Wolf Women (The Madison Wolves Book 10) (20 page)

"One of your GreEN stress balls."

They wrapped my wrist in plastic, but not my hand. Then they added tape around the wrist and over my fingers, holding them closed around the stress ball. They were thorough, and when they were done, you couldn't tell it was a hand. My right hand was treated similarly.

They stood me up, supporting me as I balanced precariously, pressed my arms along my sides, then wrapped and taped me, around and around, pinning my arms to my sides.

I blushed horribly when Michaela lifted my breasts out of the way so they could wrap and tape me all the way to my sternum. Then they taped the top of my chest, too, and soon I was covered nearly entirely from my shoulders to my ankles. My breasts, buns, and feet were exposed.

"There," Michaela said with a smile. "First favor."

Monique stepped forward. "You have a choice. You will ride in the trunk. We are driving some distance. It would not do for Portia to be able to find you. It won't be comfortable."

"Or?"

"Or you may ride with us. But there is a price."

"What price?"

"We want to have a dance at the school four times a year. It requires a faculty advisor to oversee us, but neither Michaela nor Francesca has time. We want you to do it."

I considered what she said. "That is an expensive price for a more comfortable ride, and I believe you have more prices I will be paying. I will oversee one dance to ride with you and I get input into the music that's played, or you may put me in the trunk."

"Ooh," Angel said. "A tough negotiator. Iris and Lindsey, you didn't cow her enough."

"We cowed her plenty," Iris said. "Didn't you hear the screaming?"

"What does 'input' mean?" Monique asked.

"If you guys don't pick very much music the old folks can dance to, then every ten songs, you have to play two songs from a playlist I create."

Hadley snorted. The girls glanced at each other, then Monique said, "Agreed. One dance, and music input as specified."

"Monique, you're giving in too easily," Evangeline said.

I looked over at Evangeline, studying her. I tried to decide if this was a case of good wolf / bad wolf. I didn't have enough information to judge. "It costs nothing to give me a more comfortable ride, but it will cost me a great many hours to help with your dance. I only agreed at all because I expect it will be fun. But if you feel my offer is unreasonable, I will ride in the trunk."

Evangeline looked frustrated, but Monique said, "She's going to want more favors. We'll get what we want from her. One dance as agreed."

"Finish preparing her," Michaela said.

Someone stepped up behind me and began to braid my hair. I raised an eyebrow. Michaela noticed but said nothing. It took only a minute to braid my hair then she wrapped it in a scarf.

Evangeline stepped in front of me. "Open your mouth." She was holding several rags.

"You're going to gag me?"

"Yes."

I sighed and opened obediently. She stuffed a couple of rags in. Then Michaela said, "The scarf protects your hair for this part." Someone handed Evangeline the roll of tape, and she began wrapping my mouth closed around the rags, pulling my mouth tightly closed. She wrapped it around and around my head, pulling tightly, then smoothing the tape tight to my skin immediately underneath my nose.

She was handed a blindfold. She let me see it before she pulled it over my eyes.

"This is to protect your eyes," she said as she did it. She adjusted it carefully, and then she began taping it in place, too. I couldn't see a thing.

"Last thing," Monique said. "Michaela adjusted the volume." She inserted ear buds into my ears. But they didn't turn it on.

Then Michaela said, "Portia. It's Michaela. We have your mate. Her price is one million dollars and the house you just built. You have one hour to consider your decision."

I began yelling into the gag. She told me she wouldn't take the house!

"Shhh," Michaela said. "She's not going to pay that. Shhh, Zoe. Lara, Elisabeth and Karen are with her. They won't let her be stupid. She'll give you honor. We ask an unreasonable price until we're willing to let her pay for you. Otherwise, some mates pay far too early. Portia is an enforcer, Zoe. This is very difficult for her. She is driven to protect you, and letting us do this is very difficult. We're helping her control her response to rescue you before you're ready to be rescued."

