Although he was disappointed by the way she had behaved and would make sure she understood that later, he hadn’t wanted to humiliate her. Being spanked in front of her friend was not something she would have got over in a hurry. Besides, he knew that he was partly to blame for the way she had spoken. Warning her to behave herself had not been enough. It was clear that she’d been shocked to see her friend as Taryn’s pet and he should have told her what to expect. The fact of it was he hadn’t wanted to be on the receiving end of her ire when she found out. Things had been going well between them and he’d wanted that harmony to continue.
Wearily, he scrubbed a hand over his face. Where Victoria was concerned, he hardly ever seemed to make the right move.
“Your mate has changed you,” Taryn said, breaking the silence. There was no condemnation in his voice, just curiosity.
“Perhaps,” Allik conceded.
“It is a good thing,” Taryn said approvingly. “I like her. She is spirited. You have less darkness around you since you took her.”
That was not what Allik had expected his friend to say but he was grateful for his positive words. Victoria might have her moments of rebellion, but most of the time she had a calming effect on him and he was glad that others could see how perfect she was for him.
“It is a good match,” Taryn added.
“It is,” Allik agreed but he didn’t want to discuss his relationship with Victoria. “Now, you said you are going on a diplomatic mission.”
Discussing political matters was much safer territory.
“Yes, that is why I wanted to speak to you. I wanted to let you know that I am opening a dialogue with a group of Bylanthian exiles.”
Allik couldn’t say he liked that idea very much. He had no great love for the Bylanthians and put even less trust in them but he was sure Taryn knew the risks.
“And you intend to take your pet?”
“You think it a bad idea?”
Allik shrugged his shoulders. Having Lucy alongside him might be a distraction, but who was he to say? It wasn’t really his place to comment. After all, he would tolerate no man telling him how to behave toward Victoria.
“There are risks, certainly,” Taryn continued. “But I am taking an elite squadron with me. All will be well.”
Allik nodded. “Our men will allow no harm to come to you or your mate.”
Taryn sat back in his chair, seeming to relax once he heard Allik’s words of reassurance. “There is another matter I wish to discuss with you. A personal one.”
Allik was intrigued by the awkward grimace that flashed across the other man’s face. He couldn’t recall ever seeing his friend look so uncomfortable.
“Go ahead.”
“I am going to marry Lucy.”
“Marry?” Allik frowned and tried to think what he meant. “As they do on Earth?”
Taryn nodded. “Humans believe it is important. I am doing it to show my commitment to her.”
Allik found it hard to get his head around that statement. As far as he was concerned, claiming a woman as his mate was enough to demonstrate his intentions for a permanent relationship.
“Andrew Rossingham knows how to perform the traditional ceremony,” Taryn continued. “His wife will help to arrange the feasting.”
“Feasting?” Allik asked.
“Yes, there is a great feast held after the ritual is performed.”
The whole thing sounded like an absolute nightmare to Allik. Humans had some ridiculous traditions. He frowned as it suddenly crossed his mind that perhaps Victoria would also want to undergo this ceremony. He hoped not. The prospect of being the center of attention was horrifying.
“Lucy wishes your mate to give her away,” Taryn added.
“Give her away?”
“It is a sort of handing over of the bride that must be done by an important person. Bryn and I performed the task for Andrew’s bride.”
“I see.” Allik tried hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. They had similar ceremonies on Taar-Breck—welcoming rituals, the giving of honors after battle, that sort of thing—and he had always found them absurd.
“And I wish for you to stand by my side,” Taryn said.
Allik didn’t know exactly what he was being asked to do, but he could tell from the way Taryn asked that it was important.
“You will be my best man.”
“Best man,” Allik scoffed. “You couldn’t find better?”
“Not while Bryn is still on Earth chasing after Elizabeth Chatterton,” Taryn said wryly. “Will you do it?”
“Very well,” Allik agreed. “I will stand with you.”
“Excellent,” Taryn said. “And I shall do the same for you one day.”
* * *
Lucy’s room was prettily decorated with pale pink walls, a thick carpet in a matching hue, and floral cushions on an overstuffed sofa. Victoria had to admit that it suited her well but she couldn’t imagine a massive brute like Taryn in this space. Although there was a large bed at the center of the room, she got the feeling that this was not where they slept. There were posts on the bed that a person might be tied to. At its foot was a large trunk, the contents of which she could only guess at. Then there was the most glaring clue of all that this was not an ordinary bedroom. In the corner sat a small cage, just big enough for a person of Lucy’s diminutive stature to fit inside, if she was down on all fours. She was curious about its purpose but didn’t want to quiz Lucy because she knew she wouldn’t like the answers.
She took a seat on the sofa and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry I left you the way I did. I should have left a note.”
“It’s alright.” Lucy shrugged it off easily. “Zinnie passed on your message.”
Victoria nodded. She had known that she would be able to rely on Zinnie.
“How did Jonathan react?” Victoria asked as though there was any doubt. Her stepbrother would have been totally furious when he discovered that she had gone.
