Alpha King by Sara Fields

Chapter 5

Ava

When I’d first seen him, my clit had pulsed with desire. I’d done my best to hide it and keep myself calm, but images from the night before came rushing back with wild abandon. I’d tried to swallow all of it, but there was a part of me that wanted to feel his hands on me again.

But this…

This was not exactly what I’d had in mind.

The goddamn fucking bastard had no right.

I’d given his men the slip early this evening and I had made it all the way inside the tower looking for information by myself. I’d searched everything on the security head’s computer after I’d blasted his head off, but I’d found nothing that would connect my father and the Venuti other than camera evidence of him entering the building on three separate occasions. That wasn’t enough. I needed more than that.

I needed names. Contracts. Something. Anything really. I still had so many questions and none of them had been answered even though I’d made it this far. I had a hunch that there would be something in the kingpin’s penthouse, maybe on his computer or maybe there was a physical paper trail in a records room up here somewhere, but I needed to get searching before any more of the vampires showed up.

I was getting dangerously low on my sunfire bullet supplies. There had been more guards posted inside the building than I had anticipated.

“Release me, you prick! I don’t have time for this,” I yelled.

“You’re going to make time, little human,” he scowled, and I pounded my fists against his back. With me still draped over his shoulder, he swept his arm across the surface of the desk, clearing off more than half of it. The rustle of crinkled papers was deafening, but it was masked by the pounding of my blood rushing to my ears. I shrieked with fury as he tossed me face down against the wooden surface. Immediately, I pushed my hands against the top of the desk, intending to spin around and punch him in the face, but his palm firmly slammed against my upper back, stopping me before I could get any leverage whatsoever.

“Toboe, meet Ava. My mate,” he continued.

“I’m not your mate, asshole. Let me go!” I yelled. I reached back and tried to swing at him, but he captured my wrist and pinned it behind my waist. No matter how much I twisted and turned my arm, I couldn’t break free. His grasp held tight.

Shit.

This wasn’t good.

For the first time that night, fear flickered deep inside me, forcing me to reevaluate the situation I’d gotten myself into.

I’d made all the preparations in the world to deal with Lawson if he happened to make an appearance tonight, but still he had managed to put me at a disadvantage. I struggled as much as I could, but it was all in vain. Just like before, he subdued me with just his strength alone.

He reached down and pulled off my combat boots one by one. I tried to kick him in the face, but he seemed like he was ready for that too. Without even a moment of hesitation, he reached around my waist and unbuttoned my black jeans. He was so rough that I heard the button pop free. It clicked quietly when it bounced off the hardwood floor beneath me. He jerked my pants down and the zipper broke, but I doubted he very much cared.

I renewed my efforts to escape him as he exposed my panty-clad bottom and my thighs. He left my jeans pulled down to just below my knees and when I tried to kick them off, I only succeeded in tangling them around my ankles. He chuckled and my face reddened, whether with fury or with shame, I wasn’t sure. I tried not to think about the reason why.

“I think I’ll leave those just how they are,” he mused and a string of expletives that would have made a sailor blush flew off my lips. I slapped my free hand against the desk and tried to push up. I screeched with anger when I didn’t move even a single inch.

I could do one-handed pushups, for Christ’s sake. I should be able to do this.

“Let me up, motherfucker!” I yelled.

He ignored me, refusing to acknowledge a word I said.

Instead, he just gripped my panties in his fingers. I halfway expected him to pull them down just like he had my jeans, but he didn’t.

He tore them clean off.

I should have known he would. Every single word died on my lips as a piercing volley of agony blossomed across my pussy. The fabric didn’t tear as easily as the ones he torn from me last night, which meant it hurt far more this time. He wrenched them from in between my thighs, pinching my folds and scraping against my clit hard. I tried to breathe through the pain. There was no fighting it. There was only surviving its terrible sting. I prayed for it to lessen and when it finally did, I just closed my eyes and sighed in relief.

“Would you like to continue?” he asked purposefully.

“No,” I squeaked, still trembling from the aching soreness in between my thighs.

I swallowed hard, trying to cope with the residual pain. There had to be a better way to handle this. Showing him my fury at his heavy-handedness hadn’t gotten me anywhere, simply earning myself a very sore pussy as a result. I closed my eyes and just focused on pulling air in and out of my lungs.

“Good,” he murmured, and my muscles tightened with restrained fear.

