by Delta James
She giggled. “You are a very difficult mate, do you know that?”
“Aren’t all alphas? Especially where their naughty mates are concerned?”
“So I’m told,” she smiled.
“Best you believe them. Let’s head back to the house, Bess is probably preparing lunch. She’s quite worried that I didn’t feed you enough when we were in seclusion.”
They made the trek back up to the house and entered the kitchen. Declan held the door for her. As Ava walked through, he swatted her backside with a bit more sting than had it been for mere affection.
She whirled around to look at him.
“The next time you so much as think about leaving me, I’ll do more than just swat you. Do you hear me, mate?”
She smiled, wrapping her hands around his head and drawing his face to hers. “Yes, mate. I hear you.”
She reached up and initiated an intimate kiss to which Declan quickly responded, pulling her body into his.
“And that will be enough, Alpha,” chided Bess. “Your mate didn’t have anything to eat this morning and I doubt you’ve given her much time to do anything but satisfy your needs. None of which, I’m quite sure, included seeing that she was fed.”
Declan laughed but directed Ava to the table and held her chair for her.
“You really want to have lunch instead of going back up to our room and having your way with me?” she teased.
He chuckled. “You were standing close enough to me, mate, to know better.”
Bess laughed at both of them. “There’s time enough for that later. You let her eat. And Greg said you needed to eat as well.”
“I had plenty to... ouch!” Declan said as Ava kicked him under the table.
“You’re embarrassing Bess... not alpha-worthy behavior.”
He leaned across, took her hand in his, and brought it to his mouth to kiss.
“Much better,” she purred as Declan growled in a way meant to kick her libido into overdrive.
Bess opened the oven and the decadent aroma of her scones wafted out. Both Declan and Ava scented the air and grinned at her. She brought the scones to the table and swatted both of their hands as they each went to grab one.
“And you’ll be having something besides scones and tea,” chided Bess.
“Declan likes coffee with Mexican chocolate in it.”
“Does he now?” said Bess. “And I wonder who made that for him?”
“One of the many pleasures my mate has introduced me to,” said Declan.
Declan’s phone rang and he answered. “Yes, Tom. Ms. Owen and I are working on the project. We went over her preliminary data and the results look promising. I think you’ll be pleased, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I think I should tell you that she and I have become involved. I can either step down as her liaison...”
“No, Declan, tell him I’ll do the project at no cost.”
Declan smiled as he listened to both Ava and to his boss. “Tom, Elizabeth said she will forfeit her fee, but I want you to know that nothing happened before you awarded the contract. The fact is I’d only spoken to her briefly two times.”
Ava looked at Bess. “Could he get in trouble for this?”
Bess patted her arm. “Don’t you worry about that. Declan will do what is best. And what is best for Declan is you. I’ve never seen him as focused or as happy as he has been since you came into his life.”
Ava smiled wistfully. “He really does love me, doesn’t he?”
“I wouldn’t let him hear you question that, dearie. I rather think he’d come up with some imaginative ways to ensure you don’t forget it or question it again.”
“Don’t do what?” asked Declan as he rejoined them at the table.
“Our Ava seems to be unsure of your devotion, Alpha.”
“She does? I’d better reassure her then.” He turned to Ava. “Upstairs.”
“Declan...”
He grinned. “As I recall, Oliver told me as alpha my word is law. So you, mate, upstairs. And Bess? You’ve known me my whole life. I’ve always been Declan and Declan I will remain.”
Ava had yet to move. Declan pulled her out of the chair and over his shoulder in one smooth move.
“Bess, would you mind terribly bringing lunch up to us and leaving it outside the door?”
Bess looked fondly at him. In many ways he was the son or nephew she’d never had. “Just lunch?”
Declan chuckled. “For now. If your mistress here can’t behave, I’ll come down and fetch us dinner.”
“Declan,” hissed Ava. “Put me down.”
Declan emphasized his negative response with a sharp swat to her easily targeted behind.
“Bess, help me...” she cried.
“You’re on your own, dearie. I told you early on you weren’t going to put me between the two of you.”
Declan bounded up the stairs with Ava snarling at him the whole way. When he entered their room, he dumped Ava on the bed, flipping her over on her belly and baring her backside. Holding her in position, Declan began to punish her behind.
“What did I tell you about questioning my love for you?”
Ava struggled, but she was no match for his strength. Declan laid into her and watched her normally ivory-colored globes begin to take on a lovely pinkish hue. She kicked her legs and growled at him. The growl earned her slaps that had an increased sting.
She hated being spanked. She was discovering Declan was every bit as inclined to hold her accountable and not allow her to misbehave as both Ioan and Colum had done in the past. As much as her derriere was smarting from the spanking, Ava was learning that not only was she becoming aroused, but there was a comfort and security to be found in Declan’s consistency.
