Marked and Mated

by Delta James

  “Then, Josh, as her mate I formally charge you to discipline your mate in such a way and to such a degree that the idea of misbehaving in this manner is something she will refrain from doing in the future.”

  “No…” Anna cried. The women of Anna’s former pack protested and began to struggle anew. They were quickly subdued and quieted.

  Darby watched as Nick crossed the room and took her from her two captors.

  “You, little girl are about to receive your first taste of discipline as member of Calon Gwyllt. Let’s go.”

  Nick turned to head back to the residence in which she’d been housed. Darby tried to fight him. She jerked back against his strong, restraining grip. She made a fist and tried to hit him with the hand not under his control. Nick’s strength was too much for her for her efforts to prove fruitful. He caught the blow she tried to deliver with his other hand.

  Darby watched as Nick turned to her, eyes blazing. “Enough. You can either come with me quietly or I’ll give you a preliminary spanking right here in front of everyone, toss you over my shoulder, and carry you down to the other house. Once we get there, you’re going to strip, spend some time in the corner, and then I’m going to paddle your backside until you can’t sit down for a few days.”

  “If you think you scare me, you couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve been beaten so many times, it no longer has any effect on me. You might be able to make my ass so sore it hurts to sit down, but you won’t break me and I will never accept that you and your kind have any kind of authority over me.”

  Nick took a deep breath. “Whether you accept it or not, you are now a member of this pack and subject to Dylan’s authority as your alpha. I’m going to recommend we focus on correcting your behavior. We’ll leave it to your new mate to deal with your attitude.”

  Darby felt herself be half dragged/half marched down to the secondary residence and up to her room. She noted that the guards patrolling the house had doubled and Tim had once again taken his position outside the door. They entered the room and Nick swatted her behind as he propelled her forward.

  “Strip and go stand in the corner,” he growled.

  “No.”

  She could see that her blatant refusal had taken Nick a bit aback.

  “The women of pack Calon Gwyllt knew if they’ve earned themselves a punishment spanking, it is best to become contrite and accept what is going to be given to them. It’s high time you and the rest of girls from Bae Diogel learned the same. No is not an acceptable answer. In fact, the only acceptable answer is ‘Yes, Beta’ or ‘Yes, Nick,’ then you do what you’re told. Now get yourself naked and go stand in that corner.”

  Darby raised her chin in defiance. “And I said no. You want to beat me? Go ahead. But I’ll be damned if I’ll help you or be reduced to being punished like a child.”

  “That’s your final word?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have it your way.” Nick crossed the room and headed toward the bed, catching her by the arm and dragging her over his knee as he stripped down her pants. He gave no further clue, said not another word, but began to spank her now bared bottom.

  It had been more than two years since anyone had hit her. Darby had almost forgotten how much it hurt and how much she didn’t like it. She began to struggle to get away from him. The swats he was delivering to her backside were painful and humiliating at the same time. Darby tried to struggle to loosen his hold to no avail. All she managed to do was make Nick increase the speed and strength of his spanking.

  “That behavior is only going to result in you getting a worse spanking. You let me know when you’re ready to get up, get undressed, and stand in the corner,” he said in a calm, even tone of voice.

  “No,” said Darby, her voice fighting back tears. It was said Nick had a wickedly hard hand and more important knew how to apply it to its best use.

  “Yes.” Nick said nothing more but continued to assault her backside with considerable skill and expertise.

  Darby could feel every blow he landed. She knew that come morning her bottom would be red and swollen.

  “From how quickly you bottom is deepening in color, it’s obvious that it’s been far too long since you’ve found yourself over a man’s knee receiving the discipline you so apparently needed. I realize now you played me this afternoon and those false tears were just a ruse to lull me into a sense of false security in order to avoid the spanking your earlier nonsense had earned you,” Nick said as he continued to land hard swat after hard swat across her ever increasingly sore backside.

