Page 88 of The Anchor Holds

“How about I look after myself, and I kill any men who need killing with my own two hands?” I offered, not joking.

Again, Rowan ignored me, waiting for Elliot to nod.

“She’s capable of looking after herself.” Elliot proved once again that he did not defer to the alpha male status quo, which I found remarkably hot.

“Bullet wound in her arm would beg to differ,” Rowan replied before turning his back and leaving.

He slammed the door on his way out.

Rude. Disrespectful. Like a teenager having a tantrum. Though I knew it came only from his concern and frustration with me.

It seemed I was surrounded by frustrated men who wanted to protect me from monstersI’dsummoned. MonstersI’dcreated. They couldn’t slay them for me, but I’d never let them. Monsters were only defeated by heroes in fairy tales. The real monsters of this world needed a similar creature to bring them down. And as much as I tried to masquerade otherwise, I was closer to a monster than I was any kind of hero.

My breathing was shallow as I stared at the door and then Elliot.

I waited. For the inevitable.

For the questions. Especially after that scene with Rowan, he’d be bursting with them. I’d been poised to tell him my entire life story before, he was perceptive enough to know that. And he was perceptive enough to understand that there was tension with Rowan, things to be learned.

Elliot looked at me, and I held my breath. “What do you want your punishment to be?”

He asked the one question I didn’t expect.

“W-what?” I stuttered, taken aback.

“For disobeying me.” He stepped forward like a predator, not the protector he was mere moments ago. I was amazed by the man’s ability to slip into different personas within the same skin.

My skin heated at his approach, his tone, the darkness in his gaze.

“I told you to stay where you were. When your brother knocked at the door. And I told you to get in the closet earlier. You didn’t listen to me.” He gripped my chin firmly between his fingers. “So what do you want your punishment to be? You can take my belt, or you won’t be able to come for the rest of the night.”

Hearing the options, my breathing became shallow, my core throbbing. “I wasn’t aware we were within the parameters of me following orders.” I should’ve sounded a lot more pissed off, and I was, somewhere. Underneath all the pent-up desire.

“Yes, you were,” he leaned in. “When it comes to your safety or your orgasms, you listen to me.”

“You get one of those. You better know it’s not the former.” I was dead serious despite my body responding to him viscerally.

“We’ll see.” He stepped forward. “In that case, do you not want to be punished?”

I licked my lips. “I didn’t say that.”

A wicked grin spread across his face.

It was a breath of fresh air, having been assaulted by his concern and turmoil the past few hours. I hadn’t realized what a port in the storm I’d considered Elliot’s easygoing personality to be. How I’d come to rely on its stability in the short time I’d been around him.

“What will your punishment be, Calliope?” With featherlight steps, he moved forward to take the wine glass from my hands.

The brush of his fingers against mine was electric, and suddenly, I was overcome with need. To drown out everything from that day, lose myself in the act of following his orders.

Even the simple choice between two punishments seemed overwhelming. Both of them sounded uniquely enticing; I wanted both. But I didn’t want any more responsibility. I could’ve died. And there was a good chance it was because of my own choices. The decision fatigue from that alone was almost unbearable.

Elliot watched me with lowered lids, as if he were reading all of those thoughts. His fingers brushed my jaw with a gentle touch that made my knees wobble. “How about I decide?” he murmured softly. “One day, one day soon, I’ll take my belt to you.” His hands skimmed down the sides of my body to knead my ass. “I’ll see this skin raised and red and ensure that you won’t be able to sit without remembering your punishment for a week. But I don’t relish inflicting any more pain on you tonight, even the kind of pain you’ll like. The kind of pain that’ll make that lovely little cunt absolutely sopping wet for me.”

At his words, my breathing had lowered to a pant, my mouth moist and my panties soaked. They were true, all of them. I yearned for that. For the strike of leather against my skin, for the ability to carry the evidence around with me when Elliot wasn’t there.

One day, he’d said. Like we had more days ahead of us.

“You’re so sure the occasion will arise when I’ll need to be punished again?”

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