“Notify you, Alpha,” they snapped at once.
“Emma, you’re on kitchen duty when you’re not with your coya outside Base. Ashley, you better hope you’ve saved back enough to fix those nails. They look like shit. Sharone, you’re assigned to Brim for two weeks when you’re not needed by your coya. He’ll let you know what he needs.”
He could have sworn Sharone whimpered. Brim enjoyed the hell out of the girls and loved every chance he had to torment them. It was his hobby, his fun. Like the older brother he had never been.
“Dismissed.” He waved to the door, waited until they filed out, and as the door closed behind him, he smiled and shook his head. Damn, if this was any indication of what human men dealt with when it came to daughters, then he was damned glad he was a Coyote.
CHAPTER 7
He had her timed perfectly. Ten minutes after the girls left his office, Anya was charging into it. Her blue eyes sparkled with fury, her red gold hair tangled around her face and fell to her shoulders in such charming disarray that he wanted nothing more than to mess it further.
She slammed the door and faced him, arms crossing over the snug, thin white sweater she wore as she glared at him furiously.
“How dare you punish them!” She shoved a finger toward him. “You had no right.”
He sat back in his chair and forced control on himself.
“I’m not ready to head to Haven yet. I need about forty minutes at least. Could you wait to start throwing things at me and calling me names until then?”
“Wait?” she snapped in mockery. “Wait for you to do what? Devise more ways to torture my friends? You have no right. Now fix it.”
Oh, she was f**king beautiful. He could feel his c**k hardening impossibly. He was so damned ready to f**k that smart mouth it was almost impossible not to jump from the desk and take what he wanted.
“What did you think would happen, Anya?” he asked her carefully instead. “I could have been much harder on them. I could have had them sent to Haven and celled for endangering their coya’s life. Instead, I did what I felt would teach them quickly not to f**k with your life or theirs.”
“And you think we didn’t learn our lessons last night?” she yelled. “Trust me, Del-Rey, we did. You didn’t have to punish them this severely. Now damn you, fix it.”
“I don’t think so.” He straightened and braced his arms on the desk to look at the files on the e-pad lying before him.
Not that he read a damned word that was on there. It was the impression that counted.
“You can’t do this,” she argued.
“I’m alpha.” He shrugged. “I can and will do this.” He lifted his head. “By the way, since I can’t punish you in the same manner, would you like to know what I’ve come up with?”
Her eyes widened. “You do not punish me, you slack-brained, dim-witted mongrel. I’ll shoot your ass with your own gun.”
God bless her. He was going to f**k her until she was begging for mercy. Right there on his desk if she wasn’t damned careful.
“Your punishment is a week in my bed, every night, eight hours, while I’m sleeping. Beginning tonight.”
“I’m returning to Haven, along with my security force.” Her voice was strangled. “You can’t order me anywhere.”
“Check our separation agreement,” he suggested casually as he scrawled his signature on the document and sent it to Brim. “While I’m here you’re only allowed off this base if your safety and security isn’t endangered. I’ve deemed both in jeopardy. My report was filed no more than an hour ago with the members of the tribunal and has been returned with their agreements.” He lifted his head. “As for sleeping in my bed, yes, Mate, I can order that as well under the same conditions. I’m certain you’ll consider that your punishment, rather than your reward for actually managing to stay alive.”
He pushed the e-pad to the side and watched as her br**sts heaved, her ni**les spiked. Caffeine and anger. They were a destructive combination with the mating heat and he knew it. Keep her pissed off enough, he might get a chance at that kiss that he was dying for.
“You’re not serious!” she exclaimed. Her blue eyes were shocked. Her face was flushed.
Oh, he was serious. As serious as the hard dick in his pants.
“Give me forty minutes, cupcake.” He smiled back at her. “And I’ll let you go bitch about it to the lupina while Dr. Armani is upping your hormones. I can smell your arousal. I like it.”
Her fingers curled at her sides. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“Nope, not this week,” he laughed back at her. “I’m really pretty sane for me right now. Ask Brim, he can tell you, sometimes I’m actually trying to have fun.”
Anya stared back at him in outraged amazement. The man took idiocy to a new level. He was sitting there grinning at her as though he were actually having fun. Calling her “cupcake.” She was going to poison his cupcake if he didn’t find a measure of intelligence in that thick skull of his.
“Look.” She tried for calm. “You can’t take Ashley’s allowance. Getting her nails fixed, buying her shoes and girly stuff keeps her grounded. Emma will break everything in the kitchen if you put her in there. And Sharone will end up shooting Brim. Not that he won’t deserve it. But I’d prefer she not have to deal with the guilt later.”
He relaxed farther back in his chair, lifted those long, powerful legs and propped them on the corner of his desk as he stared back at her, his lashes lowered over his eyes.
“If Sharone shoots him, then he’ll have deserved it.” He shrugged. “As for Emma, inform her if she breaks anything I’ll add a week. And Ashley will survive without her nail treatments for a while. It will remind all of them who the alpha is around here.”
His smile was all teeth as he crossed his arms over his chest and let his gaze drift down her body. And she felt it, almost as though it were a phantom touching her.
“I will not sleep with you either,” she bit out. “Get it out of your mind.”
“Fine. I’ll sleep in your bed with you.” He shrugged. “Either way, you’re gonna be my cuddle bunny for a week. It gets damned cold at night for some reason, Coya. You can keep me warm.”
His what? His cuddle bunny?