DARIEN
I watched the red glare of Aria's taillights disappear down the winding driveway. The sudden, absolute silence of the woods felt heavier, more suffocating, than her screams.
I had failed. Spectacularly.
Onyx was a physical pain in my skull, a raging furnace of frustration and guilt. "Fool! Weak human! You let her run! And you spoke of duty instead of your heart!"
"Shut up, you lunatic," I snarled, slamming the door and leaning against the cold wood.
My hands were shaking, not from fear, but from the brutal restraint I'd placed on myself.
"You confirmed her fear! She thinks you only want her for the title! Why didn't you tell her how we feel? How the scent of her fear tastes like poison to us? How she is our very breath?"
"It'll sound desperate, Onyx," I whispered, the exhaustion finally hitting me. "Humans don't fall so fucking deep in love in less than a week. I just wanted to protect her—from my obsession and from other things. If I tell her the truth now, she'll think it's just the mate bond talking, not me. She'll run further."
"The mate bond is our truth! There is no separation! She is a half-wolf pup and needs to be handled with honesty and strength, not riddles!"
Onyx was not pleased with my explanation. He retreated into the dark recesses of my mind, severing the immediate psychic link. He didn't offer comfort, advice, or even his constant, infuriating critiques.
For the next two weeks, he punished me with an isolating silence, leaving me to navigate the chaos alone.
° ° ° °
The next two weeks were torture. The loss of Onyx's energy was crushing, and the constant, dull ache of the incomplete mate bond made every professional interaction feel like wading through concrete.
Aria avoided me like a plague.
In the hallway, her head was always bowed. In class, she was an immovable fixture in the back row, her hair acting as a shield, her gaze fixed rigidly on her notes. She hadn't missed a lecture, but she didn't acknowledge my existence, which was the only thing preventing me from breaching her human walls. She was being difficult, yes, but she was still performing her duty as a student.
The fear I had instilled in her was working, but it was poisoning the love I needed her to accept.
I watched her, a low simmer of frustration and primal need perpetually brewing beneath my skin. I had exactly a month and a half left to mark her and complete the bond before the Pack would send someone worse than Creed to interfere.
I couldn't wait any longer. I had to force the issue.
In the final lecture of the day, I handed out a complex case study.
"This assignment is due this afternoon," I announced, my voice cutting through the hum of the tired lecture hall. "And I want physical copies submitted to my office by 4:00 p.m. sharp."
I swept my gaze over the room, letting the silence draw out. I didn't look at her, but I could feel the tense knot of her presence in the back corner.
"Miss Winters," I stated, my tone professional, cold, and utterly final. "You will ensure the submission box is correctly tallied and delivered to my office yourself."
I felt the ripple of her sudden shock. I knew she understood the trap was set.
She came precisely at 3:58 p.m., her footsteps tight and hurried. She slapped the heavy submission box onto my desk, her chin raised in a fragile imitation of indifference.
The scent of fear and defiance filled the office, and the mate bond pulsed a frantic rhythm.
She turned to leave.
"Aria."
The name stopped her cold. She froze at the door, her hand hovering over the doorknob, her entire body rigid.
"You've been a really bad girl, princess," I said, my voice dropping to a low, intimate command that severed the professor from the Alpha.
Her back stiffened. "I submitted the assignment, Professor."
"I know," I said, rising slowly. I walked around the desk, closing the distance until I was right behind her.
I lowered my voice to a dark, guttural promise that bypassed her ears and went straight to the pleading animal inside her. "Do you know what happens to bad girls?"
She shivered. Her breath caught.
"They get punished."
"Good girl," I murmured against her ear, inhaling her defiant scent. "You remember I told you I'd punish you, right? You remember you defied my simple command, and you ran, and you broke our bond of trust."
I reached out and gently pushed the door closed, the heavy click of the lock a final, absolute sound.
"Now, the lesson begins."
° ° ° °
I moved behind her, pulling her close against my chest. Her short black halter dress offered little resistance, the silk cool against my arm. I ran the tip of my finger down the exposed length of her spine.
"The rules are simple. You will obey. You will hold still. And you will be punished."
I reached for her wrists, securing them in one firm grip. "Hands on the door," I instructed, my voice cutting through her fear. "Face the wood. Spread your legs. Now, Aria."
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, but the low, dominating resonance in my voice—the sound of the Alpha—was an undeniable force.
With a ragged sigh of defeat, she turned, placing her palms flat against the cold wood paneling and widening her stance. The move left her completely exposed, her body trembling with anticipation and dread.
I took my time studying the vulnerable curve of her spine and the exposed skin of her inner thighs beneath the hem of the dress. The sight was intoxicating—pure, helpless submission.
"The first part of your punishment is for disobedience," I murmured against the shell of her ear. "The second is for denying the bond. You will count every strike. Every number is a word of apology to the wolf you hurt."
I brought my hand up, brushing her skin before descending with a sharp, stinging crack. The sound was loud, authoritative, shattering the quiet office.
Aria flinched violently, a shocked squeak escaping her lips.
"Count, babygirl."
"O... One," she whimpered, the word muffled against the door.
I waited until her breathing hitched before the second strike descended—harder, aimed squarely at the round of her backside.
"Two."
The air was thick with the scent of fear and the rising heat of the mate bond. The sound of my hand hitting her skin was becoming steady, relentless. I needed to break through her human defiance, forcing her primal self to recognize that running leads only to pain, and safety lies only in my control.
"That is for lying to me," I commanded, striking her again. Crack!
"That is for running into danger." Crack!
Her composure was fraying fast. Her hands tightened into white-knuckled fists against the door, and her breath was coming in short, ragged gasps.
"Count, Aria. Don't stop."
"F-five... s-six..." The words were ragged, choked off by the force of the strikes.
When I reached ten, the soft, helpless sound of her sobbing filled the room. Tears flowed freely, silent streaks of shame and pain tracing paths down her cheeks and dripping onto the dark wood. Her legs were shaking, threatening to buckle.
I delivered two final, firm strikes. "Twelve. And that is for denying the truth of our destiny."
I paused, my hand settling firmly on the skin I'd just punished. The heat radiating from her body was immense, and the deep, steady ache in my own chest was momentarily eased by the complete submission of her form.
"Good girl," I purred, my voice heavy with dark satisfaction. "The punishment for defiance is complete. Now, we begin the lesson on control."