Page 26 of Dominion
Her pussy clenched involuntarily at his words. She held her breath, trying to ward off the blush she felt creeping up her neck. She plowed forward, though. “Who else have you spanked? Have you spanked Karen?”
“No,” he said, sounding surprised. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Then who? Your girlfriends? Lovers? Were they wolves?”
“You were my first,” he said.
Why did that answer please her so much?
“You were my first, too,” she said, knowing she sounded like a little fool.
He actually smiled, which made her heart do strange things in her chest.
“So spanking is a wolf thing?”
He shrugged in the dark car. “It’s a common practice. It’s an easy show of dominance without causing any harm.”
“So basically wolves are sexist pigs who think they’re better than women and deserve to spank them?” She held her breath, expecting his irritation, but he smiled.
“No. I think some relationships fall more equally. But I’m a natural alpha. I don’t think I’m better than women. I just need to be on top.”
She considered that, remembering the words that had been tossed around at the warehouse. “I thought they said you weren’t alpha.”
It took him so long to answer she’d given up hope of a response, but at last he said, “I refused to lead my brother’s pack. I just didn’t have it in me.”
She reached over and touched his thigh. “Well, of course it was too much. You already had to take over at Stone and you were probably still grieving his death to boot.”
Ben’s eyes shot over to her, a muscle jumping in his cheek. He looked slightly alarmed, as if shocked she understood him. At least she hoped she’d understood him. But he picked up her hand and moved it from his leg, which made her want to crawl under her seat for the rest of the drive.
Why couldn’t she touch his leg when he’d just mashed her against the car and kissed the living daylights out of her? She slumped back in her seat and stared at the headlights of the cars passing them. Too much had happened that day for her to even try to make sense of it all.
He pulledinto his brother’s circular drive in Golden, a western suburb of Denver. Nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Leon’s back yard featured spectacular views and even a natural, rocky mountain spring-fed creek running through. Motion-sensing lights went off, lighting the sidewalk.
“Am I coming in?” Ashley asked as he opened his car door.
“Yeah.”
She climbed out and smoothed her rumpled skirt, holding her blouse closed.
He rang the bell.
After a long time, Shayla spoke from behind the closed door. “Ben?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry it’s so late, but I have to talk to you.”
She opened the door, her face tight, but she offered her cheeks for South American-style kisses. A female alpha, Shayla might be petite in human form, but was large, sleek, and fast as a wolf, with tan fur and yellow eyes.
“This is Ashley Bell. She’s my assistant at Stone.”
Shayla gaped at Ashley’s torn and bloody blouse. “What happened?”
“May we come in?”
“Oh, of course, I’m sorry,” she said, standing back to let them in. “What’s going on, Ben?”
He rubbed his face. He knew Shayla didn’t appreciate having drama dumped at her doorstep in the middle of the night when she had two kids asleep in their beds. Leon had been a perfect husband to her—providing her the lifestyle she wanted to be a stay-at-home mother. When he’d asked Ben to be their godfather, he’d made it clear that if anything happened to him, Ben’s top priority was to run Stone Tech to provide the same luxury and comfort his family had grown accustomed to.
He also knew Shayla didn’t necessarily approve of him and the way he’d handled things since Leon’s death. He could practically feel the judgment rolling off her in waves right now, and unfortunately, he probably deserved it all. God, did she know it was his fault Leon was dead? He hadn’t been able to look her in the eye since the day they buried the mangled remains of his brother’s body, which had been flown back to the States for the funeral.