L
unch was a quiet affair. Grace was ravenous and as long as she put her mind in neutral, she was able to enjoy the buffet of freshly-baked bread, roasted chicken and sliced apples, which she washed down with water. When they were finished, she broke the silence.
“Have you slept with Mel?” She was past her jealousy now, truly interested in this species. Wanting to know.
Hawes narrowed his eyes. “I’ve slept with many women.”
His words made her angry. “A genetic double-standard then? Women are repelled by a man who’s not her mate, but men can fuck anyone?”
“Women can fuck anyone too, until they’re mated. It is you, human fur-ball that cannot.”
She ignored his little taunt although she simmered inside. “Then once we’re mated, you must be faithful?”
He grinned ferally. “No. As Alpha I can fuck any woman I want, even if she’s mated. Even if her mate is sleeping in the room next to her.”
Her simmering anger erupted. “And do you, Hawes? Fuck any woman you want, even if she’s mated?”
He laughed at her. “Are you trying to understand pack behaviour, Grace, or are you trying to understand me? Do you think once we’re mated, that you will be the only one I will ever bed?”
Grace stood up. “We’re not mated yet, you bastard,” she snarled at him as she paced to the door and flung it open. “Anything could happen between now and then.” And then she yelled into the trees, “Mersin, take me to these women who will guard my fucking virtue. I don’t want to stay here with this asshole.”
Hawes grabbed her by her arm and flung her around to face him. “Do not disrespect me, woman or I will discipline you.”
Grace crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “What? How does the big bad wolf discipline his unruly mate-to-be? Nip her?”
Hawes yanked her inside and slammed the door shut, bolting it so no one could walk through. “Where has your fear gone, Grace? You were a whimpering little puppy less than an hour ago and now you’ve become a bold, foul-mouthed bitch!”
Grace wondered that too. She felt her primacy growing as the day slid by, felt a savage and raw hunger. Her emotions were swirling in her, heated and destructive. She was fuming because of Mel. Because of the bitch’s blatant proposition to Hawes in front of her. And furious because Hawes made no promises to stay faithful to her. And justified because, if she let herself believe the prophecy, it freed her of her social constraints. She was angry, now, not afraid. Livid that Eric had died, that it didn’t have to happen. This Hawes, her mate, had let it happen.
“Where were you?” she seethed at him. “Where the fuck were you, mate
? When my friend was being pulverized? When I was running for my life, blindly through the forest? Why did you show up just as I was about to be raped and stop it then?”
Hawes grinned ferally towering over her, staring down at her. “You think I’m your knight in shining armour, do you?” He laughed, deeply, derisively. “I wanted to watch, Grace. I wanted to see how it would play out. Wanted to see what you were made of.”
Grace faced him, her hands clenched tightly. “You sonofabitch! You let Eric die!”
He stood inches from her, his eyes piercing hers. “Make no mistake about who I am, pup. Your professor would have died either way. If not them, then me. He thought he could take what belonged to me.”
Grace lost it then, her fist crashing into his face before he could block it. “You goddamn prick!” she cried. “He didn’t have to die. He never laid a hand on me.”
Hawes grabbed her hair, forcing her head back as he wrapped his fingers around her neck. “He had lust in his heart, Grace.” Then he dropped the hand to the rope at her waist, unknotting it deftly. “And it’s time you learned respect for your Alpha.”
Grace kicked out at him savagely as the pants pooled at her feet. He effortlessly lifted her by her waist and hauled her to the bed, seating himself then flipping her over so that her belly was pushed against his groin and his thighs. She felt his erection pressing into her. “Are you kidding me?” she screamed, fury coursing through her. She flailed at him ineffectively, fists flying back at him, feet kicking out. But he held her down, her strength no match for his. Then he swatted her bare ass, savagely, with the open palm of her hand. “Fuck!” She jerked as the pain lanced through her. Her ass had been the last unbruised part of her body.
“Stop swearing, Grace,” he warned as he slapped her again, with as much force as the first.
“You fucking sonofabitch!” She bucked against him, tried to hammer him in his nuts, but he grabbed her arms and brought them to her back, securing her wrists tightly between one of his hands.
With the other, he spanked her. Repeatedly. She cursed and raged, and then after a dozen more strokes, she cried and begged. “Stop, please stop.”
He whacked her once more, his breathing jagged, matching her sobs. Then he brought his hand to her ass and rubbed it, forcing a whisper of pleasure into the pain. She whimpered. He drew a finger to her vagina and she jolted from the touch. “You’re wet, Grace. I think you enjoyed it.”
“No,” she snapped, her humiliation goading her anger back to the forefront. “Let me up.”
He didn’t. He drew his fingers through her hair, then fisted it, forcing her head back, forcing her face to his. “We’re going to the village. You will not leave my side, not once, not for anything. Until you are handed off. Keep your eyes down. Do not look at the men. Do not talk to them. If you say anything disrespectful to me, I will beat you. Not privately behind closed doors, but in front of the others. Everyone will expect me to do so.”
Grace didn’t want to cry, but the tears slid down her cheeks anyway. “I hate you,” she said, through gritted teeth.
His eyes flashed his displeasure and Grace thought he might hit her again, but he let her go, pushed her off his lap to the floor and stood. “You will beg for me soon enough, mate. Get dressed.”
Hawes stalked to the door and yanked it open. Mersin was there. “Fix her,” he snarled. “Just her face. Leave the rest untouched, especially her ass. I want her to remember what happens when she displeases me.”