There was something about his tone that made me hold my tongue. There wasn’t even a sliver of gentleness hidden in his words, nothing that spoke to the man I’d seen yesterday, the one who had held me and comforted me after he was through with me. He didn’t address me with anger or even frustration, but with a measured even calm tone that felt far more dangerous. Every word of defiance that I’d planned to utter died on my lips and I chewed the inside of my cheek. I settled on a new tactic.

“Lawson. Wait. Please,” I began, ensuring to keep my voice quieter and softer, hoping to appeal to his gentler side before it was too late. “Please. You have to let me up. I need to search Nicolai’s computer before the rest of the vampire clan find out the tower has been compromised. I need information and I know it’s somewhere in this penthouse. So please, I’m asking you to let me up so I can finish what I came here to do.”

“You’re going to have to wait, little one. You’re in need of a hard lesson first,” he warned, and I stilled.

Dammit. Consider that strategy dead in the water.

“I won’t allow it,” I spat angrily, and he cleared his throat.

“I don’t think you quite understand the gravity of what you’ve done, little mate. This is my city, and it is my responsibility to deal with the ramifications of your impulsive decision to pursue vengeance or whatever this is. More important though, it is my duty to see to it that you are punished for it,” he declared, and I struggled in his hold.

“You have no right,” I sputtered.

“I have every right, little human. Not only have you killed dozens of members of the Venuti clan, but you’ve murdered the head of it. Maybe you hadn’t realized it, but the tower was manned by a skeleton crew. There’s more of them hidden away somewhere. I don’t know where yet, but I’m going to have to find out. You see, Nicolai has family, vampires he’s sired that have been groomed for centuries to take over in his place should the need ever arise. They’re going to want answers and if they don’t get what they want, it’s going to end badly, especially when they find out it was you that did all of it,” he scolded.

I pressed my lips together.

I knew the Venuti had something to do with my father’s death. If I couldn’t find the answers I needed here, I would find them eventually.

“If you had just answered my questions last night, I could have helped you. You didn’t have to resort something like this to find whatever you’re searching for, mate,” he continued softly.

“I did what I had to do,” I scoffed. He simply didn’t understand. This was more than just a quest for vengeance. I needed to do this to clear my family name. I needed to know my father hadn’t just cracked and turned into a monster that day.

I needed to know. For me.

“In my world, impulsiveness is not something I can allow. I need answers and you’re going to give them to me,” he demanded, and I struggled against him.

“I won’t tell you anything,” I yelled.

“I’ve run out of patience, little human. You will tell me everything,” he snarled.

“Do your worst,” I said as courageously as I could. He chuckled softly and that twinge of fear deep in the pit of my stomach magnified tenfold.

The sound of him pulling his belt from the loops of his pants echoed all around me and I stilled. With my bottom entirely bare and on display over the massive desk, his intentions soon became all too clear.

The first time the belt slapped against my skin was a shock. It was far louder than I expected and that caught me off guard, but the line of fire that followed quickly grasped my full attention. It felt warm at first, then blazing hot and the eventual burning sting made me rise up on the tips of my toes as I tried to take it.

The second and third followed in quick succession, cruelly punishing and painfully harsh.

I hadn’t realized how deadly serious Lawson had been before.

I did now.

The fiery lash of the belt was like a vicious brand on my naked backside. I tried to use my one arm to push up against the desk so that I could escape him and run, but with one arm he held both my wrist and my body firmly in place. I gave it everything I had, but it was as if I was doing nothing at all. He was far too strong, his species far more powerful than a simple human like me.

“Wait!” I cried out.

He didn’t.

The belt thrashed against my bottom, over and over. He kicked my feet open wide and the end of the belt clipped the area in between my cheeks, causing me to cry out from the intensity of the extremely harsh sting that followed. Despite all of that though, my bare pussy was wet and exposed and as the belt rained down, a terrifying realization dawned on me.

The belt could hit between my thighs too and I was so very ashamed that the thought of that was making me even wetter.

As a measure of self-preservation, I attempted to press my legs back together so that I could hide my most vulnerable flesh, but he swiftly kicked my feet apart. He deliberately swung the belt between my legs, swatting my pussy with the flat of the leather hard enough to silently warn me to keep still. I froze, fearful and desperately aroused.

What was wrong with me? Why was the thought of him hurting me like this turning me on?

I’d told myself that last night had been a fluke. I’d vowed to never let it happen again, but here I was wet for him once more. Wanting him. Needing him. I was doing everything I’d swore I wouldn’t do again. I couldn’t stop myself. I was caught in a red haze of arousal and my head couldn’t work my way out of it.

