by Renee Rose
Ugh.
Not like any of the females in his pack. The attraction he had to them was so miniscule compared to what being close to Melissa produced. Even know, with her arms clinging to his waist, his blood sang.
But there must be a full-blooded wolf out there who inspired the same level of heat. Maybe she had full-blooded cousins. Her grandfather had left his human to lead his pack, after all.
But the idea of hunting for another female only depressed him.
Maybe he just wasn’t meant to mate.
Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Melissa scrolled through the new house listings on the master real estate system. Cody had disappeared from his place before she woke.
She’d offended him the day before back at the cinnamon roll shop. He’d hardly spoken two words when they returned, and had left her alone at his house in the evening, only returning home after she’d crawled in bed. And he’d slept on the couch.
She wished to hell now that she’d tried to talk to him, to apologize. Her stupid pride had made her shrug it off the day before, but clearly she’d touched a nerve. She hadn’t meant it—not really. She didn’t understand the wolf culture, and the physical aggression shocked her, but she shouldn’t have judged.
And comparing him to whoever abused that female was wrong. Cody wasn’t frightening. He’d never disciplined her in anger. In fact, he’d seemed only resolute about the actual discipline part, and far more interested in what followed. Of course, that male was always ready for sex, wasn’t he?
Except last night. She’d slept alone and frankly, it had sucked.
Ben had texted that he’d transferred fifteen thousand dollars to Cody’s account and said they’d come straight to Colorado Springs on Friday, hopefully arriving before the meet-up with Rabago, which Rabago had set for Friday evening in an abandoned lot on the edge of town. She needed to make sure Jeremy was at that meeting too, or else Rabago would probably keep looking for him. She had an idea about where he might be. He had a cousin who lived in Denver. He might have gone there to lie low. She texted him about the money and the meeting, but still hadn’t heard from him.
To distract herself while she waited for a reply, she skimmed through the new listings now.
Her focus shot to a new listing in the Old North End neighborhood. A CJ Steele house! Excitement sped through her veins as she scanned the details. The house was only two blocks from Cody’s place, which meant she could probably slip out and take a peek without him ever knowing she’d been gone. Rabago wouldn’t find her, not on such a short jaunt. Even if Cody found out and punished her, it would be worth it. Hell, she’d welcome that kind of interaction with him after the distant cold treatment she’d received the day before.
She picked up the burner cell phone and dialed the dickwad listing realtor Brad Johnson to express her interest. He somehow managed to sound both bored and condescending, giving her the key code, but acting as if he knew the house was out of her price range. Which it was—at least the range she felt comfortable borrowing from her brother-in-law.
Dressed in a skirt and blouse in case she ran into other realtors while she was there, she slipped on her heels and went out Cody’s back door, just in case someone was watching the house. Which was highly unlikely. If Rabago knew where she was, he’d have broken the door down already.
She walked purposefully down the sidewalk, taking long strides and enjoying the warm summer sun. She spotted the house immediately. Like all CJ Steele homes, the yard was impeccably manicured with native trees, shrubs, and flowers, the house gleamed with cobalt blue paint, setting off the old brick. Using the keypad on the electronic Supra lockbox, she opened it and retrieved the key. She pushed the door open, stepped inside and smiled.
Beautiful.
Hard wood floors. Exposed brick walls. Every detail was perfect, as she knew it would be. She rounded the bend into the kitchen and stopped short with a gasp.
Cody turned from the window with a paintbrush in his hand, obviously touching up a last little bit of paint. His eyes narrowed when he saw her and he straightened.
“What are you doing here?” she spluttered. Of course, he ought to be the one asking that question, but she had to say something.
He didn’t answer at first, but walked around to the sink and rinsed off his brush. “You’re out of your cage, pet.” The muscle ticked in his jaw.
Her heart rate had risen to a gallop. “I know,” she said in a rush. “But it’s a CJ Steele house, and it just came on the market today. I’ve been dreaming of owning one for years, and this is my chance. I didn’t want to miss out.”
Cody hadn’t looked up from the sink, so she continued with her breathy explanation. “Plus, it was so close. I mean, you only live a couple blocks away. I was careful. I mean, there was no one out to see me or anything.”
He finished with the brush and wiped out the sink with a rag, polishing the brushed aluminum faucet and handles before he dropped the brush and the rag onto a work tray.
“You’re in big trouble, baby. That’s all I have to say.”
She twisted her fingers together. “Yeah. I know.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his gaze unfathomable. He didn’t seem as angry as he had the day before. He appeared more authoritative—like a pack leader making an important decision for his pack.
“I think punishment at the scene of the crime is most fitting,” he said at last and crossed to a window. She expected him to close the blinds, but instead, he detached the long rod that served as a tilt wand for the blinds and slapped it in his palm like an old-fashioned teacher swishing a cane.
She tried to hide her panic. The belt had been bad enough, but being caned was altogether different.
He lifted his chin toward the polished concrete countertop. “Hands on the counter. Ass out.”
“Cody, someone could walk in.”
