Savages Recruit

by Loki Renard

  Zora wasn’t in a good mood at all, in fact her mood was reaching new lows every minute.“Tired,” she bit out. “They didn’t let me sleep.”

  “Sounds standard for a concussion. Go and get some sleep now. You’ve got a few hours.” With the order given, he turned back to supervising whatever the men were doing. It didn’t look like a hell of a lot to Zora, certainly nothing to treat her so dismissively over. She made an angry, strangled sound and stomped her foot with a kicking motion that sent mud and small stones spraying at him. He turned with a mild frown. “Are we going to have more trouble so soon, Matthews? Sure you don’t want to get some sleep first?”

  “Are we going to have trouble? You bet your ass we are,” Zora growled. She wanted to yell at him, to make him apologize for how mean he had been the previous day, but she couldn’t quite find the words. The fact that he obviously wasn’t in the slightest bit sorry about how he’d spoken to her made her madder than before. He looked at her steadily, his arms folded over his chest, the muscle in his jaw ticking ever so slightly. She should have paid attention to that, but she didn’t.

  “Zora, go to bed.” Savage spoke in heavily authoritative tones. He would be obeyed. Yes he would be. He couldn’t imagine anything other than being obeyed. He was after all, Captain Savage. Zora didn’t care if he was the Great High Wing Commander of Planet Earth at that point, she was angry. All the thoughts she’d had in the night burst out in an almost nonsensical tirade.

  “Fuck you, you let me sit in hospital all alone all night. Don’t pretend you care about me. You don’t give a fuck about anyone. You knew what would happen if you put Anja and I in the same room and you let it happen. Did it boost your ego, huh? To have women fighting over you?”

  Savage stood there, completely stunned. For some reason he’d obviously expected her to go to bed. When was he going to get it through that thick skull of his that she didn’t care about his supposed authority? Around him, the men looked either concerned, uncomfortable or somewhat amused, depending on their predispositions. Brian was doing his best to straight face it through the entire confrontation.

  “I’m supposed to trust you to take care of me in another country where people will be trying to hurt us and you can’t even make sure I’m safe here? No fucking way am I doing this anymore. Fucking asshole.” Zora turned her back on him and walked away.

  It was a mistake. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but all the air was knocked out of her when he went down on one knee and pulled her over the other one, which was straight out in front of him like a pivot. She clawed at the grass and dirt, trying to get up, but his large hand came down on the back of her neck, holding her in place as his other hand smacked her backside hard as hell.

  Zora shouted with the pain as Savage began laying into her bottom in full view of Brian, Tank and Archie. He spanked her with hard slaps that seared across her bottom and though her pants stayed up, every thudding blow made her jerk forward over his muscled thigh. She flailed about under his hand, completely mortified. She could see the boots of the other men and their lower legs as they stood around, gawking at her as Savage grimly punished her.

  It wasn’t a long spanking, but it seemed to go on forever and ever. She gritted her teeth and promised herself that she wouldn’t cry, that she wouldn’t show how much it hurt, but little squeaks and squeals were forced out of her as the pain began to grow to a crescendo in her behind. She’d never live this down. She’d never be able to look at any of them again. She found herself actually dreading the moment she would be forced to get up and look at everyone more than the ongoing pain of the spanking.

  No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Savage stood up, pulling her up by the back of her shirt like a wayward puppy. He looked at her with a hard, unyielding expression that spoke to her without words. He wasn’t going to let her get away with that behavior, not in front of his men. For a long moment he held her there, staring her down until she whimpered and lowered her eyes. Satisfied that his message had been received, he released his hold on her and slapped her bottom one last time before taking her hand in his own. “Lets put you to bed before you get into more trouble.”

  Chapter Ten

  Zora tore away from Savage and ran into the cabin where she hurled herself onto her sleeping bag and burst into floods of tears. He followed her, sighing inwardly. It just never seemed to get any better or any easier with this one. She pushed and she pushed and when she got what she deserved she was outraged. It was as if she didn’t understand the concept of consequences at all. There was no doubt about it, Zora Matthews truly was the most spoiled brat Savage had ever encountered in his life.

