by Cara Adams
* * * *
Dera woke up and realized it was much later than she’d thought. She hadn’t intended to sleep, but she’d had some mighty powerful orgasms. More than she’d ever had in one night before. She slipped from the bed without disturbing the men and wondered where her clothing was. Shrugging, she dressed in the Chinese dress and left the bedroom padding silently on her bare feet, out of the house and onto the stoop. She shut the door as gently as she could, but she’d momentarily forgotten these men were werewolves with extra acute hearing. She’d hardly even reached the street before Gowan, completely naked, grabbed her arm.
“Where the fuck are you going?”
“Home, of course.”
“Without telling us?”
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
“But you should have woken us up. If we found you gone we’d be terrified for your safety. Don’t you understand you belong to us? You’re ours to protect.”
All the time he’d been talking, Gowan had been dragging her back to his house and inside. Maitho was at the door wearing his sheik robe.
Gowan’s strong arm reached around Dera’s waist and she was lifted up the steps and back into the house. Gowan moved so fast she began to feel dizzy.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she asked, but most of the sentence was muffled by a big hand over her mouth. Dera briefly considered biting his hand but decided likely that wouldn’t be playing fair. He might be acting like a big bully, but it seemed he really believed his crazy idea that she should have woken them both up.
He carried her across the living room then shoved her against the hallway wall. He placed an arm on either side of her shoulders, a foot either side of her legs, and his body a bare inch away from hers, chest to chest. She had to lean her head against the wall to look up into his face.
Oops! His eyes were black and stormy and his ever-ready sense of humor that usually had his lips tilted in a smile seemed to be missing. No lifted quirky eyebrows either. In fact, they were a straight black line emphasizing his frown.
She opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head at her. O-kay. Looks like he’s genuinely cross.
“I’m about to paddle your sexy little ass until you can’t sit down for a week. You are never ever to run off and leave alone without me or Maitho to escort you home safely.”
Before she could open her mouth to complain she was hauled up over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and he was running down the stairs to his basement.
Well, hey, this isn’t so bad after all. She’d enjoyed the small amount of ass whipping he’d done earlier and wasn’t upset that she was about to find out more about spanking.
Gowan’s movements were smooth, coordinated, and happened so fast her brain was struggling to keep up with them. He had her bent over a whipping bench in his dungeon, a room she hadn’t even known existed five minutes ago, her hands chained to the front of it, and her dress flung up over her shoulders before she could blink. Her ankles were handcuffed as well but on the opposite side of the bench so her waist was resting on it.
Her pussy creamed further. She’d watched videos of people having their asses whipped, caned, and paddled, but she’d never participated. Now she was about to find out for herself exactly how it felt. Awesome!
Somewhere in the back of her mind Dera knew she could trust Gowan. He might be bossy and have grabbed her physically, but she knew he really would look after her. Also, Maitho was standing right there as well.
She was about to be punished and she knew it would be wonderful.
The first few strokes of the paddle were disappointing. Yes, they hurt, but not much. Not nearly as much as she’d expected, and only enough for her to feel it, not enough to give her an orgasm.
But as Gowan kept up the paddling, Dera began to understand. It was just like with the cord earlier that evening. Sure, any individual hit was nothing much, but Gowan was placing them in a very cunning way that added to the effect and made the strokes cumulative. After a while her ass felt hot, then it began to burn, and with the pain came knowledge and pleasure. Soon she relished every beat, knowing it would heighten the desire deep inside her, the need to be fucked, the desperate craving for release.
When Gowan stopped, he said, “You are never to sneak away from us again. Give me your word.”
Almost she said no, then she realized she’d done it to avoid waking them. If they really disturbed so very easily, it wasn’t a problem. “All right.”
The paddle came down on her ass, hard. “You will answer me properly. Say ‘Yes, Sir’ or ‘Yes, Master.’”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good.” Gowan’s hand smoothed over her hot ass. He was very gentle but she wanted more. She wanted his fingers in her cunt, bringing her to release, or better yet, his cock inside her.
“We’ll take you home now.”
“What?”
“Your hearing is fine.”
“But I need an orgasm. I’m so close.”
“Never argue with your Dom. He always knows best. There can be no orgasm after you were so disobedient.”
Chapter Five
Maitho desperately wanted to spend Sunday with Dera. He loved his job, but Monday meant work, and work meant not seeing Dera except perhaps briefly in the evening. But he knew it was no use saying anything to Gowan. His friend had been absolutely panic-stricken when they’d woken up to the soft sound of the front door closing and realized Dera had left all alone in the night.
Maitho’s brain encouraged him to believe that she was completely safe here on the farm. There’d only been two occasions when someone might—or might not—have been watching the farm and it was nowhere near any of the houses. But Gowan wasn’t listening to logic and hadn’t even stopped to put his pants or shoes on before racing out the door after her. She had to learn to trust them, and Maitho knew she’d understood the reasoning behind the ass whipping and had been aroused from it. Hell, she practically begged them to fuck her when Gowan had uncuffed her. So today they needed to stay away from her and let the lesson sink into her mind. She was reasonably safe on the farm, but she was theirs to love and protect and neither of them could change their innate need to care for their woman.