I was caught up in the idea of him.

I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all day. I couldn’t forget the way my body had gripped the length of his cock. The feel of him surging in and out of me roughly enough to leave my pussy quite sore long after he was through with me had been on my mind all day. With every step, I’d felt him between my thighs just like he promised.

I don’t know why, but I liked that.

There was something else he’d said he’d do too. Something even more forbidden. Something filthy and dirty and wrong. That didn’t stop me from wanting that as well.

Why?

My thighs trembled and my pussy clenched hard in anticipation.

“You will keep your legs open. If I have to make you, I’ll be forced to turn this little pussy bright red with my belt,” he demanded.

I obeyed and I didn’t understand why.

I cried out and the belt lashed against my backside once again with brutal force. He whipped the tops of my cheeks, and I clenched them, but that only made the pain that much worse. The belt descended lower and lower until the only thing it was punishing was the backs of my thighs. With a concerted amount of effort, I forced myself to relax and take whatever he gave me, but it was so very hard.

I pressed my lips together, determined to show him that I could be strong and make it through whatever he intended to inflict. The belt was so much worse than his hand had been however, and it took everything in me to keep my lips shut. I bit the inside of my cheek, desperately trying to keep myself quiet. I bit hard enough to taste blood.

I vowed that he wouldn’t break me.

As if he could read my thoughts, he whipped me harder and the first real cry of distress fled my lips. I struggled beneath him, and Lawson cleared his throat. The sound of it made me nervous.

“Take her hands, Toboe,” he murmured. “Ava, I want you to meet my beta. He is my second in command.”

Without ceremony, the man who had entered the room with him rounded the desk and grasped my wrists in his strong hands. Lawson’s palm flattened on my back, holding me even more firmly than before. I tried to twist my hands out of the beta’s clutches, but I was at such a disadvantage that it did absolutely nothing at all.

I was trapped and just when I thought the belting couldn’t get any harder, it did. It got so much worse. I tried to arch into each lash and that did nothing. My legs pressed together involuntarily even though I tried to keep them apart. He growled in warning and through sheer force of will, I slid my right foot to the side a few inches.

“Good girl,” he purred.

I don’t know why, but those two words settled me.

The belt thrashed my bare bottom so thoroughly that I knew I would be sore for a long time after he was through with me. My bottom cheeks burned, and my thighs felt like they’d been scalded with boiling hot water. For the first time, I began to feel regret. Maybe if I had waited, maybe if I’d spent more time trying to figure out who Lawson was, I could have figured out just how much power he wielded over the quarter. Maybe he could have helped me get the answers I was looking for.

“Please. I’m sorry,” I pleaded.

My vow to be quiet had long fled. Each lash flared hot against my skin and when several descended even lower on my thighs, my eyes began to water.

I didn’t want to cry.

“Please,” I begged. My fingernails scratched against the wood beneath me, and a hard shudder raced down my spine.

There was nothing I could think of other than the punishing leather of his belt.

One lash.

Pain.

Another.

Agony.

The first sob pitched me forward and a single tear dripped down my cheek. More followed and soon, there was a tiny puddle pooling beneath my chin.

I broke for him, and I broke hard.

In that moment, I knew that I was his. I’d denied it before, but I couldn’t anymore. All I wanted was to feel my body against his. I wanted his arms around me.

The metal clasp of his belt clinked against the wooden desk, but I was crying too hard to really notice. Toboe’s fingers relaxed around my wrists as did Lawson’s on my back.

“Shhh. It’s alright, little mate,” he murmured softly.

His arms were suddenly around me, lifting me off the desk and cradling me within them. He sat down in one of the massive leather armchairs that were set in front of the grand desk and pulled me into his lap. I wasn’t certain why, but I clutched at him as if he was a lifeline, as if I’d fall into pieces if I ever let go. I nestled my face into his shoulder, breathing in his scent and trying to stop myself from crying.

“Such a good girl,” he purred.

There it was again. Those two words that made my heart flutter and my pussy flood with heat.

His arms closed around me even tighter and the feeling of his body on mine was more than I could handle. The tip of my nose brushed against his throat as his fingers grazed beneath my chin. With a single finger, he lifted my gaze to meet his.

My eyes searched his and I chewed my lip, feeling unsure and unsteady, but it turned out that didn’t matter. He pressed his mouth to mine, his kiss possessive and wanting and entirely in control. My hand ventured up the hard lines of his chest as his tongue tangled with my own and I lost myself in everything that was him.

