  But the instant Marshall tried to lift her, the pregnant woman shrieked and everyone froze. Grabbing both her belly and her back, she doubled over.

  Easing back down, cradling her, Marshall looked to Terri and Nick. “We have to wait for the ambulance,” he said grimly.

  “Right,” Nick reluctantly agreed, then to Marshall, “Is there anyone else up there that you know of?”

  “No, just you two and Eden. Everyone else is down here working.”

  “Good.” Taking Terri’s arm, he moved them a few steps down the next flight of stairs toward the second floor, as close to manning the double doors below as he dared while leaving two civilians on the landing behind him. In the distance, she could hear people screaming, crying, calling for help. An alarm was blaring. Someone somewhere would have called police, meaning emergency teams would be rallying and already on the way.