So Zander expected him to punish her to arousal, not have sex with her, and still establish a bond. He supposed it was possible. He’d trained many males in battle arts, establishing a master-student bond. But with Leora, the female who already tempted him from his vow of celibacy on a daily basis...veck.
“Very well. I will do as you command. But with all due respect, I suggest you resolve matters with your own mate. Humans have delicate constitutions. Lamira appears stressed by your disregard, and it could affect the young she carries.”
Zander’s eyes flashed, and he surged forward on his feet, his chest nearly bumping Seke’s. “You worry about your slave, I’ll worry about mine.”
Veck.
His slave. One he had to punish in the most intimate manner, who would become aroused when he did so. How in the stars would he manage?
~.~
Leora entered the Great Hall of the palatial pod, summoned there by Prince Zander. “You asked for me, my lord?”
He had called her to his opulent throne room, no doubt to inform her she had displeased him by allowing her daughter—the prince’s pregnant mate—to risk her life in pursuit of her sister. She’d expected his rebuke, even punishment. So had her daughter Lamira, yet she’d chosen to act, anyway. They had succeeded in rescuing her elder daughter, Lily, thanks to Zander’s forced influence, and no one had been harmed. But they’d returned to the pod the night before, and the time for the reckoning had come.
He fingered the leaf of one of Lamira’s potted plants absently. “Yes.”
She approached him, stopping a few feet away.
“You are my guest here, Leora.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“When I bought you, it was as a gift to Lamira. I have not made any demands of your service other than as her companion.”
She dropped her head, sensing the rebuke coming. She had accompanied her daughter on an unauthorized, dangerous mission to rescue Lily, her other daughter. “Yes, my lord.”
“As her mother, I would expect you to hold her health and well-being as the utmost priority. Even more so because she carries my young.”
“Yes, my lord, that is why—”
“No,” he cut her off. “Do not give me any explanation—I have no patience for your excuses. Allowing Lamira to risk her life as she did was unacceptable.”
She kept her eyes trained on the floor. “Yes, my lord.”
“You have displeased me, and I require that you be punished.”
A knot tightened in her middle. Would Zander punish her himself? Lamira had suspected, when he’d first bought Leora, that he intended to use her, too, as a sex slave. How would her daughter react to hearing Zander had punished her?
A movement drew her attention to the doorway. Master Seke, the warrior, had been standing in perfect stillness. How long had he been there?
“I have asked Master Seke to punish you.”
Her belly fluttered as Seke’s blue-violet gaze held hers.
“As it seems you require a direct master, and it is inappropriate for me to take that role, you will now answer to him. He will take responsibility for you and your behavior.”
She couldn’t seem to breathe.
“Your obedience training begins today.”
The prince’s words rebounded in her head, ricocheting around like a rubber ball.
Your obedience training begins today.
Master Seke stepped forward from the shadows to claim her, his expression inscrutable. Like all Zandians, he stood taller than a human male, with purple-hued skin and two small horns on the top of his head. The master at arms’ face was worn and scarred, and always composed. He moved with a feline grace belying his size. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric of his tunic, and a sword hung at his belt. Purple rimmed the blue irises of his eyes, which was unusual. The rest of the species she’d seen had brown-purple irises.
Against all reason, her pussy clenched at the mere idea of the scarred warrior punishing her. She’d always thought of him as her warrior, though they’d exchanged few words.