Close, but not quite it.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," she says softly.
He softens considerably upon hearing that. "Come here, Baby," he coos and she is helpless to resist.
She walks into his chest and wraps her arms around his waist as much as she can. He is still a giant compared to her and her stomach only makes it harder for her to reach around his torso. "I missed you," she whispers honestly and he smiles.
He winds his arms tightly around her, lifting her off the ground slightly. "I missed you too, baby girl," he sighs. "Next time you need to go somewhere, just let me know, okay? I'll have someone drive you."
She nods even though he doesn't think she'll do that. He doesn't like letting her go anywhere without him and it's clear that leaving her alone was a bad idea.
He breathes in her crisp, sharp scent, or he was prepared for that. What he isn't prepared for is the intoxicating scent of her arousal. He grips a handful of her hair and tilts her head back, forcing her to look at him. "You should have said something if your heat isn't over," he says.
"I- I-" she stutters, trying to pull herself together. "I didn't want to be a burden," she says. She's a mess, breath coming in gasps too short to think.
She probably doesn't remember getting out of the house in the first place.
They are beyond fortunate that her first thought in her heat-addled mind is to come to him and that he had assigned her bodyguards.
"Have you done this before? Told me to leave when your heat isn't over?"
She shakes her head and he believes the raw honesty in those eyes. She had only one had previous heat before, the one which he triggered. She leans into his touch, trusting him completely even now, when he's upset and even his most faithful men would draw away.
"Someone could have gotten you," he says, the mere thought making his heart drop into his stomach. "You smell delectable right now, my love. I don't want other people to see you this way."
"I know," she whispers, rubbing her cheek against his palm. "I wasn't thinking. I wouldn't- I'd never do it again."
"I believe you," he says calmly. "But you must be punished. I need you to learn this lesson."
Her eyes grow almost comically wide and she looks even more angelic like this, younger than her age and so much lovelier. She trusts him so much more than she should and he isn't inclined to tell her otherwise.
He thinks of how easily she accepted him as her alpha and her mate, how easy it was to trigger her head and then make her promise never to leave him thereafter. He's lucky, of course, to have found her when he did, still so pure and innocent that she's never even had her heat before, that she trusted him a hundred percent when he told her he would take care of her.
And he would keep that promise too. He would never let her come to harm.
Sometimes, he thinks about finding her later, about what would have happened if someone other than him had decided to take her for themselves. She's such a trusting little thing. Her brother should never have left her on her own.
He doesn't ask that she quit but he's happy when she does it anyways. It's instinct. Now that she's pregnant, she doesn't trust anyone except for her mate. She wants to keep her kits safe.
He thinks he understands it a little more now, why her mother had spoiled their youngest sibling so much. It's not just that they are unable to hide their animal characteristics. They are so much like their animals that it is hard to tell the two apart. He had been in touch with Shifters who have mates like his and they are the similar in their experiences regarding their temperaments. More animal than human, especially when they're feeling overwhelmed. He's lucky his mate is so much smaller and weaker than her. He had seen research of Cat Shifter couples where the female would slash and claw their mates in the middle of intercourse.
Her voice brings his attention back. "What're you going to do?" she asks, eyes wide, lips red and lush, just begging to be kissed. Never one to deny himself, he leans down and captures her lips in his, giving her a filthy kiss.
"I'm going to put a vibrator in you and I want you to stay still and take it for as long as I wish. You are not allowed to come until I fuck you. Do you understand?" he asks.
She swallows and nods.
Chapter Twelve: Denial
"Stay," he says, putting her in the middle of office and leaving her side for a moment. She watches as he riffles through the drawers, through the various toys and devices that he uses on her from time to time. The knowledge sends a wave of goosebumps up her spine. When she woke that morning, she can feel his come still inside her, filling up. But as time passes and she washes away the scent of him on her skin, she begins to grow restless, like a fire is burning inside of her and the only way to put out the fire is to get to him.
He returns and pulls her forward to the couch set aside for more casual meetings.
"I want you to take off your pants and your underwear and spread your legs wide for me."
She is quick to obey, slipping her fingers through the hem of the pants she had put on haphazardly that morning and yanking it down. She isn't wearing underwear. It's most comfortable for her tail when she doesn't. She lets it curl around her waist automatically, hiding her nudity from his prying eyes.
"Open," he says.