Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Z ade

Fulack! He never should have brought her there. He was treating her like she was his, first kissing her, then planning to spank her like he had the right. She chose Antonelius. Again. Forget about the spanking. She doesn’t want you. Let her go.

Knowing she would probably hate him in truth before the day was over, he used his preternatural speed to close the distance between them, then wrapped his arms around her, picked her up and carried her over to the nearest chair. Wriggling and cursing at him the whole time, he still managed to get her draped over his lap, one hand holding her in place, the other resting on her soft jean-clad bottom.

“Zade, I mean it! You can’t spank me! I already said I was sorry once. This isn’t funny. I want to leave." She couldn’t believe she’d been about to screw his brains out.

“I told you, I will let you go after we are done here, not before.” Without warning, he gave her an open handed smack on her bottom. The sound echoed through the room like a crack of thunder.

“Hey! That hurt!” She hissed as heat spread across her skin. Tears of humiliation and pain sprang to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

“That’s one. Let’s see. What did you call me? Callous?”

Smack!

“Damn it!”

“Hold still.”

Smack!

“Self absorbed?”

Smack!

“Don’t forget ‘alien bastard’,” she quipped. “Wouldn’t want to miss that one, you neanderthal!” she fumed. Her ass was on fire. He was too big and too strong for her to get away now. She was stuck. There was nothing she could do; nothing but plot her revenge.

Smack!

Zade’s voice hardened to tempered steel. “I think you ignored my warning because you desired the consequence. Think about that when you run to Antonelius. He’s so uptight, I doubt he could give you what you need even if he wanted to. Now count," he ordered.

“That’s ridiculous!”

Smack!

Smack!

“ You’re not counting.”

“Sixty-three!” she shouted.

Zade didn’t even crack a smile at her sass. “Are you sure? I’m almost certain that was only six. Looks like we’ll have to start over.”

Ashlyn screamed in rage. He had the gall to suggest she wanted a spanking? Needed it?! Her bottom was probably cherry red. Both cheeks burned and throbbed. She might only feel the sting for a few minutes, but she would remember it for years. Wasn’t it enough that Rachel roped me into a crazy, dangerous plot? Bad enough I’m going to have to meet an entire Council full of hostile aliens who probably want me dead. Now I’ll have to do it with a sore ass?!

Smack! Smack!

“One! Two! I hate you!” she screamed in rhyme.

“Neanderthal. That is a human cave dweller who has not mastered language, yes? And bastard? We do not have these concepts on Caldor, but still, I understand you meant them to be insults, so they shall be treated as such.”

Smack!

“ Three!” She wasn’t going to be able to sit down if he didn’t stop soon.

Smack!

“Four!” She’d never been so humiliated.

“I’m pompous, you said.”

Smack!

“Five!” She was going to enjoy feeding him to the sharks.

“And overbearing.”

Smack!

“Six!” Tomorrow wouldn’t be soon enough.

She kept her head turned away so he couldn’t see how close she was to breaking. Her emotions were all over the place. She’d never been a crier. She was strong. She had to be strong. She was the oldest. Everyone relied on her, expecting her to drop everything to come to the rescue. Expected her to step up. There was no room for weakness and no time for tears. Just like today. Just like the attack on the base. “I really don’t like you,” she whispered, her heart giving a strange pang.

His voice, a deep, gravelly baritone, softened at the genuine distress he heard in her voice. "Right now, you are angry, but you do not hate me."

"You don’t know anything about me, so don’t tell me how I feel.” The ache in her chest grew stronger each time his hand connected with her bottom. What was happening to her? “Let. Me. Go! I didn't ask for this. You just kidnapped me and brought me in here."

Zade peered down at her. She said she wanted to go, but she wasn’t trying to get up. Her hands were stretched out in front of her, fingers splayed on the floor, presumably for balance, while the tips of her toes were similarly balanced behind her, with her bottom raised in the center.

He dropped his pitch to an ultra-deep rumble; one her human ears would barely register. "You knew your actions would dictate my response. Ergo, you asked me to spank you. Repeatedly. There is no shame in need, therefore no need to be ashamed. Ask for what you need, and I will give it to you."

"Maybe I did need something, but not this and definitely not from you. I said I was sorry. I won't insult you again. Are you happy now?"

He clenched his jaw. She was so stubborn. "No."

"Asshole!"

“Still antagonizing me. Very well. How many insults did you throw at me? Ten? Ten spanks for ten insults. Every time you insult me now, we will both know that you are actually asking me to spank you. Do you understand?" His voice resonated with authority.

“Dickhead,” she taunted, just so he would know she wasn’t going to be intimidated by his threats. Thank god she hadn’t picked him. She’d been planning to choose him. Who wouldn’t? He was gorgeous. Powerful. Dangerous. Now she was glad she hadn’t. He was a first rate cad.

Still face down, a tear fell onto the carpet. Then a second. A third.

Smack!

"Count or we start over again," he commanded.

Smack!

“Seven! Cretin! Worm! No. You’re lower than a worm. You’re the slime on the worm!”

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

Emotions she kept buried, pain long repressed, rose to the surface. She tried to shove the feelings back down into the deep, dark abyss from where they came, to stay in control, be strong, but like cracks in a dam, every smack to her bottom eroded her ability to shore up the leak until finally, she broke. Great wrenching sobs ripped from her chest, wracking her body as the pain of a lifetime poured free.