Page 15 of Merciless & Mated

By the end of my fourth day here, I actually felt like a person again. I learned more things about him when I had the wherewithal to ask. His parents were dead but his brothers ran the Vero businesses along with countless cousins while he served under Bianca. I told him about my family, how I was the only child, but had seen many of my cousins sold off to pay debts. My father had never been violent so much as negligent. We had been poor, but because he ran the restaurant, there had always been food, even if there were days we had to pick off the leftovers of other plates. No one in his territory went hungry if he could help it.

“Where did you learn to fight?” he asked while I worked my way through a BLT and minestrone soup.

“One of my cousins was a street fighter. He taught any of us who wanted to learn.”

The black eye I had given Marco at the warehouse was almost healed, but I didn’t dare remind him it was there.

When the next spike came, I climbed straight into his lap, the tendril of silent joy he felt at the movement sneaking through the bond to me.

I rode him with as much strength as I could manage before he flipped me, fucking into me while I braced my arms above my head and he balanced on the headboard so I could see every glimmer of light play across his muscles while he ruined me.

When I emerged from the tail end of that spike, I was face down across his legs, his knot buried deep, and his hands resting on my ass while he leaned against the headboard. I squirmed, finding myself entirely unable to move.

“You’re awake?” he asked, stroking my skin with his thumbs.

“Barely.”

“That’s plenty. You’re far enough through the heat that you should be able to take your punishment now.”

I craned my neck to look back at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Your behavior at the warehouse could’ve gotten us both killed. I warned you that there would be consequences.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I am.” He traced his fingers up my spine and back down again. “If you behave like that at the compound, you won’t like what happens. Better for you to learn the consequences now before you get yourself into real trouble.”

I swallowed hard, unsure what his plans were. “I’ll be good.”

Marco offered me an amused smile. “I think we both know your personal history with reacting inappropriately. If I punish you, that will be in the back of your mind the next time you want to do something stupid.”

Sweat prickled on my skin, nervousness churning my belly. I tested again to see if I could move away from him, but the tug and zero give on his knot meant I was stuck right where I was. “That was totally different circumstances.”

“I was saving your life,” he deadpanned.

“And I had no idea if you were just another trafficker coming to steal me. Now I know you’re not.”

“And yet that doesn’t give me any confidence that you’re not going to haul off and punch me in the face, or that you’re not going to get physical with anyone on the compound.”

“Can’t you just trust me?”

“Do you trust me?” he countered.

I growled low, flexing my fingers against the sheets. “Fair fucking point.”

“How much do you think you can take?” He moved his palm in a smooth circle over my ass cheek. “I’ll be going until you cry so I can be sure the lesson hits home, but I’m curious how much you’ll endure.”

“Are you seriously going to spank me?” I had never played like that before, and had never suffered through the indignity of it being a punishment.

“A spanking is mild if we’re comparing the fact that you flipped me onto concrete and punched me in the face.”

I turned away from him, grumbling. “And I’m not regretting that for a single fucking second right now.”

“All the more reason we need to take a little bit of your satisfaction out of those actions. I’ve told you you’ll have to control yourself at the compound. I can promise you Bianca won’t be as nice as I will, and I would prefer to not be put into a position where we need to test how far I’m willing to go to protect you.”

“Just get it over with.” I closed my eyes and curled my fingers around his ankles. If he was going to do this, he was going to feel my response with my nails in his skin.

The first crack of his hand against my ass had all the air rushing out of my lungs with an embarrassing squeaky yelp, followed by a pathetically desperate moan that matched his from the surprised squeeze my cunt had done on his knot. I was barely ready for the second impact. I managed to stifle the sounds, but I couldn’t stop that squeeze.

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