“Are you coming or staying? I can come back later for you if you like?” she offers.
“I’ll stay,” he says. He still has the whole Chrissie thing to deal with. “Can you come back for me in the morning?”
“Which morning?” she asks.
“This one,” he replies with a smile.
“Done,” she says and kisses him goodbye. She Astrals off into another time zone and he flops back to the bed, exhaustion overcoming him after the last few months of uncertainty and worry.
He awakes again sometime later by a soft kiss to his lips. “Hi,” Liv says to him. “You must have been shattered.”
“Yeah,” he says, rubbing his face. “What time is it?”
“A little after eight,” she says.
Shit, he slept for hours. He feels worlds better for it though. He is about to pull her into the bed with him, when she asks, “The Demon Wolf. Did you ever find it?”
“Oh!” he starts in surprise. He had completely forgotten about the Primary Wolf Shifter. “Uh, no. It attacked that one last time back in June and then it hasn’t been heard from since. We think that, erm…” he pauses, looking at her warily.
“What?” she asks with a frown.
“That Remiel may have some control over it and recalled it back to the Spirit Realm,” he finishes quickly, watching for her reaction to that name.
She sits back on her heels and says, “Oh. It’s possible, I suppose. Although, now that he is alive and well, shouldn’t we be worried? What if it is as real as him and living somewhere close by?”
Yes, we fucking well should be, he says to himself, but gives her a reassuring smile. “Everyone is still on high alert. It is always the first order of business. If it is spotted, you will be called to kill it.”
She nods firmly, completely sure of her role. He leans forward to kiss her and groans in frustration when there is a brisk knock at the door.
He pulls his pants on and knows who it is before he opens the door.
Chrissie steps into the bedroom and seems surprised to see Liv there. Liv straightens up and crosses her arms. She looks defensive, but he knows it is so that Chrissie can see she has her magick hands stowed. Liv sidles closer to him and they all just stand there looking at one another. He muffles his laughter as Liv bends over and hands him his t-shirt. He pulls it over his head and then he looks at Chrissie, who is looking quite wary.
“Liv,” he says. “Could you give us a minute, please?”
She looks at him, startled, and starts to protest, but he quietens her with a soft kiss.
“Go and make some tea,” he said. “I will find you in a minute.”
She goes reluctantly, not at all happy to be kicked out of this meeting. However, this is not a meeting. This is a punishment.
“I ask your forgiveness,” Chrissie says as soon as Liv has left. “I will take my punishment and learn from it.”
He really does not want to do this. But he has been left with no choice. Liv left him with no choice when she failed to exclude her from the Pack. Although in fairness, he is to blame for that. He just assumed sh
e would do it, but he should have known better of his merciful mate.
He sighs and she pulls out the Nine-Tailed Dungeon Whip from her back pocket. Chrissie hands it to him and he accepts it then she removes her top. She turns from him and places her hands on the bedpost to keep her steady. He breathes in deeply and administers the first lash quickly. The better to get this over with. He tries to hold back and go easy on her, but by the third lash she is shaking and by the fifth she is bleeding and by the eighth she is screaming. Two more and he can go and be sick. He is sweating and shaky himself as he lets the whip drop to the floor. He doesn’t go to her, he doesn’t help her, he just waits while she bends stiffly to retrieve her top. She puts it on with as much dignity as she can, and he admires her strength as it had to hurt like a bitch.
“Thank you,” she says formally, and he wants to tell her that she shouldn’t be thanking him.
Instead, he says, “I give you my absolution. But know this, if you ever challenge my Chosen mate again, I will see to it personally that she doesn’t hold back, and your ass will be out. You got a pass this time, but not again.”
She nods, fear of exclusion is worse than the fear of being beaten up. Excluded Wolves rarely get in with another Pack and if they do, they are lower than the lowest. She opens the door and comes face to face with a shocked and sick-looking Liv and he could curse her. She has got to be the most stubborn creature he has ever come across. Why couldn’t she just do as she was told instead of hanging around to see what happened? He hadn’t wanted her to know about this, ever. She would be devastated.
Chrissie stops dead and, looking humiliated beyond belief, mumbles an apology to her Queen, to which Liv just nods dumbly. Chrissie beats a hasty retreat then and Lincoln sighs at his Alpha mate. “Liv,” he says. “You should have done as I asked.”
“Why did you do that?” she asks him and what can he tell her? That Chrissie defied not only him, but her as well, that she threw the dice and lost and that it is their way?