Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Leah led Suzette and Jezebel into her room. “According to Daddy, you’ve all seen my nursery before. He said he had very little to do with it because he was in denial about claiming me and let you three decorate and fill it with clothes and toys.”

Jezebel giggled. “That’s true. I guess he’s not in denial anymore.”

Leah shook her head. “No.”

“Were you mad?” Suzette asked.

Leah drew in slow breath as the three of them dropped down to sit on the floor in the middle of her nursery. “No. I didn’t have a right to be mad. I felt the same way. I’ve always been disgruntled about this entire mating process. It infuriated me that I would be forced into an arranged relationship as if I have no freewill.”

“Oh, wow,” Jezebel whispered. “I never really thought about it that way.”

Leah shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what I thought because it’s all true. We don’t really have freewill. Not when it comes to mating. It’s eerie though and kind of creepy.”

Suzette giggled. “You’re right… I bet you’re not happy to have all of us in your house when you’ve only been here a week.”

Leah lifted her shoulders again and let them fall slowly. “I’m kind of glad you’re here because I wasn’t sure what was true.” She pointed at their dresses. “I was leery about believing everyone would be dressed like me. The only thing that kept me from being overly skeptical was the fact that Daddy said you all picked out my clothes.”

Jezebel nodded. “Trust me. We all felt like surely we were the only Littles alive who were forced into a strange new life of deep submission. I was still a bit panicky until Suzette arrived. Luckily, the two of us were friends. We grew up next door to each other. I was relieved when we finally got together and saw that we were in the same predicament.”

Leah smiled. “Well, I’m just as relieved.”

Suzette grinned. “I bet you’d like us to leave now, though.”

Leah inhaled deeply, drawing in her mate’s scent. “Nope. He’s gone into some kind of uber dominant overprotective mode. I don’t think he currently wants to, uh…”

“Jump your bones?” Suzette supplied.

All three of them giggled so hard that Elias showed up in the doorway.

Leah turned her head to look at him. He was so large and imposing. Every time she saw him in a doorframe like that, she got a bit googly-eyed. He filled up so much space she wouldn’t even be able to get past him if she wanted to.

He narrowed his gaze. “What’s going on in here?”

“We’re just talking, Daddy.” She was surprised how easy it was to call him Daddy in front of everyone. She supposed it helped that they’d all called their own mates Daddy, too. After a week, it came naturally.

“Talking or plotting?”

Jezebel sat taller and cleared her throat. “Talking. We promise.”

Elias’s chuckle had an odd tone Leah hadn’t heard before as he nodded toward Suzette and Jezebel. “The last time I gave you two a few yards of space to talk , I ended up nearly having a heart attack.”

Suzette shook her head. Her dark pigtails swayed back and forth. “That wasn’t our fault, Sir. Olivia was the one who shifted and left the back deck to talk to the bears. And you can’t really blame her for that either. I would have freaked out if I’d discovered I could communicate telepathically with another species.”

Leah gasped as she looked around at all three of them. “She can talk to them…in her head?”

Suzette and Jezebel nodded together.

Daddy came farther into the room.

Leah swallowed. “When you said her senses were heightened, I thought you meant she could smell them before anyone else.”

Daddy shook his head as he squatted down next to Leah. “It’s so much more than that, Little one. For one thing, the bears have advanced skills. Remember I told you they can block their scent from wolves?”

Leah nodded. He had said that was what had happened when Suzette was kidnapped. Her mate had not been able to scent the kidnapper, but he had been able to follow Suzette’s scent.

“The bears can also communicate with each other without speaking, even in their shifted form, and that day, Olivia learned she could communicate with them also.”

“Holy moly. That’s wild.” Leah was stunned. “So that’s why she wanted to sit out on the porch. She will be able to tell if any bears approach when no one else can.”

“That’s what we believe. It’s only been proven with the two who visited that day—Surge and Thorn. We’re hoping she can also scent the two rogue bears if they get too close to us.”

“That’s amazing!” Leah exclaimed. “Does anyone know why she can do that?”

“Nope. The only thing we can come up with is that since she is visually impaired, all her other senses are heightened. Perhaps she’s super sensitive to scents and sounds.”

“Maybe we should go outside and sit on the porch with her so she won’t be lonely,” Suzette suggested.

Elias lifted a brow.

“Or not,” Suzette murmured.

“Or…” Elias said, his voice slightly scary, “I could tell my brother what a naughty Little girl you were while he was out trying to protect everyone from a dangerous situation.”

Suzette sighed. “I’m sorry, Sir. I won’t be naughty. I promise.”

Leah was fascinated by this exchange. The interaction between her mate and the other women was beyond interesting. It was clear he was very close to his brother and his friends. They were like a big extended family. The men obviously wouldn’t hesitate to threaten discipline to someone else’s Little girl. Leah wondered if any of them had actually been spanked by another Daddy.

Elias had certainly threatened spanking her in front of everyone. Would he really do it? She clenched her butt cheeks together and rocked back and forth at the thought.

Elias turned his gaze to hers. “Leah…”

She froze. “What?”

He lowered his head closer to hers. “You’ve been curious since everyone arrived. How curious are you?” he challenged.

She had no idea what possessed her or even who she was in that moment. What she knew was that two hours ago, she had been alone with her Daddy. They hadn’t gone two hours during the day without having sex or at least fondling each other in a week.

Leah’s body felt strange as if her wolf wanted to come out. She was trembling now that her Daddy was squatting next to her. He was close enough to touch, and she wanted his hands on her no matter what it took to make that happen.

