Objectively, it’s dangerous to be running like this, heedless of the animals lurking in every crevice and shadow. There are wildcats, snakes, earth dragons, boars, wolves, golden hornedlions and winged dragons... and possibly also dark fae in human or animal form, out hunting.
Valen has saved me from danger before. Now he’s thrown me into the heart of it. It was as if he couldn’t help himself. Is that the wolf way of solving issues, letting go of anger... or mating? He spoke of the chase almost like a sexual act.
This isn’t what a good girl would do. Not what a noble lady would agree to. And I didn’t agree to it... I wasn’t given a choice. I ran and have been running ever since.
Exhaustion is catching up with me. I bet he could catch me in a heartbeat, but he gave me a head start. My heart is hammering, my chest can’t fill with enough air. Black spots are dancing in my vision.
I won’t make it much farther.
And then I hear him. He’s light-footed, like most of his kind, but I don’t think he’s being very careful right now. There was a wildness to him earlier, a madness I haven’t seen in him before. I don’t think he’d hurt me, but I could be wrong.
Gods help me, I could be wrong in a final, fatal way. Can’t forget he’s a werewolf, a fae with twisted magic, a dangerous creature. The kind of monster mothers warn their children of when they go out, or through fairytales at night when they lie in bed.
The kind of monster who grabbed me as a child and left me scarred and afraid of my own shadow.
“There you are,” his grave voice says from behind me, and suddenly I’m grabbed and yanked back, against a muscular body. “Been looking for you.”
“You knew where I was all along,” I pant and squirm, his cock and knot digging into my back, my body thrumming with arousal.
“Indeed, I did, but chasing you was my pleasure.” His breath washes over my neck, hot. So hot. “You ran away, you naughty girl.”
“You told me to run! You?—”
“Now you’ll be punished. You want to be punished, don’t you?”
“Valen...”
“That’s why you played along. Deep inside, you want to be both. My good girl. My naughty girl. I’m going to bend you over my knee and spank you until your pert little ass turns crimson.”
I open my mouth to say no, of course no, that’s absurd, I don’t want to be spanked, but... no sound comes out of my mouth. For some strange reason, the thought of having him spank me feels arousing, too.
Everything he does is arousing, and as I turn in his arms and look up, seeing the ferocious, hot desire in his eyes, the bared teeth, the ticking jaw, I’m ready for it, for anything he wants to do to me, except...
“Don’t worry, princess,” he growls, “I know the rules. I won’t fuck you; only teach you some manners. Discipline you. I bet nobody in your life ever tried.”
Rules? What are the rules for desiring someone you can’t have, someone you shouldn’t want in the first place?
“Then do it,” I hear myself say. “Discipline me.”
“You shouldn’t have run away from me.”
“I don’t want to run away from you,” I whisper, every word true and hurting like jagged glass in my mouth. “Ever.”
“Fuck, Princess…” He drags me by the hand to a rock, and my gaze is drawn to his face, more human-like now than earlier. He sits there and, true to his word, bends me over his knee. I squeal when he lifts my skirt and underskirt and yanks down my long undergarments. “Let’s see what we have to work with.”
Cold air hits my bare ass, and I shiver. It’s awkward to hang over his muscular thigh like this, my hair in my face, but above all, it’s the anticipation of what’s to come that has me nervous and uncertain.
Should I have said no? Is this going to turn out to be a huge mistake?
Am I burying myself deeper and deeper in the mud instead of readying myself for my future?
Then I lose my train of thought, all thought, deep or shallow, as his big hand caresses my ass, warm and rough, raising goosebumps all over my body. Something so simple, so innocent shouldn’t send a throb through my belly, shouldn’t make me clench.
“Fuck, your ass is so juicy. So round. I’ll discipline you until you come, pretty lady. I’ll take care of you.”
“Valen…” I squirm.
“Fuck, what you do to me. Fucking hell.” Down comes his hand on my ass, and I gasp at the pain. “Bad girl. Take the punishment, relish it. Do you like it? Do you like the sting?”