His scent.

His love.

The way he’d punished me and rewarded me with his kiss.

His hand slipped between my thighs, and I sucked in a shaky breath. My clit pulsed hard, and a soft whine escaped me.

His belt had been vicious across my bare bottom and the backs of my thighs felt more than a little marked from it, but the rest of me was burning up inside with need and it only grew hotter the more I thought about it. He cupped my pussy gently and rubbed the pads of his fingers between my wet folds, finding my clit and teasing it just hard enough to make me squirm against him. His touch turned more persistent, firmer and then he drew back just enough so that he could slide one finger inside me.

“My, my, little mate. You’re soaking wet for me, aren’t you?” he asked.

I blushed at his observation. He was right. I was so very wet right now and I couldn’t deny the fact that it was all his fault. His dominance over me had awakened something deep inside me, a need I hadn’t known was there. That knowledge ensured I would never be the same again.

“I expect an answer, little one,” he coaxed, and he pumped that single digit in and out of me. He moved slowly, like he was taunting me with the pleasure that I knew his finger was capable of.

“Yes,” I squeaked, feeling my face redden even further.

“When you’re being punished, little mate, you will refer to me as your alpha. Now answer me properly, or you’ll go over my knee,” he demanded softly.

I chewed my lip, and he used his thumb to wipe away a stray tear from my cheek.

There it was. The gentleness I’d seen just last night.

I swallowed heavily.

“Yes, alpha,” I whispered. I stared back at him, feeling so unsure of myself. My fingers trembled and I pressed them against my thighs.

He smiled and his eyes sparkled with pride.

“Good girl,” he murmured, and my clit pulsed with desire at his praise.

Yesterday, we’d felt like strangers. Today, he was looking at me like I was his lover and I liked that.

“We’re going to have to take care of this soaking wet little pussy, aren’t we, my pretty mate?”

“You keep calling me that. I’m not even a wolf. How can I possibly be your mate?” I asked. I didn’t intend to be rebellious or anything of the sort. I was just curious, and his eyes glinted with a sudden fierce possessiveness that made my heart flutter with hope that maybe he could feel something like what I was beginning to feel too.

His hand returned to its place between my thighs, and I sucked in an aroused breath.

“Do you think an alpha cannot recognize his one true mate, little one? You and I are fated for each other. You fight me with that beautifully fierce mind, but your body already knows that we are meant for one another. Your nipples are hard and begging for me to kiss them. Even now, your eyes are dilated, your shoulders are bowing toward me, and even though your bottom bears the mark of my belt, you’re soaking wet for me. You need me to take you. I am your mate, and your body knows that I am your alpha. It is only a matter of time before the rest of you follows,” he explained and with every word, he slid his fingertip up and down my clit.

I felt like I was on fire.

“You’re mine, my pretty mate and I don’t plan on letting you go. Not now. Not ever. You’re mine for always and I intend to show you exactly what that means starting tonight.”

My pussy clenched down hard. What exactly did he mean?

“Look at me, little mate,” he said quietly.

I obeyed, trying to grapple with the way my stomach was tightening with anxious arousal.

“Tell me, little mate. What was on your mind when you woke up this morning? What did you think of when you felt the soreness between your thighs? What was the image in your head when you felt that ache between your legs with each and every step you took today?”

I whimpered with shame. I closed my eyes, too embarrassed to meet his eyes anymore.

“No. Don’t hide from me. Open your eyes,” he commanded.

His instruction blossomed over me, and I suddenly found myself wanting to do as he asked. I wanted to please him and that terrified me as much as it aroused me.

I realized it was more than a simple want after a moment.

It was a need. I needed to obey him.

I opened my eyes, and I felt my cheeks flush bright pink at the same time that my pussy clenched down tight. A trickle of my own arousal dripped down the expanse of my right inner thigh and my blush deepened at the feeling of it.

“Your cock, alpha,” I whined softly.

“Were you thinking of my cock fucking you, sweet mate?” he pressed.

“Yes, alpha,” I whispered, feeling my face flush even more deeply.

“In which of your pretty holes were you thinking about my cock, little mate?”

I blanched, a soft cry of mortification escaping me.

I had hoped he wouldn’t ask that. I’d hoped to keep that hidden from him.

I could say my mouth or my pussy, but that would be a lie and I didn’t want to lie to him. I turned away, too overwhelmed in my shame, but he captured my chin and forced me to look back at him. His fingers flattened and I knew that waiting much longer would test his patience and likely earn me more of his belt.