She licked her lips, held his gaze, and said, “If you don’t let us go outside to keep Olivia company, we’re going to sneak by you and do it anyway when you’re not looking.”

For a moment Elias looked stunned, but then a slow smile spread across his face. He rose to standing, his form so imposing that she started shaking as she tipped her head back.

Her heart was racing, and she wondered if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life. She hoped not, but it was hard to be sure. It seemed like the woman who’d spoken those words hadn’t even been her. She’d been possessed, her body taken over by someone far naughtier than her.

Suzette and Jezebel were very quiet next to her, but she knew they were shocked. They were both fidgeting and breathing heavily.

Elias turned and headed toward the rocking chair where he calmly took a seat and held out a hand. “Come here, Little firecracker.”

Leah stared at him for a moment, but she’d brought this on herself. She’d challenged him intentionally. He had no choice but to go through with his earlier threat.

He knew her better than she knew herself, darn him. He knew she was doing this not only to test him but because she was curious to see what it would be like to be punished in front of other people. This was the ideal situation because the only people who would witness her discipline were two women. There were no other men or Daddies in the house.

Leah rose and shuffled toward her lifemate, the Alpha Protector who had promised to cherish her for the rest of their lives. She’d also promised to obey him…

When she reached him, he took her hand and lead her to one side of his lap. “Why am I going to spank you, Little one?”

She swallowed. He wanted her to verbalize her crime? “Because I pushed you one more time when I knew the consequences.”

Suzette cleared her throat. “Maybe we should, uh…”

Elias didn’t glance toward the other two women as he spoke. “You’ll stay right where you are, Little one. Both of you. Leah needs to learn a lesson. She needs to know that I won’t go back on my threats and that I will indeed spank her in front of other people.”

Leah wondered if she was in over her head as he lifted her dress. “Hold your dress up. If you let it go, I will take it off. Do you doubt me?”

Leah shook her head. “No, Sir.” She definitely didn’t doubt him one bit, and she wasn’t interested in being completely naked. Having her bottom exposed was one thing. She would feel far more vulnerable if he removed her dress entirely.

Elias surprised her by pulling her panties down to her knees before lifting her over his lap. When he finally did grab her hips, she was panting. She felt confused by a combined sense of humiliation and arousal.

He settled her over his thighs, pushed her dress up higher, and made sure her panties were right at her knees. “Keep your legs parted so your panties don’t fall, naughty girl.”

She whimpered as she spread her thighs wider. Suzette and Jezebel were in front of Daddy, so they weren’t seeing her exposed sex directly, but she felt as if they might as well. She was wet.

Elias set his palm on the small of her back. “I’m going to spank you until I decide you’ve learned your lesson, and then you’re going to stand in the corner with your dress up and your panties down so everyone can see your naughty red bottom while you think about your choices.”

“Yes, Sir,” she mumbled. What have I gotten myself into ?

The first swat was more of a warmup. So were the next several. But then her Daddy started spanking her in earnest, covering every inch of her bottom and the backs of her thighs all the way down to her knees.

Leah tried to focus on the burn instead of the need between her legs. She realized part of her punishment was going to be the arousal she was left with because he certainly wasn’t going to let her come. He’d made it clear that she would not be permitted an orgasm after a punishment. Besides, there was no way he would touch her pussy in front of other people. He might expose it, but he wouldn’t turn this into something sexual.

Leah went into her head. She was still aware that two people were watching her, and she felt kind of bad for putting them in this position. Maybe they didn’t want to watch someone get spanked.

Mostly she was absorbing the burn from every swat. Her Daddy was thorough. He didn’t miss a single millimeter of her skin. Plus his pressure was precisely what she needed.

It felt good. She’d had a very stressful few hours, and his palm was giving her some sort of release. In addition, every swat vibrated to her clit and caused her need to grow. It was madness feeling like this in front of people. She wondered if it would always be that way or if it was because their mating was so new.

When he finally stopped, she was panting and shaking. She wanted to squeeze her legs together. He set his hand on her inner thigh just above her knees to keep her from doing just that. He rubbed her skin without saying a word for long seconds before rolling her toward him, standing, and carrying her cradled body to the corner of the nursery.

He stood her on her unsteady feet, angled her toward the corner, and lifted her dress up. “Clasp your hands behind your back to keep your dress from falling. I want your bottom exposed. You’ll stand here until I tell you to move.”

“Yes, Sir.” Her bottom lip trembled as she absorbed this next phase of her punishment. This part was going to be no fun.

“Spread your legs. Keep your panties above your knees,” he commanded.

She sniffled as she obeyed him. She wasn’t happy about being left in timeout in front of her new friends, but as he walked away, leaving her in the corner, she realized she was also relieved.

It was an odd sensation. She was relieved to know that her Daddy would never go back on his word or hesitate to spank her after a warning. The lesson was learned, and she felt peaceful knowing it.

She stood there for a long time. An awkward silence filled the room because her friends were forced to remain while she endured this humiliation. She wasn’t at all sure she would be as amenable to being spanked and displayed in front of the other Daddies, but what mattered was now she knew if she pushed Elias in front of them, he would follow through and spank her without hesitation.

“Okay, Little one. Your punishment is over. You may pull your panties back up.”

She sniffled as she dropped the hem of her dress and reached down to pull up her panties. When she turned around to take in the room, she found her friends still sitting on the floor and her Daddy sitting on the rocking chair.

He held out his arms. She rushed over to him and threw herself into his embrace. When he hugged her tight, she said, “Thank you, Daddy.”

“You’re welcome, Little firecracker.” He kissed her temple. “Now, how about we all go to the kitchen and get some lunch?”