Chapter 3

Xander woke with a profound sense of unease. Stephanie. Stephanie wasn't lying beside him, and he couldn't feel her presence. He pulled on his leather pants and boots, not bothering with his vest, closing the lacings of his fly as he sprinted to the elevator. He could see that it was still dark. How long had he been asleep? Where the hell was she? Did she know his identity? Would she bolt for the airport or Luna de Lobo?

He ran into the bar. There were still a few patrons at the club, so it had to be before 3 in the morning, the club's closing time. Forestalling Nic's questions, he snatched the Resident Dom's cell phone and dialed the vineyard's emergency number which was manned twenty-four hours a day.

"Luna de Lobo, state your business."

"It's Xander. Run a trace on the Jeep Evan left in the city."

"Is there a problem, Beta?"

"Not for you. For me, the size of the problem depends entirely on where that damn Jeep is."

"Got it. It's headed north up the Coast Highway."

"Good. Keep an eye on where it is. If it turns into the driveway, open the gate for it and let Evan know. Now switch me to Evan." His called was transferred. "Evan, sorry to wake you. I think Stephanie is headed for the vineyard. If she gets there, show her to my room and make sure she stays there."

"Xander? What the hell?"

"She's mine," growled Xander not wanting to argue the point with the affable omega. Taking a deep breath, he said in a calmer tone. "I need you to trust me and keep her there. I'm not sure how long I am behind her, but I'll be there as quickly as I can."

He ended the call, handing the cell phone back to Nic.

"Alex…" started Nic in a concerned tone.

Xander held up his hand. "Not now, Nic. I don't have time. But I swear to you it will be all right." Turning to the bartender, he said, "Annabeth?"

"Sir?"

"How long has Stephanie been gone?"

"Not long… maybe an hour and a half? She seemed kind of freaked. I was surprised. All of the other subs you've ever played with come down very gently from subspace."

"Watch how you speak to me, Annabeth," he growled, annoyed with himself when she recoiled. "I'm sorry Annabeth; it's not your fault. Stephanie is upset with me and slipped out while I was asleep."

"Oh, that makes more sense, and I apologize for what I said. It's just all the subs here adore you because you always ensure the experience for them is wonderful. I helped her into her corset when she came in; she seemed really nice."

"Did she come down ninety minutes ago or was that when she left the club?"

"Came down. She probably scooted out the back door a little more than an hour ago. Is everything all right?"

Xander pulled Annabeth close and kissed her temple. "Everything is fine. Thanks for helping her and for forgiving me my bad temper."

Xander headed into the men's lounge and grabbed his sweater, not wanting to take the time to get redressed completely into street clothes.

Shit! Shit! Shit!She thought. This could not be happening. Stephanie neither wanted nor needed a mate—fated or not. She had a new life that excited her, and she didn't need to be under some wolf's paw.

Did she want to be mated to a Dom who was also a wolf? Talk about living the lifestyle twenty-four seven. No, she liked to control her need to submit. Was that topping from the bottom? She didn't like to think so, and at the moment, she didn't care. She was just a she-wolf who liked to control her own life.

She had never subbed out so easily as she had when he'd tied her to the cross. The sensory deprivation imposed on her with the ear buds and blindfold had been intense and had forced her to focus on the sensations created by his floggers. Master Alex had been right, he knew what he was doing. Not only had she slipped easily into subspace, but she had climaxed not once but twice while he was flogging her.

Stephanie shook her head to clear it of the images and feelings that arose from what had happened afterwards. She'd had a man go down on her before, but she hadn't allowed herself any kind of sexual interaction since she'd been turned. She had played at Dante's but had never allowed sex to be part of her aftercare. Her sister had said the feelings were far more intense… she'd been right.

She'd never come just from oral or just from penetration. Like a lot of women, she needed some manual stimulation to push her over the edge. Alex had proved to be a master in the sack as well. She'd climaxed twice when they were in bed as well, neither time without anything more than his tongue or his cock. His cock, now that was a thing of beauty. It was large… larger than anything she'd ever seen with a plum-shaped head. It seemed to defy gravity as it jutted away from his body and pointed to his belly. It had been a tight fit, but the man knew how to use what his mama had given him. Over and over, he'd driven into her until she climaxed. Only then had he allowed himself a release.

She was grateful the Jeep had a navigation system with the vineyard programmed into it. Did Damian know him? Would he offer her protection or was Master Alex right that if he could prove he was her fated mate, the Alpha of the Luna de Lobo pack would give her up? There was no doubt he could prove it. Her whole body had responded when he'd called to her. The worst possible scenario was that the powerful wolf was a member of her new pack. What then? If he was and made it known they were a fated pairing, would Damian allow him to claim her without her consent? Surely, that couldn't be the case.

