“Are you injured?”
She blinked slowly as if coming out of a daze, then shook her head, casting her eyes downward. The subdued, deferential response would have seemed natural for most Primarian women of his acquaintance, yet was out of character for the Earth captain. She’d gone toe to toe with him at every turn and, surprisingly, he wanted that fire again.
“Are you ill? Dizzy from hanging upside down, perhaps?”
“No,” she murmured softly, still not looking at him.
“Something is wrong with you. You are too quiet. I’d like an explanation.”
Her mouth curved downward. “I’m tired. I haven’t slept since eight young women who were under my command disappeared without a trace. Ever since, it’s been a roller coaster ride, one that goes upside down and backwards, but never stops so you can get off. And now, with our one chance to retake our ship foiled, it seems that awful ride has no end. So, excuse me if I’m not in fighting form to take you on right now, Commander. Maybe tomorrow, after I sleep.”
Her response, which had started out soft and low, gradually increased in both bite and volume, and made him smile. The feisty combatant was in there still, but like any good leader who had suffered a quelling defeat, she needed time to regroup. He didn’t plan to give it to her, although he was glad to see that she hadn’t given up, only retreated.
“You’re grinning,” she observed, as her arms folded across her chest. “Did I say something amusing?”
“Everything about you amuses me, little one—well, almost everything.”
Her nose wrinkled at his comment, not pleased to be the source of his entertainment. Roth couldn’t help it, a smile or a laugh had been bubbling beneath the surface since their first encounter. Yes, she’d stirred anger and annoyance too, but that was short-lived, finding her bold, daring defiance more to his liking than he expected. And although he didn’t relish what was coming next, her reaction should prove interesting.
He stood inside the door, waiting patiently while she took in her new surroundings, where she would remain for the rest of the trip. Although they quelled the rebellion easily, he wouldn’t risk any further attempts at escape where any of them might come to harm. They were too valuable to his people. And the captain, though no longer in the position to do so, was looked upon by the other females as their leader. As such, he decided it would be best to keep her removed from the others. The tall redhead and several of the officers were being sequestered as well.
He watched as she took a step away from him, eyeing the spacious room. Because of his rank, he was assigned a multi-room suite with a large central living area and a small galley adjacent to it. Often, he met with his senior warriors here, instead of the meeting room, as there was a fully equipped holographic computer display and integrated communications, as well as ample comfortable seating and refreshments in the galley that was kept well-stocked.
Brows knitted together in apparent confusion as she took it all in, she remained silent.
“If you are tired, you’ll find the bed in the room at the end of the hall quite comfortable.”
“I’m staying here?” she asked, glancing toward where he had indicated.
“Yes, after this recent plot, I thought it best to keep you separate from the others.”
She briefly glanced at him over her shoulder, shrugged, and then went back to examining the video console. “I’m surprised you didn’t do that in the first place. That’s what I would have done.”
“Your attempt to escape was an inconvenience, although not unexpected. We are two hundred strong and you were at a clear disadvantage. You didn’t really expect to succeed, did you?”
“So said Remus, who was quite arrogant for an engineer, I might add. It seems to be a trait among your kind.”
“As much as obstinacy and recklessness run in yours.” He saw her spine stiffen, but she showed an unusual amount of self-control by not taking the bait, although his observations were correct. Evidently, she had a new plan and he suspected it was to lull him into a false sense of security with cooperation. The minx thought to dupe him. She’d find soon enough he was a worthy adversary.
“We will arrive home by morning, so this new arrangement is only temporary. However, your mate might want to continue that practice until you adjust to your new role.” He thought he heard a grunt of disdain, yet wasn’t sure. “I need to return to my duties. Before I do so, we will address the penalty for your failed insurrection.”
Her head whipped around at the word penalty and she found he had moved to the long, plush couch in the center of the room. A soft gasp of surprise escaped her next, when he took a seat, raised his hand, and crooked an imperious finger at her.
“Come here, little captain, and place yourself across my lap for your well-deserved punishment.”
She snorted loudly before saying, “I hardly think so.”
“Weapons theft, assault, taking several of my crew hostages at gunpoint, your list of crimes is mounting: do you intend to add open defiance to a direct command to your already lengthy record?”
“How can I have a record without a trial?”
“Not necessary when I am your judge and jury.”
“Why am I not surprised?” she snapped.
“How would you have punished such offenders on your ship?”
She scowled at him. “This is in no way like anything that has happened on the Odyssey. Number one, we wouldn’t ever kidnap three hundred free people and steal their ship.”
“If your race was at risk of dying out, I think like us, you’d be capable of many things you never thought possible. And, you aren’t without sin. You were trespassing on our hunting planet. Your intent there hasn’t been established, but I’m sure it was to take what didn’t belong to you. And, at least a dozen of my men were stunned during this plot. They were free people too, innocent except for doing their jobs.”
Another scoff of disbelief sounded from her lips.
