by Nora Nolan
“No.”
“No? Did you just tell me no?”
“I did. I don’t want to stop what I’m doing.”
“And why would that be?”
“Do I need a reason?”
“You do indeed. I don’t like being told no.”
“I just don’t want to.”
“Come in here, darlin.”
Pucker time.
She put on her best defiant look and joined him in the living room, standing in a pouty put-out posture with her weight on one leg and her fists at her hips.
“Now what do you want?”
“I want you to look a little more accommodating and model your gown and shoes for me.”
“I told you no.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re refusing me?”
“Yes.”
He took a deep breath and jutted his chin sideways in a half-shake of his head. He had Ava picked up under his arm before she realized it. Dan carried her into their bedroom, took off her blouse and skirt, and bent her over the bed, still wearing her bra and panties.
“Don’t move until I tell you to.”
Ava was petrified, but knew she had to play this out, and do it seriously. She was pretty sure this wouldn’t have been a punishable offense in any other circumstance. At the same time that she felt scared, she was a little bemused that he wasn’t upset over so many shoes, only that she didn’t do what he said. Would that be normal in their life? Would this happen over any little thing he tells her to do, no matter how trivial – just because wives are expected to obey? Or was he just letting this be a reason he could spare her from receiving his belt at the ball?
Dan pulled off his belt and welted her bottom and the tops of her thighs. As painful as it was, Ava knew he wasn’t being as harsh as he could have been. She got through it without tears.
“We aren’t done yet. Come back in the living room with me,” he said as he looped the belt back through his slacks. Ava’s heart sank.
Dan sat down in his favorite comfy chair. “Put that pair on – the clear ones that look like Cinderella’s slippers.” He waited. “All right. Nice. Turn around. Go into the kitchen so I can see how your ass and thighs look while you walk away, with those stripes on them.” He paused. “I like it. Now bring me two bacon cheeseburgers with chili cheese fries and a beer. You’re going to model every single pair of shoes for me while I eat. Make it hot. And I’m talking about the show you put on for me, not the food.”
* * *
The Council received reports that the shifter training was going well. They still didn’t know how the enemy would attack, although many felt they might strike at the ball, since it would be such a target-rich environment. Weaponry attacks didn’t seem logical since Bargella had such strong defense capabilities, so bombs and missile attacks seemed unlikely. Hand to hand combat would be ludicrous since Bargellans could simply beam away if they couldn’t best an opponent. Neither Gandarzians nor Baltims had beaming abilities, since they weren’t carbon-based life forms. That alone put them at a distinct disadvantage. Even if they had developed a way to teleport, they were still far less advanced in every other way.
The most logical threats were deemed to be some type of bio-hazard, or even old-fashioned kidnap and ransom. The civil police and military police worked together to plan a very impressive show of security for the ball, with both uniformed and plain-clothes men. Additional personnel were to be added. It was decided that some of the shapeshifters who were being trained might shift into female form and provide security specifically for the chieftesses and mates of the other dignitaries if needed.
* * *
Ella and Lorraine spent quite a bit of time together. Lorraine did, Ella found, have a personality she adored.
“Lorraine, you know about the Inquisition. There’s no way I can get out of it?”
“Absolutely not. The best you can hope for is to have been punished before that night, then it’s not so bad.”
“I haven’t been. Mark never gives me any rules or orders, so I don’t know how I can even earn one. Any ideas?”
“Not off the top of my head. Mark’s a pretty easy-going guy. Everybody in the Stardon Tribe thinks very highly of him. Matter of fact, rumor is that there are some Tribe Eleven natives who are moving into our tribal area to get away from Roark. He’s the chief of the Rison Tribe – he’s been a pain for a while now. He wants more land and he’s taxing his people out of their own solvency. The Council has tried to find ways to have him removed, but our tribes are patriarchies and Roark has no brothers or sons. It’s unclear what would happen if he’s eliminated.”
“Sheesh – eliminated? As in, what we euphemistically call ‘surgically removed’ – that kind of eliminated?”
“Precisely. We certainly have the capability, but thus far, not the justification, nor do we have a clear plan for what would happen afterwards.”
“Wow. Can’t wait to meet this guy again, now that I know more about him.”
“My advice would be to look out and be on your guard when he’s around.”
“What about his wife, Sarah? I’ve been in meetings with her, and she seems just fine, maybe a little quieter than the others. I didn’t get any negative vibes coming off her.”
“No, not negative, but she is a little more reserved than the rest. She’s bonded to Roark so she’ll never leave him, but I think she disapproves of his policies.”
“Well, that’s not good. I guess she has to obey him like all the rest of us have to obey our husbands.”
“Yes, and I understand he’s much harsher than most.”
“I wish I could help her.”
Lorraine took her by her shoulders to get her attention. “Do not engage with either of them other than civil pleasantries appropriate for the situation. Understand? No conversation, no asking over for coffure, no meeting for lunch. Nothing. Tell me you understand.”
Ella’s eyes got wide, surprised with the forcefulness of Lorraine’s instructions. “I understand.”