Stephanie pulled into the driveway of the enormous estate. She realized she'd been driving along its western border for several miles. Before she could locate some kind of intercom system, the stately gates swung open and she breathed a sigh as she drove through and proceeded up to the house.

Standing in the light on the front steps was a young man, about her age, who waved his hand in greeting. Stephanie parked the car, turned it off and then got out. She'd made the decision to pick up her bag at the hotel before leaving the city.

"Stephanie? I'm Evan. We weren't expecting you until tomorrow."

"I couldn't sleep so I decided I might as well come ahead. If the gates hadn't opened or you weren't here, I would have just waited. Wait, what are you doing up?"

"Same as you… couldn't sleep. I saw the Jeep coming up the drive on the security cameras so had them open the gates."

She wasn't sure she believed him, but as she was lying to him, she couldn't very well criticize or challenge him on it.

"Leave the car there and I'll show you to your room."

Grabbing her bag, she followed him inside and up the stairs to the second floor. It wasn't the massive baroque mansion of the DeMedici villa, but there was a beautiful, casual style that spoke to her. If wolves knew their mates, maybe they also knew their home. Not that she'd ever felt unsettled in Italy, but as she entered the house it was as though she and the big house took a deep sigh of relief and exhaled it together.

"Are you hungry?" Evan asked.

"No, I'm fine. Just exhausted. I think the trip just caught up with me," she answered as he showed her into an enormous room.

It seemed a bit masculine, but not overly so. She rather imagined that she could change things out over time to suit her better. She set her bag down on the bench at the end of the bed.

"If you don't need me, I think I'll rejoin my mate."

"I'm fine and thank you."

Doing nothing more than removing her clothes, Stephanie crawled naked into the massive bed and was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

Evan's call that Stephanie had arrived safe and sound, was in his room and that Evan had posted a guard at the door and one below the balcony was music to his ears.

"I take it something more than a casual sex thing at the club happened?" he'd asked.

"Yes, if you must know, she's my fated mate."

"What the hell, Xander?" Evan said, his amusement easily heard in his tone of voice.

"I know. The only reason I didn't tell you earlier was that I had a non-wolf audience and wanted to speak to Damian first."

"You don't think he'll try to keep her from you, do you?"

"Wouldn't do him any good if he did. But no, Damian would never stand between a fated pair even if the she-wolf was being a pain in the ass."

That made Evan laugh out loud. "I've found with Kayla the best way to cure her of being a pain in my ass, is to put some sting in her tail. Does wonders for them and there is nothing better than the feeling of driving into your mate's wet and willing pussy and having your pelvis hit her warm, red ass."

"I rather imagine I'll find that out for myself."

"You're sure?"

"More than I've ever known anything. It was the most amazing thing-feeling her and then catching her scent. We scened together and she slipped into subspace faster than anyone I've ever seen, and the sex afterwards was off the charts."

"What happened?"

"She doesn't want a fated mate and I suspect the notion of having her Dom be her fated mate was a bit much for her."

"I would think if she's submissive to begin with…"

Evan and Kayla weren't members of the club.

"Some submissives only want to submit at a club or sexually. They convince themselves they don't want to submit anywhere else. That's Stephanie; she's convinced herself it's okay to submit in certain scenarios, but not in others. We'll work it out. I'm just glad to know she's safe at home."

A little over an hour later, Xander turned into the drive and hit the remote gate control on the SUV's visor. He pulled into the enormous garage on the side and to the back of the house. He wanted to get to Stephanie. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. If he was lucky, he'd be able to wake her when he joined her in their bed.

"What the fuck, Xander?" growled Damian from the kitchen.

Xander sighed and joined his alpha, making himself a cup of coffee. Maybe this was best, he could get things settled with Damian and then deal with Stephanie.

"Morning, Damian. Good to see you too."

"Want to tell me why I got up this morning, only to find a guard posted outside your door? And when I asked why, was told he didn't know just that Evan had told him to come and stand guard at your orders."

"Same reason there's another guy stationed outside under my balcony," said Xander with a smile.

He often wondered if he and Damian got along so well because Xander wasn't intimidated by the fierce alpha wolf and often took fiendish delight in baiting him.

"Knock it off, Xan. I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee."

"And yet another advantage to having a fated mate. I haven't even had a sip of one yet and I'm my usual, charming self."

"Asshole," Damian grumbled. "Wait. What did you say?"

"See? You're more awake than you thought."

"Do you do this just to annoy me?"

"Mostly," said Xander amiably.

"Need I point out to you that I saved your miserable life and the least you could do is take pity on me and tell me what the fuck is going on."

"As I said, our new assistant vintner is a she-wolf from Marco DeMedici's pack. She got into the city yesterday. Apparently, she's in the lifestyle and wanted to visit Torch Light. She wanted a session and we negotiated it," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Did something go wrong? And even if it did, what is she doing up in your room?"

