The veins in Otho’s muscular neck are twitching. He’s staring at me with naked, undisguised lust – but suddenly it’s tainted with something else. Something I can’t read.
Suddenly, the most open of the three Aurelians has become more inscrutable than even the stone-faced Lazar.
I gulp dryly as Otho’s two battle-brothers take a step back.
Filling my lungs with air, I brace myself. If this is going to happen, I’m not going to let them think I’m weak. They can give me their worst – and I’ll take it.
Looking up, I challenge the mohawked warrior.
“So,” I murmur. “What’ll it be, Otho? What are you going to do to me?”
I try to keep spirit in my voice. I try to sound confident – but it’s hard. My voice wavered as I spoke, and I’m ashamed of how my show of strength was tainted with weakness.
But I am weak. Weak, and scared.
I know this is going to hurt.
Worst of all?
I’m craving it.
Oh, Gods! I ache for it.
I can already imagine the feeling of his huge, calloused hand slapping down against my flesh as he tames me – a hand that’s been used to fight a hundred battles. Now, it’s a battle of wills we face – him against me. There’s no denying that Otho aches for me – and his lust makes me feel powerful against him, just as his strength makes me feel so powerless and small.
He hasn’t even made a move toward me, and already Otho looks to be on the verge of snapping.
Yet, with some strange twist of irony, as much as I can see Otho battling his urges, I nevertheless feel like I can implicitly trust my kidnapper.
To demonstrate his power over me, Otho demands:
“Come here.”
He booms out the words, and they echo in the emptiness of this dark, underground chamber. His voice is certain now – unwavering in its focus. He could be ordering troops into a Scorp nest with that tone of voice – and suddenly I’m not so sure I made the right move by choosing him over Brennan.
But before I can even fully process Otho’s command, my feet have already obeyed him – jerking my body forward.
Brennan had the power to paralyze me with a glance. In contrast, Otho can set me in motion with a single word.
Almost like a robot, I walk forward – until I stand trembling in front of this beast of a man.
Up close, the scar on Otho’s face is the only clue that this marble giant isn’t invulnerable. Assuming Aurelian arteries run in roughly the same direction as those of a human, that scar stops one inch short of what would have been a deadly injury.
One inch. Isn’t it funny? Once inch is the only thing that set in motion the events of this last day. If that scar had been one inch lower, Otho wouldn’t be standing here today. His two, surviving battle-brothers might never have ventured to Marn. In fact, I’d probably be safe in my bed right now – never having been kidnapped, but likewise never having experienced a second of real life.
“What… what are you going to do to me?”
I’d been so defiant just seconds earlier, but there’s no courage in my voice now. It’s weaker – fainter. This beastly alien warrior – who snatched me in the night, right from my very home – now towers over me. I’m trapped – there’s no way out – and I can see in the firm set of his jaw that he views it as his duty to make sure I learn never to try and escape again.
“I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
His huge hand snaps forward. I jerk my arm back, away from him – but Otho moves at inhuman speed, and within a heartbeat he’s already grabbed my wrist. I struggle, but he pulls me effortlessly towards a metal workbench at the edge of the gloomy basement, and then calmly presses me down over it.
I’m gasping. I’d thought Otho was going to spank me over his lap. Instead, he’s looming behind me, and the way he grabbed me was much rougher and more forceful than I’d anticipated.
In Otho, there’s none of the tenderness that was apparent beneath Brennan’s cruel exterior. This is no sweet, private moment – this truly will be punishment.
One of Otho’s huge hands flattens down between my shoulder blades – crushing me down across the metal workbench. I struggle at the roughness of his touch, but I might as well be fighting off a half-ton of bricks piled on my back.
The warmth of Otho’s huge hand also serves as a stark contrast to the coldness of the workbench beneath me – the chill seeping through my thin dress and puckering my already hard nipples.
Lazar and Brennan walk forward slowly, until they stand in front of me. Now, there’s nowhere safe for me to look – no direction I can avert my eyes to try and escape my shame.
I shudder, knowing exactly what Otho’s about to do to me. The huge, alien warrior is going to spank me in front of his battle-brothers – putting on a show at the same time as he demonstrates his power over me.
Lazar and Brennan stand there, wide-eyed. Their slate-grey eyes are like pools of dull, molten metal. There’s nothing human in those eyes – just raw, flaming hunger. Brennan even cocks his head, like a predator tracking his next meal.
I hear a hot murmur in my ear.
“Close your jaw, Natali – so you won’t bite your tongue.”
Otho breathes the words like he’s issuing a death sentence. It makes me realize that this punishment isn’t going to be easy – that by challenging his pride, I’ve forced his hand to show me no mercy.
I clench my teeth – my whole body trembling in anticipation.
Then, there’s a hiss of air.
Otho’s huge, right hand comes cracking down hard against the flesh of my right buttock – hard enough