  Darby finally quit struggling and Nick backed off the intensity of the spanking.

  “That’s better,” he said. “You need to learn that fighting me or your mate will only result in a harsher spanking. Submitting will usually lessen both the intensity and duration.”

  Darby was having to bite her lip to keep from crying.

  Sensing she might be ready to yield, Nick stopped spanking her and asked in a calm tone, “You want to rethink standing in the corner?”

  “I hate you. I hate all of you.”

  “Yes, you’ve made that clear. But do you want to hate me face down over my knee getting your bottom spanked or would you prefer to do that naked and standing in the corner?”

  “If I agree to go to the corner, will you agree not to spank me anymore?”

  “No. Right now, you’re getting spanked for refusing to do as you were told. After you’ve had some time in the corner, I’ll put you back over my knee and you’ll get spanked for that little stunt you and Anna pulled this evening. That spanking, little girl, will most likely involve my belt unless I see a substantial change in your attitude. Now, do you want to go to the corner or should I continue with this portion of your punishment?”

  “Fuck you!”

  Nick resumed spanking her. “Not an acceptable answer and not something in which I have any interest where you’re concerned, but I rather suspect your mate will find having you across his knee highly arousing.”

  Although he wasn’t in the least aroused by spanking Darby, Nick had to admit she had a lovely, round, firm backside. Some man was going to have a mate with a delightful bottom to spank as well as caress.

  He continued in a conversational tone, “I’ve always found that little girls tend to learn their lessons more quickly and better if their spanking is followed by a good fucking from their mate.”

  “Stop, please!” Darby could no longer hold back the tears. “Please, Beta, stop. I’ll go stand in the corner.”

  Nick smiled but did not laugh. He stopped spanking her. “If I let you up, you’re going to remove the rest of your clothing and go stand in the corner, yes?”

  “Yes, Beta.”

  “And then when I’m ready to continue, you’re going to come to me and put yourself across my knee and submit to your spanking for your little run this evening, yes?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Yes, what?” he said, beginning to spank her again.

  “Yes, Beta,” she cried.

  “All right. You can get up. You strip right here in front of me.”

  Darby pushed herself off his knee and stood before him. He pulled his handkerchief out of his back pocket and reached up to dry her tears. Darby was surprised at his tenderness.

  “Take the rest of your clothes off and go stand in the corner like a good girl,” he said soothingly.

  As much as she wanted to defy him, the set look on his face told her all that would result in was her being spanked further before being made to strip, stand in the corner, and wait for him to finish punishing her.

  “If you do as you’re told, Darby, and submit to the rest of your punishment, I won’t use my belt. If you want to continue disobeying or throw a tantrum, you will have a nice set of welts across your bottom.” He reached up and stroked her hair. “Be a good girl, Darby, I’d rather not have to use my belt on you.”

  She said nothing, but silently removed her clothes and went to stand in the c
orner. She stood there for several moments, very uncomfortable with the silence between them. “Nick, can I ask you something?”

  “If you stay facing the corner and use a respectful tone, yes.”

  “The wolf who claimed Anna, he’ll be kind to her, won’t he?”

  “Josh is a good man. Yes, he’ll be kind to her. He’s going to have to discipline her tonight for this little stunt, but more than one good pairing has involved a good spanking along with being marked,” he said, smiling as he remembered his own claiming of Bianca.

  “I won’t go back.”

  “Back where?”

  “To that bastard that marked me.”

  “No, you won’t. Dylan is aware of the abuse you suffered. He has already begun the work to dissolve that union.”

  “He won’t send me back?”

  “No. There isn’t a one of us at Calon Gwyllt—male or female—who would see you returned to an abusive mate.”

  “But won’t there be trouble?”

  Nick laughed. “Oh, probably. But Dylan doesn’t concern himself overly much with such things. The protection of his pack is his chief concern. And you, little girl, are a member of that pack.”

