Lounging upon her comfy chaise coyote, Hannah huffed in pure exasperation. She sat straighter, but Silver stopped her. He squeezed her wrists, immobilizing her. The sudden, subtle show of strength threw her for a loop.

"Beg." The command, powerful and compelling, smacked down with the force of a lash. Magic infused his voice—the same as when he sang.

"Please!" With a startled yelp, Hannah jumped. Fox reflexes would've carried her six feet into the air, except he tethered her to his lap.

"Please, what?" Silver propped his back against the wall. With a grunt, he freed his cock from beneath her backside and positioned the erect shaft between her legs. The uncut head thrust proudly above her shaved mound. Hannah quelled the desire to grip him with her inner thighs. Usually, when Silver assumed the dominant position, he trussed her up so she couldn't move. Given their current, inhospitable conditions, there would have to be compromises.

"Please..." Lips parted, she twisted far enough to glimpse his face. She hesitated, searching for a hint of what he wanted, but Silver wore an inscrutable mask. Seconds ticked past, and each passing moment increased the risk she'd be punished over her silence. Finally, she hazarded a guess. "Sir?"

Darkness shone in his eyes. Her heart raced; for a terrifying, titillating second, she thought her answer had displeased him. But then Silver curled the corners of his mouth in a slow smile. "Sir will do. I'm going to call you Vixen. You'll respond only when spoken to, and you must call me 'Sir.' Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Hannah bit back a cheeky grin. The urge to squirm grew painful. She wanted to rub against him, desperate for any sort of friction.

He gave her smile the side eye and released her arms. "Kneel facing away from me."

Oh, something new... Hannah scrambled to obey. She sank onto her knees, straddling his outstretched legs, faced away from him. The concrete beneath her knees was cold and rough. Impatiently, she asked, "Like this?"

"Like this, sir!" Silver barked. The sharp smack of his open hand on her buttocks caught Hannah totally unaware. It stung, but surprise, not pain, ripped the cry from her throat. She lost her balance and collapsed.

"Like this, sir?" Gasping, Hannah sank lower, clutching at his muscular calves with both hands. The coarse hair of his legs agitated her breasts and the thick wedge of his arousal jutted against her stomach, the head tucked against the top of her pelvis. The hard length pressed into her, an uncomfortable intrusion, as though to remind her of what awaited her... As if she could forget.

"Better. Ass in the air." Silver swatted her other cheek just as hard as the first. It smarted, but nowhere near as bad as the emptiness inside her.

"Like this, sir?" Hannah boosted her backside. From this angle, she was staring straight at his feet. Like the rest of him, they were attractive and well-formed, especially his toes. It scandalized her to imagine the view from his perspective. Her cheeks burned... all swollen and slippery.

"Hot damn, you're pretty, Vixen." Silver loosened a wolf whistle, and the blush consumed Hannah's face this time.

"Thank you, sir," she grated. She glowered at his shapely toes and puckered her mouth, preparing to curse him out. But then he traced his fingertips across the length of her sex, and all coherent thought vanished. Her pussy wept for his touch, and she wanted to cry when he denied her more than a swift graze.

"Do you have a safe word?" Silver bent over so his hot breath washed over her bare skin... in marked contrast to the chilliness of the basement.

"Yes, I have a safe word," Hannah answered literally, willfully dense. The part of her that loved to push limits and chase danger hated having a safe word. She'd long since learned the necessity of it, however, because it granted Silver the peace of mind to push her boundaries.

"What's your safe word?"

"Pumpkin spice latte, sir."

"Are you using it now?"

"Fuck, no!" Hannah deliberately left off the sir, which earned her another firm stroke on her behind. The friction rendered her derrière pleasantly toasty. In the past, Silver had teased her with spanking threats... and she'd dared him to try. But this was the first time he'd delivered.

"Yes, sir." He swatted her three more times in rapid succession—her just desserts. Hannah arched into his every stroke—oh yeah, lovin' it.

"Yes, sir!"

"Good girl." Silver chuckled. He massaged her buttocks and lower back—his touch firmer now—working out tension kinks. The man possessed an uncanny talent for finding and rubbing the sore spots.

"That feels amazing," Hannah murmured, deliberately testing the waters.