Besides, there was a hell of a lot of work to do to restore their house back to “normal.” It’d taken a long time to set up the various scenarios. Deconstructing them took just as long, plus there were all the dishes to wash and a new lot of groceries to be purchased and laundry to do. Maitho sighed as he dragged the plastic swimming pool, heavy now it was full of water gone cold, to the edge of the deck so he could tip the water onto the grass.
As he shoveled sand back into the trailer which Gowan had borrowed to collect it, then scrubbed pans in the kitchen, Maitho thought about Dera and his plans for the future. She wanted a job and he was good with that. She liked BDSM and he was good with that, too. It was an integral part of Gowan’s nature and the woman they chose had to be submissive. But he also liked that she was independent and ready to do her own thing. Maitho wasn’t sure he’d be happy with a woman who needed him to help her with everyday life. Oh sure, he’d always lend his muscles to lift heavy boxes, but he was glad Gowan didn’t expect them to wait to be told whether or not they could watch a movie or which shirt to wear that day. That kind of submissiveness worked really well for some partnerships, but he liked the streak of feisty decisiveness in Dera. Not that he wanted her running around alone at night. That could be dangerous. Another thing that occurred to him was maybe he should join her as a sub in one of Gowan’s scenes. But he needed to think more deeply about that before saying anything.
Thoughtfully Maitho grabbed two cans of soda from the refrigerator and went to find Gowan, who was standing on a ladder, unfastening the swathes of pink fabric in the master bedroom.
He handed one of the drinks to Gowan and said, “Have you heard anything more from Cooper about the people who were watching the farm?”
“No. That wasn’t why I was s
o worried last night. If there was danger, Cooper would have told us. It’s just that Dera needs to know she’s ours. She has to accept us as her mates. I know it’ll take some time but she scared the shit out of me last night. What if she’d fallen over or turned the wrong way in the dark?”
“Human women are a little different from wolves, but I hear what you’re saying.”
“Yeah. A wolf girl grows up with a protective family around her. It doesn’t seem like Dera has had a whole lot of supportive people surrounding her. But she has plenty of smarts and motivation. I admire all these women for being willing to remake their lives, to start afresh far from their family and home, and join us. But it’s Dera I love.”
Maitho smiled. He felt exactly the same as Gowan, but because Gowan was a Dom, it was harder for him to stand back and wait for Dera to reach her own conclusions. “Do you want to go for a run?”
“Now?”
“Why not now? Cleaning up the house will take all day. The sun’s shining now. We might as well enjoy it.”
“Yes. That’s a good idea. Thanks, Maitho, you’re a smart man. I can run off my nervous energy and then come back and finish up here.”
They stripped off and opened the back door just a few inches before shifting into their wolves and racing across the grass and into the trees. Maitho liked to run as fast as he could right at the beginning, while he had plenty of energy, then to explore all the exciting scents and sounds later. He led the way but Gowan was right behind him. He ran flat out for ten minutes before slowing to a pace he could maintain as he headed to the farthest corner of the farm.
The crops seemed to be growing well, he noted as he passed the fields. That was important. The income from the farm was needed to pay communal bills. While each householder paid their own accounts, there were a lot of joint property expenses, such as water and taxes, which the sales of the crops needed to cover. Plus all the jointly owned things like the pickup trucks and machinery came from any profit they made from the farm.
As he slowed, Gowan took the lead, jumping over fallen trees and crashing through the undergrowth. Now Maitho opened his mind to the enticing scents of birds, insects, and small animals, as well as trees and flowers. Each one was distinct and recognizable. Maitho never tried to catch any of the wildlife, preferring to leave it to run peacefully through the land. He liked his meals cooked and served on a plate, and was happy to run at his own speed, or maybe chase another werewolf, not a hapless rabbit who’d made the mistake of getting too close to him.
Maitho smiled in his mind, remembering how, as adolescents, the decision of who would lead the run had always been a battle of wills. Young wolves were very competitive, and invariably someone would get shoved, bitten, or would run so hard to be in front they were left completely exhausted. Even he and Gowan had jockeyed for the position of front runner at first. But now they were content to take turns. Since Maitho liked to run fast at the beginning, he usually led first, but Gowan almost always took them home again.
They’d also developed favorite places to visit. Logs they loved to jump over, wild areas laden with exciting scents, even the small river to splash in on warmer days.
Teasingly he caught up to Gowan and nipped his tail. Gowan stopped and snarled, then chased him. Maitho raced through the trees in a spurt of speed, then curved around and began to chase Gowan. In and out of the bushes they ran, each one first being pursuer, then pursued.