* * *
Days passed, and Sally and Ella both got more and more anxious about the prospect of receiving a serious assault on their backsides while on stage. They spent much time together trying to come up with misbehavior scenarios to try to anger their mates. Unfortunately, neither was able to bring about the certain conditions to make their plans come to fruition.
Sally was at the point of resigning herself to the idea of her fears prevailing, and receiving the belting at the Inquisition. If Shanda and Willa could survive it, surely she would, too. She told herself that if she got a chance to incur Sam’s wrath before the ball, she would avail herself of it, but she wouldn’t scheme or contrive to make it happen. That in itself was too exhausting and fraught with anxiety.
Ella still hoped to escape the public humiliation. She hung on to every word Mark spoke, hoping to hear some kind of direct request or order from him so she could willfully defy him. Unfortunately, he never told her to do anything.
The more Ella thought of it, the more agitated she became. He’s supposed to love me – how could he let this happen to me? He has to know how awful it would be for me to have that happen to me in public! These thoughts only fueled her anger and resentment. Even Lorraine, her assistant, found herself on the receiving end of Ella’s sharp tongue.
One evening, about three days before the ball, Mark asked Ella to join him in the living room after their dinner.
Ella’s bitterness had reached a peak. “What do you want now?” She didn’t even pretend to temper her tone.
“We need to discuss something. Do you think you can do that with a civil tongue?”
“Bottom line it for me. What exactly do you want from me?”
“I want you to calm down and speak rationally.”
She jumped up out of her chair, threw her arms up, and stormed over to stand near his chair. “How the fucking hell do you expect me to do that?” As she yelled in her rage, spittle flew from her mouth.
; He sighed. “I expect you’ll need some persuasion.”
Mark stood up and took her by the upper arm to lead her to the side of the couch. She somehow managed to escape his grasp and ran in the other direction, but she didn’t get far before he caught her. He picked her up and took her to the couch again, bending her across the overstuffed arm so that her head rested on the cushions.
“You will stay there until I tell you to get up. Understand?”
She didn’t respond. His hand struck her backside so hard she wondered how a belt could be any worse.
“Listen closely. You will stay there until I tell you to get up, and you will answer me when I ask you a question. Do you understand?”
Something in his deep voice let her know she’d better cooperate. “Yes. I understand.”
“Good. Clasp your arms under your head so you don’t reach back. Now don’t move.”
He pulled her shorts and bikini panties down and off. She heard him pull his belt through the loops of his khakis. Although she was frightened, she reminded herself this was exactly what she wanted. Even what she needed. Better now than later.
Ella sensed Mark pull his arm back and up, then she felt a searing pain across her bottom. Before she could take a breath and cry, another followed, then another. Mark gave five swats all together before pausing. Tears welled in Ella’s eyes.
“I know you’ve been treating Lorraine abominably. I don’t care how bad your own situation is, you have no right to take it out on others of our employ. Do you understand?”
The tears caught up, and Ella realized he was speaking the truth. She had treated her assistant rudely in the last few days.
A brutal lash hit across the tops of her thighs. “I asked you if you understood. I believe we’d already established that when I ask a question, I expect an answer.”
“Yes, sir, I understand!” Ella had no idea where the “sir” came from, but it was out before she realized. It seemed appropriate.
Mark delivered a few more lashes, from the fullest round swell of her bottom to the middle of her thighs. He knelt down beside the couch where her face was, and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Do you understand why you’re receiving this?”
She had to speak through her tears. “I’ve been inexcusably rude. To you and Lorraine and probably the rest of the staff, too. I’ll apologize.”
“Good. But we aren’t through yet, sweetie.”
“Please no more!”
“It has to be.” He kissed her, then stood up and resumed his position behind and to the side of her. He let the belt drop several times more on her bottom and upper thighs. “Spread your legs, sweetie.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Spread. As far as you can. This is going to be painful, but I expect you to hold this position.”
With that, he curled the buckle ends where he held the belt a couple of times so the business end of the belt was shorter. He shot down a stripe on her left inner thigh. She screamed. A second swat hit, just below the first. She screamed again, and her legs trembled at the pain and the effort to stay in position.
Mark stepped around her legs so he stood on her other side. He brought down the belt on her right inner thigh twice in rapid succession. Ella sobbed into her arms, but she held her legs apart.
“All right. It’s over. Just lie there for a few minutes. Remember you’re going to apologize to Lorraine and the staff for your rudeness.”
“Mark, I need to apologize to you, too. I really am sorry for the way I acted,” she said tearfully.
“I know you are. And I know why you were so frustrated, but you can’t act disrespectfully toward people just because you’re upset. The people you took it out on had nothing to do with it. As a Chieftess, you have to rise above it.”
“I know. Will you forgive me?”
“I already have, sweetie.”
He picked her up into his arms and carried her back into the living area and sat down in his huge overstuffed chair, cradling her in his arms. As he held her head close enough to kiss all over her forehead and hair, he let his hands wander over her body, taking away every trace of pain.