Silver snorted. He fondled the backs of her thighs, his touch light and sensual. From the measured silence, he must be considering whether she deserved another slap. She waited with baited breath, and exhaled in disappointment when none were forthcoming.

Hannah sighed and then moaned in pleasure, but with each passing second, her impatience grew. She thrashed her head and snarled in the back of her throat, sharing her frustration. If their accommodations had been nicer, she could've stayed like that for hours—limp and malleable—his to sculpt. But Hannah's near-death experience had left her bursting with too much energy, though. She desperately needed an outlet... and Silver did, too.

"Do you want my fingers inside you?" Silver asked in a husky voice. He teased the entrance of her sex with a fingertip.

"Yes, sir. Please, sir." Hannah whimpered, more than ready to beg. The hollowness in her core was a deprivation waiting to be satisfied. She hungered for him.

"So pink, so pretty... You're a goddess." With a worshipful murmur, Silver slid his finger past her lips, stroking the soaked folds of her flesh. Her body grasped at him, desperate to latch onto the promised pleasure.

"More, sir. Please—" Weak in body and will, Hannah clutched his legs for support. Her whole body trembled with the intensity of her arousal. In Silver's esteem, she truly was divine. No other man had ever made her feel so special or cherished.

"Like this?" He slid paired digits into her, stretching her. She gasped. Her pussy clenched, drenching his hand in cum. His thumb rested on the hood of her neglected clit. All he had to do was move ever so slightly and she'd be in heaven.

"Yes, like that, sir." Hannah panted and grasped at her final shreds of self-control. The rules meant remaining still. If she took, he couldn't give.

"Tell me something—the truth—and I'll give you everything you want and more." Silver eased out of her and then returned, fucking her with his hand. Still not hard enough to satisfy her, it gave her a taste of what she craved with such desperation.

"Anything, sir."

"Why did you panic like that?"

"What?" Hannah jerked her face up, momentarily forgetting her manners. No punishing swat followed her lapse.

"I've been with you in all kinds of stressful situations, but I've only ever seen you panic twice. The first time we met, when I handcuffed you, and then tonight," Silver continued in a quiet voice. He pumped his hand in and out of her, providing a distraction that made it damn near impossible to think. Beyond a doubt, it was deliberate.

"I don't know. Why does it matter?" Hannah asked in her usual sassy tone. Pure impertinence. She gave into temptation and bucked her hips, impaling herself fully on his fingers. It gave her a brief burst of relief... but not nearly enough.

"I almost lost you tonight." Silver raised the hand he'd been using to pleasure her; it descended in punishment. He smacked her ass far harder than ever before—real anger behind the strike.

"I'm sorry, sir!" She wailed the apology and clung to Silver's knees. Tears gathered behind her lids, and she squeezed her eyes shut to hold them back. Right then, she'd have prostrated herself at his feet to avoid what came next.

"Too late." Silver slapped her buttocks again, placing the stinging lash squarely across the fleshy part of her cheeks.

Hannah yelped and lurched. She didn't have time to recover before a third fell and yet another. He rained a spanking on her backside, the likes of which she'd never known. As a child, Hannah's swan-shifter grandmother had never raised a hand to the girls, even when they'd been outrageously naughty.

"I don't know, sir. I'm sorry," Hannah said, lying through her teeth. She knew exactly why she'd panicked, but she didn't want to tell him.

"You're lying. I can smell it." His vehemence blasted over her in a wave. Through the mate bond, she perceived the depths of Silver's fear and anger, and understood he needed to vent more than she did. The ferocity of the next lash that crossed her bottom made her thankful that he only had his bare hand to work with.

"I screwed up. It was a mistake." Hannah snuffled and wept. Tears poured down her cheeks. She tucked her face against his thighs and sobbed.

"You don't make mistakes." He whacked her ass again.

"I did this time." She sobbed, incoherent. She expected him to stop. Silver had never shown the slightest inclination toward sadism. He didn't, though. The spanking continued. Her bottom burned, throbbing soreness, and for the first time in ages she gave serious consideration to using her safe word. Before pumpkin passed her lips, Silver would halt and her torment would be over.

She didn’t. She needed this every bit as much as he did.

"The first time you kissed me, I lost myself in you. That's why I panicked. I only ever panic when I'm not in control," Hannah blurted out through her tears, desperate to win even a brief respite from the punishment.