  Darby continued to stand in the corner with her backside ablaze from the spanking she’d already been given.

  “Are you ready to submit to the rest of your punishment?”

  Darby took a deep breath and tried to stem the flow of tears that were right behind her eyes. “Nick, please. I haven’t been spanked in more than two years. It hurts so badly, please?”

  “No, little girl. You have this punishment coming. I let your nasty behavior slide earlier today and I suspect those were crocodile tears I saw at that time. But you are not going to pull a stunt like this again. If you do, regardless of whether you submit or not, I’ll take a belt to your backside and welt you good. Are you ready to submit to my authority and to your well-deserved spanking?”

  “Yes, Beta,” she whispered.

  “That’s a good girl. You can come out of the corner and put yourself over my knee.”

  Darby crossed over to him and hesitated. “Please?” She hated that it felt like begging.

  Nick shook his head. “No, put yourself over my knee, Darby and submit.”

  She laid down over his knee. “That’s a good girl,” he said as he rubbed her already painful backside.

  He placed his hand in the small of her back to steady her and once again began to rhythmically and steadily spank her bottom. She tried hard not to squirm or cry. She lost the battle to crying after about the fifth swat.

  “That’s right, just let it out. I know it hurts. But you were a very naughty girl tonight, weren’t you?” he said gently.

  “Yes.”

  He swatted her harder as he made his voice more authoritative. “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, Beta,” she wailed.

  Nick backed off the intensity again. “In this pack, naughty girls get their bottoms spanked by either Dylan, myself, or their mate. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be forgiven. Are you sorry about the trouble you caused?”

  “I’m not sorry I tried to run.”

  Nick stopped for a moment and considered her answer. “I suppose that’s an honest answer and understandable in light of your circumstances. But do you understand that a repeat of this behavior will find you getting an even worse spanking?”

  “Yes, Nick.”

  “Your bottom on fire, little girl?”

  “Yes, Nick. Please, no more.”

  “All right, I think you may have learned your lesson. You can get up, but you go back and stand in the corner. And you don’t rub that sore backside until I tell you that you can.”

  Darby went back and stood in the corner. Nick made her stand for about fifteen minutes and then turned back the bedcovers and told her to come get in bed. Darby did as he instructed and he tucked her in. No one had ever tucked her in before in her entire life. He gently kissed her forehead.

  “Go to sleep, Darby, and behave yourself. I don’t want to have to repeat this lesson.”

  Chapter Three

  The next morning Darby awoke and uncurled her body from how she’d been sleeping on her side. She rolled over onto her back to stretch but yelped when her weight hit her sore bottom. “Jesus, that hurts. His mate wasn’t kidding about not wanting to be put over his knee,” she muttered to herself.

  There was a discreet knock at the door and Bianca popped her head inside. “Good morning!”

  “It was until my ass made contact with the mattress… then good went right out the window.”

  Bianca nodded. “Trust me, I know the feeling all too well.” She grinned. “But in all fairness, I did warn you.”

  Darby’s head snapped up. She was ready to make a nasty retort when she realized Bianca was teasing her, but not to be mean, but rather to commiserate with her. Darby smiled. “Yes, apparently, my hearing was damaged in the run from Bae Diogel. That smells good. What did you bring me? Am I allowed out of my room?”

  “Yes. Brunch will be about eleven. I just figured you hadn’t eaten since we had wine last night…”

  “About that… when we talked, I wasn’t planning what we did. I just wanted you to know that I didn’t sit here and lie to your face.”

  “That never occurred to me. I did want to bring you something and to check in with you. As I said, my mate can have a wicked hand. Unfortunately, I know that better than anyone. Seriously, how are you feeling?”

  “As I said, my ass hurts but only if I sit on it. And I suppose it could have been worse. He told me if I try it again, he’ll take his belt to me. I’m assuming that’s worse?”

  “And then some. I am also, sad to say, an expert in that as well.”

