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  Skylar looked at him incredulously. “You can’t say that.”

  Dylan laughed out loud. “But I can and do. Do you have any idea what it took to convince the Council that you shouldn’t be locked up as some kind of rogue? They weren’t too keen on the idea of you being loose at all. But they realized that I was going to claim you as mate and that to lock you away would mean war. Not just with my pack, but with those who feel the same way about their mates. They’d have had one hell of a fight on their hands. And they would have lost.”

  He took her by the arm and led her downstairs.

  Chapter Ten

  Skylar watched as the other members of her pack were led either into the main house or down the stairs from within it. Lacey looked forlorn but resigned. Roz was still angry and wanted to fight. The alpha from the Hamptons had a death grip on her to keep her from bolting or causing trouble.

  Dylan was just about to speak when his phone squawked. He hit the speaker function. “Dylan? We have her. We have Darby. She never made it off the estate.”

  Dylan smiled. “Well done, John. Bring the last of this band of naughty little girls up to the main house.” Dylan looked around the room. “Matthew, see if anyone needs anything. I need to speak to Nick privately. You,” he said to Skylar, “stand here and behave yourself lest I decide you had something to do with this latest bit of nonsense.”

  Nick disengaged from Bianca who moved to stand close to Skylar. Roz tried to move forward as well but was restrained by Oliver.

  “So, you’ve been giving Josh pointers on the fine art of disciplining one’s mate?”

  Nick grinned. “I have. He’s a very willing and adept student.”

  Dylan laughed. “Seriously, Nick… does he know what he’s doing? She needs to be disciplined, and as you know I prefer that the men of my pack discipline their own mates. But this first spanking needs to be done well.”

  “I have no doubt he’ll get the job done. And I heard he’s already laid claim to her. He may as well get things started with her right.”

  “Yes, as I recall your mating ritual involved your mate getting her bottom blistered.”

  Nick laughed. “That it did. And it didn’t turn out too badly if I do say so myself. And you, Alpha, will be saying the same.”

  “Yes, I’m afraid I will. In fact, if that’s all that’s said, I’ll be greatly relieved.”

  Dylan walked back out to address his pack and their guests.

  “As some or most of you know, two of the ladies formerly of the Bae Diogel pack made a bid for their freedom this evening. They failed. Neither of them ever made it off the estate. While I’m sympathetic to the feeling these ladies may have about how their pack was disbanded, I also have a responsibility to them to bring them back into the fold, so to speak. Josh?”

  “Yes, Alpha.”

  “I believe you have laid claim to your mate?”

  “I have. I have claimed Anna as my mate and she has acknowledged my claim in front of witnesses.”

  A loud round of applause and congratulations went up around the young couple. Some of the wolves from other packs weren’t too keen on the idea of the pretty dark-haired girl being paired off so quickly and to one of Dylan’s men.

  “Then, Josh, as her mate I formally charge you to discipline your mate in such a way and to such a degree that the idea of misbehaving in this manner is something she will refrain from doing in the future.”

  “No…” Anna cried and her former pack mates began to raise angry objections.

  “And you wonder why we killed the Serbs when they tried to do what you managed to pull off,” said Skylar bitterly.

  “Which leads me to my next point. I, Dylan Grainger, of Calon Gwyllt pack claim you, Skylar Owen of Bae Diogel as my one true mate. Do you accept my claim?”

  “Let my women go in peace and agree not to pursue them and I will.”

  There was a startled gasp among the group gathered with several of her women objecting.

  Dylan smiled. “You, my mate, are an alpha of rare beauty and courage. I admire the way you would sacrifice yourself for your pack, but ‘tis a hollow sacrifice. No harm will come to your ladies. Yes, they will be mated but to men of my choosing who will cherish their spirits and keep them safe and happy. So, you are refusing to acknowledge my claim?”

  “Unless you will relinquish your so-called claim to my women, I will never acknowledge you as my mate.”