“In my bottom, alpha,” I finally answered, my voice shaking with every syllable.

“You were thinking about my promise, weren’t you?” he asked. His finger slid backwards from my pussy, only just settling over top of my bottom hole. I remembered how he’d forced that same finger inside me last night, how painful it felt, but that wasn’t all.

As punishing as it had been, it had made me feel curious.

I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what it was like.

“Yes, alpha,” I whispered, my voice hardly audible.

“Stand up for me, little mate,” he murmured.

I stood up on shaky legs. I almost lost my balance once and his arms swept around my waist, catching me and holding me steady so that I didn’t fall. I gripped his forearm with my fingers hard enough that my knuckles turned white. I released him almost as quickly as I had grabbed him.

I didn’t want to hurt him, which was quite silly when I thought about how very sore my backside was from his belt.

“Go and bend over the desk for me. Show me that needy little pussy and I might just decide to reward you,” he whispered gruffly.

I whimpered loudly—with need, with desire, with nervousness, I didn’t know.

His command flowed over me like a warm waterfall. It was like a soft tingle across the expanse of my skin, a quiet prickling of a magical link between us that seemed to grow stronger the longer I was with him.

I took a hesitant step toward the desk and then another and another. When I reached it, I slowly slid the tips of my fingers against its cool surface, trying to will at least a little bravery from somewhere deep inside me to come forth.

“Do I need to bend you over the desk myself, Ava?” he asked quietly, a subtle threat laced into every syllable.

“No, alpha,” I whispered quickly and that was more than enough to make me follow his instructions. I didn’t try to hide myself this time. I bent over the desk and spread my legs, putting my own body on display for him this time.

He stood up and even though I wasn’t facing him, I knew that he was looking at me. I could feel his gaze on my skin, hot and smoldering and beautifully possessive. He didn’t touch me for the longest time and every second that he made me wait made my arousal amplify tenfold. When he finally brushed the rough pads of his fingers against my skin, I shuddered with need and a soft cry emerged from my throat that sounded deceptively like a moan and a whine combined.

It spoke to the quiet desperation surging through my veins.

I wanted his cock.

Badly.

I arched my back and I slowly realized something about myself.

I didn’t want him to ask either. I just wanted him to take me. Hard. Rough. Like the savage beast I knew him to be.

I didn’t need a man.

I needed a monster.

I needed him.

His fingers slipped in between my thighs, and I knew I was even more drenched than I was when I’d left the safety of his arms.

“Little mate…” he purred.

He didn’t have to say it. I knew it.

I heard the sound of his zipper and a shudder raced down my spine. I gasped when the heat of his cock pressed up against my entrance, and I whined when he thrust every last inch of his cock inside me in the following seconds. I could still feel the remaining soreness from last night in his rough claiming of my pussy, but that only added even more fuel to the fire.

He slammed into me several times and I cried out with pleasure. My inner walls gripped tightly around him as his pelvis slapped against the sore welts on my backside. Without thinking, I arched into his thrusts, and he clicked his tongue in disapproval. Slowly, he slipped his cock from my pussy and replaced it with two of his fingers.

He took those thick digits and thoroughly coated them with my wetness before he pulled them free and tapped them against my bottom hole.

“I taught you a lesson with my belt, didn’t I, little mate?” he asked dangerously.

“Yes, alpha,” I answered, my voice wavering and my pussy clenching with needy fear.

“I’m going to teach you a lesson with my cock next, sweet girl,” he warned and just when I felt my stomach pitch forward anxiously, he pushed both fingers roughly into my bottom. I wasn’t ready so there was no time to clench or try to keep him out, catching me off guard and unprepared. I keened with the stretching burn as it billowed outward from my bottom hole, radiating up and down my spine and consuming me with its deliciously terrible pain.

He pumped those fingers in and out of me, dragging out that scorching ache as long as possible and I shivered hard beneath him. Eventually, the pain started to ebb away and the sheer power of the mind-rending pleasure that followed blew me out of the water.

“In a moment, I’m going to replace my fingers with my cock, little girl. I want you to think about that as I use them to stretch this tight little hole wide enough so that I can fuck it,” he demanded, and I shivered hard.

“Please, alpha,” I pleaded. I was no longer certain of what I was pleading for, just that I wanted more of whatever this was.

I could feel every knuckle slipping in and out of my bottom, over and over again. Thick. Rough. Painfully decadent.