"Everything went very right, but she's being difficult and thought she'd seek her new alpha's protection."

"From my beta?"

"The fact that I'm the beta to her new pack never came up mainly because she was too freaked out about the whole fated mate thing."

Damian tried to stifle his laughter and failed.

"Not funny, Damian. I have to say it came as a bit of a surprise to me as well. I guess I thought turned wolves didn't have a fated mate."

"What made you think that? Doesn't matter. So, she's your fated mate and not deliriously happy at the prospect?"

"That about sums it up. I think the idea of her fated mate also being her Dom was a bit more than she could handle. I woke up and she'd bolted. Thankfully she came here."

"Did you mark her?" Damian asked.

"I thought I'd wait to get your blessing."

"Don't be stupid. You have it."

"Aren't you going to ask me to prove it or give her the opportunity to run?"

Damian shook his head. "It's a silly tradition because no she-wolf ever got out of a fated pairing that way. And if you say she's your fated mate, she is. I'd rather have you mark her and if Marco tries to argue the matter, we're on firmer ground. Get out of here and go see to your mate. I'll leave you alone to get her right with it unless it becomes an issue."

"Thanks, Damian. Hopefully this won't prove to be a huge issue."

"I doubt it. Marco's pretty traditional."

Xander put his coffee cup down on the counter and turned to leave.

"Your fated mate, huh?" asked Damian.

"Yeah. I didn't get it until the feeling hit me like a semi out on the highway. It's pretty amazing and I have to tell you I will never give you shit about waiting for yours ever again. Don't settle Damian. Wait for her. If mine was out there, so is yours."

"From your lips…" said Damian with a smile. "Go see to your mate."

Xander left the kitchen and headed up to his mate. Well, that had gone better than he thought it might.

Stephanie was awakened by a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach and the buzzing of bees. Shit, he was here. Stephanie jumped up and ran into the attached bath, closing and locking the door. Maybe he wouldn't know she was here.

The door opened and closed. The dizziness and feeling of being off kilter increased. So much for that idea. Stephanie could feel the rising anger and lust as it pulsed through his system. She was well aware that a wolf in the grips of the call of his fated mate was easily enraged and wouldn't even think twice about forcing her vows from her.

His call to her was palpable. It skittered across her skin, seeping through her pores to the marrow of her bones and racing through her system, bonding with her blood. Desire swirled in her belly and settled in her nether regions. She closed her eyes and tried to find a calm center but was unable to do so. Why had she run in here naked? The last thing she needed was for him to find her in that state. Why had he felt like he could enter her room? Suddenly a gut-wrenching thought crossed her brain. She looked at the massive bath and realized it contained a large closet.

Opening the door, she had to grab the doorframe to keep her knees from buckling. On the far wall there was another set of leathers and numerous D/s implements—whips, a weighted flogger, crops, paddles, a thick strap of some sort. Oh shit, not only was Master Alex a member of her new pack, but she'd also been shown to his room, which meant there were others who knew he was her fated mate.

"Stephanie, would you like to come out of the bath?" he crooned.

"Not particularly," she answered.

"That was a rhetorical question. Let's try again. Get your ass out of there."

Lust and anger thickened his tone of voice and seemed to wrap around her internal organs and squeeze. She stood and watched as he tried the doorknob. Finding it locked, she was fascinated as his hand came through the door in a kind of slow motion, unlocked it and opened it. Master Alex… no Alex, she wasn't going to call him Master… strode in. He filled the entire frame. He was enormous as was the bulge at the front of his pants.

Stephanie shifted into her wolf and crouched low, growling menacingly.

"That's enough. You shift back," Xander growled.

Her answer was to bare her teeth and spring toward him. She hoped she could catch him by surprise, knock him down and sprint past him. But Alex was far quicker than she had imagined him to be. He caught her mid-air by the scruff of her neck and shook her before pinning her to the ground.

"Are you deaf, little wolf? Shift now!" he snarled.

When her struggles to get away proved ineffective, Stephanie shifted back to her human form.

"My hearing is just fine. I don't like being bellowed at."

"Fair enough. For the record, I don't like waking up alone and not knowing where you've gone and having to come find you."

He stood, helping her to stand.

"Well, here I am. You've accomplished your goal and you may leave."

She tried to push past him. His low, menacing growl morphed to a more seductive one when her body responded instinctively to his call.

"Make no mistake, sweetheart, neither of us is going anywhere. I ran into Damian on the way in and brought him up to speed."

Stephanie whirled around. "You what? What did you tell him?"

"That we are fated mates and that you're being a naughty she-wolf."

"What did he say?"

"That I should get you right with it and mark you as mine."

"What? He can't make me do that!"

"Want to bet? Marco gave your protection over to Damian. He's your alpha and I'm your fated mate. He won't come between us."