Perhaps recognizing the truth, Silver ended the spanking. She gasped in relief and then abject eagerness when he caressed her pussy. He pushed into her entrance and rubbed the pad of his thumb over her clit. Hannah moaned and convulsed, on the verge of a climax.

"Damn, you're soaked," Silver said in a song-like exclamation of awe. She groaned—he sounded way too impressed for her comfort. Her coyote-lover learned fast and never forgot a trick.

She was doomed.

"I need you, Silver. Fuck me, please."

"Soon, we're not quite done yet." He rocked his hand and drove deeper into her channel. Exquisite, but she longed for his hard cock, still trapped between their bodies. "Tell me, why you were you out of control tonight?"

Hannah hiccupped. She wanted to scream and demand to know why he wouldn't let this go. So she'd lost control? So what? It wasn't that big of a deal... except she'd almost gotten decapitated. Silver would've died with her before he'd have abandoned her. And there—she had her answer without asking. Her mate had been completely honest and upfront right from the start. Time for her to do the same—she owed him that much. The epiphany granted her the strength she needed to break through her last internal barrier. Gathering her will, she smashed through the walls she'd erected to protect herself.

Silly fox—she didn't need to guard against Silver. She ought to know that lesson by now... Maybe someday, she'd learn.

"I was distracted. I wasn't focused on the job so I made an amateur mistake, allowing my hair to get caught like that," Hannah said, talking too fast. Now that she'd decided to confess, she just wanted to get it over with so they could get onto the fun stuff.

"Distracted by what?" He settled his hands, sticky with her fluids, on her hips and gripped her firmly.

She narrowed her eyes. Silver knew damn well why, but she supposed it was good to say it aloud. Clear the air—everything aboveboard and all that. "Our argument," she admitted. "I can't stop thinking about it."

"So this was my fault," he said, grim with self-recrimination.

"No, Silver. It's mine." Hannah bowed her head in shame, resting her forehead upon his thigh. Her throat constricted. She would've wept except she'd already shed her last tear. "You assumed my hang-ups about having a baby were about you. The truth is—I'm not sure I'd be a good mother."

"What—why?" Silver lifted and settled Hannah on his lap. Proudly erect, his dick banged against her belly. She glanced down to admire the thick shaft which jutted from a nest of dark curls at the base.

"You're not the only one who had a terrible father. My dad is hardly a candidate for Father of the Year. A part of me is terrified of the responsibility of having someone be completely dependent on me. What if I'm an awful mother? What if I feed our kids nothing but chicken tenders or yell at them... or cut and run like my father did—"

"That didn't even occur to me."

"I know. I let you think the worst because I was too much of a coward to admit the truth. I'm so sorry, Silver. I believe with all my heart—you'd make a wonderful father." She wrapped her hand about his girth and guided his plump cockhead to her sex. The throbbing length lodged against her entrance like a promise and a threat.

He swallowed audibly and flexed his hands about her waist. "I don't have a condom with me, and right now I don't have the self-control to pull out. We'd be taking a risk."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take with you." Hannah impaled herself as Silver rocked his hips and sheathed his cock within her. Their union left them both gasping and grasping.

Power flooded their mate bond like a star gone nova. It opened psychic pathways between them, bright light illuminating all those shadowy corners sneaky creatures cultivated naturally. She sank onto him; he divided and completed her. Hannah had never been one to get poetical about sex—a man's cock had never been the center of her existence.

Until now.

"Oh fuck." Silver sang the prayer, strong and pure.

"Yes, fuck." Hannah echoed, wistful over her lack of harmonic perfection. If they had a child, she hoped their baby inherited its daddy's voice.

"That's it, Vixen. You're so damn tight. Take the rest." Roughly, Silver tugged down and Hannah submitted, even though she would've sworn there wasn't a spare inch anywhere in her loins.

There's more? How the hell did he manage that? Did he have a couple spare inches of dick he kept hidden except for special occasions? Hannah parted her lips to ask just as Silver seated her fully. Her smart, sore ass slapped against his thighs.

She yelped, threw her hands into the air, and shouted, "You bastard! I swear I'll get you for this!"

"I can't wait." Silver snickered, and spanked her again with his lap.