Mason's hand cupped my face, his palm warm against my tear-stained cheek, tilting my chin up until I met his eyes. The hardness was still there, the Alpha authority that never quite left him, but it was tempered now with something softer, something that looked almost like pride. His thumb brushed across my cheekbone, catching a tear I hadn't realized was falling.
"It's over," he murmured, his voice soft but firm, carrying the weight of truth. "The spanking is over."
"But there's more," I said, because I knew there was. This couldn't be the end of it. What I'd done was too big, too terrible, to be erased by forty strikes. The words came out steady despite my exhaustion, despite the trembling in my limbs, because I'd accepted this. All of it.
"Yes," Mason confirmed, and there was no apology in his voice, no hesitation, just the calm certainty of an Alpha who knew what his pack needed. His eyes held mine, dark and deep and full of a love that hadn't wavered even through his anger. "There's more. But for now..." He pulled me against his chest, his arms wrapping around me with a gentleness that made my throat tight with fresh tears, his hand coming up to cradle the back of my head. "For now, let us hold you. Let the bond settle."
The others pressed close, surrounding me with warmth and scent and love that seeped into my bones and quieted the desperate keening of my Omega. Caleb at my back, his broad chest solid against my spine, his face buried in my hair. Leo pressed against my side, his fingers intertwined with mine, holding on like he'd never let go. Ethan close enough to touch, his hand on my ankle, his presence a steady anchor in the storm of emotion. My Omega purred for the first time in three days, the sound vibrating through my chest with desperate relief, with gratitude, with the bone-deep contentment of being held by her pack.
"Good girl," Mason whispered against my hair, his lips brushing against my scalp, and the praise washed through me like sunlight, warming me from the inside out despite the fire still burning across my ass. I'd taken my punishment. I'd earned their forgiveness, or the beginning of it, at least. The first step on a long road back to where we'd been before I'd shattered their trust.
Whatever came next, whatever else they needed from me to make this right, I would give it willingly. Without hesitation. Without complaint. Because I was theirs. I was finally starting to understand what that meant.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
AVA
The morning after the spanking, Mason found me in the nest. I was still sore, my skin tender and bruised in ways that made sitting uncomfortable and lying on my back impossible. There was a strange peace beneath the discomfort, settling in my chest that hadn't been there before. The physical punishment was over. Whatever came next, I could face it.
Or so I thought.
"Get up." Mason's voice cut through the quiet of the nest room, sharp and commanding, his dark eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my stomach flip. He stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his broad chest, every line of his body radiating authority and control. He was dressed simply, dark jeans, a black henley with the sleeves pushed up to reveal his forearms, but he looked like a king surveying his domain, like a predator watching its prey.
I rose immediately, wincing as the movement pulled at my tender flesh, and stood before him with my hands clasped in front of me, my eyes downcast in automatic submission. Theoversized shirt I'd slept in, hung to mid-thigh, leaving my legs bare, my feet cold against the hardwood floor.
"Look at me." The command was soft but brooking no argument, delivered with the quiet certainty of a man who expected absolute obedience. I raised my eyes to meet his, heart pounding in my chest, my breath coming faster than it should. Something in his expression made my Omega whimper, not with fear, but with anticipation. Whatever was coming, my body already knew it would break me apart.
"The spanking was the first part of your punishment," Mason said, his voice calm and measured, each word falling between us like a stone dropped into still water. He pushed off from the doorframe and walked toward me, his movements slow and deliberate, his eyes never leaving mine. "It was for the physical danger you put yourself in. For the pain you caused us with your recklessness."
He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off his body, close enough that his scent, cedar and smoke and something dark and masculine wrapped around me like a physical thing. His hand came up to cup my chin, tilting my face toward him, his thumb brushing across my lower lip with featherlight pressure.
"This next part is different," he continued, his voice dropping lower, rougher, sending shivers down my spine. "This is for the trust you violated. The control you tried to take back. You ran because you wanted to make your own choice, Ava. You wanted to prove you had power over your own life." His thumb pressed harder against my lip, parting them slightly, and I tasted the salt of his skin, felt the roughness of his fingerprint against the sensitive flesh.
"But you don't," Mason said, and his voice was almost gentle now, almost tender, which somehow made it worse. "Not anymore. You gave yourself to us when you accepted ourmarks. You became ours. And you need to understand what that means." He released my chin and stepped back, his hands dropping to his sides, his expression shifting into something harder, colder, more distant.
"From this moment until I decide otherwise, you have no autonomy," he said, the words falling like hammer blows. "You don't move without permission. You don't speak without permission. You don't eat, drink, sleep, or use the bathroom without asking me first. Do you understand?"
My throat tightened, my chest constricting with a mixture of fear and something else — something darker, something that thrilled at the thought of surrendering so completely. My Omega purred beneath my skin, responding to the Alpha authority in his voice, craving the structure and control he was offering.
"Yes," I whispered, my voice barely audible even in the silence of the room.
"Yes, what?" The correction was immediate, his eyes sharpening with expectation.
"Yes, Alpha." The title fell from my lips automatically, instinctively, and I saw something flicker in his expression, satisfaction, approval, hunger.
"Good girl." The praise washed over me like warm water, flooding my veins with heat despite the coldness of his demeanor. "Now. Ask permission to leave this room."
I swallowed hard, my cheeks flushing with humiliation and arousal in equal measure. "May I leave this room, Alpha?"
"You may." He stepped aside, gesturing toward the door with one hand. "Follow me."
I followed. The first few hours were... manageable. Mason led me through the cabin, explaining the rules as we went. I was to stay within arm's reach of him at all times unless he gave me explicit permission to move farther away. I was to keep my eyes downcast unless he told me to look at him. I was to respondto every command with "Yes, Alpha" and every question with "Thank you for asking, Alpha."
I was to ask permission for everything. Every. Single. Thing.
"May I sit down, Alpha?" I asked when we reached the living room, my legs aching from standing.
"You may." Mason settled into the armchair by the fireplace, his long legs stretched out before him, his dark eyes watching me with that unsettling intensity. "On the floor. At my feet."