  Dylan pulled her unrelenting body into his. “Never is about to become a very short and finite period for you.” He kissed her soundly as she struggled against him. “Before I define the parameters of never for my own mate, one among you has asked to lay claim to Roz. Oliver, my friend, you’re up.”

  Oliver smiled. “Rozalyn Kincanon, formerly of the Bae Diogel pack, I claim you as my one and true mate. Do you accept my claim?”

  “I’d rather die first.”

  Oliver grinned at Dylan, who nodded his head.

  Oliver continued, “I think that’s a bit of an overreaction. Nonetheless, I challenge you to run, Roz. I will catch you and claim you as my own.”

  Roz looked at Skylar who was seeing the way they’d been trapped. They had both been formally claimed by an alpha male. Both had rejected those claims. Like Micah before him, Dylan was about to formally challenge her. She shook her head at him.

  Dylan smiled slowly. “Run, Skylar. And when I catch you, I will claim you as my own. The only real contest involved is whether Oliver will catch and claim Roz before I catch and claim you. Or, you can choose to be my sweet, reasonable mate and…” He stopped as both she and Roz shifted and bolted through the doors.

  “What did your friend in Wales call her, Alpha? Oh, right, a terrible bit of beauty. That she is,” said Oliver admiringly.

  When Roz had shifted, she had revealed her wolf self to be silver with blackened tips running throughout her coat. Instead of the normal white tip on the end of her tail, it was pure black. Skylar on the other hand, to Dylan’s delight, was a rare red-coated wolf. Their full wolf counterparts of that color were only found running wild in North Carolina. A mixture of red and tawny hairs with black tips and a black mask, they were striking and thought to be of a different genus from the common gray wolf or coyote.

  “What do you think is sporting, Dylan? A sixty-second head start?” said Oliver with a grin.

  “Oh, come now, Oliver, we can do better than that. Three minutes? And Nick, while I’m out dealing with my very naughty mate, I’ll need you to see to Darby’s punishment. Make sure she thinks twice before crossing me again.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Dylan.”

  “Put her under lock and key up here at the main house. I’ll leave it to your discretion to decide if she will be allowed at brunch in the morning. For the ladies of Bae Diogel, take a lesson from your sisters. I’ve been about as understanding as I’m going to be. From this point forward I will treat you as I would any of the females in my pack. You misbehave, you’ll find yourself face down over Nick’s knee or my own. I guarantee that’s not something you want.”

  “Dylan, I think we ought to get after them.”

  “You’re probably right. Matthew, as Nick will be seeing to Darby’s punishment, will you get the other ladies back to their rooms. I want a man at every door and one posted on each side of the building. Ladies, you are not allowed out of your room unless one of my men comes to escort you.”

  Matthew looked at Nick and then back to Dylan and grinned. “Have a nice run, Alpha.”

  Dylan laughed and both he and Oliver shifted to their wolf selves. Like his soon to be mate, Oliver was a gray wolf with more black than silver in his coat and a silver-white tip to his tail. Dylan, like his human form, was enormous. His genus would have been more closely aligned to the arctic wolf. He was almost pure silver, with a tawny undercoat, black mask, and black-tipped ears. The two males raced into the night after their mates.

  They stopped at the edge of the patio, each scenting the wind for his mate. U
nlike Josh who had to try to distinguish Anna’s unique odor, both Dylan and Oliver had been around their chosen mates enough to recognize their distinct aroma and to search the wind for a known scent. Each found the one he was seeking and without a backward glance raced to find her.

  * * *

  While Roz had headed toward the forest with perhaps the idea of getting off the estate and finding some kind of help, Skylar had headed for the sea. That made sense to Dylan. She had spent most, if not all, of her life in close proximity to the ocean. Dylan howled into the night. Unlike Josh, his howl was not mournful but rather sounded of pure joy and the rush of conquest.