“Don’t you growl at me, Ava. Answer my question, what did I tell you?”
“Not to do it, all right? Shit, Declan, that hurts.”
“It’s supposed to. Watch your language, Ava. Do you have something you’d like to say to me, mate?”
She growled again and once again he increased the amount of force that went into his swing.
“Enough, Ava. This was to have been a small reminder. Do you really need me to put you over my knee and lay into your ass?”
“No!” she cried.
“Then you quit growling at me and answer my question.”
“All right!” She was grateful that he paused. “You said if I questioned your love for me, I’d get spanked and you’d make me stand in the corner with that damn butt plug.”
“At least you remembered the consequences for doing it.”
Declan left her lying on the bed and was headed toward his dresser. When he saw her move to get up, he crossed back and quickly set fire to her backside once more.
“You know better than that, Ava. Stay.”
Declan once more went to his dresser and opened the top drawer where he kept that dreaded plug. Ava had to admit to herself that she was coming to like the way she felt when he used her rear entry with the plug, his finger, or his cock. Not only did she now find the physical sensation arousing—the slow burn before it morphed into a delicious sting giving way to an inordinate amount of pleasure—but she liked the way it made her feel his power as her alpha and her mate and caused her to feel submissive in a way she never had before. He was always so tender and quick to praise her acceptance and to ensure she orgasmed and derived as much pleasure from it as he did.
As he approached, she opened her legs without his asking.
“Good girl,” he crooned lovingly.
Ava made a startled gasp that quickly became a sigh as Declan reached between her legs. He tugged on her clit and then rolled it between his fingers before trailing them down to her very wet pussy. Finding her soaked, he chuckled and stroked her sheath before drawing out her natural lubricant to coat the plug and her back entrance. She offered no resistance as he fingered her there, ensuring she was ready for the plug.
“Reach back and spread your cheeks for me, mate,�
� he uttered seductively.
She did as he had ordered and moaned as the plug entered her body. It stretched her opening but not nearly as much when Declan mounted her there. She found it hard to keep still as he stroked her bottom with great care.
“You can get up, but you go stand in the corner.”
Ava got up and turned toward him instead of the corner. Before he could grumble at her, she pulled his head down to hers so she could kiss him, slipping her tongue past his teeth to dance briefly with his as she rubbed her body against him so that he could feel how very hard her nipples were.
“Very good girl,” he said as she went willingly to stand before him in the position she knew he wanted—butt pushed out and legs spread so he could enjoy her red bottom, the shiny plug in her ass, and her extremely wet pussy.
The feeling of submissiveness that Declan seemed to bring out in her only increased the level of her arousal. Ava had always enjoyed her sexual encounters with other men, but they paled in comparison to what Declan made her feel. Never before had she climaxed so easily or so many times. She had found the ecstasy of the knot to far surpass any description she’d ever heard.
Declan was not inclined to let her have anything resembling control when they made love. Ava knew that was indeed what it was, even when it was frenzied and primitive. He always made her feel cherished and that he saw her as his perfect mate. He had every right to be angry that she questioned the depth of his feelings for her.
“Declan?” she said, trying to stifle her tears.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“I’m so very sorry. It’s never that I doubt you, only whether or not I deserve you.”
“You need to learn to trust that I know best... especially in this regard. Until you do, you can expect to get punished each and every time you question my feelings or your own worthiness. Is that understood?”
“Yes, my alpha.”
Declan chuckled as he joined her in the corner.
“Now, my naughty mate,” he said, running his hands up the front of her torso to briefly play with her nipples before skimming down her body with one hand to delve between her legs.
Ava sighed as one hand gently twisted her nipple while the other gave her clit the same attention. Declan brought both hands to her hips, pulling her slightly further away from the wall.
“Declan?” she asked softly.
Never before had he mounted and used her pussy while the butt plug remain lodged deep within her. Clearly that was his intent.
“Hush, Ava, or I’ll add more color to your backside. Submit,” he commanded as he nipped her earlobe.
The combination of the arousal from the spanking, the dominant tone of his voice, the butt plug, and his cock driving deep into her wet sheath caused Ava to climax in response to his possession. The shuddering of her body in orgasmic bliss did nothing to slow Declan’s stroking. His firm grip on her hips ensured that she would stay right where he wanted her and be ever mindful of just who was taking who.
“God, Declan,” she breathed.
As soon as the first climax ended, another followed close behind—much as it did when he had her knotted and was rocking her. She no longer tried to control their lovemaking, but gave herself over to him completely knowing that he could and would take her to heights of ecstasy she had never known before. Declan continued to drive into her repeatedly, enjoying each of her successive orgasms as he whispered words of love, praise, and sex.
When Ava had lost count of how many times she had climaxed, she sensed that Declan was at last seeking his own release. As she reached her pinnacle of pleasure, Declan began to fill her pussy with a torrent of cum, groaning heavily as he did so.
