Under different circumstances, she’d be embarrassed that he mentioned her cage in front of other beings, but she didn’t have time to care now. All that mattered was keeping him from getting on that ship.
“Zander—please don’t go. You can’t!” She probably sounded hysterical. Hell, she felt hysterical. “Please, my lord.”
He gripped her shoulders and gave her a shake, like a naughty child. “What’s wrong with you?”
She needed to give him some kind of reason. Her brain raced, searching for something, anything she could tell him that would make him stay. “Right now. I’m ovulating. You have to breed me. This is our one chance for the lunar cycle.”
Yes, it was a stupid reason, but it was the first thing she could think of.
“I think the crystal bath kicked it into gear.”
Zander’s brow furrowed even further, but he shook her off his arm. “Go back to your cage, Lamira. Now. I have to get to the UG complex and I don’t have time to waste with you today.”
She grasped him again, holding his arm tight as he tried to tug it away, causing him to yank her forward and into the air. She twisted wildly as her feet grasped for purchase, refusing to let go of his forearm.
“Lamira.” He shook his arm so hard, her teeth rattled. So much disapproval and irritation rang through in that single word, but she didn’t care. If she let Zander go, he’d die. She’d seen it.
“You cannot go,” she hissed.
His eyes blazed dark-purple. A muscle in his jaw tightened.
“This is unacceptable.” The room tilted and flipped upside down as she found herself upended over Zander’s shoulder. His hand clapped down on her ass, hard. “Start the engines. I will be there in a moment,” he barked over his shoulder as he walked swiftly down the corridor.
Think, Lamira, think. There must be a way to convince him to stay. Something she could do or say?
Zander slapped her ass again, his irritation coming through clearly in the stinging blow.
She steeled herself against the continued spanks. If she’d known sooner, she might have disabled the ship. No, that was foolish. She didn’t have the slightest clue how to disable a ship, even if she were able to get away with such a thing.
They arrived back in Zander’s chambers, where he dropped her on her feet and glowered.
“Don’t go,” she whispered, her body trembling from her scalp to the tips of her toenails.
Zander put his hands on his hips. “What is this about? Is this because I denied you sex this morning?”
“No—” It was silly to keep the up the lie about her ovulation, but she hadn’t come up with a better idea. “It’s just now is our best chance—to conceive a baby. It has to be right now.”
He glanced at his armband. “I do not have the time right now. I am the ambassador of my species, and I’m supposed to be at a United Galaxies meeting representing our interests at this very moment. Are you so foolish you cannot discern what is of the highest importance here?”
Tears of desperation leaked from the corners of her eyes. “Zander...you don’t understand…”
He’d lost all patience with her, though, and stalked to the box of punishment tools. He withdrew the cane she hated with every particle of her being.
Well, at least it meant he was staying—if only for a few more minutes.
He grabbed her elbow and spun her around to face the sleeping platform. “Bend over, pants down.”
Nothing could be more humiliating than folding her torso over the platform and reaching back to bare her own bottom for his punishment. She gritted her teeth, flinching when the cool air reached her butt cheeks.
The cane sliced through the air.
She cried out, rising onto her toes.
“That is for leaving your cage.”
He whipped her again.
“Or did you never get into it?”