  Darby smiled, accepted the mug handed to her, and put the tray down on the bed. There was a rasher of bacon lying next to home-baked bread toasted to a golden brown with plenty of butter and homemade strawberry jam. “Yum! They certainly feed you well here.”

  “Dylan tries to take care of everyone. This is the best place I’ve ever been. I’ve never been happier, but I sure didn’t start out that way.”

  “What do you mean? It’s obvious your mate adores you.”

  She grinned. “Yes, he does. But why I’ll never know. My brother, who was the alpha of our pack, sent me here after I’d scared off all the local wolves and become truly unmanageable. He hoped that Dylan would take me as a mate.”

  “Really?”

  Bianca nodded. “But from the moment I got here, Nick knew. So did I, but I didn’t want to be mated… especially to a beta. God, I was awful to him.”

  “But you did agree, right?”

  Bianca laughed. “Oh, I agreed and declared myself in front of Dylan and Matthew. Of course, at the time, I was face down over Nick’s knee with a naked ass and having his strap applied with considerable vigor to my backside.”

  “No…”

  Bianca laughed again. “Yep. The first time we mated was with me standing in the corner while he mounted me from behind and made sure I understood just which one of us was the dominant one… and that it wasn’t me.”

  “Didn’t you hate him?”

  “While he was blistering my butt, you bet. My father was overly indulgent as was my brother and he had a weak beta. Was I brought down off my high horse when he chose to spank me into submission in front of Dylan and Matthew instead of making me run? Yes. Did I want to hate him when he mounted me from behind in the corner?” Bianca laughed with the memory of her own foolishness. “I did, but it only lasted until he breached me the first time with his cock. I’d never felt anything as exquisite or sensual in my entire life. When he finished with me in the corner, he took me into his lap and let me cry and rage at him. Then those wicked hands started seducing me. He spent most of that night between my legs showing me just how much pleasure I was capable of. By the next morning I was completely and utterly his. I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you do hear your mate call, don’t fight it
. There’s not a pair here at Calon Gwyllt who aren’t fated mates. There is something very powerful in knowing your mate cares enough to hold you accountable and will use every ounce of his courage, passion, and power to protect you.”

  “I’m glad to hear your forced mating worked out,” said Darby. “But that wasn’t my experience. When I say I’d rather die than go back there, I’m not being melodramatic. I won’t do it. I’ll find a way to kill myself before I’ll take another mate. And I’ll kill any alpha who comes sniffing around. I won’t endure being knotted ever again.”

  Bianca reached out and touched Darby’s arm. “You don’t need to be afraid. Dylan has already started proceedings to dissolve your union with that bastard who mistreated you. He will not see you sent back. And the whole pack is committed to the same. That bastard will never, ever touch you again.”

  “But the Council doesn’t like to dissolve mated pair unions.”

  “Dylan hasn’t given them an option. He has a lot of power in our society. And he’s got several powerful packs who will back him.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I don’t want you upset when you go down to brunch so I thought I’d give you a heads up… both Skylar and Roz were formally claimed last night. After Nick left with you, Dylan and Oliver made claim to them. They both refused, and rather colorfully I might add, and were forced to run. Both returned to the house and declared their vows.”

  “And, I’m back to hating him. He’ll protect me from some guy he doesn’t know, but because he wants Skylar he forces her to submit to him? With all due respect, Bianca, our wolf society sucks big time.”

  “Nick said both Oliver—that’s Roz’ new mate—and Dylan called for them. Both Roz and Skylar heard their call. I’ve seen both of them this morning. Skylar seemed very happy and Roz was beaming. Both men are, of course, very proud of themselves.”

  Tim knocked on the door and stuck his head in. “Bianca, Nick wants you and Darby up at the main house. I’m to take you up the back way.”

  “Trouble?”

  “Could be. That misbegotten bastard who was paired with Darby showed up with that jerk from Atlantic City. You know the one whose nose Josh broke?”