Page 46 of Collared Mate

“You don’t mean talk, do you,” the closet says.

I try not to smile.

“I do mean talk. Come out of there.”

Watching Fiona Swale exit a closet as if she is stepping into a ballroom is very amusing. She has such natural elegance that even coming out of a small confined hiding space can’t really dim her light. She is wearing my father’s favorite coat, which adds some amusement to the spectacle.

“I’m not going to keep wearing a silver collar,” she says. “I’m going to do what I want.”

“Wrong, and wrong,” I tell her calmly.

Her brow furrows. “If you came here to give me another one of your…”

I watch her struggle as she hovers around words, trying to work out if she wants to say punishments or spankings and realizing both of them make her feel like a naughty little girl to say.

Fiona has no concept of what it means to be disciplined. Her parents spoiled her, her pack betrayed her, her husband neglected her. She would always have been a handful for any male who tried to make her his mate, but she is absolutely rebelling against being controlled even if that control is designed to keep her safe.

“I’m not going to let you put another collar on me, and I’m going to cut this one off as soon as I can.”

She says that as if she has any means of stopping me keeping her under control.

“Did you like being pinned down and made to be tame?”

“No!” she flashes hotly.

“You can keep that one on yourself, and that will save me doing it, or you can fight it and take it off and I can pin you down and put it on you.”

“It’s not just you, though, is it? They all feel entitled to handle me like I’m… like I’m…” She is struggling for a simile, and I know why.

“They handle you like you belong,” I say. “They touch you like you’re a member of the pack who needs to be handled. You can get used to that, Fiona. The time of the Swale pack letting you two run riot and treating the pair of you as untouchable menaces is over.”

The look on her face is priceless. She stares at me as if she never imagined such a thing would be possible. Fiona’s biggest problem is going to be accepting her place in the pack. She has some rank, but it doesn’t mean she can act however she pleases.

“On your knees.”

I reach out and grip the front of her collar, pulling her down in front of me. Her look of shock widens as she finds herself looking up at me.

“You’ve been a very bad girl,” I tell her, unbuckling my belt as I speak. She glances from my eyes to my crotch, and then back to my face, her expression adorably dazed.

* * *

Fiona

This is not what I thought would happen.

He doesn’t look or feel angry. He seems like a man who was ready for me. I think that’s scarier than him coming in here all pissed off like I thought he would.

Henry sweeps his belt out of the loops with a swift sound that makes my ass tingle. Holy fucking shit, am I in trouble. I mean, I knew that already, but it feels like a different kind of trouble than before.

When he speaks, his voice is firm, even, and even more intimidating in that same calm way. I don’t think he’s pretending to be unbothered. I think he knows exactly what he’s going to do.

“You’re going to get up and go and put yourself into position over the bed like a good girl, and I am going to use my belt on your butt for what you did today, disobeying me, making a scene, somehow stealing my dad’s coat…”

“I didn’t steal it! He insisted on putting it on me!” I try to argue, but he is not really mad about the coat. I can see his lip twitching ever so slightly as I try to defend myself from the floor.

Can’t believe he put me on my knees to lecture me, and he expects me to put myself into position to be punished. This isn’t fair. If he wants to discipline me, it should be while I kick and scream and bite him. I should be able to fight back. I should be able to take my wolf form. This thing where I’m expected to behave myself while in trouble is too much.

“Pouting isn’t going to get you out of this,” he says firmly, but kindly. “I warned you to behave yourself. I told you that you wouldn’t be alone in all of this. But you wanted to act out, jump out the window, behave like a spoiled little pup in front of your new pack and now I have to make some attempt to correct your behavior.”