Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
“I told you to behave,” he lectures me in deep, snarling tones. “Don’t look at them. Look at me.” He snaps the words when my eyes drift back to Sullivan. I look back at him. My little attempt to gain some small conversational social vengeance on her has failed. Oh well. I guess the nice act hasn’t worked. It’s not surprising. It doesn’t come naturally to me, after all.
“Nobody is bleeding. Therefore, I am behaving.”
Avel’s eyes narrow at me.
“I expect politeness when we are in the presence of Alpha Thorn. It is a matter of respect. If you can’t hold your tongue, you will be deprived of it.”
“Are you threatening to cut my tongue out?” I bristle, thoroughly offended by the brutal threat, but at the same time, somewhat respecting it. It’s a move out of my playbook. I’ve told the cabin girls multiple times they’ll lose their tongues if they don’t stop gossiping. It’s a good threat. One that pales them into silence every time.
Avel looks surprised, perhaps even shocked. “No, human. I will gag you.”
“Oh. A gag. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because your mind seems to go first to the most violent possibility at all times. You need to be softened.”
“Good luck with that.”
He gives me a little shake. “Do you want to be handled roughly, Raine? Is that it? Do you need pain and fear in order to feel normal?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
I hear a little gasping giggle from Sullivan. I don’t know if that’s because she thinks it is funny to talk to these massive dinosaur aliens this way, or because she’s laughing at the fact I just got myself into even more trouble. I said it because he won’t be psychoanalyzing me. I refuse to be psychoanalyzed. I don’t want to be understood. I want to be feared. It’s much easier for me if everybody thinks I’m a potentially dangerous psychopath.
“I will not tolerate your disrespect,” Avel warns me.
“You’re never going to get my respect, so I don’t see what choice you have.”
I’m ready to fight him. My hand is itching for a weapon that isn’t there. This alien might be massive and powerful. He might even be able to fly, but a good laser weapon is a hell of an equalizer. If I had just a single sidearm, this conversation would be going very, very differently.
“You think smacking my ass is going to make me give up and do as you say?” I laugh at him. “Sullivan might be that kind of woman, but I’m not. I’m not a drone. I was made this way naturally.”
“You might be a warrior,” he says. “I have no doubt of your courage. I have seen it displayed. But a good warrior knows when to yield.”
“I will never yield to you.”
He draws in a breath and gives a curt nod. I get the feeling he does not know what to do with me. Perhaps he wishes to beat me into submission. If so, he will have to do a lot more than smack me once. And even then, he will fail. I have been beaten before.
“Let us see.”
Avel
I knew it was something of a risk to bring my mate here. I knew there was some tension between her and the captain she betrayed. I never imagined she would indulge in such outright public rebellion.
“Please tell me you have a switch,” I say to Thorn.
“Oh, I have a great many things,” he says. “Sona. Bring the punishment tools.”
“At once,” Sona says.
Raine is squirming in my grasp, but I have no intention of letting her go. She’s going to be punished for this, because she needs to be. She needs to know that I mean it when I tell her to behave, and she needs to understand that public misbehavior leads to public punishment.
Shifting my grip, I bend her over the table in front of me and snatch the dress from her body. There is plenty of room between the plates, and as Sona returns with a small collection of paddles, lashes, and straps, he clears the dining table so there is plenty of room for what is about to ensue. Raine is squirming, her dark glossy hair flowing in a gorgeous skein over her curvy, soft human body. I can feel the tension in her, and I can see it too in the way her musculature contracts and relaxes beneath my large palm. She is just so soft. So smooth. So very much like prey in her appearance, and yet so predatory in her behavior.
She can hide the most intimate parts of herself with the table, which will ensure she doesn’t do anything stupid like get up and try to walk away. There will be no escaping from this punishment. She will be stuck here until I see fit to restore her modesty.