n. It smelled of fruit, citrus, perhaps, not that she’d ever had the pleasure of eating the Earth-based food the Ocretions cultivated on agrifarms. She undressed and rubbed it over her body, imagining Lundric’s hands massaging her instead.
Hearing the breakfast bell, she quickly redressed and unlatched the door. It wouldn’t budge.
“What gives?” she muttered and tried again. It stuck, then abruptly slid open, and she immediately saw the reason. Lundric had been leaning against it. He whirled, drinking her in like a starved man.
“Did you stand here all night?”
His eyes traveled to her temple then the bruises at her throat, and he clenched his fists, scowling.
“If you keep glaring at me like that, I’ll have to stay away from you until my bruises heal,” she said lightly, trying to brush past him.
He lunged, caging her against the door without touching her. “You won’t stay away from me,” he growled, brows dipped low on his forehead. His irises had turned purple, the way they did when he was turned on, but this time she thought it was more out of anger.
It was odd how she wasn’t the least bit afraid of the giant, angry warrior. The one she’d seen crush a man’s skull as if it were a cracker. Her body reacted to his aggression like it was a come on, nipples steepling her tunic, a steady thrum starting up between her legs.
“How would I keep you safe?”
Her laugh sounded husky. She reached up and gripped the lapel of his white uniform. “What would you do if I...ran?” She ducked under his arm, laughing as she bolted, not surprised when he caught her around the waist and hauled her back against his front. His hot breath feathered across her ear.
“You don’t vecking run from me.” He bit her ear then inhaled deeply. “What is that scent?” He dragged his open mouth down her neck, jerking away when he touched her bruises.
“Veck. I’m so afraid I’ll hurt you,” he choked.
To hear the fearsome warrior say he was afraid—of hurting her—made every bone in her body go soft.
“M-maybe you’d better punish me for running.” She thought she sounded breathless. Excited.
A growl rocketed from his throat, and he dragged her backward into her chamber, slamming the door shut and locking it. “Clothes off,” he commanded, but before she could obey, his hands tore at her tunic, helping her strip. He sat on the cot and pulled her over one knee, her torso lying on the cot.
“Why do you smell so good?” Already she heard the urgency in his voice, the notes of desperation, as if her scent drove him so wild, he couldn’t control himself.
“It’s the oil Lily gave me.” She could hardly make her tongue form sounds because his huge palm was stroking her bare ass and it felt... So. Incredibly. Good.
The palm retreated and then fell, harder than she expected. She jerked and bit her lip, humming a little in her throat as the pain bloomed across her skin, heat racing over her buttocks and pooling at her core where her clit pulsed with a persistent throb.
He slapped her again.
“Ow. Not so hard,” she gasped.
Lundric gave a dark chuckle. “Oh, no, little female. You don’t get to tell me how you get spanked. You asked for this. Now I’m in charge. I’m going to turn this pretty little ass of yours bright red. Do you want to know why?”
Her belly twisted with mingled fear and excitement. She pushed her tiptoes against the floor to lift her ass.
Another hard slap.
“Why?” she gasped.
“For scaring the vecking daylights out of me last night. For driving me mad at all times with those beautiful long legs, this juicy ass.” He slapped said anatomy again, hard. He worked his other hand under her hips and stroked a finger along her dewy slit. She pushed into it, forcing the tip of his thick digit inside her entrance, but he pulled it out and spanked her even harder.
“Who’s in charge, Cambry?”
“I am?” She laughed, surprising herself. When was the last time she’d laughed?
A flurry of spanks rained down on her burning ass and the backs of her thighs at the same time his finger rubbed her clit. “You are not, my little rebel. And I’m not going to stop spanking you until I’m sure you’ll remember who you belong to as you sit through flight lessons all morning.”
The combination of sting and his possessiveness stole her breath. She wriggled under the onslaught. “Lundric...Lundric!”
He stopped spanking her, and flipped her over onto the cot before he dropped to his knees on the floor to cup her heated cheeks in his hands. “Open for your male, Cambry.”