Page 33 of Ryder

“Oh!”

Her screech accompanied me tossing her over my shoulder.Small fists beat against my back while she cursed me out like a pro.

And just like that, all the tension left me because handling brats was a personal forte of mine.All alphas had a beast, and all had a weakness.My beast’s weakness was taming querulous women, and this one needed a firm but loving lesson in boundaries and respect applied to her ass via my hand.

“Keep it down, princess.”I landed the first swat against her backside, chuckling when it roused an outraged squeal.I nodded my head to Dane, who watched with a shit-eating grin.“If Jace and Sloane surface, tell them I’m going to be” —I gestured toward the wriggling spitfire hanging over my shoulder— “handling this little problem.”

I didn’t wait for a reply, just punched the button on the elevator, and with Emma still wailing about her rights, exited the room.

* * *

Emma

I was back in Desparion again, only nothing was going quite to plan.Somehow in my head, I’d pictured my next meeting with Ryder to be more… something.What, I didn’t know.More romantic?Did that word even apply to an alpha?So much had happened since I’d last seen him.I felt like I had aged ten years since Sloane was taken.Now she was safe, and he expected me to sit on the sidelines and twiddle my thumbs until my sister was ready?I wanted to fucking see her with my own eyes!Mated.I couldn’t believe she’d been mated.Surely there should be some discussion about this.Didn’t they have a ceremony or something?

“Oh, put me down.What the fuck?”The elevator felt too confined as the door closed on us.I beat at his back, wriggled, and fought with everything I had, but he paid no attention to me.His chest was thrumming, but not in a purr like I’d heard before.No, this was a tempered growl and it was doing riotous things to me.

“I want to see my sister.Why can’t I see my sister?This is ridiculous.”

He swatted my ass.His hands were big, and the result was a sharp sting and a loud clap.

“You’ll see her when I’m fucking ready to let you see her.You’ll see her when her mate is ready for you to see her!I’ve told you she’s safe.We fucking got her out of there.I said I’d handle it.We’ve fucking handled it.”

“I don’t understand why I can’t see her.”

The elevator doors opened with a ding, and he strode out into the corridor.I began to feel a little queasy upside down.I hadn’t eaten anything since Sloane had been taken, and I’d barely slept last night.I felt like a train wreck, and if that weren’t bad enough, his scent, his mere presence, sent my libido rocketing.

I thought he might go to the couch or stand me before the window so that he could have a serious talk with me about this supposed transgression I’d made.Maybe I had been a little forceful when I turned up at the gates.My sister was here somewhere and I needed to see her, but he didn’t go to the couch.Nor did he stand before the window or even the kitchen area to the side.No, he strode straight through to his bedroom and dropped me down on a bed empty of everything but a clean bottom sheet.

“Uff.”I blew all the hair out of my face and scrambled to sit up.I didn’t get a chance.

His hands were on my ankles, tugging my right sneaker off.He all but ripped it from my foot and tossed it to the other side of the room, where it landed with a thud.

“What are you doing?”I thumped him.He was solid, and I was sure it hurt me more than it hurt him.Meanwhile, his hand was on the other sneaker.Those big capable hands held me still as he ripped the other one off as well.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”he said.“I’m stripping you naked.Ready for discipline?”

That was when my pussy clenched and my brain turned to mush.

“What?You can’t just discipline me.What have I done?You’re the most unreasonable person I’ve ever met.”

I punched him again.He carried on, tackling my night shorts.I squealed as he yanked them down.The ensuing battle nearly ripped me from the bed.

I fought and kicked, but the only thing I was doing was wearing myself out.

“Oh, what the fuck are you—Uff”

A big square hand landed in the middle of my belly, pinning me to the bed while he grasped my panties, tore them down my legs, and tossed them across to the other side of the room.

He stopped, chest heaving, eyes lit with a kind of feral hunger as he stared at what he’d exposed, and that fast, a switch flipped inside me.Heat pooled in my belly, and then everything seemed to jump back to reality.Big hands grasped the bottom of my T-shirt, and he ripped it straight over my head, leaving me naked.

An intimidating alpha with determination in his eyes stared down at me.

“Do you know why you’re going to be punished?”he asked ominously.

I shook my head.I didn’t have a fucking clue.

“I can’t imagine what madness is going on in your mind or what ridiculous perceived thing I’ve done wrong.I haven’t done anything wrong.”

---