Once the tension had left his body he slowed down, content to follow Gowan once more. Gowan understood him through and through just as he knew what pleased Gowan. They truly were best friends.
Half an hour later, they padded back into the house and back to all the chores still waiting for them.
“Thanks for suggesting we run. That was a good idea. I feel much less tense now,” said Gowan, heading into the shower.
“Me, too.” Maitho stood and stretched. The farm was a wonderful place to live. I’m so glad I didn’t have to move somewhere else to find my bride. I’m happy here and I know Dera will be as well.
* * * *
Dera sat down cautiously on the chair in front of one of the computers in the women’s barracks. Damn, her ass was sore. But it was an erotic kind of sore. The type of pain that had her imagining another visit to Gowan’s dungeon, and this time having the freedom to look at all his toys and equipment before being spanked. Her second visit to the dungeon would end with her being fucked, too, if she had any say in it.
Her tender ass was very much a reminder of all the wonderful things that had happened the previous evening, which added a whole new level of carnality to her life. But the spanking also made her wonder about some of the things April had said. Were Gowan and Maitho just being possessive werewolves? Or was there danger all around the farm that was being kept from the human women? On the surface nothing seemed different, but Dera couldn’t help but wonder. She knew some of the other women with her had lived in much less nice neighborhoods than hers, and therefore would be far more attuned to avoiding danger than she was. Maybe she would be more cautious about leaving the building for a little while.
Among her e-mails, Dera found a note from one of the very first jobs she’d applied for, saying she hadn’t made the short list. She was quite impressed. Usually the way she found out she hadn’t gotten a job was simply by never hearing anything about it again. Like the translation job. She hadn’t ever heard back from those people. Immediately after the rejection e-mail was one from Jackson Recruiting, saying they’d heard she was looking for work and would be interested in interviewing her for “several openings” they had among their clients at present.
Dera sat very still and thought hard. The only way Jackson Recruiting could have gotten her name was by someone she’d applied for giving—or selling—it to them. And her suspicions were with the people who’d taken a long time to reply. Dera wondered if that had been a genuine job, or just a ploy to get the names of women looking for work. Either way, the whole thing was starting to smell a little wrong to her. Sighing she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and texted April.
Instead of texting back, April rang her. “What’s up?”
“I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday. It might be nothing, but it just doesn’t feel quite right to me.”
“Do tell. You’re making me really curious.”
Dera laughed and explained about her e-mails.
“Oh yeah, that’s definitely fishy. Let me talk to Okapi and get back to you.”
“Before you go, do you think it might be worthwhile if I attended the Jackson Recruiting interview? We might be quite wrong about them after all. And if we’re not wrong, by my going there, we might get a heap more helpful information,” suggested Dera.
“I’m not sure the men will buy that deal, but I can always get them thinking. I’ll talk to you later.” April was gone and Dera put her cell phone back in her jeans pocket, wiggling her butt a little uncomfortably against the chair as she did so.
Her sore ass reminded her quite clearly what Gowan and Maitho would think about her attending an interview with people who might not have her best interests at heart. But what if the two of them went together? As long as they stayed together and refused to be interviewed separately, surely nothing bad could happen. It might be easy to browbeat a woman alone and badly in need of a job to do something that could put her in their power in the future, like strip or act inappropriately. But with two women together, Dera couldn’t see how that wouldn’t be safe. And the werewolves had never found out anything actually illegal to do with the company after all.
She was going to call April again and then thought perhaps she’d better wait until April contacted her. But who would she ask to go with her? Several of the women were actively looking for work. Esther already had a job, Qwera was working in the farm store, and Mailiki had been accepted by a colleague of Kairu’s to fill a twelve-month maternity leave vacancy at his company.
Nala was so very quiet Dera didn’t think she should as
k her. The woman was obviously internally strong, or she never would have come to the farm as a mail-order bride, but Dera didn’t think she was the right kind of personality for a potentially dangerous outing like going to a false interview. Besides, she loved herbs and planned to plant an herb garden on the farm.
Keisha might come with her. She was not at all trusting of strangers, yet had a vibrant personality and should be able to cope with an interview. If she wasn’t prepared to come maybe Tanisha or Siyandra would.
Having settled everything in her mind, Dera wiggled the computer mouse to wake up the screen and checked the rest of her e-mails. She’d finished that and was playing a computer game when April appeared.
“Hey, Dera, can you come outside please?”
“Sure.”
Dera logged off the machine and hurried out. April must have a man with her, because the men never entered the women’s barracks. Dera supposed it was Okapi and hoped he would be amenable to her plans.
“You are not going alone, and if I send Gowan with you, they won’t tell you anything,” said Okapi.
Dera drew in her breath. She had guessed Okapi would be here, but hadn’t expected the conversation to start without even a basic greeting. However, she jumped right back into the dialogue. “How about if I take Keisha with me? I haven’t spoken to her yet, but I think she might be willing to agree.”