  She sobbed dramatically, her shoulders shaking as she buried her face in the sleeping bag. It was a pitiful sight to be sure, but he couldn’t let her tug on his heart strings this way. She didn’t need sympathy, she needed consistency. “Zora,” he sat down next to her and reached out to rub her back. She flinched at first, but then let him continue once she figured out it didn’t hurt and actually felt quite good. “You earned that, young lady,” he said in a deep rumble.

  She peeked out under the tangled mess of her hair with a vicious glare. Surprise surprise, he thought to himself, she was still angry at him.“Shut up, you hate me.”

  He ignored the disrespect for the moment. “I do not hate you.”

  “Yes you do. You left me alone in the hospital all night.” She buried her face back in her sleeping bag, She was no longer sobbing, but she was sulking with admirable commitment. Out of her field of vision, a wry look flickered over his face. To her a concussion was probably a big deal. To him a concussion was barely worth mentioning. Pain and suffering were always subjective and relative. He hoped that she’d always think that a single punch was the worst thing that could happen, that sort of naivety was something to be protected.

  “I have a team to run Zora. I couldn’t leave. I spared Brian as long as possible.” He explained the situation with as much patience as he could muster. She had quickly grown all too used to having his undivided attention and like a spoiled child suddenly confronted with siblings, she was acting up.

  She ignored his point to continue her line of complaint. “Yeah, well you yelled at me and were mean when I was sick too.”

  “You were behaving badly. You don’t get to misbehave just because someone hits you.”

  She stammered, trying to form an objection that made sense. “Your rules are stupid and I don’t like them,” she finally blurted.

  He chuckled. “Objection noted and dismissed. “

  She rolled over onto her side and gave him a dirty look under her wet eyelashes. “You’re going to have to find someone else to do your dirty work now. I can’t do this anymore.”

  Savage could barely hide his smirk. It was amusing, the way she thought she had some kind of choice in the matter. “And why is that?”

  “Because I’ll die if I ever have to look at any of those people again.”

  “Don’t be silly. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “Says the man who didn’t get his ass spanked in front of people he barely knows.”

  “Zora if I were you I’d be more concerned about the fact you behaved like a hysterical child than about the fact you got spanked.”

  “Shut up,” Zora muttered.

  He wasn’t going to stand for that disrespect and he demonstrated the fact by reaching over and giving her another hearty slap on the ass. “Stop behaving like a spoiled brat.”

  “No,” she refused petulantly, putting her hand back to prevent further assault on her behind.

  Dear god she was gorgeous when her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled with tears. If circumstances had been different, he would have been at liberty to enjoy her state a lot more. He was increasingly plagued by fantasies about Zora Matthews, fantasies that did not stop at taking her panties down and spanking her bottom, but which allowed for a much fuller release of the tensions betwe
en them. She was contrary and stubborn, and when her eyes blazed into his with petulant fury he was filled with the desire to show her in no uncertain terms just how much that the illusion of control she clung to was just that, an illusion.

  “I’m beginning to think, Ms Matthews, that you might be more trouble than you’re worth.” His voice held a note of amusement, but she obviously didn’t hear it because she reacted like a screeching harridan.

  “Really. Well that’s quite a change of tone from the other evening. What happened to you caring for me, huh? What happened to you being able to handle me?” Her hands balled into small fists as she pushed up from the bed and glared at him. If he hadn’t have known better, he would have thought that she was actually thinking of hitting him.

  Rather than risk allowing her to do something very silly indeed, Savage took her by the arms and with as little force as possible, flipped her onto her back. She struggled, almost spitting fury but he simply held her there wordlessly until she stopped arching her back and trying to buck herself upright. Finally forced to accept physical submission, she lay still, panting slightly from her exertions. When she was still, he spoke in low, calm tones.