“Shall we also discuss the foolhardiness of using unfamiliar weapons? You could have seriously injured or killed my warriors, or for that matter some of your own people. Attempted murder could be the charge for that. If we hadn’t exchanged them and left with live devices, I shudder to think of the outcome.”
“We are not murderers!”
“We’ll leave it at foolhardy, then.” He patted his thigh, insinuating she get a move on.
“But we had them set to stun. We didn’t intend to harm to anyone, only to get free.” She stopped abruptly. “Wait. You knew of our plans?”
“From the beginning.”
“You were listening in?”
“Of course. We are not a stupid race, nor are we careless.”
“If you knew, why didn’t you stop it before it went so far? You were toying with us.”
“No, our purpose was to teach you a lesson. Escape is futile. You are outmatched in number and by our sheer physical strength and size. We surpass you technologically and while I admire your determination, you will find our resolve is unbreakable. I have a mission to bring you home to my people and I never fail at a task. You can’t win against us.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, and there is one other very important thing you need to consider,” he advised as rose to his feet. Although he was enjoying sparring with her, he was ready to get on with this and check on how things were going with the others. He began moving toward her slowly as he spoke. “We are very much alike it seems, yet we have great differences. You cannot assume what you find here is the same as on your planet.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He stood in front of her, his eyes blazing down into hers as he murmured softly, “The ‘s’ on our weapons stands for silent, not stun.”
She stared up at him, her mouth agape as the enormity of what might have happened sunk in.
Another step brought him within arm’s reach. “Would you have gone through with it, had you known they could kill?”
“No…
I mean, yes.” She stopped, biting her lower lip as she cast her gaze elsewhere, anywhere except at him while she searched for a response. “I don’t know, perhaps we might have altered our plans. What do you expect of us? We are desperate. In our place, as prisoners destined to be slaves, wouldn’t you and your men have tried anything to escape too?”
“Which brings us full circle in this discussion.” Cupping her chin in his hand, he tilted her beautiful, though stricken face up to his. “As I mentioned, when your people are threatened, what you’d risk is eye-opening.”
She became increasingly uneasy, her face clouding as she considered his words.
“Now then, I’m not used to repeating my orders. You will follow me to the bedroom and place yourself over my lap for your punishment, or if you continue to object, I can carry you and place you there myself. If you choose the latter, more defiance, what I had planned will be doubled. Either way, you’re getting spanked. Choose now.”
With a mulish set to her jaw, she stared at him with fists clenched. Roth could image all manner of retribution formulating in her head. He gave her to a silent count of five, admiring her fiery beauty as the time ticked by.
As the self-imposed limit expired in his head, he leaned forward and clasped her wrist. “Double it is, by your choice.”
He turned and strode down the hall, bringing her right along with him. She resisted, naturally, but was no match for his strength. “Your bottom is going to be very sore until you learn that you don’t have control over everything anymore. I don’t imagine that will be pleasant for you, and it is entirely unnecessary if you only submit.”
“Never!”
Easily, he sat on the edge of his bed and pulled her between his thighs, his long legs clamping around her own. With one hand locked around her wrist, he used the other to ease down the zipper of her flight suit.
With her free hand, she knocked his fingers away. “What are you doing?”
“This garment is one piece, further it has pants. It must come off for me to get to the skin I plan to swat. Be still.”
Again, he began to lower the fastener.
“No,” she cried as she began to struggle, slapping at his hand. He caught it easily and transferred it so that he held both of her wrists in one hand behind her back.
“You’re making more of this than is necessary,” he growled as she continued to twist and fight his hold. It didn’t stop him from sliding the zipper down, which he did quickly, past her navel. She let out a whimper and her face flushed brilliant red as he realized one reason for her resistance—she wore nothing underneath.
Being seated on the bed as he contained her, put his head at chest level with an unhindered view of her flawless skin and the full inner curves of her breasts. His body stirred at the luscious temptation before him, his mouth watering for a taste.
Damn him, she was not his to claim.
Another would be her mate and that right belonged to him.
He was her commander, in this case, and he would have to limit himself to what he needed to see and touch to carry out this discipline.
“Your species is quite shy, I’ve noticed. Don’t be. Primarians find the naked form beautiful, and your female form is nearly identical to a Primarian female. Perhaps yours is softer, the curves more pronounced.” He paused to clear his suddenly dry throat, before going on. “You won’t have anything that I haven’t seen before.”
“If you have seen tens of thousands of bare women,” she avowed through clenched teeth, “I care not. You haven’t seen me and that is the problem.”
“An unfortunate complication, but your clothing, or lack thereof, will not deter me from administering a proper punishment. And since we believe in swift retribution for crimes, the added discomfort of being bared for discipline is something you’ll need to adapt to.” As he slid the material over her shoulders and dragged it down her body to her upper thighs, baring pink-tipped breasts that were already taut and standing proud, a flat, creamy belly, round, womanly hips, and a light fluff of downy hair shadowing her mound, he knew that the lesson he was about to give her would be almost as difficult for him to endure.
