Page 31 of Mastering their Maiden

“Aria.”

“No.” Her voice was ice, and she didn’t spare me so much as a glance as she stormed off into the trees. “Go back to your cabin and your debauched friends and let me be.”

“Aria—”

“I said let me be!”

I ignored her demand and followed, watching as she lashed out at a hanging branch, ripping the leaves off it and scattering them on the ground. “Which one of them did it?” she snapped, still not turning around. “Which one of them forced her to—”

“She was not forced to carry their son,” I argued. “She was bonded to them before she fell pregnant. As you will be bonded to us before—”

“Is that so?” she asked, her tone dripping with disdain. “Zander tells me he plans to have me pregnant by the next full moon. I doubt that’s enough time to form a bond.”

“That’s how devoted he is to you already,” I said, noting how the warmth surrounding my heart shifted, turning hot with irritation. “You fight him and challenge Umber, but it changes nothing. They are devoted to you. Dex as well. The bond for us has already started. The only one that’s holding back is you.”

Aria whirled around, changing directions to stalk back toward me. I stopped in my tracks, letting her come close. Chest to chest, her blue eyes boring into mine. They were narrowed in anger, but there were a variety of emotions fighting a battle on her face. Her lips trembled, quivering then pulling up in a snarl. Her nose scrunched, her cheeks were flushed, and her hands were trembling at her sides. I watched her eyes, noting the way they widened and narrowed with each passing emotion. Anger. Despair. Longing. Fear. Confusion.

I knew them all, because I felt the same ones run through me on a near daily basis.

“You speak of a bond between us as though it’s already happened, but yet you spend all day in that cabin.” Her nose wrinkled, and she looked me up and down with so much disdain it was palpable. “It seems I’m hardly worth your time, so why should I waste any more of mine on you?”

Heat flared inside my chest, anger surging with it. When she turned away, I grabbed onto her arm and yanked her back.

Hardly worth my time?

Fine. I’d give her some time if that was what she wanted. We did have all night, after all.

I pulled her flush against my body, and she yelped at the contact. For a single heartbeat, I saw relief flash in her eyes, like it always did when I disciplined her. But they turned dark a second later, and her jaw clenched. That defiant look I’d grown so fond of settling back onto her face. It only made me grip her arm tighter.

Here this girl was, in my hold, caught in my arms and pinned, but still she remained fierce. Unafraid.

Zander’s words popped into my head about how they spent their time in the woods fighting. Sparring as he taught her how to use a spear. Knowing Zander, he didn’t go easy on the girl.

Because she didn’t need him to.

Aria was a force. She wasn’t frightened or cowed easily. We’d seen that in the last two moons that we’d been in this village. Sure, she might tease some men with flashes of her bare skin in exchange for leniency, but she scoffed at the suggestion that she give herself to them.

Because she needed someone stronger.

Which meant if we wanted to claim her, the four of us would have to prove our worth. That’s why she liked the fight. It was a test. She wanted us to show her we were fierce enough to tame her wildness.

And strong enough to give her the safety she’d lacked for so many years.

I whirled Aria around, pinning her against my side under one arm. Just as I knew she would, Aria fought, slamming her fists into my back, kicking her legs furiously while I pulled up her skirts.

“You can’t yank my panties down and spank me every time I displease you,” she snarled, reaching back to shove at my hand when I cupped her ass.

“The hell I can’t. Not when you need it so badly.” I tucked her firmly against my hip, hiking her up until her feet could barely touch the ground. “And my sweet girl, you do need it. You wanted my attention, now you’re going to get it.”

I cracked my palm down hard on her ass, immediately drawing back to repeat the motion. She hissed, struggling against my hold through blow after blow, her body never softening as I struck her rounded cheeks. My cock grew hard, and I thought of how she’d looked the other times I’d spanked her. Her ass pinked by my belt; her cheeks flushed with desire.

She clung to my trousers for balance, and it made me think of how she held onto me that very first day when Zander and Umber used her mouth, or the other day when the three of them licked between her spread thighs. She held onto me, and I loved staring down at her, studying every reaction on her pretty face.

The fuck I didn’t give her attention.

Five more strikes and I heard her breathing start to shake. She didn’t loosen her grip on me, but her lower body softened, and she started to arch into my palm. I smoothed my hand over her skin, unable to resist squeezing her supple ass.

“Tell me,” I murmured, fighting the urge to slip my hand between her legs. I’d save that reward for later, after I’d gotten her to confess why such good news had sparked her ire.

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