  “I’m going to handle you and you’re going to be very well cared for, even if it isn’t in the way you think you should be cared for.”

  She squirmed, but she didn’t get up. Instead she lay there, meeting his gaze. Little by little the hard, frantic look in her eyes softened into something more relaxed, more obedient.

  “I’m sorry you were scared,” he purred, releasing one of her hands and brushing stray wisps of hair out of her eyes. “But you were taken care of, were you not?”

  Her lower lip pushed out in a pout, but she nodded. “I guess,” she admitted.

  “Sometimes I have responsibilities to attend to. We’re on an accelerated clock now. I need the team to get as much training in as possible. If you’re going to run around getting yourself hurt, you’ll slow us down and make it more difficult for me to look after you,” Savage explained patiently. He wouldn’t ordinarily explain himself to a subordinate, but it seemed to help Zora to understand why things were done certain ways.

  “Well what about Anja? What happens to her? I got a night in the hospital and a concussion and a spanking,” Zora complained.

  “Actually you got the spanking for shouting at me. I haven’t dealt with your misbehavior with Anja yet,” he corrected her. He rather enjoyed the way Zora’s face fell and her mouth opened in an expression of dismay when she heard that piece of news. “But to answer your question, you’ve seen her punishment.”

  “What? No I haven’t,” Zora was clearly confused.

  “She’s not running around for fun.”

  Zora’s expression crumpled into outright disgust. “That’s it? She just has to run around?”

  “With a very heavy pack, and in full gear, yes.”

  “That’s not fair!”

  Savage smirked. Zora had no idea what she was fast getting herself into, but he had no intention of warning her off her line of argument. A little physical exercise and physical discipline certainly would not go astray with this one. “Would you prefer to have her punishment?”

  Zora was too busy being outraged at the apparent inequality to notice the tone of warning in his voice. “Yeah, I’d rather jog around a bit than get hit.”

  “Your wish will be fulfilled then,” Savage agreed with a broad smile that should have warned her. “You can make amends in the same way she is.”

  ***

  Zora gasped for breath, panting heavily as she forced one foot in front of the other. Fifty laps he’d said. She was only on the fifth lap and already she wanted to lie down and pass out. The pack was heavy as all hell. Even standing still it had felt unpleasant. She slowed to a halt, bending down to catch her breath.

  “GET MOVING SOLDIER.”

  Zora almost jumped out of her skin as Sergeant Steve Bracknell’s voice blared against her ear like a foghorn. The usually quiet soldier had a talent for drilling it turned out. Savage had assigned him to deal with her punishment, citing the fact that Steve had done the same for Anja. If Zora wanted the same punishment as Anja, he’d said, she was going to get it.

  “GET MOVING!”

  Zora turned and scowled at Sergeant Bracknell. She didn’t know him very well, but she knew damned well she didn’t care for his tone. “Jesus, give it a rest would you? Relax, guy.”

  It was not the right thing to say. He came at her like a Pit Bull, his face red, his half grown mustache not looking as silly as it usually did. “MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE.”

  “Okay, okay,” Zora agreed, holding her hands up to indicate surrender. At this rate she’d never get to face the terrorists, they’d kill her here at home first. With great effort she started her plodding pace once more. The brief pause seemed to have made everything harder. The pack was insanely heavy, running with it felt like trying to run on a planet with twice the gravity of Earth. No wonder Savage had been smirking like a damn fool when he’d agreed to this being her punishment.

  Zora paused for another moment, but this time she was jerked forward forcibly by Steve, who grabbed her and began running with her trailing after him. It was getting to be too much, far too much. She tried to keep up, but she just couldn’t. Her muscles were screaming and she was sure she was going to faint from exhaustion, so she did what any rational person would do. She bit Sergeant Steve. She bit him with a vengeance, sinking her teeth into the flesh of his hand.

