A growl started deep in his chest and rolled deeper until he could feel the tips of his fangs pressing against his lips uncomfortably.
The vampire responded in turn, flashing his fangs and allowing his eyes to swirl red for a brief moment.
“I protected her from herself, Finn. If not for me, the little wolf would’ve taken her life by now, several times over. So you can get all snarly if you want to, but it’s not me you should be talking to.” The male narrowed his gaze and Finn shifted uncomfortably on his feet.
The vampire’s words were cold, but calculated and purposeful. He wasn’t angry or defensive. He wasn’t territorial or upset that Finn was Teagan’s mate.
“It’s her,” Javier continued. “I told her to go to you. I told her I wouldn’t be her Dom any longer. I told her not to ignore what Fate had brought her.”
“What happened to her?”
“That’s for her to say. Not me,” Javier answered. “And you know it.”
As much as he hated it, the bloodsucker was right. Teagan needed to be the one to tell him what’d happened in her past. She needed to accept him as a mate and a Dom. It wasn’t common in Lycan culture for the male to push a female, but Finn could tell this was a special circumstance. This time tradition wouldn’t serve Teagan well. For this once, he needed to push the choice for her own good.
If she hurt herself because he didn’t know her past and couldn’t protect her, he’d never forgive himself.
“Do you know where she might hide?”
“She won’t hide, Lycan. She’ll go look for another beating. It’s the only way she knows to escape the pain.”
“Will she come here?”
Javier shook his head. “She won’t come back to me. Not after the way I ended things.”
Chapter 10
Finn pulled out the cell phone Meredith Bateman had enchanted for him and texted one of his cousins. If Javier was right, Teagan would show up at the Castle tonight looking to scene with the meanest Dom she could find.
If anyone fit that description, it was his cousin Brogan. The guy was as big as a house and had a scowl that could make the toughest badass sweaty and uncomfortable.
Meet me at the bar in an hour. -Finn
A text beeped through a few seconds later.
Sure man.
Finn opened the door to Riley’s an hour later and walked into the dark room. Pool tables lined the far wall, surrounded by several of the leaders of the Sanctuary Lycan pack. This place was a mishmash of families, even though the hierarchy was the same as a family pack. There were dozens of family lines that called Sanctuary their home.
Pack structure here was handled more like an election than a right of bloodline as it was elsewhere, but it was a small price to pay for the freedom to raise your kids and live in a place that catered to Others and rarely saw the judgmental face of a human.
Lycans who called Sanctuary home would fight to the death to protect anyone who lived here, just as if they were pack themselves. Even though their species outnumbered all other supernaturals in the town, they were respectful to all and pulled their weight for the town’s leader just like everyone else.
A good number of the residents raised livestock on land owned by the town. Others farmed. And still others ran a small fleet of supply trucks in and out of town. Finn was a deputy to the sheriff, a giant of a man who kept mostly to himself. He and four others who had lived in Sanctuary a long time helped police the growing population of Lycans.
His cousin Brogan was one of those other deputies.
The front door of Riley’s slammed behind Finn, and Brogan turned his head to face him. The big man didn’t smile, but Finn knew by the slightest twinkle in his eye that the wolf was curious.
“It’s a bit early to be drinking, Finn.” The corners of Brogan’s lips twitched.
“I need a favor,” Finn said, sliding onto the barstool next to his cousin.
Riley winked at him from behind the bar and slid a mug of ice water down the polished countertop.
Finn stopped the mug gently and tipped his head to the pretty redhead. Riley knew everything about nearly everyone in town. Her bar was gossip central, seconded only by Rose’s Cafe. Because Riley had the only TV and radio, she also had the scoop on what was happening outside Sanctuary—at least the government-slanted opinion they wanted the general population to know and believe.
Teagan walked into the crowded foyer of the Castle, warily checking for Finn. She hadn’t seen him all day and hadn’t noticed him anywhere near her house. Maybe he’d gotten the idea.
It wasn’t like sneaking out of a guy’s window was particularly subtle. For a Dom, he seemed to have taken it rather well.
Kylie caught her gaze and Teagan ducked through an open doorway. She didn’t want to talk to the pixie and explain why she wasn’t with the Dom Kylie’s magick had said was a match.
She didn’t want to talk to anyone. She didn’t want to feel. Think.
Javier had practically dropped her on her ass. She’d run away from Finn. And now she had no one.
She padded through the courtyard, keeping her head down and catching quick glances of the Doms and subs moving through the open areas. Some were on their way to the rooms in the lower levels. Others were settling into the open playrooms on the ground floor.
Finn’s scent was nowhere to be found, but instead of the knot of tension in her chest releasing, she found it tightening farther. She didn’t want him, did she? No. She didn’t want to feel. She wanted pain to drown out the torturous memories.
There had to be someone here who would give her that.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. The sense of being watched was overwhelming. She looked up, studying the people to her right and then to her left. When her gaze met his, her breath caught in her chest for a few seconds.