Chapter 20: The Ball
The day of the ball arrived. Sally had resigned herself to her fate. Sam was particularly solicitous of her, and she wondered if it was because he knew what was in store for her. Perhaps he felt a little guilty about having to be the one to bring her this public pain. She wondered if he was reading her mind and choosing to ignore her thoughts on the matter.
She chose a ball gown with a gathered full skirt that was perfect for dancing. At least she said that’s why she chose it. The real reason was that it would allow Sam to bare her to him and she could still remain mostly covered.
At the appointed time, they beamed into the Royal Ballroom of the High Council complex. Even though they had replicators to make drinks, the tradition was to have a conventional bar with bartenders. The bar was a long one, with several tenders evenly spaced down the length of it, male and female. Apparently they were good at what they did, because the bar was a crowded area. Sally wondered if they were also comedians of sorts because there was raucous laughter coming from both the bartenders and the patrons.
The huge room seemed to be laid out nicely. The bar ran down the left side of the room. At the front was an elevated stage that spanned the width of the room. In front of the stage were several rows of round tables, just enough to accommodate everyone there. At the back of the room in the corner was a large area for an orchestra, and the area adjacent to it across most of the back was a large dance floor.
Sally and Sam mingled with others, and he introduced her to a few judges of the High Court and high ranking police officials and their mates before they could make their way to the bar. They were stopped by Zoe and Ava, who insisted on telling Sally just how wonderful she looked. Soon it became mutual admiration, and Sam laughed at them. “You ladies chat, I’m going to go get drinks for us. Be right back.” He bent down to kiss Sally on the cheek before he walked away.
It was Zoe who dived in first. “Sally, are you prepared for the Inquisition tonight? I wish you didn’t have to go through that.”
Sally winced. “I know. But I’m a big girl, and I can take it. I hope after it, Sam will take the pain away. Cheryl and Ella said they can do that.”
They hugged her, then Zoe noticed Ella and Mark across the room. “We need to go check in with Ella. See you in a few minutes!”
“Okay, luvyabye,” Sally said as she chuckled. “I’ll go find Sam at the bar. Check you later.”
At that moment, Paul walked up to her.
“Sally, this is a big night for you. We’ll all be pulling for you. Sending mental support.” He put his arm across her shoulders. “Let’s step over here, out of the way, and I’ll give you some advice,” he said, lowering his voice, “away from listening ears.”
An odd feeling came across Sally. Something was amiss. “Uh, sure. Tell me, did you decide to hire that handyman we talked about?”
“What? No. Let’s just go on over there.”
He didn’t say toolbox. She knew had to act quickly. She reached into the hidden pocket of her dress and put her hand around her phone. Fortunately, she knew the buttons by heart now. Sally faked a misstep and tripped, sending herself falling awkwardly against the Paul look-alike. He didn’t notice her reach into his jacket pocket and retrieve his phone, and he certainly didn’t realize she threw it behind him into a planter. She grabbed his hand and beamed them into the High Council room. The instant they materialized, she took advantage of his momentary confusion, broke apart from him, and beamed back into the ballroom.
Sam had been talking to one of the judges of the High Court and a couple of police officers when he caught sight of Sally beaming back into the room. “What the hell?” He spoke the words out loud, with enough concern in his voice that the men with him followed.
She saw him and ran toward him. Before she allowed herself to be taken into his a
rms, though, she needed to know it was definitely Sam. She looked into his eyes. “Did you turn off the faucet?”
He smiled down at her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Yes. Did you turn off the ceiling fan?”
“Oh, Sam,” she said in a panic. “A shifter came up to me in Paul’s form. He tried to take me away, but he didn’t know the code words. I got his phone and threw it into that planter over there, then beamed us into the High Council room. I got away and beamed back.”
Sam pulled out his phone and sent quick texts. Soon a couple of other chiefs and police guards with neutralizing darts were at his side.
“Sugar, you stay here with your girlfriends while we take care of this. Please stay with her,” he said as he looked at her best friends.
“We will.” Zoe and Ava put their arms around her protectively, just as the men appeared to disintegrate in a flash of light.
In just a few minutes, Sam reappeared in front of Sally. He smiled at her. “You did good, sugar. I’m so proud of you. ”
She broke away from the girls and ran into his arms. “I was so scared, but I knew that couldn’t be the real Paul. The only thing I could think of was to separate him from his phone and get him into a room with no doors so he can’t escape.”
“That was a stroke of brilliance, you know.”
She laughed ruefully. “I have my moments.”
“Come on, sugar, let me get you a fresh drink. I don’t know what happened to the other one.”
She looked around the room, and marveled that almost everyone was unaware of what just happened to her.
* * *
As the happy hour meet-and-greet grew to a close, everyone grabbed the drinks they had and made their way to the dining tables. The food turned out to be delicious, and the earth wives speculated it was replicated food instead of mass produced food. None had ever eaten banquet food that tasted this good before.
Toward the end of dinner, the orchestra began to play softly. At end of the scheduled dinner portion, an announcement was made asking guests of honor, the newly mated chiefs and their mates, to make their ways to the end of the stage. The women were given a few moments to freshen up, then each stood beside her husband, poised to march up on the stage.