  His reaction was immediate. He tossed her onto the ground and started bawling her out. She barely understood anything he was yelling, but she was glad for the respite from physical activity, even if it meant she was wallowing around on the ground like a turtle turned over on its back. The weight of the pack made it almost impossible for her to get up.

  “GET UP! GET UP NOW!”

  The yelling started to sound silly after a bit and she started giggling. The more he yelled, the funnier she thought it was. She knew he wouldn’t really hurt her after all, there would be hell to pay if he did. She wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest.

  “Dammit Matthews,” Steve stopped yelling and frowned at her. “Take this seriously.”

  “I do take it seriously!”

  A shadow fell over Zora. She looked up to see Savage looming over her. God only knew where he had come from, he moved like a spy sometimes, completely unseen. Before she could explain herself, Savage lifted her up, took the pack off her shoulders and slapped her ass hard enough to make her dance in place. “You will show Sergeant Bracknell respect, you understand?”

  “Yes!” Zora gasped. She wasn’t trying to be bad, she really wasn’t. But she was discovering something about herself. For years she’d gone out of her way to be difficult and rebellious and now that she was trying to be good it turned out that being difficult and rebellious was second nature to her. Both men glowered at her as she endeavored to make amends.“I’m sorry Sergeant,” she apologized, very nicely she thought.

  He grunted, not that taken with the apology. “Get running.”

  “I can’t. I am all out of running,” Zora shrugged, slipping back down to the ground.

  Sergeant Steve and Savage looked at one another, then back at her. “You’re not done with your punishment, Zora,” Savage reminded her. “In fact, you’ve barely started.”

  “Do you have to be such a sadistic bastard?”

  Again, it was the wrong thing to say. Steve looked shocked, but more disturbingly, Savage didn’t show any emotion at all. His eyes had gone cold. “I’ll take it from here, Steve,” Savage dismissed the officer. He didn’t look at the man as he saluted, his eyes were locked on Zora, like a predatory big cat might lock eyes on a helpless fawn left in long grasses. “You’ve really done it now, you know that, girl?”

  “Have I?” Zora tried to be brave, but she felt herself starting to tremble. She might not be afraid of Steve, but she sure as hell was wary of Savage. He was going to do something very unpleasan
t indeed, she could feel it.

  “Come with me,” he ordered.

  She struggled up from the ground and followed him back to the cabin. The other members of the team had taken the van and were off somewhere else, so the only other occupant was Steve, who was making preparations to shower.

  “Take your time,” Savage said to him. “Zora and I have business to attend to.” Steve signaled his agreement with a thumbs up and a particularly pleased look. He obviously had some idea what ‘business to attend to’ meant. Steve took his leave to take a shower and without wasting another moment, Savage went into his pack and pulled out a short cane. It was perhaps a foot and a half long and very whippy indeed. It looked like something out of a museum, some anachronistic piece of equipment for the punishment of miscreants.

  “What the hell is that?” Zora’s eyes went almost as wide as her head.

  “It’s your comeuppance, young lady,” Savage said, beckoning her forward. “You can strip down to your undershirt and panties please.”

  She colored with embarrassment. She’d dreamed about being with him in a state of undress, but not like this. It would not do to defy him though. She knew from experience that he’d strip her down himself. What could she do? The humiliation of stripping down like a naughty girl did not appeal, but what other choice was there? As her mind whirred, a sudden spark of mischief danced into her brain. What if she did let him strip her down, not as a naughty girl, but as a woman?

  “If you want my clothes off, you’re going to have to do that yourself,” she said with a blatant grin.

  He stared at her coldly and for just a moment, part of her died thinking that she’d been rebuffed. “Don’t start playing games with me, Zora. You won’t like the consequences.” He was trying to appear aloof, but there was a slight throatiness in his tone that told her he wasn’t quite as immune to the innuendo as he would have liked her to believe he was. It was just enough encouragement for her to stick with her mad plan.