“There could’ve been far worse consequences to you leaving the house. Someone could’ve seen you. Someone could have picked you up and tortured you, mutilated your body, and dumped it as a message for your ex.”
She shuddered and glared at him for making his description so extreme.
“This consequence will be mild, in comparison.” The familiar glint of hunger showed on his face and she relaxed. If Cody enjoyed it, she knew she would too. Eventually. After he made her suffer.
And suffering for Cody’s pleasure somehow didn’t bother her nearly as much as she thought it should. In fact, the idea had her nipples hard beneath her blouse, panties growing damp.
Cody’s big hand clapped down on her ass and stayed there. He squeezed.
Her breath left her throat in a rush.
Both his palms spanned her bare thighs and slid upward, dragging her skirt with them.
Her pussy clenched, heat flooding her pelvis and running down her legs.
When he had her skirt hiked up over her waist, he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of her panties and dragged them down to her ankles.
“You’re going to hold still for me this time, baby, because I’m out of patience with you and you seriously do not want to see me mad.” Even though the words sounded rough, his voice caressed her body, the heat in them smoldering, leaving her scorched and raw.
She wanted him. She wanted this, as crazy as that was. As much as she knew he would hurt her. She needed it, craved it.
She leaned on her forearms and stared down at her hands.
The wand made a hiss as it sliced through the air. When it struck her bare flesh, she screamed. The thin line of impact burned like fire.
Cody swung it again and it struck just below the first line. Tears smarted her eyes and she let out a whimper.
“You’ve been bad, baby.” Cody’s deepened voice seemed to reach right into her. The words, while not sexy, dripped with suggestion.
Whap. Another line of fire, then another. She danced on her feet.
“Back in position.” No sympathy from him this time.
Sh
e obeyed, possibly because she did fear angering him. Maybe she truly wished to pay penance for what she’d said the day before. Wanted him to punish and forgive her, so they could move forward.
“Arch your back, show me that ass.”
She whimpered, fighting every instinct to tuck her tail and hide her ass from the wicked implement.
He whipped her again. Then another.
Fresh tears smarted her eyes. She wasn’t crying, but she couldn’t keep them from leaking.
“Spread your legs apart. Farther.” His voice came low and close this time.
She widened her stance.
He applied the crop-like implement four times in rapid succession.
She had no time to catch her breath, or even to scream. Her knees buckled and she choked on a sob.
Cody didn’t move—at least, she didn’t hear him, but it was all she could do to recover her breath before the next sob rolled through. When she opened her eyes—she didn’t remember closing them—her breath was still coming in ragged pants.
She felt the touch of something cold and hard between her legs and started. Cody had threaded the wand through them and he rubbed her wet pussy with it. “You love my discipline.”
There was an accusation in his voice and she knew they were talking about yesterday’s conversation.
“Yes.” No point in lying. She needed something from him now—desperately.
He wrapped his fingers in her hair and tugged her head back. The wand continued to stroke slowly over her clit. “You don’t like obeying, though.”
She knew the truth then. If Cody had shown real disappointment, real anger at her disobedience, the way he had at her words yesterday, she would never do it again. The punishment might not be a deterrent, but she had come to care about Cody’s opinion of her. His feelings for her.
Was that what he wanted? True submission? Would he think she was worthy of mating, then?
“I’m sorry,” she croaked, tears catching in her eyelashes.
* * *
Cody was surprised by Melissa’s apology. She appeared genuinely sorry. His heart contracted. Had he whipped her too hard?
But the scent of her arousal filled the room, sending tingles all over his flesh, making his cock thicken in his jeans.
“If you were my mate, I’d follow that whipping up with a long, hard punishment fuck.”
Her eyes dilated. She moistened her lips and the sight of her tongue nearly drove him wild. “What’s that?”
He leaned down and nipped her earlobe. “That’s where I fuck the ever-loving shit out of you and then I turn you over and fuck your ass until you learn who runs the show around here.”
She wobbled on her feet. “Cody,” she whispered hoarsely, “my legs won’t hold me up.”
He couldn’t help it—he was back in explicit crude mode. “Maybe because you belong on your knees.”
He expected to see anger or disgust on her face. To his shock, she held his eyes and lowered to her knees. Her fingers unfastened the button of his jeans and urged the zipper down until his cock sprang free.
She wasted no time fisting the base of his cock and taking it into her mouth.
He shuddered with pleasure.
She sucked hard and bobbed her head on and off fast—too fast. He picked up the crop against and tapped her ass. “Slow down, baby, it’s not a race.”
She jerked the wand out of his hand and threw it to the floor in a show of defiance, but never removed his cock from her mouth. When she returned her focus, she moved slowly, deliberately, taking him all the way to back of her throat and out again.
His thighs shook. “That’s it, baby. Show me how sorry you are.”
She came off and licked a long line from his balls to the head of his cock, then around the rim.
He twined his fingers in her hair and pushed her forward.
Her eyes widened in fear, so he stopped short of hitting the back of her throat. Gripping her head with both his hands, he held it still and pumped his length into her mouth, using her like a fuck hole.