"Kayla sent me a list of pack members. I don't recall an Alex," she said, trying to change the subject.

"That's because I'm only Master Alex at the club. Everywhere else I'm Xander."

"Xander?" she said, suddenly realizing just how much trouble she was in. Xander was the name of the beta of the pack. "The beta?"

"One and the same, which unfortunately means for you that you'll be on a shorter leash than the rest of the she-wolves and that I am particularly well versed in discipline spankings. Make no mistake, that little stunt this morning means you're owed one."

"No," she said, backing away and looking toward the door.

"Don't," he warned. "The door is locked, and you'll never make it."

"I'll scream."

"Go ahead. The walls are well sound-proofed, and no one will hear. Even if they did, no one would interfere."

"You may be Master Alex at the club, but I will appeal to Marco and go back to Italy."

"Thus, the reason Damian wants me to mark you before Marco is aware of your feelings. Neither of us is convinced Marco would step in, but make no mistake, you are mine and this pack will fight to keep you. You should know this pack is heavily weighted with ex special forces guys. I wouldn't give good odds on anyone being able to take us in a fight. Ask yourself if you really want to be the cause of men going to war. Besides once Marco sees your response to my call, it'll be all over but the shouting. No way he'd stand in the way of our bonding."

Although she knew he spoke the truth, her only hope of getting away was to bluff. She knew Marco's reputation and history. Xander was right, there'd be no help for her there.

It was obvious that trying to be reasonable and adopting a defensive stance wasn't working, she'd go on the offensive. Stephanie stepped into his personal space, raising her face to his and sending her fist into his nose. She could never have anticipated his response, Xander's mouth descended on hers, his lips pressing hard as he slipped his tongue past her teeth and slid along hers—inviting, seducing, delighting in the way her body seemed to melt into his.

So, this was what it was like to have a fated mate. They hadn't been parted for more than a few hours, and yet he had missed her desperately. Stephanie was a tasty treat and one he would enjoy for many years to come. God, she was sweet. Her lips had parted easily, and she seemed to have simply molded her body to his. Lust pounded through his system as his tongue surged into her mouth and he tasted her deeply.

If it was any other wolf in their pack, including Damian himself, Xander would have cautioned their alpha to ensure that she could be claimed, with or without her consent. Marco DeMedici was not a wolf to be trifled with. Granted, Stephanie was now a member of their pack, but he doubted DeMedici would simply look the other way. It didn't matter, if he wanted a fight, he could have one. If it came to it, he would challenge the Italian wolf to single combat.

Xander growled and the she-wolf in his arms responded in kind, nipping his lower lip. So, she wanted to play, did she? Wanted to try and top from the bottom? He meant to put an end to that immediately. He let her have the illusion of control for only a moment before he finished the kiss, wrapped his fist in her hair and stalked to the bench at the end of the bed, dragging her behind him. Sitting down, he tipped her over his lap.

"What the hell?" she hissed before doing the only thing she could think to do… shrieking her fool head off.

He waited until the tail of her scream had faded away. "You will notice no one came to save you. I doubt anyone heard you. Even if they did, they would never come through that door and they would only assume you were carrying on like most she-wolves do when they incur the wrath of their mate or beta."

Xander knew she'd been turned long enough to have been spanked. There was no way his beautiful, fiery mate had comported herself well enough to avoid getting her butt paddled. She would find he was more than willing to keep her beautiful bottom a deep shade of red unless she decided to behave herself.

"You're going to learn from the get-go to obey me. You will not growl at me; you will not ignore me; and will not lie to me. You will keep yourself safe and running off into the night is not safe."

"You don't get to tell me what to do," she hissed, trying to get away from him and avoid the spanking he was sure she knew she had coming.

"Oh, but I do. You are my mate and your first lesson in minding me starts now. You want to make this easier on yourself and yield?"

"Never," she snarled.

"Never is a long time that I find gets curtailed quickly when a she-wolf is getting a good dose of her mate's discipline."

He punctuated the end of his sentence with a hard swat to her generous backside.

"Shit!" she snarled.

"She-wolves who curse when getting spanked generally get their mouths washed out with soap afterwards."

He slapped her ass a second time, enjoying the way her firm backside had just enough give to be luxurious. He began raining his hand down all across her upturned rump, ensuring it was well covered. It had been a while since she'd been disciplined, her cheeks began to color quickly and her wriggling increased. The way she moved only inflamed his lust and made his cock begin to throb in anticipation of getting buried deep inside her again.

While spanking was most often a very tactile way to discipline a she-wolf, Xander enjoyed not only the feel of spanking a feminine backside, but the sounds associated with it as well. The sounds of both his hand connecting with naked flesh and the resulting wail from the she-wolf involved were satisfying in the extreme.