I whimper. My bare breasts press against his muscled torso. I drag my lips over the soft hair of his chest.
He curves his fingers lower and sweeps them between my legs. “I’m keeping a tally of your lies, little girl.” His fingers brush over my opening. I press closer to him, hoping he’ll take me again. “There will be a reckoning.”
The way he says it makes punishment sound more like some delicious reward. Of course, I just learned what it feels like to be spanked by him, and I adored it.
I lift my face, letting water stream over it. “What kind of reckoning?” I hardly recognize my own voice, it sounds so husky.
He moves his finger back up to my asshole and circles there. “The kind that ends with this gorgeous ass red and hot and my cock buried deep between these cheeks.”
I almost orgasm right there. Just from his threatened punishment, which sounds far more like a reward than anything. I reach down to take care of my own needs, since he seems more inclined to tease, but he catches my wrist. “Uh uh. Not when you’ve been naughty, little wolf. No more pleasure for you until I decide you can come.”
A mini-orgasm rips through me, and I shiver against him, catching my breath.
Mark chuckles darkly. “That goes on your ledger, babygirl. Disobedience.”
He releases me and positions me away from the spray of water to shampoo my hair. I close my eyes, too dazed with lust and confusion to do anything else. When he’s finished, he turns off the water and wraps me in a warm, fuzzy towel.
“We’ll go to Target to buy clothes and necessities for the three of you today,” he tells me.
I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
“And then, I’d like to take the pups to do something fun. Would they like an amusement park? Or mini-golf?”
I stare at him. Both options seem outlandish to me. So outlandish, I almost giggle. This is no time for an amusement park. I have to keep my children hidden from their psychopathic father. And yet, the idea of denying my kids such an extravagance feels cruel. Our life in Kentucky with Dirk was horrible, but moving away and staying on the run hasn’t been a picnic, either. My sister gave me enough money to get away, but because Dirk’s an alpha, I was afraid to ask other shifters for assistance.
Cody, the alpha in Colorado Springs, found us by accident and gave me money and his help, but until then, we were struggling just to eat.
Maybe we could go have some fun. Just this once. I know we can’t stay here with Mark—not permanently. This is just a temporary resting place while I wait to see if Dirk knows where I am and if he’s coming for us. We may have to run again. Maybe soon.
“That would be nice,” I tell him.
He lowers his head and brushes his lips across mine. It’s another tease because I don’t get a real kiss. He tucks the towel around me, turns me around and smacks my ass to send me out the door of his bathroom.
I send a small smile over my shoulder as I scoot back to the guest bathroom where I left yesterday’s clothes. I put them on and open the door to the guest bedroom.
Jayden and Angie are playing Kings on the Corners card game on the bed. “Go and jump in the shower,” I tell Jayden. “Mark is going to take us shopping and then to do something fun.”
“What?” Angie demands as Jayden scrambles off the bed.
“It’s a surprise. I’ll let him tell you,” I say. “You’ll like it.”
“What is it? What is it?” Angie starts bouncing up and down on the bed as I pull my clothes on.
“Don’t!” I say automatically, that familiar rush of adrenaline kicking in, my frayed nerves firing in protective fear. “Don’t jump on the bed, angel.”
“She can jump.” Mark leans in the doorway, dressed in a black t-shirt that molds to his muscles and a faded pair of jeans. He looks sinfully handsome, but more than that, his indulgent smile as he watches Angie makes my eyes smart again.
It’s too late, though. Angie heard the fear in my voice and came down off the bed to glue herself to my side. “What’s the surprise?” she whispers to me.
Mark winks. “I’ll wait until your brother is out of the shower, and then you two can vote.”
“There’s only two of us,” Angie says, warming to Mark far more quickly than I would expect. “Who’s the tie-breaker?”
“Your mom,” Mark says immediately, pushing off the door frame and sauntering down the stairs.
My need to follow him, to stay close to the warm sphere of energy he projects makes me rock on my feet. But I need to call my sister—to find out if she’s heard anything about us through my dad’s pack.