by Sophie Oak
Her pussy got soft and warm at the thought of the spanking that was coming. And the sex. She doubted they would deny her cock, and if they tried, she intended to beg sweetly until they gave in. For the first time in her life, she felt powerful. She made the choices. She decided her fate, and it was to be their woman.
“Sub, do you understand the violation you’re being punished for?” Wolf asked, his voice ringing out.
“Yes, Sir.” She gave him the words Leo had taught her to use.
“And do you cede control here and now to your Masters?” Leo asked.
“I do. I cede control to my Masters.” She kept her head down. They would call for public punishment, and Julian was supposed to agree. She didn’t know who would give the go-ahead now, though she’d seen Chase hauling a happy Kitten with him toward the front of the stage. With Julian out and Leo involved in the scene, it was probably up to Chase to speak for The Club.
“Do you cede control to your true Master?” Wolf asked.
That was off script. And she’d already answered the question. “Yes, Sir. I do.”
Wolf wasn’t done. “I have a gift for this submissive and for her true Master. Leo, will you accept this, in the spirit in which it is given?”
Shelley let her head come up. No one had said anything about gifts, and Wolf’s voice had taken on a grave tone that worried her. He was trying to hand Leo a box. It was a brilliant blue that would typically have her jumping up and down, but now she just wanted to know what the hell was happening.
Leo took the box, his eyes wary. “That depends on what spirit we’re talking about, brother.”
“In a spirit of brotherly consideration,” Wolf replied.
Leo opened the box, pushing aside the white bow and opening the lid. His brows lifted. “It’s a collar. It’s quite nice. There’s only one problem.”
He turned the box to her. In it was a lovely, heart-shaped silver locket. There was a space for a single key. That key lay next to the locket.
“Leo, she’s meant for you,” Wolf said, his voice heavy. “You’ve loved her for years. I would never take her from my brother. I came to Dallas to bring you together. My work here is done. I wish you both all the happiness in the world.”
“I am begging you to rethink this right fucking now, Wolf,” Leo said, but the words seemed really far away.
He’d come to Dallas to bring her together with Leo? He’d written to her for a month, sending her his secret fantasies and making her fall in love with him so she could be with Leo? Her heart started pounding. Vaguely she heard them talking.
“Leo, I did this for you.”
“Well, unfucking do it because she’s about to blow, and you do not want to see that, brother. I have no idea what caused this, but she’s about to make us both look like idiots, and I don’t know how to stop it because if what you’re saying is true, she has every right to be pissed as shit with you.”
Wolf had courted her, made her believe in him, made her love him, and all he’d wanted from her was to pass her off to his brother? No wonder he didn’t want to touch her.
But it didn’t make a lick of sense. When he’d made love to her, he’d been all in. He’d been there with her. Had that been a lie, too? Tears pricked at her eyes. Had she been played? She loved Leo, but damn, she loved Wolf, too. She needed them both, and one of them was either lying to her for god only knew what reason or he’d played her for a fool. Wolf had seemed so surprised when he’d found out about her prior relationship with Leo. Had that been spectacular acting on his part?
She knew what she should do. She should simply nod and take what they gave her and get through the next few moments with the dignity of a lady.
Being a lady had gotten her nothing. It had gotten her a marriage to fucking Bryce drug-dealing son-of-a-bitch Hughes. Being a woman had gotten her Leo. She’d thought it had gotten her Wolf. If she was wrong, then she would go out as she’d begun.
She’d been through one hellacious marriage where she’d been ruled by fear. She wouldn’t live her life like that again. Not for one second.
She pushed herself off the ground, forcing her legs to hold her.
“Shelley?” Wolf sounded utterly shocked. “Find your position!”
But she wasn’t listening to his orders anymore. She wanted answers, and she didn’t care if she had to get them in front of an audience. She grabbed the package out of Leo’s hands. “What does this mean?”
Wolf looked at Leo. “Are you going to control your sub?”