My bottom tightened as I imagined what his cock might feel like instead of his fingers and my legs trembled a bit in anticipation. I chewed my lip, my clit throbbing hard, and I moaned, arching my back and taking him a bit deeper inside me with every thrust.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what was to come and when he pulled his hand free from my bottom, I sucked in a breath as a combination of fear and arousal twisted me from the inside out. My muscles tensed as he slipped his cock back inside my pussy, using my ample wetness to coat himself. I clenched all around him, enjoying the painful edge of pleasure as he used me as roughly as he pleased.

But then, he pulled his cock free of me and pressed it against my already sore bottom hole. I tensed with anxiety as his palm pressed against my lower back, forcing me against the desk just as he had done when he’d spanked me.

I suddenly found myself overwhelmed with the thought of how much this was going to hurt. Anxiously, I pressed my palms against the desk and tried to get up. He didn’t let me.

“I told you I was going to punish you with my cock, didn’t I?” he warned.

The tip of his cock breached my bottom hole and I gasped when he stilled. My muscles tightened around him, and a fierce scorching pain radiated through me. It intensified further and I cried out, suddenly far more nervous than I had been before.

“Yes, alpha,” I whimpered.

“I’m going to use this beautiful little hole and it’s going to hurt, sweet mate. If you’re very good, I might just allow you to come for me,” he warned and he thrust himself a bit further inside me, causing me to gasp at the roughness of it.

A strangled whine escaped me, and I bit my lower lip, trying to keep quiet as much as I could.

I focused on his words and my clit pulsed hard. With a sudden forceful thrust, he slammed the rest of his cock inside my bottom, reawakening the sizzling burn for several long seconds before it faded into a gentler pulsing soreness.

At least until he started to fuck me.

“Your bottom is so very tight, mate. I’m really going to enjoy this,” he said darkly, and my muscles clenched down hard all around him.

“Please don’t,” I begged.

“You should know that no matter how much you beg, this is only going to end with my seed dripping from this tight little hole,” he answered, and a hot shiver of desire sliced through me to the core.

His fingers wound around my hips and pulled me back from the desk just far enough so that he could reach underneath me. His fingertips ventured down just enough to capture my clit, circling it slowly as he pumped in and out of my ass.

A hard jolt of pleasure raced through me, and I couldn’t contain myself any longer.

“Oh,” I moaned, unable to keep quiet.

He pounded into my bottom, using me as hard as he wanted and despite the punishing agony that came with it, my desire continued to grow. The more it hurt, the more I wanted to come with him fucking me like this.

The more I craved it.

“Oh, sweet mate. I could fuck this little bottom all night,” he mused, and I whined nervously. I already knew he had more stamina than I did, so it worried me that he was speaking the truth.

“Please,” I pleaded.

“Does it make you blush to know that you were wet enough that I didn’t even need lubricant to take your virgin ass?” he asked, fucking me hard enough so that I could hear it. It was embarrassingly loud, and I blushed hard, knowing that everything he said was absolutely correct.

I’d been so wet that his entry had been almost easy.

“Your body recognizes me as your alpha, little one. By the time I’m through with this naughty hole, you will understand that completely,” he groaned.

His fingers danced over top of my clit, and I pressed back against him, earning myself a deeper fucking than before. As if he was rewarding me, he pressed more firmly against my needy bud, forcing me higher toward the edge of bliss.

“You’re going to come for me three times with my cock in your ass, little mate. I want them each long and hard,” he demanded, and I shivered hard.

“Yes, alpha,” I whimpered.

My legs shook and my inner thighs squeezed tight. He kicked my feet open a bit wider, forcing me to spread for him and in turn, his cock pushed into me further than ever. It felt filthy and wrong and entirely too right.

“Please, I need…” I begged.

I felt like I was on a rollercoaster, climbing higher and higher until I coasted over the peak of a massive drop. I knew whatever happened next would change me, but I knew that he would be there to catch me once I fell.

“I know, sweet girl. Come for me. I want to feel you tighten around my cock as you scream my name,” he purred.

My impending orgasm felt so much deeper, so much more powerful than anything I’d ever felt before. His fingers pressed even more firmly against my clit, rubbing over top of it with such vigor that I knew following his instructions would be simple.

I was going to come.

And it was going to be hard.

“Come, sweet mate,” he demanded.

I couldn’t fight it any longer. I gave into my desire. I gave into him.

I gave into my fate.

My orgasm started in the center of my core, twisting hard and spiraling down to the tips of my toes and the edges of my fingers. For several long moments, I knew nothing but the blinding white heat of ecstasy surging through me, destroying me from within.