“I don’t know,” Lucy said as she opened the door of a large wardrobe and beckoned for Victoria to come and look at the contents. “Zinnie and I got out of there before he knew you’d left.”
“Where did Zinnie go?” Victoria got up from the sofa and joined Lucy beside the closet.
“She went to look for Lizzie Chatterton. She said she knew a few places she might have gone,” Lucy told her.
“Really?” Victoria couldn’t imagine how Zinnie would know where to look for Elizabeth. She just hoped they would both be able to evade the High Council and find their way to safety. “And what about you? How did you come to be with Taryn?”
“Well, I knew that some of Commander Rossingham’s men had stayed behind at Caroline’s house so I went there,” Lucy said. “As it turns out, Caroline had asked Taryn to protect me.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. Caroline Chatterton’s matchmaking was nothing but a menace. She wondered if their friend had any idea what she had done, fixing Lucy up with a man who treated her like an animal. She gave a weak smile as Lucy held up a slinky white bodysuit for her to admire. It looked as though she had a cat costume for every occasion in her closet. Thankfully there were also some dresses in there, so it seemed Lucy wasn’t required to parade around like an animal all of the time. Well, that was something, she supposed.
“Is he looking after you?” Victoria asked doubtfully.
“Oh, yes,” Lucy said enthusiastically. “I know you don’t approve, but I am really happy. I promise you I am.”
“If you say so.” Victoria was unconvinced.
“I do,” Lucy said firmly. She reached out and laid a hand on Victoria’s arm as she fixed her with a sympathetic look. “But what about you? It can’t be easy being stuck with that beast.”
“Allik is not a beast.” Victoria could feel her hackles rising. “He has a few scars but that hardly reflects the man he is. At least he treats me well.”
“Taryn treats me like a princess,” Lucy retorted. “He’s been ver
y good to me.”
Victoria scowled. She hated fighting with Lucy but she had to make her see that the way she was being treated just wasn’t right. She waved her hand at the cage in the corner of the room.
“Does he put you in there?”
“Sometimes.” A dreamy look passed across Lucy’s face as though recalling some pleasant memory. “But only when I’ve been very naughty.”
“You sound as though you like it.”
“I do,” Lucy said. “I enjoy being his pet.”
Victoria shook her head. Clearly, Lucy had gone mad. She couldn’t believe that her friend was really comfortable with living this way. It was so unlike anything she’d ever have expected from Lucy. She had never once talked about sex in an open way, let alone mentioned a fantasy about being someone’s pet.
“And I’ll like being his wife even better,” Lucy added.
“Wife?” Victoria repeated. “You’re going to get married?”
Lucy nodded, a smile lighting up her whole face. For Victoria, it was the last straw. Although she didn’t hold any great romantic ideas about marriage, she had always thought that Lucy did. She couldn’t believe she would want to undertake such a serious commitment with a man who treated her so badly.
“Married?” Victoria spat viciously. “I didn’t realize a fucking cat could get married.”
She shoved Lucy out of the way and stormed from the room. As she walked down the corridor, she was aware that Lucy was following behind. “Vicky?” she called out. “Please wait.”
“No!” Victoria shouted, bringing both Taryn and Allik to their feet as she crossed the living area. “I don’t want to hear any more of this shit. I can’t believe you’re being so fucking stupid.”
She could hear Lucy starting to sob behind her but nothing could penetrate the swirling mist of rage in her mind.
“What’s going on?” Allik asked.
“What’s going on,” she stopped in front of him and placed her hands on her hips, “is that your disgusting friend has turned Lucy into a mindless slave and she actually wants to marry him.”
“Victoria.” There was a note of caution in his voice. “Stop and think about what you’re doing here.”
Victoria stared at him for a moment. He was actually going to reprimand her for sticking up for her friend.
“I suppose you approve of what that bastard’s done to her?” Victoria screeched.
“Victoria.” Allik’s voice was sterner now.
“Oh, fuck off, Allik. I hate the lot of you.”
She tried to pass him but found herself being grabbed by strong arms and swung off her feet. She was thrown over Allik’s shoulder. Knowing where his weakness lay, she punched furiously at his upper left arm. He grunted in pain but didn’t ease his grip on her. As she struggled to break free, he gave her a warning smack across the back of her leg, hard enough to make her stop wriggling.
“You have earned yourself a thrashing, young lady,” he scolded her. “Perhaps by the time it’s over, you’ll have learned to listen when I tell you to behave.”
He carried her out of Taryn’s apartment, leaving the other man to comfort a sobbing Lucy, and headed for the elevator. When they didn’t stop at their floor, but carried on down toward the basement, Victoria knew she was in trouble. This time, she’d pushed him too far. He was taking her to the training room.
Chapter Sixteen
When they got to the training room, Allik put Victoria down, none too gently, on a bench in a private changing cubicle and took a step back. He was so angry with her for the way she’d behaved, for how she had spoken to him, that he needed a moment to calm down. They’d made such progress over the past couple of weeks that it irritated him all the more that she’d transgressed so spectacularly.