Leo, it seemed, really did have all the brains in the family. He took a step back. “I am going to take cover, brother. Would you like to explain what this is about? Maybe we should go back to my office and talk about this.”
Maybe he wasn’t so damn smart. “I’m not having a session with him. I want to know why there’s only one key. Is he planning on being a brilliant lock picker for the rest of our lives?”
Wolf’s jaw squared. “You know you belong with Leo.”
She did. And she knew she belonged with him, too. “I know that you’re playing with me. You tell me something, Wolf Meyer. Did you sign a contract to top me with the sole purpose of passing me off to someone else?”
He paled a bit. “That makes it sound worse than it is. I know you love Leo.”
“I love you, too. You made me love you. You wrote me letters. You spent hours on the phone with me. You told me you wanted me.”
Wolf’s face fell. “I did this for you.”
What the hell was going on? She felt a sob building in her chest. She knew she should be happy she still had Leo, but damn she wanted more. She wanted it all, and she’d thought for just a moment that she’d had it. She’d thought when Leo had made love to her this afternoon that everything was settled, but now half of her heart was walking away.
She threw the beautiful, gorgeous, would-have-been-perfect-if-it-had-two-keys necklace at Wolf. “You can go to hell. You say you did this for me? For me? I love you.” She hated the fact that she sniffled and that tears were starting to course down her cheeks. “I love you. I wanted a life with you and Leo and you promised me that last night. But it was a fucking lie. You’re just like all the rest. You can say you’re different, but you lie with the best of them, Wolf Meyer.”
“I didn’t lie.” He tried to take a step forward, but she discovered she could move in those heels when she wanted to.
“You did. You made love to me. You shared me with Leo and promised with your body that you would be there. You signed a fucking contract!” That was the worst bit of all. She’d played by his rules, and he’d still burned her. Rage flowed. “You sat down and negotiated that contract with me and I thought you meant it.”
“I did.” The words puffed from his mouth, and his eyes tilted up in horror.
“No. That fucking necklace tells me you didn’t. It tells me you were pimping for your brother. Did you think I would just accept this? Did you think I would shrug and walk away and the next goddamn family reunion you could bring your girlfriend and I would be okay?”
Leo shook his head. “I take no responsibility for this.”
“You stay out of it, Leo. I love you. I’m still talking to you. Keep it that way.” She turned back to Wolf. “I know I’m being a brat. I know I’m being a bad sub, but damn it, you told me that discipline meant getting what I wanted. This is not what I want. I won’t accept less. If you think you can have some fucking happy family after this, you’re wrong. So here’s my advice to you, Wolf Meyer. You better fucking choose again. I don’t know what happened between this morning and tonight, but you better forget it and you better take that fucking necklace back and get something more suitable or the rest of your life is going to be hell. I do not accept this. Gucci, Wolf.”
Her safe word seemed to hit him with the force of a Mack truck. “I haven’t even touched you. How can you say your safe word when I haven’t hurt you?”
“Haven’t hurt me? You hurt my soul, Wolf.” She deflated like a balloon t
hat had lost its air. Her heart ached. She was standing in front of a dungeon full of people who probably thought she was the biggest brat in the world. She’d wanted to belong here, and now she’d more than likely ruined all of her chances.
And Leo. Leo probably thought she was a horrible sub. Tears blurred the whole word. She cried and turned away. Leo caught her.
“It’s all right, Shell. It’s all right, baby. No matter what happens, we’re fine. I love you. That’s all that matters.” He kissed her forehead. “Go on. Go back to the condo. Chase will escort you up there. I’ll figure this out.”
He was her whole world in that moment. He held her and balanced her and gave her strength. Protocol didn’t matter. The Master-sub relationship didn’t matter. He was her man. He was going to take care of her.
“I love you, Leo,” she whispered.
“I love you, too. It’s going to be all right,” he promised.