Declan leaned against the wall with one hand and had the other wrapped around her middle, breathing heavily against her neck and continuing to stay deep within her.
Finally he uncoupled from her, ensuring that her legs would hold her for the brief moment it took him to lift her up in his arms and take her into the shower.
As she had with sleeping, Ava had never cared for showering with another person. Now she found that she enjoyed the intimacy of taking a shower together. There was something incredibly intimate about bathing each other with soothing touches and hot water raining down on them.
They were out of the shower and Declan was drying her off—concentrating far more on her genital area than was needed, but still Ava enjoyed the attention.
“Declan?” Ava purred.
“Yes, my beloved. How do you say beloved in Welsh?”
“Cariad.”
“Hmm, I like that. Cariad.”
“Are we going to name our pack?”
“Do most?”
“Some do; some don’t. Griffin...”
Declan growled low.
Ava poked him in the ribs, hard. “If I don’t get to question your love and devotion to me, you do not get to question mine.”
Declan drew her close, running his hands down her body and cupping her bottom lovingly. “You are right, sweetheart. I will never do it again.”
“See that you don’t,” she teased.
“Now what were you going to say about Griffin?”
“He named his pack, but he kept the name Skylar had for the same place, Bae Diogel.”
“Which means?”
“Safe Harbor. I wish he hadn’t. I like that name and you and this place are my safe harbor. But the Hamptons pack and the New Orleans pack have no other name than their location.”
“Would you like our pack to have a name?”
“Yes, but it isn’t up to me.”
Declan smiled and kissed her softly. “Do you know what Oliver told me about feisty mates?”
“Probably to beat them regularly.”
He laughed. “No, but he did offer that maintenance spankings can do a world of good until a mate decides to settle down and behave.”
“I’m settled and behaving...”
“For now. We’ll see how long it lasts. But he also said that the best and smartest alphas talk with and listen to their mates. They solicit their opinion on most matters. So, mate, what would you say to calling our home Wolf Storm... only in Welsh. We are wolves after all and it was in a storm that we came together.”
“Blaidd Tywyll. I knew there was a reason other than you being great in the sack that I fell for you.”
Declan laughed again as she giggled.
“As I understand it, mate, you didn’t have much of a choice about that.”
“Yes, but I did say it first.”
Declan nuzzled her. “That you did, my beloved. That you did.”
The End
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Additional Books in the Wayward Mates Series
Brought to Heel
Skylar Owen is not used to taking orders from anyone and the last thing she wants in her life is an alpha who will demand her submission, but her world is turned upside down after a band of rogue wolves attacks her small, all-female pack. Ordered to disband her pack so that she can be matched with a mate, Skylar defies the Ruling Council, only to be hunted down and captured.
Though he can tell Skylar will be trouble the moment he sets eyes on her, Dylan Grainger knows how to tame a wayward woman, and it isn’t long before the beautiful, feisty redhead is tearfully promising obedience as her bare bottom is soundly spanked. But Dylan quickly rea
lizes that Skylar is much more than just a headstrong female in need of an alpha’s firm-handed correction.
With each passing day, he grows more certain that she is his mate, and he knows that soon he must claim her, mark her, and take her hard and thoroughly. But will she resist her instincts, or will her body’s response to his bold dominance leave her in no doubt that she belongs to him?
Buy on Amazon
Marked and Mated
Darby Callan doesn’t want a mate, but it isn’t up to her. Her old pack has been disbanded, and when the powerful, handsome alpha of a well-established pack makes it clear that she belongs to him, her instincts reveal the truth of his words despite her furious protests and attempts to escape.
Jean-Michel Gautier knows that his new mate’s past makes her wary of him, but an alpha cannot tolerate disobedience, and when Darby defies him he strips her bare and spanks her until she is sore and sobbing. Her beautiful body’s response to his dominance is obvious, and his stern correction leaves her helplessly aroused, but before he claims her he plans to make her beg.
Naked and quivering with desperate, shameful need, Darby cannot help pleading with Jean-Michel for the climax she has been denied, and soon she is crying out with pleasure more intense than she would have ever thought possible as he makes her his. But when the vicious brute who once hurt her comes looking for Darby again, can she trust her new alpha to protect his mate?
Buy on Amazon
Mastering His Mate
After she was injured in an attack by a rogue band of wolves, Rosalyn Kincanon awoke to discover that her life had changed forever. Angry and distraught, she fled from those that nursed her back to health and found her own place in the world. But now the all-female pack she helped lead has been disbanded and the women are to be claimed as mates whether they like it or not.
The moment Oliver Halsey saw Rosalyn, he knew she was his mate. But she was born a human, and the vicious brutes who turned her did so against her will, so he set aside his rights as alpha and gave her the freedom she needed to come to terms with her new reality. Now her time is up.