Captured And Claimed (Wayward Mates Series Book 8) Read online

  He fought to control the cocky, silly words that he would have said before these confusing feelings began and instead said, “Easy, sweetheart. You don’t need to be worried about anything anymore.”

  She said nothing but continued to hold his gaze.

  “I know we got off to a bad start. I’m hoping one day we’ll look back on this and be able to laugh. I’m James Norris. I’m your fated mate.” He shook his head and chuckled ruefully. “And if an hour ago you had told me I would say that to any female I would have laughed. Never thought they really existed until I saw you. But the moment your eyes locked with mine downstairs I became a believer. I’m sorry for whatever you have been made to endure.”

  “Fuck you,” she spat, finally breaking her silence.

  James grinned at her, trying to let her see he meant to be no threat to her.

  “If that’s what you want from me, this is going much better than I had expected. But deMoncada was quite explicit about that not happening until you are bought and paid for, which I assure you I will do.”

  “And then what? You’ll rape me? Or play your sick, twisted games before you rape me? Funny, but I don’t find a lot of reassurance in that. And whatever it is you’re doing with that sound you’re making and that energy that I keep feeling wash over me, stop it. I don’t want anything from you except to see you die... all of you.”

  “I’m not going to rape you. I am going to buy you. That’s the easiest way to get us both out of here safe and sound and to some place where we can spend some time in seclusion, get to know one another and be bonded. But I promise you, everything will be all right.”

  “Nothing has been right, you prick, since some of deMoncada’s buddies snatched me off the streets of Florence and tossed me headlong into this nightmare.”

  James crossed to her and tried to take her hands in his. He needed her to remain calm until he could get them out of here. Her fear was increasing the scent of her arousal and emitting one of its own. A combination that could prove irresistible to some... including him. Even now he found himself wanting to do nothing more than mark and claim what was his.

  Shannon snatched her hands away from him and drew back one to slap him. “I swear to God I’ll kill you.”

  He caught her hand in his and smiled. “It will be all right, sweetheart. I know deMoncada has forced your body to respond and turned you into a shifter, but all the things he’s told you or done to you are the dark side of our kind. I want to show you the light. Show you what it can be like, what it should be like between us. I know you feel it when I call to you. Trust that feeling. Let me get you out of here. I promise you everything will be alright.”

  Shannon seemed to relax. James continued to rumble at her consolingly and let down his guard. It was something he wouldn’t do again. The hand he didn’t hold came across and punched him in the throat, causing him to fall back and away from her. She was faster than he would have thought possible as she sprang for the balcony.

  James’ more primal instincts kicked in as he flew across the room and prevented her from getting to the door. He wrapped his arms around her and Shannon tried to head butt him as she stomped on his instep.

  “That’s enough, mate. I’m here to rescue you.”

  She kicked backward, causing him to loosen his grip. “In case you missed it, asshole, I don’t need you to rescue me.”

  James growled. He was quickly losing his patience with his new mate. He surprised himself by feeling that he had not lied to deMoncada. His mate needed to learn to submit and she needed to do it now. He had to get all three girls out of here. Being angry and highly aroused by his mate wouldn’t help him accomplish that, nor would having her trying to cause him grievous injury.

  James’ cock was now completely hard and he knew that if he were to open his trousers it would spring forth fully erect and ready to plunge into her wet sheath.

  Shannon jerked her head back again. This time her head butting him resulted in the cartilage in his nose cracking, but not breaking. James growled—this time not to soothe or arouse but to warn. He was close to losing what little remained of his temper. He shook her.

  “Settle down, Shannon. If you can’t behave, I’m going to have to spank you.”

  “Try it, mother fucker and before I find my freedom from you and your damn wolf society, I will kill you.”

  She reached down to the forearm that held her imprisoned and bit down... hard.

  “Nasty-tempered bitch.”

  She whirled and once again threw a hard and accurate punch as she seethed, “You couldn’t be more right.”

  Her defiance and unwillingness to listen to him on any level led James to believe the only way he was going to get his mate to settle down so that he could save her would be to give her the first of what he was sure would be many disciplinary spankings. Granted she hadn’t been raised wolf, but she’d been one long enough to learn, if she didn’t already know, that she-wolves, regardless of their rank, do not threaten, challenge, or defy alpha males. If he was going to get her and the other two women to safety, she needed to heed that rule now.

  Strengthening his grip on her, James sat back on the bed, pulling her between his legs before forcing her over one hard thigh and trapping her legs between his own. He pressed down on her mid-back to keep her in place. Her pussy dripped onto him and his cock surged upward.

  James swatted her with enough strength to watch as his hand made an impression and color start to bloom beneath it. He thought to only give her five or six good strikes to get her attention and force her agreement to behave. The reaction he got instead was her sinking her teeth into his calf muscle, hard enough that he could feel it through his trousers.

  “I can see deMoncada did little in the way of teaching you manners where your mate is concerned. I will not fail you in that regard. You will not bite me.”