  Dylan had decided when he was standing on the balcony earlier with Skylar that he would force her to run and when he caught her he would claim her. She was running hard. While Dylan was bigger and stronger, he believed the real advantage he had was that he wanted to claim her. She, on the other hand, had refused his claim at first to try to leverage the freedom of her girls and when that didn’t work, just to be obstinate. In reality, he felt she was no longer certain whether she wanted to be claimed or not.

  He howled again, knowing the sound would reverberate throughout her body, disorient her, and cause her to slow.

  * * *

  Dylan’s howl was provocative and hard to ignore. Each time, it almost felt like an alpha wave and threatened to knock the wind from her. She remembered having a similar reaction to Micah’s howl as well, but it lacked the sheer force of Dylan’s. She had always thought of Micah as a very dominant alpha. But when she compared his energy against Dylan’s it was clear that her former mate, while still an alpha, did not match Dylan’s strength, stamina, or power.

  Skylar skidded to a halt at the edge of a cliff. She looked down the cliff line and could see no way down. If she tried to go back the way she’d come she’d be cut off by Dylan. She ran south along the cliff, instinctively heading to North Carolina, Bae Diogel, and home. She had a misstep when the realization hit her, that her home was no longer there.

  Dylan howled again. This time it had an edge of victory. She was certain he had sighted her. She knew better than to take the time to look over her shoulder. Skylar ran as hard as she could but it didn’t take long for her to hear him closing in on her. The cliff abruptly ended and Skylar’s run came to an end.

  She knew that it was now up to him how he chose to treat her. He could grab her by the scruff of her neck in wolf form and mate and mark her on the spot. She would then carry both his scent and his mark back to their home. Or he could allow her to shift and take her back to the house to be mated and marked in their bed. Whichever he chose, she felt the beginnings of arousal deep within her. Dylan had a healthy dislike of humiliating the females in his pack. Skylar guessed that only the members of his immediate household would be present when he returned with her to witness that she had been claimed.

  She hoped if she shifted of her own accord he might be less inclined to punish her for refusing his initial claim and making him force her to run. Four weeks ago, when they had out fought the Serbian wolf pack, she had felt strong, powerful, and able to conquer anything. Now as she shifted, she felt utterly defeated.

  Dylan approached her in wolf form. She was exhausted. Even though he had imposed a bedtime for her of 8:30, Anna and Darby’s thwarted escape had interrupted her much needed rest. It was far from the amount of sleep required to replenish the energy she had expended for years carrying the responsibility of leading and protecting her pack.

  Silently Dylan shifted back. While he had seen her naked when he’d punished her earlier that evening, this was her first time to see him in the same state of undress. She was not a petite woman but his massive structure and height made her feel small in comparison. Normally seeing someone naked made them seem smaller or more vulnerable. Seeing Dylan so had just the opposite effect. His muscles were large and corded. His core revealed well-developed pectoral muscles and washboard abs. The V at the bottom of those muscles led directly to a large, heavy, impressive cock made all the more so by the enormous knot that had formed.

  He said nothing but stretched his hand out to her.

  “Did you stop somewhere and have someone airbrush those things on you?” she said, indicating his abs.

  He chuckled. “So now you want to be engaging, sweet, and funny?”

  “Well, nothing else seems to have worked.”

  He squatted down in front of her.

  “You’d better be careful how low you go or your balls are going to be dragging on this rock,” she said, eyeing the size and hardness of the globes hanging from behind his mighty cock.

  He laughed out loud. “Perhaps, but you’ll notice my cock is nowhere near the ground.” He took her by the hand and stood up. “Can you not give in the least bit and acknowledge my rightful claim to you?”

  She shook her head. “No, I can’t.”

  “Not can’t but won’t. You are a stubborn, proud alpha who refuses to see reason or acknowledge when she’s been bested and claimed. Nick will have left clothes for us in case you decide to yield. If you do, I’ll allow you to get dressed before we enter the house and you formally accept my claim.”

