Silas circled, whip dragging behind him, then rose again with an arc that carved across both shoulder blades, staggered enough that the wraparound bit into the soft flesh beneath her arms.
She gasped. Sucked air into her lungs and screamed through her already raw throat.
And still, she did not let go.
Not when he whipped across her calves. Not when he split the backs of her knees with a precision strike.
Not even when he struck her spine.
Or when the whip curled around and bit into her nipple.
The whip snaked around her ribs over and over, devastating both breasts. Bit her hips. Kissed and wrapped around her thighs in a merciless, endless rhythm.
He ordered her to raise her leg again — one side, then the other so he could punish the trembling flesh beneath. One brutal lash after another until her leg quivered and nearly dropped.
Then, with both her feet on the ground, he stepped in close, his body behind hers, close enough she could feel his heat. Heleaned in, his breath hot against her skin. Her ear. “You lie to wolves, you make us doubt the foundations of every promise, every hug, every kiss. The air we fucking share. If you’re ours, and you lie, you tear our fucking guts out.”
His voice cracked.
She was beyond crying, but her whole body trembled.
“I wanted to trust you, but I couldn’t. The wolf couldn’t.” He touched her forehead to the top of her shoulder. “We do now. You took this. You didn’t run.”
She couldn’t speak. Her lips moved. No sound came out.
Silas dropped the whip and stepped in front of her.
He reached up and helped her loosen her grip, one hand then the other.
She collapsed into his arms, and he held her like she was the most fragile thing in the world.
Like she was his again.
* * * *
Silas held her shaking, trembling body, and she washisagain.
Claimed in violence and pain, and she hadn’t walked away.
She needed aftercare badly, but the two of them needed to reconnect, needed the union of their bodies. Thereunionof their bodies.
All the Alaska King sheets were black, in case there was blood, so he didn’t worry about her bleeding on the sheets. He carried her to the bed cradled to his chest, pulled the spread and blankets back, settled her in the middle, and put lube on his dick.
He looked at her, saw the love in her gaze, the acceptance, and decided she got a say in this. “I love you, little hawk. Aftercare now and sex later, or sex now and aftercare later?”
“Same answer, Sir. I’m yours.”
Silas moved over her, slid between her legs with the sweat and blood of their reckoning still clinging to him. He didn’ttease. Didn’t wait. He lined up at her ass and pressed in hard, all at once, with a growl that vibrated through both their bodies when his groin touched hers, his dick impaled completely inside her.
She screamed. Back arched. Eyes wide.
But her legs wrapped around him. Pulled him in closer.
He didn’t move at first. Just held deep. Hands braced beside her shoulders. His face hovered inches above hers, and for a long, breathless stretch of silence, he just stared into her eyes.
Not with anger. With relief. With renewed possession.
“I need you,” he said, voice low and raw. “I needed to forgive you and didn’t know how.”