Running his fingers through his hair, he took a deep breath. He couldn’t punish her while the rage was running through his veins like this. There was too great a risk that he would cause her injury and no matter how badly she’d let him down, that was the last thing he would ever want to do.
“Explain yourself.” His words came out more sharply than he’d intended and Victoria was visibly startled. “Tell me what’s going through your head.”
“I don’t know,” Victoria mumbled. She looked down at her hands, knotting her fingers together in an obvious bid to keep them from trembling. Then she raised her chin, a hint of defiance in the posture she adopted. It seemed forced, though. She was clearly terrified and trying not to let it show. “I was just really angry and I didn’t think about what I was saying.”
“It is not the first time you have lost control of your emotions,” Allik remarked, thinking back to her outburst on the transport ship when she had wrecked the medical room. He recalled that she had reacted that way because she’d felt threatened and wondered whether something had frightened her this time. “Tell me why you were so angry.”
“I just can’t bear to think of Lucy being treated that way.”
“What way?”
The look she gave him was one of utter incredulity, as though she couldn’t understand why he did not see things as she did.
“Like an animal,” she replied.
“Like a pet,” Allik corrected her.
“It doesn’t matter what you call it, Allik, it still isn’t right,” she said with real conviction in her voice. “He had her crawling around on the floor after him.”
Allik snorted. “I seem to recall an occasion when you crawled to me.”
Victoria’s cheeks reddened adorably. “That was different,” she replied indignantly.
“Really? In what way?”
“Well.” Her eyebrows knitted together, a sign that she was thinking hard to come up with a response. “I chose to crawl.”
Allik raised his eyebrows, wondering if she really believed that she’d had any choice in the matter. If she hadn’t got down on her hands and knees when Kyree had told her to, she would have been spanked until she’d complied. He suspected that she knew that but wanted to maintain the illusion that she could pick and choose which orders she obeyed. Perhaps after this punishment, she would finally realize that whilst he may give her a great deal of latitude, he was ultimately in charge.
“And you do not think your friend had chosen to accept that she must crawl to her master?” he asked. “Does she not seem at peace with her new situation?”
“I…” Victoria seemed uncharacteristically at a loss for words. “I don’t know. Lucy isn’t like me. She’s too gentle to speak up for herself if she’s not happy.”
“I think you underestimate your friend,” Allik said. “Besides, do you not think Taryn understands her needs, where her limits of endurance lie? You think he does not care for her as I do for you?”
Victoria blinked away the watery tears that were filling her eyes as she looked up at him. “You care for me?”
Allik rolled his eyes in disbelief. How could she not know how deeply his feelings for her ran? He might not have expressed it in words, but his actions should have shown her over and over again. He had taken her to the heights of ecstasy, given her freedoms he did not have to grant. He had even taught her how to drive his cruiser and that should have told her something about how he felt.
“Of course I do,” he said. “And that is why it is important that I help you by correcting your behavior when you step out of line.”
Victoria nodded, apparently accepting what he’d said. “But do you really think Lucy is alright?”
“Yes. I do not know her but I know Taryn. He will guide and protect her as he should. You should be happy she is in safe hands and that whatever you may think, Taryn is only helping her to live according to her true nature.”
“Okay.” Victoria looked a little more convinced but there was still a crease in her brow that suggested something still concerned her.
“But?” Allik queried.
“But you won’t try to do that to me, will you? I mean, make me into your pet. I really don’t think it’s for me.�
��
Allik barked out a laugh. “No, Victoria, you have no need to worry about me sticking a tail in you. I value my balls too much.”
Victoria laughed along with him and then suddenly, her expression turned serious. The big green eyes that looked up at him were filled with anxiety. “This punishment is going to be pretty bad, isn’t it?”
Allik nodded solemnly. There was no way around it. She had earned herself a more severe chastisement than she had experienced up until now. He had no choice but to ensure that she learned her lesson. If he let her get away with behaving as she had, it would do neither of them any favors. It had to be nipped in the bud.
“It will hurt,” Allik told her. “But once it is over all will be forgiven.”
“Okay,” Victoria said. “I can live with that.”
Allik felt a surge of relief go through him. He didn’t need her permission to punish her but her acceptance that it was going to happen was important to him. He didn’t want her fighting him every step of the way.
“Good. Then remove your clothing and leave it in here. When you are ready, come to me in room number three.”
“Number three,” Victoria replied in a tremulous voice.
Giving her a nod of acknowledgement, he turned and left her to undress.
* * *
With each step she took, Victoria felt as though her legs were getting heavier. To say that she was not looking forward to this would be an understatement of massive proportions. She knew that she’d been horrible to Lucy and that she’d shown Allik great disrespect. There was an overwhelming need in her to atone but that didn’t mean she had to enjoy it.
She made her way slowly across the large, empty room. There was something quite clinical about it and she tried not to let her eyes linger on the various benches, examination tables, and other pieces of equipment that filled the vast space. Several obviously public stations had been set up for a variety of punishments. Her mind whirred with the possibilities. The thought of being strapped down to one of those tables and thoroughly fucked sent a gush of moisture flowing from her feminine core.
Chosen for the Warrior Page 17