Bride of the Alpha by Georgette St. Clair Page B

goes. She screwed up, she knows
    it, and she’s in trouble. However, you also sneaked off the compound and defied my authority, and Timber Valley tradition calls for me to re-assert that authority and assure everyone that I am still in charge here. I can hardly lead a new pack if I can’t even control my wife.”
    I gulped. “I thought you wanted me to go away. You left without talking to me.”
    “You didn’t want to talk to me!” he said, exasperated.
    “You didn’t even try!” I protested.
    He shrugged. “That’s what happens with couples. Sometimes they get in spats. I’ll admit that I have a
    hot temper, and I am very jealous. I should have dealt with it better. I’ll get you another phone.”
    I felt an odd thrill ripple through me. “You were jealous? Of me?”
    “Of course I’m jealous of you. I see the way other wolves look at you. I see how they want you. It
    makes me want to wolf out and rip open their throats.”
    I felt like that was all in his mind, but then, there have been plenty of times that Corwin and Bess told me about how guys were checking me out and I didn’t notice. I loved that Max was jealous of me, that he didn’t want any other wolf to be with me.
    He waited. “Uh, Josephine, this is the part where you say you’re sorry too.”
    “I am sorry about the massive screw up that ended up with Peter showing up at the compound. I am
    sorry I took Virginia into town without talking to you first. If I’d known that she might be in danger, I swear to God, I would never have done that. Even so, I should have checked with you first before I did
    that.”
    “Yes, you should have. You will next time.”
    “So – no punishment?” I said hopefully.
    He threw back his head and laughed. “Ha!”
    “What is the punishment?”
    He grinned, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder. He stalked across the yard, with me kicking
    and yelling the whole way.
    When we arrived at the porch, the next thing I knew, he was sitting down on a chair with me sprawled
    face down over his lap…and he flipped the hem of my dress up, and yanked my panties down.
    Now, shifters are part animal by nature, and we’re not particularly shy about public nudity. Still, there I was with my bare ass hanging out in front of dozens of strangers…who were watching very, very eagerly.
    This was embarrassing.
    Even more mortifying, I felt myself getting really turned on by the public spectacle and the prospect of being spanked in front of everyone. I felt heat sweep through my body, and dampness seeped between my
    pussy lips. Maxwell would know it too, of course; he could scent my arousal.
    “What are you doing?” I shrieked. “Put me down!”
    In a booming voice, he called out “I, Alpha Maxwell Battle, son of Alpha Vincent Battle, will administer discipline to my bride as I see fit. She will receive fifteen strikes.”
    My arm was bent up behind my back. My butt was hanging out. Maxwell’s hand came down on my
    right cheek with a tremendous smack. Everyone cried out approvingly.
    I shrieked and thrashed my legs, but only partly from the pain. The jolt of arousal that shot through my body nearly made me come right there.
    His hand came down again, and again. I screamed, writhing and thrashing and struggling to get away.
    Maxwell held me pinned firmly in place, and spanked me again and again.
    With every smack of his hand, I could feel the outline of his palm print, burning into my flesh. A dozen hand prints bloomed like roses on my butt cheeks; I knew because I could feel them throbbing there.
    The arousal that swept through me could not be denied. It was a raging tsunami of lust, barreling
    towards me.
    “Stop,” I pleaded. “You’ll make me come. Not here. Please! Please!” I was practically sobbing, I was
    struggling so hard not come in front of everyone.
    I could see wolf couples pairing off in the crowd. Men grabbing their women by the hair, kissing them
    hungrily, their hands roving over the women’s