Page 23 of Dominion

Ben didn’t stop or turn, he just walked out the door and out to her car, where he gently set her on the trunk.

He drewdeep breaths to regain his temper. He hated himself for leaving Ashley to be mistreated like that. What had he been thinking? Those wolves were not his friends. They were not even his allies.

“Close your eyes,” he muttered, realizing he shouldn’t have taken her out of there without the blindfold.

By some miracle, she complied. He grabbed the blindfold and duct tape from the front seat and wrapped it on. She was shaking, and her expression was shell-shocked. He wasn’t sure if it was from fury or fear. Probably both. He knew he should apologize; hell, he should be begging for her forgiveness, but he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what to say. There was no excuse for what just happened to her. And it was all his fault. He was supposed to be protecting her and he had done nothing but terrify and traumatize the woman.

Yes, she had left a bomb in his briefcase, but he couldn’t really blame her for that, could he? She hadn’t known what it was. And even if she had, it was natural she would choose her sister’s life over his. It was stupid to believe she might have some kind of attachment after working for him for only a week.

So why did it still bother him so much?

He was the one with the irrational attachment. And it was one that had already caused her a world of trouble. If he hadn’t asked Ashley to be his assistant, if he hadn’t been seen driving to her house and picking her up, moving her up to his floor, welcoming her into his life, she wouldn’t have been targeted as the best possible candidate to plant the bomb. Her sister would be safe right now, and she would be blissfully unaware of the wolf who couldn’t get her out of his blood.

He cut the tape off her ankles and helped her into the car. Climbing in on his side, he buckled her seatbelt.

She lowered her torso to the center, but seemed to purposely avoid placing her head on his lap this time. He didn’t blame her.

He put the car in gear and started driving. Despite how abysmally this meetup had gone, there was one more wolf who might be able to help them, and Mark Ruhl had given Ben his address. Unfortunately, the computer hacker Jeff Zolla had left Stanley’s pack for the Boulder pack, which meant he may not be willing to do anything for Ben at all. He figured it was better to show up in person than to try to call. But first, he needed to stop and see his sister-in-law because he had a bad feeling about who was behind this attack.

When he’d driven five miles, he pulled the blindfold off Ashley. “You may sit up now.”

She sat up, looking out her window and blinking at the streetlights. “So… what? You just roll around and pop people in the nose every time you get pissed off?”

He didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. Thinking again of what that asshole Brian had done to Ashley, he ground his teeth.

“I don’t know what you were so mad about. It’s not like they did anything different to me than you’ve already done. I mean, you brought me over in duct tape. So they put more on. And he slapped my face. Well, you’ve slapped my ass. More than once. I’m your prisoner here, right?”

Her words hit him like a punch in the gut. She was right. He had treated her just as badly. Did it make it all right because he cared about her? Or because he believed he had a right to punish her for trying to kill him?

Spanking females was part of their wolf culture, just like solving grievances physically between males. But it must have shocked Ashley to be spanked. He knew he hadn’t harmed her. He’d been careful only to use it as a show of dominance, not to cause her lasting pain. And from her scent, he thought she found it exciting. But to think she felt as abused by him as she did by them made him sick to his stomach.

He was bad for her. Really bad. And while he had an obligation to save her sister and protect her from the men who may want to harm her, the selfish part of him didn’t want it to be at the expense of forever losing her esteem.

He abruptly exited Sixth Avenue West and pulled in at a Motel 6. It wasn’t safe to take her home, but he could at least set her free if that’s what she wanted. She had her car and her phone. He could shift and go on foot. He got out of the car and walked around to her side. He cut her hands free and helped her to stand.

“You’re not my prisoner. If you want to do this on your own, I will stay out of it.”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed. She folded her arms across her chest. “Fuck that, Stone. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

The wolf in him heard the challenge like some kind of mating call. Mad force took over and he pushed her back against the car, crushing her lips with his own. She tasted of berry lip gloss, her lips impossibly soft. He buried his fingers in her silky brown hair, made a fist and pulled. He wasn’t thinking, hadn’t even known he meant to kiss her, but when her tongue responded, licking into his mouth and tangling with his, the urge to mark her came on like a freight train.

He ground his painfully hard cock against her flat belly. He kissed her as if he might devour her, her sweet lips opening to accept his thrusting tongue, her fingers reaching to clutch his shoulders.

His skin prickled with heat, his vision turned sharp, and his canines began to lengthen.

Jesus Christ. He was about to mark her right there in the parking lot.

But damn, if he lost control, it could be dangerous for her. Hell, he could even kill her. When a wolf had sex with a female, his canines lengthened and he sank his teeth into her neck or shoulder. Biting caused instant submission so the female relaxed and allowed his domination. In the case of mating, he left his permanent mark on her—breaking skin to permanently embed his scent in her epidermis.

With a human, he shuddered to think what might happen—he could hit her jugular, and the pain he would cause her would be unforgivable. Especially because humans didn’t heal overnight like wolves did.

Get off her.

His body would not obey his mind. He pulled her head back and licked a line up her throat, nipping her neck. The act triggered the true instinct, and suddenly his teeth were out, fully extended.

He jerked back, twisting to the side to get her neck out of the line of his jaws as they snapped closed. He turned his back on her and started walking swiftly away, needing to put distance between their bodies. He drew in deep breaths of the cool September air, gazing up at the moon as if it might somehow help him find his way back to sanity.

“Ben?” she called out. Despite her tough guy act, he caught a note of vulnerability in her voice.