I calmed down, but my heart continued to pound. I couldn't believe I had agreed to this. I had gotten over my fear from the trip into the forest, but I wondered when the fear would return.

"Turn on the music, then we better get out of here."

It wasn't music; it was a thunderstorm. It was actually soothing, and I enjoyed listening to it. I thought that was kindness on their part.

They ran with me over their shoulders for a few minutes, and then they were passing me off. I realized they were handing me into a car, and I felt myself stretched across several laps. Then we were moving, rolling down the road.

I was completely, utterly lost. I lay limply, cradled in someone's arms. I couldn't have told you in whose arms I lay, except it was a wolf. But I felt multiple hands the entire time. Someone caressed my face, or what was exposed of it, or patted my tightly taped cheeks. Someone held my feet. There was a hand on my hip, another on my shoulder.

All the touch felt nice. All the touch was comforting.

I didn't know what they would do. Michaela had said it would be fun. Even early on, the punishments wouldn't be very bad, and I would enjoy some of them. I could only make guesses what they might do.

I couldn't tell you how long we drove along or where we went. I didn't even know where we were when the mad rush ended with me on my hands and knees in front of Michaela.

I was embarrassed at being mostly naked. The tape hid most of my body, which only highlighted what they left exposed. The wolves were all casual about nudity, but they knew I wasn't. I decided that was a portion of my punishment. It was helping to increase my sense of vulnerability, and I was pretty sure that was intentional.

Finally, the car slowed, turned around, and came to a stop. The vibration, already muffled by riding across their laps, ended. And then I felt fresh air across my breasts; it had grown warm in the car with all of us cuddled together. They passed me out, turned me around a few times, and then they were carrying me somewhere.

We went up, turned more corners, and then went down. I knew they were taking me to a basement somewhere.

I'm not going to talk about everything they did. Some of it I consider very private. Some was scary. But Michaela had been right; the evening would become very important to me, and so I must share enough to understand why.

They set me onto a sofa, then arranged me until I was comfortable, more or less. I couldn't feel the edges of the sofa, so I thought perhaps I was in the middle. And then I felt two people sit down on either side of me, confirming my suspicion. They shut off the thunderstorm and removed the ear buds.

"Not so bad, hmm?" Michaela asked from somewhere in front of me.

I shook my head 'no'. Not so bad, so far.

"I already told you some of this, but I am going to repeat it. We are not treating you like a wolf. You do not have the strength of a wolf, and no one expects you to. And, of course, if we hurt you, you won't heal. Do you understand?" I nodded.

"From time to time, you may want a favor. There will always be a price. In a while, we will offer you all the water you want, and the girls were discussing the price in the car. We know you have little money, so you can imagine the nature of the prices we'll ask." Again, I nodded. The girls would undoubtedly get their four dances. I didn't know what the adults wanted.

"At any time, you may end what is happening by begging Portia to pay your ransom. As long as you beg convincingly, we will stop what we are doing, even if she doesn't pay the ransom. But of course, a half hour or an hour later, there will be a new punishment, and if you want it to stop, you will need to be far more convincing."

I sighed into the gag and nodded.

"This ends when she pays your ransom, Zoe. You may beg us to stop all you want, but Portia is the only one who stops this."

I nodded again. I was doing a lot of nodding.

"Now, the reality is this. We can make you beg any time we want, but that is not the tradition. The tradition is to help you show how strong you are. We are your best friends, and we are showing you off to your groom and your groom's family. Well, that's the tradition, but of course in this case, it is to Portia, to Ember, and to the entire pack, your new family. But we do step it up, and you will eventually beg her to pay for you."

I knew the last part.

"You should know. We have video cameras set up. For my second ransom night, they streamed the video live to the pack web site. We're not doing that, but we're going to pick and choose, and we'll be uploading some of the video. We're also taking pictures." And then I heard a camera fire, five or six photos, some from very close. I immediately began to blush, as I knew my breasts were exposed. I was posing naked for someone's camera. I complained into the gag.

