Page 85 of The Wolf Lord's Mate

"Please touch me," I whined, twisting my hips back against him, "This isn't fair."

"Say the words," Nathaniel's thumb brushed against my clit, the tiniest jolt of pleasure blooming in my lower belly, "Say that you did not deserve it. Say that you are worth more than that. Say that you agree with me."

"Fine, I—I agree!" I said, tilting my head back to look at him, eager for his satisfied smile, but his expression did not change.

"Agree to what, little one?" Nathaniel was stone faced.

"I am agreeing to what you said," I yelped as another spank found its mark on my tender ass, "What was that for?"

"You are obfuscating." Nathaniel rubbed out the spank with a soft touch.

"I am not," I huffed, "You are too picky, perhaps."

"On the contrary, my request is simple," I took a sharp intake of breath as Nathaniel slowly circled my clit with his thumb, the digit barely skimming over the tender bundle of nerves, "Try again for me, gorgeous."

"I agree that what happened was not fair," I began, but Nathaniel was silent as he waited for me to continue, "And it should not have happened."

"Why?"

"Because—" I hesitated, not for any act of stubbornness, but rather a sense of the words sticking to the inside of my throat, as if it did not feel right to say them aloud somehow.

"Go on." Nathaniel urged, his thumb paused tantalizingly.

"Because I did not deserve it." I whispered, more of a mumble than a declaration, and a sting hit my overheated flesh as Nathaniel offered yet another spank, this one so hard it radiated straight into my core, a zing of confused pleasure making me tilt my hips in an involuntary response.

"I want you to say it like you mean it," Nathaniel rumbled, "Do not say it to please me or to make me stop, say it because it is true."

"I did not deserve it." I said, a bit louder this time, and though another spank did not come, Nathaniel pressed a kiss on my pinked skin before nipping at it lightly.

"Again." He said.

"I already said it—" The words rushed out of me as the room flipped upside down once more, and in an instant I was on my back, sinking into the plush mattress. Nathaniel pinned my arms above my head with a single hand wrapped around my wrists, his massive frame looming over me.

"Again." Nathaniel's gemstone gaze held mine, full of eager determination.

"I did not deserve it," I repeated, "I did not, oh..." My words disappeared as Nathaniel slipped his other hand between my thighs, caressing my clit lazily as he stared down at me.

"Continue." Nathaniel's voice was a command, one that sent a pulse of need straight to my core.

"What else do you want?" I ground my teeth, fighting back a moan as the pressure of his fingers against my clit increased, "You are making it rather difficult to focus."

"Would you like me to stop?" Nathaniel chuckled, leaning down and licking up the shell of my ear until shivers ran down my arms.

Nathaniel was making me rabid.

I was throbbing for him, aching for his touch, needing more than what he was giving.

The teasing was almost too much, setting me on the teetering edge of bliss and agony with no telling how far I would be able to bend one way or another.

I was at his whims, always, and yet he never pushed me too far.

Nathaniel was not afraid to test how much I could take, but his attentions were careful, thoughtful even.

As if he was more aware of what I needed that I was.

I did feel guilty about burning my arm.

I did feel as though I deserved it, and perhaps in some way that feeling of not being worthy was bigger than I had known. It certainly could be applied to Nathaniel.

My fear of the bond was not only my fear of not being free, but my fear of being unworthy or undeserving somehow.

Some humans suffered at the hands of their mates and yet I had been given Nathaniel, a male that often seemed to me to be too good to be true.

I doubted him not because of any real cause, but because of the constant nagging question of how.

How did it come to be that Nathaniel could possibly be mine? That I could have a love and devotion like his? I did not deserve it, not really, I was only me—only some human, the kind of creature that could be ordered around and hurt by creatures like him.

But Nathaniel did not want to hurt me.

Nathaniel thought I was worth more than pain.

Nathaniel knew I was worth more.

So why shouldn't I believe him?

"I am worth more than that. " My voice was barely audible even to me, but Nathaniel's hearing was well above average. He paused, eyes searching mine before he bent down once more and pressed a featherlight kiss against my collarbone.

"Go on," Nathaniel said, and this time it was not a command but a coaxing, "You are doing well so far, my darling."

"I am worth more than the way that I have been treated in the past—by that Wolf and others.

And it was not fair." I paused, swallowing hard against the knot in my throat because I did not want to cry.

I would not cry, not again, not after all of the sadness I had already offered to that part of my life.

Looking up at the male above me, seeing the tenderness and pride in his eyes, I believed every word I said.

"It was not fair, and I will never accept anything less than I am worth ever again. "