Chase was at the edge of the stage, clearly ready to take her in hand. Chase held a hand out and helped her off the stage. She could feel a hundred eyes on her.
“Shelley,” Wolf said.
But she turned because she was done with him. For now. She walked away as fast as her heels would take her.
Chapter Eighteen
Wolf watched Shelley walk away, his whole world tilting and moving and shifting.
What the fuck had just happened?
“Are you happy with yourself?” Leo’s voice grated on his every nerve.
Leo was the one with the girl. Leo was the one with a life. “I was trying to help you. Can’t you get that? I was trying to make this easy.”
Why was Leo fighting him? He’d been doing it all fucking night long. He’d fought him about Logan, and now he was pushing back about Shelley and this was all about him. Wolf was giving him what he wanted. Couldn’t Leo see how this was tearing his fucking heart out?
Leo got in his face. “Easy? Do you know how much you’re going to have to grovel? Do you know what Julian’s going to do when he finds out how fucked this scene was?”
Wolf was very aware of how many people were watching. He felt every eye on him. “I was trying to do something good for you.”
“By pissing off our wife?” Leo shook his head. “I know she isn’t, but damn, Wolf, she practically is. She signed a contract with you. She has a verbal agreement with me. What the hell more do you want?”
“I want my brother to not hate me!” Wolf yelled, his frustration flowing.
Leo stopped. “What does that mean? Damn it, Wolf, I don’t hate you. I never could. You’re my little brother. I spent most of my life making sure you were all right. I went into the damn Navy because we couldn’t send you to college.”
“I showed you,” Wolf said bitterly. He hadn’t thought about it at the time. He’d merely wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He’d thought Leo would be happy, proud that he was joining the Navy.
“You did, man.” Leo put a hand on his shoulder. “You were twice the SEAL I was. You were it, Wolf. You were everything they wanted you to be. Still are. I was always too much in my head. I loved the missions, loved protecting my country, but I didn’t live the life the way you did. I was pissed you didn’t take what I offered, but don’t you think for a second I was ever ashamed of your service. Not once.”
Kind words, and they meant something to Wolf, but they didn’t fix the situation at hand. He needed to get out of here with some modicum of dignity. If he had any left. He picked up the really expensive collar and put it back in its box. He wasn’t sure what had gone so brutally wrong with Shelley, but his brother had to see reason. “Take it, please. She doesn’t want it now, but she will later.”
He wanted to know she wore something he’d bought her. Even if she was Leo’s wife.
“Why are you being such a dumb fuck?” Leo asked. “She will never wear this. If you walk out on her tonight, she won’t even hold it in her hand. Why are you doing this to her?”
“I’m doing this for you, asshole.”
Leo threw his hands up. “Why? So I have to comfort her? So I can sit and watch hours of mind-numbing shows about people cooking things I can’t eat and installing tile? You need to talk, now. And do it fast, because the longer she stews, the worse this is going to get. She could lock us both out of the bedroom, and if that happens, it’s your ass on the couch, understand?”
Leo stalked off the stage toward a more private part of the dungeon. His boots rang out over the silent space. The minute he walked away, the chatter began. Gossip. They were talking about how the Dom in residence had just gotten his ass handed to him by a sub, and his brother had not done a thing right all evening.
He’d fucked Leo, and he hadn’t meant to. His stomach turned. Everything had gone wrong. He could still see the betrayal in Shelley’s eyes. He’d been so sure she would pick Leo. He’d been sure there would be a part of her that would welcome not being forced to make a decision between them.
She hadn’t looked happy at having the decision taken away from her. She’d seemed downright pissed that there was a decision to be made at all.
He’d wanted to find a way to live with them in some form of harmony, and now they were both so angry at him that neither one wanted to look him in the face.
But Leo had said it. Damn it. He’d heard it.
He stalked off after his brother, determined to figure this thing out. He hadn’t done everything he’d done only to lose his relationship with both of them.
