The bears stormed through the crowd, and one of them walked right up to Finn. They called him Kraken. He was as big as Finn was, and the scars on his face spoke of a lifetime of brutal, bloody one-on-one fights.
“She came into our territory today without permission,” Kraken said accusingly. “So she belongs to Ruben.”
“I beg your pardon, I do think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding,” Flora piped up helpfully. “I was just on the other side of the border. I was in Hudson territory.”
“Liar,” the bear snapped.
“Say that again,” Finn growled, staring him down. Kraken swallowed hard and looked away. “Ruben sent us to claim her,” the bear muttered, but he sounded a little less sure now.
“You actually think you can take my property from me?” Finn growled at him.
One of the other bears muscled up to them and cast a skeptical glance at Flora. “Your property? I don’t see a collar.”
Finn bared a grin. “I’m getting a special one made for her.”
The bear looked her up and down. “She isn’t wearing your mark. If she were really yours, you’d punish her for running around town without wearing your mark.”
The bar patrons glanced at one another and nodded. There was a murmur of assent.
A chant started somewhere in the crowd and grew louder and louder. “Punish her! Punish her!”
Finn grabbed Flora’s arm and pulled her to her feet. “Quiet! I need to talk to my property,” he called out, and hustled her to a quiet corner of the club.
“What was all that about?” she demanded, glancing nervously at the bears. “I really wasn’t in their territory. Why did they come after me? Do they normally do things like this?”
“Nope. I mean, you’re new in town and everybody knows when new people arrive, but I’ve never seen them do this before. Then again, their leader’s been getting more aggressive lately,” Finn growled, directing a threatening glare at Kraken. “He’s probably hoping this will push us to declare a turf war.”
“What does it mean that you claimed me?” Flora asked.
“Exactly what it sounds like. That’s how things work in Darwin. Any man who wants a woman, he’s got to be strong enough to fight for her.”
“But what does it mean for me?” she persisted. “And you?”
He looked down at her, struggling to control the desire burning through him. “You’ve got to understand, I suck at relationships.” Which wasn’t really an answer. It was an excuse. An attempt at putting up barriers between them even as he pulled her in close.
“Why did you claim me, then?”
“It was the only way to keep you safe.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip, and the sight of it sent a lightning bolt of arousal sizzling through him. “Thank you.” Then she looked up at him again. “So…what’s this about punishment?”
The last thing he wanted to do was push her into something she wasn’t ready for. “We could go up to my apartment and pretend that I’m punishing you, and then I’ll come back down and tell them the deed is done.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “What’s the alternative?”
“I could take you out into the club and spank you in front of everyone.” His fingers trailed down the side of her face and her breath caught in her throat. “Claim you as mine. Publicly. But we don’t have to.”
She surprised him by meeting his gaze with an unexpected boldness.
“Do it,” she said. Then, ever polite, she added, “If you don’t mind. I mean, if you want to.” Now she sounded a little more uncertain.
He let out a harsh laugh. “If I want to? That’s all I’ve wanted from the minute I laid eyes on you,” he growled. “Well, the spanking is just the beginning of what I want to do to you.”
“Oh.” It came out on a trembling breath, and he stifled a groan of pure animal need. God, he just wanted to bury himself in her softness. Plunge into her, hear her moan beneath him…
“All right,” she said. “Let’s go show those bears.” She raised her chin defiantly, took a deep breath, and strode towards the nightclub.