  James began to lay down a pattern of hard wallops that quickly had her bottom turning a vivid red and causing it to heat up considerably. He had to smile. It seemed that deMoncada had not lied; his mate had not endured enough spankings to become immune to the sting he meant to put in her tail.

  Chapter Nine

  Shannon struggled. She wasn’t the least bit afraid. But she was wildly aroused and not just from the aphrodisiacs rubbed on her skin earlier. Those had worn off long ago. It was this man who called himself James Norris, and believed himself to be her mate.

  Sinking her teeth into his calf muscle and hearing him cry out in pain was most satisfying. But she wasn’t prepared for the increased strength he would put into the blows being delivered to her upturned bare bottom.

  Truth be told, it wasn’t the only feeling she was unprepared for. The way he growled, the energy she felt rolling off of him called to her in a way she had never experienced before. She had been mortified that when she tried to break free, his being able to contain her efforts only further increased her arousal.

  What was worse was that James’ spankings hurt more than deMoncada’s had. They also called forth a deep, aroused primordial response... her nipples were as hard as diamonds and her pussy was producing an abundant amount of her slick feminine essence. Shannon was certain she would be well lubricated for him to be able to shove the large, granite-like prick she could feel straining to get free up inside her. She yearned to feel him stroke her with its length and girth.

  Shannon barely had time to catch her breath between the swats that had quickly lit a fire on her backside and a different kind of fire deep within her. She feared that he could sense both and meant to see them both well attended.

  “Stop it!”

  “No! You are going to listen to me and behave.”

  “I’ll kill you.”

  “You won’t and when I’m done with you, mate, you won’t even want to try. I’m sure deMoncada spanked you, but he never disciplined you as you should be by your mate. After I make you submit to your spanking and teach you not to challenge me or any other alpha male, I’ll make sure that you f
eel the full depth of my ability to conquer and tame you.”

  James continued to spank her. The harder she struggled, the harder he spanked.

  “I can do this longer than you can, mate. And if I can’t, I’m willing to bet a few stripes from my belt will bring you around quick enough.”

  Shannon realized he had no intention of stopping until she yielded.

  “All right,” she cried. “I’ll behave.”

  “Will you?” he asked in an even, reasoned tone of voice.

  “Yes,” she said as she started to cry.

  “Even the most rudimentary training would have taught you how to answer your mate when he’s paddling your backside. Yes, what?”

  “Yes, sir!” she hissed at him.

  His hand moved down to the tender spot where the lower curve of her bottom joined with her upper thigh, causing her to howl in indignation and pain.

  “Want to amend that tone of voice, sweetheart?” he said sternly but with little rancor in his voice.

  Shannon took a deep breath and exhaled as she said far more respectfully, “Yes, sir.”

  James patted her bottom with what could only have been described as affection. “Good girl.”

  He slipped his hand between her lightly parted thighs. As she tried to draw them tightly together, he growled at her again in a way that made her already stiff nipples draw into even tighter beads and the thick creamy substance between her legs drip more profusely. He wedged his hand between her legs and reached through to play with her engorged clit.

  “Such a good girl,” he almost purred at her.

  Shannon’s breathing became more shallow and labored. Her pussy began to clench as a precursor to her climaxing.

  James continued to play with her clit before dragging his hand back to the point he could plunge two fingers inside her. Shannon moaned loudly in response.

  “Even better,” he whispered as he fingered her, increasing the depth and speed with which he did so.

  Shannon took a deep breath, trying to find some kind of control over her own response.

  “You know for a bunch of guys who are supposed to have this all-powerful knot thing, the lot of you do a lot of fingering instead of fucking.”

  James surprised her by laughing. “You obnoxious brat.”

  He withdrew his hand and began to spank her again.

  “No, James. No.”

  “Yes, Shannon. Yes. When I put my hand between your legs after you’ve gotten yourself spanked, you’re going to learn to accept the pleasure that is offered to you and not be a nasty, ill-tempered she-wolf. You, my mate, are going to learn to behave yourself or else you will find yourself face down over my knee.”

  Finally, he relented and Shannon realized she was even more aroused than before. He released her legs. When she made a move to get up, his legs once more formed a vise, trapping hers within and he laid another series of hard swats along the top of her thighs and in her delicate sit spots.

  “Did I tell you that you could get up?”

  “No, sir. I’m sorry. Please?”

  “Better,” he growled. He moved his leg and Shannon remained as he had placed her. “See what a good girl you can be when you try?” he said with amusement.

  He slipped his hand back between her legs and immediately plunged his two fingers deep in her cunt. She groaned in both pleasure and exasperation.

  “James, please?”

  “Much better. Asking your mate to pleasure you more fully will usually get you what you want. Should I bring you to climax with just my fingers or tongue as instructed by deMoncada or would my mate prefer that I conclude this discipline session by stroking her velvety pussy with my very hard cock?”