He was taller than Finn and built like an NFL player from back before the Riots. Back when life was simpler and the United States hadn’t yet broken apart into five different dictatorships that called themselves Republics. But more than that, he looked terrifying. Which was exactly what she needed. She needed something to fear more than the memories that haunted her.
He whispered the word “Come,” knowing full well she could hear him clearly even over the ambient noise of the people moving about the club, music on the overhead speakers, couples scening in the public rooms, and the laughter ringing out from the direction of the foyer.
She took a step toward him, a shiver passing down her spine. Even though she’d left things unsettled with Finn, he was going to be pissed as hell that she was approaching another Dom. He’d made it quite clear that he wanted an exclusive relationship.
Hell, they’d had sex too. She could feel the growing bond snaking its way through her heart, slowly taking hold, one tendril at a time, like a vine growing up the side of a naked stone wall.
She shook her head and took another step toward the giant Lycan. She didn’t want a relationship. That was the whole reason she’d left Finn’s house in a hurry. He wanted more than she could give, and he was just going to have to get over it.
She was the female. She got to decide. It was her right.
Taking a few more steps, she closed the remaining distance between herself and the large male. His scent was earthy and comforting, much like Finn’s had been, though his presence and the scowl on his face said otherwise.
“What are you looking for, sub?”
“Pain,” she answered, keeping direct eye contact. She wanted him to believe her. She wanted to believe it herself as well.
“Sex?” he asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
She swallowed and nodded slowly.
“You don’t seem sure about that.”
Teagan squared her shoulders and breathed in deeply. “I’m sure.”
He grunted, still appraising her with distrust. “Call me Sir. What’s your name?”
“Teagan, Sir.”
“We’ll leave sex on the table for no
w and see how the scene goes. Restraints and flogging, perhaps a cane?”
“Yes, Sir.” She watched him as he looked her up and down. There was attraction in his eyes, but also something else. Something she didn’t recognize.
He gestured for her to follow but didn’t make an attempt to touch her in any way. Not like Finn had insisted on doing.
It was better this way. Even with Javier’s asshole attitude, she’d still gotten attached to him. The less physical contact, the better.
Every time Finn had touched her, she’d felt a rush from the magickal connection they shared. If this Dom wanted to keep his distance for now and his hands to himself, she was perfectly okay with that.
They moved through the open courtyard and into one of the open playrooms on the ground floor. There were several people standing around talking, but no one really paid attention as the man in front of her pulled two chains down from the ceiling rafters.
“Go get a set of padded cuffs from the wall and a blindfold. Leave your clothes folded on the counter.”
“Yes, Sir,” she answered quickly, moving to the side of the room where a large wall and cabinet stood covered in toys, restraints, and other equipment. She slipped out of her camisole and yoga pants, folding and setting them on the counter as he’d requested. She was used to being naked in the club, but for some reason tonight it made her feel guilty. Like she was sharing a part of herself without permission.
It wasn’t true though. Finn could say whatever he wanted, but she was the female. She had the final say on whether or not they became a bonded pair. He had to respect her choice.
She grabbed a set of two cuffs and then reached for a padded blindfold, but her hand hovered over it indecisively. Gulping a breath, she picked it up too and returned to the Lycan’s side.
He took the cuffs, one at a time, and fastened them on her wrists.
“Yellow slows play and red stops it,” he said, his voice smooth and deep, rolling over her frazzled nerves like molasses pouring from a jar.
“Yes, Sir.”
“I have a friend coming in a few minutes. He wants to participate. Are you okay with that?”
Two guys. Since when did Lycans share? It was as uncommon as a blue moon unless the males were brothers and both magickally connected to the female. But if that’s how this guy rolled, she didn’t have much of a choice. She wanted the scene and no one else here tonight had taken an interest in her. Most seemed to already have a partner.
“Yes, Sir. I’m fine with that.”
“Brave girl,” he answered, placing the blindfold over her eyes. She shivered as his hands ran down each arm to the cuff, snapping them to the chains above her head. He pulled the chains taut until her arms were pulled out wider than her shoulders and she was just barely standing on the balls of her feet. If he’d pulled her much higher, she would’ve been on her tiptoes.
Darkness surrounded her, and she focused on her senses of smell and hearing. Footsteps lessened as people shuffled to find a place to watch the scene. Different scents filtered through from the crowd—Lycan, pixie, human.
“Do not speak from here on out unless it is to use a safe word or I ask you a direct question.”
“Yes, Sir,” she answered, taking a deep breath to prepare herself for the pain ahead. She dreaded and desired it at the same time. She knew it really wasn’t what she wanted out of this power exchange, but it was a means to an end. And she desperately wanted to drop into that space where nothing mattered. Where she couldn’t feel anything but the lashes of the whip or strikes of the cane. Where her body throbbed from the beating and buried the real reason she hurt.
His hand traced the curve of her breast and then his fingertips slid along her rib cage. The touch was light and tender, not what she was expecting from a man about to cane and flog her.
“You are beautiful, Teagan.”
Her cheeks burned at the compliment, but when a familiar deep voice echoed the sentiment from across the room, her heart stopped for a brief moment. It was akin to being shot all over again.