“You said you couldn’t share her long term,” Wolf accused.
Leo turned, his brows up in that fashion that always let Wolf know what a dumbass he was being. “I said that when?”
He felt himself flush, but this wasn’t the time to turn back. “I heard you say it to Shelley. You told her you couldn’t share her, and you asked what the two of you were going to do with me. I made it easy on you.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Well, baby brother, the next time you decide to eavesdrop, maybe you should hang around and hear the whole conversation. Shelley told me flat out she wouldn’t take me without you. Apparently, she’s got it in her head that she can have us both. I wonder who gave her that idea?”
Wolf felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Had he missed something? He’d heard Leo’s words, and he’d wanted to find a corner and lick his wounds. Should he have stormed into the room and demanded that they all talk?
Leo pointed an accusatory finger his way. “The answer is you did it, Wolf. You walked into this club with a plan, and don’t you dare try to tell me that the plan was to walk in and hand Shelley off to me. What the hell? That is the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve had therapeutic sessions with Kitten. You didn’t make love to her because you were trying to push her off on me. You’ve done everything you could since the minute you walked into here to throw the three of us together.”
“I didn’t know she was the girl you were crazy about until after I fell for her.”
Leo scrubbed a hand through his hair. “And then you decided to be a self-sacrificial idiot?”
God, no one on earth could make him feel as dumb as his brother could. “I couldn’t take her away from you.”
A slow smirk crossed his brother’s face. “As if you could.”
Asshole. But his arrogance was starting to spark Wolf’s own. “You didn’t get into bed with her until I came along. If I hadn’t come to town, you would still be yanking your own dick.”
“Would I? I don’t know about that. I do know that we’re both going to be out in the fucking cold if you don’t find a way to suitably grovel. You hurt her.”
Shame coursed through his system. He hadn’t had faith. “Why did you say it? I heard you, Leo. I get that I misunderstood and I’m a dumb shit, but I don’t understand why you would say it if you didn’t mean it.”
Leo sobered, his shoulders slumping slightly. “The relationships I’ve had before were disastrous. I can counsel people all day long, and I can make sense. I haven
’t been good at following my own advice. I made Janine miserable.”
According to Janine, he simply hadn’t loved her the way she’d loved him. His brother had been faithful. Wolf would have bet that if Janine hadn’t left, Leo would still be married to her, still clinging to his vow though he felt more friendly toward her than passionate. “Janine still loves you.”
“But I didn’t love her very well.” Leo’s eyes found the ground. “I think I have a lot of our dad in me.”
Wolf’s jaw nearly dropped open. “Are you fucking kidding me? We’re back to this again?”
Leo shrugged. “I probably should have stayed and taken care of Ma. I couldn’t wait to leave.”
“Leo, you wanted your own life. Kids are supposed to leave their homes. Ma is proud of you. You should hear the way she talks about you. You would think you walk on water. She wanted us to find our places. She never wanted us to stay and take care of her. God, Leo, she’s really happy with Mel. They would get married, but they’re worried about aliens tracking the paper trail. You’re under some mistaken impressions, and there’s nothing of our dad in you.”
Leo sighed, the sound a heavy weight. “I don’t know if I can do the kid thing. It scares me. I want them. I really do. I’m brutally jealous of Jack and Julian and Aidan. But I have no idea how to be a father. I didn’t have a dad.”
Wolf felt his heart squeeze in his chest. “But I did. I had a great one.”
Leo’s eyes came up. “Wolf, I was a dumb kid who was just trying to help our mom out.”
“And yet you raised me. Why the hell do you think I was willing to give her up? I love her, Leo. I can’t tell you how much I love Shelley. I fell for her before I even laid eyes on her. Choosing to honor you by giving her up was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I did it because I owe you.”
“Stop owing me anything. Be my brother. Damn it, Wolf, that’s part of the problem between us. I don’t want to be this man you look up to. I just want to be your brother.”