"Mine." He snarled again. "Before we finish, Megan, you will make that promise to me."

That she would obey? Let him call the shots? She didn't think so.

She shook her head desperately, pulling at his hair, needing him, needing the touch that would send her over the edge. His fingers pressing into her pussy, fucking her hard and strong as his mouth and tongue worked magic at her clit. That was what she needed. What she wanted.

His finger returned to the pulsing depths of her vagina as her hips came

off the bed, beseeching, begging for his mouth. He licked, stroked, sucked. His fingers thrust gently, shallowly inside her as her senses began to burn out of control. She couldn't stand it.

"Damn you. Stop teasing me." She pulled at his hair.

"Promise me."

She tried to scream, but what came out sounded more like a plea than a curse.

His finger moved lower once again, caressing the small, hidden entrance with delicate strokes. "Come on, baby. Promise to follow my lead. We are partners, remember? I lead, you follow."

That was a partnership? She didn't think so!

"I followed." She gasped breathlessly. "I did, Braden. You know I did. I waited until you went first."

He growled fiercely, nipping at the soft lips he was licking, sending currents of whip-sharp pleasure tearing through her womb as she felt the finger press at her rear, parting the tiny entrance.

"Bad girl," he accused darkly, his head lowered farther, his tongue working closer to her needy pussy.

"Oh, God yes," she screamed as his tongue plunged inside the weeping entrance. At the same instant, his finger pierced the entrance of her ass.

The alternating fire and pleasure tore through her. She didn't know if she should beg him to stop or beg him to continue.

There was no begging for anything with Braden. There was nothing but gasps filled with desperation, the need to breathe, to climax, as he built her pleasure higher, hotter, drawing every nerve ending to fierce, desperate attention.

What he was doing to her was destructive, mind-blowing.

"Turn over." The harsh command sizzled across her senses as images, hungers, desires whipped through her mind.

She whimpered as he turned her, pulling her hips up, pushing her knees beneath her. His hand landed on her ass, stinging, fiery, blending with the overload of pleasure and driving her higher as her hands balled into fists, crushing the fabric of the comforter between them.

"What the hell was that for? She panted, turning her head to glare at him over her shoulder.

The sight that met her eyes left her stunned. His hand was descending again, the slight smack burning through her flesh as his expression burned through her mind. Intent. So savagely lustful it stole her breath.

"Promise you will follow, Megan." His hand smoothed down her stinging flesh until it moved between her thighs, cupping her pussy.

Oh God, she was so tempted. But a promise was a promise.

She would have to do her best to keep it. It would kill her. He would insist on protecting her.

She turned, burying her face in the covers as she felt him part the cheeks of her ass, his fingers moving dangerously close to the already tormented little entrance there.

"Say it, Megan." He growled as she felt him probing at the anal entrance.

"Tell me, and I'll give you what you need. Otherwise, I'm going to have what I want instead."

The tip of his finger pressed in as a long, keening cry left her lips. She couldn't give him that much control. It would never work.

She shook her head desperately. Surely she could hold out. He wouldn't hurt her. She knew that much about him.

Whatever he did to her would make her mindless with pleasure instead.

Her thoughts scattered at that moment as she felt his finger slide deep, hot and thick inside her rear. The fiery pleasure was unlike anything she could have imagined.

His finger was slick, the lubricant covering it cool to her overheated inner flesh. But nothing could dim the fires igniting inside her.

The sensations filling her were more than physical. It was more than pleasure. As she knelt before him. her shoulders right against the mattress, her rear raised in preparation of his invasion, she began to understand what he wanted her to feel. To know.

Submission.

Not weakness. Not protection or a sense of smothering restraint. What she felt sent her flying headlong into a knowledge that she knew would change her forever.

The spanking had only primed her. The short, fiery slaps of Braden's palm only drove her higher, made her hungrier. The blending of pleasure Braden's fingers stroking her pussy, dipping in, filling the slick recess of her vagina, had her screaming for orgasm. The pain, a light spanking, the fingers working inside her anus, opening her, preparing

her, was driving her mad.

"There, baby." The rough croon stroked her senses as finally, blessedly she felt the blunt tip of his cock stroking against the back entrance rather than his fingers.

She couldn't believe she was backing into him, desperate mewls of need escaping her lips as his thick width began to press in, stretching her, burning her.

"Oh my God. Braden. I don't think_"

"Don't think." His hand landed on her ass once again as she felt the fiery head of his cock breach the virgin portal.

Her eyes widened, dazed, shock and pain-filled pleasure rioting through her system as his erection continued to sink inside her. Nerve endings she had never known she possessed flared to life as Braden growled harshly behind her.

His hands gripped her hips, holding her firmly in place as he began to work inside her. Slowly, too slowly. Inch by inch she felt the invasion, spreading her, sinking into her as rapid bursts of pleasure-pain began to sizzle along her nerve endings.

It seemed to go on forever, slow, easy thrusts that stretched the tight

opening, sent her spiraling further into rapture. Until he paused, his breathing harsh behind her, his erection inches from filling her fully.