I screamed as my body clenched down tight, pleasure and pain coming together in an intoxicating mix that left me reeling. My legs quivered and I was suddenly grateful for the desk underneath me that was holding me up.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand if it wasn’t there.

He didn’t slow down. Not even once.

“That’s it, mate. Tighten that bottom around my cock,” he demanded, and my body instantly responded to his command.

As my orgasm faded, my fucking began to grow more painful. I dug my fingers into the desk and whined softly, trying to take the increasing burn as the seconds passed.

“Did you enjoy that orgasm, little mate? Is it beginning to hurt now?” he purred.

I moaned, but it sounded like a mixture of pain and desire, neither one stronger than the other.

He was right.

“Yes, alpha,” I whimpered.

That only resulted in him fucking me harder. His fingers gripped my hip hard enough that I knew they’d probably leave a mark, but for some reason, I liked that.

I would like his fingerprints on my hips, and I would enjoy the marks of his belt on my ass even more.

I felt myself falling again, edging closer toward a second orgasm. It was as if I was a train about to hurtle off its tracks. Nothing could stop what was coming, not even me.

His fingers worked my clit so roughly that I knew I would be sore there too after he was done. His cock thrust in and out of my bottom and I keened, struggling against my release even though I knew it was inevitable.

He’d said he was going to make me come three times and I knew he was going to follow through with that.

That made tonight even more terrifying than yesterday. It made it even more real. Which in turn resulted in turning me on that much more.

I screamed and my legs began to shake. My orgasm was upon me before I was ready for it, white-hot bliss than shook me with the force of an earthquake. Every muscle in my body tensed tight and I lost control of everything.

I writhed beneath him, arching into his thrusts while rubbing my clit roughly against his fingers. There was no more thought behind my actions. I thrashed. I moaned. I behaved like a wanton little whore, and I came even harder because of it.

My orgasm seemingly lasted forever, and I suffered through every last second of it. I suffered through an addicting mix of sensations.

Fear.

Bliss.

Stunning agony.

It was the most fulfilling thing I’d ever experienced in my life.

He released my hip and slipped his hand around the front of my throat, cupping it and lifting me so that my back was flush against his chest. He never stopped fucking me, but I felt him kiss the back of my head and I practically melted in his arms.

As my second release began to fade, he groaned in my ear and a delicious shiver of desire raced down my spine.

“You’ve got one orgasm left before I finish with you, little mate,” he snarled, and I whined in nervous anticipation.

“I don’t think I can,” I said nervously.

“You will. It’s only a matter of time,” he growled, and my core clamped down hard. He used the flats of three fingers to punish my clit. I shuddered against him and begged him for relief, but he didn’t listen.

He just kept forcing my pleasure forth anyway.

Soon enough, I was writhing with need as his cock punished my bottom hole hard. He fucked me so hard that his pelvis slapped against my bottom cheeks, reawakening the burning welts his belt had left behind.

I knew before this was over that I would be sore inside and out.

I keened, struggling to take what he gave me even though I could do nothing but accept it.

He groaned in my ear, and I felt his cock throb deep inside my bottom. His fingers worried my clit roughly and I knew my third orgasm was close.

“Oh, please!” I pleaded.

“Come, sweet mate. Come hard for me,” he coaxed, and I screamed as his words quaked through me.

I closed my eyes and I shattered on his cock.

Exquisite ecstasy reigned free within me, surging through me like a tidal wave as he held me close against him. His cock pulsed hard, and I closed my eyes, allowing myself just to feel.

The first blazing pulse of his seed surged inside me, and my bliss took over everything in me. It destroyed me.

Every muscle tensed. My eyes watered and tears began to drip down my cheeks. Nothing could have readied me for such a powerful experience and through it all, his cum continued to burn and mark me deep inside my ass. My fucking never slowed and just when I thought I was going to break into pieces, my eyes rolled back in my head and my whole body began to shake. His arms wrapped around me and lifted me clear of the floor, leaving me suspended in the air on top of his cock.

I shook so hard I began to sob.

“I’m sorry, alpha,” I whispered and still, my body shook with pleasure and pain. I was lost in the bliss he’d forced on me and when it finally ebbed into a manageable pulse, I sagged against him, thoroughly broken and used.

“Shhh… That’s my good girl,” he murmured, but that didn’t stop my tears. Gently, he pulled free of my bottom and gathered me in his lap. My breath hitched in my throat again and again as I cried. He took my arms and placed them around his neck, allowing me to clutch him and I adored him for it.