"The pack gets to see those immediately," Michaela said. "Soon, everyone will know it is your ransom night."

I sighed.

"No one in the pack will sleep tonight," Michaela continued. "When Iris and Lindsey took you, very few knew tonight would have a ransom night, but these nights are for the entire pack, and five minutes after we upload the first photos, they will go viral within the pack. Friends will call friends, and soon much of the pack will be awake and watching for updates. The girls will be blogging, and we'll upload photos and video."

I groaned, imagining myself on display like this.

"That's our job," Angel said. "Scarlett and me."

From somewhere near Michaela, Michele spoke next. "Zoe, we know the nudity is hard for you."

"It was hard for me at first, too," Michaela interjected.

"But you're in a wolf pack now," Michele continued. "Ransom night isn't only about showing you off. It is also a bonding experience between all of us, you with your closest friends."

"Or in my case," said Evangeline, "someone who expects to be around a long, long time." She was right; I was a little surprised she was here, but it made sense.

"But it also helps you to bond with the pack," Hadley said. "That is not as important when the bride has been in the pack for a long time, but it is very important for you."

"You have a hard time with the nudity," Michele said. "Perhaps after tonight, it won't be as hard for you."

I thought about that and nodded.

"We aren't uploading all the photos and video," Michaela said. "Some we will be sending to Portia as incentive to pay for you. She won't see all your punishments, but she'll see most of them. It is our decision what we show her, Zoe." I nodded to that. "We will show your strength." I still didn't know what she meant by that, but I nodded. "But we also must be honest with her, and she will see some of your weakness as well. When you cry-"

"And you'll cry," Monique said. "Even strong wolves cry."

"Portia will see that, too," Michaela finished. "And that is just as important."

I didn't understand why.

Michaela's tone changed. "In my second ransom night, Lara paid far sooner than I wanted her to."

"But she was pregnant," Angel added. "We didn't know that. She had to pay because it was stressing her too much, and that was bad for the pups."

"Zoe, are either you or Portia pregnant?" Michaela asked.

I shook my head. How could we have gotten pregnant?

"Are there other health issues we need to know?" Again I shook my head 'no'.

"For my ransom night," said Scarlett, "I eventually asked Angel to pay for me. But for hers, I paid before she asked. If you are far more stubborn than we expect, you'll find out later what they were doing to her."

Oh god. I gulped and nodded.

"All right," said Michaela. "For your first punishment, you are getting a firm spanking. Do you wish to beg Portia to pay your ransom?"

I shook my head.

A moment later, she said, "Hello again, Portia. No, I wouldn't really say she's all right. She is undamaged, but we've already frightened her badly. We had her on her hands and knees, and she was nearly ill."

Oh, so that's how it was to be. Head games with my mate?

"Have you considered our offer? Are you sure?" Michaela asked. "We are about to bend her across the back of the sofa and take turns spanking her. She is sure to yelp, although you won't make out words through the gag. No? Well, hang on. You can listen. Do it, ladies."

Two people reached over me from behind the sofa and dragged me backwards. I was surprised by it and cried out, but of course, it was severely muffled. Then they bent me over the sofa so far that my feet were in the air, but my head was lower than my butt.

"She has a cute ass," Michaela said. "So soft and ripe."

I heard the camera clicking, and I protested into the gag. Then there was a swat! And I yelped in surprise. It wasn't that painful, but it was the surprise. Whoever was spanking me swatted me three times total, and then there was a pause. I felt shifting around, and then someone was rubbing my ass.

"Hey!" I complained into the gag.

Then I took three more swats. They weren't any softer than the first three, but I was ready for them, so I didn't cry out.

They switched again. And again. And the discomfort built. I began grunting from each swat, and then yelping again, the sounds muffled.

"We won't stop until we've each spanked her," Michaela said. "No? Keep going."

Then someone new was rubbing my bottom again. It actually felt good.