With his face so close, she could feel his warm breath brush over her nipples, and to her complete mortification, they tightened even more than they already were. Her traitorous body was the one guilty of mutiny, because no matter how emphatically she tried to deny it, she responded to his touch, his voice, his very presence.
And soon, she wouldn’t be able to convince him that she didn’t want him either, not when he bent her over his knee, her ass bared and pointed skyward—cripes on a cracker, it was too outrageous to believe that it was really going to happen—with the irrefutable evidence of her wanting glistening on her inner thighs.
That it was there, wasn’t in question. She’d felt the first trickle when he’d eased down her zipper and exposed most of her breasts.
The circulating air in the room, brushed over her flushed skin, making her shiver. Please let him believe it was from being chilled and not desire. He didn’t comment, however, as he guided her to his side and applied firm pressure to her back. As she gazed down at the hard-muscled surface that was intended to support her while he spanked her like a naughty girl, she hesitated.
“Please, Commander, don’t do this,” she appealed softly, readily accepting the hit to her pride if she could only stop this from happening.
The lavender of his irises shimmered in the overhead lights when he lifted his gaze to her. Seeing that his stern features had relaxed somewhat gave her a fleeting moment of hope that he might change his mind. What he said next dashed it.
“That is a much more pleasant tone and could very well earn you a reprieve in other circumstances. Not in this. Not when you put yourself and others in jeopardy. This punishment is happening, little captain, and we’ve delayed it too long as it is. Up and over now.”
When she didn’t move, instead resisting the pressure of his hand upon her back, he sighed so forcefully she felt the warmth on the side of her breast. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something that she shouldn’t, thereby making things worse, even when he lifted her and easily settled her in place.
His fingers slid up the length of her spine, brushed aside her hair, and clamped firmly around the nape of her neck. Next, he began to pull her wadded-up clothes down her legs, one handed.
She squirmed as he pushed her uniform past her knees. “Isn’t there some other penance I could do? Public apologies, manual labor, or imprisonment, perhaps?”
With her flight suit now gathered at her ankles, his big hand slid up her legs, slowing as they reached her thighs, and even more so as he leisurely rubbed the entire surface of her twin cheeks. His touch warmed more than her skin, and she clamped her teeth together, fighting the groan that threatened to escape. How perverted was she to be turned on by such humiliation?
He didn’t stop the unhurried caresses as he replied, “Your alternatives have merit at times, but we have found this method works best with our females. In your case, since you are so adamantly against it, I think it will be especially effective. Now, be still and take the penance, as you call it, that you have earned.”
When his hand left her bottom, she closed her eyes in preparation. The next instant, a loud crack resounded in the room as his unyielding palm connected with her bare skin. She yelped in surprise, even though she had been expecting it. Another quickly followed, then another, and still more. Each one smarted, a lot. As they continued to rain down, the heat each one instilled merged together until it felt like her entire backside was on fire.
As she teetered on his firm thighs, she reached for the nearest thing to steady herself. One hand found the bed linens, the other wrapped around his calf, or, as thickly muscled as the rest of him, what she could manage of it. Abruptly, he halted and readjusted her, pulling her in closer as he patted her hip gently. “I’ve got you, little captain, and won’t let you fall.”
With that small reassu
rance given, he resumed. Swats now fell at a steady pace, switching from side to side, but concentrating on the lower curves of her ass.
Stunned from what was happening, she was also shocked that he had known she was feeling unsteady and had moved to put her at ease, which was diametrically opposed to the purpose she was there in the first place. None of it made any sense, that a man would actually spank her, that she was somewhat—okay, very much—aroused by it, and that he would care one whit about her comfort while the whole bizarre incident was going on.
He landed a resounding smack a bit lower, catching her upper thigh, which smarted, a lot. Zoning in on that tender spot on both sides increased the intensity and made her squirm. A moan slipped out, both from the mounting tingling warmth of her skin, but more so from the heat growing between her thighs. Unable to stay still, she squirmed and kicked her legs, but with the material twisted about her ankles and his heavy hand holding her in place, she didn’t have much leverage and could only endure.
The commander’s hand continued to fall, past twenty, and on to thirty. After that she lost count. She could no longer focus on the why, the how, and the who was doing it anymore, too absorbed in the burning, throbbing state of her rear end and the sting in her eyes.
Abruptly, he stopped again, rubbing her blazing behind gently, all over.
“You’re warm and rosy red. Have I convinced you who is in charge on this ship?”
She blinked, hoping the tears wouldn’t fall. Before she could summon breath and strength to steady her voice before answering, another swat landed in the middle of her cheeks, his hand so big it covered a good portion of both globes in one sharp smack.
His By Command (Primarian Mates Book 2) Page 8
