The Unexpected Bonding Vow - Michelle Howard Page 0,1

She was thirteen and her woman’s time came every three months without fail, similar to a Dragonian female. Usually, her father confined her to her rooms during her heat cycles, so she didn’t ‘tempt’ his men. Her mother before she died had warned Saedra that no matter what happened, Saedra needed to be out of her father’s house and far from his reach when she reached legal age and gave her father the ability to sell her anyway he saw fit.

“No help needed, Parson,” Maurin drawled, eyeing Saedra once more. “I just need to teach my daughter a lesson. Send the other guards in.”

Irritation lit Parson’s gaze and the look he cast Saedra’s way contained barely masked violence. “Of course, my Lord.”

Parson bowed as he rushed out and another blast of terror filled Saedra. Excuses flowed through her mind. Something, anything to distract her father from whatever lesson he thought she needed to learn. “I was hungry. I’ll go to my room. I won’t come out. You won’t see me. Promise. I promise.”

Even to her own ears, she sounded like she was babbling but her gut burned and fear was a living beast inside her body as her heart slammed against her chest in a frantic pace that turned her breathing choppy.

“Shut up!”

Saedra shut up.

“Come here.”

Hesitating was never a good idea. Against her instinct to run and hide, Saedra approached. Her arm pits grew dampened. She was breathing so fast red spots floated in front of her eyes and she worried she’d pass out. When Saedra was within inches of his scuffed, large booted feet, Maurin arched his arm back and swung at her.

The open palm slap sent her to her knees on a sharp cry. She clasped her aching cheek and looked up in shock. Not because it was the first time he’d hit her. That had started mere months after her mother died, making Saedra the replacement receptacle for his rage. No, she was shocked because they weren’t in his room or a private corridor. He usually contained his violence toward her away from prying eyes.

Although no one here would race to her defense. Not if they valued their life and that of every member in their family. Maurin’s punishments were never simple and always trickled down.

He crouched on one knee before her and clasped the front of her neck in his thick fingers.

Please no, please no, she prayed to herself as her hands and feet scrabbled for balance on the floor beneath her.

“Do you know why I must teach you a lesson?” he asked quietly.

The door opened to the right of them and the creak and shuffle of multiple feet entering the kitchen area ratcheted up Saedra’s bone-chilling dread. Swallowing but unable to speak beyond the lump in her throat, she shook her head. There was barely enough air getting through to breathe.

Her father’s mouth tipped up on the edges. His expression was filled with malevolence and a promise. His fingers squeezed steadily until the floating lights across her vision became warning flares to her brain.

Maurin stood and lifted Saedra until her toes barely scraped the floor. Then he flung her as hard as he could. Saedra didn’t have time to gasp. Her back met the wall with a loud crack and an arc of pain shot up her spine. She slid awkwardly down, her legs sprawled before her.

Her father approached in a slow stride, building the trepidation that now had her stomach clenched tight enough to match the hurt vibrating up her back. “Because you have nothing of a Dragonian in you and the arrival of your thirteenth year without developing psychic powers proves you have nothing of the Meeta in you either.

You are worthless to me and have failed to show sufficient gratitude that I allow you to live unmolested under my roof.” He paused and glanced over to the discarded plate her sandwich had rested on then faced her again and spat, “eating my food.”

This time, he picked her up by her hair and twisted the long length in coils about his wrist before he dragged her to her feet and flung her again. The force propelled Saedra across the room and into the hard edges of the cold kitchen counter. She bounced into the corner of the adjacent wall then fell to the floor on all fours.

Cheers rang out from his men and an undercurrent of laughter filled the kitchen. Panicking, Saedra pushed up despite the pain echoing through her body only to