  “Please? He wasn’t lying. Nobody has done anything but grope me for a year. And deMoncada’s spankings never hurt this much or made me so...” She let the sentence trail off.

  “Wanting something more pleasurable to ease that ache?”

  “I never ached for him,” she whispered.

  “But you do for me, don’t you, mate?” he rumbled at her.

  “Yes,” she pleaded with a quiet sigh that signaled her capitulation.

  The growl James made was all male arousal in its most evocative and ancient calling to her. Her body shuddered in response.

  James helped her to her feet and gently guided her onto the bed on her knees.

  “When we have more time, I will teach you how an alpha male finishes his mate when he’s had to discipline her. But for now, we both need quicker relief than that.”

  He probed her again with his fingers. Finding that she was more than wet enough for his use, he opened his fly, allowing his cock to free itself of its confines and hone in on its target... her waiting cunt. He grasped her hips as the head of his cock probed her opening. Taking hold so there could be no doubt as to the fact that he was mounting her to take possession of her, he thrust solidly home, causing Shannon’s body to surge forward with the force of his doing so.

  She cried out in both ecstasy from his dominant coupling and the contact of his hard thighs and pelvis with her red, swollen, and very painful bottom.

  James stroked her hard, but started slowly, allowing her neglected pussy to adjust to accommodate his size and strength. She felt her body relax as her pussy tightened around him. His thrusting was practiced and deep. He filled her completely and she felt as though she could feel his entire length as it scraped her inner walls, causing her more pleasure than she had ever experienced before.

  Her pussy began to pulse slowly and then increased as his driving cock gained momentum and speed. James released one of her hips to reach up and grasp a fistful of her hair, giving it a light tug to bring her head up and back as he leaned down and growled low. This time, Shannon heard herself growl back.

  “There’s my good mate,” he crooned, releasing her hair and taking a firmer hold of her hips.

  With that he began to thrust in and out of her with increased fervor. Shannon responded to him in kind and reveled in the sensations she felt throughout her body as he called forth her response. Repeatedly he plunged deep within her until she began to climax. As she did, she felt him drive into her a final time as he spilled himself inside of her. His release seemed to take far longer than she had felt with any other man and to fill her to capacity.

  There was a knock on the door. Although the door did not open, they both heard a male voice say, “It is time, Alpha.”

  “Just a moment,” he called. Far more gently than she had anticipated, he withdrew from her, leaning down to nuzzle the nape of her neck under her hair. “I need you to be a good girl for just a little while longer, then we’ll get everything sorted out, get those other girls, and start our life together.”

  He helped her get comfortable on the bed and then tenderly replaced the shackles around her wrists. He smiled down at her and ran his finger from the hollow of her throat down her body between the valley of her breasts to her pubic bone.

  “Next time,” he said softly, leaning down to nuzzle her again, “it will be better and those beautiful nipples will get some serious attention from me.”

  He kissed her forehead and then lightly captured her mouth with his. The lingering kiss was far too brief and left her wanting for more. He stopped at the door and once again she experienced a comforting wave of energy from him and both heard and felt the deep rumble from his chest.

  Shannon lay there in the aftermath of the most incredible sexual experience of her life. And wondered that James thought it could have been better. She thought it had been pretty damn incredible just the way it was. Although as her backside became increasingly uncomfortable from the spanking he’d subjected her to, the haze began to lift.

  Who the fuck did he think he was? What made him think there’d be a next time? And he thought we would spend our lives together? Shannon snorted. Hardly! Granted, that had been intense, but she reasoned probably because it had been well over a year since she’d actually been fucked. DeMoncada had enjoyed w
atching her body twitch with a climax he produced but there was little in it for her other than sexual relief from the arousal he liked to inflict.

  Shannon planned her escape. Maybe if he thought he had her in his sexual thrall, he’d drop his guard long enough for her to get away. But if he thought they were just going to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after, then he didn’t know the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

  Chapter Ten

  James headed out the door and down the stairs. He was surprised that they were being called to dinner and even more surprised to see an old friend amongst those invited.

  “William?”

  “James, I thought I might find you here. I take it your father, like mine, has decided it is time for you to mate?”

  James nodded. “I’m surprised the private inspections didn’t take longer.”

  “Many, such as myself, decided it was better to save that money to be able to bid higher. Did you hear some fool paid deMoncada a cool half a million so that only he could have time with the turned girl?”

  James nodded again and grinned at him. He hadn’t felt this good, this sure of his purpose and his future in a very long time.

  “And you’re looking at the fool who did so,” he said, chuckling.

  “Are you daft? Your father will kill you for blowing through that much money.”

  “My father told me to buy her no matter what it cost and I find I don’t care for the idea of others handling my mate.”

  “So you’re prepared to spend...”

  “Whatever it takes to get her bought.”

  William, or as James had always called him, Will, laughed. “My father thought that she would be out of our price range. I think I’ve decided to try and get the dark-haired one. Perhaps if we’re both successful you’d care to join me at our vacation home in Aruba.”