Finn’s scent filled her lungs as he walked closer, his footsteps light on the cool tile floor. She opened her mouth to speak but remembered her Dom’s rules and pressed her lips tightly into a frown.
The whole thing was a setup. A trick. She didn’t know it for sure, but her gut said the two of them knew each other well… even though neither had spoken directly to each other yet.
Both of them circled her, their scents mixing together. Finn pressed the end of a cane to her stomach and tapped it lightly, sending a zing of desire straight to her core. On her back, the strips on a leather flogger teased the back of her thighs as the other Dom swung it back and forth, swishing it through the air. Each strike became harder, and her skin heated in response as the lashes alternately stung her thighs and her ass.
Distracting her from the thwack of the flogger, Finn tapped the cane up and down the front of her body, adding a harder sting here and there to keep her guessing.
The strikes came rhythmically to her backside. Only Finn kept changing the pace and where the cane fell. After a few minutes, it felt as though her skin was on fire. Every inch burned and tingled.
She shifted on her feet, feeling her consciousness start to drop into that blank space where she could feel what was happening but didn’t care about it any longer.
On good sessions with Javier, she could spend an hour in that semiconscious state where the line between pleasure and pain ceased to exist altogether.
A harder thwack from the flogger pulled her forward again. Then an especially hard strike from the cane on her stomach brought out a hiss of breath.
She hadn’t been ready for them to change pace.
“Brogan texted me. You know he was here at the club as bait for you,” Finn whispered, his lips brushing against her ear sending a charge of magick rippling through her sensitive body. “You’re mine, Teagan. Whatever it is that you need to work through, we will do it together.”
Anger churned in her gut like a swamp full of gators fighting over a carcass. How dare he. It was her right to deny the match if she didn’t want it. He had no place pushing it on her. The alphas wouldn’t let it stand… except that she’d allowed a sexual encounter. Allowed the bond to start.
The intimacy at his house would be seen as her acceptance of the match. But even then, she still had the right to change her mind. She wasn’t his until she said the words that finished the magickal bond that swirled and grew inside her heaving chest.
She mouthed the word “no,” careful not to speak out loud.
Chapter 11
No. Finn smiled at Teagan’s attempt to speak without speaking. She was walking a fine line between following and disobeying Brogan’s instructions. If his cousin had seen it, she wouldn’t have gotten away with it. But Brogan wasn’t facing the little wolf—he was.
Gods, she was beautiful and smelled like the best kind of sinful heaven. Even though she’d just told him “no,” her arousal teased his nostrils like a fine wine that had been set out to breathe. He wanted to drink his fill now, but if he waited… it would be so much better.
He wanted her. He would have her. But it needed to be official. And she needed to be willing. She needed to want it as much as he did.
Finn splayed his palm over her stomach and drew in a deep draught of her scent. Magick surged between them, and he felt Teagan shudder. She felt it too, she just didn’t want to. Why? Why would she deny a match?
Javier hadn’t told him shit. But there was a lot more going on in her brain than she was letting anyone in on. No one else in town knew her story. Not even the alpha pair were privy. He’d asked.
He glanced back at the Lycan leaders standing to the edge of the room. Kate and Jackson O’Malley were the elected Lycan alpha leaders of Sanctuary. If anything arose in the Lycan community that they couldn’t handle, Rose or the sheriff was brought in to settle it, but that hadn’t occurred in years.
They’d come to the Castle toni
ght to make sure he didn’t cross a line. Teagan’s acceptance of their mate bond, though they’d agreed to him pushing her, had to be of her own free will. Kate had been very adamant that he would not have sex with Teagan again until she agreed to the pairing.
The fact that they had already been intimate had made the alpha female very uncomfortable. A child could already be involved, and Teagan would be shamed by the community for not accepting a Fated match after willingly having sex. Having a child was one of the gods’ most treasured gifts in their community, something that not all Lycans were blessed to experience.
Running from Fate now would cost Teagan more than Finn was willing to let her pay.
Whatever her past was, they would get through it together. He wouldn’t let her be cast out, and he wouldn’t let her leave him. He needed her as much as he knew she wanted him. There was no denying the attraction between them.
There was something else keeping her from accepting a chance at happiness with him. Something dark and painful. Something she had shared with that blood-sucking vampire but wouldn’t with anyone else.
He clenched his hand and released, taking in a deep breath of the citrus scent coming from her hair. Finn nodded to Brogan, and his cousin stepped away, placing the flogger on the counter across the room before leaving.
“I know you know I’m here, Teagan. I want you to know the alpha pair is here also to witness.”
She jerked in the chains and growled but still didn’t speak. She wanted her beating, and she was doing her best not to break the ground rules Brogan had laid out for the scene.
He tapped her stomach again with the cane in his hand and she panted, the scent of her arousal filling the air around her while at the same time he could see the visible tension in the muscles around her mouth. The tips of her fangs extended past the edge of her upper lip. With each strike, her lip curled, showing more and more of her bared fangs.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 72