"No, no, you're not supposed to rub her bottom," Michaela said. "Spank it. You do know what a spanking is."

Swat. Rub. Swat. Rub. Swat, and then tender rubbing.

I lost count of how many had spanked me. Michaela continued talking to Portia, taunting her. Finally she said, "Has everyone gone? Oh wait; it's my turn. Hold the phone." There a pause, more shuffling around, and then I felt a hand on my back, just above my buttocks. Then she leaned down. She must be half over the sofa herself, but she whispered into my ear. "We will remove your gag and allow you all the water you want, but the price is three good yelps, your best yet. If you don't pay this price, there will be another offer shortly, but this is far easier for you than what the girls have in mind. Think about it."

Then she straightened and began rubbing my bottom.

I was by and large overcome with conflicting emotions. This was all very strange to me. I could feel the tenderness in what they were doing. But she was asking me to help her with her head games with my mate.

I vowed to remain silent.

Michaela's hand stilled, lifted away from me, and then there was a loud, firm, swat! Far harder than anyone else had done. I grunted with the impact, but I didn't yelp.

One point to Zoe!

Her next two swats were just as firm, and I grunted with each, but I held back the yelps, although it was a close thing on the third.

A moment later I heard Michaela say, "Her ass is red with three fox-sized hand prints. Did you hear the offer I gave her? And she kept silent. She didn't give me what I wanted. I'll have to try harder next time, Portia. We'll talk to you soon."

There was a pause, then she said, "Put her back on the sofa and make her comfortable."

The lifted me up, very gently, and then carefully walked me around and set me back down. Two wolves sat next to me, then both leaned against me. It felt nice.

Even if my ass stung.

From in front of me, Michaela said, "Well done, Zoe. Now it's time for a game, but the games you're most likely to enjoy involve ungagging you."

"There is a price for ungagging you," Cassie said, and I realized she was sitting to my right. "You've already offered to oversee the fall dance. Ungagging you is the early winter dance. Will you pay our price?"

I thought about it and then shook my head.

"Really?" she asked.

From my left, Monique asked, "Do you want us to remove the gag?" I nodded. "Do you hate the idea of helping with the dance?"

Actually, I was looking forward to it, but I wasn't going to tell her that. I shook my head "no."

"Hmm," said Monique. I was pretty sure Michaela realized I was negotiating, but she didn't say anything. "You want more than just having the gag removed?" And I nodded. "What?" she asked.

The girls giggled. "I don't think she can answer you," Evangeline said.

"Oh, yeah," Monique said. "Help me out here."

Still, the adults were quiet. "The other things we might offer this early would be taking off the blindfold or giving her water," Iris said. "Are those what you want, Zoe?"

I nodded.

"We're not doing both," Cassie said. "Not for one dance. You have to pick one. Water or blindfold. Um. Water?"

I thought about it. I shook my head.

They were quiet for a minute. "Gag and blindfold for a dance. Agreed?" Cassie asked, and I nodded.

It took them a few minutes to free me, and when they pulled the tape off, it hurt. They did the blindfold first, which wasn't bad, but the tape around my mouth and over my cheeks hurt. I would have used naughty words if I hadn't had the rags in my mouth.

Iris moved around, taking photos the entire time, and Scarlett held a video camera before setting it back on the tripod, facing me.

I blinked in the light and worked my jaw. "Thank you," I said.

I looked around. We were, indeed, in a basement. The walls were concrete and painted white. There was a white suspended ceiling. And the space was clearly someone's home theater. There was a large television at one end of the room with stereo equipment and several speakers, but the sofa I was on was turned sideways. At the other end of the room from the television was an air hockey table. Past the air hockey game was a bar; it looked well stocked. There was a coffee table directly in front of me, and Michaela was sitting on it. Watching from easy chairs were Michele and Hadley. The other girls milled around, but there was seating for everyone, if some of it was more comfortable than others. And there was a storage chest behind Michaela.