  “And if I choose to cling to my stubborn and proud ways?”

  “Then you will leave me no choice but to take you into the main hall unclothed in front of my beta and omega. Once there, I will force your submission by putting you over my knee and spanking you until you yield. You will yield, acknowledge and accept my claim.”

  “Why?” she said softly. “What did I ever do to you?”

  He pulled her close, cupping her bottom to keep her body in contact with his groin. She grimaced from the residual sting he had left in her backside with his earlier spankings. The welts he had raised were particularly painful. His cock was now straining against her belly. Dylan longed to have her beneath him writhing in ecstasy as he knotted her for the first time. “That night you said goodbye to him, I heard your heart and soul call to mine. You are mine, cariad… now and forever.”

  “I’m telling you right now, if you go and get yourself killed, I am not building any bonfires for you.”

  Dylan laughed out loud again. “I’m talking love, romance, and magic. You’re talking corpses and campfires. We really are going to have to work on you learning the appropriate language to use in certain situations with your mate.”

  He took her by the hand and headed back to the house.

  Chapter Eleven

  They walked silently hand in hand. When they heard Oliver howl in victory, Skylar shuddered. “He’ll claim her as wolf, won’t he?”

  “She left him no other choice. With the exception of one of his men, his pack is not here. She’ll need to be wearing his mark and carrying his scent when they return. I suspect his man will be up at the main house so that his claiming will be deemed valid and complete.”

  “You could have done that to me.”

  “Don’t even imagine that I didn’t think about it. But this is our home and we are surrounded by our pack. No one will dispute the validity of my claim. Does Roz know what to expect when he knots her the first time?”

  “I think she knows in general terms, but it’s not something she and I ever talked about. Do you think he’ll let me speak to her and say goodbye before they leave?”

  “You’re assuming you’d have my permission or be in a position to do so when they leave before sunrise.”

  “You’d deny me the chance of bidding her farewell?”

  “You act like you’ll never get to speak to her again. Oliver isn’t like that. He’d like her to be able to maintain her relationships with all of you. He knows they’re important to her. But she’s going to have to decide to behave and settle in with him before he does.” He chuckled. “And you refuse to acknowledge that I might not give you permission or that you aren’t going to be tied to me when she leaves.”

  “Dylan, please, just let Roz and me say goodbye. It doesn’t have to be in the morning. Just tonight when they get back
to the house. Can’t you just delay knotting and marking me until then?”

  “Why is it you behave badly and yet expect me to behave honorably? You force me to make you run. You say you will not accept or acknowledge my claim and will force me to make you do so by putting you over my knee in front of my beta and omega. For the record, if I have to put you over my knee, it won’t be discipline that gets through your stubbornness. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll punish you hard enough that you’ll feel it for days, but I’ll also use my fingers between your legs until you come calling my name and acknowledging my claim.”

  “No,” she said quietly.

  “Yes, cariad. It is not my way to humble my mate before others, but I will have no doubt in your mind or anyone else’s that you are mine.” He stopped and embraced her, running his hands down her back and over her bottom possessively. He chuckled as she winced. “If that little contact is uncomfortable, just think what it will be like to bear my weight throughout a knot and tie if it is more so.”

  Skylar hated how her body betrayed her. Despite being forced into this union with him, her whole body was alight with arousal. Her nipples were hard and erect and she wanted him to use them for their pleasure with his fingers and mouth. And she was in desperate need to have him breach the wet, warm place between her legs and force his knot inside her for the first time.

  “If I yield and acknowledge your claim when we get back to the house without any further resistance, do you think you could persuade Oliver to let me say goodbye to Roz and speak privately with her?”

  “No. Naughty girls are not allowed private conversations in which they can conspire against their mates.”

  “I just want to explain what happens when he goes to knot her… you don’t think he knotted her in wolf form, do you?”