Page 55 of Guardians

Rather than debating the probability of another wolf attack, she moved on to another subject. “The wolves aren’t the only danger. If a male is sharing his female with his coalition already, why not offer her to his friends or a superior that he’s trying to impress?”

Diego shook his head, disapproval flashing in his eyes. “That would never happen. We all understand what a privilege it is to have a mate. Besides, the other members of his coalition would prevent such a travesty.”

“I hope you’re right, but I’ve heard about women on Earth who were pimped out by their husbands, or even family members. And the ratio there is one to one.”

“The penalty for abusing a female in any way on Rydaria is death,” Kane stressed as he paced in front of the fire. “If anycoalition is not taking care of their female, they will lose their lives.”

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Preventing domestic abuse needed to be a priority, but death seemed excessive. “I haven’t lived here long enough to judge the validity of your laws, so I’ll focus on the task I was given. Half of the females agreed to stay, or at least explore the possibility of staying. That can only happen if they’re being courted by a coalition. How can they choose which coalition they want to be courted by if they have no interaction with any of the males?”

“Actually, this came up during the planning session this morning,” Kane told her. “We spent the rest of the morning discussing options.”

“Did you work out a solution?”

Kane calmed down enough to return to his seat, but he still looked agitated. “The lodge can accommodate about a hundred and fifty, but it’s tight. If thirty females agree to attend, Zion will choose thirty coalitions. One hundred and twenty people should be able to move about freely and not feel crowded.”

“Will Zion hand pick the coalitions?”

Kane shook his head. “After hours of discussion, we all agreed that random selection is the only fair way to choose who will attend.”

“We can do the same thing with the women,” Lexie decided. “But one gathering per month won’t work. We only have two weeks before Zion’s deadline.”

“I’m aware,” Kane assured her. “We’ll have the gatherings nightly until all of the females who intend to stay have selected a coalition.”

On the surface that sounded great, but Lexie knew some of the females would take advantage of the system. “This sounds cruel, but we need to stick to the deadline. I know of several women who will pretend to be interested just to stay inside the village. They’ll string the males along, but never select a coalition.”

Kane’s brow arched and his lips twisted into a faint smirk. “They can try, but most of the males in this village would not put up with such antics.”

“The females would find themselves bent over a lap with their bare ass spanked bright red,” Diego predicted.

Lexie smiled as she shook her head. “Is that how every female is welcomed into this village?” Heat rolled through her body as she remembered her first spanking. Her nipples tingled and her pussy flooded with moisture. She’d never been so humiliated in her life and yet she’d never come so hard or needed to be fucked so badly. It was all very confusing.

Diego inhaled suddenly and leaned closer to the couch. “Are you having naughty thoughts, pet?”

She tried to roll away from him, but he rocked to his knees and grasped her hips, pinning her against the cushions. Malik caught her wrists and drew her arms above her head.

“What made you wet?” Diego teased as he deftly freed the buttons on the front of her flannel shirt. With her head on Malik’s lap, her back was arched, thrusting out her breasts provocatively. He tugged down the cups of her bra, revealing herhardened nipples to his gaze and his fingers. “Did you like being spanked in front of the other guardians?”

“No,” she cried. “I was terrified that they’d do more than watch.”

“Never,” he insisted as he teased her nipples into even harder peaks. “You are our mate. Even if we fucked you every night in the lodge, the others know damn well that they dare not touch you.”

The possessive menace in Diego’s tone thrilled her more than she cared to admit.

Kane moved to the foot of the couch and unzipped her jeans. Then he tugged them off and spread her thighs. “You’ve soaked through your panties.”

She wasn’t surprised. All they had to do was look at her with desire in their eyes and she grew wet and ready for their cocks. “I want you, all three of you.”

“Soon,” Kane promised as he drew her panties off and covered her needy pussy with his mouth.

Elias stared down at the sleeping human with a strange mixture of admiration and disgust. Two weeks. The frail old man had gone two fucking weeks without breaking. His thin body was covered with bruises and lacerations where Armando’s whip had bitten into Babcock’s flesh. And still the human refused to cooperate.

“Wake up,” Elias growled.

Babcock’s lids fluttered open then drifted shut and he let out a throaty groan.

“If you ever want out of this cell, open your fucking eyes.”

With obvious effort, Babcock forced his eyes open. They were bloodshot and blurry, but he was obviously awake.

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