She liked that. He caught another waft of her beautiful musk.
He closed his eyes, his control slipping. Her fingernails dug into his thighs.
“Swallow me, baby,” was the only warning he gave her before he came like a space shuttle hurtling to the moon.
She choked and started to pull off. He released her, not serious about making her swallow, but she kept her lips closed around his cock, took his seed and swallowed it down.
“Good girl.”
She came off and bit his thigh.
His vision domed immediately, teeth dropped. Female wolves bit and scratched during sex and it fully activated the beast within him.
To keep from marking her, he whirled and walked several steps away, shoving his cock back in his jeans and zipping them.
When he turned, Melissa looked lost on her knees alone and he felt like an asshole. He strode over, picked her up by the armpits and tossed her over his shoulder, yanking her skirt back down and picking up her panties from the floor.
“It’s time for your ass-fucking.”
“Cody.” She sounded alarmed. “Please.”
He shoved her panties in his pocket, picked up the work tray and marched out the front door, locking it behind him.
“Cody, put me down! This is unseemly. Please don’t carry me like this.”
Hearing her desperation, he dropped her to her feet, then swung her back up in a cradle position. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Better?”
She hesitated, then nestled her head onto his shoulder, against his neck in a move that turned his insides to liquid. “Yes.”
He made it to his house in less than a minute and unlocked the door, still refusing to put her down. He carried her into the bedroom, where he dropped her on her feet, spun her around, and unzipped her fitted yellow skirt. It dropped to the floor in a pastel puddle.
The welts on her ass looked beautiful—ten puffed red lines showing he’d been there already. Unlike a hand spanking or even the belt whipping, he knew she’d feel this punishment every time she sat for at least a day or two.
“You were a bad girl today, princess. You need to learn your place around here.”
“Cody, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean, do you think it’s safe?”
He decided not to take her blouse and bra off, to assist in keeping control. Placing his hand between her shoulder blades, he bent her torso down over the bed.
“Cody, wait! Please!”
He squeezed her welted cheeks. “Bad girls get fucked in the ass, baby. That’s how I’m going to finish your lesson today.”
“Cody!”
The utter panic in her voice made him lean over and whisper, “What’s wrong, baby? Do you think I don’t know how to make it good for you?”
The rigid tension in her body eased somewhat.
“Hmm?”
“No,” she agreed.
“Have I ever left you unsatisfied?”
“No.”
“No, sir,” he corrected. It wasn’t a title he’d ever thought of or demanded before, but it seemed right in this moment. A symbol of her submission.
“No, sir,” she whispered.
Victory.
After retrieving a bottle of lubricant from his bathroom medicine chest, he massaged a generous dollop into her anus, stretching it with his forefinger. He inserted a second finger and moved them in and out. With his other hand, he rubbed a circle around her clit.
“What happens to bad girls, princess?”
She answered with a moan.
He withdrew the fingers from her ass, but kept teasing her clit, using her ample natural lubrication to slick the way. With his right hand, he slapped her ass. “I asked you a question.”
“They get spanked!” she cried.
He chuckled. “Yes, they do. Every time. And where do they get fucked?”
She moaned again.
He spanked again.
&n
bsp; “In the ass! They get fucked in the ass.”
“That’s right, baby. Do you want me to fuck you in the ass?”
She whimpered. “No.”
He stilled the fingers on her clit.
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
“I thought so. It will teach you a good lesson. One you sorely need.”
He shoved his jeans off and lubed up his cock. “You want my cock in your ass?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.”
“Yes, sir is the proper answer.”
“Yes, sir.”
He pushed the head of his cock against her anus. “Please put your cock in my ass and teach me a lesson.”
“No-o,” she moaned, squeezing her anus against the intrusion.
“Take it,” he ordered, adding a little steel to his voice.
She immediately softened, relaxing the tight ring of muscle and allowing his cock to enter. She squealed and tensed as the thickest part of his head pushed past her anus, and then he was in.
He rocked slowly in and out of her.
“Ung… uh… oh…” Her little sounds drove him mad.
“Take it,” he repeated, picking up his speed. He wrapped his left hand around her waist and tapped her clit.
“Oh!” The tinge of orgasm sounded in her cry.
He worked her clit, then reached further and plunged the cone of his fingers into her pussy.
She shrieked with alarmed enthusiasm.
“Who owns you right now?”
“You do,” she gasped. “Oh, please, it’s too much!”
He closed his eyes and let the pleasure overcome him. Her scent, the tight fit in her ass, the wetness of her pussy around his fingers. Shoving deep, he came with a shout.
Melissa’s hands shot down between her legs and she thrust his fingers in deeper, her internal walls contracting around them.
The evidence of her orgasm sent another release blasting through him. When he’d spent, he folded over her, nibbling on her ear. The gentle waves of bliss resulting from his release cleared away all the walls he’d put up over the past twenty-four hours to keep her out. Was he seriously willing to give up this? He’d never felt so connected, so right. Even the discomfort of holding back from marking her was worth the pleasure of moving inside her, of holding her in his arms afterward.