Spanked me.
Like I was a naughty child.
Well, not exactly like that but still!
And he did this while doing his mind control business.
It was so mortifying it was a wonder I could move at all and wasn’t literally petrified. Especially coupled with the fact that he’d gone straight from the spanking right to playing my body against me yet a-freaking-gain.
And I couldn’t fight it. I wanted to. My brain screamed at me to especially after the spanking which, during it, even though his strikes caused little pain to anything but my pride, I’d felt something break in me. Something integral to all that was me, Leah Buchanan, one in the centuries-old line of strong, independent concubines (if Lucien’s word was anything to go by). And there was something in the way that it broke I knew that it could never be mended.
The weird thing was, I didn’t mind. Not in the slightest. It was as if it was meant to be.
It was as if it had been built solely for the purpose of it existing for when Lucien would break it.
Now how blinkety blank freaky was that?
But I couldn’t think of any of that now.
Not now when danger was at the door.
Bad danger. The worst.
So much the worst it wasn’t danger, it was menace.
I felt it crawling, disquieting, threatening, evil, through the very air. To say it made me uneasy was a humongous understatement.
I didn’t know how I understood this. I didn’t even know what I understood. I just knew I understood it.
And what I understood was, if this didn’t go well, my life would be over.
And I also understood that the only thing standing between me and that menace was Lucien.
He’d keep me safe. Regardless of and contradictory to the scene I’d just endured at his hands, I knew to the depth of my soul that he’d do everything in his substantial power to stand between me and whatever was at the door.
Or he would die trying.
This shook me worst of all.
But I didn’t hesitate. I put on pajamas and for good measure my robe, yanking the belt tightly. Then I turned to him, seeing he was waiting for me with his pajama bottoms on.
The doorbell rang again.
My heart raced.
Settle, sweetling. His voice sounded in my head as he lifted his hand toward me.
Without hesitation, I walked to him, sliding my hand in his, his eyes keeping mine captive while I did this.
The moment his long fingers closed around my hand dwarfing it, I felt my heart settle and I saw his face gentle.
That’s it. His voice, edged with pride, sounded encouragingly in my mind.
We walked together slowly, hand-in-hand to the front door. The bell sounded again as we walked.
He positioned me, his eyes caught mine in the dark and he placed his hand on my cheek not letting go of my other one.
Your cues come from me, yes? he asked, I nodded and he gave me a reassuring smile coupled with a squeeze of my hand.