"I am your mate." He snarled as a final thrust sent him in to the hilt, causing her to scream breathlessly against the invading force. There was no protest as the muscles of her ass began to milk the hard length. Only pleasure. Only ecstasy.

"You will follow. I will lead."

She shook her head desperately, the muscles of her ass clenching around Braden's throbbing erection as it pierced her body.

"You will follow. I will lead." He snarled again, his hand landing on her ass once more.

She should be furious. She should be raging and attempting whatever it took to escape his hold. Instead, she was whimpering like a pathetic love slave eager for more.

"Feel me, Megan." He came over her then, moving his hips, pulling back marginally before plowing inside her once again.

"Yes_" She could only pant, beg for more. Oh God, this was incredible. It was past incredible.

She felt her hair being brushed from her shoulder, felt his teeth raking it warningly.

Oh man, he was going to bite her again. She could feel it coming.

He chuckled instead, raking his teeth over her flesh, licking at the wounds already there as he slowly began to withdraw his swollen flesh from her rear.

Megan gasped for breath, amazed at the sensations rushing through her. The ultrasensitive flesh burned in near ecstasy, gripping, clenching on the retreating erection as she moaned in disappointment. He couldn't leave her now.

He couldn't withdraw…

Her back arched as a scream tore from her throat. The fierce thrust inside her ass had fiery pleasure ripping through her womb, her clitoris. She shook beneath him, pushing back, driving him deeper.

"I lead, you will follow." He growled in her ear, his voice harsh. "Give me your promise, Megan, and I will give you ease. I can do this for hours. As long as you wish. As long as I wish. Your ass is so hot, so tight," he crooned.

She knew she was going to give in. Perspiration dripped from her

forehead, coated her body. She could feel the juices flowing from her pussy, her nerves rioting with the need for orgasm.

"Let me guide you, Megan." His voice tempted her, teased her. "As I guide you here, let me guide you in battle as well, baby. Let me show you how" His thrusts increased in intensity, sending her senses careening as pleasure exploded through her system.

"God yes," she screamed. "You bastard. But swear to God, you try to coddle me and I'll kill you. I'll kill you, Braden."

"Coddle you?" He groaned, his voice a fierce, triumphant growl. "How's this for coddling?"

This was not coddling. It was dominance in its most primal form. It was a claiming. A demand for submission that she had no choice but to answer.

"Now promise me." He held her on the edge, refusing to let her fly, keeping his thrusts deep and measured.

"I promise, dammit," she screamed, desperation pounding through her.

"Now do it, damn you."

He reached one hand beneath her, curving between her thighs and

plunging two fingers deep inside her aching pussy as he thrust hard and deep inside the tight, gripping tissue of her ass.

Stars exploded behind her closed eyes. No, this wasn't coddling. It was lust in its rawest form. It was a taking, a giving. His cock speared into her ass as his fingers fucked her pussy below, driving her higher as pleasure exploded across her senses.

Her orgasm ripped through her. She tightened on the pistoning erection, gripping it, milking it as she was flung past reality, worries and cares into a world of light, of rapture.

A world that consisted only of Braden and of pleasure.

"Good girl So hot and sweet."

She came back to earth slowly, shivering beneath his hard body as he stroked her stomach and whispered wickedly in her ear.

"I'm going to kill you." She was gasping for breath. "Honest, Braden. You're dead. As soon as I can move again."

She moaned harshly as she felt him withdraw. He was still hard despite the orgasm she knew had swept through him as well. She had felt that damned barb stroking inside her ass, making her crazy as her orgasm powered through her.

"Then I'll just have to make certain you can't move until you change your mind." His voice was lazy, by no means sated, but satisfied.

She snorted at the thought, rolling over to watch as he disappeared into the bathroom.

"You think you're tough shit, don't you?' she called into the other room.

"Big tough Breed got what he wanted." It rankled that she was so weak against the sexual impulses he could make power through her.

She stared up at the ceiling as she listened to the water run, a small frown creasing her face at the thought of how easily she had given in to him. She never gave in, not unless she wanted to. Realizing that in the end she had wanted what he could give her more than she wanted the freedom she had barely tasted, was confusing.

"You didn't give anything up, Megan." Her head jerked to the side, her gaze locking on his naked, powerful form as he leaned against the bathroom doorway.

Naked, he was damned intimidating. Even more so than when he was dressed. Hard muscle rippled beneath golden flesh as he stood before her like a fucking sun god. How had nature ever messed up so bad as to pair her with the golden creature standing across the room?

He was wild and free. It was in his eyes, the way he held his body, his expression. There was nothing restrained about him, nothing tamed. Not like her. Fighting to hide, to bury her dreams.

"How do you figure that?" She rose from the bed, jerking her robe over her naked body despite the frown that furrowed his brow at her movement.

"Because I like you wild." He straightened, moving slowly toward her, the still-hard length of his cock gleaming wetly. "Because I'll take nothing from you. Not your freedom, or your choices. But I will know your strengths and your weaknesses. I have to, otherwise there can be no trust between us as partners."

Partners. A chill raced through her at that word. She had never really had a partner, just some very close friends that she had nearly gotten killed.