Right now, he was my safe space. He’d broken me and I knew he would put me back together again.

His palm cupped the back of my head. Gently, he pulled back and kissed the trails of tears that lined my cheeks and I melted for him.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured again, not knowing what else to say.

“I forgave you the moment you pulled that trigger, sweet mate,” he reassured me.

“But the war,” I began anxiously, and he shook his head.

“Whatever comes our way now, we will deal with together. Do you understand, mate?” he pressed, and I nodded. “I will protect you. You have my word.”

I took a deep breath and he pulled me into a sweet kiss that left me reeling and breathlessly needy for the man who had just punished me.

“We’re going to talk now, Ava. I want you to tell me everything,” he coaxed, and I stared into his eyes for a long time.

All my life, I’d trained to fight against monsters like him. I prepared for them to try to kill me for the things I knew. My father had warned me of them, of all of them, but maybe he’d never met one like Lawson. I’d never imagined that I would consider working with one of them, let alone spreading my legs for one.

But here I was considering doing both.

My pussy clenched tight.

“You’ll protect me?” I asked softly.

“You’re mine now, Ava. I protect what’s mine,” he snarled. “I promise you that. You already know I’m a man of my word, my pretty mate,” he added as he stared into my eyes, not breaking for even a moment.

“What does it mean to be your mate?” I asked.

“It means you’re my everything, Ava. That I’m never going to have eyes for another. It means that if you run from me, I will find you. If you disobey me, I will punish you, but above all else, I will love you with all that I have to give,” he vowed.

“Do you really mean that?” I asked.

I’d never heard any man talk like that before, except in the movies and romance novels. If it hadn’t been him who said it, I wouldn’t have believed it.

“I mean every single word, sweet girl. Now tell me everything, before I decide to take you over my knee for another lesson in obeying your alpha,” he warned gently.

I knew I’d pushed him far enough. Anyone else would have probably killed me for what I’d done today, but not him.

I licked my lips and nodded, adjusting my knees to either side of his waist so I was facing him. I wanted to see him for what I was about to say.

“I’ve never told anyone what I’m about to tell you,” I whispered softly, glancing at his beta at the door. I blushed softly, knowing he’d seen everything that my alpha had just done to me as punishment. All of my shame. Everything. I swallowed hard, chewing at my lip.

“I trust Toboe with my life. You can speak freely when he’s here at my side,” he said, likely sensing my hesitation.

“Have you heard of the name Ethan Winters?” I asked tentatively.

He nodded.

“So, you know of what happened here in the quarter?” My voice shook a bit more. I closed my eyes as the footage flashed in my head once more and I looked away from him.

The gunfire popped in my ear, as if it were real and not just a fragmented memory.

“I do. As one of the reigning leaders that rule this city, it is my job to know, especially when it happens in my own territory,” he answered firmly.

I took a deep breath and licked my lips.

“You see, that wasn’t like him. He used to be a respected professor in his industry before he left the public sector to begin pursuing consulting work instead. He worked for some of the most powerful shifters and vampires in the world. I never knew their names or the details of the contracts that he took, but he did teach me enough so that I could protect myself. Since I was a young girl, I’ve trained hard to be able to stand against your kind. I’ve learned how to make weapons like the silver-tipped bullets or even the sunfire ones, or something as simple as carving a wooden stake,” I began.

“It’s rare for a human to know we exist,” he said softly, studying my face as he did so.

“I know,” I murmured, and I chewed my lip.

“What else, pretty mate?” he coaxed.

With a heavy sigh, everything else fell out of me. I told him what I found on the head of security’s computer, that my father had only just mentioned the Venuti family name once in passing and that I was sure that they had something to do with the circumstances surrounding his death. Lawson listened quietly and attentively. He just let me talk while his fingers traced up and down my thighs. When I finished, I gazed at him, feeling almost anxious to hear what he had to say.

He brushed a stray lock of hair behind my head and smiled.

“I understand why you fought me so hard, Ava,” he told me. “You want to protect your family name. Loyalty is an honorable thing and that is something I can respect. I’m proud of you, little mate.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Tomorrow, I will introduce you to the members of my pack. I can’t replace the family you lost, but as my mate you will come to understand that you will be welcomed with open arms into another,” he added.

“Yes, alpha,” I whispered, at a loss to say anything else.

“Now, let us find the evidence you were looking for. Together.”