Page 15 of Stormbinder King (Stormbinder Pack #1)

He only raised an eyebrow. It didn’t even look like Symeon had a weapon. He was going to be torn limb from limb right in front of me.

“The wards are there to keep you safe,” the King replied, and I felt power begin to crackle all along my skin.

I tasted violence under my tongue, blood filling my mouth, and Symeon shifted in an instant, transforming into a massive, powerful wolf with dark umber fur.

The vampire suddenly let me go just as the king leaped for him, and I landed hard on my side on the ground, the wind knocked out of me.

The two monstrous beings connected with a powerful collision that shook the ground underneath.

Surely Symeon was going to get himself killed! I hated him but my heart was in my throat as the vampire flew at his neck, its grisly fangs outstretched.

Symeon blocked him with a slash of his long, vicious claws, throwing the vampire aside with a splash of blood.

In its rage, the vampire ripped at a nearby tree, tearing it from the ground and hurling it at the King. Symeon moved quickly to avoid it, but I saw a few of the low-hanging roots tear through his right shoulder.

His fur was dark with scarlet-red blood but he only pivoted with a swish of his rough tail and sprung for the vampire.

My hands dug into the ground as they fought, exchanging blows so loud and thunderous I felt the forest floor shake under me.

Every time I thought the vamp had the upper hand, the king blocked it, his massive sharp teeth tearing at the other creature, forcing the vampire to use its superhuman speed to tumble away again.

“Help!” I tried, but my voice sounded thin and reedy.

And we were so deep in the forest I didn’t know if anyone could hear me.

They thundered past me, wind swirling up around my hair, blood spattering wet and warm on my crouched figure.

But despite the vampire’s superhuman speed, as it lunged for Symeon’s neck, the king knocked the monster off its balance.

It stumbled sideways, just one stumble, just one miscalculation, and Symeon leaped, tearing out the bloodsucker’s neck in a gush of blood and viscera.

I screamed again, watching blood and guts spatter as the King put his massive wolfish mouth around the vampire’s head and severed it from the creature’s body

The vines and roots dug into my hand as I buried my fingers in the ground.

I didn’t even realize I was screaming until I heard his stony, cold voice beside me.

“Stop squalling,” Symeon snarled.

Suddenly it was the Alpha King before me again, the vampire’s torn limbs in his massive hands.

Symeon’s eyes were fixed on me as I did my best to arrange my clothes and stand up.

“You’re not supposed to be out here,” he bit out harshly.

“I—”

“Are you really so stupid that you would run out into the middle of the forest like this? When you’re a little simpleton who doesn’t know the first fucking thing about where she is or how to get out?”

“I didn’t mean to,” I cried, tears prickling again at the corner of my eyes. “It was an accident.”

Symeon strode up to me.

“You are going to get the thrashing I’ve been promising,” he warned as he grabbed me roughly by the arm.

I began to protest as he dragged me over to the fallen tree.

“ Save your crying for Jack . You disobeyed orders to stay out of the forest, and you are going to be punished.”

The Alpha King sat on the fallen tree and pulled me roughly across his lap. I already felt my skirt riding up, and I tried to pull it down, but he slapped my wrist away, making me squeal in pain.

His thighs were hard and unyielding and even though I knew my protective spells must be hurting him, he still ground me down across his lap.

Then he fisted the soft fabric of my skirt in one hand and yanked it up.

One hand landed in my ass in an incredibly painful stinging blow, my thin little panties barely any protection against his massive slap.

I had never been spanked in my life, and I squealed in distress and rage.

But the king only gripped me by the back of my dress and spanked me again, the blow and the total humiliation of my position across his knees making me shriek in rage.

He didn’t go easy on me, his huge hand landing over and over on my ass.

“How dare you!” I cried.

I tried to squeal, then I tried to scream, but it was no use. The birds in the forest flew away with all the noise I made, but his hand only continued to land on my ass with vicious precision.

His tanned face looked almost bone-white when he finally let me go, the stink of burnt magic almost choking me.

“I hope that hurt you, too!” I cried out in rage, stumbling away.

My ass and thighs ached, each inch of my skin stinging as I rubbed the sore spots resentfully.

But I regretted it almost immediately when he gripped my face with one big hand, the thick muscles standing out in his forearm. I felt the crackling flow of power, and I knew it meant the contact sent shooting pain through his body, but still he tightened his fingers, making my jaw crack in pain.

“Watch this smart little mouth, Andromeda, or I’ll banish you from the Pack. Send you in the forest and see if someone else picks you up before the feral boars do.”

My eyes widened.

“You wouldn’t d-dare. Jack wouldn’t let you!”

“Wouldn’t he?” Symeon asked coldly. “Seems to me like he’d do perfectly fine without you. Plenty of other prettier women to fuck. Now move. I want to be back before dinner.”

Miserably, I obeyed him, turning to follow the King back to the village.

I had desperate thoughts of running away, but every time I tensed to sprint into the forest, Symeon’s massive thick shoulders would tense too, and he would turn around, his harsh face blank and remote.

“Your ass not sore enough?” he asked. “If you run, I’ll make you walk into the village naked, so everyone can see my handprint on that ass.”

“How did you know I was there?” I burst out. “I wish I’d died rather than have you save me.”

Symeon’s face told me nothing as he loomed over me, and once again he didn’t answer the question.

“You won’t die unless I say so,” he said flatly.

“But how did you know?” I persisted, even though everything below my waist was on fire with stinging prickly pain.

Symeon only grunted in response.

But as I hiked miserably behind him all the way back to the village, sweat pouring off my back, I knew this question would haunt me until I figured out the answer.

I had to find out what he was hiding from me.